Who Is This Toddler?

Both last night and tonight, William threw a fit when it was time for his bath. He did not want to take a bath. Tonight I'd try to lower him into the water and his feet would come up and grasp me around the waist. It was so funny! This is the kid who could easily spend an hour in the bathtub every night. Who just four nights ago gleefully shouted, "Bubbles!" as I poured the bathwash into the tub and tried to dive into the bathtub himself. Who has loved his bath since he was a newborn. Who is this toddler who has been attached to my leg for the past two days and where is William?

Seriously, he has been having a bad case of the mommies for the last two days, and I don't know how to handle it. He's always been a mamma's boy, but he will hardly let go of me now. I know it's probably a phase (as is the whole bath thing), but how do I respond? Do I reassure him and hold him and comfort him? Or is that indulging him? Is there something that is making him feel insecure? Of course, my working mom guilt goes into overdrive and I worry that he's insecure because I leave him every single day at daycare. But am I overcompensating by indulging him too much when I'm with him? I know how important it is to be consistent, and I don't give in whenever he pitches a fit. I don't give him everything he wants, and I don't pick him up the minute he reaches up to me. But I guess I'm most indulgent at night, which makes me feel guilty. This morning, at 5:00 a.m., he didn't want to go back to sleep in his bed by himself. He wanted to be with me. And honestly, I wanted to be with him. So I brought him into our bed and we slept until 6:15. It's certainly not the end of the world. But I know it sets a bad precedent, and I know Ed doesn't "approve," and I want to be consistent. But I also want to comfort my baby.

I guess it will always be something--some kind of phase or challenge. I guess it's time to read up on some of those toddler books in the parenting section of Barnes and Noble. Now I understand why there are so many!

Weekend Report

Our weekend turned out to be low-key, primarily because Ed caught William's stomach bug and spent all Friday night and part of Saturday morning throwing up. He spent the rest of Saturday in bed. So needless to say, we didn't go out to eat with Ed's family. And we didn't have friends over, either. Instead, William and I played and went grocery shopping and played some more. Today Ed felt better and worked on getting the utility sink in the laundry room installed. William and I played and two friends visited who haven't seen the new house. So overall, the weekend was okay.

William, however, was just a little off all weekend. He has been eating hardly anything since he got sick last week, and he hasn't been sleeping very well. Last night he woke up a little before 3:00 a.m. and it took him almost an hour to fall back to sleep. He threw a fit when I tried to leave his room. And on Friday night, he threw a fit when I put him to sleep and tried to leave the room. Which is weird because he almost always goes to sleep very easily. I say goodnight, wave to him, and close the door and he goes right to sleep. So anyway, I'm hoping he'll be back to his usual self this week and will start back on the path of sleeping all night. We'll see!

Despite being a little more clingy and fussy than usual (and not taking long naps), he still managed to charm me all weekend. He knows the word "cup" now, and I think he's saying "Ya-ya" for daddy. Which is pretty funny. He also can answer, "What does a cow say" and "What does a duck say," ("moo" and "quack," obviously) which I wasn't aware he could do. He likes to dance and he has started spinning around in circles. It's really cute. (I'll try to get it on video.) He now hugs and kisses on demand (usually), and unfortunately, he's more attached to bottles than ever before.

So that's the weekend report. Not a very productive weekend, for sure. But that's okay. Lots of QT with William was well worth it!

Peanut Allergy

We got the results from William's allergy test today and it turns out that he is very allergic to peanuts. So allergic, in fact, that we got a prescription for epi-pens. I'm trying not to freak out too much. But it's really scary. Neither Ed nor I have any history of peanut allergies in our family. Or food allergies, for that matter. (That we know of, anyway.) We've never had to worry about what we eat. Now we have to throw out our peanutbutter and read labels with extreme diligence. Yikes.

He's also mildly allergic to egg whites, and had an "equivocal" reaction to milk. So now I'm scouring the Internet, reading everything I can on peanut allergies and how to interpret RAST tests. A small percentage of kids outgrow their peanut allergy, so I'm praying that William falls into this percentage.

By the way, he was fine today. No more throwing up! He did feel kind of warm at the end of the day, but I took his temp and it was normal. Although I'm not sure if the thermometer was working properly. Anyway, I'm off to read some more about what foods to avoid and what to look for in labels.

