Wah-Wah

Right now, our kitchen trash can is being used in the bathtub. It's maybe a little less strange if I tell you that the bathroom is right next to the kitchen. No? It's the only way we can keep Sophia from throwing toys, clothes, and assorted non-trash things away. It's still not foolproof. If the trashcan is moved to the bathroom floor, I find bath toys in it.

"Wah-wah" is what "water" sounds like when Sophia says it. Yesterday, we met friends at the playground and there happens to be a shallow river next to it that has some sand, but mostly rocks. It is very, very cold. I knew this without touching it, but now I really know. Sophia was entranced by the moving river. She wanted to go right in. The cold didn't really seem to bother her and she proceed to soak her mittens in it. Fortunately, she only went in up to her snow boots, but she was very determined to check it out. Back on the playground, she looked back at the river and wistfully said, "wah-wah". We also rediscovered the swing. She was grumpy and upset about leaving the water, but the swing made everything happy again. She proceeded to coo.

Fiona has a bad cough, which only shows up at night, and therefore keeps her up, so she stayed home from school today and is spending the afternoon sleeping. Poor thing. It's the warmest day of the year by far and very sunny. I think it got above 60 F or darn near close. Sophia and I went on a walk (Doug is home sick as well) and found the ducks in the river. I even took pictures. My goal this summer is to take lots and lots of pictures. The ducks were a big hit. She said "ducks!" "birds!" "wah-wah!". She made the sign for birds as well. She sort of makes the sign for water.

Random Blithering

Tomorrow it could get as warm as 65 F. 65. I must get the pool and the bathing suit out tonight. I want to bend over and weep tears of joy.

I just finished watching Season 4 of Enterprise. Which means that I just finished watching Enterprise. Just as I was getting into it, I learn they only made four seasons?! How can that be? Star Trek is supposed to have several seasons. Not four. I feel cheated.

Signs of Spring

I took the critters out yesterday for a romp and we found crocus coming up! I am a little too excited about it.

Foreseeing the Fever

Well, the doctor visit was not grim. Sophia did not cry the entire time. I wonder if it was because we unexpectedly had a different doctor or if that was a coincidence.

This doctor, however, recommended that we give Sophia Tylenol any time she has a bad cold. The kicker of this is, we didn't know she was sick until after the seizure. The idea is to prevent a fever so she doesn't seize. I try to foresee hunger, bathroom breaks, boredom, cold, heat, sun protection, battle of wills, sibling clashes, and sleepiness. Foreseeing fever? No, that I can not do. Sophia was normal feeling before the seizure and hot afterward.

See, this is what happened:

Sunday morning, we woke up and made our way downstairs. Doug went to the kitchen to start breakfast and I went to the laundry room to do laundry. All of the sudden, Doug is urgently calling to me. I go in the kitchen and he is holding Sophia. She is very still and staring straight ahead. She start to seize (shake) and turn slightly blue and her eyes roll back. That is when I called 911. They've asked me how long it lasted, but I don't really know. The guy on 911 was great, very calm, and the ambulance and volunteers were there very quickly (they are just down the street). I think 4 people showed up. Maybe it was five.

When she stopped shaking (before help got there), she had this eerie cry like I've never heard before. Then she went into a deep sleep. She would still grip your hand, but she would not wake up. They recommended taking her to the hospital after seeing how non responsive she was. I went with her in the ambulance. That was when we noticed she had the fever. She seemed to get hotter during the drive. The hospital is 20 minutes away, but it seemed much longer. The fever only went up to 101.7 F.

As you know, it all turned out well, but it was terrifying. I kept thinking that because she wouldn't wake up, she was brain damaged. I thought it might be meningitis (it wasn't, her neck wasn't at all stiff). I have this problem of thinking of the worst possible scenarios. I can act all cool and decisive in a crisis, but I am thinking the worst. Afterwards, I am a gooey wet mess.

I am hoping that was our first and last experience with seizures.

In other, more fluffy news, I took Fiona to see Curious George a few weekends ago, and I have to say it was pretty cute. Very age appropriate (she's 4). I really liked the soundtrack.

A Potato Throwing Event

Sophia has spent the last 10 minutes throwing potatoes into the bathtub. It's fairly entertaining. Boom! Boom! Boom! While she tosses them in, she sings a little song as she goes back and forth between the cabinet where she got the potatoes and the bathtub.

She woke up yesterday making the sign for cookie. I said, "Well, we can't have cookies for breakfast. How about a banana?" I made the sign for banana and she made the sign back! She also has started singing "Daddy" which is no surprise.

Today she has a well-baby checkup, which I am dreading. The last two (at least the last two) trips have been grim. She cries anytime someone comes into the room. The examination is done with her in my arms. That part is ok, but the crying is traumatic. She is due for a shot today and I am paranoid, more so than usual, of side effects, given that she has already had a seizure. She has never even had a fever from a vaccine, neither of them has had any sort of reaction, but I worry anyway.

Boots!

One of Sophia's favorite words is "Boots!" (with the !). She will put the snow boots on (eh, they aren't that dirty) and clonk around the house.

Another favorite word is "Daddy". "Daddy" has come to mean all that is good and wonderful in the world. Of course she says it when Doug comes home, in a gleeful voice. She also says it when I appear at the end of nap time, when I come to take her out of her car seat, and other such instances. I think the only time she says "Maaaa MEEE!" is when she wants more food. She has gotten very insistent about nursing, and makes the sign for milk while saying "eh eh eh eh". That may be because of the antibiotics---she is not eating as much as she normally does, and is nursing more (let's just say I have to change diapers and clothes more often because of the antibiotics).

I didn't get the chance to remark how well Fiona did at the hospital when we left for there frantically via ambulance and car. After her inital worry, she found the hospital adventure exciting. She loved the juice and cocoa in the patient "kitchen" area. She frequently said she was bored, but she did not really act out. If this had happened while Doug had been at work or had been out of town, I would really have had my hands full!

Bravery is...

changing your very mobile, very kicky, very squirmy toddler's diaper while she is wearing snow boots.

Sophia is growing in a million different ways--she seems to pick up a new word an hour and is determined to put on her own coat and boot for inside wear. She wants to brush her own hair, her own teeth (she just sucks on the toothbrush) and she likes to screeeeeeeech. She's 17 months.

Fiona doesn't like the screeching, and she thinks Sophia is just too loud. Fiona, at 4, is not exactly quiet--unless she is in the car, and then for some reason, she speaks very softly. So softly that I don't know she is speaking to me until she starts having a small fit.

Bravery is also surviving a febrile seizure. We had our first taste of what that is like last Sunday. It happened to Sophia about 830 AM. I won't go into the horrific details of what it's like to watch your baby having a seizure, but we did take an ambulance to the E.R. and were told they are fairly common and harmless. If she has another one, they do want to see her again, however.