Hands off

Washing Olivia's hands in a public restroom is one step short of torture -- for me, not her. For starters, her hands can't reach the water stream without me having to stretch her over the entire counter, completely soaking the front on her clothes (why are the counters in there so wet anyway?). Also, we seem to always pick the sink that doesn't have soap, so I trek around holding her waist with one hand and testing soap dispensers with the other. Automatic faucets (a fixed temperature?) and soap dispensers (does the thing not sense little hands?) further complicate the situation. However, the worst part of the whole ordeal is after the washing and drying are complete. While I wash and dry my hands, Olivia has some down time to re-germ her hands that I have just cleaned. More than once she has bent down to feel the floor tiles or explore the trash receptacle, and we have to do the whole thing over again. This lead me to begin telling her after completing the process, "Stand still and don't touch anything" (Gee, fun, Mom!). This started to work pretty well when I would repeat it several times during my hand-washing routine. What was even more effective was giving her those instructions and also telling her to hold the paper towel we had used to dry her hands, instead of putting it in the garbage (to keep her hands occupied).

The other day at home, we came in from playing outside. I helped her wash her hands at the kitchen sink (a tiny bit easier than a public bathroom, but not much) before eating. As I set her down to dry her hands with the towel she instructed herself, "Don't touch anything!"

A verse a day

...or week.

Olivia has been working on Bible verses recently in conjunction with BSF (Bible Study Fellowship). We worked on it a lot the first week. I picked her up from GJ's a few Thursdays ago on the day the verse was "due." I asked her if she said her verse at bible school - she said yes. I asked her to recite it for GJ and me, but she declined (that whole performing thing again...). About 15 minutes later, as I was buckling her into her carseat and randomly blurts out, "The sovereign Lord helps me."

Totally hilarious, though she left out the reference (Isaiah 50:7).

By the way, our current verse is, "The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." Whaaaa?

Hi!

Olivia goes to my cousin's house for daycare on Fridays each week and occasionally on Wednesdays. Several Wednesdays ago, there were some kiddos there that are not often there the same days as Olivia. One of the little girls, who was surprised to see how much Olivia had grown since she last saw her, asked her, "Olivia, can you say hi?'" Olivia responded with, "Yes, I can say 'hi!'"

This instantly became a "viral" story, quickly spread to our family and beyond. My apologies if you've already heard it :)

The house that Jack, er...Spidey built

We have spent countless hours at our new house - knocking down walls, making holes in other walls, ripping up carpet, painting, painting and more painting. We are hoping to move in by next week. The one person who has, without a doubt, spent more time there than us is Chris, aka Uncle Spidey. He is the mastermind, manager and motivator behind the entire project. One day last week when Olivia and I were checking out the progress at the house, she pointed to the door that Chris "created" last month out of a formerly bare wall. She said "Spidey," recalling one of our first big projects. I told her, yes, Spidey made the door, and he made our new kitchen, too. Thank you Uncle Spidey for working on our house!

After picking up Olivia from GJ's house today (Olivia was playing there while we and other family members were participating in the April Painting Extravaganza) I told her our new house was coming along nicely. I said we had painted and it looked very pretty. Her reply was, "Spidey made it." That's right, Babe, and we can't thank him enough.

ABC...Wowwee!

Olivia half sang, half said the ABC's yesterday -- the whole she-bang. Every letter and even the "now I know my ABC's," verse at the end. She does her best performing when she's not put on the spot (which makes "Olivia, can you count for Grandma?""Olivia, tell Auntie how old you are" really difficult). She was just talking and singing to herself and then she started in on the alphabet song. I let her finish before breaking into raucous applause. This startled her and about sent her through the roof. She came running to me, terrified, of my sudden outburst. Can you blame me?

Home at last!

