Happier news about Jorie

[mmcirvin]

We're feeling a little less frantic about the whole food/anemia thing. I think the key is going to be timing feedings so that we give her solids when she's actually hungry. It worked a little at dinner today. I'd thought we were coming along all right; it's just that the checkup gave extra urgency to the issue. (My mother-in-law wonders why they didn't do the blood count at 9 months, which is a good question.)

Anyway, while all this is going on, Jorie has been learning words at an astounding rate. She's started on colors (not surprising, I suppose, given that she has about half a dozen books on the subject) and can identify blue and yellow with fair correctness; she's got a couple more letters of the alphabet too. Today she became fond of the word "happy" (which I didn't even know she knew) and started exclaiming "Happy! Happy! Happy!" in idle moments. I tried teaching her "sad" by making sad faces but I think it brought the mood down a little.

She also made a few spontaneous attempts to let go of support and remain standing (sometimes in a half-squat), and remained balanced for three or four seconds at a time.

Comments

[jmkelly.livejournal.com]

What an interesting child! Usually walking precedes talking. YMMV, indeed.

I wonder if there's a typical childhood inability to do abstract thinking in the "happy/sad" thing. She may even be finding that saying "happy" makes her feel happy, and maybe she can't say "sad" without starting to feel sad. Or she may just be wondering what the hell you're on about with the sad faces.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

I think Sam and I were both earlier talkers.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

...I've heard that kids don't really have the level of modeling of others necessary to understand things like empathy and deceit until they're about three years old. I wouldn't be surprised if the abstraction necessary to distinguish between the concept of an emotion and the emotion itself is entirely absent.

[sunburn.livejournal.com]

Finally got around to watching those two episodes earlier this week-- geezus, John Simm is really a great ham, better than his daffiest Life on Mars moments; I didn't know that the Master was more over-the-top than the Doctor.

Also, this is the third time in about a year that Colin Stilton (played the US President) has appeared in a major BBC show or movie starring as the embodiment of the We-Answer-To-No-One America, though he only appears to work in British productions these days (as well as a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, probably straight-to-video as I've never heard of it, playing same). He's Canadian though he lived in America since he was 4. IMDB says "Now lives in London and Chicago."

America, of course, has Donald Sutherland to take these roles, but he, at least, isn't typecast. Still, when the conspiracy-theory movie "Baltic Storm" needed to point the finger at someone for the real-life sinking of the Baltic ferry "MS Estonia" in '94, who played the responsible American? The original Hawkeye Pierce, in a general's uniform.

[megmimcg.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear things are looking up in the eating arena. As some have said, maybe you need to find a pediatrician whose parenting views are more in line with your own to help the situation.

I dont know what your pediatrician was taught, but based on my personal experience as a parent of a 2 1/2 year old - you can't force a child to eat or to sleep or to use the toilet (or to do alot of things for that matter). They have to come to these decisions on their own. As the parent all you can do is create an environment to encourage such behaviors, be consistent and hope for the best. I suspect Jorie will come around.