Sara Plays House

There is no Saturday Night Art Show tonight since the artist was out sick all week.  She’s doing much better now and was even able to make it to her Thanksgiving Feast at school on Friday.  Her favorite part?  The fruit.  Yes, that is my child for you.  So in lieu of artwork, I thought I would give some updates on the girls.

Zoe.  Zoe has discovered that talking is fun.  Talking is useful.  Talking gets her things much more quickly than grunting ever did.  She’s speaking in (mostly) full sentences now.  Single word phrases are SO yesterday.  Some of her favorites–

“Read it to you!”  (Really, she means, “Read it to me”)

“Good morning Mommy!”  (Read:  Get me out of this crib and feed me a waffle NOW)

“That’s a GREAT idea!”  (Usually in response to “Zoe you wanna go bye-bye?”)

“I love YOOOOU too!”  (This is by far my favorite)

Please note all the exclamation points–she is very emphatic in everything she says.  Today she started using “Pretty Please” alot.  She started using it even more when I got her milk, snack, etc. extra quickly thanks to being overcome by her cuteness.  She loves alot of things too.

“I love sister!”

“I love it!”  “It” could be really anything here–a flower, a toy she wants to get out of Avery’s hand.

“I love chips!”  This one she proclaims after raiding the pantry and pulling out the bag of chips.

She’s also started asking Why.  On the phone with Nana tonight, I asked her to count my fingers.  “Why?”  “Because I want you to, Zoe.”

“No.”

So there you have it.  She’s talking.  Alot.  Which also means she can say No.  It is nice that she can tell me what she needs/wants and it’s nice that she can talk to Avery.  I’ve noticed that since Zoe’s been talking more, Avery’s been much more interested in actively playing with her.  You know what this means?  That I can run away and drink a coffee in relative peace.  My Master Plan(Operation Let The Kids Entertain Each Other Without My Direct Involvement) has FINALLY begun to pay off.

She has learned to count, sort of.  The other day I started her off with 1, 2.  And she proceeded to finish counting.  TO FOURTEEN.  Apparently she pays more attention to her sister than we thought.  Mike and I have already started on her application to MIT.

She’s quirky, much like her sister.  Another favorite phrase is “Forgot my toejam!”  I’m not quite sure what she means by this, but she is unusually preoccupied with sock fuzz between her toes.  Exhibit A:

There is no Exhibit B, but I could take this same photo every time I take socks off those little delicious feet.

Zoe is still very affectionate, and will often demand kisses from her Daddy.  She’s a manipulative little thing when it comes to him.  I don’t foresee a time when he’ll ever be able to tell her No.  Don’t worry–she’ll turn out OK.  I had a Daddy like that too.

She loves the cats and it’s not uncommon to hear her call Gimli a Good Boy and Naughty in the same breath.  From the mouths of babes!  Because that is TOTALLY how that dog is.  Turning on the charm one minute, chasing down the cats the next.

She loves her sister.  She loves her sister maybe best of all. Zoe knows when it’s time to pick Avery up from school, and will start commanding me to “Get Sisser! Get Sisser!” from about 10:45 am until we leave at 11.  Again with the talking thing–it has definitely made her a tad pushy.  She now expects things to get done as quickly as she can say them.

And onto my eldest child.  Avery is … Avery.  She’s really into music right now, and will almost go into a little trance when she hears a new song.  She will sit very still and kind of zone out.  Eyes not really looking at anything, but you can tell she’s thinking REALLY hard.  If she likes the song, we have to listen to it over and over.  If she doesn’t like it, she never wants to hear it again.  She heard Lil Wayne on the radio, declared him “Whiny” and will now protest every time she hears his voice.  A few of her favorites right now–Pearl Jam–Just Breathe, Pixies–Tony’s Theme and They Might Be Giants.  I really need to get some video of her singing Just Breathe onto this blog.  Because it is something to see for sure.  I don’t know that she’ll ever be a singer, but I do see musical instruments in her future.

Avery is still fond of collecting little things outside and giving them to random people we meet throughout the day.  She gave the flower from her hair to the waitress tonight at dinner.  I’m sure it made the waitress’ night.  Or it just made her think that we have very bizarre children.  I prefer to think that they are very giving souls.

Avery is still really digging school.  She’s started asking to stay after lunch.  Because apparently, she wants to take a nap with her friends.  So I counter that with, “Well, you can take a nap here at home while your friends are napping at school.”  To which she replies, “No, Mom.  It’s NOT the same.  Moron!”  She doesn’t really call me a moron.  But I know she’s thinking it.  So all of my concerns about her being at school next year until 2:30 for Pre-K are completely pointless.  She’ll be more than ready.  Maybe Zoe will be the child that cries when I leave her at school.  Probably not.

