Dahlia has had a cold (or an URI- for those of you who want to be technical) for the past 3 days. It feels like she just got over her fever, although that happened 3 weeks ago. She has had a minor cold before, but that was fairly low-key and passed quickly. This one is more aggressive. Dahlia has had trouble breathing through her nose because of the congestion, and she has a nice junky cough. (I guess you could also call it a productive cough).

Well, because of her congestion, I spent some quality time at 3AM this morning “hosing her nose” (lavaging, really. OK, sorry, I’m done being technical–can you tell I’ve treated too many sick puppy store puppies? But thats a whole ‘nother post…), as Dr. Sears likes to call it in his Baby Book. For those inquiring minds, this basically means squirting saline up her nose and then sucking out long strands of snot with a small turkey baster. Don’t forget the small detail that makes this process even more appealing: the screaming baby. Apparently, Dahlia doesn’t appreciate me suctioning the snot out of her nose. What can I say? At least at the end of the ordeal, she could breath enough to nurse back to sleep.

I have to say the snot is the best part of the cold. For now it is mostly clear and only slightly viscous, so it forms constant little rivers down her upper lip. Because of this, she is often licking at it or grabbing at it with her fingers and smearing it all over her face and hair. She manages to coat pretty much anything in the vicinity with snot. She accomplishes this directly, by pulling toys or various objects to her face to rub the snot on it, or by pulling herself up on legs, chairs and shelves to rub the snot on them. If this fails to coat the area satisfactorily enough, she simply employs the sneezing tactic. That pretty much covers it. She is also swallowing quite a bit, I’m sure, because this morning she puked after a good coughing fit. Poor little girl.

She is otherwise cheery and sociable, though, so for the moment I’m not concerned about taking her to the Doctor. I’m sure all of that will change the moment the weekend hits and the office closes.
*sigh*
Isn’t parenthood fun?

Dearest little Dahlia,

So you are now 9 months old. You are well on your way to being a year old, but I have to remind myself that there is still 1/4 of the year to go. You have proven that you can change in many, many ways in 3 month’s time. Not only are you another month older, but you have now seen a new year-2008! I am actually a bit sad to see 2007 go. Normally the New Year is more exciting than sad for me, but this past year was incredible, thanks to you! I will always look back on what a sweet time we had together, getting to know one another in 2007, the year of Dahlia.

As always, this past month was full of change for you. Your communication skills are getting much better. You now raise your arms when you want to be picked up out of the Excersaucer or high chair. You say “Dada” and “Ba-Bye” regularly. While you have been waving for a long time, I am now convinced you know that it means hello or goodbye. Your hair is longer than ever. Soon I will not be able to resist putting barrettes in it! Although you haven’t really gained more than a pound or two since you were 6 months old, you are gaining inches, and growing into all that baby chub. In fact, soon you won’t even be a baby, you will be a toddler! You are eating more and more new foods. Some notable new ones this month are: melba toast, cut up grapes, cauliflower, and freeze dried apple bits. Your first Christmas was fun. You collected quite a few new toys (which of course, you desperately needed…). I think you enjoyed the parties with all the excitement and other babies to play with. We did a lot of traveling to see Grandma and Poppy, Aunt Gail and Aunt Lisa. As always, you were a complete gem in the car–sleeping or playing quietly. You have also been very flexible about sleep times and napping. The funny thing is that parents seem to want it both ways: scheduled sleep when life is normal, and flexible sleep during Holidays or crazy times. Your sleep has been changing a lot this month with your fever, the Holidays, and your new skills that seem to keep you awake and excited at night. I’m just rolling with it and trying not to help you develop a night-waking habit. I think when things settle down this month, you will fall into a better schedule. I’m not too concerned about it at this point.

