Working the System

Isn't it funny how things just evolve? I mean, at one point, things are going along all fine and dandy and then all of a sudden you find yourself somewhere completely different and you think "How did I get here?"

For instance just a couple of months ago Miss A was consistently sleeping through the night. On the rare occasions she did wake up I could easily rock her a bit and put her back to bed. In these past couple of months things have gradually shifted. One particular night, she kept waking up and I was repeatedly going in to comfort her, finally I decided to leave her for a bit thinking she'd fall asleep as she always had before. Instead she climbed out of the crib. This was a turning point. Obviously, there would be no more waiting for her to fall asleep again. If I wouldn't come and get her out of bed she'd just do it herself.

What has evolved is the following. If she cries in the night (which is happening more and more frequently) I promptly go to her, whereas before I would wait her out and she'd usually drift off again quickly. What I found was that rocking with her a bit wasn't working. She seemed to not settle back down if I removed her from bed. What I resorted to one night was giving her a bottle and then going back to bed. To my surprise this worked like a charm and it could be done with little interruption to my own sleep.

The downfall? It would seem that I have been getting up almost like clockwork at 3 am to give her a bottle. I'm finding this to be a problem. I don't mind doing that sort of thing every once in a while, as a treat, to help calm her down and get her back to sleep. What I feel is happening is that she's working me. That she's waking up in the night and instead of just rolling over and going back to sleep she knows that if she cries out I'll make her a bottle and she could really go for a bottle right now.

Maybe this doesn't seem like a big deal. I think it is. I miss the girl who slept through the night. I miss my sleep. I am fully aware that my nights of half decent sleep are numbered and I'd really like to take advantage of them while I can. So what can I do? I'm trying to come up with a game plan. Feel free to give suggestions. I would also take words of encouragement.

And now, a mish mash of photos to amuse you.

Home Sweet Home

We just had one of those weekends away that makes you want to never leave home again.

We are homebodies. We like our home. We like our routine. Especially since we had Miss A. I have major anxiety when we travel. Mostly about, the sleeping. But also about the having to follow her around everywhere because she doesn't ever stop finding everything that she is not supposed to touch/eat/break. Because generally, it's all very exhausting.

We decided to make a trip to see Grandma this weekend. It was a short trip because both Peter and I worked at church on Sunday morning. While nearing the end of the two hour drive I realized that we would be back on the road again in less than 24 hours. It seemed like an awful lot of work for so little time there...

Miss A was in fine form discovering Halloween candy, dumping out a pail full of tiny toys/marbles/spare change etc. and then submerging one of the cat's food dishes in his container of water.

It was at that point that we bundled up and went outside. My mother in law reminded us that it was blustery out and I called back that it was okay, we needed to run some energy off. There is an entire acre of yard to play in. You would think that would be plenty of room. Apparently not, she would wander to the edges of the property and decide she wanted to go into the neighbors yards. I would tell her that we couldn't and she would have a screaming fit. This happened several times. I was so certain that going outside would be less frustrating than being inside. Wrong again.

It seemed like we had very little time to visit and then it was bedtime for A. I was dreading this part... We basically lay on the 'big bed' until she was ready to go to her own bed. (At home we simply rock together in her room for a bit, then ready or not, it's bedtime. And since she can't climb out of her bed at home...) After about an hour she finally went to bed.

Peter suggested we go to bed too but like an idiot I wanted to stay up for a while. I needed some adult time. Plus, his mom has way more channels than we do. When we climbed into bed shortly after 1 am I was confident that Miss A would sleep as late as she usually does. Imagine my surprise when I heard her crying at 4 am! But surely I could get her back to bed. Right?

Unfortunately, not. We tried rocking, then laying together on a big bed. Finally she just stood up and with baby and blanket in hand she headed downstairs at about 5:30. I will say that there is a really good lineup on the kids channel at that time. I was aiming to last until 8 and then switch off with Peter so I could get another hour or so of sleep.

At 7:50 bad became worse. Miss A stood up from lying on the floor and projectile vomited all over Grandma's rug. I rushed to her side and we both looked at each other in shock. Then I called Peter for help.

