Month 29: Grin and Bare It – Day 848 to Day 877

Compare to Sister’s Blog: Month 29: Changes Afoot

Helping Daddy Man
“Here Da-dee.”

6/22 Sunday Day 848 (28 Months)

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: 50/50

Same old. Same old. No worries! I expect Mini Moose to leap forward suddenly, rather than taking progressive steps like Itty Bitty. That’s just how it rolls!

6/23 Monday Day 849

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

I don’t think I mentioned it some weeks ago, I got several card games for Itty Bitty — Crazy 8s, War, Go Fish, Slap Jack — and some number/color card games for Mini Moose at the dollar store. This is to go along with Itty Bitty’s interest in learning time which requires that she better understand counting and rules. She has a learning clock, but she likes games more. We’ve also been practicing more with simple addition and subtraction in our conversations. Daddy Man does a tooth brushign countdown (rather a count up) from 1 to 100. That in itself has really helped her with counting even though she still has trouble in the teens. The new simple 100 abacus doesn’t interest her that much, but it does seem to be helping her learn to count by tens and to do simple adding with the visual and tactile component. Plus, it is really fun to make the beads spin.

6/24 Tuesday Day 850

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

6/25 Wednesday Day 851

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Catch!

I made muffins this morning for our trip, charged up all our stuff last night, finished packing the little stuff, made sure the laundry was empty, went to work, finished up my grades and we are ready to leave tonight. I think this is the first time I had everything done early, and yet I know I’m still going to forget something. DH yet again tried to get ahead of me. He picked up my suitcase which was not yet zipped because I had to put something in it…dropped it and spilled the contents out. Luckily most of it was tied down with the straps. I tell him every year not to proceed without my okay because some things can’t go until we are just ready to leave and I need to know where things are. Not only because I need to know if we have everything, but somethings I need easy access too in the car.

6/26 Thursday Day 852

Night EC: Not applicable
Day: 1 miss.
Poop: Catch.

Annual Trip Day 1: The weather last night was horrid…horrid..horrid. Heavy fog, heavy rain, low visibility, and heavy construction that we didn’t know about. Luckily Daddy Man is an exceptional drivier but it was really scary for a time. We drove all night and arrived around 2:00pm the next day. The kids slep through most of it. Itty Bitty is an old pro with this trip, Mini Moose did excellent and we only had one pee accident because we were just unable to stop in the construciton zone. Daddy Man was very stressed and we may not do a night drive again even though it went well last year. We had breakfast at a Bob Evans so Daddy Man’s spirits were lifted. The kids got to see a ridiculous amount of fireflies tonight and they were high energy.

6/27 Friday Day 853

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss. And what an epic miss it was. I told Daddy Man the next one was his turn.

Trip Day 2: Itty Bitty seems to have a low grade fever today that seems to go between 99 and 101.5. ARRRGH. She seems fine though, has no complaints. He appetite isn’t up and she has to be persuaded to drink water. Daddy Man decided to get her some flavored water and she gulped it down. It must be that part of it is that she doesn’t like the taste of the local water.

6/28 Saturday Day 854

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss. Daddy Man was horrified. He suggested we burn the underwear.

Trip Day 3: Itty Bitty still has a fever so we aren’t going to visit anyone today, just stay in at the house and keep contact to a minimum. We are trying to keep Itty Bitty well hydrated and not have her be out in the sun too much. She’s not happy about that, but a new coloring and cut book soothed her sick feathers.

6/29 Sunday Day 855

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

6/30 Monday Day 856

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Catch. Thank goodness! Mini Moose hasn’t had a banana in days and has eaten many blueberries.

Trip Day 4: Itty Bitty’s fever seems to be staying around 99 to normal today so we ventured out. By afternoon, it seemed to be gone for good.

7/1 Tuesday Day 857

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: 1 pee miss. Oops. Mommy and Daddy totally dropped the ball on it.
Poop: 1 catch, 1 miss.

Trip Day 5: Wait. What? When did it become JULY?

7/2 Wednesday Day 858

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: 2 pee misses in the morning.
Poop: Miss. Eerk. Too many blueberries…wow…I can’t even describe it.

Trip Day 6:

7/3 Thursday Day 859

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: 75% catch

Trip Day 7: We are leaving this morning, stopping to have breakfast at Daddy Man’s favorite breakfast place Bob Evans. He plans on driving through the day and we will stop sometime in the evening for the night then starting again tomorrow morning. There is a BIG storm front going across several states where we will be driving and he doesn’t want to get caught in it even during the day. He’s studied the radar and has an idea of how long we have, though we will still be driving through some of it. He’d rather not risk another drive through the construction zone even in broad daylight in bad weather. No argument from me!

7/4 Friday Day 860

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

Happy Fourth of July! The storm was really band and we stopped just in time and finished the drive this morning and afternoon. The storm was bad enough that the fourth activites have been postponed in many places, so we still get to see fireworks!

Mini Moose is sick and has a fever. NOOOOO. Around 10:00pm Itty Bitty said, “My brudder feels hot.” It was hot in the house and he had just taken a nap all curled up in a ball so I figure it was that. I go and kiss his face and…yeah…he had a fever. It was 100 when I checked it. I can only assume that it was the same mystery illness Itty Bitty had a week ago. 7-10 day incubation make sense. She didn’t have any symptoms other than the fever and some mild intestinal distress output. I’m guessing its a stomach bug, but it is hard to say.

7/5 Saturday Day 861

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss. Wow…it was foul.

Mini Moose’s fever went up to 102.5 You try not to worry and you know that it isn’t that high (and it hasn’t even been twenty four hours yet), but you can’t help that feeling. Mini Moose is drinking and nursing well, he is eating a little too. He seems otherwise fine. Other than looking red faced and not being active when his fever is high, Mini Moose acts quite normal if the fever is 101.5 and below. When it got up to 103 I gave him something to ease the discomfort (body aches, headache) I knew he was having because he was reluctant to drink. I decided on Ibuprofen because it was that high, but DAMMIT one does knocked the fever right down to normal after three hours instead of it staying at a reasonable 101 or so. I wasn’t trying to knock the fever out. Unfortunately, that created a rebound fever of almost 104 when it wore off. I didn’t panic. I had a feeling that was going to happen. Mini Moose was still interactive and responsive and drinking and all that cooled down his head, feet, and back with cool cloths while I waited for the dose of Tylenol to take effect so I could give him a lukewarm sponge down. I didn’t didn’t want to do a body cooldown without something to manage the rebound. After a couple of hours it went down to 102 to 102.5 and stayed there for quite a few hours before it settled on the range of 101 to 102. I’ve never had Ibruprofen knock out a fever to nothing like that before, I’m wondering exactly why it did that. I know that when you give something and do cooling measures and the fever doesn’t go down at all…that is something to worry about. Still, I’ve had a fever of 104 and it is very unpleasant, so I wanted him to be comfortable and to continue to stay well hydrated.

Daddy Man took Itty Bitty with Grandma to go eat and see fireworks. I was thoroughly jealous when they came back and told us about the delicous meal they had, the best vantage point they had in order to see three towns worth of fireworks. Thanks for the germs Itty Bitty.

7/6 Sunday Day 862

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss. Messy messy…and many times. Must have been a stomach bug.

Mini Moose’s fever seems to go between normal and 101 today. I haven’t given him any meds since the second dose of tylenol after the rebound fever. He slept really well. He woke up hungry. Too hungry because he ate way too fast, threw it all up, and then wanted to eat again. That is the only case of vomiting we had, and that was entirely due to the rapidity of ingestion and not actually chewing.

By evening he’d been normal for several hours so we went to see some local fireworks. Mini Moose was fine and then his fever came back to around 99 to 100 (according to the Mommy Kiss Test). He was riding on my back in the Mei Tai, and took a nap. He was otherwise happy, so we stayed. After we got home a few hours later, he was completely back to normal.

This has got to be one of the more weird, mystery illnesses we’ve had.

7/7 Monday Day 863

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss. I am so tired of cleaning poop. Especially aftermath sick poop.

Daddy Man started putting together our new metal shed yesterday. Not what we originally wanted, but Daddy Man gets pretty feisty when he orders something and it doesn’t arrive. The other place that was going to install the wood one called us last minute to re-re-re-schedule just before we left for our trip, so Daddy Man decided to go another route. I have to say though that the directions are about as clear as mud…in the dark…in a fog bank…in a heavy rain. Need I say more?

7/8 Tuesday Day 864

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Catch.

Brought my jeep in to have a look at the funny sounding wheel. The guy looked a little harried. He seemed to be the only one there and swamped. I told him it was no rush because I was on vacation from work and I lived only a ten minute walk away.

7/9 Wednesday Day 865

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

7/10 Thursday Day 866

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

Daddy Man left for his car trip today. He’s taking his “baby” to a car show out of state with his Uncle and he’ll be back on Sunday. He’s planned it out over a year ago, and I’m glad he gets to go. Nothing like seeing your husband’s face light up like a little boy when he talks about something. The kids and I will miss him, but he is good about calling.

Daddy Man shares construction tips to curious Itty Bitty.

7/11 Friday Day 867

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

The outdoor playset for the kids arrived today. The driver though refused to drive on our long driveway to deliver it. I told him that we got MANY deliveries and no truck had ever had a problem with the drive or the trees (our driveway is epically long). He wanted to leave it on the sidewalk…except the boxes are big and we don’t have a sidewalk! He asked me if I had my own hand truck or hauler of some sort…and I said, “Why would I have that? Everyone just drives down the drive to deliver at the door.” Some of them even back in since the driveway is so straight. I asked him if he could at least bring two boxes and I’d open the other two and bring them piece by piece down our drive. I think that when he saw the two littles come out of the house, he decided to put on his “nice pants” and used his hand truck to bring them down the drive. If Daddy Man had been here, I KNOW he wouldn’t have done that. Sad, but true. I would have brought the pieces to the yard one by one and made 100 trips if I needed too. I wasn’t about to let him take it back undelivered.

Got the Jeep back late today. It turned out to be just some rust and a rubbing panel. He cleaned the rust and bent back whatever was rubbing. It only cost $80 this time. I think though the guy was a little nice with the price since he had it for several days. I’m just happy the wheel was safe.

7/12 Saturday Day 868

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

I found a recipe for hand made Kaiser rolls that you “tie” into shape. They came out really, really good though I let them rise a little too long. Itty Bitty approved and she even “tied” one mostly on her own. Grandmama took us all out to see How to Tame Your Dragon 2 this afternoon. It was nice to get out.

I FINALLY got a chance to turn Itty Bitty’s seat around forward since she is out of the weight limit for rear facing now. Since we haven’t driven anywhere other than a few blocks to the grocery store, I hadn’t done it because I kept forgetting. I decided to turn the Britax since it was just easier. By the time Mini Moose out grows the rear in the True Fit (which was originally Itty Bitty’s), it will be expired and I will switch him to the Britax (which was originally his) and get Itty Bitty a new seat.

7/13 Sunday Day 869

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Catch! 2x!

Daddy Man arrived late last night and we spent a few hours starting to put the playset together before it rained. The directions are very thorough, but a bit confusing in places so we had a hard time. Plus one of the pieces had a mis-drilled hole and Daddy Man had to saw off 1/4 of an inch to right the wrong. It wasn’t a major structural piece that needed to be cut and it would have no effect on the structure. Then we got eaten alive by mosquitoes just before it started to rain.

Mini Moose was bare bottomed in the house once we came in and TWICE he alerted us about poop…BEFORE…with more than seconds to spare and before it was beyond the point of no return for those frustrating half-catches.

GASP!

Have we found the Poop Grail? Mini Moose likes clothes. He’s not a stripper like Itty Bitty. He always asks for a shirt, and brings us his underpants to put on…but…could this be the key to Pooptopia!?

7/14 Monday Day 870

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Catch!

Dealing with the laundry that just won’t die. Mini Moose was bare all morning and we caught the poop with time to spare after his signal! After that, he had on underpants.

Funny story. Daddy Man came home after work and had to use the bathroom. Mini Moose followed him and Daddy Man told me that between the cat and the toddler he was having trouble voiding his bladder. Mini Moose said, “Pee?” then paused and said, “Pee!” and apparantly realized Daddy Man was having trouble so switched to, “Pss Pss.” to try and help his Daddy to “go”. Hah!

Mini Mooseisms:
Wahbahdoo = Where are you?
Ahfineyoo=I’m coming to find you!
Beshoo=Bless you (after you sneeze)
Scoozeyoo=Excuse you (after burps)
Buppin=Muffin
Bundee=Band aid
Eye-Teest?= I taste? (Can I have a taste?)
Wook=Look!
Bug?=Any beetle or flying insect.
Bwerd=Bird
Pouple=purple
Bwed=Bread
Buppee=Blueberry
Shirdoft=Shirt off
Ahpayne=Airplane (an upgrade from Shoom shoom)
Wook=Look
Como-fah-me=Come on. Follow me.
Appo-co?= Apple core (Is this an apple core? — Learned from his sister)
Yep=yes
I fush?= I flush (the toilet)?
Ah-entee=It’s empty.
Woad Wunna=Road Runner
Pish-Fish
WooWoo=A Siren
Ya Wehcoo=Your Welcome
Shink? = Should I put this in the sink?
FyeFye = Super Why (cartoon)
Nots=Octonaughts (cartoon)

7/15 Tuesday Day 871

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Catch!

Being completely bare, Mini Moose is taking more initiative. He sometimes asks for his pants, but I’m seeing how putting him off goes. He still insists on a shirt. So it is funny that Itty Bitty is only wearing underwear and nothing else, and Mini Moose is in a shirt and nothing else!

Itty Bitty today, after we made muffins and ate a few says to me, “Ten take away three is seven. There are seven muffins left.”
Yeah, we don’t need no stinkin’ early kindergarten or preschool! Life and playing games is how we learn best. We talk together, cook together (well unless I am in one of my crabby moods), play games, read, watch some educational cartoons like Cyberchase or Superwhy, and the kids play their learning game apps. All of this is way better than worksheets. Mini Moose, just like Itty Bitty, suddenly one day was able to do the more complex chunky puzzles.

7/16 Wednesday Day 872

Night EC: 1 night catch, 1 morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss. Forgot to take his pants off.

I probably should mention that Mini Moose, while still insisting on waking me up in the morning and making me a grumpy grumple grrr monster, has taken to going into the play room on his own to play with cars instead of always trying to shove the remote in my face in order to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Since we don’t watch TV during the day, the only time they get to watch toons is when I’m still peeling open one eye at a time in bed. He’s also been doing more spontaneous pretend play. He usually just follows with whatever Itty Bitty has come up with and repeats whatever she is doing, but when he happens to be alone on occasion I’ve heard him babbling and making action noises with various stuffies, trains, ponies, and random figurines.

Chores Mini Moose Does:
He’s done these for a year now but worth mentioning again since he is older and better at them.

Puts dish in sink rather than bring it to me when he’s done.
Picks up cars and blocks and puts them in the bucket without constant guidance. I can now say, “put the cars in the orange bucket” and he does so.
Puts back his toothbrush in the drawer without reminding.
Empties the little potty if he uses it (though not without incident…I have to head him off to help guide or else it isn’t pretty.)
Sweeps with the swiffer.
Recycles.
Puts wet laundry in the dryer (though he tends to get over excited and close it before we are done.)
Empties dishwasher and hands me dishes, but puts the silverware in the drawer with a clatter that Itty Bitty then sorts out.
Feed the cats with Itty Bitty with Daddy Man.
Collects sticks in the yard with Itty Bitty when asked.

7/17 Thursday Day 873

Night EC: 1 night catch, 1 morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Catch! I remembered to remove pants first thing this morning.

7/18 Friday Day 874

Night EC: 1 night catch, 1 morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Catch! (no pants)

7/19 Saturday Day 875

Night EC: 1 night catch, 1 morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Partial miss. Forgot to take his pants off later in the afternoon.

7/20 Sunday Day 876

Night EC: 1 miss. I fell back to sleep all groggy. It wasn’t a full miss, but Mini Moose was not pleased either.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Catch! I remembered to remove pants first thing this morning.

Daddy Man has been hard at work putting up the new play structure. Itty Bitty calls it the “Play Constructor” and she calls instructions “Constructions”. I am so going to miss it when she stops with the wordisms! I have to say that it is a Gorilla play set and it came with fantastic instructions with a few minor irritations. Nothing like the mess of halfassed instructions that the shed came with. The major complaint from Daddy Man is the hardware. Yet again, they were kind of low quality and getting stripped. That’s not to say that they are the worst. They are strong enough overall to do the job well, but there was some skimping on the heads making them easily strippable. Hands down, the shed hardware was the cheapest cheap out I’ve ever seen. Horrid. Not only do those strip, but the pointy end of the screws go blunt very easily making it hard to put them in the metal.

7/21 Monday Day 877

Night EC: 1 night catch, 1 morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss. Dagnabbit, forgot to take his night pants off this morning!

Month 28: You Do Now Me Do – Day 817 to Day 847

Dec15

Compare to Sister’s Blog: Month 28: No Mommy, I Do It Myself

Itty Bitty shows off to Mini Moose.

5/22 Thursday Day 817 (27 Months)

Night EC: The usual. 1 night, then morning.
Day: No misses.
Poop: 50/50

The months are flying by so quickly! We are in a pretty good routine and are trying to enjoy the weather as it comes. I wish I’d made more money this past year as that would make things a bit easier on the budget. There are small things in the house I’d like to fix, and classes at the local Y that I’d like to enroll the kids in — but we’ll have to be more creative with the freebies for a little while longer. Maybe next year I can get Itty Bitty into the Montessori school down the street a couple of days a week as a sort of “kindergarten” prep. I think she’d really enjoy it. I have been teaching her a lot, of course, as we do daily things. She’s still keen on school and has been talking about it more and more. I think she misses story time too, but I’ve been taking it easy on the jeep as it needs to survive another year.

5/23 Friday Day 818

Night EC: Two night pees.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

All I can say about the poop mishaps is…Ewww. How can something so cute produce something so foul! I think I need to up the banana intake a tad.

5/24 Saturday Day 819

Night EC: 1 night pee, then big morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: 75% catch!

It is becoming a norm to hear Mini Moose give is potty sound and sign and me going, “Eeek! To the potty…go go go! Poop goes in the potty! Scoot Scoot!” In our efforts to get him to the toilet. It is also funny for me to hear my DH somewhere in the house saying, “WAIT! Wait Wait…oh please wait almost there!”

5/25 Sunday Day 820

Night EC: Missed a night pee, then caught big morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

We haven’t had a miss at night in a long time. It was a big one too. He did drink quite a bit of water and I didn’t awaken and understand what he was trying to tell me in time. He’s started to do the crawl around randomly in his half-sleep like Itty Bitty used to. We rarely night nurse now, so that makes a difference in how he wakes me up now.

5/26 Monday Day 821

Night EC: Missed a night pee, then caught big morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

We are still trying to work out a way to get our poop coordination more compatible. It is so hit and miss that I know that it will just take one thing to get us on that high catch rate track.

5/27 Tuesday Day 822

Night EC: Caught night pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: 90% catch

We seem to be back on track with the night pee. I think without the night nursing I’ve had to re-learn his new wiggling/restless signal. I’ve got to be careful now that we aren’t night nursing not to put him off too much during the day. I’ve found that I’ve got some nursing aversion that I think is related not only to stress, but to the shift in my hormones during menstruation. He’s been upset and I’ve been annoyed — I feel bad and then he gets over zealous and leaves suckling tooth marks. Not a good mix. We will get through it, but this time I don’t have a new baby to bring a surge of oxytocin. His face is changing and his suckle is very different, so I don’t think I’m getting the nursing feel-good hormone surges like I used to. I find that I’m having to distract myself while he nurses. I’d like to continue to to at least 3.5 so that he gets the benefits of the unreproducible components in my milk and also to help his jaw development. Itty Bitty still asks to nurse now and then, but she really has forgotten how. Four and a half years was a good run…so I can’t complain! Sometimes I really miss it when I think of how little she was and how much she has changed over the past year.

5/28 Wednesday Day 823

Night EC: Usual 1 night, then morning catch
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss. Dagnabbit!

5/29 Thursday Day 824

Night EC: Usual 1 night, then morning catch
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

5/30 Friday Day 825

Night EC: Usual 1 night, then morning catch
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Catch!

5/31 Saturday Day 826

Night EC: Usual 1 night, then morning catch
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

6/1 Sunday Day 827

Night EC: Usual 1 night, then morning catch
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: 50/50

6/2 Monday Day 828

Night EC: Usual 1 night, then morning catch
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

6/3 Tuesday Day 829

Night EC: Usual 1 night, then morning catch
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: 50/50

6/4 Wednesday Day 830

Night EC: Usual 1 night, then morning catch
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

6/5 Thursday Day 831

Night EC: Usual 1 night, then morning catch
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

We have a good night routine going. He wakes up by crawling on my face and annoying me, I wake up and open one eye, I stand him up on the floor at the edge of the bed as I lean over, I grab the pee cup as I pull down his pants, and he pees in it with his eyes closed. I pull his pants up and we resume sleep after jockeying for bed real estate. Itty Bitty, Night Bladder of Steel, remains oblivious to this rustling.

6/6 Friday Day 832

Night EC: Usual 1 night, then morning catch
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

I’ve found a blueberry muffin recipe that is easy, tasty, and works equally well with leftover yogurt whey, dry buttermilk, fresh buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream. It makes ten muffins. Pretty much by the end of the day they are gone. It has a tad more sugar than I think they need, so I’ll have to adjust it each time we make it to find the balance.

6/7 Saturday Day 833

Night EC: Usual 1 night, then morning catch
Day: 2 pee misses.
Poop: Catch!

6/8 Sunday Day 834

Night EC: Usual 1 night, then morning catch
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

6/9 Monday Day 835

Night EC: Usual 1 night, then morning catch
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: 50/50

6/10 Tuesday Day 836

Night EC: Usual 1 night, then morning catch
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: 50/50

I probably should mention that when we are out we continue to have no problems. I can’t remember the last time we had a carseat accident and usually when we are out visiting, as long as I remember to take him before we leave, and upon arrival — we don’t have an accident. It is also very easy to pee him quickly in an old soda bottle or any kind of cup. With Itty Bitty it always had to be a wider container, so peeing him on the fly when I do forget to be proactive is not an issue at all.

Homemade flubber!

6/11 Wednesday Day 837

Night EC: Usual 1 night, then morning catch
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

Mini Moose has been leaving the bed early in the morning lately to go and play in the playroom by himself when I dont’ want to get up yet, and Itty Bitty is still alseep. Sometimes he hands me the remote control for me to put on morning cartoons, and other times he just goes to play with cars. He loves cars. Itty Bitty liked cars and she loved trains…but Mini Moose has a love of Vroom Vrooms that goes way beyond her love of choo-choos. DH has added to our collection of tracks and cars and it is borderline getting out of hand. Toy containment to the play room is very crucial!

Mini Moose has also started to sing more. We have caught the melodies for Itsy Bitsy spider with the finger motions and ABC. He also has begun to develop a curiosity for puzzles. He can do chunky puzzles easily, having learned how to turn them and also to match pictures. The 20 piece wood puzzles are too much for him, much to his confusion! And I don’t know how or when, but he has learned color matching. We have a Melissa and Doug flower board with gears and he matches the color. I have even heard him say some of the colors like blue, purple, red, yellow…and I swear I heard orange. It is amazing what they learn all on their own. He is doing pretend play with Itty Bitty. He’s been acting like a dog and cat for a while now, but he also is now trying to engage in her adventure fantasy play with Little Ponies, dinosaurs, stuffies, and other figures. His finger grip on pencils and crayons is much better, and he is delighted that he can get consistent color on paper. Whatever Shishta (Sister) does, Mini Moose must do also. He does like some independent play like Aweddy, Shet, GO! (Ready, Set, Go) with a car tower he has.

