Today, Brandon was playing with bubble wrap. I told him to keep it away from his nose and mouth so he doesn’t suffocate. I asked him if he knows what that means. He said, “Yeah, means you can’t breathe.” I don’t remember telling him what it means before.
Passport error?
As much money as you pay the government to get a passport, you’d think they would get it right. We got Peyton’s passport back in the mail yesterday, and according to the passport, she is already a year old! Really? I know she’s a bit “big” for her age, but does her picture look like she’s already 16 months old? Now we either have to send it back to the issuing agency or go up to the nearest passport office to get it fixed. Either way, we won’t have it back any time soon.
Movement
Peyton is so different than Brandon. I’ve said it before, but today, it was again true. She was awake in the morning, and I was holding her trying to empty the dishwasher (I did it with Brandon quite often, as I did most of the chores). It was taking a lot longer, so I decided to put her in the crib, and then finish my chores. I put her in the crib, and gave her two rattles to play with. I went back after the dishes to check on her, and she had moved 90 degrees and the rattles were at the other end of the crib. She was now staring up at our engagement picture on the wall, and when I came into the room with a “Hi!” it startled her and she started to cry. I patted her until she got comfortable, then put the rattles closer so she could see them. I cleaned the kitchen a bit, and when I got back, she was now on her tummy, and the rattles were again in two different places. When I went back, she just looked up at me and smiled. I picked her up so we could play.
We have a 4 month check up on Friday. I’m somewhat afraid to bring her in, especially since she may be in contact with other sick kids. I kinda worry about swine flu. I’ve never really been one to worry about those kinds of things, but given she’s little, I do. There have been school closings for at least a week recently, one high school in our area. There was a kid who came to the preschool office yesterday with a 99 degree fever. Usual school policy is 99.5 and above, but the director wasn’t taking chances. She had the teacher phone the parent right away and pick up the girl immediately. Unfortunately, her brother is in Brandon’s class. I wonder if they will make him stay home, too.
Funny kids
The last two nights, Brandon has been cracking Peyton up. It starts with him laughing, then she starts laughing in return. I’m usually holding Peyton and ask Dave to get the video camera. He just wants to live in the moment, so it hasn’t been caught on tape. When Brandon gets tired, he doesn’t want to make her laugh anymore. So, Peyton continues on her own, then Brandon got upset. “She’s laughing at me,” he whined. Haha…you can’t win.
A survey
I signed Brandon up for a frequent flier rewards number since we flew last week and he had his own seat. My dad suggested it. I used my email address to get correspondence from the airline. I just received a message offering a chance to win 100K miles for taking a survey. Dave and I were joking around with what Brandon’s responses would be: 1) I like the milk you served, 2) I like looking at the other planes from the window seat, and 3) I like looking at the cockpit and the pilot. I should take it for him, who knows he could get lucky and win a bunch of miles!
Big aspirations
After getting off the plane, Brandon wanted to be a pilot. I told him that he needs to stay in school and listen to his teachers to be a pilot. Yesterday, we were driving around on a stretch that had lots of car washes. He changed his mind about professions and declared, “I want to be a car washer.” Today he is wearing his stethoscope and wanting to give our entire family shots. We shall see.
Pacifier woes
Peyton has taken to the pacifier more than Brandon ever did. She doesn’t take it all the time, but occasionally, it helps soothe her when her hands aren’t doing the trick. She was given a pacifier in the hospital when she was briefly admitted way back at 3 weeks. It’s the only one she will take; it’s plain, white and no bells or whistles. I tried to buy cute pink and purple ones, that had the orthodontic nipple, etc, but she doesn’t like them. But she has outgrown the white pacifier. I know this because she can almost fit her entire mouth around the pacifier! Well, ok, maybe a slight exaggeration, but it looks so tiny when she’s sucking on it. Sometimes she just sucks on the bottom edge of it, which makes me think at some point, she’s going to inhale the thing. She never sucks too long on it anyways, because as soon as she falls asleep, it comes out and that’s it. Luckily she doesn’t notice it’s missing. Then, when it falls out, she bats it around in her sleep. While on Dave’s watch, it even fell out of the crib, against the back wall, making it now inaccessible at the moment. I have to remember that it’s there, and one of us will eventually go back there and get it.
