All is well with me (gained a little weight, lower blood pressure and fluid are still within acceptable range) and Emmie (passed her BPP much more quickly). Dr. Ackermann says I don't need a DTAP because I got one when I had Lucy. To clarify exactly what date we were looking at as 38 weeks since our weeks change on Wednesdays while they normally schedule c-sections for Monday mornings, I asked whether we would be going on the Monday that is 37 weeks, 5 days or the Monday that is 38, weeks 5 days. He said we'd go on Wednesday when we're officially at 38 weeks. The date doesn't matter much to him he said, but the government is keeping an eye on early deliveries because some doctors have scheduled deliveries for their own convenience at the expense of newborn health. He said we can go ahead and schedule the c-section. The receptionist did not schedule it yet, and Dr. Reynolds may come up with a reason for a Monday delivery, so nothing is set. Wednesday would give Matt a couple days to recover from the semester and help me with final house preparations, and it would mean that Susie would get back in time to help with Lucy. That would be good. Of course, all that assumes that we don't run into problems before then. Dr. Ackermann said that if my fluids are low or I'm having contractions at 36 weeks, they'll get Emmie out. And I'm with Matt; if it was safe to get her out today, we'd vote for that. I want her to be fully developed and healthy, but I also want her to be alive, which she certainly is today.
The possibility that Susie would be back in time to help with Lucy could not have come on a better day. We experienced why you really need two people to keep up with Lucy. Lucy had a rough day and made Susie's day pretty rough, too. Lucy was tired and out of sorts but excited to play with Shawn and Susie, so I thought everything would be OK. Then we started hooking up the car seat in Susie's car, and Lucy lost it. She screamed and cried and tried to run away. "No ride in Susie's red car. Me ride blue car." She has ridden with Susie before, so this was unexpected. We had to hold her down to get her into the car seat. I could tell that she would fall asleep in the car. I had estimated 5-7 minutes. Apparently, she screamed for 15 minutes. She would start to doze and rouse herself to scream some more. Eventually, she did sleep until Susie had to stop for gas. Then the crying started again. When Shawn got out of a meeting, they took Lucy to a park, and she was happy to run around. Susie told Shawn it was his job to get her back into the car. Shawn just said, "Lucy, do you want to go see your mom? Let's get in the car." And she hopped right in. I'm sure the incentive was important, but the asker probably also affected the outcome. Lucy would do nearly anything for Shawn. He keeps marvelling at how weird it is to have a girl like him and want to sit by him. Well, most girls don't have the bearded, bespectacled academic as their paradigm for manhood. To Lucy it's just like having another daddy in a slightly different shade. :) And Lucy loves her daddy. However, no one is like mama. Mama is just barely a separate person from Lucy, so it's not possible to have mama in another shade, even though Susie would be a good fit for "mama in a different shade" if such a thing were possible.
It was tough to see Lucy so unhappy when we left. I knew she would be fine. She would be safe and cared for and loved. I was also pretty sure that my leaving was not exactly what was causing the meltdown. She was tired, and her idea of what was going to happen was not being met. If we had dropped her at their house or left her on campus in the stroller, she probably wouldn't have shed a tear. She did talk this evening a little about how mama and daddy were gone today. That seemed to bother her only a little. She was adamant, however, that she did not want to ride in the red car again. Appparently, her attachment to our car was more important than her attachment to her parents. :) We'll work on the car thing.
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Saturday, April 9, 2016
A Day with Lucy: Balance, Discipline, Imagination, and Cheese
Lucy hasn't made much progress with her swimming lately. I haven't pushed her to try new things. I'm just happy that she's happy paddling in the water so that I can move around and stretch. Yesterday she decided to try floating on her back with her vest. It's hard to do because the vest slips from side to side, so she has to keep re-balancing herself as it slips. Fortunately, balance is one of Lucy's specialties. She kept trying and trying until she was able to stay on her back and kick her legs to swim backwards. I wanted to see if she could do it without the vest, but she didn't want to experiment. Eventually, we'll try it. I think she's mastered the hard parts already. She can balance herself and overcome her instinct to panic while lying in water. If she has any buoyancy at all (more like her mother than her father), she should take to floating.
We had another interesting development with Lucy yesterday. She took apart a little bit of a wall that was already cracked. It was a small patch in an inconspicuous area. She left the bits she had broken off all over the floor in the hall. When I saw it, I told her she had to clean up her mess. At first, she seemed to like the idea of using the hand broom to sweep the hall, but then she lost interest and refused to clean. So I told her she couldn't watch TV or play with the tablet until her mess was cleaned up. She turned and started playing with some of her toys. We ate lunch. She asked to watch TV. I reminded her that she couldn't watch TV until the mess was cleaned up. She played with her toys some more. Then she sat in Matt's chair, which is her TV spot when he's not home. Suddenly, she hopped up and ran to the hall saying, "Mommy, help me sweep." I did help her, but she did a good deal of it herself. And then I asked her what she wanted to watch. The answer was "Dog Show" (Martha Speaks), her current favorite. We've watched it so much that even Emmie gets excited about the theme song, whether it's playing on the TV or being sung by Matt. Withholding something until Lucy complies has typically not worked with her. When she was younger, she would rather go without than say the word for what she wanted. It's worked a little better at meal times when we've said, "You can have another sip of Daddy's Dr Pepper after you eat another bite of dinner." It's a taking turns thing, and she seems to get that. But this was different. She considered the consequences and lived with them as long as she could stand, but eventually she initiated the action that would lift the ban. Matt said that if she really understands that kind of discipline, it opens up a whole new world for us. He's right. I hope this gives us some more discipline options. Our lack of options was getting frustrating. Removing her from situations, taking things away when she misused them, and talking to her weren't getting the results I was hoping for. And timeout didn't make any sense to her. She's a sweet girl who needs some discipline (as all children do), and now maybe we've found one way that works.
