Baby diary: 15 months 2 weeks

[petronia]

 Alan’s developed a mild pacifier habit (there are a couple knocking around the house and he figured out how to use them on his own), and a raging Dave and Ava nursery rhyme YouTube video habit. I’m butting heads with my mom as she thinks nothing of letting him watch YouTube the entire day, being of the generation that believes in unlimited amounts of “educational” TV; meanwhile, she’s stressed that I take him out for fresh air, since the child will evidently catch COVID if we walk through a patch of air someone coughed in 3 hours ago. One of these is a government-mandated activity in daycare, though, and the other is not. :p

I’m still WFH, but otherwise boredom has set in. Whatever Alan finds interesting, I find interesting. Every morning we watch the flock of sparrows that perch in the trees outside my bedroom window, and take an interest in the doings of our neighbors: the couple across the street paper training their puppy, the still-not-socially-distancing Sikh youths (last seen coming home with 3 cases of Budweiser), whoever owns the yellow Jeep now perma-parked on the curb. Today - oh, red-letter day! - two Hydro-Quebec crane trucks pulled up and the Hydro guys settled in, mysteriously, waiting for masons to pull down a chunk of third-floor facade. We went out in the stroller, to look at the big wheels up close. There are a pair of mallard ducks in the park, and geese migrating overhead, and dogs and other parents with children - not up close - when we pass each other on the sidewalk we make eye contact and move to either side - but Alan is just as absorbed by staring at the ground, wheels rolling over gravel and mud. 

It must be said that Alan stands straight enough to be measured against the kitchen wall, though still not unassisted. 79.5cm, and 26.9lbs in a clean diaper, a 2-kilo jump since February. He eats a lot, gets chubby, then grows in the night, accompanied by fitful screeches and wailings. He now likes to read books, as long as they’re interactive, and will repeat words, if the concept interests him. (“Car,” which he renders “ga,” or “do te,” Shanghainese for “throw away”. Everything is for throwing away!) Won’t eat avocado, or cheese, but evinced a surprising liking for asparagus, as long as the stalk is not too bitter.

Comments

[marej]

Hey, is he waking up about an hour or so after falling asleep cryingcryingcrying and sifting his feet? Because if so, he may have growing pains. Jake had them since he was very little, of which we only found out once he started talking and describing it to us. Until then every specialist we spoke to told us it was night terrors. If this sounds familiar at all, lemme know we found a few naturopathic creams that work well enough if combined with gentle massaging of knees and tops of his feet. Awesome fun through the night, yet more comforting than unidentified reasonless drama.

[petronia]

I'll take any cream suggestions! I don't know if the problem is his feet or legs specifically, but I figured it was either bad dreams or growing pains. I've watched it happen and it comes on very suddenly.

[marej]

The way that Jakey described it, when he finally could is that it's a "jumping" kind of pain that starts out in the tops of his feet and moves to his knees, or vice versa. It is also usually starting on one side and moves to the other and keeps moving. We found that Traumeel worked at least for long enough for him to fall asleep. https://www.unitedremedies.com/collections/traumeel-products?gclid=Cj0KCQjw1Iv0BRDaARIsAGTWD1swq8sC6uI6hwGlSeFL-nCWYwQIvEuzMwZRKcv767XxjPbFoAUB0-waAuv0EALw_wcB At one point it was sold at Shoppers Drug Mart, too but then they stopped and changed to Traumacare https://www.healthpalace.ca/homeocan-traumacare-pain-relief-cream-50-grams/ which is from what I could figure out the same thing under a slightly different name. Both cream/ointment or gel are fine. Gel is less messy but the cream coats better, I think. Though honestly interchangeable. We also used what Jake calls the stinky cream, which is not actually stinky at all, it smells of menthol and I've been using for muscle pain for years, just like everybody else in every yoga studio ever, China-gel: https://www.protherapysupplies.com/China-Gel?gclid=Cj0KCQjw1Iv0BRDaARIsAGTWD1uEQD96eS0R-XNYvOSgKfUbB9PWFEHOiLiPYbDKW8DHNKsGbpuVjBcaAjqVEALw_wcB.

Warm bath esp with Lush's kids bath bombs in the shape of a robot that have lavender in them also help some. I always think that if it gets worse I'll use voltaren, but I never had on Jake, though many a time on my own back.