Category: Uncategorized

I have been worried about Brian because he doesn’t say much. He’ll say uh-oh or tickle tickle and Daaaaaa in various forms, but nothing like mama or dada or moo or anything. Well, today he said cheese and Marie and I made him repeat it several times and it actually is cheese! Yay Brian! I might have to call a therapist though since he won’t say mama yet.

“Whoa, that’s a nekkid table!”
Marie commented to me as I was clearing off the kitchen table so she could paint. 🙂

Mom, my bottom hurts so I’m rubbing it.

I said, ok, sounds like a plan, and then I looked over and uh-oh she was rubbing it with her hand inside her pants…I tried not to giggle too much and explained that she had to wash her hands immediately. *sigh*

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Today was Marie’s first day of preschool all by herself. She had a good time! She had no trouble leaving Mom and Brian to go with some of her favorite teachers and spent a very fun two hours. They had snack, sat criss-cross applesauce on their washcloths, played outside on the playground, played with toys, read a book, and made a craft. All while wearing underwear!

It’s 12:02am. Brian has been up since… well, since about 40 minutes after we put him down. We’ve tried 4 times to put him to bed — right now, Laura’s trying the 5th. He just screams and screams. So, we’ve had him downstairs for an hour, just letting him play. He’s having a wonderful time. We need to reset his internal clock I guess. He must think it’s playtime…

Brian went to the doctor today for his 15 month well-baby checkup. He was very good and happy, except for the two shots. He screamed and cried…but only for about a minute afterwards and then he was fine. After some milk and stickers, that is. They didn’t want to traumatize him too much, so we are going back next week for a finger prick to check for anemia and something else.

For goodness steaks, that’s hardible!

At Elise’s 4th birthday party today, Marie was stung on the arm by a yellowjacket[1]. She screamed pretty badly, a sound we have (luckily) heard very few times in her 3+ years — the scream of actual physical pain. (We hear other screams — such as the scream of fit-throwing, the scream of disobedience, and the scream of being abandoned with a babysitter — with some frequency.)

We gave her a lot of attention, and she calmed down within a few minutes, although she said that it really hurt. We put ice on it at first, then the magic sting solution (mix equal parts water & baking soda into a paste, apply liberally). Within 10-15 minutes the pain went away and she was back to her normal self. Now, less than 3 hours later, it is just a small red mark on her arm.

She knows how proud we are of her about how she handled it. Other kids I know would still be crying. I just want to make sure this doesn’t cause an irrational fear of flying insects for the rest of her childhood…

fn1. Yes, I know a yellowjacket is a hornet, but it looks like a bee, and as far as Marie is concerned, that is what “bit” her.

Note to self: don’t start a roaring contest at the dinner table. It was fun at first because Marie of course knows how to roar and Brian is just learning, but it quickly got out of hand and turned into a scream-at-the-top-of-your-lungs contest and then the bird joined in…I guess we’ve learned our lesson!