Musical Beds and MMR

Anyone else play musical beds at night? Last night, Libby ended up in our bed, then crowded Jared out so he went to her bed and I was in Piper's room rocking her for hours.

Why? Piper got those blasted MMR immunizations on Tuesday. She hasn't gotten sick yet (though I noticed a measles rash forming today), but is no longer sleeping through the night. On Wednesday, she had her worst ever tantrum...screaming (not crying) for nearly an hour, scooting on her back around the room, bumping her head into the wall, kicking her crib, and refusing to be touched or held. The same thing happened to Libby when she got the MMR shot: cranky as can be and suddenly quit sleeping through the night. Libby also got a measles rash and fever, so that certainly accounted for some of the sleep and mood problems.

I don't subscribe to the MMR-autism link, but from my own experience (a whopping sample size of 2), my kids do act like a different person after that shot. Libby was back to herself after about a month. I pray it does not take that long for Piper, especially because we are moving soon and I'd really like to start sleeping again.

But it does make me wonder about the parents of autistic children who say their kid woke up a different person. That may be entirely true and maybe some of the symptoms of MMR shot even look like some of the symptoms of autism, but how do you know where one ends and the other begins? Could a child have a bad reaction to the shot like mine did and during or after the recovery of that, happen to develop symptoms of autism? Without the two being related? I don't know. I do sympathize with those parents and no matter the scientific truth about a link or not, I believe their experiences are real. I obviously don't have the answers nor the mental clarity at the moment to say anything else on the matter. I mostly just wanted to record my experience with Piper so I can remember for future reference if I am lucky enough to have another kid and unlucky enough to go through MMR inferno again.

2013 in review

For almost a year, I've been keeping a one-line-a-day journal. It has been awesome. It's the perfect way for me to feel like I'm documenting my kids' childhoods without really being very much work. But I do want to keep track of pictures, too and I haven't been blogging as much as I'd like. So I am blatantly stealing this idea from Renae and doing a photographic review of 2013 in roughly chronological order. 

Libby likes being carried. And reading Berenstain Bears. Preferably both at the same time.

Libby enjoying the snow last winter

I love this look of pure joy when we were playing on the bed one day.

Playing with snow inside because it's too cold outside.

I love those lips!

 

She liked to feed Piper.

This picture kills me! She wasn't posing...she was oblivious to the camera. Just happened to catch a cute pose.

 

At Bever Park with friends

The kids helping with some landscaping - we were removing the rocks in the flowerbeds

Bathtime!

Just a cute picture...something in her mouth, I think.

Libby just took off walking with her "dump truck" one day, so I followed her all the way around the block.

We painted our shutters blue (don't have a before picture). And yes, Libby is hitting Piper on the head with a broom.

I tried taking pictures of the moon when it was really close to the earth this summer, but it was pretty hard without a tripod.

But these stones in our front yard did reflect the moon's light beautifully!

At Thomas Park

At Thomas Park, one of our favorites.

We went for many, many, many walks with Piper on my back just like this.

Going for a walk around Gill Park

Libby playing at Gill Park with her friend  Nash who was only here for the summer. Sad, because they were pretty much made for each other with their matching red balance bikes. That's a corn field in the background.

Libby went through a phase of really liking to take pictures of me and Piper.

She chose the outfit!

After work one day this summer.

I put streamers on Libby's door for her birthday. These were the only colors I had...not too pretty, but the idea was still fun.

We had lemon blueberry breakfast cake for Libby's birthday. Why wait all day when you can make a "breakfast" cake and have it in the morning?

She wanted to eat her toast first.

Libby is 3 years old and 3 feet tall

Libby wearing Dad's headphones to watch TV. If we talk too loud in the room while she's watching something, she says, "I can't hear like that!"

I like to put them in semi-matching clothes whenever possible.

Piper's homemade giraffe costume and Libby's borrowed giraffe costume

Libby still loves taking pictures of me. Piper still loves grabbing my shirt.

Libby has organized her animals into families. Here is "Piper baby's family." From left to right: Pooh bear (daddy), Mommy baby (mommy), Piper baby, Lion (grandpa), Pink Bear (grandma), Blue Baby (brother), Christmas dog (Piper's baby's friend and Blue Baby's best friend). There are more cousins and friends that are not pictured.

Piper - 15 months

At 15 months, Piper is relentlessly active. She still loves being cuddled and held, of course, but she is curious and adventurous and a little bit dangerous. I'm not sure how much you can really tell about a person's eventual personality by their toddlerhood antics, but if I had to make a guess, I'd say Libby is going to be my cautious critical thinker and Piper is going to be my fun-loving go-getter. (Both are great.) Piper just keeps charming people left and right with her adorable smile and has little to no fear of running away from me in public. She doesn't necessarily like for strangers to pick her up (she will allow it if she's in a good mood), but she will follow them all over the place.

A few more of Piper's habits/characteristics:

She loves putting things in the trash can. Any trash can, really, but especially the one under the kitchen sink. Just in the past couple of days, she has tried to throw away Jared's iphone case, several legos, a bowl, and an uneaten apple. I hate to think of what she has thrown away without me catching it. But her attitude of helpfulness is appreciated.

She is crazy about dogs. Whenever she hears a dog bark, she points to or races toward the window, squealing "dog! dog!" Usually we can't see them because of trees/fences, but when we do, she gets even more excited.

