Red shoes

Pediatricians currently believe that it’s best to keep new walkers barefoot for as long as possible. Apparently it’s good for their feet, and they learn to walk better. Rose walks around our house barefoot, but in the park we’ve been putting her in soft-soled leather shoes, kind of like a slipper. But as she’s become more and more confident with her walking and she’s been going over rougher terrain, so it’s become clear that she’s needed something a bit sturdier for walks in the park (it’s also cold and wet a lot, so proper shoes would help protect her feet from the elements, too).

So, this weekend we went to a children’s shoe store and had Rose measured up for her first pair of proper shoes. The size we got fits her well, which probably means she’ll grow out of them in three months. They have good heel support and a soft rubbery sole, and they’re easy for us to get off and on. But the best thing is that they’re adorably cute!

I took her to the park in them this morning, and she had great fun walking around in them. She obviously finds them a bit clunky, and she trips over a bit more than usual. She also has to learn to pick her feet up a bit higher in them. But overall, a success! The only bad thing that happened was that she tried to walk down a wet grassy hill, promptly falling face first and got a minor graze on her nose. Poor baby!

I’ve uploaded a couple of pictures of her in her new shoes.

(Actually, I just thought of one more bad thing: she loves trying to take them off when she’s in the stroller. All the way to the park I could hear the RIIIIIIIIIIIIIP RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP RIIIIIIIIIIIIP of velcro.)

An update on activities

I thought I’d list a few of Rose’s favorite activities at the moment:

• Sorting through the recycling, selecting plastic lids and either throwing them over the kitchen gate, or posting them through the bars
• Asking to be chased up and down the hallway, then scurrying into her bedroom and shutting the door
• Pointing and things and saying, “Dat?” (we read: That?). Sometimes it’s obvious what she wants to know (That’s a ball, you’ve just been playing with it in the park), sometimes it’s a little less clear (That’s the world outside, we’ve just been there.)
• Reading by herself in her bedroom
• Operating her activity table to play music, then dancing
• Going to the playground and walking around and around. She doesn’t like being at home much at the moment, or in her stroller, she constantly wants to go to the playground and charge around like a wobbly bull
• Trying to figure how how everything (balloons, scissors, zips, etc) works
• Walking around with shoes (ours, hers).

Regression then progress

It’s been a weird day. This morning Rose and I went to a local park to meet up with the other mums in my parents group and Rose was shy, weepy, clingy and refused to walk anywhere. She didn’t improve much all morning, and after her too-short nap she was downright grumpy and weepy.

However, when Chris came home she perked up. He took her to our local playground where she astounded him by walking everywhere. He took this very cute (but blurry) video on his phone:

I think it’s safe to say that some of Rose’s erraticness and lack of confidence with walking lately has been due to her ear infection. At the doctors appointment on Tuesday she said that Rose’s ear was a little bit better, but that it still inflamed and sore. She warned us that ear infections can take up to 6 weeks to full get better. Then she told us to continue the antibiotics for another 4 days (a total of 10 days), and to come back for a review in 3 weeks. If she still wasn’t better, she muttered something about a specialist and grommets.

Sunday morning on King street

Hardly a day goes by when I’m not reminded of most Australians’ hearty good humour. Today’s example came in the form of three aging hippy bikers who passed us on the street on our morning walk.

Aging Hippy Biker: “Woah, that baby has amazing eyes!”

Us: “Thanks!”

AHB: “No, I mean, they’re AMAZING. Where did they come from?” [wildly gesturing at the sky, as if Rose's eyes might have come from Mars]

Chris, gesturing at me: “They’re like her mother’s”

Me, gesturing at Chris: “They’re actually quite like her dad’s”

AHB, enthusiastically: “You’re right! They’re so incredible.” Then, reluctantly, “Well, I better go… Bye!”

(And no, I did not detect any mind-altering alteration to this guy. It was genuine good-hearted cheer, I tell you!)

Unpalatable

So Rose’s ear infection seems to be a whole lot better, there isn’t as much crying and there are a lot of optimistic signs of her recovery: more walking, talking, smiles and so forth. But taking antibiotics have really wrecked havoc on the little girl – we’ve had bouts of diarrhoea and vomiting – and lots of malaise we’re attributing to having a queasy tum. The vomiting has been pretty prolific so we’ve been giving her lots of gastrolyte fluid replacement. This morning all she’s wanted to do is this:

We’ve got a review booked with the doctor on Tuesday, and I can’t wait. I can’t wait for all this sickness and curing to be over!

