3V0121.01 Moving Peggy in with Miriam; verbal imitation: 5/23/78; 4;4

On May 23rd, Peggy’s fourth “month-day”, we moved her crib into Miriam’s room. For well over a month, Peggy has been doing without her 10 pm feeding, going to bed between 9 and 10, sleeping through the night and waking without fussing around 7:30-8 am (by which time Miriam has to be heading out for the school bus). We were confident that Peggy would not be a bother to Miriam, nor keep her awake, nor need attention at night (except under extraordinary circumstances). Another motive prompting our action was the observation that Peggy’s lower eyelids appeared slightly red and swollen. It should not be pollen allergy at her age, but we felt the cleaner, air-conditioned environment of Miriam’s room would be good for Peggy. As the week went on, it became clear that Peggy had a cold. Thursday she was a trifle fussy and snorted (?) more breathing. Friday morning was the worst part — dripping nose, sneezes and coughs (the later sounding as though her throat was hoarse), some difficulty breathing while nursing. Yet her appetite was only slightly impaired and her temper remainder cheerful.

Bob was holding her on his lap, trying to keep her amused because she looked so miserable. He reported that at one point he said, “Ha” for no particular reason, with no particular emphasis, and Peggy promptly repeated “Ha”, without any pause for “thinking.” He tried “Ha” again, and again Peggy replied “Ha.”

I have noticed this week that Peggy has suddenly started observing the materials composition tag on her crib bumper. This tag is about 2″x5″ with lots of black lettering. It is fastened to the upper edge in the center to one of the cross pieces of the bumper. When I put Peggy down to change her, I place her on a diagonal with her head up near one corner, so that I can work better (it is too cramped to place her crosswise with her feet facing me). This brings her head quite near the tag, and she began consistently to turn her head to look fixedly at it. A day or so later, she reached out to play with the tag with her fingers, feeling to find out what it was like.