November 7, 2005
Oh boy, I see another crazy month
looming in my future.
Yesterday, we went to the Green Meadows
petting farm in
At first I was a bit scared since the
name of the farm evoked a vision of either a cemetery or an institution for
“special” people. That and the fact that it’s kind of hit or miss in the
touristy area of
We all got to chase & catch geese,
chickens & ducks. Hold baby ducklings and chicks. Pet pigs, goats, sheep
and various other creatures. We took a hayride and played on the playground and
the crowing glories for Katherine, riding a pony and milking a cow. As nursing
moms, Amy and I had lots of comments about the cow milking. Amy said “I wish I
milked as easy as a cow”. As do I Amy, As do I. LOL
Anyway the girls were all great and K
enjoyed playing with Sophia at the playground after the animals were all gawked
at properly.
After we got home, we all relaxed and
played a bit. Lauren was cruising around the coffee table and she turned around
and took a step to get to me. Yes, she took a step. I suppose it could be worse
since Katherine was a sturdy walker at this age but honestly, I’m really not
ready for my baby to grow up yet. I would really be ok if that tiny tooth just receded
back into her gum line revealing that sweet toothless grin one more time. And,
crawling…yeah, I’d be happy to have her stay where I put her. And the talking.
Wow! I was on the phone with Carol Ann today and I know that it had to sound
like I’d landed smack dab in the middle of an episode of Land of the Lost. You know
the one where the pterodactyls are attacking and screeching like mad. It was
insane. The not so insane but incredibly cute talking is when she is in the
bathtub and she catches a glimpse of herself in the overflow cover thingy. She
scoots over, points to it and says “be-beh” She’s got such a sweet little
throaty voice when she’s using it for good…unlike the shrieks that she seems to
favor right now.
Today was the first day that I had both
girls on my own at home. Katherine started part time at Mrs. Candace’s and she
will be going there on Thursdays and Fridays.
That’s good but I realized today that we need to work on a few things.
Most importantly, listening. She is so willful and just refuses to listen. For
example, today she said she needed to go potty. She was doing this silly dance
and running around saying she wanted me to come with her. I told her to stop
acting silly and go potty alone like she does at Mrs. Candace’s. 5 minutes
later, she’s still dancing. She finally went alone but she didn’t quite make
the potty and instead peed all over the bathroom floor.
Another, before we left for the park, I
asked if she needed to go potty. No was her reply. Off we go, walking through
the neighborhood. We get to the park and climb up the ropey thing-a-ma-bob and
she starts the potty dance. She needed to go but she didn’t want to leave.
Knowing that we had a longish walk home, I made her leave with promises of
another park trip after naptime. This leads to my last story about today.
Naptime didn’t go as planned at all. She just would not fall asleep. So no
park.
After hearing all of this, you probably
think I’m not so happy. You’d be wrong. All in all we had a good day and we had
fun. I got a few things accomplished and I took notes of things we need to work
on. She also ate really well, and that always puts a smile on my face.
She’s also been donning her princess
shoes (plastic heeled things that are sparkly but way too big) and tap dancing.
This involves slapping said silly shoes on the linoleum while making spastic
movements with her legs and arms. The louder the “taps” the better. I got this
on film. I smell a really great wedding montage. Bwahahahhahaha. Sweet revenge.
November 8, 2005
No sleep. Poor Lauren is not happy at
3am and I don’t know why. This is the second night in a row of this awful
nighttime torture. Every hour she wakes up. Not crying but just trying to get
comfy. I am miserable and at 3:30 am, after about 2 hours of broken up sleep, I
get in the car and drive her around for about half an hour. She’s just as wide
awake when we get home as she was when we got in the stupid car. Her big, wide
awake eyes, inquiring “uh, mom? We got in the car but we didn’t ever get out.
What’s the deal crazy PJ clad lady with the boobs?”
Today was much better than yesterday. K
went right down for a nap and Lauren went down too, at the same time! I had about an hour to eat lunch, work a bit
and tidy up from the morning. When K gets her naps, she’s like a different kid.
She was truly fun to be around today. We had fun playing pirates. She ate well.
