Pillow talk

What I woke up to over the monitor this morning:

“Daddy, where are you? I’ve been waiting for you all ni-ight!”

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After Baby B’s latest fever won the two of us an extra day at home today, I’m finally rejoining society and returning to work tomorrow. I can say I’m definitely ready. With a few small exceptions (mostly doctor trips), I’ve been stuck at home for a week, so I’m eager to branch out a bit. At least if anyone gets swine flu now, I can confidently say it was not from me.

On the mend, part 2

We never had to make a trip to the ER last night, thank goodness. Baby B pretty much went to bed for the night around 6:30 p.m., and she woke up briefly once at 5:30 because she was thirsty (and drank quite a bit, which I definitely encouraged). Her fever went down signficantly as of when we went to bed, and she woke up this morning with a much lower fever (around 100). She’s acted much more like herself today, which was not the case yesterday. I’m hoping (for the second time now) that we’re all on the mend.

The other shoe? Oh, there it is

I had a sneaking suspicion that Baby B’s short run with swine flu was too good to be true. She had a bad day on Tuesday but bounced back quickly and was pretty much normal by Thursday and Friday.

Then she woke up this morning with a fever around 101.

And her cough returned.

And by naptime, it had gotten up to 103.5, with Tylenol bringing it down to only 101 by 3 hours later.

Turns out this is a common thing with swine flu, where you think you’re better and then the symptoms come storming back, sometimes worse than before.

Baby B’s temperature at last check? 104.7. Highest ever in her life.

I called the weekend pediatric nurse, who wants to see if we can get it down via Motrin and Tylenol, but if we can’t keep it below 105 with fever reducers, we should call back to go to the ER. We should also go to the ER if she has her breathing distress symptoms or if she’s coughing constantly for 2 hours. I can tell you that we may be taking her to the ER even if her fever doesn’t reach 105. I understand they’re trying to keep unnecessary trips to the ER to a minimum, but not every case can wait until the next morning.

We’re keeping a very close eye on her this evening and overnight, and I will not hesitate to take her in if we can’t get this fever down significantly. This is not something to mess with in a child that has a history of respiratory ailments.

Keep your fingers crossed that we have this under control. It breaks my heart when she says things like, “I’m so sad because I’m so sick right now.”

Recovery

The Husband returned to work today, and it looks like I will be returning on Sunday (a day late, as I was supposed to work on Saturday because it’s our busiest racing weekend of the year, but my supervisor was able to get my Saturday shift covered so I could rest an additional day).

It will be nice to join the rest of society. I wonder what I missed this week. It’s all been a blur.

Pig ears

I’m feeling a bit better today, though I’m still not close to 100%. Just better compared to the last few days. But I’ll take it. I’ve still got a lot of nasal and chest congestion, coughing, and now I’ve lost my voice since I’ve been coughing so much, but I’ve been upright most of the day, so that’s some improvement.Yesterday was the low point for me, and it was a pretty low one.

And let’s just say that Baby B had a real lunch and dinner today. Go me!

Baby B and I decided to spread our swine flu germs with others and kept our appointment with the ENT (way to go, Mom of the Year!) this morning. The doctor agreed that both with her history of ear infections and with three new ones within the last 3 1/2 months, Baby B is a candidate for repeat tubes. I have no hesitations regarding this decision, and her surgery will be on Monday, December 7. He said she still has a good chance of outgrowing the issue as she gets older; in fact, she has a 90% chance of outgrowing it in the next year alone. He said they can do permanent tubes, but that’s something that’s not something he does in kids this young. He said if she’s a teenager and still has these issues that it’s an option we can explore then. She had a hearing test while we were there, and it didn’t go well. One ear was borderline and one was below that, though both the audiologist and the doctor said it was likely due to the fluid currently in her ear. We’ve never had any concerns about hearing with her, so I suspect they’re right.

I’m just hoping that this illness is on its way out of our house. One good thing? No decisions needed about whether to get the H1N1 vaccine now.  (Though our decision had been to get it; it’s not available for Baby B’s age group at her pediatrician’s office yet, and the first flu clinic we could attend was on November 14. Looks like we’ll be free that morning now.)

Oink, oink

Sorry, no Wordless Wednesday post today. And it’ll be a brief one, long enough so I can say I technically posted.

I’ll just get to the bottom line: I was confirmed for swine flu today, so the doctor is reasonably certain that’s what The Husband and Baby B have, too, even though their tests came back negative. (The tests have a very high false negative rate.)

Things are not well in our house. Thank goodness Baby B is self-sufficient in many ways (and can help too), but The Husband and I are incapacitated, and Baby B is eating meals of preztels and applesauce and oyster crackers and peanut butter for dinner the past two nights. She has watched the Pooh Heffalump movie at least 15 billion times each day because it means she’s getting into fewer things around the house. Today during her naptime, The Husband and I slept while she pretty much just roamed the house and brought us various things she found. We just didn’t have the energy to correct her.

Now have to try to get her to bed so we can eat and then get to bed ourselves. I’m not a baby when it comes to being sick, but this is rough.

Save us a seat

I think they need to save us our own seat in the pediatrician’s office, as we’ve been making a lot of trips there recently.

The Husband came down with something on Friday night and was not well the whole weekend. He stayed home from work on Monday and still was not well enough to go to work today. He never misses time from work, let alone two days, so you know it’s not good. Baby B had a slight runny nose on Monday morning, but she was completely fine to go to daycare. I started feeling a bit congested during dinner at a friend’s house on Monday night (I’d left The Husband and Baby B at home since I didn’t want them to spread what they had), and by the time I got home that night, I knew things weren’t looking good for me.

It hit the fan overnight last night. The Husband had a rough time with a fever. I was having issues with my nasal congestion and was up for about an hour doing stuff on the computer since I couldn’t sleep. Baby B slept well for most of the night though woke up coughing and with a fever around 5:30 a.m. I felt pretty miserable myself, but when you’re the parent who is the least bad off, then you’re the one in charge of caretaking duty. Not an easy position to be in.

Normally I don’t rush Baby B into the doctor at every sniffle or cough, but with the H1N1 paranoia this year and with her history of respiratory ailments and the fact that this flu is respiratory, I think it’s something we have to do.

Oh, did I forget to mention that on Monday evening we were told at daycare that there were two confirmed cases of H1N1 in Baby B’s classroom? Yeah. Her symptoms? Fever, cough, runny nose, congestion, and respiratory distress. Could be a basic cold or other virus, but also could be swine flu, so I knew I was going to have to take her in.

I showered and went to work around 6:30 a.m. so I could get a few things wrapped up there and I could be available to stay home today and tomorrow. (I’m scheduled to be off Thursday and Friday anyway.) I spent an hour getting work done and also began calling the doctor’s office at 7:30 a.m. when they open. I didn’t get through for 25 minutes, but I was able to secure a 9 a.m. appointment. I headed home and got Baby B dressed and put in the car for yet another trip to the pediatrician.

