Ian's One Year Pictures, Stats, and Allergies, Oh My!

Nov. 8th, 2015 - Ian really started to interact with us a lot more right around his 1st birthday.  Before, he was really a tough one to get to laugh.  Now we can get them out of him pretty easily.  He has started saying bye-bye and waves.  He can climb up the stairs, but not down yet.  He really loves his sisters, especially Kate!  He will usually go to her from me with no problem.

 Ian is constantly into the dishwasher when you are trying to load or unload it.  He is also a major contributor to the fingerprints and messy oven you see in the background.  I didn't realize how bad it was until I saw it in this picture.  It is now much cleaner, though Ian is busy changing that.  One of his favorite things lately is the broom.  He loves to play with it and if I'm trying to sweep he follows me around and tried to eat things out of the dust pile.  Yuk!  I've learned to keep him strapped into his highchair whenever I sweep now.

 Right after his birthday Ian caught a stomach flu that Leah passed on to him.  The poor kid was so sick and vomiting so much.  After a full week of throwing up, I took him to the doctor.  He had gotten an ear infection after the flu and that was making him continue to throw up.  They gave him an antibiotic shot and within 24 hours he was able to keep food down again.  He lost 1 lb during that week.  He went from 19lb 5oz, to 18lb 6oz.  Poor kid!  This is how he would sit in his high chair when he was feeling nauseous.

I need to blog in "real time."  It is weird describing things how they were two months ago.  Especially since Ian just exploded in all the things he is learning and doing.  I am now going to give a current report!  :)  

As of December 29th, Ian:

-gives me good hugs and pats my back at least a couple times a day

-signs and says 'all done' (nov. 9th)

-opens and closes mouth repeatedly when you ask him where his teeth are.

-points and says, "what's that?"  (nov.)  Now he'll versions of, "What is that?" or "Where'd it go?", and answering with his hands held up, "I don't know." It's really cute.  

-took two steps Dec. 4th, then started consistently running 6-7 steps before falling.  He had been standing not holding on to anything forever.  He could clap and throw things without losing his balance so it's about time that he walks!  He actually didn't start consistently choosing to walk over crawl until this last week in December.

-Still nursing 2-3 times a day

-signs milk, more, eat, all done, night-night, and says them at the same time.

-will attempt to repeat pretty much anything you try to get him to.  This is one of Scott's favorite phases.  He loves to have the kids repeat things for him.

And the not so positive-

I took Ian to an allergist yesterday to have him tested for peanut, egg, and milk allergies.  He is allergic to peanuts and eggs, not milk, so at least that's something.  We had to get an epipen and make sure we have it with us wherever Ian is.  The darn thing cost $530 but we got $100 off.  They expire in less than a year.  I guess that's just one more expense we can count on every year.

I can't remember if I wrote about it before but I suspected Ian was allergic to peanuts several months ago when Sari gave him a couple peanut butter chocolate chips from a trail mix.  Five or ten minutes after he ate them he vomited and had a few little hives around his mouth.  I had just given him a new kind of baby food too, so I wasn't sure what it was or if it was the milk I gave him.  Anyhow, fast forward 3 months and I was reading a paper of food that have Iron in them since he was a little anemic from not having fortified formula.  Peanut butter was on the list.  I though, oh, I'll give him a pb and j sandwich for lunch!  So I made it and gave it to him on his highchair tray and then proceeded to do the dishes in the same room.  About 5 minutes later, Kate walked in and said, "wow! Why does Ian look like that?!"  Instantly I remembered the peanut butter chips incident and thought how stupid I was to let Ian eat so much peanut butter without thinking about it!  His lips were huge, and a couple minutes later he had hives on his head and arms.  He was also rubbing his ears and coughing.  Then he vomited a couple times.  I called the doctor to figure out his benadryl dose and if I should panic.  The first dose he threw up and I gave it to him again because it was so immediate.  After about an hour the swelling went down and he never seemed to have any respiratory problems.  The pediatrician referred me to the allergist and said to get right in.  Now I'm feeling a little anxious about it, especially about leaving him with people.  He eats everything he finds on the floor.  I think it will be much easier when he's older and can police himself somewhat.

The left marks starting from the top are: eggs, milk, peanuts.  The top mark on the right is the control mark, there isn't supposed to be a reaction, and the bottom mark is histamine so there is supposed to be a reaction.  You can see he reacted to eggs and peanuts, with the peanut mark being worse.