The only quasi-evidence about the problems caused by vaccines involved a small percentage of children who also have been identified as having mitochondrial disease. Some of those children have been having health problems after vaccines. It’s very distressing and I feel horrible for the parents of those children.

Also in weighing the societal harm of delaying or choosing not to vaccinate, I had to think about the children who would also be protected, by what’s called herd immunity, by immunizing my child for all the recommended shots.

So it was interesting/scary to see in the news this week that one of the doctors who insisted that there’s a direct correlation between vaccines and ADHD, barred from practicing medicine this week.

I don’t want to base my decisions about how to care for my child based on one article, one study, or even a single doctor’s advice, but this serious misuse of power is frightening.

I wonder how many people were influenced by a single article, study or interview conducted by this physician, who have made decions that not only affect their children’s health but the potential health of infants and elderly who have budding or weak immune systems.

I never thought Indie’s first airplane trip would be out of the country but that’s how it worked out. After talking with a colleague who has taken his small kids on planes we decided to go to…Panama with Kim and her family. Our first airplane trip was really to see Jake’s family over Christmas but an ear infection kept us home. So after getting passports, kid-sized luggage, and finding out the ins and outs of car seats once we arrived, we went for it! And it was SO WORTH IT. For a lot of reasons.

1) It’s fun to travel in a big crazy group.
2) We enjoyed HOT summer weather in February.
3) We overcame our fear of traveling with our toddler on an airplane.

The flight was so early, but that worked out to our benefit because she napped on the plane and later, on a hammock.

I was ready for a few things like not having a crib in the room. We decided to sleep like sardines for the week. One thing I hadn’t anticipated — no bathtubs in two of the places we stayed. So we did a sponge bath/shower combo although she’s kind of afraid of the shower. Eventually I filled the bathroom sink with bubbles and dunked her bottom. One morning when I left the breakfast table to take a shower she announced to everyone that “Mommy was going to put her butt in the bubbles.” It makes sense that a country in a very hot climate people aren’t soaking in the bathtub.

Although kids crave routine, they get bored easily. But I didn’t observe too much of that. We did a new activity each day, so there was always something new to look at. When she got tired, she napped in stroller and slept through a few meals that way. I’m eager to try the different foods in the area where I travel but when traveling with kids, it’s sometimes just worth it to go with what you know. We struggled to order a Happy Meal in Spanish but managed to get some pollo nuggets at Mickey Ds.

But what a beautiful country. We started out at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort and did a few local tours; the Panama Canal, the historic part of the city (with brand new ice cream shop!) and logged many hours in and around the pool. That was key to keeping the kiddos entertained and helped to tire them out.

A few days later we drove to Pedasi and stayed at Casita Margarita. Read the Evoy and Evoy blog for more details.

Rather than focus too narrowly on the food pyramid by day, some experts recommend thinking about what you and your chlid are eating throughout the week? Missed some veggies veggies Monday? Try again on Tuesday. Indie happens to really like orange things lately. Oranges, carrots, cheddar cheese and goldfish crackers. Ok that last one isn’t a healthfood but it’s not potato chips either, so I figure she might as well have fun with it. Some weeks she vetoes yogurt, what I consider nature’s wonder food, and this week she keeps asking for it.

There’s an interesting Q&A about “green” parenting in the NYT this week. I do find it hard to believe that people are hard-wired to love salty, over-the-top sugary foods but rather we’re more susceptible to the advertising that accompanies fast food. I still eat the occassional fast food meal on the road but my tastes and preferences for food were built on a foundation of eating at home most of the time. So are Indie’s. She eats her share of french fries but asks for pears, applesause, carrots, etc.

I also liked the point in the article that children don’t need to eat bland food all the time, to eat what the parents eat. So although I give Indie chicken nuggets and applesauce, she also gets a sampling of the bean dish or spicy noodles we might be having at the adult dinner hour. Also we’re trying the purees from the cookbook I mentioned in an earlier post. Success! They were very good and not noticable, except that my mac n cheese was more orange than usual. No worries, that’s Indie’s favorite color this month!

This book has some great recipes! I’m thinking that it’s less about hiding veggies but consciously incorporating good stuff into the comfort foods I love so much. I love potato soup but am doubtful that there’s a lot of great nutrition in that meal. However, add some carrot and cauliflower puree to this soup and voila! Same goes for homemade macaroni and cheese, a house favorite with the adults but again Indie is lukewarm on it anyway so I might as well “health it up” while she’s still figuring out what food should taste like. She’s not a big meat eater so I give her fake chicken nuggets and soy hot dogs and she eats them up. So I kind of think that because there are so many varieties of packaged food and lots of recpes to make your own, she won’t necessarily think there’s only one way mac n cheese should taste. But then…on the flip side…

It’s possible I’ve contributed to her picky eating or food snobbery. I bought some cheese sticks from Target that were different from her usual brand. When we got home I gave her one and I also wanted a snack and opened up my Cracker Barrel sharp cheddar to have with crackers. The next thing I know she is throwing her cheese stick on the floor and asking for a piece of the cheese I was eating. So now she’s a cheese snob. Boy, elementary school lunchtime is going to be a lot of fun! I’ll just have to pack her Grey Poupon in her backpack and call it a day. Maybe it comes in fun size!?

I’ll circle back to Deceptively Delicious after I’ve tried a few recipes. We’re about to get socked with another snow storm so it’s likely that I’ll make both of these dishes this weekend. Stay tuned.

As a journalist in search of balance, I’d be remiss if I didn’t address the claim that Jessica borrowed (without crediting) her ideas from the author of The Sneaky Chef. The outcome of the court case was that neither copyright nor trademark law was broken. It’s very coincidental that the two books came out around the same time and have similar themes and recipes. I suspect neither author is the true “first” on this one; I”m pretty sure moms across the world have been sneaking carrot puree into batches of brownies since the invention of fire.

