My God, has it been that long since I've updated this page?
She walked, talking, running, playing, dancing, laughing, and fighting every moment of bedtime.
And I wouldn't have it any other way.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Her First Birthday
The Little One's first birthday, earlier this week, was a trip. She got her own small cake, with which she made a sticky mess while the rest of us partook of the larger cake, got lots of presents, none of which she appreciated but which made her smile nonetheless, and got to spend quality time with family. And the best part: my sweetie and I didn't have to spend the entire day chasing after her. She has grandparents for that.
All in all, a good day.
Happy birthday, my little sweetheart. I love you.
All in all, a good day.
Happy birthday, my little sweetheart. I love you.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Crawling
The Little One is crawling.
Everywhere.
Most times, she manages to stay out of trouble. She plays on the floor, chases after toys, and pulls herself up using all manner of furniture. Sometimes, though...
She understands what "no" means. This past weekend, in her grandparents' kitchen, she tried opening a cabinet door when her grandfather said, once, evenly, "no." She flung herself to the floor, wailing.
So it seems obvious to us that, when we tell her "no," she knows she's doing something wrong. We're trying to teach her that there are some things she shouldn't do and some places in the house she isn't allowed. Sometimes, it seems to work. And yet, at least once a day, she still:
- pulls books from bookshelves
- smacks forbidden items like lamps
- tries to play with television remote
- knocks over the clothesline
- reaches and reaches for the computer cables
- pounds on the computer keyboard
- wants whatever I have in my hand
Is there anything I should add to this list? Anything your child can do but won't? Anything that might help reinforce desired behaviors? Or should we just ride this out with gritted teeth until she goes off to college?
Everywhere.
Most times, she manages to stay out of trouble. She plays on the floor, chases after toys, and pulls herself up using all manner of furniture. Sometimes, though...
She understands what "no" means. This past weekend, in her grandparents' kitchen, she tried opening a cabinet door when her grandfather said, once, evenly, "no." She flung herself to the floor, wailing.
So it seems obvious to us that, when we tell her "no," she knows she's doing something wrong. We're trying to teach her that there are some things she shouldn't do and some places in the house she isn't allowed. Sometimes, it seems to work. And yet, at least once a day, she still:
- pulls books from bookshelves
- smacks forbidden items like lamps
- tries to play with television remote
- knocks over the clothesline
- reaches and reaches for the computer cables
- pounds on the computer keyboard
- wants whatever I have in my hand
Is there anything I should add to this list? Anything your child can do but won't? Anything that might help reinforce desired behaviors? Or should we just ride this out with gritted teeth until she goes off to college?
Friday, April 30, 2010
Weights and Measures
Once a month, my wife measures and weighs our little one to see how she's growing. As of today, the baby is 28 inches long and weighs in at 15.6 pounds. Not too bad for a 10-month-old. Fiftieth percentile, in fact, if the growth charts can be trusted.
Not that I care too much one way or the other. As long as she's not an outlier by more than three standard deviations, and as long as her general health is good, I'm not worried about where she falls on a chart. Unlike some people.
I'm writing this because I've already heard tales of parents eager to compare every dimension of their suckling infant against those of other kids, as if these parents find some sort of validation in where Junior places on a developmental scale. This, I suspect, is where it all begins.
Sad.
I promised myself long ago that any children I had would be allowed to grow and learn at their own pace, that I wouldn't permit outside pressure from other parents to suck them - or me - into some ridiculous competition. I can see how parental insecurity drives comparisons but deep down, I don't get it. You kid's a quarter-inch taller than mine. He got a 98 on a math test in which my child scored a 97. To which I should respond... congratulations?
We are not our kids. If we do our jobs right, they'll fail or succeed on their own terms. Either way, it's little reflection on us. That's not to say I won't share in my child's pride at earning an award or honor sometime in the future. But neither I nor my self-worth will be defined by my child.
The flip side of this phenomenon seems to be resentment. A cousin of mine, when he was about 10, won every end-of-year academic award at his school for his grade, prompting grumbling among other parents that my aunt and uncle had exercised some sort of undue influence on the school staff. My uncle shrugged and said, "he got what he got." And besides, he was ten. Awards won at ten, for better or worse, are meaningless soon thereafter.
When my wife was pregnant, I sometimes wondered how I'd interact with other parents. Deep down, next to the place I store my confusion about how adults confuse themselves with their own children, lies a rather wicked sense of humor. Should I encounter the sort of parents I'm writing about here, I'm kind of afraid that this humor will surface, spreading rumors of non-existent PTA meetings, sharing bogus tips from real friends in the college admissions world, and speaking in whispered awe about some whiz-kid star athlete who just moved to the area and who'll surely be district's sole Harvard acceptance come fall.
