I would recommend a distinctly conservative attitude on baby feeding. I suspect a lot of babies are sensitized to foods offered them too early in an unrealistic effort to make them gain weight faster. For instance allergy to peanut butter which was unknown when I was in medical school is now common enough to have many parents demanding that it not be allowed in school lunches. I wonder if this is from giving babies peanut butter too soon, or if it from the inclusion of peanut oil in skin preparations such as sunscreen lotions used on children with skin lesions such as psoriasis which could be a source of powerful sensitization.

For instance allergy to peanut butter which was unknown when I was in medical school is now common enough to have many parents demanding that it not be allowed in school lunches. I wonder if this is from giving babies peanut butter too soon

You've got a point there, Dr. Bill. Our pediatrician recommends not feeding our daughter nuts of any kind until after her third birthday. Dairy products are not to be given before two years.

As for adorable and funny baby stories, I'll offer one of my own. Last night, my wife was trying to burp Abigail (5 months old), and jokingly suggested that the whole family take turns. "You first, Daddy," she told me, and I obligingly let out a very fake "urp." "Now Mommy," my wife said and did her own fake "urp." "and now Abby," whereupon Abby let loose a belch any barfly would have been proud of. It was clearly nothing but a happy coincidence, but my wife and I were laughing all night about it.
[/boring-baby-story]]

Clearly one has to be a parent to fully appreciate the stories, nonetheless they are fun to listen to from an objective standpoint.
Bill mentioned that allergies related to many, now common worries were 'unknown when I was in medical school'. I had a long discussion with a doctor who studies allergies in Germany and how they develop. She told me the DDR/BRD separation during the cold war provided the perfect setting for studying the development of allergies amongst two ethnically and genetically very similar, but almost completely isolated groups. She explained that in the former West Germany, where antibiotics were easily accessible, that the amount of people suffering from hay-fever and other allergic reactions was far higher than in East Germany, where people suffered more from illnesses related to lead in the soil, or smoke in the air. So maybe that's a reason too. One would certainly have to find out how many suffers had medicine against allergic illnesses in the first years of their lives.
I agree that young children are so often poorly fed nowadays, it's frightening. I was in a smoky pub in England recently, and a mother was feeding her, oh, 9-12 month old baby chocolate mousse! I don't need to be a paediatrician to know that's just stupid and irresponsible. The baby looked as if it hated the rich dessert the mother was forcing down its throat, but she was too busy with the fag in her other hand and her beer to notice much.

Anyhow, all the best for your baby Hyla!

the idea the exposure to dirt, of all sorts, makes for a strong healthy imuno system has been called the hygene factor.. if as child, you don't get to eat a pound of dirt you won't be healthy. (old wife's tale is a child will eat a pound of dirt before they grow up, so mothers don't have to fuss to much about dirty fingers all the time, even if they generaly do) there seems to be some truth to the old wifes tale.

children who are keep very clean, and who are treated with antibotics at the first exposure to a pathogien, end up with imunosystems that are hyper active.. and start acting up-- alergies are the syptom.

(i call it the cockroach factor-- cockroaches have been around since the dinosuars.. they are always found in places with poor hygene, damp, fetid arears. there must be something about poor hygene that is actually good for you. very tellingly, my son, with whom i made an attempt to keep things very clean, has alergies.. his younger sister has none.)

Wow - an entire thread in honor of my little guy! I'm really, really honored and pleased.²

Simon Christopher is doing very well. He started out pretty big (just shy of 9 lbs.) and he's gaining weight at a rate of almost 2 oz. per day - Mama is feeling a bit like a cow, but the boy is thriving. He seems, by his size and alertness and all, to be much more than 1 month old, but I suspect the committee evaluating this particular specimen is a bit biased.

Best of all - last night he slept 6 hours in a row! He seems to be catching on to the whole circadian rhythm thing (at least the sleeping when it's dark out part), which makes life much easier.

Thanks so much for inquiring about our new little treasure, my AWAD family.

