That Puppy Don't Crawl

Ahhhh, 4 whole days off for Thanksgiving!! What a perfect time to relax and devote a bit of time to the blog. We will probably brave the crowd today for Tracie to go shopping and for me to peoplewatch. Sydney is on her last days of being on Amoxicillin and getting over her ear infection. We are feeling pretty good about taking her out to get some more fresh air and enjoy the warm weather for a change. We went to IHOP this morning for breakfast. For the second time in her life, Sydney sat in a high chair the entire time. She was even enjoying small morsels of pumpkin pancakes with butter pecan syrup.

It was great to see Sydney back to her normal, rambunctious self again. It was scary to be holding her last week while she was running her fever. It was on a Wednesday afternoon that the daycare called Tracie to say that the baby developed a fever, and it was climbing fast. By the time I got to her, Sydney was feverish with 102 degree temperature. We got an appointment with the pediatrician for 9:30am Thursday. In the meantime, we gave her Children's Tylenol and tried to keep her comfortable. The next morning, she was still feverish and was getting groggy. When the nurses came to check her temperature, Sydney was at 105 degree. They immediately gave her a dose of Concentrated Children's Tylenol. The only good thing that came out of that visit was knowing that she only had an ear infection instead of something more serious and that she was weighing in at 15 lbs 13.5 ozs. For the next two days, I took time from work to tend to her. She was clinging to me, almost too hot for me to hold. I was scared crapless. At one point, I was rushing around putting a cold towel on her forehead because I was not sure what else to do short of taking her to the hospital or back to the pediatrician. But she told us to hold tight and let the amoxicillin and Tylenol do their things. If Sydney did not get better by Monday, then we would need to bring her back. By Sunday morning, the fever was almost gone, but it felt like it's been a week since the fever started.

But now that she's healthy again, what is her excuse for not crawling? We have trying so hard to encourage her to crawl. She has mastered the art of rolling all over the place. She just won't crawl. She's getting a little closer to crawling with getting on all four and rocking back and forth for a few seconds. Then she would simply either roll over on her side or plop down on her tummy. That puppy just won't crawl. She is 8 month and 1 day old today. Shouldn't she be crawling by now? I think so. I almost insist it. Dadgum it, CRAWL!!! I'm not sure exactly what is my obsession with seeing Sydney crawl. I think it's just the cutest thing to see a baby finally figure out how to crawl and then take their first steps. I've been waiting for that moment for Sydney since the day she was born. I've been crawling around her for a few days now, trying to show her what it looks like. I've propped her up on all four and lift each limb in succession to show her EXACTLY which limb to move and the sequence of events that should take place to gain forward motion. But Sydney took it in stride and just laughed. Tonight, I'll try subliminal messaging. I'll whisper the instructions for crawling in her ears while she's sleeping. She should have enough strength to crawl by now. Last night, she even went as far as crawling on her tummy using just her arms to pull herself forward a couple of times. I don't consider that crawling since it doesn't involve moving her legs. Those turkey legs should be plenty powerful to propel her forward once she figures it out. She's been exercising those legs in the bouncer and the exersaucer forever. She is simply brutal when she plays. She can hop completely off the ground and land hard while still straddling the seat, which makes me hurt just thinking about it. It's a good thing she's not a boy.

May be I should be counting my blessing. Once she starts crawling, I have a feeling I'm going to be bust watching her and keeping her out of places she doesn't belong. It's time to childproof the house.

