New Midlife Mommy

Yet Another First

I've mentioned before that DD has had cavities.  In fact she has four fillings.  So, we were a little nervous about waiting until she was three for her normal "first" visit with the dentist.  Instead, we decided to bring her in within six months of the cavity-filling visit.  Just in case.

I thought it was going to be just another check up today, but they treated her as though it was her very first visit to the dentist.  The dentist that we take her to is a pediatric dentist, and he sees really little kids, as well as bigger ones.  The area where most of the work is done is in a large, open room, and the kids can see other kids.  It's full of kid-friendly decorations on the walls and ceilings.  The idea is that it helps them to relax.  Most of the time, the kids are back there themselves, but we went with DD, since she's so small.  But honestly?  They were so good with her, we could have let her go back by herself.

They did a full cleaning, even though DD wasn't initially all that cooperative in opening her mouth.  They did X-rays of her front teeth, and she did just great (and all of her adult teeth are there, waiting to pop through when the time is right).  The dentist examined her and pronounced her cavity free (woo hoo!).  She got two toys, a T-shirt, her picture taken to commemorate her "first" visit, and she got a purple balloon.  All in all, it was a lot of fun for her.

I really like this dentist.  I found him through a bulletin board on mothering.com.  At the time I was trying to find someone to look at a white stripe on DD's teeth, I found that there is a real bias among the pediatric dentists with regard to extended breast feeding.  Even though pediatricians believe that extended breast feeding is fine, pediatric dentists, as a group, strongly believe in weaning at twelve months.  And if you don't wean, then they think that you definitely shouldn't be night nursing.  It seems like they blame everything on nursing.  And it makes no sense, because the breast doesn't work like a bottle.  There is no "pooling" of milk in the mouth to cause cavities like there is with a bottle.

This dentist is one of the exceptions, and I'm so thankful for the recommendation that I got from mothering.com.  He has a very large family of his own, all breast fed until they weaned themselves.  He didn't blame me for DD's four cavities.  In fact, he told us that if we wanted to guarantee that she not get cavities, then we should stop feeding her, because food is the problem.  I like that approach.  It makes sense.

I'm glad that DD thinks that going go the dentist is a lot of fun.  When I was little, I didn't have that experience.  It was all pretty scary.  I developed such a fear of dentists in childhood that I avoided them in young adulthood, after my parents weren't around to force me to go.  I ended up with a lot of dental work that I could have avoided through regular checkups.

Next time, my little girl will be ready to go it alone.  And I know that she'll enjoy it.  And that's a very good thing.

A Milestone, Of Sorts

A few weeks ago, I was doing something or other, and it got very quiet.  I knew that DD was in the living room, but she has gotten to the point where we can leave her alone for short spurts of time without worrying that she will kill herself.  Because of the silence, I started to wonder what might be going on.

All of a sudden, I heard a crash.  Of course, I came running.  I waited for the inevitable crying, but it didn't come.  Instead, I saw that DD was standing by the woodstove in the living room, near the fireplace equipment.  The poker, which is secured in a large C-shaped holder with the other equipment, had fallen to the floor.

I looked at the poker, and then at DD.  She looked deep into my eyes and said . . .

Kitty did it!

Um, yeah.  I don't think so. 

I can't believe that my daughter told her first lie.  I do suppose that is some sort of milestone, but not a laudatory one.  And I wonder why she did it.  It's not like we beat her or anything when she does something wrong.  We just tell her "no" and take her out of the situation.  No spanking.  Not that we are anti-spanking or pro-spanking -- we just haven't decided what we are going to do and haven't seen a need for that kind of discipline.

That's why I was so taken aback by the lie.  I'm sure that it's a natural thing, but so sad.  I guess she hasn't realized that as an only child, we are always going to see through her right away.

Big Girl Shoes

Because DD was born during the summer, we dressed her in onesies and kept her barefoot.  During the winter months, she pretty much wore sleepers with feet.  In the summer of 2005, when she was learning how to walk, we allowed her to go barefoot, even to daycare (I know, horrors, but there really wasn't anything to stub her toes on in the infant room, and she didn't take her first real step until September 1).  We wanted her to be able to develop her foot muscles naturally, so it seemed like the next logical choice for shoes would be Robeez.  DD has been wearing Robeez since last fall.  They are soft leather, have thin soles, and are the next best thing to being barefoot. 

