E's third b'day

E's third b'day was great.  We spend her actual b'day at Impression 5 museum.  G'ma and G'pa came over in the evening and we had care bear cupcakes and presents.  She declared the day was, "the best birthday ever!"

We had her party this weekend with her Care bear cake...6 layers of yumminess...it was quite the creation.  She had a blast being the center of attention.  It was dubbed 'the best birthday party ever' at the end of the day.  

So, I guess E's was satisfied with her 3rd birthday.

The 3 year-old E

I just glanced back at my comments for "The last 2 years" ...Some things have really changed and others...not so much.  E still loves being outside.  She LOVES G'pa and swinging high at G'ma and G'pa's house.  She's still sleeping with the 2-layer fleece duck blanket even though its at least 80 degrees in her room tonight.  We still watch PBS kids almost every morning but Dinosaur Train might have taken her #1 spot.

Her vocabulary is amazing.  Its funny to think back at this time last year and think that she wasn't speaking in complete sentences.  Now, she doesn't stop talking.  Right now her favorite things to talk about are her "husbands" and "school".  However, she's always talking about something.  She still doesn't say the 'l' sound.  She goes to the 'hibrary' instead of 'library' and 'hogurt' instead of 'yogurt'.

Her imagination has grown so much this year (or maybe she can just verbalize it now).  She plays 'pretend' all the time.  It is so fun to listen to her have her little people do things.  Many times parts of her stories come from Bible stories.  Its precious to listen to.  She also likes to be certain things...yesterday she was a turtle and carried the clothes basket around on her back as a shell.  Many days require me to be the "little one" and she's the mama.  She brings me all sorts of things to eat from her kitchen and other toys.  Her favorite thing to have me eat is spaghetti made from her necklaces.  Of course, we are all care bears from time to time...as they are her favorite thing right now.

She's starting to tell jokes.  One from Sid, is "What kind of tree grows in your hand?"  E will ask the question and then her reply is "A walnut tree!"  I've tried to convince her that its suppose to be "A palm tree" but (I think that) in her mind, the walnut tree at G'ma and G'pa's house would fit in her hand...therefore the answer is a 'walnut' tree.  Silly girl.

Care bears are her favorite thing right now.  We rent videos from the library and video store.  She loves them.  She pretends to be a care bear (usually cheer bear) and 'care bear stares' things by sticking out her little chest.  Its cute.

Her adoration of Cinderella from last summer and fall has really tumbled.  She still likes the princesses but prefers the carebears...however, she'll still talk about Jaq and Gus the mice from time to time.

She's finally starting to play with her dolls and pretends to be the momma of them.  She liked putting them in the stroller and tooling around with them last summer but that's where her playing ended with them.  Now, she'll feed them and carry them around the house.  She even nurses them from time-to-time when they are hungry.

She loves stories about when Jut and I were little.  She asks questions about it all the time.

She knows road names and landmarks.  She can tell you the name of the road that we live on and the road G'ma and G'pa live on.  She identifies the hospital that 'g'ma works at and my baby was born' at.  She loves telling people that her shoes came from "Payless".

How Quickly Time Flies

"That" mom

So, today I was 'that' mom in the library.  The mom we always hope and pray will never be us...and yet, I'm assuming, that it happens to every mom.  The mom that has to try and gracefully exit with a screaming child while wishing the floor would open up and swallow us.  Feeling that every watching eye is judging your actions/reactions and thinking how you should have handled the situation...Yes, today I was that mom...

I don't do single parenthood well.  Today was not an exception to that statement.  Jut left Monday morning for an overnight trip to Lansing.  One night should be no big deal...except for the fact that E rammed a rocking chair into my back on Sunday night and the consequences of that made it difficult to move, or even breathe, on Monday.  Taking care of two children under the age of three without moving (and breathing) is difficult...especially when the 20 pounder needs carried everywhere.  So, my patience was shot yesterday before the visit to the local library today.

We woke up this morning to rain.  Lovely rain.  Battle number one in our excursion...E wants to splash in all the puddles before getting into the car.  But, she gets in finally.  We arrive at the library.  My back is still fairly sore so instead of wearing A in the Moby wrap, I put him in this little umbrella stroller I picked up at a garage sale.  It doesn't steer well but it gets the job done.  We go into the library.

Story-time goes well.  E sits and listens intently.  Then, she makes the flower craft without incident.  She puts in lot of details and it looks great.

Then we go into the book section to get some new books...and things start unraveling.

A decides that he's done with the stroller and wants to be carried.  So, I'm hauling him, picking out some new books, chatting with the other moms/g'mas and keeping one eye on E.  She looks like she's having fun rocking on the airplane and playing with the other kids.  She's rearranging all the puppets...just busy doing this and that.  Then, she decides that she's going to make a 'tent' and a 'path' out of the chairs and cushions.  Not everyone has her same vision of how the 'tent' and 'path' are going to look...Major meltdown occurs for my lovely little girl.

While everyone is staring at this distraught child in the middle of children's play area, I hurry over to mediate and in my haste, trip over my own two feet almost taking a toddler out with me.  Luckily I caught myself and A before we hit the ground but there is an audible 'Ah! Are you okay?' from all the onlooking moms.  I get E and try to calm her to no avail.  So, I lead her to the stroller.  She refuses to climb in it or walk any further...and mind you, she's still wailing and every adult and child is quiet and watching the spectacle because it was just like the proverbial train wreck that you can't stop watching.

