Smiley Face

Today Luke went for his first day of preschool.  He is in the 1 year old class at our church preschool and will go two mornings a week.  Brooke did so well at school last year that we decided to send Luke too.  I was a little hesitant because he is only 15 months old, but we are giving it a try.  We were really worried about his first day because he is a very clingy Mommy’s boy, but we are happy to report that his first day was great.  He didn’t look so sure when we packed him and his school bag into the car, but he went into the arms of his teacher at dropoff without crying or reaching for Mommy.  When we picked him up after lunch, Luke was smiling and happy.  His teacher said he did so well and was happy, active, and in the middle of all the activiity.  They said Luke is very sweet and had a great first day.  I hope he continues to love school and have fun.  Luke also brought home his first art project, a piece of paper colored with crayon.

Luke was up almost all night again and had a fever of over 103.  He also threw up again this morning.  A call to the nurse on call for our pediatrician thought that it might be a good idea for a doctor to see him.  She referred us to another ped with Saturday office hours, and we caught them just in time to get the last appointment of the morning at 10 am.  I figured it would be better to get him checked out now or risk having to make a run to the ER.  The ped on call was not sure what the source of Luke’s symptoms were, but after a thorough exam decided it was probably a virus not related to the shots.  So, for now we are trying to get his fever (topped off at 103.7 at the doctor’s office) under control and keep him hydrated.  The ped is going to call to check on him tonight, and we are going to talk to our ped Monday morning to give him an update.  I hope Luke is feeling better soon because he starts preschool in a few days!

Yesterday Luke went for his fifteen month checkup with Dr. Pettit.  Luke is now 31 inches tall and 20 pounds, 10.5 ounces.  He is still just under 50th percentile in height but has dropped down to around 5th percentile in weight.  We are not sure how this happened since Luke is a voracious eater compared to his older sister, but Dr. Pettit is not concerned.  The only thing we talked about was better ways for Luke to get additional protein since he is not fond of meat.  Luke got the last of his hepatitis B shots and the MMR-chicken pox combo shot.  I am wondering if anyone else’s kids have had a bad reaction to this shot.  Brooke had the chicken pox vaccine separate from the others, and I do vaguely remember her feeling far worse than she had with any shots since her first vaccines as a newborn.

Luke is not doing well post-shots.  Last night he woke up and was burning up with fever.  Then he proceeded to throw up all over both of us.  I was up with him every 20-30 minutes for half the night and slept on the couch so I could be closer to his door.  We finally got a good stretch of sleep from 2:30-5:30 am.  Luke’s fever broke this morning, and he seemed better but more tired and cranky than usual.  Then tonight I have already had to go in and check on him once and found that the fever had returned.  I anticipate another long night and am finding myself rather disliking the chicken pox vaccine right about now.  I keep reminding myself than chicken pox would be worse (even though I have only second-hand knowledge of them…they sound horrible!).