– Social smiling is here in force! She will smile at anyone and everyone, and it often seems like she will smile at someone just to see if they will smile back. She’ll stare and stare until she catches their eye, and then give a big grin! When it’s not returned (infrequent, it’s a darned cute smile) you can see her brain processing: “Okay, why didn’t that guy smile at me? Hmmm, maybe I’ll smile again at him.. Nope, nothing! Does mom still smi– yes, hi mom, SMILE! Ok so I guess it’s okay that the guy didn’t smile at me because mom still is. Where’s that toy I had?”

– Oh, the throwing up. I’m not sure if it feels neat, or if she’s having teething pain, or what, but she regularly sticks her fingers far enough into the back of her mouth that she pukes. Gag! Gag! Gag! Puuuuke! I stop her when I can, but she seems to do it most when she wants to nurse or eat, so it’s a frequent occurrence on the way home from daycare. I called the nurse advice line at my pediatrician’s office, and was told it’s not uncommon, probably teething, and don’t worry about it unless you think she’s not keeping enough food down. She was 27 pounds 4 oz at her visit this week (ring wormy looking rash that turned out to be nothing) so clearly nutrition is not a problem.

– Row your boat! I honestly don’t know how long she’s been doing this, since her daycare doesn’t like to tell me what she does at school (*grumble*). The other day I discovered that if you sit facing her, and her facing you, then hold out your hands for her to grab and sing, “Row row row your boat” she will rock back and forth like she’s rowing! She loves it! It’s such a short song that as soon as it’s over she’ll grab your hands again and rock back, waiting for you to start singing again.

– This one is way, way less fun. J had her first, and with any luck only, febrile seizure today. Last night she had a fever and rapid breathing but I gave her ibuprofen and it went down. Then she was refusing all food this morning and had a fever again by 11am. We got a pediatrician appointment for 2pm. As Papa T. was pulling in to the parking lot (I was at work), she started having a seizure. He rushed her into the doctor’s office and they got her on oxygen and albuterol pretty quickly. Apparently she was also having a lot of trouble breathing. They called me on my cell and gave me the address for the hospital EMS would be taking her to. I beat them there by about 30 minutes. While I was sitting alone in the waiting room flipping completely out, a woman with a child J’s age told me that everything would be okay, that they’d take good care of her, that mamas were strong and I was 100% when I walked in the door so breathe deep and get back to 100 so I could be calm for my baby when I saw her. It was very touching, very true, and very much needed. By the time they had arrived and entered J into the computer so they could tell me where to go, I was calm. J smiled a huge smile when she saw me, and as soon as they let me I nursed her to calm us both down and get some nutrients into her. She fell asleep in my lap. Then we (sadly) had to wake her for a urine collection which sucked for everyone, but at least I was there to tell her it would be okay. They sent us home with a diagnosis of febrile seizure and recommended overlapping ibuprofen and Tylenol for the evening. In a few days we will follow up with her regular pediatrician. I hope this is the only one she ever has, but I’ll sure be researching more about what to do and what the dangers are.