This morning at breakfast, we were playing one of Charlotte's favorite games. I say "Charlotte Sara Adkins," she giggles, and says "Gan!" (again) and we do it over and over. After she got bored with her own name, we did the dogs. After a couple times of "Linus George Adkins" and "Lucy Lu Adkins," Charlotte's eyes lit up and she exclaimed "Daddy Adkins!" :D
A virtual baby book (complete with unfilled entries and slacker mama).
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Teeth
Charlotte's tooth count is sitting squarely at 8. Maybe 9. Or possibly 10. She definitely has two bottom front teeth, two top front teeth, and her top lateral incisors, plus her bottom two one-year molars. She's been working on the top one-year molars, and there are definitely some points that have broken through, if not the whole tooth yet. But she skipped right over the bottom lateral incisors and top and bottom bicuspids. But that's okay with me. The longer they're in the guns the better chance they have at health.
I wasn't ready to blog about this until now, but I feel a little more in control of the situation, so here we go.
A little over a month ago (June 9) we went to see a pediatric dentist, because I was concerned about some spots on Charlotte's top lateral incisors. She has decay. Not just on the lateral incisors, either; her front teeth (what are those called? do they have an official name?) have beginning signs of decay as well. Jeff and I both have weak enamel on our teeth, and consequently lots of tooth problems/cavities through the years. The dentist, who was very nice and let me hold Charlotte while he examined her, didn't outright blame the decay on nursing, but he did say it was a "largely contributing factor" and that we might want to set a goal for weaning, for the sake of her teeth.
I disagree. Breastmilk is designed for human babies/toddlers/kids, and [I]my[\I] breastmilk is designed specifically for [I]my[\I] child. I cannot imagine thy nature/evolution/God (whatever tour belief system is) would design something that would rot teeth.
So, I thanked the dentist for being respectful enough to not demand that we wean, but I also didn't agree to set the goal of weaning by x date.
Our options, he told us, are to basically do nothing, or to have a costly and painful surgery to repair the teeth. she would need to be put under general anesthesia, because she is so young, and the teeth would need to be filled and capped. However, because of her age and the fact that the teeth are not all the way in, they would need to slice into her gums to get the caps places properly.
Obviously, neither of these solutions are ideal. We chose to go with Option C: Other.
After doing a good bit of research, digging in to what actually causes tooth decay (it's way more than sugar sitting on your teeth, FYI), and talking with a new friend who has actually healed her kids' tooth decay, we've got a much clearer picture of what Option C looks like. We'll be going on a pretty strict nutrition protocol, which involves grass-fed meat, especially organ meat, bone broth made from whole chickens, pastured eggs, lots of green vegetables, limited fruits and very few grains/starches (for example, no flour unless we grind it ourselves immediately before using). Oh, and a mixture of butter oil and cod liver oil, which Charlotte loves. It's got cocoa in it, and has the texture of pudding, almost, and she loves having "chockit" every day.
We'll also be adding in some pretty hefty probiotics, brushing teeth with Pascalite (a natural clay powder,) and taking a couple kinds of cell salts, which are basically minerals found in your cells, but the ones we're taking are almost always lacking in people with tooth decay.
At first, I thought I was going to have to quit my job to keep up with all of this. And it is going to be demanding, especially at first. But we're easing into it, and surviving. We'll start the nutrition protocol very soon, possibly this weekend. Its mostly a matter of being organized, and I just keep telling myself that it'll be worth it. If it doesn't work, at worst we'll be out a little money and a little time, at best, it works and we won't be out any teeth. :)
I'll keep you posted on the progress.
I wasn't ready to blog about this until now, but I feel a little more in control of the situation, so here we go.
A little over a month ago (June 9) we went to see a pediatric dentist, because I was concerned about some spots on Charlotte's top lateral incisors. She has decay. Not just on the lateral incisors, either; her front teeth (what are those called? do they have an official name?) have beginning signs of decay as well. Jeff and I both have weak enamel on our teeth, and consequently lots of tooth problems/cavities through the years. The dentist, who was very nice and let me hold Charlotte while he examined her, didn't outright blame the decay on nursing, but he did say it was a "largely contributing factor" and that we might want to set a goal for weaning, for the sake of her teeth.
I disagree. Breastmilk is designed for human babies/toddlers/kids, and [I]my[\I] breastmilk is designed specifically for [I]my[\I] child. I cannot imagine thy nature/evolution/God (whatever tour belief system is) would design something that would rot teeth.
So, I thanked the dentist for being respectful enough to not demand that we wean, but I also didn't agree to set the goal of weaning by x date.
Our options, he told us, are to basically do nothing, or to have a costly and painful surgery to repair the teeth. she would need to be put under general anesthesia, because she is so young, and the teeth would need to be filled and capped. However, because of her age and the fact that the teeth are not all the way in, they would need to slice into her gums to get the caps places properly.
Obviously, neither of these solutions are ideal. We chose to go with Option C: Other.
After doing a good bit of research, digging in to what actually causes tooth decay (it's way more than sugar sitting on your teeth, FYI), and talking with a new friend who has actually healed her kids' tooth decay, we've got a much clearer picture of what Option C looks like. We'll be going on a pretty strict nutrition protocol, which involves grass-fed meat, especially organ meat, bone broth made from whole chickens, pastured eggs, lots of green vegetables, limited fruits and very few grains/starches (for example, no flour unless we grind it ourselves immediately before using). Oh, and a mixture of butter oil and cod liver oil, which Charlotte loves. It's got cocoa in it, and has the texture of pudding, almost, and she loves having "chockit" every day.
