We have a Scooter!

As of 6.5 months, Baby Mouse has become mobile, at least minimally so. Miss Mouse crawled at 7.75 months, so I hadn't really thought much about the possibility of a mobile baby sooner than that. At the lake last weekend, though, Baby Mouse inched her way, scooting on her rear end, across the hardwood floors in the kitchen. Her movements are almost imperceptible, especially on carpet, but today I was packing some of Miss Mouse's clothes away and noticed that Baby Mouse was several inches from where I sat her! She was after a book. Auntie Steph was the first to see the "scoot" happen at the lake, and she surmised that Baby Mouse was "dancing" (she likes to do that in a sitting position, wiggling her body) and realized that if she "danced" hard enough, she could move. This "scoot" looks rather ridiculous, and we never really thought we'd have a "scooter"; we assumed our children would crawl. That's what civilized babies do, right? :) I guess Baby Mouse has a different plan in mind, and we're proud of her and excited for this new mobility she has found. Welcome to more freedom, Baby Mouse!

As a sidenote - she was also been moved, officially, into her own room today. I'm hoping this transition goes as smoothly as Miss Mouse's did two years ago and is harder on me than on Baby.....I think that is true for so many things....

Toilet Time, Update #XVX

I suppose I haven't updated about the toilet training at our house quite that many times. I thought I should put up one more, I think, final, update (final - yay!). We began wearing cloth training pants with vinyl covers back at Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve service running to the bathroom at church, in fact. Pretty cool and new at that point. A few months and many loads of laundry later, it was wearing a little thin, but I'm a determined cookie. Miss Mouse loved her training pants, and was trying her best, so we decided to stick it out. I say "we" because there were days where I called Mr. T at noon in near-tears after our third accident of the morning for his opinion which was always "she thinks diapers are for babies, right? well, she's trained psychologically, now her body just has to catch up". Right he was. As I got trained in patience, because I refused to shame her when we had accidents, she progressed in being trained for the toilet. With no forcing on our part, aside from giving her a sticker every time she went on the potty before having an accident, Miss Mouse trained herself by Memorial Day and was ready to wear "little girl panties" just in time for summer! There are still accidents from time to time; I'm not sure our high chair or couch or loveseat will ever be the same. Especially during fits, we have to be aware that there could be some waterworks from all directions. However, she is trained; she is proud; and that is what counts. Way to go, Miss Mouse.

As a sidenote, we carry a potty-chair in the car for emergencies. With the long trips we make and the fact that both sets of grandparents live rather far away from cities and towns, there is no guarantee that we will be able to find a bathroom when "nature calls". Hence, the chair that used to be in the bathroom at home now rides around on the floor in the vehicle. It's very handy, but it has to be cleaned immediately after trips where it has been used. The other day we had to use it on the way to get our hair done (yes, Miss Mouse has her bangs trimmed when I get mine done - she loves it), so when we got back, I set it out in on the driveway, filled it full of water, and let it sit a bit to clean. I then realized it would be in the way of Mr. T.'s car, so I moved it onto the grass by our driveway. And....there it sat, and sat, and sat. One would think it would have been an eyesore to me, but I guess I was paying more attention to getting ready for stroller rides, tricycle rides, slathering on sunscreen, putting on bonnets, filling extra water glasses, putting blankets in the stroller, tucking everyone into their bug nets, etc., etc. than cleaning the potty chair. Finally, I think after several days, Mr T. asked me to do him a favor yesterday. I agreed, of course, and was horrified when he asked me to please move the toilet off the front lawn. Oops. I tried to weasel my way out of the predicament by pointing out that it had to be cleaned. His only response was "there is a toilet on my lawn" with a rather sheepish look on his face. Ugh. I'm so embarrassed. The toilet was quickly removed.

Bare Feet

All four of us attended a wedding last night. All four of us. Together. In one pew. Sitting as a family. That's quite the treat for a family who usually proudly sees Daddy "way way up front". We were welcomed into a pew with a nice family Mr. T knows fairly well, but we were seated on the inside of the pew. No graceful exits!

Right as the bridal party was ready to walk in, Miss Mouse leaned over to Mr. T and said "I need to go potty". "So does the groom" responded her father as he watched the happy but nervous groom waiting alone in the front of the church. Thankfully, Miss Mouse was happy to have him go with her for the honors of bathroom duty because I was stuck in my spot under a blanket, a baby, and part of a carseat.

Did I mention it was hot with a 71-degree dew point?