Itty Bitty has quadrupled her interest in cutting and free-drawing. She pays attention to details like claws, tails, accessories, hair, and backgrounds. She also has taught herself to cut curves. Every picture has a story. She has been drawing beaches a lot…I guess that’s a hint!

Mini Moose Wordism:
Buppin! = Muffins
Ohguck = Yogurt
FyFy = Super Why (a Cartoon)
Wyco = Wild Kratts (a Cartoon — Itty Bitty used to call them Wild Craps…I miss that.)
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETCH = I am sure these are a string of Toddler swears aimed directly at his Shishta

6/12 Thursday Day 838

Night EC: Usual 1 night, then morning catch
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: 50/50

6/13 Friday Day 839

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

I think it is funny when Mini Moose takes the phone out of our hands to have nonsenical babble conversation with Grams and Papa, or Grandma. It has that lilting sing-song tone people have when they talk without being actual words. Every once in a while you’ll hear an actual word, and he makes hand gestures, then finally when he is done he will say Bye-bye, See Soo (See you soon), hand you the phone and walk away.

6/14 Saturday Day 840

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

Mini Moose is “reading” Brown Bear Brown bear. He’s been sing-songing in the car when DH and I have been on long drives with the kids and we couldn’t figure it out, until one day it just hit me. He’s reciting Brown Bear Brown Bear! We tend to read that book with a rhythm and that was what Mini Moose was saying with a few distinguishable words here and there. And NOW I know where he picked up color recognition! With Itty Bitty teaching her colors was more deliberate because she was the only one and the first one you get all excited. When you go to the useless baby well visit and they ask you about the first if she knows all her body parts you say YES and thensome! With the second you kind of lose energy and at those same visits you look at them and snort, “He’s the second. I’m sure he knows what his elbow is, but I don’t ask him about it.”

He does know them now, but it was more passive. He learned armpits becase I was playing a game asking him to point to things and armpit was to get him to raise his hand so I could tickle him. He waits for it now, and giggles before I have a chance to attack.

6/15 Sunday Day 841

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Catch!

So, I’ve mentioned before that Mini Moose is not a big “me do myself” for most things, though he does get really mad if you do something for him that he wants to do himself! He’s taken lately to wanting to climb into the carseat himself. He’s been able to climb into the carseats by himself for over a year, but he had not desire too. This is what I meant when i said that he is more than capable of going toilet all by himself, but he prefers assitance. He is also very particular about flushing. “I fwush?” And if you forget and flush instead, oh my he gets mad! I’ve had to do a lot of apologizing. At the same time, I also had to be firm with Mr. Plucky Duck who was flushing on a whim. I admit I yelled at him several times. I HATE it when I lose my cool. I’ve got to really work on that. The stress-yell cycle is not a hamster wheel that I want to be on, but I am aware that I get stuck on it.

6/16 Monday Day 842

Night EC: Yep, the usual. We got this night EC down.
Day: 4 misses. Just one of those days.
Poop: Miss.

6/17 Tuesday Day 843

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

6/18 Wednesday Day 844

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Catch! Thank goodness because we ran out of bananas the other day. That does not make for good output.

6/19 Thursday Day 845

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: 3 misses.
Poop: Two misses.

I think I’ve been making made faces too often lately, because Mini Moose gave me furrowed brow today and Itty Bitty has been up in my space like she’s trying to crawl back into my uterus. I’m afraid I have NOT been handling stress very well. I’ve been a really grouch, growly, annoyed, curmudgeon of a Mom.

6/20 Friday Day 846

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: 1 pee miss.
Poop: Miss.

My mood has put me off nursing and I’ve got to be especially careful not to accidentally wean him. It’s just been really difficult. Itty Bitty wants to help with everything and she repeats herself five times, I get the bubbling irritation that spills over. I’m having a really hard time balancing my introvert needs with the extroverted needs of children. I don’t get my recharge times alone as often as I think I need, and I am feeling so tired and listless. I’ve got to start packing for our annual out of state trip to visit family. That means I need to get organized and do all the laundry. It’s not been a good couple of weeks.

6/21 Saturday Day 847

Night EC: Same 1 night catch, then morning pee.
Day: No pee misses.
Poop: Miss.

Summer is finally here, and yet it feels like it is already over.

Month 26: Round Two – Day 755 to Day 786

Nov25

Compare to Sister’s Blog: Month 26: Self-Reliance

Mini Moose Chicken Pox

3/22 Saturday Day 755 (25 Months)
Night EC: Usual 5:30AM pee, plus a bonus pee at 2AM that missed the wee pad and since I was in a deep sleep, Mini Moose sat on my face with his wet pants to wake me up. Thanks Little Dude for the most memorable wake-up call ever.
Day: Dry
Poop: The usual 1/2 catch, 1/2 miss

We get to go to a party today for an old friend’s daughter’s fourth birthday. It will be a nice change to get out. We’ve been so cooped up all winter between the cold and plagues.

3/23 Sunday Day 756

Night EC: Usual 5:30AM pee
Day: 1 miss in the morning as I was cooking and he signaled me at the most inconvenient time.
Poop: And the prize goes to Daddy Man!

It’s so cold out again today. Daddy Man tried to make a run for sandbox supplies and someone pointed out a flat tire to him and he drove all the way back home without supplies so he was bummed. I went out for a grocery stocking trip. I had to go to two stores…the one closest to use is so much more expensive so I got their best sales and then moved on to another market. I was gone 2 1/2 hours and Daddy Man asked me if something went wrong when I was gone! The 30 minutes was drive time, and 30 minutes was total checkout time. Considering that you have to watch price specials, then compare unit price with regular, and search the store when they move things…I thought I did it in record time! I do a stocking trip about eveyr 6 weeks.

3/24 Monday Day 757

Night EC: Usual 5:30AM pee
Day:
Poop:

Chicken Pox Round 2: Day 1
Yes, that’s right Mini Moose decided to manifest with the chicken pox late last night. Itty Bitty discovered some “mystery spots” on his back and declared, “He has Chicken Pox!” Dagnabbit. Why couldn’t they have it at the same time! I totally thought we were in the clear. I’d been checking for mystery spots on him every day since Daddy Man’s diagnosis and the one day I don’t look thinking we are in the clear, he develops spots. The Fates have a sense of humor for sure.

I wasn’t 100% sure he had the pox until a classic blister popped up on his head. Since he still doesn’t have a lot of hair, it is fairly easy to smooth your hand over his noggin and feel bumps. The ones on his back, don’t seem to be blistering classically, at least not yet. I’ll know for sure by the end of the day. He’s got a good cluster on his left side, a few on his back, one behind each hear, a few on his face, some on his belly, and three on his kibbles and bits. From experiments with Itty Bitty, I decided the first course of treatment for him is coconut oil and vitamin E since it seemed to give Itty Bitty instant relief. I’m hoping it will tame the erupting box so he won’t have such a miserable Day 3. So far, he seems totally oblivious, but they are popping out fast. I’m keeping him in long sleeved and long pants pajamas to deter scratching.

Itty Bitty’s scabs still look ugly. She is having a hard time not picking them. I don’t think they itch, but kids and picking scabs seem to go together like peanut butter and chocolate. On top of that, she peed herself pretty thoroughly before she woke up this morning. Girl has bladder of steel, but she slept in two hours later than normal. She came to me quite baffled as to how she woke up soaking wet, which tells me that she wasn’t even entertaining the idea that she had peed herself! She must have been in a real deep slumber. I can’t even recall the last time she accidentally peed the bed. Was she under 18 months? I’d have to go look at her blog. Aside from the occasional, “I waited to long damp underwear” incidences here and there that she takes care of herself, I also can’t remember the last time she had a full on accident. And on a grosser note, I brushed her hair today and had to pick scabs out of her hair. Eww.

3/25 Tuesday Day 758

Night EC: Usual 5:30AM pee
Day: 1 miss early afternoon.
Poop: None.

Chicken Pox Round 2: Day 2

Mini Moose seems to have sprouted all his pox at once unlike Itty Bitty who spread them out over 3-4 days. His are really concentrated on his head and face. Of note: A couple in his ear, three really close to the outside corner of his right eye, one right in the middle of his upper lip, and one on the bottom of his penis. He has none on his butt and only a handful at his groin area Still a lot of skil real estate, but he’s already showing signs of itch. Learning from Itty Bitty’s dance with the pox, I kept the bathroom warmer noting the cold sensitivity. He refuse a immersion bath, so I made an oatmeal goo infusion which was easier to apply. Then I slathered him in coconut oil mixed with vitamin E. So far it is giving the longest relief. Most of the pox aren’t showing the blistering yet, but the ones that are have rather small vesicles. That means they’ll crust over first. He has a couple of big onees but not as many as Itty Bitty had. His poor face and head. I run my hand over his head and I feel them and those are the ones he’ll start rubbing first. He’s been good thus far about not itching.

As the day progressed the pox got redder and more started turning into vesicles though there are still many flat ones. Every 3-4 hours I repeate the coconut oil and vitamin E slather and I concentrate the oatmeal goo on his head and one area on his torso that has a cluster crop. The itchiness returns more quickly after each application. He has developed head rubbing like a cat against you as a way to “cheat” and scratch without using his hands which I deter him from. He still doesn’t want an immersion bath but before bed I did a while body oatmeal goop application. He is crabby and clingly. He is also obsessed with Daddy Man. If he’s not on the boob; he is seeking him out. He’s been playing, eating, and drinking normally. In fact, he has been insisting on eating yogurt — he goes to the fridge, points, and makes his vocalization for it. I didn’t take his temperature, but now and then he seems warm and then back to normal. Itty Bitty showed the same pattern. He does want to nurse like a newborn and I’m quite sore, yet when he nurses it is easier for him not to itch. I’m quite tired as I worked last night, and after I got home I didn’t sleep much last night…pox monitoring…and not getting to sleep until 3:30am.

It smells like a coconut factory up in here!

3/26 Wednesday Day 759

Night EC: Usual 5:30AM pee
Day: Dry
Poop: Catch

Chicken Pox Round 2: Day 3

My poor Mini Moose tossed and turned all night long. He was rubbing his head on the pillow, on the bed, and on me. He kept rolling over to itch his body. It was like watching a puppy roll around on a carpet to get a good scratch on. The regimine of oil and oatmeal is wearing off fast. I had to bring out the big guns and put calamine lotion on his scalp. It is very drying and takes a while to dry so I mixed it with aloe, but it did give him more head relief and it cooled off the heat. The scalp has so many blood vessels it just is worse. I remember the ones on my head when I got it, and it always felt like my head was four times as warm as the rest of me. Around 1:00AM Daddy Man and I noticed his eye was red and irritated. I assume it is from itching but we’ll keep an eye on it. He has erupted no new red areas and see no pox on his eye lids or in his eye anywhere. I squirted some breastmilk in it (Daddy Man thought I’d lost it I think. He was like, “You are going to do what?” Should I tell him that I swallowed some whole pieces of raw placenta for hormonal balance and shorter lochia after both births, or should I save that for a special occasion?) Anyway, Itty Bitty slept through all of this even in the same bed (I kid you not). Daddy Man went to sleep around 2AM and Mini Moose and I were doing the dance until around 6:00am when I at some point fell into a drooly sleep for 30 minutes and woke up thinking I was in a different room. Sleep deprivation plays tricks on you! We were first up and I had prepped the bathroom to be very warm…like 75-80 degrees then I drew a warm bath (warmer than tepid but not hot) with oatmeal. I plunked Mini Moose and his angry red blistering pox in it and he cried and wailed, “No No hep me hep me!” for about thirty seconds and then…stopped. I imagine it was the result of relief! He then played for 30 minutes.

His eye was still red and hand a little sleepy goop (not clear, a little tan) that I remeoved with a warm cloth. The redness on the left of the sclera was better but was worse in the corner part. I am not sure if it is irritation from itching, or beginning of conjunctivitis, or from the chicken pox. I have been inspecting it periodically, keeping it clean, and putting in a couple drops of breastmilk in it. After his bath he was the happiest he’s been in about 12 hours. I slathered him in coconut oil and vitamin E, and put extra oatmeal goop and the calamine/aloe mix on his scalp.

After a body inspection, a lot of his smallest pimple-sized pox are already crusting. The next size up have all blistered and some are beginning to show signs of crusting soon. His biggest ones are the slowest to start the process. He also has a few that are still red and don’t seem to be blistering but are staying the red, flat spots. Could that be due to all the coconut oil and vitamin E oil!? I put the most E concentration on his face, and that’s where the most of those flat ones are. He seems to have a low grade fever of 99 to 99.5 or so. He seems unbothered by it, but is extra clingy today. So clingy that I couldn’t put him down and he asked to be worn on my back while I cooked brunch (I made shakshuka–eggs poached in tomatoes) and lunch/dinner (blackeyed peas, ground beef, corn, and leftever tomato base from the shakshuka).

Last night seems to have been his peak day and since he is having so much relief today, I think he is going to recover faster than Itty Bitty. His eye isn’t getting any worse, though I did see a really teeny, tiny bump on the bottom of his upper eye lid. Now and then he gets a little bit of eye goop in the corner, but it isn’t discolored or green. Is it a pox or a sty? Anyway, I continue to care for it. I called and left a message with the pediatrician to ask if there was anything more I could do or what to look out for if a problem was to develop. We are definitely on the tail end now.

Itty Bitty’s scabs are almost all gone now too. The biggest ones she had are now the only ones that still have scabs. She’s picked a few off, but I’ve insisted she wear clothes so it helps. You can see the marks where they were, but they should fade and we’ll be applying some aloe to help healing.

Daddy Man came home…with the sniffles.
Really!?
Daddy Man took a very long nap.
Mommy hasn’t slept in two days.
Awesome.

To sooth my ire and celebrate I made homemade brownies.

3/27 Thursday Day 760

Night EC: Usual 5:30AM pee
Day: 1 miss in the afternoon, 1 miss in the evening while I was at work.
Poop: Yeah we caught that bad boy! Epic deployement!

Chicken Pox Round 2: Day 4 Last night was a far better night. There was some tossing and turning, but mostly sleeping. Mini Moose’s eye looked better with a little redness in the inside corner and by afternoon was cleared up. Was it breastmilk application or just irritation? Hard to say. It didn’t hurt to do it, so it is all good. The pox are almost all scabbed over now with maybe a few here and there that don’t appear to be going through the blister stage (two in particular on his face). They seem to be going direct to scab. Could that be all the coconut oil and vitamin E? A lot of Mini Moose’s pox were relatively small with the biggest onces conentrated on his scalp. Now that they are scabbing I can see three each in the cartilage inside the top of his ear. That explains him palm itching his ears a lot! I’m glad I put oil in them even though I didn’t see anything. there were other places I didn’t even see pox until they crusted over like on his foreskin, I though there were only two, but there are two other ones that are now scabbed.

Mini Moose was in good spirits with very little itching. He and Itty Bitty were their usual bickering selves. Mini Moose still wanted to nurse a lot and was very tired. I even managed to get in a nap with him because I am exhausted! Itty Bitty at some point joined us on the cuddler loveseat because when I woke up she was dozing next to us.

I was a little worried yesterday that Mini Moose would be having three days of peak misery, but it appears to be that he’s recovering in record time.

Oh, the pediatrician’s office called at 8:00pm while I was at work! Really. And they went through the whole blah blah it has to run its course spiel. Honestly, that isn’t what I was calling about. I was just curious about what I should do about his eye IF it got worse or was causing discomfort more than what I was doing.

3/28 Friday Day 761

Night EC: The pattern stays. 5 to 5:30AM pee
Day: Dry pants again!
Poop: We caught most of it. We persevere.

Chicken Pox Round 2: Day 5 Some of Mini Moose’s scabs are already starting to fall off (the tiniest ones)! He is having a hard time not picking so I have to keep him in a long sleeve shirt, but not long pants since he didn’t get many on his legs. Please, let this be the end of the plagues for now! I need some sleep.

Some people might wonder why I am not concerned about the poop misses. Why worry about something so insignificant? Our pee catch rate is 99%, and once a day I have to clean up half a poop. It isn’t even smeared anywhere usually because the trainers droop away from his body, and he tells me about it even though not in enough time to catch all of it. Overall, even if we miss the poop, the clean up is still done before most people can get the snaps undone on their diapered baby’s pants. No opportunity for a rash either. I wouldn’t do anything different. Things will move forward. Mini Moose tends to do things “bam overnight” whereas Itty bitty was a more “step by step” process.

3/29 Saturday Day 762

Night EC: Two catches. He had a lot of water today.
Day: 2 misses.
Poop: Eww. ’nuff said.

Chicken Pox Recovery: I am amazed at how fast the blisters are healing. I am wondering if that was due to starting the coconut oil and vitamin E rub right away? He points to them and says “Boo Boo” and the oldest ones on his head msut itch as the scabs pull to fall off, but other than that he’s fine. He’s all spotty and it looks obvous on his face. Like his sister he askes to be drawn on with the face paint pencils. I’ve had quite a bit of fun drawing pacman chomping power pellets! Itty Bitty has only a few scabs on her body left. The places where they fell off are obvious, but I am confident they will fade away completely except maybe the two where she picked scabs that weren’t ready to fall off. I gave her a good hair brushing then a gentle wash with water today now that most of her head scabs are gone. Mini Moose’s head is still all bumpy when I pet his head! He doesn’t have much hair, but it is enough to obscure them. He’s itched his ears and the scabs are off in the couple of places they were with no adverse effects. It’s just been so good to not be sick, Daddy Man took us out for breakfast at the yummy donut place that has the delicious breakfast sandwiches.

Mini Moose has really stepped up his understanding of language. He knows rooms and can be given two or three step instructions for certain things. He takes initiative for tasks like emptying the utensil drawer of the dishwasher, feeding the cats dry food, stealing bananas, and if I am closing my eyes and feigning sleep he will lift the covers up to my chin, pat me, make shushing noises, and kiss me. It is very cute.

Mini Moose Words:
Bahtee — Button! (it took forevere to figure this out since it is ot just buttons on shirts but buttons to press!)
Wait! — Said when you walk to far ahead of him or about to confiscate a projectile.
What!? — We must say this a lot because he has our intonation.
I’m Ready! — Daddy Man has heard this several times before
Ahm Fine! — Answer when you ask, “Are you okay?” (I suspect he learned this first from his sister who announces it when she falls down or has a potential for injury)
Eddy Se Go! — Ready Set Go!
Rokkee — Rocket (for when he wants to watch Little Einsteins)
Bast Oh! — Blast off! (related to Little Einsteins)
BoBoBo — Bo on the Go (for when he wants to watch Bo on the Go)
Opopo — Oso (for when he wants to watch Agent Oso)
MauMau — is still Mickey Mouse
EyeNoNo — Response when he is asked where someone or something is
More Water — He says “more” with a high pitch and makes the baby sign for more simultaneously; this is specifically for wanting a drink of water

Mini Mose tries to sing songs and mimics what he can, says one or two words he knows, and copies dances that goes with them. Maybe it is time to get back to singing Itys bitsy spdier?

Itty Bitty Notables:
She has been wanting to expand her vocabulary and constantly (and I do mean constantly) asks questions about words I say and what they mean. She inquires about a wide variety of subjects such as “What happens when you itch?” or “Do people eat these?” (as she shows me snot on her finger).

Was I this gross as a four year old?

3/29 Sunday Day 763

Night EC: Crack of dawn pee. Thankfully we just go back to sleep.
Day: Dry all day, one miss in the evening.
Poop: 50/50

Even though spring is here it is still quite cold. The ground is very muddy from all the melt off. The kids got to run around in their rainboots, but was cold enough that it caused runny noses.

3/30 Sunday Day 764

Night EC: Dry all night and the usual early morning pee and back to sleep.
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Caught it!

Mini Moose actually manage to potty sign request with plenty of time to get to the toilet before some of it ended up in his pants! Woo hoo! We spent the day at the children’s museum today and the kids had a blast. Mini Moose got so tired that i had to take him to a quiet area to nurse and to have a 1:30pm nap! He slept for about an hour on my chest while Daddy Man, Itty Bitty, and GMa amused themselves elsewhere. Itty Bitty remembered some of the rooms from the previous year. She was so excited that she didn’t know where to look.

Unfortunately, I failed to warn Itty Bitty when we were leaving soon because I was preoccupied and groggy from my little nap (yeah, I fell into a quick cat nap as I was relclining on a padded bench with Mini Moose). This resulted in a HUGE meltdown. Daddy Man had to carry Itty Bitty out. It wasn’t until we got to the car and were on the road that I was able to decipher the unintelligable babble. She was dissapointed that she didn’t get to make it all the way to the top of the climber. She made it 3/4 of the way while Mini Moose was napping and then had to have a potty break, played in another area with GMa, and apparantly never made her personal goal. Had I known that’s all she wanted it would have been fine! Unfortunately, in meltdown mode it was impossible to calm her down enough to get the details. It took me a good ten minutes to get her in the carseat, another ten minutes to get her strapped in, and she screamed and skreetched at least fifteen minutes before she was worn out enough to speak in a voice that was understood. Five mintues after that she fell asleep!

3/30 Monday Day 765

Night EC: Dry all night and the usual early morning pee and back to sleep.
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Missed part of it.

4/1 Tuesday Day 766

Night EC: Dry all night and the usual early morning pee and back to sleep.
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: 50/50

Can it be April already? Where did the time go? I still haven’t decided when to have Mini Moose’s birthday party. Daddy Man is on a second round of his anti-virals since he seems to be developing a couple of new blisters in the same area. We need to wait until he is all better before we can be comfortable around people who haven’t had the chicken pox. Sorry Mini Moose…I promise we’ll get to it! We can’t even take half-year picturs until faces aren’t looking like a game of Go.

4/2 Wednesday Day 767

Night EC: Dry all night and the usual early morning pee and back to sleep.
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Missed half of it.

It was nice enough out that I managed to get some raking done while the kids played in the driveway. Mini Moose played almost exclusively with the toy lawn mower. Itty Bitty insists on using the little trike but she really is too tall for it now. When Daddy Man got home Itty Bitty ran him ragged by challening him to races. He actually had to put in some effort! Itty Bitty was complaining that her throat hurt today. I hope Daddy Man didn’t pass on the sniffle he’s had.

4/3 Thursday Day 768

Night EC: Ad Nauseum. I’m not complaining 🙂
Day: 3 misses. Off Day!
Poop: Missed it.

Itty Bitty went to bed feeling a bit warm and woke up with a 102F fever. She also complained of her legs hurting, but I am 99.9% sure that was due to the crazy running and bike riding she did yesterday outside. She even has saddle sore! Her nose is stuff and she has little appetite. Will this sick curse never end! She wanted eggs for breakfast, but that was mostly all she ate all day. She was holding on to an apple and wouldn’t put it down. Yes, she held an apple in her hand all day! She said her stomach hurt when I asked, but otherwise didn’t complain much. I made sure she stayed well hydrated and Daddy Man brought her some apple juice when he got home from work. Around 4pm, though she wasn’t complaining and her fever was steady at 101, I gave her a dose of tylenol for the body aches and any other pain. I had to go to work and I wanted to be sure she was all set for Daddy Man to take over care. After about thirty mintues, she ate the apple and decided she wanted something else to eat.

