I love my daughter. Lucia has exceeded all our expectations on how much love we can have for anyone. And to think that our Heavenly Father loves us even more than that is just mind-boggling.
Anyway, we are having the time of our lives with Lucia. She's changing so much so fast that sometimes we would like to press the pause button just so we get to enjoy every little moment with her. For example, Belinda and I have been waiting for Lucia to turn on her own. Last week she finally did it. And I missed it! Belinda left Lucia laying on her back on her playing mat right next to me. I happened to be checking my email. Two minutes later Belinda walks into the room and asks me "why did you put her on her belly?" After seeing my clueless face we both realized Lucia had just turned on her own for the first time and no one saw it. Of course she's turning on her own all the time now and she just started showing some interest in crawling so we will be watching for that next big step in her life.
My parents are visiting us for a couple of weeks and needless to say they are in 7th heaven with their little granddaughter. She's so much more alert and socially active than the last time they saw her (2 months ago) that they are now able to enjoy her even more. Lucia loves her grandpa. We don't know why but every time he walks into the room her eyes light up and she gives a huge smile. My mom plays the piano with her every morning and Lucia loves it. There is something about music and sounds that has always been interesting to her. If she's getting fuzzy I usually take out my guitar and start playing for her and she usually calms down and just watches me play for a while. I really hope she shows interest in music when she's older. If she enjoys it half as much as I do, she will have a blast.
The infamous earrings. So, as some of you know or may have noticed we had Lucia's ears pierced while we were in Mexico this summer. Pierced ears in baby girls are a common practice in Mexico. In fact, it is usually an item on the hospital checklist if you want her ears pierced before you all leave the hospital to go home. Anyway, we came back from Mexico and for the first 2 months she wore her earrings without a glitch. Until last week. Belinda was feeding her and we thing one of her earrings got caught in the blanket and when Belinda pulled her up, the earring made her ear bleed a tiny bit. Of course we were so upset and felt so guilty that we even considered just taking the earrings out permanently. If my parents hadn't been here with us we would have probably done just that. However, my parents helped calm us down and we put a new pair on that should have fewer chances of getting caught on anything. We'll see how it goes but for now my baby is still wearing the distinct Mexican heritage of earrings. And I must admit that I love how she looks with them.It is November 6th and the sun is shining in Portland, which means I should get in the shower and get out of the house quickly to enjoy the dry weather treat. We'll probably take my parents out for a drive at the Columbia Gorge to enjoy the fall leaves scenery.
Oh, and by the way, the picture above with the green stuff on Lucia's face was her first experience eating avocado. Certainly not a good one. Maybe next time we'll make the avocado into guacamole and see how that goes!
Belinda,
ReplyDeleteWas searching for a GF's blog and came across yours. Started reading and came across your post about having your dd's ears pierced as part of her Mexican Heritage. I think you were a very thoughtful and smart mommy for piercing your dd’s ears early.
Admittedly, I know a lot of people have strong feelings when to pierce a child’s ear. “Let them decide” is being replaced by parental decision when mommy intuition knows, “earlier is better” from either personal or friend’s experiences of unpleasant childhood ear piercing. I think it just depends on your own personal choice whether or not you wish your baby or little girl to have pierced ears.
Initially, I was unsure too, but asked our ped for her opinion about having our dd's ears pierced. She reached in her pocket and took out a picture of her six month little girl with gold balls in each ear, saying," ...this is what I think." She encouraged me to go ahead and said it was best as an infant when mommy could care for them. She has never had a baby with a pierced ear infection, but has had quite a few older girls ages 2-5 who said they wanted it done, but failed to care for them. She gave me some " Care Tips for Newly Pierced Ears " since she had so many moms ask about having their infants and little girls ears pierced.
Like you, I was unsure, but admit I love the look of babies and little girls with pierced ears. I know cerebrally, as mothers of girls of all ages, we know it celebrates their femaleness and femininity. After all, they are little girls, right? Growing up I remember many of my little girlfriends were not allowed to get their ears pierced. I could never understand it…but when their parents did finally let them, it always seemed they’d get infected because they were constantly touching them or trying to change out the earrings before they were supposed to.
Congrats on making a great decision on behalf of your dd. She'll thank you later for the "gift of pierced ears" as an infant. If you or any mom would like any of our ped’s care tips for infants, then don’t hesitate to write me an e-mail.
Amy
amyswor@hotmail.com