How Squiggles Got Her Groove Back

As mentioned last week, Squiggles has been a very sick little girl.  She has been sick many times this winter (9 times and counting), but this time was by far the worst.  I had to take a week off work, and none of us slept in more than 30 minute increments.  

I’ve never seen Squiggles so unhappy.  When she wasn’t vomiting, she was either crying or whimpering.  She wouldn’t let me put her down for as much as a nanosecond, and kept grabbing my face and giving me this pleading look that seemed to say, “Why aren’t you fixing me?”  It was heartbreaking, and by far the most difficult week since becoming a mother.

After five days of vomiting and diarrhea, we took her to see the pediatrician (we had been in contact with her for a few days).  She had lost a considerable amount of weight (and she didn’t really have any to spare), so the doctor recommended that we take her to the ER for rehydration.  I wish I would have taken her in sooner, but I didn’t want to subject her to the pain of an IV (or expose her to other sickos).

Squiggles screamed bloody murder during the IV placement (of course), but then ran out of fight and fell asleep on a pillow on my lap.  Thankfully, they put the IV in her right arm, so that her thumb-sucking arm was free.

She had a good night’s sleep,

and woke up a different baby.  She has gotten better every day, and this afternoon we braved a trip to the park. 

It was a success.

P.S.  She loves her new shoes – thanks, Cami!  She keeps bringing them to me and saying, “Ehhh?”

Rubbish

We recently moved so that we could be near our awesome daycare center (AKA The Jones Family Entertainers). Because the awesome (read: not awesome) train network in Boston doesn't go near their home, we chose a nearby city that I shall pseudonyminously refer to as Canterbury. The city is very well kept, and the people here are, ummm, well... affluent, white, Obamaniacal, and averse to anything not organically made. We live on the seedy side of town - where people (ugh) rent apartments in two-family homes. I overheard the town's skateboarding teenage hooligans the other day complaining about school. They were using words like, "dang" and "shoot." I made Squiggles cover her ears, of course.

Canterbury has many charms (mostly in the form of walking paths and lovely ponds), but it has one quirk that I will never understand: the town does not collect your trash. Instead, you take it to a "transfer station" (apparently "dumps" are not classy enough) yourself. Apparently, the people of this city are far above setting their trash out near the road for everybody to see; however, they don't mind hauling rotting refuse around in the backs of their SUVs and congregating at the "transfer station," where the air is thick with the smell of rotting leftover nicoise salad from Trader Joe's.

Thankfully, Tim transfers our trash. I did, however, go with him recently, and there were the SUVs, the women wearing designer jeans and high heels, and the men wearing Polos and product in their hair. They were carrying bags, bins, sacks, and boxes while they chatted cheerfully and took turns at the various dumping sites. It made me like them more.

I really appreciate that the woman below was texting when I shot this photo:

Miss Joanne

I was so proud of myself for remember Marsha’s birthday that I forgot Joanne’s was on the same day.  Joanne is a frequent commenter on my blog, so my family members are often asking me, “Who is that Joanne girl?”  Well.  Here she is.  (See photo above). 

Joanne and I lived together when we first moved to Boston, and (as Cami says), we are kindred spirits and have been friends ever since.   A bit about her:

• She is so smart that I really, truly have no idea what she does for a living.  I have a vague idea that it has to do with contracts, legal stuff, financial stuff, and maybe France and/or Switzerland.  Which leads me to my next point:
• Joanne speaks French fluently (due to her condition of being a returned missionary from the South of France), and has European tastes in general when it comes to decorating, food, etc.
• Joanne is the most diligent person I have ever met.  Well… maybe she could tie with my mom.  If ever my (or my child’s) life depended on somebody, I would pick Joanne.  The girl is organized, meticulous, exact, thorough, hard working, and efficient. 
• Joanne’s room is the cleanest room I have ever seen.
• However, even though she is smart and efficient and all that, she is really a very sweet and generous person.  I think it’s perfect that her birthday often lies on the first day of spring, because she embodies all things spring-ish:  full of life, cheerful, rainy (okay, the analogy only goes so far, but you get the point).
• Also, she walks really fast.  Too fast for me to keep up.

Joanne has recently met a man who is good enough for her, and they will be wed next month.  Couldn’t be happier for you, Joanne!

Happy birthday (ahem) yesterday.

Only one Marsha

I have this really great friend who also happens to be my cousin. We have been best friend-cousins since childhood, when my parents would ship me off to be raised by her family during certain crises such as the births of Cami, Karen, Lance, and Stupid Cat.

We went to the same high school, and shared a blanket during AP chemistry when the heaters weren’t working properly. We also ran track together, but she was much (much) faster than I was – I didn’t care, I was just proud to be related to her.

In addition, we lived in the Tetons together for two summers, and went hiking, jogging by the Snake river, on adventures to K-mart, river rafting, and on trips to Yellowstone.

Marsha always had more friends than I did, and she let me hang out with them in college. We went to dances, backpacking to that one lake near Tony Grove (d’oh… memory shot due to infant), and on many, many hikes and double dates.

She’s awesome other than being my friend – she used to be a camp counselor in California during the summers, and lived in Namibia when she was in the Peace Corps. She lives a minimalist life, doesn’t take more than her share, leaves no trace, and is one of the wittiest people I know. She has an awesome sense of humor - I like her so much.

The greatest thing about her is that even though she remembers my birthday every single year, she always forgives me for knowing that her birthday is … umm… sometime in March. I’m not very good with birthdays. But.

maybe it’s today?

Happy birth month, Marsha! Love you tons!

I has a sad.

A squiggle-less Squiggles is like a bounce-less Tigger.  We’re in the throws of yet another stomach virus.   I have a friend named Kathy at work (who has grown children) with whom I often discuss the woes and joys of motherhood.  She told me once, “A mother is only as happy as her most miserable child.” 

