The Burkett Bundle: New Word Wednesday (and some other stuff)

Here are the new words she has mastered in the past two weeks:

Toy (or toys, she seems to understand the plural of this!)

Blocks

Popeye (The Sailor Man...to request the song)

Oatmeal (2/4)

Sure

Spoon (2/5)

Read (She loves to say "read it")

Water

Blanket

Home

Becca (Rebecca G., who babysits her when I go to PTO Board meetings)

In (2/9)

Nope

Yeah

Back (2/10) (as in put it back...not the body part)

Swing (2/12)

Brigie

Here (or Here go, while handing something to us)

Pillow (which she specifically requested while in her bed last night. We have a firm "no pillow" rule for little ones)

Plate

Yogurt

Paper (2/14)

Burp

Happened? (Sometimes there is a small "wha" before it, usually said when something changes on the TV or someone is crying.)

House (Which applies to any room in the house that she is not currently in.)

Downstairs

Excuse me (after burp)

Why (After I tell her something like "Daddy is at work" or "It's too cold to go outside." It usually sounds like whyeeeee?)

Butter (2/16)

Pig

Car

Medicine

Man

Girl

Brush (2/17)

Open it

I read somewhere recently that the average two-year old should have at least 75 words, and usually are somewhere between 75-225. By my running list (which I'm sure is incomplete), Gemma at 20 months is now at 238 words! Now, at the same age, my other two (who are brilliant) did not have near as many words, so I'm not assuming she's insanely gifted or anything, but it sure does make life easier to have a 20-month-old who can communicate to you what she wants 95% of the time.

I remember that being the hardest part with Kyran and Karyssa. Even though they had several words at her age, they weren't always complete with beginning blends and ending sounds, so I didn't always understand them at first. Most of Gemma's words, though, are very clear and can be understood by most of the adults and children that she is around. Today, she even started accentuating the L in Bella! It leads to so much less frustration between the two of us during the day.

At this point, her frustration level comes when I expect just a little more than she wants to give. Saying "please", putting books and toys back when she's done using them, etc. I think the cleaning up was one area where I missed the boat with Kyran and Karyssa and I definitely want to start her early.

In other news, last Thursday night was a rough one. She was crying a lot (which she never does), and didn't get much sleep. The next day she was lethargic and clingy and after lunch had a low-grade fever, so back to the doctor we went. Her regular doctor was not there, so we saw another excellent doctor, and I think it worked out for the best that way, because Dr. G. is now one of Gemma's least favorite people in the world.

Friday, Dr. G. saw no signs of an ear infection, which was my first guess based on the signs that were the exact same from the last one. She did a blood test on her and her white blood count was at 22. (It's supposed to be 8-11, with 17 being on the high side, she said.) She got a double shot of Rocephin and an appointment for Saturday morning.

The Rocephin shot brought back so many memories to this day, and I remembered the helpless feeling of holding Kyran down while they "tortured" him. Gemma was giving me the same helpless eyes and Dr. G. even said she was shooting her daggers.

Saturday morning, she was feeling better when I took her back and she was all smiles and chatty in the waiting room, but as soon as we turned the corner to the hallway, she immediately recognized it and started crying. When Dr. G. came in, she clung to me and started motioning for the chair, "sit, sit!". She actually did pretty well through the exam and even through another toe prick, which showed that her count was back down to 10! Under more careful inspection, Dr. G. did notice a small ear infection. As I suspected, she believes that the first one never completely went away, so she prescribed the oral version of Rocephin, and Gemma seems to be back to normal again! I'm hoping the stronger medicine will make it completely go away this time.

Yes, I do still have two other kids, and they have had some fun and exciting things going on recently too. I promise I will post about them soon!