Notes on the life, times, and development of Miss Zoë Bromage, as recorded by her mother. Also includes minor notes on updates to this website.

Friday, December 22, 2000

Zoë is starting to use language in a way that is truly expressive. She seems to have concluded that "thank you" is what you say when you're happy about something, or when something happens that you like. She says it when she's hungry and I bring her lunch, she's been known to say it when we put her in the car seat (she likes to go out), and the other night she said it when her daddy came home and picked her up.

She's not walking yet, nor has she successfully stood without holding on to something, but that'll happen any day now, I'm sure. Perhaps she'll do something wonderful on Christmas Day... Last year, at the age of four weeks, she smiled for the first time on Christmas (I was the only one who saw it, but within a week she had also smiled at her father and grandfather).

:: posted 22.12.00 :: link

I'm happy to report that Zoë appears to be fully recovered from her viral infection. She's been eating solid food again, and filling her nappies with significant quantities of that which babies fill their nappies with. She also seems very cheerful and she's quite chatty and pleasant to be around again. I was pretty worried about her when she was so very irritable, because it's not like her at all. She cried if I held her or if I put her down, cried if I gave her a toy, cried if I took one away. Thank goodness she's back to her usual good-natured self.

:: posted 19.12.00 :: link

We saw a pediatrician today at the Royal Children's Hospital, in regard to Zoë's weight being somewhat below the 3^rd percentile. The good news is that she's regained some of the weight she lost when she was sick (although she's still small). As it happens, she's also quite short (a bit below the 3^rd percentile), but she's got a proportionally big head (which she gets from her father), although it doesn't look huge or anything (she's a cute kid, big melon and all).

Anyway, she was small at birth and has always been small, and what it basically comes down to is that she's just little. She's petite. My own mother is only about 5',3", and Andrew's mother's family tend to be small people, and she just happens to be small. No drama, no mystery, and she's developing well, she's healthy, she's bright eyed and happy, and there's nothing wrong with her.

He did suggest that we limit snacks for a while and try to encourage her to eat bigger meals to stretch her stomach somewhat and get her used to eating larger amounts, and he pointed out that at this point we want to encourage her to get the majority of her nutrition from solid food, rather than milk (breastmilk or otherwise). He also approved of the idea of giving her an increase in healthy, fat-rich foods such as avacado, peanut butter, rich cheese (such as fetta and cream cheese), and whole milk.

We've got an appointment in three months to have her reviewed again. I suspect she'll have grown appropriately and still just be a petite little girl, and that she'll end up being a petite woman someday, like many of her aunties and cousins.

Zoë, by the way, found the trip to the hospital very fun. There were lots of toys and lots of area to crawl around and things to hold to stand up on. The doctor was nice to her and let her play with his badge and his stethescope, and then afterward we had lunch and she got fish and chips, so as far as Zoë is concerned, it was a pretty entertaining outing.

It was also tiring. She's conked out completely right now having a snooze in the cot by my desk.

:: posted 18.12.00 :: link

We had an interesting night. Andrew and I had already decided that if there was no improvement, we'd take Zoë to the doctor. Sunday night she developed a very high fever (which later went down) and then all day Monday she was extremely irritable and restless. Her appetite was non-existant (although she's been breastfeeding a lot). Finally, right before we were going to go to bed, she threw up all over Andrew and we both decided this was possibly serious.

There are some late night doctors in Melbourne. We didn't know where any of them were, unfortunately (the one I thought was all night has reverted to "extended hours" and wasn't open). So we ended up at the Royal Melbourne Children's Hospital and were in for a long, long wait to see a doctor. To make a long story short, it was about four and a half hours, and we were all exhausted. Zoë cried off and on the whole time, and for a period of about forty minutes without cease, but eventually, finally fell asleep about half an hour before they finally called us in.

To make a long story short, she's fine, other than having a viral infection. No sign of any other infection or inflammation at all. This is good.

However, she's lost weight, which she really couldn't afford to lose. She's always been small, around the third percentile in weight, and as I've noted, she recently dipped a little below that. Now that she's gone several days with no appetite and occasional vomiting, she's actually lost weight, and the doctor was concerned about this.

