Weekend Done!

The big excitement this weekend was figuring out BabyP's diet. I might be imagining it, but it seems like as soon as he had just a bit of dairy, he would get a nasty runny nose. For example, he drank his sister milk then had a yucky nose. He ate a cheese cracker then had a yucky nose. For the most part he is symptom free. He does seem to have a cold, but I don't feel like I need to be watching him closely to take him to the doctor. Let's just hope it all works.

He has started to get a bit sassy. He was throwing his food off his tray bit by bit so I took his plate away. I gave him one noodle at a time. He would pick it up and look right at me. I would say "put it in your mouth." He would giggle and EAT PART OF IT. I would have to tell him to eat the whole thing before he would eat the whole noodle. He kept looking at me acting like he was going to throw it on the floor. He is so naughty!

Sister was pretty good this weekend. I think she might be coming down with something because she was a little horse and seemed really lethargic this evening. I doped her up with ibuprofen and benedryl and will hope for the best.

I spent most of the weekend playing with my mom's camera. I need to download some more pictures, which I plan on doing once I get my Brand New (to me) desk set up downstairs. Momma is taking some space back. I looked around and realized that the only place I had to put things was in Peanut's closet, which of course, doesn't work. I want to take over the whole office, but I am not allowed to (yet). My desk is really pretty and shiny though.

Dairy Free Dieting and some winter swimming

We went to the otolaryngologist yesterday to discuss the constant ear and sinus infections. She peered into his nose and his ears. We talked about what kind of things have been going on and how he never seems to be well. At least once a month he is on antibiotics,even with his tubes. We were happy because we have made it 5 weeks before having to go to the doctor again.

She suggested we take him off milk. I told her we had tried it before and bla bla bla. She was pretty insistent that we try it again. I thought, what the hell. I have nothing to lose.

Less than 24 hours later, he is almost symptom free. I had him a full hour before I saw any discharge from his nose, even then it was clear and thin. He still has a bit of a cough, but I think that will go away soon. I can't believe the change in his condition in only a short time. When I picked him up from school, his nose was clean, and his eyes were clear. It is really exciting to see him getting better, literally before my eyes.

I wonder if his skin will clear up a bit too.

We have him mostly on soy and coconut milk. He doesn't even act like there is a difference. It won't be hard to cut out cheese because he doesn't like to eat it anyway. He would prefer to eat regular spaghetti to mac and cheese any day of the week. I am concerned about him getting enough fat, so I am going to start him on flaxseed oil. He loves hummus and peanut butter, so it is great that he can eat foods he already enjoys.

In other news, he fell down an 8 foot embankment into a small stream at a local park. I was never any more than a foot from him the whole time, but I just couldn't catch him. He was barely under water when I yanked him out. He was pretty shocked and scared, once he got the water out of his lungs. It really sucked to watch it all unfold. I almost caught him right before he rolled in, but i just couldn't get my hands on his shirt. I felt so helpless.

It was only a couple of yards back to the car where I stripped him down completely. He had a sweatshirt in the car, and after a lot of digging, we found a diaper as well. He thought it was pretty nice to be free balling at the park. He was playing with acorns and yelling at his sister before I had the kids strapped into the car.

I think the whole thing shook his sister up. She kept saying "oh poor baby" over and over again. She was crying and on the verge of hysterics when I got back to the bridge she was standing on. She is a good girl. She cares about her brother.

This kid is so accident prone. I don't think he does anymore than his sister did. I was pulling her off of tables and telling her to get down too, but this boy just doesn't have the grace his sister does. He is going into dance at the first opportunity.

Candy Fairy

The Candy Fairy came Monday night. (the above picture had nothing to do with the candy fairy, but I thought it was funny)

First we wrote a note to her to tell her what we wanted. We place the candy outside because she can't get inside (or so I am told)

I thought this part was really cute.

She tried to sign it at my urging. She doesn't seemed too concerned about getting the letters in the correct sequence even though she can recite the spelling.

Then the candy fairy came. She took all the candy, but evidently, she does not like candy necklaces, so that one stayed.

I had to explain why the candy fairy did not bring brother a big sister doll. I told her she thought he might like the truck more. It is a bit of a toss up. He likes to be tidy and put things in the truck, but he also likes to cuddle his sister.

Although, you can't always say that is the case.

All the candy found a good home IN MY BELLY. Well, not all of it, but it did get eaten at work by me AND my coworkers.

Happy Halloween

What an exciting weekend! Friday was the big party at the Chances. We had a great time, and it was a nice change of pace to drag Mr. T. and the kids out of there instead of being the one dragged. Saturday there were a lot of chores done and Saturday night was TRICK OR TREAT!

Mom and dad came over. Because of dad's change in schedule, it has been a long time since we have seen him. BabyP was all about him, which was great for me. Dad ended up carrying BabyP most of the time. BabyP is just as the age where he can trick or treat but doesn't really understand too much what it is all about. He gets that he is getting something, and that it goes in his bucket. He knows that it is candy, but he doesn't try to get a bunch of candy at the door of the houses nor does he try to eat it during our trip like someone else does.

Peanut ate TONS of candy. Sugar treats don't come often around here, so I figured one evening of going all out would be fun for her. Today, her father let her pick out some candy. She picked out some wax lips and started to eat them. She told her father that the candy didn't taste too good and was making her sick. WHOOPS.

Today we went to the zoo to celebrate All Saints Day. We had a nice discussion about how Mexicans take this day to remember the dead. We also at FREE ICE CREAM. I think it might have been the left over ice cream because they had all these weird flavors like cotton candy and chocolate banana.

