I'm six months old. Old enough to remember not to forgive my parents for putting me in this Santa outfit. Today is Christmas! Hooray! Saavan spent his first Christmas (or at least the passage of time from Christmas Eve through Christmas morning) driving from Washington D.C. to Ann Arbor, Michigan, suffering from a bout of diarrhea. Saavan, being the trooper that he is, was unfazed by said diarrhea, and occupied his time in the car sleeping, singing, and shrieking loudly (it’s his new thing). Now it may seem gratuitous and rather unkind to mention Saavan's diarrhea, but it was said diarrhea that caused the Family Vohra to be in transit from DC to Chicago on Christmas eve, and so it's relevant.
The original plan was to begin the trip first thing Christmas eve morning, getting into Michigan with plenty of time to leave a plate of cookies and warm glass of milk out for Santa, and to tuck Saavan in good and early so he'd be happy and refreshed for his first morning opening presents (or at least playing with wrapping paper). Unfortunately, an evil stomach virus floating through Saavan's day care had other ideas. On Monday evening when I picked Saavan up from school, one of his teachers mentioned that he'd thrown up a bit, and was suffering from the aforementioned diarrhea. I thought nothing of it - Saavan is a tough little kid, and he seemed no worse for the wear (he gave me a huge smile - illustrated above - when I picked him up). And he was in good spirits throughout the evening. And our pediatrician’s office confirmed that so long as Saavan was in happy and eating well, there was nothing to worry about.
For him, maybe. Unfortunately, Saavan's good spirits did not prevent me from waking up that evening and throwing up uncontrollably (gross, I know, but again, this blog is, first and foremost, for posterity). The day care virus that had gotten to Saavan had claimed me as its next victim. And it was bad. I had to call in sick for work on Tuesday, and leaving for Michigan on Wednesday was now up in the air, as I was totally bedridden.**
Fortunately, Wednesday morning, after two gallons of Gatorade and a bottle of Pepto Bismol, I was feeling better, and was ready to make the trip. But because I was dying on Tuesday night, we had not previously packed. And thus, the late start, and the transit through the Christmas day with a diarrhea-inflicted Saav-man. At 1:15 on Christmas morning, we reached Ann Arbor, with Saavan passed out, and his mom and dad completely spent.
The holidays can only get better little guy! And it did! Check out Saavan playing with his sweet new farmer truck:
Saavan loves farm subsidies.
Christmas aside, Saavan is now 6 months old (or at least he was 4 days ago). And he's frickin' awesome. He sits up on his own (although he's still got a little Stevie Wonder sway going), he babbles and shrieks uncontrollably, and he's developed a mischievous closed-mouthed smile to go along with his heart-melting open-mouthed one (see first picture above). He's a hit at his day care, where his teacher calls him a little peanut. He's a terrible flirt, and has tons of girlfriends (well not yet, but a dad can hope).
Finally, loyal readers of the blog will recall my previously-raised concern about Saavan's disdain for authority, as evidenced by his chronic middle-finger raising. Well check out the little guy's left hand in this latest photo:
This is definitely going to be a problem.
**I note, for the record, that while I was afflicted with the throwing up aspect of the stomach virus, I did not have the diarrhea. If I did have the diarrhea, I would have just said that Saavan and I were suffering from an upset stomach. Diarrhea is embarrassing! Except when it afflicts infants. Although even then, it’s not all that adorable.
