Today was the first day in over a month that I got to see my daughter, and I can not even explain how good it felt to see her and hold her again. I woke this morning and went over to Kylie and Tiffany’s house to see her. When I walked in Kylie ran up to me and smiled and then ran away, she did this twice which gave me time to take off my coat and put my camera down, and then on the third time she ran up to me with her arms up and a big small on her face and said “up up”, and I was only to happy to oblige my little girl! I picked her up and gave her a hug and she put her arms around me and her head on my shoulder and we walked around holding each other (and Daddy crying slightly) for almost 30 minutes, and then when I tried to sit down on the couch with her she decided she could go get some toys. We spent the majority of the morning playing and then she sat in my lap to have her morning snack, after that she went and got her favorite book, Dr. Seuss‘s Hop on Pop, and climbed into my lap and had me read it to her, after that she went down for a little nap. We then spent the majority of the afternoon running around a car dealership because Mommy was seeing about possible getting a new car. The evening, however, was spent at the Detroit Zoo with Mommy, Erica, Taylor, and I all walking through the Zoo Boo (article). Many pictures were taken today, most of which are of Kylie and Taylor in their Halloween costumes. I will get all those and other pictures that I got from Tiffany, prepared and up on the website as soon as possible. Now I need to go look into that pile of mail that has collected over the past month and get ready for tomorrow, and more time with Kylie!

Kylie went to the doctor today because Tiffany noticed that she had little bumps that looked kind of like pimples on her hands, bottoms of her feet, around her mouth, and her diaper area. By the time they got to the doctors she had them going up her legs as well, and during the examination the doctor stated that she also had some on the back of her throat. As it turns out Kylie has the Coxsackie Virus, more accurately she has hand, foot, and mouth disease, which is a type of Coxsackie virus syndrome. According to the CDC (see the previous link), HFMD is usually not serious and “occurs mainly in children under 10 years old.”

Infants, children, and adolescents are more likely to be susceptible to infection and illness from these viruses, because they are less likely than adults to have antibodies and be immune from previous exposures to them. Infection results in immunity to the specific virus, but a second episode may occur following infection with a different member of the enterovirus group.

Kylie’s doctor basically said the same thing and that it was not really something to worry about. Even though certain people believe they know better than the doctor, I think he was right on the money, amazing how that whole seven years of medical school thing works, huh?

In any event, Kylie is going to be fine and there is nothing to worry about. Although this does make it a little difficult as Tiffany will now have to juggle some schedules to make sure Kylie has someone to watch her, as she is going to stay away from other children for a few days to prevent possible spreading. But in a few days things will be back to normal.

Every night, at the end of Kylie’s bath, Tiffany will say “Ok Kylie, are we all done? Time for the water to go bye-bye” and then she will reach down and pull the stopper so the water can drain. Well tonight as Kylie was playing in the water at the end of her bath Tiffany again asked Kylie if they were done and this time Kylie stood up and went over and pulled the plug herself and said “bye-bye” to the water.

Kylie had her latest checkup today and we are happy to report that the doctor says Kylie is doing great! He says she is still advanced for her age and that he is happy to hear of all the things she is capable of doing. I was obviously not able to attend this doctor’s appointment so Tiffany was kind enough to send me all the information. Kylie is now 30.5 inches tall (2.5 feet) and is weighing 22 pounds and 4 ounces.

Tiffany tells me that Kylie still loves to dance and will even dance in her car seat if a song with a good beat come on. We are thinking that when she gets a little older that we may enroll her in some type of dance class if she continues to show a fondness for it. She also shows a fondness for music in general and still loves the playhouse Disney songs. When Tiffany sings her “she’ll be coming around the mountain when she comes” song from on of her CDs, Kylie knows how to do the “toot toot” motion of pulling the whistle for the train and actually make the “toot toot” sound.

A while ago Tiffany bought Fridge Phonics by Leap Frog for Kylie to play with and help her learn her alphabet, and Kylie has learned how to put the letters into it and press them so it tells her what each letter is. Eventually we want to get Kylie the Word Whammer as well. She has also become very good at playing with her shape sorter and knows what shape fits into what hole. Her motor skills continue to improve as she is becoming more dexterous and is getting better at feeding herself with a spoon and a fork. She also knows the difference between a hair brush and a tooth brush and how to use them. She enjoys brushing her teeth and does so when she gets her hands on her, or Mommy’s, tooth brush. In addition Kylie’s verbal repertoire continues to grow as well. She is now starting to pronounce “issy” for Aunt Sissy, and she also says “duck” and knows that they go “quack.”

She has also reached the stage where she is learning to throw passive aggressive tantrums. This is displayed when she decides she does not want to go somewhere so she decides that she will just lie on the floor instead. In addition to this she is now learning that she can display other emotions as well. For instance when she is mad or frustrated she will hit Mommy to display it. Tiffany is trying to teach Kylie that though it is ok to be frustrated or mad and to feel those emotions, that it is not ok to hit people. So instead she is allowing Kylie to hit the floor or a pillow while she tries to figure out what it is that is frustrating Kylie. This is a difficult stage because we don’t want to discipline her for being upset and unfortunately at the time being this is the only way she has to communicate that she is feeling such things. We are hoping that as her vocabulary continues to grow that this phase will pass.

Tiffany informed me today that Kylie has gained 2 more teeth, bringing the grand total up to six. The two top ones to either side of her very front ones have finally dropped, as we have been waiting on them for at least a month now. I am hoping to see them for myself tomorrow as I did not get a chance to see her today.

On a somewhat unrelated topic (the connection is Kylie and will be apparent shortly) I saw 3 rainbows today while I was out running my numerous errands, and when I saw them I immediately thought of Kylie. I thought about how much I am looking forward to seeing a rainbow with her and how fun it will be to go out with her and see if we can find the end of it.