The Trixie Update

Turns out that Trixie is sick. I took her in for an unscheduled doctor visit yesterday because her left eye had been very teary for the previous 12 hours. She was perfectly happy, but pitiful to look at. Her one eye was constantly welling with tears to the point that there was a steady stream running down her face. The diagnosis? She had caught a little bit of our cold and it had clogged the tiny, tiny baby ducts that drain the everyday tears that lubricate her eyes. With nowhere to drain, the tears were overflowing, leaving Trixie looking like she had just attended a marathon funeral. There’s no need to treat it unless the area gets swollen (i.e. infected), so we’ll just keep an eye on it.

However, it turns out that she does have an ear infection, and so Trixie’s getting her first prescription. Considering that the liquid Amoxicillin comes in a great bubble-gum flavor, you would think that Trixie would eat the stuff up. But no, trying to squirt the oral syringe in her mouth is more difficult than when I’ve had to do the same thing to a cat - even though babies don’t have claws. In a matter of seconds this morning’s dose splattered all over her as the pink liquid erupted, gurgled and bubbled out of her mouth like a grumpy volcano. Only 18 doses to go.

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We are feeling better and will have some new stuff up soon. Now, while there wasn’t any new content during our sick-leave, I took the opportunity to clean up the TPOD archives structure. You can now view an entire month at a time, but more importantly, you can tell if a particular TPOD has any comments about it.

Visit this months archive: TPOD: Month at a Glance | February 2004

The archive links are located at the bottom of every TPOD page.

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Apparently if we get sick, no new stories get posted to Trixie Update. It’s one of the downsides to not having an intern. We’ve both been sick this past week. I’ve been fighting a losing battle against a cold and Jennifer got hit with a double whammy of a cold plus mastitis (or maybe mastitis plus cold - we’re not sure which came first).

Taking care of Trixie is much more complicated when you’re trying not to sneeze, cough or breathe on her. You also have to work to keep her hands out of your mouth, nose and eyes. We’re not even totally sure that these measures have paid off — Trixie has had a dry cough all week, although no other symptoms. But even if she does get sick, I think we can still count ourselves lucky since Trixie’s been in perfect health up to this point.

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Jennifer just hit the jackpot! Just now, she happened to be the lucky changer of diaper number 1,500. What sort of prize did she win? A nice full, non-leaky, non-poopy, perfectly routine, cute little wad of Trixie pee. Trixie also came out ahead with a clean, dry diaper. And I get to set a new one-year diaper target.

Her diaper usage today stands in sharp contrast to those early months. When Trixie hit 500 diapers at 44 days old, I estimated a worst-case scenario of over 3,686 diapers in the first year. We’re happy to see that we will actually come in well below that amount. I now project that we’re going to hit right around 2,000 diapers when July 31st rolls around - just as long as Trixie continues to cooperate.

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The Trixie Picture of the Day has long been the most popular feature on the site, but it’s also been in need of a redesign for quite a while. We are happy to announce that readers can now comment directly on the daily picture (just scroll down the page when you visit TPOD). Please let us know if there’s any problems with the new format, and comment away.

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There’s not going to be a lot of new posts this week. Trixie is totally regressing in her sleep habits and it’s taking a toll. The screaming is back too. Hope to catch up with the stories after I find some kind of solution.

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Conventional wisdom states that babies can’t be toilet-trained until they are at least 2 years old. The reasons given for this range from the psychological to the physiological, with most agreeing that the necessary reflexes and muscle control take that long to develop. This is total crap! Trixie undertakes pooping with unbelievable precision. Since we starting giving her solid food, she so far refuses to do it while she’s wearing a diaper. Without fail, she decides that the best time to take a poop is right after I’ve taken off her diaper.

I’m torn on whether this is a convenient behavior. So far it has meant we haven’t been caught off-guard when traveling around town. But on the homefront it makes for an unbelievably trying — though predictable — routine. First, buck naked from the waist down, she has to grab her feet and pull them back as far as she can — if possible into her mouth. Second, secure in the knowledge that she is, in fact, naked, she gets right to work.

After throwing down an open diaper, I stand by and watch the horror of it all. There are so many terribly vivid metaphors. Some days I imagine a Play-Doh Fun Factory. Other times it’s a soft-serve ice cream machine. Less abstractly, it reminds me of catching an unlucky glance at one of those yippy dogs out in the park doing their thing. The latest challenge is the unfortunate discovery that my gag reflex almost isn’t strong enough for the job. The smell a couple of days ago brought me within a hair’s breadth of actually throwing up. This is bad because nobody wants to throw up on their baby.

Why subject myself to this? Why not quickly seal up the diaper and run when my spider-sense starts tingling? Because it’s actually easier to clean up if it doesn’t get smushed all around the diaper. Even a light poopy diaper can necessitate a bath if it gets smeared around too much, and that’s 10 times the work. So, this is the best we can hope for under the circumstances. More importantly, I’m convinced that she knows exactly what she’s doing. Toilet-training starts tomorrow.

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Trixie’s 6 month monthiversary wasn’t totally without observance. We did swing by the ole docs office to pick up another barrage of shots and the requisite measurements. She’s smack in the middle of the weight average and on the upper end of the height chart which makes for a skinny string bean. More importantly, her head circumference is right at the 50% percentile, which came as a relief to me because I’ve been afraid that she had a pea-head - at least relative to some of the giant headed babies I see when out and about. Reassured in the size of her cantaloupe, we moved to other areas. All and all, she is in pretty good shape. The most exciting development? A giant list of finger foods that we can now start feeding her.

New Stats:
Weight: 15lbs 1oz
Height: 27 3/4 in
Head Cir: 42 1/2 cm

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Without any fanfare, Trixie turned six months this past Saturday. Of course there was supposed to be fanfare, but Trixie’s newfound ability to crawl and subsequent fussiness coupled with another relentless week on call at the hospital conspired against us posting any significant stories to the site.

I didn’t really appreciate the immobile Trixie. I was anxious for her to start moving. I had visions that once she could move around she would be more independent, maybe feed herself, figure out how to head to the bathroom when necessary. Maybe even do a little swiffering. These have all proven false. She’s much more helpless now than before because she has absolutely no spatial judgement.

For example, I thought I would create an effective barrier to the kitchen by blocking off the walkway with a set of plastic file boxes. Due to the overhanging lids, there was a 2 inch gap between the boxes. Not a problem for Trixie. Best I can figure, the way her brain works is that if she can see where she wants to go (even if it’s through a tiny gap), she figures she can go ahead and crawl in that direction. Smack. Scream.

I then turned the boxes end to end to eliminate the gap through which Trixie repeatedly tries to crawl. Again, not a problem — she simply tries to clamber right over the top of the box by grabbing the edge and pulling herself to a standing position. Of course, at her age, she simply doesn’t have the ability to balance herself in a standing position and she spins and falls every time. Again crash. Again scream.

So in the end, the box barrier had to go. The new solution is to constantly reposition her in the center of the den and then go collect her after she crawls off. Luckily it only takes about 100 times to tire her out.

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