Cuspid Eruptus?

Monday morning I felt a tooth in Tara's mouth. I even saw it - a little point of white. Except, it was a cuspid not one of the front teeth! I searched all over the 'net for any references to a cuspid being the primary tooth erupted in a baby. It doesn't appear to be possible since these come in at about 18-20 months not four and a half.

Yesterday (Tuesday), we went to Niagara-on-the-Lake and I didn't get an opportunity to examine her mouth again. It's difficult to see the little bit of tooth anyway plus she slept for quite a few hours today so I can't confirm whether the tooth is really a tooth or something else.

The other strange thing is that instead of coming out of the top of her gums it's coming out of the side. It's possible though that it's one of the points of the cuspid. Not being an expert in baby teething matters, I'm unable to proclaim anything (though I'd really like to make a proclamation that my baby has erupted a cuspid!!) I tried to take some pictures of the tooth for posterity but couldn't get any clear shots inside her mouth. The pictures are super cute though, and I'll post them up later on (and not the cute that only a mother could love either, an actual certifiable cute)

On a side note, she EC'd at Niagara-on-the-Lake in the park (tee hee hee). It was a tiny little bit of poop and a lot of pee. Really less poop than a squirrel might make!! I took a page out of Igby's book (Enter Igby stage left into my blog) and kicked dirt all over it to cover it up. Igby is our almost four year old Parson Russell Terrier.

What can I say about pooping in the park except that she's just learned so well to poop outside her diapee that as soon as I gave her a tiny opportunity she went for it. I wasn't going to hold her in the EC position for a long time and wait as I might at home, she acted very quickly. She's such a little smartie pants! I have pictures of the whole thing but I'm feeling shy about introducing myself just yet... so we'll hold off on this for a bit.

Twice in a week

Today again we went to East Side Mario's. We gorged (there are no kinder words for our behaviour) on bread and salad before our main courses arrived so of course practically the entire main dishes were packed up. When we went on Monday I had penne with sausage and peppers today I ordered Angel Hair with Grilled Shrimp. I ended up eating instead the Chicken Marsala that the husband ordered because he didn't like it at all and I'm partial to it.

Onto the subject of my blog: Tara has been waking every hour for the past two nights. I feel like I've got a newborn all over again, except bigger and louder. I grin and bear it, I hope her little "toof" erupts soon and then she sleeps for the four or five hour stretches that I'm used to. We saw a baby over the weekend whose face was all red and rashy from her drool. I'm very good at wiping her face so she doesn't develop a rash. She had it for one day before I figured out what was causing and put a stop to it. I'm constantly wiping around her mouth, or if she's on her tummy I move her from spot to spot so if she puts her head down it won't be in the drool.

In the meantime she's becoming cuter and cuter by the day. Wow! Infants are amazing - we never change or grow or accomplish as much in our lives I think, as we do in these first few years. Makes me so glad that we are able to give her a stable and happy environment. I wish my "babyhood" had been as happy, I wonder how different my personality would be today. She's such a relaxed and happy baby, always cooing and talking and smiling and all this at only 4 months and a bit. I cry when I think how fast she's growing.

While Tara was sleeping

Since Tara spends a fair bit of time sleeping, this year I started helping my mom look after her garden, I should call it a vegetable patch really. She grows things every summer and I never really paid any attention to it. want to spell it tomatoes, which I'm sure is incorrect, isn't it?), cherry tomatos (or cherry tomatoes), green peppers, chilies, banana peppers, red onions, yellow onions, eggplant (two different varieties of course) and two different varieties of melons. She's also got spinach only the one kind and I'm growing some beautiful basil for my recipes but mostly to make pesto.

Would you basil is quite expensive in the 'burbs, even though I can buy big bunches in downtown Toronto for about a buck? To make one hit of pesto in Mississauga would cost me about $12-15 whereas in Toronto it would cost only $3-4. Now that I've got my own supply of basil I'll be making pesto for less than Toronto prices. Used to be that the patch produced vegetables, my mother got pretty excited over them, I ate the veggies and that was really the end of it. However, I can see the value in this gardening business now.

This is my flowering basil:

This is one of the long eggplant:

Various peppers:

Some tomatoes and an eggplant in the background:

And finally the mysterious melon, I have yet to figure out what this will turn into. :)

Teething Tara

Tara has been drooling and munching on her hand for over two months now. When Dear Blog, will a tooth erupt? Every night I ask her if she will show me a tooth in the morning and every morning she wakes up as gummy as ever.