Not only are you crawling much better, but you are even “off-roading” now. Toys, barriers and bodies are no problem for you now. You simply go over, under, or across whatever you encounter. I am really grateful you have become interested in the larger scope of “things you can get into” since it helps take your focus off of eating carpet lint and crumbs. You have mastered pulling up on things, and your favorite things to pull up on are mommy and daddy’s legs. You also enjoy pulling up on the entertainment center (to get to the DVD player), chairs, the bookcase, the coffee table (so many fun things to pull off!), your crib railing, or anything about that height. Grandma and Poppy got you a walker toy for Christmas, and I told them that you would certainly be using it soon. You took my words to heart, and after Daddy put it together the next day, you were off and walking with it! I don’t doubt that you will be walking independently by next month’s letter. Even now, you are putting almost no weight on me when you use me for support to stand. You are “cruising” from one object to another while standing, and sometimes you even let go of your support and stand, momentarily, on your own! Of course, this is quickly followed by you falling on your little rear on your own. Good thing you have lots of padding and a diaper on

Of course, all of this moving around has led to several instances of falls, bumps and bruises. You do bruise as easily as I do, unfortunately. Your skin is just as pale as mine. However, your bones and skull must be made of rubber. Either that, or you are a devout Stoic. I am amazed at how you take most bumps and blows in stride. A week ago, you were pulling up on my leg, lost your balance and fell backwards against the edge of the desk. Adrenaline immediately pumping, I scooped you up and braced for a difficult recovery. You cried for about 3 seconds, then squirmed in my arms to get down and play again. Later on in the week, you were pulling up on your Excersaucer, which is unstable, and it whirled you around and into the front of the oven door. You literally bounced off of it. Again, I swooped in and picked you up to comfort you and survey any damage. I don’t think you even cried that time. I am learning that your mood, the time of day, and my reaction to a fall factor greatly into how you will ultimately react to it. Who knew babies were so indestructible?

You did, however, have a moment, or rather a weekend, of weakness, this month. One Friday night, as I was putting you to sleep, I noticed you were unusually cranky and fussy. I was concerned that you weren’t feeling well. Sure enough, when I went to you at 3AM, you felt very warm to the touch. Hoping it was just the stuffy room, I nursed you back to sleep and left the door open for the rest of the night. However, in the morning, your temperature was 101.7. I went straight to the Sears Baby Book and read up on fevers. I also, of course, did some research online. I decided that, since you weren’t showing any other troubling symptoms, we should just let it follow its course, and try to help your body cope by giving you plenty of fluids and rest. I called your pediatrician, who was out of office. I contacted the back-up Doctor, and they referred me to the ER without any clarification. Apparently, a baby with a fever and any kind of lethargy = pawn it off the the ER. (in my opinion, it had more to do with insurance issues) I called the expert: Grandma. Finally, Daddy, Grandma and I decided that we would not go to the ER. It was a difficult decision and a nerve-wracking weekend as your fever spiked and dropped, at times reaching as high as 104.4! Even though I hate using too many medications, we went through almost an entire bottle of baby Tylenol. We were at the Doctor first thing Monday morning, and he told us we had done the right thing keeping you out of the ER. He said they would most likely have done several unnecessary, intrusive things like taking blood, placing an IV and urinary catheter “just in case” and then doing exactly what we had done at home: give Tylenol and keep an eye on it. He said you most likely had a virus, possibly Roseola, although we never saw the tell-tale rash that usually accompanies that one. It was a scary time, but you pulled through so well. You never lost your appetite, and you slept a lot, despite waking up frequently. We enjoyed having you cuddle so much, since that isn’t normally on your schedule of things to do. And so I learner another lesson in parenting: when dealing with a fever, treat the child, not the thermometer.

I am glad that trusting my instinct was the right thing to do with that virus. I know it was only the first of many illnesses we will deal with together. I hope and pray that I will continue to make good decisions for you while it is my responsibility to do so. Daddy and I love you so much, Dahlia. I hope that you grow up knowing that. I look forward to all the new and exciting adventures we will have together in this new year!