When we got there, they had masks at the entrance and asked those with flu-like symptoms to wear one. I knew Baby B was not likely to keep one on, but I tried anyway, and I was pleasantly surprised that she kept it on (after I wrapped the long string twice around each ear to keep it in place). We were called back pretty quickly and they immediately did the rapid flu swab to check for that. The doctor came in and talked to us and examined Baby B, agreeing that she did have flu-like symptoms and could see the test going either way. She also discovered yet another double ear infection — her third in almost 4 1/2 months — so I’ve got a consultation scheduled with the ENT on Thursday morning to discuss tubes again. Clearly this is becoming a pattern again, and it’s not even winter yet. I have no hesitations doing the tube surgery again if it’s something they would recommend for her.

Baby B’s rapid flu test came back negative, which is good on the one hand, but part of me was kind of hoping it would be positive and we could just treat it and move on. We left with antibiotics for the ear infection, and she went ahead and prescribed Flovent for Baby B because of her history of wheezing episodes with colds/viruses (and the fact that both of her parents are asthmatic).  We’ll keep her on that until her three-year checkup in January and see how she’s doing on it.

Baby B and I got home and she slept for a couple hours before getting up in time for lunch. I had to run back out to pick up her medicines, and by that time, a fever had me in its grasp and I was not feeling well at all. I came home, somehow managed to eat lunch in between shivers, and laid down with Baby B to try to get some more rest. I think my fever broke recently, but The Husband’s fever has come and gone over the past few days, so I’m not expecting it to be gone forever. I’m going to have to stop in at the office and pick up a few things to do at home, but at least for the actual work days I don’t need to be in the rest of the week, so that’s helpful and hopefully I will avoid contaminating my coworkers. I just hope I’m feeling better so I can take good care of Baby B. Thankfully The Husband seems to be on the mend for the most part, so that should help out quite a bit too.

Door experiment: FAIL!

Every night at bedtime we close Baby B’s door and she cannot get out of her room overnight because we’ve got a door knob cover on the inside of her door. This does make me a little nervous in case an extreme circumstance occurs that would require her to escape her room by herself, but I’m playing the odds and guessing that’s way less likely to happen than what we’re trying to prevent. Mainly we don’t want her to have the freedom to get up when she should be going to sleep (thus getting to sleep much later than intended), and I have no desire to be woken up by a three-foot-tall person sticking her fingers in my nose or staring at me from one inch away while I try to sleep.

Last night Baby B asked us to let her sleep with the door cracked open a little. We fully knew this was not a plan that would work, but we decided to take a chance and see what happened. Having no expectations of success made it much easier to watch the display that followed.

First Baby B would walk to her door and whisper a couple of times, “Is anybody out there?” We wouldn’t answer her, and upon hearing no answer she would proceed to our dining room, which is halfway between her bedroom and the living room where we were. She would sit in the dining room chair, then wiggle off head-first onto the ground. She would stand up and gradually inch closer and closer to the living room, craning her neck expectantly to see if we could see her. We could, of course, but we didn’t let on.

If she made any sort of noise or came into our obvious view, we would say something and make her go back to bed. But a couple times she wasn’t pushing it quite as much, yet she lingered right at the edge of the living room. So one of the times she did this, I thought I’d have a little fun.

To The Husband I said, “Gosh, I sure hope they don’t come and throw Baby B’s books away! I hear all her books are thrown away if she’s not in her bedroom with them.”

Her eyes got big, you could see the panic register on her face, and she bolted back to her room. Okay, maybe a little mean, but it worked (temporarily). We eventually had to lay down the law (as expected) and close the door, which she didn’t take very well. She cried and cried, and my plan was to let her cry however long it took her. The Husband suggested that he go in there, and I’m glad he did because he was able to calm her down and she went to sleep pretty soon after that.

It was just so amusing to witness her antics, as I could see her pushing her boundaries, both literally and figuratively. I remained more as an observer and stayed emotionally unattached to the situation, and I could see exactly what she was doing. It reminded me of all those times when my sister and I were supposed to be in bed but we would sneak to the end of the hallway and eavesdrop on what my parents were saying and doing. We never gained any “secret” information during our escapades, but we were just doing what kids do: testing those boundaries to see how far we could go. The sky is the limit.

Well, at least until you overhear your mom say that someone is going to throw away all of your books if you leave your room!

Go, go, NaBloPoMo!

Today begins NaBloPoMo, the annual challenge to write a post every day in November, and I am ready to begin! This year will be quite a bit more difficult to complete the task as it is looking to be very busy at work during the month, and we’ll be traveling over Thanksgiving weekend with limited access to the computer. So you’ll have to forgive me if some posts are just pictures or just quick stories, but I know I’ll find some way to complete the goal.

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Yesterday morning, The Husband wasn’t feeling very well, so I was on Baby B duty by myself for the morning. She and I were both bored with activities around the house, so I bundled us up and we took a walk around the neighborhood. I love to see the kinds of things she noticed when we’re out, and I thought this was particularly sweet.

A storm the night before had made about half the leaves on the trees fall off, and Baby B noticed the difference in the leaves when we were out. Totally out of the blue, she said, “There’s a mouse that goes up in the trees.” A bit confused, I said, “A mouse? Did you see a mouse climb up the tree? Are you sure it wasn’t a squirrel or a bird?” She said, “No, it was a MOUSE! It climbs up the tree and shakes all the leaves down, and they go to the ground. See there?”

There are many facts of life that I’ll correct Baby B on; I truly believe she should be armed with accurate information that can help her as she learns about the world around her. But I also don’t want to burst her bubble when it comes to some of her magical explanations for things that are mysterious to her right now. She obviously won’t always think that mice are responsible for making the leaves fall to the ground, so I’ll let her have fun with things like this from time to time, interjecting the truth as it becomes more relevant.

There are certainly times that I wish I didn’t know as much about how the world works, and I envy that in Baby B right now. In a world where kids grow up way too fast, sometimes it’s nice to let kids be kids.

Must trust

The Husband and I ventured for an evening out on Tuesday night, as one of our favorite musical performers was playing at a club in Louisville. We got Baby B tucked into bed and made sure everything was in order at home, then we hit the road to the show. There was quite a downpour for most of the drive there, and it was so bad that we kept losing traction on the interstate. Scary times, to say the least, and it was a relief to be off the interstate and finding our way to the club. Street parking was necessary, then we had to walk a couple blocks to arrive at our final destination.

The rain was still coming down in sheets. There was no doubt we were going to get wet considering the distance we had to walk, so there was no point in making a run for it. We were resigned to becoming soaked.

Just then, a man with an umbrella came from out of nowhere and saw  us walking. He ran over to us and put his umbrella over my head, walking beside me, with The Husband right behind me. He said to The Husband, “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna get fresh with her. I’m just trying to keep you dry.” He jokingly asked,”Why’d you all make it rain so much anyway?”

Now I’ll admit it: I was highly suspicious of the man. He was by himself, we were dressed fairly nicely for a Tuesday night, and we were out at 10:30 p.m. at night in an unfamiliar area of a city in which we do not live. The neighborhood didn’t seem like a bad one, but I know crimes can (and do) happen anywhere. I was totally expecting him to ask me to hand over my purse at any moment, despite the benign chit-chat he was making.

We continued walking down the street, about the length of ten or 12 houses, when the man asked where we were going. I told him the club name (it was around the corner), and he paused for a moment and said, “Look, I trust you. You take the umbrella with you, and bring it back to this house, and just put it on the porch.” And with that, he went inside the house we were standing at, leaving us with his umbrella to borrow.

