a non-answer is better than a bad answer

like tara commented, sometimes as parents we can know too much for our own good. the past 2 weeks antonio has been doing this weird thing with his tongue where he keeps his mouth open and you can see his little tongue quivering. at first i attributed it to some sort of food allergy. but even after removing suspected trigger foods, i could see his little tongue trembling. i finally decided to call the doctor today after it was at its worst this past weekend. given my profession and education, i know what sorts of serious things that a quivering tongue is signs of. but i don't know enough to know that it can be normal. so off to the pediatrician we went. after spending about 10-15 minutes with us, the diagnosis was....

nothing to be concerned about. he couldn't give me a reason for it (he doesn't think it's food allergies), but didn't think it was anything bad. i'm the type of person that likes answers so it was a little frustrating to not know why he does it. but my parents gave me great advice when i talked to them afterwards...a non-answer is better than a bad answer.

so true.

Frozen Water

This morning, it was 19 here in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, and when I got to work I noticed that the water in my water bottle on my bike had become ice. First time that has happened to me. I had on full fingered biking gloves, but for temps this low I need some gloves with insulation, my hands hurt by the time I finished my ride. But it felt good to feel the crisp air on my face. I am looking forward to the day we can go bike riding all of as a family (hopefully it will be warmer then).
-Andres

baby legs

i had a bad afternoon today. so bad i almost felt like going jogging when i got home to let off steam. but as i was switching andres' and my laundry over to the dryer i pulled out a teeny pair of red pants that had gotten in there my mistake. and it made me smile.

any ideas...

on how to convince an angry, yelling 8 month old that he can't pick up the little green frog and eat because it is, in fact, embroidered onto his pajamas.

blueberry boogers

i'm home alone last night with antonio and the dogs. andres is in oklahoma. antonio and i are sitting on the floor playing and i look at him and see pink/red running from his nose. i start to panic because why would an 8 month old have a spontaneous nosebleed. then i remember that antonio got blueberries up his nose in the morning and they were now making their way out. the fun never ends.

and this is why

i'm not freaking out that antonio isn't crawling yet. today i asked him to give mami "un beso" and sure enough he leaned forward with his mouth wide open and planted one right on my face.

on andrew and other musings

i worry. a lot. when antonio was one day old and we were still in the hospital i expressed to antonio's pediatrician my concern over the spontaneous nystagmus that i had noted. at one month, i was googling intention tremors in the newborn. just last weekend i looked for information on infant tongue thrust.

i am a pediatric physical therapist. my job involves motor milestones and movement patterns day in and day out. antonio gets a lot of "therapeutic" play. i have, however, been blessed with a child that is in no hurry. i say blessed because i am slowly learning not to worry quite as much.

did i freak out when antonio wasn't rolling back to front at 4 months? yes.
did i freak out when antonio wasn't sitting independently at 5 months? a bit.
am i freaking out that antonio is not crawling at 7 month? not so much.
will i freak out when he's not walking at 12 months? i really don't think so.

antonio will meet his milestones when he's good and ready. i just have to be more trusting and have faith that everything is fine.

what got me thinking about how antonio's milestone acquisition, though slower than i had hoped, is in fact a gift, was thinking about my nephew. my oldest sister has never been much of a worrier. but my next oldest sister is more like me. or i should say was more like me. she was a worrier. until she had andrew. andrew is the sweetest, most caring little boy. he is also fearless and full of energy. my sister recently told me that one afternoon, he decided to talk like tigger all afternoon. he is 100% boy. he was the perfect gift for my sister. because if he couldn't teach her to worry less, then no one could. i realized how both my sister and i were blessed with the children we were blessed with for a reason.

then i started thinking more about andrew. he really is the sweetest boy i know. his eyes were teary and his voice choked when he sang "you are my sunshine" to my son. he wasn't even 5 yet. but such was his love for his cousin that he's only gotten to see just a few times. so maybe it's not that he just has tons of energy. maybe his heart is just so big in his little body that he is just bursting with love.