Que?

So, it's either us, or the Dr., but someone's an amateur as far as I'm concerned.

After the cumulative hell that was last week, it seems we may have to face the fact that it might have been all about nothing.

Monday night, after a super day at daycare, Zoe was horsing around with her daddy while I was doing the dinner dishes. We can pretty reliably get some really great and goofy giggles out of bug by flipping her upside down and kissing her tummy. It's also a great way to catch a glimpse into her usually tight-as-a-clam-shut mouth.

Dave flipped her and found a new tooth. A premolar, nonetheless.

Yay!

Except as soon as he found and announced its presence, we both came to the realization: DUH. Teething. A typical cause of, oh, FEVER, fussiness, loss of appetite, poor sleep.

So why, oh why didn't we think of it last week? Why didn't the pediatrician take a look in her mouth and see that HUGE new tooth tearing through Zoe's poor, sore gums and save us the trip to Children's Hospital to rule out a big, bad, terrible illness????

Well I guess to start, we didn't catch on to Zoe's chompiness - this was a new kind of tooth, after all. That and we really figured we'd see her next two bottom teeth before we saw anything more up top. Still, we couldn't help but to feel a bit miffed and foolish. Amateurs.

Whatever. We've moved on beyond last week. Zoe's way back into her game, eating, sleeping and playing as well as ever. I had a very happy Wednesday at home with her today. So, I'm still thankful that it wasn't the big bad terrible illness and that it was a virus and a viciously quick bout of teething running their respective courses. On to the next thing...Zo's already showing signs that the other premolar is coming soon. At least we're on to her this time!

In other Zoe news, we've been seeing lots of fun developments over the past couple of weeks - in her personality, communications and mobility. For instance, we happily declare 'Ki-y' (kitty) to be her first official 'see and say' word. The animal lover in me is rejoicing! She also says, 'milh' (milk), usually with prompting, but lately more on her own. I think I also heard 'chees' (cheese) in her highchair this week. And we've heard a few 'nk-q's (thank yous), too! Usually after we say it, but she says it! Along with that, she's getting awfully good (great, actually) about handing off her cup when she's done with it. Yahoo! But should we miss the hand-off, there's sure to be an 'uh-ah' (uh-oh) exclaimed after its fall to the floor.

Oh, and I think bug's getting in touch with her Hispanic roots. In her endless explorations, she does lots of pointing at things and will inevitably say 'k?'...Que? I think she's already mastered her first Spanish word!! ;)

Zoe's also showing some maturity in her drinking choices. No, she's not sipping off mom's wine glass, but she does choose to sip off mom's water glass. Any time she lays eyes on it! Very cute. We've tried to deter her by taking the 'sippy' off her cup, but she's no fool and insists on the big girl glass. So yes, we've gotten used to drinking cloudy water, thanks to Zo's backwash, but it's very fun seeing her maneuver her head and mouth to just the right angles to get a big gulp. Love it.

We're also making strides on the walking front. Just today I had my first experience leading her through a room holding only one of her hands!! In the past couple of weeks, Zoe has gone from literally crumpling at her knees when we picked her up to lead her on a stroll to not only letting us lead her, but venturing forth a bit on her own. We've caught her assessing what it takes to get from point A to point B when the distance between isn't covered by anything scalable above the floor. She'll eventually opt for the knees, but just the fact that she's thinking about it is huge.

And finally, Zoe's been gaining a deeper perspective of self. Just the other day I was stretching on the floor after a run and Zoe came crawling up to me - to laugh at my being on the floor of course. I was reaching for my toes and said "Zoe's toes!" What'd she do? She plunked down on her bum, sprawled her feet in front of herself and pointed to her toes! What a hoot! That was one of the best workouts I've had in a while ;)

Some cute pix and a vid of our bug of lately:


Learning about in and out, over and under, in front and behind




Learning about up and down:


Bug attack

Fever

What a week.

