Weekend observations

Wyatt squeals watching her jump and she's happy to comply.

The gate seems to even be keeping her in her bed, not just her room. She's been awake, but still laying in her bed when I come to check on her.

Dellaina was wearing her sunglasses while she was eating in her high chair. I asked if she wanted something else to eat and got an "oh yeah!" as a response. It was just classic cool with the shades, I could barely stand to correct her.
I was making the bed Sunday morning and Wyatt was sitting in the middle of it. Dellaina couldn't quite climb up on the bed herself and declared, "We need a Mouse-ka-tool!" I thought it was too precious. Of course I encouraged her by calling, "Oh, Toodles!" [Note: on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, they have Mouse-ka-tools that they use when they have a problem and they need help. They call out, "Oh Toodles!" to call the little mouse ears that brings them the tools. no, I don't really get it either, but that's what they say and do.]

She's like Pavlov's dogs when Farmer Tad plays "She'll be Coming Round the Mountain." No matter what she is doing, she has to stop and run a lap! Greg & I just have to laugh. It's like this little response kicks in and she has no control over it. It's always run in the same direction, too. Although, she is getting faster and pumping her little arms these days and can almost do 2 laps before the song finishes!

She has learned - on her own - to push her step stool over to the window, though, to turn the blinds. I had a moment one night where I thought about showing her (because she wants to twist the blinds closed every night. SHE wants to do it, but she can't reach, so I have to hold her while she s.l.o.w.l.y. turns the blinds and does the whole routine in the precise order, so, yeah, I might have considered one night pushing her stool over so she could stand on it to reach. but, then, I thought, about what that would show her and open a big can of worms, for her pushing them all around to get into lots of trouble. I often have to think about things I'm going to show her, because it might set a dangerous precedent. Like, another instance this weekend, I thought about having her lay down on the paper and tracing her whole body outline, but then I thought about how much paper that would use up and how often she would want this to happen. So, I haven't shown her yet. Although, I did try to pull it out tonight when she was pitching a fit, but she wasn't interested in coming over to see my grand idea at the time.

A mom at the day care sent out an email about a "Touch-a-truck" event at a local park over the weekend where they have lots of different trucks - dump, monster, fire, construction, rescue - for kids to come see, hear, climb all around. Several moms decided we'd go and hopefully see each other there. I was looking forward to having something to get us out of the house and give Dellaina a little bit of that extra socializing. The event started at 10 and we made it up there by 11. The park was big and packed. We made one loop around the parking lot with all the trucks (I was carrying Dellaina, who was not interested in walking in the middle of all of these people or having anything to do with the loud trucks and Greg was carrying Wyatt, because we'd forgotten to pack the stroller right after we'd talked about needing it) didn't see any of her friends from school and decided to just go hit the big playground we'd seen on the way in instead. Greg took Wyatt to Lowe's while Dellaina & I played. There were two different playgrounds, one set up for her age 2-5 and one for 5-10 or so, I think. It was laid out really well, with wide places for parents to be able to follow their kids around and starting out at ground level and working it's way up. Dellaina took a little time warming up, but immediately after sliding repeats, "I wanna do it again!" She even went over to the bigger side and did well over there, too! I got one single picture, but it's cute. She climbed the gray "rock wall" and was proud to pose for me at the top. It was pretty hot, but we had a good time and I was glad to have found a new place to go to whenever we are in town and want to get outside again!

Constant Comparisons

Earlier this week, I had a parent-teacher conference with Dellaina's teacher. I had scheduled it for Thursday at 5:00-5:15 so both Greg & I could be there, but Tuesday morning, when I was dropping Dellaina off, Mrs. Sheila asked if I had a few moments to do it then because she had some appointment (I think she just didn't want to be there that late, but they had put the sign-up sheets up with the time slots available?!) Basically, for the evaluation, they have forms they've filled out answering questions about Dellaina and each answer gets a score and you can see where your child falls on the chart and compares to others. It went well and was interesting to see someone else's take on how she's doing. There were a few answers I disagreed with and changed. I was surprised to learn that Dellaina doesn't speak up a lot and still acts shy. I know she clams up in new situations and around "new" people, but I guess I thought she should be comfortable at school by now where she goes everyday and is with her friends. But, Mrs. Sheila was telling me how she knows Dellaina is really smart and knows she knows the answer, but she'll just sit there with her hands on her mouth and unless she specifically calls on her, she doesn't say it, and even then, she'll say it really fast. In a way, it's a relief to know she's not blurting out all the answers, being a smarty pants or bossing the other kids around, but it was still just not something I was aware was going on regularly. Questions like "Does your child make sentences that are three or four words long?" where they had marked "Sometimes" rather than "Yes" was shocking to me, because she's been doing that at home for sooo long. And "Does your child call herself 'I' or 'me' more often than her own name? For example, 'I do it' more often than 'Juanita do it.'" and they had marked "Not Yet?!" That's at least "sometimes" if not a definite "yes" - she's made remarkable strides in that area. I know she used to say "Dellaina do it" a lot, but not for a while now. So, it was just interesting to go through these questions and think about my answers and see how she does in a different setting. Mrs. Shelia said she doesn't really talk to her friends a lot, either. I know she can entertain herself well and know she's absorbing so much, but was kind of sad to think she's not as vocal as she is at home, because that's so much of who she is and her personality to me. She definitely has learned how to be loud, wild and jump around from all the crazies in her class!

Wyatt had his 6 month check up today. He weighs 18 lbs 14oz (74th percentile), his height is 26.5 inches (51st percentile) and his head is measuring 44.4 cm (67th percentile). His ears are all cleared up and he's doing great. One question I was asked for him, though, was "does he transfer objects from one hand to the other?" and I didn't really know the answer! I know inadvertently he'll bring everything to his mouth and use both hands and may come away with it in another, but I didn't know if that counted and I couldn't picture him doing it at any specific point. As soon as the nurse left the room, I held his sock out to test. He grabbed it with his right hand and just held on to it for a while. I put it in his left hand and he almost immediately switched it over to his right. He had to get a toe prick, oral vaccine and 3 shots! He did great, though, all things considered.

