It's the little things

With Melanie, we are watching her grow and develop in slow motion. With Julie, she just did things so fast and you never really thought about what all went into accomplishing every milestone. 

Melanie has been fun today, we have been working on stacking blocks, and I was sitting there just stacking them while saying on, and she would take them off, and I would say off. Eventually she started to stack them herself. This activity before never lasted very long because she just wanted to do something else. We did this for a while and then Julie came over and started stacking blocks up high, and Melanie is really getting into playing and interacting more with Julie and others. Melanie would grab a block and hand it to Julie, and Julie would grab the block and tell Melanie thank you and stack it on top of her other blocks. And Melanie would hand her another block. It was so fun to watch, in the process of grabbing blocks she grabbed a glow seahorse and also handed that to Julie. So fun to watch them interact more together. So, now Melanie is putting objects in and taking them out of a container, stacking, and she is using and understanding more words. She does a lot of other things to, just hard to update this as often as I should, so these are the newest accomplishments right now.

The two words she uses right now are "go", which she understands and uses all the time, and "Dad", her newest word. He came home from work today and when he walked in Melanie instantly said, "Dad" when she saw him. And Melanie is a Daddy's girl, especially at nights lately when she wakes up, she will look at the door wanting Daddy if I am in the room with her putting her back to bed. So, if she doesn't settle right down, Rob will come in and if she won't drink her milk with me, she will drink it all down if Rob is holding her.

Just before bedtime, Julie got upset saying, "Melanie ruined it", and I told her to come over and show me. She brought a paper over to me that was wet and had a hole in it from the wet paper being rubbed. She didn't yell or get mad a Melanie as she usually would do, but came and talked to me.

Melanie - 25 months

Melanie has been vocalizing a lot more lately. We can say, Ready, Set, and she will say "Go". It is so cute. She has a noise machine in her room that has a projector on it that displays animals on the ceiling, and some nights when she wakes up I turn it on and sit in the chair with her. As each animal shows up, I will say, "What's That?", and then I will say the animal. She makes the sound of the elephant when we get to that one, but she will also say, "What zat" really quickly after I say it. We also are starting a "It Takes Two to Talk" program, it is through the Up to 3 program so it goes along with our monthly visits. It is an 8 week course, with video recordings of me and Melanie interacting. It will be every Wednesday morning for about 2 hours. It should be good, we had orientation this last Wednesday and the course starts the beginning of April. So excited to hear her talk more. 

Started sitting her on the potty a few times a day and she is awesome. She usually goes poop twice a day and has basically got something out every time we sit her on the potty. I sign "potty" while asking if she needs to go, and you can see her trying. We joke that she will be potty trained before Julie. We will see how it goes, kind of held off today since she was whining a little yesterday when I would put her on their.

She is better at sleeping at night now, only occasionally waking up.

Doing better at walking, she prefers to walk with us holding her hands. She is not too fond of the walker right now, gets frustrated and mad if she tips a little or falls. She has also been flinging herself backward again, not really when walking, but when we are holding her, or she is sitting on the floor. Very intentional. 

 Playing in Julie's fort.

 Loves her bath time, whenever the bathroom door is open she quickly makes her way in there and heads straight for the tub. We usually have the door shut, but sometimes we forget. Even if it is open just a crack, she knows.

 Rob was in Ohio for a week, and the night he came home, he came in when she woke up in the middle of the night, and then I put her down. She woke up again and just cried and cried, she kept looking at the door. So, I said, "Do you want to go see Daddy?", she stopped crying and said "uh, huh". I asked again and she said the same thing, so I took her in. She just snuggled next to him and was so happy. Wrapped her arms around his neck and rubbed his head. Sweetest thing ever. She missed her Daddy.

 She seems to always be in the kitchen these days, and so I will feed her food while we sit on the floor.

 Playing together, this doesn't happen to often, but love it when Julie plays well with Melanie and tries to make her laugh.

 Melanie found a pillow, she just stayed there and laid her head down.

 She has moved up a drawer now in the kitchen, my kitchen floor is always a mess. She has so much fun going through my drawers.

 I put the BIG dog in the front room, and he is so soft and cuddly, the kids just climbed all over him. Julie just laid there and rested, I think she was tired.

 She has moved up to the highest drawer in her bedroom. Clothes everywhere.

