This is a picture of Ray Hong - my mom's former co-worker's son. He is a month older than Abby. When I saw this picture today, I felt a light bulb light up above my head - this baby flotation device and pool would be the PERFECT solution for giving Abby the submersion necessary for the soaking baths she needs as part of her eczema management plan!!
Such a cute baby, but such a bizarre sight! I guess in China this wouldn't be considered uncommon, though.
Anyways, no fear that we will pop Abby's head through a donut and dangle her in water!
Look! We finally mowed the grass. :) With the torrential rain we received over the last two weeks, the grass and weeds were half-way up my shins. And with the sogginess of the ground, I was beginning to think we were living in a swamp.
Paul got a lawn mower this past weekend, though, and spent 3 hours mowing our 1/2 acre. Now our yard looks so purdy! I was so happy with it that I felt I had to take a picture.
We went to Raku - a sushi restaurant in Bethesda - on Sunday with the Flores' plus Olya's parents. We were celebrating Olya's birthday. After the meal, Olya got to open her presents and she had received a Pure Digital Flip Video Ultra camcorder from her parents. With batteries included, the camcorder was ready to use right out of the box, so Abby became the willing test subject.
Today was Abigail's first day in her new class. Her teachers are Ms. Betty (she is the one holding Abby in one of these photos) and Ms. Maria. Abby had a busy day exploring her new classroom and when she came home she was tired, but very happy. Ms. Betty had taken several photos of Abby during her first day's activities and she was kind enough to send them to me so that I can share them with everyone.
I had so much fun strawberry picking at Butler's Orchard today with Abigail, Stacy, and Ryan! Butler's is only 5 minutes away from our house and I need to remember to take more advantage of its delicious crops. The strawberries were deviiiiine. Abigail had her first taste of their succulent goodness today and was soon grabbing from the box of picked strawberries and stuffing them in her mouth, stem and all!
We met with Abigail's lead teacher today for a Parent-Teacher conference. Abigail's report card is detailed below. An "A" represents that she "Always" performs the skill, "S" represents "Sometimes", and "N" represents "Not Exhibiting". She has made great achievements and is exhibiting all skills, some of which aren't expected of infants her age.
Despite a very pretty report card, we did confirm that Abigail needs to work on sharing with others and touching nicely, rather than hitting. We will also be owing the Seppys a few dinners as we learned that Abby likes to crawl to Ryan's crib and shake it to wake him up - Aaaagh!!
Language Arts:
A - Listens and responds to voices
A - Repeats vowel sounds and first syllables
A - Babbles for attention
A - Responds to name
Sensory Stimulation:
A - Follows a toy with eyes
A - Responds to visual change
A - Responds to auditory stimulation (music)
S - Responds to tactile stimulation
Cognitive Development:
A - Focuses eyes for increasing time span
A - Recognizes familiar voices
A - Displays memory
A - Observes own hands and feet
A - Shows preference
A - Seeks a missing object
A - Recognizes familiar objects
Creative Art:
A - Enjoys tactile experience
S - Observes own product
S - Recognizes own product
Motor Skills:
A - Holds object in one hand
A - Controls body movement
A - Sits supported for increasing time span
A - Reaches for object with tow hands
A - Begins to crawl
S - Rolls over (front to back)
A - Kicks legs and waves arms
Music/Movement:
A - Responds to rhythm and tempo
A - Enjoys listening to music
A - Responds to soothing tones
Self-Help/Life Skills:
A - Calms self with toy
A - Moves to assist feeding or diaper changes
A - Tongue thrusts and withdraws for spoon
A - Verbalizes needs
A - Holds bottle or cup
A - Reaches to be held
Teacher's Note: "The first day of school Abigail had a great day, but she didn't want to participate in some of the activities. For example she didn't like tummy time; standing while holding the bar. After few weeks, she started to stand while holding the bar, pulled herself up, and during tummy time we saw her crawling. Now she is saying words like "mama", "dada", "book", and "bye bye". She enjoys dancing, singing and clapping her hands to music. She is having a great time; we are happy that she is learning everyday and enjoy spending time with her."
When I went to get Abby out of her crib this morning, I found her face covered in drool crust.
"Eeeewwww! What's with the excess drool?"
