Trent Pulls Up

Trent can now pull up. He can also perform a slow hand a knee crawl. What he cannot do, is pull up and then get back down safely. Seems to be a little flaw in the process there. Almost as if the human development process where randomly evolved instead of intelligently designed. Anyway, when we put him in his bed, he'll sometimes feign sleep, wait for us to leave the room, pull himself up on the side of the crib and start crying. Then, if we don't get there in time, he'll fall to one side or the other and invariably knock his head against the side of the crib.

Trent's First Trip To The ER

We've just returned from Trent's first trip to the emergency room. Trent was having difficulty retaining fluids and was becoming dehydrated, so his pediatrician recommended taking him in to the ER to receive intravenous fluids. So, Trent had an IV put in his arm and we had to keep him calm and still for a couple of hours while he took on fluid. He seems much better now, and we've been able to get some oral hydration solution into him without him bringing it back up. On bad news side, Tina appears to be coming down with the stomach flu now.

Trent's First Illness

Trent has gotten through his first eight months of life without an illness. Now in his eighth month he's come down with some sort of stomach flu. He's been suffering from diarrhea and vomiting. To his credit, he's been a real trooper. He's been mostly cheerful despite spewing formula all over himself on several occasions. The main challenge now is to find some way to keep him hydrated until the virus runs its course.

Trent's Progress

Trent seems to be on the verge of crawling. He can already go pretty much anywhere he wants by crawling on his stomach. He gets up into the crawling position and tries to take that first move forward and collapses back onto his stomach and crawls from there. He also is so close to being able to get himself into a sitting position. He can jack himself up onto one arm. If he could just get an inch or two higher, he'd fall into a sitting position. If I stand him up against the Superyard, he can grab a hold and stand up by himself for brief periods of time. Trent has also shown signs of playing Peek-a-boo. When given a cloth, he will sometimes cover his face with it and then pull it back quickly while laughing hilariously. It's hard to tell whether he's doing it as part of a game or not, but he does repeat the behavior, which seems like an indication. One last new behavior to mention, Trent now guestures with his arms to indicate that he'd like to be handed off to someone he sees nearby.

Eve, Epidurals, and Evangelicals

Given the evidence that epidurals are effective and that they have no known downside, I favor women having the option to use epidurals to manage labor pain. During the Terri Schiavo incident and the following discussion about society flouting the will of God, it occurred to me that epidurals should be a real problem for anyone who felt God's will was being flouted. Genesis 3:16 says, "To the woman he said, I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children." This is part of Eve's punishment for that incident with the apple. An epidural will surely reduce your pain in childbearing. Well, in most cases at least. So, wouldn't seem that in a strict interpretation sort of way that using one would be directly flouting the will of God? Luckily, I'm not a strict interpretation sort of guy, so my advice is go right ahead and manage the pain. But, if you are a strict interpretationist and you use an epidural, I reserve the right to call you a hypocrite.

Icons of Trent's Youth?

Every generation has icons of its youth. My generation had those little people with the spherical heads and the cylindrical bodies. They sat on the little bus and bumped up and down as the wheels turned. And then there was the Fisher Price barnyard set with whatever animal sound that was supposed to be when you opened the bard door. A cow? Wounded rhinoceros? I think maybe for Trent's generation it might be this rug with a streets and buildings. Does every kid have one of these? Trent and I also just returned from Babies 'R Us with a Superyard XT. Well, two of them actually. This allows me to create a baby coral within which I can create a relatively safe environment for Trent to explore without my having to provide continuous supervision. For instance, I can create this blog entry while only have to glance over at him every minte or so. He seem very happy. Inside the fence lying on top of his rug.

Trent's New Tricks

Trent has developed a few new tricks. He can now roll pretty much wherever he wants to go. He does seem to be following some sort of plan. I don't think he's just randomly ending up grabbing a hold of the cat's food dish. He can push himself up from the waist forward on his hands. He can make small forward progress by pushing up and then pushing forward with his feet. I think I've seen him momentarily push himself into the crawling position. It's a weird feeling sometimes. You think you see him do something and then second guess yourself thinking you just imagined it. He really loves the cats. He always has a smile for his mommy, but any time a cat crosses his field of vision he just smiles and laughs. He has taken to sleeping with his legs tucked up underneath his body. This has the effect of pushing his butt up into the air. It always makes me laugh. He really is a pretty well-natured happy little guy. Maybe he's even an extravert. Hard to imagine where he got that gene. I think my maternal grandmother was an extravert, but she's the only one I can think of in the family. Sometimes, I think I hear him say something. Like el-oh. Sometimes, he even says it at a time that's appropriate, like when I walk into his room in the morning to get him out of bed. That I'm probably just imagining.

Three Long Months

Tina is three weeks into a three month stint doing consults for the nephrology department. I don't claim to understand the organization. My best understanding is that she's responsible for dealing with questions and cases presented by other departments that might be nephrological. This means that she leaves for work very early in the morning and returns home, on a good day, about 13 hours later. Normally people don't get scheduled for three months in a row, but I guess this is paying off the karmic debt for maternity leave last year. Sometimes, while on consults, she is also on call. Which means that if anything happens that requires nephrological attention during off hours, she has to deal with that as well. As a fellow, she does get to come home while she's on call, but if a situation arises that needs a doctor, she has to go into the hospital. It's a pretty tough gig. Only one year and three months to go until...whatever Tina plans to do after her fellowship.

