Firsts

this past week has been a week of firsts for max:

• his first 4th of july, spent chillin' in gulf shores, where chad's parents were camping in the state park.
• his first trip to the beach, which happened on the 4th of july.
  

• and a few days later, his first illness - a tummy bug that's been going around (we're pretty sure). but he might have gotten some poo in his mouth on sunday when we had a major diaper blowout requiring an emergency mid-afternoon bath (instead of the normal bedtime bath). that is most foul. max's pediatrician said if he's still running a fever tomorrow, bring him back and they'll have to do some lab work to make sure nothing else is wrong. it's not an ear or throat infection, and he's not teething (i'm kind of bummed that teething could cause his symptoms). he's been running a fever and spewing from everywhere, which is not fun for anyone. the doc recommended pedialyte between feedings and tylenol every 4 hours.
• which led to another first - max's first use of the sippy cup.
  

• first, i tried giving him the pedialyte in a bottle. he would have none of that.
• so i diluted the pedialyte with water, thinking that perhaps the fruity orange flavor was too strong for his tiny taste buds.
• he still wouldn't have it.
• so we resorted to the sippy cup, which i was planning to introduce when i start giving him juice (which will also be diluted with water).
• max required a lesson in sippy cup usage - at first he just chewed on the spout and handles, thinking it was a new toy.
• so i gave him a couple of sips from the cup without the lid.
• then i took out the valve that keeps liquid from spilling out when babies sling the cup around. this valve also requires active sucking for anything to come out. max did not understand this. liquid flows freely without the valve, so max started sucking on the spout.
• so i replaced the valve and let him have free reign with the sippy cup. this resulted in the pedialyte drinking success pictured above. i think max looks quite sick and pitiful in that picture, but he is drinking his pedialyte like a champ.