"Hi!"

I walked into my babysitter's house this week and Meg crawled around the corner and said, "Hi." It was so perfect and adorable, I nearly fell over. I scooped her up for a hug and kiss, she smiled and pushed me away so she could go back to crawling.

She has said, "Mama" before and really seemed to mean me, and now she can with some regularity say, "Hi" on command (well, only when it's her command really, of course).

We leave for Dallas tomorrow and, on cue, Meg seems to have some type of stomach bug. She had a lot of loose stools yesterday and then some full blown (heh) diarrhea last night. I am experimenting with some soy formula that I have a sample of and Ayesha was going to give her rice and other carbs today to try to help solve the problem. I also gave her some yogurt this morning and could hear my mother's mantra in my head about the "good" bacteria. Hopefully the combination of treatments and time will cure her before our trip.

Mama

I swear Meg said "Mama" last night and meant me. My mother is here visiting and was holding Meg. It was close to bedtime and Meg wasn't so sure about Grandmother just yet so when Mom was holding her, I hear Meg say, "Mama" and reach out for me. That's right, 8 1/2 months and she said her first word. Clearly that kid is gifted.

I normally wouldn't believe it, but last weekend, our neighbors were holding Meg while I went to talk to the roofing guys. I had just walked away when Meg started to protest and Doris ran up to tell me she cried, "Mama" as I walked away. I didn't believe her then, but after last night, I do. What a precious darling angel baby. I think Andy's first word was "light" so "Mama" thrills me.

Meg is also this close to crawling. For a few weeks, she's been able to push herself backwards, roll and turn around to get places. I don't think she ever really was trying to get anywhere, it's more that she was so surprised and happy with her new skill. Then this morning I watched her go from her stomach to sitting to back on her stomach again. She's already getting up on her knees and rocking back and forth. I think she is probably minutes away from putting the whole thing together. That means I need to get serious about digging out the baby gates and worrying about where I put her down.

Andy, however, is going through a particularly ornery/whiney phase. I think he's generally overtired, but I'm really struggling with getting him to go to bed at a decent hour. Last night my mom had just arrived so he spent two hours going through his arsenal of yelling, whining, crying, and begging. It was ugly. Of course, he all but refuses to nap anymore so we're in this cycle of overtiredness.

The joys of pharmacology

Andy's mouth was still bothering him yesterday so I called the doctor's office to ask if there was a good treatment for canker sores. When I explained the situation, they told me Dr. Murphy wanted me to bring him in. We had a 5:15 appointment, but with Dr. Staats out of town and it being a Friday afternoon, we didn't get seen until about 6:15. After using the tongue depressor (which Andy did NOT like), he was diagnosed with three big canker sores on the tip of his tongue. Not a big deal, but indeed quite painful. The good news is that the tongue sloughs off its skin new every two days so this is a short-lived problem, unrelated to the strep and not a reaction to the amoxicillin. He prescribed liquid Tylenol with codeine to give him every four hours in the evening as needed to help him sleep.

I wondered about giving a narcotic to a three year old, but I think we were all ready for a good night's sleep, including Dr. Murphy who has been on call by himself all week and I know that I called him a couple of evenings personally so I can attest to how little sleep he was probably getting.

The good news is the medicine did help him sleep through the night and I think the rest really helped Andy's state of mind (as it did mine, especially since Bjorn got up with the kids and let me sleep until the exceptionally late hour of 8:00 a.m.!)

The last two days, Andy hasn't been talking because it hurt his tongue to talk so we've been playing a game of talking through nods and holding up fingers. I don't think I realized how much he talks until he wasn't doing it. And the worst part is, I kind of enjoyed it.

Today Andy is going out with Bjorn to canvas the neighborhood for the Obama, now Obama/Biden, campaign. I'm glad Bjorn is getting involved and glad that Andy will see his father involved in a civic activity. I think that's pretty cool even if you don't like what his activity is.

P.S. There are grammar vigilantes out there. I love it.

Yesterday

Andy has learned the word yesterday and he uses it all the time now. Sometimes he's right, yesterday he did go to school or yesterday he had gym. Other times, they're wild fantasies, "Yesterday I went on a plane to Texas with Mia." Oh? That's news to me. Because I think yesterday you went to school and then we played in the backyard.

He is really so verbal now. It's really amazing to listen to him in full sentences declare his like or dislike for something. He also now has reasons for liking and disliking things, like certain songs are "scary" and some things are "too noisy." It's amazing how he's learned to process language and even use pronouns properly.

I'm also amazed by what he remembers. As a baby, it was easy to distract and move on knowing he wouldn't remember I promised ice cream or something. Now, however, he remembers in great detail what I said about a certain subject. He also has vivid details about some of his friends, like Mia, and what they did and when they'll see each other next. It's really pretty cool.

Green

Andy is obsessed with the color green. He always has to have a green one of anything now - he needs a green spoon or fork (often forgoing one for the other to ensure he gets a green utensil). He also wants to have a green cup and a green plate, whenever possible.

The other night I took him to dinner at a restaurant that had green lamps hanging over all the tables and he proceeded to point out each one, "Dere's a green one. Oh! Dere's another green one. And another one!" Fortunately, the place was not very crowded (as you would expect at 5:45 p.m. on a Thursday) so he wasn't really bothering anyone. Well, except me. His need to narrate the colors on everything, and frankly everything else is growing a little tiresome. Why was I so hot for him to start talking again? Because right now he doesn't ever seem to stop talking.

Picture is of Andy and Mia who decided they needed to ride on the blue car like they were in a parade.