Tuesday afternoon, John spiked a fever of 101.3. Thus on Wednesday, it was back to the doctor for the third time in as many weeks. Diagnosis: left ear is still/again infected. Apparently this isn't necessarily uncommon, widespread antibiotic use has led to bugs that are tougher to kill, etc etc. So, we stopped the amoxicillin (we were on day 8 of 10 for that) and had to start a new antibiotic for the next 10 days. John was already starting to fight us about taking the amoxicillin, which at least has a semi-pleasant if sickly sweet bubble gum scent (and flavor, I would imagine). This new stuff smells like cat pee. I am not kidding. The mere thought of having to ingest it makes me want to gag. You can imagine how thrilled John is to have it squirted down his throat twice a day. Sigh.
He remains in good spirits though, for the most part. Busy as always and wanting to check everything out. Right now he's standing by the TV, opening and closing the door on the stand, dropping and picking up a remote, messing up the movies, and putting his hand in the VCR. Last night and this morning he spent some time playing with the cat's favorite toy, a ball that rolls around in a circular track. (He was quite frustrated that he couldn't pick up the ball.) He loves to take things out of containers (not interested in putting things IN yet). He's getting quite adept at walking while holding on with one hand. The baby gates are up at each end of the kitchen now, all ready for the day when he strikes out on his own!