With my less-than-stellar back, I can't carry her.  So, I put A on the ground and place E in the stroller.  Pick A back up and try to maneuver the stroller one handed out of the library.  However, it didn't handle well 2-handed with 20 pounds in it and I had a hard time just getting it to move with 35 pounds and 1 hand.  You just know that you look ridiculous when another mom, who just means to be helpful says, "Can I give you a hand?"

Thankfully, I did manage to get the stroller rolling and somewhat successfully steered it out of the children's section to the check-out desk.  The librarian was very sweet and helped ease my tension...although E continued to cry her crocodile tears.

We get to the doors and E wants to walk, which was fine.  I put A back in the stroller with a blanket tucked firmly around him and we head outside.  Its still raining.  E walks as slow as humanly possible while continuing her lamenting about the 'path'.  Thankfully, a friend caught up with our slow departure and helped secure E into her seat in the car.

We went home.  As we were leaving E's response was, "Momma, I acted like that because I was tired and hungry."  However, upon entering our house, did she eat or nap?  Of course not.  Well, she did have lunch an hour or so later...but no nap.  Did she learn anything from her outburst?  Probably not.  Did I learn anything???  Just that sometimes, if you think its going to be a bad idea to leave the house, just stay home.

Thanks E.  My first real experience as 'that mom' is now done.  Let's not make time #2 come too quickly...and how about choosing a different venue for the next episode?

And we have teeth...

A sprouted his first tooth on May 6...4 days after his 6-month b'day and he sprouted #2 today (6 months and 1 week).  He's being quite the trooper.  I don't think #2 hurt as bad as #1...at least I hope not because I haven't been medicating the poor guy at all.  I knew #2 was coming but didn't realize it was just days behind the first.  However, that shouldn't have surprised me because E always sprouted teeth in pairs.

So, we have 2 down and 18 to go before this wonderful experience of teething is behind us for poor little A.  Unfortunately for my little guy, the worst is yet to come.

Happy 6-month b'day A!!

A at 6 months...

Well, my little guy has done it again.  He has an ear infection, we think, to celebrate his 6-month b'day.  I don't know what it is about his month b'days and not being healthy but they seem to go hand-in-hand.

This month he has turned into quite the mobile little guy.  He can really move this month.  Rolling is preferred method of movement.  He can push himself all the way up (think female push-up position) but rolling is how he moves.  However, once he pushes himself up, he can rotate himself so that he can roll in the direction that he wants to go.  E's toys are no longer safe.  A fact that she is having a hard time dealing with.  She gave him his first bruise this week.  He had her toy and the rule is that she's got to give him a toy if she wants to take one of hers away.  So, she took her toy back, walked across the room, got his heaviest toy, and threw it at him.  It made contact smack-dab in the middle of his forehead.  He cried.  She cried.  It was a long five minutes.  But, the goose-egg only lasted for a bit and the bruise faded within a day...so luckily it wasn't a serious injury.  Hopefully, a lesson was learned.

E still makes A laugh and laugh.  He loves watching her.  She currently loves to sing him to sleep at naptime.  However, he enjoys her so much and doesn't fall asleep with the distraction very well.  I'm having the same trouble with nursing.  He loves to see what's going on and if there's something that he thinks that he wants to watch, he's watching it.  He really has become aware of everything going on around him.  Its fun when you aren't trying to feed him or get him to sleep.

We are keeping his eczema at bay now that I've made some dietary changes.  The poor guy is definitely allergic to milk and nuts.  I also think he has reactions if I eat too much wheat or egg products.  However, sometimes he still breaks out badly and I can't figure out the cause.  I'm anxious to go to his 6-month well-baby visit and talk to the dr again...(or if he has an ear infection, I'll see dr tomorrow.)

I started him on solids 4 days before his 6-month b'day.   I just couldn't hold out any longer.  He looked like a puppy begging for food during meals.  So, he started solids.  He loves avocado!!  The first time we fed him, I forgot to thin it and he spit it all up all over Jut.  But, he loves eating.  Tonight I ran out of avocado and so he ate a bit of sweet potato, but I believe he preferred the avocados.

His bald spot is growing hair again on the back of his head.  Its nice to see those hairs sprouting up.  His new stuff is still much lighter than his newborn hair.  So, we'll see what happens as it continues to grow.

Sleeping patterns haven't progressed.  He gets us up twice if I don't dream feed him before bed.  If I do, he only gets up once.  It really hasn't changed too much.  Typically, we get 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep if we are lucky.  Ugh.  Daytime napping is more routine.  He takes a 1-1.5 hour nap in the morning (most of the time) between 9-10, and the same for an afternoon nap between 1-2.  However, he does do the 20-minute power naps too, which makes for long days.  He's totally given up the late afternoon nap.  So, if he does a 20-minute nap in the afternoon, it is a LONG run from 4-7 when he finally goes to bed!  ;-)

No teeth yet...we are using more teething gel and Tylenol now, however.  You can see those bottoms ones but they just haven't popped through.  He's doing well with teething.  Only at naptimes does he really get fussy with them.