Austen & Gage

Gage had a bad reaction to the Dtap vaccine.  His fever spiked at

104.9 on Saturday!  He was terribly out of sorts and I was freaking 

out all day.  Even with tylenol and lukewarm baths he was burning.  

Now he seems to have a sore throat — maybe he had a virus when he got the shot so that caused his bad reaction.  Currently, he’s cranky and sleepless but no fever.

Austen is doing fine, actually she’s been rather sympathetic to all Gage’s crying, so she’ll be a preschool.  Overall, the situation brings back memories of our first baby who whined all day.  

Austen was always the same, screaming a lot, whether sick or not.

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Mommy came home from Walmart tired and annoyed — what’s up with all
the Mercedes in the parking lot. I’d picked up some plants in order to
decorat the deck. Trying to arrange them in a simple pattern of
alternating burgundy and gold, I got huffy when Austen started moving
things around. She even started crying when I told her to stop. I gave
up and went inside, frustrated that I’d have to go back and rearrange
them when Austen went to bed.

But as I studied her arrangement of the plants the next morning I
realized I liked it better.

Austen seems so grown up as she approaches 4. She buckles herself
into her car seat. Changes her clothes all by herself in the morning
and evening. She talks and explains her feelings when she’s having a
meltdown, instead of just screaming. “You made me sad because you
didn’t get me a quesadilla. I need to watch Curious George so I can
calm down.”

Her questions and insights often stun mommy, who is no dunce. About
Gage facing backwards in car, “Gage could watch the video too, if he
turned his head” and “Why does he have to face that way?”

Gage now holds his own bottle. He also seems to prefer diving from a
sitting position to remaining still in the sitting position. His
reach is so good he’s alway knocking things over or grabbing thing
unexpectedly. Ask Austen who lost her bowl of cereal.