He and I came home and had some time to play together. He is good at smacking and giving high fives. He smacks his tray like, "feed me!" or he'll hit your hand if you hold it up in front of him. He smacks the book repeatedly when we try to read. He tugs on his ears sometimes. He rolls over onto his tummy a lot, but doesn't really roll back, he just gets tired and frustrated and cries. He's eating better again now that he's feeling better. Greg picked up Dellaina on his way home, which ended up being later than he expected. We all made a late run to Publix, which put Wyatt out for the night.

Here's a glimpse of him on his 6 month birthday. Don't you just love the new "golf" shorts?

Excuse me?

"that makes sense" Used after saying something that gave me pause and she could tell I was contemplating how to correct her. I use this phrase a lot when she says something, because I'm often surprised at what comes out and how much sense it makes. .or I might be saying, "ok, sure, that makes sense" with a tad bit of sarcasm? Just like I tell her I'm proud of her a lot, so she understands it's a good thing and says, "Daddy be so proud" of her flip flops or whatever.

"don't talk to me like that" If I tell her 'no' to something. Or even, "don't say 'no' to me" ooo, child. I tell you what.

"yes, I do." "yup, it did" I've made reference to this new phrase, but I'm not sure I can really communicate how she's using it. I make a statement and tell her: Daddy's going to get the stroller out. And she replies, "Yes, he is" and sometimes it comes off as "of course he is, I already knew that." Or it can be really cute when I'm asking her several things in a row and instead of several "yeah" or "yups" it comes out "yes, it is."

The other night, I was on the phone with Granny and Dellaina was eating in her chair. She decided and announced that she was all done. Neither Greg nor I was apparently quick enough on the uptake, because she started waving her arms around and said, "I'm all done, guys!" hellloooo! It was quite hilarious. I think she's probably heard me retell the story on the phone so much, I'm surprised she hasn't continued to call us "guys"

I made a big order from Children's Place again this year for summer clothes. With Dellaina's birthday being right at Christmas, we end up needing clothes for the summer. Last year, Mammie helped me fill her drawers with cute clothes for the summer and into the fall and she was gracious enough to help me out again, for both Wyatt and Dellaina! When the package came, I was going through all of the clothes and Dellaina was eating. She would comment, "that's for Wyatt?" "that's for ME?!" "I've got a lot of stuff!" The next day I dressed her in bright purple butterfly and yellow shirt, denim skort with butterfly embroidery, yellow leggings and sparkly silver shoes (that I LOVE!) It was, admittedly, a lotta look! to yet again quote Tim Guinn. But, I have had so much fun dressing them this week, even though some things are still too big and I'm trying to continue to use her smaller clothes, too, before it's completely out of the question.

Tuesday night, Wyatt went to the gym with me for the first time. Dellaina went to the grocery store with Greg, so it was good to mix it up a bit. Wyatt got to meet folks for the first time, so it was a lot of fun to show him off, and hopefully less traumatic on him than on Dellaina about being left with strangers. I left his diaper bag there and of course he had a blow out the next day at school and I hadn't thought about the spare clothes being in the bag. I had to go back and retrieve it the next day after work and picking them up. I left them in the car with it running and "Elmo" playing on the TV. I rolled the window down some, just in case somehow the car locked itself, I'd be able to stick my arm in and unlock it. And yes, I know that means anyone else could get in as well and drive away with my kids since I was leaving it unlocked, but ----. Luckily, the bag was sitting up on the wall right when I walked in, so it didn't take long at all.

Tuesday afternoon I spent the afternoon buying condoms with my boss.

On our walk yesterday, when we got to the top of the driveway and started out, Dellaina asked me, "What did Daddy do to the house?" I was confused and asked a few more questions to try to figure out what she was referencing and got "all the sticks" (which is actually piles of pollen more than sticks) I told her they fell from trees onto the roof, Daddy didn't put them there. No, she corrected me, "we got them at the store!"

This morning in the car driving to school, Dellaina told me, "I went to the beach last night." I smiled and immediately thought she must have had a dream. She added, "you being there, too!" I'm impressed if she's remembering them already, but wish they would stay happy like that one seemed to be, because:

The past two mornings I've had to go crawl in bed with Dellaina before it was time to get up. She's been waking up crying. Or, well, perhaps not fully waking up, but doing more of her Daddy's sleep talking, seeming to be awake. She cries out and I go to comfort her, it's too early to actually get up, but I just decide to turn my alarm off and crawl in bed with her. Wyatt is good about waking me up, talking. Yesterday morning, early, she was screaming for her Daddy. I got up to go check on her, but before I could get close to her bed, she starts thrashing and screaming, "NOT YOU! I WANT DADDY!" fine. . I stomp back into the room and tell her snoring Daddy he's wanted down the hall. I didn't want to get out of my warm bed anyway. This morning, she was crying out "NO!" and when I came in something about "Amber did it" and she actually had real tears on her cheeks when I stroked her, but she really wasn't awake this time.

Cheers!

*Wyatt is 6 months old today! We go to the doctor tomorrow and I'm eager to find out how much he weighs these days.

*I've had over 10,000 hits on my little blog!

*In honor of these exciting milestones, I thought a face lift was in order. Spring can have that affect on you, don't you think? The sudden desire for change: cleaning, freshening and brightening up! During the set up for Smartini, we combed through template options and I just LOVED this one. It may be too Grandma's wallpaper for some, but I love it and think the bright colors perhaps make it a tad more modern, no? And maybe it's not too distracting or headache inflicting while reading. MAJOR shout out and Thanks to Megan for her expert help tweaking the html to get it all set up for me. A bit more tinkering to come, but it's good for now! yea!

*I've even added my latest Twitter updates on the side! So, even when I don't get a full post up, you'll still know what I am doing! Won't that be exciting?!

Cheers! Don't forget to join us for a drink over at Smartini.

All a-Twitter

I have joined yet another little online "community."

