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Feb 15, 2007

A Quick Note To My Neighbors

February 15, 2007 By

Did you all miss the news where the governor of Ohio said we should all help our neighbors out during this snow storm?

Clearly you saw your very pregnant neighbor early this afternoon, trying to clear her car of the snow and ice. I know because I saw you looking out the window. Plus, it was hard to miss hearing your kid pounding on the window at me, as if I was an animal in the zoo, when I fell on my butt on the uneven, icy ground. It’s OK, I really didn’t need the help, even after I fell a second time, and was clearly struggling to keep my footing.

Of course, two hours later, when I was trying to go to work, not only did you watch out your window as I got stuck in the snow plow wake in the street, but apparently other neighbors also joined in to watch as well. You watched as I tried to dig my car out of a rut with only a long-handled ice scraper, huffing and puffing, not offering your able-bodied self as I repeated my attempt to leave, then dig out, then attempt to leave, several times over. I’m glad I could provide some mid-afternoon entertainment for your family.

Special thanks to the neighbors across the street: I noticed you peek out your window to see what all the noise was, but I guess you couldn’t bother to help. Especially with your freakin’ snow blower.

And to the neighbor who drove right past me, on the plowed side of the street: thanks for that little wave, and for narrowly missing me with your car, but I really would have preferred it if you stopped to give me a push. Guess you were too busy trying to get to some important destination, and had no time to lend your strength to a pregnant woman who was clearly having trouble standing up on the ice and snow, much less digging in it with an ice scraper.

Bastards.

Filed Under: rant, snow Tagged With:


Feb 15, 2007

How NOT To Take Your Toddler Out Into The Snow

February 15, 2007 By

1. Decide it’s OK to play in the snow, even though your toddler has been a cranky nightmare.

Never a good idea.

2. Don’t check the back door before you suit up, to make sure the door isn’t iced shut.

Yeah, it might have been smart this morning to check the door first. Turns out, it had a small snow drift up against it, with a layer of ice over that, making the door impossible to open. I pushed it, I kicked it, I put my whole body weight into the door, but nothing would open it. Of course, Cordy was at the door the entire time, anxious to go outside.

I tried to tell her that we needed to go to the front door, but this two year old can’t comprehend changes in plans like that, and the tantrum began. She wanted the door open – right now. And my inability to open the storm door was translated to her as I got her all dressed up only to dash her dreams of playing in the snow. This was the result:

Change is hard.

3. Carry crying toddler to the front door, then force her outside.

She screamed and cried until I dumped her down on the ground outside. Then, realizing she was out in the snow, she suddenly was very, very happy.

Wow, mommy, those are some big footprints.

4. Tell toddler we’ll go into the backyard via the gate, only to find gate latch iced shut as well.

Foiled again.

5. Promise toddler snow, when actually a half inch of freezing rain fell after the snow, forming a hard shell on top of five inches of snow.

There’s nothing fun about playing on hard ice. And Cordy didn’t weigh enough to break through most of it. I barely broke through it with each step.

Today – walking on snow. Tomorrow – walking on water?

6. Allow toddler to play outside without mittens, resulting in very cold hands.

She fought me several times over the issue of mittens, so I gave up and let her out without mittens. Our time outside lasted less than 10 minutes before she came up to me, holding her hands out, and started crying and saying, “Hands! Hands!”

I picked her up, brought her inside, and stripped off the outer layer of clothing (she had on two pairs of pants, two pairs of socks, etc.). Grabbing a fleece blanket off the couch, I wrapped her up, held her on my lap, and helped her warm up. Soon she was happy again.

But despite the happy ending, this is not the way to play in the snow.

Yeah, this sucks.
Filed Under: family time, snow Tagged With:


Feb 13, 2007

Snow Day

February 13, 2007 By

Remember when I was lamenting winter’s absence earlier this year?

I take it all back.

There is a sidewalk and a few rocks under there somewhere.

I think that’s my car under the snow drift.

First was the snow, and now we have nothing but freezing rain and ice falling, which will turn back to snow tonight. The entire city – schools, libraries, city government, universities (even Ohio State!), major businesses – has been shut down.

Well, the entire city is shut down, except for the State of Ohio offices, even though the State’s legislative government already called off for the day. So my husband is still stuck out in this, while everyone else has been sent home.

And I’m snowed/iced in with a cranky, semi-sick toddler who won’t nap and only wants to watch Dora all day. Whee! Expect to see me commenting on every blog today. Even archived posts.

Filed Under: snow


Feb 13, 2007

Mystery Solved. Yuck.

February 13, 2007 By

This morning, Cordy’s weird moods continued. After being awake for only an hour, she stood in front of me and said, “Whet’s go baff!”

“You want to take a bath?” I asked.

“O-K! Whet’s go up de staiwers!”

She likes baths. But not enough to request them willingly.

Then Ms. Jekyll turned into Ms. Hyde when we left the house. As I closed the front door, she started to struggle and cry, fighting me and kicking me as I tried to get her strapped into the car. She screamed half of the way, then arrived at the babysitter’s house happy and back to normal. I was still wondering what the hell was going on.

And then tonight, I got my answer.

Aaron called me as I left work, and the first thing I heard was Cordy screaming in the background. On the way home, Cordy had made some sad, whiny noises, pointing to her throat, and Aaron thought that maybe her coat was bothering her.

But then she vomited all over the car.

