Tolman Baby: Murmur/Potty Time Already?!

Adalyn has been to the pediatrician once every week since the week before Christmas. : ( It started with a nasty sounding cough, then became a double ear infection. During the follow-up appointment to be sure the ear infections were cleared up they detected a heart murmur and asked to see her again a week later to see if the murmur was still there. It was. So now, we're being referred to a pediatric cardiologist. We have an appointment January 26th. Fortunately the doctor comes to Fruitland occasionally, so we won't have to drive all the way to Boise!

As far as heart murmurs go, I'm told and have read that most of the time they're nothing to worry about. A heart murmur is actually a third heart sound. So instead of the normal lub-dub sound to the heart beat, it can be more of a lub-a-dub sound. It means that blood is moving through the heart in a less than typical way. While most of the time they pose no danger, some of the time they are indicative of heart valve damage. That's why we're getting it checked out further, just to be sure. I'll keep you updated as we learn more.

Moving on to more happy news...Adalyn peed in the toilet last night!!! I know, I was as shocked as you are! We haven't even mentioned potty training to her, and I doubt the babysitter has either, although I don't know for sure. Last night Adalyn brought a couple of her diapers to me. I asked her if she needed to be changed. Then, she walked into the bathroom, put her hand on the toilet, and did the sign for "please." She even started trying to climb on! "Okay," I thought, "we'll give this a try." I put her on the toilet and she hung out there for a while, then wanted to get down. She wandered around the bathroom a minute then started climbing back onto the toilet. I held her there again and next thing I know, I hear a tinkle tinkle! I was AMAZED! She was rewarded with LOTS of praise and a Hershey's kiss.

I don't know a thing about potty training and hadn't even thought about reading up on in yet. I guess at this rate, maybe she'll just potty train herself! We'll see what happens!