Swimming

Celia has her first swim lessons today.  I found a very good deal at a place that has a very tiny pool but very good ratings.   I knew she was excited but I did not know how excited until she woke me up at 11 pm last night.  No.. she did not wake me up asking me when she was going, it was a request for water.  So I got up and got her water.  The whole time, half awake I am trying to figure what it is that she does not look right on her.   Then it hit me.

Me:  Celia, what are you wearing
Celia:  My swimsuit
Me:  Why?
Celia:  So I will be already for swimming
Me: Oh.  Well it is not for a long time, let's change back into your pjs
Celia:  Ooookay (if she had said no I would have gone with that option too)

I will let you know how the lesson goes!!

Mat Man

For those of you familiar with Handwriting without Tears, there is a song that goes with it- Mat Man.  Celia and I have been doing Mat Man a few times a week.  I am also trying to teach her some handwriting skills.  She can do big line down and little line across, as well as a circle.  But here is Mat Man building in pictures.  As you can see from the pictures, I am sad to report that I think the curls are gone.  It surprises me because she has two parents with curly hair.  But it will be thicker and it is still cute.

This is to the tune of "The Bear Went over The Mountain"

Mat Man has one head one head one head, Mat Man has one head, so that he can think

Mat Man has 2 eyes, 2 eyes, 2 eyes, Mat Man has 2 eyes so that he can see

Mat Man has 1 nose, 1 nose, 1 nose, Mat Man has 1 nose so that he can smell

Mat Man has 1 mouth, 1 mouth, 1 mouth, Mat Man has 1 mouth so that he can eat

Mat Man has 2 ears, 2 ears, 2 ears, Mat Man has 2 ears so that he can hear

Mat Man has 1 body, 1 body, 1 body, Mat Man has 1 body to hold what is inside

Mat Man has 2 arms, 2 arms, 2 arms, Mat Man has 2 arms so that he can reach

Mat Man has 2 hands, 2 hands, 2 hands, Mat Man has 2 hands so that he can clap

Mat man has 2 legs, 2 legs, 2 legs, Mat man has 2 legs so that he can stand

Mat Man has 2 feet, 2 feet, 2 feet, Mat Man has 2 feet so that he can walk

Celia does most of this by herself, I do one leg and arm, she does the other.  She can do the head, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and body without help!  We have fun.

She is so amazing

Celias 2009

January 2009- It started with RSV!  You were so very sick.

February 2009- Your sense of humor is really getting to be fun! 

March 2009- Your first haircut, you didn't like it. 

April 2009- A trip to Longwood and you are potty trained at home (you did this yourself!)

May 2009- My little chatterbox, is showing some "two" behaviors

June 2009- Can you see the "tude" in the picture.  You are two, even though your birthday hasn't arrived yet, you are two!  But you are so much fun.  We were so sad to say Goodbye to your first teacher Miss. Jen at the end of the month!  But Mommy was happy to have you for the summer!!

July 2009-  We spent alot of time walking outside looking for bunnies.  Oh we also went on long walks with the BOB.  But you loved to sit out on our stoop early in the morning and look for your bunnies. Oh we also had a great time with a visit from cousin Katie!!

August 2009- Our trip to the Outerbanks.  You were watching Daddy fish.  You were not a fan of the water, but you will be when you are older- it is in your blood!  You had a great time with Mom Mom and you also had fun with your cousins in Virginia. 

September 2009-  Happy Birthday my sweet girl, you turned 2.  I couldn't believe it.  I also couldn't believe the summer was done and we were parting ways yet again.

October 2009- Halloween was fun with you this year.  The weather was yucky- humid and rainy at the end.  But you had so much fun.

November 2009- I didn't have any true Thanksgiving pictures of you, but this one is so funny.  We are having fun with you but you are trying us.  Your speech is absolutely amazing!!

December 2009- This Christmas was fun.  You had a blast with your Grandma, Grandpa, Granny, and Paw Paw in Lancaster.  You then had an amazing time with Mom Mom, your cousins, and Aunt Vickie and Uncle Jack in Virginia.  You really love playing with your cousin Katie and despite the age difference, Katie enjoys playing with you too!!  I hope that continues.  You like Emmett too, but Katie is just too interesting right now.  Plus you think you are 6. 