Stomach Bug

I was thinking of all kinds of titles for this blog entry, but decided that "Stomach Bug" would be the least offensive. "Our Vomit Experience" just seemed a little, well, gross. And so did "Cleaning Up Vomit," and so did "Vomit" for that matter. It's not a word that conjures pleasant visions. I hope you're not eating.

Speaking of eating, seeing William's half-digested dinner all over his crib made me think that maybe he is eating enough!

So as you may have guessed, William caught the vomit bug that has been going around his classroom. I'm not sure if there is one bug or two going around, because it seems that half the class had diarrhea last week, and half have had vomiting this week, and William seems to have gotten a little of both. (He had a lot of really gross, loose poops over the weekend.) So who knows how the rest of the week will go. At any rate, just yesterday I was smugly thinking of how wonderful it was that William had never thrown up before, and that he must have a stomach of steel, and how lucky were Ed and I? I did knock on wood as I thought these things, but apparently, that didn't help.

He was his usual happy self when we got home from work. He played, ate dinner, played some more, took his bath, went to sleep by 7:30. Then he woke up at 8:30 and was crying a little. Ed said to give him a minute so we did, and he lay his head back down and presumably went back to sleep. But 5 minutes later he woke up again, crying, and I had an instinct to go check on him, even though Ed said to let him cry. (Stupid Ed.) When I got close to his room, I heard him coughing a little, and when I opened the door, I was greeted by the stench of vomit and it was all over his crib and all over him. So what do you when your son is covered in vomit and holding out his arms to you and looking so sad and pathetic? Of course, you pick him up and get vomit all over yourself in the process.

So after walking around in circles for about 2 minutes (trying to figure out the best course of action) I take him to the bathroom, run the water, strip him, strip me, clean us both up, get him dressed in clean pjs, dress myself, give him to Ed, and proceed to strip his crib (trying to avoid getting vomit chunks on the floor), take all the vomit-covered clothes, sheets, and blankets to the laundry room, and start the washing machine. I then hear William crying again and go back upstairs to find William and Ed covered in vomit. So now Ed, who is trying to control his gag reflex, hands William to me, thus making all three of us covered in vomit. So we strip again, William goes in the shower with me, we get out, get dressed again, grab all the towels in the house, cover the bed, and lay down in bed.

To make a long story short, he threw up a few more times, but they weren't as bad because his stomach was mostly empty. He did want a bottle at some point, so we made a pedialyte and white grape juice bottle which he drank happily and then promptly threw up. At 10:00 p.m., he suddenly conked out lying across me in the bed and I carried him back to his room and put him in his crib and prayed to the vomit gods that he had provided enough of an offering for the night. They must have heard my prayers because he hasn't thrown up again. He woke up a few times and wanted another bottle at 3:30 a.m., which I reluctantly gave him, but that seems to have stayed down. This morning he was his usual happy self. He's home with Ed, and I'm at work, and hoping that he'll be fine for the rest of the day.

So that was our first vomit experience. Not the most pleasant thing I've ever blogged about, but a milestone nonetheless!

Aren't you glad I spared you the pictures this time?

A Kiss!

I got a kiss today! A real kiss! Well, sort of. When I was getting ready to leave William at daycare, I squatted down and said, "Can Mommy have a kiss?" And he leaned his head in to give me my kiss. I've been asking for kisses for a while now, but he hasn't shown any interest, or even acted like he understood what I was saying. So yay for kisses and hugs!

Couscous and Chick Peas

I'm trying to think outside the box when it comes to mealtime for William. He is still not eating meat, and cheese seems to have lost some of its appeal. So I've been trying to come up with new sources of protein. Tonight we tried Parmesan couscous and chick peas. He seemed to like the couscous, and he ate a few chick peas (maybe 4 or 5). So I'll definitely be making them again. But neither one was what I would call a "hit." He enjoyed using his spoon to eat the couscous more than he actually enjoyed the couscous. And by the way, I'm not sure why I didn't anticipate this, but couscous makes a HUGE mess. Next time he's eating it outside.

I also bought some tofu to try out. Any ideas on how to prepare it?

On another subject, we turned his car seat around (Ed had to move the car seat to his car for a few days, and it works better forward facing in the Civic) and he's actually fussier facing forward. I think because he can actually see me, he expects me to do something about his constrained condition. I guess it's true that ignorance is bliss. Oh well. Hopefully he'll get used to it. He does comment much more on all the trucks and buses that we pass along the way. Everything is "truck" though.