Instantly I felt bad for thinking that he might mug us. Sure, he only entrusted us with a basic umbrella — something easily replaceable — but that was a step above what was expected of him in the situation. His words kept resonating in my head.

“I trust you.”

I trust you.

A complete stranger, trusting us with something of his.

And it got me thinking about Baby B and the trust between us. She might be at an age where I don’t trust that she’s always going to make the right choices as she’s feeling her way around the world…just as I didn’t trust Umbrella Man initially. But she has complete trust in me — to protect her, to love her, to look after her — and that alone is enough to make me want to be even more trusting of her. Also also trusting of the job we’re doing to prepare her for life.

Wordless Wednesday: Clowning around for Halloween

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On a role

As previously mentioned, Baby B has stepped up her role-playing interest lately. Typically it is limited more to scenarios that she is familiar with, but we have a great time acting them out — and hopefully getting her to see things in a new light.

One of her recent favorites is to put me and The Husband in timeout. She used to say we (or The Dog) should go to timeout, but that’s where it ended. That’s not the case now. She fully steps into the role of a parent or teacher and enforces the rules. If I talk while she’s reading? Here’s how it goes:

Me: [talk talk talk]

Baby B: “Mommy, you do NOT talk while I’m READING the story. You go to ti-MOUT!”

She leads me over to a place next to her closet doors and instructs me to sit there.

Baby B: “Now you stay here and you do NOT talk. And you do NOT dance when you’re in timeout.”

As part of our role reversal I like to pretend to be a child who does not listen, so she can hopefully see the kinds of frustrations that we (her parents) and her teachers have to deal with. Basically I push it as far as I can (though backing off when it’s clear that Baby B doesn’t feel like it’s a game anymore).

So I’ll start dancing in timeout. Which, of course, draws the wrath of Ms. You’re in Timeout.

Me: [dancing, dancing, dancing]

Baby B: “Mommy, you are NOT being very good! You are not listening to me. You do NOT dance in timeout. And you do not talk in timeout.”

I’ll pretend to be good for a few seconds, neither dancing nor talking, then I’ll do something new, like lie down on the floor. Immediately she comes back over to me, exasperated.

Baby B: “What are you doing? You need to sit up.”

Me: “But I wasn’t dancing or talking.  You just said no dancing and no talking!”

Baby B: “No, Mommy. You need to sit UP!”

And so it continues for a good ten or 15 minutes, this game that is so much more than a game. I always used to think it was most beneficial for Baby B, as she gets to see some of what we have to deal with, but I’m learning that it’s also useful for me and The Husband, as we get to see things from her point of view, too. The end goal of respecting each other is reached by first taking the path of understanding each other.

How awesome is our babysitter?

Somehow we went from me offering to buy or make dinner for The Babysitter and Baby B since The Husband and I were out last night…to her offering to make a homemade chicken pot pie for them — and then her leaving us leftovers for lunch today!!

She is one-of-a-kind. (And a good cook!)

Wordless Wednesday: How tall this fall

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Once upon a time

Once upon a time, there was a girl who’d never held a job a day in her life, and she lived quite the life of privilege. She was so pretty, and everyone admired her for this feature alone. One day, she found herself in quite the predicament — but never fear! At that very moment, the handsome prince was riding in on his white horse to save the day — and the princess too. Despite knowing each other for a few mere hours, they kiss passionately, profess their love for each other, and vow to marry immediately in a lavish ceremony attended by the entire kingdom. And, of course, they live happily ever after.

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Does that about cover it?

Is it any reason I despise some of the lessons that come out of fairy tales?

We don’t discourage fairy tales and princesses in our house, but we don’t actively encourage it, either. Basically it just really doesn’t come up at home — much like, say, the topic of landfills, for example.

So you can imagine my surprise when a friend asked Baby B last week, “What are you going to be for Halloween?” and without any hesitation, she answered, “A pink princess,” as though we’d discussed it before and had come to a clear decision. In fact, we’ve had her costume for a few weeks, and it is not a pink princess.

But oh, the princess stuff begins.

Honestly, I don’t mind if she does some princess roleplaying. Obviously it’s an appealing thing to young kids, and who doesn’t wish to be whisked off their feet and rescued from all their troubles in such a simple manner? I think my main desire is to stay away from the overcommercialization of princess paraphernalia, including the ever-present Disney princesses (barf! So not a Disney person in the first place). And really, that comes down to me exerting my authority as a parent to not buy all that crap. And it’s not just limited to princesses; I also feel like she can occasionally watch Elmo, but she’s not going to have Elmo plastered on every item she owns.

So really, even though my main issue is with the princess fairy-tale fantasy, the real beef is with the overcommercialization of all such things targeted to kids. Looking around the room at the daycare kids, it’s everywhere. Dora shoes and Mickey backpacks and Wiggles t-shirts. There’s a seemingly endless supply in the marketplace, and parents have bought into it big time, just like these companies want.

But that doesn’t mean we have to play that game. After all, I’m too busy waiting for my knight in shining armor to come along.

Readers digest

As an update to my last post, Baby B recovered nicely from Thursday’s illness. She could have gone back to daycare on Friday, I think, but we went ahead and kept her home with me since I was off that day anyway.

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I’ve got a journalism degree and read every day for a living and in my spare time, and The Husband has an English degree and gobbles up books faster than he can get them from the library.

To say that reading is an important activity in our house might be an understatement.

We understand first-hand how much reading can enhance your life in so many ways, and of course we want that for our daughter, too. It can exercise her mind. It can help her analyze information. It can help her learn to focus. It can help her focus on her goals and point her in the right direction in life. It can help her understand the world around her.

I think I can speak for both of us when I say that it makes us so happy when Baby B makes the choice — all on her own, without our insistence — to read books. She she’s deemed this a worthwhile activity that she enjoys doing. Sometimes she’ll ask us to read her a story, other times she’ll flip through the pages and narrate what’s happening in the pictures, throwing in snippets of plot she remembers from before and asking occasionally, “Can everybody see the book?”

But what I love best is when we leave her room at bedtime and she asks to read every night before going to sleep. This is not something we are going to discourage. She’ll ask us to keep her dimmer switch turned up a little so she can see, and sometimes she’ll spend half an hour devouring the books she has chosen. We can see her on the video monitor, and she looks determined to get every bit out of those books that she can. I love it.

Does it cause her to miss out on a little extra sleep?

Sure, it does.

But does it offer her so many benefits that will last her a lifetime?

Most certainly, yes.

Signs of the (sick) season

Ah, another illness, another double ear infection. Lovely!

Baby B went to bed last night with a slight runny nose and a touch of a cough, and she woke up at 4:30 a.m. with much more pronounced symptoms. When it was time to get her up for the day today at 6:30 a.m., we quickly decided she wasn’t well enough to go to daycare, as she seemed to have a low-grade fever, runny nose, more pronounced cough, and some labored breathing. Honestly, if it were a normal year, I wouldn’t have taken her to the doctor for these fairly mild symptoms, but with the whole country on flu alert and with Baby B without a flu shot thus far (she was scheduled for their clinic this weekend, but they’ve now had to cancel due to lack of shipment), I figure it was a good idea to go ahead and take her in.

