Cautiously Optimistic

Zach and I sat down tonight to watch Barack Obama's acceptance speech. I must say it feels pretty friggin' great to actually be excited about a presidential candidate, as opposed to the past 2 elections (the two that have occured since turning 18 and becoming elegible to vote) where it felt more like just choosing the democratic guy b/c anyone would be better than Bush. I'm looking forward to watching the debates, and seeing what happens over the next few months. It feels like such an exciting time in history, and not just because of the color of Obama's skin. Regardless of his heritage, he seems like a man that can truly inspire, and that could do so much good, who might be remembered for years to come for the legacy he'll create.

In matters closer to home and on a less grand scale, D may perhaps possibly be on his way to maybe moving to longer naps. Maybe. The past few days he's taken a few naps that were an hour long or more. Most of them are still right at about 30 minutes, but there's been one or 2 in a day, on 3 of the past 4-5 days, that have been longer. He's had random naps before that were long (once every several weeks maybe), about 1-1hr15, but usually he'd wake up from those crying as if he were trying to sleep longer and woke up before he was ready. This time, he's been waking up his usual happy self. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, as I don't know if this is truly him shifting or just a phase. We shall see.

Something else that's kinda exciting? In the past 2-3 weeks I've had 2 slip-ups with the no-cow-products-diet. I had a capuccino while out on a ladies' night out (completely forgot till too late that it had, um, milk) and then last weekend I had a beef empanada without thinking. In the past when I've had slip-ups like this D would end up with one or more poopy diapers with bits of blood in them again, usually within 1-4 days after I'd eaten the Forbidden Food. These past 2 times? Nothing. We're on day 6 since the empanada incident, and... nothing.

Do I dare hope that he may have outgrown his dairy allergy already? I read somewhere that some babies get over it after 6 months or so. Or maybe once-in-a-while indulgences might be tolerable now? I don't know. I don't want to push it, but selfishly it would be SO NICE to get to have a bit of Swiss ice cream before leaving. After noticing the pimples on his stomach and worrying that they were a reaction to one of the foods we'd introduced, I cut down to just cereal, and after 3 days I hadn't noticed any significant differecne so cut out all solids and after close to a week there still wasn't a significant change so I'm assuming it's just irritation from scooting around on his belly so much now (aslo Ive since read that allergic reactions to food tend to be more obvious than that). So I started him back up on solids a few days ago. I want to give him the next week ot build up a decent repertoire of at least a few foods (cereal, carrots, apples, plus a few new ones). Then I might dare to do the ice cream test. D has one more check-up with our pediatrician next week, and so I'll ask his opinion about all this. I realize it's selfish, but it sure would be nice for me to be able to indulge in my favorite food group again, even if it's just every once in a while.