I washed her face and started to feed her. Half-way through her feeding, she looked up at me and gave me the biggest grin. That was when I noticed extra ridges in her upper gums.
"Ooh, can she actually be getting more teeth?! Finally!" It has been almost 4 months since she got her last tooth.
I stuck a finger in her mouth to feel around and, sure enough, I could feel the sharp little "teeth" on the tooth that was emerging. I guess these baby ridges are to help the tooth cut through the gums. They get smoothed out pretty quickly once baby starts to use their new tooth, but I felt their sharpness when Abby got annoyed with my finger in her mouth and chomped down to express her feeling!
Sometime over the last month Abigail began to really enjoy books we read to her at bedtime. Prior times, she would be more interested in chewing the book or tossing it on the ground and saying, "Uh-oh!"
Tonight, we were reading Goodnight Moon and Gallop! and Abigail was intensely studying each page, listening to the words and mimicking sounds, pointing at the pictures, turning pages to revisit favorite images - being an overall good story listener.
In Goodnight Moon, she loves the pages showing the cow jumping over the moon. Since I ask her enough times, "What do cows say?" when we reach these pages, she knows to go "Moo" when she sees the cow! Her next favorite thing is to point out the kittens in the great green room. She calls the black and white one Belle-Belle and I have to admit that the kitten's coat coloring is close enough to that of our own Belle-Belle's. This is a story we generally have to read to her three or four times a night.
Abigail is also thoroughly engaged when we read the Gallop! scanimation book and she gets so excited looking at the moving animals. When we see the dog and cat pages, she will bend down and kiss the pictures! The strutting rooster inevitably gets her to giggle. So very cute! This is one of the most interesting and unique books for children I have come across thus far and I am really happy that Abby is enjoying it so much.
Saturday morning, Paul, Abby, and I went to the Montgomery County Baby Bazaar held at the Gaithersburg Fairgrounds. It was essentially a garage sale in animal stalls. A lot of used clothing and toys, but mainly for toddlers and up. We met up with the Seppys and Flores'. After the Bazaar, all of us went to Crepes-a-go-go at the Kentlands for a relaxing lunch outdoors; the weather was beautiful. Stacy, Olya, and I then took Ryan and Abby to shop at the Apple Seed (a maternity/children's clothing store in the Kentlands that also carried unique toys). Stacy found an adorable sweater for Ryan!
Saturday afternoon, the Seppys came over to our house. While Ryan and Abby took afternoon naps, Stacy and I went to Frederick to visit her aunt who had finished making a custom dragon quilt for Paul. When we came home, the Seppys made Chicken Heavenly and blueberry muffins for dinner, which we ate while watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail. :)
On Sunday, Iggy and Paul had originally planned on going for a bike ride, but thunderstorm warnings changed their plans. Olya and Iggy came over and we went shopping at Ikea, instead. Meatballs and furniture shopping - who would've thought that that would be a winning combination. We were looking for a cabinet for our powder room to store and hide extra toilet paper and cleaning products. We found the perfect cabinet at Ikea, but they were out of stock and not available for online purchase!! Oh well, we will just have to get meatballs and look for it again another weekend.
Memorial Day weekend is coming up and since Paul and I both have 9/80 days off this Friday, we will get to enjoy an extra long weekend. I think I would like to paint the master bedroom and try to get to some boxes we have not unpacked yet since our move and see if we can find our box of missing DVDs and CDs.
Oh, yes, we also picked up a papasan chair from a friend who was making room in her house for a new puppy. The papasan chair and ottoman is a very pretty sage color which will go great with the burgundy color I am thinking of to paint the accent walls in the master bedroom.
This is my first Mother's Day card from Abigail. Her teachers made a card for all the moms.
The babies contributed their hands for tracing. :)
Abigail's teachers have been very proud of her progress with the walker. She can walk unassisted with it all over the classroom.