The wedding was beautiful, a wonderful worship service. During the sermon, the grandson of the family with whom we were sitting came to sit on his grandma's lap by me and Baby Mouse. He was a friendly little guy who wanted nothing more than to give Baby Mouse a big hug. We kept them apart so that no teething-spit was traded and no hair got pulled. The babies were getting along splendidly until our own Baby Mouse decided to let out a squeal. It was not an all-out-get-me-out-of-here scream, but it was a little bit of a fussy squeal. Well, she terrified that poor little boy so badly his mom had to run him out of the sanctuary. We could hear his sobs in the hallway! I felt really bad for him (and his poor mommy!), but I have a suspicion that Mr. T was sort of happy to see his baby girl scaring boys away already.....

Toward the end of the sermon, Baby Mouse made it known that she preferred me to stand up with her. Since that wasn't really possible in our pew, I made the "excuse me, pardon me, excuse me" trip over four people and out of the sanctuary. We stood in the hallway for the rest of the sermon, the exchange of vows and rings, and then we headed back into the sanctuary (right behind poor little scaredy cat and his mom) for Communion. Not until our party of four was headed down the aisle did I look down and realize that the eldest Mouse was not wearing shoes. Aaaahhhhhh! Leave her with Daddy for five minutes.....

Actually, I was sort of touched by our little Miss Mouse. Seeing her prance up the aisle, barefoot, got me thinking that maybe that's the way we should all approach the bread and wine. Rather than checking to see who's sitting in front of us, what so-and-so is wearing today, whether he's with her again, wondering whether we should sing along with the background music, trying to remember whether the pastor announced it is intinction or not, or thinking about all the reasons we don't deserve to be walking forward for the Meal, maybe we should just hop along, barefoot, trusting that there is something great at the front of the church and that Jesus loves us and that this sacrament is important and good for us. On the way to the wedding reception, Miss Mouse announced "God likes me" and "God really loves me" - I suppose that's the message intended in the bread and wine.

Now if she comes down with some sort of foot infection......

Third Time's a Charm!

Yesterday afternoon a friend of mine and I finally connected on the phone after about a week (that's a long time for us!). About three minutes into the conversation, I heard a crash in the living room. I had been putting Baby Mouse's clothes away, making trips to and from the living room. Neither girl was napping. What could that crash have been??

I ran to check it out. From the looks of things, it appeared that Miss Mouse had been messing with the aloe vera plant and tipped it off the plant stand. I remained calm (part of my new "less-Type-A-so-that-the-girls-aren't-crazy-parenting-method) but sent her to her room to play for a semi-time-out. I went about the process of cleaning up the mess. First comes the little vacuum to get the main mess out of the carpet. Next, the big guy comes out to make sure there are no remnants that could cause stains or sneezes. Good job, mess cleaned up.

Think again. I decided to water the plants while I was thinking of it. Bad idea. I happened to bump the newly-replanted aloe vera and tipped it over myself this time. Both vacuums came back out. Good job, mess cleaned up.

The next brilliant idea was that I should move my fern plant which appears to be drying up and withering to an area where it will get less sunlight. As I moved the fern plant, I again bumped the aloe vera, spilling the entire contents of the pot a third time!! By this point, even Baby Mouse seemed amused as she watched me from her spot on the floor. I'm pretty sure she was silently laughing as I drug out both vacuums again.

Miss Mouse had come out of her room at some point in this disaster, so I asked if she had tipped the plant on purpose or just bumped it. She doesn't yet have the concept of lying to protect herself (though I'm sure it won't be long before she figures out that "trick"), so I believed her completely when she answered "just bumped it". I certainly didn't set out to tip it twice myself, either! Good grief. After closer examination, I now see that the screws are stripped on that platform of the plant stand, allowing the platform to just flop back and forth.

I'm starting a Santa list: new plant stand.

Roll On, Baby Mouse!

After posting last night, Baby Mouse decided to prove me wrong in the "she doesn't roll yet" category. She held onto my arm last night and rolled herself on over! I didn't pull or anything, just let her do all the work so that it would totally "count" as having rolled over. Way to go, Baby Mouse!

In other accomplishments, Miss Mouse is counting quite nicely to five in French. I've sort of played around with French words, mainly counting, since she was teeny-tiny, but I wasn't really sure whether it would make any difference or not. I know lots of kids learn Spanish from Dora, but I'm nowhere near as proficient in French as the little cartoon gal is in Spanish. Apparently, it doesn't take a flawless accent for a little one to pick up bits and pieces of a new language! Whoo-hoo! She's also been interested in the French flashcards we got her for Christmas finally....I tend to buy presents about six months too early, but at least she usually gets interested in them at some point!

