Eight Months and Change

For the past three or four days, Frank's temperature has been going up and down, the highest has been about 40.2 Centigrade, and it's been driving his parents to distraction. It's rarely pleasant to hear babies screaming--that said, I am hard put to come up with one time when it is not unpleasant, but no matter--especially when it disrupts the sleep patterns of adults who have just gotten used to sleeping through the night. I now know more than I ever did about fevers, having read every baby book in the house and cruised several of the baby-care websites, and in Western literature, the prevailing opinion is that, while unpleasant for all concerned, fevers have a job to do and the alternative would be extended infections of the nasty variety. Don't try telling that to a Taiwanese mother. And for Jah's sake, don't remind her of your findings every time the baby has a fever.

Cause it'll just come back and bite you on the ass when you yourself get a fever like I did. Though my own wife is much to sweet to tell me when I'm suffering through 40+ that a fever is just a natural phenomenon that is helping the body cope with infection. That sucked. A week off work and I'm just now getting back into the swing of things.

Anyway, you didn't come here to read about my symptoms. Franklin is healthy and strong. He's over 9 kilos now and can stand up while holding on to furniture. He's crawling like something that crawls really well. Leica is adjusting to sharing floorspace with this new creature and he and Frankie are getting along like peas and carrots.

What else can he do? Let's see, since the last update, Franklin has started to sit up from lying on his stomach, he can almost pull himself up to a standing position in the crib, and he is constantly reminding his mother of wombtime with his kicks in the middle of the night. He loves books and will page through anything that I read, though not always with the care that I would expect from a 10 year old. Any gadgets lying around are also wondersome toys. He loves to suck on my cell phone, and has learned that our air conditioner has a remote control that makes beeping noises when the buttons are pressed. He loves it.

While working his way down through a 250cc bottle of formula Franklin entertains the whole family by tossing his hurlbowl floorwards. Sometimes Dad reaches for it, sometimes Mom, but more often than not this week, the tosser himself will reach down to the floor to pick it back up and play with it before heaving it again. I think he likes the sound of plastic against tile.

Franklin has been practicing peek-a-boo with a set of bed pillows and is fast approaching competition level. There's another typhoon headed this way so maybe Thursday mommy and daddy can stay home all day and drill elbow fakes with him.