ABC's and Dirty Knees

Last week Austin had a bout of Roseola, which I had never heard of, but resulted in a fever and blotches all over his body. A little scary, but we took him to the doctor right away and it was really nothing to worry about. His sleeping was a little off track and he was rather cranky, but now that it's over he's back to normal and super fun again. We are trying to pack in the fun during the last few weekends of summer. Over the past week we've been to the Evergreen State Fair (rather smelly and overrated), blueberry picking (one of Austin's favorite pastimes) and to the "beach" today (Lake Washington.) We had a great time at the beach; Austin loved tossing rocks into the waves. He didn't, however, love getting dirty. As many already know, Austin has a major preoccupation with being dirty. Many toddlers do, but I'm starting to suspect he's a bit more intense about it than most. He could not relax at the beach because the rocks were dirty and his hands were getting dirty. Then Brian showed him how to rinse off his hands in the water, but in getting close to the water his shoes and pants got a little wet/dirty. He was not happy about that at all. I took off his shoes and he about flipped out because he didn't want his feet to touch the ground and/or the water. It was all very OCD and I hope he grows out of it.
In developmental news, I've recently learned he can say his ABC's, which is amazing to me because I had no idea he could say nearly as many letters as he can. He doesn't know them by heart, we have to prompt him. And some letters he can't say so he says "da" for those, but he tries to say every letter. Especially cute to me is his pronounciation of L ("elf") and I, M, & N because I've never heard him make those sounds before at all. What really impresses me though is that he recognizes the letters so when we're reading books, etc. he picks out specific letters and says them, leading me to burst with pride at his "reading" skills.