What a year sweet girl!!

Homemade and starting traditions

The apron and the pants are both homemade by me.  I am not naturally talented at sewing like my mother and sister.  I have to rip seams up, hate,  don't like, can't follow patterns, jam up my sewing machine, and use "inappropriate words" while sewing.  But when I am in the mood, sewing is fun and it relaxes me.  I haven't made Celia pants since before I started working, meaning summer 2008.   So I found this great corduroy fabric on sale and I made her some pants.  They are okay.  The pattern accomodates a diaper, which she doesn't wear, so the crotch and butt are quite baggy.  I like projects like this though because I can make them in about an hour.  The apron has been in progress for a long time.  I have worked on it every so often.  I actualy started it this summer, just really would work on it for a few minutes here and there.  I didn't intend on finishing it for Christmas but I got in the mood last night and voila there it is.  Celia was curious so I gave it to her right there.  She was so excited to try cooking in it that we rushed upstairs to get out her play stuff and then she took it off and said "I'm all done, I don't like it anymore" and that was that.  I hung my head and fought back the tears.  I tied it onto the back of one of her little chairs and it now has a spoon and little rake in it.  At least she modeled for the picture.

She is getting a homemade blanket from me.  She needs a bigger blanket for her bed, not an adult sized one, just a "big girl' size one.  So we will see if she likes that.  I made it so that she can use it as a sleeping bag type blanket, or she can just lay underneath it.  It is funky looking and pink, she loves pink.

This morning I hope that I started a tradition with Celia, I hope to do it next year.  I bundled her up and we went over to Wegmans to get some ingredients for my cherry cheesecake that I making for Christmas.   I also wanted to buy an ornament with her.  Wegmans didn't have a huge selection, but I knew they also deeply discount them around this time.    We found a delicate angel with red wings that look like leaves, it is pretty.  Celia chose it.  We decided it was a gift for Jesus's birthday.  She does associate Christmas with his birthday, primarily because of her methodist daycare.  In anycase, these ornaments that I hope to pick out every Christmas eve are going to be her ornaments.  They will be the ones that she gets when she is grown.  Next year I am not so sure it will be a Wegmans trip.  The store was crazy- it was 8 am!!   I hope to expand it to breakfast with Mom too.   Breakfast with a two yearold is not all that relaxing, 3 will be better, right???

Celia is actualy over at my neighbors right now playing.  It isn't often that I don't have her and am not at work, it feels strange.  She was excited though!! 

Tonight we have our church's childrens service at 6pm and then may be going over to our neighbor's afterward.  I wish that the service was at 5.    6:00 is just dinner time to me!  But I am looking forward to dressing Ms. Celia in her christmas dress and seeing her have fun with all the songs.  Our children's service is extremly kid oriented, it is very cute.

Merry Christmas!

Pumpkins and Bikes

My Mom sent Celia a package with the hat, shirt (it is long, as I think Celia is on the shorter side), and socks for Me. Celia insisted that the socks were for her. When she wasn't looking, I took them back. If you know me, you understand that my passion for socks is quite strong.

I took her to a local orchard to pick out our pumpkins. She did not want to get in any pictures so that made things hard. Here are a few. Oh and the coat isn't small, she decided to wear another coat underneath- I don't know why but I pick my battles.

Celia received a very nice tricycle from her grandparents. It is a bit big for my peanut, so Grandpa put some blocks on it. Unfortunately a week after we got it, the weather turned yucky. So we only had a few afternoons with it.




This are not my best photos and I didn't take the time to edit anything. The weather has been awful here, miserable. I miss being able to go out and take my walks/runs with Celia and the Bob. I am hoping for better weather next week. I am headed down to the basement to watch the Empire Strikes back with Pete- while I do school work- or look through my new Mennonite cook book that Pete got me for my birthday. I keep telling Pete that I am a hippy and he tells me I am the farthest from one. So now I am going to run the Mennonite thing past him, I think he thinks I am closer to that side. But I think the babywearing, cloth diapering, yogurt making, baking from scratch (when possible not nearly as often as I want), delivering in the parking lot, goodwill shopping, no paper towel/ paperplate household part of me makes me a hippy. As Pete would say- Go on with your bad self.

