Active Participant

Kayden insists on being a very, very active participant in all of life's activities. Yesterday we went for a walk in the stroller and she spent the entire time either craned around looking and talking to me or sitting straight up with both hands in the air like she was on a roller coaster. She also feels she must be doing whatever Keeley is doing. Keeley opened the door to go outside today so Kayden took off to join her. Kayden was crawling over the threshold when I hear "out, go, out" and then crying. Keeley had pushed Kayden over the threshold. This resulted in a significant bruising and an abrasion on her forehead. Kayden gets herself plenty of bruises and injuries on her own, she certainly doesn't need big sister's ever-present help!

On the move!

Kayden is getting so close to walking. She can slowly lower herself to the ground now when she's not holding on to anything instead of just falling. She has started to cruise much more and is even doing it on flat surfaces instead of only on ones where she can grab on. Moving while pushing her toys is also becoming a bigger deal. She did a lot of this while I had Keeley at her surgery. She's so cute.

Language Development

On Wednesday night before Keeley's surgery, I woke her up before we went to bed to see if I could get her to drink some milk. She had a little and then we read stories. While we were reading them, she started to get close to putting two words together to form a more complete thought. She has hundreds of words but, up until that point, had only used one at a time to get her idea across. The next morning, she started actually doing it. Most of what she says is a command "hold you, read that, close it, wash it, kiss it" but it is still pretty cute. The way that toddler language develops is amazing to me.

She's also done some funny things this weekend with her words. On Saturday we went to look at some flooring. We went during Kayden's nap time because she wasn't napping. This meant that she was being noisy in the car while she was trying to fall asleep in the car (side note: Kayden is the noisiest child ever. She isn't the loudest, she is just constantly noisy - unless she is trying to get your attention at which point she just stares at you with a smile and waits for you to see her). After about 10 minutes in the car, Keeley looked at her and said "stop". I laughed for a long time.

Tonight, as we were moving toward bed, Keeley got on her bike and said "levi's" I asked where she was going and she said "house". Apparently she wanted to go to Levi's house. Watch out Levi, you've got an older woman after you!

Surgery Day

Keeley had her surgery today. I panicked yesterday when they called and said they had moved it to 10 am. Not being able to eat until 10 wasn't going to be a problem. Not being allowed milk was going to be a huge problem. Fortunately, Keeley understands a lot more now when you talk to her. We talked about the fact that she couldn't have her milk in the morning and she didn't push for it too much. I also let her have her pacifier which probably eased the frustration.

As soon as we checked in, they gave her some "goofy juice" just like they did when her cyst was removed. She seemed even more drunk this time since she is more vocal and mobile than she was then. Unfortunately, she did put up a little bit of a fight when they took her away which made me sad. I love, love, love her doctor. He had a purple dog waiting for her on the bed where we waited, he talked to her when he came in the room, he was really fast, and he checked on us again while we were in recovery.

The procedure went well. Recovery did not go so well. I try very hard to prepare Keeley for what is going on and multiple people told me that her IV would be removed before she woke up. None of those people told the recovery nurse that apparently because she still had it in her hand when I got back to her. It is bad enough waking up from surgery knowing what to expect, that made it even worse for Keeley. The told me she was a fighter and started kicking before she even opened her eyes. Once we got the IV out and she drank her milk (An entire 12 ounces in less than 5 minutes. That kid loves her milk), she calmed down and slept really hard in my arms for the rest of the time in recovery.

She seems to be bothered a little when she wakes up from naps but otherwise seems okay. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

Boo to Zyrtec

Apparently Keeley simply doesn't respond well to medicine. Or, at least not as it is expected. I woke up miserable with allergies this morning and Keeley woke up with a runny nose. I figured that she might appreciate some allergy medicine because I know I sure do when I am miserable in the morning.

I gave her the children's Zyrtec and we went on about our day. I felt great - my medicine worked. Keeley's nose ran the entire day but she was in a good mood for most of it. Toward the end of the day, she got a little grumpy. That is quite possibly because she refused to nap. You'd think that would make her tired at bedtime. Nope. She went to bed later than normal and only because she finally gave in. Nothing about her looked tired (except some of the fussiness and frustration).

Unfortunately, I chose to give her Zyrtec on the same day that Kayden only took one, one hour nap this morning. By 4:30, my kitchen looked like this.

Yep, that is a tent in my kitchen (Obviously. Doesn't everyone need a tent in their kitchen?) and ALL of Kayden's spoons all over the floor.

Do you see the insanity of this? Keeley refused to eat in her seat today and insisted on Kayden's. She also insisted on eating Kayden's food. This left me holding Kayden because it was unacceptable for Kayden to be in Keeley's chair. The dog water is on the table because Kayden kept playing in it when I put her down. I had to put her down because she couldn't be in Keeley's chair and was too fussy from not napping to be in my arms for long. The dog bowls are empty because Kayden scatters it on the floor and then Keeley carries it by the handful to the dogs and tells them to eat it.

I texted Kelly and said "I'm done". Fortunately, I have the most amazing husband ever. He left shortly there after and told me I could leave as soon as he walked in the door.

Moral of the story: no more Zyrtec for Keeley.

Singing a Different Tune

When we started Mother's Day Out, there was definite drama upon drop off and pick up each day. This improved slowly. First we ended the drama and there was just a sad resignation about leaving me and we had very enthusiastic reunions. Then we moved to okay drop offs and me having to wait around for her to get ready to leave. This week tops it all.

When walking up to the doors to drop her off, Keeley tripped and cut her lip (side note: I swear she is just determined to have no front teeth with the number of times she hits them). She was crying and I was dreading the hand-off. I asked her teacher if I could come in and make sure that she was okay. I checked her out and Ms. Karen asked to hold her. Keeley lifted her arms and Kayden and I left.

I was one of the first ones at pick up time. I peaked through the window and saw her eating her snack with her friends at the little half circle table. She smiled and said "Hiyeeeeee". I came inside to gather everything up since she was still eating. When I got inside, Ms. Kathy told me that she requested Luke be her buddy. I asked what she meant and they told me that when she was put in the bye-bye buggy to go on their walk that she immediately pointed to the seat next to her and said "Luke". That sounds more like a demand than a request, but still pretty cute. Apparently she asked for Luke to sit next to her at the table too because he was there in place of her regular dining companion. I'm not entirely sure the obsession is reciprocal but he does at least like her a little because they were sharing snacks - too cute.

Other parents came and we said bye to Kaleb, to Peter, to Jessica, to Luke - and Keeley was still eating. She finally finished her snack and I asked if she was ready to go home. She looked at me, shook her head, and said "nope" with a smile. I got her out of her table and she proceeded to run around the room hiding and saying "bye bye". I asked if she was saying good bye to Maysen. She said "no, mama". Well, okay then. Apparently she is too busy for Mom!

And the messes continue...

Kayden figured out how to open drawers and pull out the contents today. Hooray.