Car Sick

From time to time, our little angel baby gets car sick. It’s happened maybe four or five times, usually while driving on winding roads or with a coat on. Since Luke, Hailey, and I carpool every day, I knew that at some point, we’d have an incident. Surprise…today is the day!!!!

I’ve often thought that I should put some towels in the car so that I could be prepared, but I never did find the time. I paid for that today when the inevitable happened all over Hailey, the car seat, the car, etc. I guess that there was just a lot of starting and stopping this morning due to the rain and the ridiculous Atlanta traffic.

All things considered, it wasn’t that bad. She recovered very quickly, Luke and I changed her into her extra outfit at school, and life went on as usual. Well, except for the stench that is stuck in my nose, on my hands, and in my car. Oh well just one more adventure in parenthood. Thank goodness Luke and I were together or I might have had a little meltdown, but Daddy is great in these crises.

Homonyms

When you become a parent, one title that you don't expect is "translator." Yet, that's what I've become these days as we try to understand Hailey's ever-expanding vocabulary. It's absolutely amazing how quickly she learns new words and phrases now. You tell her something once, and she'll bring it up again a few days later. It's really unbelievable.

Anyway, I was amused the other day when I realized just how hard it is to understand what she's saying sometimes because many words sound the same. Here are just a few of my favorite Hailey homonyms...

Upstairs - Octopus
I wash it - I watch it

I don't like it - I want Lion King

Remote - Nemo
Up - Down (ok they don't sound the same, but she gets them mixed up all the time)

Stubborn Is As Stubborn Does

How stubborn can an 18 month old be? At least 20 minutes worth of stubborn! Here’s the story…

We are slowly starting to experiment with the “time out” discipline philosophy in our household. Most of what I’ve read says that children can begin to understand the concept around 18 months although they won’t really sit still until closer to 2 years. So, we set up our pack ‘n’ play in the dining room to give Hailey a quiet place to take a time out when she needs one. Last night after throwing an entire bowl of ice on the floor (she was eating the ice…don’t ask me why), I decided that a timeout was in order. Usually, we just put her in the pack ‘n’ play for about a minute or two, she says she’s sorry and it’s over. Last night, however, we made saying “sorry” a prerequisite for getting out of the timeout. That was our first mistake. Hailey did everything but say she was sorry. She danced, she sang, she laid down, she babbled, she cried (a little), etc. We just went on about our business in the living room, but checked in with her ever five minutes or so to see if she was ready. She wasn’t. This went on for about 20 minutes. The child would not say that she was sorry. She knew that saying it would release her, but it didn’t matter. I couldn’t believe it. Finally, I decided that enough was enough. It was almost time for bed, and she had more than served her sentence. That’s the last time that we’ll be playing that little game. She’s clearly more stubborn than me (I’ll give Luke more credit). So, I think it’s best if I don’t put myself in a win/lost situation like that again. From now on timeouts will be for a designated time only!

Name That Tune

Hailey learns many songs at school, but we usually aren’t briefed on her class’s latest musical endeavors. Therefore, we often find ourselves trying to figure out what she is singing from her off-rhythm, lyrically garbled mumblings (that’s not mean, just true). So far, we’ve figured out that she can sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus and Old McDonald (only the Ee, I, Ee, I Oh part). This weekend in Buffalo she was doing her usual new song routine, but I couldn’t figure out what it was she was singing. For two days, I listened to this strange melody without identifying it. Then, we visited my Grandmother who identified the song in less than 6 seconds. It was Ba Ba Blacksheep…duh!! I guess having 4 kids gives you a little practice at the “Name that Tune Game.” Next time Hailey comes home with a new song, I’m just going to call her Great Grandma for instant identification.

In potty training news, Hailey has gone “peepotty” (that’s what she calls it) about three more times. I’m not ready to throw away the diapers, but she clearly understands what she’s doing and that she needs to wipe afterwards. It’s pretty adorable! Oh, she also took all of her naps in a big girl bed while we were in Buffalo. What a big girl!

There are some new pictures from out Buffalo visit up at my Dad’s Flickr site.

One Shining Peepee in an Otherwise Poopie Weekend

This evening Hailey went into the guest bathroom, picked up her potty, carried it into the living room, set it up in front of the tv, pulled down her pants, and proceeded to make her first peepee ever on the potty. It was craziness! She just turned 18 months last week! I know that she has been practicing at school, but that was a pretty decisive peepee event. I'm not expecting any miracles here, but I'm so excited that she understands the concept because we had never sat her on that particular potty naked before today. Pretty impressive. And, yes, it is a bit strange that I am so excited about someone peeing in my living room, but parenthood is full of many firsts.

