Ear Infections and Temper Tantrums

We went to the doctor for our first ear infection since Collin was born . . . but it was me with the infection, not my baby! My ear must not be too bad, because my biggest symptom is that it feels like my right ear is under water, not that I'm feeling intense pain. I'm looking forward to the z-pack kicking in though so I don't have to keep asking people to repeat themselves. I went out to lunch with co-workers yesterday and caught every other word. Between that and sneezing and coughing all over everyone, I'm sure they were thrilled they invited me.

Collin is almost recovered from this cold that gave me the ear infection. But on the days he was experiencing the worst of the cold symptoms, the one-year-old temper tantrums were more frequent. These happen when we tell him no. Such as no, don't put the dirty, dog-slobber tennis ball in your mouth. Here he is pouting at the end of our driveway over that injustice:
Now that he's getting his strength back, he is seeming more interested in walking rather than crawling for short distances. If he's holding on to my finger, he'll walk all over the place - and sometimes he is going so fast he's almost running. My finger is giving little to no physical support, but must give him the mental confidence he needs. Just when I was beginning to think I might be walking him to kindergarten by the finger, he has started to show more bravery in the walking department. Maybe in March he'll decide crawling is for babies . . .