Well, his little tooth just keeps growing. It hasn't been joined by any others yet, but to hear him cry about it you'd think all 20 were poking through at the same second.
(That's right, babies have 20 primary teeth (also called milk teeth or deciduous teeth). The internet has taught me that Elliot will eventually grow 8 incisors, 4 canines, and 8 molars. You might think that it would be the molars that babies don't get, but it's actually PRE-molars they lack.)
He's been a good sport about it overall. No more fevers, although he seems more sweaty than he used to. It's getting summery, so that could be another reason for his discomfort. Basically, there's a constant low-grade whine in the apartment most of the time these days, unless we give in and squirt him with Tylenol (which we try to limit to 2-3 times daily).
(By the way, if you're really interested in teeth, here's more information than you could ever use:
The number of teeth of each type is written as a dental formula for one side of the mouth, with the upper and lower teeth shown on separate rows. The number of teeth in a mouth is twice that listed as there are two sides. In each set, the first number indicates incisors, the second, canines, the third, premolars, and the last, molars. For example, the formula 2.1.2.3 for upper teeth indicates 2 incisors, 1 canine, 2 premolars, and 3 molars on one side of the upper mouth.
The human dental formula is:
2.1.2.3
2.1.2.3
Of cats it is:
3.1.3.1
3.1.2.1
The last upper premolar and first lower molar of the cat, since it is a carnivore, are called carnassials and are used to slice meat and skin. The armadillo, being homodont, has a dental formula that is simply 7/7.
The maximum dental formula for placental mammals is:
3.1.4.3
3.1.4.3
Non-placental mammals such as marsupials can have more teeth than placentals. The opossum's dental formula is:
5.1.3.4
4.1.3.4
In many mammals the children have a set of teeth that fall out and are replaced by adult teeth. These are called deciduous teeth, baby teeth or milk teeth. Animals that have two sets of teeth, one followed by the other, are said to be diphyodont. Normally the formula for milk teeth is the same as for adult teeth except that the premolars are missing.
The milk tooth formula for humans is:
2.1.0.2
2.1.0.2 )
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Wedding in Mexico (part 5)
In which we savor our final day.
Elliot likes the pool more than the ocean.
Maybe because he gets more attention.
Went took the ferry to Isla de Mujeres (that means Womyn's Island) for dinner.
Dinner on the beach at sunset.
I heard Mexico only gets two beautiful sunsets each year. Pretty lucky we were there for both.
Then a plane ride home with some light reading.
Gotta keep the legs warm in chilly new york city.
Elliot likes the pool more than the ocean.
Maybe because he gets more attention.
Went took the ferry to Isla de Mujeres (that means Womyn's Island) for dinner.
Dinner on the beach at sunset.
I heard Mexico only gets two beautiful sunsets each year. Pretty lucky we were there for both.
Then a plane ride home with some light reading.
Gotta keep the legs warm in chilly new york city.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Fever
Elliot has a fever.
It started Thursday morning. He had been real crabby and not eating, and Hannah (who has better thermoception than me) thought he was hot, so we took his temp at it was 99.9. I told the daycare this, and four hours later we got a call that he was 100.8 and we had to come pick him up. This also meant that he had to stay out of daycare for 24 hours (I sheepishly admit that I suspected they were making it up, so they could have a day with fewer infants....)
Later thursday night it was 101, and this morning it was up to 101.9. Throughout it all he has been fine, eating normally, still peeing and pooping. He's uncomfortable from the fever, but no evidence of dehydration.
And in the burying the lede department: he has a tooth! We think this is the reason for the fever. It's a left lower tooth, just a tiny sliver of white. I'll see if I can get a photo, but given his fussiness that may be a three-man job.
It started Thursday morning. He had been real crabby and not eating, and Hannah (who has better thermoception than me) thought he was hot, so we took his temp at it was 99.9. I told the daycare this, and four hours later we got a call that he was 100.8 and we had to come pick him up. This also meant that he had to stay out of daycare for 24 hours (I sheepishly admit that I suspected they were making it up, so they could have a day with fewer infants....)
Later thursday night it was 101, and this morning it was up to 101.9. Throughout it all he has been fine, eating normally, still peeing and pooping. He's uncomfortable from the fever, but no evidence of dehydration.
And in the burying the lede department: he has a tooth! We think this is the reason for the fever. It's a left lower tooth, just a tiny sliver of white. I'll see if I can get a photo, but given his fussiness that may be a three-man job.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Wedding in Mexico (part 4)
After the ceremony we were entertained by a mariachi band.
Some would say golf shorts are not appropriate for a wedding. But Elliot has always been on the cutting edge of fashion.
We eagerly anticipated dancing beneath the stars.