So those are some brief updates on the little girls that live here with us.  In other news, Mike’s mom is pretty sick.  She’s in the hospital right now in Warner Robins, and will be there for the next week or so.  I’ll be headed down there on Monday to spend a few days and leaving the girls here with Mike so he can try to get a little work done.  (See Above Master Plan) So please do send some prayers to Middle Georgia.  Grandma could certainly use them.  I’ll also be taking a stack of artwork courtesy of Avery and Zoe.  I think that should brighten up her room quite nicely, don’t you?  And don’t worry–I’m screening each drawing for poo.  And poo catchers.  Nothing but nice rainbows and (poo-free) kittens for Grandma this time!

The winner of the Christina Kober Designs Personalized Fortune Cookie Necklace is…

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

37

Timestamp: 2009-11-20 02:55:55 UTC

That means the winner is … G Kom!  Congratulations!  Check your inbox to claim your prize.

Y’all, this one was a DOOZY.  124 entries.  Wow.  WAY exceeded my expectations.  But I guess that’s what I should have expected, giving away a sparkly handmade necklace from Christina Kober!

Thank you to everyone for playing!

I really love our pediatrician.  I love them so much that I am guest blogging for them today on their fancy new blog.  So if you’d like to hear me go on and on about how to feed small children, come visit me today at Kennesaw Pediatrics!

Avery doesn’t get sick.  Not often anyway, and it’s usually just a minor cold.  So when she started running a fever of 102.5 yesterday, we knew something was up.  When that fever kept coming back despite medication, we REALLY knew something was up.  And then her little fingers turned purple for awhile.  So I called the nurse line at Children’s to see if she needed to be seen last night.  Everything was going fine until the nurse had me get her to move her head.

“Ouch Mommy that hurts!  I don’t want to do it!”

As soon as the nurse heard that, she informed me that she couldn’t take the chance and we needed to head to the ER.  So I gathered Avery up and we headed to the Children’s ER at a local hospital.  Please note this was NOT the ER at the Children’s Hospital.  I’m pretty sure it was the smallest ER waiting room I’ve ever seen.  In the two hours that we spent waiting to be seen, I learned a few things I’d like to share with you.

If your four year old is sick, there is absolutely no reason to bring both parents AND your young infant.  Especially if you’re wearing stilettos.  And an ill-fitting dress.  No one needs to see your panty line, and I SURELY do not need to see you taking those stilettos off, even if your feet are sore.  No shoes, no service!  Remember that?

If your child has Mucous Of Many Colors dripping from his nose and a hacking cough, it is definitely NOT OKAY to let said child wander around touching other children and getting all up in their faces while you bide your time staring off into space.

If one of your children is sick, there is absolutely no reason to bring your cousin along with her three (presumably well) children.  Especially if the well children just run around stealing swine flu masks and running out the door.

If your child is not wheeled in on a gurney, you definitely have time to change out of your dirty, nasty pajamas into suitable clothing BEFORE you leave for the ER.  Seriously?  That would tack on two minutes.  This is especially important if you’re just going to spend your time in the waiting room complaining about how you’re SO underdressed.

If you bring your two bratty teenage daughters, please advise them that YES.  Children will be crying in the waiting room.  And NO, it’s not OK to complain loudly about all “these sick rugrats” hurting your poor wittle heads.  Dear Lord, if my girls ever act so bratty, please strike me down for being an incompetant parent.  I assure you, I’ll understand.

Waiting in the hallway to avoid the nasty germs in the waiting room is not really protecting you or your kids from anything.  Where do you think the sick children are wheeled to and fro?  The entire hospital is crawling with germs!  It only makes you look holier than thou and makes the rest of us mad because the nurses spend so much time hunting your snooty butts down.

Ah.  I feel SO MUCH BETTER now.  That was our experience in the ER.  I hope these little observations are helpful the next time you have to take your kids.  I do need to brag on Avery–she was a little angel.  Her ibuprofen started to kick in after we got there, but she stayed right on my lap the whole time.  I couldn’t feel my legs by the time we got called back, but it was worth it to keep her away from the *ahem* patients.

Long story short, there was no meningitis, and they really don’t know what was going on with her.  It could be just a simple virus, or it could be H1N1.  Only time will really tell.  The ER doc was a little concerned about a UTI, but Avery wasn’t in the mood for peeing, so that theory went untested.  We went home instead.  At 12:30AM.  I think it’s highly unlikely though.  Her fever has continued through today.  It’s still high, and it’s making her miserable.  She took TWO naps today.  TWO.  She hasn’t taken a nap in approximately 537 days, but who’s counting?

This is Avery, sick.

She’s home from school until her fever is gone, and we’ve been instructed to call her pediatrician should anything change.  So for now, we’re shut-ins.  I might have mentioned here before that I do not like to stay at home.  It is not cool.  I like to go-go-go.  But that’s what we have to do for now.  Poor Zoe just wanted to leave the house today.  She didn’t care where we went, as long as we WENT.  “Grocery store?  Petsmart?  Target?”  That is what I heard all day from the little one.  But I think she’ll make it through.

Also?  Avery’s fever broke during bath time so right now, she’s in her bed chattering away to her stuffed animals.  Since she was feeling so bad, she couldn’t talk as much as she usually does.  Gotta make up for lost time, y’all.