Wednesday, December 4, 2013

first tooth

While I was feeding Iris yesterday morning, I kept thinking I heard and felt some hard object in her mouth. She wouldn't let me look in her mouth so I spent the rest of the day not thinking about it. Then when Evan got home he said, "Does she have a tooth?" I forget what they were doing, but evidently it was something that involved her putting stuff in her mouth. So I felt around on her gums and -- eureka! -- found a tiny little tooth breaking through her gums.

With my mom in town I have been able to get some work done on my dissertation. I'm mostly working from home but am getting ready to venture out of the house. It took Iris a little while to warm up to Grandma, but they are good friends now. Iris is keeping Grandma very busy. They have been singing a lot and practicing walking and learning how to make new mouth sounds. Iris has been clicking her tongue a lot today.  She is also finally figuring out how to put both hands together, which is very cute.

I am starting to understand what it is to miss one's child. I am almost never without her and when I do leave her, it is usually just for a short time. It is very weird to suddenly have someone else around who can watch Iris while I do other stuff. This means that I have been doing minimal child rearing the last few days. Surely, this strange feeling will only become stronger once we start daycare...and every other growing up phase after that. Mainly I finally have enough time now to realize how quickly Iris is going up and have been able to start to savor these fleeting days. It is very difficult to gain perspective when you're right in the middle of it.

By the time Grandma goes back to North Dakota Iris will be an entirely different little girl. She might have multiple teeth and might be crawling. I can't imagine what else she will figure out how to do in the next few weeks.

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