We'll also be adding in some pretty hefty probiotics, brushing teeth with Pascalite (a natural clay powder,) and taking a couple kinds of cell salts, which are basically minerals found in your cells, but the ones we're taking are almost always lacking in people with tooth decay.
At first, I thought I was going to have to quit my job to keep up with all of this. And it is going to be demanding, especially at first. But we're easing into it, and surviving. We'll start the nutrition protocol very soon, possibly this weekend. Its mostly a matter of being organized, and I just keep telling myself that it'll be worth it. If it doesn't work, at worst we'll be out a little money and a little time, at best, it works and we won't be out any teeth. :)
I'll keep you posted on the progress.
Awesome.
Charlotte had a really cool communication moment tonight. (6/19/11) I was putting something away in the freezer, and she must have seen the box of fruit juice popsicles. "Pa-corn!" she said. (Popcorn is one of her new obsessions, and it's not unusual for her to ask for it randomly.) I told her that we didn't have any popcorn, that it was all gone. "Pa-corn!" she insisted. "Appa jus pa-corn!" When I asked if she wanted a popciscle, I could see on her face that she was proud of herself for communicating what she wanted even though she couldn't remember the exact word. She looked at me like, yes, that's right, and said "Pa-kick-sul. Appa jus pa-kick-sul."
My kid is cool. :)
My kid is cool. :)
I know everyone says this but...
It's really true for my kid. ;) She is a genius.
Yesterday, she was standing next to me while I worked. she touched my leg and said "Mama." Then she turned around, saw the reflection of my legs in the mirror behind me, pointed at those legs, and said "Two mamas!"
Genius.
Yesterday, she was standing next to me while I worked. she touched my leg and said "Mama." Then she turned around, saw the reflection of my legs in the mirror behind me, pointed at those legs, and said "Two mamas!"
Genius.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
"Dancin' "
We went to a dance recital tonight for our friends' daughter Aurora. We had to leave at intermission because of Charlotte, but not for the reason you think.
We snagged an aisle seat in case we had to duck out if she got fussy. Aurora was in the second group of dancers, and for the next couple of songs Charlotte kept saying "Rora! Rora!" when each group came out. She was a little freaked out by the dark and the loudness of the applause (what she calls "fives") between each set of dancers.
By the middle of the first act, she was bouncing along on my lap and saying "gan!" ("again") and "moah!" ("more") each time the lights went down.
By the last song in the act, she was in the aisle, dancing, grinning like a fool, and trying to pry my hands off of her so she could run up and join the girls on the stage.
We got out of there at intermission because I was certain she'd be screaming by the middle of the second act if I didn't let her get up there and do some "dancin' ".
I guess I'll be calling some dance studios tomorrow about some toddler & mama dance classes.
We snagged an aisle seat in case we had to duck out if she got fussy. Aurora was in the second group of dancers, and for the next couple of songs Charlotte kept saying "Rora! Rora!" when each group came out. She was a little freaked out by the dark and the loudness of the applause (what she calls "fives") between each set of dancers.
By the middle of the first act, she was bouncing along on my lap and saying "gan!" ("again") and "moah!" ("more") each time the lights went down.
By the last song in the act, she was in the aisle, dancing, grinning like a fool, and trying to pry my hands off of her so she could run up and join the girls on the stage.
We got out of there at intermission because I was certain she'd be screaming by the middle of the second act if I didn't let her get up there and do some "dancin' ".
I guess I'll be calling some dance studios tomorrow about some toddler & mama dance classes.
Allergies
Today, we saw Charlotte's pediatrician about potential food allergies. For the past six or seven weeks, she's been alternating constipation and diareaha (sorry, Future Charlotte reading this and most likely saying "Mo-om! I can't believe you put that on the Internet!"), and has had dermatitis all around her mouth, and last night she broke out in hives while drinking a mango-orange-apple-banana-lemon juice smoothie. So today we saw the doctor and she referred us to a pediatric allergist, since we haven't been able to notice any sort of rhyme or reason to the flares. Our appointment is in two weeks, at 8:30am. Charlotte doesn't ever get up that early, plus she be subjected to a two hour appointment with tests, results, and a doctor consult. We'll see how it goes.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Secrets
Charlotte had her first "hiding things from mama" moment today. :(
She found a Sharpie marker, and a gift card, then went behind the curtain at work. She opened the Sharpie then proceeded to scribble all over the card, and only a little on her fingers. I pulled back the curtain to check on her (she hides back there often) and she looked at me with the "Busted!" face. I took the Sharpie, and we were both pretty upset. She because I interrupted her picture making, and me because now she's old enough to be keeping secrets. From me!
She found a Sharpie marker, and a gift card, then went behind the curtain at work. She opened the Sharpie then proceeded to scribble all over the card, and only a little on her fingers. I pulled back the curtain to check on her (she hides back there often) and she looked at me with the "Busted!" face. I took the Sharpie, and we were both pretty upset. She because I interrupted her picture making, and me because now she's old enough to be keeping secrets. From me!
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