Lucy's imaginative play is taking off. She's played cooking and feeding fake food for a while. Caring for her baby dolls has been big for over a month. But today she did some new things. First, she pretended to pick handfuls of dirt from the living room floor (it's not dirty enough for actual handfuls of dirt) and throw them at me. Then she brought me a handful of "dirt" to throw at her. We threw dirt at each other for a while. She kept giggling and saying, "Me dirty." Eventually, I pretended to spit on my handful of dirt, form it into a ball, and throw mud balls at her with a "splat" sound effect thrown in. She thought that was great fun. She especially enjoyed the opportunity to pretend to spit. We played this for more than 10 minutes until she got hungry.
Later we went to Kroger to get a few things. Our Kroger sells grills and patio furniture and has some models set up near the front of the store. Lucy went to a grill and pretended to cook. Matt was impressed because we don't own a grill. She must have learned it from TV. Matt suggested that they make hamburgers and pretended to flip burgers on the grill. Lucy decided they should be cheeseburgers instead. She piggy-backed off of his idea and took it further. Then they sat at a table and ate their cheeseburgers. Then Lucy decided it was time to play a board game with Daddy at the table. Of course, Matt loved this idea. Lucy started calling colors and moving or taking imaginary pieces. I'm not sure the game has rules, but it had recognizable game mechanics. She had kind of invented her own game. She still doesn't get the concept of winning, so no one won, but she had a good time.
She later found a toy that she liked and wanted to take it home. Matt suggested that I give her something I had already bought to distract her. All I had were groceries, but I took out a package of feta cheese and offered it. She immediately dropped the toy and clutched the feta to her chest. She happily ate a third of the package of feta with at least a cup of grapes when she got home. After she ate, we got out a couple of German-made kids games that we've picked up through the years. Lucy really enjoyed the dice. Even with the game that only used one die, she shook that die before dropping it on the table. She didn't always want to hand the dice to the next player, but she did a pretty good job of taking turns. I think Matt may have a budding gaming buddy. He even said that if she takes to gaming, he's going to have to start looking for preschool games. And he doesn't mean Hi-Ho Cherry-O.
Lucy is a lot of fun. She's a handful because she's energetic, resourceful, and willful. None of those things is totally bad. They are just a lot to manage for her until she can manage herself.
We had another interesting development with Lucy yesterday. She took apart a little bit of a wall that was already cracked. It was a small patch in an inconspicuous area. She left the bits she had broken off all over the floor in the hall. When I saw it, I told her she had to clean up her mess. At first, she seemed to like the idea of using the hand broom to sweep the hall, but then she lost interest and refused to clean. So I told her she couldn't watch TV or play with the tablet until her mess was cleaned up. She turned and started playing with some of her toys. We ate lunch. She asked to watch TV. I reminded her that she couldn't watch TV until the mess was cleaned up. She played with her toys some more. Then she sat in Matt's chair, which is her TV spot when he's not home. Suddenly, she hopped up and ran to the hall saying, "Mommy, help me sweep." I did help her, but she did a good deal of it herself. And then I asked her what she wanted to watch. The answer was "Dog Show" (Martha Speaks), her current favorite. We've watched it so much that even Emmie gets excited about the theme song, whether it's playing on the TV or being sung by Matt. Withholding something until Lucy complies has typically not worked with her. When she was younger, she would rather go without than say the word for what she wanted. It's worked a little better at meal times when we've said, "You can have another sip of Daddy's Dr Pepper after you eat another bite of dinner." It's a taking turns thing, and she seems to get that. But this was different. She considered the consequences and lived with them as long as she could stand, but eventually she initiated the action that would lift the ban. Matt said that if she really understands that kind of discipline, it opens up a whole new world for us. He's right. I hope this gives us some more discipline options. Our lack of options was getting frustrating. Removing her from situations, taking things away when she misused them, and talking to her weren't getting the results I was hoping for. And timeout didn't make any sense to her. She's a sweet girl who needs some discipline (as all children do), and now maybe we've found one way that works.
