====================================================================== ========================== ======================== ======================== PEBBLES PRESS ======================= ========================== ======================== ====================================================================== ``The Straight Poop on Heather'' 30 January 1995 Vol. 1, No. 5 Editor-in-chief: Heather Contributing Editors: John & Marie Fashion Editor: Aunt Susan -- CARDS AND LETTERS In response to our News Flash reporting the onset of mobility, an anonymous parent writes: > You're in trouble now! And you know what? He was right! Yikes! (See MOTOR DEVELOPMENT UPDATE for a discussion of related topics.) Another reader suggests: > To the Editorial Staff: > > Judging from the whirlwind of trips and other activities reported > in the latest issue of The Pebbles Press, might I suggest that you > institute a "Society Page" to cover all of Her Highness's social > engagements and tete-a-tete's [note to editor: please correct my > atrocious French before publication] with the noteworthy and famous > (you know, like gators and whales)? I would guess that the holiday > season should produce an abundance of material for such a feature. > > Your loyal reader, > > Jody Forehand (Oops! We forgot to take out the note to the editor! Oh, well, it's been typeset and sent to the printer now -- too late!) Your request is our command. Read on, dear reader! -- MOTOR DEVELOPMENT UPDATE Crawling, pulling up, cruising -- why, Heather hardly stops to take a break these days! In fact, she's so busy exercising her new mobility that she only has time for two naps. The downside of that is occasional crankiness in the early-evening time frame, when it's been a while since Nap #2, but isn't quite time for bed yet. (On a couple of occasions, she's practically fallen asleep in her high chair as we try to feed her -- I think we'll try a funnel next time.) The upside is that she's usually good and ready for bed around 8:00, and will go to sleep without a fuss. In fact, most nights, the "bedtime ritual" of reading, rocking, and r'singing (the three R's) is more for my sake than hers. When I finally put her in her bed, even if her eyes are wide open, she gives a relieved sigh, rolls onto her side, and passes out. Speaking of sleep (what is this doing in the Motor Development section anyway? Who's in charge around here? Where's that Editor-in-Chief when you need her?) Heather has been really good about sleeping through the night since a few days after returning from vacation, with the exception of a night or two during her recent illness and convalescence (see HEALTH NEWS). She goes to bed around 8:00 (but is generally willing to stay up later and keep her good spirits up if we go out in the evening), wakes up about 11:30 for a late-night nursing, goes right back to sleep, and generally sleeps through until 6 or 6:30. Then she wakes up, nurses, and if we're lucky cuddles up in our bed and goes back to sleep. If we're not so lucky, as happens more and more often recently, she fusses and whines until we get up, get her up, and get started with the day. If we're moderately lucky, she wants to be up, but is willing to play in our bed or on the (mostly babyproofed) area next to the bed. Speaking of babyproofing (are these smooth segues or *what*?), it's happening slowly but surely. I would say that our "babyproofed" zone is leading Heather's inquisitiveness by about a foot and a half so far. Our primary problem at this point, apart from a lack of time to complete the job (is it ever really complete, though?) is a dearth of available flat surfaces that are high enough to pile things on safely. (You know, I'm talking about those little things that normal childless people just leave lying around on their coffee tables -- magazines, mail, loose change, razor blades, needles, lighted matches -- oh, I'm just kidding; get a grip!) -- SOCIETY PAGE Whew, what a social whirlwind the holiday season was, and what a social butterfly Her Highness was. Where to begin, where to start? Let's see: first we flew out to Maryland to spend Christmas with the dJ family in Columbia. Everybody, of course, adores and dotes on Heather. Even David was seen playing on the floor with Heather and making funny faces at her. During that week we also saw Aunt Marian & Uncle Jim in Alexandria on the drive down for a quick day in Richmond with Penny, Terry, & Ross. Then lots of visits back