Amelia is a few weeks shy of 18 months but her doctor’s appointment was scheduled for today so here are her 17.5 month stats:
Weight: 9.35 kg or about 20.6 pounds. She’s in the 5th percentile for weight.
Height: 78 cm or about 30.7 inches. She in the 25th percentile for height.
Head circumference: 48 cm. She is in the 89th percentile for head circumference.
Once again the doctor seemed unconcerned that she is so light, given her activity level. And Amelia was very brave when she got her shots. I promised her that she could have a box of raisins when it was over and she only cried when the shots were being administered. She then stopped right away when I asked her if she would like to have her raisins. I don’t know what we’d do without raisins. Amelia will do just about anything for them.
Her nap schedule has been a little erratic lately. She has been waking up early for the past week or so (between 5 am and 6 am) and so that means she’s pretty tired by around 10-11 am. Sometimes she’ll have a short-ish nap around then, but sometimes it’ll be an hour. So it’s hard to judge when to put her down for her afternoon nap because if it is too early she doesn’t sleep and if it is too late it can overlap with dinnertime. We’re not quite sure why she is waking up so early since she doesn’t appear to be having any other teething symptoms.
The doctor was also impressed that Amelia can do a two-footed jump on her own and has a vocabulary of about 60 French and English words. Actually, I would probably bet she probably knows closer to 100 words but I didn’t have time to write them all down before I went to the doctor so I made a conservative guess.
Each night before we put Amelia to sleep we sing “Goodnight Sweetheart.” Last week she started “singing” it with us sometimes. The first time she did it I couldn’t figure out what she was doing because she seemed to be talking through the song but not saying any intelligible words. However, once Amelia did it a second time Ian and I figured she was trying to sing it with us.
My dad comes to visit Mondays around suppertime. Sometimes my brother joins him. Amelia now knows this is the routine so all day yesterday she was asking when they would be stopping by to visit, saying “Babu? Dan? Rudy?” Needless to say she was very happy to see them once they finally arrived. She really seems to love my brother and wants him to be the one to carry her up to her bath and to read her books and to play with her.
By far the biggest adjustment I have had to make as a parent is meal planning, preparation and cooking. Gone are the days of having bagels, lox and cream cheese after ultimate practice at 9:30 pm. Or a sandwich, or cereal, or whatever is in the cupboard because I don’t feel like cooking. Instead, I actually have to have things on hand to be sure Amelia has plenty of options for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And even though she’s a great eater, Amelia doesn’t like to have leftovers for days on end. Come to think of it, neither do I.
I am definitely not a recipe-follower. I’d rather just wing it or have a look at a couple of recipes online for guidance and then have at it. It makes for messy cooking. And plenty of dishes. And I am always running to the store to pick up some ingredient I don’t have on hand. But things usually turn out ok.
One of my only concerns about having a newborn in the house is finding the time to be able to prepare meals. When Amelia was a baby, there definitely didn’t seem to be time to spend hours (or even 30 minutes) cooking dinner, lunch or breakfast. I probably should start planning to make meals on the weekend that would just need to be heated up for weeknight dinners. But, that would require more planning. And shopping lists.
One of my favourite books as a kid (or at least one I remember most vividly) was Judith Viorst’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Even though the illustrations are black and white, Amelia loves it too and often pulls it off the shelf for us to read.
Today I think both Amelia and Ian felt like Alexander. Ian started feeling sick in the middle of the night and it continued throughout today. Amelia seemed to have a fitful sleep, woke up by 6 am and then threw up her breakfast. Admittedly she has a sensitive gag reflex and it seems that when she is teething she has more difficulty keeping food or water down first thing in the morning. But she seemed to be feeling out of sorts most of the day and needed a nap by 10:30 am.
Of course, naptime this afternoon was a no-show even though I pushed it until about 2:30-3 pm. I very rarely go into her room after I put her down even if she’s fussing a little bit as she is very good at settling herself. But today she managed to work herself up into a huge crying fit within minutes of putting her down. I went back in and sat with her in the rocking chair and it took her a good 10 minutes to be able to stop sobbing. It was heartwrenching.
We then tried going for a drive, to no avail. Having a day like today makes me appreciate how amazing and good and happy Amelia is 98 percent of the time. And how lucky we are for that.