A thunder storm passed through around midnight last night. It woke Olivia and me, and my mom rushed in to close the windows. Olivia wanted a bottle of course, but was still up a couple times after that within a two-hour span. Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well. Olivia was up and ready to go by 6:45. At nine, I tried to get her to nap, but she didn't sleep - she didn't fuss for a long time, just talked. I finally got her up so she could run around outside before our long day of travel. We left for the airport around 11:15. It took forever to check in and we barely made it on the overbooked plane - thankfully a few people agreed to be "bumped" or else we wouldn't have gotten seats. We boarded a bit late due to the seat shuffle, and then had to wait on the runway for over 30 minutes to wait our turn to take off. The hour-long flight to Atlanta was fine, though a little bumpy - Olivia didn't mind, but I did. She fell asleep just as we were descending so she got about a 15 minute nap. In Atlanta, we got lunch - Pie had yogurt parfait and we ate pizza. Our flight to Minneapolis was very full and Olivia was very restless. She wasn't naughty, but she needed a lot of entertaining. We used several more of the gifts I had brought along for her to unwrap. The only time she cried during the flight was when I went to give her a drink of water from her water bottle, but it "exploded" because of the pressure change. It sprayed all over my mom, who was holding Pie, and even got the lady behind us. Olivia burst into tears because of our startled reaction. We were thrilled that we landed about 5 minutes early, BUT we couldn't get off the plane because our gate was still in use. We ended up sitting on the place for another 20 minutes. Olivia really was a champ, yet again. She was very anxious to see Daddy, who picked us up. He got lots of hugs and kisses from her. He commented on how old she looked! She was super excited when she saw Grandpa, too. We got home just before 8 and I couldn't let her go to bed without a bath. She ate some oatmeal during her bath and went to bed at 8:30 (90 minutes after regular bedtime minus a nap and plus and early wake-up this morning -- whew!) She just woke up during a major coughing fit. I'm hoping she can get a very restful night of sleep. We ALL need it!

Florida - Day 6

Last night wasn't great. Pie got up at 3:15, politely requesting a bottle. I obliged. She went to sleep after not long, but I was awake until at least quarter to 5. My mom was up for several hours during the night, too. I was awakened at 7:30 by a coughing baby - a wet, yucky cough. After hearing it, I expected her voice to be gone, which it was not. After eating breakfast, Olivia and I were going to head to the pool but she couldn't even tolerate getting sunscreen put on. She was fussing and crying about everything. At 9:45 I gave up and put her to bed. My mom babysat the monitor while I went to the mall :) Olivia slept for almost two hours. She was eating lunch when I got home and she was pretty cheerful. She started falling apart again after lunch so again, we put off the pool and put her to bed. She slept for almost and hour and a half while I read outside. When she got up, we played around in the house and outside. Then we went on a walk with Grandma to the ocean and back; then I gave her a quick bath. By dinner at 6:00, she was already falling apart again. She ate hardly anything and even that was WW III. She went to bed at 6:15 and fell asleep right away. Although she had periods of cuteness and cuddles throughout the day, poor Pie just wasn't feel great and was needing a ton of sleep just to hold herself together. I am praying that she has a better day tomorrow, as our travel day starts at 11 and doesn't end until 7. That means naps and bedtime will both be affected, as well as two meals. Would you pray, too, if you have minute, that all goes smoothly?