So here are a few parting shots that I took about 2 weeks ago. Man, he's growing up so fast!


(Here's another example of how I manage to focus the camera on the background instead of on William. I can't figure out how to make sure I'm not doing that when I take the picture. I never realize it until I look at the full-size images. Ugh. Maybe I should stop looking at the LCD screen and look through the viewfinder instead. Hmmm. Anyway, he's still cute!)

Home Sweet Home

We're back and all in one piece. We had a wonderful weekend and William had a great time with his grandparents. He was apparently wonderful and delightful and took super-long naps and woke up just once both nights (although he didn't want to go back to sleep in his crib so grandma brought him into their bed--sucka!) and just spent the whole time entertaining the family.

As for Ed and me, we had a wonderful time, too, exploring Cooperstown, NY, visiting with Ed's friends, and just spending lots of one-on-one time together. There was another friend there who has 19-month old twins, and she and I spent almost the whole evening talking about our babies. There was another twin-mom on the bride's side of the family, too. She had 7-month-old boys and they were at the rehearsal dinner so of course, I had to hold them and play with them. It made me miss William a little, but mostly, I did really well. I knew he was doing well and having fun and that made it much easier.

The highlight of our trip was on Saturday morning. It was our one morning where we could sleep in until noon if we wanted to. We had already decided that we would skip the B&B breakfast at 8:30 a.m. if we were tired, and that while there were a few things we wanted to see, we mostly just wanted to relax and talk and hang out. So I didn't sleep real well Friday night, and I had woken up at 4:30 a.m., but managed to go back to sleep, when suddenly, at 6:00 a.m., this God-awful siren went off, like an air raid siren or something. Apparently the local fire station, which is 2 doors down from our B & B, blares this siren whenever there's an emergency call. So needless to say, all Ed and I could do was laugh at that point. Neither one of us could get back to sleep so we ended up making it the breakfast after all. Oh well. So much for wishful thinking.

The only other disappointing part of the weekend was our homecoming. I had envisioned opening the door and having William run to greet me with a fierce hug and lots of smiles. Instead, he was asleep when we got there and we he woke up and saw me, it was sort of like I had never gone anywhere. He was his usual cranky self and needed a few minutes to wake up. I did, however, get some pretty nice cuddles at bedtime.

And oh yeah--how could I forget? I'm not sure what the grandparents fed William all weekend, but he had an explosive poop after dinner that shot right out of his diaper, up his back, into his booster seat, and all over everything. It was so completely disgusting. I carried William upstairs to the bathroom as poop dripped onto the floor and onto my pants, and somehow managed to get all over the bathroom. And as I used 2 million wipes to clean up the worst of it before plopping William in the tub, I look outside and see Ed hosing off the booster seat from about 5 feet away. I started laughing out loud and then William started laughing out loud and I probably would have started crying if it wasn't so damn funny.

Anyway, I'll leave you with a picture of Ed and me before the wedding. I was so happy with the pictures, but when I looked at them tonight, I realized you can see my underwear. I'm posting it on my blog anyway because as my friend MJ says, "Who cares? So they know you wear underwear." Good point. It's a nice picture otherwise.

What's New in William's World

I have been pretty busy this week and have been neglecting the blog (and my to do list!). We are getting ready to go out of town and I've been trying to get organized and get everything ready and make sure I don't forget anything. I've also been trying to finish the last of the unpacking so that we can come back to a house that seems more settled.

Anyway, I think I've been neglecting to provide basic updates on William's development, which is one of the main reasons I wanted to keep this blog in the first place.

• He's got all four incisors now. The 2nd two bottom incisors worked their way through over the last month. It seems like it took a while. I think he's working on his molars now. But those may take a while, too.
  
• He can now say "Clark," and I think he's saying "truck," or maybe "car." I'm not really sure because they all sound the same. But when he sees Clark, or sees a picture of a cat, he says "Clark." (Although it doesn't really sound like "Clark." More like a bad word that I wouldn't want to put on my blog in case yucky people google it and find me.) So his words to date are, "hot," "bubble," "woo-woo-woo," and "Clark" (or "Truck.") Still no "mommy" or "daddy." What gives?
  
