Parlor Tricks and Prevacid at 8 Months

Emma experienced many developmental milestones as well as some health issues this past month.  This little girl has kept us busy and the lack of pictures to choose for this post proves it.  Emma’s biggest accomplishments this month are her first two bottom teeth and crawling.  Last month she was scooting around on her tummy and able to go wherever she wanted as long as there was nothing blocking her path.  This month, she can crawl and climb over just about anything short of our safety gates.  We've even had to lower her crib mattress because she pulls herself to a stand and tries to climb out of her bed.  We are currently child-proofing our house too.  You would think our home’s safety should be top-notch since Lucy has made it to two and half years old safe and sound, but this time around is a lot more nerve wracking.  Our adorable two and a half year old just refuses to be child-proofed!  Play money, stickers, costume jewelry and food are just a few of the objects that bring great curiosity to Emma and severe anxiety to her parents.

Emma has become quite the novice at parlor tricks this month as well.  She will kiss me on the mouth with her mouth wide open when we say "Kiss" and will clap our open palm when we sing "Patty Cake".  If you ask her a question like, "Are you hungry?" or "Do you want to play?" she will nod her head repeatedly while bouncing and smiling.  And just this past week she has started waving her hand when we say "hi" or "bye."

Emma loves to hold onto our fingers as she walks around the room and isn't content to be held without trying to climb up our shoulder or arm.  It is a great workout for us - Emma the climbing medicine ball.  Fortunately, Emma still loves being in the baby carrier all snuggled up to me which has been great for playing outside with Lucy or while shopping with the two of them.

Our little Emma gave us quite a scare a couple of weeks ago.  About ten minutes after I had laid her down in her crib sound asleep I heard choking and gagging on the monitor.  I ran upstairs and grabbed her out of her bed and started thumping her on the back.  It took almost two hours for the coughing and gagging to stop.  When I finally got her back to sleep and laid her down the choking started all over again.  I spent the night sitting upright with her in the rocking chair and in the morning I called and made an appointment to see our pediatrician, thinking that Emma had caught the croup Lucy had the week prior.  Emma's sinuses and lungs checked out completely clear at the doctor the following day and we began to suspect that perhaps Emma was suffering from acid reflux like Lucy.  Little details started adding up - since about four months old, Emma has been steadily falling off of her growth chart curve.  When she was born she was in the 50% for weight and length.  Now she is under 5% on the growth chart, meaning she is smaller than more than 95% of babies her age.  Our second clue is that she has been refusing to eat solids.  She makes a "lemon" face every time we present food to her.  According to the pediatric gastrologist this is common among babies with severe inflammation in their esophagus from months of acid reflux eroding it away.  Our third and most trying clue is the fact that we can no longer lay her flat for anything - diaper changes, putting her coat on or sleep without her arching her back and screaming.  That part is like déjà vu from Lucy who went undiagnosed with acid reflux until she was ironically the same age Emma is now.  After a trip to the emergency room due to more severe choking and finally an appointment with the pediatric gastrologist this past Wednesday, Emma is now on Prevacid and slowly, slowly, ever so slowly doing a little bit better.  To say that we are frustrated is an understatement.  I can hardly believe that we have another child with sleep issues of this magnitude.  I feel like I am missing the best parts of Emma’s babyhood because I am constantly trying to get Emma to sleep or eat.  She is at the point now where she is sleeping so little and eating so frequently (for weight gain purposes) that I feel like we are back in the newborn stage again.  The only difference is a newborn doesn’t get into everything and sleeps most of the day!  We have another appointment this coming week with the gastrologist, and we are hoping that she starts to show some more improvement so we can avoid extensive testing and the anxiety that something more serious is wrong.

Our little bean continues to be good natured through all of this.  As long as we aren’t laying her down, she is nothing but smiles and cuddles.  She continues to be a mama's girl, but she definitely loves her sister and her daddy, in that order.

We are looking forward to Emma’s first Christmas and hopefully experiencing a Silent Night soon!

Lucy-is-ums

What a month we have had!  Lucy had croup earlier this month with a fever for a week and a cough for over two.  The fever and cough got worse at night, so we had many sleepless nights of rough coughing and reading stories in the bathroom with the shower running on hot so Lucy could benefit from the steam.  Our bathroom counter looked like a chemistry lab with every natural cold remedy known to me lined up from honey to vitamin D, probiotics, fish oil, apple cider vinegar for foot soaks, homeopathic cough syrups, tea and tons of Kleenex.  During Lucy's sickness she became addicted to watching TV and her favorites included Dora, Clifford and Sesame Street.  Now that she is better, Lucy is having a hard time with 'healthy' TV limits.  This is new for us, as before Lucy was sick she really didn't mind TV and had no problem turning it off herself or turning it off when she was asked.  It seems we have entered a whole new phase that I'm guessing will be here to stay.