I called the pediatrician when they opened and got in for an 8:30 a.m. appointment. We had maybe a 20-minute wait in the waiting area, then we were taken back to the exam room. Baby B weighed in at 29.5 pounds, and since she said her throat was hurting, they decided to do a strep test in addition to a flu swab. She did great for the strep test but didn’t like the flu swab nearly as much and cried for a bit after that was over. The doctor came in, went over her symptoms and asked questions, then checked for things such as her blood oxygen level and listened for pneumonia. He didn’t hear any pneumonia, but since the strep and flu tests came back negative, he went ahead and sent her for an x-ray to check if there was anything brewing in there.

Baby B had been in good spirits up to this point, but the sick feeling caught up to her and she was quite lethargic while we were waiting about 25 minutes for her x-ray. Very unlike her, she was curled up in my lap with her head buried into my shoulder, just staring off into space. She did great for her x-ray, complaining at first about sitting on the table but then cooperating fully. We left to go to the pharmacy to fill her prescriptions for antibiotics and a steroid (just in case she does have something lung-related), and waited for a call from the doctor about the x-ray. They called about an hour later and said the x-ray was negative for pneumonia, which was good, but that meant we were pretty much left with a generic virus diagnosis and “call us if her symptoms worsen.” But, that’s about what I expected, so I wasn’t surprised.

Once again she was very lethargic while waiting at the pharmacy and sat in the chair the whole 20 minutes without moving (again unlike her). We went home, did her first medicine doses, and went to lie down in our bed for a nap. I crawled in with her and napped for about an hour until it was time for me to get ready and eat lunch before going to work. She ultimately ended up sleeping from 11 a.m. until about 3 p.m., but woke up feeling some better, so clearly she needed it.

I’m thinking if she gets one more ear infection in the near future, I’m going to call the ENT to see what they say about a second set of tubes; I have no hesitation having that done again if it looks like ear infections will continue to be a trend. Here’s hoping we don’t get to that point, though.

Wordless Wednesday: How to get anything you want

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Here comes the Boo Boo Monster!!

It did not amuse me when Baby B came home from daycare over the summer talking about monsters. This was not something she picked up at home. Not that I expected her to completely escape knowledge of monsters, but putting it off a little longer would have been nice.

In hindsight, I think it’s been a pretty good thing, as we’ve (so far) been able to take the idea of monsters and put our own spin on them, turning them from scary creatures to silly, oaf-like beings.

One thing Baby B really likes to do is a game where we roleplay monsters. She calls this the Boo Boo Monster Game (no clue why she calls it that). The game starts out by me putting a blanket or towel over my head and proclaiming, “I’m the Boo Boo Monster! You’d better go hide or I’m coming to get you!” I’ll then proceed to walk zombie-style toward the bed while Baby B and The Husband shriek and scramble to take cover under the blankets. I finally reach the bed, feel them through the covers, saying, “I found out! I’m gonna get you now!” More shrieking from Baby B and The Husband.

Finally, in the big climax, I dramatically pull the covers off them and say, “HA! I found you!” Baby B shrieks in delight, then I take off the blanket over my head and say, “Hey, you guys! It’s just ME!!” And we all have a good laugh.

Immediately Baby B puts the blanket over her head and tells us to hide because the Boo Boo Monster is coming to get us. She goes through the same steps that I did as she pretends to be this monster, before finally revealing that, “It’s actually me!”

This, of course, isn’t to say that she’ll never be scared of monsters (in fact, I’m sure at some point she will be), but I like that we try to have fun with it and help her see things in a different light sometimes.

Where the wild things are

I know where the wild things are.

They’re taking over the bouncy obstacle course without regard for the little kids around them.

We were at our local bookstore for an event to celebrate — appropriately — “Where the Wild Things Are,” and they had several events set up, including a reading of the book, face painting, balloon animals, crafts, and a bouncy obstacle course. Lots of good, free family fun.

The bouncy obstacle course had three rules posted at the entrance: 1. No shoes allowed, 2. Only two at a time, and 3. Have fun. It seems that one more rule — which I think should be assumed (but apparently not) — should be been included: Parents, please supervise your children.

That was not the case for these two boys, who were probably around 7 or 8 years old. Despite the bookstore worker’s pleas, they would enter the obstacle course when it wasn’t their turn, play rough among all the little kids inside, and wouldn’t come out immediately like they were supposed to. The worker tried her best to get them to obey like all the other kids were doing, but with no luck. I applauded her efforts, but you know what?

That’s not her job.

Where were the boys’ parents, you ask? The short answer: They were not in the immediate vicinity and thus were unavailable to encourage the boys to behave in a more appropriate manner. My suspicion is that the parents saw a way for the boys to be entertained and then vacated the area, going to a more remote part of the (quite large) bookstore and completely unaware of how the kids were behaving.

Well, that’s what store workers are for, right? To babysit kids that aren’t their own?

Maybe I sound like an old fuddy-duddy here, but what happened to taking responsibility for your own kids? I’m not saying the parents could have necessarily prevented the boys from acting like this initially, but they certainly could have been present to show their disapproval of such behavior and enact consequences if they didn’t shape up quickly. No parents, no consequences.

It’s no wonder so many people think that kids are such brats these days.

Anatomy lesson (Baby B style)

In the car on the way home from the dog park:

Baby B: “Mommy, where are [The Dog's] elbows??

Me: “They’re on his legs*.”

Baby B: “On his legs? Not on his arms?”

Me: “He doesn’t have arms. Just legs!”

Baby B: (pondering this) “Are they on his legs to make him run faster?”

Me: “Yes, they help his legs bend and he can run faster.”

Baby B: “So if I took them off his legs, he would run slower?”

Me: (laughing) “Yeah, if you took off his elbows, I’m guessing he’d run a lot slower, wouldn’t he?”

Baby B: “That’s silly!”

============

*I know this isn’t technically true, but she’s two, for crying out loud.

Fall family festivities: Flapjacks and a flick (and farm fun too!)

Some days, you know exactly what’s in store when you get out of bed, but other days, you never know what great things lie ahead for you.

We had one of the latter days on Saturday. The day began on a rough note, as we were not pleased with a 6 a.m. wakeup call from Baby B; that’s half an hour earlier than the time we wake her up during the week. Her normal weekend wakeup time is around 8 or 8:30 a.m., so a two-hour head start on the day isn’t ever a welcome surprise. I tried to lay in her bed with her, hoping to extend her early rise a bit, but I was unsuccessful. By 6:30 a.m., I’d had enough of the whining — “I wanna get up. I wanna eat breakfast. I don’t wanna be in bed anymore.” — and declared us up for the day.

I wasn’t amused, but I was trying to think of a way to redeem the day. We’d been told about Flapjacks and a Flick (all-you-can-eat pancakes and drinks plus the movie for a single price) at a local movie theater, but the start time is at 9 a.m. on Saturdays, so we’re usually not up and at ‘em early enough to make it to that. I figured we might as well give it a shot since we were up anyway; it seemed like a good way to take Baby B to a movie theater for the first time (ie, her sitting still for 90 minutes? Not so sure about that).

