Zoe goes to the museum

A few weeks ago we took Zoe to the Lawrence Hall of Science and met up there with Taras, Katie, their daughter Lucy, and a programmer friend Kaleb. It was an unseasonably hot day so we stripped the imp down a bit. She was much more lethargic than usual and did not seem to impressed with all the science exhibits or other children running around. Zoe has shown a distinct preference for adult companionship, particularly adults that stand in front to her smiling and telling her how beautiful she is. Maybe there was too much competition with all the other babies and children at the museum for Zoe to really enjoy herself. A little extra attention from her dad helped brighten her mood and a big bottle of formula didn't hurt either.



As usual I took the opportunity to quiz Katie about what would happen next in terms of baby development and to observe Lucy. After questions about weaning, biting (Zoe likes to practice on me and demonstrate how sharp her teeth are), and baby sign language (babies are better showing what they want rather than verbalizing) I watched Lucy dart off in various directions while being chased down by one or both parents. Lucy is the cutest little girl, with big blueberry eyes, actual hair (I find non-baldness in children worth noting since my own little imp is still quite bald), incredibly fast on her feet, and possessed of a high pitched shriek of a volume quite unexpected for her size. Zoe has been developing this type of yelp as well, although still not up to the volume and intensity Lucy attains. The running around hasn't started yet. Zoe is still in a basically nonmobile stage (she might argue with this since she does have the wiggle and roll going, but her range is only a foot or two). After seeing how fast Lucy could move (all the more impressive since her legs are only, what 10 inches long?!), Max and I should start training now for a more mobile Zoe. I have a feeling any residual baby weight and sympathy weight will melt away with a mobile imp.

Ringworm

Little Zoe has been waging war against one of the scourges of babyhood-ringworm.

While sounding rather ominous, ringworm is a fungal infection, easily caught and very difficult to get rid of. Due to her constant hand sucking and scratching with sharp little fingernails, Zoe has created an ideal environment for ringworm, a nice wet warm section of sensitive cheek. We did manage to successfully treat one side, only to have the ringworm migrate over to the other cheek. This has been very frustrating for her parents, (Zoe herself shows little distress in the matter). We have been applying antifungal cream to her face religiously at night and when possible in the morning during naptime (as naptime often does not actually exist we are a bit more sporadic). To improve the time her medicine actually stays on her face before being rubbed off and most likely eaten, we resorted to our old standby- the ever-versatile sock treatment. Zoe becomes quite perplexed when her hands are placed in socks and her fingers are thus unaccessible for sucking. Score Parents 1 Ringworm 0.