June 2006

 

June 2, 2006

 

We just got home from our beach vacation to Sanibel Island. It was a lot of fun. Katherine’s favorite parts were the pool and playing in the sand. Lauren enjoyed the pool after a while but she didn’t seem to care much for the beach once she tossed a handful of sand in her eyes within about two seconds of arriving there. I had fun looking for shells (found some good ones) and Woody just enjoyed not having to work for a while.

 

We played go fish a few times with Katherine who is now a smarty pants and has some pretty good strategies for the game. It’s actually fun to play with her and you don’t have to let her win…she can do that perfectly well all by herself. However, you do have to pretend you don’t see all of her cards since she can’t hold them in one hand. She lays them out, in a perfect line, face up. Totally funny.

 

Katherine and I took some girl time and we took a long walk on the beach yesterday to look for shells. Then we just sat in the path of the waves and got splashed. Lots of giggles to be had there.  During our vacation, we flew her “dragon kite”, ate lots of ice cream, swam in the ocean and the pool, went on a tour of the wildlife refuge (lame-nothing we couldn’t see in our own backyard), built sandcastles, ate lots of ice cream, napped a lot, explored the island, played in the grass, and did I mention that we ate a lot of ice cream? It was really nice to be able to disconnect and spend time with the family and not be distracted by the daily grind.

 

June 7, 2006

 

Ok, I’ll admit it. Lauren’s been a twit lately and it’s really unlike her. Sure, she will have moments of toddler induced frustration but this has been about a week of real fussiness. I attributed it to teething since her sixth tooth finally broke through last week and I figure there are a few more about to explode out of her gums. She’s been nursing and refusing solids for the most part too and my boobies are SORE and unhappy. Can boobs be unhappy? Maybe not, but mine sure feel like they are in need of psychotherapy.

 

Last night she woke me up for a 1 am nursing session and she touched my face. Her had was on fire. I feel her head. I feel hot, dry skin. Really hot. I dare not take her temperature. I nurse her and rock her for an hour or so. She’s wide awake with fever. Finally we both fall asleep. Fast forward to this morning and she’s still hot and very cranky. Nurse, sleep for a few minutes, wake up screaming in pain and crying. This goes on most of the day. I convince myself it’s still teething pain but begin to think maybe it’s something else. Finally I call to make a pediatrician appointment after Motrin only brings the fever down to 102. Pediatrician not available so I make the call to take her to the ER. Since Woody is going out of town for two days, I’d rather just know if it’s viral and nothing to worry about or what. Besides, I know from experience that daytime sick, while bad, isn’t so terribly worrisome. It’s the dead of night sick that allows all of the irrational fears to creep into a mothers mind. I’d rather get an answer and be done with it.

 

The ER in the country up here is really slow and it’s actually not too bad. We go in, her temp is 104.5. They give her a double dose of Motrin and a dose of Tylenol and her temp finally drops to normal. She has an ear infection and a viral throat infection. Poor cookie. She got a shot of antibiotics and a prescription for that lovely antibiotic that causes wicked diarreah and diaper rash. Hooray. Note to self…buy tub of super diaper ointment.

 

Now I’m wondering how long the poor dear has been in pain. Kinda feeling guilty.

 

A couple of other things. Katherine was great with Lauren today and quite patient while I was playing nurse all day. We went to our neighbor’s house on Monday and swam in their new pool with their daughter Sophia. That was fun. Lauren is singing twinkle twinkle little star all the time. Ok, it’s really “Tinkle winkle winkle winkle winkle winkle winkle winkle” you get the jest. All to the correct tune though.

 

She’s also picking up the boppy pillow and bringing it to me before demanding NUM NUM’s.

 

June 17, 2006

 

June has been a busy month so far. I am working on finishing up painting all of the trim and doors in the house in preparation for our new flooring installation. I’ve also changed all of the door hardware, including the front door, to more modern fixtures. In fact, these door handles are so modern that the packaging touts “hands free installation”. Although I was skeptical, I did try to will them on to the doors but they just laid there like lumps of metal and screws. So then I sat there and waited until the genie/handyman-who was apparently supposed to show up to install them for me- appeared. I finally got tired of waiting and since the screwdriver was a bit tricky to manipulate with my toes, I eventually resorted to using my hands to install the doorknobs. So, that, along with working, taking care of the girls (who have both been sick this month) and just the day to day time-filler-uppers, It’s been a bit hectic.

