Pink Eye and time with grandparents

Last Thursday morning I commented to Mike that Mia must have really been rubbing her eyes because they were really red. Her allergies had been acting up all week, so we thought nothing of it. Later that day, her teachers called and said they thought she had pink eye. Mike picked her up and took her to the doctor. Sure enough, pink eye. Friday morning I woke up to crusty, watery, burning eyes. I stayed home with Mia and called my doctor. Pink eye. Although I hated the conditions, it was wonderful to stay home with my girl all day. She'd had a rough week and I think some mommy-daughter time was beneficial to us both. Mike had a super busy day at the store, with a warehouse sale going on that night. He desperately needed my help, so I eventually had to go up there with Mia to help him steam new clothes and watch the store while he took over inventory. I ended up calling Mom and Bruce to come get Mia so I could help at the sale. It was a long, tiring night for us and their help with Mia really allowed us to focus our attention on taking care of the store. I don't know what we would do without the help of our parents.

On Saturday I took Mia up to the store for some daddy time. We were both feeling much better and hung out as a family all afternoon. On Sunday Mia and I hung out most of the day. Mike and I watched the UofL game later that night, so Mia hung out with her Mamaw and Papaw Robbins. When I arrived, they had made cookies and brownies, which Mia was very happy to sample!! Mia loves spending time with Mamaw and Papaw! ;-)

Yesterday Mia was back at daycare and did very well. Mike picked her up early so we aren't sure how she'll react to look-alike mom. I spoke to the doctor about it after Carol commented that Mia seemed to think Aunt Lynn's boyfriend was Bruce, loving on him and wanting to play with him like she does her Grampy. The doctor said Mia has gone through a lot of change in a short amount of time. They also noted that she's a very affectionate child anyway. She may be simply expecting people who look like her Mommy or her Grampy to be as loving toward her as we are, then she gets her feelings hurt when they aren't. But they said it should ease over time and not to worry ourselves about it.

Tonight Mia is with her Nana and Papa Wilson. I am heading up a two-day event at work this week and will be working long hours. They kept Mia tonight so I could set up and get there extra early tomorrow. She talked to me the entire way to Dad's this morning. She was so bubbly and cheerful. Then, as soon as Dad opened the front door to walk outside, Mia saw him and began kicking her feet, pointing at him and pulling forward in her carseat to get out. I love how excited she gets to see all her grandparents. Not many girls are so lucky as to have three sets of grandparents who love her and play with her so much. Dad said they played outside with bubbles tonight, so he got to hear her say "bubba".

Mia has also learned "ball". She will point out any and every ball she sees, noticing even the boys playing ball in the court behind our house! She can't say "feet", but she will point to her feet when asked, always taking the time to pull off her socks to show me. She then tries to put her socks back on, basically shoving them between her toes. One of her new favorite sayings is "uh oh", as in, she will drop something on the floor for Mommy to pick up, and she will laugh and say "uh oh!" Mia is also getting one of her top left molars. She's not had as much of an appetite and I think that may be why. 

Mike will be off this weekend and we look forward to spending a lot of time with our girl.

Difficult adjustment

It's taking awhile for Mia to adjust to her new room. On Monday she cried again when the look-alike mom came to pick up her baby. She didn't cry for as long this time, but it was still upsetting to her. On Tuesday she cried off and on all day and refused to eat lunch. Today when Mike watched her online, she kept going off by herself to play, not really interacting with the other kids. She didn't eat lunch again and cried uncontrollably when he picked her up. Each night she's fine once we get home, eating well, playing, and talking like normal. 

Her new teachers are really trying to take care of her. They've brought some of her previous teachers into the room to help her adjust. When she goes off by herself to play, the teachers try to bring her back into the group. I really just think she's overwhelmed by the change. Everything is unfamiliar and much more fast-paced. She's sleeping on a cot, sitting at a chair, going outside to play on a playground, doing artwork, and running back and forth across a big room all day with kids who are attempting to make baby conversation with her. I honestly think she's just worn out, and since she can't express that to us verbally, she cries in relief when we pick her up. 

