Laura's New Travel Date

One of Salma's recent phases of learning was the discovery of her tongue. She went through a period when she was constantly sticking out her tongue and feeling it (not a very hygienic habit). Fortunately that stage is passed and now she has moved on to rolling the tongue around the inside of her mouth, exploring the contours of her cheeks and palate.

I sent out Eid greetings and New Year's wishes to many of my friends, some of whom have not heard from me in a while. So for those who are new to my blog, welcome. If this is your first time seeing photos of my daughter Salma, you're probably wondering, what's that lump on her head? Did she fall?

No, she did not fall and she is not growing antennae. It is a type of birth mark called a strawberry hemangioma, a collection of blood vessels under the skin. We are told that it will begin to shrink as Salma grows, and will finally be only a flat mark. Most disappear by age 5 or 6, and some by age 9. It is not dangerous and recommended treatment is simply to wait.

Laura is now at her mom's house and doing well, AlHamdulillah. She's back to eating solid food and is happy to be reunited with Salma. Laura and Linda's new travel date to Panama is January 8th. They were able to reschedule the flight date with a note from Laura's doctor explaining that she could not travel on the earlier date. They will also be bringing Zippy with them, I believe.

I'm looking forward to seeing them all, Insha'Allah. I have missed them but especially Salma. It's been hard, being separated from her for so long at this early stage in her life. When Laura was in the hospital for two days she said, "I'm afraid Salma is going to forget me," and I practically sputtered, "Well! What about me?"

I'm a very skilled sputterer.

By the way readers, occasionally I also have trouble getting back to the site after clicking on a photo. But you'll notice that in both Explorer and Firefox there is, next to the back button, a small arrow that allows you to pull down the recent history and select the previous page that way.