Well, it's been exciting as usual here at El Rancho Oxenfordo... Saturday night we all went to a party and had a wonderful time seeing mommy's work people that we hadn't seen in a long time. Then later that evening Emmy woke up and was very much not herself. Nothing we could do would help her. So a few hours later, Mommy found herself in the ER with poor little Emily. After a few hours of waiting and triage and whatnot, the doctor saw her and turns out she had a nasty ear infection (not surprising given the bad colds we all had and that Sophie was being treated currently for an ear infection as well). We got home around 5am or so. Good times. Thank goodness it was nothing more serious than that but let's just say that it was surely an exciting night. On Sunday we had a lovely dinner at our favorite chain spaghetti and meatball joint, Carrabas, with Dee Ree, Pop Pop and GGMom! It was lovely to see everyone since it had been so long.
Then this week has been a bit of a blur for us all. I can tell you all that we have Valentine's cards for everyone but you will never ever get them in time. My apologies now that they're going to be so late. BUT heck - I still owe both our godsons their birthday presents from January so let's just say Mommy is a little bit behind these days.
Sophie is going through a bit of a rough patch. She seems particularly jealous of Emily lately and has been lashing out more and being very emotional and exhibiting some pretty ugly behaviors. That said, she is approaching that three year mark and I know a lot of folks have said that 3 is even worse than 2. We'll see... It's very trying for us all and we just want to do right by her but it's so hard to know whether we're being too lax, too tough, or what. We've tried time outs. They don't seem to work. (She can usually be caught smiling on the way to being carried to her time out.) We have tried emotion coaching but this often doesn't seem to help. She is still emotional and whiny and no amount of emotion coaching or hugs seem to be enough for her. For those of you that pray, please pray for us and for Sophie. I pray that we as parents can have more patience with her and somehow learn what she needs. And I pray that Sophie can feel all the love we try to show her and not be so miserable and jealous.
As for potty training, we are sort of in a holding pattern at the moment. Sophie was doing really well at going #1 on the potty but only made it to the pot for a #2 once in weeks of potty training. So we decided to take a break and go back to diapers for a while. Again, who knows if this is the right move or not. It just seems like maybe she wasn't ready since she wasn't telling us that she had gone poopy in her big girl panties and never would come and say "I have to go on the potty" like she did when she had to go pee. So now we alternate between diapers and pull-ups with panties over them. After reading and talking to some other moms, apparently this is extremely common and some moms have said their kids have been potty training for almost a year and still don't poop on the potty so I guess it's normal and we should keep going with it. Now, however when I ask her if she wants to wear her big girl panties, she said "Um, no thanks" so we're sort of waiting for her to take the lead again. At least this time, I feel pretty certain she will when she is ready.
Emily, ER visits and ear infections aside, is doing really really well and is a happy little monkey almost all the time. She is letting go of things while standing up and balancing herself really well. Jim even caught her doing a pivot the other night so I think that she will be walking pretty soon. She loves to explore and play with toys and find little specks of paper or the tiniest possible toy that might have been left on the floor and put it right into her mouth. She loves music and playing her little piano that the neighbors gave us. As for feeding, she now eats beans and pizza crust and bread and little pieces of peaches and blueberries in addition to her baby food purees and teething biscuits. She hasn't quite started to appreciate meats and the heartier food offerings but she does love to eat and always watches whatever you put into your own mouth with great interest. She adores her big sister (even when big sister is stomping on her leg or pushing down hard on her hands amazingly) and almost anything Sophie does makes Emily smile and laugh.
Don't get me wrong, I think Sophie adores Emily as well. I think Sophie just has always been a little shall we say "high maintenance" and now that she has to share the stage with an almost walking, smiling little person it does not thrill her to have the attention of the audience divided.
Anyway, I've ranted enough. It's been a long day. I wish I was more patient. At the very least, I hope I'm not messing her up too bad.
In other news, Mommy started selling Avon this week. Who knows if it will actually work out to be profitable or not or if it will be one more thing that I always feel behind on but I'll give it a shot and we'll see what happens and I guess at the very least, I'll get some cheaper lip glosses for a while, huh? If you or anyone you know wants to buy AVON, I'll be opening my online store soon and will be sure to post the url for you to share with your friends, ok?
Finally, Happy Valentine's Day to all of our family and friends. We love you all so much and while your cards might be quite late, please know we're thinking of you and sending lots of love this Valentine's and always.