To sum up. I didn't go back to bed. A was sick several more times until she finally crashed out on the couch for a couple of hours. She bounced back quickly, we had lunch and got back on the road.

We all went to bed early and things seem to be back to normal now. Hurray! Did I mention I'm a homebody?

More Holidaying

Fence update.



It's pretty much done now though. Just a few finishing touches. So. Nice. I can't wait to go outside and not have to chase A back into the yard...

We went to visit our friends today. They live on a farm about an hour and a half away. I called the trip an early birthday present to A. She loves animals. Loves making animal noises. We had a nice time. She and my friend's son seemed to have a great time together. They would be great partners in crime. Both equally unafraid to try anything.

And I was yet again impressed (although I would have been happy to have intervened if possible before each thing happened) by Miss A's toughness. She got a little too close to the chickens and was pecked on the hand. She cried but stopped almost immediately when I picked her up and was still fascinated by them. She also went in with the other game chickens (much tamer and nicer) after she was pecked only being careful to hold her hands close to her body.



Sadly the other 'accident' was when she wandered off when we were getting stuff out of the garden and touched the electric fence. Yeah. I know. I suck. In my defense I didn't even notice the fence until it was too late. Again though, she cried until I picked her up and soon after stopped. I swear that the only reason she even cries is because she's so angry that something caught her off guard that way, not because it hurt very much. The look in her eyes after both incidents was pure outrage not pain.

Despite those events she had a great time, as did we. Miss A loved their doggie to death. I think he enjoyed her as well. And I'm pretty sure she made a little friend today...

No Comment

Things have been a bit hairy around here lately so I'm feeling a little slack in the blogging department.

Peter sprained his ankle on Thursday. It was one of those great things that happen. I can only imagine. He was hurrying to get Miss A to the babysitter so he could be on time for his massage appointment (I know, I was shocked too) when he accidentally locked his keys in the house. That meant no car keys and no house keys. He thought fast and strapped A to her bike seat while he broke in through the window. Flawless plan. Except for the slipping part. And the falling part. And the twisting the ankle part. He was worried but brushed himself off and successfully broke in on his next try. He was able to walk (limp) on it and make it to the appointment after all. He also managed to work Friday although I'm not sure how. Good timing for a long weekend. I tried to nurse him back to health as much as I was able to.



And then there was yesterday. The day when I truly realized my daughter's potential to be a criminal. You see for the past few weeks I have been getting lazy with the measures I use to keep her in her pajamas. I have still been putting them on backwards but she had made no attempt to remove them for some time. I got into the habit of not bothering the extra precaution of safety pinning as well.

BIG MISTAKE!

It was all a trick. A well planned scheme. A joke on me. For shame.

She was in her bed yesterday afternoon for the duration of her intended nap. Peter and I also dozed but I was well aware that she was not sleeping. This is becoming a regular occurrence lately much to my chagrin. When I finally went in to rescue her from the confines of her crib - OH THE HORROR. The nudity. the poo.

The best thing I can say is that everything was washable. And 45 minutes later the only trace of the incident was the faint odor in the air. Which I then killed with fresh air and air freshener.

I have pictures on file when I am need of the most evil blackmail material ever.

I have learned my lesson. Never. Trust. Again.

How can someone so cute be so... naughty?

Family Reunion/Barbecue/Awfulness

So we had this family thing yesterday. And it was whack, yo. A cousin of mine was in town and another cousin hosted a BBQ so all family in the area (most of us are in the area) could see him. Never mind the fact that I'm not really close to this cousin or any of my cousins for that matter. But you know, whatever.

Whenever we have to go anywhere that we've never been before I always give myself a pep talk. Actually Peter and I give each other a pep talk. It goes something like this...

“Okay. The next two hours are pretty much going to suck. We'll take turns constantly following Monkey A around trying to keep her from:

a) Breaking anything
b) Climbing everything
c)Hurting herself (badly)

We can do this! Go Team!”