• He has slept through the night for several nights in a row now. (Although last night he woke up at 2:30 a.m. briefly.)
• He still cries every morning when I leave him at daycare. There have been two mornings, though, when he didn't cry.
• He is using a fork now pretty regularly, but still needs lots of practice with a spoon.
• His favorite food right now is watermelon. He eats hardly any meat at all. The other day I gave him cheeseburger macaroni, and he literally picked the ground beef off of the spoon and ate the macaroni.
  
• He still loves milk and his bottle, and would drink 10 bottles a day if I let him.
  
• He's into climbing up on sofas and chairs now and grins ear-to-ear when he sits in chair or sofa like a big boy. It's too cute to see him work so hard to get into a chair, and then he turns around and gets his legs situated so they're straight out in front of him, and he puts his arms on the armrest and is just so proud of himself. I need to get it on video.
• He loves sprinklers and God forbid we see one somewhere in the neighborhood because there will be hell to pay if we don't go check it out.
  
• He also loves motorcycles, trucks, and buses.
  
• One of his favorite activities is playing in a sink full of sudsy water. For some reason, this is even better than his water play table full of suds, and his bathtub full of suds. (Although these are close seconds.)
• His favorite books are Go Dog, Go! (which is a new favorite), Brown Bear, Brown Bear, and How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten?.
• His favorite toys right now, or at least the toys he plays with a lot, include his pull-along dog, his playhouse, his activity garden, blocks (he's really into making towers with the blocks now and knocking them down), roll-and-go trains and firetruck, and his ride-on scooter (which he can now propel forward by himself). Outside, he loves his sand box and water play table.
  

So that's all I can think of now. I have to go to DMV to get a new license because I stupidly let mine expire. And I sort of need a valid ID so that I can get on an airplane. And I have a passport, but it's in my maiden name. Which is yet another reason why I won't advise any potential future daughter of mine to change her name if she gets married! But that's another topic altogether. Hopefully I'll post again at least once before we leave. Otherwise, I'll be back next week!

He Finally Did It!

William slept from 7:30 p.m. to 6:45 a.m. WITHOUT WAKING UP!!!! It's a freakin' miracle. And one that I'm sure will not happen again in the near future. And no--I did not sleep all night without waking. I woke up at 3:30 a.m. when Ed got home. Then I woke up at 5:15 a.m. and had to check on William to make sure he was okay. Then I woke up at 5:45 (well, I really hadn't fallen back to sleep yet) because I heard William cry so I went downstairs to make a bottle but by the time I got back upstairs he had fallen back to sleep. I'm sure that by the time I get back to getting 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep, I'll be pregnant and on the verge of having a newborn again. The way I see it, why even get used to sleeping again?

Happy Saturday

We had a very productive day today. For starters, William slept until almost 8:00 a.m.! He didn't sleep through the night (woke up briefly at 3:15 and then at 5:15 for a bottle), but I slept until 7:00 a.m. and it felt like Heaven!

After visiting our local Farmer's Market this morning, we made a trip to Home Depot and got lots of stuff that we need for the house--mostly outdoors stuff for the yard (like a weed-eater and an edger). While Ed was looking around, William and I visited the garden section where William was thrilled to find several workers watering the plants with wand-style watering sticks. He thought this was the coolest thing in the world. One of the workers let him hold the wand and let him put his hands in the water. It was pretty cute. For a long time he just walked through the puddles of water. He must have worn himself out because he fell asleep on the way home and took a two-hour nap at home.

In the afternoon we played downstairs and I managed to unpack a few boxes. And then we played outside for a while. Ed did tons of yardwork, and when he was done, he and William relaxed in the hammock and shared a glass of lemonade.



The most exciting part of the day, however, was dinner. For the first time, we all ate the same meal! William actually ate the taco casserole that I made. While I always offer him what we're having (although we rarely actually all eat dinner together--during the week Ed gets home too late and on the weekends, we usually on succeed one of the nights), I usually end up going with the back-up meal of mac 'n' cheese, or pasta, or cheese and deli meat. Today there was no back-up! Let's hope this is a step in the right direction.

Not That Bad

Thanks for the comments, which just reinforced what I already knew--it was a no-brainer. William had the blood drawn today, and it wasn't nearly as bad as the anticipation. I didn't cry at all. They had to stick him twice, but it didn't take long at all, and when it was over, he stopped crying, rested his head on my shoulder, and then he was fine. We got to spend the rest of the afternoon together playing outside. He was in a great mood, and although it seems a little corny, I felt so proud of him for taking it so well. He cried like crazy while they were getting the blood, but once it was over, it was over.

