A Tough Week

It's only Wednesday, but it's safe to say this has been a tough week for both Elliot and Chloe.

Elliot has been working on making teeth. It's been especially bad the past few days. We thought, how can his eye teeth be causing this much pain? But tonight we looked in his mouth and saw the cause of his misery: 3 molars are popping through! He has had his fingers (and even his feet) in his mouth for a few days now, and has had all the usual trouble: runny nose, slobber rash, constant drool, crying, whining, waking at night, yucky diapers and just general sadness. He feels really lousy, but we are glad the molars are coming in and not just one eye tooth. To celebrate, we got him a Dora & Diego battery operated toothbrush and some Dora toothpaste.

Meanwhile Chloe isn't fairing much better. She started sniffling over the weekend and now has a full blown cold. She has to sleep in the swing to keep her head elevated, and she wakes a lot in the night. Last night it was every hour from 2-6 am. Since she is so young, the only thing we can give her is saline. You can imagine how much a person likes having water sprayed up her nose at 3am. On top of that she has newborn acne all over her face, shoulders and chest, and she also has a touch of cradle cap on her ears. Elliot didn't have cradle cap, and I've discovered it is not fun to treat. Basically you soften up the dry skin with oil and then rub it off with a washcloth in the tub, so lately Chloe's bathtime = crying. This in turn makes Elliot cry and hang onto my legs while I'm bathing her. There's not much I can do at that point but either cry or laugh so I choose to laugh.

Despite the teething and cold, there are some fun things to report on the kids this week. Here is what Elliot is up to right now right at 16 months:

• Spins around in circles. After a few spins he usually falls on the floor from dizziness.
• Dancing (aka rocking side to side) .
• Jumps on cue.
• Runs - outside, to the mailbox or just through the house. Running is fun!
  
• Tries to escape anytime the door is open because he loves to be outside. He usually cries for a minute after anyone leaves. This is probably not because dad left for work as much as dad shutting the door on him.
• When we say, "Do you want your milk?" he runs into the kitchen and whines at the fridge for me to get his sippy cup out. He won't say "cup" or "milk" but he knows what these words mean when we say them. Also, since I warm his milk in the microwave in the mornings, he has learned that when it beeps his milk is ready. So now he is like Pavlov's dog and anytime the microwave beeps, he comes running. This is true even if his sippy cup is in his hand.

Here is what Chloe is up to:

• She is pretty amazing to us at now 4 weeks old. She watches us walk around the room and responds to our voices, especially mama's.
• When I get her up from a nap, she gives a little smile. I swear it is a reactive smile, not just gas or uncontrolled facial twitches. It's not a big grin, but it's definitely "Hey, I'm really happy to see you" kind of smile.
• She is very noisy in her sleep and makes all kinds of grunts and groans, and sometimes even cries out.
• She has no problem crying when everyone has left the room, needs a change of scenery, needs a diaper change or of course is hungry or tired. She is a vocal little thing.
• Just this week she started being able to stay awake long enough to enjoy her mobile in her crib or another small activity between naps and feedings.
  
• Overall she still eats and sleeps all day, and then in the evening she fights the nap. But Drew manages to calm her to sleep by sitting her up on his lap and making "sssh, sssh" noises. She sort of magically drifts off. Only dad can work this magic.
  
• She hates pacifiers. In fact, last night she gagged when I tried to give it to her and lost her dinner all over my shirt. The bottle is a minor success; she usually drinks 2-3 ounces of it is all and it takes forever. We're working on it though.
  

A quick story that reflects the current state of our household: We bought a high efficiency washing machine a few months ago and the City of Austin sent a man out this morning to approve it for our "green" rebate. He walked in and Abby was barking at him, Chloe was crying for a nap, and Elliot had serious poo pants. I gave him a quick hello, directed him to the laundry room and then went to tackle Elliot's diaper. After a few minutes the man said, "Can you sign this form?" and I said, "Sure if you don't mind baby poop on your paper." He said, "Second thought, I'll just leave this for you in the kitchen. You seem to have your hands full here. Have a nice day!"

Happy Birthday to cousin Alexander who is one year old today!