Love,
Mommy

The past few nights, we have been putting photo christmas cards together after Dahlia goes to sleep. Every few cards, one of us inevitably stops, stares at the photo and sighs, “Can we just go wake her up to play with her?”. The same thing happens if we allow the computer to go to screensaver and watch the photos roll by. We just can’t stop talking about how cute she is, reminiscing about her latest adventures in development, and wanting to go in and cuddle her when she is too sleepy to fend us off. We also mimic her cute baby-isms to each other. I guess you would say we just can’t live without her.

OK, anyone who has a baby knows that they love to play with (aka suck on, reduce to as many small pieces as possible) whatever WE play with. If you look around, most adults have a favorite shiny toy called a cell phone. Babies learn so much by just watching our behavior! You may have heard that cell phone radiation is bad for us, and worse for our kids. I had read enough about that to convince me not to give Dahlia my cell phone to play with. However, the power of “the look” or more recently, “the mini-tantrum” should not be underestimated, and sometimes I still give in and allow her to fondle the shiny phone. How can I deprive her of something that makes her so happy? I’ve just come across another good reason to keep the cell phones away: baby saliva and cell phone batteries don’t mix well. My late cell phone had its battery die suddenly last month, so I am using Ken’s old phone this month until my Verizon contract will allow a new phone in January. Strangely enough, this phone has been acting weird when I try to charge it lately. I took a close look at the charger contact on the phone today and saw lots of green corrosion. Splendid. I guess my last phone’s battery didn’t die so mysteriously after all….

‘

Dahlia is doing much better. Her fever is down significantly. I am also doing much better after a trip to the pediatrician soothed my mommy nerves. The doctor told me my instinct to not go to the ER was correct, and that we did all the right things for her. I’m just happy she is doing better. She was super cuddly today too, which is unusual for her. She is almost always so independent. She always wants to get down, do things and see things. Today all she wanted was to hang out in my lap and play with her toys, or just fall asleep on me. I was enjoying the cuddles. According to the doctor, she is most likely fighting a virus, possibly one called roseola. We won’t know for sure until she gets a rash. We might never know. After all of his comforting words, the pediatrician’s parting comment was, “Go enjoy the rest of your first fever!”

So much to look forward to!

Wish I knew what to do about this fever that Dahlia has. Tylenol will take the edge off of it for a few hours, but then it comes back. She was absolutely miserable yesterday, and seems better today. In fact, I really thought the fever had broken at 4PM when her temp. was only 99.6 but it has since gone up again. It is such a helpless feeling when I don’t know what is wrong with my baby. Drugs will dull the symptom of fever, but I still don’t know what is wrong! Is this one of those things that gets easier each time you do it, or is it just as hard for every baby, every time?

Dearest Dahlia,

You are officially a mobile baby! This month you were busy learning how to get around. There were far too many important things for you to see and do for you to remain stationary for too long. Here are the landmark dates:
- The week of 11-12-07 you began crawling
- On 11-20-07, you started sitting up on your own
The crawling began as more of a slow process, but you learned how to sit up on your own practically overnight! I never got that leash and harness I was hoping to use once you became mobile, so my job description expanded fairly quickly. Sitting down to get something done is not possible unless I confine you to your Exersaucer. While you still like the stationary toy, it definitely doesn’t entertain you nearly as long as it used to. I mean, c’mon, standing still is so much more boring that crawling around! It has been fun to see you discover the old toys in a new way, though. You now enjoy looking at yourself in the mirror on the tray, and regularly grin and chuckle at your reflection. You are figuring out how to manipulate some other toys in a new way too, as you get more fine motor control with your hands. My favorite is when you start throwing your weight forward and backward and get the the saucer rocking like one of those seated toys on springs at the playground!

