Contrary to popular belief, Jubilee does talk verbally. She says “Amen!” after we pray. She’s been known to say “eggy” for egg, “Ehmoh” for Elmo, “babee” for baby, “Ba-ba!” for Ba-ba (Cantonese for Daddy), and “moh” for more.
Today was something a little special. She was eating “nana’ (banana) and I asked her if she wanted another bite of “nana.” She looked at me and said, “Nana!” I asked her to say it again. “Nana!” Jubilee comprehended the word and repeated it. Wowie zowie!
I was getting ready in the bathroom when I looked in the mirror and saw Jubilee in the reflection. She was in the connecting bedroom with a bunch of Kleenex that she pulled from the tissue box. I ran over to her, and said, “No, Jubilee!” I took the Kleenex away from her and put it and the box on the bed so it was out of her reach.
I was not angry with her. But the firmness in my voice caused her to step back into the corner, awaiting a punishment. So I picked her up, held her tightly, and told her I loved her. I reminded her that she’s still not supposed to play with the Kleenex but I loved her nevertheless.
“So whenever you speak, or whatever you do, remember that you will be judged by the law of love, the law that set you free. For there will be no mercy for you if you have not been merciful to others. But if you have been merciful, then God’s mercy toward you will win out over his judgment against you.” -James 2:12-13(NLT)
Pau-Pau and Gaun-Gaun took Jubilee to the mall today. They ran into a family friend and her daughter who is in her early 20’s. Jubilee has never met them. But she decided to walk right up to the daughter and give her a hug. Did the young lady remind Jubilee of someone? Or did she just feel like giving a family friend a hug?
Jubilee’s pretty congested these days, so we’ve moved on from the Albuterol inhaler to giving her both Albuterol and Pulmicort using the nebulizer. Several friends who have to use the nebulizer suggested sitting her in front of the tv. But their kids are older, so we came up with an alternative. We sit together and hold Jubilee on our lap. We place the iBook in front of us and watch screensaver pictures while listening to music. She still fusses at times and tells us she’s all done, but the screaming and belligerence have ceased.
Jubilee is careful to not eat food when it is too hot. She will touch her food and tell us if it is too hot to eat. I’m so surprised that she will not try to eat it anyway. Now, instead of waiting for the food to cool down, she has begun to spit blow on her food to help it cool down. She learned this from us. It is adorable!
I often hear stories of how little girls want to be like their mommies. They imitate their mommies by playing house or carrying a baby doll. Now I could turn this into a silly example by saying Jubilee imitates her mommy by wanting to watch tv. But I won’t (even though it’s true, of course).
Here’s how Jubilee is imitating me. She likes to go to my bathroom and open up the drawer that contains my hairbrush. She then pulls the hairbrush out of the drawer. With great delight she holds the hairbrush and brushes the hair on the back of her head. It’s so cute! I think what makes it especially cute is that the brush is a little too big for my head. So to see her with a brush the size of her own head is even funnier to watch.
I’ve seen her watch me brush my hair with intense fascination and cursiosity. I didn’t know that her imitation of me would create reciprocal results.
On Friday, Jubilee started coughing a little bit and at one point I thought I heard a wheeze. So I called her wonderful pediatrician, and told her about the pool incident. Dr. Troiano said they weren’t related, so I can give her some Albuterol and to call if she gets a fever. Oh no, not the inhaler again! Well, at least it’s not the dreaded nebulizer.
In the evening, Jubilee started getting warmer and warmer. It’s been so long that she’s had a fever that breaking 100?Ǭ?F felt like she was burning up. She didn’t sleep very well last night.
On Saturday, after a record 2.5 hour nap, possibly longer if Daddy hadn’t decided to check in on her, we went to my parents’ house where we had left her medicine. But then we couldn’t find the inhaler! So I decided we should go to Urgent Care because a) she has a fever; and b) we need a new inhaler!