I read about Twitter.com on Dooce.com a while ago and found it intriguing. What a simple concept, but it's caught on like wild fire. I had mentioned it to some folks, but not done anything about it. Then, my cousin, Joe, sent me an invite to sign up this week. So I did. Then, I suckered in some friends, because it's more fun if I have Followers! And others to Follow (this is the lingo for the people you keep up with and who's keeping up with your updates.) It's just another place to create an account, have more passwords and be accountable for updating, BUT it's really quite simple and it LIMITS how much I can say, and we all know that's a good thing. It's fairly addictive. Or at least it's new and exciting right now, so we'll see how long that lasts.

Is it just me. . .

Or does my nearly 2 1/2 year old's head - that has always been in the 99th percentile, mind you - look just as large as my 6 month old's head?!

Family BBQ

We all rode down together to the lake Friday night. It was a first for all 6 of us to be traveling together in the same vehicle! It wasn't too bad and there was a surprising amount of room. It worked out well to have to wait until after traffic clears, because that's closer to bed time anyway. We were headed down because Emily, Daniel, Greg & I were hosting a "shower" for Doug & Morgan. It was odd to be down at the lake without my parents. We had sort of worked on the date, printed out the invites before checking with mom and dad on their schedule and they had a conference in Las Vegas! So, they were listed as hosts as well, but weren't even in town! They provided the house, though, and mom helped out a lot with the food. She made the BBQ for us the week before and stuck it in the deep freezer. That really saved us a lot of time and effort. Emily & Daniel had gotten down early on Friday and cleaned up. She is definitely poking out now! We learned our little nephew's name (I wore them down guessing until I got it right!), but I won't post it until I get the ok or see it posted on their blog. *sigh. patience is so hard for me.
We got cooking on Saturday (I use the term "we" loosely, because seems like most everyone else other than myself, Wyatt and Dellaina slept until nearly noon or beyond! Greg didn't feel well, Emily got up and then went back to bed and Daniel and Garris were just snoozing away until the afternoon) and started worrying about having enough food, so we ended up going and buying some Brunswick Stew from a local BBQ place. I think it all worked out well, though. The party went well. We had a nice eclectic mix of people and had family come from diverse locations, including Savannah, Atlanta, Athens, South Carolina and even Charlotte, NC! Doug & Morgan are quite the draw! It was good to get together with some family we don't see as often (except at big events like weddings) and especially those that have kids, because they grow and change so fast. I think everyone had a good time. We had tables set up along the porch and it was a beautiful day. As the sun was setting the kids were running around - fishing off the dock, playing football in the yard, swinging. It's just such an idyllic place to be. Doug & Morgan were troopers for the one shower game we subjected them to, my default Questions, and I think they got quite a good bit of loot. I think it's starting to set in (for all of us) that this event is going down in just over a month!! Mom and Dad made it back early Sunday morning, so it was good to see them, even briefly.

Update

Passports: Arrived!!! whew!

All mixed up

The other night, we were reading a book (that is mostly pictures, so not much reading involved, actually) and Dellaina was so deliriously tired, she pointed to a tiger and said, "Tigie." It took her a few seconds to break out of her stupor and realize she'd said it wrong and now she points it out intentionally and we both crack up.

One night as I was tucking her in, after her request to "lay with me" but she wouldn't scoot over any, I just laid on her and said "this is a comfy pillow!" She just laughed and laughed and now, every night, she lays on me with the same saying. It's really cute to hear her being funny.

We were climbing up her steps into her bed and she was being so slow and wouldn't get out of the way, so I just pushed her down and playfully climbed over her. Now, it's "you wanna knock me over, mama?" (which really isn't a question) every. single. night.

I had mentioned wanting to get her the movie Annie because she has curls like Dellaina and they sing and dance. So, for a few days, she was requesting that we "watch Annie. with the curls."

She may have a touch of her mother and grandaddy's slight dyslexia, because she'll make statements like, "c starts with cow." or ask, "what starts with gorilla?" [what does 'gorilla' start with?]

She has been answering with "yes" very nicely and has a very cute way of saying it, but her emphatic, whiny "NO!" is getting very annoying. I keep trying to correct her to say, "No ma'am or No Thank You" but it hasn't stuck yet. She will also say, "yes, her is/did" rather than "she" and it's cute to me.

Just when did she get tall enough to reach light switches?! She can reach them enough to push them up if it's a toggle, or can turn them off if it's the flat paddle/rocker.

I often wonder when my trick of, "I guess Wyatt will xx" will wear off and no longer get her to: eat her food, wear her clothes/shoes, take a bath, get her butt in gear. Same goes with just leaving and closing the door when she won't come. Right now, they work well (even though they may cause panic or a escalation in volume and urgency)

Update in photos

I have a little backlog of pictures to go along with some of the previous posts I wasn't patient enough to wait to post until I put the pictures with them. Basically, I just didn't have the energy to go through the whole process of downloading from the camera to the home computer, editing, uploading to snapfish, downloading again to computer at work and then uploading again to blogger. Ok, well, before I wear myself out thinking about it all again:

Our trip to Rome for Jon's birthday. Greg dumped Wyatt in his lap to go to the restroom, but they had a big time together banging on the table. Greg with his former boss, Sam, from the electrical shop at Berry. And we actually got a family shot, too! Neither child wanted to look at the camera, but hey, we're all in the shot.

Home Projects:

Dellaina's new curtains that Greg hung this weekend:


We were in the store and realized we'd grabbed the shorter length and started to put it back, but it was like a light went off and I thought, "hmm, maybe we should go with short ones" it had just never crossed my mind to even consider it before, but once I thought about it, I couldn't let it go. And, I really like that we went with the short ones, because you can still see her little creatures below and they frame the window nicely and seem more playful without "puddling" on the floor all formally. And we didn't exactly go with the "neutral" color palette Greg had been suggesting to tone down the room. And if our dining room is any indication, I like red curtains on bright orange/yellow!