Stuffy sucky luck- updated

Update: So her wonderful teacher was actualy completely accurate! Celia was wheezing. We had a rough night last night. I did not sleep at all and it really wasn't all Celia's fault. She fell asleep around 5:30 last night- should have been my first clue that something wasn't right. She woke up around 3 or 4 times, her fever was 101. I took her back to the doctor at 7 am. I saw a different doctor and she was very calm for him. He was able to hear wheezing. So she is on an antibiotic and nebulizer treatments. Pete's Dad is coming to stay with her tomorrow. I am so glad to have his family nearby. I hope Celia treats him well. She seems to be perking up since her neb treatment and didn't feel horrible today, just more tired and clingy. Normally I would just stay home with her but it is the first full week. I am torn, I would love to spend another day curled up with her. Sadly I know there will be other sick days. As for me, I am also sick. I had the worst night with sinus and ear pain, so bad that I seriously considered going to the ER. Everytime I coughed or tried to blow my nose, I thought I was going to pass out. It took a few hours but the drugs that I popped kicked in, but I couldn't sleep. In anycase Celia and I went from her doctor to my doctor and ended up with an antibiotic for each of us.

So do you remember how we started school last year? Read here. Do you remember how we ended the school year?? Read here. You can only guess where this is going. Yes that is right on the night before the first day that I had students I got hit with a horrid cold. I think I caught it from Celia's daycare class but Celia didn't really start until Thursday with her cold. It seems to be the same one of course. It is the kind of no appetite, walk in a fog colds. Well at least for me, Celia is going with the "feed a cold" theory evidently. She has been battling this thing hard and this morning I thought she had turned the corner. I should mention that Pete is in Texas on business so I am the only one here to take off if Celia is sick. It all is bad timing, but I never imagined we would get sick this early. You know, because that never happens... I should have read my blog. In anycase I get a call from her school today that Celia is wheezing. The last time Celia wheezed was when she had RSV and didn't eat for 8 days. Celia doesn't do that. Her teacher was nice and not all that worried and said she was actualy okay to stay but that maybe I should make a doctor's appointment. Wheezing to me, as a severe child and adult asthmatic (outgrew it though after having Celia!), means not breathing very well. So I talked her pediatrician's office and they were able to fit me in with in an hour.
I got to daycare and Celia didn't want to go home, she was tired, but not looking that bad. So off to the doctor we went to find out that she has a cold. I was a little bit excited to hear that it was a cold without an ear infection. I know she could still get an ear infection from this gunky cold, but 6 months ago this would have been double ear infections. This is a horrid cold, I haven't felt this gunky in years. No wheezing or anything in Celia's chest. I called her school to relay the information and let them know that honestly I do appreciate that they are that diligent with the kids. I would have rather made the trip just to be safe and next time they tell me she can wait until after work to go to the doctor, I will wait and not panic. The truth is, Celia is my daughter and I half expect at some point that she will blow up with hives and wheeze. I don't want that but anyone that knows me, knows that was who I was as a kid. Maybe the near 2 years of breastmilk will have paid off...
So Celia is fine, better then I have seen her in days. Of course she had only a 20 min. nap at the doctor's office. So to bed early for her tonight. She is over at my neighbor's house playing right now and I should be doing school work. I am overwhelmed with that. I don't know what to do with these kids. They are awesome as far as behavior goes, okay one is showing some problems, but really nothing bad. It is the high academic work and the crud that is making me feel horrid. If I could just kick this cold, I would be able to think alot more!!
As I drove home today though I really started thinking about part time work yet again. So I go back to that thinking. I think that I should make those decisions when I feel better.

Am I doing this again???

