...and they're here!

Gemma's two front bottom teeth are in! and she was such a trooper, she handled it very well. I'm glad they came in together instead of one at a time, just to save her some extra trouble. 

Teeth... For Real This Time...

Gemma has the two front bottom teeth emerging. They haven't poked through, but I suspect they will by the end of the week. Contrary to the pedontist's prediction, she is handling this quite well; much better than she handled those nodules coming up. The only thing new is that she will freak out if I stick anything cold in her mouth... I thought cold was supposed to help?? She likes it when I rub her gums with a wam washcloth, but if it's cold, she will scream and wail. Her naps are still good (knock on wood), her sleep through the night is still good (knock on wood), and her mood is good (knock on wood). 

When they cut through I will post some pictures. I will definitely miss her cute little toothless mouth.

Can't Escape the Genes....

I am such an impatient person. My mother is an impatient person. My father, my brother, my grandmother...I think it's really because we're Korean. Koreans must be the most impatient people on the face of this Earth. Everything is "hurry, hurry" - "can you bring down the laundry? hurry, hurry!"..."can you bring your empty plates? hurry, hurry"..."are you ready to go?? hurry! hurry!"...

Poor Jesse. It's not in his nature to "hurry, hurry" and so he's always being rushed...

With her personality coming through more and more, it becomes more apparent that Gemma is also very impatient. She has the "hurry, hurry" gene sewn right in her DNA. When she wants to be picked up, it's like "pick me up NOW"... when she eats, she sits there and kicks her feet and whines anytime the spoon is not in her mouth...when she gets tired of a toy, she has to throw it forcefully, not just let go of it. She and I fight all the time when I nurse her because she will cry until my milk lets down and then cry once the let-down is gone and the flow slows down. If she would keep sucking patiently I could have another big let-down, but she can never wait for it to happen. 

If she's like this already... I can't WAIT for the terrible two's...

Like a turtle on its back... but the opposite

Since Gemma started rolling over back to front, it seems she has forgotten how to roll front to back. She is waking up numerous times throughout the night whining and frustrated because she rolled on to her stomach and can't figure out how to get back on her back. Poor Jesse has been waking up so many times to turn her over (yes, i said Jesse. Ever since Gemma stopped eating during the night at 2.5 months, i haven't been getting up. Bless my husband. He loves me so.)

Any ideas on how to get her to stop rolling over at night?????

Sitting Pretty

This has been a busy week for Gemma's development (see my previous post). Yesterday, I changed her diaper and just sat her on the floor to see if she could sit while I cleaned up and... she sat. She didn't topple over. She sat for about 2 minutes just watching and giggling at Reggie. I was so amazed that I moved her to the bonus room, sat her there, and took some pictures.

A Weekend of Firsts

We had a fantastic weekend. It was my mom's birthday on Saturday, so we threw a little party for her. 

For Gemma, it was a weekend of many firsts. 

On Saturday morning, she tried avocado for the first time and really didn't like it. She made faces and kept spitting it out of her mouth. We started her on solids about 2 weeks ago and have been introducing something new every 3 days. So far, she has had rice cereal, oat cereal, egg yolk, and avocado. She loved them all except for the avocado. ***now before you starting thinking what a terrible mom i am, starting her on solids before 6 months, gemma was more than ready for food. i had no problems waiting until 6 months, but gemma didn't want to wait that long.

On Saturday evening, Gemma put her foot in her mouth! She has really been noticing her feet these last few weeks and has been playing with them a lot. We were so excited when she started sucking on her toes. It was so cute. My mom has always said this is a sign of a mild-mannered, mellow, happy child.

On Sunday afternoon, my mom brought her to the back yard while Jesse and I were building a raised strawberry bed. She put her bare feet down on the grass for the first time and didn't seem to like the prickliness all that much. She kept on doing the tree pose with her feet and cringing her face. Again, so cute.

On Sunday evening, she rolled over from back to front! and now she does it all the time. changing diapers is gonna be even more of a challenge now!