Although her little gummy smile makes my heart melt every single time she grins at me. Don't get me wrong I cherish her gummy perfection but I feel sorry for the little munchkin 'cuz she's obviously in pain. She shoves her entire fist into her mouth and drools down her hand and down her arm.

When she first started drooling she developed a redness all over her cheeks. I realized it was from rubbing her face in the wet spot from her drool. These days, when I put her down to sleep I have to keep moving her around the bed until she's asleep so she's not sleeping in a wet spot. My efforts reward me with the cutest little baby!

She's now giggling at every opportunity and there's such sparkle of intelligence in her eyes it's as if she already knows what makes the world tick!

We took her to East Side Mario's last night for dinner with my cousins and their kids. They all absolutely adore and she adores them. Her face lit up when they were talking to her. She cooed and gg-gged at them. It's the best I can describe the sound she makes these days.

Elimination Communication

Long before Tara was even conceived of, err, okay only about two years ago, I read an article about Elimination Communication in Macleans.
this might be it though I read it in print and I'm only guessing this was it. I'm a touch oriented person, I like to touch, hold and smell the book.

I digress, as soon as I read the article I knew it was something I wanted to try. I wanted to have my baby out of diapers as soon as possible. Imagine: communicating with my child about their need to go rather than letting them sit in a dirty diaper until I happen to check it. Plus, my hope is that I'll be doing something good for the environment as well, saving who knows how many diapers from landfill sites over the years.

I spoke to my mom about it who confirmed that this had been the case in India for many years. Not having diapers around, women took care of their babies in one of two ways, either letting them stew in their pees and poos or those that took their kids to eliminate.

All in all, it was quite easy, I noticed from the very beginning that as soon as her diaper was off, she would pee. So, all I had to do was take off her diaper and wait for her to go. I make a "shhhh" sound while she's going and now she's come to associate the sound with peeing. Also, as soon as she's in the posture, she immediately tries to pee and poo.

Elimination Communication has many names, EC for short or Infant Potty Training or Natural Infant Hygiene I've also heard it called. Personally, I prefer EC. It has a nice ring to it.

Starving Tara?

The few times that I've left Tara at home alone there's always a surprise waiting for me when I get back. How much milk she's drank in my absence.
I'm never able to pump the amount she's drank (read: been given). Is it unreasonable to presume, dear blog, that we should be able to predict that Tara would consume the amount I can pump out upon my return? Instead she's drank two or three times what she would have, had I nursed her. What gives?
More on this later since my typing (gingerly I might add) is waking her up... and more to come on elimination communication.

Sneaking away from Sleepless

I keep thinking of you dear blog and of all the wise and wacky thoughts I will bestow upon you, when I get the time... Tara has kept me busy all day today. She would not sleep for any length of time and didn't really want to be friends either. She wasn't sure what she wanted, she acted like a bit of a malcontent all day. So, now that she's finally asleep I'm sneaking in some alone time with you, after all this is a new relationship and it needs commitment from both, you and me.

With all this introduction business, you probably want to know a thing or two about me since you have bared your all as blogging applications go... I'm a first time mamma of a 4 month old but wait before that there's a "Me" Me.. I'm a 29 (almost 30 year old) woman (I still want to say girl) living in Toronto (Mississauga for those who might know). I am enjoying the benefits of the long paid maternity leave we get here in Canada. I just celebrated my five year wedding anniversary with a dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse last week.

On a tangent, why do they play the music they do at Ruth's Chris? I mean "Itsy, Bitsy, Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" and "Ting, Tang, Walla Walla Bing Bang"? (I know you know that last song!!) A $160 meal should not come with that music. Play something more sophisticated and New-Orleans-y but not that stuff... It's not Celine Dion's Nickel restaurant is it?? Actually that reminds me they told me our picture would be up on the RC website.. I'll go check that out now.

Blogging Triumph

Okay perhaps not for the hundreds of thousands or millions of folks who blog daily but this is a big day for me. I've been thinking about blogging since junior high. lol I mean I've thought about sharing my ramblings with everyone I meet for a long time now.

Well, the title of my blog has now requested my presence..... as I said Tara takes time. And she is now demanding mine. More to come....