It all started the day Livy decided she was going to wipe her bum and flush the toilet herself. Suffice to say, she felt she needed 3/4 a roll of toilet paper to wipe (not sure whether her bum really was that dirty or whether she has a germ phobia thinking it is). "We" (aka Olivia) have learned that 3/4 a roll of toilet paper does NOT flush done in one flush. Nor does flushing it another 12 times. No, that simply results in a flooded bathroom floor and a lot of dirty water seeping into the laundry room downstairs.
This was my Friday night...
The next few days saw us saying goodbye to our cousins who visited for the summer and hello to my brother and his wife.
The day my brother and his wife were to arrive (a Friday again) Livy decided it may be a good time to try new tricks on the couch and proceeded to break her arm. She's now sporting a funky purple cast and another life learning lesson. "Arms don't bend that way"
Payton has also kept us on our toes with another cold running through our household (Livy got it first, same day she got her cast) and this cold was enough to develop into croup with Payton.
We did have a day trip to the ER on Saturday but they sent us home with a "lets see how she does, don't let her get any sicker and bring her in if anything else develops or bothers you". Monday she had her 1st year checkup (yes, 5 weeks late: our Doctor is a busy woman) and her check up got turned into a croup visit diagnosis. So we're not sure if over all things are good with her 1st year checkup and the few words Payton is attempting to say is on track, where she lies on her growth chart or whether any other of my concerns are actually concerns (I worry that Payton's hearing is affected again, she doesn't listen. I realize this is a reverse oxymoron...in that no one has ever heard of a 1 year old who doesn't listen). Suffice to say outside of the cold/cough, I'm not overly worried about Payton's development and growth and I'm going to assume that she's just fine.
Just over a week ago (while my brother was visiting) we were fortunate to have a representative/volunteer photographer from the Tiny Lights Foundation visit us for a photo shoot. We're still waiting on the photos but here's a sneak peek at a couple of photos.
This week Payton's started adding a few words to her vocabulary, my favourite being "sit". Its very cute when I'm telling her to 'sit' and she replies with the same force and inflection.
Her other fav word is "press". Its currently a obsessive thing for her to go around pressing all the light switches (or anything else that looks like it may do something when pressed). Cute the first 3 times, ready to pull my hair out from the last 3,205 times I've stood there waiting for her to press the light on or off. Still, its a form of communication so I'm going with the flow.
She's also gotten better at calling me Mama and pointing at me when she does. It doesn't happen often so I'm still not fully concinced she's got that figured out.
Next week I head out of town for a work trip and I'm thinking it'll be time to fully ween Payton off of breast feeding. Ironically it was the same weekend (3rd in Sept) that I did this with Livy. I'm having a few mixed emotions over it but mostly 'wow, she's old enough to do this??'. I will say that she isn't the funnest baby to breast feed as she's a chomper. No warning, no rhyme or reason and no particular mood will pre-empt her biting. So I won't be sorry about that. Still, I know its something that helps her especially with her 'issues' but my fall with work will be a busy one with a lot of travel and it will be easier on all parties (Payton, those left behind and myself) if we establish a schedule with another form of nutrients. I've never encouraged nursing for comfort (with both girls I instead comforted with words, voice, motion and touch) so hopefully the transistion for those left behind is relatively easy.
With no breastfeeding to counteract various sicknesses, our goal will be to ensure our household will be a well rested, well nurished and active (I'll let you know how badly we fail this in, say, March/April).
I'm starting to prep Livy for Halloween and I'm excited to start seeing all the stuff come out in the stores. She's currently afraid of Halloween as (and I was surprised at this) she remembers being scared. In particular, we went to the West Coast Train Station in Squamish last weekend to ride the mini train and she remember being scared (we took her into the haunted house which was admittedly more appropriate for teenagers). So she's got a good memory and a low fear tolerance. So we're slowly working her from not wanting Halloween to come because she's scared, to trying to make her excited (mini chocolates have thus far been somewhat successful).
So that's our 'end of summer' post. I'm hoping the next month or 2 are less eventful than the last month. Payton will be having a follow up appointment in October with her surgeons and BC Childrens Hospital and I'll be sure to provide an update with that.
