When A Child Is Born: Toes, Anxieties, and Swine Flu

Emily’s new trick this week was chewing her toes! Have you seen those baby gift bags with a classic painting of a little precious baby grabbing both feet or chewing on the toes? I had one on the counter (it was Gail’s gift for Dawn) and couldn’t help saying:” That’s Emily!” Isn’t it amazing that all the babies do the same things?? It is difficult to take a good picture of her doing that because she stops as soon as she detects the camera. But I did manage to take one:

Emily loves kicking, standing, stepping, and swaying – anything but lying down! We bought a used Jumperoo for her two days ago. David calls it "Rockeroo" since all she did in it so far was to rock back and forth. She liked it. Below is a video of her standing in it for the first time. (Don't know how to rotate the video. Sorry!)

Emily began to recognize faces (Many books call it Stranger Anxiety and Separation Anxiety). She cried a couple of times this week when strangers picked her up from anywhere that she couldn’t see us. The book I read told me not to be embarrassed on that; comfort her as soon as I can instead. It also advised other people to approach babies of this age with slow warm-ups. She was very happy if someone picked her up from my arms though. Diane, Dawn, and Gail held her for a long time on Sunday without any problem. She was also scared at the loud toilet flushing sound. Last Sunday, I put her down on the church changing station to change her diaper, a group of ladies came in and the toilet sounded on and off for five minutes. Emily cried the whole time. Two other ladies were waiting in line to use the changing station. So I didn’t have time to comfort her until we finished diapering. Bless her little heart! Ever since then, Emily was afraid when I put her down on the changing station.

The biggest news going around last week was the Swine Flu. I had sore throat and fever last Sunday. So I stayed at home on Monday. When I returned work on Tuesday, many co-workers walked to my cube and asked how I was doing. It was strange to be cared by so many people at work just because of a cold! Soon after that I saw the company email on Monday about the Swine Flu. Anyone who has a flu symptom was advised to stay at home. One co-worker suggested me to see the doctor since the school in his area was closed because of the flu. I made an appointment on Wednesday. After two swab tests, my doctor congratulated me with a hand-shake:” It’s not a flu, definitely not Swine Flu; It’s not the strep throat either. So just rest and drink lots of water or orange juice!” My heart settled.

I went to Dawn’s baby shower on Saturday morning. It was a big turnout. I was so happy for Dawn. She certainly deserves everything. During the shower, two people complimented my haircut. They were amazed that David cut my hair! When I came home at around 2 o’clock, David told me that he talked to my brother-in-law and my sister via Skype to practice his Chinese! I was so proud of him. We went to the World Wide Youth Camp benefit dinner at 6 o’clock. David got to visit with many of his old friends who used to do WWYC together in Russia and Ukraine. We were surprised to see Ashley, Nic and Juliana there. Ashley’s mother invited them to the dinner. Saturday was Amy's birthday too! Happy Birthday Amy! Wished we could celebrate your birthday with you. Sunday we went to Robert’s birthday dinner after church. Robert’s actual birthday was Wednesday. Gail bought him a new computer. David set it up for them Thursday night. We were glad to see Richard, Cathy, and Annabelle at the dinner too. They were so busy that we didn’t get to see them very often. Annabelle enjoyed making Emily laugh by her drum beats on the cake container. Emily didn’t take any good nap on Sunday. She went to sleep as soon as we got home and slept until 9:30am this morning!! She was so tired.

Here are some random pictures this week:

Trim finger nails