 Quietly playing after breakfast, Julie doing puzzles that she is loving and doing really well by herself now, and Melanie reading a book or rather flipping through a book. She loves to look at books.

 Another new thing, we found her on the couch the other day. Got up there all by herself and was so proud when we saw her.

 Went to the Library to return some books and get some new ones. I got both kids out and Julie was standing next to the stroller and I strapped Melanie in. I locked the car door, and closed the automatic closing door. I was picking up the library bag I had set on the ground when I heard Julie kind of frantically yelling, I turn and look right as Melanie's 4 fingers get closed in the door. (I think Julie saw what was happening and actually tried to pull Melanie's finger away). I knew I had locked the car but tried opening it anyway. Then in a state of panic, I set my purse down frantically grabbed my keys to open the door. Both kids are screaming at the top of their lungs, one in pain, and the other just scared. I hurried and unbuckled Melanie and strapped her back into the car. I look through the window and see Officer Hawkes walking into the building looking this way, probably wondering if he needed to come see what was going on. He didn't, I turn to Julie and try to calm her down and ask her to get into the car. I fold the stroller up and stick it in the car. I get Julie all strapped in and I hurry and run the books in to the Library and we head for home. I called Rob in the parking lot and talked with him on the way home, Melanie had calmed down a lot. I could see her fingers, and she was bending them and so they seemed to be fine. Got home and Julie was still crying but Melanie was fine. You could only see two little marks on her middle fingers. Later that night, there was a red line across all her fingers, but she was fine. So grateful it wasn't worse.

 I loves Melanie's hair, the color changed depending on the lighting and everything, but I just love it. She gets compliments all the time. I hope it stays this color.

What a beautiful gal she is!

Melanie 24 months

Measurements:

Weight:     24.2lbs     (25%)

Height:     36 1/2 in.     (97%)

Head:     19in.     (70%)

We had a good doctor visit and she is progressing and making improvements. I thought she would have shots, but I guess we got them done at her 18 month appointment. That was wonderful, although we still left with a crying baby because she was standing holding onto my legs and I was talking to the doctor and she fell and bonked her head. I didn't see her fall until I heard her head hit the ground. Darn it! Melanie was giving him the sweetest smiles, so fun.

She is following her growing curve just nicely. 

I had written the rest of this post out and somehow it didn't save so I have to rewrite it and hope I say everything I said before. 

Melanie loves to flip through books, she doesn't sit still long enough to read them  to her but she will flip through them for a while. She likes the paper books, the ones that can rip and are not baby friendly. She does like board books also. Both kids are loving library books right now.

Melanie is more interested in patting Julie's back and touching her hair in these pics.

She doesn't pull hair anymore, she now likes to just pat it and grit her teeth or rub her face into my hair while gritting her teeth. Strange kid, she loves hair.

Loves my kitchen cupboards and always seems to be right under my feet when I am making dinner. We had a gate with Julie but it was a pain to keep climbing over, and then we got one with a door but it is nice to have it gone. And we figure with her being behind, she needs to be able to explore.

Julie always seems to use Melanie as a pillow when she is on the floor.

Trying to climb up onto the chair, hefting herself up using the hand crank on the side of the chair.

She also loves to lay behind the chair and rock the recliner with her feet.

This is a common thing lately.

She is such a joy and so fun to watch grown up. It seems like in slow motion.

Folding arms

A few days ago we were saying the prayer before lunch, and I was holding Melanie. In the middle of the prayer she brought her arm forward and then held onto her other arm and was folding her arms, she even bowed her head, it was the sweetest thing. So fun when they do new things.