4/4 Friday Day 769

Night EC: One early morning pee then back to slumber.
Day: 1 miss.
Poop: Missed part of it, but a good portion was put into the toilet. Yay!

When I got home last night Itty Bitty’s fever was around 99-100F. Sometime in the night it broke compeltely and she woke up with a mass of head curls from the sweat. Of course, now it will be a good 7-10 days before I am sure neither I nor Mini Moose catch this 24 hour nuisance.

4/5 Saturday Day 770

Night EC: Wake up pee.
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Caught it! Snoopy Dance Yeah!

Happy 25th Birthday to my Little Brother! I don’t have much extra income to spend, but I sent him a Dunkin Donuts gift card and he was much pleased.

I am so sleepy. I don’t usually do much sleeping if the kids are sick. It is different than the normal sleeplessness because even when I am sleeping it is not restful because I just wake after every sleep cycle to check on the kids. Itty Bitty is outgrowing underwear so when we went out with Daddy Man for errands I got a pack two sizes larger than she needs so she can grow into them (boy short style works really well for going bigger sizes). Mini Moose is staying pee dry day and night 95% of the time so I decided to get him some regular underwear for when I finally put away the trainers for good in the next few months. Not tighty whities and not boxers — the style in between. I was loathe to buy the one with the drab colors and car them, but it was the cheapest in his size. Ugh. Drab drab drab. Manufacturers need to get with the program. Either your drowning in cars or drowning in pink flowers! Luckily there were some solids and stripes in the pack so I didn’t totally hate it. Some of the training pants Mini Moose are using are 4 years old now and are wearing thin and getting holes. I can’t complain since they lasted through two children and have been washed countless times.

Daddy Man started building a sandbox today to replace the one we had to leave behind. Itty Bitty is very excited and she and Mini Moose were busy “helping” to dig.

4/6 Sunday Day 771

Night EC: Wake up pee.
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Missed part of it as usual.

Daddy Man grilled today for a visit from GMa, his brother B and B’s steady girl S. They’ve been together for years. It was a pretty nice day. Daddy Man helped clean up and he once said, “I just clean that! Doesn’t anything stay clean for more than ten minutes!?” No, Daddy Man, nothing does! Welcome to my universe of repetative drudgery!

4/7 Monday Day 772

Night EC: Wake up pee.
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Caught it!

Tried to vanqish the laundry beast today. I managed to lop off one head, but then I grew tired of the fight and left the head unresolved.

4/8 Tuesday Day 773

Night EC: Two catches.
Day: 4 misses. A really off day today.
Poop: 50/50

For a treat, I baked some bacon in the oven and we had bacon with our eggs this morning. Later, for lunch, I tried to make homemade Puri/Poori today. They came out really good, but ended up being fried flat bread. Oops! It was probably because I used a shallow pan and not a lot of oil so it didnt’ have enough room to puff up.

4/9 Wednesday Day 774

Night EC: One catch around 2am, then the usual morning pee.
Day: 5 misses. Yeah, we were really off our game. Funny thing is, the catch rate was still 50%
Poop: None. The farting though has been FOUL.

A pretty meh day. Since the puri/poori I made yesterday didn’t do what I wanted, though they were good, I decided to try roti. I made two different batches. The first batch didn’t puff up at all. I’d made them with all purpose flour so I figured that was the problem. Don’t get me wrong, they were tastey! Just not quite right. I made a smaller batch with white whole wheat flour and only 1 fully puffed, one partly puffed, and the other two ended up flat and overdone. Ate them anyway!

Fter work, Daddy Man put down landscaping fabric and the next tier of lumber down in the new sandbox. It was still quit nippy out and as the sun went down it got really frigid, but as the kids were stick hunting I spied new green grass just starting to grow.

4/10 Thursday Day 775

Night EC: One catch around 2am, then the usual morning pee. Looks like the night pee pattern is back. Aww bummer.
Day: 2 misses.
Poop: Caught 75% of it!

This is how poop goes for mommy: Mini Moose comes up with the potty sign and saying, “mAY mAY” in a high pitch. I say, “Potty quick! Go go!” And we RUN to the bathroom. He point to the big toilet, I put the seat on, I carefully drop his pants that usually has a poo ball in it (sometimes I have to clean him first), and I then plunk him down on the toilet with insert. Now he has started to point to the door and “shoo” me out! He finishes, gets down, and comes to find me saying, “Poop poop! Ahwl Dahn!”

Poop for DaddyMan: Daddy’s poopdar goes off. Mini Moose has become still and has a face. Daddy sqeals, “WAIT waiiiiiiiiit!” Picks up boy and runs him to the toilet. Their full poop-catch rate is quite high! Way to go on the poop-dar DaddyMan. Mommy’s pee-dar is much better though.

4/11 Friday Day 776

Night EC: One catch at 2am, on at round 6am. No…not another developmental spurt…nooooo!
Day: No misses. Dry trend has returned I hope.
Poop: Caught all of it! Woo hoo!

4/12 Saturday Day 777

Night EC: One catch at 2am, on at round 6am. Again.
Day: 2 misses in the morning, then back on track.
Poop: Caught 90% It was a doozy.

Mini Moose is being a bear. Yeah, this is a spurt. A little growth but a whole lot of brain. And, it appears that Itty Bitty is going through some mental rewiring judging from the rapid fire questions and…just a feeling I have…her face is just starting to look different again. Excuse me a moment while I weep a little.

4/13 Saturday Day 778

Night EC: One catch at 2am, on at round 6am.
Day: No misses.
Poop: Caught most of it.

Had a pool party to go to four our friend E. and her 5 year old DD A. Itty Bitty had a great time swimming around with a kickboard with her DaddyMan and I had Mini Moose helping him to get acclimated and not cling to me like he was going to perish at any moment. He didn’t cry, was just clung on me like velcro. After about 15 minutes of walking around in the water, he discovered that he was safe and that water was fun and he started kicking his legs and grabbing for floaty toys (mostly the balls). I hope the kids become good swimmers. I myself can’t swim and I have developed a growing fear of water that worries me.

4/14 Monday Day 779

Night EC: One catch at 2am, on at round 6am.
Day: No misses.
Poop: Caught most of it.

4/15 Tuesday Day 780

Night EC: One catch at 2am, on at around 6am.
Day: No misses.
Poop: Daddy man reports he caught ALL of it!

Leaves. Why am I STILL raking leaves!?

4/16 Wednesday Day 781

Night EC: One catch at 2am, on at around 6am.
Day: No misses.
Poop: Catch about 90% today.

Man. I may not survive this mental spurt. Mini Moose is kicking, throwing toys, hitting his sister, trying to sit on his sister, being reckless, and moody. Itty Bitty is just a non-stop question machine. And she IS outgrowing her pants. I KNEW it! Mini Moose has been wanting to have that night nurse again. I oblige but his latch is funky when he’s not getting let down as he tries to make it work faster. And he knows to switch sides to get letdown so…we are having little tiffs over the fact that I don’t want to switch sides! Sometimes he gets his way and sometimes I get mine so…it evens out in the end.

4/17 Thursday Day 782

Night EC: One catch at 2am, on at round 6am. I want the no pee at night back…
Day: No misses.
Poop: About 50/50.

4/18 Friday Day 783

Night EC: One catch at 2am, on at around 6am.
Day: 1 miss.
Poop: 75% catch

4/19 Saturday Day 784

Night EC: One catch at 2am, one at around 6am.
Day: 1 miss.
Poop: 75% catch

We paid a visit to the Easter Bunny for our annual spring photos. And then, so, like I brought in my car to have the tire remounted and it turned into a, “Oh, hey, you need a new hose for your power steering because it is leaking and the connection junction on your rear break thingamadoo is practically rusting off so that needs replacing ASAP.”

Sigh. That sounds like a $500 chaching to me. And just when the budget was looking good!

4/20 Sunday Day 785

Night EC: One catch at 2am, one at around 6am.
Day: No misses.
Poop: 100% catch

Well, I got both the kids outfits for Easter for $15 total which is good considereing the jeep is eating my cash again! We attended an annual free easter egg hunt at a nearby nursery. This year they had the hunt every half and hour because last year they said they had over 300 children and their parents and it was chaos having it every two hours. It was much more calm this year! We will be giving them our business when we get a chance to buy landscaping plants for the new house. Just can’t fit it in the budget this year.

4/21 Monday Day 786

Night EC: Same. 2am and 6am thereaobouts
Day: No misses.
Poop: miss

Month 25: Double Whammy – Day 729 to Day 754

Mar22

Compare to Sister’s Blog: Month 25: A World of Pure Imagination

Houston: I see Chicken Pox! Thanks for sharing Daddy Man!

2/22 Saturday (24 Months) Day 729
Night EC: No Pee at night. Big morning pee.
Day: Dry all day, no misses.
Poop: No poop.

Happy Second Birthday Mini Moose!
Due to the weather and such we just had a cake with Grandmama at the house and had a family celebration. We’ll have a party for him another time.
Daddy man has got a rash on his head and neck that is getting worse. We were thinking contact dermatitis from the new shampoo, but it also looks like eczema. If it isn’t better or gets any worse he’s going to have it looked at.

Mini Moose still isn’t taking himself to potty, he always asks for assistance (his prefereed method is the potty sign with the vocalization mAY mAY–it is quite high pitched and specific to the potty) or I just take him when my Peedar goes off. It isn’t that he can’t take himself, he just prefers assistance. He also prefers the big potty and doesn’t care for the little potty yet. He’ll also happily sit for a while and call me when he is done, or if he wants my company he’ll complain and insist I stay.

How many times does he pee in a day? I don’t know. He can go anywhere from 2-4 hours between pees depending.

2/23 Sunday Day 730
Night EC: No Pee. 6:00am pee.
Day: Dry.
Poop: Yikes. Catching some of it was better than nothing! Wow. Epic.

The kids and Daddy Man spend the day playing with the new car tracks that Daddy Man and Grandmama got Mini Moose for his birthday. He was so into it that I didn’t bother opening the magnetic puzzle I got him.

2/24 Monday Day 731
Night EC: No pee; just morning
Day: Dry.
Poop: Caught it! Yes!

Day 732
2/25 Tuesday
Night EC: 1 midnight pee, then none till morning.
Day: Dry.
Poop: 50/50 catch/miss

I noticed today that I no longer have that bodacious pregnancy rack. I think I’m now back to my original size, if a little bit more droopy. Hey, floppy boobs are working boobs and there ain’t nothing wrong with that!

Day 733
2/26 Wednesday
Night EC: No Pee, Morning pee only
Day: Dry.
Poop: Mini Moose give mommy more warning so we can catch it all!

Have I mentioned yet that Daddy Man’s mystery rash is actually shingles? I can’t remember if I did. Did I? Anyway, Daddy Man has a high pain tolerance so it never occurred to me to think it was shingles.

Yes, yes, you can catch Chicken Pox from someone with shingles. It is going to be a long March…

2/27 Thursday Day 734
Night EC: No Pee, Morning pee only
Day: Dry.
Poop: Bah humbug. Missed it again, well not all of it, some of it.

2/28 Friday Day 735
Night EC: No Pee at night, wake up pee.
Day: Dry.
Poop: caught it!

Our day to day business is just the same lately. Even now in the morning, mini moose will sit down at his sisters portable writing desk that she got for her birthday and bang on it demanding I put his breakfast on it. Ever since Grandmama got them yogurt at Disney he’s been all about yogurt so I’ve been buying full fat plain yogurt which works nicely for my baking as well. Every morning he asks for a banana while Itty Bitty asks for her usual apple. Then they will either have oatmeal or eggs and sometimes pancakes. Then Mini Moose may demand yogurt by pointing at the refrigerator and trying to say it, though it comes out sounding like DoeDoe rather than yogurt. Itty Bitty calls it “Oh-gert” which incidentally is the same thing she calls Ogres! Ogres and Yogurt. Who knew?

3/1 Saturday Day 736

Night EC: No Pee at night, 5:30 wake up pee (I started checking the clock to see what time he’s been having his wake up pee).
Day: Dry.
Poop: caught it!

Have I mentioned yet that Daddy Man doens’t have contact dermatitis or eczema? Oh, no. It is shingles. That means the kids have been exposed. I don’t hold out much hope that they won’t get it even if we do keep them separated as much as possible. Daddy Man opted for antivirals but declined pain killers. He said they seemed shocked that he didn’t want them since he was in pain. Daddy Man has a very high pain tolerance.

Anyway, I am glad the kids will get it now rather than later or have to decide whether or not to get a booster shot the rest of their lives. I am glad of it too, since I think a lot of shingles manifestations cropping up more often are due to not getting exposure to the wild virus. This is a boon to me since now I have been exposed and my immune system is …for a lack of a better word…recharged. Now we must wait.

3/2 Sunday Day 737
Night EC: No Pee! The early morning pee was big!
Day: 1 miss in the morning.
Poop: So close but we missed some of it.

Almost two weeks without my computer and a week after Itty Bitty wrecked the wireless on Daddy Man’s old Toshiba, but he managed to get my old Dell laptop running tonight so I could have wireless again while I’m waiting for my regular Asus laptop to come back from repair.. I can now stop plotting to ship my children to Antarctica. Thank you, honey. I know Dell sucks and their re-install process is ridiculous. My hero.

What did people do before Wireless!? I would read, but who can read when your spawn are crawling on you and calling you every five minutes? I can’t even read the instructions on a box of oatmeal once and have it process.

3/5 Wednesday Day 738
Night EC: 1 middle night pee, then Early morning pee only
Day: 2 miss in the morning. 1 in the afternoon. An off day!
Poop: Missed it. Well, not all of it. He always signals so we tend to usually catch part of it.

We are so ready for warm weather!

3/6 Thursday Day 739
Night EC: No night pee. Morning pee 5:00 or 5:30.
Day: Dry.
Poop: Miss. So close yet so far!

I am really starting to like this long stretch of sleep I’m getting and the “usually doesn’t ask to nurse in the wee hours” anymore. Sometimes he does which is fine. I am getting so much more sleep now I don’t really care! Don’t misunderstand, this is not a 8-12 hour sleep-a-thon, but a respectable and natural 4-6 hour stretch. We follow that with a quick wake up to re-cuddle or sometimes nurse, and then back to sleep. Not having to pee helps, though once in a great while if he’s had a lot to drink the day before he’ll need to have a pit stop.

What I’m not fond of are the death rolls before he initially falls asleep now. He doesn’t always let go nicely and sometimes ends up squishing my boob, then rolling back to relatch. Ow!

3/7 Friday Day 740
Night EC: No Pee! Another big morning pee.
Day: 2 miss in the afternoon
Poop: Caught it!

Trying to get work done when your Spawn are determined to argue over every toy and use their butts to push each other… Just sucks in so many ways I can’t count them.

I spy a mystery spot on Itty Bitty’s back. Oh…here it comes…

3/8 Saturday Day 741

Night EC: Usual 5:30AM pee
Day: Dry.
Poop: Usual 1/2 catch, 1/2 miss. Ad nauseum!

Chicken Pox Day 2: Well, right on cue. Itty Bitty has a blister on her back. Classic Chicken Pox presentation. I am calling this day two because I really think she presented on Thursday since I saw the first full blister yesterday. She’d felt warm in the morning yesterday, but a temperature didn’t register on the thermometer so I didn’t really think it was notable — and she had been running around playing like a headless robot. I had noticed a strange spot on her back yesterday, but it was just red and almost seemed to be not there. Today it was a clear blister. I don’t expect her to have a terrible case since Daddy Man can’t recall his previous bout with it at four was anything more than annoyingly itchy. My bout at age twenty-one wasn’t sunshine and rainbows, but I can’t say that it was a bad case. As a matter of fact, my dance with Poison Ivy was 100 times worse than my two step with adult chicken pox in both discomfort and skin coverage. Anyway, Daddy Man will bring home some calamine and I’ve already got oatmeal in the house for soothing baths.

3/9 Sunday Day 742
Night EC: Usual 5:30AM pee
Day: Dry.
Poop: Usual 1/2 catch, 1/2 miss. You know the drill people.

Chicken Pox Day 3: Daddy Man has been suffering with the zapping pain in his head, but it looks like Itty Bitty will have no problem weathering this. Her presentation is slow and is sporadic. She has maybe about 15-20 spots and this is day 3; occasionally she says see is itchy. I am assuming that she really started presenting on Thursday as she has a spot on her scalp that is father progressed than the one I saw on her back Friday. She’s always weathered illness better than the rest of us tending to recover faster and be far less plagued by symptoms to the point where you cannot always diagnose the bug! I had it when I was 21 and recovered as a child would have though I had a mild fever and malaise, so I’m confident I’m immune. Mini Moose may have some residual immunity or at the very least immune boost from nursing so we’ll see if he presents or not.

3/10 Monday Day 743
Night EC: Usual 5:30AM pee
Day: Dry.
Poop: Usual 1/2 catch, 1/2 miss. Blah blah.

Chicken Pox Day 4: Today is a big pox day. Lots of them are popping all over. No real big clusters, four of them are bigger than the rest. Two of them on her back, one under her arms, and one under her chin. Itty Bitty isn’t complaining much except when I put on the calamine, but I can tell she is more uncomfortable becaus she is much more subdued in behavior and short temepered.

Mini Moose has started telling me to leave the bathroom if he’s pooping by saying, “Go!” and if I ask him if he is doen he’ll say, “No,” cross his harms, and then show me the hand so that I go away. He has no desire to take himself to the bathroom, though he has all the skills. That’s okay. I don’t mind, and it is so cute when he dismisses me for privacy!

3/11 Tuesday Day 744

Night EC: Usual 5:30AM pee
Day: Missed two in the morning.
Poop: Usual 1/2 catch, 1/2 miss. Same old Same old!

Chicken Pox Day 5 — Poor Itty Bitty has them /everywhere/ including a few on the scalp and many in the most uncomfortable of places! Those in particular give her the most grief. She still has a lot of untouched skin real estate, but they are well distributed with the most concentrating on her butt and back and bits.

She was miserable last night because she refused to take the oatmeal bath I drew for her before I left the house for workd and left her with Daddy Man. By the time I got home the itching/burning was at unbearable levels. I even gave her oral medication to give her some relief because I knew it was bad (I gave her Ibuprofen, but really it should have been Tylenol as there seems to be some issue with masking of symptoms of secondary complications and it making such a problem worse. But because I don’t expect her to have a secondary issue, she had no fever, and it was one dose the chances of a negative even is exceedingly small). The medication did help after about 30 minutes, but it took a good three hours to get the discomfort under control again. I can tell just by her talkativity,. vocabulary choices, and mood when she’s better even if she still whines it itches and burns if I put calamine on it. I think she is experiencing acute skin sensitivity to cold and touch. She tossed and turned all night until 3 or 4 am before finally getting to sleep. She’s been excellent, I must say, about not scratching. She can’t help but drag her bottom on the bed now and then.

This morning she thought better about not taking a soak in the tub! After the oatmeal bath, I slathered her in calamine (of course even though I warmed it a bit and she didn’t complain, it got cold before I was done and she complained it burned then. She seems super sensitive to cold). I’ve done a test area today with vitamin E oil, and I am thinking that might help sooth her poor vulva and anus area.

I think yesterday was a peak day, so we should be on the down side. No new spots today, just really small ones from yesterday developing. The later ones are very small pimple dots compared to when the first ones appear. The vitamin E and coconut oil she found very soothing and it seemed to stop the genital itching on contact and prevented the skin from friction rubbing and sticking. Mini Moose is still insisting on getting some topical medications too. I’ve promised Itty Bitty that we would do some connect the dots with face paint crayons when her pox are healed and she is excited about that!

3/12 Wednesday Day 745

Night EC: Usual 5:30AM pee
Day: Missed 1 in the afternoon.
Poop: Usual 1/2 catch, 1/2 miss.

Chicken Pox Day 6: More of the pox are crusting over and no new ones appeared today. Definitely, the last ones that came out were very small and are scabbing over faster than the first ones did. Itty Bitty didn’t want a bath this morning and said she wasn’t that itchy. I did insist on coconut oil and vitamin E though on her bottom and bits because of the friction and I wanted to discourage any sort of itching there. I applied it three times throughout the day, but that is all the care she needed. They are both arguing normally and Itty Bitty is trying not to drag her butt on the carpet. She asked again today if they are ready to connect the dots!

I check Mini Moose every day and so far nothing. I noticed a few skin blemishes here and there that turn out to be nothing. Perhaps he had one or two that I missed, or is asymptomatic, or just didn’t get it. To celebrate, I made some chocolate brownie cookies. Easy and yummy!

3/13 Thursday Day 746

Night EC: Usual 5:30AM pee
Day: Missed one in the afternoon. It is cute when he brings me his wet pants and says, “Mama, heah.”
Poop: Usual 1/2 catch, 1/2 miss. Ad nauseum!

Chicken Pox Day 7: We played some recovery connect the dots and Itty Bitty was delighted! She asked for a blue lady bug on one cheek, a blue frog on the other, a flower, and a dragon fly. She wanted a butterfly but we ran out of face real estate!

So…while I was at work tonight… Itty Bitty decided to dive into a book from her bookshelf that she’s looked at the pictures before but didn’t really process (she was one or two when I got it…best to be prepared!), “It’s not the stork” http://www.amazon.com/Its-Not-Stork-Families-Friends/dp/0763633313 .

She’s four and a half now and has a new awareness, and with that some anxiety over big questions like pain and death. I got home and Daddy Man says she was in a spiral of despair at the thought of getting older, having babies and it started with the thought that she had eggs and ended with why does she still have chicken pox on her body. He was rather distraught himself, “Oh what a literary masterpiece to have her start reading. Thank you very much.” he said. Hah!

Poor man. It doesn’t get any easier, honey, and the book does say ages four and up!

It took me a bit to calm her down and assure her that if she didn’t want babies she didn’t have to, but she couldn’t just get rid of her eggs right now. And, no, I couldn’t promise to help her stop growing up, but I could pretend that she’d be my four year old baby forever. And yes, the chicken pox would go away.

3/14 Friday Day 747
Night EC: Usual 5:30AM pee
Day: Dry.
Poop: 1/2 and 1/2

Chicken Pox Recovery: Itty Bitty has been great about not scratching, except her head. The scalp ones are so tempting under all that hair.

3/15 Saturday Day 748
Night EC: Usual 5:30AM pee
Day: Dry.
Poop: Usual 1/2 catch, 1/2 miss. I am sensing a trend.

Daddy Man took us out for breakfast to a new place and I ate the most delicate, delightful, delectable Bismark. Not at all cloyingly sweet and the cream on the top was perfect. I now need to make it my mission to try one of everything. Curse you, New Place, you are just too delicious.

3/16 Sunday Day 749
Night EC: Usual 5:30AM pee
Day: Dry.
Poop: No poop today. I fear…

3/17 Monday Day 750

Night EC: Usual 5:30AM pee
Day: Dry.
Poop: Usual 1/2 catch, 1/2 miss
Happy Ides of March! Think green and shamrocks, and welcome Spring! Finally! Winter be gone!

3/18 Tuesday Day 751

Night EC: Usual 5:30AM pee
Day: Dry.
Poop: Usual 1/2 catch, 1/2 miss

3/19 Wednesday 752

Night EC: Usual 5:30AM pee
Day: Dry.
Poop: Caught all of it! Yay!

That’s it. We are getting out of the house. Today! We are going to go see Frozen at our local theater since tomorrow is the last time they are showing it there.

