Saturday, August 25, 2007

Looking a little crazy, but not too bad....yet
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I think I am afraid - Look at the weird gleam in her eye
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Looking
pretty
crazy
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Totally
out
of
her
mind
folks...
this was her ALL DAY LONG!
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How is this look not frightening?
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Biney Part II and Laney's Bday

Biney came back through town after visiting Jeff and Regina and family in Arkansas on August 10th. She came in on the Friday and stayed through Sunday the 12th. On Saturday we ran errands and went to Terra Toys. Biney bought Dylan a cool new shopping cart that Dylan wouldn't stop playing with in the toy store. She officially loves the shopping cart and plays with it all the time! Biney and I took naps when Dylan did that Saturday because it was approximately 900 degrees outside. I had forgotten how hot it gets in the summer since we have had a historic amount of rainfall this summer keeping it uncharacteristically cool this summer. Jeez it was hottttttt!
Later that night we went to Maggie, Adam and Laney's house and attended fabulous Laney's fabulous 2nd birthday party. It was a lot of fun. We actually got there pretty late because Dylan took a really long nap. It worked out well though because we got to spend one-on-one time with Maggie, Adam, Laney, Maggie's friend Kate and a few others. It was quite nice. Jason got to know Maggie's brother since they stayed on the back porch, perhaps keeping a stealthy eye on the jumpy castle??? hmmm? Bebe got to meet Maggie's new parrot that was abandoned in one of Adam's rent houses and not go completely into bird withdrawal. The house looked great and Laney is a doll and it was so nice to talk to Maggie and meet her friends. I really like talking to Kate, she is so sweet and snappy smart. Dylan was welcomed into the group of kids with a nice group hug. It was pretty cute. We took some great pictures, included on this same day's postings.
We left Maggie's (and Dylan said "Maggie" all the way home) and grabbed some dinner on the way home. We got Dylan in a bath to sluice off some of the poor kid's sweat from the hot day and got her off to bed where she promptly crashed like a falling tree. Bebe, Jason and I watched the Al Brook's movie Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World and enjoyed it immensely.
We all had breakfast the next morning and Bebe left to get home after being gone from her birds and an over-extending-himself-after-heart-surgery- Kenneth for a week and we didn't do much else that Sunday except watch Dylan's fever climb.
It was good to have Biney with us for a longer visit this time. Dylan was again, sorry to see Biney go.