Florida - Day 5

Olivia slept soundly the whole night. She was up at 7 ready for the day after some cuddles with Mommy. Soon after breakfast (well, 10 a.m.) Great-Grandma dropped us and our gear off at the beach. While GG and G went to church, my mom, O and I spent the morning frolicking in the waves and building sand-structures. I had to ignore the looks from beach-walkers as I worked diligently battling the surf to create a "baby pool" for my toddler, when my toddler was hanging with Grandma 15 yards away. I imagined more than a few people commenting to their companion, "That girl must be like, what - 25? What is she doing building a fort? Weird." We, once again, used a mixing bowl and a measuring cup for sand toys. Olivia and I went in to the ocean and she enjoyed it - it didn't seem too cold and there were certainly other people swimming. Olivia was pretty cheerful during our outing. On the walk back to the house (our chauffeurs were still at church) she fell and skinned her knee which made her a little unhappy, but other than that, she was pretty good-natured. She ate a good lunch during which we discovered she loved cottage cheese! Auntie Nicki knew this months ago, I'm sure. I had just told Evan we should try give it to her sometime, her being the Diary Queen and all, but she hadn't had it until now. We did our usual nap/read outside routine for two hours and then headed for the pool. She spent as much time out of the pool as she did in it. She enjoyed pushing her stroller around, playing on the lounge chairs, and exploring the gardens around the pool, as well as swimming with Mommy. She's getting very good at blowing bubbles, enjoys edging around the pool and being thrown up into the air. Oh yes, panda and bunny were present during this pool visit and provided Pie with much entertainment on the steps of the pool. We left the pool at 4 to get ready for another (early) dinner out. We ate at the Ocean Club to celebrate my Great-Grandma's (early) 80th birthday. The grouper almondine was divine, though Pie's ability to be angelic through another dinner out was not. She spent quite a bit of time on the deck with Grandma. She was obviously exhausted from a day of sand and sun, but I had thought she could last until 6 or so. On the wall home, we pointed out the outlet mall that we had shopped at yesterday. Olivia said "go back there" to which Great-Grandma laughed and said we had our hands full with this one. I told Olivia that we may be able to go shopping there again, but not tonight to which she replied, "want to go shopping!" Even tired girls usually can muster up enough energy to find a good deal, I guess. As soon as we arrived home, I got her ready for bed. She was sleeping by 6:50. Hoping for another good night so we can enjoy our final full day in Florida tomorrow. It has really felt vacation-y. I wish we could stay longer -- and that Evan could join us here, of course. :)

Florida - Day 4

Olivia woke up in a raging fit at 4 a.m. demanding to get into my bed - this is the consequence, I understand, of indulging her requests while she was sick or after she gets up in the morning - but I needed to draw the line at 4 this morning. I told her no and she raged on. Then she demanded a bottle. I decided I could handle that request. She went to sleep right after that and slept until 8. Aside from that episode, which woke my mom, too, the night was very good. When she woke for the day, she didn't feel feverish at all. She ate a decent breakfast and we headed to Silver Sands, the fabulous outlet mall not 10 minutes from here. My mom and I alternated between entertaining Pie and browsing the sale racks. She did pretty well, and enjoyed trying on sneakers at the New Balance store and pushing her stroller down the sidewalk. She seemed like herself with only a few outbursts. Pretty soon we'll be able to tell how many of these outbursts end up being a result of her sickness and how many can be attributed to toddler-ness. When we got home, she ate a lunch of mac and cheese, which she now loves. She's come a long way from hiding her noodles on her lunch tray at Auntie Nicki's only a few months ago to now enjoying this meal (really, who can resist Kraft Mac and Cheese?) She went down easily for her two-hour nap and I chipped away at my Ann Coulter book while sunning myself on the front lawn. The four 'girls' went for a little walk through the neighborhood after her nap. She was disappointed when we walked around the pool instead stopping to swim, but enjoyed the lawn swing and flowers. Great-Grandma made the decision to go out for dinner because she didn't feel like cooking so we ate at Captain Dave's for a five o'clock dinner. I was nervous because of the looming outburst possibility, but Pie was a champ. She happily played on the stairs by our table and looked out the giant windows overlooking the beach until the food came. Then she chowed on bread and butter, crackers, squash, fruit, water and a lemon wedge - I hear this is a balanced dinner :) Since she was in such good spirits when we left at six, my mom and I requested we be dropped off at the Avalon beach on the way home so Olivia could enjoy some play time before bed. She, again, loved the sand and the waves. This time I took care not to let her get drenched by the water. We found a little tide pool for her to play in and collect shells. We took our time walking back from the beach, admiring our favorite front yard decorations - a carved wooded bear, a white wrought iron sheep, and a stucco dolphin above a garage. Oh, the things that amuse a 19-month-old. After a quick sponge bath, Olivia went to right to bed at 7:00. I promised her we could visit the beach and the pool tomorrow so she needs a good night sleep tonight - me, too!

