Our Little Groupie

March 11th was a big day for Scarlett. She found love for the first time. I was working from home with her. I had a conference call at 11 AM and she had been really fussy (teething or after effects of her shots or a cold...) so I warned my coworkers that I'd be on mute and was expecting the worst. I put her in her crib with some toys hoping that she'd entertain herself for a while, but no such luck. She was hysterical, so eventually I went in and put her on my lap in the rocking chair. She was content to lay against my chest while I rocked her so I figured that was as good as it was going to get... 5-10 minutes later, she was snoring! I ended up getting her down for a nap around 11:10 AM (2 hours before her normal nap time and only 10 minutes after my call started!). Paul rushed home from his meeting at 12:30 pm to try to relieve me for my call when much to his surprise, he found her still passed out. Very kind of her! That afternoon I felt like she deserved a reward for being so cooperative so we took her to the J.W. Tumbles Playzone for about 45 minutes. It was just enough time to get her home and feed her before taking her to her first concert -- Rocknoceros was playing the family happy hour at Jammin' Java. I'd read good things about it but I didn't know what to expect and figured there was a good chance that she was too young to enjoy it. Boy did I underestimate her!

When we got there we were a bit worried. There were so many reserved seats that there weren't really any open seats at all, even at 6:30 for a 7 PM show. Scarlett and I went up front while Paul got some beverages (beer for the parents and a free apple juice box for Scarlett). There were a million kids there already crowded around the stage -- 90% were older than Scarlett, so she seemed a bit intimidated. She was clinging onto me and wouldn't stand on her own (either in my arms or on my lap). The concert started and she was still clinging. Uh oh. This was going to be a long show. Three songs in though, she started getting comfortable. First she was bouncing along to the music in my lap, then standing against me and bouncing... before I knew it, she almost forgot I was there! She was bouncing, swinging, clapping her hands over her head and saying "hi" to the moms and kids in the area. By the end of the show she was clapping and hugging anyone who would give her time of day (kids and parents alike). She made friends with a few older girls and even got a toy stolen by the local bully. I'm not sure she's ever had that much fun before and for such a fun loving kid, that's saying a lot! She got a ton of comments about how adorable and affectionate she was (and we apologized a lot for her lack of understanding regarding personal space... "I promise, she does get hugs at home!").

She seemed to enjoy the music so much that we bit and decided to buy a CD. $10 for 1, $15 for 2, or for all 3 it was $20 but they threw in a free DVD. You'd be losing money not to pay $20. Might have been the biggest mistake I've made! We popped the CD in in the car and she danced along until she passed out. PASSED OUT. Totally slumped over, exhausted. I guess an hour straight of jumping will do that to you. The next morning we popped the DVD in after breakfast out of curiosity. This wasn't just a DVD. It was 2 animated music videos -- "Pink" and "Can you tell time?". This video started a revolution for little Scarlett. She has never shown any interest in TV. As soon as the music started though, a smile crept across her face and she was moving and grooving like the night before. When the music ended, she immediately started pointing to the screen and saying "I want THAT" and "Mo! Mo!" (more, more). That continued to happen... for HOURS. She doesn't get sick of it. There are only two songs, so we're essentially restarting the DVD every 5 minutes or so. As tired as Paul and I got of the songs, they make her SO happy and all the jumping, dancing, and climbing she does to the music ensures she is still getting some exercise. Plus, the songs are pretty educational and they've already expanded her vocabulary (she is now singing along to "pink, pink, pink!"). To get a little taste of why she is so crazy about them, you can see the music video for Pink on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kBfc8g4hxg).
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We will be sending blogs rapid fire over the next few days. We need to write 7 weeks worth or blogs before Friday!!!

So back to that night, luckily we don't run into bullies very often. Its tough turning the other cheek when someone purposefully messes with your child! The easy part is to pick up Scarlett and move her away from aggressive kids. I have that one down. What adds another element is when something is taken from your child and there is a look of confusion and/or disappointment. Good thing the band was so entertaining, as were most of the kids and adults. Scarlett made all kinds of friends as Shonna mentioned. The one that stands out the most was a girl who was a fantastic yet odd dancer. She danced in, out, and around the crowd and took Scarlett under her wing towards the end of the night. I would describe her as a cross between Dee Lite, a deadhead, and Paula Abdul. Heck, Shonna and I wanted to get in the mix and dance with her! Overall, it was a great night. We can't wait to see Rochnoceros in concert again.

15 month checkup

Scarlett was about a month late getting her 15 month check up because of our trip to Washington (I think Liam might have even beat her to it!). She saw Dr. Glandon this time. We hadn't seen her before, but we liked her a lot. She was pretty laid back and has a child right around the same age as Scarlett. Scarlett's stats were around 31 1/2 inches long and about 22 pounds. She also had some shots and did pretty well with them -- just a little bit of crying on the second set. She got her customary fever afterwards but she might have already had a cold. She'd had a runny nose for a few days before, so it is always hard to tell if her symptoms are shots, teething, or a cold. The doctor asked the usual barrage of questions and I think we "passed" all of them. The questionable answers were around how much milk she is drinking each day (she might be drinking too much at night and we aren't supposed to let her have any after we brush her teeth) and going to the dentist. She is doing very well with her vocabulary and mobility though. They were supposed to check her iron levels again but forgot and since she'll be back for her 18 month visit soon, we figure we'll just keep giving her the iron supplements until we go back.
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The doc also had a few surprised looks. She asked if Scarlett was talking, and I said "yes about 60 words". Puzzled, she said "wow, really?" I then mentioned Shonna writes every word down, and Shonna pointed out the number was actually closer to 70. I am paraphrasing because we are (I am) a little tardy writing this but that's basically how it went. Anyway, after the dr visit we drove Scarlett to daycare . We will detail the words in the next blog immediately following this one.

Home alone with daddy

Scarlett and I survived the flight and made it home in one piece. On the way home I had to find some food, so we drove through a KFC (I haven't eaten there in over a year but its close to home and Scarlett likes chicken). We got home, ate, and at 1030-11 I tried to put her down (still early for west coast time). She went down fairly easily after a good puke... I guess KFC, or perhaps the quantity of KFC was a bad idea.

The week went extremely well. So well in fact that when Shonna returned, Scarlett actually favored me at times :). Anyway, things were fairly uneventful. We went to the park a couple of times after daycare, I played volleyball one night so I called our neighbor to babysit for a couple of hours, and that's about it. Oh yes. There was one other issue. On Thursday I dropped her off at daycare and apparently she was violently puking. So much so that our daycare called me and thought I should take her to the doctors. I then remembered that as we were heading to the car I let her walk as I carried my work stuff. She likes to run around the yard, and occasionally grabs walnuts to either throw or cradle like a stuffed animal. I turned to pick her up and she had a cigarette butt in her hands. I didn't think much about it at the time, but she obviously ate tobacco. I retrieved the butt later in the day and realized that my initial assessment was highly probable. Good news- she was fine after the initial heave and stayed at daycare. Unfortunately the our daycare provider didn't really feed her too much after Scarlett puked all over her earlier in the day, so she WAS STARVING when we returned home. I've never seen her so hungry and frantic. I thought I was looking in the mirror! Just like daddy.

Well that was our week. If it wasn't for Scarlett's first smoke, the week would have been boring to write. Remember that Scarlett!!! You don't like tobacco!

She did add to her vocabulary, but mostly Scarlett speak.