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Watching Little Minds Learn

Watching little minds learn is fascinating. Even when you try your best to stay impartial and unprejudiced, you can't help but notice the vast differences between each and every person. Take Aerin, for instance. Now that she has officially conquered infancy and is starting to really soak in, process, react, and regurgitate what she learns, we have noticed something peculiar about her style of learning: she tends to take her lessons a little too literally. As in, when I was trying to teach her to clap on demand using the word "박수" (bak-soo, or "clap" in Korean), I would say the word, clap, say the word again, then grab her hands to get them to clap. Easy, right? This is the exact technique I had used...

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Aerin’s Eczema Treatments (Part Deux)

Aerin was only 4 months old when I first wrote about her eczema. We had been hoping that she would grow out of the condition by 6 months old, or even 1 year old, but that has not been the case. 🙁

However, we have tried new products and changed her skin routine somewhat, so I wanted to write an update for reference purposes and in hopes that it may benefit others suffering from the same condition.

I want to stay clear of prescription medication as much as possible, so we’ve gone from 2.5% hydrocortisone cream to 1%, which can be found on the shelves of drugstores. We still use this to make the half-hydrocortisone-half-vaseline mix which we apply on her flare-ups, but only when it looks especially red and/or itchy.

We also gradually stopped using the EpiCeram® because once again, I didn’t want Aerin to become too dependent on prescription meds.

A couple of months ago, I read about Mustela’s Stelatopia line, which is formulated for eczema-prone skin. I read up on the products and saw that it was getting awesome reviews, so I decided to splurge on the Stelatopia Moisturizing Cream and the Stelatopia Cream Cleanser.

As much I had hoped the Stelatopia cream and cleanser would be the answer to Aerin’s dry skin, they unfortunately were not for us. Don’t get me wrong — they did not irritate or exacerbate her eczema. And others have had great success with these products, so maybe they’ll work for you.

Claire’s First Lie

A few days ago, Claire told her first lie. She and Aerin were playing together when Claire got angry over something, grabbed the toy in Aerin's hand, and threw it. And when J approached her to remind her that she shouldn't throw things, she outright told him that it was Aerin who threw the toy! Both J and I had witnessed the entire event from start to finish. When J asked her, "Did you mean that you threw the toy?" She denied it and told him once again that her little sister had done it. We were incredulous! I told Claire to give her sister a hug before I took this shot.Obviously, my timing was off.  While J scolded her and explained that she shouldn't lie, I...

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The Baby of the Family

Ever since Aerin got sick last week, she has been super SUPER clingy to me. Before her illness, she was a pretty independent little girl. Now she needs to be held all the time — only by me, no less, and starts screaming her head off if she can't see me. Even her two favorite people after me, her halmeh (my mother) and yeye (J's father) have been having trouble calming her down. I know that this is probably just a phase. It might even be a combination of several factors, such as teething or reaching a new milestone (she has been cruising for a while and we're expecting her to start walking any day now). But you can't deny that it...

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What Are the Chances?!?!!!

Yesterday was a cool yet pleasant day. With temperatures in the low 50s and the sun shining overhead, I decided to take Aerin for a walk despite my lingering cold. (Claire was with her grandparents.) We walked the 22 blocks to my favorite children's park and I sat Aerin down on a swing. She hadn't been there since the temperatures took a dip, so she was obviously over the moon with glee. As I continued to push my giddy daughter on the swing, I noticed another mom with her baby...

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