Cold vs. Allergies

I really don't feel like blogging lately.  So I'm forcing this one because its been too long already.

We think Emmett has allergies.  He's had a runny nose all week and I thought he was coming down with another cold, except that he doesn't act like he feels bad at all and he doesn't really have any other cold-like symptoms.  He was sneezing a  little bit, but not lately.  He coughs a little when he wakes up the last few days, but not too bad.  So I'm still not sure.  It could have just been a weak cold that has almost run its course.  I guess we'll see.  It doesn't seem to get any worse outside, and we've been outside a lot this week because the weather has been nice.  So who knows.

I took Emmett to a playground that I found that's closer to the house than some of the other ones we usually go to.  Its a bit smaller, and it has mulch, which I'm not a fan of.  But its on this side of one of the main roads in Winston that allows us to avoid a lot more traffic.  (Unfortunately we don't have a decent playground in our neighborhood)  He had a good time climbing around and swinging.  The more we're around other kids the more I realize that Emmett is really tall for his age.  Either that or its just a fluke that we keep seeing kids who are a bit older than him who are smaller.  When you look at him you would think he's older because he's bigger, but then when you see how much more advanced the other kid is, it becomes more obvious.  Emmett is 16 months and we saw a kid at Stride Rite who was 19 months and significantly smaller.  But the kid was talking much better and was a few months ahead of him in the motor skills department.  We saw a little girl who was 18 months at the park last weekend who was shorter than him but could obviously climb up the playground stairs much better and was using quite a few intelligible words. 

Speaking of words, Emmett seems to have mastered "Bye."  He says it to me when I'm getting ready to leave for work, he says it whenever someone leaves, and he says it when he hears me say it on the phone.  He says "cheese" pretty well too at dinner time when he's ready for it (its his favorite part of the meal).  So we're getting there.  By 18 months he should really be using more words than he is now, so we're working on it.  The hard part for Emmett is that he won't say them on command, so its hard to get him to say them for the doctor.  Oh well, I don't care what the doctor thinks.  I have a degree in Child Development, I know what he's supposed to be doing and when. 

I do know his fine motor skills are right on par.  He's getting pretty good with his fork and spoon.  I think he's about ready for some of those egg-shaped crayons even though they say 18 months.  He even uses the regular crayons we get at restaurants sometimes before he decides he wants to eat them.  I have noticed a decrease in his tendency to put everything in his mouth.  That makes me happy.  The world of things he can play with opens up significantly when he stops that.

So even though I didn't feel like it, when I start typing it just flows.