And I can honestly say we rarely worry for nothing. And today was no exception. Some of the highlights of the afternoon/evening:

-Trying to keep A from getting hit by some sort of golf ball sling shot type contraption that was part of a game akin to 'Horseshoes'.

-Trying to keep A from climbing in to the pond as though it was a pool.

-Trying to keep A from escaping out of the yard when the fence was left open.

-Worrying about A falling down a few cement stairs that she was fascinated with climbing repeatedly.

-Trying to get A to eat when there were SO many cooler things she could be doing mom, sheesh.

I think you get the idea. The worst part is that everyone tries to convince me that she is just an average normal (almost) 2 year old. Come on people! What kind of a moron do you think I am? I wasn't born yesterday. I've been around 2 year olds plenty. I happen to know for a fact that my kid is way more psycho than most. She does things that most kids don't even think of. She is constantly finding new ways to get into trouble. And... she. never. stops. So quit trying to tell me it's her age, she's fine, don't worry about it... I don't see YOU running around after her. That's my job.

I don't mean to complain. I love my A. I do. She's sweet, her personality is out of this world and she is going to grow up to be the most incredible woman. But man, does she tire a person out. We always leave that sort of function feeling totally drained and usually a bit depressed. We often vow to never agree to attend something like that again with Miss A in tow. But we never seem to stick to the rules we make up for ourselves.

The Blur

Now that the warmer weather has finally arrived we have been trying to get out more. We have started taking Miss A to various playgrounds which are close to our house. On Sunday evening the three of us went for a stroll and had a play on this fabulous structure. As you can see there are plenty of things on which our little monkey can hone her climbing skilz. Her Grandma would have had about five heart attacks if she had been there with us. “Watch out! She's going to fall. Don't let her do that. Please make her get down.”






I had to set our camera to the sports setting and still I often was only able to catch her blurry body running by.




I think her expression in this photo pretty much captures the level of excitement that she has for this activity.



The only downside to doing this sort of thing with her is convincing her that it is time to go home. Her Dada usually has to haul her away kicking and screaming. Poor little psycho.

I am looking forward to setting up her little inflatable pool in the back yard. (A couple of months from now, it's still WAY too cold for that yet) I think it's going to be a blast. Who knows I may even get a tiny bit of a tan. That would be astounding.

Why I Blog

I'm still trying to catch my breath after Easter. You would THINK that I would be rested because I took Saturday off which meant I had five, that's right FIVE days off in a row. But you see we traveled on Friday to see my mother in law and traveled back Sunday only to quickly unpack and head to my mothers for Easter supper. We were lucky enough to have Peter home on Monday as well but the day seemed to fly by with yet more food at my moms and my first class back at TaeKwon Do. (YAY!) And today wasn't much better. The A-ster and I were running all day. So needless to say I'm not feeling very rested. Sigh...

I do have a story for you all to enjoy. A story that will make the majority of my readers breathe sighs of relief that their children have never done such a thing.

The story takes place at Grandma D's house. Once we were settled in after the two hour drive most of which A spent sleeping the four of us were enjoying a bit of television together. Miss A often goes up to the television to point out something to everyone. Not a big deal. But for some reason she suddenly decided that it would be a good idea for her to try to climb the television. She placed one hand then the other on the top of the TV. We all sat there watching, yet seemingly paralyzed.

And then it happened. The TV began to fall. There was nothing any of us could do. And just like in an action movie Miss A somehow dodged out of the way of the falling television set. And stood there in shock as it sat screen down on the floor. I yelled her name out of instinct immediately causing her to begin crying. Peter set the TV back on the entertainment center only to find that the color was all messed up like the way a calculator screen goes all crazy when you push on it. Luckily we had a spare TV to use because, for goodness sakes what would we do without TV?

Grandma was very gracious and not at all angry. She was just so relieved that A wasn't hurt as were Peter and I but once those feelings wore off we were just blown away by the fact that our offspring had just destroyed something so expensive. She now holds the record in both our families for the most expensive thing wrecked by a grandchild.