 

Katherine was being a bit of a handful for a few days while Woody was working in Buffalo and I think I know why. I realized that she’s usually pretty good the first night he’s gone but the second day is almost always a total bust. I suspect that she does not like the fact that she doesn’t get as much attention as she does when daddy is home. She loves her daddy and really misses him. BUT that is no excuse to run mommy into the ground. So we’ve re-introduced the rocks to get her behavior back on track. I’ve wanted to get a sand and water table (more on this stupid idea later) for the girls to play with on the patio. So I decided that 20 rocks would get her one. She didn’t know what she was working towards but she earned the rocks in a week and so we picked up the table on Friday.  The girls were both naked on the porch playing with the sand and flinging both sand and water everywhere within about 4 minutes of getting it set up.

 

Note to any moms out there who may be a tad bit, shall we say, OCD when it comes to tidiness. A sand and water table is probably not the best choice for you. I sat outside with the desire to watch the kids enjoy themselves. Within seconds I felt the “no’s and stop it’s” rising in my throat. Seeing the sand flung onto the floor and dumped into the water made me cringe. I tried my best to keep my stupid trap shut. Yes, I realize that the irrational urge to keep things clean is my problem and they shouldn’t have to pay for it. Finally, I knew that I just couldn’t help myself so I went inside and left the screen opened enough so I could hear them. They are kids. I want them to have dirty, wet fun without worrying about what a pain it will be for mom to clean up. I want this even if it kills me (which it might). Perhaps I should look into medication?

 

I remember watching a Discovery Health Channel show when I was pregnant with Katherine. It was about childhood development and it was fascinating. One of the things that I clearly remember was the part about lying. The experiment was showing when the ability to purposely lie began to show…it was at about age 4. Guess what age Katherine is? Yeah, almost 4. On Friday, I was in the office doing an upload before we went to the toy store. She got into the “memories drawer” in the office and pulled out a map of her dads. I told her not to open it because we don’t want it to get torn but that she could ask her dad to show it to her when he got home. The little stinker took it into the playroom and a few minutes later I arrived to find the map opened up in a pile on the floor. I asked her how it happened and she said “I didn’t open the map. Maybe Mr. Nobody did it”. I pulled her aside (and I even did the thing that I hated my mom to do to me, held her chin so she would look me in the eye…oooo I used to hate that) and I said “Katherine, I’m sure you wish you didn’t do it since you think I will be angry with you. But it’s called lying when you say something that isn’t true. Now, as long as you tell me the truth, I will not get angry but when you lie that makes me very angry. Now tell me. Did you open the map?”. “Yes momma”. I trotted her into the playroom and had her attempt to refold the map, which was comical to say the least, and then that little problem was solved. I’m sure we will be having replays of that discussion for the next year or so. 

 

Lauren is starting the slow road to independent urine evacuation, otherwise known as potty training. She’s been coming up to us saying “ewwwie” and grabbing her diaper. Nine times out of ten, it is indeed dirty or wet. So, I picked up a Winnie the Pooh potty chair and set it in the bathroom. On Friday she came up to me and said “ewwwie” while grabbing her neither-regions so I checked and she was dry. I asked if she wanted to use the potty and she said “yep” so I stripped her down and sat her on it. She played with the flusher toy on the potty seat, she stood up and sat down about a million times but finally, she tinkled just a tiny bit. Katherine and I did the “Lauren went pee pee on the potty” chant and Lauren looked so proud! We haven’t had a repeat performance yet but it will come. No rush.

 

June 19, 2006

 

I’m such a weenie. Katherine got her first spanking today. I know it hurt her pride more than it hurt her butt because I've smacked a bug harder than I smacked her butt.

 

She waited too late to go pee and peed in our bathroom floor.  I’d told her the last time that it happened (twice in one day) that the next time she peed on the floor because she was waiting for someone to go pee with her, she would get a spanking. I had to follow through but I really didn’t want too. I would never spank her for a true accident but she was jumping around asking me to come with her for about 5 minutes before the actual event. I’m so over that.

 

She was fine once the embarrassment wore off. Hopefully I won’t have to do it again. I really hated it. I really never have a desire to hit either of my kids.

 

I think Lauren is allergic to something. I don’t know what but she’s had diarrhea for almost 5 days now and a rash to beat all. Poor thing is just  pitiful.

 

Fathers day was spent at Busch Gardens after daddy woke up from his peaceful slumber at 10am, ate a breakfast of bacon and eggs and showered at his leisure. He wore his new shirt and I saw a few people checking it out while we were at the park.