Actually, I feel worse about a little fall he took later in the afternoon. He busted the inside of his upper lip, and it kept bleeding off and on for the rest of the day. I gave him ice and a popsicle and sorbet to try to get it to stop, but it kept breaking open again. Hopefully it will clot up in his sleep. What a little trooper he is.

Now we have to wait about a week (maybe less) to get the lab results from the blood work, and that will tell if he's allergic to certain things (like pet dander, peanuts, dust mites, mold, cockroaches, cod fish, wheat, eggs, soy, and other stuff I'm forgetting). At least it will be good to know for sure whether or not he's allergic to any of those things.

Also, I did want to mention that William FINALLY slept through the night last night. He went down at about 7:40 p.m. and didn't wake up until 5:00 a.m. I gave him a bottle, and he did go back to sleep until 6:40 a.m., but I still consider that sleeping all the way through. So it is possible! He can do it! Fingers crossed that he'll keep on doing it.

WTF?????

I was going to title this post "Anxiety," but when you see the picture below, you'll understand why I named it what I did. When I went to get William this morning, this is what I found. (Actually, this is better than he looked when he first woke up. His eyes were literally swollen shut. I'm surprised he could see at all!)








It scared the living crap out of me. Obviously he's having an allergic reaction to something. The good news is he was breathing fine, drinking and eating fine, and acting relatively normal. He didn't have a fever and wasn't rubbing or scratching anything, and wasn't crying in pain. I immediately gave him some Benadryl and called the doctor. The doctor finally called me back after about 40 minutes, during which time the swelling started going down, so that he looked like this:


The doctor said I should bring him in, so we made an 8:30 a.m. appointment. He was considerably less swollen by then, and the doctor looked him over and didn't have any answers for us. She recommended doing a blood test to rule out the most common allergens, like peanuts, pet dander, dust mites, milk, wheat, soy. I made an appointment for him tomorrow to get his blood drawn, but now I am feeling overwhelming anxiety about it. (Which is why I was going to title the post, "Anxiety.") I just feel like if he was allergic to any of these things, he would have had reactions much earlier than this. And I don't want to put him through the torture of getting blood drawn just for everything to come back negative and for them to say, "Well, we don't know what happened, but keep an eye on him." I want to consider how likely or unlikely it is that he has any of those allergies, and weigh that against the trauma of the blood draw.

Now, maybe I'm being really dramatic about getting blood drawn. But the woman who does it told me that it can be really hard on babies as young as William, and that it is not pleasant to say the least. Which totally and completely scares me. The thought of it makes me want to cry. I'm kicking myself for not asking the millions of questions that are now in my mind when I was in the doctor's office this morning. They have call-in hours in the morning, so I plan to call in, but I just don't know what to do.

It could have been a spider or bug that bit him, although there wasn't any visible bite mark, and the doctor said it's more common to have swelling only local to the bite area. He did eat a tiny tiny bit of peanut butter yesterday around 6:00 p.m. I had a peanut butter and banana sandwich and he took a tiny bite, which was mostly bread anyway. But I thought that if he was allergic, a reaction would have happened right away, or at least within the hour. He had also had a tiny bit of peanut butter about 4 days before that, when he ate a tiny bite of my english muffin with peanut butter, and he had no reaction that time. So I don't know what to think. I think it's pretty safe to say he's not allergic to wheat or milk. And probably not soy, either. So what the hell is it?

So all 6 of you who read my blog, what would you do????? Get the blood drawn? Is this a no-brainer?

Anticipation

Ed and I are taking a weekend trip soon to Cooperstown, NY, to attend a wedding. William will be staying with his grandparents for the weekend. I've been looking forward to the trip and the thought of spending the weekend alone with Ed. But as the time approaches, I'm getting more and more nervous about both Ed and me being away from William. I know he'll be well-taken care of, but I also know how much I'm going to miss him, and that's what I dread. And I worry that he'll have a hard time without me and Ed for so long. But at the same time, I can't wait to have a weekend with just Ed and me. The hard part is going to be getting organized, as usual.

