Nov. 21: Sylvia isn’t taking her afternoon nap. I can’t convince her. After trying to get her down for a half hour, she was quiet for about 10 minutes, so I started a post about sleep. Then she started crying, so I went in again to try to quiet her. The girl was practically bouncing up and down. Resigned to the idea of no afternoon nap (which means that in a couple hours things are going to be pretty unhappy around here), I came out to see that Andrew had closed all the windows on my computer. Post gone.
Not only that, but I’m feeling slightly less than friendly toward my little man because he threw an all-out tantrum as our friends were leaving from a play-date this afternoon. He wanted to watch a DVD. He was climbing the walls and wailing as we were trying to say goodbye. It wasn’t cool. Not behavior I expect from a three-year-old Andrew. So I’m feeling rather peeved by Andrew and baffled by Sylvia. And I have no post on sleep except to say that I wish she would sleep more. Maybe we can all just take a nice two-hour nap this afternoon. Then we’d all be in a better mood!
Addition: After writing this, I discovered that the pack ‘n play that I had offered to loan to Heather for the week is still up in St. Paul at Maretta’s house. I realized this as her dad was on his way over to pick it up! Fortunately, my friend Pam had an extra one at her house. So around 3:30, I packed both my grouchy kids and my grouchy self into the car. We drove to Pam’s house – Sylvia fell asleep. We drove to Heather’s house – Andrew fell asleep. I drove through the country watching the geese fly low in formation as the sun set in a sherbet of color while listening to NPR. Sleep for the little ones and a little restoration for me. Turned out to be a pretty good afternoon. I think it was a good thing that I had to do the pack ‘n play shuffle:)
Sylvia’s cutenesses
Nov. 21: I’ve been intending to post about some of the adorable things Sylvia has been doing, but she hasn’t been napping for much over a half hour recently. That doesn’t give a mom much time to be on the computer:) And it kinda makes for a grouchy, over-tired baby. But enough of that! She’s so sweet, so adorable, and growing so fast! Here are some of the cute things that Sylvia has been doing these days that make us smile and melt our hearts.
- Sharing food: In the last week, Sylvia has discovered the great fun of sharing her food. She offers up a bit of cracker or mushed fruit or whatever happens to be on her tray. If I lean in and nibble at it, saying, “Mmmmm!!! So goooood!” she grins hugely, gets all squirmy, and chuckles with delight. Then my insides get all mushy because Sylvia’s chuckle is just so life-affirming:)
- Sylvia has had a soft pink blanket-dog that she’s been sleeping with since she was tiny. When she was really little, she loved to have it draped over her face while she slept (she wasn’t so in to the SIDS recommendations of avoiding soft items in the crib). In recent weeks, “poodle nose” has gone from being something we hand her to help her fall asleep to becoming something she is really attached to. She grabs for it when she wakes up, its familiar presence helps her fall asleep, and these days when she wakes up happy (a rarity), she holds up Poodle Nose to me to greet. It’s like, “Hey, Mom, give Poodle Nose a kiss too!” Andrew never really developed an affection for a toy, so this is kind of fun and new for me!
- Tubby time is Sylvia’s favorite part of the day. She loves it. She vibrates with excitement. When I took a shower this morning, she spent the whole time screeching at me and trying to work her way through the shower curtain so she could get in too.
When we say that it’s tubby time, she crawls after us into the bathroom. Then she pulls herself up on the edge of the tub and talks animatedly about how she can’t wait to get in the water. Bryan discovered that undressing her while she’s standing there means that there is no crying, and it’s so cute the way that she helps us take her clothes off. This little 9-month-old girl is stepping out out of her pants when we pull them down. Seeing her tiny little feel pull up out of the pant legs, one after the other, is so very very adorable. I took a video:)
When she’s in the tub, much laughter and splashing ensues. Especially if Big Brother joins her. She loves those nights. She hasn’t ever minded getting water on her face, and she’s blowing bubbles in the water all on her own. It makes her quite happy.
These days, we get her in her PJs, read her two stories, and nurse her before laying her down for bed. For the most part, she goes right to sleep. - No description of Sylvia’s activities would be complete without mentioning The Screech. It’s loud. And she does it a lot. A Lot. It’s like a police whistle. Piercing. Sustained. Numbing all other thought. I believe that it’s decreasing in its frequency. At this point she mostly screeches during meals (when she wants more, is all done, isn’t thrilled with the menu or the service or the ambiance) or when Andrew is preventing her from doing something she wants.
