1 Mother 2 Another

We’ve survived Madeleine’s one-year doctor’s visit. I went in with my
shortest list of questions to date, which made me feel like a pro now at
the mothering thing. I’ve got a one-year-old! I know what I’m doing!

Well,
sort of anyway.

I’ve really been looking forward to this visit,
odd as that may sound. For one thing, she’s got her chicken pox vaccine
now. It still boggles my mind that my daughter will never have to
experience chicken pox – with its sleepless, itchy nights and stinky
baths, its humiliating (and useless) pink calamine patches, and its
potentially life-threatening implications. I was maybe four when I had
the chicken pox, and the best part about it was being allowed to watch
way more t.v. than ever before. Other than that, it sucked. 

And listen – the shots are no picnic, either for us or for Maddie.
Staring into your child’s eyes while she’s being stabbed repeatedly with
a sharp object, and seeing the look of betrayal and disbelief as you
choose not to intervene, is not my favorite way to spend an afternoon.
And today was the first day I didn’t comfort nurse her after her shots,
but she recovered incredibly quickly and was chatting again when we left.

But
setting the shots aside, the visit went well. Our doctor’s always got
time for my list-o-questions and is happy to chat with us. The thing I
was really looking forward to though, was getting permission to open up
the all-you-can-eat buffet to my baby girl.

We’ve been in a bit
of a holding pattern the past couple of months; I think she’s met every
vegetable and fruit that exists that isn’t citrus or a berry, she eats
every meat I can think of (including lamb, her personal favorite), and
we’ve simply been waiting for the one-year mark to introduce the last of
the high allergy foods. For one thing, strawberries are coming into
season and it’s killing me that she might miss it!

So for
our visit I took in a list of every type of food I planned to introduce
to my daughter and read it off to our pediatrician. She okayed
everything except tree nuts, peanuts, and shellfish – have to wait until
age 3 for those. But other than that, we’re good to go! The world is
her oyster.

So look out, strawberries. Stand back, blackberry
patch. Run for your life, edamame. There’s a new chow hound in town,
and she’s hungry.