Poor baby

We’ve been feeling increasingly concerned about Rose – she just hasn’t been herself lately. Sudden random hysterical crying, clingyness, and listlessness. But there haven’t been any other physical signs like a rash, high temperature, etc. Yesterday when I took her around to a friend’s place she just lay face down on the floor and started sobbing. This can’t be right!

And so it wasn’t. She has an ear infection! Delwyn, Rose’s regular carer on Fridays was looking after her today and said she grew increasingly worried about her as the morning passed. So Chris and met up with Delwyn, and they got her to the doctors (I’m at work today). It turns out that she does have an ear infection (even though there was no evidence of it a few days ago)! Phew, we’re so relieved. We were starting to really worry about her. Hopefully she’ll be back on track in a few days. But what a week! Conjunctivitis, cold, ear infection! We’re all really exhausted and in some serious need of sleep.

On the up

Rose has improved greatly over the last few days – her eyes have cleared up completely and she’s started sleeping through the nights again. Hurrah! She’s still been acting a bit cranky and weepy. And even a bit clingy. This is most unlike her. Today I took her to a new playground. It was completely empty because it’d just stopped raining, yet she didn’t want to play with any of the equipment. She held on to my leg and whimpered. This afternoon I had a doctor’s appointment and while I was there I got her to check Rose’s ears and chest for signs of infection. All clear. The doctor thought she was perhaps just feeling a little bit under the weather from her cold.

In exciting news, we think she said, “Good Girl” at dinner today. Chris was feeding Rose while I was in the study. I could hear him praising her eating broccoli – and then she said it – “Goo’ Gir’”. So, evidence of her mimicking?

And in other exciting news (and a special treat for those of you who’ve made it this far) I’m pregnant again! I’m 16 and a bit weeks pregnant, due on December 2nd, and no, we don’t know the sex yet. Everything is going well so far, if you include earth-shattering exhaustion and lots of first-trimester pukeage in your definition of “well”. All three of us went to my first obstetric appointment yesterday – all is good. I was wondering a little about VBACs (for those not in the know, that’s “Vaginal Birth After Cesarean”) which I want to attempt this time. I had a ton of questions, but perhaps I’ll leave that for another post because something good is about to come on the telly.

How Rose is smart

I guess it’s a pretty common mothering experience to be convinced that your kid is a genius and yet totally clueless, almost at the same time. On the genius side, for some time I’ve suspected that Rose knows which way around books go. It’s been ages since I saw her “read” a book upside down. Yesterday I finally have evidence of that. She picked up book that we don’t read very often and she opened it, and turned it the right way around! I don’t know how she knows which way is the right way, but she does. I’d assumed that she’d memorised the pictures and knew which way around they went. But she hardly knows this book, so I don’t know what the heck is going on.

Also, this morning I put Talking Heads’ “Stop Making Sense” on the stereo, which Rose was totally transfixed by. She danced to the music for a while, and then I noticed that she started tapping one of her toys against the TV cabinet… in time with the music!

But her language is developing more slowly than some of the other kids in my parents group. For example, some of the other kids endlessly mimic what their parents are saying. They don’t always repeat the words they’re mimicking, so maybe they’re just copying sounds. But whatever it is, Rose doesn’t do it. She knows a handful of words – Mummy, Daddy, bye-bye, ba-ba (sheep), cat and dog, but she didn’t seem to learn them by repeating what we were saying. Maybe it’s something to do with the way she learns? She didn’t learn to walk by walking to us; she learned by walking away. She still won’t walk when you hold her hand. She’s one independent little girl!

At least she’s feeling a bit better. The swelling around her eyes has gone down, but there are still deep purple marks under and above her eyes, and one is bloodshot in the corner. We also think she has a cold; she’s been coughing a lot and is very snuffly (although the doctor said that might be due to the conjunctivitis). But she’s definitely not herself: she has that sad, sick look that breaks her parents’ hearts. Her sleep has been a little disrupted, but then she slept through until 8.15am this morning.

An attack of conjunctivitis

Poor Rose has come down with a terrible case of bacterial conjunctivitis. Last night she had a runny nose and this morning we noticed some clear liquid from her eyes. When Chris picked me up after work her eyes had almost swollen shut and there was pus coming out. We almost went to the hospital; fortunately our family practice was able to squeeze us in. The doctor gave us a script for some ointment and said she should be feeling better in a few days.

I haven’t seen Rose looking so sad or in so much pain before and it’s absolutely heartbreaking!

Upside-down table train

Rose and I had great fun playing upside down table train tonight while Chris cooked dinner. (Great division of labour, eh?) Mummy was the engine, of course.