No one but us was in the whole theatre other than senior citizens for the special, but they were in other theatres. We were there an hour early and the kids had a grand time running up and down the empty theatre rows and we spent a little time in the game area even though we didn’t have tokens. They enjoyed pretend driving. It was nice to have a change of scenery.

Matinee fee was still damn pricey, but an awesome movie; see it. On the downside, Itty Bitty spent an hour inconsolably crying because it is /over/ and we can’t see it again right now. *head wall; sigh of defeat*

3/20 Thursday Day 753

Night EC: Usual 5:30AM pee
Day: Dry.
Poop: Oh what a miss it was. Eww.

It snowed. Stupid winter.

3/21 Friday Day 754

Night EC: Usual 5:30AM pee
Day: Dry.
Poop: Caught most of it.

Month 24: Deja Two – Day 698 to Day 728

Feb22

Compare to Sister’s Blog: Month 24: Happy Birthday Two

Picture From a Few Weeks Ago: Fun at the Magic Kingdom

1/22 Wednesday (23 Months) Day 698
Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss.
Day: 1 miss.
Poop: Missed it.

I still haven’t unpacked our suitcases. To say that I have zero ambition to do it is being pretty generous. Feminine hormones have a small role to play in that, ugh. I just want to curl up an hibernate until menopause. Okay, just until winter is over.

On a more ambitious note, I’ve been making a lot of food from scratch in an effort to save as many pennies as possible while filling bellies. We’ve made tortillas from scratch, flat bread, dinner roll, quick breads, whole slow roast chicken, crock pot chili, beans, and soups. Itty Bitty is complaining less about the food offerings. She’s been letting herself get good and hungry though; apples and bananas only fill you up so long! I tell her that she doesn’t have to eat what is offfered, but truly hungry people don’t refuse to eat their non-favorites. I think she is getting the idea that there is nothing else to have. This is totally my fault, I was really slacking with meals and eating out a lot during our house move and we just fell into a nasty habit.

1/23 Thursday Day 699

Night EC: 1 catch.
Day: 2 miss.
Poop: Caught it!

First day of work tonight. It was nice to get out of the house, but it has been bitterly cold and there is snow. My tire was flat too and I had to put air in it before I left.

I think we are all getting cabin fever. Too cold to go out and I have no extra funds to go anywhere and gas is expensive. I am trying really hard to cut way back so that I can get the debt accrued from the jeep paid off by May. That means that there is no room for many extras. It kind of has me down in the dumps, but I tell myself that we are in good shape and it is only temporary. I only hope that I get work this summer!

1/24 Friday Day 700

Night EC: 1 catch. Under protest. Mini Moose gave me some attitude and it wasn’t a big pee.
Day: 5 misses. It was an off day. It happens.
Poop: Missed it twice.

It’s been pretty blah around here. We get up, eat, watch tv, and spend the day in the play room. I cook. The kids fight. We complain. Bah humbug. I don’t think any of us were made for the winter doldrums. Daddy Man’s car track hodge podge has been very popular with the littles. However, they do fight over the multitude of cars and Itty Bitty’s first and favorite red car has gone missing. I think perhaps when Daddy Man put out the recycling he failed to look to see if any toys were put in the bin and he just dumped it. So, that little red corvette might just be gone for good. I am holding out hope, but I haven’t seen it and I’ve looked everywhere I can think of.

1/25 Saturday Day 701

Night EC: Pee refusal.
Day: 1 miss in the evening.
Poop: Caught it because he signaled in time! Yay!

I was surprised last night when Mini Moose woke up at his usual 3:00 time and he refused to pee. In fact, he seemed to be so insulted that I suggested a potty break that he cured up in a butt-hurt ball and declined nay-nay (nursing)! I was flabbergasted. I gave a little huff and said, “fine be that way!” and I too rolled over with a little ‘tude and fell back asleep.

Itty Bitty sleeps like a rock so she is always unaware of this night ballet. She is too busy outgrowing things.

Daddy Man bought more Hot Wheels tracks today. He is giddy like a little boy when he watches the Little get all excited about the cars racing and jumping on the tracks.

1/26 Sunday Day 702

Night EC: No Pee; huge morning wake-up pee.
Day: 2 miss.
Poop: Missed it.

Well, that has never happened. The second night where he has not needed a wee hour pee or was awake enough for a night nurse. I’ve been encouraging the middle of the night nurse, but when he does or doesn’t has been pretty random. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t. I’m pretty flexible expecially since his first stretch of sleep has been hitting the 4-5 hour mark and it has been refreshing to have my sleep cycle finish and end without interruption. We do still gripe at each other on the nights we disagree, but we work it out. Especially, because he is teething nursing is a cranky time for us both right now.

We had to shovel before we left to go to GMa’s and Itty Bitty was not pleased that it was so cold out! I guess she won’t pester me tomorrow about playing outside! MIni Moose didn’t stay out nearly as long. An hour to get dressed for 30 minutes of outside time! I was so not made for winter.

Today was also the first day that Itty Bitty used the new 3-in-1 Graco harness to booster seat Daddy Man bought yesterday. She will be forward facing in his Durango now. She still falls asleep in the car so the 5 point harness is essential, but it does convert to a high back booster and a low back booster after that. She is excited to sit forward facing, but found it a little disorientating as far as speed. The cup holder was a big hit with her and she was playing with it when it was in the house. I can’t believe my baby has grown so much! She’ll still be rear facing in my car until she reaches the 40lb limit, but she is not too far off. We’ll likely make it to at least 4.5 years, though I was hoping we’d make it rear until her fifth birthday. Mini Moose has inherited Itty Bitty’s carseat in Daddy Man’s car now. He had outgrown Daddy Man’s seat more than two months ago, but since he usually rides in my car Daddy Man had put it off. He traded it in and got 25% off too. The seats in my car should last until Itty Bitty needs an upgrade. I had already switched her to Mini Moose’s Britax seat so she could rear face longer, and he is in her True Fit which should last another 3-4 years before it expires. I’m thinking that by the time he’s outgrown the rearface limit on it, I can switch him back to his original Britax and upgrade Itty Bitty.

Grandmama invited us over for Daddy Man’s belated birthday dinner. It was nice not to have to cook today and to have an extra pair of eyes and ambition to entertain the littles. We even all got to take a late afternoon nap! When we got home and I complained yet again about how much I hated the Laundry Hydra, Daddy Man helped fold! It is amazing how much a detested chore can change when you just have an extra hand and someone to do it with. I actually felt charged and didn’t mind doing it for a change. Sometimes it is just the little things that make the difference.

1/27 Monday Day 703

Night EC: No Pee! (but a huge morning wake up whizzer)
Day: 2 miss in the evening.
Poop: 1 caught by daddy, 1 missed by mommy.

Last night was the third night in the row Mini Moose hasn’t asked to nurse at a wake up, hasn’t peed in eight hours in the night, and had a steady long stretch of sleep before stirring (five to six hours). I still wake up of course, but it is kind of nice not to have to extricate my boobs for a feed. I’m not so sure how I feel about a toddler head resting on my neck cutting off the blood to my brain though.

1/28 Tuesday Day 704

Night EC: 1 night pee, then none till morning.
Day: Dry.
Poop: Caught half of it.

1/29 Wednesday Day 705

Night EC: No Pee at night; early morning pee.
Day: 3 miss in the morning
Poop: Missed

1/30 Thursday Day 706

Night EC: None till early morning.
Day: Dry.
Poop: Caught half of it.

1/31 Friday Day 707

Night EC: None. Just morning pee.
Day: Dry.
Poop: Caught half of it. Again.

2/1 Saturday Day 708

Night EC: No Pee! Wake up pee instead.
Day: Dry.
Poop: Missed part of it.

Wow. I can’t believe it is February. Mini Moose is growing so fast. His eye teeth (canines) are FINALLY almost all done. He’s got the upper left still working, but at least this phase of teething is over. He also has gone through some major mental shifting. It is like overnight he has remodeled his brains. Since we got back from our trip, he has been very into the cars and tracks that Daddy Man has been buing and building up. He had planned on doing so with Itty Bitty, but felt that with a crawling baby it would be more frustrating for Itty Bitty to always have a track smashed. Now they can both enjoy it together. We’ve always had cars, just not the tracks. Mini Moose is delighted and has been copying Itty Bitty’s double car runs and has leanred through constant experimentation that some cars work better than others. He also has begun to show distinct favorites among the toys picking out specific trains (Brewester and Wilson), cars (a white one and a purple one), stuffies (he likes a beanie panda and a big headed super man that Itty Bitty calls Super Why), and animals (horse and cow). If Itty Bitty tries to make an unfair trade he’ll have none of it because he knows the differences. As much as they argue, he copies her like a little shadow.

Oh, his hair is staring to grow in the back as when he wakes up now the back of his head is a curly little mess.

Mini Moose Words of Note:
BeeBee! : Broken! (unspoken request of Fix it!)
Tuck!: It’s stuck! (can be in reference to shirt or shoes he can’t get off, or a toy stuck)
Sheet Dow: Sit down! (a demand made often to Daddy Man to play cars or to me for nay-nays)
TeeTee: TV. Turn on the tv. Usually in the evening with Daddy Man (and if you don’t put on the one he wants he will shake his head, point and babble)
Aha!
Mine!
MeeMee: Give that to me!
MoeMoe: More. More.
Taytoo: Thank you.
SeeSoo: See you soon!
Nana: Banana
Apoo: Apple

He gives a lot more directions now with vocalizations and pointing. He is very good at screetching his displeasure at his sister. He can also follow multistep instructions. He has a pretty broad vocabulary even though it is in toddler-speak. He also can repeat several words he doesn’t usually say if you ask him too like colors, numbers, and random words.

Itty Bitty Wordisms (cut ways she still says things)
Beputer: Computer
Bemember: Remember
Imbisable: Invisable
Dista-peer: Disapear
Pooh Da Bear: Pooh Bear (Winnie the Pooh)
Free: Three

She still often sings songs (off key, poor girl got my lack of musicality), reinacts books and cartoons, andjust chatters narratives. She is getting better with simple addition and some basic fraction (3/3 4/4), has taught herself some rudimetnary writing and can write her name and her brother’s name from memory. She can also copy common words with concentration like exit, stop, and other words she can look at. She doesn’t always make the letters the way you are “supposed” to, but she makes it work.

2/2 Sunday Day 709

Night EC: 5:00Am Pee catch
Day: Dry.
Poop: 1/2 catch 1/2 miss

Cabin fever, cabin fever! Sing it with me, now! Cabin fever, cabin fever! The crazy lives here!

I noticed that Mini Moose has learned how to do puzzles. He no longer just tries to bang and mash them into place. He looks at them, anyalyzes, and tries to place them in the matching slot — before he tries to smash them in if they don’t fit for some reason. He can do the chunk puzzles with simple shapes. He tries to do the complicated regular puzzles but just ends up looking confused in a pile of mixed up pieces.

Itty Bitty is big on vocabulary always asking what a word means or telling us something she’s learned or figured out. She tells stories, re-enacts cartoons, sings songs she knows, makes others up, and tries to give her brother check-ups. Oh, and calling me every ten seconds.

2/3 Monday Day 710

Night EC: 5:00Am Pee catch
Day: Dry.
Poop: 1/2 catch 1/2 miss

I think the redundancy is going to do us in. I mean, first Daddy Man wakes up, then Mini Moose, then I peel open my heavy one eye. Mini Moose asks for Nana, if there is no Nana he wants Apoo. After that he wants nay nay. Then Itty Bitty gets up and the sibling bickery begins. I lose my marbles. We have fruit with an accompaniment of oatmeal, eggs, yogurt, or (if I’m ambitions) pancakes for breakfast. Itty Bitty turns her nose up at cream of wheat even if I make it delicious (no easy feat let me tell you but I’m trying to use up the little used pantry items I’ve got leftover from recipes). She just doesn’t like the texture if it starts to get cold…and Itty Bitty takes forever to eat. When I say “we”, I mean “they” get to eat that stuff. I, on the other hand, end up eating the dregs. The mostly eaten apple, the soft part of the banana (which I hate), the leftover cold, reheated oatmeal, and eggs in one bite or else I get none.

We do the same thing so often, that when Mini Moose comes into the kitchen now he sits down at Itty Bitty’s pink lapdesk and waits. Meh, I can’t remember the last time I bothered to use the high chair at the table. Easier to feed him at floor level where he can come and go as he pleases. He brings me his plate and says, “Ah dahn, Mama” or if he is having trouble with the last bit he says “hep” and opens his mouth after he brings me the bowl/plate and spoon.

2/4 Tuesday Day 711

Night EC: 5:00Am Pee catch
Day: Dry.
Poop: 1/2 catch 1/2 miss

Wait. What? I’m getting more sleep! Five hours consistently at first stretch! We hardly even argue over the late hour nursing request. Most of the time he just shifts to lay on my face, throat, or chest. Itty Bitty just parks herself in my buttcrack.

2/5 Wednesday Day 712

Night EC: 1 miss, then morning pee catch
Day: Dry.
Poop: 1/2 catch 1/2 miss

So much snow, it is so cold, and I am trying to save gas by not driving anywhere. Not that I want to drive in the cold and snow. Besides it takes half an hour just to get them dressed when it is bitter cold, and half an hour they go out and are done! I also hate the cold. Like Sally of Peanuts, I am not built for winter. Of course, this does not help our cabin fever.

I have, however, managed to cut our grocery expenses to 40-45 dollars a week. I do one stocking trip every six weeks, and every week I buy our most used essentials: eggs, yogurt, apples, bananas, lettuce/greens Everything needs to be cooked scratch so I dusted off my breadmaker and put the crock pot front and center. I still so miss my toaster oven! I make everything. Quick breads, muffins, cookies, taco wraps, flat breads, soups, and stews. We are eating less and less “didn’t turn out quite right” meals as I get back into the swing of things.

2/6 Thursday Day 713

Night EC: 1 catch, then morning pee catch
Day: Dry.
Poop: 1/2 catch 1/2 miss

2/7 Friday Day 714

Night EC: 1 catch, then morning pee catch
Day: Dry.
Poop: caught it!

2/8 Saturday Day 715

Night EC: no pee, then very early morning pee catch (5:00 or so)
Day: Dry.
Poop: 1/2 catch 1/2 miss

You know the drill people. Endless laundry, never ending chores, cooking again, messy house, hopelessness, despair and trying to keep your marbles in the bag.

2/9 Sunday Day 716

Night EC: no pee, then early morning pee catch 6:00am
Day: Dry.
Poop: 1/2 catch 1/2 miss

Unpacked more boxes today that were sitting in the garage and organized a few things.
The sad part is, overall, it looks like I did nothing. Le sigh.

2/10 Monday Day 717

Night EC: 1 catch, then wake up pee catch
Day: Dry.
Poop: 1/2 catch 1/2 miss

2/11 Tuesday Day 718

Night EC: No pee, then 5:00 morning pee catch
Day: Dry.
Poop: 1/2 catch 1/2 miss

2/12 Wednesday Day 719

Night EC: No pee, then 5:00 morning pee catch
Day: Dry.
Poop: caught it!

2/13 Thursday Day 720

Night EC: No pee, then 5:00 morning pee catch
Day: Dry.
Poop: 1/2 catch 1/2 miss

Daddy Man brought me Valentine’s Day early because we are getting more snow. Awww! Itty Bitty has been itching for the chocolate covered strawberries he got her last year. She remembers so much now!

2/14 Friday Day 721
Night EC: No Pee at night, had a big wake up pee.
Day: Dry.
Poop: Missed it. Eww.

Happy Snow Day! I mean, Valentines Day. Too much snow!
I lost Daddy Man’s cards! Really? I probably won’t find them until next year. Instead, I had to have the kids make him cards and I thought today was Saturday and he went to work even with the storm coming.

Day 722
2/15 Saturday
Night EC: No Pee at night, had a big wake up pee.
Day: Dry.
Poop: caught by daddy

Had to miss my twin nieces first birthday party because of yet another snow storm. Stop it, Nature! Just stop! Oh, yeah and my computer went kaput.

2/16 Sunday Day 723
Night EC: No Pee at night, had a big wake up pee.
Day: Dry.
Poop: 50/50 catch/miss

2/17 Monday Day 724
Night EC: No Pee at night, had a big wake up pee.
Day: 1 miss afternoon.
Poop: Caught it!

2/18 Day 725
Night EC: No Pee at night; big wake up pee.
Day: Dry.
Poop: Caught most of it.

2/19 Wednesday Day 726
Night EC: No Pee at night, had a big wake up pee.
Day: Dry.
Poop: 50/50 catch/miss

Daddy Man did some research and thinks it is the power port on my computer so the cheapest option is to mail it out for repair to a place out of state that will do it for under a 100 dollars including shipping. Gah!

Day 727
2/20 Thursday
Night EC: No Pee at night, had a big wake up pee.
Day: Dry.
Poop: 50/50

2/21 Friday Day 728
Night EC: 1 night pee, then wakeup pee.
Day: Dry.
Poop: Catch.

Ain’t no sunshine when the computer is gone. You know, because you can Google sunrises and stuff.

Month 23: New Year Magic and Mayhem – Day 667 to Day 697

Jan22

Compare to Sister’s Blog: Month 23: Beach Redux

Happy Holidays!

12/22 Sunday (22 months) Day 667

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Missed half of it.

Itty BItty seems recovered today again and back to her old self. She ate several pieces of fruit and was back to complaining about the lack of breakfast options.

I just hope we don’t all get sick in time for Christmas.

12/23 Monday Day 668

Night EC: 1 catch
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Missed it FOUR times!

Did our Christmas shopping today with my paltry budget and picked up Christmas photos for gifts also. I got some good deals on socks for my brother, rechargable batteries for my other brother, and four toys for my twin neices. There was even a little bit left over to get Itty BItty her “Santa” gift though I couldn’t get it because we were all together. We’ll have to go tomorrow and hope it is still there (she had her keen eye on a Dora Mermaid Doll).

12/24 Tuesday Day 669

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day except for 1 car miss and 1 late evening miss.
Poop: No poop.

No one seems sick and Itty BItty has been fever free for well over twenty-four hours so we are all safe to go visit family for the holidays. We had good intensions of leaving early but as usual ended up leaving later than we wanted. No matter, we still managed to get our Santa Toy errand done and made it in good time. Unfortunately, Mini Moose had an unexpected pee accident in the car. That hasn’t happened in ages! I should have taken him potty one more time during a pit stop, but for some reason I decided not to and wanted to wait until another stop. Big mistake on my part. Mini Moose was NOT a happy camper!

On top of that when I spoke to my Mom and told her we’d e arriving early afternoon, she thought I was talking about tomorrow. Oy. We actually can’t stay as long tomorrow because Christmas is in the middle of the week and Daddy Man has to work on Thursday. We have to fit all our visiting in today and hang out tomorrow and leave early evening.

12/25 Wednesday Day 670

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: No poop (until we got home) then BAM. Missed it…well, most of it.

The visit was going pretty well though it is stressful keeping the kids out of things and following house rules. Itty BItty is older so she is fine, but Mini Moose only just turned 22 months a few days ago so he needs a closer eye. I was getting something out of the fridge to snack on when my Mom was loading the dishwasher and Mini Moose went over to turn it on — because he does that with me when we are home. She yelled at him because she thought he was playing with it! He got scared and cried. I was upset because he was upset and he really wasn’t doing anything wrong. I tried to explain that he wasn’t playing with it, that he was trying to help. I felt a bit scolded when she said that those aren’t he rules in her house. Um…I KNOW…my back was turned for a few seconds and I couldn’t head him off as usual. Then she said I shouldn’t get offended. *sigh* I was upset because my baby was scared! He doesn’t see her all the time, he’s just a baby, and on top of that he was confused.

I know I do yell and I suck sometimes, but I ALWAYS apologize to my kids when I do that because I know I did wrong. I wish I didn’t make those mistakes but I do. I just don’t want someone else yelling at my kids or threatening to hit them, and I don’t care who it is.

12/26 Thursday Day 671

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: 1 miss.
Poop: Missed poop.

12/27 Friday Day 672

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Caught poop after a well tighted potty sign/sound.

Happy Birthday GrandMaMa!

12/28 Saturday Day 673

Night EC: 1 catch
Day: 2 miss.
Poop: Missed poop.

12/29 Sunday Day 674

Night EC: 1 catch
Day: 1 miss.
Poop: Missed poop…3 times. Eww.

12/31 Monday Day 675

Night EC: 1 catch
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Daddy caught the poop!

It’s New Year’s Eve. When did that happen? We all stayed in and stayed up for New Year. Mini Moose fell asleep thirty minutes to midnight so of course I had to wake him up! That’s how we roll around here.

1/1 Monday Day 676

Night EC: 1 catch
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Missed it twice. Mini Moose is trying to tell us, though it is just generally five seconds to late. We keep on keeping on.

Happy New Year!

1/2 Tuesday Day 677

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss
Day: Our usual random miss.
Poop: Caught it today!

Mini Moose is sleeping consistently a nice 4-5 hour stretch

1/3 Wednesday Day 678

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss
Day: 2 miss.
Poop: Missed it twice.

I started packing for our trip to Florida yesterday and keeping up with the laundry so there won’t be much to do when we get back. I think we are going to have to buy Mini Moose his own suitcase this year because even without needing to bring diapers, his clothing for a week takes up more space. For the moment, he and Itty Bitty share a small suitcase. We try to travel as light as possible.

1/4 Thursday Day 679

Night EC: 1 catch
Day: 4 miss.
Poop: Missed it.

It’s been an off day today. We are out of synch and I’m stressed over finances, whether or not work will come through, and the trip. I’m hanging in there. Mini Moose is also cranky because he’s still teething his eye teeth which take forever to come through. It took Itty Bitty a couple of months! They are bubbling and look sore. He’s been chewing on his fingers and seemingly trying to rip them out with his bare hands.

My favorite Mini Moose Babbles:

Buh-Boo — Boo Boo
Bye-ee — Good bye with a litttle wave just the way Itty Bitty used to.
Kittee Hups — Our male cat’s name is Hops
Kittee Bowwee — Our female cat’s name is Barley
Momos — Animals
Brroom Brroom — Cars and other vehicles.
Appo — Apple
Nah-na — Banana
Com-ma — Come on!
Leh-go — Let Go!
Seedow — Sit down.
NiNi — Night Night
Shu — Shoes
BahBow — Bubbles/balls/spheres/anything spherical
Hep Mama tuck — Help, Momma, this toy is stuck!
Idono — I don’t know said when asked where he put something or where something is
donairs — downstairs said if he knows Daddy is watching TV
MoMo — More with the baby sign for More that he made up which is a finger touching his lips. It usually means more water but not always.
Tanyoo — Thank you.
Fowwa — Flower
Top — Stop!
ShooShoo Git — Said to the cat’s if they get in the way!
Uh-doe Uh-doe — I am not exactly sure about this sound blend, but it usually means either play with me or fix this train track or the car track again so I can play with it.

Mostly he makes a lot of non-word sounds and points to indicate his desires. He tries to repeat many things if he is asked however. He also can understand multi-step directions such as “Go upstairs, find your sister, and brush your teeth.” Or “Find your sister’s shoes.”

He does so love brushing his teeth with his sister. If she doesn’t put toothpaste on his toothbrush so he can join her he gets very angry! She has learned to put the training toothpaste on his brush first and then do hers.