Yep.

Für meine Tochter

Disclaimer: I need to tweak a few things with my other blog before I transfer this post to the Squiggles-only blog. If you're not comfortable with a cheesy letter from an overly sentimental mother, skip down to the pictures of Squiggles "reading.' :)

Dear Squiggles,

I can't believe this day has arrived - you are one year old! The day before your first birthday, you stood up by yourself. On March 13, you took your first successful step on your own! I am sad that you're growing up so quickly, but I love each new phase you enter. You are such a delightful baby, and you fill our lives with so much happiness and laughter.

You are a beautiful girl - you have auburn hair, big blue eyes, and porcelain skin. Everywhere we go, strangers approach us to tell you have pretty you are. But you're not just lovely on the outside - you are beautiful all the way through. You are loving and funny and adventurous and perfect! I'm so happy you're in our life, and can't imagine a world without you.

I had children a bit later in life, and had lots of opportunities. I lived in other countries, went to graduate school, learned to play instruments, and have a thousand hobbies. But nothing in my life makes me prouder or brings me more happiness than being your mother - you are my masterpiece.

Every time you smile at me, it brings me joy. I made a small list of some of the things I love about you:

· You can say, "Hi," "mamamama," "dadadadada," "Uuuuuuuuuuu OH," and "No," (though I don't think you know what this means yet). Also, Daddy and I will swear to our graves that you said "Strawberry Shortcake" one morning when we gave you the doll.

· You like it when lions come on TV (in the Baby Einstein World Animals video) and you practice growling quite often. Sometimes you growl shyly and softly - almost a whisper, while other times you growl very loudly - sometimes at strangers at the grocery store! It's quite amusing.

· You still smile and wave at everybody and LOVE attention.

· Recently you have been practicing blowing. We have started blowing bubbles with you outside and in the bathtub, and you seem to have decided that blowing is a valuable skill. Sometimes when we're driving and you have nothing else to do, you start blowing, over and over. It's adorable.

· Another hilarious thing you have started doing is playing "pretend." You love giving things to people, but sometimes there is nothing around to give people. That doesn't stop you! You carefully pick up tiny invisible objects with your thumb and index finger (often you pick up something from your other hand), and then smile sweetly as you "give" the objects to other people (usually Daddy).

· At your first birthday party, you got a new tricycle that has an attachment that can be pushed, and you love it! Whenever we push you around (either up and down the halls of the apartment and in and out of the rooms or outside on the sidewalk), you yell the whole time - it sounds like a war cry. You let out the same war cry when we help you walk by holding your hands while you take tiny dainty steps. It is as though you are saying, "Watch out, world - here I come!!!"

· You love looking at pictures, slideshows, and photo-books of yourself. You squeal when you see the pictures of you that we hung in your room, and want to watch your first-birthday slideshow dozens of times a day. You also often bring me your "Amelia" photo book, and pay close attention as I describe each picture to you.

· You are still very, very friendly. You love waving, smiling, and saying "Hiiiiiiii," to everybody you pass. You're also a little nosy... when we take you anywhere, you stare at other people, especially if they have kids. When you get on an airplane, we have to hold you back because you climb up the seats to see what is going on with the people in front of us, in back of us, to the side of us, etc. You just have to know what's going on everywhere!

· You love it when we get down on the floor with you and place chase while we're crawling. You love it even more when both Daddy and Mommy are playing chase with you. You love to crawl away from us, but you always stop and turn around and come back toward us so that we can "catch" you. When we catch you, we tickle you, throw you back and forth (gently) and into the air, and give you zerberts and kisses. It's a grand family activity and you giggle the whole time.

· You love to play with blocks, and you especially love to knock over towers of blocks that others build (usually Mommy) and say, "Uuuuuuuuuhhhhh OH!" and then cackle with delight.

· You love cheese puffs and Club crackers. You also love, love, LOVE ice cream, but we don't let you have very much. You also love cookies and feeding Daddy.

· You LOVE books - whenever you have play time, you go straight for your books. You used to just eat them, but now you turn the pages and study the pictures. Often you look at your books for 20 - 30 minute stretches. You love looking at pictures of other babies and children, as well as animals. Your favorite books are "Goodnight Gorilla" and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." You have learned how to fake laugh, so you "laugh" every time the zookeeper's wife wakes up and finds a monkey in her bed. It's so adorable.

· You also fake-laugh when other people are laughing. Sometimes you start laughing by yourself in your carseat. I will laugh back at you, and then we take turns fake-laughing until you start really laughing - you seem to think fake laughing is funny.

· You enjoy taking baths. You love splashing, dumping water out of cups, and being squirted by your squirty toys. You think it's hilarious when you pass gas in the bathtub, and when we let you have bubble baths, you often bend down and examine the bubbles intently.

· We took you to a park in Virginia a couple weeks ago and let you swing. You squealed with delight and didn't stop smiling. It was so great to see you having so much fun.

· Aunt Cami watches you while we’re at work a three days a week (Daddy and I take turns watching you the other days - we love being able to spend time with you!). You love Aunt Cami, as well as Bryn, Calvin, and Ivy. You follow the kids around, wanting to play with them. They love you, too, and do silly dances to entertain you.

· You start to dance when we hear upbeat music. You bounce your head and smile gleefully. When you're really excited, you bounce with your whole body, but sometimes this makes you tip over sideways. You think that's funny, too. You're such a happy baby!

I'm so happy you're in our family - we would be so incomplete without you. I can't wait to see what shenanigans you have up your sleeve for the second year of life!

With more love that you can ever possibly imagine (until you have your own precious baby girl),

Mommy

Happy (sniff) birthday (sniff) Squiggles.

Happy birthday, big girl! We kind of like you.