Suburbia Bliss

Today was one of those days that made me so happy that we moved and made me really appreciate our house. We had two friends over (couples) who both have daughters--one is William's age and the other is 11 months. They were sooo cute and we all had a really good time. We played in the family room and then downstairs in the playroom. And then we went outside and played with bubbles and the water table and the sandbox. Ed grilled chicken and we ate outside in our wonderful backyard. The kids were adorable and we really enjoyed entertaining. It was perfect. After they left and we got William to bed, Ed took a nap on his new hammock that he hung up earlier today. What could be more perfect than that? Here are a few pictures:

Here are the girls at the water table:



This is Lana with the bubbles:


William and Lana by the front door:


Tomorrow we'll be doing it all again. Ed's cousin is in town so we're having his family over for hamburgers and hot dogs. It's supposed to be pretty hot tomorrow, but fortunately, our back yard is really shady. As long as the mosquitoes aren't too terrible, we should be okay.

You Know There's a Toddler in the House . . .

My fellow May moms on our Babycenter.com birth board started a funny thread called, "You know there's a toddler in the house when . . . ." Here are some of my favorites:

You know there's a toddler in your house when

• every bathroom has the toilet paper roll either on the back of the toilet, or rolled back up sloppily due to little hands that get ahold of it when mom isn't looking! (And also, when there's shredded toilet paper all over the house because your toddler likes to tear it into little bits after he's managed to get ALL of the paper off the roll!
• Tupperware and plastic cups litter the kitchen floor creating an obstacle course for the mother holding the perpetrator and trying to not break both their necks.
• his/her toys are ALL over the house (even in the bathrooms).
• you have to wait until 7:30pm to get anything done (including make/eat dinner).
• you find goldfish crackers everywhere in the house and the diaper bag.
• you can't find the remotes or your car keys anywhere.
• your folded laundry is suddenly covering the floor.
• you have milk,water,juice stains all over the couch cushions.
• you open the lid to the trashcan and inside fine dvd's, toys, stuffed animals, and mommy's $300 cell phone!
• the walls are covered in crayon scribble . . . wonderful.
• Mommy on the potty is like the main attraction at the amusement park. (Brody even claps for me . . . thank you son! lol)
• you find pacifiers in the VCR, your shoe, the tub, the laundry basket, your bed, and anywhere else they can be stashed!
• You add an "ey" or "ie" sound to everything. Like poopie, wipey, nakie (naked), blankie, sippy, paci, etc.
  
• You repeat words a lot!
  
• You know all the songs to every toy, dvd, and musical book in your house. And sometimes, you find yourself singing along even when LO is not in the room!
• you can't go into another room without climbing over a baby gate.
• you can't open a cabinet for 5-10min because of safety locks.
• you like hearing pots and pans banging together because then you know that your LO isn't climbing the stairs.
• everything in breakable containers is on the top shelf of the fridge
• you know exactly where to step from the crib back to your bed without hitting a squeaky floor board.
• your DH goes to put his work boots on and finds blocks and Cheerios in them.
• your cats hide because they are afraid of what holy terror will be unleashed on them next.
• you are serving some sort of finger food for dinner every night, and try to spoon feed your DH.
• you are at the store and get hungry you know there are Cheerios regardless of what bag you brought in with you.
• your biggest accomplishment of the day was to organize toys.
• you bring an extra shirt for you for the day because you are a walking napkin.
• you find yourself eating Gerber Graduates Macaroni and Cheese for dinner because your LO has decided that she doesn't like it and you're too cheap to waste it.
• you know there's a toddler in the house when you begin or end every sentence with "No No."
• you have to climb over 2 baby gates to answer the telephone that your LO has hidden in the basket of shoes by the front door.
• you have to crawl into the dog's kennel to pull out all the toys that your LO put in there when it's time to put your dog to bed.
• you put your dog in the kennel and . . . Abra-cadabra!! The dog is out. Your LO stands next to the kennel clapping because he just learned how to unlock it and he's so proud of himself.
  
• your nightstand now has books about Elmo, Diego, Cookie Monster, Clifford and the little pigs on it instead of the latest book from your book club.
• you refer to your self in the third person ALL THE TIME. ("Mommy" needs to put the clothes away now. "Mommy" is thirsty and needs something to eat. Can you give "Mommy" the green ball?")
• every day, despite feeling like your life is controlled by the whims of a one year old, you can't wait to get up and see what your LO will learn or say or do next.
  

Are there any that ring true for you? Have any to add?