Lucy's imaginative play is taking off. She's played cooking and feeding fake food for a while. Caring for her baby dolls has been big for over a month. But today she did some new things. First, she pretended to pick handfuls of dirt from the living room floor (it's not dirty enough for actual handfuls of dirt) and throw them at me. Then she brought me a handful of "dirt" to throw at her. We threw dirt at each other for a while. She kept giggling and saying, "Me dirty." Eventually, I pretended to spit on my handful of dirt, form it into a ball, and throw mud balls at her with a "splat" sound effect thrown in. She thought that was great fun. She especially enjoyed the opportunity to pretend to spit. We played this for more than 10 minutes until she got hungry.
Later we went to Kroger to get a few things. Our Kroger sells grills and patio furniture and has some models set up near the front of the store. Lucy went to a grill and pretended to cook. Matt was impressed because we don't own a grill. She must have learned it from TV. Matt suggested that they make hamburgers and pretended to flip burgers on the grill. Lucy decided they should be cheeseburgers instead. She piggy-backed off of his idea and took it further. Then they sat at a table and ate their cheeseburgers. Then Lucy decided it was time to play a board game with Daddy at the table. Of course, Matt loved this idea. Lucy started calling colors and moving or taking imaginary pieces. I'm not sure the game has rules, but it had recognizable game mechanics. She had kind of invented her own game. She still doesn't get the concept of winning, so no one won, but she had a good time.
She later found a toy that she liked and wanted to take it home. Matt suggested that I give her something I had already bought to distract her. All I had were groceries, but I took out a package of feta cheese and offered it. She immediately dropped the toy and clutched the feta to her chest. She happily ate a third of the package of feta with at least a cup of grapes when she got home. After she ate, we got out a couple of German-made kids games that we've picked up through the years. Lucy really enjoyed the dice. Even with the game that only used one die, she shook that die before dropping it on the table. She didn't always want to hand the dice to the next player, but she did a pretty good job of taking turns. I think Matt may have a budding gaming buddy. He even said that if she takes to gaming, he's going to have to start looking for preschool games. And he doesn't mean Hi-Ho Cherry-O.
Lucy is a lot of fun. She's a handful because she's energetic, resourceful, and willful. None of those things is totally bad. They are just a lot to manage for her until she can manage herself.
Thursday, April 7, 2016
Mechanical and Technological Disappointments
First, the used double stroller I got will be of limited use. I got it cleaned up and took Lucy for a ride and discovered that the stroller was wobbly and pulling to the right. I stopped and checked the wheels and found one of them was bent. I immediately turned back around and went home. I tried to straighten out the wheel, but I may have made it worse. I don't remember the wheel being bent when I got it, but I didn't really try it out. It's also possible that the wheel bent when Lucy got into the stroller before it was fully open and it closed on her and fell over. I quickly pulled her out, and one of the wheels popped off. I easily put the wheel back on, but it might have been bent in all of the excitement. The stroller is probably good enough for going to the pool for a while. I'm not sure I'd want to fight the pulling to the right all the way to Matt's office, especially since I'd have to fight it all the way home from his office. We'll still probably get $20 of use out of it just going to the pool, but it's not going to be a long-term stroller for us. We will need another stroller.
My other disappointment is my search for an inexpensive device that can run the Ibotta app. Ibotta gives rebates when you buy certain products and scan your receipt. Because it's a rebate, it can be stacked with sales and coupons to get really good deals. Recently, there was a $5 off diapers rebate. That would have been nice. But the app requires Android version 3.0 or higher and a rear-facing camera with auto-focus. We don't own smart phones, and our Android tablets run a proprietary version from Amazon because they are Kindle Fires. There are plenty of cheap tablets with new enough version of Android, but they don't meet the camera requirements. I've had trouble finding a tablet for less than $200 that does meet the requirements. I can't justify a $200 tablet so that I can save $5 on diapers. I looked into Apple products that can run the app, but they have to be fairly new, which mean expensive. I even looked for used ones on Ebay since I don't mind some physical imperfections. But if you'd like to actually be able to read the screen and use the device because it's not already attached to some unknown account, it will cost over $100. Still not cheap enough for a device just to run a rebate app. So if you have a smart phone, Ibotta is great. If you're thrifty and don't have fairly up-to-date devices, you can't save money with Ibotta. That's disppointing.
My other disappointment is my search for an inexpensive device that can run the Ibotta app. Ibotta gives rebates when you buy certain products and scan your receipt. Because it's a rebate, it can be stacked with sales and coupons to get really good deals. Recently, there was a $5 off diapers rebate. That would have been nice. But the app requires Android version 3.0 or higher and a rear-facing camera with auto-focus. We don't own smart phones, and our Android tablets run a proprietary version from Amazon because they are Kindle Fires. There are plenty of cheap tablets with new enough version of Android, but they don't meet the camera requirements. I've had trouble finding a tablet for less than $200 that does meet the requirements. I can't justify a $200 tablet so that I can save $5 on diapers. I looked into Apple products that can run the app, but they have to be fairly new, which mean expensive. I even looked for used ones on Ebay since I don't mind some physical imperfections. But if you'd like to actually be able to read the screen and use the device because it's not already attached to some unknown account, it will cost over $100. Still not cheap enough for a device just to run a rebate app. So if you have a smart phone, Ibotta is great. If you're thrifty and don't have fairly up-to-date devices, you can't save money with Ibotta. That's disppointing.
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