Hyla

p.s. I had understood that, even though they live in some pretty foul spots, cockroaches are among the cleanest animals - perhaps that's how they survive in the filth. Can anyone confirm or refute this understanding?

It would be so much nicer if we could separate the thoughts of Hyla's baby from the thoughts of cockroaches, wouldn't it? Dintwe have a forum for cockroach discussions?... mmmmm... what was it, what was it...
... OH! Maybe "Animal Safari"???

Great to hear it, Froggy Daddy! (hmm...that's right out of Maynard G. Krebs and The Beatniks, isn't it?) Glad tidings from the treasure of new life always guaranteed to cheer the soul! And to spread some much-needed cheer around here as well! All the best to Simon Christopher and Mom!

Glad to hear that young Simon is progressing so well
You are, without doubt, finding that you have taken on the most time-consuming and far and away the most worth-while job in the whole universe.

I have been wasting the last half-hour trying to find a reference to a paper produced at Kings College, London, in c1990, which showed exactly what you have just said about cockroaches - that they are clean-living, decent insects who have acquired a totally unwarranted bad name.

(One suspects that this may be retribution for writing blank verse and hanging around with immoral cats )

retribution for writing blank verse

I thought cockroaches wrote vers libre.

you are, of course, quite right. i would write more but my head is hurting.

I'm a bit mystified as to why this thread has reappeared, with no new posts obvious, but I suspect it's something to do with the attempt to bury certain threads that folks are talking about.

In any case - baby's great. Turns out he's the cutest baby in the world, ever (with the possible exception of his big brother).

Does he still look like Winston Churchill?

"A baby is an alimentary canal with a loud noise at one end, and no sense of responsibility at the other."

How about a current madonna-and-child picture for Max's gallery, Hyla?

Keiva asks How about a current madonna-and-child picture for Max's gallery, Hyla?

Good idea! Then Max can get rid of the picture of me!

If I read this right, Keiva, you're now one of a long list who have taken my name to be a feminine form. Seems jo and I run into this name/gender confusion more than most.

Hyla, you can be in the picture too, if you insist.
You must have gotten quite a kick out of the previous post providing breast-feeding instructions!
& I bet you enjoy the confusion you've engendered (!), right? now if you want to edit your profile ... nah; too much fun as is.

...taken my name to be a feminine form. Seems jo and I run into this name/gender confusion more than most.Goodness, Hyla-chic , Jo didn't tell you he's a he, did she? [yobbity-yobbity emoticon] And what would you be if you were a female? A Hylette, maybe?
And let's not forget my lovely Hilary, whom I hope to see back here very soon (psst, you forgot to post that you were taking a trip).

Jo didn't tell you he's a he, did she?

Erm, uh, no, but I seemed to recall a number of people in the past had made that assumption. Perhaps the search function on my brain doesn't work quite as well as the semi-functional one on this board, but that's how I 'membered it.

And just what is a yobbity?

And speaking of which, the trailer for The Fellowship of the Ring has been released, but it's only viewable in Mac format! I knew I'd regret working with Mr. Gates' system one day. AnnaS - care to check it out and report?

>my lovely Hilary

Yes, I still picture dear old Rhubarb in his tweed skirt, drinking pints of bitter and nothing he can say (or do) can persuade me otherwise. I think he's trying to cope with the beginning of a new academic year, for some reason he's expected to work as well as google, or in baby language, gurgle

Which brings me on to ...
I'm not sure Hyla was recommended to indulge in breast feeding personally (although I believe that the technology is available), still now you mention it Keiva, that's another image that isn't goin' away too soon.

Which reminds me, talkin' of images, now that Jackie and Tsuwm are carpal tunnels, does that mean that we are going to work our way through potential ailments. Just remind me to quit posting well before we get to the end of the alimentary canal! Haemorrhoid - now there is an image to contend with!