We read stories & watched a little TV. I made the girls a fort, we went to
the park and we went to the pediatrician.
Ok, a pediatrician visit is usually not
something fun but even with the news that Lauren has an ear infection, K’s
constant banter kept the mood light.
K “my daddy works all day”
Dr: “do you work all day”
K: after some thought. “nope”
Then I asked him to talk to her about
that whole gross booger eating thing.
Dr: “Boogers have germs and they can
make you sick. Did you know that?”
K: (Looking very concerned) “Oh?”
Dr: “Yes, we should never put our
fingers in our noses and never ever eat boogers”
K: “Fine! I’ll just eat my dinner
instead of my boogers”
She said this in such a “well, I’ll
show you” tone of voice that Doc and I just looked at each other and tried our
best not to laugh. I finally sputtered out something like “oh, Katherine, that
sounds like a very good choice!”
I found out that a mild-moderate ear
infection is most likely the cause of Lauren’s fussiness at night. Apparently
lying down can cause ear infections to feel worse. Well, I’m glad that there is
an explanation for her odd nocturnal behavior. Hopefully we can get it under
control and I’ll get my good little sleeper back. I’m happy I took her in. I
just had a hunch that it may be something besides the tooth & the gas &
the learning new skills. I have no experience with ear infections and I
certainly hope this is the only one we have to deal with. She showed none of
the classic symptoms though. Weird.
Oh, we also found out that Lauren has
gained no weight since her last appointment. Still holding steady at 17 lbs 4
oz. I guess all that speed crawling and trying to walk is starting to burn off
the calories. Oh Joy!
November 30, 2005
I know, I’ve not written much this
month. The holiday’s are upon us and I was determined to get ahead of the game
so that I could spend time with the girls doing fun stuff like baking cookies
and making crafts. I did ok. Our Christmas cards are here and awaiting a few
more addresses. Newsletter is done. Most of the gift shopping is complete and
wrapping has commenced.
We spent thanksgiving at Susan and
Brads in
Woody took three days following
Thanksgiving off but his feet were bothering him so he watched the girls while
I worked around the house doing those projects that you can’t really do with
kids. Things like, washing the cars, pressure washing the sidewalks, laundry
etc. I’ve been a busy bee.
Here is an excerpt of an email that I wrote to a friend of
mine last week:
Katherine has been pure joy to be around lately. While I'm enjoying it
immensely, the pessimist in me is just waiting for the whiney, petulant
preschooler to return. That will be a bummer when it happens since I've gotten
really used to having such a charming, helpful kid around.
Well, she’s back to her old tricks again but she really only
acts up when she’s tired. The feeding is becoming an issue again and she will
barely eat anything unless it is candy or fluid. When she does eat real food,
it’s generally 3 baby carrots or some apple. Well, that is sure not going to
put the weight on. If I could only switch diets with her for one week. I’m
positive I’d hit my goal weight and she’d be a plump little munchkin.
Lauren started toddling around last night. She’s been taking
steps when she’s distracted by something but last night we spent about an hour
with her on the floor. She’d toddle to me, then dad, then me again. She’s so
proud of herself. The delighted squeals are way too sweet. She’s also talking
more. She will nod her head for yes (while making a guttural “Dah” sound) and
shake her head no. She also says baby, cat, mama, num nums and daddy. She does
say Katherine but it sounds a lot like daddy too…more of a dat-duh, but she
knows what she means & I usually do too.
Finally, we took the girls to the mall
yesterday to meet Santa. I got them dressed up in their Christmas finery
(Katherine wore the dress that Gigi made for her) and off we went. On the way
we discussed what Katherine would tell Santa & Mrs. Claus. Finding out the
exact type of carrot that the reindeer liked seemed to be the burning question.
Well, we got to the mall and there was no-one in line, perfect. As we got
closer, Katherine got more freaked out. She would not sit on Santa’s lap. Mrs.
Claus was complimenting K’s dress and sweet talking her but no go. We finally
gave up and just got a picture of Lauren with Santa. Maybe next year will go
more smoothly. I wonder if it’s the beard? Hmmmmm