It was a terrible, horrible, No good, Very bad day. There were lima beans for dinner, and I HATE limas. There was kissing on TV, and I HATE kissing. My bath was too hot, I got soap in my eyes, my marble went down the drain, and I had to wear my railroad-train pajamas. I hate my railroad-train pajamas. When I went to bed Nick took back the pillow he said I could keep and the Mickey Mouse night-light burned out and I bit my tongue. The cat wants to sleep with Anthony, not with me.
My mom says some days are like that. Even in Australia.
For some time I’ve wanted to revamp this website so I could use it both as a professional and personal tool. At the least I should update the header with some more recent photos of Amelia. But at 32 weeks pregnant, am I really going to get around to it before baby #2 arrives? I doubt it, given that I just finally chose and ordered curtains for Amelia’s room (and the new baby’s room) on Saturday. The master bedroom and the rest of the house, of course, remain curtainless.
Amelia watched her first TV program today. We decided, after some deliberation, that it would be ok if she joined us to watch the US vs Canada Olympic hockey game. For the most part she wasn’t too interested in the hockey. She seemed to be be much more taken with the ads. When she was watching, it was hard to keep her at a good distance from the screen. Luckily, she mostly amused herself with other activities while we got to catch snippets of the game.
At one point, however, she was sitting on the couch with us and was transfixed by some commercial while stuffing muffin into her mouth. Even though it only lasted a couple of minutes, it was easy to see how kids (or adults for that matter), can just stuff their faces while sitting in front of the television. She had complete disregard for what she was eating.
Even though we don’t have curtains, we did get a new bed. And Amelia got a new playhouse. She spent most of the day playing with it.
Amelia has had a runny nose since Monday and has had trouble napping the past few days. We figured she was getting more teeth and sure enough today one of her bottom teeth broke through her gums. It was obvious something was off today when she cried four or five times in about 20 minutes.
Even though she was not feeling very well, you’d be hard-pressed to tell unless you spent the whole day with her. Here’s a little video of our trip to the jardin botanique to see the Butterflies Go Free exhibit from this morning. And a second one of Uncle Dan and Rudy visiting this afternoon.
Being pregnant with a very active toddler is entertaining and challenging. Luckily, I am healthy and fit and haven’t suffered from symptoms that afflict many others. I can still zip up my regular coats (at 7.5 months) and have only purchased two maternity items this time around (a warm/winter hoody dress and an extra shirt to go with my collection of two other maternity tops).
I think I’m bigger than I was the first time around, but probably not by much. I may just feel bigger because it’s winter and I can’t just throw on a skirt and step outside. My belly button hasn’t “popped” yet and my wedding ring isn’t feeling tight. Because there is more relaxin in my body, my ACL knee feels a little sore from time to time, but it is definitely nothing to complain about.
Overall, I feel great and I’m happy and excited to be an incubator for our next little munchkin. And I know I’m lucky to have such an easy time of it. But it still irks me when someone makes a comment about pregnancy that is inappropriate. People say the most insulting things to pregnant women, things that you would never say to someone who isn’t growing a child in their stomach. Why?
The only thing you should say to someone who is pregnant is “you look beautiful/great/lovely/stunning/glowing [choose your own positive adjective].” And there are plenty of things you shouldn’t say. I’m not the only one to feel this way. Check out here or here or here for some examples of inappropriate things people have said to pregnant women.
I don’t usually rant on this blog. But I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it lately. So please, if you are in the vicinity of someone who is pregnant, please say something nice and leave it at that. You might just make her day.
Every time my mom comes over she always brings a bag filled with things. Usually there is food. Sometimes there is mail from New York, or some pictures, or stickers for Amelia or my mom’s latest knitting creation. The last time she came over she brought a slim volume called The Beauty of Motherhood: Selected Writings About the Joys of Being a Mother. It was published in 1967 by Hallmark Cards. There are poems and excerpts from writers including Helen Keller, John Quincy Adams and Washington Irving.
I think this poem from Meredith Gray is my favourite:
I’d rather be a mother
Than anyone on earth –
Bringing up a child or two
Of unpretentious birth.
I’d rather tuck a little child
All safe and sound in bed –
Than twine a chain of diamonds
About my foolish head.
I’d rather wash a smudgy face
With round, bright baby eyes –
Than paint the pageantry of fame,
Or walk among the wise.
