Maximus and HFMD

Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a fairly common viral illness in children. (HFMD is not the same as foot-and-mouth disease, also called hoof-and-mouth disease, which affects animals.)
HFMD most often occurs in preschoolers, although adults and children of any age can get it. Most adults have developed antibodies against it from previous exposure. HFMD most often shows up in the summer and fall.
HFMD can be caused by any of a number of viruses, most commonly the coxsackie virus.
Toddler contracts HFMD, will first have a mild fever. A day or two after the fever starts, your toddler will develop painful sores in his mouth — on his tongue, gums, or the inside of his cheeks. This will likely make him irritable. Your child may also develop a rash on the palms of his hands, the soles of his feet, and maybe his buttocks. The rash, which isn't itchy, starts out as small, flat, red dots that may turn into bumps or blisters.

(Facts taken from babycentre.com)

Based on the above facts, I firstly discover that Maximus is infected with HFM on 28 August during late afternoon towards evening. However, he got all the symptoms (fever, spots, ulcers) all at the same time. So instead of going for our family dinner, we rushed to the nearest hospital.
Maximus was confirmed having HFMD by the pediatrician but was told that he didn't need to be admitted. However since the administration has been done, we stayed on.

He was super duper cranky and it's really pitiful to see him suffers in pain especially with the ulcers in his mouth - the worst is on the tip of his tongue. He was being quarantined in a single room. The pediatrician and nurses are nice and helpful (of course...we paid a deposit of RM 2k).

At home, Maximus was really sticky to us like glue and always wanted to be carried. He can't eat much but we have to give him more fluid. I have to record down the quantity of fluid he took so that he won't be dehydrated.

Although he is still active - playing well especially with his cousins, he still isn't himself because of the ulcers pain. Sometimes he gets very cranky and cries a lot. It's not easy for us and it really takes a lot of patient to fulfill his needs.

I pray every night for God's healing and speedy recovery. I am sure this happened for a good reason. We were supposed to go for a picnic at the Ulu Yam waterfall on Sunday 29 August but I think God has HIS plan to protect us from the recent disease.

1st Master piece

Finally I bought a toddler-size (fat) crayon that suitable for toddler's fine motor skill. So my lil artist is into colouring. This is his 1st master piece... Showing it with pride!

Maximus started by choosing yellow crayon and coloured the aeroplane. Then he changed to green.
Finally, he presented his art work!

From being timid to an enjoyable experience

Any new experiences for toddlers seem to be a 1st adventure. Some will feel timid but some are bold to try even it's their 1st. All these are just the part and parcel of growing up from an infant to a toddler now.
Maximus has different experiences in his toddler-hood i.e. from taking the bus ride to the train ride. And from having an adventure on the highland, waterfall and now to the beach.
We first brought him to the beach just in conjunction with the Kinderland Seremban 2 Sports Day event. Since I have to be there for work purposes, I decided to give him a good exposure to the beach. Of course I have my hubby along so that I can also focus on my work.
When we were there, Maximus was so afraid to go down bare-footed on the sandy beach. So I decided to put him on the mat and let him explore the sand with his hands. Soon after the hands-on experiences, slowly he moved to step on the sand. Wah-lah...he begun to move around freely on the sandy beach with other children.
It was a wonderful and enjoyable experience for him. Although he is still not ready to face the wave at the sea, I am sure he will be more bold to explore one day. It's an adventure for him.

Talking in short phrases

As toddler reaches 2 years old, the language development begins to develop fast...and slowly a toddler will start to talk in a complete sentence i.e. I want milk.
The language development of a young toddler begins with 1 syllabus word - milk, daddy, mummy, car etc. Then 2 syllabus word - flower, open, apple, etc. From the 2 syllabus words, toddler will start to combine those vocab into 2 or more phrase i.e. big car, daddy's car, here pain etc.
Maximus's language development is in the milestone as he reaches 2 years old soon (in Nov). He begins to explore his vocab and combine words into short phrase. It's really cute and overwhelming to see how he uses his vocab in his daily conversation. I would said that I have totally lost count of the number of vocab that he has grasped.
He uses different type of vocab in his daily conversation and mostly in short phrases (2 or more words). I enjoy having a conversation with him especially when I read a book or tell a story to him. He is able to interact well... in his tiny voice, I found it a great achievement in his language development. Some phrases sounded silly yet cute and some are used in a very smart ways.
Here are some of the short phrases that Maximus are using:

1. Big truck (or car, bus)
2. Daddy's big car
3. Mummy's bag
4. Po-po's house
5. Big house
6. Kor-kor (or anyone in the family) pain-pain
   
7. Mummy scold (or anyone in the family)
8. No more thing
   
9. No more flower (or any nouns of object)
10. Daddy / mummy work
11. More milk
    

These are few of the short phrases that he uses in his daily conversation. Some silly phrases are:

1. Two milk (especially when he is being breast-fed)
   
2. No more Doh-no (as referring to McDonalds)
3. Bum-bum pain-pain (giving excuses not to wear diaper)

Slowly and surely, he will begin to progress to speaking in simple short sentences. And I am sure by 2 he won't stop talking... mostly the twos are the chatter-box because they start to "parrot" or imitate any adults' conversation.