Super Psycho Baby Day 2007

On the Sunday following Laney's 2nd birthday party Dylan was sick, which continued into Monday sickness as well. Jason gallantly offered to stay home and take care of her that day (which was a relief to me since Dylan is never really all that sick when she's sick. When she's "sick" even with a high fever she mostly runs around the same, but is clingier and fussier, but still does not sleep any more than a regular day - so for the poor soul that has to tend to her all day - it's... ... well, it's freaking exhausting!)
Jason stayed home and I made a doc appointment for Dylan. He took her that Monday morning at about 11. They said no infection (we were fearing yet another ear infection of course- so BIG relief there!) but that she had a very congested chest. They gave her a breathing treatment and some decongestants and expectorants to boot - on top of her regular allergy medication. Jason took her home and they played, hardly ate and she ran around like she had just eaten a lot of cake. He called me at work a weensy bit frustrated because of said running around and because she was hitting him as hard as possible with her toys then putting herself in "time-out." She would knock him hard with something then yell "Time out" and run to the corner and sit down until Jason would tell her that she was okay to come back and play. He said that once she even sat there in a war of wills with him for a full five minutes, without batting an eye - in a "I can do this standing on my head Daddy" gesture at our futile attempts at cool-down time.
So at this news I am actually for a moment, speechless, then I am thinking "Crap, how on Earth are we going to be able to punish her? Ever?" So I let Jason go since Dylan is in the background singing, yelling, then whapping Jason with another toy and saying "time out!" and I am getting slammed at work. I am totally at a loss with the time-out thing.
A couple of hours later I am talking to an even more frustrated version of my patient (with Dylan anyway) husband who is informing me that she still hasn't hardly eaten anything and that she will not take a nap. At one point she played quietly in her crib for a full 45 minutes without crying, but will NOT sleep. (And he needs her to sleep - I know!) Then as I don't know how to help there he tells me that Dylan can now open doors... (WHAT!? - she couldn't this morning!) and that she has figured out how to silently creep up the stairs when we are in another room... (Fabulous!) So he's had a great day so far! Jason says "If there is anyway that you can come home a little early, that would be AWESOME!"
I tell him that I will leave as early as I can. I got home at about 4 and poor poor Jason is sitting on the couch with one of Dylan's books dangling from the end of his fingers and a look like I don't think that I have ever seen on his face - ever! He says "She still hasn't slept," which was hilarious since Dylan was on the love seat right by the couch and she is literally bouncing back and forth from side to side on the thing like a pink ping pong ball. She is babbling at about 55 miles an hour, laughing maniacally and bouncing, bouncing, bouncing. It was kind of totally nuts. And it was funny for about the first 10 minutes. I told Jason to go take a break and that I would take over. Oof, what a mistake! She pretty much went on like that all night. At one point I had a shivering horror come over me that she might never sleep at all that night. I voiced that to Jason and we shared a look and a nervous laugh that indicated that he had already though the same thing and that yes, it might actually happen.
We had dinner and a bath and she never stopped. She was a raving, bouncing, careening, laughing, crying ball of nuts all night long. I took some reference pictures so that we could never forget that look of whacko she had in her eye all day and we could hopefully one day laugh at the thought and not cry. I have that all included on this same day's postings so you can see the look of a crazed baby. So the lesson we learned from this was only that if she ever has another breathing treatment, she will be going to daycare that day as they have many many trained professionals that can deal with this sort of thing for the better part of the day and won't feel guilty in wanting to lock her in a closet as she's not their kid!
Superstar Laney at her fabulous 2nd birthday party!
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This is my favorite Maggie and Laney
picture from Laney's 2nd birthday
party in August 2007.
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Laney and Maggie Stephens
August 2007
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I love that face! (Both of 'em!)
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Me and Mags and our sweet, tired and
hot baby girls on Laney's 2nd birthday.
Dylan had tons of fun hopping and rolling
in the "jumpy castle" that she was dripping
sweat when she was done. I think that
this may have been the hottest day of the
year! We really had fun - sweat and all!!
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Yee
Haw
!
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So Dylan is of the opinion that if you
yell and scream at a cat long enough...
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That it will eventually come to you.
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Thursday, August 9, 2007

10 months old "reading" one of her "My Little Pony" books from Grandpa. This picture always makes me happy.
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20 months, same little book
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Monday, August 6, 2007

Biney and Dylan read the zoo "flap book" on Biney's
weekend visit on 8/5/07.
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A visit with Biney part I

Biney came to visit us this past weekend on her way to visit Jeff and Regina and family in Arkansas. She will be back through this coming weekend for a longer visit. This past weekend, she was only able to stay for a few hours.
Dylan and Biney had lots of fun reading and dancing and playing. Dylan was sad when Biney left, she kept patting the chair where they had been playing with blocks together that morning saying "Biney, Biney." We told her that Biney was coming back this weekend, but that is a lost concept on the 20 month old, smart as she is!
Bebe and I had fun watching Dylan dance too. I have noticed that she has become a little more fanciful lately. She's always been pretty serious about playing and reading and such, but she's never really been a singing dancing little fairy princess like a lot of little girls. Maggie even told me that she thought that Dylan could be an accountant... hmmm, she does love to count! So the past couple of weeks, to my delight she has starting humming and singing and dancing. She does all these funny little gallops and foot-stomping runs all over the place and it's just so cute to watch. I think that she may have picked up the moves from her friend Kinleigh at daycare. Kinleigh sings and dances all the time, it's totally cute. Dylan has always been the Moe to her Curly I guess. Now Dylan is loosening up and feeling her inner dancing goddess. I posted some pictures of her finest moves below. Ballerina, perhaps not - interpretive dancer? could be!