Am I really going back to work for a second year, am I really working full time again?? I keep asking myself that. The answer of course is yes. I am chicken for change I think. I thought about part time work and explored it slightly. Perhaps if things hadn't happened this summer, things that will just remain as "things", I would have. I don't know. The truth is, when I think of part time, I know that all of my options for that kind of work mean no summers off. Summers off are wonderful. Summers off getting paid are amazing. Granted now when I have summers off, I am still working as a Mom. It is a different kind of work though, a sticky kisses, tummy tickles, on the floor flopping pouting, homemade yogurt and smoothy eating, kind of work day. It is a cuddles after a fall or just because kind of day. It is a certain toddler needs a nap so she whines all morning and then only takes an hour nap and then make you want Daddy to come home so bad that you send said toddler to the window to look for him every 5 minutes kind of day. It is a handy manny after poopying kind of day. It is a smoothy popsicle on the front stoop kind of day...

We are getting our new hardwood laminate flooring installed today. Last year it was the countertops, this year the flooring. Next year, hmm... what should next year be?? My bathroom?? But that is the size of a coat closet so not much can be done. There was a problem of course and the guys are off to get some board to put underneath the floor. All is well though because I pitched a fit with home depot and it is going to be free. One of the installer guys told me to call them and act really pissed off, so that is what I did. Now anyone that knows me knows that my pissed off isn't really all that bad. Of course the floor is not installed yet so hopefully everything will be okay.

I left Celia at daycare in a hurry today because the installers called and they were coming early. I left her suddenly and I hope she was okay, of course she is always okay. She loves school. They love her too. It is a quiet day there and they are celebrating her birthday. Thank you to Miss. Holly for making her birthday special. I love that Holly is her teacher, she is a very sweet person. The director, Miss. Donna, makes Celia feel like she is the only kid that goes there. Celia really thinks that. She talks about her and says "Miss. Donna loves me, Miss. Donna gives me hugs". I have asked if she gives other kids hugs and was informed "No, Celia". I know that isn't true, but glad Celia thinks it is. I am glad that when I am away from work that Miss Celia is in good hands!!

Stay tuned, tomorrow I will post pictures from her birthday bash- on her birthday!

Growing up

Two Years Ago (okay a little less then 2 years ago, this was Sept 2nd)

One Year ago:



This weekend:

No she wasn't talking to her boyfriend, it was grandpa. She took over the conversation that Pete was having with his father and wondered over to her chair. Can you picture her as a teenager??? Last year around this time our neighbor gave us that chair. I said yes to her gift but thought, ugh another big item for our tiny house. I admit now I was stupid and ungrateful. That little chair has been Celia's favorite thing. She loves it still a year later and I imagine even for a few years to come. It is fitting because she loves the family that gave it to her. Some gifts that have been unexpectedly cherished throughout the two years: Her baby stroller from Grandma and Grandpa, her baby from Mom Mom, her turtle (Milo) from Aunt Vickie, and a blanket from a certain neighbor. The last one I cringe about and Pete is probably the only who understands it. Oh and my Mom gave her the Leap Frog activity table that still entertains her 18 months later, she now thinks she is a DJ and makes the music play while she dances. Oh my goodness and how could I forget the trunk of gold coins!! Pete won this trunk of gold coins filled with cash prior to Celia's birth. The trunk looked cool, so I left it out as a decorations. I think Celia was around 6 months when she discovered them. They now entertain any child who comes in the house, go figure!

We took her crib down this weekend, Daddy is having mixed feelings. Celia has mentioned it a couple times but she has been sleeping in her twin bed for over a week now. She started back to daycare today, she will only go 2 days this week and next week, then start back the next week. I wanted to start her out slow. She didn't want to go this morning and it broke my heart. Once we got there, she was okay. I am interested to hear how she does with the potty. I am going to pick her up around 2/2:30 today.

What are my plans with the freedom?- going to home depot, cleaning the crud off the bottom of our shower door, putting in a new shower head, dusting the guest room. You know, fun!!! Oh I might do some sewing, I am back into the groove of sewing- you know, 2 weeks before I start back to work.

Back from the Beach

This was Celia showing off one of her 6, 7, or 8 swim suits, I have lost count. I didn't buy her a single one- they were all given to us! The beach was nice and relaxing, despite getting off to a very rocky start. I read through my last email and I should have clarified that I was not allowed to swim- I certainly can swim. I was a competitive swimmer for 15 years, I can swim. Swimming was a "no" for about a week after my surgery. Friday I could have chanced getting in and I did, but didn't really swim. I went in with Pete to test out the great sand bars, but discovered that the water was so very cold that my feet were going numb. I did take Celia in with me at one point and we had some fun. But I decided that it really wasn't worth chancing a side effect if I wasn't truely ready to go in the water, especialy if the water was that cold!!