Day 1, early Saturday:
Early last Saturday, in the middle of the night, Zoe woke with a fever. She went back to sleep fairly easily, but didn't get up again until we woke her at 10:00 am the next morning! 15 hours after we'd put her to bed the night before! Not good. She woke very puffy-, weepy- and purple-circle-eyed. Really not good. Snuggly and fussy too, she was sooo not our girl. She spent the day snuggling with Dave and by evening time, despite a less than stellar appetite, she was nearing closer to herself. Phew.

Day 2, Sunday:
...Except she fussed through the night Saturday, maintained a low-grade fever through Sunday and fussed through Sunday night, too.

Day 3, Monday:
Monday, we thought she was better - still mellow - but better. But after a shortish stint of shopping (Dave's idea to hit the sales at the outlets! I couldn't argue!), her purple circles re-blossomed and the fever spiked again. I felt pretty bad that she'd been such a great sport, feeling crummy, strolling around while we did our thing.

Day 4, Tuesday:
Early Tuesday morning (3:30am, because well, we were all up), we decided I should stay home with her that day. She needed more snuggle and to just be home. We thought she was coming out of it, but she still had her low-grade fever and still had purplish eyes. How pitiful!

Day 5, Wednesday:
Wednesday is our stay at home day and I honestly almost can't remember it now because, well, I think it was more the same, aside from our (now regular, monthly) visit with the Pediatrician. They didn't like hearing that she'd held on to a fever for so long and wanted to see her ASAP.

Blood pressure: UP!

Now, since the start of this, Zoe had held a fever. So how do you think it went at the Ped's office?

Lungs and sinuses and ears were all clear - which we expected because she hasn't been snotty at all. But there was no real fever to speak of (just over 99 degrees which, baby-wise ain't bad).

Her eyes though, were still purplish; it was possible that could be due to fatigue and fever. And the fuss was certainly there. She was NOT happy about her exam, did NOT appreciate the ear check and was probably as shaken up by the whole thing as I've ever seen her. With worse ideas at the back of her mind, the doc ordered up a urine analysis in hopes it was a bladder infection....which meant collecting pee from a baby!

Now, again, since the beginning of this, Zoe had been THIRSTY. Drinking tons of water and milk. So how do you think the pee collecting went?

They taped a very odd little baggy thing to her and had us hold her upright which was fine, except as far as she was concerned, she was done with the Dr's office. So, we took a stroll and offered a sip of milk or water every step of the way. NADA. No drinking. No thank you.

Sigh. Poor kid. I know I was feeling pretty darned bad about toughing out the fever up to this point. What is it about Dr's offices that make you feel like a bad parent sometimes? I mean, they weren't mad at us, but I just felt so bad for her whole experience there and so bad that it had come to that. But then again, would it have been any different if we'd gone any sooner? worse because we'd go there only to be have been told to go home, wait it out some more and still have to go back? I don't know.

So after a jaunt up and down the street, we headed back to the Dr's in hopes that she'd peed a little, but she hadn't. Then I spotted the faucet! Now, at home, running water is a sure-fire way to get pee from our baby. And bingo, it worked! Then came the waiting.

Day 6, Thursday: So of course yesterday we learned that the urine analysis was negative for a bladder infection. But they wanted us to keep them posted about the fever. Fine. She was actually feeling cooler...until Dave changed her mid-morning and discovered another bit of a spike.

After talking with the Dr. again in the late afternoon, we opted to not wait until Friday to see if there were any changes, especially since well, the Dr. was slightly concerned about this being a big, bad terrible something that I just won't name. (I know the depressive-meter on this posting is already running sky-high and I don't want to bum out my readers to the point of despair.) So, off I dragged poor bug to Children's Hospital for a blood draw.

No, she didn't appreciate that, either. And I, well, I was ready to cry, too.

