Sick, Mad, and "F" Words

Thomas has been sick this week and he very nicely shared it with me and then my mom, David's out of town so we hope he was spared. I would tell you that he threw up all over me during the Super Bowl but I did promise to warn you first about things like that so I won't. :-)

That only lasted a day or so and now he's got a cold and a pretty bad cough. After hearing him cough all night long, I decided he needed to take a different medicine so I brought out the Triaminic Yellow which is supposed to help that sort of thing. The only problem is that the yellow stuff tastes AWFUL. The other varieties taste pretty good and you'd think when you market medicine to children, you'd be able to make them ALL taste good but apparently not. The second he saw what kind I had for him, he started crying, "Oh Mommy not the yellow! I like purple!" I tried putting sugar in to help it taste better, which I don't know if you're supposed to do but I was desperate. With all other medicines, we give him the syringe and he'll take it himself. With the yellow, I ended up having to straddle him on the floor and force it into his mouth. He was sobbing and I was already regretting my decision and it didn't get any easier when through his sobs he started saying, "Mommy.....yellow....is.....nasty!!" Poor baby. Needless to say, we went back to flavors he likes the next time. It just wasn't worth it.

He's been identifying his emotions for quite a while now. Like the time about 6 months ago when he told me he wasn't grouchy he was grumpy. For the last few weeks though, he tells us every time he gets mad, which usually happens several times a day, especially when we ask him to do something he doesn't want to do. "Mommy, I just mad." "Mommy, I mad with that." "Mommy I am mad!" And most of the time, it's accompanied by him putting his fists on his hips which sometimes makes it very hard to keep a straight face.

Now for the third topic of the day, did you think he was saying the "F" word? Shame on you. After much practice, Thomas can now say his "Fs." He's so excited about it, he wants to know every single word that starts with "F" so he can practice saying it. Sometimes, he gets so excited, all the words we can think of aren't enough so he'll start saying things like, "fffffcookie that starts with an 'f''!" or "fffffffdragonfly!" He's had lots of practice using other sounds instead of the "F" so it'll take him a little time to get used to saying things the right way, but we're making progress.