I can tell the new room is beneficial for her developmentally though. Her walking has improved significantly over the past week and she's talking up a storm in more animated ways (she has started saying "bubba" when pointing to the bubbles in the tub). She is being stimulated and challenged much more than she was in the baby rooms. She's definitely becoming more adventurous. For example, she's discovered that the toilet contains water, and Mia likes to drink water. Yesterday Mike didn't reach her before she stuck her hand down into the toilet, then sucked the water off her hand. Oh yeah...priceless. She's becoming curious about how her diaper fastens too. I've caught her pulling on the tabs, so it's just a matter of time before she's pulling off a dirty diaper and flinging that around the room. Can't wait!

In response to her more active days I've made it a point to do more quiet playing when we get home. I've taken her for walks each night to help her relax before bedtime. Every night she has fallen asleep before we've gotten home, obviously exhausted. It's hard to see her get so upset when we pick her up, but we'll hang in there because we really are confident this is the best place for her.

Mistaken Identity

Yesterday Mike's parents stopped by to see Mia. While they were here, Carol asked if Mike had told me about what happened at daycare on Friday. He hadn't, so Carol said that when she picked Mia up on Friday, she wasn't in her new room. One of the teachers at the front was holding her and Mia was very upset. The teacher told her that something had happened. Mia was in her new room for all but the first hour on Friday. They said things had gone really well until one of the moms came to pick up her child. Apparently she has long blond hair and resembles me. When Mia saw her, they said she lit up and ran over to her and started loving on her, thinking she was me. The mom was hugging on her own child, but Mia kept holding onto her legs, trying to get her attention. They said the mom was very sweet to her, even picking her up and saying hi to her, but she was there to pick up her own baby. Eventually she had to gather up her child and take her home. Mia, thinking she was me, did not understand why I was leaving her and taking some other baby. She kept holding onto the lady, and started to cry. When that mom left, Mia became inconsolable. Her new teachers loved on her but couldn't get her to stop crying. Since they are still new to her, they took Mia back to her old room, with teachers that are familiar and comforting to her. She still would not stop sobbing. She thought her mommy had left without her. Luckily Carol arrived not too long after that, but it breaks my heart to think she believed I'd left without her, and I started crying as Carol told me that. 

I am so glad I'm not the one to drop Mia off in the mornings because I think that would be the end of me. As a child, I cried and cried when Mom left me to go to work in the morning. I vividly remember several times when I panicked as she left, wondering if she would come back to get me. I always thought something bad would happen to her before I saw her again, and she wouldn't be able to make it back. I had anxiety about that even into kindergarten and first grade, so I have clear memories of many times when Mom finally had to leave me crying so she could get to work. As a mother myself now, I realize how awful that must have been for her, leaving such a terrified child. As a child who experienced it, I'm not sure I'll be able to leave Mia if she has the same level of anxiety I had myself. 

Sweet little girl

Well Miss Mia is a walking machine and we are having trouble keeping up with her. We can't take our eyes off her for a second or we'll find her laying on top of the dogs, heading for the toilet, looking in garbage cans...basically every gross nightmare we've had as parents. Her balance has improved significantly, but she still gets going so fast that she can't always control her direction. It's like watching a drunk sometimes, bouncing off the couch and stumbling into walls! 

Transition at daycare is now complete. This week will be her first full week in her new room. It's such a different atmosphere than her baby rooms. There is a lot of energy, the kids run back and forth, the ones a few months older call each other by their names, and there isn't much sitting on the floor. There are little toddler tables and chairs and all meals and activities are done at the tables. Their room opens onto the big kid playground. There is a separate toddler playground, but they get to look out the wall of windows and get plenty of sunshine all day. There is a schedule posted each week letting us know the theme and activities each day. It tells what they'll be doing for art, song, book, senses (like blowing bubbles or playing with scarves), etc. Her teachers seem very nice and I really feel comfortable with the move. If I can't be with her all day myself, at least she's somewhere fun, energetic and educational.