Jo f

the trailer for The Fellowship of the Ring

Anna's not the only one with a Mac now. My architecture school made us all get Macs. Apparently Apple and the higher education community are very interested in how having all of us using the same platform will work out. I guess it's a new concept. I'm enjoying my Mac.

(You can also see an iMac on PaulB's desk in his pic in the Gallery.)

Anyway, I've had the trailer for a while now and I've viewed in numerous times. (It's very nice.) I don't see how it's in Mac format, though. I downloaded it, all 17 megs of it, from http://www.lordoftherings.net and it's in a Real Player format. You can't view it in the Mac video player, Quicktime. Maybe you're trying to download a different thing.

Anyway, again, the trailer is nice. It's the same one that I saw in the movie theater. I'll try to give a basic run down of it.


Opens panning over forest then river with Gandalf voice over: "Legend tells of a ring created by an ancient evil, that gave it's wearer the power to enslave the world. Believed lost for centuries, it has now been found." Fades to view inside of Bag End. Door opens and picture of Frodo (Elijah Wood) appears.

Gandalf grabs Frodo's shoulder from behind, speaking frantically: "Is it secret, is it safe?".

Shot of hooded person on horse, then the ring in the fire. "This is the one ring, forged by the dark lord Sauron." Gandalf pulls ring out of fire, shots of masked person (Sauron I assume). "Sauron needs only this ring, to cover the lands with a second darkness." Shots of elven (I assume) women running among trees. Gollum-looking creatures and men with swords. Hooded men on horses. "He's seeking it, seeking it. All his thought is bent on it." Ring in fingers. View of windy path in forest.

Scene of Horses running across a bridge at night. Frodo voice over: "No one knows it's here do they, do they Gandalf." Horses knock down door. Text on screen: "ONE, It's power corrupts all who desire it."

Elven council. An elf (Faramir): "The weapon of the enemy is a gift, let us use it against him." Another elf (Aragorn): "You cannot wield it. None of us can." Another elf (Legolas Greenleaf): "The ring must be destroyed." Shots of Mt. Doom with voice over: "It was made in the fires of Mt. Doom. Only there can it be unmade." Huge army. Ruins of old castle on a hill. Text on screen: Only one has the will to resist it" Frodo: "I know what I must do. I'm afraid to do it." Shot of Frodo and Elven woman (Galadriel, I think). People on canoes with voice over: "One does not simply walk into Mordor." Group led by Gandalf walking in cave. Frodo voice over: "There is no other way." Text on screen: "A Fellowship of nine must destroy it." Frodo and others looking wide-eyed. Music stops. Frodo: "There's something down there." Voice (guess who): "My . . . preciousss." Growling. Pause. Majestic music starts with hooded men on horses. Numerous scenes of battles, horses running, people kissing, etc. Shot of Frodo putting the ring on. Then screen shows "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." View inside. Aragorn asks Frodo: "Are you frightened?" Frodo: "Yes" Aragorn: "Not nearly frightened enough". Text on Screen: "The Trilogy Begins: December."


That was a mouthful. It's a very cool trailer. Somewhat inspiring. I can't wait till December for it to come out.

And just what is a yobbity?
Oh, you know, like in the cartoons when a character gets beaned on the head, sees stars for a minute, and then shakes his head side to side, with that yobbity-yobbity sound!

Jo f, did you forget to mention Rhuby's high heels, or did he not want anyone else to know?

Carpal Tunnel---geez! Though I did get a cute suggestion today: that I might eventually get to fall out the other end. "Cap'n Carpal reporting for duty, sir".

Carpal Tunnel---geez! Though I did get a cute suggestion today: that I might eventually get to fall out the other end. "Cap'n Carpal reporting for duty, sir".

Now, was the Louisville Slugger taking a swipe at me, then? I'll have you know, my good lady, that I've barely made Pooh-Bah. I'm still several hundred posts off having a limp wrist ...

And would YOU ALL STOP POSTING IN WHITE? I may get carpal tunnel early wielding the mouse to highlight the bloody text! And you wouldn't want me to get angry, now, would you?