This kid cracks me up

I am just in love with my little boy. I know I'm completely biased, but he has to be one of the sweetest natured, most easy going kids ever. Gus rarely cries and laughs all the time. He find humor in everyday life and loves to joke around. The kid can't even talk, and he still likes to make jokes and laugh. Gus doesn't have a huge fear of strangers (a healthy fear, yes) but he can charm the pants off of anyone. Especially the old 80 year old Mexican man sitting with his huge sombrero in the mall. He was sitting on that old man's lap where the man's hat in minutes. I uploaded a video at the end of a typical funny-kid Gus moment. 

As noted in my previous post, Gus scaled his crib. It all happened in a matter of hours. If you look at the pictures below, you can see it wasn't an easy crib to scale. At least not in my mind. The new non-dropside cribs let the mattress practically go to the floor. He really had to hoist himself up and over. After he escapade, I just removed the side. The following is a picture of Gus' first night in his "new" bed. When I went to go check on him after he fell asleep, I found 5 or 6 books at the foot of the bed. I put them away. Then in the morning, when I went to go check on him, he had more books!

My dad's German Shepherd mix turned 16 years old this week! Gus helps me with the care of Tasha. Whenever I turn around, Tasha (who has trouble getting up and is no longer into chew toys) always has her dog bowl or chew bone between her front two paws. Gus will bring stuff to her. I hope he is like that when I am old and senile! I inserted a video of Gus helping Tasha eat a cookie.

I cannot get rid of that damn Tigger costume. Whenever I put it in the "give away" pile, Gus finds it, puts it on and then it ends up back in his things. Then I take it out to make room for new stuff, Gus finds it and puts it on, and again IT WON'T LEAVE THE HOUSE! Here are some cute pictures of Gus in his Tigger costume playing in a box. He was just cracking me up!

Gus the comedian

Helping Tasha Out

My life has changed

Guess who learned how to scale his crib? Guess who now needs to learn how to sleep in a "big boy bed." We will keep you posted.

Sledding

On a beautiful Sunday, Gus and I went hiking with Gus' beloved baby sitter and one of my good friends here in town. Thanida and I took turns pulling Gus up the mountain in the sled. Then we hopped in and sledded down. Mom is an experienced trauma nurse so "Traumatic Brain Injury" kept flashing in her head. We took the slow road, but enjoyed it none the less.

Don't worry, it is benign

Gus runs out of the family room to get a toy and I hear a "thud". Then a few moments later, I hear a moan. As I run into the next room he is lying on the ground, dazed looking. I pick him up and he tries to cry but can't. I sit down with him and he is ghostly white. A bead of sweat has formed on his upperlip, and his skin is ice cold. He is lethargic and there is no color left in his little body. Within 10 or 20 minutes he is back to normal.

From http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/sec23/ch269/ch269g.html

A breath-holding spell is an episode in which the child stops breathing and loses consciousness for a short period immediately after a frightening or emotionally upsetting event or a painful experience.

• Breath-holding spells usually are triggered by physically painful or emotionally upsetting events..

Breath-holding spells occur in 5% of otherwise healthy children. They usually begin in the first year of life and peak at age 2. They disappear by age 4 in 50% of children and by age 8 in about 83% of children. Breath-holding spells can take one of two forms.

The pallid form typically follows a painful experience, such as falling and banging the head or being suddenly startled. The brain sends out a signal (via the vagus nerve) that severely slows the heart rate, causing loss of consciousness. Thus, in this form, the loss of consciousness and stoppage of breathing (which are both temporary) result from a nerve response to being startled that leads to slowing of the heart.

The child stops breathing, rapidly loses consciousness, and becomes pale and limp. A seizure and incontinence may occur. The heart typically beats very slowly during a spell. After the spell, the heart speeds up again, breathing restarts, and consciousness returns without any treatment. 

This is the only second time Gus had a pallid breath holding spell. The first time, he was 4 months old. A pale, limp, non-breathing, bradycardic baby doesn't seem normal, so I called 911. This time, Gus didn't completely lose consciousness, and I was knowledgeable about the "non-life threatening" nature of pallid breath holding spells. Looking at my deathly pale, diaphoretic little boy, I tried not to panic. I can't wait till he out grows this!

Did I mention the fascination with firetrucks?

Gus loves fire trucks. He wears this free fire man's hat (that the firemen gave him) around the house all the time. Usually it is on backwards. But that is how he rolls

Meanwhile, Gus likes to play with the nice, old firetruck that a neighbor gave him.

Not sure where the passion for firetrucks come from?

Happy Birthday, my Gus.

Can you believe it?! Gus is two! He turned 2 on January 17th. That was not a good day. He woke up with a fever and puked his milk all over his French toast. Gus couldn't even go to school and share his cupcakes with his friends at school. Thank goodness, my dad was visiting so he stayed home with Gus.

The day before his birthday, I had a little party for him. It was just my neighbor with her 3 kids. Heidi, her husband, their kids, me, and Gus all went to the rec center and went swimming. I tried to be domestic and made little gift bags for all the kids including goggles and pool toys. All and all it was a good time. We came home and had cupcakes. At least Gus got to be sung to without puking (unlike his actual birthday).

I also took Gus to the pediatrician for his 2 year check up. No vaccines on this trip! His lead levels are low. . . which is good because I am constantly on him about chewing on lead paint. . . just kidding. They did some random vision test, but it looked like voo doo magic to me. They turned the light out and shot a laser at his face and then declared he had good vision. His stats are the following:

Height 36 inches, 90%
Weight 31.6 lbs, 90%

I can't believe how much Gus has grown over the last 2 years and can't imagine what the next 2 years has in store. I love you, buddy!

First Time Skiing

Gus and I were visiting my brother around New Years. My brother bought skis for his 3 year old son so he can start putting Eli in lessons. In Colorado, kids can start group lessons at the age of 3, and private lessons at 2. As we were trying to convince Eli to put the skis on, we tried the reverse psychological thing. "Hey Eli, look at your little cousin, Gus! He can put on skis." So, we put the skis on Gus, and he loved them. Eli still wasn't biting. "Look Eli, we are going take Gus outside and he is going t ski down the hill." Eli still wasn't biting. Meanwhile . . . . Gus started skiing!

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