A Day at the Mall

We headed to Lenox Mall today. We both had a rough week at work so we decided to take it easy and goofed off at the mall to look for some Christmas presents. Hard to believe Christmas was not that far away. The weather was beautiful but a bit on the cool side. We dressed Sydney is a long-sleeve T-shirt and pink corduroy overall. She was a hit at the mall. Several passerbys smiled at her and commented that she was gorgeous. She was mobbed by the cosmetic sales staff at Bloomingdale's. One older lady asked to hold her. Sydney reached for her like an old friend. As the lady held her, we noticed that Sydney was swinging one of her legs playfully and was very relaxed. It was unusual since she had been pretty fussy lately around strangers. For the last 2 weeks or so, she had been crying hysterically when we dropped her off at the daycare center. She was starting to figure out that we were leaving her behind for several hours. But back to the cosmetic saleslady. She commented that Sydney knew that "an experienced mother was holding her." No sooner than those words had left her mouth, Sydney suddenly started wailing. She finally figured out that none of the faces smiling at her was familiar. The lady dashed over to Tracie to hand Sydney back to her. I smiled apologetically and wiped my baby's tears away.

"That'll teach the lady to brag!!" I thought to myself. Shame on me.

We decided that Sydney was getting hungry and was probably also ready for an afternoon nap. We had spent almost 2 hours at the mall already. Tracie made a fresh bottle of formula and fed Sydney on one of benches in the mall. Afterward, we headed to Banana Republic for Tracie to pick up one of the Christmas gifts. Sydney fell asleep in my arms while I plopped my lazy behind down on one of the chairs near the dressing rooms. She looked like an angel when she was sleeping. She looked peaceful. Many of the staff members stopped to admire her and complimented on how beautiful she was. I just figured out that I was a very popular person whenever I had Sydney with me. At this rate, I could befriend at least 1/4 of the staff at the mall. This could work to our advantage to get some great discounts. Hmmmm...I should spend more time at the mall with Sydney.

We finally left Banana Republic, and Tracie went off to Club Monaco while I tended to the baby. Sydney was still fast asleep. I was just having fun watching my baby sleep and people-watching at the same time. Suddenly, a little girl came up to me. Although she looked to be about 9 or 10, she was stunningly angelic-looking with dark brown eyes and cropped hair. She looked European. With a soft voice, as not to disturb the baby, she asked politely: "Excuse me. How old is she?"

I said, "She is about 7 months old."

"Oh, she is very beautiful." The little girl spoke with a slight accent. "What is her name?"

"Her name is Sydney," I said.

With that, she smiled and walked away to join her mother and another little girl a few feet away. It was sweet. I was proud to think that a beautiful girl like her would think that my little girl was beautiful. I wish I had thought to ask for her name and told her that she was also very beautiful. It made me feel good that I lived in the South, where, supposedly, people were very friendly. I even heard on the radio this week that Atlanta was voted as one of the friendliest cities in the country. If my encounter with this little girl was any indication, I guess the survey was correct.

After a few hours at the mall, we headed home. I had a good time. Although I didn't spend any time looking for something to buy for myself, I was glad that we managed to get a few Christmas presents picked out and Sydney received a lot of attention in the process. I smiled as I drove home at the memory of the few minutes we spent at Ann Taylor. While waiting on Tracie to shop, I was bored and decided to let Sydney try on some shoes. I placed a pair of ladies' burgundy high-heels on the couch and stood Sydney in them.

"Wow. Don't you look pretty in these shoes!" I said to Sydney.

I looked up to find a couple of customers and a couple of salesladies staring at us.

"Awwwwwww!!" they said in unison. I was embarassed and quickly put the shoes back on the rack.

One salesperson said: "Oh please, can I see her in those shoes one more time?"

Sydney struck again. She's going to be a star someday. She was eating up the attention, just grinning broadly at the small crowd gathering around her as she stood in those shoes again. She was showing off those two tiny bottom front teeth of hers. Frankly, I was enjoying the attention as much as she apparently did. Gosh, I was such a proud papa. Too bad Tracie wasn't around to share in the limelight.

We all chatted for a few minutes about Sydney's age, our origin, how tall she was, and all that good stuff. She was just looking around, oblivious to anything but the shoes she was "wearing" and the pacifier dangling from her overall. She just wanted to catch the pacifier and put it in her mouth in the midst of all the commotion. She didn't know she was somewhat of a celebrity at Ann Taylor. This was not the first time she had managed to pull together a small crowd to see her at this store. I hope it wouldn't be the last.

Sydney had a great day at the mall.