Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Scenes from the week
Our big excitement this weekend was a trip to Vermont to see Lex and Eve. I forgot my camera and can't figure out how to get photos off my phone, but you can see Tessa's photos here. Went to a science museum with really cool hands-on stuff and a splash park. Molly liked the turtles and all the other stuff her Daddy showed her, but mostly she liked leading him up and down the stairs and around the museum. She really liked the water, too.
Jumping back a few days, here's Molly playing in the mirror after requesting pigtails.
This is a series from last Wednesday when Molly decided to take Baby out on the town in her new stroller.
Taking baby for a walk. At one point she walked the baby all the way down to a neighbor's house at the end of the street where we stopped in to drop off a recipe. How 1950s is that?
Here's Molly reading a book.
We also have some really funny photos that involve bathtub crayons and Molly saying "nipple" but they're not appropriate for the Web. Ah, well. :)
Jumping back a few days, here's Molly playing in the mirror after requesting pigtails.
This is a series from last Wednesday when Molly decided to take Baby out on the town in her new stroller.
Taking baby for a walk. At one point she walked the baby all the way down to a neighbor's house at the end of the street where we stopped in to drop off a recipe. How 1950s is that?
Pushing baby in the swing.
Molly saying "hug."
Here's Molly reading a book.
We also have some really funny photos that involve bathtub crayons and Molly saying "nipple" but they're not appropriate for the Web. Ah, well. :)
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
More doctor anxiety
Molly had a simple follow-up appointment yesterday with the orthopedic doctor to check on the way her toes turn in a little when she walks. It should have been very simple. They don't weigh her or poke anything at her, just watch her walk and measure the angle of her lower legs to make sure it's getting better on its own. The doctor's really friendly, we'd been there a couple times before without incident, no big deal.
Well, Molly was fine in the waiting room until a woman in colorful scrubs came to the door and said, "Molly? Are you ready?"
Molly shook her head no. I laughed and picked her up and she started crying. By the time we stepped into the exam room she was screaming, just absolutely freaking out. The woman was talking to her, trying too soothe her but Molly was a mess. I couldn't even get her attention to calm her down. So apparently just the look of a doctor's office -- any doctor's office -- triggers her anxiety.
She calmed down pretty quickly once the nurse left us alone in the room and we talked about how the doctor was going to look at her legs, how it might be scary but I would be there and he wasn't going to hurt her. I told her that if she got scared she could say "Mommy hug" and I would hug her. We practiced saying it.
Didn't matter. As soon as the doctor opened the door she went bonkers. I tried all the things I wished I had done last time she freaked out -- mainly trying to validate her feelings rather than tell her it's OK (ala Happiest Toddler on the Block) by saying "You're scared! You're scared! You don't want the doctor to touch you! You want him to go away! You're scared!" Didn't matter. She wasn't even hearing me.
So we decided to try again in a couple months. (They collected the copay anyway, of course. Grrr!!!)
I hate seeing the look in the doctors' and nurses' eyes, the look that says they think she's a problem patient. As nice as they've been, they all project attitude that we've failed to be good patients rather than that they've failed to approach Molly in a way that doesn't scare her. It's infuriating!
The good part of the visit was that while we were in the waiting room talking about legs, I asked Molly how many legs she has and she said "two."
We've been playing around with the word "two" since a couple days ago when we were feeding the bunny. Every morning I count out loud, "one, two" as I put the scoops of food into the bowl. That day I said "one" and Molly said "two."
She got so excited about "two legs" that the answer to every "how many" question was "two" (much like how the answer to every "what color" question is "purple.") Apparently she and Jim did some work on it last night in the bathtub because this morning he asked her how many heads she has and she said "one." She loves this game.
She also loves to accessorize. This is from the other morning playing with Daddy while I was in the shower. (There's a picture she made him take where he's wearing all the accessories, but I'll save his dignity by not publishing it).
Here she is picking peas. Every day I think we've picked the last of them, but she somehow finds more. She picks a lot of flat ones, but it's a small price to pay to keep her occupied while I pull weeds.
She likes to help in the kitchen, but she was getting a little agressive about poking her fingers in the bread dough so Jim made her her own out of flour and water. She was pretty happy about that.
Well, Molly was fine in the waiting room until a woman in colorful scrubs came to the door and said, "Molly? Are you ready?"
Molly shook her head no. I laughed and picked her up and she started crying. By the time we stepped into the exam room she was screaming, just absolutely freaking out. The woman was talking to her, trying too soothe her but Molly was a mess. I couldn't even get her attention to calm her down. So apparently just the look of a doctor's office -- any doctor's office -- triggers her anxiety.
She calmed down pretty quickly once the nurse left us alone in the room and we talked about how the doctor was going to look at her legs, how it might be scary but I would be there and he wasn't going to hurt her. I told her that if she got scared she could say "Mommy hug" and I would hug her. We practiced saying it.