It's just gonna get crazier from here. She'll be sitting up on her own soon, crawling, standing before we know it! ahhhh! i can't even think about this right now! time is going too fast!!!!!

Mystery Solved

I took Gemma to see Dr. Hulland (the pediatric dentist) on Monday. After a thorough look and feel, she confirmed that those bumps are indeed Bohn nodules. It was reassuring to hear it from her because she said she has seen it a thousand times (so I guess not THAT uncommon!). She told me that Gemma is symptomatic from them because they are made up of the same type of cells as teeth. Just like some kids cut teeth with no trouble at all, some will never even notice these nodules. She said that because Gemma has had such a hard time with these nodules coming up, she will probably be even worse when real teeth come in... 

...Great.

So mystery solved. Dr. Hulland suggested I rub the area often to encourage the nodule to exfoliate out of her gums. She also told me not to be surprised if Gemma gets more on the other side. The good thing is that these will not affect her bite or her teeth placement whatsoever, which is good. They're supposed to disappear soon.

Yay! I'm glad they're not teeth.... but i am definitely not looking forward to when real teeth start coming in!!

5 months

• No weight yet. I'll get on that.
• She loves to laugh at her harmony clucking like a chicken.
• She loves it when I swing her in her superman position.
• She loves "airplane" (when I lie on the floor with her facing me, her belly on my feet, and lift her up).
• She can drink quite well out of a regular cup and loves to drink water and boricha.
• She can eat out of a spoon and not have food all over her face and bib.
• She loves to watch Reggie.
• She loves to wash her hands and so we do this often throughout the day.
• She goes down at about 7:30-8:30 and wakes up between 5 and 6 AM.
• She loves to be out of the house, whether it be the mall, grocery store, or just outside.
• She is very observant and curious about everything.
• She loves her own reflection in the mirror and pictures of herself and will squeal at herself.
• She will initially cry upon a stranger talking to her or holding her, but will get over it very quickly and has no problems being held by a stranger after that.
• The best thing to use for getting her attention is the maraca Auntie Susie gave to her.
• She is the most talkative around harmony.
• She loves to be naked and hates putting on clothes and her diaper.

A Mystery

So after discovering Gemma's "tooth" a few weeks back, I took her to the doctor because there were some concerning features:

It's where a molar should be.

It's not coming out of the biting aspect of the gum, but rather the side of it.

As soon as I showed Dr. McCracken, he said "that's not a tooth". He thought it was a type of inclusion cyst called Bohn nodule. It should go away within a week or two. 

Well. It's still here. and I looked up Bohn nodule and inclusion cysts on the internet and in my medical dictionary. They don't seem to fit the description of what she has. Also, it's supposed to be asymptomatic, but Gemma is definitely suffering because of them. She has all the symptoms of teething until the "nodule" appears. Once it is visible, she is back to normal. 

Oh and did I mention a few days ago she popped another "nodule"? Same side, same position, but on top. She had been extremely whiney and cranky for days, naps disturbed, screaming while and after eating. In the first few days of that, I checked all over to see if she was getting another one. Nothing. Then just a day or so after I checked, the new one was there.

So I made an appointment at the dentist, hoping they could give me some answers. I think it frustrated me more than anything. The dentists themselves were useless; they had NO IDEA what they were. The one assistant (who used to work for a pediatric dentist) suggested that i take Gemma to see a pedontist. But the one dentist was really aggravating. The assistant would ask "do you think it could be a cyst?" and he would reply "yup". Then she would ask, "do you think it could be a molar coming through first?" and he would reply "yup". Then she would ask, "do you think it could be a bone?" and he would reply "yup".It reminded me of a scene in a movie where a patient would be lying on the couch talking to a psychiatrist and the psychiatrist would mutter "uh-huh" all the time, but it would show that he's actually doing a crossword puzzle or something.

Anyways, so the mystery is still a mystery. They called for a referral to a pedontist and I should hear from them soon. I'm not worried that it's cancer or anything really sinister, but I do want to know WHAT IT IS and if it will affect her teeth when they do decide to come out.