- I’m a little worried about our plane trip next week. Andrew was such a mellow, well, person. So travel with him has been pretty easy. There were times developmentally when he’s been harder or easier, but in general, you show him books, feed him, or bring a few toys and he is all set. With Sylvia, I’m thinking…not so much… She really isn’t too into toys. Books make her mad. What she likes to do is interact with people, crawl around, pull things out (that’s a really big developmental stage she’s in right now), interact with people, crawl around, etc. I’m hoping that peek-a-boo can entertain her for a long time. She LOVES that game. Hoping that we don’t end up with a lot of screeching. And/or that the “fasten seatbelt” sign is not illuminated for a good stretch of the flight. As we learned on our train trip, she really enjoys having me walk her up and down the aisle.
On the other hand, if she doesn’t do well, that’s fine too. It’s not that long of a flight!
So that’s a snapshot of some of Sylvia’s activities these days. I can’t wait to go to Texas to share her fun-ness with Bryan’s family!
She’s getting to be so big!
Nov. 14: Sylvia is getting more advanced by the day. She’s pulling up to standing on anything she can reach,and she reaches waaaay up to try to find things to pull down (on top of herself). At her 9-month doctor’s appointment this week, she weighed in at 18 lbs, 1 oz and measured 28″ long. That put her in the 30th percentile for weight and the 70th percentile for height. She’s a long-limbed girl right now!
One of her most defining characteristics this past month has been her screech. She does it all the time. LOUDLY. Like a police whistle. It stops conversations in crowded rooms. She does it when she’s unhappy, she does it when she’s glad, she does it constantly when in her high chair. I say over and over and over “Sylvia, that’s Too Loud.” Then I try to show her the baby sign language for what I think she wants (up, down, more, all done, take-my-bother’s-toy, etc.) I’m hoping it’s a phase. Maybe when she learns how to talk, the screeching will decrease in frequency or volume. There’s always hope!
I’m hoping to get a video soon of one of Sylvia’s new tricks – blowing raspberries. She puckers her mouth up and blows. And she loves it when I do it back at her. Such a fun girl!
In other news, she’ll now let me read 2-3 pages of a book to her. We’re working it into the bedtime routine, and the book reading is now seeming to be accepted!
OK, I’m off to pick up Andrew from preschool. Have a great weekend!
Amazing Andrew
Nov. 12: It’s good to be back home again! The kids and I had a good time being back in a normal routine today. We had story hour and Sylvia’s 9-month doctor’s appointment, and then we had Terry and Tom over for dinner. Unfortunately, in the mid-afternoon I developed a killer headache. Sylvia was napping, and as I swallowed some pills and curled up in bed, I told Andrew he could do anything he wanted as long as it didn’t involve waking me or Sylvia. When I came-to 45 minutes later, my head ache had cleared (thank goodness!).
I walked into the kitchen, and there on the counter were all the clean dishes from the dishwasher. I was amazed! Andrew had used his “free time” to unload the dishwasher! My heart melted a little more when I saw that he had also loaded the dirty breakfast dishes in the dishwasher. He’d done it so carefully. What a boy. I can’t believe he did that. My little three-year-old baby is getting to be so big! He’s one of the neatest people I know:)
Train trip
Nov. 11: To celebrate Sylvia’s 9-month birthday, she and I took a train ride from St. Paul home. Now she’s done something before her brother – a train trip! She was a rather noisy girl, shrieking regularly whether happy or sad, and I was fretting about waking all our fellow passengers (many of whom had been on the train since Seattle). After a bout of shrieking, I turned to a somewhat intimidating man seated across the aisle from me and I apologized for Sylvia’s volume. “No problem,” he said. This steel construction worker went on to tell me about how he and his wife had a very hard time having children. When they finally did, he said, he learned to appreciate every sound the little ones make as a miracle – happy or sad. He said she had a beautiful voice.
Well that certainly turned my morning around. I’d been getting frustrated with the wee girl, but it was mostly because of worries about my fellow travelers. Since he was so generous with his compassion, I looked around and saw that only one or two people didn’t have plainly sympathetic looks on their faces. I ended up passing Sylvia over to a couple passengers who I don’t think I would have ever interacted with had we not shared a train car. Sylvia loved getting to smile and goo at a new face, and her sweetness certainly brightened a few moments of their day. Plus I got a few minutes off from walking with her…up and down and up and downandupanddown the train car.
I had a wonderful visit with Maretta, and a good two-day Alumni Adventures meeting at Carleton. Maretta and I had fun on Saturday shopping around on Grand Avenue. She watched Sylvie during my meetings in Northfield, and then I came back to her place on Monday night so I could catch the train on Tuesday.