We got a referral to see a pediatrician at the hospital. The appointment is on the 18th. I don't know what they'll do, exactly, but I'm taking this whole episode as something of a blessing. It has definitely occurred to me that maybe there is a problem with her weight (or there could be), and by being directed to a pediatrician and getting the problem attended to now, we may well be avoiding far worse developments in the future.

Today, by the way, Zoë has been in much better spirits for the most part. She's eating a bit more and has been willing to play in the cot a bit, as well as crawling around and climbing on things a bit. She's not what I'd consider "well" yet, but at least she's not crying all the time about everything and anything (poor kid).

:: posted 12.12.00 :: link

I don't know what to do about Zoë. Last night she had a very high fever, but today it seems to be okay. She slept a lot of the day away, but she's incredibly irritable, and she's got very little appetite (she wants to breastfeed all the time, though). If I tug her ears she cries, but she's so irritable she cries no matter what I do, so I don't know if it indicates an ear infection or not. The only thing that keeps her content is to watch Toy Story 2, her favorite movie (although she is "singing along" with some of the songs and laughing out loud at her favorite parts of the film). Generally, I don't like her to watch that much television, but the poor kid is so restless and irritable, it seems all right to just let her watch if it gives her some comfort.

If she's still irritable like this tomorrow, I'll take her to the doctor. Perhaps she's still recovering from whatever virus it was that made her sick Friday, or perhaps she's teething again and having a hard time with it. I'm getting fairly concerned about the situation (although it's probably nothing serious).

:: posted 11.12.00 :: link

She's feeling better today. Zoë had a fever all day yesterday and most of last night, had very little appetite, and was generally very quiet and lethargic. Today, though, she's in much better spirits. She did her customary "milkrobatics" this morning, which basically means having a breastfeed while doing all sorts of bodily contortions, including sitting, half-standing, turning around, and otherwise climbing on me and all over the bed. The first feed of the morning is usually a quiet one and she goes back to sleep, and then, when it's Time to Get Up™, the milkrobatics start.

She's fairly irritable today, and protests loudly and clearly over just about anything that isn't precisely to her liking. She had a shower with her father (protested about being made to sit down in the bath seat), had a nice breakfast of freshly toasted bagel, and now she's in the playpen/cot playing with toys and complaining because she appears to be getting tired.

Other than the irritibility, she's in good form. By tomorrow she should be her usual adorable, into-everything-within-reach self.

:: posted 9.12.00 :: link

Zoë started the day in an unpleasant way. She was in the bed with me and she had just finished having a breastfeed and she threw up all over me, my nightshirt, the bed, and herself. Her little tummy must have been quite full, and she emptied it completely. She's a little warm and seems rather quiet (always a sign of illness with Zoë, because usually she's incredibly active), so after I gave her a bath and put the sheets and my nightshirt in the wash I tucked her all up in nice clean pyjamas with feet and settled her down with some cereal (she likes Nutri-Grain; the pieces are big enough to feed herself easily) to munch.

We'll see how the day goes on. Hopefully, the vomiting was a one-time thing.

:: posted 8.12.00 :: link

It has been a very busy few days for Miss Bromage. Saturday she got her twelve-month immunizations and went to the Bromage family Christmas party. She played very happily with her cousins (two girls and two boys, ranging in age from two and a half to seven years) and really seemed to enjoy herself. Her favorite present is a small wooden xylophone, which said on the box "Ages 2 and Up", but which Zoë figured out pretty much immediately upon being shown how to hold the hit the bars (or keys, or slats, or whatever you call xylophone parts).

She also got her fourth tooth Saturday! She didn't have it in the morning when we were getting ready for the party, and she did have it when we got home, so at some point during the day, it finally pushed through the gum completely.

Sunday and Monday we were on holiday in Ballarat. She enjoyed some of it, but I think she was tired of being confined to the pram or car seat so much of the time. She did seem very happy to get back home last night, but we all were, pretty much (we enjoyed the holiday, but we were very tired last night).

:: posted 5.12.00 :: link

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