Tonsils

Back in November when Rob was in Ohio for work, Julie had a fever that reached 105 one night, and basically freaked me out. Got it down pretty quick with some lavender oil, since she hated taking medicine and would throw it up. She was actually sleeping on my bed since Rob was gone, and I slept on the couch because she was breathing so loud. Called Rob in the middle of the night and we did a three way call to a nurse through our insurance. I took her into her pediatricians in the morning and I mentioned her large tonsil, it was pretty much touching her hangy ball. So with her high fever and no other symptoms, he wanted us to see an ear, nose, and throat doctor. We left not realizing that he was going to call and make an appointment for us that day. Got home, and barely was in the door when Rob called saying that the doctor was trying to get a hold of me and that he had scheduled an appointment with Dr. Blotter for 1:45, but to be there at 1:30, which was like 5 minutes from when I got home. I hurried and dropped Melanie off at my Mom's and headed for the office. Our doctor actually talked directly with Dr. Blotter, because Thursday's he was not in the office, he was doing surgery's. So, he was so kind to make a special visit with us that day. Julie had a asymmetrical tonsil, which means one side was larger than the other. He gave us an antibiotic in case it was an infection on one side, and we made another appointment in 10 days. She still had the huge tonsil and so he suggested it would be best to get her tonsils removed but that it was up to us. We decided to get it done and also to have her left nostril cautorized as well, since she has nose bleeds all the time on that side.

So, we were hoping to get her tonsils out during Christmas break so that Rob would be home to help, but no openings. We scheduled it for the first part of February and then rescheduled for January 30. 

Julie helped me make some popsicles a few days before, she loved sticking those sticks in the holes.

Here she is enjoying one of the popsicles after they were frozen for a while. She liked them.

I called the hospital the day before her surgery for the time we were supposed to be there, and 6:30a.m. it was. Bright(dark) and early. We basically woke Julie up and dressed her and off we went, since she couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight it worked out well.

Side note: the last three days she has been really doing well using the potty, number 1 and number 2, and I was so hoping that the surgery wouldn't set her back.

While we got her checked in she colored and used her tablet and just watched what was going on around her.

We got Julie dressed in her hospital gown and then right before they weighted her I really needed to go to the bathroom and so I took Julie with me because she hadn't gone that morning either yet. She peed and we went back and finished getting ready.

I don't think she knew what was going on, she knew her tonsils were in her mouth and she would cover her mouth when we told her what they were going to do. She just kept saying, "Mom, I want to go home", I am glad they let her take her blanket and Pooh Bear with her into surgery. We walked her to the doors to the operating area and then the anesthesiologist took her the rest of the way and she went with him just fine. I think it was because she was holding onto her blanket that she didn't flip out and not want to go. 

The whole process was rather quick, the doctor came in before the anesthesiologist to explain things and the he came back probably 20-25 minutes later. He came in and said, "I don't do this very often, but I took a picture of Julie's tonsils" He showed them to us and I was shocked, I was expecting one to be a lot bigger than the other, but they were the same size and a little more than an inch long. I don't know how those fit in her throat. 

He said everything went well and she would be back when she started to stir and wake up. It was about 5 minutes or so later when I hear this moaning/crying noise. It was Julie, it was kind of hard to see her like that. Poor kid, not knowing what just happened to her and feeling crappy.

I am glad Rob held her, because I was holding back tears, so sad to see her like this. She would come in and out of it. Being awake for a second or two. And we were home by 9:30 -10:00. We came home to the City digging a hole in the road by our house, because a pipe had broke, got some water in pitchers before they shut off the water. My mom came over and watched Melanie for us since she was still asleep.

Melanie had fun playing with whatever she wanted, there was a few times that Julie would wake up and see something Melanie was playing with and she would perk up and wanted to go take it away. One time she even got off the couch, walked a few steps and then went back and fell asleep.

She was only awake for a few minutes at a time. She didn't eat or drink anything that first day, just slept basically, I turned on a movie for her at one point and she told me, "Mom, I can't stay awake", haha, silly girl. I told her that she didn't need to stay awake and that her body was tired and wanted to sleep and that was okay, and that she didn't have to watch the movie. She was asleep within a few seconds after that. She woke up at one point, I think when we were trying to give her some medicine and she was crying and said, "I feel different, put my tonsils back in, I don't like this".

Grandma and Grandpa Taylor came by that evening and brought her a Frozen book, she was not in a happy mood then, but later enjoyed having me read the book to her. She did a lot of laying on the couch watching "Daniel Tigers Neighborhood", that is her favorite right now. It is a really cute show, it has the characters from Mr. Rogers in cartoon form. 5 days later and she still is watching the same 19 episodes over and over.

