Pick and Suck

Now this is what I call multitasking.

The Things Kids Do

Being the oldest of seven, I thought I knew about all the funny things babies do. I know each child is an individual, but lots of babies do similar things and I thought I had seen them all. Recently I've learned that I wasn't paying as much attention as I thought.

Whenever Anna wants to stick something in her mouth, like say, her stuffed Snoopy rattle, she always shakes her head a little bit and it looks like she wants to tear into that thing and rip it's head off.

And why is it that babies often pull their pacifier out just so someone will put it back in? Anna really only uses her pacifier when it's time to go to sleep, so it must just be her way of asking for another drink of water or any of the other things kids do to stall.

I've also noticed that lots of babies suck in air and make a sort of high-pitched wheezing noise. Being the self-absorbed parent that I am, I thought it was only Anna until I heard all sorts of other kids doing it too. But in Anna's case this noise also doubles as a poop alarm. For some reason she likes to wheeze as she pushes out. The first time she did it she was less than a month old and we thought she was dying until we discovered the present she left us.

She's not teething yet

but her new favorite thing to suck on is the Baby Bjorn. It might look like she's just resting her face on the front of the carrier, but don't be fooled. She's actually sucking pretty hard and making lots of slurpy noises while she does so. As long as she's content and willing to let me get a few things done, I don't mind.

Little Foodie

For the past week, Anna has been getting used to sweet potatoes. It was more traumatic for me than her because of the slight chance that she could be fructose intolerant. Fructose intolerance is a hereditary condition passed on recessive genes, and therefore both her birth parents would have to have it or be carriers in order for her to have it, but for those who do have it, any fructose can damage the liver and kidneys. My pediatrician told me to start her with just a few bites and then watch for any reaction. If Anna is fructose intolerant, she'll have a pretty obvious reaction to fructose with vomiting and/or diarrhea. The night before her first taste of sweet potatoes, I dreamed about feeding her sweet potatoes all night long. So far, so good, but I don't know if there's any fructose in sweet potatoes.

Her hair also looks funny in the picture above, because once again I tried to leave in the curl after her bath. But it always ends up sticking up.

There's so much more to this feeding thing than I remembered. I'm just lucky my visiting teacher mentioned that it's a good idea to introduce kids to all the veggies before the fruits. And for a few days there I felt dumbfounded about when to feed her straight sweet potatoes instead of mixing them in with her cereal. Somebody tell me if I'm wrong, but I get the idea that the only thing that really matters is that I only introduce one food at a time to make sure that there's not an allergic reaction. Otherwise, for the next month or so, I think it's just about exposing Anna to new foods.

Some Firsts for Anna

First baseball game: For a ward activity we sat on the berm at an Orem Owlz game. Anna was awake for most of it, but she also spent some time dozing in her car seat.

First swim in the pool: It was a little chilly, but once she got used to it, she seemed to like it.

First rice cereal feeding: I can't tell you how much I love trying to wipe dried cereal out from under her chin and between her fingers. Yum!

First time wearing her Huntington Surf and Sport t-shirt, but not the first time those fingers went in her mouth.

First Disney hat and first photographic evidence of a hanger, but isn't that such a cute face?

Photo Op

I've decided that part of the whole motherhood experience includes at least one trip to Kiddie Kandids. We made our first trip yesterday. I bet you can guess how it went.

I didn't make an appointment. Instead we just dropped in after I had already dragged Anna to downtown SLC and back. They told us we'd have to wait for about forty-five minutes before they could fit us in. I knew that forty-five minutes later would be right before naptime for a kid who had already skipped a nap, but I figured we'd try it anyway since Anna's such a good natured kid. And she was in a good mood up until the photographer tried to position her. Then she started to cry her little complaining cry. She stuck out her lower lip and let out a waa-waa.

And this is the part that will lose me points in the mother-of-the-year contest. I started to laugh and I thought, why isn't she taking pictures? This is so cute! Instead we rescheduled for the next day. I'm hoping she'll be in a little better mood.

Regression

After sleeping from eight at night until six in the morning, Anna has started waking up again at three or four in the morning. When I go into get her, she's rolled over on her side, almost like she's trying to roll on top of the pacifier that has fallen out of her mouth. I think she's just constipated and uncomfortable, but she could also be checking in to see if I'm still paying attention. The other morning when she did sleep until six, she squealed in her crib for about half an hour before I woke up. They were happy squeals and I was dreaming that someone was making faces at her. This morning I found her like this:

I use the rolled up blanket to stick under her shoulder and keep her off her flat side, so you can see how much she moved in the night. Originally her head was lying next to the right end of the blanket roll. I could understand it better if she scooted up the bed. I'm still not sure how she slides down to the middle of her mattress at night.

Anna also has a new trick. While I'm feeding her she likes to put her fist up into my armpit. Sometimes she will put her hand inside my sleeve and grab my skin. It's not very pleasant but it certainly wakes me up. She also likes to use my arm as a scratch post. I try to keep her nails short, but it's tough. I don't know if all babies have high nail beds but she certainly does. Even when I cut her nails, it still seems like she's got some sort of claw left.

We went back to the physical therapist this week. Anna's flat head problem is the result of a tightened muscle that causes her to look to her right and lean her head to her left. Usually her left ear is closer to her shoulder than her right ear. So we've been working on stretching that muscle. The PT says that her range of motion is improving, but her flat head has stayed about the same. But because it's so slight, the PT guaranteed me that she won't have to wear a helmet. I'm too cynical to depend on her word, but I do take comfort knowing that I'm not letting it get worse. We're also working on tummy time. Now I have a new strategy of rolling her onto her stomach for about thirty seconds and then rolling her back to her back. We do a few reps of that until she gets cranky being on her stomach for a few seconds. It seems to be working better than trying to get her to stay on her stomach a full three minutes like the PT suggests. Dan now says that when she whimpers in her sleep she's probably dreaming that I put her on her stomach.