Now that you are crawling, a new world has opened up to you. That world is mostly composed of carpet lint, old forgotten crumbs, dog hair, dog bones, electrical outlets, the exciting contents of low shelves, and, as always, various choking hazards. I am getting very good at reading your body language to see when you have stopped to pick up something and put it in your mouth. I am also getting good at sweeping things out of your mouth when I don’t pick up on your body language fast enough. It seems like I can never vacuum frequently enough, and even when I do, you find random things that we accidentally drop.

The eating is going well. I have continued making purees for you, and you are now eating a good variety of finger foods too. Some new foods that you encountered this month are: small pieces of tofu, pieces of seaweed (I know it sounds weird, but they are both safe finger foods that you can manage to pick up; they are full of great nutrients and help develop your taste for different things), kiwifruit, sugar-free cheerio-type oatie-Os, white potatoes, tomato, and plenty more. Most foods you love, but no matter what it is, when you get the first taste of it, you always have a kind of sour look on your face. Then you generally swallow and open your mouth to beg for more. You are drinking more water too, and I just got you a new sippy cup that is smaller and has handles. You figured out how to drink from it, and you love to chew on the spout too!

We took you to the Baby Sign Language class this month. We had fun learning a few songs to sign with you. We are trying to teach you a few signs to begin with, like “eat”, “more”, “all done” and “hi/bye”. You haven’t done much except wave hi/bye, and we aren’t sure how intentional about that you are. However, you seem to know what “more” and “eat” mean. Last night, when I asked you if you wanted more potatoes, you brightened up, looked at me, and opened your mouth two times in a row. That was great to see your comprehension!

We also went apple picking and to a corn maze this month. It was a nice chilly day, and you enjoyed being outside in the Ergo. You taste tested the apples for us, and it was cute to see you begging to suck on them. This month marked your first Thanksgiving too! You didn’t eat anything too exciting, just some cheerios and a green bean, but you enjoyed being around so much of our family. You are getting so good at sitting in a high chair and amusing yourself, it has become a lot easier to have you join family meals. It is also much more fun going out to eat together. In general, you are just wonderfully easy going and content. For instance, I took you to the auto shop yesterday so we could get some new tires on the car, and after 1 1/2 hours there, you weren’t cranky! Far from it, actually, you were amusing the other cranky customers in the waiting room with your grins. squeals and waves.

People are always asking how you and the dog get along. Most people are concerned (especially if they know Dina is a pit bull). Some are just curious. Dina has always been good with children and babies, and has been in a house with babies before, so I wasn’t too concerned. However, I didn’t want to leave anything to chance since dogs can, even accidentally, seriously harm children. I took a lot of practical steps to get Dina used to the idea that you were good to have around and harmless. I’m so glad to see that you both love each other in your own way. Most interesting is the way you have found to communicate! We knew Dina would inevitably want to lick you. A lot. Initially we made sure we interrupted before you got overwhelmed, but now you have learned that if you want her to stop, you just turn your head away (like when I wipe your face with a washcloth). This is incredible to me because you are essentially talking to her in dog language, and also, she listens to you!! In turn, if she doesn’t want to have you pulling her ears and chewing on her tail, she just walks away. I have to tell you, though, that isn’t too often. She usually prefers to hang around because your presence usually indicates good things for her, and she doesn’t really care about the pulling and chewing and general man-handling. It is so funny to see the dog hang around when you are “working” the kitchen. Even at this young age, you have the decided advantage at food gathering in the kitchen. First of all, you have hands, but most importantly, you have the blessing of the ultimate food givers (Mom and Dad). You crawl around, pulling down bags of granola, or boxes of pasta, and Dina is all like, “I could eat that for you...”

Well, I had originally written how I was so sure you were just about to get a tooth. I mean, really sure this time, not like the other 4 months I had been predicting it! Well, since this letter is a few days late (surprise, surprise!), I can instead announce that you officially HAVE a tooth! Two, even! Your left lower incisor made its appearance 12-1-07, and the lower right incisor followed not far behind on the next day! They are sharp little things, and your bite has become a lot more dangerous lately, but Daddy and I are excited about this new development in your life. Every day I see changes in you, and it is so wonderful to watch you develop into a little girl!

