eight months old

Our little lady is eight months old, as of this past Wednesday. She is becoming even more energetic -- if that is even possible -- and she is nearly always in a good mood. I have not done many more trials off oxygen recently since it seems her saturation levels are not quite as good as they were before. I think she might have a little cold. 

We visited the pediatrician earlier in the week (or was it last week?) to talk about weight gain -- my perpetual worry. Basically, Iris is doing fine. I've said that before. But I have been worried about whether she's getting enough. She has such a hard time settling down and I find it extremely frustrating when I know it's been a while since she's nursed last and that she needs to just chill out for a bit. She does seem to be getting a bit heavier in the thigh section, and I've been trying to offer her food in her high chair several times a day. 

Mom and I visited a daycare today on the University of Denver campus. They do admission by lottery and only once a year. Even though we're starting her at a different daycare in March, I think I'd like for her to go to this one. Evan got a promotion at work -- he's proving very valuable to the company since he has some technical and quantitative skills. 

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.