Playtime Smiley time

Alarm bells started ringing frantically when it dawned on me that the little one is already 2 and still does not seem to have made much progress in his conversational skills.  All I had to do was an honest analysis of his activities through the day and it was staring me in the face that I spend way too less quality time with him, playing and communicating. Oh yes, catering to three different age group kids with totally different needs and routines can  be nerve wracking.  But excuses are not what we needed here.  Guilt was slowly inching its way into my heart. I made the strong resolve to sit down and play with him and talk to him and enjoy him more.

And like an added blessing all the toys ordered online poured in together!! There are building blocks, shape sorters, magnetic puzzle boards, shape matching kits, racing car slides etc to keep the low on energy mom and the super energetic toddler occupied on lazy mornings.

Once I started making the concious effort, I have discovered that it is indeed loads of fun to play with the small one.  In a few days I noticed marked changes in him.  He is so much more receptive and calmer.  His vocabulary has definitely improved and we celebrate each new word.  The latest ones are mooyi (movie) and toys.  I am on the look out for new games that will be fun and will challenge him more and more.

What games do you play with your toddler?

Vaccinations

Aarush had the 6 month shots yesterday. Two sharp jabs on each of his legs! The second one had him screaming at his loudest. It breaks my heart to see the little one in pain. But to make up for that, I made sure that he enjoyed a warm and cosy sleep on my chest until the early hours of the morning.

He is now 7.9 kgs. The length and the head circumference were not checked by the doc.

Appu was feeling very sad about the shots and infact by the time we reached home she was actually in tears!

Meal time for Aarush

We introduced solids to Aarush 2 days back. We started off with ragi. He seemd to like the taste of it. He was hoping for me after 2 spoonfulls. However, we kept the quantity to bare minimum since it was the first time. All was Ok except that his daily quota of poo ( 4-5 times) was absent.

Appu visits the dentist

I have always been so particular about Appu’s dental hygiene that I was in for a surprise when the doctor detected small cavities in her 2nd molars during a routine check. The doctor recommended filling immediately inorder to prevent any further damage.

Now, a visit to the dentist is not something that any of us really enjoy. Who likes other prodding and drilling and grinding in their mouth? Appu has always been quiet resilient as far as injections etc are concerned. But I was not too sure about how she would react to this as it was new for her. I could have taken solace from the fact that she had sat through a suturing on her tongue with minimal fuss at the age of 3 and that too without any anesthesia. I thought it would be best to prepare her and take for the procedure at a later date. We took an appointment for a week later.

I started preparing herself telling her about the 2 worms that had made holes in her teeth and are residing there. Made a story about how the worms got inside and started eating the leftovers lodged in her teeth since she wasn’t brushing her teeth properly and how they became so fat that they could not come out of the hole. The doctor would now have to make the holes bigger so that the worms could come out (Yyyyyuuuuuucccckkkkk!!!). The tooth fairy who would be visiting her shortly (One of her milk tooth has become loose) also would not be too happy to see the worms and might leave without any gifts. I am not too sure that Appu believed any of these but she atleast pretended to and kept telling all about the worms that are going to be pulled out from her mouth (Double yyyuuuuuuccccckkkkk!!!). She was infact looking forward to it. It also helped that her doctor was rather beautiful and “stylish”.

So on D-day, that was last Thursday, mom and daughter set out armed with a lot of guts to the dentist. I admit I was a bit nervous but she was cooollll! She sat through the whole procedure with a lovely enchanting smile on her face. The doctor also was a real darling and made sure she got her involved in the process as well. Each procedure was explained to her in a cute way and she was bowled over by the doctor. So all in all it was a great success but I still hope that we do not have the requirement of such visits apart from the routine checks!

Flu Attack

The flu has got a real tight hold over the entire household or almost. I returned back to work on October 1st(more about that in another post). I was pretty much OK in the morning. But once I returned, I was so tired that I could barely stand. And by night I was having excruciating pain around the sinuses. Head was throbbing. I had no choice but to go to bed early. And save for the few times I woke up to feed the little guy, I slept for almost 2 hours. This is inspite of the fact that one of our closest friend and his family was at home.

On Friday, we took the little boy to the doctor as he was having temperature on and off and was also suffering from stuffy nose. He is fine now by the grace of God.

Today, it was my turn to visit the doctor in the morning. She has confirmed that I have severe infection and that I need to take a couple of days off from work(yippppeeeee!!!!). I am on antibiotics and a whole lot of other medicines.

By the time we returned, B was getting worse. We were kind of worried when we noticed blood in his phlegm. He was also feeling miserably tired. So at night, it was yet another visit to the clinic - this time for B. He has also been prescribed antibiotics and has also been asked to undergo a few blood tests tomorrow. Apparently, the blood could be because of severe infection or in the worst case, if accompanied by high temperature, could be a sign of pneumonia. To our relief his temperature is normal so far. And B being B, he feels that he should see his regular doctor again tomorrow. He could not see her today as it was late. So thats going to be the fourth visit in a row.

Anyways, I am off work for 2 days and B is also off tomorrow.