Hiding from us
I think Peyton has her favorite blanket. It’s a blanket that the school teachers pitched and presented us. It has different textures and it’s pretty nifty. I use it to cover her when I pick Brandon up from school. She likes to grasp part of it in each hand. Sometimes, when we’re driving back home, I’ll ask Brandon what Peyton is doing. He replies, “Ah, she’s hiding.” At the next stop, I turned around to see what he was looking at. She had pulled it up to above her nose, and was peering out from underneath the blanket. I brought it down because I was afraid she was going to suffocate herself. By the time I got back home, she had done it again. Whenever I try to move the blanket, it’s like I have to pry her hands off of it. She has a pretty strong grip. She grabs onto my hair now and won’t let go. What’s worse is when she grabs her own hair, and starts crying, like she doesn’t know what hurts and why it’s hurting. I have given her one of Brandon’s little rattles/small blankie that she likes to hold in the crib. Her otherwise favorite blanket is too big for the crib, especially at night when she is unsupervised. Since we’ve been back from San Diego, she has been going to sleep at around 9pm, but waking up at 5am. I shouldn’t complain though because she goes right back to sleep after being changed and fed. Last night, she had a right to be upset; she had wet through the diaper. Even as wet as she was, she wasn’t complaining that much, just little peeps, but we knew she wasn’t going back to sleep on her own. Dave took one for the team and changed her (maybe it was because I complained to him at dinner with Kenny and Rachel earlier that night). I still fed her though, so either way, I was up. I think we’d be getting a lot more sleep if we slept at 9pm like the other half of our household. It’s our own fault really that we want to watch TV, blog, catch up on facebook, etc. Well, that’s my excuse. Dave’s watching the playoffs, ESPN, etc.
On a sports note, we all went to the range today. I think it’s Dave’s goal to have our family play as a foursome someday. Brandon likes putting the best. He does his best, but I think he looks more like Happy Gilmore than Tiger, even down to the grip on his putter. When he’s really serious, he gets down really close to the hole, will put the ball even closer, and then tap it in with the putter. He’s still hitting it lefty for the most part. It’s funny to see him try to figure it out when he’s putting. He starts trying to putt righty, then realizes something is wrong, so he runs around the club to face the left way. Because he has a mallet putter, he can almost get away with the ambidextrous putt, but it just looks weird.
On a girlie note, I went to a used stamp sale today. It was fun, but now, Brandon wants to help me stamp. I guess Brandon will keep both Dave and me company doing our respective hobbies.
Funny line today: I told Brandon, “Thanks, buddy.” He said, “No, I’m Brandon.”
Spooked!
Peyton was in the crib, while Brandon was trying to use the potty. I was calling to him from our room, right over the crib. It must have scared Peyton, because she started screaming and crying. It sounded like she was in such pain! I helped Brandon, then came back to pick her up. I consoled her, and just at that moment, Dave had come home. She was somewhat calmed down, but when Dave came up to her and said, “Hi” right in her face, she started to cry again. After awhile, she calmed down, and then started smiling at Dave again.
Rest of the Trip
We made it home safe and sound. It helped that my parents got aboard the same flight that we were on coming back home. They were able to check our bags for us; otherwise, it would have been an extra $40! No charge for the carseat/stroller. We managed to pack all of our clothes into two check-ins with 1.5 pounds to spare.
This time, Brandon sat behind my mom’s friend! He kept talking to her through the seats, “Look at the planes, Joy!” At least he was entertained (and the flight was at 9am, so we took advantage of Brandon’s normal awake time of 630am). Peyton was sleeping for about half the flight, when another kid behind us started screaming. She opened her eyes, and we tried to rub her forehead to get her to go back to sleep, but it didn’t work. She soon joined in with the other baby and started crying. The flight attendant told us the safest place for her was in the car seat that I had next to me (we were able to carry it onboard). I put her back, stuck a pacifier in her, and waited it out. Eventually, she stopped, but it was a bit touch and go. Brandon was never that fussy on a plane; of course, it’s because he usually ate himself to sleep. We dropped off Dave at work after going in to say hi. While we were driving back to my parents’ house, Brandon said, “Mommy, where’s Daddy?” I told him we just dropped him off at work. He said, “I miss Daddy.” After spending all this time together, Brandon was feeling the separation. We went back to the house and after lunch, we all took a nap. Too bad Dave was the only one who didn’t because he was at work. I think the kids are both trying to readjust to home life. Both have been sleeping for the past two hours now (it’s almost 11pm). Just in time for the weekend.