Parenthood is a shared bond, and a wonderful one, but no relationships are perfect. I'm actually looking forward to meeting my child's friends' parents. Maybe my fears will be unfounded. Maybe I'll share this blog post and we can all have a good laugh. Or maybe, just maybe, I'll meet That Mom, That Dad, that one parent who lives and dies by every detail in his kid's existence.
And maybe, just maybe, I'll convince him that colleges have started looking at elementary school transcripts to better gauge an applicant's "evolution of maturity" so his little seven-year-old Susie had better get her butt in gear.
Not that I care too much one way or the other. As long as she's not an outlier by more than three standard deviations, and as long as her general health is good, I'm not worried about where she falls on a chart. Unlike some people.
I'm writing this because I've already heard tales of parents eager to compare every dimension of their suckling infant against those of other kids, as if these parents find some sort of validation in where Junior places on a developmental scale. This, I suspect, is where it all begins.
Sad.
I promised myself long ago that any children I had would be allowed to grow and learn at their own pace, that I wouldn't permit outside pressure from other parents to suck them - or me - into some ridiculous competition. I can see how parental insecurity drives comparisons but deep down, I don't get it. You kid's a quarter-inch taller than mine. He got a 98 on a math test in which my child scored a 97. To which I should respond... congratulations?
We are not our kids. If we do our jobs right, they'll fail or succeed on their own terms. Either way, it's little reflection on us. That's not to say I won't share in my child's pride at earning an award or honor sometime in the future. But neither I nor my self-worth will be defined by my child.
The flip side of this phenomenon seems to be resentment. A cousin of mine, when he was about 10, won every end-of-year academic award at his school for his grade, prompting grumbling among other parents that my aunt and uncle had exercised some sort of undue influence on the school staff. My uncle shrugged and said, "he got what he got." And besides, he was ten. Awards won at ten, for better or worse, are meaningless soon thereafter.
When my wife was pregnant, I sometimes wondered how I'd interact with other parents. Deep down, next to the place I store my confusion about how adults confuse themselves with their own children, lies a rather wicked sense of humor. Should I encounter the sort of parents I'm writing about here, I'm kind of afraid that this humor will surface, spreading rumors of non-existent PTA meetings, sharing bogus tips from real friends in the college admissions world, and speaking in whispered awe about some whiz-kid star athlete who just moved to the area and who'll surely be district's sole Harvard acceptance come fall.
Parenthood is a shared bond, and a wonderful one, but no relationships are perfect. I'm actually looking forward to meeting my child's friends' parents. Maybe my fears will be unfounded. Maybe I'll share this blog post and we can all have a good laugh. Or maybe, just maybe, I'll meet That Mom, That Dad, that one parent who lives and dies by every detail in his kid's existence.
And maybe, just maybe, I'll convince him that colleges have started looking at elementary school transcripts to better gauge an applicant's "evolution of maturity" so his little seven-year-old Susie had better get her butt in gear.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Travel, Solid Food, but, Most of All, an Update.
The squeals haven't stopped. Actually, they've gotten louder and higher-pitched. Our baby would make a terrific fire alarm.
I'm sorry for being away for so long. Life intervened and blogging fell to the wayside.
A lot's happened in the interim. We took a long overseas flight with the baby to visit family in my mother's home country. Worth every moment, even if the little one was wide awake for most of the flight. She cried more than she would on the ground but not nearly as much as we'd feared. Packing for her was a pain - car seat, diaper bag, clothes, toys - but we managed fairly well. All her stuff, all our stuff, and all carried on. Not bad, if I may say so.
The little one is also transitioning to solid food. My wife has been making it at home, which saves us a lot of money and, she says, it isn't nearly as hard it seems. All you need is a steamer or microwave, a blender, and something to store it in. Take whatever you want to serve the baby - broccoli, cabbage, peppers, cucumbers, apricots, pears, anything at all - steam the daylights out of it, toss it in the blender, and pour into the tray.
Oh, right, the tray.
We have ice cube trays specially designed to hold one-ounce servings of frozen breast milk. We made regular use of them when my wife was pumping and now use them to store frozen baby food. Once the blocks are frozen, we dump them into a large Ziploc bag and freeze another batch.
Some foods, of course, are wetter than others and can be easily thickened with a little bit of infant-formulated dry rice or grain cereal. With foods that are thicker, like the chicken breasts my wife boiled before pureeing them, adding a matching flavor like applesauce makes all the difference. Using formula or breastmilk also works very well.