Here's a glimpse of the picture project I had completed the other weekend. Each frame has a magnetic label for a month of the year. I really loved this gift from Wyatt's birth and am excited to finally get my act together enough to fully enjoy it. Dellaina likes to point out "mama kissing me!" and "Wyatt eating his elephant." Greg also got the shelves hung in the bathroom. They may not look that exciting, but they are functional and I'm very excited to have them! It seems like such a "duh" for the formerly useless space. It's just great to have a place to move Wyatt's tub. That bathroom is pretty small, so it really helps. And it was pretty genius to put Dellaina's books and Pull Ups on the shelf rather than having to keep going to her room to get them or have the books thrown around in the basket next to the toilet. And moving some of the towels out of the laundry room cleared up some space there as well. And it provides guests with towels without me having to remember to set them out. Even though we no longer have a guest room for guests to stay in. minor detail. Greg is pretty handy to have around and has some good ideas and actually sees them through!

Cute moments from the weekend:


Dellaina and Wyatt had their first (of many, I hope) bath together. the colors were coming out really funky and finally (after several more pictures) I realized the setting had been changed from Auto to Landscape. So, here's what it looks like when you are trying to take a close up picture on Landscape! And the difference when you switch back to Auto! She was putting her stickers on Wyatt yesterday morning and I thought it was amusing when I saw what letters she had given him: Fkn! She definitely gets her language from her Daddy! Even Wyatt looks affronted and I can just hear him saying, "Hey! What's the big idea here?"

Status Report

*Passports: applied for. (hopefully they get here in time!)

*Tickets: booked! (we won't dwell on the fact that we'll be flying over the ocean on Friday the 13th!)

*Work: informed (maybe we won't get slammed that week)

*Nursing: drying up and self-weaning anyway



AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH this trip is so exciting! I can't believe we're making it happen.

Piles!

I live my life in piles! Piles of laundry, piles of dishes, piles of paperwork, a huge TO DO pile. In my office at work (my boss asked me the other week if they needed to rent me a storage room!) In my car. At home. Sometimes there is a system. The other day Greg asked me about something on the stairs and I explained: the pile at the bottom of the stairs, goes upstairs, piles at the top of the stairs, come down. It really drives him crazy. He helps balance me out, even though he doesn't see it that way - it would be much worse! I do try to go through them and keep them manageable. The other night as he was going to bed (after a weekend of sorting through many of my piles, but having not managed to completely rid the table of a stack), he pointed to a stack of papers on the table and asked "what's that?" I replied "A pile of shit," because I knew that was what he was thinking. Exasperated, he turned and pointed to a box intended to contain paperwork and asked, "and that?" Without missing a beat "More shit" I replied. And on it went as he continued to point to different locations around the room - on top of the sideboard? Under the sideboard? In the sofa table? On the stairs? all with the same response. Some things are good for leisurely perusing, but as Pen noted, in bulk or constant influx, just add to the overwhelming pile up, not to mention require leisure time. But, in my defense, if it would just stop coming into the house - stop the bills, stop the TO DO, To Be Filed, To Be Dealt With, To Be Kept for Posterity OR somehow give me time without interruption to deal with it (ok, and maybe perhaps a sprinkling of motivation to tackle it all?) then MAYBE the piles would at least condense? Am I really the only one that has this problem?

PS when searching for images of "stacks" or "piles" one should really clarify what kind of pile they are looking for or what they want stacked!

Quiet recovery

We had a nice, quiet weekend at home. Nothing extraordinary to report. But, you know I will anyway. We all went for a walk on Friday, just before the rain and storms came.

Saturday we woke up to Dellaina downstairs in the bathroom again with her pants and Pull Up down around her ankles. Yeah, we still hadn't gotten in the hang of putting the gate up. At least she's trying to go potty, right? ugh. I got to sleep in a little bit longer while Wyatt stayed asleep, too. We made muffins when I got up. Greg got Dellaina's curtains hung and it makes her room nice and dark for nap time, yea! Although, it didn't mean she took an extra long nap like I was hoping it might. The race was Saturday night, so it was good to have all day Sunday. We attempted a new recipe: spreading cream cheese and rolling up sausage links in crescent rolls. But, we over cooked the sausage to begin with, so it wasn't quite the success we were hoping for. The recipe actually called for cream cheese, diced tomatoes and bell peppers and bacon. But, I don't really eat the first 3 ingredients and we thought we'd switch up the bacon with sausage. It was basically going to be pigs n' a blanket with sausage instead. It just inspired us to think about what we could put inside. Greg got the grass cut - he had to come back inside and get a stocking cap, though, because it was pretty chilly outside! Especially with the wind. Yesterday evening, after naps, Dellaina came with me to the office while I cleaned and Wyatt went with Greg to the grocery store (which was really ravaged and had very empty shelves?!) Dellaina left me a precious voicemail while playing around with my phone: "Mommy! Her didn't answer in the phone" I'm in the background talking to her, because I didn't realize it was recording. She was looking for me to talk to her through the phone. She'd call me and I'd say, "I'm right here" and she'd respond, "No, where's mama in the phone?"


Greg put the gate up in Dellaina's room this morning when he got up, so I woke up to her whimpering. I get up and find a sleepy head rubbing her eyes and looking pitifully at her trapping device.

Wyatt is noticeable feeling better and returning to his normal, happy self. If only I could get him to take his medicine better to ensure he continues to ensure. I wish there was a better way to administer medicine to babies. or kids in general for that matter. If they don't like it, how do you get them to take it? Especially TWICE a day for 10 days?! ugh. If you try to mix it with something, that they then smell or taste the medicine in and decide they won't that either, then what?! It's just a battle and there's got to be a better way.

Now Open for Business

Looking for a new hangout?

Join us for a drink.

I'm honored to start a new business venture with 5 other intelligent, sophisticated and sassy broads. Many of us hail from the same small town growing up, but are scattered about now and have stayed connected and even gained and expanded friendships in Blogdom. We'll have Weekly Specials with a designated response each day in addition to a variety of other topics and creative writing skills. We hope to inspire and impart knowledge and amusement, and request you stop in regularly and maybe even get up to the mic on Karaoke Night or form a team for Trivia Night.