Pete enjoyed fishing everyday and even got in a 1/2 day fishing charter. We were not really equipped to eat the fish, so it all was thrown back. I was tired during the week but got my energy almost back basically by Friday- the last day, go figure! Celia and I enjoyed a long walk Friday morning. I wish that we had been able to do that everyday. We really debated on bringing our BOB stroller with us. It is my favorite baby purchase and I really hate any other stroller, yes I am a stroller snob when it comes to the BOB. We used it more then just Friday, but I as I was walking with Celia and BOB, I thought that it was worth a cramped car just for that walk. It is so smooth that Celia just relaxes and enjoys the trip.

It is back to real, reality for Pete. He goes back to work tomorrow. I go back to work to as a Summer Stay at home mom! I did have a break for a bit as my Mom helped us out tremendously over the past 2 weeks. We really can't thank her enough. School starts back for me in 4 weeks and I am not looking forward to it. I enjoy my little girl tremendously and I really hope she likes daycare this school year as much as she did last year. I am exploring some part time options still but I think I will utimately be going back to work fulltime for the school year.

The trip to the outerbanks was wonderful, I only wish it was a shorter drive!! Now we get to think about next year's vacation. Hopefully Miss. Celia won't have to pee so very often next year. She is doing amazingly well with toilet training- only 1 true accident the whole entire trip, actualy that was the first in 4 weeks.

Bagels, school is done, and the plague

On Wednesday I leaned my head against the doorway of my classroom and I took it all in. The walls were bare, circle time had no calendar or weather frog, the puzzles were gone, and boxes were packed. I took sometime to think about the year. I pictured the group of kids that frightened my assistant and I at the beginning of the year. I pictured that group that made me tell Pete that I didn't think I was going to last the year, it just was too exhausting. Then I pictured the group that made me want to stay the whole year. I pictured the group that made me love coming into the classroom everyday. I pictured the group that frustrated everyone but made us feel so important and so special. They are not the same group of students, they really aren't. The group of kiddos that we started with did not exist, they didn't exist after November. Don't get me wrong, they were still a handful, but they matured and grew so very much this year. I watched little J learn to defend herself among kids a foot taller and I heard her say her first words. I saw N become calmer and learn, oh did she learn this year. I won't lie, there are a couple of students that I enjoyed the year teaching, but I am okay with not having them next year.
So I didn't stand at that doorway for too long, it just was too painful. I am not sure that my students are going off to better places. Little J will be fine going back to the district, she is smart, sweet, and compliant. I am not sure that I am going off to a better place. I haven't put in my letter of transfer yet but I think that I am. My supervisor asked me again if I knew what I was doing and I told him my plans, then he changed my mind a little. There is a classroom at our Autistic Support school that has some students with behavior problems. I am good with students with behavior problems, but honestly I am tired of that a little. I love the challenge though.
This week has been complicated by the fact that I have the plague. Okay perhaps not "the Plague" but some horrible virus/infection. It started with fever, body aches, and the worst sore throat I have had in years. I popped Tylenol and Ibropfren like candy Mon and Tues to get through work. Wednesday I went to the dr and they didn't know, I was told to fill an antibiotic prescription on Thursday if I didn't feel better. So I woke up Thursday thinking maybe the sore throat was know more like 10 knives then a dozen. I didn't fill the prescription until later that day when things got worse. So today I think maybe I am filling better, but not sure as my throat is still killing me.
Celia is home for the summer with me, today is the official day. She didn't take her morning nap because she took off her sleep sack, nap diaper (undies when awake), and shirt. I heard her from downstairs saying "I nakey, Celia nakey". That never leads to anything good. So I got her up and we played outside for a bit then came in to make bagels. I found a recipe for it and thought it sounded worthwhile to try, the dough is rising right now and I am deflating. I think I need to also take a nap. She really loves to bake, but she thinks that everything we make is muffins. I told her bagels and showed her the pictures. She then asked if I was cooking the muffins!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Not Me Monday is back!!