Mia really seems to be thriving these days, and she's done some really cute things that have taken us by surprise. The other night I was putting laundry away in her room and she was walking circles around the room. I hung up her outfit for the next day on a drawer knob, and Mia decided she wanted to carry the outfit. She grabbed it by the hanger and swung it over her shoulder, then proceeded to continue her journey around the room. After awhile she decided to read some books, but still held tightly to her hanger. She next wanted to play with her shoes. Again, she never let go of her hanger. By this time I was sitting in the glider watching her. She finally got tired of holding her outfit so she held it out to me.  I took it from her, laying it across my lap. Well, apparently she did not intend for me to be so lazy as to lay it across my lap. She just looked at me for a minute, then picked the outfit up by the hanger. She grabbed my hand off my lap, pulled it over to the hanger, and proceeded to wrap my fingers around the hanger. Once she was satisfied I would hold the outfit properly, she continued playing. 

Yesterday another cute moment occurred when Mike and I were in her playroom with her. We were laying next to each other on the floor on our stomachs, and she picked up that we were both laying the same way. She crawled in between us, rolled over onto her stomach and laid just like we were. It was really sweet!

Picasso in the making

My baby girl is growing up! Mia started transitioning to her new room at daycare yesterday. She was there for one hour yesterday, two hours today. She is now sleeping on a cot at nap time instead of in a crib. Today she was there long enough to have art class. When opened her drawer this afternoon, I found her first piece of artwork - a coloring book picture of a leprechaun hat onto which she had glued pieces of green tissue paper. It took me so much by surprise that my eyes filled with tears. How could my baby already be at the point where she can produce artwork, no matter how much help she had? As I stood there trying to picture my little baby Mia sitting at a toddler table doing art, she came walking down the hall from another classroom. Seeing her walking so steadily and with such confidence made my heart race even more. My little baby is almost gone! In her place is this toothy, self-assured toddler. Believe me, I am crazy about this little girl. She gets more and more fun every day, and I love watching her personality and skills develop so quickly. But I also realize that these years will fly by, and I must treasure every single day with her. So the milestones mean that much more to me, and I take the time to allow my heart to feel the significance of every moment, even if they bring a little sadness with all the joy.

Oh What a Night!

Miss Mia DID NOT sleep well last night. She was up at 10:00. Then again at 11:30. Then at 12:15. Then at 1:45. And that time, when I walked in, she was standing up, excitedly bouncing up and down, happy to see Mommy and Daddy came to play with her. Mike picked her up to put her in bed with us, because that would allow us to go back to sleep. Fitful sleep, because that girl sprawls all over the bed, but sleep nonetheless. But I said no. I'm not about to start putting her in bed with us every time she has a rough night. At this point we're already doing that when she wakes up early, especially on weekends. I'm not going to start doing it at night also, then have her in my bed full time by the time she's 2. Mama needs rest (not to mention Daddy time), and my bed just isn't big enough for 3. 

So I started the process of laying her down, giving her the paci, having her roll over, push up to standing, then cry until I picked her up. We did that for about 15 minutes, when I had enough. I let her stand there, but I opted to sit in the glider next to her bed. Once she realized I wasn't leaving, she sat down and started to play with her doll. For the next hour and a half I sat there, watching her play. If I tried to leave she had a melt-down. Not the kind where she'd cry for 10 minutes and then fall asleep. I know the difference by now. This was an "I want to play and I want you here with me" situation. Don't know why she was so wide awake in the middle of the night, but she was.

Finally at about 4:00 she fell asleep. That was it for the night, but it was exhausting. She was so tired by the time bedtime rolled around tonight. I sure hope we don't have a repeat. 

Walking

Mia is walking most of the time now. She can make it across entire rooms, pivot and walk back. She walked almost the entire length of the store on Thursday. She still falls onto her bottom, but she'll get back up and walk some more. It's quickly become very evident that we need to step up our baby proofing. It's amazing how quickly she takes off now. She was a fast crawler, but I could hear her crawling and catch her before she made it to another room. She's a silent walker, and she is gone before I even realize it! It's pretty scary. She's also taken great interest in door knobs, and is attempting to turn them. At daycare they said she's figuring out the locks, so I will have to get door knob covers for our knobs. I can just envision her opening the front door and heading outside!