The Dead Zone

I've recently been watching The Dead Zone television series based on Stephen King's novel of the same name. I think the title is unfortunate. It seems to turn many people off. I imagine that they picture zombies or something. There are no undead in The Dead Zone. A more appealing title might be the tag line on the show's website: The Reluctant Psychic. The show is excellent. Like most Stephen King novels, the story is populated by normal believable characters who are exposed to extra-ordinary circumstances. King's genius, which I think is carried on very well by the show's producers, is simply that. What would happen if this extra-ordinary thing were acutally true. In this case, the main character of the story is demonstrably psychic. If you spend any time with him, you can't help but understand that he really can see the past and the future. What would that be like? What would it be like if such a person served on a jury and could see a vision of what really happened during a shooting? What would it be like if he were on a plane that was going to crash? How would the press react? How would the police react? How would it affect a politcal campaign. Is there, possibly, some greater reason why Johnny Smith has these abilities? Was he put in the right place at the right time by some guiding hand? They are all very interesting questions. The show does not hesistate to find the answers.

The Stork and the Bird Flu

Here's a funny cartoon about faith-based learning.

Evolution and the Bird Flu

There's good news for people who don't believe in evolution. Bird flu poses no serious health threat. The H5N1 virus only infects birds and humans who come into direct contact with infected birds. Some very rare cases of human to human infection are on record, but the virus obviously does not spread well from one human to another. Without evolution to interfere with things, that's the way things will stay. That's a good thing since the mortality rate of H5N1 in humans is about 50%. If the virus could mutate in such a way that it could spread from one human to another, that might be real cause for alarm.

The Center for Design Control (CDC), however, appears to believe it is a threat that we should prepare for it not only on a national scale, but on a global scale. Consult the CDC's bird flu fact sheet for more information. The CDC, however, seems to base their perception of a threat on the ability of the virus to evolve. If we were to actually adopt a theocratic government, that position would have to discouraged. Luckily for the world, even the Bush administration, who lovingly rewrote government reports to down play scientific evidence for global warming, is unwilling to suppress the CDC's position about evolving viruses. Though it would seem that their base, if they thought about it, might want it to be so.

Double-Crusted Success at Long Last

I consider myself a relatively accomplished amateur baker. One thing that has always eluded me, however, is the creation of a double-crusted pie. Today I successfully made a double-crusted deep dish apple pie. The key to success was a good butter crust pie recipe, adequate refridgeration, and that miracle of modern baking -- parchment paper. The recipe and instructions can be found at America's Test Kitchen under the title "Deep Dish Apple Pie".

Trent's Progress

I'm a little behind on Trent news. He's now six months old. He can roll from his back to his tummy and visa versa. If placed in a seated position, he can remain in the seated position from several minutes. He has very strong legs and can stand with assistance without problems. If you hold him up and lean him forward, he'll take steps. I walked at nine months, so we're expecting Trent to be an early walker too. He eats solid foods. He babbles a lot. Sometimes he appears to say the syllable "ma" in an appropriate context, but that could just be random. He also seems to combine the syllables "el" and "o" occasionally when he sees me after waking up. Again, may just be my imagination.

Minivans, Carseats and Sheet Goods

We bought a minivan. It's a Toyota Sienna. Nautical Blue. Which is marketting for Navy Blue I guess. I wanted a vehicle that could haul an 8x4 foot sheet of plywood. I couldn't have a truck because mounting Trent's car seat in the bed just wouldn't be safe. So, it was a minivan. Some of you are busy subtracting cool points from my tally. Assuming you ever had me down for any to begin with. My only defense is that other than "coolness" there is no metric by which an SUV is better than a minivan. What are the units of coolness anyway?

Trent Talks It Up

Trent has made some progress on his talking. He's started using more words intentionally. He's learned to say "please" as a prompt when he wants something from Tina or I. "Thank you" appears to be more difficult. After all, he's usually already gotten what he wants by the time "thank you" becomes appropriate. He uses the word "ball". When we're looking at picture books Trent will point at balls that appear in the pictures and say "ball". He's learned to say the word "moon". That word comes from the classic Goodnight Moon. Trent can point out the moon in the window and say "moon". Trent can also point at light fixtures and say "light". He's also demonstrated some understanding of the scripting associated with using a phone. He picks up a lot of things that are vaguely phone shaped and make taking sounds into them. He usually ends up by saying "bye bye".

Trent Rolls One Way

Tina and I observed Trent roll over last night. When motivated by a tempting rattlely object, he can now roll over his right shoulder onto his stomach. Once on his stomach, he can also nudge himself forward slightly if an object is placed in front of him outside his reach. He has not yet demonstrated the ability to roll from his stomach onto his back. And when the tempting object is placed to his left, he won't roll left to get it. Hopefully, this doesn't mean he's a republican.

Trent's Allergies

After Trent's four month pediatrician appointment, we had some blood tests done. The little guy had a pretty tough day. Four shots and a blood draw. The results of the blood tests are back and Trent is allergic to...nothing that we tested him for. Tina tells me that these tests have the potential to yield false negatives, but we're going to try reintroducing the foods we've been avoiding. Tonight we had pizza! Tomorrow night Chinese! It's good to have all the tools back in the box.

The Cow Skull

I promised to hang up the cow skull as soon as I had a place to put it. Now that I have the shop put together, I have that place. As promised, here is the cow skull.

Where Has Rhett Been?

Well, the short answer is supervising Trent and in the shop. I've been putting together a wood shop to pursue one of my many dreams. This one involves making furniture. I'm a big fan of Norm Abram's New Yankee Workshop. My shop isn't as well equiped as Norm's, but I can still do some stuff. I recently did some introductory exercises on the scroll saw from a very good book. I produced basic sillouettes of a cat, a fish, and a butterfly.