Didn't matter. As soon as the doctor opened the door she went bonkers. I tried all the things I wished I had done last time she freaked out -- mainly trying to validate her feelings rather than tell her it's OK (ala Happiest Toddler on the Block) by saying "You're scared! You're scared! You don't want the doctor to touch you! You want him to go away! You're scared!" Didn't matter. She wasn't even hearing me.
So we decided to try again in a couple months. (They collected the copay anyway, of course. Grrr!!!)
I hate seeing the look in the doctors' and nurses' eyes, the look that says they think she's a problem patient. As nice as they've been, they all project attitude that we've failed to be good patients rather than that they've failed to approach Molly in a way that doesn't scare her. It's infuriating!
The good part of the visit was that while we were in the waiting room talking about legs, I asked Molly how many legs she has and she said "two."
We've been playing around with the word "two" since a couple days ago when we were feeding the bunny. Every morning I count out loud, "one, two" as I put the scoops of food into the bowl. That day I said "one" and Molly said "two."
She got so excited about "two legs" that the answer to every "how many" question was "two" (much like how the answer to every "what color" question is "purple.") Apparently she and Jim did some work on it last night in the bathtub because this morning he asked her how many heads she has and she said "one." She loves this game.
She also loves to accessorize. This is from the other morning playing with Daddy while I was in the shower. (There's a picture she made him take where he's wearing all the accessories, but I'll save his dignity by not publishing it).
Here she is picking peas. Every day I think we've picked the last of them, but she somehow finds more. She picks a lot of flat ones, but it's a small price to pay to keep her occupied while I pull weeds.
She likes to help in the kitchen, but she was getting a little agressive about poking her fingers in the bread dough so Jim made her her own out of flour and water. She was pretty happy about that.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Woo hoo!!!
Molly just peed in her potty!!!
We were in the middle of a crazy independent streak after bath. She didn't want to get out of the tub, even after the water was gone. She was sliding around in there dangerously and when I tried to pick her up she pushed my hands away, wiggled back and wouldn't look at me. I finally just grabbed her. She was so angry she wouldn't let me towel her off. She ran out of the bathroom naked. I came after her with the towel but she waved her hands at me threatening and turned her back. She gets her mind set on things a lot, but I don't think she's ever been this fierce about wanting me to leave her alone. I just left her there and went to her bedroom to get her PJs (she's been spending a lot of time running around naked -- her choice -- so the rule is just that she has to stay on the hard floor for easy accident clean-up). When I came back she was sitting on her potty looking down between her legs. She didn't notice me, so I went back down the hall for a few minutes. I didn't want to interrupt. When I came back in she had closed the lid and was walking around naked again. I checked the potty and it was full!!!!
This is the first time she's gotten herself to the potty intentionally to go. She peed in there once before, but she had already been sitting on the potty for a while and I don't think she even realized she did it. This morning she pooped on the potty, too, which was very exciting, but it happened because I noticed she was making her poop face (no diaper on, yikes!) so I grabbed her and set her on the pot.
She seems ready to potty train in a lot of ways, but until this evening (and maybe still) she was missing a big sign of readiness -- she doesn't seem to know ahead of time when she's going to go.
Instead she's just been getting upset about her dirty diapers, pointing and asking to have them taken off. Then when the diaper is off, she goes and sits on her potty. Nothing happens because she already went. Usually she doesn't want a new diaper on right away so I let her run around bare for a while (hence why the potty was in the kitchen tonight instead of the bathroom -- there's only so much time a mom can spend sitting on the bathroom floor).
Anyway, peeing on the potty seemed to be her last big act of independence. Afterward she laid right down for a diaper and dropped to sleep like a rock. It's a good thing. Our day was exasperating. Here are just a few of the things Molly did today: climb up the oven door, dump plates of food off the kitchen counter, squish pretty much every meal and snack between her fingers then fling it on the floor, grab an avocado off the counter and bite it through the skin like an apple, bite two tomatoes, put the bananas in the sink under running water, put her plastic monkey plate full of food in the microwave and almost turned it on, then dump the plate on the floor, blow a puff of air into a container of cloves causing them to get into her eye and make it red and sore ... I think I'm going to sleep well tonight, too.
We were in the middle of a crazy independent streak after bath. She didn't want to get out of the tub, even after the water was gone. She was sliding around in there dangerously and when I tried to pick her up she pushed my hands away, wiggled back and wouldn't look at me. I finally just grabbed her. She was so angry she wouldn't let me towel her off. She ran out of the bathroom naked. I came after her with the towel but she waved her hands at me threatening and turned her back. She gets her mind set on things a lot, but I don't think she's ever been this fierce about wanting me to leave her alone. I just left her there and went to her bedroom to get her PJs (she's been spending a lot of time running around naked -- her choice -- so the rule is just that she has to stay on the hard floor for easy accident clean-up). When I came back she was sitting on her potty looking down between her legs. She didn't notice me, so I went back down the hall for a few minutes. I didn't want to interrupt. When I came back in she had closed the lid and was walking around naked again. I checked the potty and it was full!!!!
