Abby is picking stuff up so fast, I could probably start a "Word of the Day" report to track it... Yesterday, "turtle" and "butterfly" (buh-fwy). Today: "towel" and "boat." I wonder when she'll learn "proud Mama?" ;)
Up to that point, she was already saying Dada, Mama, cheese, bye-bye, night-night (nigh-nigh), more, no, yes, oh no, toe, eye, ear, hi-five (hi-fi), water (wa-wa), bottle (ba-ba), kitty, and baby, among other things. I can't remember exactly when it all started (somewhere between 12 and 14 months?), but I know that it began with "cheese." Though her first utterances were Dada and Mama, it took her awhile to apply them appropriately. When she first said "cheese," that's exactly what she meant. And so, it holds the special title of Official First Word.
Because I have traditionally been so awful at writing things down in an organized manner, I often look to Facebook to double-check myself about significant events that I should be including, that I happened to mention in status updates. Conveniently, I forgot to do so last month, and it turns out that I missed a couple of cute little stories that should have been included in last week's post. Because they're related to the above, and because I don't want to lose track of them over time, I'm including them below. Posted February 28th, 2012:
Big day for Miss Abigail: today she said her name properly for the first time (Ab-by), and many times thereafter, and this evening she was admiring her brother when she first pointed at his eye and said "eye," and then pulled at his ear and said, "ear." (And then I had to spend the next couple of minutes explaining that we don't pull ears. LOL.) My little Genius! :D
And one last one, from February 16th:
So, Abby is now in the habit of repeating "more," over and over, when she wants something more (or just something different) to eat. Only, she always manages to say it in a way that's entirely too reminiscent of those brainless seagulls in "Finding Nemo." Just substitute out the word "mine..." Cracks me up every time. :)
And now, back to March.
A new vocabulary wasn't the only thing that Abby gained that month. Most notable was her first pair of sneakers, purchased on March 7th, which Tom and I were finally motivated to get so that Abby could attend an upcoming play date at a nearby farm.
It sure was tough getting her to stand still for long enough to get a picture, though.
And the next day was the play date, at Frying Pan Farm Park. It was a beautiful day, full of interesting (and smelly) animals, including brand-new baby lambs and pigs.
Abby paid some small amount of notice to the animals, but she was mainly interested in running as far away from me as her short little legs would carry her. Definitely a workout for Mommy. I wisely elected to leave Michael at home with Tom for this adventure, so that I could focus on my overly-mobile toddler-child. This was due, in large part, to my first experience with a two-child play date at a park some weeks before, which resulted in my temporarily losing track of Abby. She managed to make it all the way to the parking lot before being herded back by two kind observers, and returned to her frantic mother. I have not attempted any play dates in public places with both of my children since then, nor do I intend to any time soon, unless Tom can be there, too.
And that evening, Abby's love affair with hats began.
The next day started off with a bit of a scare. On the morning of the 9th, as I changed Michael's diaper, I noticed a reddish lump in his groin area. A couple of hours later, I had him seen by his pediatrician. He seemed to think that there was some kind of underlying infection going on, but he couldn't tell how deep it went, and was concerned by how suddenly the swelling and redness had appeared. So, he sent us to the ER, where they have better sonogram equipment than he had available in-office, to get an ultrasound done of the affected area.
We managed to make it 16 whole months with Abby without ever needing to take her to the ER, so this was our first trip there with one of our kids. It was a little terrifying, because even though the chances were that everything was okay, everyone was doing their best to take all necessary preventative steps. Like putting in an IV, in case Michael needed a strong course of antibiotics. It was a huge deal. The lights had to be turned out in the room and a special light applied to even see where his tiny veins were, and he had to be held down and distracted with a binky dipped in sugar water. Thankfully, the medical staff did a great job with the insertion, and it was over quickly. When it was done, Michael's whole hand had to be wrapped up, to ensure that he did not rip everything out.
It was a bit of an ordeal for Abby, as well. I'm sure she was picking up on Tom's and my distress, and she didn't have much to entertain her apart from a blown-up, purple latex glove.
She did amazingly well, though, and even managed a nap in the midst of everything, tucked safely in her stroller with a nice, soft blanket.
Michael got some sleep in, too. In fact, I think I'd never seen him sleep quite so peacefully up to that point. We were having quite the difficulty getting him to stay down for more than an hour during the day and night and home. But he snoozed on through for the longest time as we waited to get him scanned by an ultrasound tech.
Ultimately, and thankfully, there was nothing to be found in the ultrasound; no underlying infection. He'd simply gotten some kind of infection in the outer layers of skin on his groin, which inflamed an adenoid, causing the lump. We were given a prescription for antibiotics, and sent home.
Michael healed quickly, and was no worse for the wear after having had the experience.
By mid-month, Abby was increasingly finding herself comfortable taking over anything of Michael's that she could find.
To be fair, the chair was hers first, and is designed to hold babies through toddlers. However, it was brought over to our apartment from Mima's (where she used it only a handful of times) as one of the latest gadgets that we employed to try to ease Michael's near-constant reflux distress. Like every other thing that we tried, it was mostly unsuccessful, but served its purpose occasionally. In the meantime, Abby certainly got a kick out of it.
She also enjoyed her first experience with a water table, at a play date on the 15th. She certainly got herself plenty soaked.
And silly me, I stopped packing extra outfits in the diaper bag once she outgrew the spitting-up phase...
Back at home, there were always new things to discover. Like curtains. Who knew that they could be so much fun?
March 17th: Saint Patrick's Day. My attempt at a photo shoot was basically a disaster, but I got some priceless pictures, all the same.
Thankfully, Michael was much more cooperative when it came time to do his "Month" pictures the next day.
I can't believe how blue his eyes used to be.
And how tiny he was.
Then came our second round of illness. On the 22nd, Abby came down with her very first fever. It turned out to be some kind of virus that took three days to pass. On top of that, she had some ear inflammation from teething that she needed antibiotics to clear up. So, a week or so after we finished up dosing it out to Michael, we were tasked with a new child to medicate. Abby was very compliant, however.
It was tough seeing her those first three days, however. She was definitely not herself. I did get a couple of naps and lots of snuggle time with her, though, and soon, she was back to her old tricks again.
Like discovering, and contemplating, her navel.
I can laugh about this picture now (and okay, even at the time I thought it was cute, which is why I took it), but Michael seriously did keep us up all night. Every night. I try to remind myself on the nights that he doesn't do so well that we're still a long way from those early weeks, with hourly wakings and feedings. Praise God for that.
And, last but not least, a couple of pics with Mei Mei, from her visit at the end of the month.
Phew. I made it to the end. And now, I'm seriously rethinking how I want to do these Flashback posts. They're so much more complicated with Michael in the picture. Especially as I go along, it's going to be harder to separate out his stories from hers, but at the same time, I feel like I'm ending up with too much content this way, and still not fitting in everything that I want to.
Should I do two posts for each month, alternating children? Or perhaps I should just split the months in half?
Or are these posts a good length, after all, though they feel impossibly long to me?
Any thoughts, reader-friends? I've only got a few more months to cover before I catch up on all that I missed before I first began this blogging journey (in June), but I thought I'd ask, anyway.
Well, regardless, Happy Friday, and a good night to all. Thanks to you guys, I am hanging tough at #89 over on Top Baby Blogs. It's good times. :)
I love the pictures! :) I'm glad your kids are on the mend as well.
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