But now summertime is coming around again, and DD will be playing outside in the playground.  So, we started thinking about some harder soled shoes, since Robeez are really designed more for interior wear.  I had some glittery tennis shoes (brand new) that were given to us by DD's godmother in two sizes, 5 and 6, but we just couldn't find her toes well enough to figure out what the right size was.  So, off to the shoe store last night.

Turns out DD is wearing a 5.5 shoe size.  We bought her the cutest little leather tennis shoes ($42.99 -- ouch).  They have little flowers on them, and she is so proud!  She walked around the store happily as we were sizing them, and she didn't want to take them off for bathtime.  In fact, she even tried to put them back on after her clothes were off.  So sweet.

Big girl shoes.  For my big girl.

18 Months Old

DD just had her 18 month birthday.  I can't believe that so much time has passed.  Every day, she is growing and changing and looking more and more like a little girl, and less and less like my sweet baby. 

She loves to color (cowor!) and wrap things up in newspaper or a blanket.  She loves to run, and my favorite thing is when she runs to me and gives me a hug before flitting away.  She has a very large vocabulary, probably upwards of 100 words by now.  Amazing.  I miss her so much during the day when I have to work, and my office is kind of like a shrine.  I have pictures of my DH, my parents, DD, and our little family picture.  Ugh.  I used to think that people who had a lot of pictures were too attached.  Guess I'm one of them now.

Every day, DD is getting to be more and more fun, though she still is a lot of work.  It's not the diapers, it's the constant need to always watch what she's doing so she doesn't get hurt.  Sometimes, that gets a little trying.  On the other hand, there are times that bring such great joy.  I never knew what I was missing before having a child, but I think that having one when I was young would not have been good, either.  Not that I have that much patience now, but I am so much less up tight about things.  On the other hand, if we were younger, it would make the "let's have another one" discussions much easier.

18 Month Doctor Visit

DD had a great checkup today.  Fortunately, no shots.  When we took her to the health department for shots last time, they gave my poor little girl five shots!  It was enough to take her to her fourth birthday. 

I really hate our crappy insurance at my new job.  It doesn't cover anything preventative, and my old insurance at my old job had a limit on how much it would pay in the first year, so that was why we ended up at the health department getting shots at a reduced price.  DD was obviously scared to be at the doctor's office again (she had a bad time there the last time she had to come in with a really high fever).  But even though she cried, she let the doctor and nurse do what they needed to do.  I'm so proud of her!

Anyway, DD is about 31.5 inches tall, and she's just under 22 pounds.  She can still wear about half of her 12 month baby clothes, but only the longer ones.  She must have grown about an inch and a half in just the last week or so, or so it seems, because all of a sudden, many of her pants seemed too short.

We took her for photos after the doctor visit.  She did really well there too.  Of course, it cost more money, because only one of the shots wasn't a keeper (she blinked).  The rest of them just had to be purchased, you know?  DH thinks I'm crazy, but it's my money.  And she'll only be little once, right?

Bye Bye Bottles

I guess we're finally finished with bottles.  DD hasn't been using them at home for a long time, but we used to send them to daycare with her.  Over the last several months, she'd take milk out of a sippy sometimes, but mostly, she'd like a teacher to hold her and let her drink the bottle while all snuggled up.  Well, it's time to transition to the small toddler room.  We had been holding her back because she needed two naps (they only allow one on the small toddler room) and they don't use bottles there.  Now that she's gotten comfortable with one nap,  she's just going to have to get used to not having a bottle.  So, we'll send her milk in little bottles without nipples and she will get sippys from now on.  It's kind of sad to look at all the bottles that are lined up on the counter with her name on them.  Sigh.  My little girl is growing up all too quickly.

BRU, I'll miss you

I went to one of my favorite stores today, Babies 'R Us.  Before I had a baby, it was a very confusing, seemingly disorganized store that I only had to go to when buying a shower gift.  But, after I got pregnant, it really seemed like the only place where there was one-stop shopping for baby stuff.  DH and I went there on a Sunday before the store opened, and a very nice person took us and a few other couples through the store and explained the layout (as well as explaining all the different products).  I have to admit -- I fell in love, and we registered there for everything.  The sad part is that it really seems to only have things for kids up to about two years of age.  My little one is almost a year and a half old, so our time there is limited now.  How sad.  I don't think I will ever find another place where everything that she needs is right at my fingertips.  Sigh.