I can't even to begin to explain how sad it was to be at Children's. I mean, it's a beautiful facility and the staff are all great, even cooing at Zoe despite the fact they've seen literally a million kids. But it was so sad knowing that all those kids are there because they are sick. Many of them are really sick. I just wanted to take our baby out of there.

But, fortunately, after a frustrating wait last night, we heard from the Dr. that all indicators did NOT point to the big, bad, terrible, unnamed something. Man. Thank goodness. My hearts go out to all the families at Children's who weren't blessed with the same kind of news we received.

But still, what the heck was this fever all about??

Day 7, Today: I stayed home with Zoe again. She seemed a bit better - slept better than she had since last week and ate a great breakfast. And, she was cooler to the touch. Yahoo! Later this morning, I spoke to the Doc and she said that after seeing the lab results and talking with the CDC, she's calling this an Adeno Virus and that this seems to already be on its way out. Needless to say, we're quite relieved. I'm not in any shape to argue with a sane conclusion here anyways.

So in the end, our baby is better. Not 100%, but better. I think perhaps our getting back out of the 'sick' mindset will help her, too. I think I'm going to take her for a walk in the last hours of sunlight.


Some cute pix and a couple of vids to lift everyone's spirits and witness what a great baby Zoe really is - even when she's sick:

Nice pets for her pal, Lucy


Gettin' feisty with the paparazzi


Fun times with blocks


New tricks

Make it a turkey sandwich

So spoon-fed Zoe is all but a thing of the past. We're down to just yogurt and her morning fruit-tahini mash...that's about all she'll let us shovel in. Aside from that, Zo's on to new and exciting things like dad's homemade chicken sausage fingers and turkey sandwiches. OK, not sandwiches, per se, but the makings of, sure. A girl after my own heart :)

Not too much new this week. Life is busy and for the most part, routine. Spring seems near, which is good because I'm ready for more daylight. The crocuses are coming up!

And Zoe's sprouted another tooth - just about. Finally, the fourth of the mean top four has finally arrived. Just in time to make way for her bottom lateral incisors which seem to be moving closer to the surface. Good thing - she'll need 'em for all that chewing she's determined to do!

Yesterday, Dave, Zoe and I paid a visit to the Shoreline Children's Center for a tour of their preschool facilities. What a neat place. We were impressed with their curriculum approach (Reggio Emilia), as well as with the variety of teaching styles. It seems to offer a great mix of structure and freedom, creative play and guided exploration. And, it's super-flexible, allowing you to build your child's schedule according to your (working parent) needs. The community and Shoreline School District have invested lots of time and money into making it a desirable and approachable program and the fact that it's open to the public and extends assistance to families in need means that Zoe would be exposed to certain diversity among her peers. Sign me up.


Crashing after a hard day at school
Zoe had a great time pointing to all the exciting artwork hanging from the walls and ceilings, and watching the bigger kiddos doing their preschool thing. Hopefully this first exposure to school has implanted some good memories from which she can ground her education. Learning = happy times :)

Now, we know it's *very* early in the game to be considering preschools for Zoe, but being just up the road from Seattle and not being terribly familiar with the whole preschool landscape, we figured early is better than late. Especially since I've caught wind of wait lists for many choice programs in the area.

So, now we can keep our eyes open to other options but also rest and relax knowing there's a great, flexible and affordable program just down the road from our house. Phew. There have been two parenting topics that have managed to overwhelm me since becoming pregnant with Zoe: diapers (disposables - which ones are least terrible? vs. cloth - which ones cause the least headache and are environmentally sound-ish anyways?) and preschool. Needless to say, I'm much relieved about preschool.

In the very least, we've discovered a neat community resource - the school has lots of activities for families, lots of great park-like playgrounds free for public use, and lots of other young families around. Those kinds of connections are great to have.

Tuesday, Zoe reminded me about a few of her latest developments that I've neglected to tell you about. For starters, she said 'milk'. Well not MILK, but she said 'Mihl' when I asked her if she wanted milk. Awesome. She's done this now and again over the past few weeks but paired with her also very clearly demonstrating the eat sign, I'm impressed! She's mastering the whole idea of 'beverage' too, using a modification of the sign for water to acknowledge thirst.

