Who Needs a Thermometer?

CC having fun at the park

Who needs a thermometer when cranky is the new fever-gauge? At least for my baby.

We were at a local library this past Friday. The Brat was running around, gleefully pulling books from the racks, running up and down the stairs, all the while squealing with delight. Then suddenly she reached her arms up towards me, insisting that I pick her up, and instantly started whining. A quick feel of her skin temperature confirmed my suspicions; she was febrile.

Our baby had gotten her 18-month vaccinations this last Monday. I naively asked the paediatrician if this time around, I could expect less of a response (at 12 months, she had 72 hours of fever exactly 1 week after her vaccinations). On the contrary, she replied. Physiologically it makes sense that the response would be more intense the second time, and I knew that. It was just wishful thinking!

This time around, the baby was her usual self for about 24 hours after her vaccinations, and then her temperature rapidly increased. We are now 5 days and counting of fever, and the subsequent crankiness and decreased appetite. Around the clock acetaminophen and ibuprofen have been controlling her temperature, but Friday morning I decided to withhold a dose to verify whether or not the medication would be necessary...And cranky was back!

Thankfully she won't need anymore vaccinations for another 21/2 years. In the interim, baby Brat #2 will no doubt keep us busy...

Speechless in Montreal

She couldn't decide between the two...

Every month since baby #1's birth, I have been receiving e-mail notices from Babycenter.  These notices deal with such topics as the baby's physical development, age-appropriate issues, and milestones. Up until now, baby #1 has been well ahead of the pack for physical development, and most milestones. She crawled early, walked early, and much to our dismay also climbed before the average tot. Speaking, however, is another issue.

Our baby turns 18 months this week, and this month's notice dealt with speech. By 18 months, the notice suggested that "She is using one or more words and knows what they mean. She'll even practise inflection, raising her tone when asking a question, saying "Up-py?" when she wants to be carried, for example. She's realizing the importance of talking and how powerful it is to be able to communicate her needs. Between 18 and 24 months, her vocabulary may include as many as 200 words, many of which are nouns. Between 18 and 20 months, children learn words at a rate of 10 or more a day. Some learn new words every 90 minutes, so watch your language. She'll even string two words together, making basic sentences such as "Carry me."  "


While our baby appears to understand several hundred words, and follows complex commands, she does not say much. "Papa" and "mama" have been the only words in her repertoire for the last 6 months. I am not too worried, as it is a well known fact that infants that are exposed to more than one language tend to speak later than the average toddler (and our baby has been regularly exposed to both english and french). Additionally, her father began speaking at 2 years of age; and so far she has taken after him in every respect.

What I find curious is that she has begun to make animal sounds before human ones. Each time we come across a dog, she makes a very good dog-panting imitation. The other animal sound that she has mastered is that of the monkey. While we do not run into too many of those, anytime I read her a book involving a monkey, she makes a very funny "eah eah eah" sound.

One of my friends suggested teaching my baby baby sign language. Is that similar to american sign language?, I asked. Apparently not; it is a sign language of its own. Rather than learn a new language, I have decided to stick with french and english. I am sure that within 6 months, I will be complaining on my blog about how she won't stop talking...

Our Tennis Staycation

What our baby thought about the staycation

What a novel idea, I thought, when I first heard the neologism for a stay-at-home vacation. You save on transport, lodging and food, and get to take in local attractions. We opted for a staycation this week as it coincided with Montreal's Rogers Cup. We had purchased tickets for every session well in advance. The only limiting factor was the Brat.

While the baby seems to enjoy swinging a tennis racquet, and even attempts to hit her nerf balls on occasion, spectating is a different story. We took her last year to this same tennis tournament when she was barely 6 months old. She behaved for relatively short periods of time, but we did not want to risk disturbing the players on Centre Court (for which we had tickets). I remember thinking last year that this year would be much easier. She could sit on our lap at centre court, we would explain the game to her, and she would be so enthralled as to quietly watch the matches. What was I thinking?!

We didn't even attempt to bring her along this year. We knew from the outset that she was too active to sit still for any length of time. Additionally, the weather was not cooperating. At the beginning of the week, the temperatures were too hot to have her sit outdoors, and by mid-week pouring rain had postponed a few of the matches.

In the end, my husband and I alternated caring for her and attending the tournament. Mostly, my husband attended during the day, while he watched her at home in the evening. This definitely defeated the purpose of us attending together, but like real vacations, nothing guarantees success.

The semi-finals and finals will take place this Saturday and Sunday, and my mother and sister have generously offered to watch her while we attend. Perhaps there is still hope that this staycation will be salvaged... or perhaps the next time we organize a staycation, the Brat comes first!

Sibling Rivalry

CC looking cool (she placed the hat this way herself)

I am not exactly sure in what context it was first brought up. My older sister, along with her husband and two young sons were visiting last summer from Macau. Perhaps it was after an incident between her two boys. My sister reminded me of our sibling rivalry growing up. What rivalry? I asked. Although we were not best friends growing up, I could not recall any rivalry between the two of us. I could not remember one instance of competing for our parents' attention. I will not deny that I had have a competitive nature; I wanted to win at every game or sport we played, and later on in school, I competed against other students for top marks. However, competing for our parents' attention, I do not recall; although it is possible that my sister remembered our very early years. The preschool period remains a bit of a blur in my mind.

In recent weeks, I have wondered many times how our baby (now almost 18 months) would respond to a sibling. Even though we are very attentive parents, she nonetheless regularly seeks out our attention. For instance, if we stop playing with her, however briefly, to do such things as go to the washroom, she will immediately do something to grab our attention. For instance, she may climb up on the dining room table, or open forbidden drawers. We have come to the conclusion that she would not take well to a sibling.

The other day, we showed her ultrasound images of her future sibling. We announced to her that her sibling (gender to be determined) would arrive approximately two years after her birth, and that she still had about 28 weeks or so to get used to the idea.

The Brat seemed completely unimpressed. Bring on the competition...

Future Rival