Quickie

Lots going on, so I gotta go, go, go. The kids are napping, and Meggie's friend is coming over tonight. In fact, we'll have four little girls here: a 3-month-old, a 6-month-old and two 2-year-olds... Here's a big thank-you to the inventors of frozen chicken nuggets, DVD players, DVRs and electric swings. :o) I'm looking forward to it.

Quickly, Meggie loves preschool. Christmas crafts galore. I have no trouble getting her ready for it in the mornings. She's cheerful despite circle time. Of course she caught the cold that all the other kids have. But she doesn't have a fever, so the prescription is to hydrate her and let her play.

Laurel is doing well. She had a sinus infection several weeks ago, and her feeding has been fine, but she has been feeding more often than she was before the infection. I'd like to have her feed for longer periods with more time in between. And I think we're getting there. This morning, when I woke up at 5 a.m., I felt so rested. I pondered just getting up and starting the day. Then I realized that I'd only had four hours of sleep. But I felt great, because that's the longest Laurel has gone between feedings in a while. Hooray. She's continuing to improve.

Picture time.

I'm really proud of this outfit, because 1) it was a collaborative effort between Aunt Holly and me (She got the shirt at her favorite thrift store, and I got the jumper at my favorite thrift store, and see how they look like new and match perfectly.) and 2) the outfit cost about 4 dollars. Of course I buy her new clothes, too, but Meggie is really hard on clothes, so when I can dress her for less than 5 bucks I'm really proud. Someone once pooh-poohed my statement that the perfect toddler outfit is around 5 dollars. "HOW do you dress a kid for 5 dollars?" she asked. That's how. :o) Thanks, Aunt Holly!

By the way, Meggie looks so mopey, because, as said, she has a cold. And while she's fine in the first half of the day, toward dinnertime the wheels sort of fall off.


And here's Meggie during one of the few times when she and Alan get to feed Laurel. She wishes she could do it more. As I was driving them both home from preschool today, Meggie demonstrated what a loving big sister she's becoming. Laurel had started to fuss, and Meggie held her little sister's hand. Laurel stopped crying when Meggie said softly, "I know, I know, I know, little sissie. I know you want to go home. I know, little sissie. I know..." Big sister soothed little sister all the way home. No more crying.

Lots of stuff coming up. Christmas gatherings Saturday (daytime and evening), and on Sunday Meggie gets to have three friends over to celebrate her third birthday. I was tempted to buy a pinata, but I restrained myself. There are several more pinata-party years ahead. Why start now? She'll open presents and have a family dinner on Wednesday, her actual birthday. Sunday's event is to be a fun-only, sugar-high, sub-freezing-outdoor-grilling, no-need-for-presents, much-screeching fiesta. When you're 3, what more do you really want?