Anyway, the rest of our weekend was considerably less exciting. Everyone in the house is sick. I have the adult version of croup, Luke had some one-day flu thing yesterday, and Hailey threw up all over her carseat today for no apparent reason. Just another exciting weekend in the Hamilton household.

Groundhog Day

See grossness coming out of eyes and nose!

Like me, you may have forgotten this venerable American holiday. Groundhog day, aside from being a funny movie, is the day when a groundhog predicts whether we will have 6 more weeks of winter. Well, good ole Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this year, which means 6 more weeks of winter.

As ridiculous as this forecasting may seem, I can completely see why someone made up this stupid holiday, aside from the fact that it’s the only way that Punxsutawney, PA can attract tourists. I’m sure that the reasoning went something like this: “I’m tired of winter; let’s invent a way to predict whether or not spring will come soon. Oh, and let’s be sure to involve some type of rodent in the process.”

I’m getting that spring fever a bit myself lately. I think it has to do with the fact that the weather here has been fluctuating between 70 and 30 degrees daily. It’s a daily tease. Plus, I’m tired of someone always being sick. Between Luke, Hailey, and myself, our house is like an infirmary for the chronically cranky. Hailey’s most recent ailment was pink eye, and now she has a cough. I just feel crappy in general. So, you can see why I’m longing for spring.

I know that all of you people up North are cursing me now because it’s likely that you won’t see spring until May. We, on the other hand, will be enjoying warm weather soon enough. Good thing I finally broke down and bought Hailey that warm winter coat that you’ve been nagging me about. I guess she’ll wear it on our upcoming trip to Buffalo.

Surprise… I’m Potty Training, Mommy!

We have not been potty training at home yet because Hailey has not shown all of the official potty training signs (there are 10 apparently). However, I got a little surprise when I went to pick up Hailey at school yesterday, and the teacher told me that she likes to sit on the potty. What?!?!? Apparently, the children are given an option when they need a diaper change. They can lie down and get the typical diaper change, or they can sit on the potty for a few minutes. Well, all of the other little kids sit on the potty so, of course, Hailey wants to sit on the potty too. She hasn’t actually used the potty, just sat on it. Still, this is very exciting news. I haven’t even been thinking about potty training, and I don’t think that we’re going to push it at home. However, it’s kind of nice that she’s getting used to the concept.

Never Too Young to Bowl

We took an unplanned detour over the weekend to get in a quick game of cosmic bowling. It was pretty fun for all, and Hailey learned how to say "roll it."

Finding My Voice

I’m a chronic complainer, but like most people, I typically do most of my complaining to my husband, my daughter, the dog, and anyone else who happens to be nearby. It takes a major injustice (like finding shredded rubber gloves in my tacos) for me to really speak out about something. Why do I no longer try to right all of the injustices in this crazy world? It could be that I hate conflict; it could be that I’m afraid of being wrong; it could be that I'm too much of a pessimist; it could be that I’m just too lazy. Most likely, it’s all of the above. However, something that my wise and sage-like husband said has really changed my tune. I believe it was: “You can’t just keep bitching about these things if you’re not going to do anything about them.”

So, I’m done sitting back and letting all of the little things go. I’m going to tell people in our park that their dogs have to be on leashes so that they don’t maul my child. I’m going to write to the state and tell them to please time the damn streetlights on my way to work so that I don’t spend needless hours in the car stopping at five lights in succession every single day! I’m going to continue to write to the art museum to tell them that holding a toddler program during nap time is probably not the most efficient use of my donor dollars. I’m going to tell the City of Atlanta that maybe closing all of the public pools due to the drought is not the brightest idea considering the thousands of wayward teenagers who won’t have anything better to do this summer than break into my house. I’ve had enough!

Sure, nothing will probably become of my bitching, but if we all just complain to our spouses, not only will nothing get done but we will cause a new social ill due to the rising rate of divorce.

Now, back to the important issues of Hailey and the croup. She’s fine. She’s back at school and just has a little cough. Judging by the number of kids coughing when I dropped her off this morning, I expect her to be hacking until Spring. Poor thing!

The Croup

I thought that all babies got croup - at least that's how the baby books make it sound. Well, Hailey never got it, until now. I'm sure that most Mommies have a croup story. Here's ours...

On Monday morning Hailey and I had off for Martin Luther King, Jr Day. I was excited to take her to the Children's Museum in Atlanta for the morning. She was a little congested but was cutting two eye teeth, and she's almost always congested when she's getting teeth (don't ask me why). When we got home from the museum, she took a nice nap, but when she woke up she couldn't really breathe well. I took her down and turned on a movie, and we snuggled up to enjoy our time together. I noticed that she was breathing as if she was running a marathon except she was just sitting on my lap. There was a point where I just started to panic. It's not like I thought she was going to stop breathing; she wasn't. It's just that when you hear your child take a breath that sounds like a seal call, it's a bit disconcerting. So, I grabbed her in my arms, ran up two flights of stairs, practically killed the cleaning people who were calmly cleaning the bathroom and grabbed the Vick's out of the cabinet. I pulled off her clothes and slathered her in Vick's. Thank goodness I had some around because it made an immediate difference. The next day I took her to the doctor and low and behold she has the croup. I'm glad that she didn't get it when she was little. It was scary enough at this age, although the baby books had prepared me well because I instinctively knew to throw her in the shower with me and to use the Vick's. I guess all that reading pays off in the end. Anyway, if anyone else has a croup story and would like to share, I'd love to hear it.

PS: She's fine now and will most likely be going back to school tomorrow, which means Mommy probably has to go to work. Oh well, I guess a 5 day weekend was enough.

Entertaining

What happened to the days when I could sit Hailey on the floor with a tupperware container and a spoon, and she would be happy for hours? Now, we're into everything and anything, not to mention our two favorite movies Nemo (pronounced Nemote) and Ratatouille (pronounced Twoey), which we could watch 20 times a day. So, it seems that I have to be more creative on the weekends. This weekend we made our own play-doh and painted with pudding. We're both off for Martin Luther King Day today, and we may be off again tomorrow if Hailey's fever and cough doesn't clear up. This cold couldn't have anything to do with the neighborhood snowball fight that we had on Saturday. Check the pictures on Flickr for the latest!

Catching Snowflakes

Hailey enjoyed the snow yesterday. She actually looked out the window and asked for snow this morning. I wish that I could have delivered on that request, but Mother Nature had other plans. In fact, I think that she disappointed a lot of little children who were off to school, as usual, this morning. Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted. In other news, I think that Hailey is getting some more teeth. She kept saying "mouth, mouth" over and over this morning until I asked her if her mouth hurt. Then, she proceeded to say "mouth hurt" over and over. After that, there was the battle to get the liquid Motrin down her throat, followed by the tedious task of trying to clean all of the sticky medicine off of her mouth, clothes, and hands where the majority of it landed. What an eventful morning!

Let it Sleet, Let it Sleet, Let it Sleet

There's a possibility that we're going to get freezing precipitation of some form or another overnight. Could it be that school and work will be closed tomorrow? Will there be a mad rush to buy all of the milk and bread in the greater Atlanta area? Will our delicate Southern senses survive freezing temperatures? These and other questions will be answered (probably anticlimactically) in tomorrow's installment, which will hopefully be written from the comfort of my warm living room.

Christmas Rewind

I wrote this blog in my head right after Christmas but forgot to post it with all of the holiday craziness. So, I wanted to have on record that Hailey’s Christmas was absolutely wonderful. I didn’t think that she would understand much about Christmas, but she understood one of the most important things and that is gratitude. Instead of being one of those bratty kids who tosses aside each present to get to something more interesting, she savored each and every one. From ripping the paper slowly and carefully to demanding that each toy be completely removed from its twist-tie laden packaging, she loved it all. Since we didn’t require that all presents be opened in one sitting, she had plenty of time to explore each toy or run around the house with her new clothes. She really had a blast. In retrospect, I wouldn’t do it any differently. She certainly was grateful for every gift that she received. I hope that she always understands that every gift is a blessing and that she is lucky to receive anything. Oh, and also that no gift is more precious than the time she was able to spend with her family, particularly her Grandparents who flew in from all over the country to spend the special time with her.

Applesauce, Applesauce, APPLESAUCE!!!

Hailey has a favorite food. Can you guess what it is? Now, a simple request of “Eat, Eat, Mommy” quickly turns into a demand for “applesauce.” I’m not sure who even gave her applesauce or told her what it was, but this all started around Christmas time and has now become an applesauce obsession. When it started, I was not regularly stocking up on applesauce. So, I ended up making her some in our blender. I soon realized that this was a tremendous waste of time because they sell no sugar added applesauce in giant jars at the store. Now I have several jars in the pantry for applesauce emergencies. It hasn’t gotten to the point where she won’t eat other things, yet. In fact, she eats very well at every meal. She's even learning how to feed herself the applesauce using a spoon, although it's questionable how much she actually eats when she does it herself. It’s just so funny that she’s become obsessed with one food. I’m sure you other Mommies have similar experience with kids demanding one food over and over again. Feel free to share…

Moving Up

I have all kinds of exciting news to share, but first, take a look at these curls! Wow, Hailey’s hair is really getting long, but now she’s forming a bit of a curl mullet. It’s kind of straight on top but curly on the sides. It’s equal parts adorable and funny.

The first bit of exciting news is that Hailey is moving up in school. They’ve decided to open another classroom, which will provide additional room in the 2 year old class. So, she’s going to be moving into that room. There are a few exciting changes included in the move: 1) she gets to go on field trips; 2) she gets to learn sign language; 3) she gets to eat in the gym/cafeteria with the big kids; and 4) she gets to beat up on the older boys full time! I’m really excited about the move because I like the teacher better, and I think that the room is going to provide her with some more opportunities.

The second piece of exciting news is that I took an old blog that I wrote on the “No” Phase and transformed it into a magazine article. I just submitted it to Atlanta Parent, and it will be published in May. I’m very excited about it, even though the pay is minuscule. It’s the first article that I’ve ever had published, and I’m allowed to submit it to other magazines outside of Atlanta. So, I’m just thrilled about the prospect. I figured that I needed a little success with my first ever submission, so I started small. Now, I feel like the sky is the limit.

A Playground Tale

Yesterday I arrived at daycare to learn that there was an “incident” on the playground. Apparently, a little boy would not let Hailey go down the slide. I’m sure that she tried to reason with the boy using the one phrase she knows, “don’t do that,” but then she got tired of his slide-hogging and swiftly knocked both the boy and the slide over. While the boy sat on the ground crying, Hailey calmly set the slide back upright and proceeded to enjoy it as if nothing had happened. Here’s the kicker though, the little boy was in the class above hers. Yes, my innocent little girl is beating up older boys. I’m not sure if I should be proud or ashamed, but we certainly talked a lot about sharing last night.

A Solution???

Here's Hailey listening to her iPod (i.e. my old iPod) in the car. Nana Mary got her this little headphone set so we're trying this approach this week. It's a win-win since I get to listen to NPR and she gets to listen to "Happy." Of course, it won't last long because I feel so guilty about letting her use headphones. Still, it works for now.

Musical Torture

Hailey has been attending music class at a little place in our neighborhood since she was about 8 months old. The program is wonderful for her and has really helped her to appreciate music. The classes run in 8-10 week semesters each with its own set of music. We’ve been through three separate semesters now so we have three different CDs to listen to. At beginning and end of each class, they sing a little song called “I’m So Happy,” which Hailey loves. Now that she is keenly aware of what she’s saying, she is constantly asking for “Happy.” I usually appease her in the car by putting it on, but here’s the problem – the songs are sooooo catchy!!!! Now that we are carpooling every day to school and work together I end up singing Hailey songs all day at work. I swear that my job performance is starting to suffer. It won’t be long before I blurt out “the wheel’s on the bus go ‘round and ‘round” right in the middle of a meeting. As it is, I’m often bopping along to ridiculous kids music in my cube and I don't even have headphones on! I’m telling you that this music is like some type of poison in my brain. Hailey's lucky that she's so lovable because this is indeed Mommy torture.

What did you say?

I know that I’ve been writing recently about Hailey the parrot, but something has happened lately that is quite frightening – she’s beginning to say what she means!!! It’s no longer that she repeats what I say, now she’s using words that I’ve never heard her say before and at the most appropriate times. For example, yesterday I put her in her car seat and it was a little tight so she said, “hurt, hurt.” Then, when I loosened it and asked her if it was better, she said “syes” which is yes in Hailey speak. This morning, she tried to close the baby gate but I had it latched open and she said “stuck, stuck” then “help.” We’re suddenly living with a little person in the house! What ever will we do?

Here's a picture that I snapped during our Christmas Eve trip to the botanical gardens. There are a few more pictures up on our Flickr site (the link is on the right).