______________________________________________________
VACATION NOTES TO BE INSERTED LATER

1/3 Friday Day 680
Night EC: 1 catch.
Day: 2 miss
Poop: 1 catch

1/4 Saturday Day 681
Night EC: 1 catch.
Day: 3 miss
Poop: 1 catch, 1 miss

Day 682
1/5 Sunday
Night EC: 1 catch.
Day: Dry
Poop: 2 miss

1/6 Monday Day 682
Night EC: 1 catch.
Day: Dry
Poop: 1 miss

1/7 Tuesday Day 683
Night EC: 1 catch.
Day: Dry
Poop: 1 catch

1/8 Wednesday Day 684
Night EC: 1 catch.
Day: Dry
Poop: 1 catch

1/9 Thursday Day 685
Night EC: 1 catch.
Day: Dry
Poop: Miss

1/10 Friday Day 686
Night EC: 1 catch.
Day:
Poop:

Epcot. Daddy Man sick.

1/11 Saturday Day 687
Night EC: 1 catch.
Day:
Poop:

Plane home around 7:00 pm. Daddy Man fever.

——————————————————————————-
VACATION NOTES NEED TO BE INSERTED ABOVE

1/12 Sunday Day 688
Night EC: 1 catch.
Day:
Poop:

Daddy Man sick quarantined to downstairs. Fever 104.
Grandmama knows our cupboards are bare and brought over some staples to cover us for a few days. Bread, peanut butter, jelly, yogurt, crackers, ginger ale, and orange juice. The only time we ever have juice and ginger ale in the house is during sickness!

1/13 Monday Day 689
Night EC: 1 catch.
Day:
Poop:

Me, Mini Moose sick late afternoon after nap. Chills mild fever. Itty Bitty not until late night. I guess Operation: Quarantine Daddy didn’t work fast enough.

1/14 Tuesday Day 690
Night EC: 1 catch.
Day:
Poop:

House of Woe. All our fevers have settled between 102 and 103.5, though the littles often go down as low as 100-101 after medication and cooling cloths. I have such a terrible headache that I figure the kids also have headaches and body aches so I’ve not been stingy with the Ibruprofen and Tylenol for their comfort.

1/15 Wednesday Day 691
Night EC: 1 catch.
Day:
Poop:

Status the same. Itty BItty and Mini Moose still have appetites and have been drinking water. There is some mild coughing but that is really it. Only fever and head/body aches. Thankfully no trots or vomits. Their poo has been messy, but that has only been once. We likely have travellers flu with Daddy Man being our patient zero. He is the worst off. Hightest fever, terrible cough, and horrible pain in his chest from the cough. The least sick is Itty Bitty. Mini Moose is smaller so the fever and aches seem to be harder for him. When they get down to 101 they are quite lively. When it is down to 100 they start arguing over toys. At 102-103 they are sleepy and unenergetic. I am hoping our recovery will be quick since we get to rest a lot.

Thankfully, the kids fevers seem to be on the lower end of 100 to 102.5 today and occasionally down to 99. Mine tends to be a little higher, but I only take Ibuprofen if my head is going to fall off–and it has a couple of times! We can go up to eight hours without medications for the aches. I can usually tell just by looking at Itty Bitty’s face that she is feeling bad even before she complains about sore skin and hurting eyes. We’ve spent a lot of time in bed. Daddy Man still has a fever that spikes and he doesn’t want to take more time off work, so he compromised and went to work at night so he wouldn’t infect anyone during the day. He finds it exhausting but it is working out.

By late evening the Little’s fevers stayd low around 99 to the occasional normal even after the meds had long worn off. We each had one last fever spike in the wee hours of the night complete with all of us sweating.

1/16 Thursday Day 692
Night EC: 1 catch.
Day: 1 miss
Poop: Missed it.

Fevers this morning stayed normal to a low 99.5 without any need for medication for pain for any of us (except once for me because of my head — but I’ve gotten the least rest of everyone with insomnia and monitoring the Littles at night. Thank goodness for Netflix!).

I felt well enough to go to the store, but left the kids with Daddy Man. The supplies that Grandmama brought over are gone and we hadn’t stocked up anything when we got back from vacation. I am out of even the staples to make staples. I was armed with my coupons and even though I am tired and in recovery, I managed okay.

By evening we were all completely recovered except for Daddy Man. He still went into work at night though. To celebrate our recover, I made homemade flatbread and turned it into pizza and the kids and I ate our recovery dinner in bed watching entirely too much tv. It feels good not to be sick!

Daddy Man is a little perturbed that he got sick first and we recovered after only three days!

1/17 Friday Day 693
Night EC: 1 catch.
Day: 2 misses.
Poop: Missed it. Of course. The Boy does try though.

I decided to cook Daddy Man a birthday dinner today so it would be a surprise and Itty Bitty and I made him a marble cake.

The cake was a disaster! It turned out to be more like a pound cake that was hard on the outside, and practically raw on the inside. It was very brick like and tasted worse. I don’t know what happened! I was more made that I wasted good butter on an Epic Fail. Sorry, Daddy Man! At least dinner was good. Can’t go wrong with mashed potatoes, corn, and one pot pork roast.

Daddy Man is finally 24 hours free of fever too so we are no longer able to infect others with whatever nasty it was that Daddy Man picked up.

1/18 Saturday Day 694
Night EC: 1 very small catch.
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Missed it.

Happy 41st Birthday Daddy Man! When did we get so old!?

1/19 Sunday Day 695
Night EC: No pee. I thought for sure I missed it when I woke up groggy, but he was dry!
Day: 3 misses.
Poop: Three poops! Caught most of one. Blech.

Grandmama came by to watch football and Itty Bitty was delighted because that means we get pizza.

1/20 Monday Day 696
Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss.
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Caught most of it! Anything you catch is good!

I am so not feeling up to anything.

Anyway, I’ve been encouraging Mini Moose to use the little potty, but he still has a very strong preference for being held in a full squat over the toilet or peeing in a cup. I couldn’t tell you why other than just like all of us, we all have our preferences. He’ll get there. He’s just not as into stripping, streaking, and “me do” as his sister was. That is just his personality and probably has some to do with being a sibling. I know people tend to say that his actions tend to be because he is a boy, but I dot not think that has anything to do with it. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to run this EC experiement with a third to confirm such theories since Daddy Man is done adding to our family, and I’m too tired anyway. Hah! If I am lucky, I might be able to experiment with a passel of grandbabies before I’m senile.

Phrases I never thought I’d say #24: “Don’t hit your brother with your butt!”

1/21 Tuesday Day 697
Night EC: 1 catch
Day: 1 miss.
Poop: Missed it.

Another night when Mini Moose has not nursed to sleep. It isn’t that I didn’t want to, but he has been getting full before he drops off and he is doing the “teething shallow latch,” and my hormones are spiking so I’ve been ending the session before sleep drop. Sometimes he is fine or does it on his own, rolls to face away from me for a spooning cuddle and falls asleep. Other times he gets mad and yells at me. Whether or not I allow him to relatch really depends on if he’s been playing the “pop on pop off” tango roll. I don’t tango.

Month 22: Big Bada Boom – Day 637 to Day 666

Dec22

Compare to Sister’s Blog: Month 22: TNT

Snowman or SnowSnack?

11/22 Friday (21 Months) Day 637

Night EC: 1 catch
Day: Dry all day except for one afternoon miss
Poop: Missed it.

My Jeep is cursed! I knew it didn’t pass inspection when the mechanic walked in with that “face”. So, I had to get a new muffler before I could get my renewal sticker. That took two hours and made my credit card weep. Daddy man tried to cheer me up with a cake called “Death by 6 Chocolates.” It was a very effective medication.

At least I managed to complete one errand. I got the kids clothes for Thanksgiving. A gray dress for Itty Bitty and a black and gray sweater for Mini Moose. I am mad at myself for grabbing the wrong size dress. I was supposed to get 5T but I accidentally grabbed 4T — it fits perfect but it won’t get as long of life wear.
.

11/23 Saturday Day 638

Night EC: 1 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Miss!

Last day for tennis. Thank goodness. Nine in the morning is just too early for our house to be at a lesson on a Saturday!

Have I mentioned Mini Moose’s obsession with brushing his teeth? He’s always enjoyed brushing because we started young and he had a silicone nubby brush to chew on. Now in the new house the kids have their own drawer so they can reach their own tooth brushes. He’ll go in there grab is brush, the toothpaste, and bring it to me or Itty Bitty to put on the brush so he can brush his teeth. He does it at least two or three times a day on his own. He also tries hard to spit. He uses the step stool to get to the sink, leans in, and makes the spitting noise! Not effective, but cute.

Mini Moose is also tall enough now to reach further on the table. I’ve seen him several times confiscate his sister’s cup of water carefully, drink from it, say “ah”, and put it back just as carefully exactly where he got it from. He can do it without spilling when he isn’t playing around. When he does spill though, he does go looking for a cloth to clean it, or at least will say “uh oh” and alert me or Itty Bitty to the situation.

11/24 Sunday Day 639

Night EC: 1 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Miss!

Football sunday with grandma

11/25 Monday Day 640

Night EC: No pee!
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Miss with daddy man.

11/26 Tuesday Day 641

Night EC: 1 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Miss!

Dr appointment. I decided to do hep B. We were there from 3:00 to 5:00! They are so slow! Mini Moose is 24lbs 34 3/4″ head 33 3/4 inch tall. Finally got Itty Bitty’s records transferred. Mini Moose’s file is all messed up. I’ve told them before something was off about the charts (not that I care about the charts, but I knew they were wrong).

11/27 Wednesday Day 642

Night EC: No Pee!
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Missed poop with Daddy Man!

We did not nurse to sleep last night. Mini Moose nursed before, but he was restless and hurint me with his nibbling so I said, “That’s enough, sorry. Hurting Mama.” He groused for about thirty seconds before he grumped, turned away from me and plunked his head down. A minute later he was out cold! He slept 4 hour stretch. I am really liking these longer four and five hour snoozes, but I am beginning to wake up with a stiff neck and drool on myself!

I also don’t always comply to the nursing request in the very middle of the night. It depends on the sound he makes. You kind of get to know the sound for “give me nay nay because I just want it.” and the “give me nay nay because I’m hungry/thirsty/really need comfort”. If it is the former, he’ll belly ache but lay his head down and go back to sleep usually in some position that is a bit uncomfortable for me — such as, a head in my throat or a fist in my eye.

11/28 Thursday Day 643

Night EC: 1 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Miss.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year we stayed in City and spent the holiday with MIL, BIL, and his longtime GF. Itty Bitty showed off her skills by insisting on mashing the potatoes all by herself. It took her a long time, but she did it. She also learned how to roll up Pillbury croissants from a can, and learned that the fun part was opening it and hearing it go whoosh pop! Mini Moose did not nap today, and boy was he a handful! I thought it was a good time to try him on meat so I gave him some turkey to try. He picked out every piece and flung it out of his dish seemingly offended that it was violating his mashed potaotes. Itty Bitty was the same way at that age.

11/29 Friday Day 644

Night EC: 1 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Miss.

I noticed this morning while we were watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse that Mini Moose is starting to “answer” the questions. Right now he just makes a seemingly random sounds that sounds like an answer if he doens’t know the word(sometimes it sounds like yes), he will say a word he knows like “yellow” or “blue” or “flower” if he hears it, and a time or two I’ve caught him shaking his head “no” or saying it. He also points excitedly if he recongnizes something with a happy “dee dee!” or “Oooooo!”

MIL, BIL and his steady GF came by to watch a football game and hangout with the kids. Daddy Man cooked steaks for everyone. Mini Moose had beans and inhaled them. Loves them like his sister does. Itty Bitty rolled all of the Pillsbury croissants all by herself.

11/30 SaturdayDay 645

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss
Day: Dry all day , except for one morning miss
Poop: Miss as usual!

Apparantly, Mini Moose has noticed the Phalenopsis orchid I relocated to the bathroom and was telling Daddy Man “Fower Fower Fower” this morning. We took the kids to the Kid’s Gym today to let them run off steam. Oh, how my babies are growing. Itty Bitty was having a hard time with the rock climber because her limbs are getting gangly. Mini Moose was flying up and down slides like they were nothing.

12/1 Sunday Day 646

Night EC: 1 miss, 1 catch
Day: Dry all day, except for a miss in the afternoon
Poop: Phooey!

Got our tree today. This is the earliest we’ve ever gotten a tree. We got it from a little place right down the street and it is a mighty fine Frasier fur. Sturdy with needles that don’t fall easily even when it gets dry. Cat proof and kid proof! We didn’t get one as fat as usual, but it is a very nicely shaped tree that fits nicely in our “dining room”. It is nice to walk by it all the time and enjoy it.

All the kid’s winter gear is now complete. Mini Moose gets Itty’ Bitty’s old ski jumper and boots, and Itty Bitty got her new boots and a new ski jumper. Waterproof mittens and hats from last year should fit them fine.

12/2 Monday Day 647

Night EC: No Pee.
Day: Dry all day except for a big pee miss in the morning while I was folding laundry, and a miss with Daddy Man while I was at work.
Poop: Curses foiled again. Twice. One for me and one for Daddy Man!

Today, Mini Moose grabbed a babyd doll, hugged it, said “baybee” several times, and the brought it to me to show me. I stuffed it in the back of his shirt and he walked around with it for a minute and showed his sister he was “babywearing”. Of course, she had to get in on the act too.

Itty Bitty, by the way, has been working dilligently this past week teaching herself how to tie knots. She’s tried to do so before and has mangaged to accidentally tie knots in string, but lately she’s been able to duplicate it on purpose! She also has been showing off her new balancing ability. When she first started tennis lessons she couldn’t balance on one leg, but by the end of the 8 week program she was able to do so. Every opportunity she has to show off she says, “Look at what I can do!” I am also endlessly fascinated (and annoyed sometimes) at her song repetitions as she tries to remember lyrics or makes it up. Cute, yet it gets trying after the 100th repetition of the same phrase. She also acts out scenes she’s seen in cartoons (particularly My Little Pony) or makes up brand new stories and adventures more elaborate than ever before. Now that she can tie knots, the perils the toys get into are more complex!

Itty Bitty wasn’t supposed to play with her leap pad today because she played it a lot the past couple of days, but she was sitting on the floor with her arm around Mini Moose. She was asking him questions, having him point, and generally helping him play a game. My heart melted. I have the strangest inkling that she was making an extra effort to include her brother in order to get more game time. Yes, yes she loves her brother and loves to play with him anyway, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t fully aware of the extra benefits of being particularly generous.

12/3 Tuesday Day 648

Night EC: 1 partial miss.
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Stupid poop.

Daddy Man spent an hour on our mega set of lights trying to figure out why the ends wouldn’t light but the middle did. Turns out we had about 34 burn out bulbs! They don’t make them like they used to. I have 15 year old lights that have their original bulbs and this super duty string is only like three years old! It totally ran me out of my stash of replacements. It took so long to get the lights up that we decided to finish triminig it on Thursday since I have to work tomorrow.

Itty Bitty has also declared that she would like to have a dog for Christmas. In particular she wants a Rainbow dog. We don’t think we are ready for a dog yet. I’ve still got unpacking to do, Itty Bitty still hasn’t learned to stay out of our female cat’s personal space (she actually got a warning scratch tonight when she jumped over the cat across the couch), and we don’t think the cats are ready for another intruder. Well, I should say the female becasue our little male is more like a dog and he’d probably love it.

I am so sore from nursing. I really don’t like teething. I don’t. Nipple “saddle sore” isn’t fun.

12/4 Wednesday Say 649

Night EC: 2 catches
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Darn it. A messy one too from all the clementines.

Itty Bitty put a toy wooden screwdriver on a high shelf for time out when her brother was chasing her with it and poking her. “No baby, that’s not how you play with that toy. It isn’t for poking. We have to put it in time out because you hurt me.” And wouldn’t you know, he let her do it!

Now if only they would learn how to resolve their differences when they fight over the same toy. I had to intervene today over a toy otoscope. Itty Bitty wasn’t playing with it, Mini Moose picked it up with a “ah hah!”, Itty Bitty then declared “she was going to play with it” and tried to trade. Mini Moose was not having any of that. I told her to let him be, and when he was done she could have it. She was mad, but that is okay. However, she decided she would “rawr” at him and get in his face. She effectively annoyed him and scared him enough that he was saying “hide hide” and was using a toy as a blocker until finally he threw the otoscope on the floor. I intervened then and said she couldn’t have it because forcing her brother to give it up out of sheer frustration was not the proper way to handle the situation, and she continued even after I told her to stop and he clearly wanted her to stop. She was displeased, but surprisingly didn’t argue about it!

Also of note, after the usual morning cartoons of about an hour and half, Itty Bitty turns the TV off herself and comes to play in the play room declaring, “That is enough TV. I can watch more tomorrow.” This doesn’t me she doesn’t complain or beg for TV in the evening, but it does demonstate that she is starting to learn to self-limit secure in the knowledge that “no more for now” doesn’t mean “no more ever.”

Wordisms:
Mini Moose calls a telephone a “Hewwo” (Hello) — There is wallpaper in one of the rooms that has a cell phone on the boarder along with other things like shoes. He points to it and says it. I know he’s said “mahpho” before for “My Phone” — but I think he either has chosen another word to use or calls it something different based upon the situation. If it gets taken from him it is a “mahpho” if he is pointing to a picture it is a “hewwo”. How how fascinating the brain is!

Itty Bitty’s word and concept of the day is: “I have lots of collections.”

12/5 Thursday Day 650

Night EC: 2 catches
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Missed it by “this much”

Upon waking this morning Itty Bitty told me she had a scary dream. She dreamed that she was touching puppets and they came alive and she got scare, but there was a piece of wood with nails in it so they couldn’t cross it. I also have extremely vivid dreams, and I lucid dream a lot. She hasn’t described a dream to me since she was around 2.5 and had those two separate “there is a squirrel in my bed” and “a rat bit me” middle of the night freak-outs. I now better understand why she still often whines in her sleep, tosses, and kicks. We still cosleep so it is easy to witness and soothe as needed.

Mini Moose busied himself with toys and picked up one of the baby dolls and babbled “baby baby baby”. He hugged it, kissed it, and then gave it ‘nugga nuggas” (it is supposed to be ugga mugga ala’ Mr. Roger’s Daniel Tiger).

12/6 Friday Day 651

Night EC: no pee!
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Missed it. Caught it. Missed it. Within thirty minutes.

We had to take a treck to four different stores to find reasonably priced holiday outfits. I wanted green this year. Apparantly, I am a season off because we found tons of red, purple, blue, white, and gray. Green was nearly impossible! And to top it off, the selection for boys formal wear is abysmal. I had to tone done Itty Bitty’s dress selection from more formal to dressy casual in order to match the one acceptable outfit for her brother. Please people, can we have selection for the males other that drab drab drab depressionville?

Mini Moose enjoyed his back ride in the Mei Tai and even took a nap. He then got excited at seeing babies and kept pointing “babies!” Then he looked up and got excited at the decorations, “Bubballs!” (Everything round is still a bubble!) When we finally got home and the Littles were playing in the playroom, Mini Moose started experiment with the “L” sound making “lalalalala” noises to a random block he had in his hand.

12/7 Saturday Day 652

Night EC: 1 catch
Day: Dry all day; except for one late evening miss.
Poop: Missed it. So close!

So it snowed and we spent the morning outside. It took me fifteen minutes to find Itty Bitty’s new ski bib/jumper. Oh, how I hate winter! First thermals, then clothing, then socks, ski jumper, boots, outer coat, mittens, and hat. That was just Itty Bitty. I then had to repeat for Mini Moose who lookes rather fetching in plum! Itty Bitty’s hand me down snow gear fits him perfectly and there were times I looked at him and was a bit sad at how fast Itty BItty has grown! Her new boots are twice the size of the old ones. They built a snowman with Daddy Man before I could even get outside. I suffer in the cold so I need to layer myself up too! Alas, I have come to realize that I am no longer a medium! I couldn’t zip up my ski jumper and could barely bend in it. Oh, dear. Perhaps I should lay off the halloween candy?

Mini Moose is teething hardcore. Drooling, cranky, and trying to yank teeth out of his mouth. My breasts may not survive the onslaught of perma-latch.

12/8 Sunday Day 653

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: No poop.

We went to take pictures with Santa today. We were going to go someplace else this year, but Itty Bitty remembers the ride-on train and really wanted to go to the usual mall that is near our old neighborhood.

Unfortunately, it is all new staff this year. And while the new arrangment and decorations are very nice, the young 20-something taking the pictures was…shall we say…inexperienced? Okay, let me be blunt here. He sucked. I was in the picture because Mini Moose didn’t want to sit on Santa’s lap without mommy (I expected this — Itty Bitty went through the same thing). He snapped four pictures in a row without using the birdy or making much effort to get the kids to look at him. And that’s all he took. The older guy would take 6 or 7 at least if he was having trouble getting the kids coordinated. How can you take a picture without making an attempt to at least get the four year old to look at you!? I was not pleased when I saw the previews. I asked them to do a few more and I look around and Daddy Man and Itty Bitty are gone! Just GrandMaMa was there. The two of them ran off to the train. He said she wanted to go and they just left. How about, “Let’s wait a few minutes for mommy?” or “We can go to the train, but we just need to wait a minute.” Sigh.

I took what they had because, of course, the staff weren’t communicating with each other and they had the next person up just as I was lifting Itty BItty over the gate. I gave up at that point. We got one okay picture for our cards. Really, it only took five minutes total. It wasn’t like it was the is big picture waiting thing. We were second in line!

12/9 Monday Day 654

Night EC: 1 catch
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Missed it.

12/10 Tuesday Day 655

Night EC: 1 catch
Day: Dry all day, except for two morning misses.
Poop: Caught 1/4 of it. Mini Moose still signals during the act or immediately after.

Mini Moose and Itty Bitty have been spending more time playing cooperatively together. This has been giving me more time to bake a quick bread in the morning, or to just sit by myself to recharge for an hour. I’ve also been able to do a “sneak away” at night for two to three hours for the first half to go and spend some time with Daddy Man and watch a show on Netflix. That is, of course, if I don’t fall asleep first!

12/11 Wednesday Day 656

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day except for three misses in the afternoon.
Poop: Missed it with Daddy Man; but he knew it was coming but missed it a second after his back was turned to clean up a cat mess.

First day of finals week. I’ve got most of the grades done though it was really tough to do during the day with the children. The moment I sit down to do something that takes intense concentration, House Armageddon begins. It is uncanny.

12/12 Thursday Day 657

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Three poops, missed all three!

Itty Bitty and Mini Moose continue to play together and fight together every day. The arguing and screetching is really grating on my already frazzled, stressed nerves. I am certainly not waking up in a good mood in the morning, not even when I have been getting a good four or five hour stretch at night more often. I’ve also been suffering from stress induced insomnia which is not the same thing as the regular, normal wakefulness I do get from time to time. The stress is exhausting me and keeping me awake. Not a good mood combo.

E. and the kids stopped by for a playdate and much needed social interaction. After they left, I finished putting up Christmas Lights and decorations to try and boost my happy meter.

12/13 Friday Day 658

Night EC: 1 catch
Day: Dry all day, except for two morning misses.
Poop: We caught that sucker 98%! It was a messy one too.

A big snow storm is coming. It is just as well since we haven’t gone anywhere anyway. It takes so long to get the kids dressed for snow play and it has been bitterly cold — okay for Itty Bitty, but really too cold for Mini Moose to be outside for too long.

I’ve been desparing over bills and the lack of funds I have for Holiday gifts this year. I had some of my birthday money squirreled away but that is all I can really spend for family. The jeep repairs have really put a cramp in my wallet. We are going on a surprise family vacation too and I will have no spending money.