She usually sleeps with a small cat, a small dog, a white crochet blanket, and a few board books. She likes to be holding all of these things while I nurse her in the rocking chair before bed. After that, I tell her to go put her animals and things in her bed. I either carry her over or she walks over and enthusiastically throws them in. More often than not, she will get into bed happily after this routine. And unless she is sick, she is almost always sleeping through the night now. (Please don't let me jinx myself by saying that.)

She is obsessed with silverware, mostly spoons. Now that she can push kitchen chairs around to get into the silverware drawer, I can't keep her out of it. She climbs onto the kitchen table about 10 times a day, too.

She says mom, dad, dog, cat, uh-oh, drink, cheese and a few animal sounds (moo, meow, ruff). She understands so much, it blows my mind.

She is learning to get dressed. She puts her arms in sleeves, she tries to put on socks, and she is great at putting on boots. She will stick her legs in her pants if I hold them out for her.

She takes a lot of abuse from Libby, although I know Libby loves her. Piper just needs to get a little stronger so she can wrestle Libby right back. :)

Piper - 13.5 months

Actually, Piper is more like 13.75 months, so I may as well wait until 14 months, but I can't bring myself to skip a month.

Piper is walking, running, climbing (we found her on top of the desk, playing with the keyboard!), moving furniture to get what she wants (we have a kids table and chairs and she moved the little chair to the kitchen counter so she could reach something...too smart!).

She is constantly getting into the kitchen cupboards and rearranging my canned goods, so I've completely given up on organizing them. She is particularly fond of tomato paste (must be the smaller size she likes) and carries it around sometimes. But her favorite drawer in the kitchen is the silverware drawer, which she can't reach, but will dangerously lunge for while she is being held.

She absolutely must have a spoon or fork in her hand to eat anything, even crackers or bread, or things that don't require utensils. She actually is pretty good at using spoons, too. She can pretty much eat a bowl of cereal by herself, though she needs some supervision when it comes time to lift the bowl and drink the milk. She's ended up with a lapful of milk many times.

She can say: dad, mom, stop, uh-oh, dog, cat.

She can sign "dog" (which is done by patting your hand on your leg, as if you're calling a dog) but she usually pats her stomach. Actually, when I first taught her that sign, she would pat MY leg to sign it. She sometimes signs "more."

She still nurses anywhere from 2-5 times per day. I'm telling you, nursing is the best tantrum-tamer ever.

She gets manhandled by Libby on a daily basis, so I guarantee that even without older brothers, she's going to grow up to be a tough girl.

Libby on nitrous oxide

Libby had to have 2 cavities filled a couple of weeks ago. I was far more nervous than she was about this visit to the dentist because I was afraid she was going to be terrified. This dentist prefers to have the parents wait in the waiting room because the kids usually cooperate better that way, but Libby is so wary of strangers I thought she would just shriek if they took her back without me. It knocked my socks off when they called her name and she waltzed down the hallway without looking back at me. They said she did great and she told me herself that she wasn't scared and that the dentist was really nice.

The dentist said that they switch the nitrous oxide to oxygen for the last few minutes so that the kids are back to normal by the time they are done. But Libby was so funny. Maybe it wasn't the nitrous...maybe she was just feeling weird from her entire mouth being numb (she had cavities on both sides) but she just had this dazed look on her face and wouldn't close her mouth. Saliva would pool up until it dribbled down her chin. Her shirt was soaked by the time we got home.

I tried to get her to talk so I could capture a video...Jared really wanted to hear how she sounded with her mouth numb, but she refused to talk. Smart girl.

Pumpkin Patch

A couple of weeks ago, we went to one of those pumpkin patches that has activities for the kids: corn bin, petting zoo, corn maze, etc. We were there on a beautiful fall day (unlike today - we got our first snow!) and the kids had a great time.

One of the activities was a human sized "hamster wheel." It was pretty hard to push actually, because it was slightly uphill. 

I think goats are so fun. One day, my dream is to have a backyard goat. Must find a city that allows that. 

Piper - 1 year old

My sweet, smiling, one-year-old Piper baby,

I cannot get over how much you smile. And it's not just any smile. You truly smile with your whole face. Your mouth opens so wide I can see all 9 teeth, the last of which just came in a week ago. (Your first molar...ouch.) Your smiles usually coincide with an adorable ha-ha-ha forced laughter, but we get plenty of genuine giggles and squeals as well.

Lately, a sure-fire way to get you to giggle is to read you your favorite library book: Corduroy's Party. You love flipping through the pages of plenty of other books as well, but this one is special because you will bring it to Mom or Dad, place it in our hands, climb on our lap, and SIT STILL for the whole 6 pages. I've even seen you kiss the characters in the book. I'm so happy you are learning to love reading.

You're now officially a walker, which makes you seem so much older. You can climb pretty well, too. I've caught you on top of the kids table and I've witnessed you climb onto the cedar chest so you could look out the window (you were looking for the neighbor's dog). You can climb down off the bed and the couch, too. And at playgrounds, you're pretty brave with the slides, not caring so much whether you go down forward or backward, head-first or feet-first.

You still have the same gorgeous blue eyes that you did when you were born. I can't imagine how you could possibly be any cuter.

A few other things I don't ever want to forget about you, at 1 year old:
the way you crawl into my lap and lean your head back on my chest.
the way you give kiss after kiss with a wet, open mouth.
the way you always walk with your left foot leading and your body turned at a 45 degree angle to the direction you are going.
the way you point at things you're excited to see (dogs especially!)
how amazingly you can communicate your desires by pointing, grunting, babbling, and shaking your head 'no.'

I can't imagine our family without you!

You got this pink rocking horse for your birthday and Libby loves it as much as you do.

Eating your blueberry birthday cake.