12/13 Months Appointment

Since we’ve been out of town for a while, we were late on getting the 12 months appointment done. As in a whole month late. So it was really sort of a 13 months appointment. The doctor at our small practice was out of town, but I was anxious to get it done, so we saw a nurse practitioner. I wish I had waited for the doctor to get back. She didn’t do anything wrong necessarily, but I wasn’t impressed. She asked me twice if they’re eating solids and remarked on how well they were sitting up on their own. Uh, yeah. Then she looked at Linus’s ear after I told her about the ear infection horror of the last month or so. His ER Rocephin shot was nearly two weeks ago, and she said that his ear still looks pink (but not red or bulging). It “may be” resolving, and the Rocephin is “probably” still working. Maybe I feel so uneasy about this because she didn’t seem to have much confidence in what she was saying, but I’m not cool with the status quo. My thoughts: 1 This kid has had an ear infection for the last month and a half. 2. He’s in a critical window for language development. 3. If I don’t put the numbing drops in his ear and give him Ibuprofen, he’s up crying every 1-2 hours at night. 4. Do something! He’s my baby! I’ve got plans to take him back when the doctor returns. What do you think? Am I overreacting? Should I wait for him to get a fever again before I take him back?

The stats on my skinny minis:

Veda

	Measurement	Percentile
Height	28 inches	5th
Weight	15 lbs 14 oz	Not on the Chart

　
Linus

	Measurement	Percentile
Height	30 inches	50th
Weight	19 lbs 13 oz	5th

Yes, they're both on the low (and very low) ranges for weight, but I'm not concerned. No one who looks at them would say that they're underweight or malnourished. And while their appetites have decreased (which is expected at this age), they're still good, healthy eaters.

Greek Gods and Cow's Milk

    Teaching The Odyssey was fun. Teaching it to ninth graders was hilarious. After background lessons about Greek mythology, some baby-faced kid would usually ask, "Did this stuff really happen?". If this question was asked in front of the rest of the class, you can imagine the response of the other kids. Partly to help the first kid save face and partly because it's true, I'd remind them that one day people will think some of our beliefs and practices were quaint and outlandish. The toddler sippy perpetually filled with cow's milk will be among those practices heaped in the odd pile.

   I told you in my January challenge post that I'm transitioning to veganism and am in the research stage of making a dietary decision for the babies. In the pro-vegan corner is my desire to save them from the ill-effects of animal protein. Even though there's no history of Type-1 diabetes in our family, I'm still afraid of them consuming the casein in cow's milk, which is linked to the onset of Type-1. In the pro-vegetarian corner was every pediatric dietary recommendation I've been handed at the doctor's office about the 16-24 oz. of cow's milk toddlers are supposed to be slurping down on a daily basis.

    But how does that work with extended breastfeeding? Was I supposed to be cutting feedings to make room for cow's milk? What did my breastmilk lack that they needed from cow's milk? How many times a day should I be nursing them, anyway? Turns out this information isn't as easy to find as you might think.

    Here's what I found out: There's absolutely NOTHING that cow's milk provides (except for added Vitamin D) that human breastmilk doesn't. In fact, human breastmilk is still the best choice for human toddlers. It's species-specific and is richer in the brain growth-friendly fats that humans need.

    So to break this down for you, our culture encourages:

1. Weaning babies from human milk, the best nutritional choice for human babies and toddlers
2. Replacing an ideal, species-specific nutrition source with one designed for baby cows

   This brings me back to a fun fact about human gestation. Why are human babies are born at 40 weeks? It's because our giant-brained heads get too big. Think about it. What's the hardest part to push out? The big 'ol head. Humans are kinda special like that. We also have such a long juvenile period because our brains are so complex that they need all of that extra time to develop.

    But we replace a nutrition source designed for advancing brain development in favor of one tailored to fast-tracking the growth of a four-legged critter to several hundred pounds within a matter of months. Huh. How... quaint.


 

Happy Birthday

The babies celebrated their first birthday a couple of weekends ago. Yes, it feels like this is all going

by too fast, but I'm going to focus on the fun stuff, because I'm guessing that that's what you and Future Linus and Veda want to hear about. 

Here's the setup. Please note the Baby Foodie First Birthday Cupcakes at the front of the table. They were a hit with the babies - and the adults, too! The cupcakes in the center of the table were supposed to look like a bunch of balloons. Can you kind of see it??? Eh.... not exactly my greatest acheivement. 

Birthday boy and girl. Linus is a dinosaur, and Veda is a pony.

Enjoying their cupcakes. "Are you going to eat that?"

Giggling at Daddy blowing bubbles.

Playing with balloons. Don't worry - Veda got to play with one, too.

Everyone knows the best part of the present is the paper.

At 12 months of age...

Veda can crawl and has started to cruise. She has eight teeth and can point to the flap hiding an object in her peekaboo book. She says Mama, Dada, and Nana. She loves books and flips through them by herself. She has some pretty potent separation anxiety, and consequently cosleeps with us.

Linus is the world's fastest army crawler - so fast he looks like he's swimming - and is getting pretty good at cruising, too. He has eight teeth, and his first molar is starting to come in. He loves chasing balls - sort of like he's playing soccer, but with his hands. He says Mama, Dada, Papaw, and Veda ("Da").

They're pretty much the best babies ever.

Baby Foodie First Birthday Cupcakes

For their first birthday, I want the babies to have a treat, but I'm also not ready to turn them loose on the sugar. Given our family's history of diabetes (my great grandmother had her foot amputated!) and my own insulin resistance, I want to withhold the really sugary stuff for as long as possible. Here's my solution. The cake part gets much of its flavor and sweetness from bananas, a familiar flavor for most babies. The frosting is made of cream cheese. Not to toot my own horn, but these are goooood - not too sweet, but with a rich flavor.

Baby Foodie First Birthday Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

Frosting
1 block of cream cheese
1/4 c cane sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
2/3 c cane sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients
3 large, ripe bananas
2 eggs
3/4 c milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Take cream cheese out of the fridge to soften and preheat oven to 350..
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
3. Mash the bananas in another mixing bowl.
4. Add the eggs, milk, and vanilla, and whisk until combined.
5. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until a batter is formed.
6. Fill muffin tins about 3/4 full (ETA: Don't forget the cupcake papers!).
7. Bake at 350 for 20ish minutes, depending on your oven's particular type of crazy.
8. When cream cheese has softened, mix with the sugar and vanilla.
9. Frost when cupcakes have cooled.
10. Ta da!