I can't help but be embarrassed. I feel negligent. What if she had gotten hurt? Then I guess I'd just feel worse. Seriously, I didn't order such a busy, rambunctious, monkey of a child. I ordered a well behaved, calm, relaxed one. Who messed up my order?

We offered to buy Grandma a new television. Of course she declined. She 'needed' a bigger one anyway. Not to worry. Yeah. Thanks Grandma. We promise to keep her away from all of your expensive appliances from now on. Or bring a medium sized cage to keep her in when we visit.

My only consolation when stuff like this happens is that I can blog about it. Imagining the shocked looks, the “Oh No!”'s, the hands held up to you mouths when you read that A almost pulled a television set down on top of herself, makes it all worth while. Knowing that someone can feel comforted by the fact that while their child may be mischievous and get into their fair share of trouble they have never broken a television. That friends, brings me comfort and it is the reason I blog.

Taking Baby Proofing to a New Level

So way back when Miss A started crawling around we did some basic baby proofing. You know, outlet covers and putting unsafe stuff up out of reach. That seemed to do the trick. Sure she still managed to get into stuff but nothing really dangerous. The worst part of it all was having to tidy up whatever she'd gotten into.

Since she started walking three months ago the amount of trouble she can get into has been getting progressively worse. Somethings that stand out from those early days are finding her splashing in the toilet (yuk!) and discovering her in her room with bum cream all over her.



When we first brought her home from the hospital I remember cursing my love of older homes. Our hardwood floors are ridiculously creaky and often woke her up when we were on her way to put her into bed. Soon we all got used to the creaky floors. Now I have a new disdain for our home. Our cupboards are very... hmmm... what's the word? Cheap? Crappy? Either would do. I have a dream to replace them someday but for now, for now they'll have to do. The thing about these awful cupboards is that regular old baby proofy gadgets don't attach properly. So we've had to get creative.





So far they seem to be working well. It makes life a whole lot easier not having Miss A constantly hauling out everything from the cupboards. I know, how unfair of me. I do let her play with pots and pans sometimes but the problem is she has more fun just getting everything out than actually playing with any of it. And quite frankly, I find it exhausting.

Since she is rather tall for her age she can reach up to tables and to our desks. We have to make sure we don't leave anything near the edges or she'll pull them down. We had a Brita incident a couple of weeks ago. Water everywhere.

There are still some things that I haven't been able to find locks for. One being the garbage can. This is a necessity I think. She often goes into the garbage which I find totally disgusting and I tell her so. She could care less. She also enjoys throwing things such as toys or clothing into the garbage. The other day she threw one of her Dada's computer discs in. Luckily it was washable. I have tried teaching her to stay out but so far it hasn't worked. It just ends up being a lot of work for me washing the stuff that she throws in there.

A few different people have informed me lately that they didn't baby proof anything. They just taught their kids not to get into anything. To them I say “How nice for you.” I however seem not to possess the skills to do this. Or I have a more strong willed child. Or I'm lazy. In any case I find it easier to baby proof than to constantly be cleaning up the aftermath.

I think that all of you Mamas out there know that our husbands have a different “way” with the kids. I also know that Miss A seems to give her Dada a harder time with some things than she gives me. Example: Diaper Changes. She is not an easy kid for either of us to change but for some reason she seems to save up all her fighting strength for him. The same goes with stuff she shouldn't be getting into. She'll often get into way more trouble while he's looking after her. Because I work part time this means that I often come home to a very frustrated and exhausted Dada and a house than has that “lived in look”. Last night was the first time I've worked since some of the new baby proofing measures have been in place. Things were much more under control here and Dada seemed to be in rather a good mood. I think that's a good sign.



Maybe I'm whining. I'm sure all kids get into this much stuff. It's just new to me. I'm posting a list of the things she's been getting into. I may have forgotten some stuff. Let me know if your little angels have gotten into anything more interesting.

List of things Miss A gets into:

The CD/DVD drawer on the computer (we've added a locking code on our desktop)
our desks
tables
Drawers
cupboards
the garbages
bum cream
the toilet
The laundry
Our bedside tables
The cat food
The cat water