Florida - Day 3

Olivia slept very well last night. She woke once at 1:30 but was easily soothed back to sleep. At 6 this morning, she cried to get up and "get in Mommy's bed!" I put her in there with me and she fell asleep. I tried to gingerly transfer her back to her own bed 20 minutes later, but she woke up and protested loudly. I stuck her back in my bed and we played for a while. At 7:30, I tossed her in her bed with some toys and told her to play while I went back to sleep. Amazingly, she did this for another half hour. At 8, we (she) decided it was time to get up for the day. She ate some oatmeal and fruit. I had given her some Tylenol at 6 and she seemed cooler at breakfast. She was mostly cheerful. She said she wanted to go outside so we put on some SPF and a hat with the intention of playing out in the front yard. She squatted next to a slug, mesmerized for about 10 minutes, going back and forth between being to squeamish to touch and and being way too rough patting it. We started down the sidewalk, Olivia pushing her panda and rabbit in the stroller. I eventually put her in it and we headed in the direction of the beach, which is about a 10 minute walk through my grandparents' gorgeous neighborhood. The walk was pleasant and Olivia was entertained by the various garden decorations and fountains. The temp was about 70 with a slight breeze. I had to call back to the house to get the new code to the beach- I had forgotten that it is a private access beach for the neighborhood. As soon as we stepped off the stairs on the beach, Olivia started squealing. She absolutely LOVED the sand. It is exceptionally soft and fine and white. We made our way to the ocean - I wasn't sure how she'd feel about the waves, but she LOVED the freezing, wavy water, too. She quickly soaked her capri pants (why do I keep thinking she'll just go in up to her ankles?) and so I pulled those off. I had called my mom for her to come down and bring the camera and a few other things. She arrived with G & G and the three of them set up camp on the beach. Olivia wasn't dressed for the ocean and I hadn't put sunscreen on her thinking an hour at the beach. I was feeling like she needed to go inside soon. We played with the bowl and measuring cup my mom had brought from the house - poor man's sand toys, she called them - and played more in the water. Olivia would have tried to swim out to sea if I would have let her. She tried her hand at catching a few sea gulls and managed to keep the sand out of her eyes (and mouth). Around the time I decided we needed to get her inside, she began to fall apart. My mom quickly drove us back and then went back for my grandparents. I gave Olivia a quick shower and tried (unsuccessfully) to get her to each something. She completely protested going down for a nap, which is not normal. She wailed for me to hold her and to lay down on my bed. I let her cry it out since I knew she was just uber-tired and needed to fall asleep. After it had been quiet for a few minutes, I snuck back in to her room only to find her standing up in her pack 'n play, her head laying down on the corner edge, asleep! Poor exhausted baby had fallen asleep standing up (stubbornly refusing to give in and lay down). I wasn't sure if I should wake her and move her, but then the image of her falling back and biting her tongue or something made me decide to lay her down. She woke up and fussed a little but I rubbed her back and she fell asleep. During her two+ hour nap, I burned myself outside while reading "Godless" (I was book shopping in the Bill Bauman library - "Going Rogue" was my second choice :) Olivia woke up completely unhappy. She requested a bottle immediately (unusual) and then said she'd eat peanut butter toast, which she did. She wanted to go back outside, so we sunscreened again and headed to the pool. She enjoyed it again, but needed a little break to calm down when she got a little test with Grandma. The whole day, she was great and normal about 90% of the time, but the other 10% of the time she would completely fall apart. She has much less tolerance for less-than-perfect conditions than she usually does. After the pool, we took another shower. After the shower, she was wiping off the foggy mirror and she accidentally tipped over a cup of water on the counter. She said "uh-oh, spidey-oh!" getting the cute kid phrase mixed up with her Uncle Spidey. I told her he was working on our new house so we could live there. She did pretty well at dinner, but ate mostly Olivia staple foods. She played hide-and-seek (using panda and rabbit) with Grandma and Great-Grandma and then got ready for bed. At bedtime, we prayed for Daddy back at home and she asked about him. I said he was at home with Grandpa in Minnesota. She said "when we go see him?" I told her in a few days. Then she said "say goodnight to him" so we called Evan. Of course, she didn't want much to do with the phone once we got him on, but she did get to her him say goodnight to her. After we hung up with him, she said, "goodnight to Grandpa now" so we called Jim. Again, she wasn't that enthused about the phone, but I wanted to follow up on her request. She went to bed easily and is sleeping soundly. I gave her one more dose of Tylenol before bedtime. If she wakes up cool in the morning, we might be safe being done with the meds. I'm hoping for an even better night tonight.