Tiny Iron Fists

"The Patter of Tiny Brains" Curated by Doug Harvey (04.06.12 - 05.27.12)

Lulu and I participated in Doug Harvey's "The Patter of Tiny Brains". Our contribution is the recording of Lulu's in utero heartbeats.

Eye Spy 2010

Even with the loss of Silvio's grandfather Marco Rea, my father Lieutenant Colonel Chuong G. Hong and our beloved cat-dog Godzuki, 2010 was the year of love. So many people surrounded us. And so many people openly loved Lulu.

THANK YOU to our extended family (born-into and adopted) for your friendship. 2011's going to be the best yet!

Milestone: Crawling

I have been looking forward to Lulu being mobile since the day she was born. My friends insisted that when the day came, I would pray for the good old days of her being immobile. They were wrong. I love chasing Lulu around our home and more importantly, I love the independence she exudes from having the freedom to go where she pleases.

Lulu learned to crawl a little early and I was lucky to remember to track and document her progress. In the first video above, Lulu was newly six months old. She was already very good at sitting upright and quickly learned how to prop herself up on all fours from laying on her stomach. She would get up on her hands and knees, rock back and forth, and eventually propel herself forward. It wasn't graceful and she often looked like a swimmer diving into a pool. I gotta give it up to the kid for being fearless, lunging forward. This initial stage was exceptionally frustrating for Lulu. You could tell she wanted to move around, but just couldn't get her limbs to do exactly what she wanted.

About a week later, Lulu continued to experiment with her footing. She was better at thrusting herself forward but still seemed flustered at her lack of ability to move around much. In this fairly long video below, she still can't do much.

Lulu improved slowly over a month's time. It took her awhile to gather strength to move forward but she was finally able to get from Point A to Point B.  In the video above she starts several times in the downward dog position, eventually inching her way forward with a commando-crawl. Her physical efforts are matched by her vocal ones.

A couple of days later, Lulu is barely crawling at all. She is assuming the position but is flustered, vocalizing her dismay with every attempt to move. I feel badly that she is working so hard with so little results.

A couple of weeks later (at two months), Lulu has become a more confident crawler. For the most part, she can get to where she wants to go, fairly quickly. In the video above, Lulu easily crawls to Silvio after inspecting crap on the floor. 

Nearly three months from the start, the crawl is intentional, confident and quick. Lulu has mastered "cross-crawling" -- the ability to move one arm and the opposite leg together while moving forward and no longer seems to have any problems getting where she wants to go.

It's been fascinating watching Lulu learn to crawl. This milestone was fun to watch unfold. Just as quickly, she has learned to stand up and is now cruising. Next up, walking! And yes, I've got my running shoes ready!

More information about crawling can be found here:
Developmental Milestone: Crawling

Ask Dr. Sears: Late Crawler

Dr. Greene: Crawling

Finger Lickin' Good... Germs!

A couple of weeks ago, I stopped by my friends E and D's home with Lulu. During the hour that we visited, Lulu licked their floor three times. E quickly pointed out Lulu's actions, but I shrugged and said, "It's okay, she can lick your floor." To which E responded, "It's okay, we're vegetarian." That totally made me laugh!

Lulu licking our friends' floor got me thinking about germs. The good and bad kind. And while I'm not sure I'd let Lulu lick the floor at The Rose Cafe (as I'd witness another toddler do once), I didn't worry about her taste testing a little bit of Venice from inside an apartment. On a daily basis, Lulu finds objects-of-interest on our floor at home to put in her mouth. And while I have to fend off anything that might harm her (particularly, paper scraps from the cat's scratch pad), I don't wash her pacifier or spoons every time they hit the hardwood.

As part of Lulu's potty training, I wash her hands after every time she uses the potty. However, if she's been crawling on our floor all afternoon, I resist the urge to wash her hands again. And I don't. I let her stick those hands back in her mouth and hope that she's somehow building up a healthy immune system.

According to "Babies Know: A Little Dirt is Good for You", Dr. Joel V. Weinstock, the director of gastroenterology and hepatology at Tufts Medical Center believes, “Children should be allowed to go barefoot in the dirt, play in the dirt, and not have to wash their hands when they come in to eat." Research shows that children who grow up on farms are less likely to develop allergies and autoimmune diseases because they are exposed to worms and other organisms from farm animals. If a farm is not easily accessible, Dr. Weinstock suggests living with dogs and cats whose intestinal worms can promote a healthy immune system for your kids. Good thing for Lulu, we have two cats.

I'm trying to raise a kid with a good tolerance for cooties. Aside from nursing, I'm wondering what else might work or help?! I've read that a relatively germ free house can cause kids to grow up with asthma or allergies. Anyone out there experience this? Also, are your kids allowed to lick communal toys or your floor? Do you wipe objects that a lot of strangers may have touched before giving it to your child to play with? I'm curious to know what other parents tolerate in terms of germs.

Ruling Out Retinoblastoma

As a member of countless boards, groups, and lists, a parent will often stumble upon a sad story involving a kid and a disease. While I was pregnant with Lulu, a really good friend shared information on Retinoblastoma, a cancer of the retina generally found in babies and young children. I learned that symptoms include crossed eyes, different color irises, a lazy eye, white spots on the pupil and a white haze on an eye after a photo has been taken with a "red eye reduction" flash. Apparently the white haze exists because something is preventing light from reaching the retina.

I have taken several thousand photographs of Lulu. None have ever shown any irregularities with her eyes. So I was a little surprised to find a recent photo displaying a whitish-color pupil. I stared at the photo for a long time. And then I asked my friend to resend me the links he had shared months previously. I reread the articles and made a decision not to panic. Although Lulu's left eye looked like one of the sample photos of retinoblastoma (with a pinkish-white hue), I also knew that she had recently visited our doctor and he hadn't found anything out-of-the-ordinary regarding her health. He had actually even asked about her eyes. Even so, I called our pediatrician, Dr. Varga from Tenth Street Pediatric Medical Group. 

After explaining what I saw in the photo, Dr. Varga asked me to bring Lulu in so that he could examine her eyes again. We took an appointment for earlier this evening and thankfully, her eyes were fine. I apologized for wasting our busy doctor's time (there were so many sick kids in the lobby waiting to see him) and he reassured me that parents should pipe up if they think something is wrong, as of course, we are the ones who spend the most time with our kids so we should know when something is amiss. Dr. Varga also correctly stated that it was best that we had come in anyway, lest I keep worrying about a non existent health issue.

In the eight months that Lulu's been a part of our lives, we haven't had any medical scares or emergencies (Yes, I am knocking on wood). No colds, even. In contacting Dr. Varga, I wanted to be sure I wasn't being cavalier about her good health. I guess, better safe than sorry. 

Lastly, even though I was playing it cool, I'd be lying if I didn't admit to running a few what-ifs and worst-case-scenarios in my head. I'm happy that today's results were good. And can only hope that Lulu remains relatively healthy for a long, long time. I hope this post is informative to you and that you won't hate the red-eye reflex on your treasured photographs so much anymore!

More helpful resources on Retinoblastoma:

National Cancer Institute: Retinoblastoma

A Parent's Guide to Understanding Retinoblastoma

Eye Cancer Network: Retinoblastoma