Mini Moose Words of the Week:

Cup – Said once when Daddy Man asked him, “What do you want?” when he was whining and begging for something on the counter.
MoMo – “Animal” said in response to a Little Einsteins epsiode on TV.
Boat – Said once when seeing the object.
DeeDee – I suspect means TV because he only says it when he grabs the remote control

Favorite “Words”
Vroom Vroom – for a car; any car he sees whether that is his sister’s Matchbox cars, or pictures on Daddy Man’s Computer.
No – Isn’t that every toddler’s favorite word?
Nay Nay – For milk
Kitty – he seems to understand that they have names but calls them both Kitty
Hey! – When his sister takes something from him.
Aha! – When he finds something or takes something back from his sister.
Hep Me – “Help Me” may mean: Help me open this, help me close this, help me get up, help me get away from the tickle monster, help me hide, help me get that thing I can’t reach, help me get down, help me get up, help me get the ball that rolled under the loveseat again.
Hide Hide Shhhh – His favorite place to hide is under blankets and behind legs. The word is always double and accompanied by the Shhh sound. It seems that both Daddy Man and I do that when we are encouraging the children to hide and we never noticed that we say it twice before saying Shhh.

12/14 Saturday Day 659

Night EC: 1 catch
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: No poop.

A cousin of mine turned 50 today and I suddenly feel 40. Where did the time all go!?

We had a big dump of snow so even though we had to decline going to the adult only party we wouldn’t have been able to go anyway.

12/15 Sunday Day 660

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day, except for 2 afternoon misses.
Poop: Missed it and it was Itty BItty who said, “My brother is stinky!”

12/16 Monday Day 661

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Had a rough morning of three misses in a row, but then dry all day.
Poop: Missed it. Twice.

What a day. Tonight is my last class before break. I am going to miss the work distraction. I did get my appointments for next term but it was one short of what I really need to catch up with Jeep expenses. I know I can make some money writing, but it is so difficult with Mini Moose at this age and I am so rusty. It is one thing to write free style about anything I want, it is quite another to do an assignment that has rules. I’ll get there, but there is no cheering squad in my corning giving me encouragement and I am not really in a place where I am cheering for myself.

I feel bad because I can tell that my children are chaffing unde the weight of my stress.

12/17 Tuesday Day 662

Night EC: 1 catch
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Missed 90% of it. But anything we catch is progress.

The weather has forced a cancellation at work, though I am not affected because my last class was last night. I’ve been number crunching and it seems like no matter what I do or how I cut back to nothing it won’t be until may that I can pay off the bulk of it and even then there will be some leftover. If I could just get one more appointment it would make all the difference! I have my fingers crossed, but the economny has not been kind to higher education.

12/18 Wednesday Day 663

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss
Day: Dry all day, except for two early morning misses.
Poop: Missed it. Twice. Again. Though Mini Moose did try his hardest to tell me.

I’ve been letting the little watch too much TV in the morning. I’ve been cooking quick bread in the morning, making pasta, and big pots of beans. I’m trying to stretch our food budget pretty thin as much as I can.

Itty Bitty had a fever develop tonight out of no where it seems. So close to the holidays too.

Don’t get me wrong. ALL of our bills are getting paid. My Jeep is just an added expense and my income the past three years has taken a nose dive so any unexpected snafu puts a monkey wrench in the works. I am hoping that in six months things will be back on an even keel and there will be some breathing room. There are plenty of people in serious financial crunch who can’t even afford food. Though this situation is stressful for me, I know that we are okay.

Honestly, I don’t know how people survive a financial crunch when they are paying for diapers, wipes, and formula!

12/19 Thursday Day 664

Night EC: 1 catch
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Missed it.

Poor Itty Bitty woke up with her head hurting. Last night she seemed like she had been having trouble settling with a fever of 102 to 103 and was holding her head so I gave her a dose of Tylenol so she’d sleep comfortable. This morning she complained as soon as she sat up in bed. When I asked her where it was hurting she pointed to the crown of her heaid and said, “All around.” She whined a little too and seemed to want to cry. Her fever was also up around 102 or so. I gave her Ibuprofen and in about thirty minutes she was comfortable. We camped out in the TV room and watched a Scooby Doo marathon so she would keep still. When she felt so good she just wanted to run around with her brother and I didn’t want them interacting too much.

I had her nurse a bit too to add to the immune boosting, Daddy Man had gotten her orange juice too. She didn’t have much of an appetite (yesterday she was picking at her dinner) but ate some oatmeal and drank water though I had to remind her. As long as she is hydrating it should be okay and not warrant a call to the doctor. It seems like it is some random virus. Her only sypmtoms are common fever, headache, and lack of appetite.

Got our holiday postcards read to go out tomorrow morning..

12/20 Friday Day 665

Night EC: 1 catch
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Caught 25% of it.

I didn’t sleep much last night as I was watching over Itty BItty. Itty Bitty’s fever seems to be down to around 99 to 100 today. Headache still there but not as bad so I didn’t give her tylenol until late afternoon when she started complaining again. Her appetite is still low, but she is still drinking. MIni Moose is showing no signs of illness but he is ansty and wants to play with his sister. I keep them apart as much as possible, but it is difficult especially when he keeps stealing her drink! He’s been of a difficult mood too. I think he misses interacting with his sister.

Itty Bitty had what we call “fluffy poop” after not going yesterday. Perhaps this mystery virus is a mild intestinal bug. I really am stumped. She hardly had an appetite today, but did want two helpings of eggs late morning and did eat some clementines. She didn’t have lunch and for dinner I made pasta and put some sauce I had made a few days ago that she particularly liked on it and I started eating it next to her. That piqued her interest and she wanted a bite. Once she had a bite she ate the whole bowl. Sneaky mommy.

12/21 Saturday Day 666

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Missed it twice.

Itty Bitty woke up with no fever this morning and a head of extra curly hair so she had a sweat last night. I was up a long time keeping an eye on her but exhaustion took over and I fell into a very deep, but fitful sleep. Not at all restful, but I was out pretty good. Itty Bitty’s appetite is still pretty low, but she is drinking and eating a little bit. Daddy Man bought her a chicken wrap sandwhich (her favorite) and she devoured it even though she said she wasn’t hungry.

No signs of illness from anyone esle thus far. We all may have escaped a Viral Round.

We had to decline a visit with Grandmama and UncleB because we were not sure if we were all still contagious. Late in the evening Itty Bitty’s fever came back and stayed around 100 to 101 through the evening and when we went to bed.

Month 21: Give and Take – Day 606 to Day 636

Nov22

Compare to Sister’s Blog: Month 21: Cause and Effect

Big enough to reach some sinks with a stool!

10/22 Tuesday (20 Months) Day 606

Night EC: 1 catch 1 miss
Day: Dry all day
Poop: 1 mostly caught on the toilet after potty sign

10/23 Wednesday Day 607

Night EC: 1 catch 1 miss
Day: Dry all day
Poop: 1 mostly caught on the toilet after potty sign

10/24 Thursday Day 608

Night EC: 1 catch 1 miss
Day: Dry all day
Poop: 1 mostly caught on the toilet after potty sign

10/25 Friday Day 609

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: No Poop

D. Birthday Party.

10/26 Saturday Day610

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: caught half on the toilet after potty sign

10/27 Sunday Day 611

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: caught with pre-signal!

Brought Jeep to shop for repair.

10/28 Monday Day612

Night EC: 2 catch, 1 miss
Day: Dry all day except for two morning misses
Poop: caught with pre-signal!

10/29 Tuesday Day613

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: caught half.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it but Itty Bitty and I don’t nurse every day anymore. Not on her part though. I’ve been having to put her off due to Mini Moose needing to nurse at night, and her falling alseep before he’s done. I’ve also been less inclined to offer because her facial structure has changed so much, and her latch just doesn’t seem to be producing the oxytocin at all. I can’t get that “latch and zone out” . I’ve been struggling with having to limit her since I got pregnant and I’ve made every effort I could to keep our nursing relationship going, even if limited.

I am not quite ready to stop 100% and neither is she (she NEVER refuses when I offer and is not pleased when I decline a request). It is better when Mini Moose isn’t running my milk factory ragged, and I am more inclined to offer. I want her to have good memories of nursing and gradually weaning, and I want to feel good about it too. To balance it out, when I refuse I make an effort to offer another day.

10/30 Wednesday Day 614

Night EC: 2 catch, 1 miss
Day: Dry all day
Poop: caught half of the first, missed the second (Mini Moose signals the misses always now)

10/31 Thursday Day 615

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss
Day: Dry all day
Poop: catch with signal!

Happy Halloween! We were the Flintstones (plus BammBamm). Neighbor party, trick or treating, Visit with grandmama for more tricks and treating.

11/1 Friday Day 616

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 catch that turned into a miss (always make sure the winkie is IN the cup before giving the psspss signal!
Day: Dry all day
Poop: as usual a half catch

11/2 Saturday Day 617
Night EC: 1 catch, 1 catch that turned into a miss (always make sure the winkie is IN the cup before giving the psspss signal!
Day: Dry all day, except for a miss at grandmamas that was due to not fully emptying the bladder during a potty opp and 20 minutes later wet pants.
Poop: as usual a half catch

More leaf raking. Daddy Man got to mow the lawn finally. Dinner at Grandmamas. I had a terrible stomach ache.

Mini Moose said “Yellow” (Ye-woah) for the first time and “I love you” (ah-woah-u) spontaneously the clearest he’s ever said it. Other things he’s said a lot this week:

yeh-shoo (high pitched) = shoe
choo-choo (high pitched) = choo choo train
ahbineme = come find me/you can’t find me as he hides under a blanket
boo! = after he jumps out of the blanket
beeboo= peek-a-boo
Nahow! = No! (to any question asked even if he means yes! and he crosses his arms for emphasis like Itty Bitty did too) It started off as a negative sound utterance that quickly morphed into a clear word
Helwp = Help
Ah Ha! = when he gets a toy away from his sister
Igoddit = I got it (much clearer now)
Babowl = Bubble / Ball / Balloon / Anything round he’s said before but now it is very clear and said often
Ocho = Spanish for eight. He was playing with a toy and he delighted in pressing the button for “ocho” and repeating it this past Wednesday.
Mo = More (together with the baby sign for more or his wrist flick)
kogome = come get me!
here = when giving or showing something
there! = after accompishing a task.
Dada? Dahdee? = where’s daddy?
Hehwoah = HEllo! (Usually When he wants my attention to nurse he’ll shout it and use his hands to turn my face to look at him before signaling the sign for milk and saying nay)
Nay-Nay or Nee Nee or Neh Neh= Nurse/Milk
day-doo = Thank you
woahcoo = Your Welcome
Bye-ee! = Bye
MahMa = Mama/Mommy
Me = when pointing at himself
Ideedit= I did it!
Ahdahme = Come find me (learned from Itty Bitty for hide-and-go-seek)
UmBum = Fist Bump
Hai = Hi Five
AhNo= I don’t know (hi pitch)
GahGah or Dahmdah=Grandma
HideHide!

11/3 Sunday Day 618

Night EC: 1 miss, 1 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: half catch, twice!
Daddy Man told me he noticed Mini Moose saying the word “NahNah” last night. It mainly means banana, but seems to also mean apple and Halloween Candy. Today, I realized that he was saying “Ah-nah-nah” (Ugga Mugga) for rubbing noses. And when I asked him to say Kitty, he did! This is a verbal explosion to say the least! He’s made lots and lots of “melodic” sounds for a long time, but finally a good number of things are taking on recognizable word sounds. “I don’t know” , for example, he’s used a hand gesture for and a high pitched “huh uh” for quite some time, but we are really starting to hear word formation now. He also said nyenye for “night night” when asked.

Daddy Man tried to put winter tires on my Jeep today but broke a lug nut and decided not to mess with the front tires. I’ve got to take it in to have it worked on.

Itty Bitty Wordism:
Troof Hug! = Group Hug!

11/4 Monday Day 619

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day except for 2 morning misses.
Poop: half catch.

Mini Moose, surprsingly, can get off the big toilet by himself. When did THAT happen!? Daddy Man had to drive me to work and pick me up because the Jeep still isn’t ready. I am really starting to get depressed about the expense. I haven’t written on the writing site for a few days because I am so not in the game right now. We spent all morning at the local garage having the tires changed. It was the longest tire change ever because the lug nuts were rusted. Two and a half hours! The last hour we walked down the street for lunch. It wasn’t supposed to take that long, but the kids were suprisingly cooperative despite the boredom.

11/5 Tuesday Day620

Night EC: 1 miss, 1 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Caught that sucker!

Mini Moose slept a five hour, almost six hour stretch the first half of the night last night. Christmas has come early! In the middle of the night, for the past few nights in a row he’s only taken short nursings (albeit gulping like a pig), delatched, rolled over, and gone back to sleep. Usually, I have to extricate my boob from his lamprey-like grip, and only haphazardly has he done it of his own accord. Now he’s realizing that he is more comfortable in other positions and my nay-nays can’t travel that far!

I really despise winter. It gets dark so early and it is so miserable out, especially if it is damp.

I didn’t have a fine moment today though when Mini Moose decided to kick empty soda bottles down the stairs, make a racket, and then try to play dangerously on the railings. I scared him and made him cry the most pathetic cry in the universe. I was steaming; he was wailing. I stomped around like a constipated T-Rex before my heart melted, I felt guilty, and I then proceeded to make up for it by hugging, kissing, and offering Nay-nay. Nothing heals a broken baby heart like mommy milk. Itty Bitty growled a bit and then we ended up cuddling.

As much as it is really frustrating to have argumentative children and some days I just want some quiet and a “why, yes of course, as you wish, Mommy,” I am proud of their willingness to challenge adults and their confidence in expressing their emotions — even the unpleasant ones. I was always discouraged from expression anger or “making faces”. I won’t allow Itty Bitty to spit or hurt — because that’s just rude — but she can be angry and make all the faces she wants! After all, it isn’t like I am Guru Calm and Peaceful. I’ve got emotional outburst issues when under stress and I am learning how to manage them too.

11/6 Wednesday Day621

Night EC: 1 miss, 1 catch (that first pee of the night is starting to piss me off. LOL)
Day: Dry all day except for two or three afternoon misses.
Poop: half miss, again.

Itty Bitty slept awfully late this morning and we missed story time. I think we are all getting some serious cabin fever. It has also been so bitterly cold outside and I just didn’t want to go out. I really need to find our winter gear and Itty Bitty is going to need new snowpants this year. Mini Moose can wear her old ones. I think we are going to get a good six years life out of those old skipants! Off to work tonight. The kids had long naps today too so Doom on Daddy! No nappers for him!

11/7 Thursday Day 622

Night EC: 2 miss
Day: Dry all day as usual with only 1 or 2 errant misses in the early morning.
Poop: curse the poop. Half catch. Mini Moose seems to be as surpised as I am at these halfsies. He always signals rather frantically with that shocked look on his face.

I broke a wheel rim. What a day! We had to run some long errands and I had planned on getting a new sticker inspection for the Jeep. I forgot to look up inspections station in the area so just went ahead and did errands. On the way back from a last minute errand in our old neighborhood, I was driving on a causeway and the Jeep made a terrible noise. Now, there had been the odd noise here and there that seemed like a ghost but nothing worrying until I got to that causeway. I slowed down and there was a grating noise and a lot of bouncing up and down. I didn’t want to stop on a bridge causeway in the middle of a rainstorm so I drove pretty much until the end when the wheel rim finally gave out and we sank to the ground with a KERTHUNK. It turns out the break cut the wheel rim in half, and let all the air out of the tire because I lost all but one lug nut. (I didn’t know this at the time, it just felt like the ass of the Jeep fell off).

I THOUGHT I had told them to fix the rear tire. I guess with the amount of time spent trying to get the front tires off and changed no one thought to check the rear tires and I and Daddy Man assumed it was fixed.

I almost cried.

Luckily I was going slow so we didn’t hit anything or anyone. I had no phone so I had to hold out a white piece of paper trying to flag someone down. At least twenty people passed me before an nice gentleman by the name of Ralph pulled over and let me borrow his phone. Poor man got all wet from the rain. That there is a real gentleman. I called AAA roadside service (though they gave me the third degree…why do you need to know if my Jeep is four wheel drive!?), then Daddy Man. I was pretty shaken so my message to Daddy Man was a little erratic. AAA called the police for me. Officer Adam kindly informed me that I was driving illegally with expired license plates (they expired on Halloween). He was like, “You know your sticker is expired.” and I was looking over at my inspection sticker on the windsheild and was like, “It is? I thought I had until the end of this month.” He replied, “No, No. Your plates.” and I looked dumfounded and said, “Oh! I we just moved and our mail has been delayed. I haven’t gotten it yet!” Thankfully, he decided not to give me a ticket and give me a nervous breakdown!

I guess we were stuck there for about an hour total. Mini Moose took a nap, woke up, and peed himself. Itty Bitty was whining that she wanted to sit in the front because we were stopped, but I didn’t feel safe doing that in the spot we were in and with the way people were flying by us. Overall, the kids were far beyond patient.

The tow truck came and we had to ride with the kids on my lap. Itty Bitty was concerned that we weren’t safe, but I assured her that under emergency circumstances it was allowed and we only needed to be towed a very short way (did I mention we were only five minutes from home?). We waited another hour for Daddy Man to come pick us up. We could have walked home but it was raining and I was still kind of out of sorts.

I don’t think my wallet or nerves can take much more.

Luckily, the damange doesn’t appear to be as bad as it seemd or what it could have been had I been driving at highway speed.

All of this happened before one or two o’clock. Daddy Man had been planning to see and complete papework on his replacement car from the one that girl smashed this past summer and he’d been saving for. I must have looked extra depressed because he strongly encouraged me to dress the kids and join him for the evening two hour drive. He got a ridiculous deal on a 2013 Cherry Red Dodge Challenger. The nap-less littles slep the whole way there and fell asleep again on the way back.

Believe it or not, other than the Jeep-Pee, Mini Moose had no misses. Itty Bitty was fine too. Girl has bladder of steel.

11/8 Friday Day 623

Night EC: 1 miss, 2 catch
Day: Dry all day with one after noon miss.
Poop: Half catch.

Turns out that the tire appears to be salvagable (tough tire!) but we need a new wheel rim. Daddy Man actually called a junk yard and found one. We can pick it up tomorrow, but the garage is closed until Monday. The rim will cost $100. At least there was no other major damage. The brakes look good, rotars are fine too. I got lucky. I’m still kind of down though. One thing after another.

My friend E. called me and she volunteered to bring a play date to us since we are house stuck again. It was really nice to have company, and not spend my morning thinking about yesterday. The kids had a good time and I made homemade corn tacos with proper Masa (one of my errands yesterday was to get the proper ingredients). Unfortunately, I never fully completed my errands so it was bean tacos and I didn’t have much! It came out really tastey even though it really was a “grab it and dump it in” recipe!

11/9 Saturday Day 624

Night EC: 1 miss, 1 catch
Day: Dry all day excpet for two misses in the evening.
Poop: Half catch.

Grandmama’s car was being serviced this morning, and she called to say it wasn’t ready so she couldn’t take Itty Bitty to tennis. Now, Itty Bitty was really put out last night that I insisted she go to bed early because she had to get up much earlier than usual. I promised her that she would be going to her tennis lesson, and that sleep was very important because it is hard to wake her up early if she goes to bed her usual time. There was much strife, but she decided she wanted to go. Daddy Man didn’t want to take her! Dude. I PROMISED. All of that drama last night was not going to be for naught!

I had Daddy Man drop us off and he went to go get the rim. Unfortunately, I forgot my wrap and Mini Moose was not pleased with childwatch at all. I finally got him to accept it for the second half of the lesson so I could focus on Itty Bitty. Daddy Man had to wait so long at the auto “junkyard” place that he got a huge discount! 35 dollars less than the quote! Whoo Hoo! He said that the two departments were having some issue and disagreements, and the overburdened salesman said, “I can set my own price.” I guess he wanted to screw the other department for giving him a hard time during a busy session.

We went to Grandmama’s for dinner and the kids got to play outside for a while. There won’t be too many mild days like this too much longer.

11/10 Sunday Day 625

Night EC: 1 miss, 1 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Half catch. Damn poop.
It only took 75 days (2 months, 14 days) to finally stumble upon the light switch that turns on and off the driveway lights. Location: Beside the kitchen sink. Really!?

Today, Dr. No (I mean my adorable little boy) has learned to open doors, and scale higher heights by using chairs and step stools combined with his mad climbing skills.

I woke up in a real mood this morning. The Littles started arguing right away and I just wanted to sleep in! I had some insomnia last night so that didn’t help. I stomped down to the garage, threw a few things out of my way, and grabbed the tall box of packed stuffed animals. I tromped back to our family bedroom, opened it up, and released the fluff. That kept them busy for a couple of hours and Daddy Man and I cuddled and watched TV in bed.

GROWL.

11/11 Monday Day 626

Night EC: 1 miss, 1 catch
Day: Dry, except for a really bizarred miss marathon using up 6 training pants before noon.
Poop: Half catch. Again!

Veteran’s Day today. No work for me, but Daddy Man did have to work. He dropped off the new rim on the way. Around 2:00pm they called me to pick it up. Overall it was a $300 repair. Not nearly what I was expecting, but still not at all good for my wallet. I can only hope that next semester I get three classes, or at least two. Four would be so awesome! I bundled the kids up and we walked the 15 minutes to pick up the Jeep. I dare not drive it anywhere but home with expired plates. I called last Thursday to pay and change my address, but it will take 7-10 business days to arrive. Today isn’t included in those days because it is a holiday. At earliest I’ll get it Friday, at worst it will be, next Friday. Totally stinks being stuck and having to rely on Daddy Man for a ride. And I HATE driving! Go figure.

11/12 Tuesday Day 627

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day except 2 morning misses.
Poop: Half catch.

Nothing new to report really other than Daddy Man left at 5:00 this morning to go pick up his car. He had to take the day off from work so he could take a bus, have the dealership pick him up at the arrival station, and drive the car home. Cabin Fever is setting in. Itty Bitty is emotional, and is very upset that we are missing our Wednesday and Friday story time with Miss Lois. Truth be told, I miss it too! She helped me break eggs for breakfast, and has been super cling and generous with her hugs and kisses and cuddles. She and Mini Moose in one moment are having cooperative play, and the next are driving each other bonkers with toy disputes. Mommy is ready to eat her young. Okay, not really, but I definitely am growly and giving ‘tude right back to my minions.

At night, Mini Moose and I have been grousing at each other over the 4AM feed. Some nights I win and he lays back down besdie me without Nay-Nay, and other nights he winds and he gets both sides. That’s what this gig is all about. Give and take and compromise and spats!

He’s a picker too. Pick pick pick pick. I am always defensive blocking! It give new annoyance to the toddler “Roaming Hand” phenomenon.

11/13 Wednesday Day 628

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day, except for two soggy trainers firs thing in the morning
Poop: No Poop

I had a dream my lip was swollen. I woke up at 6AM and realized…yes…my lip is swollen with contact dermatitis micro blisters, the tip and sides of my tongue are numb, and the roof of my mouth is sore and itchy.

Dammit.

I made roast chicken yesterday and used some Adobo spice. Quite a lot of it. I am pretty sure that was what has caused my face to blow up like I just got back from the Pamela Anderson clinic for duck lips.

It might be hidden MSG, it might be the Tricalcium Phosphate. I don’t know. All I know is that this is the reason why I blend my own spices. I tossed that sucker into the trash compacter and squished it good.

Itch. Itch. Itch.

