Nothing But Words

Maria, Kai, and I had the flu this past week. Kai didn’t have it too badly, but I was flat on my back for three days before I started feeling better, and it was the same with Maria. Except she started a week earlier, got better, then relapsed…and then relapsed again. As a special bonus the last time around, she got these weird welts on her face, arms, legs, and throat. Maria thought they made her look like Ferdinand Marcos. Her doctor didn’t have any idea what was causing them, but put her on antiobiotics anyway. They seem to be working – the welts are shrinking and her skin is peeling, as if she had a sunburn. Freaky. Welcome to the wonderful world of 21st century viruses and infections.

Fortunately my mother-in-law is here, so she did her best to take care of everyone. Luckily she and Eidan didn’t get sick. She has taken it upon herself to fatten up Eidan as much as possible. She has an array of bottles and baby food laid out in front of her on the table at all times, angling for every opportunity to get as much food in him as he’ll tolerate. In the two weeks or so she’s been here, she’s transformed him into a big, rolly-poly meatball. He’s also taken to roaring. He likes it when you roar back, and then it becomes a game where you try to out-roar each other. This kid is all boy: in addition to roaring, he loves to play rough. The more you jostle him and wrestle with him, the more he smiles and laughs. And I do mean wrestle: he’ll grab at you and push you as best as a tiny person can. He’s not crawling yet, but he’s on the verge. He gets on his hands and knees and wiggles his butt while moving his arms – soon he’ll get all the different motions going in coordination, and he’ll be on his way. We’ve been warning Kai about this development: I’m certain that once Eidan can move on his own, he’ll want to follow Kai everywhere, and get into all Kai’s stuff.

I still have to finish posting the pictures I promised last week – look for them here soon!