After a day and a half of not eating or drinking I kept threatening her that we would have to take her back to the hospital if she wouldn't drink anything. Didn't work. The nurse from the hospital called about lunchtime the day after her surgery and asked how she was doing. I explained that she was eating or drinking anything and she was shocked she wasn't eating popsicles either. She told me to also give her IBuprofin the next time I gave her her pain medicine, and to rotate that every 6-8 hours, and that should help her be comfortable enough to eat. So we did that about 1:30 when she woke up and I think she slept again after, and all of a sudden at around 3:30, she woke up and I was sitting right there on the couch and she came over to me and gave me a hug, and told me she was feeling better, then she got off the couch and started playing and talking. It was kind of crazy, but so nice to see her up and about. She just kept talking, I don't know if it was that her voice sounded different to her, because it did, but it was so very nice.

Her happy face she gave me.

She was drinking and eating now, and every time I asked if she wanted a popsicle, she would say, "I will when I am better", silly girl, they are for before you are better. She still has yet to eat one, but before I left to get a few things at the store Rob asked if she wanted some ice cream, she said when I am better, but Rob scooped some anyway and offered her some and she ate it and had a couple bowls while I was gone. Adding that Ibuprofin sure did the trick. She wanted pancakes, so I made her pancakes, and she had some eggs. The first night she slept good, only waking up once and the second night, she had slept so much the last two days that she wasn't tired when it was time to go to sleep. She watched a video and I finally told Rob I was going to bed at about 12:00. He was watching a movie so he stayed up with Julie, and apparently Julie didn't fall asleep until 1:00.

As long as we kept her pain meds of a good schedule she was fine and happy. She was very huggy and talkative. We have also noticed that she is a lot more sensitive or emotional. I was eating a piece of toast and she asked if she could have toast, I told her not yet, since it could scratch her throat, she just tipped her head down and ran into the other room crying softly. She can tell when I am not happy, even the slightest. She will look at me and say, "Mom, are you smiling" or she will give me a hug. She will do something that she shouldn't have and say, "I am sorry", just so many little things that were not there before. I might get a little angry with her and before I even realize it I notice that she went and hid under her blanket and I go in and ask her to tell me what is wrong. 

Day 5, 6, and 7 have been more painful for her. We were warned that this would happen and it has, I think 7 has been the worst so far, just keeps holding her blanket up to her mouth and saying, "It hurts".

 Holding blanket to her mouth, at least she is pain free when she sleeps.

 Slept until about 10:00 on about Day 7, was hurting when she woke up. Then it takes her awhile to eat anything. She really is not a breakfast person. Some days she could care less about eating in the morning.

Even with medicine she is still hurting and doesn't even eat very well, or she will stop after a few bites because it hurts. Okay, we have now been threw day 8 and even with her medicine her throat still hurts. She can eat some things but other things she will start to eat and then stop after a bite or two and start crying because her throat hurts. Crackers, Ice Cream are fine, but frozen fruit, apple, tomatoes, are some of the foods that were not good. Weird, although I think towards bedtime she is doing better. She did a lot of laying around on the couch and when she was hurting she just wanted me to stay right by her, which I couldn't do all the time. 
We got netflix and she is still watching Daniel Tigers Neighborhood, but has also discovered Calliou, and Handy Manny which is her favorite right now. It helps when she is in pain to get her mind on something else. Now to break her of that habit. It is not an all day thing anymore, but still more than I would like. She likes to watch a little bit right before she goes to bed.
They said 7-10 days of recovery and that is no joke. Hopefully after the next two days, she will be better. She keeps telling me she is glad she got her tonsils out. She says that she can talk better now.
Day 10 was the turning point where she didn't need much medicine. Day 12 was her no medicine day and she woke up from a good nights sleep and came in so excited, "Mom, my throat doesn't hurt anymore". Yay, sweetie, no medicine at all and eating most foods. The foods that made her throat hurt today were Bananas, which is strange. She wouldn't even try apples or tomatoes since she remembered they hurt her throat. She asked for eggs this morning for breakfast and she was able to eat them(gave her pain before) and asked for spaghetti and eggs for dinner. She ate a bunch for dinner, she had eggs, spaghetti noodles, baked potatoes(which at first she complained that her throat hurt but then finished the potatoes), cottage cheese, she has had a lot of grains today. Oh, another thing that hurt her throat were frozen grapes.

 But yeah, we are in the clear, she has done great today and grateful to have this behind us. Her voice is still a little nasaly sounding since her nose is still a little plugged, but she is doing great.