Even Pat got to dance.
Elliot narrowly avoided being sacrificed to the Mayan Gods.
Oh, and Shaggy was there.
(Apparently he performed, but by that late hour we were tucking the little munchkin into bed....)
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
The Crib
Up until now, Elliot has been sleeping between us in bed. (And no, we never rolled over and crushed him. But I'll pause a moment to let those who want to get judgey catch up.)
We realize that eventually he will have to learn to sleep in his own bed, and they say that the younger he does this, the easier it goes. So we're trying to make the switch.
I was planning on writing something about this process being harder than removing my own appendix. But the stubborn facts have prevented me from exercising that rhetorical flourish.
Monday night he went into the crib at about 10pm. At first he cried a lot, but once he got used to it he stayed there until 1:30am. After a quick feeding he slept from 2am to 5am, and a little more liquid comfort got him from 5 to 6:30. That may not seem so impressive, but I was expecting a far more sleepless night.
Last night was even better. Again I put him in the crib around 10pm, and he slept straight through until 4am. The only problem was that when he woke up he thought it was time to start the day. He rolled and gabbled and kicked my shushing hands away. It was 5am before he fell back asleep for another hour. (I just stayed up and wrote.)
Lest you think me too saintly, keep in mind I'm not working this week. Plenty of nap time for me during the sunny afternoons in Prospect Park....
We realize that eventually he will have to learn to sleep in his own bed, and they say that the younger he does this, the easier it goes. So we're trying to make the switch.
I was planning on writing something about this process being harder than removing my own appendix. But the stubborn facts have prevented me from exercising that rhetorical flourish.
Monday night he went into the crib at about 10pm. At first he cried a lot, but once he got used to it he stayed there until 1:30am. After a quick feeding he slept from 2am to 5am, and a little more liquid comfort got him from 5 to 6:30. That may not seem so impressive, but I was expecting a far more sleepless night.
Last night was even better. Again I put him in the crib around 10pm, and he slept straight through until 4am. The only problem was that when he woke up he thought it was time to start the day. He rolled and gabbled and kicked my shushing hands away. It was 5am before he fell back asleep for another hour. (I just stayed up and wrote.)
Lest you think me too saintly, keep in mind I'm not working this week. Plenty of nap time for me during the sunny afternoons in Prospect Park....
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Wedding in Mexico (Part 3)
The wedding itself. What can I say? You take a gorgeous backdrop and put a few gorgeous people in front of it....How can it not go well? (Of course, I don't mean to minimize the months of hard work that everyone in the Marr family put in.)
The stage was set.
The crowd was ready.
The vibe was formal yet casual.
Aaron and I had the privilege of walking our grandma Pat down the aisle.
The groom was smooth.
Two adorable little four year-old girls sprinkled flower petals in the aisle.
The twist was that one of them started scooping up petals and eating them, and her mother had to whisper-shout at her with an outstretched hand.
The bride arrived. No comment necessary.
The ceremony was lovely, and featured a surprisingly moving reading from "The Wedding Singer".
We left the beach almost the way we found it, but not quite.
Next: Party Time.
The stage was set.
The crowd was ready.
The vibe was formal yet casual.
Aaron and I had the privilege of walking our grandma Pat down the aisle.
The groom was smooth.
Two adorable little four year-old girls sprinkled flower petals in the aisle.
The twist was that one of them started scooping up petals and eating them, and her mother had to whisper-shout at her with an outstretched hand.
The bride arrived. No comment necessary.
The ceremony was lovely, and featured a surprisingly moving reading from "The Wedding Singer".
We left the beach almost the way we found it, but not quite.
Next: Party Time.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Well, it's been a rough week, working 12-hour days. I leave the house at 6:15am while everyone is still asleep, and I get home at 8pm and see Elliot for an hour or two at his crankiest (while is also the time when I am at my most cranky, so its been a blast).
But I'm off all next week so things will be better. I will write the next installment of our trip to Mexico, including more great photos.
We're headed to a friend's wedding reception in Connecticut this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed for sun....
But I'm off all next week so things will be better. I will write the next installment of our trip to Mexico, including more great photos.
We're headed to a friend's wedding reception in Connecticut this weekend. Keep your fingers crossed for sun....
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
A Dream
I'm pedaling a unicycle through the middle of a funeral. Not the part of the funeral where everyone stands around the grave. It's the part where they drive to the grave. There's a row of hearses driving down a NYC street, and I'm on this superhigh unicycle. And I'm pedaling between the hearses and the parked cars, but I'm really unsteady. I.e. it's not like in the dream I somehow know how to ride a unicycle. I'm scared shitless.