One of William's favorite things right now is bubbles. I'm now relegated to cleaning the bottles and other hand-washable items after he goes to bed because if he catches sight of the sink full of sudsy water, I better be prepared to let him play in it, or else suffer through a fit to end all fits. Tonight I got out our new step stool and draped a towel between him and the sink and let him have at it. He played there for 45 minutes before I literally dragged him away to eat his dinner. And after dinner, he played there some more. Next time we play outside with the water play table, I'm bringing the bubble bath and the kitchen scrub brush. He'll have a blast!

Happy 4th of July!

We had a very productive, though uneventful, 4th of July. We made no plans for the day and took advantage of the day off of work to get things done around the house. William woke up at 5:30 a.m., so we got off to an early start. Ed washed and vacuumed both cars while I entertained William, vacuumed the basement, and unpacked a box of bathroom stuff. To "celebrate" the day off, we went to Wendy's for lunch, and then made a trip to Target and loaded up on stuff for the house. We have definitely made progress, but we still have a ways to go. In the afternoon we played outside, played inside, ate an early dinner, and then went for a walk. But William was so tired that he fell asleep on our walk.

Last night, Ed and I worked on arranging the furniture in our family room, but I didn't like any of our options. We have a love seat, 2 bookshelves, and a club chair and ottoman. There's a fireplace and hearth in the middle of the long wall, and the rest of the room is open to breakfast room/kitchen, and then to the hall that leads to the garage door and the entrance way. I like keeping the furniture against the walls so that the pathway around the rooms is open. William loves to walk and push his toys from the family room through the entrance hall to the kitchen, or through the living room and dining room to the kitchen. I hate to create obstacles to the flow of the first floor. (If that makes any sense.)

The problem with the furniture against the walls, though, is that we don't really have a cozy way to arrange the seating. We could put the love seat and club chair across from each other, but then the bookshelves are crowded together on the right side of the fireplace, and I don't like the way it looks. But if we put the club chair and ottoman on the right side of the fireplace, the arrangement isn't really conducive for conversation. So our only other option is to put the love seat perpendicular to the fireplace, which puts it in the center of the room (almost) which blocks the easy flow from the garage and entry hall to the breakfast room and kitchen. Dilemmas, dilemmas. Until we figure out where we want everything, though, we can't unpack books, and we can't hang pictures.

So I guess I'll just have to think about it. Maybe solicit some opinions. Despite that one setback, I feel pretty good about our progress. And it was so nice to have a low-key day with William. In Target he was getting really antsy so we let him out of the shopping cart so he could burn a little energy. He was all over the place, and if we tried to hold his hand or pick him up, he'd throw a fit. It was pretty cute but also alarming at the same time. Ed said, "Look--we're the parents with the out-of-control kid!" (You know--those parents you always "tsk-tsk" when you see them in public?) This is quite a phase we're entering, with the assertions of independence, limit-testing, and temper tantrums. It's so easy to see how quickly we can lose control! Patience--be with me now! This will be my mantra for quite a while, I'm sure!

Mosquito Bites

I'd like to be able to say that we've been so productive that I haven't been able to find time to blog. But that's not totally true. Just been too tired at the end of the day. Like Ed said the other day, owning a house is time-consuming!

Anyway, William is super-allergic to mosquito bites and he got bitten on his finger on Friday evening. His whole hand has been swollen since Saturday and I'm giving him Benadryl every six hours. The swelling is definitely better now, but I know it's really uncomfortable for him. He rubs the back of his hand against his shorts to "scratch" it. Other than the itching, though, it doesn't seem to bother him. Poor guy! He got a mosquito bite on his leg over a week ago and that swelled up really bad, too, and got little blisters around the bite area. I used hydrocortisone on that spot, but can't use anything topical on his finger because it could get into his eyes or mouth. And I also can't put bug repellent on his hands, so I'm not too sure how to protect them from bug bites. Yikes. Now I feel like I need to hover around William every time we're outside so that I can swat any mosquito that comes near him. So much for carefree, outdoor fun.

Despite the mosquitoes, we brought home William's new sand box and inflatable pool from Ed's parents' house, so I'm hoping to get at least the sand box set up tomorrow. Maybe I'll get some good pictures! I still can't find the camera manual, so I might have to go on-line and download some of the pages.

So that's our news. Not too exciting, but that's probably a good thing!