in Maryland/Washington: Mikki, Rob, & Ryan Day; Mark, Jodie, & Jacob Rasch; Deedee, Michael, and Danny Callas and Marie's surrogate parents `Mom' and `Dad' Callas; Fred, Kathleen, Emily, Evelyn, and `Grandma' Brosi. Luckily, we have fewer friends in New York and Pennsylvania. That part of the trip was All Parks, All the Time. We split our time between Forest Hills (Queens) and the house in the Poconos, and had a great time. The Parks' primary goal, when we visit with Heather, is to get us out of the way so that they can be alone with her. That translates into lots of movies and plenty of sleeping late for Heather's parents. The social whirl doesn't stop just because we're home, though! Recent dinner parties at Peter and Ida's and Andrew and Sharon's prove that Heather knows all of the relevant baby etiquette: how to wear a bib with panache, which fork to use (trick question: neither fork -- you just throw your food on the floor!), and how to be the center of attention. -- ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT It was pointed out to us that the following excerpt from a previous issue was in error: > (*) Yes, that's right, her usual cheery self -- sometime in the last > couple of months, somebody took our fussy baby and left a happy one! > She still has her moments, but the joy quotient has increased > substantially. Hooray! Okay, okay. She still has a LOT of moments. But they're getting *relatively* fewer and far between. I mean, give us a break, at least we're heading in the right direction! Seriously, though, the first few days of our Christmas vacation were a bit tough. Heather's gotten very attached to Mommy and Daddy, and took a while to get used to being on vacation and away from her familiar environments. (The lucky desJardins clan got to experience the worst of this.) But by the second week of vacation, she was doing much better, and all must agree that when she *is* in a good mood, it's a joy to behold. Since she's been back home, in her familar environments of home and day care, she's been quite fun to be around (again with the exception of the flu and recovery that lasted about a week and the recent teething episodes). She really has a great time at day care. Her current favorite spot is in the "play house" under the raised play pen. She followed the "big kids" (15 - 18 months old) in there one day, and now she crawls in there every chance she gets. -- HEALTH NEWS The flu and cold season is upon us, and Heather has had a series of minor illnesses. A couple of weeks before we left on Christmas vacation, she came down with a cold that left her with a nasty cough for quite some time. The cold itself wasn't too bad, but the cough was waking her up at nights for a while. Then we got back from vacation, just in time to miss a stomach flu epidemic at day care (or so we thought). Almost all of the other babies were out sick on the Monday we started back, so we figured we had missed exposure. Not so -- on Thursday she slept late, and woke up with a temperature. Then the diarrhea started (see ALL THE POOP...) We got lucky, actually -- she was only really sick for two or three days, and mostly was very sleepy, with occasional diarrhea. Monday was MLK Day anyway, so John stayed home with her, and by Tuesday she was ready to go back to day care. But then the teething started, along with a mild cold (congestion and another bad cough). That cold has mostly passed, though, so we're back to normal (for now). (Hand-mouth-and-foot disease has already made the rounds, so I wonder what we're in for next... we just keep reminding ourselves that in a couple of years, she'll have all of her immunities built up, and by the time she starts kindergarten she'll have a giant immunity head start over those poor stay-at-home kids...) Wait a sec, back up, did you say *teething*?! Yes, that's right, our darling almost-10-month-old daughter *finally* has a tooth coming in! We can see it just barely poking through the gum, on the lower right side (and YES, it is very sharp, and NO, she hasn't bitten me while nursing yet, and MAYBE, she might get weaned quickly if she does!) It looks like the lower left one is going to appear shortly after this one surfaces completely. It's hard to imagine what she'll look like with teeth -- she's been so gummy for so long! As for preventive maintenance, the Empress had her 9-month well-baby checkup on Friday, January 13 (is that lucky, or what?). Once Dr. Laurie recovered her