Sick or Teething? .. nobody knows

  There seems to be a debate among parents and professionals alike as to how high a fever will go that is attributed to teething. We know Andrew is teething.. and he's only had a low grade fever once in his life so far. He hasn't really been sick. We got sick last January but I dont remember him really being sick. And any time he seemed like *maybe* he was fighting something, we were able to ward it off quickly with herbs and essential oils.  Yesterday, however, I was in uncharted territory.
  He was in good spirits, but was still ... off ... as far as his usual energy and demeanor go. But thats okay - he's teething, no big deal. He was more tired which is unusual, but we all have off days now and then without being sick.  Approaching 4pm, Nana was putting him down for a nap before going home. He was drinking a bottle, made the sign for "all done", and then spit out a bunch of milk. Mom wasn't sure if he was holding it all in his mouth and spit it out, or if he actually threw up, but it did warrant a shirt change. He went down for his nap and slept soundly. Nearly two hours later we thought we'd better let him wake up for dinner so he can have some time to play before going down for the night. We opened his door and let him gradually wake up. He still seemed exceptionally tired but we assumed he had been sleeping hard and it was just hard waking up. I had made omelets for dinner and when I offered him a bite, he leaned forward to take it but proceeded to throw up... three times in quick succession, all over daddy and the floor. I get towels and lay them down on the floor, and then Ted set Andrew on top of them while we tried to get them both cleaned up a little bit. Andrew just leaned forward and laid his head on the floor.
   I took his temperature and it was 102.6, but it was under the arm which means his temperature was actually 103.6.  When we got clean clothes and everything, we made a comfy spot on the couch for him. He drank a little bit of watered down juice and just chatted on the couch. He was obviously uncomfortable but in good humor. I took his temperature again - just thirty minutes after the first time - and now it was 103.9 (which is really 104.9!)  I ran a warm bath for him, but when we put him in he just screamed as though I was pouring ice all over him. Daddy got in and sang him into a peaceful resting position. I called the pediatrician and the on-call nurse who called me back didn't really seem concerned about it - maybe because I wasn't flipping out. I told her I didn't know what I was supposed to give him, and if I was to take him somewhere I wasn't certain where either. She was stunned to learn we didn't have childrens tylenol or motrin on hand already and that he'd never been sick yet to need it! We pulled Andrew out of the bath and Ted went shopping for the medicine.  Another mom called me and told me that the Motrin will work better than Tylenol, and I should see results within 20 minutes, but she couldn't believe I wasn't at the ER already. The concern with that high of a temperature is seizures - which I'm aware of, but it seemed silly to me to go straight to the ER without having tried anything but a bath yet.  Just last week one of her friends had their baby taken by ambulance to the hospital because of seizures with the same temperature.  In my research, they can't find that the seizures do any long-term damage or anything so I still wanted to wait for the Motrin. 
    At 8:10pm he had a dose of Motrin, and when we took his temperature 40 minutes later (he was sleeping and I didn't want to bother him until he was moaning again) it was down to 102.2 (103.2) so I was able to breathe a sigh of relief that we were making progress. If it were a virus that needed immediate attention, it would not have responded to the Motrin most likely. We let him go back to sleep, but he moaned a little bit just about every two hours. At 4:30am he cried so we both got up and gave him a half dose of Motrin. I took his temperature and it was down to 100.0 (101.0) so I wasn't worried anymore. He saw a bottle of milk in my hand and sat up asking for it which was a good sign too.  He got up again at 6:50am and seemed like he was back to his normal self. He was bringing me books, ate some oatmeal, and was pushing his toys around as usual.  He still wasn't 100% but feeling better.  He got a little cranky on and off throughout the day, but I really do believe it is because of his teeth coming in. Poor guy.  We put him to bed early tonight and plan to do the same ourselves.

   On a lighter note.. it is becoming more and more obvious that he really can read. Not just flash cards - but his books!  This morning he brought me his Go Dog Go book, opened to the page where its night time and there are dogs having a party on a boat.. he pointed to the moon and SAID "moon!"  I guess Nana and Daddy have both emphasized the moon more than I have.  He also brought me his farm book and was telling me the animals and the sounds too. But in all his books this morning I was asking him to point to different words, without ever reading the pages to him, and he picked them out correctly.  He has been doing this for days, but its more often in the morning than in the evening so daddy generally misses out on the proof. FINALLY, tonight he correctly pointed to the words "down" and "boat" and "stream" in his Row Row Row Your Boat book.  He pointed to words in his Dog book too but I dont remember which ones. It is quite impressive.. I think anyway. I dont know any other one year olds personally so I dont really know what everyone else does at this age.  I did ask him if he knew where the letter M was on the keyboard and he touched the M first and then the N. I had no idea he knew any particular letters! He blows me away.