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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!

Today was a big tantrum day. To be fair, none of us got enough sleep. Both kids were up twice during the night meaning both parents were up for two solid hours trying to get them back to sleep. Anyway, Marie slept until about 9:00 and has been having fit after fit over various things – putting on clothes, getting out of the hammock when she’s told, holding hands in the street, getting out of the car when it’s time to come inside, etc. She is much happier now after lunch. She’s upstairs in my room now having quiet time (meaning she is playing in my jewelry box) and Brian is maybe going to take a nap. We’ll see.

I guess it’s ok if he eats a grape out of the trash can. It was on top. Plus, I couldn’t pry it out of his little jaws. How come he’s still awake anyway???