Fuzzy Love

Just Another Night

Last night, Mark and I were both pretty tired, so we were in bed with the lights out by ten. Here's what happened next:

10:48 - Olivia wakes up and demands to be fed. She shouldn't have needed food yet, since she ate last at 7:30, but what the heck, I'm too tired to argue. Actually, I'm too tired to think. Waking up in your first hour of sleep is hard.

11:00 - I get back into bed.

1:03 - Olivia wakes up again and demands to be fed. Since I know she doesn't need to eat yet, Mark goes in to check her. I fall back to sleep immediately.

2:20 - Liam wakes me up from a hard sleep by patting me on the cheek. He has brought several stuffed animals with him (he says some of them are for me), which I find hard to resist because (a) that's pretty cute and (b) I'm very tired. Moving as little as possible I pull him up and tuck him into the middle of our bed. I notice that Mark is still missing. He must have fallen asleep in Olivia's chair.

2:30 - Liam and I wake up when Mark returns to bed. Well, I don't really know if Liam fell asleep, but he was being quiet, which is a good sign. We all fall asleep instantly.

5:05 - Olivia is awake again. For some reason I think that I fed her recently, so I don't want to feed her now (sleep-deprivation does that to you). I plug her and go back to bed.

6:10 - Liam wakes up. He climbs out of bed and traps Fuzz in the closet, who is sleeping in there. Liam is so excited by the trap that he lets out a squeal of delight and Olivia wakes up. Looks like the day has begun.

The Carpet Cleaners Are Booked

This:

plus this:

equals a whole lot of puddles.

Operation: Tough Love

As you all know, Olivia has been sleeping in bed with us since day one. And this has been a good decision for us, over all, although Mark might not be as enthusiastic about it as I am (although I don't know why; he doesn't sleep with her in his armpit). But the same thing was happening to her that happened to Liam at this age: she just doesn't sleep as well around us. How do I know this? Because she started waking up every one to two hours. Now, when Liam was this age, I tolerated this behavior for about two months because (a) I was afraid to let him cry and (b) The one time I did let him cry, he was still going strong after an hour and I vowed never again and (c) I didn't have another child to worry about, so I could catch up on sleep during the day. Poor Olivia has none of these things going for her, so into her crib she went.

We started on Sunday night and I was completely on edge. Liam had skipped his nap that day due to Eastery events, and Olivia hadn't slept well either. But Mark took Olivia into her room, rocked her into that drowsy state where she can't keep her eyes open, and ever-so-gently placed her in her crib.

Well, of course it wasn't that easy. We had agreed that we could tolerate her crying for no more than fifteen minutes, and she did cry for all those fifteen minutes. After that, Mark went in and picked her up and cuddled her and put her back down. She cried another ten minutes (although by then it was more like a sad, sleepy whimper), but then she fell asleep, all by herself! And in a strange bed! She woke up at 1:30 for a feeding, which is perfectly understandable, and again at 5:30, which is just fine. After both those wakings she drifted quietly off to sleep, just like the big five-month-old that she is. And ever since that first night she's been crying for only a few minutes, and some times not at all. Progress!

Now, if only she'd do that for her naps...

Easter

Easter itself was a nice day. Liam had put out water and carrots for the bunny who was, in turn, good to Liam.

Of course there was an egg hunt as well, but the bunny was a bit lazy this year and the eggs were hidden inside the house. That's where I'm used to them anyway, as the Scotia is usually under a bunch of snow this time of year, which is not so good for egg hunts. And it's a good thing the bunny hid those eggs and not Mommy, as I was thinking this egg hunt thing was a bit too easy.

As it was, however, it took Liam a while to find them. Basically, he lost interest after a while and just wanted to play with the toy he got: a t-ball stand thing. He and Mark spent most of the morning hitting balls to each other.

And Olivia? Check her out.

Do you think it's a bit skimpy?

In the afternoon we went to Mark's cousin's house for a potluck dinner with the aunts. There was another Easter egg hunt and lots of kids. And I was pleased to see that, for the first time, Liam was keeping up with the bigger kids (five-year-olds).

But Olivia, she just slept in her Easter dress (and more bloomers).

No Rest for the Indulgent

Easter weekend is over. The bunny came. Liam ate his weight in chocolate. It was a success, although we had our disappointments along the way. Remember the bunny cake my mom made with Liam a few weeks ago? I tried to do one with him as well. Didn't seem too hard after all; I had kinda watched them. A bit. But first I had inadequately floured the cake pan so the cake stuck for a while and finally fell out in crumby pieces when Mark thwopped the pan as hard as he could. And then there was a part about tooth picks that just didn't register until the entire bunny body fell over when I tried to ice it. So, although it tastes good, our cake in no way resembles an actual bunny. Even Liam knew it, and wasn't interested in decorations beyond some chocolate sprinkles.

Mark called it "roadkill bunny."

