A Fever Again!

You're so cute, Felix

Today has been a weird day. Felix woke up, as bright as a button, this morning. He seemed really happy for most of the day; eating, signing and chatting away but, over a period of about 20 minutes, after dinner tonight, he started burning a fever, became very lethargic and fell asleep. Strange, because he has been fine all day.......

Felix hasn't had the greatest success with his potty training today. Although he did a tiny wee every time he went to the toilet, he then soaked his jocks soon after. He went through four pairs today. However, I bought him a potty, to keep up the other end of the house and, although he was skeptical of it at first, he was happy to alternate between that and the toilet for the rest of the day. I like it when he embraces changes to his routine, and I'm so glad he seems happy to use the potty because it will be much easier to take with us when we travel. A potty seat isn't much help when you have to stop on the side of the road and there is no toilet. The potty will be much more useful. I also bought some 'pull ups' for when we travel; it will be much simpler to not have to do an entire wardrobe change if he wets his pants.

Not feeling well :(

Nathan and I went to do the food shopping tonight and decided to take Felix with us. Anyone would think he is a member of the royal family, the way he waved at all the other shoppers. We let him walk for most of the time at the supermarket, with Nathan following behind him to make sure he didn't get run over by a trolley. Felix was quite the charmer; any time he made eye contact with someone, he gave them a shy smile and waved. It's great to see, even the most serious people, suddenly smile when they see his little face looking at them, trying to get their attention. I love seeing the joy he brings to others.

Trying to escape

This brings me to tonight. We got home from the food shopping and Felix 'helped' me unpack the bags and then ate some dinner. Almost immediately after, Nathan went to pick him up and noticed he was hot to touch. When I checked, it was really obvious that he was running a fever......again! Nate stripped off his clothes and, within minutes, he was laying slumped over the couch nearly asleep. We gave him Panadol and put him to bed, where he went straight to sleep. I'm not they type of parent who panics. Our kids rarely go to the Doctor or have antibiotics. I've never used teething gel and barely ever give Panadol, but I'm a little bit worried about him. Every time he has a temperature, the Doctors can't find any sign of infection. He had nose bleeds for 4 days in a row about a fortnight ago, he hasn't put on weight in about 6 months and the last few days he has been sleeping for hours at a time during the day. My gut tells me that he is probably fine; kids get viral things all the time, but my head tells me that I would never forgive myself if I didn't get him checked out and something was seriously wrong. Anyway, tomorrow I am going to try to get him in to see our (ridiculously busy) Paediatrician. Failing that, I'm going to take him to the GP and request some blood tests. Leukemia is something which lurks in the back of my mind sometimes. Kids with Down Syndrome have a slightly elevated risk of having it and, although that risk is only marginally higher, it's enough to cause concern (for me anyway). I'm sure it will end up being nothing, but Felix is too precious, so we're going to get him looked at again to put our minds at rest.