So we got ready and headed out, arriving at the movie theater a few minutes early. We had three choices — we picked Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs over Bee Movie and Shark Tale — and then went into the theater to pick a seat. As I was hoping, the theater was nearly empty. We picked our seats and soon were delivered our first batch of pancakes just as the previews were starting. The movie went wonderfully. Baby B stayed in her seat for just over an hour or so. For the last part of the movie, she wanted to wander down our row a bit and then came back and wanted sit on the steps of the aisle. (No one was near us, so this really wasn’t a big deal.) I was really proud of her! I’m not so sure she’s ready for a movie in a regular theater, but with these conditions — pancakes and almost no one else in the theater — I think it went really well.

When we left the theater, we saw it was a gorgeous day — no clouds in the sky and a great warm temperature for a fall afternoon — so we decided to go to our favorite local orchard for some fall fun. We played on their awesome playground, went through the corn maze, let Baby B ride a pony (not her first pony ride, but her first in two years, and this time she held on all by herself like a big girl; she LOVED it), went through the petting zoo, then had some lunch before winding up our day with a wagon ride through the farm. Of course, because we hadn’t planned on doing this, I didn’t have my camera with me, so I don’t have any pics of our outing, but there’s also something to be said for doing things without feeling any obligation to take pictures. Not that I consider it to be a burden or anything, but it’s nice to be relieved of the duty from time to time.

What a full morning/early afternoon we had, and none of it had been planned beforehand. I love that we make plans to do a lot of fun things, but we still remain flexible and let fun things find us.

“It’s fun to have fun, but you have to know how.”

–Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss

Just wait

“Just wait until…”

If anyone starts a sentence with those words, just turn and run the other direction. Chances are pretty good the conversation is not going to go in a good direction.

It starts during pregnancy.

Tell someone you’re feeling kind of queasy? They follow up with, “Just wait until you’re hovering over the toilet nonstop, puking up bile because there’s nothing left in your stomach.”

All right, um, thanks.

It continues throughout pregnancy.

Have heartburn early on? Oh, just wait until it’s even worse in the third trimester. Annoyed by maternity clothes? Just wait until nothing fits at the very end. Having trouble sleeping? Just wait until the baby is here; you’ll wish you got this kind of sleep then.

But it doesn’t end once your child is born. No, that’’s when the real fun begins. Lots of yucky dirty diapers? Just wait until they start solids. Mention that you’re chasing your crawling baby all around? Just wait until she’s walking! Tell someone that your one-year-old is having a tantrum. Just wait until the terrible twos! In the throes of the terrible twos? Just wait…three is even worse. Exhausted trying to fit everything into a 24-hour day? Just wait until you have two (or three) kids.

So why do women do this? Why do we (unintentionally) minimize another person’s current experiences in an effort to warn about the future? I think, for one thing, a lot of people like to be the town crier. They want to be the one to pass along such warnings of the future, no matter how dire.

And we think we’re making others feel better by reminding them that it could be worse, even though that’s often not what people want to hear in the moment. In hindsight, perhaps, but not when they’re going through something difficult at the time.

And we like to think that if we had to ensure some challenges along the way, then we want to do what we can to give a heads up to others. (Thus all of the unsolicited advice new moms get.) We want to spare others the troubles we endured, not really remembering that sometimes people need to go through an experience on their own to really learn what works best and how to get through it.

But I think it also is rooted in the fact that there are many aspects of motherhood that people don’t warn you about. All those things the pregnancy/parenting books don’t tell ever you. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard someone talking about a pregnancy or parenting experience, saying, “Why didn’t someone warn me about this?!” But the funny thing is that chances are pretty good that someone did warn you about it, but perhaps you chose not to listen at the time.

So you end up in this cycle of women ignoring the “Just wait until…” conversations because they feel their current experiences are being brushed off, but then they feel inadequately prepared when they do reach that stage and don’t remember getting the heads up all that time ago…then they pass along the “Just wait until…” line to those who have yet to go through that experience. The cycle perpetuates itself.

I really, really try to minimize my “just wait” conversations with friends; it’s so easy to fall into the “just wait” trap, but I’ve learned you can still convey the same general sentiment — especially when you’re excited for something they’re going to experience in the future –  just with different wording. Let’s say a friend’s daughter has said her first two or three words. A common thing to hear at mention of that milestone might be, “Just wait until she’s talking in sentences and running her mouth a mile a minute!” Why not change that around and say something like, “That’s so exciting! Before you know it, she’ll be talking in sentences. What a great step in that direction!” It conveys the same general sentiment, but acknowledges the current achievement more than the “just wait” statement.

Just wait until more people catch on to this approach!

Wordless Wednesday: Double stroller?

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Booster club

I had only less than two weeks to really prepare for the 5K last weekend as I’ve kept up running this summer but more on a recreational basis instead of actual training. I worked hard during the two weeks I had to train, but the fact is, I knew I wouldn’t set a personal record just because a lot of race conditioning comes over time, not crammed in at the last minute. But of course I still wanted to do my best, so I went into it thinking I’d love to break the 30-minute mark (which I’ve never done) but would be happy with something around the 32- or 33- minute range.

The course was nice and flat (bonus!), but what I didn’t account for was the fact that I ended up running on two blisters — a quarter-sized one on the bottom of each foot, right where the toe meets the foot. And it’s my own fault, really. I should have changed into my better walking shoes the day I arrived in Boston, but I completely forgot about it until it was too late.

The weather on the morning of the race was slightly chilly, but once we were warmed up, it wasn’t too bad. Perfect for running, actually — maybe low 50s. Serenity and I decided we wouldn’t necessarily stay together when running; we’re both used to running alone and even though we knew we could possibly help each other, I think we were hesitatant to hold each other up.

The first mile of the race was so-so, and the second mile of the race was better for me (that’s usually my best mile). However, by the last half-mile, I was struggling a bit more and had to take a short walking break.

Two older (40s, I’d say) women passed me and looked back and said, “Do you need a boost?” At first I said no, but then I figured that actually, now that you mention it, yes I could. In general it’s hard for me to admit when I need help, but I figured I didn’t have much to lose and had a lot to gain, so I said yes. They said, “We’ll get you to the finish. It’s hard running alone. We chat with each other and the finish is here in no time.”

And that’s exactly what they did. They asked me questions about my running, hat other races I’ve done, where I was from, what I was doing while in town — just whatever they thought to ask to help me keep my pace and get to the finish line. I finished in :34.07 — my worst 5K time ever, actually — but I did finish.

I know I could have done it without them.

But I’m glad I didn’t have to. It was the best part of the race for me.

And it reminded me a lot about tackling parenting with The Husband. He gives me that boost when I need it, and I do the same for him. While our journeys during the “race” might be different, our ultimate goal is to make it to the finish line together. While I could do the parenting thing alone, I’m glad I don’t have to. We’re in this together, helping each other along the way.

I don’t have to be SuperMom…because together we are SuperParents.

(And on that note, a big thanks goes out to The Husband, who took charge at home with Baby B [who was sick part of the time] while I was away over the long weekend. I love that he’s fully capable of taking care of things in my absence. I didn’t even have to leave him any instructions on anything. He so totally rocks.)

