Nashville Glewwe Kids

How to put Megan in a Crisis:
- Have two duck towels, one white and one yellow
- Go to get children out of bath; announce “I need my yellow duck first.” Announce several times, making clear that the first child out will get the yellow towel.
- Be ignored, be very ignored.
- Pick up the little brother from the tub; wrap him in said yellow towel.
- Let screaming begin.
- While girl-child is still screaming, wrap her in the white towel and deliver two ducks to one bedroom.

How the crisis might resolve itself:
- Leave two ducks in one bedroom; retreat to another to get lotion and other post-bath supplies.
- Hear girl child announce to boy child “We’re going to trade towels”
- Know that boy child couldn’t care less.
- Return to room to hear girl-child say “Michael and I decided to trade towels.”
- Inwardly roll eyes.

Sandra brought the kids by for a doughnut break with Daddy. Megan gobbled her chocolate iced Krispy Kreme while Michael sat in my lap nibbling at a regular. After hands and faces were cleaned, Michael started walking. He visited Don’s cube (even though he wasn’t there). Then Sandra sent him around the corner to visit Aaron. He shot back out once he realized the cubicle had a person in it. Aaron rolled out with a singing ball and rolled it to Michael. Michael was delighted! He picked up the ball, wandered around with it, dropped it, got it, and generally had a great time. Someone would roll it back to Aaron, and he would roll it back to Michael. Aaron pulled out his other one to roll to Megan. She sat on the floor, legs spread as we do for music class ball rolling, and rolled it back and forth with Aaron having a great time. When it was time to go, Megan rolled the ball back to Aaron and got up (no fuss). Michael walked over and put the other ball in Aaron’s hand (no fuss). Michael walked with me to the elevator, walked on by himself, and rode to the first floor standing on his own; this was his first “solo” ride without holding a hand. I think we liked it.

Sandra baked cookies for my office this morning. She thought “two birds/one stone” so she brought the kids to have lunch with me and deliver cookies. One of the kids fell asleep in his carseat on the way, so Megan got lunch with me all to herself. I doubt she could have been more delighted. She came walking into the building carrying a small paper shopping bag with handles with cup, bib and rubbermaid full of cookies. She remarked on the way in “This is heavy.” However, she said “No.” immediately when I offered to carry it. We went through the line and she selected grilled cheese with tater tots to my chicken salad wrap. We shared the tots and had an ice cream sandwich for dessert. She got to talk with several of my co-workers, but in classic style, she clammed up mostly unless she was asked a direct question. She told several people when they asked that her brother was asleep in the car. Sleepy, sleepy Michael. We chatted while we ate, and she revealed that she had done nothing all morning (clearly this is foreshadowing of dinner scenes to come: “What did you do at school today?” “Nothing” “Then why do we send you there?”) In reality, the highlight of her morning might have been watching Backyardigans with Michael while Sandra baked. Michael has a propensity to change the channel on the TV with the front panel buttons. Megan complains to Mama. Mama uses the remote to bring the “guys” back. This morning Sandra decided to teach Megan to fish. She handed her the remote and instructed her to push the yellow button if Michael changed the channel. Megan poised her finger above the yellow button and waited eagerly. When Michael didn’t perform right away, she prompted him “Michael change the channel.” I don’t know if he ever complied.

I’ve been a bit remiss in adding the Dad side of the blog. Sorry about that. Last night was a blissful night of sleep for all four of us, and after the last two bleary-eyed nights, it was a Godsend.  Sunday night, I enjoyed way too much of a SciFi mini-series The Lost Room as Michael slept on my chest. I finally got him into his crib about 12:15am, finished up a few things and crawled into bed waking Sandra. She used the bathroom, and he woke up. She threw herself on the 2nd grenade and took him to the living room. The poor little guy was feverish and congested, so we certainly empathized with his discomfort and inability to sleep in his crib. We were worried enough about the fever not breaking, fast heartbeat, breathing trouble and congestion that we whisked him off to the doctor as soon as they opened. Monday night Sandra stayed with him in the recliner all night leading to her zombie-like state Tuesday at 7am. Well, Tuesday night came around and Michael was in bed by 8:15. Megan was in bed but still awake. She came out a few times and finally laid down in her bed with me next to her. Sandra fell into a deep slumber, and I finished up a few things around the house. I soon followed Sandra into dreamland, and I didn’t wake until about 5:10am when I noticed Michael’s video monitor was on a television station. We switched it back, and he had hardly moved since I lay him down. I went in to check on him, and he was just fine. Back to sleep for Sandra. I tried, but ended up getting up to edit Backyardigans episodes and get to work early. What a relief to have him sleep! Can we go for a double header?