I haven't really been into posting a great deal lately for some reason. I thought that I would get back into by doing a Not Me Monday post.

I certainly did not let my daughter have a cupcake before dinner tonight, no not me. I am the queen of healthy food and would never let her have a cupcake.

I definately didn't spend the time that I could be napping yesterday on Mother's day doing school work, no not me.

I most certainly didn't stop my husband from taking Celia out to eat so that I could sleep a little longer yesterday because I kept thinking about all the things that he would need and finally just ask him to do it on another day, no not me (he certainly didn't wake me up to tell me that he was taking her out instead of letting me sleep and just leaving a note).

I am certainly not counting down each day until I am done with school for the year. I am certainly not extremly bummed out about my possible transfer for the 2nd year in a row.

My husband definately didn't clean 2 bathrooms top to bottom for Mother's Day, therefore proving to me that he is very good at cleaning bathrooms. No he would never do that!

Little Celia, Update

So more thoughts for Celia. Her fever went back up to 103 and wasn't responding well to tylenol so I called the Dr's office. They asked us to come in and we saw the original Dr that we saw on Wednesday. This time he seemed not so rushed and spent a good amount of time with us. He heard some wheezing and didn't think that there was any improvement in her ear infection (still not considered a severe ear infection though) since Wed. So we are going to go to a stronger antibiotic and start giving her nebulizer treatments. It does look like it is likely RSV. She is beyond miserable, especialy after the neb treatment- she didn't appreciate the mask that she had to wear. So if no improvement by Monday then we are back to the Dr's office, if worse tomorrow then we are to head to the ER. We are hoping that the neb treatments help her breathe easier and the antibiotic does it's trick. She is very sick. I feel so bad for her.
For once, I am the only one in my family healthy. Usualy I am the sick one. Pete now thinks he has a cold and he doesn't feel well. So Celia is upstairs napping and Pete is in the basement napping. I am trying to chill after the eventful morning and watching one of the more intellectual movies made- John Tucker Must Die, yes, I wanted to do something that didn't involve using brain cells.
Poor Celia though, they want us to keep up with both Motrin and Tylenol for her fever, since she has had it so long. Motrin gives her an upset stomach and the Dr. said that the antibiotic will also. I have a feeling that her little Northern Essence Diaper Balm ( the only diaper ointment that my sensitive child doesn't get a worse rash from!) is going to be put to work.
So send happy thoughts to Celia. We are supposed to get snow on Monday and I so wanted Celia to enjoy it.

Poor, Poor, Celia

Dear Stupid Virus,

You are no longer welcome to stay in my body. Please leave your key in my mouth and make the bed before you leave. I want no traces of you left in my body. I see that you are thinking about leaving because my fever is down. It is about time, 6 days with a temp over 101 was not fun. You suck. You really do. So now that I am down to 100 degrees (Mommy is writing to correct this, you stupid bug, my temp is back up to 102), I should feel better, at least I thought I should. But no, you are still beating me up. Why? What did I ever do to you?? I want to be able to eat, it has been almost a week since I last ate anything more then a few bites of food. Thank goodness I am still nursing. So leave, you are not welcome back- EVER. Pick on someone bigger, someone not in my family, someone that I hate (okay, pick on someone that Mommy doesn't like, I like everyone except you), pick on them. Go on, go on. Leave! I want to feel like doing more then sleeping or just sitting and staring. I want to play. Do you know how many cool toys I have now??? You can't play with them though, don't you dare touch a single one- because you suck. Your mean and you drain me completely. So fairwell, leave quickly, by this afternoon.