Back in Boston

Back to life. Back to reality.

But boy did I have a great time spending the weekend with Serenity! Among many other things, we walked all around the city, played the role of tourists, ran a 5K race (no personal record for me, but I did have to run on a foot blister I’d received the day before), and one of us puked (multiple times) on the boat of the whale watch tour (hint: it wasn’t me…though I wasn’t feeling so hot myself. I just lucked out and kept my lunch in my tummy). I got to spend some time with her son, Baby O, but mostly it was a weekend where we got to spend time with each other sans children. (And a big thanks has to go out to her husband, who kept a sick Baby O all day on Saturday while we were running the 5K and puking on boats spending time in Boston.) It was nice to be able to get out and do some things that you just can’t do easily with a toddler in tow.

There were definitely times that I missed Baby B, but we were able to do a couple of video chats that helped. Though sometimes that made me miss them more, as I got to see her playing the chanter and walking around the house with her booster seat strapped to her butt. Ah, the silliness continues even without me there!

After an insanely early flight, I made it back to the airport and didn’t realize just how much I’d missed them until I’d gotten off my last plane and was heading to meet them outside security. I couldn’t walk fast enough (and couldn’t run because of my blister!). It was a great feeling to be greeted by Baby B running toward me saying, “MOMMY! MOMMY! MOMMY!” and running in front of about three people in the process of trying to get to me (thankfully they all seemed amused by it, though I did apologize to them for her getting in their way). I got The Biggest Hug Ever from Baby B and The Husband and was definitely glad to be welcomed back by my own little family.

Thanks for a great weekend, Serenity! You’re the best!

Boston beware

Look out, Boston, here I come!

By the time this is posted automatically by WordPress (thanks, WordPress!), I’ll hopefully be in the air on my way north to see Serenity. I’m making this trip alone, and I’m very much looking forward to it! What will I do without a million things to carry from terminal to terminal? (Answer: Not arrive at my destination with sore arms.) What will I do with all the downtime in the airports and on the planes? (I know that answer: CATCH UP ON MAGAZINES!) I can’t wait!

While in the area, we’ll get out to see the sights (I’m so gonna be a tourist! Should I pack the fanny pack, visor, and knee socks to complete the look?) as well as spend some time at home. On Saturday, Serenity and I are going to be running in the 5K Race for the Cure in Boston, which she tricked me into doing asked me to do after she recently found out a good friend has breast cancer. As my mom is a seven-year survivor herself, I figured this was a good idea. (Though I still say she tricked me into it! ) While I’m gone, The Husband will be running in our city’s 5K Race for the Cure, as well, so in a way it’ll be like we’re running in the same race (they’re even at the same time).

Definitely looking forward to the getaway, and even though I will miss The Husband and Baby B greatly, I know they’ll do just fine on their own without me. (Heck, maybe even better!)

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday: Smiley or serious?

Toddler talk

Scene: Naptime. Baby B calls me into her bedroom.

Baby B: “Mommy, I waked up from my nap dry!”

Me: “That’s GREAT, sweetheart! Except, um, you haven’t exactly gone to sleep yet!!”

Baby B: “Oh yeah!”

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Scene: Driving on a local road, behind a FedEx truck.

Baby B: “What’s that?” (looking at something sticking out the back door of the truck and flapping)

Me: “It looks like it might be a handle for the door so they can pull it down and up.” (I had no idea what it was since we weren’t that close, but I was offering my best guess.)

Baby B: “No, it’s a horse tail! The horse is trying to get out of the truck. It wants to jump out.”

Me: “Oh, it’s a horse tail? Cool! I guess we’ll see when we get closer. I still think it’s a handle.”

We move up to pass the truck.

Baby B: “It’s a piece of plastic! Mommy, you tricked me! [she laughs] Do it again!”

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Scene: Driving home from daycare.

Baby B: “We’re going to Mommy’s house, and Daddy’s house, and my house, and [The Dog's] house, and [Cat #1's] house, and [Cat #2's] house.

Me: “That’s right. We’re going to our house. That’s where we live.”

Baby B: “No, we live in Lexington!“

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Scene: Baby B right after dinner. I had just finished telling The Husband the story right above.

Baby B: “We live in Lexington [big pause] and we doooooooon’t LIKE it!”

(No idea where she got that from, as we definitely like it!!)

Wet ones

So of course Baby B woke up dry every.single.night but four during the month of August, so we made the switch to undies at night a couple weeks ago. She started out great, but now she’s had probably five accidents in the past seven days. Frustrating, sure, a little, since she’d been doing so well, but we knew this was possible, so we’re taking some steps to help her and will see how it goes before regressing back to Pull-Ups at night.

We’re really trying to limit how much she drinks in the evenings; she’d gotten used to taking a cup of water into her bedroom at night, and we’re trying to eliminate that first since I’m sure that’s a contributing factor. We’re also going to be waking her every night around midnight to get her to pee (which she does basically while still asleep and then goes right back to bed), hopefully in an effort to (eventually) teach her to wake herself up when she feels like she needs to pee. This will definitely take time, but I’m confident she can get there eventually. As with everything else, we just have to be patient and let her go at her own pace while receiving encouragement and guidance from us.

Case clothes-ed

For as long as I can remember, Baby B has worn some sort of sleeper, pajamas, or nightgown to sleep in. I was never one to just put her to bed in whatever outfit she wore that day; I’ve always felt like new clothes can refresh a person and signal a new phase of the daily routine (in this case, sleep).

But as Baby B gets older, she’s much more emphatic about the things she requests. And one of those things has been to sleep in whatever clothes she wore that day. At first I resisted; that’s just not what you do. You put on different clothes to sleep in.

But then I started questioning myself: Why does that have to be the case? Just because that’s how I’ve always done it? Is that a valid enough reason? Maybe for some things, but with toddlers you have to pick your battles, and is this a battle that’s really worth fighting? What harm would it do to let her sleep in that day’s clothes, as long as they were comfortable and weren’t horribly dirty? No one else sees them but us. It’s not disrupting her sleep. She’s happy. Why shouldn’t we be happy about it?

So now we still offer her some pajamas or a nightgown (incidentally, too-short summer cotton dresses work GREAT as  nightgowns!), but if she says she wants to continue wearing what she has on, we let her.

There shall be no Battle of the Pajamas in our house. We’ll save our army’s strength for bigger battles sure to come our way.

Wordless Wednesday: Cheers!

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Just the facts, ma’am

I am a copy editor, so a big part of what I do is read stories and look for the factual holes in the story. I look for what doesn’t make sense in a situation. I know this is a case of Baby B just being a normal, logical toddler, but this is a girl after my heart.

We were reading one of her Clifford books from the library. In it, Emily Elizabeth says that the pier is too crowded so she can’t stand there to fish, but not to worry because they can stand on good ol’ Clifford. Baby B took a look at the first picture with the crowded pier, and she looked at us and said, “Actually, there’s room on the pier…right here” and pointed to a small clearing among the people.

I love that she questioned it. I love that she questions nearly everything. I’m sure there will come a time when the questions drive me bonkers, but I love them because it means she has a curious mind and wants to learn about the world around her. I could not ask for more.