There was no warning before that. She had not eaten recently, she had not been crying. Aaron pulled over to assess the damage and try to clean her up, but there was too much. I suggested he put her back into the vomit-covered carseat and just get home, since she was going to need a bath anyway. Worst of all, she had thrown up all over her puppy, and wailed when she wasn’t allowed to hold him the rest of the way home.

I had planned to attend a meeting for ICAN tonight, looking for support and resources for trying a VBAC with baby #2. But even though Aaron had it all under control, I couldn’t go. My baby was sick, and I needed to be there. I had already pulled into the parking lot for the meeting, but I couldn’t get out of the car. Going home to cuddle my sick child was the only thing on my mind. The meeting could wait until next month.

I arrived home to find Aaron helping Cordy into PJs after her bath. The poor thing was shivering and, even after a warm bath, had ice cold skin. She quickly climbed into my lap, and I allowed her to watch TV to distract her, holding her close to transfer some of my own warmth to her. Slowly she warmed up, and she tried so hard to act like everything was fine. She climbed off my lap to attempt to dance, but could barely keep her balance on both feet.

She drank a little watered-down juice, and seemed to be feeling better before she went to bed. Bedtime was fairly easy, although she looked troubled as we went upstairs, probably realizing puppy was not with her as he usually is. She went to sleep quickly, and Aaron and I began the task of rinsing the car seat cover, her clothing, puppy, and other vomit-covered items before throwing them into the wash.

So it is possible the moodiness of the past few days has been the result of a virus slowly working itself into her system. It’s the best explanation I have at the moment. It’s likely I will be staying home from work tomorrow to make sure she is getting better, which is fine, considering the massive snow storm moving in tonight.

And while I’m exhausted and would love to go to sleep, I must wait for the laundry to finish drying. Then I can pull puppy out, clean and fresh, sneak into Cordy’s room, and place it in her crib, so that if she wakes in the middle of the night, she will find her dear puppy next to her, ready for a hug.

Filed Under: plague


Feb 12, 2007

Four Days. No Nap.

February 12, 2007 By

Four days. Four long days. Cordelia has spent the past four days declining to nap as normal, as if it was an option. However, I don’t think she realizes that she really needs those naps, and without them, her mood has been nothing short of a cocaine addict going cold turkey.

Also, in these past four days, other weird behaviors have emerged. Friday night, she sat between Aaron and I on the couch, playing tickle games and peek-a-boo with a pillow. Then, before we knew it, she was laying still under the pillow, fast asleep. It was still a half hour until her normal bedtime. She rarely falls asleep with other people in the room, especially us, so we were baffled.


The other strange behavior is a sudden aversion to her room and her crib at naptime. Yesterday, we tried to take her upstairs for a nap in the afternoon. Normally she’s happy to go upstairs, and looks forward to being in her crib, with all of her stuff. Half the time she’s the one telling me she wants a nap! But this time, it was met with whining and “Noooo, please!” and crying. Let me tell you, hearing your toddler begging with “Noooo, please! Please!” is one of the most heart-wrenching things to resist. We put her in her crib, anyway, thinking maybe she was just overtired, and the screaming commenced. (As a side note, I got a lovely bruise on my chin when she tried to force her way out as I put her in the crib, jamming her head into my jaw.)

After ten minutes of screaming, Aaron went in to comfort her, and then left again, which this time made things worse. She screamed even louder, until all went silent about ten minutes later. I peeked in after another ten minutes of silence, and found her asleep sitting up, hunched over her Dora doll. She slept for about a half hour, and then woke, picking up where she left off in screaming. Figuring the nap was over, I brought her downstairs.

She screamed so hard that she broke capillaries under her eyes, and had given herself a slightly bloody nose, too. I should also point out that she has my fair skin, and even a moderate cry leaves us with little red dots around our eyes from broken capillaries. The remainder of the day, she was clingy and grumpy, breaking down into tears if anything didn’t go her way.

Today, the nap was aborted before it began. I tried again to take her upstairs, was assaulted with the pleading and crying, and gave up before making it to her room. Later, while I was out shopping, she crawled up on the couch with Aaron, pulled the pillow over her head, and fell asleep again, this time sleeping for over an hour before we woke her, with difficulty, for dinner.

Bedtime for the past two nights has been a struggle as well. She whines and stalls, acting tired but refusing to give in to her exhaustion. However, once asleep for the night, she sleeps as normal: waking once or twice, but never upset, and always going back to sleep on her own.

While Cordy is a…spirited…child, sleep has been one battle she hasn’t fought since infancy. She appreciates sleep, welcomes it, embraces it happily, as long as it is on her terms. It’s not like her to fight the drowsiness, resist it with all her being, only to be overtaken by it suddenly, as if against her will.

I don’t know if she isn’t feeling well or if this is simply some new development in her behavior. She was somewhat disinterested in her food this weekend, so I’d like to think this is temporary. I have tried to remain patient, but my own exhaustion from the past four days is showing.

I want my happy toddler back. She’s moody, cranky, whiny, and demanding, all combined with a short fuse. Other than sleep problems and eating a little less, I can’t find any sign of illness, even though I wish I could point to some known, short-term cause for this. Anything to give me hope that this isn’t to be expected from now on.

(Edit: Hopefully my blog won’t crash in the next day or two. Blogger held me hostage this weekend and forced me to switch to the New Blogger. I’m still trying to make sure everything is still the same while learning about the new features.)

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