Jeremy's health

With all the wet and humid weather around recently it seems everyone in the house has been battling with some kind of virus or bug recently.

I seem to have been blamed for it all because I spent a lot of January with a bad throat and cough and a voice threatening to leave and leave me silent, but it went eventually but then the cough and flu like symptoms decided to creep into everyone else, leaving Yovita sick, Belvan sick, our house keeper sick and Jeremy sick as well. None of which was good.

Jeremy had a small fall the other week and after a trip to the hospital and some xrays etc he was deemed OK and to be honest once we cleaned him up he cheered up and was not really worse for the wear. However he did develop a fever and a cough but we put that down the recent measles jab. His fever became a little more intense recently and so we took him back to the hospital for a check up. He has also contracted a stomach bug and so has a lots of runny poo, not total diarrhoea but enough to be worried about. He had a thorough examination and the only that is currently bothering him is the stomach bug, but it has not slowed him down and he is excited and happy as ever now the fever has gone. He still wakes around 1am for food and then is content to sleep in til 7 as are when we can.

Hopefully it will clear up this weekend otherwise we need to take samples to the lab at hospital to find out what is wrong. I am sure that will happen :(

His teeth are coming through and he has taken to try to bite things and people which is being hugely discouraged. He is teething a lot and has itchy gums but that does not seem to upset him too much. He still eats and drinks away which is always the best sign.

We are still waiting for the first real unaided steps and also the first real words to come and I am sure that those things will be happening before his first birthday.

January in Jakarta

Well that is January pretty much over and done with, all that is left is Chinese New Year and to welcome the Year of the horse.

Been a long month, and so much seems to have happened, which it probably did.

The biggest thing has been the weather out here. The floods have caused problems all over the country and Jakarta again found itself in many places knee high in brown river water. Some of the biggest rainfall I have seen here happened in January and it was loud and impressive and damaging but mainly impressive.

Photos borrowed very kindly from http://statik.tempo.co/ the Jakarta Post / sigmanew.us / stasiareport.com / floodlist.com / englishastroawani.com

(Because it was too wet and too damp to take my own).

The rivers have been very high with most flooding or looking like they will. The weather has given me a bad chest and croaky voice as well which has not been helpful. The roads are now being fixed after all the pot holes created through the rainfall which will help but all they do is fill the hole with tarmac and not seal it and so it will let water in and then sink and the hole reappears, cheap and cheerful and will  make it alright for now.

 My contract renewed itself and so I remain happily with EF and continue to help and support my teachers and students best I can. There are big changes on their way and already happening but I am more than certain we will get through them quite comfortably.

One of the changes is through its marketing approach and this video is the latest awe inspiring one to hit Indonesia. Sometimes it is good knowing you work in a global leading business.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Q6xnnQ3P914

Other more random things I have seen and explored this month.

There is a guy who has a 3 meter long snake near where we live and I must try and get a photo of that. The Red Cross here have snow mobiles which look totally out of place but I guess are ideal near volcanoes etc.
The McDonalds near the school served a raw Big Mac last week to a teacher, who used to work in McD's and he was amazed as were the rest of us with seeing that.

I got stopped for riding through a red light the other evening. The fine was 500k, I protested my innocence and was let off after being told off. I am sure it won't happen again.

Jeremy has continued to grow and develop and is now over 10kg in weight and 75cm in height and is 9 months old in a couple of days time.
He continues to explore and crawl and try to stand. He dribbles like there is no tomorrow, smiles when he sees someone he knows and is learning to wave. His laugh is amazing and happily for the grans' his hair is growing back. He is still trying to talk and is getting better at it.
His curiosity is boundless as is his energy and it does confuse me how someone so small can take so much space in the bed up. His teeth are coming through and he is learning to bite.
We are now awaken around midnight to feed him and then again at 4 and if we are lucky he will sleep from 7 until 12 but for now the sleeping pattern has changed and it is starting to make me very tired.

But he is still the most fun ever and I spend so much of my free time playing with him and talking with him and it feels great. His favourite toys are the simplest ones, an orange plastic hoop, a set of stacking rings, a Fisher Price play phone and some soft toys courtesy of mum and Auntie Margaret :).

He now crawls around the house or in his walker thing and he still does not really cry or sulk and is very patient and does not seem scared of anything, well perhaps my sneezing!!!

February is around the corner and  hope the weather changes, it gets warm and the blue skies return.