I took the train because I sold my car (!!!) to Maretta’s friend. Hooray!
OK, shrieking girl calls.
Michael has a job!
Nov. 11: I’m quite excited to report that my dear brother Michael has secured employment. Since Excel Inns was purchased and the home office closed in April, Michael has been on the job hunt. He called me today sounding rather elated and told me that he had gotten a job offer from Lands End. He’ll be commuting down to Dodgeville for work. I don’t know exactly what he’ll be doing, but I’m sure it has something to do with making computers work correctly:)
Yay Bubs!
Clumsy
Nov. 7: Andrew is at preschool and Sylvia is blessedly napping, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to share a personally deprecating story.
Last night I had hooked up my laptop to my external hard drive to work on some old photos. Forgetting that it was plugged in (with a very short cord), I stood up with the laptop and began walking. The cord quickly stopped me. The laptop flew from my hands, smashed into my shin, and hit the ground. Fortunately, the laptop and the external hard drive both came away unscathed. I wasn’t quite so lucky.
I got a gash on my leg that quickly started swelling up like a goose egg. I was nearly in tears (OK, I was in tears), and Bryan couldn’t figure out what had happened. “From the laptop?” he questioned. I was moaning in pain and hobbling around to check to make sure the computer was alright, and Bryan was sort of questioning my fortitude. “I don’t need your pity,” I said, “but I could do without the demeaning comments.” (Note: Bryan is one of the kindest, most loving people I know. And I tend to be pretty tough. The fact that I was moaning over a bump with my laptop did seem a little absurd.)
Well, when he got a look at my leg, he ran to get me ice, helped me elevate my leg, and held the ice on it. That was about the time that shock set in.
I kid you not, my teeth were chattering, and I had a couple blankets on. I couldn’t stop laughing because the whole thing was so ridiculous. I imagined going into the emergency room and trying to explain that, no, I hadn’t walloped myself with a crowbar. Somehow I had kicked a falling laptop with my shin.
After an hour, it felt better, so we went to bed with my leg elevated on pillows. It feels fine this morning. Looks kinda nasty, but at least it’s winter now, so no one needs to see my legs.
I’m happy to find that my laptop is in fully functioning order. Just one of those crazy things.
Getting at the heart of the matter
Nov. 6: Heather sent me the following quote. I find it to be so true, that upon reading it for the sixth time, I’m crying. I think this puts into words a little of the philosophy that guides my life. It’s how Mom taught us to look at life, and it’s so central to my approach to being a mother.
The things that matter most in our lives are not fantastic or grand.
They are moments when we touch one another, when we are there in the most attentive or caring way. This simple and profound intimacy is the love that we all long for. These moments of touching and being touched can become a foundation for a path with heart, and they take place in the most immediate and direct way. Mother Teresa put it like this: “In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.”
– Jack Kornfield from A Path with Heart; excerpted in Love and Gratitude
Dirt eater
Nov. 4: I know this is going to deeply call into question my standards and parenting morals, but I couldn’t resist sharing this clip of Sylvia.
I can just hear her in 10 years:
“Mother, I CANNOT believe that you let me eat dirt.”
“I cannot believe that you took pictures of me eating dirt instead of stopping me as any sane mother would do.”
“I cannot believe that you published photos and VIDEO of me eating dirt to the internet for all the world to see.”
“If I run for elected office in 20 years, you just know that this is going to surface and incite a scandal.”
Me:
“Aaawww, but Sylvie, just looks at what a cute dirt eater you were!”
A mama’s gotta share all that good baby-dirt-mouth love!
Besides, maybe your affinity for dirt keeps you healthy!
http://medjournalwatch.blogspot.com/2007/05/dirt-is-good-for-your-child.html
Voted!
Nov. 4: I am so excited that election day is here! I find myself feeling very hopeful that for both state and national politics, a new, more reasonable era is approaching. For the sake of my kids, I certainly hope so! I took Andrew and Sylvia to the polling booth this afternoon. Andrew was super sleepy, so he requested a ride in the Ergo, and I carried Sylvia. They can both say they were right there while I helped make history:) Sylvia nearly pulled an extension cord out of the wall…glad we didn’t nearly cause major voting problems! There was no one in line (and in fact no one but me voting) when I went in at 2pm. And now? Now my house is insanely quiet. For the first time in AGES, both kids are sleeping during the day. It’s been nearly a half hour. BLISS!
I’m shopping for Christmas cards:) Check these beautiful cards out! Were I rich, I would do something like this.
Upadate: Before hitting send, Sylvia woke up. She’s now crying in her crib. Why so much not sleeping, dear Sylvie???