ENT

Dellaina had her 6 month check up for her ears today. I had to wake her up from her nap at school, but she managed well. I had some Wendy's chicken nuggets ready for her and the colorful bag immediately snagged her attention and cleared away the fog. She did well - clamming up and sticking her fingers in her mouth and acting shy and timid and on the brink of melting down, but not actually doing so for the most part. Her left ear looked fine and the tube was in place still, but the tube in her right ear had come out and was actually "laying there" and it looked a little red. Normally, they last about 12-18 months, so we're right in range with January having been a year. So, we went to do a quick pressure test, which showed it was blocked and not "open" and there was indeed fluid built up behind the ear drum. Then, we got to go into the room where we had to have 5 adults hold her down last time in order to remove the tiny tube. She seemed intrigued at first as I tried to explain in a sing-song voice that they were going to use the light and a microscope, which was like a telescope to look down in her ear and there was a tiny, tiny piece of plastic they were going to get out. And she did ok once the process started when I was holding her hands on her belly and the other lady was holding her head while the doctor lady attempted to extract the tube. It just took her a quite a bit of "one more second" and "almost got it" than it seems like it should have and Dellaina had melted down by the end and was crying, "all done" and seemed to jerk a little at times like it really had hurt. But, she got it out and we were all done and now we just have to come back in 6-8 weeks to check the fluid and make sure it's drained and not infected and we don't have any other issues going on that would require us to think about putting the tube back in.

It was early enough I needed to go back to work, but late enough I decided just to bring Dellaina with me rather than take her back to day care. She did well entertaining herself and Tyler & I and even smiled for Kirby and interacted a little bit with Tyler. She colored and played with markers, read her books and even went stinky on the big potty! She drank the jug of milk from Wendy's too without complications! Then, we went to pick up Wyatt and played at home for a bit. He got a bath tonight. We took my car down to drop off to be worked on in the morning and get the instrument panel replaced. Then we went and met up with Emily & Daniel at our old stomping ground: Cazadores. Which mean "Deer Hunter" I think and is an odd name for a Mexican restaurant, but it's good and fun to see people that know you. We had a good time and it was nice to come home and have everyone crash. Dellaina woke up early, was woken up early from her nap and out late, so hopefully, she sleeps well!

Tomorrow is Friday! Woo-hoo!

Kiddos

*Wyatt is ticklish. Sometimes just holding him a certain way your fingers on his back can make him squirm. Dellaina loves to tickle him.

*His hair seems to be growing back some to me. Somehow his head seems darker, maybe the hair is filling in some? And yet, the hair itself seems to be getting lighter. So, maybe filling in, but lightening?

*He's been chewing on his bottom lip a lot lately. Sucking it in to the point that I want to tell him, "be careful it might get stuck that way."

*He's been holding his arms out like an airplane, even when you are holding him. I don't know if it's because he's used to trying to keep his balance these days, but it's amusing to me.

*I never to remember to mention that you can watch his pulse in his soft spot. It kind of wigs me out, so I'm hoping the hair is filling in so it's not as noticeable anymore.

*He just seems to be getting bigger and thicker while Dellaina seems to be stretching and thinning out to me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Feeling under the weather this week, I was getting more frustrated, sooner. One morning I was trying to get Dellaina out the door and she was just straggling along, dilly dallying and I said her name firmly in exasperation and she stopped and looked at me and squeaked out a "don't" so pitifully it made me smile and relax. I apologized and kindly asked her to get her butt in gear, pretty please.

*She has a new favorite phrase: "that's enough, mommy" It started as 'enough toilet paper', as in use "just a little bit" or paper towels as I'm sure she's picked up from pottying and washing hands at school, but has been applied in several other places when she thinks I'm clearly doing something I don't need to be doing. sassy ms. thang

*Around her mouth has been real chapped this week with sores. She started getting little bumps in the corners of her mouth a while ago, but they wouldn't last long and I thought it was from food irritating her skin (especially if she didn't get wiped down well after a meal) but it just seems to have spread some this week and lingered longer. It's clearing up now, thankfully.

*Greg asked her the other night if she was ready to go take a bath and added, "let's make it a quick one." She replied, "like a bunny." He had been in a bad mood up until that point, but how could you not smile when she's using your own phrase "quick like a bunny" with you? (Is that a Mrs. Blomquist phrase, now that I'm thinking of it? That and "sucked into the black hole of nonexistence")

*She fell down at purple hands on Tuesday, playing outside. Apparently, she came up and still had little wood chips stuck to her chin! She told me last night that she was "swinging like a monkey" which I found impressive and adventuresome for her, but I'm finding I can really believe less and less of what's she's telling me these days. Her imagination is very active. I used to be able to trust what she was saying was pretty close to fact, but seems she just has her own creations a lot more than before.

*She's really been jumping a lot lately. But, it's not graceful. It's like she's scared to really jump, so she just stretches up onto her toes or barely takes her feet off the ground. It's funny how she can manage to fall down when she hasn't even left the ground. We've been working on laying flat, thin things out for her to try to jump "over" which she has gotten a kick out of.

*On the way to the doctor today she said, "I'm not in trouble anymore." I curiously questioned her about why she had been in trouble and she responded, "for playing in the water." I knew she must have lingered a bit at the sink washing her hands and assured her she was still a good girl and it was ok. Then she said Aden was in trouble for spitting and I emphasized, that was really bad and gross. I think she immediately got back up on her high horse and felt restored.

PS this was the day I got to do her hair! And she smiled and let me take her picture!