Lucy has discovered feelings this month.  Maybe this was triggered by her sickness, but either way she has become very descriptive of her moods.  The other day she woke up and told me, "Mom, I feel cranky."  And boy was she right!  She also will whine and tell us several times a day, "I want to watch Clifford...because I'm so sad!"  Or, when we agree to let her watch Clifford, "I'm so cited!!"   Even better, the other day Lucy was standing on her tiptoes, peering out of the window and told me, "Mom, I'm just so happy."  When I asked her why, she told me, "Because it snowed!"  But probably the pinnacle of her new found understanding of feelings is how she understands feelings in others now too.  When Will and I were having an emotional moment about Luke, Lucy went and got me a Kleenex and while she was wiping my face she sweetly asked me, "Mom, do you want some candy to make you feel better?"

Along with Lucy's expanded emotional vocabulary she has also become quite knowledgeable about time.  The days of the week are used in her conversations as are minutes and hours.  When asked if she would like to go to the park she now responds, "Um, I might be busy.  How about Friday?"  The other day Will asked her to hold his hand while we crossed a parking lot and she responded, "I can't Dad, my hands are busy."  She even has included dates, times and appointments into her conversations about Simone.  "Mom, I can't go to the library on Tuesday because Simone has an appointment at 9:30."  When it is time to get ready to go somewhere, Lucy will tell me in a sad voice, "I can't go mom.  Simone is sick.  I have to stay with her so she won't be lonely."
 
I made Lucy a baby carrier for her dolls this past month.  I was going to give it to her for Christmas but well, I got tired of carrying a doll every time we went somewhere.  I mean, my hands are full enough with a baby, a toddler and all of their accessories.  The baby carrier is working out nicely.

Now when we go for walks or hikes, Lucy has her baby in her carrier, and I have Emma in mine.  The picture below is a replica of what it looks like when I go shopping.  Just picture the doll Babsie who is in the carrier as Emma, and the doll Huggums who is in the shopping cart as Lucy.  Oh, and picture Lucy as me, but with shoes on.

Lucy is still talking about her imaginary friend.  In last month's blog post I misspoke about his name and called him Hevnah.  I will make another attempt to write it, but it is hard to get the proper spelling from someone who according to Lucy, "lives far away.  You have to go on a plane to be there in heaven, at school."  His name is Heinkon and the other day Lucy refused to let me get her out of her car seat when we arrived home because Heinkon was coming for her.  I was at a loss on how to respond to this so I left her there for a while.  When I came back I asked her if she was still waiting on Heinkon and she told me that "he's still at school mom.  You better get me out."  Heinkon alternates between being her brother and her friend.  Fortunately she has a real life sister to play with, and the two of them play very nicely together still.  I am bracing myself for the day Emma has an opinion about Lucy taking her toys away, but until then, I am enjoying their sweet interactions.  I found them the other day playing together in our office closet.

Favorite Lucy-isms this month include:
-When asked a question she will respond, "I can't know" whether she knows the answer or not.
-She calls a bean bag chair a "bean bang" chair
-When trying really hard to do something like carrying a heavy object she will say, "All my might!"
-When she is begging for something she wants, she will say "but I want it so badly!"
-When I warned her about wiping snot in her eye and how it could cause pink eye, she got super excited and started jumping up and down saying, "I want a pink eye!  I want a pink eye!"  So then I told her that I was joking about pink eye, and that actually her eye would turn the color of snot and she stopped.
-When Lucy was baking with me she asked if she could put the "poke of salt in it."  It took me a moment to realize she was talking about a "pinch of salt."
-Lucy loves a song she calls "Dancing Queen" and begs us to watch it on YouTube.  It took several days before we figured out she was talking about "Come on Eileen."  She watches the Dexy's Midnight Runners version and even dances with her hands behind her back just like them.
-Lucy has entered the WHY stage.  For everything she now asks WHY.  If you have any tips on how to end a 'why' conversation, please let me know.
-The other day Will was washing Lucy up without his shirt on.  Lucy looked at his chest and said sweetly, "Dad, I like your boobs!  I've never seen that color before!"
-When I was at the chiropractor's laying on my back getting an adjustment Lucy came over to me and started unbuttoning my shirt.  When I brushed her hands off she kept opening the buttons.  Finally, I asked her what she was doing and she told me, "Mom, let's get some air in there."

Below is a picture of Lucy on Will's shoulders at our annual downtown Christmas lighting ceremony.  It was cold, rainy and way too crowded, but Lucy had a blast.

It is definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas!