Addictions

We've had an unexpected and not entirely desirable development in the Land of Bean. Despite adamantly turning away from them for the first 18 months of her life, with an eye only for her thumb, Sophie has developed an affection for pacifiers.

We have a bunch of them. Some were given to us at my shower, some we purchased during those first hard, hard days when we would have done ANYTHING to get her to stop crying. She wouldn't have anything to do with them. So they were pushed aside with the thought that maybe our second child (if there is one) would like them. One found its way into my diaper bag, where it sat at the bottom for a year, another was in the top drawer of her dresser, back behind the socks, yet another was in one of our bedside tables. They were one of those ubiquitous items that kept turning up all over the house, but you never get rid of because you think maybe someday we'll use them.

I'm not sure which one she found first, but find one she did. Now, she is maniacal about them. She even goes so far as to suck on it between bites of food and attempting to drink her sippy cup while the paci is in the corner of her mouth. That's a loud and messy proposition, let me tell you.

It took practically nipping the end of her finger off to cure her of thumbsucking, I am not looking forward to breaking this habit.

Nope

I'm not going to talk about Sophie's 18 month appointment on Friday. I'm not going to talk about how there are some concerns about her hearing and that we have an appointment in a couple of weeks with an Audiologist to check it out. I'm not going to talk about how frustrated I get by pediatricians who use charts and statistics rather than getting to know their patients. I'm not going to talk about how helpless I feel, how I always feel like I'm giving the wrong answers. I'm not going to talk about the absolute MELTDOWN my daughter had when any of the nurses, doctor or the researcher for the study we're participating in tried to touch her. I'm not going to talk about the computer my daughter somehow pulled out of it's anchoring on the wall in the exam room.

I'm not going to talk about any of that unpleasant stuff, because the weather we've had the last few days has been too beautiful to be down or negative.

Instead let's just focus on the good quality play time we had outside and my beautiful little darling waving at her daddy while he mowed the yard.

Finally!

I put on a pair of pants this morning that I bought last summer. Last summer they were tight. Today? They were loose.

You may now worship me.

The Power of Music

This amazing video was taken by a good friend of mine last fall while she was at the Mayo Clinic with her mother for the last of a series of reconstructive surgeries. You can read her inspiring story here.



The couple, Fran and Marlow Cowan, have been married for 62 years. I challenge you not to smile at their antics.

Come Back Tomorrow

Sorry, I don't have anything today. It might be because I got to sleep through the night for the first time in two months! So this is what (mostly) well rested feels like. Ahhh. Not to worry, Sophie has turned into the nightmare version of my child, so I'll be back later with tales of her misadventures.

I'll leave you with a photo I snapped the other day while Sophie and I were out enjoying the weather. It took me about 20 pictures to get one that showed this beauty clearly. It's hardly fit for National Geographic, but this amateur is pretty happy with it. This giant bumblebee has taken up residence at the corner of our house. It just hovers in this spot all day. Staring at the wall.

Maybe she has a baby bee back at the hive that doesn't sleep through the night.

They Don't Call Them Toddlers For Nothing

Her first skinned knee. If she's anything like her mother, which there is every indication she is, she has many, many years of skinned knees ahead of her.

What Comes Around...

The other day I was complaining talking with my mom about Sophie. She said that when I was a baby, she told herself that I was such a pain that she wouldn't even wish me on me. Does that make sense? As in, you know how parents always say, I hope you have a kid just like you so you understand what it was like? Well, even in her extremely frustrated state, she couldn't bring herself to wish me on anyone. I was that bad.

Of course, I got a child who is as feisty as I ever was. Maybe more. I at least slept through the night at some point. Sophie? Still thwarting my every attempt at a good night's sleep.

Here is what she has accomplished so far today, and it's only 11:30:

Climbed up on her changing table via the Diaper Genie and a drawer she pulled open. Ingenious.

Ate A & D Creme (while sitting on the changing table). Sucked it straight out of the tube. Yum.

Dumped out the contents of my bedside table. Including those things that I now realize need to be better hidden. (ahem)

Spread about 150 diapers around her room. Luckily they were clean. I won't tell you about the time she got into the diaper trash can. (shudder)

Threw my hairbrush in the toilet.

Chewed on my toothbrush, then tossed it on the bathroom floor when she lost interest.

Threw a Snapple bottle, retrieved from the recycling bin, into the powder room sink. Huge amount of noise, luckily, no breakage.

Pulled every toy out of her toy box seemingly looking for that one thing...

Tried on one shoe of every pair of shoes she has, a not insignificant number, and carried the matchers to an undisclosed location. I will probably still be finding shoes long after she has outgrown them.

Stripped off her pants and diaper no less than 6 times. (We had a major accident yesterday following one of these depantsings. I still can't even talk about it.)

and...

Pulled out a nearly full box of Kleenexes into a surprisingly big pile. They compress a lot in the box, but when fluffed? Look out!

She is now peacefully napping in her crib. I can see her sweet little form on the monitor. She is on her side, her chin tilted up just so, her little arms stretched out at an awkward angle. No doubt she is exhausted from her morning's activities. I love her so much it hurts, but if she's like this at 18 months, what am I in for when she's older?

Update, 5:15pm: In trying to climb onto the dresser/changing table again, she pulled it over on herself. By some miracle, she is completely fine. I, however, am dead from a coronary.