composure from once again being confronted with the cutest baby in her practice (just to make sure, we showed her the Santa picture (see FASHION NEWS)), she examined her and pronounced her healthy and beautiful. She was 17 3/4 lbs. (40th %ile) and 27 3/4" (70th %ile), but since then she appears to have had a bit of a growth spurt (and to have recovered any weight she might have lost during the flu. By the highly accurate Infobahn scale (as attested by A. Neuschatz, Infobahnmeister and keeper of the scale), she weighs 18 1/2 pounds, and by our measurement this morning she's 28 1/2". -- ALL THE POOP THAT'S S*IT TO PRINT Stomach flu. Diarrhea. Yuck. Need we say more? (Really, John's supposed to write this section; his vivid prose and lifelike descriptions are what really make the poop come to life. Words fail me.) -- SNACKS 'N' SUCH (Really, the editorial decisions made by the staff of this publication are unbelievable. I mean, who wants to hear about Heather's input right after reading about her output?) Finger food is the cuisine du jour these days. Sometimes she basically refuses to eat anything off a spoon. But she doesn't yet eat finger foods at a rate fast enough to actually keep herself alive (i.e., for you fellow geeks out there, consumption of finger foods vis-a-vis digestion is slower than real-time). So we sneak spoonfuls of other edible stuff in between crackers and chunks of fruit. Often if we offer anything solid on a spoon or fork, like bites of veggies off our plates, she reaches out and takes it off to put it in her mouth herself. Isn't this "I want to do it myself" behavior supposed to be reserved for toddlerhood and the "terrible twos?" Anyway, some favorite finger foods of late: cheerios (the classic); any kind of bread or cracker, including Goldfish; little pieces of fruit (favorites: banana, melon, pear; not so hot: kiwi); pasta (as long as it's not wet and squishy with sauce -- she's fastidious like her dad that way); carrots 'n' peas; pieces of cheese (Havarti with dill and sharp cheese were much more popular than Monterey Jack: this kid likes FLAV'R). We've also been giving the occasional serving of meat -- we made her some chicken stew and pureed it; she liked that pretty well. She's also had a few bites of chicken and turkey off our plates. Other protein sources have been met with mixed reviews. Yogurt and cottage cheese are definite "maybes". Scrambled eggs were pretty popular (but she wanted to feed that to herself, i.e., squish it through her fingers); hardboiled eggs were not. We thought we'd try pate de foie gras next. -- BABY TALK Heather is a babbling fool! You just can't shut her up these days. This morning I believe she was reciting the Iliad translated into Urdu. I keep thinking that she's on the verge of using an actual word, but I don't think she's really made that cognitive leap yet. She does make certain sounds repeatedly in certain circumstances, but it's still pretty random. The cutest thing she does(*) is if you throw your arms up in the air and say "touchdown!" she will often throw one or both of her arms up and say "tuhdah!" I told John it doesn't count as a word unless she uses it first -- he reluctantly agreed. (*) Well, this is only one of the myriad equally cute things she does. But it's up there! -- FASHION Heather is stylin' in her new Christmas togs (the collection being rounded out, of course, by her 8- and 9-month birthday presents received during the holiday visit). Some highlights and awards: * Most grown-up outfit: the Baby Gap overalls and flowered long-john style shirt from Aunt Susan and Grandma Mary. * Most outrageously dressy outfit: the ivory satin-and-lace Jessica McClintock dress from Aunt Barbara (being saved for a suitable occasion like her first birthday, or maybe presentation to the Queen of England). * Most unbearably cute outfit: the Santa outfit lent to us by Diane (*wow*, she's cute in this; stop by my office to see the pictures if you can). GIF file to be made available as soon as our system folks fix our ftp site, or I can put it on your incoming ftp site if you drop me a line. * Most Christmasy outfit: the bright green patterned dress and red leggings with coordinating sox from Susan and Mary. * Most frills: a tie between the red and white frilly dress from Deedee and the pink-and-purple bebowed and beribboned snowsuit from Grandma and Grandpa Park. Don't these people know we have a tomboy on our hands? :-) -- STAY TUNED As usual!