"Yurk... this stuff tastes like water!"

In old movies featuring a washed-up sailor, there's usually a scene in which he takes a swig from a shot glass, then spits it out, snarling, "This stuff tastes like water!"

Sonny isn't quite a well-lubricated old sea dog, but yesterday he was spewing out water (albeit laced with Paracetamol) like a champ. The poor thing came down with a bit of a fever after getting his most recent vaccination, so Mum and Pa were pounding up fever pills, then mixing them with water before spooning the concoction into his mouth. The liquid didn't seem particularly vile ("Rather nice, actually", Mum opined), but one reason came to mind for Sonny's highly negative reaction.

It turns out that he's never tasted water before. All these four-months-and-a-week, he's imbibed nothing but milk. The closest he's come is some doses of instant formula (since discontinued), which is made with water and powder but of course tastes nothing like H2O. Yesterday, however, he was getting the real thing - and even the sweetened taste of Paracetamol-for-babies wasn't enough to compensate for the shock. We don't know how much of the medicine reached the little fella's gut, but we'll have to arrange a happier introduction to to water by and by.

Actually, yesterday was a day of two milestones reached: It was also the first time Sonny had run a temperature. Though fighting a cold for about a week now, our ear thermometer had always given the all-clear. If, a few days ago, we had complained about his ability to wheeze on demand (mystified? Click here), he's now consistently panting like a dog that's just wildly dashed for a mile. His nose is blocked and his eyes a little watery. Yet he's still carrying on like a trouper, not being any more clingy than usual and all in all just remaining a much noisier version of his normal self.

Except when we try to feed him water, of course.