More than a Runny Nose

I may have already told you that Mia has had a runny nose almost continuously since she started preschool in the 2nd week of January. People tell me this is to be expected in day care, but late last week I started thinking that a good mother would take her child to the pediatrician just to be sure it wasn't more serious. After all, she did have an ear infection and pneumonia back in Sept/Oct. I called the sick line Friday morning and got an appointment on Friday afternoon. We saw a Dr. we hadn't met before (it is a big practice and when the child is sick, you take whomever is available). Dr. R. is a lovely older woman who was competent and pleasant enough, though she did indicate some disappointment when I admitted we hadn't been using saline nasal spray for Mia. (We tried it, but she really hated it and we were trying not to give her a reason for hating us before her teen years, when no reason is required.) I tried to make up for this failure by exclaiming, "We use a humidifier in her room every night!", but it was clear I would be getting a "below par" score in mothering from Dr. R. The good news is that Mia doesn't have pneumonia. The bad news is that she has an ear infection. Dr. R. said that the snot had backed up into her ears. (I don't know that she actually used the word snot, but she definitely said "backed up into her ears", which seemed rather un-technical to me. ) At that point, I was feeling like a really bad mother for not using the saline and not bringing her in sooner. We left the office with a prescription for Amoxicillin (yay, only $4 with Kroger's new generic program), a firm directive to use the saline spray, and a little yellow slip telling me to buy some stuff to remove ear wax. You see, Dr. R. had to actually clear ear wax out of one ear canal in order to be able to see the ear drum. (More 'bad mother' feelings.) They also drew blood to re-check her lead levels.
Don't worry, Mia is definitely on the mend. She has not been thrilled about the amoxicillin, the saline spray, or the ear drops. (Everything twice a day for 10 days. Yuk.) But, good parents do what they have to do :)

The Mia-nator

There are about 5 movies I've watched more than once*, and The Terminator is one of them. Mia is going through a phase that Jeff calls "The Mia-nator." (Check out the photo. Doesn't she remind you of Ahnold riding his motorcycle?) This phase is characterized by destructiveness, unstoppability, and terrorizing innocent beings. She loves nothing more than to try to tear things apart. She also uses books and toys as weapons. The Occupational Therapist told us this is quite appropriate for her age of development. My friend at work (a psychologist) tells me you can't really call it destructiveness at her age, because it lacks a certain intent. She says being 15 months old is all about experimentation, cause and effect, and delighting in seeing that you can manipulate your world.
Who is the Mia-nator terrorizing? Mostly me, Sarah, and the dog. She likes whacking me when I least expect it, often with her hard little skull. She tried to bite me in the knee yesterday, but I took quick evasive action. Sarah has a theory that Mia enjoys hearing us say "Ouch!" I think Sarah is on to something. Mia often giggles her most sinister giggle, and if we say ouch really loud, we may get a belly laugh. As for the dog, Sam likes to hang around the kitchen or wherever Mia is playing. Mia has learned that the dog is a bit skittish and will jump if Mia picks something up and drops it within 2 feet of her**. Mia really loves that game. Toy pots and pans, empty cardboard boxes -- you name it, Mia can figure out how to scare the dog with it. Of course, we're onto her now, so we're watching out for poor Sammy***.
The good news? At this point, we haven't heard any unfavorable reports from preschool, and believe me I don't plan to seek them out.

*The remake of Heaven Can Wait with Warren Beatty and Julie Christie has the record with 5 viewings, all in the 1980's. And by the way, it won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay.
** My friend Pete used to say if he was reincarnated he wanted to come back as my dog. I suspect he wouldn't say that now.
*** Sammy is still top dog in one respect. She gets to sleep on our bed at night, while Mia has to stay in her crib. It's the least we can do.

Speechless

We brought Mia in for an early childhood developmental evaluation last Thursday. She tested OK on fine and gross motor skills, but behind the norms on speech. I had counted she was saying 5-6 words including ball without the L sound and dog without the G sound, but they told me, "Those aren't words. Those are word approximations. If a stranger on the street can't tell she is saying ball, it doesn't count." Oh, and mama and dada are never counted, either. So, according to them she is speechless. Zero words.
They are referring us to a speech therapist who will come out to the house. I'm sure Mia will catch up in no time. In the meantime, Sarah is teaching Mia and her parents more baby sign language.

Because You Can't Eat With Your Fingers for the Rest of Your Life

Mia has started using silverware. She loves using her fork. I included the other photo just because it captures her great joy.

Happy New Year!

February 7 was Chinese New Year. In China, this is perhaps the biggest holiday of the year. It is also called the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival. In China, people travel for long distances to spend the holiday with family. The celebrations last for days and feature great food and lots of fireworks. 2008 is the year of the rat. (By the way, Mia was born in the year of the dog.)

We celebrated Chinese New Year for the first time in our house. On Thursday, I took a vacation day to take Mia to the CNY celebration for her Families with Children from China preschool playgroup. There were 30 or 40 children there, and all the kids were wearing their adorable Chinese embroidered outfits. The older preschoolers did craft projects like decorating Chinese lanterns. Mia had a great time running around and eating. She had fun up until the group photo. Then she got upset because some other little girl tried to take something from her. It was just about time for Mia's nap, so after snapping this photo, Sarah and I scooped her up and took her home.

Tonight, we took Mia to P.F. Chang's. I'm pretty sure it is the first time we've taken her out for Chinese food in America. She had a great time, though as usual her parents had to eat in shifts to keep her from throwing food and otherwise misbehaving. (I can assure those of you who have been waitpersons at some point in your life that before we leave the table, we always clean up the floor around her AND we leave a big tip.)

"We're gonna take you for a ride"

Tonight I (and it was "I" since Mia's father is out of town) resorted to what experienced parents tell me is a tried and true way of getting a child to sleep-- we went for a ride in the minivan. Mia usually has no difficulty going to sleep. First a bath, toothbrush, then p.j.'s, then she gets a bottle while being rocked. It is usually a winning formula. Within second after finishing the bottle, Mia pushes it away and starts snoring. In the past week, though, Mia has had a tough time going to sleep on several recent nights. We've tried a number of things. We've thought about going for a ride in the van, which could be nicknamed Sominex for its ability to induce sleep during the day, but usually by that time of the night, I have my p.j.'s on and don't want to get dressed again. Not tonight. After letting Mia cry in her crib for over a half hour (checking in every 5 minutes like the books say, of course), I put a blanket around her and took her for a ride. By the time we'd made the one mile trip to the Kroger parking lot, Mia was in dreamland. That was so easy, I may just do it more often. After all, who says you have to get dressed?