Itty Bitty wanted to help me make cornbread this morning, but she arrived too late since she woke up after Mini Moose and I. On other news, as I was taking a shower before work while Itty Bitty was passed out on the loveseat (she had climbed up beside me, asked for a hug and cuddle, and fell asleep!), and I brought Mini Moose in with me so he could play with the Mini Moose approved drawer. I hear silence. That’s not a good sign, so I peek out from the curtain and I see that he (in his naked glory) had climbed up on the toilet by himself and watching himself pee. It wasn’t much pee because he had already peed before I got in the shower. He looked at me, smiled, and I squealed with delight and clapped. I couldn’t help it! He got down and climbed back on. He did this a good twelve times before he got tired, and ran out of pee drops to deposit.

It was then that I realized that Itty Bitty hasn’t asked me to help with a messy poop in at LEAST a month. Well, didn’t that just sneak up on me.

11/14 Thursday Day 629

Night EC: 1 miss, 3 catch
Day: Dry all day except for 1 miss in the morning and 1 miss in the early evening.
Poop: Caught one, missed one.

Today in the morning Mini Moose responded to Mickey Mouse on the TV when he said bye and see you next time. It was very cute as he repeated the goodbye greeting in that toddler accent and waved. Later, in the evening, he repeated “cello” (yahwo) and “diminuendo” (didodo) as we all watched little Einsteins before bed. Yellow seems to be his favorite word. He stole/liberated a rather important remote control and was using it as a phone. When I confiscated it he responded, “Hey! Mapho!” (Hey, My phone!). Hah!

The sticker for my plates finally came so tomorrow we can go to story time and do errands! Yay!

My lip is still all wrecked. It isn’t swollen, but now the nano-blisters are drying out, and my mouth is so itchy! The roof of my mouth itches too and parts of my tongue are still tingly.

11/15 Friday Day 630

Night EC: 1 miss, 1 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Caught half

Storytime this morning. Mini Moose still doesn’t sit through the whole thing, but he is starting to participate in the active part of the session. Daddy Man said Mini Moose was pilfering wooden train pieces and hiding them in the bathroom drawers.

It has been fun for us to watch him put people in toy cars and “vroom vroom” them around. While not as advanced in imaginary as Itty Bitty, you can see the changes bit by bit. I’ve even caught them playing together cooperatively from time to time rather than yanking and arguing over the One Toy among the Universe of Toys.

11/16 Saturday Day 631

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day, except for one miss in evening with Daddy Man
Poop: Caught half

Homemade corn taco night! Itty Bitty helped make them using my taco press. For those who are thinking of making them, they are incredibly easy BUT you need the right dough. Masa Harina flour is essential. You cannot use regular corn meal or corn flour or P.A.N. arepa corn flour to make corn tortillas. It just won’t work. They were so good that Daddy Man actually utter, “Mmmmm!” If you know Daddy Man and his food selectiveness you would know that is like sayng I am the ultimate power of the known and unknown univers.

I’ve been able lately to leave the Littles in the bedroom to watch a few morning cartoons. Mini Moose often will sit quietly by his sister. He can come and go as he pleases, so he often appears to have a nurse or to play by himself in the playroom or kitchen where I happen to be, and will go back to check on his sister.

11/17 Sunday Day 632

Night EC: 1 miss, 1 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Caught half…again

dvd unit up. Itty Bitty taught Mini Moose how to say “blue” Insisted she take a nap with me since she was out of control. I hadn’t meant to sleep, but I dozed off with her for two hours. She wailed her protests for about two minutes before she snuggled me closer and passed out. Her new thing now is to insist, “I wasn’t sleeping my eyes were just closed!” even though she has been snoring and drooling.

We have a Melissa and Doug locking house that is Itty Bitty’s, but Mini Moose has been obsessed with it. He rings the doorbell, knocks on the door, and tries to fet keys into the lock. There are four tiny metal keys that fit in different doors. He knows what they are and he also likes a vintage Learning plastic Lock and Key toy with giant plastic keys. These metal keys though require a very advance pincer gripe and fine motor development. I didn’t expect him to be able to do much with it, but he worked on it for days for fifteen minutes at a time. I look over and one of the doors is open and he has extracted the people from it! I am undecided if that was a total accident, or partial strategy with a dash of luck at getting the right key. Itty Bitty mastered it quite young too, but she was already two when she got it. It is an age three and up toy. It just goes to show that they can practice and work on things you don’t expect all by themselves, and can figure out what to do while they play with it even in unconventional ways.

11/18 Monday Day 633
Night EC: 1 miss, 1 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Caught half

Minii Moose said “WahWah” for water whn I asked him too, His head must be reeling with all of this info. He will repeat things we ask him too to the best he can. He says “skeddee” (spaghetti) much better and is beginning to repeat words he hears when we watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (yellow and blue so far) and says good-bye if he hears the statement even if it isn’t directed at him. He both says and identifies “fow-wa” (flower) and “kitty” both real and abstract. Before he was only interested in identifying orbs and circles in that way. I think I’ve mentioned it before, but he is very good at following simple instructions like “put that back” “sit down” “stand up” “get your shoes” “get your sisters shoes” “put the shoes away” “where’s the ball” and such. He’s not so good at body part identification other than his nose because…well…we don’t spend that much time doing that with the Second Child. We like the Nose Boop game, but we really don’t talk about chins and ears and such. We will eventually, we just forget!

Itty Bitty Phrase of the Day: “Because I know every-fing!”
Itty Bitty still mispronouces computer as “beputer” — so cute.

11/19 Tuesday Day 634
Night EC: 1 miss, 1 catch
Day: four misses in a row morning and early afternoon
Poop: Missed it, but he tried to tell me as he always does.

Had insomnia from 2am to 6am. Yah me.

The new My Little Pony Movie is out on Netflix. Itty Bitty watched it and now has an Equestria Girls Obsession. She sings the rally song over and over and over. Which wouldn’t be so bad if she didn’t only know a dozen words from one verse. Egads! It is like a scratched record stuck in a loop.

11/20 Wednesday Day 635
Night EC: 2 catch
Day: four misses in a row morning and early afternoon
Poop: Missed it and Mini Moose tried to take care of the situation himself. He took off his trainers and got it in the toilet, but eww poo hands to which he declared, “YukYuk”.

I appreciate Mini Moose understanding that poop goes in the toilet, and I admire his initiative. I would, however, prefer that we could get it directly in the porcelin vessel in the first place!

11/21 Thursday Day 636

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day except for one damp miss when he joined Daddy Man for weewee.
Poop: Total miss but he tried hard to take himself to the big toilet. Luckily he still had on his night Imse Vimse trainers. Messy.

I lost my cool today. I didn’t mean to yell as usual, but after being called 40 times I just wanted to sit by myself for a little while while the kids watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. And there was Itty Bitty up my tail again followed by Mini Moose, and getting in my space. I banished them from the room.

Sigh.

It is hard to be an introvert in two extrovert orbits!
Took pictures at Target. I know, I know. Late again. It is close enough to Itty Bitty’s fourth birthday and Mini Moose’s half year. At least he doesn’t have his eye teeth yet so there haven’t been any facial changes since September except for the molars that were already coming in.

Month 20: Mr. Personality – Day 576 to Day 605

Oct22

Compare to Sister’s Blog: Month 20: Miss Personality

Mini Moose prefers the big potty

9/22 Sunday (19 Months) Day 576
Night EC: 3 miss (I was just so exhausted and didn’t rouse fast enough)
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Caught most of both deployments.

Party aftermath tired. football with grandmama and uncle

9/23 Monday Day 577

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Missed it. Not all of it, about 80% caught.

My Mom’s birthday almost forgot.

9/24 Tuesday Day 578

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Mini Moose signaled with the potty sign and said “pupu” and we caught all of it. He was very happy and sang the poopydo song and danced on the toilet. Haha.

I decided to try to do some online writing.

9/25 Wednesday Day 579

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Caught it.

We had story time with miss Lois which had started 9/11 and I totally forgot.
Itty Bitty so needs attention.
Mini Moose is hardcore teething and that pesky lower right molar finally is poking the surface. It is bloody and he keeps trying to rip it out with his fingers poor guy. The others are bulging. All four at the same time. Sheesh.

9/26 Thursday Day 580

Night EC: 1 catch, 2 miss
Day: Dry all day
Poop: None

Playdate with colleen. I had insomnia last night. been letting itty bitty watch way too much tv in the am.

9/27 Friday Day 581
Story time with Miss Lois.

I am still not sleeping well. I am just spent. We were 15 minutes late to story time. Daddy man took the day off to try and finish off the house. I went there to get my blueberry bushes, a few blue wood hyacinth bulbs, and some herb samples. I had to use a piece of wood because I didn’t have a shovel. They weren’t established yet so easy to get.

I got approved as a level 3 at the online content mill. We’ll see how it goes. I’d like to make a significant amount of extra cash, but for now I think just being able to write for a little recognition is going to be nice. I’ve got some bad comma habits to break though!

I got surprised with a birthday cake from Daddy Man who went out on an Old House errand and on the way back he got me cake and some cards. How lovely!

Happy Birthday to Me!

9/28 Saturday Day 582

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Caught it most of it. Mini Moose still says uh oh and pulls on his pants if he’s started to go and is trying to stop.

Happy 40th Birthday to Me!

I told Daddy Man not to bother with a big gift for me this year since we have other expenses. Instead we went to spend the day with my family and the Littles got to spend time with their grandparents without party distractions. I got a Happy Birthday song and candles in a ring ding. Sometimes its the little things that you’ll remember.

I know, I know I’m 40. I guess I just don’t have the energy to be either mad or relieved about it. I know that I don’t really see myself as 40 even though there are many days I feel like I am surely 80! Mostly I don’t want to think about it. Perhaps in a few months I will do some serious reflecting, but for now I have enough on my plate.

9/29 Sunday Day 583

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Missed it…but…

Mini Moose had a poop accident and both Daddy man and I were distracted. I saw him streak by naked from the waste down holding his training pants in his hand. He was trotting really fast to the bathroom! I ran after him and by the time I actually caught up, he was already shaking the poop out of his pants into the toilet. As I was standing there with a gleeful grin on my face, Mini Moose said, “Pu Pu” and danced for himself. I guess now I will have to watch for errant poops! He got really lucky that it didn’t just fall out before he got to his destination.

9/30 Monday Day 584

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss
Day: Dry all day except for one pee miss with Daddy Man while I was at work.
Poop: Missed half of it on Daddy Man’s watch

Mini Moose has finished yet another mental leap. He understands so much more and can follow simple two part directions. During Itty Bitty’s birthday party guests noted his physical coordination in the bounce house and when setting balls up to kick them in the direction he wanted. More often now though he is starting to give us directions. His favorite word is “Help” which he says as, “Hep Hep Hep” and hands us the object in question such as his sister’s computer, the specific remote to turn on a specific TV, to get into the high chair, to open doors and bottle caps, and to restack a toy he can’t do himself, or to get something off of his tongue. It is also very adorable when he grabs his shoes, walks to the stair where I usually have him sit, plunks his little bottom on it, holds is shoes, and says, “Mama Mama Hep!” When he is finished with eating and he is sitting in the high chair he’ll call, “Mama Mama Heeeee” and hands me his plate. Mama Here is the phrase he uses when he wants to give me things.

He doesn’t have the vocabulary range Itty Bitty did at 19 months and he doesn’t use as many signs, but I think that might be because he doesn’t need more right now because we understand his tones and body language very well. He doesn’t say “no” clearly but he does make a “no” sound like “neh”, shakes his head, and crosses his arms. If he is saying no angrily you know it! Itty Bitty tended to verbalize her wants, and Mini Moose tends to be more physical and direct about it.

Signs: Water (with one finger touched to lips rather than a W)
Nurse/Milk (with finger flicks on two hands rather than open and close)
Potty (shaking of the fist)
More (only sometimes)
No (crossing of arms)
Give Me/I want that (wrist bends as if waving good-by but with more of a serpentine motion)
Tickle Me (holds up his shirt and makes tickle motions with his fingers)

Words: Mama Hep (Mama Help)
Mama Heee (Mama here [take this])
Nay Nay or Nye Nye (for nursing)
Da-Dee (Daddy)
Mahbo (My ball, ball, round object like a ball, bubbles)
“Sister’s Name” (Daddy man has said he has heard him say it)
Hieee / Byeee (Hi and Bye. Daddy man also said he has heard him say Hi There!)
BoPowo (Maximum Bo Power — a catchphrase from his favorite cartoon)

He loves music so I’ve been trying to teach him the sign for it, but I keep forgetting to do it consistently.

10/1 Tuesday day 585

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Caught 75% of it.

I’ve pretty much given up on the house at the moment. And I’ve been working on getting my writing chops back in order for the content mill site. I haven’t made much but I did send in my first article. It was terrifying and exhilerating. I’ve got some comma issues to sort out; I’m very rusty.

Mini Moose tried to take himself to the potty, but hasn’t quite worked out that in addition to going to the right place before you start to pee, you also need time and coordination to pull down your pants. He tried so hard. I looked at his face and I could see his confusion! It was as if he was unsure of whether to be pleased with himself getting to the bathroom all by himself, or irritated that he got uncomfortably wet anyway!

10/2 Wednesday Day 586

Night EC: 2 catch, 1 miss
Day: We had an off morning of about 3 misses then got back on track.
Poop: Daddy Man got blasted by what he described as, “…I don’t understand how someone so small can produce that much poop.” He caught most of it, thankfully.

Our Wednesdays seem to go by so fast with story time in the morning and with my working in the evening.

10/3 Thursday Day 587

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss
Day: Dry all day except for a poop related wee.
Poop: Missed it.

I was distracted today but we still managed to do well. Mini Moose uses the potty sign now usually with time for me to react even if I am distracted. He’s got the holding power and understanding that he is able to wait a short time. The poop though he can’t usually stop if he really has to go. Today was one of those days.

10/4 Friday Day 588

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss
Day: Several misses in the morning (4 or so)
Poop: Missed it.

It was just a very bad day. I am tired, Mini Moose is still teething hard and is restless at night, and Itty Bitty is just starved for attention. I just want to be able to sit for an hour or two with my thoughts and actually type up an article without being interrupted. I am not talking a simple blog entry that doesn’t require all that much mental attention; I mean an actual article I can get paid for.

I’ve gotten into the habit of putting cartoons on in the morning just so that I can squeeze out an hour of peace. Daddy Man kind of sucks at verbal support of my efforts to write for cash. On the one hand he wants me to make more money, on the other if it isn’t jiving with his idea of how much and with what job — I don’t think he computes it as feasible or important. Makes me want to smack him with a pillow. He doesn’t mean to, but it hurts my feelings.

My relationship with Itty Bitty is being tasked. I am moody and yelling and she is acting out trying to get the attention. Even though I know this, we still have rows and I am mentally frustrated and she is getting her feelings hurts. Parents can be such assholes sometimes!

That’s why after story time I didn’t go back home. I took the kids to the Forever Young playground I like a lot and let them run off the energy. There were kids there that actually wanted to play together and were Itty Bitty’s age so she really enjoyed herself. Mini Moose wandered around trying to climb things he really shouldn’t. Both of them were really spent at the end. I wish I could have relaxed too, but Mini Moose still needs a lot of spotting.

10/5 Saturday Day 589

Night EC: 3 catch
Day: Lots of random misses because both Daddy Man and I were distracted
Poop: Missed it. Twice.

There are days when the communication just goes out the window until it is too late.

I had to take Itty Bitty to her tennis lesson (I am the only one who doesn’t play) because Grandmama is out of town and Daddy Man has a Man Sniffle. Mini Moose is teething, Daddy Man has the sniffles, I am bit a shadow of my former self, and Itty Bitty is a bouncing Tigger. I was trying to clean (because no one else seems to know how to pick up dishes and empty the dishwasher and sink), do laundry, and attempt to organize a few things in the play room. Daddy Man was raking up the ridiculous amount of leaves from a huge Sugar Maple in our side yard. Mini Moose, obviously, was really cranky and looking back it was because he kept wetting his pants!

On the bright side, there was a lot of leaves to jump in and throw around so the Littles both had a lot of fun outside. Mini Moose ended up buck naked from yet another big pee accident, but we did at least catch a couple and wet down a patch of weeds.

We did better in the evening and it was one of the calmer evenings we’ve had since the Littles were so exhausted.

10/6 Sunday Day 590

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: caught 1 missed 1

We checked out a local park and were surprised to see some old friends of hours who have two children the same age as hours. It was their first time there too! They were checking out the area and were hoping to sell their house and move in the next year or two. The universe freaks you out sometimes.

10/7 Monday Day 591

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: missed 50%

Article writing is still going slow but getting better. Unfortunately, we are still in the morning cartoon habit, but I am hoping that once I get better I won’t need so much time.

10/8 Tuesday Day 592

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: missed 50%

Got shoes for the kids, hat for itty Bitty, pajamas and thermal underwear. Two new games for Leappad pick up

10/9 Wednesday Day 593

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: missed but Mini Moose took off his trainers, dashed to the bathroom and shook the solid poop into the toilet, came back out, and handed me his trainers looking very matter-of-fact.

10/10 Thursday Day 594

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: caught with pre-signal!

10/11 Friday Day 595

Night EC: 1 catch 1 miss
Day: Dry all day
Poop: 50% miss but Mini Moose signaled to alert and finished on the toilet

10/12 Saturday Day 596

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day except for an “in car on the highway” pee miss.
Poop: half miss with a post-poop potty sign to finish on the toilet.

Happy 90th Birthday Great-Grandma!
We were dry the whole time with several potty opporunties with the exception the car ride to the party, but dry on the way home with only a minor leak just as we took him out to pee on our lawn.

Mini Moose Utterances this week very word-like:

Boo! = for scaring
BoBoo= peek-a-boo

10/13 Sunday Day 597

Night EC: 1 catch 1 miss
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Two 50% misses, but with the usual potty sign and finishing on the toilet

10/14 Monday Day 598

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: missed 50% caught rest on toilet

Day 599

10/15 Tuesday

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: missed totally twice. I was distracted.

10/16 Wednesday Day 600

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss
Day: Dry all day except for the poo-related pee miss and one distracted morning miss.
Poop: missed

10/17 Thursday Day 601

Night EC: did not pee all night
Day: Dry all day
Poop: caught it!

10/18 Friday Day 602

Night EC: 1 catch 1 miss
Day: Dry all day
Poop: catch with pre-signal potty sign

10/19 Saturday Day 603

Night EC: 2 catch
Day: Dry all day
Poop: half miss with potty sign to finish on the toilet.

10/20 Sunday Day 604

Night EC: 1 catch 1 miss
Day: Dry all day
Poop: 1 missed, 1 mostly caught on the toilet.

10/21 Monday Day 605

Night EC: 1 catch 1 miss
Day: Dry all day
Poop: 1 mostly caught on the toilet after potty sign

Month 19: From Baby to Toddler – Day 545 to Day 575

Sep22

Compare to Sister’s Blog: Month 19: Where is My Baby Going?

At Our New House

8/22 Thursday (18 Months) Day 545

Night EC: 1 miss, 1 catch (the miss was a pure passed out drooling on myself situation)
Day: 3 misses in the morning, 1 miss in the evening
Poop: Totally caught it. Mini Moose did his wrist twist and then sang his triumph!

We were stuck at home because we needed to have the pipes on the oil tank replaced as part of the sale of our house negotiations. We knew about it last year and if we weren’t selling we would have replaced them anyway. It shouldn’t be too bad cost wise because we do have a service plan. I was shocked that he came at 9AM! The repair person had a little trouble with the water heater…he clipped with his foot it and had to replace the release valve. Oops! I guess it was at the end of its life anyway! He was here until 11AM.

I invited some friends over T. and her son A. and C. with her three girls, one of which is just two weeks old. Awww! Makes my own babies look like gigantor’s offspring.

We are moving next weekend so this is sort of our last hurrah with the yard. Before they came over I was doing some paper mache experimentations with coffee filters and cheap water balloons. It wasn’t going as planned! The paste was too thick and Itty BItty and Mini Moose and I made a mess before I realized that I should have used a thinner ratio. The coffee filters seemed at first to be better becaue they didn’t tear, but I found out that it takes them way too long to dry and they don’t harden up as expected but stay flexible. Then the balloons kept popping and if they didn’t pop they deflated before the mache hardened. All my efforts turned out looking like shrivled passion fruit. Itty Bitty was getting frustrated because he baloons kept shrinking under the weight and I was frustrated that Mini Moose seemed to get it into his head to head into danger and to follow his sister to where I told her not to go. Overall, too much stress for a project that was supposed to be simple! Thankfully company finally came and we were all better for it!

8/23 Friday Day 546

Night EC: Dry all night
Day: dry all day (the pee tree got lots of use) 3 misses in the evening in a row.
Poop: Caught the morning poop, the midafternoon poop (about 75% of it), and the evening poop!

Mini Moose was driving me bazooka today. I know this is another growth and mental spurt! Boy, he can’t leave me be for five seconds. I wore him all day for the most part and that’s where he napped too. E. came by with her two little and it was nice to have company again. It is better for my stress and short temper of late, and Itty Bitty and Mini Moose are better for it too.

While they were here I was finishing up assembling Itty Bitty’s birthday invitations. I noticed a mistake that bugs me but E. said it looked like it was deliberate and she didn’t even notice until I pointed it out. So, I decided not to fix it and just go with it and not obsess. I did add some leftover jewels to the brads so they would look nicer and that didn’t take all that long. The cutting took longer because Mini Moose had been trying to climb on me like a tree.

I also did Papier Mache round two with my plan to remedy yesterday’s fiasco. I went into work late yesterday to get some prep work done uninterrupted and brought home some colored typing paper…not as heavy as cardstock but not as thin as cheap typing paper or newsprint. I used a 2:1 ratio of water to flour with a bit of salt. It was also cooler out today so the balloons weren’t popping. I learned, too late, that latex and heat/sun are not friends. Where was I doing my mache? In the bright hot sunshine! The cool shade made for a better application. However, I decided to fill the balloons with water to get a better shape. The proved faulty because while the balloons for the most part were fine, some were delicate and burst and it was harder to set them anywhere to dry. Of those that did dry getting the water out without re-wetting the mache took more patience than I have left. Later in the evening, I switched to air again in the cool house and that worked very, very well and came out the way it was supposed to. Itty Bitty also had a much easier time with the new paper and the better, thinner flour paste.

Grandmama came buy unexpectedly so I didn’t go to work to finish prep.

8/24 Saturday Day 547

Night EC: 2 catches
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Caught it but it wasn’t all that impressive.

We went to Walden Pond for the day. We discovered that our stuff stored and Grandmama’s is moldy!

8/25 Sunday Day 548

Night EC: 3 catches
Day: Dry all day excep for 2 pee misses in the morning
Poop: Caught half of it.

We were busy all day trying to get some more packing done and some cleaning. Mini Moose is wanting to nurse constantly and he and Itty Bitty have been fighting a lot.

8/26 Monday Day 549

Night EC: 2 catches
Day: Dry all day except for 3 misses in the late morning early afternoon.
Poop: Totally missed it.

Had someone come to have a look at our fire alarms to see how they were hardwired. We have to comply with our city’s code for smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and the regulations are pretty convluted depening on the age of your house. We close in three days on the new house.

8/27 Tuesday Day 550

Night EC: 2 catches (the cup pee is working so awesome-ly)
Day: Dry all day except 2 misses in the evening.
Poop: Caught it in the morning (at least 90 percent)

8/28 Wednesday Day 551

Night EC: 2 catches
Day: Dry all day!
Poop: No poop sighted today.