Poo Potty...

"Poo Potty" has quickly become Dylan's favorite thing to say over and over and over again. That and "Hee Haw." Both cute and somewhat functional. Hee Haw serves to make nice little songs to sing in the car and Poo Potty, perhaps a bit more practical, tells me that Dylan is once again thinking about sitting on her special potty topper.
A couple of weeks ago I bought her a little potty-training seat that sits on top of the actual child-engulfing normal size potty. I was thinking about how nice it would be not to have to empty the little training potty into the regular potty, and this contraption would bypass that whole ordeal. What I was not thinking was that Dylan, although tall, would not be able to climb onto the regular potty all by herself, where she could do just that on the tiny baby-size throne. Thank you Jason for being the other half of my brain, although a few hours too late.
So since I have bought this seat for Dylan, she has quickly become enamored with the potty. When anyone enters the restroom she follows them eagerly and stares at the closed door from the outside uttering "poo potty, poo potty, poo potty" expectantly until the door opens and then she yells "wash hands!" She is definitely the potty police.
She has only "pooed" in the potty once to date, and that was over a month ago. So for now, I patiently sit her on the potty seventeen times a night while she plays with the toilet paper waiting for magic to happen. You will be the first to know when it does!
Who is happier here? Biney or Dylan? Perhaps it
was Mommy and Daddy who did not have to read this
book for the 700th time that weekend! I think we
were all pretty happy :)
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Dylan and Biney reading some more. They were
reading one of Dylan's animal books, making
funny Gorilla sounds.
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Get down Dylan!
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Dance a little here...
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Dance a little there...
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Biney and Dylan reading on a lovely
Sunday morning while Jason made
breakfast for everyone.
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Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Big Daddy and Little D

So freaking cute!
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Diaper D

Dylan at about 17 months old. Don't we wish we could all dress this way and look as cute?
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8/1/07 Blech!

