The flu returns

Not the greatest picture, but it's the first one I've been able to get of John's attempts at crawling - normally he stops and smiles, or turns toward me when he sees the camera.

Yeah - crawling is still beyond his reach. He's got a unique style going. Doesn't get him far, but he's working on it. He can creep pretty well now though, which is exciting. He kind of slithers along on his belly - sort of looks like a soldier crawling through a combat zone. I can put a toy on one side of the carpet, sit him down on the other, and he can now get down on his belly without smashing his face on the floor, and slither to the toy. Couldn't have done that even just a week ago. Yesterday, in the time it took me to fill a glass with ice, he turned 180 degrees and crept about four feet. I think he would have gone further, but his chest was off his play rug by then, and he was flailing wildly trying to get a grip on the hardwood. We're petty sure he was trying to follow Mike.

I gotta say, that $20 rug was one of the best investments we've made in him - it has furthered the cause of freedom by leaps and bounds, even though he can't get beyond its boundaries. It's so sad that he's confined to a 4-by-6 area of the house, but frankly, it's probably just as well. Eventually, he'll be so good at scooting around that the surface won't matter. Until then, it's nice to know where he is.

He's got the cold back again. Fun, fun, fun. He's a big snarly grump. Well, John's version of snarly grump, I guess. He's not as bad off as last time - no cough. The fever is very, very mild. I don't even think it counts as a fever. Just a runny nose and the runs, same as last time. Oh, and he's throwing up, which is a fun new twist. I'm more worried about dehydration this time, because of that and the teething - he doesn't nurse for very long, because his gums hurt. No sign of it so far. I sure wish he were as sleepy as last time - I could use the rest myself.

His gums are soooo swollen right now. I feel terrible for him. I saw a little white lump there this morning - I don't know if it's officially broken through, or if it has a layer or two of skin to go. He wouldn't remove his thumb long enough for me to look.