Month: November 2008

Little Z is generally a very healthy guy, but he’s got some serious skin troubles. His scalp and forehead are dry and crusty, his cheeks and lips are often chapped. His ankles and backs of his knees are cracked, he neck is always red and shiny, and he is often covered from head to toe with dry, bumpy red patches. Nice, eh? (How can he possibly still be so cute?)

We’ve tried all kinds of things to cure him – hydrocortisone cream, clotrimazole antifungal cream, three different kinds of moisturizers, two different kinds of soap, baths with no soap, and finally olive oil rubdowns. The oil works for a short time – especially on his head. (And it makes him smell deliciously edible.) The various creams work occassionally, but I don’t feel good about covering him in steroids every night. I’ve recently tried cutting dairy out of my diet in case he’s having a bad reaction to lactose through my breastmilk. But I’m having a hard time sticking to a dairy-free diet, partly because I keep forgetting, party because the idea of giving up cheese and ice cream is just too sad, and partly because I don’t believe it will actually help anything.

Zeke’s nanny Andrea (more about her another post) studies Chinese medicine and says Zeke has too much heat. She recommended I stop eating spicy foods – another thing I’ve been unable to stick with. I’m not sure how I feel about Chinese medicine when it comes to my son. On the one hand, I don’t feel comfortable introducing herbs I know nothing about into my or his diet. But I do believe the concept that Western medicine deals with the symptoms and Chinese medicine deals with the root cause.

Andrea believes that the root of Zeke’s skin problem is in his intestines, and that by adjusting my/our diet, we can cure him of these and any future food/allergy/skin-related problems. She gave me the name of a nutritionist who specializes in things like this, and I figure it can’t hurt to see what she has to say. We also have a pediatrician appointment on Monday… so maybe we can compare notes. East vs. West. Who can turn my baby’s skin from lizard to… well… baby.

PS: I should mention that Z doesn’t seem overly bothered by these skin issues. He does scratch himself sometimes, but it doesn’t seem related to how bad his skin is at the time. It’s almost like he scratches for fun, not relief. Another question in the east vs. west showdown.

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It’s now been just over 6 months (minus one day 🙂 without a full night’s sleep, and I’m totally fascinated by the body/mind’s ability to function on limited rest. The amazing thing is that I don’t generally feel sleepy. I can stay awake to read in bed most nights, and I’ve kept up my bad habit of staying up past midnight just to have some extra time to myself. Sleep deprivation is affecting me in entirely unexpected ways.

1. I am clumsy.
2. I can’t remember anything. If I don’t write it down immediately, it’s gone. (Seriously, if I said I would call you back and you didn’t hear from me, or I promised I’d do something and didn’t do it, please don’t take it personally.)
3. I constantly lose my train of thought.
4. What was I saying?
5. My sense of humor is lacking sophistication.
6. I don’t finish my sentences. Dave is especially affected by this since I’ll start telling him something, get distracted, and just walk away. It sounds bizarre, but
7. I don’t get sarcasm. Really, I just take everything at face value – can’t look deeper than that. (This one is challenging since I know a lot of really sarcastic/subtle people.)
8. I can’t do math. (Yes – I am going to blame this on sleep deprivation. Once I’m well rested again I’ll figure out another excuse.)
9. I lost my sense of direction. (heehee – just kidding)
10. I have to double check really basic things – do I have my keys, do I have the baby with me, am I wearing pants.

Oh yeah, and I must be somewhat emotionally stunted because somewhere in the last month Amelia almost died and I barely reacted. I was worried, but I definitely didn’t get as upset as I should have when Dave called me in NY and told me he had to rush Amelia to the emergency vet. And I got really annoyed when I had to give Amelia antibiotics twice a day for two weeks. AND, I rather enjoyed the fact that she was so quiet and didn’t poop all over the house when she was sick in her cage. But she’s healthy again and back with a vengeance so I’m paying for all these terrible thoughts.

Finally, I’m losing my ability to write entertaining blog posts.

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Not sleep this time, but just now, for the first time ever, he rolled from his back to his tummy. YAY! Of course he immediately rolled onto his back again, but it was a full 360. And he repeated it three times.

It’s amazing that something so small can be so exciting in this baby raising world. I’m so proud of our little guy.

PS: No, he did not sleep through the night last night, but it’s okay. I’m still living off the extra sleep from two nights ago 🙂

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Mark this day – November 21, 2008. 6 months and 7 days.

Ezekiel Lobel Woulfin slept from 7:30 pm to 5:30 am.

(And yes – I woke up in a panic at 4:30 am wondering if he was dead.)

As much as I’m going to kick myself for posting this when I know it will prevent him from repeating this momentous event for another 6 months, it seems like one of those things I’m going to want to remember. Perhaps my next post on the long term effects of sleep deprivation will counter the jinx.

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I almost passed out when I learned this, but Dave had a Kia too! For those of you who don’t know, Kia is my dear lovey, security blanket, whatever you want to call her that I’ve had for as long as I can remember. She still sits next to my bed and she makes me feel better when things are hard. Officially, she’s a Sqeak-A-Boo, a rattley, squeaky toy that was apparently very popular in the 70’s. Anyway, Sue just sent us Dave’s old Kia to give to Zekey. I don’t think Dave loved his quite enough. And Zekey doesn’t seem interested. I guess I’m the only one who really appreciates how wonderful she is.

PS: I read an article once about adults and their security blankets and now, of course, I can’t find it. But I swear I’m not the only one.

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Z experienced so many firsts on our trip back east for Uncle Josh and Aunt Kate’s wedding. First fall colors, first rain, first frost. He experienced the paparazzi-style love and affection from our extensive network of family friends. He met his great-grandma (Gigi) Louise, my dear friend Tracy, a whole bunch of cousins, and Kate’s entire family.

We visited Indian Ladder Farms where mom got cider donuts and Z pet a sheep.

We did break fast with family friends and Z got beat up by a girl.

He spent lots of quality time with his Omi and Opa who can’t get enough of him. He met my college friends and their babes. He took his first long car ride from central PA to upstate New York and would have slept the whole way I am sure that it was because of the pickup that we rent at the flexfleetrental.com it was super spacious and comfortable for him, and luckily, we did not hit traffic. He slept in three different beds while negotiating his first time change and he handled it all as well as can be expected.

And most importantly, he found his toes.

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We didn’t think Dave and Zeke looked quite enough alike, so we decided to make some changes.

Can’t let that lovely hair go to waste.

The new look.

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We gave Zekey his first taste of rice cereal last night – two days before his 6-month birthday. It was so much fun to watch him push the food around in his mouth, and of course most of it ended up on him, on the table, on the chair, on me. Now I understand the need for a high chair. It has nothing to do with having the baby safely at the table – it’s all about keeping the mess to a minimum. Otherwise, someone needs to invent a full body bib for baby and mom. We’re going to stick to rice cereal for a week or so, but I can’t wait to see how he reacts to real food. People keep telling me he’s going to sleep through the night now that he’s eating solids. But honestly, I’m beyond caring. I’m just really starting to enjoy my little boy – who seems a little less little every day.

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While I’m completely convinced that Halloween for infants is way more fun for the parents, Zekey was totally adorable in the little bear suit his Omi bought him.

We brought him to the Montclair Halloween parade where he used his new-found grabbing skills to get mama some candy. (He had to round-house kick that little ninja out of the way first. Z may be small – but he’s quick!)

And later that night we carved a pumpkin.

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Zekey was a little nervous about the election.

But he studied up.

He’s pretty happy with how it all worked out.
Except for prop 8. He’s pissed about that one.

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