We went to a local high school playground with E. ad her kids. Turned out to be a super hot day! We had hoped to go blueberry picking one last time but they were closed for the season. We had our Final walkthrough. The Littles were fast asleep in the car so missed the whole thing (yes, I left them in the car in the driveway because it is a private lot — so it is okay don’t worry.)

The owner J. was mowing the epic lawn with a teeny tiny lawnmower. She was also shampooing the carpets. Wow. She really did a great job getting the house move in ready. It isn’t perfect by any means, but just those little touches really make a difference when you move in. I always leave a place in better condition than when I found it so I really appreicate the efforts.

Tomorrow is the big day!

8/29 Thursday Day 552

Night EC: 3 catches
Day: Dry all day even for Grandmama!
Poop: Missed half of it late afternoon. He tried!

Closing today at 9:30am. It went quite smoothly and took only an hour. We now, for the moment, own TWO houses. The LIttles LOVE the house. They were running around like crazy and Itty Bitty is delighted and elated that she can get on her tricycle which she can now ride AND steer all around the driveway which she calls a parking lot. She has a LOT of room to roll and roam. So far she has followed the rules about where her roam radius ends. Mini Moose is happy to be wherever his sister is. Grandmama was there to celebrate with us with pizza and it was the first time she ever got to see the property other than with pictures.

To maximize our budget Daddy Man rented a uHaul for 5:00pm so we loaded it up right away and emptied our backyard first with the biggest items.

Believe it or not, Mini Moose didn’t have one accident all day long. And if you don’t count the poop-pee miss that is fourty eight hours dry!

8/30 Friday Day 553

Night EC: 3 catches
Day: Dry all day except one miss in the late afternoon.
Poop: Missed it. It got on the floor and it was pretty firm so easy to clean up…so I noticed when Mini Moose picked one up and brought it dutifully to the toilet!

E. offered to watch the kids for four hours while Daddy man and I moved stuff. Daddy Man had filled up the uHaul with boxes when we got back last night and so it was full and ready to go this morning. We unpacked it, went back home, repacked it, and he left while I went to get the kids so I could go back to the new house to help him unpack. I also needed to nurse Mini Moose before my boobs exploded.

The Littles didn’t want to leave their fun. They were soaking wet and full of sand. That means they had a great time. Hah!

After we unloaded we had to bring the truck back. I was to meet Daddy Man at the place but I didn’t want to go on the highway during peak rush hour. So I went by a known route. My fatal flaw was not listening to my inner gut and following my GPS. I ended up lost, then going in the wrong direction. I ended up being in the area I wanted but no way to know how to get to where I wanted to go so I made a big loop to get back to where I mate the fatal error.

This is why I HATE drviving. I finally get to where I need to go but I have very poor navigational abilities. I was so flustered I nearly cried. But, I mangaged to get there and I told Daddy Man to drive back even though he hurt his ankle. It wasn’t his driving leg anyway!

8/31 Saturday Day 554

Night EC: 2 catches
Day: Dry all day except for 1 miss in the morning, and 1 in the late evening.
Poop: None sighted.

Moving all day. We’ve been back and forth so many times it seems like the distance is three times what it is. I did some “take and toss” boxes and I emptied six of those at the house. Now we have the play room set up, the backyard items, most of the house boxes that had been ready to go are in designated store and do later areas, and the bathroom and the drawers in the new kitchen are full. I am a little confounded by the lack of medicine cabinet as I do not want to put certain things in a low drawer.

It was a bit challenging to do things with Mini Moose so clingly but he napped for a while on my back so it was good even though I was roasting hot. Daddy Man put on the whole house fan. That thing is scary! It is like a jet engine in the ceiling. Cooled the place off quick though!

So things are coming along. You’d think that with all the carpet in the new place we’d be having misses left, right, and sideways, but we’ve really had a great day as far as EC goes. Mini Moose isn’t necessarily asking to go but he can hold it a long time until I remember to take him and usually we are on point.

Daddy Man is still Limping. Itty Bitty didn’t know what to do with herself bike, balls, playroom, get underfoot, chase daddy, rinse and repeat.

9/1 Sunday Day 555

Night EC: 3 catches
Day: 1 miss in the morning
Poop: None

More moving of stuff. Back and forth back and forth. I did two runs in the morning then had to pause for kid breaks and did one more in the early evening. It is really hard with the two Littles. Mini Moose is up early anyway so the second morning run was during a nap time for him. This is good since Itty Bitty can either nap or run around the new house lot while I unload and Mini Moose snoozes.

We’ve inherited a few unexpected things. Several yard tools (hacksaw, shovels, several rakes), tons of screws in the workshop, a basketball hoop, small portable TV, lots of wood for the stoves and I am sure we’ll find others as we explore the house. The Whole House Vacuum is broken so I’ll have to look into that since the carpet all over the downstairs that is already looking like it needs some TLC. I am hoping it is something I can fix myself. My priority right now is getting the vent to the dryer replaced to a less fire hazard-y material like metal! Second is to have the icemaker in the fridge looked at before Itty Bitty’s party.

9/2 Monday Day 556

Night EC: 2 catches
Day: no misses
Poop: late evening half catch at the Old House

This back and forth is killing me. More of the same as yesterday, except that Aunt Flo came to visit. Up early. Load, drive, unload, drive. Rinse and repeat. Add in some Whining and Complaining from the peanut gallery and you blend that all together and create one frazzled mommy! Movers are coming tomorrow so that we don’t have to sleep at the old house. It will be nice to be able to do some unpacking later at night or early in the morning before Itty Bitty gets up.

So much to do!

9/3 Tuesday Day 557

Night EC: 2 catches
Day: 1 poop related pee miss in the late afternoon but we caught most of the poo!

Slept at the Old House last night and I mostly dreamed that I was moving all night long so I didn’t feel rested. Mini Moose was up early and Itty BItty was raring to go to even though she really needed to sleep more. I filled up the Jeep and did a morning run of stuff at 7:00AM. I got lucky and missed all the school traffic both ways! I drove back to the house intending to fill up again, but the movers were already there and I let the little run around while we stayed out of the way. They are just moving the big stuff and it will take us several more days yet to finish moving all the flotsam ourselves.

All the back and forth paid off though since the original estimate was $2800 to move us but we ended up ony getting charged $750! Together with the cost of the UHaul we moved our entire house for under a grand. Daddy Man was really happy and decided to use the budget surplus to buy a replacement couch for the new house since we threw the other broken one away.

Unpacking is going slowly. Mini Moose and Itty Bitty just want to play and I am only one person! But Itty Bitty is managing with being able to come and go as she pleases. Mini Moose and I have been EC tuned since I’ve had to wear him almost constantly if I am deep in the bowels of boxes.

So tired. So ready for this all to be done.

I did make one more haul run but I dared not do more because I am so tired. I am afraid I’d fall asleep at the wheel. I brought our small male kitty who was instantly delighted with the house even though he complained the whole car ride over. Daddy Man brought our bigger female cat his last run and she was quite displeased with the change of location and was quite snippy and hissy. It will take her a few days to calm down.

9/4 Wednesday Day 558

Night EC: 2 catches
Day: One one poop related accident. We did gat half the poop.

Got phone and internet today! Have no idea what the new number is though. Doh!

Last night was our first night sleeping at the New House. We slept on a futon mattress on the floor in the TV room because we were all watching a movie as a family and I fell asleep. Even though Daddy Man set up the bed and the sidecar I just didn’t want to get up. It got really cold last night too! I guess the summer is really done. I feel like we missed it!

I made one early run to clean out the fridge at the old house and stuffed whatever I could in the Jeep. I also found Daddy Man’s missing check and he paid for it with a big smooch! Hah.

Mini Moose has been doing great with the potty. I usually just take him, but a time or two he gives me the potty sign if I’ve been slacking. He has had enough of being worn today and gave me lip about it, so I took the Littles out for a walk in our new neighborhood.

We met some of our new neighbors. Eric and Ruth are an older couple original to the neighborhood (they built their house) and new the original owners of our house. They live at the end of the cul de sac. Two houses down from them across the street from us we met Katie and her three children — two boys 2 and 4 and a girl 6. Next door to her she says her friend Colleen lives with her four boys and a brand new baby girl 6 weeks old. Their husbands are hobbyists too so Daddy Man will have some new friends as well.

I am normally not the social type, but I guess my age has changed me and it was quite nice to meet new people. It seems that this neighborhood is transitioning from elderly to families with children. Our previous neighborhood is going through as similar change. I noticed three new pre-teens but a lot more people with dogs. Our neighborhood is a dog neighborhood which is funny because there IS a dog park about 10 or 15 mintues from our Old House.

The kids felt better after the walk. We didn’t really get to see Daddy Man all day as he was busy going back and forth hauling. I had to work tonight and it seems like my commute is going to be about 12 – 15 minutes now!

9/5 Thursday Day 559

Night EC: 2 catches
Day: Dry all day no misses

Things are going really well on the EC front. I know people who EC have written that they have trouble or decide to just not EC at all, but I can’t do that. Besides, with all that is going on EC is the easy part! Ain’t not way that I want to be changing diapers on top of everything else!

We did have a rough morning. The kids are really trying to crawl back into my uterus. Knowing WHY they are doing it doesn’t make it any less irritating on an already tired and overwhelmed mommy. We all had a very impromptu nap in the afternoon and just as Mini Moose was waking up we had our first visitor! K. came by with her two boys before she went to pick up her daughter to invite us for a play date accross the street at C’s house. Itty Bitty was giddy! She and the boys played a while and I showed K. the house. She said she’d been very curious about the lot and really liked all of our yard space and private driveway.

We really did trade up in space and value with the same mortgage so we really came out a win win on this.

Daddy Man was gone all day putting up ballisters on the cellar stairs at the old house. He did come home just in time to join us for a play date at 4:00. I had just finished cooking for the first time on the new stove and Itty Bitty was cramming food in her face as quickly as she could manage. We’ll have to add them to her birthday guest list. Which reminds me…I need to find the rest of the invitations and send them out!

I miss our old stove and our bigger refridgerator! On the other hand, the laundry room washer and dryer are totally awesome upgrades. I am almost loving laundry because I don’t have to sprint to the bowels of an unfinished cellar and be separated from the kids or have Itty Bitty insist on navigating steep stairs. Much less stress and easier to get it all done in one room with access to the rest of the house. Itty Bitty loves that she can reach the buttons.

9/6 Friday Day 560

Night EC: 2 catch 1 miss
Day: Dry all day except for 1 in the morning and 1 in the evening
Poop: caught half

Unpacking and making runs to the house. If we leave early enough we can get two runs to pack the jeep and get back. More than that is too much for the Littles. We’ve been eating take out, though to make up for it we’ve been outside playing a lot.

9/7 Saturday Day 561

Night EC: 1 catch 1 miss
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Caught poop by grandmama!

Went to a friend’s Wedding today at a local ski resort. It was a beautiful day. I even went on the ski lift sky view and tried not to puke.

Scott stayed dry the whole day including for grandmama while we were attending a friends wedding. We were gone a total of six hours and she took care of both. Neither of them napped but both of them played hard and were ready to go home. Mini Moose did really well. I haven’t left him for this long since March or April when we went to see a local show.

Poor Grandmama though. Itty Bitty and Mini Moose pooped in stereo. Hah!

9/8 Sunday Day 562

Night EC: 2 catches
Day: Dry all day.
Poop: Missed it.

The days are just blending. More of the same tedium. I think we need to sleep for a month to recover.

9/9 Monday Day 563

Night EC: 3 catches
Day: Dry all day except for 2 misses in the morning
Poop: 1/2 catch. Got to love that poop stare.

I have to work tonight so only made one run to the house. Daddy Man is going to start throwing things away and I don’t want him to throw out my tomato stakes, clay pots, and other things like that. He gets into this state of mind sometimes and he gets blinders on. He wanted to throw away my coffee table (its a nice table I had before we met I had bought as a set for myself) because a leg was loose. Um…how about just tightening the bolt! I plan on using it at the foot of the bed like bench. Our bed is a plat form bed so it is the perfect hight and I can put our linen basket under it.

9/10 Tuesday Day 564

Night EC: 1 catch 1 miss
Day: 2 misses in the morning and 3 in the evening.
Poop: None sighted

Just an off day today. I am just done with this whole process! Itty Bitty’s birthday is soon and I need to get going on that! I’m drowning in stress!

9/11 Wednesday Day 565

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss
Day: Dry all day
Poop: An epic poop left for Daddy Man.

Grandmama signed up Itty Bitty for tennis lessons for her birthday and got her a Dora the Explorer tennis rackit. Itty Bitty was so excited to show me when I got home from work. Daddy Man and I had to explain to her that the lesson wasn’t until Saturday. While Itty Bitty was the center of attention, Mini Moose took the opportunity to drop a poo bomb. Daddy Man said he probably had tried to communicate the need but everyone was distracted.

9/12 Thursday Day 566

Night EC: 2 miss, 1 catch
Day: Dry all day except for 1 miss in the morning.
Poop: caught half of it after detecting the “poop stance and stare”

It was a hot one today. I didn’t think we were going to get a day like this again this time of the year. I put the poor deflating kiddie pool out for the LIttles for a last hurrah of the season. I only managed to make one run to the Old House today which was fine, it was much too hot and I woke up with a massive headache anyway.

Twice I saw Mini Moose leave the play zone to go stand and pee in a corner of the lawn or patio. The location wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but on the other hand he has the idea so what can you do but to rinse off the bricks with some water and puff out your chest a bit.

9/13 Friday Day 567

Night EC: 2 catches
Day: Dry all day except for 2 morning accidents in the carseat, and 1 miss with Daddy Man when I went out on an errand alone.
Poop: Totally caught it in the morning!

The carseat pee was so my fault. Twice I miscalculated a pee need and we didn’t make it back to the house in time. On a good note, it was only a 1/4 of the pee he acually had in there! Mini Moose is really having better capacity and control, it is just really hard for him to hold it in the seat if he has to go. I was just tired and really not thinking. Daddy Man took the day off to keep the Old House fire inspection appointment and we each made two runs. The hose passed so one more thing down.

Daddy Man broke the lock on our door because he was annoyed with the Realtor key lockbox on the new house. He took it all apart and now can’t get it back together the way it was. All this because he was going to leave after our long day to go back to the Old House and I wanted him to stick around for about an hour and not rush off so we could see each other! He also said something stupid,”I guess you don’t want me to get stuff done.” That’s not fair, man. I just wanted to spend an hour together, sheesh! Sometimes significant other’s need a smack with a wet rag. I think he was annoyed that I went out on an errand and left him with the kids for an hour. It’s not like I was having a blast picking up light bulbs, a garbage barrell for composting kitty poop, some apples, and dinner for the children. Jeepers. He does work for both houses WITHOUT the kids. I have them both everyday by myself and have been unpacking, organizing, and making car round trips! We both work very hard, but sometimes I think he doesn’t see that because we do different things.

9/14 Saturday Day 568

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Saw the “face” and caught 90% of it. Thank goodness!

Itty Bitty’s Birthday is next weekend and I feel like I need to start focusing on it or I’ll never be ready. I’m making a lot of the decorations myself. I think I’m going to just have to accept that people are going to see a house disaster zone. I’ve done my best to unpack as much as possible. And Daddy Man is still working to get the old house ready. I did manage to finally finish the homemade chalk party favors so they’d have time to dry.

9/15 Sunday Day 569

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss
Day: Dry all day
Poop: Missed a little poop but caught most of it.

Mini Moose’s night miss is always the first wake up and it’s quite substantial despite peeing him before bed. He’s teething all four molars. I can see his gums bulging. Itty Bitty had a soggy pants incident today. She’d been playing outside riding one of the tricycles, dashed into the house, made it too the bathroom, but her body decided to relase on her before she could pull her pants down to sit. Daddy Man said she looked quite mortified. She cleaned herself up and changed her pants, though Daddy Man did help her out.

9/16 Monday Day 570

Night EC: 1 catch, 1 miss
Day: Dry all day, except for three random misses throughout the day.
Poop: Missed it though when it happened Mini Moose was signaling and pulling his trainers with a wide eyed look on his face. Later, Daddy Man caught a big one as I was working.

So busy and yet we are in a solid EC pattern, especially at night. We have a consistent pee wake-up around 3AM. It seems that either by accident or nature’s design, that is about the time I wake up to have a potty break on my own if I need to. I am distracted with preparations, but Mini Moose stays dry on errands and is going longer between needing to pee so even if I forget to give him a potty opp chances are good that we’ll catch anyway. He also signals with the potty sign too, though not all the time. Usually it is my “pee sense” that tingles and I just take him potty. He is starting also to say “no” more by crossing his arms, shaking his head, and saying the cutest little “meh” or “uh” when you ask him a question. His other favorite phrases are “my ball” for anything that looks even remotely ball like and “Mumma Mumma Mumma (waits for me to look and then) Heeeere” before handing me something he doesn’t want or wants me to look at. Had to work tonight…it is all a blur. I am so tired.

Poor Itty Bitty is pleading for more attention. I’m spread thin. With Daddy Man spending nights at the other house I often have them 24/7 without a break for days at a time. I feel spread thin.

9/17 Tuesday Day 571

Night EC: 2 catch, 1 miss
Day: It was an off morning, we missed like three or four before we got back on track.
Poop: Mini Moose said “pu” and made the potty sign so we caught it successfully!

Dentist appointment for Itty Bitty today. As usual, we arrived on time, they took us a few minutes after we walked in the door, and in 20 minutes Itty Bitty had her cleaning and that was that. Mini Moose was fascinated with the sounds and wanted to sit in the chair. I made a double appointment in six months and we’ll see how Mini Moose does with his first visit. I do need to be better about brushing his growing number of teeth. These molars are taking forever too.

9/18 Wednesday Day 572

Night EC: 1 catch, 2 miss
Day: Dry all day except for one miss in the evening while I was at work.
Poop: Mini Moose saved it for Daddy Man and they caught most of it.

I give up. I am never going to get all that I need done. I ordered the cake from our new local market and got some of the supplies I needed for food. I’ve done most of the party favors, but I need to make. Daddy Man wants to order pizza but I don’t see how we can do that on a budget smartly. I can feed 50 mouths and even more for sixty dollars and just pizza would cost that much and I’d still have to get snacks and fill-ins like salad, crackers, dips, and fruit. That doesn’t even include the price of the cake! I ordered a 30 piece cupcake TinkerBell cake for the kids and a 1/2 sheet for the adults. I have no time to make one myself for that many people, but the cost would have been much more budget friendly if it was a DIY.

Finally made it to the post office to have our mail officially forwarded.

My original ideas for favors and decorations had to change so I’m doing tissue paper party puffy party balls, a birthday banner with the little buckets I got for a penny, clothes pins, and some die cut stars staked to make flowers for Itty Bitty’s name; got a few more salt and pepper clear shakers from the dollar store to make the firefly jars too.

Work tonight.

9/19 Thursday day 573

Night EC: 1 catch, 2 miss
Day: Dry all day despite my distractions. My EC routine is so ingrained it can survive busy times!
Poop: None today.

We are all cranky to say the least. I have been putting off Itty Bitty’s night nurse session off so long she’s been falling asleep before I have a chance to get Mini Moose to sleep and get settled myself. She’s been upset about that. Her latch is starting to change and I am struggling with it. It is a natural process, but this stress with the houses is not helping.

I was up a good portion of the night trying to get party decorations and favors done. We’ve been sleeping downstairs near the laundry room which has become the craft volcano. The chalk is just not drying fast enough because I made them too wet so I put them in front of a fan to try and speed up the process.

9/20 Friday Day 574

Night EC: 1 catch, 2 miss
Day: Dry all day except for some small random half misses. Maybe four, I lost track.
Poop: Missed it by “this much”

Mini Moose likes to sing his own praises by singing the “poopydoo song”. We are nuts, I know. We just like to get funky when we catch poos. It makes us all happy!

Hardcore teething. Hardcore Itty Bitty crank. Hardcore Mommy exhaustion. Hardcore Daddy Man stepping up while stressed himself to do party cleaning.

I prepped the food today and Daddy Man got the drinks. I made all of the pasta and sauces (meatless and with meat). I am making an American Chop Suey style pasta dish and a plain pasta and plain sauce DIY option. I made the dips with sour cream. And then I ran out of refridgerator room so I couldn’t cut the fruit. This fridge is so much smaller!

I was up most of the night again printing out labels for the party favors and signs for the crafts. I forgot to mention that I made Itty Bitty’s crown of flowers and raffia and fake leaves the other day with my dusty glue gun. It came out great, so the burnt fingers were totally worth it! I’d also found Itty Bitty this adorable plum colored dress with subtle fabric rosettes on it for only 24 dollars at Burlington coat factory that same day. She wants to be barefoot so together with the flower wreath crown it is adorable!

9/21 Saturday Day 575

Night EC: 1 catch, 2 miss
Day: Dry all day! Even though I totally forgot many potty ops, he didn’t nurse almost all day, and was busy or with Daddy Man or Grandmama. Wow!
Poop: none

Happy Birthday Itty Bitty! Pixie Party!
I think I must have done lost my mind insisting on having a party right after we moved. For once I wanted to have Itty Bitty’s birthday ON her birthday and I am afraid if I wait it won’t get done. This is really the first birthday she’s really going to remember. With that darling purple party dress, the flower wreath, and the paper fairy wings I made and she decorate–she looked a pleased pixie. This needed to be a birthday on the budget so I made everything except the cake. Which by the way they messed up! They were supposed to use whip cream frosting, not the super sweet stuff on the cupcake-breakaway cake. And they forgot to make the sheet cake for the adults! They messed up so bad, I got the replacement sheet cake for free! Daddy Man wanted to do something special so he called to rent a bouncy house for the weekend. We actually had it for four days since they dropped it off yesterday and will pick it up on Monday. Can’t complain! We’ve got the room now so Itty Bitty was excited. She’s been missing the old house more than me I think.

The kids loved all the crafts and be-glittered the lawn. The pillow sack race didn’t go quite as planned, but that’s okay. Most of the kids didn’t bother making head wreaths. Itty Bitty was quite sad that she lost to former neighbor boy R. and cried for about 15 minutes with Daddy Man! Many friends and family came and it was nice to have room and we couldn’t have asked for a better day. However, my signs puff ball decorations on the trees got blown away, we lost two of the eight balloons I bought. The Pixie Hollow sign held up, and so did the craft signs though they were all spinning around. The build a fairy house craft went well with the older kids enjoying that, the youngers liked decorating wings, and I caught a couple of adults getting into the birdfeeder craft. I almost forgot the party favors! I was up so late finishing them up too. I managed to get the “firefly jars” done and just put them in the cups with the chalk.

Itty Bitty got heaps of spilled glue on dress, but Grandmama saved it. We had some late party guests and we enjoyed a very subdued after-party visit and chat where I actually got to sit done. My youngest brother, his wife, and twin daughters stayed a long while too and I got to hold my nieces.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. There wasn’t hardly any food left so I guess everyone had a good time!

Pottytunities for Two

A Diaper Free Journey

Month 29: Grin and Bare It – Day 848 to Day 877

Month 28: You Do Now Me Do – Day 817 to Day 847

Month 26: Round Two – Day 755 to Day 786

Month 25: Double Whammy – Day 729 to Day 754

Month 24: Deja Two – Day 698 to Day 728

Month 23: New Year Magic and Mayhem – Day 667 to Day 697

Month 22: Big Bada Boom – Day 637 to Day 666

Month 21: Give and Take – Day 606 to Day 636

Month 20: Mr. Personality – Day 576 to Day 605

Month 19: From Baby to Toddler – Day 545 to Day 575

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