On day one in the hospital her pediatrician diagnosed her with hip dysplasia and wanted us to triple diaper her so her hip didn’t come loose from the socket. We were told to get to an orthopedic specialist immediately. I had never heard of this condition except in dogs. My friend’s beautiful white Great Pyranees had this condition and walked on three legs (and quite well, actually).

So I panicked. Does this mean my new daughter won’t crawl, won’t have two legs of the same length, WON”T WALK? Egads. She was barely in this new world and already I was preparing for the worst. (this is very much like me).

Also, I was recovering from a c-section, so going from one hospital in a wheel chair to walking through the halls of a children’s hospital, in jake’s slippers because I was still full of IV fluid and my shoes didn’t fit, foggy from all the pain meds, and terrified that someone might BREATHE near my newborn was enough to send me sailing clear off the edge. Because it’s a children’s hospital I saw clowns walk by the door of the room I was holed-up in away from the germy BREATHERS, but was afraid one might pop his head in and I would have FREAKED and possibly PUNCHED A CLOWN. I’m not a fan of clowns anyway but especially on that day…

But fast-forward to meeting the good doctor who prescribed the Pavlik harness and the orthopedic doc who we visited for many months to see how Indie was improving. Greatly! Yes, it was a hassle because this device had to be worn 23 hours per day and kept her in what I call a “cowboy stance”. Ok fine, she wasn’t crawling yet anyway. And by the time she WAS crawling, the harness was almost a faint memory.

Last week we had a final xray of her hips and they are growing beautifully. She had been walking since 11 months and now at 2 years is quite the runner. Without the harness, she could have grown up fine but may have had very early arthritis in the hips, possibly requiring surgery. Because we kept that thing on day and night and she grew normally, this is not something we need to worry about anymore.

Also, our usually energetic doctor was yawning through our visit. He’d just returned from Haiti and spent a week in surgery after surgery putting people back together. His story REALLY put this whole experience into perspective. Yes, we were freaked out for a few months and had lots of follow up visits, but nothing compares to what’s going on in Haiti. For this whole experience I’m again grateful for the reminder: keep it in perspective…

I tried not to stress internally as I observed her twirling around in her new dress and sparkly shoes on the day of her party that she’s growing up so fast but it does seem like she’s growing up rather quickly.

I mostly observe this in the way she talks. We were sitting at the table and I told her to do something, I can’t even remember what, something innocuous, like “Please take your head off the table, you’re getting milk in your hair,” and she replied, “I don’t think so, Mom, I don’t think so.” It made me laugh inside and think she had fast-forwarded to turning 12, not 2; that was startling.

But then she does things that remind me she still is 2 like fighting to put her coat on to go outside and five seconds later diving into the same coat because she’s now excited about going outside or for a ride in the car.

For this birthday, I got a few Sesame Street decorations and tried my hand at crafty Elmo cupcakes.

I think they were a hit with the party-goers, especially this one.

After Pin the Nose on Elmo and a Sesame Street pinata rained down candy and tiny dinosaurs and flower-shaped erasers, Indie gave her dad some video direction.

Boy, she is growing up, so so fast.

It drapes the trees that have lost all their leaves, covers last season’s hibernating plants, and creates an ethereal atmosphere.

The rumor of snow that takes me back to elementary school days when I wished for a Snow Day! We didn’t have a ton of snow where I grew up so every time it snows, as an adult, I anticipate it and enjoy it as much as the neighborhood kids.

Indira was in awe of the snow. It started coming down after she went to sleep so she was amazed to see it when she awoke on Saturday. “That’s a lot of snow!” she said, and then, “Yucky!” which seemed odd. Later on, when I mentioned snow boots and snow pants she was so excited to try them on and go outside. Once outside however, she wasn’t a big fan of the cold snow but we tried the sled a few times before we started to feel like Frosty.

The next day, the snow seemed slightly less intimidating. Nearly two feet of snow created a wonderland I only imagine in December. We started to clean off our cars and put the little one right to work.

It’s important that we create a family tradition to let our friends and families know we’re thankful and why. I’m thankful for Jake. He gets up in the middle of the night with Indie, among many other thankless tasks. I’m thankful for my parents who remind me not to sweat the small stuff. I’m thankful for my sister who always has a funny story at the ready, or nowadays, a picture. I’m thankful for my brothers, who taught me to stand up for myself and to throw a proper punch. My friends, both old and new, who let me be who I am, and just roll their eyes while I go on a tangent about my rant of the day. And for my daughter, who has changed my perspective 100% and taught me to laugh and laugh and then try not to laugh (when she’s doing something bad and I should be serious). Many Thanks!

Not knowing how quickly she’d pick up language, we started with sign language but by the time we all got the hang of it, she was saying the word “More” when and signaling when she wants more, so there’s no mistaking it. Now we’re in translation phase, and even sometimes I’m not sure what she’s saying.

We were topping dinner with shredded cheese one day and she started calling it “burgers” and we couldn’t figure it out. But last week when she said “I have burgers I need a nakin” I realized that she needed a tissue. Nakin=napkin in our house. Oh! I can only guess that someone at daycare was calling cheese boogers and they probably fell on the floor laughing as kids are prone to do when they think they made a naughty joke.

A friend at work remembered her early elementary school bus days when the kids were daring each other to say bad words and she said, “I know what the F word is!” And they gathered around and she whispered, “Fart” with pride that she knew something they didn’t. But of course, the kids erupted into laughter…at her.

Today there’s a whole website, Sesame Workshop, dedicated to all things related to those lovable monsters. Check it out!