Next

I have been feeling really icky the past few days. It started to really hit me Monday at work. After lunch, I just kept getting worse, feeling more and more like I'd been run over by a train. My throat was hurting, glands swollen and tender, I could feel the energy drain out of me, I had the shakes, alternating between chills and fever. I wasn't really congested or dealing with drainage, thankfully, just really achy all over. Even my skin was sensitive to the touch, like after I was pregnant and had water retention and bloating! And when I went to pick up Wyatt, I could tell when I walked into the room that his cheeks were flushed where he was lying in his crib. We took his temperature that night and gave him some Motrin around 6:00. He slept off and on, but he cooled off and when he went to bed, felt cool, even and had a normal temperature. I had gone to bed early myself and he woke up about 1:00 to eat, which was early for him. Even then, he felt fine, normal and cool. But, by 5:00 he was fussing and Greg was getting up and said he felt warm. I got up to nurse him again and as I held him, I was getting increasingly sure he was running a pretty high temperature. He wasn't too interested in eating and I came downstairs to take his temperature - over 103!! and called the answering service of the pediatrician. It seemed like a long time before the nurse called me back and I knew she was going to tell us to bring him in because he was so young and that was such a high temperature. She asked several questions and did advise that it was probably related to his cold since I said he had drainage and buildup around his eyes and nose, but just to be safe. So, Greg is out of the shower by now and we decide that he will take him to the ER and I'll stay with Dellaina. Even though the day care technically opens at 6:30 and we could wake her up and take her in, we didn't like that option. However, it turns out, she was ready to get up anyway not long after Greg leaves. ugh. it was a long morning. I had wet hair from jumping in the shower to get ready to take Wyatt and tried to lay back down with her in her bed and had the biggest headache and was freezing and achy. By the time Greg had left with Wyatt, his temperature was already registering down to 100-101, so the Motrin was kicking in. The diagnosis at the ER was that his right ear was slightly red, so we have our first round of Amoxicillin. We nearly made it to 6 months, too. Since his fever had come back down and we know knew the cause (and it wasn't contagious) we decided to take him on to day care. Greg got there right as I was dropping Dellaina off and we got him settled. They said he had a hard day and was really fussy. His temperature got up to 100.8 before they gave him more Motrin. I was feeling worse, too. Poor Wyatt, I knew he felt as bad as I did because he looked like I felt. He was just pitiful and stayed upset and inconsolable. For two days, which is so unlike him. Even Dellaina couldn't get him to smile. Thankfully, this morning, he woke up much more alert and happy and like himself. He's still had his moments and is clearly still under the weather (little red-rimmed eyes and drainage), but definitely on the upswing. I woke up much more energized myself this morning. I still hurt, but don't feel as run down. It was such a welcome change by comparison I felt on top of the world. I had missed class last night at the gym and actually managed to go to a make up one tonight. So, hopefully, things are looking up around here and we've passed our share of germs around.

Not quite right

Dellaina felt a little warm Friday night when I was tucking her in, so I decided to check her temperature. I was shocked and kept rechecking when it registered 102! She didn't feel THAT warm. She had looked glassy eyed and delirious, but I just thought she was tired. We gave her some Tylenol and water and kept coming back to check on her throughout the night. The good thing about a quick ear thermometer is it makes middle of the night checks easy. I thought she might wake up more with me sticking something in her ear, but she barely moved. Or, she'd flop over so I could check the other side, too. because for some reason, I like to check both to get a consensus and make sure one side of your head isn't hotter than the other. It went down (Tylenol is a great thing) and she didn't get sick or throw up like she had on Monday. We had a low-key Saturday morning and utilized the new music from Pen some more, which makes Dellaina get out her pillow, blanket and baby doll and blanket and lay around. Some of the songs are slow, but it's also because it has songs we sing at night when going to bed. But, it makes for a nice relaxing morning for mama, so that's good. When we did lay down for nap I ended up passing out and taking one with her in her bed! When we woke up, it was time to get ready to head up to Rome for a surprise birthday party for our friend, Jon. It was his 30th birthday and lots of folks met up at Schroeder's Deli. They had reserved the back patio area, but with the rain, just took up most of the inside. Dellaina did well - totally clamming up and acting shy, but coming around by the end. She ate a whole slice of cheese pizza and only had a little meltdown when it burned her finger a little (after we'd been telling her to wait until it cooled off, but she persisted) Wyatt was sweet and adorable, until he got hungry. He was making a hickey on Greg's arm when he was holding him, trying to get some milk to come out while I fixed his bottle! Then, he was happy and content again. It was good to get together, even if it was briefly. They even had cheesecake. Dellaina took a bite and then started gagging. I was really worried, but thankfully, she held it in and didn't pursue eating any more! However, on the car ride home, thankfully, right as we were getting off at our exit and nearly home, she started throwing up and kept going until she had completely emptied the entire contents - I was worried with her being strapped in and such a continual, large flow. Hunks of curdled cheese pizza are just not pleasant. We rode the last few miles with the windows rolled down and she was zoned out. Greg unbuckled the whole car seat and lifted it out so I could strip her down in the driveway. I took her up to get a bath and had to go back with the water hose on the seat later. There's nothing like cleaning it off and having the spray be so forceful it bounces back all in your face. ugh. Her temperature was creeping up a little again, so she got more Tylenol and sips of water and went on to bed. Again, I kept checking on her while I worked on a little project of getting pictures into 2x2 frames I've had hanging in the bathroom. Around 4:00 in the morning, I heard Hank jump down and go bark or make a weird noise then I thought I heard Dellaina talking or crying, so I got up to check and she was fussing a little (I'm not sure if she was really awake at that point or not) and when I started talking to her, she said she wanted water. So, I got her water in the bathroom cups trying to limit her intake and she gulped it down. It makes you so nervous when you feel like you are just waiting for it all to come back out. Then, she said she needed to go potty and sure enough, eventually, she had a "sick" stinkie. Even in her stupor and the light of just the night light, though, she noticed the pictures! She went on back to bed and hasn't been sick since. It's really difficult to have to keep limiting her daily intake, though. The girl LOVES her milk, cheese, pudding, yogurt, etc. and she keeps requesting it. I've tried explaining to her all day that with her tummy being sick, she doesn't need to eat it. She seems to understand most of the time and even replied, "maybe just water" one time.