Anyway, like I said this unicycle is very very high. Like so high that if I take my feet off the pedals I can reach down with a toe and touch the tops of the cars, half of which are hearses. So this is actually helpful, because I can kind of coast, and bounce from car to car and not fall over. And sometimes when I look down I see people I know, like one time my brother Aaron and his wife Daria are there, looking up, and they are very concerned for me. "Get down," they shout-whisper at me. And I'm like, "How? I don't know how I got up here and I don't know how to ride a unicycle." And then I have this weird moment where I look down and suddenly my feet won't reach the pedals. And I'm straining my feet down, because I have to reach the pedals to keep moving forward, but I can feel myself starting to slow and I'm getting scared that I'm going to fall.
Then I suddenly realize that my feet can't reach the pedals because the pedals I'm straining down for are the pedals of ANOTHER UNICYCLE, like I'm actually looking past my own pedals to the pedals of another unicyclist, and that dude is right there on a unicycle beneath me, and not a small unicycle either, he's on a perfectly respectably sized unicycle himself, but his cycle is tiny compared with mine, and he's looking up at me trying to reach for his pedals (which the upshot is that I'm nearly kicking him in the head), and he's kind of swatting my feet away from his head like they're flies, which seems like a pretty natural response from him, but in my already vulnerable state this simple act of rejection, combined with the very far distance between myself and the already-high other-pedals, raises me straight into despair.
And that's when my alarm clock (i.e. cell phone alarm) goes off. And I do nothing. I'm still on the unicycle. But I know it's a dream now. And I have a kind of Inception moment, where everyone in the line of Hearses and on the sidewalks turns and looks at me, like I just ruined the party. It's kind of a sad look, like we're saying goodbye, which we are. I sit there on top of my unicycle, which has stopped being wobbly now, and I look at all these people. I'm not sure how long I sit there, but my alarm is still going off and eventually I hear Hannah say "babe". And I roll over and turn it off.
Anyway, like I said this unicycle is very very high. Like so high that if I take my feet off the pedals I can reach down with a toe and touch the tops of the cars, half of which are hearses. So this is actually helpful, because I can kind of coast, and bounce from car to car and not fall over. And sometimes when I look down I see people I know, like one time my brother Aaron and his wife Daria are there, looking up, and they are very concerned for me. "Get down," they shout-whisper at me. And I'm like, "How? I don't know how I got up here and I don't know how to ride a unicycle." And then I have this weird moment where I look down and suddenly my feet won't reach the pedals. And I'm straining my feet down, because I have to reach the pedals to keep moving forward, but I can feel myself starting to slow and I'm getting scared that I'm going to fall.
Then I suddenly realize that my feet can't reach the pedals because the pedals I'm straining down for are the pedals of ANOTHER UNICYCLE, like I'm actually looking past my own pedals to the pedals of another unicyclist, and that dude is right there on a unicycle beneath me, and not a small unicycle either, he's on a perfectly respectably sized unicycle himself, but his cycle is tiny compared with mine, and he's looking up at me trying to reach for his pedals (which the upshot is that I'm nearly kicking him in the head), and he's kind of swatting my feet away from his head like they're flies, which seems like a pretty natural response from him, but in my already vulnerable state this simple act of rejection, combined with the very far distance between myself and the already-high other-pedals, raises me straight into despair.
And that's when my alarm clock (i.e. cell phone alarm) goes off. And I do nothing. I'm still on the unicycle. But I know it's a dream now. And I have a kind of Inception moment, where everyone in the line of Hearses and on the sidewalks turns and looks at me, like I just ruined the party. It's kind of a sad look, like we're saying goodbye, which we are. I sit there on top of my unicycle, which has stopped being wobbly now, and I look at all these people. I'm not sure how long I sit there, but my alarm is still going off and eventually I hear Hannah say "babe". And I roll over and turn it off.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
He the trendiest
Saturday, May 14, 2011
A Wedding in Mexico
As you remember, we arrived in Cancun on Friday and had a relaxed meet-up with the family, seven of whom we knew and 133 of whom we didn't.
On Saturday, no official wedding events were planned. Except for the wedding itself, of course. The assumption was that people would roll out of bed around noon, mildly hungover, and begin coiffing and primping--- in anticipation of the evening's opportunity to get severely hungover.
We didn't follow that schedule. We were awake at 6:45. Elliot was excited to be in a new place, so he couldn't wait for his customary 7:30 rising hour. As a result, we were downstairs finishing breakfast a little after 8am, many many hours before the wedding. How were we going to fill this day?
We decided to check out the fabled Mayan ruins which have attracted so many generations of spring breakers to Cancun. We got in our teeny red death mobile and headed a few hours South to the town of Tulum, which we heard had great ruins.
