Makin' Some Calls

Joe is all about the phone right now. It is worth mentioning that in addition to the real phone, the TV remote, the computer remote, and the flip video camera all serve double duty as phones. Less interesting, of course, are the toy phones. Um, hello? They are SO fake. The ultimate is Mommy's cell phone, which routinely has new entries added to its directory like "*1sd." Old *1sd. That guy's great. He's great about letting Mommy have a turn with her phone. Sharing is for suckers, but all the cool kids take turns. Joe likes to call his buddies, as well as his grandparents, his Aunt Kate and Uncle Scott, and his Aunt Sara. Most of the time he has to be prompted to say something after hello, but this morning, he informed Sara, all on his own, that he had made a mess ("I make a mess!"). Not really. He'd just taken all the pens out of the junk drawer. (A real mess would be the peach juice smeared all over the table last night with his napkin.)

I Can Sit. . .Just For A Sec

Sitting up. Clara has been all "Whatevs, Folks," on that front. She's all, "I gotta roam. I got no time for sitting." But we've been working on it and introducing her to the wonders of the toys best played with from the sitting up perspective, like the charmingly obnoxious farm Julie's friend at work, Sally, got for Joe. (Still fun for Joe! Now he can whap the big purple button to play the two farm-themed tracks back-to-back incessantly. Today he informed Julie it was broken. Julie informed him it was not, just meant to come up for air between whaps.) Bird can now sit up for a few second all on her own, but it's best to have something around her because she will tip, and all of a sudden.

I Love You Family

Fans, right before this picture was taken, Julie was sitting at the table eating her pancakes, and Ted was changing Joe's diaper. After he had a fresh, new diaper on, Joe poked his head around the door jamb, looked at Julie and said, for the first time ever, "I love you, Mommy." Then, Ted took this picture and when he was done, Joe said "I want to see my family [meaning on the instant replay]." Back-to-back Hallmark moments.

The Verdict: Possible Croup?

We are back from our visit to the doctor. Dr. Harrington thinks she may have croup. She has the bark-y cough, but at the same time, she doesn't seem to have "stridor," which is hoarse, noisy breathing heard while the child breathes in (of course, now having left the office, it seems like it's all she does; in other words, paranoia has set in). So we're to keep an eye on her. Apparently, the second night is the worst. So we'll see how tonight goes and call if we need, too. Apparently a steroid shot can be given if the stridor is bad, to alleviate worries about breathing. But Dr. Harrington said we could also sit in a steamy bathroom with her, or take her outside to breathe in the cold, nighttime air (or open up the freezer and stick her head in there--ha!).

In other news, Baby Bird rode to Dr. Harrington's in the Moby forward-facing! There was no one to capture her first ride out facing the world, but it happened. After the doctor's appointment, we tromped down the way to the Starbucks for a pumpkin spice latte which we enjoyed on the walk home. Baby Bird enjoyed rice cereal upon our arrival, and is now playing away on the floor.

Coughy Bird

Does this look like the face of a sick baby girl? Not really, no, right? But Baby Bird woke up in the two o'clock hour and didn't really get back to sleep. She's got an awful, awful cough. So she's home today with Julie, and has an appointment to see Dr. Harrington at 2pm. We will of course bring you the breaking news, almost as soon as it breaks.

But this morning, she was a happy camper. After the boys got off, the girls decamped to the bathroom so Julie could clean it. Like her brother before her, Clara was instantly entranced by the cover of the bolt connecting the toilet to the floor. Really, there is nothing like a toilet bowl bolt cover to set your heart to racing. After the bolt cover disappeared (object permanence having not yet set in has some benefits when it comes to toilet bolt covers), Clara Jane motored all the way from the bathroom to the far side of the bambini's room. Miss Melissa reports that at daycare, too, Baby Bird likes to be in tight little spaces, and tucked up against something.

Bird is napping now. We can report that efforts to push her daytime sleep to a 9am-1pm napping pattern appear to be paying off. Almost-live coverage of today's later events to follow.