Daddies and clothes and being dry

Baby B is going through yet another intense “I want ONLY Daddy” phase right now, surely instigated by his absence over Labor Day weekend. I can only imagine what my weekend away is going to do for their bonding and for nudging me a bit further off her radar.

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I went shopping for Baby B’s fall/winter wardrobe over the weekend, and I think she’ll be set for a little while. I went ahead and got stuff in 3T size. Some of it is a little big, but I think this way the clothes will last her the entire season instead of changing sizes in the middle. Other pieces that run kind of small fit her perfectly. Winter dresses weren’t as much of an option where I went (mostly it was just the fancy Christmas-type dresses, not the comfy cotton ones), so I focused on getting shirts and cotton pull-up pants. They had so many pairs of jeans and khakis that were cute, but I had to pass on those for now because in her size, most of them tend to have a real zipper and button or snap, and this year we need items of clothing that she can do herself. My favorite score? A maroon pea coat that is so stinking cute on her. Next up: shoe shopping this weekend, so she doesn’t have to wear her summer sandals with all these cute outfits!

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Last week we decided to try undies at night, as she woke up dry all but four mornings on August (and two of those were when she was sick and drinking more). So far so good. She did have one accident on night two, but besides that she’s done awesome. I’m very proud of her!

Think pink (or not)

As I mentioned a couple days ago, we got a call from daycare on Tuesday afternoon informing us that Baby B had pink eye and we needed to get her. The daycare had an outbreak of pink eye about two months ago, and Baby B had escaped it then, but we figured it finally caught up with her. After scrambling to figure out plans to pick her up (The Husband was at work for the first time in a week so he was getting caught up, but I had a hard magazine deadline and couldn’t leave), I called the doctor and they asked about symptoms, then called in a prescription for the antibiotic eye drops and said we didn’t need to come in.

I left work at 5 p.m., picked up her medicine, and dropped it off at home before going to a friend’s house for dinner. When I got home, I became very skeptical that Baby B had pink eye, as her eye looked perfectly normal. No pink or redness. Not itchy. Not watering. Nothing. In fact, I couldn’t tell which one they were saying it was, but I figured we might know more when she woke up on Wednesday morning because it would likely be crusty/gunky. We went ahead and started the drops and kept her home on Wednesday because she can’t return until 24 hours after starting the drops.

I took the morning shift at home on Wednesday and woke up feeling pretty rotten. It felt quite like my bad morning sickness (was not that), though probably was just a stomach bug, as The Husband ended up with it the next day. I threw up a couple of times and basically laid on the couch all morning until I finally had to take my shower around 11:30 a.m. I am SO PROUD of how well Baby B did as I dozed on the couch. I never fully went to sleep, but I was kind of in a fog, so I couldn’t interact with her as much as I wanted. I’ll admit I did put a movie on in the background, but she mostly entertained herself in other ways, even doing a little cleaning up without being asked. The Husband got home at lunchtime and I somehow dragged myself to work, still not feeling great, but it’s a busy week because of the short week, so I couldn’t stay home all day even though I felt bad. I still felt off during the evening but was able to eat dinner and started feeling some better before bed, and thankfully I woke up on Thursday morning feeling fine.

But back to Baby B’s “pink eye.” Wednesday morning? Didn’t wake up with crust. Nor for Wednesday’s nap. Nor on Thursday morning. Or Friday morning. I really don’t think she had it (and believe me, I’d be the first to admit it if she did). My suspicion is that she had some kind of eye irritation and the daycare overreacted because of the previous pink eye outbreak. I mean, in a way I can’t blame them and do understand since it’s so contagious, but it stinks because it caused us to lose a day and a half of work during an already busy week. And the worst part? We had to keep giving Baby B the drops for three days (instructions call for three days beyond the last appearance of symptoms), and it was pretty much torture for her. If it was doing some good, then it doesn’t bother me as much, but I hate knowing that it was probably for nothing.

But ultimately the good news is that she never showed any further signs, so it seems like we’re in the clear. I’m at least thankful for that.

Girls just wanna have fun

What a week it’s been! Nothing major, but just a lot of little things have kept me from writing as much as I’ve wanted to.

I left off with my post on Friday morning, detailing our difficult night. I kept Baby B home with me on Friday and tried my hardest to take care of her cold while dealing with mine. Thankfully mine was past its peak by then, and hers was too, so it was challenging but doable. We managed to get out for a bit to do the weekly grocery trip but generally had a lazy day, which is exactly what we both needed.

On Saturday, we were both feeling mostly better, so Baby B and I went to a local orchard to check it out. We have a preferred one we visit often but had not been to this one, so I thought we’d see if it was worth it. They had a lot of good play equipment, but signs all around that said adults can’t get on it, which I understand, but one thing I like about the one that we go to is that everyone is encouraged to play. The weather was gorgeous and we were there for about an hour when Baby B asked to go home. I’d planned to have lunch there with her, but since she insisted, we went ahead and left. I’m guessing it was just a lot of activity right after being sick. She said she had a good time there, and I did too.

On Sunday, we went to my parents’ house after lunch and stayed until right before bedtime. I don’t know what my mom’s deal is, but she is NOT good with young kids. Sometimes I swear she goes out of her way to not understand what Baby B said to her, even if it was clear as day (and not just to me…to everyone in the room). Then she’ll say things to her like, “I wish I could have you over to spend the night.” You can’t say that to a child of that age who doesn’t understand the implied assumption: “Except I’m too weak to walk to the dining room let alone look after a two-year-old so that’s just not possible.” Way to get her hopes up about something that would never happen. Then she started asking Baby B if she was excited about Christmas. In September. We typically don’t tell Baby B about things more than a few days in advance because she has no sense of time yet when it comes to weeks and months, so we’re constantly pestered about when things are going to happen if we tell her too soon. Obviously she has forgotten this about children (although if she listened when I talk to her, she’d know that we do this).

On Monday, we got up early and headed up with a good friend to the Cincinnati Children’s Museum, getting there when they opened. We played for a couple of hours, went upstairs to eat the lunches we’d brought, then went back down to play for another hour or so. We had a good time, though I was definitely glad to have help with Baby B for that outing, especially when she was resisting help from me (like with washing her hands) but couldn’t quite do something herself.

I timed our departure so she’d fall asleep for her nap in the car, then I could move her to her bed when we got home, which is how it went. However, when she woke up a couple hours later, she was wailing and wouldn’t tell me why. I kept asking her questions but couldn’t even get a nod or shake of the head. Trying to comfort her made it worse. Trying to leave her alone made it worse. Basically nothing I could do would help. Very frustrating. Eventually she was calm enough that I asked if she wanted to watch Madagascar and eat a snack, and that seemed to help things. Not sure if she was missing The Husband, if she had a nightmare, or what.

Speaking of missing The Husband, boy DID she! Several times she told me she was feeling sad because her daddy left her. I gave her an old cell phone of mine, and she constantly used it to “call” him to tell him what she was doing, what she needed help with, and what she wanted him to bring her back. I didn’t give her the phone specifically for this purpose, but it seemed to work out really well to help her deal with his absence. Needless to say, since his return, she hasn’t wanted to leave his side. We’ll see if she does the same for my absence in a couple of weeks. Something tells me she’s not going to miss a beat when I’m gone. I keep joking that we need to have another kid just so I have one that maybe prefers me some of the time!

