Post-Thanksgivingness

So, I had a lovely week off last week. Really, I did. It was so nice to sleep in a bit, set my own schedule, accomplish tremendous quantities of house cleaning and cooking, take naps with you in The Big Bed (read: Mommy and Daddy's bed). Aaaaah. It really was great.

Of course, it was also unbelievably and freakishly stressful. I conceded to reality and my week off did not mean you had a week off. Nope. Monday morning, Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning you still went to school as usual. I relieved the tiny bit of guilt I felt for that by reminding myself - and rightly so! - that toddlers are creatures of habit and it really was in your best interest to stick with what you know. So, off to school it was. Of course, Daddy and I both took you on Monday morning then trucked off for a very adult-on-vacation cup of coffee with friends. It was a cold, pouring-rain morning so coffee was just perfect. We went to IKEA for a bit after that and were home by early afternoon to begin the mayhem known as Thanksgiving preparation.

For the remainder of that day and most of the next two days, I was a slave to the house. We cleaned and cleaned and cleaned in places I'm not sure I've ever seen in our own house. And that's pretty sad since we've owned it almost four years now. I also spent a good chunk of Wednesday preparing and prepping foodstuffs for Thursday. Like a good slave, I set my alarm for 5 a.m. Thursday morning and thus hilarity ensued with the chopping, stuffing and cooking of the turkey.

And oh! What a turkey. So moist and flavorful. I used an herb-brined turkey recipe and it cooked for ages. From the moment I woke up, it was a whirlwind of food, friends and family until about 4 p.m. when we were suddenly alone. It was nice, but truly crazy. You had a field day with all the friends and family about. You weren't so thrilled with the food, which is kind of odd. But people had been feeding you all day, mostly deviled eggs and cheese puffs, so I guess it's not that surprising. I think you ate about 10 deviled eggs. Thankfully I didn't know about this until AFTER the fact.

Anyway, so it's over. We had a nice long weekend together and this week is back to normal. We did put the Christmas tree up, which was a horrible temptation for you the first few days. Now you pretty much ignore it which is what we'd hoped for. Unfortunately, I'm having a lot of trouble getting into the Christmas spirit. Not sure what that's about.

In other news, you're talking up a storm! Your enunciation is getting so much better, we really do have a pretty good idea what you're talking about most of the time. You also are becoming much more discriminate in your responses to things. If you don't know what we're asking you, you now make a "Huh?" sound instead of just blindly nodding or shaking your head. I already see an improvement in your personality most of the time now that you can communicate more things. Still throwing your tantrums once in a while, but they're usually for a "good" reason if such a thing exists. They're usually related to sleep, or lack thereof.

Also, and this one's exciting for us, you're learning about physical boundaries. For your entire babyhood and toddlerhood thus far, the kitchen has been cordoned off with baby gates. We've gotten very good at balancing plates, glasses and silverware for the leap over gates in the last year and a half or so. They've been permanent fixtures. Well, no more. I decided a week or so ago that they should come down. You're old enough to understand us, so you're old enough to learn where you can and can't go. Sure enough, you found it as intriguing as the Christmas tree for a couple of days, but the novelty wore off. We generally try now to keep the lights off in there unless we're in there (a good habit regardless), and you really don't go in there. Of course, with the gates down, our house has one of those circular run-at-will feels to it and you do have occasional round races with the doggie. But that's actually okay with me. As long as you don't eat her food in there we're good.

So that's the long update. I figured it was about time. Oh, and some belated congratulations for Anne and Julie on the deliveries of their babies. Anne's is a girl named Emma and who knows what Julie's is? I'm thrilled for both of them and wishing happy, quick recoveries for both of them.

And BabyBaby is on the other side of her mastectomy. Still scary stuff, but I choose to believe she's at the beginning of something good. Keep her in your thoughts if you would.

Ooops

Mistakenly linked like a dork in my post below to BabyBaby instead of Getupgrrl. I've fixed that now. Please revisit both sites with happy healthy thoughts to both.

And for those of you I've partitioned off in the not-quite-babies-anymore category - I do so at the year cutoff. Though I freely admit that's not the best title. My baby is still a baby though she walks and talks like a crazy grownup. Maybe I'll change the title to something else. We shall see.

Keratosis Pilaris

Incidentally, another of our great mysteries has been solved. Since birth, you have always had red cheeks and rough bumpy spots on your arms and legs. At first, we thought it was just baby acne (and it might have been, or been exacerbated by that). Then I thought it was a dry skin problem, and ultimately just evidence of "sensitive skin." Various lotions, creams, ointments used with admittedly no real regularity didn't ever make any difference. Well, yesterday the Doctor named it the second she saw you. And of course, Daddy promptly forgot what it was. But I did some searching online now that I know it's actually a Something and not just "sensitive skin" - and I found it. Daddy's pretty sure she said the same thing, and it's Keratosis Pilaris. Not a serious or really health-threatening issue in anyway. Purely cosmetic. I'm glad to have a name for it though and know I'm not just imagining things.

She did give us a suggested regimen for treatment so we will likely be giving that a shot soon enough.