This is the first time she's gotten herself to the potty intentionally to go. She peed in there once before, but she had already been sitting on the potty for a while and I don't think she even realized she did it. This morning she pooped on the potty, too, which was very exciting, but it happened because I noticed she was making her poop face (no diaper on, yikes!) so I grabbed her and set her on the pot.
She seems ready to potty train in a lot of ways, but until this evening (and maybe still) she was missing a big sign of readiness -- she doesn't seem to know ahead of time when she's going to go.
Instead she's just been getting upset about her dirty diapers, pointing and asking to have them taken off. Then when the diaper is off, she goes and sits on her potty. Nothing happens because she already went. Usually she doesn't want a new diaper on right away so I let her run around bare for a while (hence why the potty was in the kitchen tonight instead of the bathroom -- there's only so much time a mom can spend sitting on the bathroom floor).
Anyway, peeing on the potty seemed to be her last big act of independence. Afterward she laid right down for a diaper and dropped to sleep like a rock. It's a good thing. Our day was exasperating. Here are just a few of the things Molly did today: climb up the oven door, dump plates of food off the kitchen counter, squish pretty much every meal and snack between her fingers then fling it on the floor, grab an avocado off the counter and bite it through the skin like an apple, bite two tomatoes, put the bananas in the sink under running water, put her plastic monkey plate full of food in the microwave and almost turned it on, then dump the plate on the floor, blow a puff of air into a container of cloves causing them to get into her eye and make it red and sore ... I think I'm going to sleep well tonight, too.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Home again, home again
We had a great holiday weekend with the fam. Here's the run-down...
We started at the diner, of course. (Jelly packets for breakfast anyone?)
Gallons of imaginary tea were consumed at both Grandma and Oma's house (both have these cute little metal tea sets). It was a little unsettling, in fact, the way Molly was tossing them back.
After a few too many imaginary drinks, Molly engaged in some body painting (well, I guess some went on the paper, too) and then spontaneous nude rodeo over at cousin Lucy's house. Yeeeee-haw!
Tea time again, this time at the July 4 picnic with Emily.
Sunday morning, Molly and Lucy hit the flea market. Their spontaneous hand holding is too cute for words.
After the flea market, we had our fourth diner breakfast in four days. The amount of jelly, waffles, ice cream, pie filling, sausages and other junk consumed is beyond measure. No wonder the girls love their Grandpa so much!
Some auntie-niece sillyness.
We're afraid we all might have partied too hard. Molly threw up about 1 minute into our road trip home last night. We had to turn right around and get her cleaned up. Then I buckled her in with her leg hanging over the edge of the seat, out of the strap. How many times a day do I strap her in? ... Perhaps I had a little too much tea this weekend, too!
We did eventually get on the road, though, and it was pretty smooth. Molly dumped water down her back TWICE, but fortunately we had lots of extra clothes.
And fortunately Molly seemed pretty happy to be on a road trip most of the time, boppying around and kicking her legs and pointing to things out the windows. We caught her several times laughing really loudly along with us, when we were laughing at the radio or something in conversation. She's such a little peach!
We started at the diner, of course. (Jelly packets for breakfast anyone?)
Gallons of imaginary tea were consumed at both Grandma and Oma's house (both have these cute little metal tea sets). It was a little unsettling, in fact, the way Molly was tossing them back.
After a few too many imaginary drinks, Molly engaged in some body painting (well, I guess some went on the paper, too) and then spontaneous nude rodeo over at cousin Lucy's house. Yeeeee-haw!
Tea time again, this time at the July 4 picnic with Emily.
Sunday morning, Molly and Lucy hit the flea market. Their spontaneous hand holding is too cute for words.
After the flea market, we had our fourth diner breakfast in four days. The amount of jelly, waffles, ice cream, pie filling, sausages and other junk consumed is beyond measure. No wonder the girls love their Grandpa so much!
Some auntie-niece sillyness.
We're afraid we all might have partied too hard. Molly threw up about 1 minute into our road trip home last night. We had to turn right around and get her cleaned up. Then I buckled her in with her leg hanging over the edge of the seat, out of the strap. How many times a day do I strap her in? ... Perhaps I had a little too much tea this weekend, too!
We did eventually get on the road, though, and it was pretty smooth. Molly dumped water down her back TWICE, but fortunately we had lots of extra clothes.
And fortunately Molly seemed pretty happy to be on a road trip most of the time, boppying around and kicking her legs and pointing to things out the windows. We caught her several times laughing really loudly along with us, when we were laughing at the radio or something in conversation. She's such a little peach!
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