Our little one did have some early issues with constipation, which worried us for a while until my wife - sensing a theme yet? - hit on a terrific idea. We got some prune juice, poured a quick splash of an ounce or so into a sippy cup, and cut it with water. Our baby loves it, probably because it's the sweetest thing we let her drink. A brilliant move on my sweetie's part.
Finally, the baby is also starting to crawl. She's not moving from place to place yet but, any day now, she'll be motoring along. As of right now, she rolls from place to place with the ease of a bicycle tire and can get up on all fours. Instead of going forward, though, she pushes herself backwards and starts crying in frustration.
Is it wrong that we find that funny?
She taller now, and heavier, too, of course, and so far she's been sick only once. A mild cold clogged her up for a couple of days back in January but a visit to her doctor assured us that it wasn't H1N1, cystic fibrosis, or some other dread disease. It's amazing how quickly we assume the worst when our kids are sick.
So, again, I'm sorry for the long wait between posts. My goal is to post at least one update a week. And don't hesitate to hold me to it.
I'm sorry for being away for so long. Life intervened and blogging fell to the wayside.
A lot's happened in the interim. We took a long overseas flight with the baby to visit family in my mother's home country. Worth every moment, even if the little one was wide awake for most of the flight. She cried more than she would on the ground but not nearly as much as we'd feared. Packing for her was a pain - car seat, diaper bag, clothes, toys - but we managed fairly well. All her stuff, all our stuff, and all carried on. Not bad, if I may say so.
The little one is also transitioning to solid food. My wife has been making it at home, which saves us a lot of money and, she says, it isn't nearly as hard it seems. All you need is a steamer or microwave, a blender, and something to store it in. Take whatever you want to serve the baby - broccoli, cabbage, peppers, cucumbers, apricots, pears, anything at all - steam the daylights out of it, toss it in the blender, and pour into the tray.
Oh, right, the tray.
We have ice cube trays specially designed to hold one-ounce servings of frozen breast milk. We made regular use of them when my wife was pumping and now use them to store frozen baby food. Once the blocks are frozen, we dump them into a large Ziploc bag and freeze another batch.
Some foods, of course, are wetter than others and can be easily thickened with a little bit of infant-formulated dry rice or grain cereal. With foods that are thicker, like the chicken breasts my wife boiled before pureeing them, adding a matching flavor like applesauce makes all the difference. Using formula or breastmilk also works very well.
Our little one did have some early issues with constipation, which worried us for a while until my wife - sensing a theme yet? - hit on a terrific idea. We got some prune juice, poured a quick splash of an ounce or so into a sippy cup, and cut it with water. Our baby loves it, probably because it's the sweetest thing we let her drink. A brilliant move on my sweetie's part.
Finally, the baby is also starting to crawl. She's not moving from place to place yet but, any day now, she'll be motoring along. As of right now, she rolls from place to place with the ease of a bicycle tire and can get up on all fours. Instead of going forward, though, she pushes herself backwards and starts crying in frustration.
Is it wrong that we find that funny?
She taller now, and heavier, too, of course, and so far she's been sick only once. A mild cold clogged her up for a couple of days back in January but a visit to her doctor assured us that it wasn't H1N1, cystic fibrosis, or some other dread disease. It's amazing how quickly we assume the worst when our kids are sick.
So, again, I'm sorry for the long wait between posts. My goal is to post at least one update a week. And don't hesitate to hold me to it.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Noises
Now that our little one has hit the 5-month mark, she's started making high-pitched squeals. There's little rhyme or reason to them. She makes them when she's sad, happy, hungry, or needs a change. We've tried to discern a pattern but have so far been unable to find one.
It seems the only thing she's discovered through her squealing is that if she makes these noises at maximum volume, Daddy makes funny faces and says things like, "oh, God, make it stop!"
Otherwise, we've been very lucky with her. She's healthy, sleeping through the night on a semi-regular basis, and cries only when she needs something. A cousin of my wife's, in contrast, has an infant boy who wails constantly. After first, when my mother-in-law told me about him, I thought she meant it felt like he cried constantly. No, she said, empirically, the kid cries on a near-constant basis. His pediatrician has so far found nothing medically wrong but the crying persists. His poor parents are at their wits' end.
I don't blame them.
Our daughter has started to coo a lot but, thankfully, her loud noises have been so far minimal. Other than the squealing. But, given what some other parents have to deal with, I think I can live with it.