Big girl

I almost forgot! I asked Daddy if they weighed you at the Doctor yesterday and if he remembered what it was. First of all, you were weighed on the grown-up scale! No more baby scale for you. *sniff* But Daddy doesn't remember exactly what it was. It was 29 something, and the Doctor proudly pronounced "30 pounds!" OMG. THIRTY pounds? How on earth is that possible? Anyway, give or take a bit (Daddy thinks it was 29.5), that's where you are now. No wonder your 18 month clothes don't fit anymore. Not that it surprises me. I think you eat more than I do sometimes.

Binkie update

So I did some research and some chatting with Daddy about the binkie issue, and I have issued an edict that we're not going to snip the ends off of anything (Daddy should be happy - heh). No hard-core cut-off from Binkieville for you, lucky duck. We ARE going to be more pressing about not using it during the day. We've been bigger on that lately anyway. Ideally you'll only use it when you are going to sleep, or if you're sick. I'm not even counting your current illness in that, because you're not really sick. No temperature yet, etc. And you were not cranky at all last evening, and slept soundly all night. In fact I had to wake you up this morning, though you did wake quite cheerfully so that's good.

And completely off-topic, please send your thoughts and prayers to BabyBaby. I don't know her at all, but I've read her journeys through pregnancy and her son's first year. Now she gets to deal with very scary breast cancer. Life takes on an entirely different set of realities when you become a mother. I know she'll fight with every ounce of her being, just as I would. And I can only imagine how draining that will be. I hope she gets all the support she needs.

And while we're doling out the prayers, shoot some Grrl's way too as she's just triggered for what might be the last time, with hopes of a surrogate bringing her long-awaited child into the world. I hope this one's the one!

Sicko baby

Poor thing. You have been crying intermittently at night, including last night. And you've been acting more and more like something hurts. Now that you talk more (a blessing and a curse already, trust me!), you are more able to tell me where it hurts. And you were emphatic that it was your ear. So, we trucked you off to the Dr. with Daddy this morning. You do have a mild ear infection, but no fever yet. We're going to get the antibiotic prescription filled and hang on to it in case your fever starts. Otherwise it might clear up on its own like your last one did. Which reminds me, I'm going to research some more about homeopathic ear infection treatments. We had a book but sold it lickety-split on Amazon.com so I didn't get to read it first.

Daddy also asked the Dr. about your head from the concrete incident on Sunday and she said it was nothing. Thank goodness for that one.

And finally, he got the binkie lecture. This isn't our normal Dr., but Joe really liked her. She's new to the practice, which is a very well-renowned practice in a posh area of town. I trust every one of their Doctors. But the binkie lecture? *sigh* I know. Believe me, I know. You're 21 months and you "should" be off the binkie. She told Joe about snipping the ends, which of course I've known about for ages but haven't told him because I knew he'd pressure us to do it. So, my love. Your binkie days may be coming to an end. This is NOT going to be pleasant. But I also know if it's not now, it'll be even more unpleasant later. Grrrr.

Holiday photos

So, I'm looking for suggestions. Where should we take our family photos for Christmas? Last year we set up our Christmas tree right before Thanksgiving (shame on us!) just so we could take our pictures and have time to get them developed and reproduced. I'm thinking we need to do something different this year. But I don't want to be somewhere where we'll look really silly (i.e. in the middle of a mall or something).

Any suggestions for a pretty AZ holiday backdrop for our photo session?

Belated update, again

Some quick updates...

Yesterday we spent the day after church looking at houses for Uncle Chris and Mason. They qualified to buy a house so we've been having fun looking around. You're not thrilled about being cooped up in the car, but alas, what can we do? Anyway, we returned home to find THIS on our front porch:



Imagine our shock. Back further between our laundry room and the house was a large blue hard plastic pool. It's neat too, because you hook a hose up to one of the shorter ends (it's a large oval), and it sprays water up on this little mini-slide.

It was not accompanied by a note of any kind. You immediately glommed on to the house. You ran in and out, opening the doors, the windows, peering through the cracks and giggling delightedly. Finally, you opened the pink door and began to run out - when you promptly tripped on the door frame and landed with a nice whack on the concrete to your forehead. So much for fun!

But when I took you in to ice off your head and cuddle your cries, you quickly became VERY angry with me for not letting you go back outside to play with it. Phooey. Daddy was having a really hard time getting it apart to get it in the backyard, but we finally managed to get it through the gate. It happily takes residence now under a tree in our backyard and you played with it last night until sunset.

I'm still worried about the huge goose egg on your noggin, but you're mostly acting fine so I'm just going to keep an eye on it over the next few days.

What else is new? Saturday was Grandma's birthday. She was sick, though, so not much fun for her. This Thursday is Mommy and Daddy's anniversary, and we'll probably go out this coming Saturday for dinner and a movie. We're exciting folks. Then next week is Thanksgiving. Holidays this year are going to be so much fun. You are just so aware of everything now, I can hardly keep up. You dance and laugh maniacally when you see Christmas lights. Oh, it'll be a long month or so. :)

I never did wrap up after Halloween. It was a blast. We went to ZooLights at the Phoenix Zoo on Sunday. You liked seeing all the animals, much more than all the Halloween activities. You especially liked the birds and fish. Weird kid. That night we went trick-or-treating to a couple of houses by ours, and hung out to hand out more candy to the neighbor kids. It was fun.

Anyway, things are good, and I'll try to update again soon.