If only I had used my brain in the morning and made an appointment. The wait at Urgent Care wasn’t too bad, but it just isn’t the same as when Pediatrics takes care of you. For the first time, Jubilee hated the stethoscope. I’m guessing Pediatrics must have some special version that feels good on babies. Either that or Dr. Troiano really knows what she’s doing when she warms it up before touching baby skin. And looking in the ears was just as bad. Anyway, it took a long time but eventually the doctor saw both ears were just starting an ear infection. She didn’t hear anything wrong with her lungs, which is quite strange considering Jubilee’s wheezing and vocal range has switched from soprano to bass. But whatever, she got some medicine and a not-as-good inhaler, but better than nothing.
When we started putting her to bed, I somehow decided to give her medicines in the order of likeable to intolerable:
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Benadryl - fine.
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Vitamin - fine.
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Advil - no problem.
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Amoxicillin - eeewww, what is this disgusting stuff you’re giving me? This is a strange new flavor that I don’t like. I think it would make a better body lotion, so let’s get it all over me and you and Daddy.
?¢‚Ǩ¬¢ Albuterol - nooooo, not this evil thing again! (This new inhaler is not a mask, so I had to put the inhaler in her mouth and cover the rest of her mouth to get her to breathe in the medicine.)
Alas, we put our very tired baby to sleep. Let’s hope the morning’s medicine will not be nearly as dramatic. Oh yeah, and after Jubilee went to bed, we found her inhaler.
something strange today…she is hesitant to go up and down stairs now, except for the two step stairs
We went over to my parents’ house for a yummy curry chicken dinner. After dinner, Jubilee and Gaun-Gaun went out to the backyard. The rest of us started doing other stuff. Several minutes later, I hear Jubilee wailing. I hear Mom ask Dad what happened, then I heard Dad say something about falling into the pool. What? No way!! I say to myself.
I rush out to the sliding glass door to see Dad holding Jubilee…soaking wet. I take Jubilee from Dad and try to calm her down. My mom brings back some towels and I attempt a haphazard swaddle of my 14-month old. Poor baby’s still upset.
I take her to the bathroom and start to undress her. Mom comes to help me and together we fill the sink with warm water to warm and clean her off. Mom did this a few weeks ago (to be backblogged eventually) and she was back to her happy self again.
Since she was happily splashing in the sink, I decided I ought to give her a bath. So I soap her down…this is the first time I’ve done this in a bathroom sink. (Yes, I confess that I still put her in the infant tub that fits over the kitchen sink.)
Everything is fine until I decide to wash her hair. BAD IDEA. The water that poors over her face changed her demeanor completely. It was almost impossible to finish washing her hair. When I had to rinse the shampoo out, oh man, I thought the crying couldn’t get worse, but it did. It turned into incessant screaming, wailing, you name it. Eventually I had to take her out of the sink and hold her head back while David poured water on her hair. Kind of like a salon, except patrons usually enjoy it. Not this little girl.
So then we had to dry her off, change her, dry her hair, and try to get her to stop crying. She kept crying, though the screaming had pretty much subsided. All of us tried to soothe her but she wouldn’t calm down. Eventually, I held her and sat down and she snuggled up to me and calmed down. After a few minutes, I sensed something different, looked at her, and saw her grin was back. She walked along the sofa happily and I knew she was back to normal.
*Phew!*
(To back up a little…we always let Jubilee lean over the pool and splash the water. Gaun-Gaun said he was right behind her. He noticed that she was using two hands instead of one for the first time. Right when he thought about this…splash! She actually somersaulted into the pool. Gaun-Gaun jumped in after her and lifted her up, thankful that they were in the shallow end. And we are all super-thankful to God for giving Gaun-Gaun the quick-thinking and strength to save our Jujube!)
Auntie Andrea was in town for business, so we had a family dinner. Jubilee was showing Auntie Andrea how she likes to nod at questions, regardless of if the answer should be yes. So Auntie Andrea asks, “Am I for your favorite Auntie?” Jubilee just looked at her without even the slightest of head movement. This girl knows better than to choose favorites among her wonderful aunties!