She got up really early this morning, almost fell off her steps sitting on them trying to put on her blue sandals, but she caught herself with her hands instead of her forehead like normal, so that was good. And she wanted to call Granny and tell her. It was 7:30! I delay her for about 15 minutes, until she brings it up again and won't be persuaded and starts to cry. I figure it's close to when she probably wakes up, so we go ahead and call. When Greg gets up, I request to go lay back down for a bit since Wyatt is still sleeping. Then, when Wyatt & I get up an hour or so later, Greg goes to the driving range to hit some golf balls. He swings back by and picks us all up for a family outing to the grocery store. Then, we come back and take our naps while Greg works out. I lay down in Dellaina's bed again, but it's only 30-40 minutes before the dogs start barking wildly (at eh neighborhood kids who have taken to coming down to play in the creek/woods behind our house), which wakes Wyatt up. So, I slide out of Dellaina's bed and go get Wyatt and try to coax him back to sleep in our bed with me. He plays with some toys and Greg comes up to get him after his finishes working out, but it's just as he's settling back down. Dellaina wakes up and heads on downstairs on her own to Greg's surprise and is playing when Wyatt & I get up a little bit later. We all (including the dogs) go for a walk together after the race is over. Then, Greg washes my tires and we all load up and go drive through the car wash. Dellaina was a little unsure about the loud noise and things hitting the car, but afterwards she said she wanted to "do again tomorrow." They both got baths and then hit the hay, much like I will do myself now. We have her 6 month check up for her ears on Thursday. Because of the fever, I wonder if she's got an ear infection. Otherwise, I might be concerned she's becoming lactose intolerant and that would be a very difficult thing for us to adjust to.

From Spit up to Sit up!

This morning on the couch before leaving for Purple Hands:






I had to break it into two parts to get it all because of the size, but I thought it was worth it, you know I don't edit things down.



I've been working with him and he's been getting stronger and stronger, but it's hard to capture on camera. I got Greg to get some finally with the video camera, but I don't know how to get that to the computer, so I was determined. But, this is exactly why it's difficult this early:





But, brush it off and try again:



And, since my memory card was full and cut off on me I just had to try again to show how he's so advanced already (don't you love the Elmo Potty Time! video playing in the background?):





I warned you it might be trouble now that I know how to do videos. But, this is pretty monumental, so maybe it's excusable to have some many?

Pickles

First, Pen posted a cute use for Pickles. Then, This story made me cry I was laughing so hard.

Maybe I'm really bored. Or maybe I'm a mom that finds humor in children's innocence and preciousness. and perhaps even have a tad sense of potty humor. Either way, I felt like sharing.

Lately

*Dellaina has been holding/reading books like a teacher does, so that it faces the "class"

*She let me do her hair this morning! It's a good morning. (pictures later)

*If I try to do the motherly lick and wipe, she'll whine "I don't want slobber kisses!" just like she responds to the dogs. lovely.

*It came up in a few posts from the weekend, but she is definitely fixated on her BLUE SANDALS lately and wants to wear them everyday. Every morning, she seems to be climbing out of bed and immediately going to try to put them on.

*I've mentioned before how she likes to watch American Idol. The other week we were playing and she randomly busts out with "Michael Johns" and I'm shocked, but say "you're right, there is a Michael Johns on American Idol" It was just out of the blue, not while we were watching it or anything. I just thought it was funny that she picked up on a name.

*She thinks babies "pop" out of our bellies. And I'm fine with that understanding for now. She came up with this concept on her own when we were discussing going to the hospital for Andrea to have her baby.

*"Daddy's home! Wyatt, daddy's home, remember Daddy?!"

*She has started telling me to "wait your turn, mama!" with her little hand held up when we are going down stairs. I guess I crowd her and sometimes would try to get around her - I am usually lugging Wyatt in his carrier and balancing all of the daily supplies, but no need to hurry, Little Missy! take your time. First, the music, now walking downstairs?! I'm sure this is a product of something from school, but I want to explain that it's good to take turns, but that doesn't mean you get to TAKE YOUR PRECIOUS TIME on your turn! Just like how she's in no hurry to eat her breakfast in the morning's at Purple Hands.

*I no longer call every day to check in on either Dellaina or Wyatt. I still call a couple times, maybe, during the week, but it's not everyday like it has been for nearly 2 years. Poor little, neglected second child.

*Her last tooth is coming in! it's the Lateral Incisor on her right side. I'm wondering if there is room. I've been thinking/expecting Wyatt's teeth and had about given up on her. It will fill in the gap and I think make her Canine tooth look a little less, well, pointed and fang-like.

*"I be so proud for Daddy" [translation: Daddy would be so proud of me] She's really been using the word "proud" more often lately. I've always told her I was proud of her for certain things - and have wondered if she really understood what that meant, other than it's good. Then, the other day, it was the "Word on the Street" on Sesame Street and they tried to explain it a little more, so maybe that helped her understand and use it more? But, she was wearing a dress this morning and decided she wanted to "show Daddy" and that he'd really like to see her and would be proud (even though he was at work, so we had to take a picture - which I'll have to post later because I'm at work and for the 2nd day in a row snapfish is giving me trouble.)

*She's still working on her USA puzzle and is retaining parts of it. She knows some of the bigger, more obvious shapes like California, Texas, Nevada, Alaska, Hawaii and of course, Georgia. And she was surprising me being able to pick out the correct shapes when looking at outlines. She even said, "where's the duck?" because each state has a picture on it and North Dakota's is a duck and she remembered that when we were getting close to filling in that area!

No Nap

uh-oh. That was the note on Dellaina's Daily sheet today! yikes! Immediately, red flags went up and sirens were sounding in my head to be on alert! And especially when she's been under the weather (thankfully no more incidences today!), I knew I was in for a rough evening (or more so, Greg was since it was gym night for me, so he'd have her at the very end of the day when she is really drained and delirious.) And, as anticipated, she was on the whiny and fussy side and right when I think I'm getting completely frustrated -- I was trying to get her to come let me just hold her, but she laid down on the floor near where Wyatt had passed out on his play mat, so I get down to lay down with her on the floor and "pet" on her and she tells me to "stop bothering" her! whoa. fine. normally you like for me to stroke your hair, etc. I go upstairs a little miffed to get changed to go to the gym and I come back downstairs and she's gotten out her baby doll's blanket and has covered Wyatt up where he passed out on his mat. awwww. now that's too sweet. She may be cranky with me, but it's good to know all sweetness hasn't leaked out of her.

Then, a song came on where she came over for a hug and I was holding Wyatt, so just leaned over and touched heads with her, but she said emphatically, "No, I need a hug!" It was sweet even in it's demandingness.

April Showers

It's dark and dreary here. Good day for a nap. I was actually told I could take the day off, but I'm here anyway.