Nothing much else to report. I cooked like a mad woman this weekend. I guess I wanted to compensate for no grocery shopping last week. Peanut was very good this weekend despite the candy fueled energy she was living off of.

The Great Flood of 09

Something exciting happened to us Thursday night. We got 3 inches of rain in an hour and a total of 5.25 inches over a 24 hour period. Our basement, like most basements around, took on some water. At one point, I could see the water flowing in from the foundation. Mr. T. and I took turns sucking the water up with the shop vac. The whole ordeal made the house smell awful, and we lost a retaining wall out of the back. I don't know when we are going to rebuild the wall because Mr. T. is schedule to work and race next weekend. I feel lucky that we didn't get too much water, but I am disappointed that money meant to remodel the living room and buying a new rug will go into building a wall and improving drainage. Oh well. We will get around to the living room sometime.

The Crazy

I don't know what to do about Peanut. She is naughty.

It isn't a matter of her even just ignoring what I tell her, it is a matter of just pure naughtiness.

We were at the pool and peanut said "hey look at me." She was squatting down and was mooning the people behind her. IN A PUBLIC POOL WITH LOTS OF PEOPLE AROUND. It wasn't even like it was incognito. She could see the horror on my face as she started to pull down her swim pants. I told her no, but she didn't listen. She DID IT MORE resulting in her squatting and bending over while having her suit bottom around her knees. I yanked her up and sat her down behind everyone.

The thing is, I don't really have anything that gets through to her. I take away things, but she doesn't care. I do all the "things" I think I should like say "This is not a good choice. I know you know how to make good choices so we are going to give you a chance tomorrow."

Tonight I frosted about 50+ cupcakes in front of her because she kept jumping over the back of the couch after I told her not to. I took away her Hannah Montana sticker because she put chap stick into the cart, and I didn't notice it until I had already bought it.

I got to school today and she was sitting "on the red wall". The "red wall" is where you go when you are in time out. She was there because she hit her friend. The teacher also said she didn't take a nap, AND she wouldn't stay on her mat when she was suppose to be resting. When we got into the car I asked why she hit her friend, Sophie. "I wanted someone to taste my nachos because they are just cheese and chips but they are spicey and I don't like spicy foods."
"What? How is this related to Sophie? Where did you get nachos?"
"I made the Nachos and Sophie wouldn't taste them because she doesn't like them."
"What? Were the Nachos real?"
"No"
"So you hit Sophie because she wouldn't taste the imaginary Nachos?" She took the long wordy way of confirming that yes, she hit her friend because she wouldn't taste the imaginary Nachos.

She is so crazy. Please tell me this is just a phase.

The things is, she was SO GOOD this morning. We sat in the rain for an hour waiting for the H1N1 vaccine. She didn't complain. I was so proud of her that I bragged to her teacher about her when we got to school.

I am not looking forward to the next couple of days of sugar fueled craziness.

RUSHED

We are gearing up for the pumpkin fiesta that is about to take place. So far, we have gone to two pumpkin parties and decorated 5 pumpkins. It has been fun because I have been able to catch up with people I haven't seen in a long time while meeting some new friends along the way.

Peanut is going through a really weird phase where she is super high maintenance. She is no longer pretending that she doesn't hear me anymore, she is coming out and saying no when I tell her to do something. Last weekend, the only thing I could do to get into her head was to take away her mac and cheese. My initial plan was to eat it in front of her, but since her response was so dramatic, I opted to put it in a container and save it for later. I don't really understand where this new phase of naughty is coming from, so I am going to chock it up to being a stage. This stage sucks because I want to come home and hang out with her, but she is being such a jerk that I want to take her back to dayschool.

Peanut has been coming up with some really great outfits lately. She is really good with matching color and puts together things that look really good together. Her downfall, is when she is working with patterns. She tends to lean pretty heavily on lots of pattern causing her to pick pieces that only a 3 year old can get away with wearing.

The crazy outfits don't bother me, in fact, I really like them. However, I had to put my foot down the other day when she decided she wasn't going to wear matching shoes. That was just a line that we didn't need to cross.

BabyP is starting to communicate. We had a bit of a breakthrough this weekend where I figured out that he wanted a cracker after he said "Graagaaa". He was hungry and was trying with all his might to make me understand. I still think he is a bit behind on speaking, but I think he is saying more than I know. Some of what he says sounds close to something, but when he repeats it, it gets all gobbled up into gibberish again. He sure is sweet though. He loves to have a little task to do. This afternoon he washed the potatoes for me before I roasted them. He looked very serious and focused on completing the task at hand.

He is learning his body parts at school and can throw a mean kiss if you are willing to catch it.

Both kids have stayed relatively healthy. BabyP got another ear infection, but the drops seem to be working their magic. I don't think I would have noticed the infection if I hadn't been looking in his ear and saw a lot of buildup. Peanut seems damn near indestructible. She is rarely sick anymore. The kids are getting their H1N1 shot on Thursday. I am really anxious to get the first shot so they will at least have a bit of immunity to cover them when they are exposed to the virus by the kids who aren't getting vaccinated.

Both kids have been on speed lately. I have to leave the house with them each day just to burn some of their energy off. There seems to be a lot more family harmony if their energy isn't directed at getting my attention by asking me questions, pulling stuff of the counters (grrr), drawing on things, climbing up on everything, and just generally tearing stuff up. I am thankful we have a playroom, which is where we have spent a lot of the recent rainy days. I can't wait until we don't have to keep the gate locked at the top of the stairs and can trust them to be down there by themselves.