She's also getting pretty good at asking for what she wants, like looking up to where her Johnny Jump-up is hanging and bouncing on her bum to suggest she'd like to bounce. Cuteness. And her manual dexterity is improving, as well. She's got a fierce fast pitch at the toy box, hurling one cup after another (one at a time, mind you) over her shoulder only to turn around and do it again. And she's been practicing more complex activities like placing things in and out and sharing toys with us. Oh, and the other day when I was working out on my mini-tramp in the utility room, she reached over the baby gate for me and we started the first of many high-fives. Now I can't do my thing without her standing there cheering me on.

And a final recent demonstration of Zoe's understanding more and more of the world around her came when we were looking at her animal picture book together. I make a habit of making the appropriate animal noise and naming the animal on each page; when I said 'meow' and 'kitty' and then pointed to Buddha sleeping on her cushion on the couch and the kitty picture above it, Zoe immediately went marching over full of giggles, stood up and burst into chatter at poor, startled Buddha.

Checkin' out Zebra dude
















Lucy keeping out of the fray
















Self portrait, with mom

















Playing hide-and-go-seek with daddy































Find 'im bug?
















Now, if we move this bit here, this thing will go up and down...

What do you feed a one year old?

...whatever she'll eat. Well, almost.

The dinner time battle has taken us down. Dave and I just can't do it anymore. Can't warm up the lovingly homemade chicken, broccoli and squash puree just to see it being spit out like Play Dough through the fun factory (yes, that slow and deliberate). So, over the past week or so, at dinner time, Zoe's had little more than mashed sweet potatoes and baby yogurt and....Cheerios. Sometimes some cheese but lots of the time, no.

A few pix of the crime scene:
















And, a 'food fight' in action!





So, tonight I figured we should just serve her what we're having, more or less. I keep hearing from other moms and dads who have done this but could never get my brain around it because Zoe was so specific about texture. But now that she won't even eat the textures she used to love, we've got little to lose. So, Dave browned up some ground turkey and onions, threw in some cheddar cheese, bits of tortillas, olives and tomatoes and Zoe fed herself her first tacos! A little apprehensive at first, she did eventually make a meal of it. And a mess :)

A happier crime scene:






Otherwise, life's been great. Can't complain. Except I caught a cold while in stupid Spokane for the OSPI conference last week. (I HATE Spokane. HATE HATE HATE it. Yes, my presentation went great. But I still hate Spokane.) I'm feeling much better, if not a little under water (got that foggy-eared feeling). I think Zo got it first, then Dave...at least I hope it's moving in that direction and not vice versa.

Anyways, we had a good weekend. Saturday we went out for Chinese at our favorite new place (Chiang's Gourmet @ 80th & Lake City - yum!) with pals Tim, Becky and Anastasia while Zoe was at the Waddell's to hang with her pal, Lucy. Seems the girls got along pretty well, but are perhaps still a little young to actually play together. Soon though, I'm sure!

Of course this week we went into daycare to pick up Zoe from day care and found her preying on the Cheerios of a younger baby who was trapped in the exersaucer! No bullying, Zo, play fair!! ;)

Sunday Dave made two chowders in honor of the competitors in the Super Bowl: a New England (for the Pats) and a Manhattan (for the Giants). So, we had a little soiree with Jack & Anastasia and pal Paul and his daughter, Elle.

Zoe got into the football spirit (note hand resting over distended tummy ;)


And Dave worked out his baby-soothing skills with Elle:



A few more cute shots from the last week or so:






















Gotta make music while you boogy!


Playin'

Finally, a treat to all of you out there wondering where we've been lately: videos!

Zoe explaining to dad how the Busy Zoo (Busy Zo?) works:



And digging out the blocks mom buried in her book box: