I wrote the following piece in December 2010, when I still had time to actively blog. It’s not a “feel-good” piece. It’s about loss. It’s about reading about it, and hearing about it from acquaintances, and seeing it on TV and hoping it will never happen to you. And then it does. Between then and now, our second child, Addison Elizabeth, has joined our lives (March 2012) and is the perfect piece to our puzzle. I don’t like to think “What if”, because that means we wouldn’t have Addy. Fiery, fiercely independent, unabashedly girly Addison, who loves mommy’s make-up and[Read more...]
Many children go through phases of food preferences. They want to eat the same food as often as possible, even at every meal, and completely refuse other foods. Studies show that up to 50% of children become picky eaters for a while, peaking at about 2 years old. For a smaller group of children, eating does not become easier, and they do not become open to more foods. This group includes children up to 11 years of age and older. For up to 40% of these children, the problem lasts 2 years or more, and isn’t as simple as a phase. Scientific American[Read more...]
What is soiling, or encoporesis? Soiling, or encoporesis, happens when a child passes all or part of a bowel movement into underwear or pajamas without meaning to. Often a child is actually not aware that soiling has happened until alerted by the smell. This can be enormously frustrating for parents and caregivers, who may struggle to understand how a child can have a bowel accident without being aware of it. And it is almost always embarrassing for a child, particularly if it continues even when a child is trying to pay attention and avoid accidents. What causes soiling? There are[Read more...]
What do we know? The tongue is actually fused, or fully attached, to the floor of the mouth early in pregnancy. As the fetus develops, the tongue separates from the floor of the mouth. Only the frenulum is left. This is the thin band of tissue attaching the bottom of the tongue to the floor of the mouth. Its full name is lingual frenulum. Beginning at about 6 months of age, the mouth begins to develop further. Teeth begin to break through. At this point, the frenulum usually becomes thinner and less prominent. However, for some, the frenulum remains short, or[Read more...]
What do we know? Swimmer’s ear is an infection of the ear canal. It occurs outside of the eardrum and is called otitis externa. Most ear infections are behind the eardrum, called otitis media. It occurs when water stays in the ear canal after swimming. This allows bacteria which are naturally in the ear canal, or bacteria from the water, to grow and multiply in the wet ear canal. Swimmer’s ear can also occur when the ear canal is scratched. This can occur from fingers in the ear, cotton-tip swabs, or ear buds. What are the symptoms of swimmer’s ear?[Read more...]
What do we know? Head lice are tiny parasites. Their formal name is Pediculus humanus capitis. Their perfect living conditions are at the base of the hair shaft on the head, eyebrows and eyelashes of humans. From there, a louse feeds on blood from the scalp several times a day. This location also provides an ideal temperature for eggs, or nits, to incubate. A nit hatches into a nymph after about a week. The nymph grows into an adult louse in another 9-10 days. Adult lice then live for 3-4 weeks. Nits can be hard to remove because the female louse[Read more...]
