A Me For You

We came home Saturday, and it was great to leave the hospital. They’re very nice people, but it’s not an ideal place to sleep or try to establish routine.

Welcome to the world, Thumper!

Megan and Parker - heading home.

Of course many people have heard us talk about Brenna and her reaction to seeing Megan hold other babies. For those of you who don’t know,the phrase “collapses to the ground like a puppet and cries” is occasionally tossed around. Occasionally there’s a “Mommy, NO!” in there. It’s equal parts amusing and heart-breaking. But most importantly it was going to be a problem once Parker was born. We did what we could: we talked to Brenna about the baby in mommy’s belly; we said how Brenna was going to be a big sister; we asked if she was happy about these things and her answer was always, “mmm hmm!” or “yes!” Nonetheless, at 21/22 months, how much of what we were saying was really getting through? Kids also agree that being a firetruck would be awesome. Anyway, the worry was there, but the joke was always, “She says she’s ok with it. This’ll be easy!”

So when we came home, for better or worse, I wanted to record the moment. Bear in mind that Brenna was asleep when we got home, and Megan brought her out of her room from her nap. So Brenna took a nap an only child and woke up a sister!

She was a little confused, and still is a little bit fragile emotionally, but I believe she’s handled it extremely well. She shows great care for Parker, and wants to share her toys and diapers with her. We have to make sure Brenna doesn’t pile up a bunch of stuff in the bassinet! When Parker cries Brenna is often right there to peek at her and say “Uh oh!” It’s sweet. I’m very proud of her.

So now we’re home. Parker is a little jaundiced but nothing major. In the afternoon the sun shines into the front of the house and we lay her in it. The Doctor has said this should be all the treatment she needs.

Thank you to everyone for the well wishes, to mom for 4 days worth of dinners, and here’s wishing everyone a very happy Halloween!!

Brenna's costume. Look at that face!

We’re about to be off to the hospital. Thumper is on her way! YAY! Updates to follow!

This morning in the car I put on “Fibber Island” from They Might Be Giants first children’s album. Brenna began rhythmically chanting “no. no. no. no. no.”

“Brenna, what are you saying no about?”
“no. no. no. no. no.”
“Is it the music?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to listen to something else?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want night-night music?”
“OKAY!”

So we listened to Vivaldi instead.

I don’t know if I should be upset or proud. It’s a very confusing feeling. On one hand, she dissed my favorite band. On the other hand, she requested classical music.

We like to let Brenna sit with us to watch Sesame Street clips on Youtube. She of course loves Elmo, like all kids do these days. I’m happy to report she’s a big fan of Bert & Ernie and Grover as well. Her current favorite is probably Abby Cadabby. She’s the newest addition to Sesame Street, and comes from “Fairyland” I believe. Anyway, she has a wand and tries to solve things with magic a lot and generally just ends up with pumpkins, and has to get help to accomplish her goals like everyone else. I honestly think she’s a very clever way to talk to kids about diversity and friendship and hard work while avoiding the traps of being heavy handed or condescending. Sesame Street is rather brilliant like that.

Anyway, she also loves words! One of Brenna’s favorite Abby bits is the Word Song. Here is a quick video of her watching the last minute of the song. I’m biased, but WOW is she adorable at the end.

Enjoy!

Tuesday night Brenna woke Meg up from about 1 am to 3 am, and I was up from roughly 2:45 am until 4 am. She kept asking for ice cream, and walked around the house. Occasionally she’d ask, “What is that?” “Ohhhh what is that?” but the basic mantra was “I want ice cream.” Finally around 4 she fell back asleep and so did I. Meg and I thought it was very weird behavior and decided we should probably not mention ice cream for a while.

So… keep that in mind.

When you have a child that is as well behaved as Brenna, a few things occur to you:

1) “Man, we’re awesome parents.”
2) “Wait… we’re just fumbling through this like everyone else. We just got lucky, didn’t we?”
3) “Yeah… we’re going to pay for this later, aren’t we?”

The other thing that happens is when Daycare calls and says your child is crying and sick, you take that pretty seriously. Brenna gets ear infections and doesn’t bother to show any symptoms or let us know, so if she’s upset enough to cry, and cries enough that she throws up, there’s definitely something wrong.

We got that call Wednesday afternoon. Brenna was so upset she wouldn’t stop crying and had thrown up twice from it. Oh no! Now, we were already dead tired from the “ice cream” demanding night, and we had also taken Serenity into the shop for her 100k mile check up. Neither of us managed to sneak in a lunch break. We were hungry, tired, and without normal transportation. Kids – how do they time illness so well? So I rushed from work to pick up Meg, rushed to get Brenna and rushed back downtown to the doctor to find out she has Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. The doctor showed me her throat, and it was very red and blistered… and sore… then the realization – “Hey, that’s why she wanted ice cream all night!”

Anyway, the great news is Brenna recovers from illness quickly. After a bad Wednesday and a rough Thursday, today she’s about 90%. We played a bit, and danced a bit. We read a few books and I made her a paper hat she put on all her Sesame Street characters. She demanded to go outside for a few minutes, but she tired quickly. She took a nap and just had lunch, and I’m about to be off to entertain her some more.

Other than that, Meg continues to do well with Thumper. The due date rapidly approaches! Halloween, here we come!

Going outside is important even when sick

captain Grover of the USS Brenna's Bed

Just a very quick note. We started a little potty training last weekend and bought some pull-ups because Brenna’s daycare wanted to start training this week. As of about 5 minutes ago, she just pooped in her potty, and saved her pull-ups! Woohoo!

Who would have thought I’d ever be posting online about anyone’s bowel movements other than my own? It’s a weird world, y’all.

No photo updates for this one…. obviously.

xoxo
-Travis.

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend.

Here’s a quick video of Brenna enjoying hers, complete with a giant inflatable beach ball sprinkler! Seriously, who knew that kind of thing existed?