And then there was the neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. We signed Liam up for this a week ago (note: participants had to be registered) thinking it would be some sweet fun for him with lots of other kids. I'd take the camera; there would be lots of photo ops of Liam, dressed in his Easter finest, placing eggs into his rustic basket. Well, the day was cold, so Liam was bundled in jeans and a jacket, the battery died in the camera as soon as we arrived, and, oh, about fifteen thousand other kids were registered, so all the eggs were gone before we even left the car. Apparently (this was reported by friends we ran into on their way out) there was some sort of car-backfiring noise that sounded like a gunshot a few minutes before the egg hunt was due to start. So all the kids that got there early took off running at the sound and started gathering eggs while the organizers jumped, waved their arms, and shouted, "No! Not yet!" Five minutes after the event was due to begin, the whole thing was over and the remaining kids were turned away. We didn't know this, of course, until I set one foot out of our parked car and a passing pedestrian informed me, "I heard the Easter egg hunt is all over." Since that couldn't possibly be true, we carried on. But then we began passing more and more people as we walked to the event, half of which happily told us it was all over. The other half were saying things like, "If I ever try to go to one of these things again, stop me!" At this point I'd like to say to the parents of small babies that infants do not need full baskets of twenty or thirty candy-filled Easter eggs. Oh no, I'm not bitter at all. But we kept soldiering on for some reason; maybe we just had to see it for ourselves. When we got there the site was packed with people and the event was over. We did run into those friends who were kind enough to share some eggs with Liam, which was very sweet of them and saved the whole experience from being a completely bitter memory. And so I say: If I ever try to go to one of these things again, stop me!

We turned the day around, however, by going to the Littleton Historical Museum. They were holding a Sheep to Shawl exhibition at their recreated 1860's farm, right in the middle of the city. I had no idea the museum was even there, but when I saw the ad that said "sheepdog demonstration" and "free," I knew Liam would like it. And it was really fun. We saw a sheep being sheared and spinning wheels and horses and donkeys and, of course, a bunch of sheepdogs. (Liam got confused and wanted to see the "dogsheep," which makes me wonder what he thought he was going to see.)

But more on the weekend later as Olivia is waking up and I must go get her.

Happy Easter

A Good Friday, in Pictures

Breaking News

Mark decided to give Olivia her first meal of rice cereal tonight (he's just spontanious like that - I would have planned it for a week).

Well, no babies like it right away.

Liam came in to offer his support: "Good job Aweeya!"

Whew, that's over with.

Now, just a week of the rice and she can have oatmeal!

Busy Days

Honestly, a whole lot of things are going on around here; I just can't say that any of them are very interesting. First of all, Olivia isn't 100%. Let's just say that I ate something that didn't agree with me and she has to share in the consequences. I'll leave it at that.

And we all went to a birthday party last weekend for Liam's friend Emma. It was at Chuck E. Cheese's and, if you have never been, it's built for kids and a crazy place. It's a like a carnival smooshed into a McDonald's. Even looking at their website stresses me out. But each kid got a cup of tokens to use for rides and games so Liam had a ball. And, being Liam, he barely sat still with all the excitement all around, so he didn't see much of Emma. But then she was off and running herself, so I didn't fight Liam much about it.

By the way, this was Olivia's first party. So she dressed up too.

How cute is she, complete with her "I'm going to eat you up" face that she always has on nowadays? Note Mark behind her is in pajama pants; he put her in this dress about seven in the morning, we took this picture, and about five minutes later she had spit up all over herself. Fortunately, there was time to wash the whole ensemble (oh yes, there's bloomers on under there) before the party.

And Olivia has now mastered the roll over in both directions, so we have to keep a close eye on her (ummm....weren't we supposed to be doing that anyway?) or she'll end up under the coffee table or in the kitchen or wedged up against the piano. And check this out: those chubby little forearms are strong.

From the Mouth of Liam

Now that Liam is speaking so well, expect to read more little Reader's Digest-type stories about what comes out of his mouth. Only the stories might not be funny, but sometimes odd and perhaps disturbing. Like last night. I was getting ready to go to book club (The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri - general consensus thumbs up), sitting on the floor to put my shoes on, when Liam came over to see what I was up to.

Liam: You going, Mommy?
Me: Yes, I'm going out for a little while. You're going to stay here with Daddy and Olivia.
Liam, giving me a hug: Okay Mommy. <pause> Don't die Mommy.
Me: Huh? What? Don't die?
Liam, sadly: Yeah.

Where the hell did that come from? It's a mite bit disconcerting, if you ask me.

And the other day we were at a toy store shopping for a birthday party. Well, I was shopping and Liam was playing at the train table. We went to a small, local toy store (Pterodactyl Ptoys - is that a great name or what?) that was so much more pleasant than trying to shop at Toys R Us that I'm hoping to never go back there. For one thing, Liam could stay at the train table the whole time because the store was approximately the size of my living room and I could always see him. Anyway, a little old lady was shopping in the Thomas section and apparently got too close to the train table.

Liam: Esuse me. You're in my way.
Little Old Lady, while moving aside: Oh! What a polite little boy you are!
Liam: Fank you.

Who taught him to do that?

Finally, this morning we woke up to this view:

Liam beat me downstairs as I was feeding Olivia and therefore somewhat trapped. I got down there pretty quickly, however, when I heard the front door open. His goal: to announce to the neighborhood that it was snowing. And when he heard me coming, he was so excited to yell, at the top of his lungs, "Look Mommy! It's snowing!" Yes, Liam, it's snowing, and let me introduce you to a window. He then announced that he would be eating snow for breakfast, so could I please get him a bowl and a spoon?

No problem.