One pissed of 16 month old,
Celia


That was a letter from Celia. She has been so sick and we have all been very worried about her. She started getting sick last Saturday, ran a fever on Monday and was just miserable. I took her to the Dr. on Wed and they put her on an antibiotic for a slight ear infection secondary to a virus that could be RSV (It doesn't look like that is what she has, they don't know what she has). The Dr. was clear that the antibiotic would do nothing to make her feel better, that it was a virus. But I expected improvement. My wonderful Father in law watched Celia Thursday and Friday and despite the attention from Grandpa, she was worse each day. Thursday evening her temp was 103. 5 (okay, not extremly high for a baby but that was her 5th day of this!). We brought her back to the pediatrician yesterday and it was our regular pediatrician, Dr. Meyer. We think he is the greatest, we were not as impressed with the one we saw on Wed. But that just might be a personality thing, I am sure he is a good doctor. In anycase Dr. Meyer's plan was that if her temp isn't down by Sunday then we will likely have to do an ER visit. He thought that it would just be 1 or 2 days more of what ever this thing is and she would start getting better. Celia had me worried, especialy when I checked her temp when we got home from the pediatrician and it was close to 104.. So last night was rough for Celia, coughing with gagging, just miserable. Her fever went way up around 10:30 and I was thinking that I really didn't want to put her through an ER visit on Sunday. Well she woke up again around 1:30 and I wanted to do a dance when I picked her up and noticed that for once she wasn't on fire. This morning the highest reading I got for her temp was 100.2. So send good thoughts her way that it won't go up this evening as it has been. She needs a break. Updated because it has gone up, hoping tylenol will bring it back down. She is miserable.
The picture above is what she does if she is put down, she might walk for a few seconds but then she just prefers to curl up on the floor. This is more concerning then her fever, she doesn't really want to play, just sleep and cuddle.

Poor Celia..

Oh and poor Pete is having a sinus attack, so send good thoughts for him. He doesn't handle feeling bad very well. Changes in the weather always do this to him and we certainly have a change with our frigid temps.

MENSA

The MENSA logo is on because I know that my daughter could be a member, she really could. However I don't believe in those sort of things so we will not be testing her at this time. So why do I think Celia should be in MENSA.

Well the following things.

She has an expanding vocabulary that includes the words- school, daddy, mommy, car, snack, splash, good girl (the phrase), Milo (My oh is her lovey that she sleeps with), Shoes, Shit, baby, Mom Mom, awe, up, diaper (diappy).

There are probably somemore.

Oh wait you noticed the 4 letter word she says, that will be explained later.

Okay well the biggest clue to how smart she is came this evening while we were reading one of her books. Celia pointed to a frog and I said, "Oh you see the froggy". Then I said "I see the ducky" and Celia put her finger on the duck. I said "I see David" and Celia put her finger on David. I then said "I see the froggy" and she put her finger on the frog. My daughter is a genius. She has even stopped eating my hair (okay she has cut back, but my hair is tasty).

We also played again today with a small squirt bottle. She tried to stick it in my mouth like I was a baby. So I started to cry. Everytime I cried she put it in my mouth. Now she could have just wanted to shut me up but she followed it once with a hug and an "awe" so I am thinking she was playing along. Now granted after the hug she basically lost interest in feeding me and insisted upon "na" or nursing.

Okay back to the shit. Yes my daughter said shit today, it was clear and it was my fault. Celia smashed sweet potatoes and a quesadilla together then dropped multiple pieces on the floor. I said "shit" because it was quite the mess. She then dropped one more piece and said "shit", then smiled. Nice, real, nice. The word wasn't repeated the rest of the evening. Since my Mom has a habit of saying "oh shit", I am blaming the situation on her. I blame it on her simply because I heard it so much growing up because she primarily said it when we were lost and well if you know me, you can guess that we were always lost.. So "oh shit" is drilled in my head that shit comes out easily. And of course the mother is always blamed...

Celia did talk to Mom Mom on the phone today. She was quite a chatterbox today after school. She talked to daddy and said Da Da and she said "ma ma" for Mom Mom.

My classroom is still about the same. Things are likely getting better but between the dragging kids by their feet to the bathroom, learning puppetry to gain their attention, and being the entertainment of the cafeteria I am exhausted. But... I am having fun. I like the group despite their craziness. It is an adventure. I will survive the year, beyond that I am not sure. Celia loves daycare so I go through the day with a very good feeling because she would actualy prefer to be then anywhere else on somedays (honestly!!). If she would only nap longer for them situation would be perfect.