I definitely have an even bigger respect for single parents and those whose spouses must travel a lot for work. It was a good reminder of how our parenting system really is based on teamwork and cooperation with each other, and I know I’m very fortunate in that regard.

Here

Just wanted to check in briefly to say that the weekend went well overall, especially once we both recovered. I can’t go into detail now because it’s been a busy day at work and I have plans tonight, then I’ll be home in the morning because Baby B was sent home with pink eye. [sigh] Pair that with a short work week because of the holiday (but the same amount of work to do) and things are a bit stressful, but we’re managing fine (and glad to have The Husband back to help out with this!).

Promise I will update as soon as I can!

Night 1: FAIL!

About a month ago, I made plans to go see my friend Serenity by myself at the end of September, leaving The Husband and Baby B alone for a weekend. I was a very nice wife and thought, “Well, I get my weekend alone, so why not let him have a weekend away too?” His beloved Dragon*Con was coming up and we hadn’t planned to go as a family this year because Baby B is at a difficult age for that sort of thing (a toddler running loose around among 30,000 convention-goers isn’t so ideal), so I suggested that maybe he go with his friends to that. He was, of course, happy to go along with the plan.

So his trip came up first, over Labor Day weekend…this weekend. He was leaving on Thursday morning and returning on Monday night, so I am solely in charge for four straight days. This is the first time either of us has been away from the family overnight since Baby B was born.

I knew there was trouble when I started getting a horrible sore throat on Wednesday morning…and then when Baby B started getting a runny nose on Wednesday evening. We woke up on Thursday and my sore throat was at its peak for most of the morning, but her runny nose seemed, well, if not better, then at least not worse, so she went to daycare. During the day on Thursday, my sore throat eventually subsided and gave way to the intense sinus pressure I get with colds.

I picked up Baby B after work and we had a nice evening together playing and getting some things done around the house despite neither of us feeling the greatest. Around bedtime, though, everything went downhill. My sinus pressure was at its peak, and I was miserable, yet had to get Baby B to bed by myself. I could tell she was starting to get a bit more congestion in her head and her chest herself, and she had a horrible cough that had her gagging at times. I gave her some honey for that, since I’ve read that studies show it’s just as effective for coughs in children as cough syrup, which shouldn’t be given to kids her age.

After a couple extra potty trips, I finally got her down around 8:45 p.m. She was still coughing, so I propped up some pillows and showed her how to sleep a little more upright so her coughing was better. My plan was to get a few necessary chores done around the house and then head to bed as soon as possible so I could rest up. That changed at 9 p.m. when I heard Baby B cough so much that she puked on herself and all over her bed.

Despite feeling awful myself, I kicked into gear (and thankfully my cold medicine also did shortly after), got Baby B cleaned up and calmed down (she caught some of it in her hand and she said it scared her), stripped the bed, got things put in the washing machine, and put new sheets and blankets on the bed. I had to convince her again it was time to go to bed and finally got her down again around 10 p.m. I did a few things on the computer and around the house, then got to bed around 11:30 p.m., reading a chapter in my book for about half an hour before turning off the light at midnight.

Baby B woke me up around 12:15 a.m. and 12:30 a.m., and I soon decided it was going to make more sense for me to sleep in there with her so I didn’t have to get up and walk across the length of the house every time she cried out. And by sleep I mean “sleep,” as there was almost no sleep on my end and very little on hers. About every 20 or 30 minutes, she’d wake up crying for one reason or another…needing water, needing to go to the potty, asking for a hug, asking for medicine, too much coughing — you name it. Most heartbreaking was when she was wailing in the bathroom during a potty break and I asked why she was crying. She said, “I’m sad because my daddy left us!” Poor girl. We finally both dozed from about 3 a.m. until 5 a.m. but she started waking up every 15 minutes after that, including a stint of being completely awake and up around 6 a.m. Around 8 a.m., I convinced her to play with her Little People while I laid back down, though I didn’t really go back to sleep. We got up for the day around 9 a.m.

Needless to say, she didn’t go to daycare as planned, and I didn’t get the day to myself that I’d hoped for. I’d planned to run some errands and then go see a movie during the afternoon. Not the end of the world, of course, but it would’ve been nice to have that time. We got up and had breakfast and she seemed to be doing decent, so I decided to take a chance and take her out with me to the grocery store and for a few other errands I’d hoped to do today. She did great, thankfully, and now she’s resting a bit between lunch and naptime. Her cough seems to be gone, so hopefully there will be no more puking tonight.

Baby B misses her dad a LOT; it’s quite obvious. Thankfully the convention center is filled with free wireless connections, and his laptop has a webcam in it. We had a crappy webcam that we never really used, but I decided to go get a better one yesterday, and we’ve already had three video chats on Google Talk. Much better since Baby B can see The Husband (and hey, it’s free!) and he can see us too.

Here’s hoping that last night was the most difficult of all the nights I have alone with her and it’s smooth sailing from here on out.

Trash talk

As I’ve mentioned before, Baby B has done great while on airplanes lately, but the time spent in the airport is a little more challenging because we don’t use a stroller (thus don’t travel with one). Transit time on trams, elevators, or moving sidewalks goes just fine, but it’s waiting at the gate that makes Baby B antsy and want to run away. Obviously it’s not practical to chase her around when we’ve got two backpacks plus her carseat to carry with us.

So The Husband told her one of those little white lies. You know the kind — the ones that nearly every parent tells their child at one time or another. My mom told us plenty: That the moon goes to the bathroom when it goes behind the clouds, that my aunt paints the yellow and white lines on the highway, that you drink milk if you want to have a baby.

Anyway, he told her that if we leave our stuff alone in the airport, then the workers will come by and take our stuff and put it in the trash. “You don’t want your stuff to go in the trash, do you?” The Husband asked her. With wide eyes, she looked at us and said, “No!”

From that point on, if she started to wander off, The Husband reminded her that the workers were going to put our stuff in the trash, and she remained with us.

Thing is, I don’t feel a bit bad about telling  her this tale, as her safety is at the forefront of this little mistruth.

But I got a little reminder of just how well she does listen sometimes. We had returned to Louisville, the city we’d flown from. The Husband was installing her carseat in the backseat, and I wanted to keep her occupied so she wouldn’t bother him while he did that, so I asked if she wanted to take a walk around the parking lot. (We were in a pretty remote section without any traffic. I was also holding her hand.) We had put our carry-on backpacks beside the car so they could be put in the backseat after the carseat was put in.

She thought about it, then looked up at me with the big eyes again and said, “Are they going to put our stuff in de TRASH?” I assured her that there was one exception to the rule: They don’t put your stuff in the trash when you put it beside your own car. She seemed satisfied.

And we were satisfied with the strategy for keeping her close at the airport.

Incidentally, a few nights ago I told her the tale about the moon going to the potty when it goes behind the clouds. She must not be as gullible as I was, because she said, “No, it didn’t! It doesn’t have any legs.” Oh, hrm. Well, I guess not!

Wordless Wednesday: Visitin’ the wild, wild west