Love,
Mommy

Since starting Dahlia on solid food, I have been struggling with so many details: how much should I feed, how often, what kinds, how fast to introduce new foods, how long should I wait to introduce ‘potentially allergic foods’ like wheat, cow milk, peanuts, etc., should she get water, should I feed only organic, should I make it or buy it, and what about fingerfoods???

I know this will surprise most of my audience, but there are very strong opinions for each and every one of these topics. I have personally been pretty heavily indoctrinated that breastmilk is ALL a baby needs for the first year, and solid food experiences are basically just a developmental activity, not a nutritional necessity. However, there are still a lot of people out there clamoring for my parenting ear. They are saying things like, “Your baby needs extra water now that they are eating solids.”, “Your baby should be getting cereal at this point (6 months).”, “Your baby needs more energy now that they are crawling, so feed more solids.”. And even beyond these directives, I have the influential example of a lot of the women around me. Some women I know feed their babies pretty much anything at this age, both in baby food and in fingerfood. Others very carefully introduce every little ingredient and wait days in between each food.

Deciding about fingerfoods is an extra struggle. Dahlia watches everything that we eat with those large, cute blue eyes, and sometimes even begs for it with her hands or open mouth. What makes these decisions so hard are that most of what we eat, I consider a choking hazard. I feel like I should help her develop hand-eye coordination and chewing by offering fingerfoods, but I am pretty stumped on what to offer. Cheerios seemed like the most obvious food until I found out that the second ingredient is sugar! Soft foods like banana and pieces of fruit are impossible for her to pick up at this point, so she just mushes them around and pushes them off the tray/table. (Although there was one moment of brilliance where I marveled at my daughter’s apparent genius: my 7 month old baby, getting frustrated with not being able to pick up mushy pear pieces, pushed the piece to the edge of the table and then ate it off the edge of the table with her mouth!! I was astounded.) It seems like each time I go to the store, I come back with a different “healthy” brand of O’s cereal. One was impossible for her to gum into a soft enough food–she worked at it for minutes before she spat out a half dissolved O. One had wheat starch (wheat!!!), and one had cane sugar (are all sugars equal?). So we finally settled on Purely O’s by Cascadian Farms. It has wheat starch, so Dahlia is starting early on wheat, but it doesn’t have any sugar, and I think the wheat starch is what allows them to dissolve so easily in her mouth.

So, like every other issue, I guess I have come to the point where I just need to decide what seems best for my little family and go ahead with that. I think a lot of the opinions floating around are perpetuated by the baby food manufacturers. I don’t like getting purposely skewed parenting advice so that I will buy more of someone’s product. My suspicions tend to lead me back toward the “breastmilk as the staple and solid food as a developmental activity” camp.

Basically, I am trying not to be completely overbearing in how fast I introduce new foods, but also go slow enough so that I can catch any problems if she reacts to a food. She is getting better at gumming fingerfoods, so our options there will start to open up. I have given up on the completely organic route, but still buy organic for her when I can. I make her baby food, and offer her bites (or hold it for her to suck on) of anything we are eating that is appropriate for her. I am not militaristic about our food regime, but I try to get 2 feedings in. It is usually prunes or fruit in the AM (to avoid adventures in constipation), and veggies and cereal in the PM. She is fast approaching a year old anyway, so I think food will become less of a struggle. I am going to try to avoid processed sugar as long as I can, but it may be a losing battle.

So there you have it. Maybe I think too hard about these things. It is the blessing and the curse of living in this information age. Next edition: Adventures in the Childhood Vaccine Controversy.

Our baby’s got mad skills. (“Kneebouncers”:http://www.kneebouncers.com?)