Baby Mouse is still working on her teeth with no progress, but she is about the happiest little critter I ever have seen these days! She's easily distractable and just generally so completely pleasant and smiley. She looks so much like her Grandpa Bob when she's serious and so much like her Great Grandpa Don (on my side - she had a Great Grandpa Don on her Daddy's side, as well!) and Great Great Auntie Elsie when she rolls over and gives a huge, chubby-cheeked grin. Such a fun girl!

Recovered!

It has been a wild two weeks at our place! Two weeks ago yesterday, just short of 2.5 years, Miss Mouse puked for the first time. Ick. What a milestone. Mr. T was out in the kitchen with her feeding her a bedtime snack while I fed Baby Mouse her bedtime snack. He cleaned up the child while I cleaned up the floor, and the walls, and the chairs, and the highchair....ugh. Poor thing got a really high fever right away then and was sick with that for 36 hours. I got it the next day, the fever (104.8 for both of us) minus the stomach trouble. As soon as we recovered from our bouts with the flu, Miss Mouse and I both came down with colds. Ugh! On the bright side, it has been almost a year since we were sick with anything - colds, flus, etc. Hopefully we will have made it through a nasty bug and are good for another year....

After recovering from our colds, we ventured to the farm for one last summer trip up north. Another pastor at the church where Mr. T serves rode with us since her parents live fairly close to mine. The girls did great, other than a short (at the time it seemed endless) 45-minute-gas-episode on the part of Baby Mouse. After that episode, she slept the entire way home. The same thing was true for the ride home, minus the gas episode. Baby Mouse needed constant distraction for the last hour of the trip, but we made it to the farm in 9 hours and made it back in 8 - pretty good times for two little Mice!!

In other accomplishments (I'm really trying to use this as a baby book of sorts), Baby Mouse is getting to be a pretty good sitter, though she still doesn't roll yet. Miss Mouse sang herself the entire first two verses of Jesus Loves Me today at lunch; we have a lot, lot, lot of seranading going on these days. Baby Mouse really loves her Snugli front pack, so we spend quite a bit of time with Miss Mouse on her parent-controlled-trike and Baby Mouse in the front pack. Baby Mouse now likes the jogging stroller, so that gives us another option, as well. She is currently getting her bottom two middle teeth, leading us to need lots of distraction.

We finally seem to have summer here which will be enjoyable as long as we don't stay in these high 80 and 90 degree temps too long; I'm too much of a Northern girl to take an 80 degree house for too long (thank goodness for central air, but with our West window, it can only do so much. Enjoy summer!

Eight Days and Counting

It has been eight days since our last 45-minute tantrum! Last Thursday, Mr. T and I decided that we had to slow life down a bit. Not that we aren't going to do fun things or go places (we have two more weddings left this summer and a couple more sidetrips - to the farm and to the lake), but we felt that we had to stop pushing her all the time. This has been very difficult for two Type A personalities who like to get things done and done now.

Until we had Baby Mouse and until Miss Mouse turned two, I was really, really good at being slow and patient. We almost always went at the pace Miss Mouse set; if she wanted to stop and look at a flower, re-examine her shoes, etc., we did it. I didn't do the whole: "don't you want to do x-y-z? well then come on! come on! hurry up! one....two....". I didn't do it very often, anyway. If I knew we needed to be somewhere at a certain time, I left with plenty of time (plenty, plenty) for unexpected delays. It was important to me not to constantly rush her, just like it has been important to me that I let her get wet, muddy, rained on, snowed on - experience life in many ways instead of having to stay clean, dry, prim, and proper. I think that is part of how little ones learn about the world.

Lately, though, with Baby Mouse being such a fussbutton for her first four months, I had gotten very rushed. We hurried here so that Baby Mouse would stop crying and hurried there so that she would perhaps be able to nap. I ran us at a frantic pace in hopes of avoiding the sobs of poor Baby Mouse.

Couple that frantic everyday pace with an equally frantic-paced summer schedule, and we can see in hindsight that we've been heading for disaster. A toddler can't handle that. So we've loosened up considerably this past week and have been reaping the rewards. I've handled many-a-normal-toddler-fit, but avoiding the out-of-control ones has been wonderful. We try not to schedule things so back-to-back that we have to push her timeline really hard. That way when we have to do it every now and then, it isn't such a big deal. We've had her biking around the block and up and down the street like crazy (with one of us holding the parent handle bar behind the trike) to increase the happy hormones in her brain. Thankfully, Baby Mouse is a lot less fussy on a day-to-day basis now, so I don't feel as pressured and can let a lot of the pressure off as far as "you have to do this quickly so I can get to Baby Mouse and stop her crying". Some of that is fine, as is some of the rushing around, but things had just gotten to the melting point this summer.

So, we're happy to report that, for the most part, we have our little Miss Mouse back! And I have to believe she is glad to be back!