I started this blog today because I am at home sick. It's one of those things that I always want to do and never have time, so here you go.
I had some sort of massive horrible allergy attack that started while I was sleeping last night, or trying to sleep rather. So this morning I went to the doctor about the cough that I have had for a week and she said that I have, you guessed it, allergies... I live in Austin, so that's really not a shocker to anyone that has ever lived here. The nurse gave me an allergy shot, the first I have ever had - and that totally bummed me out since my allergies seem only to have worsened with age. hmmmm. The "bummed out" feeling may have arisen also because moments before the shot the docter gave me some Allergra D samples and told me that they would definitely help me feel better. Then on her way out of the doctor's cell of doom, she poked her head back through the door and cheerfully let me know that "Oh, you won't get much sleep on those. You will get a lot of cleaning done, but not much sleep. Ha! Byeeeeee!" and she closed the door behind her. I would have expected a lot more sympathy from a doctor that's a mother of two young children... but alas, no. Now I get to look forward to feeling like crap for a while longer and none of the relief that comes with sweet, sweet sleep. Great.
So as I cough between sentences, I wanted to let everyone know how the family Greathouse is doing. Jason is good, tired today because he had to got to work at 4 in the morning because he is on call this week, but good beyond that. Other than feeling a little under the cedar tree, I am good. Work is busy and good and I am enjoying my new bustling branch. I have a lot of great staff there that support everything, so on days like today when I can't be there, I have every confidence that they are doing just fine. I hope that doesn't mean that they don't really need me... crap!
Anyway, it has finally stopped raining in Austin. It rained for a couple of months at least, and has been the wettest summer in history. My lawn looks fantastic, but my kid is going a little bananas from not being able to go outside. Our neighbors with the kids and dogs have completely moved out and our life is peaceful again. Unfortunately they had left the dogs here while they had moved out and it was raining constantly. Not a pretty picture. We were sad for the dogs because they only got one visit a day to be fed and watered and then they were lonely and wet and howling and barking. Fun. They have been gone now for about a week (just as the rain stopped I might add) and we are haaaaaaaappy! So, we will probably have some new neighbors soon.
Dylan is doing great! She is rapidly learning...everything. She mimics almost every word we say so Jason and I are having fun trying to remember to not say things like "crap" and "groove thang" and such. In the last couple of weeks we have discovered her desire to help. One night, week before last, I was getting dinner ready. She was freaking out, in normal fashion, because she was hungry and wanted to eat at that very moment. Desperate to finish the meal and get the table set without having to ask her not to whine every three seconds and tripping over her in the kitchen, I asked her if she would put some napkins on the table for "Daddy and me?" I handed her two napkins and was going to be quite pleased if they even made it to the table. I turned back to the stove to finish things there and noticed how long she had been quiet. It had been at least 10 seconds... I joke, it had been about 30 seconds. So I turn around to investigate what calamity has befallen the napkins and I see that she is standing near Jason's chair "playing" with the napkins. There are no pieces hanging from the corner of her mouth, so I turn back around to my own tasks. I finish what I am doing and when I turn around to face the dining room table again I see that Dylan has put one napkin next to Jason's plate. She is headed to my side of the table and she proceeds to set one (whole) napkin next to my plate. She is about 20 months old, so as I recover from shock she is running towards me. I fumble for something else to give her to put on the table. I hand her the bread and ask her to put that on the table as well. She takes it and puts it next to Jason's plate, also amazing because I don't eat bread with dinner and he does, so I always put it next to him. I hand her the butter wondering how much damage she could do with a fork if I gave her that and decide against it and she gets the butter to the table safely. I hand her one of her plastic plates and she put that on her high chair tray and ditto with her spoon. Jason and and I were standing there in awe staring at her. She's not usually in the room when I set the table and I didn't tell her where to put anything. She's 20 months old!
My brain at this point is struggling with the possibilities of this whole concept. I am wondering how far I can take this. Can she tote laundry yet? Separate whites from colors? Can she grocery shop!?!? Okay, so not quite yet, but I struggle too because it's going to get pretty hard pretty soon to challenge this crazy smart kid. I know it's just a table setting, but it's pretty amazing - oh and I have proof of it's sheer amazing-ness too! The women that take care of Dylan at daycare thought that it was "amazing" and they are officials! (Maybe not quite "official" but a pretty great panel to judge this kind of thing since they deal with these munchkins all day.)
So about a week later we are in the same place, Dylan and I. I am making dinner and she freaking out because she's hungry and it's just allllllmost ready... translation to 20 month-old baby is... "blah, blah, blah, blah blahblahblahblahblah, blah." So I ask her to do the napkins and her plate and spoon, and then I ask her to put spoons on the table for Mommy and Daddy for our pot roast. She takes the spoons and put one square in the middle of each of our napkins. Seriously?? Cool! So, she's done and dinner is ready. I ask her to go get Daddy and tell him that dinner is ready. She runs (like full-on sprint) into the living room to get Jason. She runs over to him on the couch and says "Daddy, come, sit!" and runs back to the kitchen to his chair at the table. She pulls out his chair and starts pounding on the cushion saying loudly "Sit, sit, sit, sit!" We were speechless again. This is all new and it's so cool! She is just awesome.
So we are going to be delving the depths of her helping abilities for the next couple of weeks, I am sure. Can she clean out the pantry? hmmmm.
I will be posting again soon, as I do actually love to write. Also, I have discovered as of late, I don't remember anything, so I really do need to write it down somewhere for posterity.
Disclaimer: All spelling and grammatical errors are due to my illness as I am usually perfect ;)