I got off work yesterday about 4:00 and on my way to pick up the kiddos, I got a call from the day care that Dellaina had just thrown up. I get there and she seems to be playing ok, and other than looking a little pale, looks ok. We head home and spend a nice, quiet afternoon just playing and taking it easy. It was a perfect opportunity to listen to some new music we received in the mail from a gracious Penelope! We learned how to play "Go Fish" like we saw on an Elmo video and played some games on the computer, too. She hadn't really eaten or had much to drink (of course she'd immediately started requesting milk on the way home, which is so hard to deny her because she likes it so much, but just doesn't sit well with an upset stomach! Especially when she already spewed her ham and cheese sandwich all over her pants) Around 7:00, she starts drinking some water and we're getting close to getting her to eat some Jell-O. I have her in her chair and she starts throwing up again. It's just the water, because she didn't have anything else in her, poor thing. And it actually worked out pretty well that her tray just held it all in place. So, then, we head upstairs to get a bath. Greg finally gets home after a long, stressful day and helps finish up her bath, while I go feed Wyatt. He brings her down and says she threw up again - the water she'd just had after brushing her teeth. So. We get out the "butt bombs" and cut one suppository in half, which cause it to break into 3 pieces and we get to attempt to get those all in the right place. We tried to have her up on the couch, so she could talk to Wyatt and she did well, but it was a long process! Then, we try to stall her for a bit and keep putting off her requests for water and food. Finally, we start giving her some water and a biscuit. And she eats a few Baked Lays. We go up to read stories and I keep asking, "are you ok?" She gets a little more water before laying down, because we do want to make sure she stays hydrated. I have a big towel spread out on the pillow and side of the bed she normally lays on and of course, she flops down on the other side. I get her to lay on the towel and after a few minutes, she pops up and says, "That's uncomfortable!" So, she grabs her little pillow (I had tried to move out of the way. .just in case) and flops back down on it. She passes out pretty quickly and I wake up this morning to her trying to put her blue sandals on. Yesterday morning, she woke up screaming and when I got to her room, she was saying she wanted to wear her blue sandals (but somehow I got her into tights, a skirt and boots! I was so excited and have wanter her to wear that look for so long now, but she usually resists. It almost crumbled when she started fussing about wearing her tights, but I pushed through it anyway. She and Wyatt had big time watching Elmo that morning before school.) And then she told me her tummy hurt. I thought she might just be hungry. Guess I was wrong. She had a nasty stinkie this morning and ate her Cheerios and water and seemed to be doing well. I leisurely got us ready watching and waiting, but decided to go ahead and take them to school where I asked that they not give her any dairy products today. Let's hope it's moved on through. . .

We abandoned ship on the panties for the time being. We're just not quite there yet. I thought the teacher at day care had mentioned several times that she could be in panties soon, so I put her in them and sent them to her. She did wet herself and have to get changed. And then threw up and changed again. And they said maybe to try it at home first. And that they already had several other kids that were in underwear for the first time now, too, so to wait. That was my instinct originally, but I thought, hey, more power to them and they are more on a schedule than I am, so getting wet a few times when she really notices it might be what it takes to get her thinking about it every time.

Weekend at home

I seem to be getting the "weekend review" up on Tuesdays lately.


Friday night Dellaina had trouble going to sleep. I managed to get my hair dyed, but she just kept screaming and crying. We took turns laying with her and she seemed to be asleep, but a few minutes later, she'd wake up screaming again. Eventually, Greg was ready for bed, anyway, so he just went and laid down with her in her bed and went to sleep. I tried to wake him up twice when I went to bed to get him to come lay in our bed because he was scrunched up by all the rails on the bed and he's so big! I was afraid he'd roll over and squash her! But, he didn't wake up enough to make the effort and paid for it the next morning being sore! She even woke up screaming one more time in the middle of the night - and he barely moved! I got up and came in and calmed her down! I'm not sure if maybe she was already not feeling great?


Saturday morning, we got up and had nice morning. Dellaina helped me make pancakes. We made hers in the shape of Mickey Mouse and she watched it on TV while she ate. Then, she got a bath and we got ready to go to a baby shower for the wife of a friend we graduated high school with. They are expecting their first in June - Wilburn Andrew and Becca looked great! It was a fun time and Dellaina did really well (even if I didn't get to see most of what Becca was opening because Dellaina was wandering around) She watched her Elmo videos on the ride over and back. On the way back, even though it was late and she hadn't had her nap, we stopped at the pet store and ran in to get some fish food. They had lots of dogs and cats there for adoption, so she had fun petting them. There was a really cute little dog named Kramer that was super friendly and sweet and a good size that made me contemplate. .how insane we'd be to have 3 dogs! Then, we ran into Target and looked at some DVDs. I have been wanting to get some of the classic princess stories so she can watch them. But, they weren't on sale. We did get an Elmo Potty Time DVD! And I also had been wanting to look for a puzzle of the USA. We found one, but when we got home, I realized how overwhelming it was with so many pieces (that don't really have a "slot" to fit into like her ABC puzzles, they just have an outline drawn underneath with the capital marked, but they slide around until you get them all in place together!) and how tiny the pieces are especially by the time you get to the New England states. She didn't immediately abandon it and has done it a handful of times with Greg or I, but it's definitely a little more advanced. We took a nice nap and then had a good evening. I was surprised, though, since her nap had been so late when she came up to me after eating around 8:30 and said she was ready to go to bed! I had visions of getting them down early and being productive. Of course, bed time took a while, but went a little smoother than Friday night, but I wasn't feeling as motivated by the time I got through tucking her in and just vegged and watched TV on the couch.


Sunday, Greg got up early (like he was going to work during the week) and went in to get things done. He used to go in a lot more often on the weekends, so it's nice that he gets to be home more and understandable when he needs to go in to get things in order so his Monday maybe won't be quite as bad. Or he can walk out on Friday evening more normally, knowing he'll be able to come back over the weekend. Our morning and afternoon have already been documented, so the only other thing to add is that Dellaina came with me to my office Sunday evening. She likes to draw and erase on the dry-erase board while I clean. Otherwise, it was a quiet weekend at home.