Visit to Doc

B is still not convinced that Aarush's groaning and grunting is normal. Just to put his mind at ease, we decided to show him to another doctor at the hospital where he was born. This outcome is as follows:

His new vital stats-
Weight - 4.9 kg (3.2 at birth)
Height - 55.3 com (50 cm at birth)
Head Circumference - 38 cm (35 at birth

1) Doc commented on his excellent weight gain and asked what milk I give him. Exclusively breastfed - replied a beaming, proud mother.

2) His bouts of vomitting - Reflux, but nothing to worry about or to give medicines for as his weight gain is fine and as his wet diapers aer also ample. Just asked to feed him upright and to let him sleep at a slightly elevated angle. This is due to baby taking in more milk than his tiny tummy can hold.

3) Groaning / grunting / wheezing - Ignore - absolutely normal.

4) Belly Button - Cant say its an outie yet. Aarush is having a tiny umbilical hernia and according to doc will clear off in a year to 18 months. Nothing to bo done or to worry.

5) Yellow colur of his eyes - Is still present since he is exclusively breastfed and in kids who are only BF, takes longer for the colour to go . Blood sample taken to see the count and results are normal.

6) Jitters - Will go off on its own. Actually, this has reduced a lot now since his birht and is almost non existent.

In all, he is perfectly a fine, normal little cuddly baby! Thank God for that!

Its an outie!!!

The stump of Aarush's umbilicus had fallen off on the 12th day after his birth and as is the custom, we have preservered the stump. This will be buried in the yard of our home when we go on leave next. After this, we did not give much attention to this part of his anatomy apart from the normal cleaning.

A few days back, I realised that we are yet to see a nice cute round belly button on him. There is still a fleshy piece covering the belly button. And then it dawned on me.....Aarush has an "outie" belly button.

Yipee.....we have decided to flaunt it!

Edited on 02.11.2009 to add

Nope..its not an outie. He has a very cute round belly button now! It was only a minor hernia.

Our concerns

No matter whether its your first,s econd or third baby, I believe that parents will be having a lot of concerns about their newborns. We too had (have) a lot of such concerns about Aarush.

1) B was initially worried about baby's squint. I convinced him that all kids have a squint as they are unable to coordinate at this age and that this would be gone by the second month or so. But it is still very much there and B is now having his doubts again.

2) Aarush is a loud sleeper. He snores a lot and after a couple of days at home, I found this really strange as the snore was quite loud and disturbing. (Its tough having 2 loud sleepers on your left especially when you have to attend demanding calls at night and do not have proper rest.) We took him to the doctor who told that he is OK adnd just has a slight congestion in his nose for which we can use saline drops. This has thankfully reduced by now.

3) Apart from the snore Aarush groans and grunts a lot in sleep. This has been worrying B no end even though the doc confirmed that it is perfectly normal for kids just the way we stretch and shuffle in sleep. However,it stops as soon as I cuddle him close. So I believe its OK.

4) Aarush had jaundice which is normal for most newborns nowadays. His eyes are still a bit yellow and we are concerned as to when it will be OK. Again Doc has said it is nothing to worry about.

5) Aarush tends to sleep with his eyes open a times. He also rolls his eyes in sleep. Sometimes I freak out seeing him sleep this way especially when only the whites of his eyes will be visible. Sometimes, he will be looking at my face intently and I will be cooing aand talking to him only to realise that he is fast alseep. I hope this is normal and thats just the way he is.

6) Aarush is on the darker side. Neither me nor B has any issues with this. Bi is also dark and I have always preferred men being on the darker side. Not that I would not have liked a fair baby but it really did not matter much to us. This was however worrying a lot of others who kept mentioning it each time they saw him. One lady even had the guts to ask me how this one became dark. Appu is fair and people have been comparing them a lot. I cannot understand this obsession people have with fairness. I can only thank god for giving me a perfectly healthy baby and not worry over the something as frivolous as colour of my baby's skin.

7) Aarush's lips were real dark almost purplish after a few days of birth. I was worried about this and wanted to whether it was caused by any of the medicines I was taking during pregnancy. I was taking Aldomet for BP and in between I was on a beta blocker (lopressor) for palpitations. I was not concerned much about the aesthetic part of it. Even in this case, one of my relatives had the nerve to me that his lips are very dark and that I should wipe them hard with my thumb after each feed. I never did this even once. The colour has changed a lot now and the last time she saw the baby she commented to my mom that I seem to have been wiping his lips regularly as the colour has changed so much so fast. I couldnt help laughing over this.

8) Aarush is a gassy baby and needs to be burped more than once during feeds. Else he possets a lot. As per docs suggestion, I burp after 10 min or so after each feed and this has reduced a lot.

9) The biggest concern however - Aarush was jittery. We never noticed this while in the hospital thought they did mention it to us and carried out the necessary tests for glucose, calcium deficiency etc. It was only pointed out to us by the doc at his first well baby visit. Ever since then, we have been worried tremendously over this. Its really scary when you see your little one shaking his hand and legs this way. The doc mentioned that since the tests came out normal, it should go on its own by the 2nd month or so. We are happy that it has reduced a lot and now we only see him shaking once in a couple of days. Its a huge relief!