Elliot got a little hot along the way.
It turned out that several hundred other tourists had also heard of Tulum, which is a less than ideal way to immerse yourself in another culture. There's something about camera-heavy swarms that prevents the mental time travel necessary to enjoy ruins.
Nonetheless, we did manage to shoo the other tourists away long enough to get a few photos that make the place seem relatively unDisneylandish.
We were all getting hot (there were almost no trees, I guess to recreate the Mayans' hatred of botany), and we were told that there was some shade on the beach, which was down a cliff behind the largest Mayan temple.
This ended up redeeming the entire experience. Here's the view from the top of the cliff:
At the bottom we managed to snag a choice piece of shade from another set of tourists who were leaving (we ruthlessly edged out some locals to get it).
There seemed to be a calm area behind those rocks, which we thought was a good place to introduce Elliot to the ocean (again).
We think of the ocean tide as a binary, in-out kind of process. But when I crouched down with Elliot I realized that it's much more complex. There are all kinds of little eddies and ripples moving left and right, mini-waves rushing in and out. When you're barely two feet tall, it doesn't take much of a splash to feel like you're close to drowning.
To the little bugger's credit, he didn't freak out or start crying. He just got very focused, concentrating intensely on the motion of the water swirling about his calves. I tried to get him to look at me but he had far more important things to do.
It was around this time that we noticed that Elliot was developed a slight sunburn on his forearm. We had applied copious quantities of sunscreen, of course, and he'd only been in the sun for an hour or two. But apparently when it comes to skin, Elliot is embracing his Scottish heritage. Bad luck for him.
So we skedaddled back to the car. Along the way we chanced upon an ancient Mayan tradition made new:
It was actually pretty awesome. And it actually is an ancient ritual of the Mesoamerican Totonac tribe. Although I think there was some technology involved, like ball bearings, that the Totonacans didn't have. (feel free to read that wikipedia article closely and correct me on this)
That's it for the first half of the day. Next up: Danielle and Damien Get Married.
On Saturday, no official wedding events were planned. Except for the wedding itself, of course. The assumption was that people would roll out of bed around noon, mildly hungover, and begin coiffing and primping--- in anticipation of the evening's opportunity to get severely hungover.
We didn't follow that schedule. We were awake at 6:45. Elliot was excited to be in a new place, so he couldn't wait for his customary 7:30 rising hour. As a result, we were downstairs finishing breakfast a little after 8am, many many hours before the wedding. How were we going to fill this day?
We decided to check out the fabled Mayan ruins which have attracted so many generations of spring breakers to Cancun. We got in our teeny red death mobile and headed a few hours South to the town of Tulum, which we heard had great ruins.
Elliot got a little hot along the way.
It turned out that several hundred other tourists had also heard of Tulum, which is a less than ideal way to immerse yourself in another culture. There's something about camera-heavy swarms that prevents the mental time travel necessary to enjoy ruins.
Nonetheless, we did manage to shoo the other tourists away long enough to get a few photos that make the place seem relatively unDisneylandish.
We were all getting hot (there were almost no trees, I guess to recreate the Mayans' hatred of botany), and we were told that there was some shade on the beach, which was down a cliff behind the largest Mayan temple.
This ended up redeeming the entire experience. Here's the view from the top of the cliff:
At the bottom we managed to snag a choice piece of shade from another set of tourists who were leaving (we ruthlessly edged out some locals to get it).
There seemed to be a calm area behind those rocks, which we thought was a good place to introduce Elliot to the ocean (again).
We think of the ocean tide as a binary, in-out kind of process. But when I crouched down with Elliot I realized that it's much more complex. There are all kinds of little eddies and ripples moving left and right, mini-waves rushing in and out. When you're barely two feet tall, it doesn't take much of a splash to feel like you're close to drowning.
To the little bugger's credit, he didn't freak out or start crying. He just got very focused, concentrating intensely on the motion of the water swirling about his calves. I tried to get him to look at me but he had far more important things to do.
It was around this time that we noticed that Elliot was developed a slight sunburn on his forearm. We had applied copious quantities of sunscreen, of course, and he'd only been in the sun for an hour or two. But apparently when it comes to skin, Elliot is embracing his Scottish heritage. Bad luck for him.
So we skedaddled back to the car. Along the way we chanced upon an ancient Mayan tradition made new:
It was actually pretty awesome. And it actually is an ancient ritual of the Mesoamerican Totonac tribe. Although I think there was some technology involved, like ball bearings, that the Totonacans didn't have. (feel free to read that wikipedia article closely and correct me on this)
That's it for the first half of the day. Next up: Danielle and Damien Get Married.
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