It seems the only thing she's discovered through her squealing is that if she makes these noises at maximum volume, Daddy makes funny faces and says things like, "oh, God, make it stop!"
Otherwise, we've been very lucky with her. She's healthy, sleeping through the night on a semi-regular basis, and cries only when she needs something. A cousin of my wife's, in contrast, has an infant boy who wails constantly. After first, when my mother-in-law told me about him, I thought she meant it felt like he cried constantly. No, she said, empirically, the kid cries on a near-constant basis. His pediatrician has so far found nothing medically wrong but the crying persists. His poor parents are at their wits' end.
I don't blame them.
Our daughter has started to coo a lot but, thankfully, her loud noises have been so far minimal. Other than the squealing. But, given what some other parents have to deal with, I think I can live with it.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Wetness
The little one's caloric intake continues to increase. Drop by drop, her daily feedings become more filling, more voluminous, more... wet. I've had to tuck both a bib and a burp cloth under her chin to make sure her clothes don't become saturated with formula or breast milk.
We've moved up a size in the bottle nipples, which means she's gone from drinking to guzzling whenever I feed her. Add to that the onset of Drool Season and her ability to pee like a fire hydrant and you have a very wet baby. My only consolation is that she almost never spits up. Thank God.
We're still sticking to cloth diapers, though. My sweetie has managed to keep up with the laundry. My brother has already predicted an end to that because, he says, our next kid will in fact be twins. There's a history of them in my sweetie's family. We'll see how that little prediction turns out.
She's gaining weight, too. She tipped in at almost 12 pounds the other day, which makes her nearly double her birthweight. Not bad for a kid who was barely bigger than my lunch bag on her birthday.
So far, so good.
We've moved up a size in the bottle nipples, which means she's gone from drinking to guzzling whenever I feed her. Add to that the onset of Drool Season and her ability to pee like a fire hydrant and you have a very wet baby. My only consolation is that she almost never spits up. Thank God.
We're still sticking to cloth diapers, though. My sweetie has managed to keep up with the laundry. My brother has already predicted an end to that because, he says, our next kid will in fact be twins. There's a history of them in my sweetie's family. We'll see how that little prediction turns out.
She's gaining weight, too. She tipped in at almost 12 pounds the other day, which makes her nearly double her birthweight. Not bad for a kid who was barely bigger than my lunch bag on her birthday.
So far, so good.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Children's Tylenol Recall
CNN reported today that the makers of Children's Tylenol have issued a voluntary recall after finding bacteria in an unused portion of an inactive ingredient. The products, manufactured between April, 2008, and June, 2008, were named in a McNeil Consumer Healthcare press release:
Lot # Product Description
SBM041, SBM067, SCM037, SDM027, SEM109 Children's Tylenol Plus Cold MS Suspension 4 oz. Grape
SBM042, SCM015, SCM036, SDM034 Children's Tylenol Suspension 4oz. Grape
SBM043, SBM044, SCM029 Children's Tylenol Suspension 4oz. Bubble Gum
SBM045, SCM011, SCM030, SDM035 Children's Tylenol Suspension 4oz. Strawberry
SBM064, SCM033, SDM020 Infant’s Tylenol Grape Suspension Drops 1/4oz.
SBM065, SCM005, SCM006, SDM032 Infant's Tylenol Suspension 1/2oz. Cherry
SBM066, SCM068 Children's Dye Free Suspension 4oz. Cherry
SBM068, SCM035, SCM070, SCM080, SDM005 Children's Tylenol Suspension 4oz. Cherry
SBM069, SBM070, SCM081, SDM006 Children's Tylenol Plus Cough & Runny Nose 4oz. Cherry
SCM012, SCM067, SDM007, SDM068 Infant's Tylenol Suspension Drops 1/2oz. Grape
SCM013, SCM014, SCM069 Children's Tylenol Plus Flu 4oz. Bubble Gum
SCM016, SFM024 Children's Tylenol Plus Cold Suspension 4oz. Grape
SCM017 Children's Tylenol Plus Cough/ST Suspension 4oz. Cherry
SCM082, SDM039, SDM040 Infant's Tylenol Suspension Drops 1oz. Grape
SCM083, SCM084, SDM008 Infant's Tylenol Dye Free Suspension 1oz. Cherry
SDM064 Children’s Tylenol Pediatric Suspension 1oz. Cherry
SDM038, SDM009 Infant's Tylenol Suspension Drops 1oz. Cherry
SDM033 Children's Tylenol Plus Cold/Allergy 4oz. Bubble Gum
SDM078 Infant's Tylenol Drops 1oz. Grape
SCM034 Infant’s Tylenol Grape Suspension Drops H/G 1/2oz.