We’ve been thinking Michael was saying “bye” to people (especially my parents), but all doubts were erased a minute ago. Michael and I were leaving Megan’s room so she could nap, and I asked him to tell her “bye.” He paused in his walking, looked over at her, waved “bye” (which looks like he’s waving at himself, but that’s okay!) and said “Bye.” Too cool!!!

Megan received a bird feeder for Christmas, and it has become a great delight and source of entertainment for all of us. Grant hung it on a tree just outside our front windows, about 4 feet from the ground. Megan’s Aunt Diane had promised her that it would take 3 or 4 days for the birds to find the feeder and start visiting, and they arrived right on schedule. I’ll try to get pictures of some of our little visitors up soon, but they have been a treat for us to watch every day! Grant finally had to go buy more birdseed; the last cold snap here about knocked out the supply.

Nashville weather is crazy, but it’s allowed us a few beautiful days this week! We’ve done our best to take advantage of the sunshine and above-freezing temperatures.

On Monday, we made a few phone calls and headed out to the zoo to meet two of my sisters, one cousin, two aunts, and one second-cousin. Most of our party of 9 got there when the zoo opened, and we enjoyed walking through and visiting with the animals. We left the zoo just before noon and headed for lunch at nearby Cracker Barrel, and the 3 of us ended up not getting home until almost 2:00! We took a brief break to allow Megan a nap, then headed out to catch a little more fresh air at Radnor Lake. We picked up Grant for this adventure. The sun was setting (silly Winter!) by this time, but we all had a nice walk near the lake and even got to see some deer!

On Tuesday, the forecast called for rain. I planned with Tobi for a trip to Pump It Up, and we went for just over an hour in the morning. When we left, the sun was still shining, so we ccame home and ate lunch on the deck. Since it STILL wasn’t raining when lunch was done, I delayed nap again and sent Tobi and Megan to play in the back yard while I cleaned up a bit. All in all, Megan has had two great days in the sun!

Poor Michael. He’s had a rough time of it lately. He was congested for a LONG time, and one of the more recent doctor visits revealed some wheezing on one side. We started him on some breathing treatments using Albuterol, and they helped him. We returned to the doctor for a recheck at the end of last week, and the wheezing was gone. But somewhere along the way, he stopped pooping. They got more and more difficult, and then nothing at all for 3 days. And then what was coming out was with huge amounts of effort and it just seemed things weren’t right. So we called the doctor and, after discussing poop in GREAT detail, she suggested an enema for the boy.
Yesterday, we bought the pediatric enema and brought it home. Tobi came over to help us out. We put the child through the called for torture, then let things happen as they would. And they did, bless his heart. So then we waited to see if it did the trick and took care of him. And it did! Here we are, less than 24 hours later, and the boy has produced 3 healthy poopies for the day! Woo hoo! Maybe we will NEVER have to do that again! Is there a patron saint for such things?

Our little Michael is now walking more and more each day! He was getting a little greater distance each try while in Maryland, and at BWI, he would cover 15 feet or more without problem. As of yesterday, though, he made what I consider to be the greatest leap in ability: he can now stand up on his own in the middle of the floor! Believe you me, he gets plenty of chances to practice, too. Not only does he fall over on his own, but he has a sister who grabs him for dancing and will sometimes just run past him jsut close enough to knock his little self over. Bless his heart, he’s doing great! Hopefully we can put video or pics of the moving boy up soon for your viewing pleasure.

This year, I made an advent calendar for Megan. Each night before I go to bed, I put in the next day’s treat. Each morning, Megan goes to the calendar with prompting from us regarding what numbers to look for, and she gets great joy from finding the treat for the day. Tradition states that I make the calendar and my mom fills it, and this works out well for me! It also works out well for Megan, who gets more sweets than she might if her parents filled it. Anyway, it’s been great for Megan to get daily treats (stickers and toys as well as goodies, I promise), and we love how good she’s getting at looking for numbers. But now, advent is over. What is next? No really, what?