R has been down with another one of his seemingly endless illnesses - a chest infection this time round. I don't usually get too worked up about his umpteen cold and cough bouts, but this one had me a little worried, I must admit. His doc recommended an x-ray if he did not respond to his meds, and I had to get one done eventually when the fever would not subside. The report, scarily enough, diagnosed minimal bronchopneumonia. That's a medical term long and complicated enough to set off alarm bells in any mother's head. As it turned out, it was nothing to worry about (I so love pediatricians who make being sick sound routine;)) And as if to prove his doctor right, R bounced back in that amazing way toddlers have, literally waving away my fussing over his racking cough. He's on his way to a full recovery and will not tolerate being treated as a patient anymore.

There are enough little ones being unwell around me to feel like I have company. Season or not, toddlers seem to hunt out ways of catching that cold, or that tummy bug. But I cannot appreciate more our mothers (and fathers), sitting up through nights and going through that dreadful waiting at pediatricians' offices, all the while managing their own lives. There are days I feel I could not deal with the multitasking parenting requires, at all! Then again, we probably have some God given gene that helps us survive, battle scars and all.

It's a new year, one I hope brings more health, more happy squeals and certainly many more words from R, who has some serious catching up to do where his speech is concerned. I long to be bombarded with questions and endless chatter from this boy, and he's certainly going to do it his own way in his time. I must document his speech developments here to be an encouragement and resource for me later, if not anything else.