SDM028 Children's Tylenol Suspension 4oz. Cherry, Hospital Govt.
Lot # Product Description
SBM041, SBM067, SCM037, SDM027, SEM109 Children's Tylenol Plus Cold MS Suspension 4 oz. Grape
SBM042, SCM015, SCM036, SDM034 Children's Tylenol Suspension 4oz. Grape
SBM043, SBM044, SCM029 Children's Tylenol Suspension 4oz. Bubble Gum
SBM045, SCM011, SCM030, SDM035 Children's Tylenol Suspension 4oz. Strawberry
SBM064, SCM033, SDM020 Infant’s Tylenol Grape Suspension Drops 1/4oz.
SBM065, SCM005, SCM006, SDM032 Infant's Tylenol Suspension 1/2oz. Cherry
SBM066, SCM068 Children's Dye Free Suspension 4oz. Cherry
SBM068, SCM035, SCM070, SCM080, SDM005 Children's Tylenol Suspension 4oz. Cherry
SBM069, SBM070, SCM081, SDM006 Children's Tylenol Plus Cough & Runny Nose 4oz. Cherry
SCM012, SCM067, SDM007, SDM068 Infant's Tylenol Suspension Drops 1/2oz. Grape
SCM013, SCM014, SCM069 Children's Tylenol Plus Flu 4oz. Bubble Gum
SCM016, SFM024 Children's Tylenol Plus Cold Suspension 4oz. Grape
SCM017 Children's Tylenol Plus Cough/ST Suspension 4oz. Cherry
SCM082, SDM039, SDM040 Infant's Tylenol Suspension Drops 1oz. Grape
SCM083, SCM084, SDM008 Infant's Tylenol Dye Free Suspension 1oz. Cherry
SDM064 Children’s Tylenol Pediatric Suspension 1oz. Cherry
SDM038, SDM009 Infant's Tylenol Suspension Drops 1oz. Cherry
SDM033 Children's Tylenol Plus Cold/Allergy 4oz. Bubble Gum
SDM078 Infant's Tylenol Drops 1oz. Grape
SCM034 Infant’s Tylenol Grape Suspension Drops H/G 1/2oz.
SDM028 Children's Tylenol Suspension 4oz. Cherry, Hospital Govt.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Neck Crud
My daughter has all sorts of folds in her skin that trap all sorts of stuff but it turns out that her neck, especially, is a magnet for crud. For the first couple of weeks, we didn't even think about cleaning the folds of her neck. We were careful about keeping her clean while she fed and, since we didn't see anything spill past her chin, all was good, right?
It turns out her neck is a breeding ground for bacteria that feast on the dribbles of sugary breastmilk that escape her bib and the burp cloth we keep around her neck at each feeding. My first clue of a problem was a blue cheese smell when I picked her up to kiss her. Imagine my surprise when I saw what looked like a yeast infection in the folds below her chin.
My sweetie and I have been doing our best to stay on top of it and wipe down her neck every day but the bacteria are still there. We had to give her a thorough scrub-down - after a bath! - this evening to clear some stuff away. Some days, it seems to get better. The redness largely disappears and the folds are mostly dry. On other days, it flares up again and we end up back where we started.
I think this is going to last until she's able to hold her head up, which won't be for another couple of months at least. Until then, we keep cleaning her with water and Witch Hazel, then dry her off. Lather, rinse, repeat. But it seems to be doing little good.
Any suggestions?
It turns out her neck is a breeding ground for bacteria that feast on the dribbles of sugary breastmilk that escape her bib and the burp cloth we keep around her neck at each feeding. My first clue of a problem was a blue cheese smell when I picked her up to kiss her. Imagine my surprise when I saw what looked like a yeast infection in the folds below her chin.
My sweetie and I have been doing our best to stay on top of it and wipe down her neck every day but the bacteria are still there. We had to give her a thorough scrub-down - after a bath! - this evening to clear some stuff away. Some days, it seems to get better. The redness largely disappears and the folds are mostly dry. On other days, it flares up again and we end up back where we started.
I think this is going to last until she's able to hold her head up, which won't be for another couple of months at least. Until then, we keep cleaning her with water and Witch Hazel, then dry her off. Lather, rinse, repeat. But it seems to be doing little good.
Any suggestions?
Friday, August 21, 2009
Baby Talk
She's lying on my lap, looking me in the eye, smiling, and making all sorts of noises.
This is life, as it is meant to be lived. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
This is life, as it is meant to be lived. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
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