My first Mother's Day was perfect. Paul and Abby gave me cards and a gift (a Bodum Coffee Press!) first thing in the morning. We met up with Olya and Ingemar for some shopping at Georgetown (the ladies) and bike riding on the C&O Canal trail (the men). After a quick clean-up, we headed to Timpano's Italian Chop House for a wonderful dinner. Abby was as happy as can be and a perfect angel throughout the meal. Filet Mignon that melted in your mouth and a cheesecake lollipop tree to share for dessert. Grins!! :)
The Barenaked Ladies came out with a Children's CD last Tuesday called Snacktime (http://www.bnlmusic.com/snacktime/). Paul and I have been very entertained by the song, "789" - based on the old "why is 6 afraid of 7?" joke - which can be found on the CD. Since we have always enjoyed the humor and music of The BNL, we are looking forward to picking up this CD, perhaps sometime this weekend. In the meantime, we can watch the YouTube video for the "789" song.
I made this recipe for dinner tonight and it turned out really well! I'm writing it down so that I may attempt to replicate it again in the future.
1 Tbsp Olive Oil 4 cloves of garlic, sliced 1 yellow squash, quartered, then sliced 1 zucchini, quartered, then sliced 2 Andouille sausages, halved, then sliced 1 can diced tomatoes 1 C Organic sweet peas 1 can of whole kernel corn 1 C Spicy Hot V8 juice 1 bay leaf 1 Tbsp Onion Onion Seasoning 1 Tbsp cayenne pepper 1/2 lb raw shrimp, peeled and deveined hot, cooked rice
Mix everything but the shrimp and rice together and cook until vegetables are almost tender. Add shrimp and cook 5 minutes. Take out bay leaf and serve over hot rice.
Since this is a hodgepodge, any veggies and meat combination could be used. I thought about using chicken and bacon instead of the sausages. Bell peppers, onions, celery, artichoke, asparagus, fresh parsley, and collard greens could all be tasty in this recipe.
We're really sad to say farewell to Abigail's well-loved, inflatable Ducky Bath. For several weeks we have been trying to locate some leaks. Every night we would have to blow it back up to give Abby her bath, but alas, we have determined it is a lost cause; there appears to be too many holes.
We will probably not be replacing the bath because for the last two weeks, Abby has been trying to climb out of the main tub by stepping on the sides of the duck and we figure she's probably ready to graduate to the main tub by now.
So, bye-bye, Ducky Bath! We have had some great times.
Abby was tested for a panel of allergens today, consisting of cow's milk (2 types), soy, egg whites, egg yolks, egg wholes, wheat, apple, corn, peanuts, fish, dust mites, and cat dander.
With the skin test, no needles were used, but a tiny scratch (like being touched with sandpaper) was done to her back to apply the allergen.
Negative results mean that there is a 95% chance that the patient is not allergic to the allergen. Positive results mean that there is a 60% chance that the patient might be allergic to the allergen; that percentage is even lower if the patient has eczema.
So, negative results can tell us something, positive results don't mean much.
Abby tested positive to egg whites, egg yolks, egg wholes, and wheat.
As the doc put it, "The good news is, you don't have to get rid of your cats or your dust!"
The doctor also does not believe that the eggs or wheat would actually attribute to her eczema. Wheat, especially, he believes is not really an allergen!
So, the conclusion of today's visit to the allergist is that since I am still nursing Abby, I will cut out eggs from my diet for a week or so and see if her skin condition improves. If so, we've identified a food allergy trigger for her eczema. If not, we can TRY to eliminate wheat from my diet. However, given that Abby had eczema at 3 months of age and we have not seen any obvious reactions to wheat or egg products, both of which she's had since she was 5.5 months old, it's doubtful that either one is triggering her eczema.
Children with egg allergies tend to outgrow them by age 3.
Since Abby did show allergic tendencies, though, we were prescribed Epipens (one for daycare, one for home) in case she ever encounters an allergen that would cause her to need it.
In the meantime, the best recommendation for Abby's eczema is still to "wet and seal" her skin, as her doctor recommended at her 9 month check up. We will try to be more regimented about giving her daily baths and making sure she turns into a prune each time so that we can make sure she gets the moisture back in her skin.
Ok, not quite, but it's an exciting time for us to see Abby getting ready to move on to the next class.
We received a letter from Abby's school today that she will be transitioning from Infant Room 1 to Infant Room 2 starting in 2 weeks. The transition will be complete on June 1st. Room 2 consists of babies who are close to walking or walking, roughly ages 10 months to 18 months.
