Normally when Avery is sick or has a cold, her sleeping doesn't change much at all. Not this time. She has a little cold with no cough. Mostly just a runny nose. Her sleep the last couple of nights has been crap. She's come into our bed and then proceeded to demand milk in the middle of the night, breathe noisily through a snotty nose, and just keep me awake. Hopefully she'll be all better by the time we leave for Vegas so the G's don't have to deal with this situation (I apologize in advance, RHG).
Absolutely Hilarious
I don't usually watch videos people post, but I finally clicked on this one posted by a FB friend. So very funny, even if you love your iPhone as I do. Do not watch with kids around - language is not appropriate.
House
They've finished the pillars for our house. They're a little too big - or the deck is slightly too small - but better than what we had, so we're happy. They'll also look better once they're clad in brick and painted the same color as our house. A few pictures. Clearly, the house hasn't been painted yet.
Running
Avery went running with D the other day. Here they are stretching before the run.
I posted to a NYT article a while back about this Hong Kong man's 344 sq ft apt, but now they have a video tour of it. I totally want to live in his 344 sq. ft. apt. He apparently let it be videoed as a look at "green" homes. It looks so cool.
Vomit
Avery went to bed at 6:45. I had intended to just read her some books to pass the time, but I got a few pages in and she said, "Avery's tired. I want to go to bed." So I put her in bed and she conked out immediately. She woke up around 10:30 and needed to go to the bathroom. Then she said she was hungry, so we came downstairs to get some hard boiled eggs (her favorite at the moment). As I was making them, she asked for milk and I caved. The end result was that she threw up a tiny amount while waiting for eggs. After I got her cleaned up - an easy effort this time - she said she was tired and headed upstairs to bed. I hoping things return to normal tomorrow, though this so easy to put to bed thing rocks.
While we were in Colorado, Avery said, "I adopted" for the first time. It was out of the blue. I hadn't mentioned adoption in quite some time. We don't avoid the topic, obviously; I'm just noting it wasn't a topic of conversation in the previous days. She said it again while we were driving back from visiting my brother and his family in Wyoming. Then she asked to hear the story. I've told her the story of how we became a family probably ten times in her life, mostly while walking the dogs. So I told her the story again. She was in her car seat and hugged herself tightly at the end with a big smile on her face. I know as she gets older, and we talk about the subject of her adoption, that smile won't necessarily always be there. That's difficult for me to think about, for Avery's sake, not for mine.
It hit me with a thud when she said it, not because of the topic, but because it was a sudden realization that she's becoming aware of the concept. Am I prepared to answer all of her questions, and to specifically talk her adoption? I think so. We talk about adoption a fair amount, not as it relates to Avery, but in general. We also talk about her birth family a lot. Typing that sentence made me realize I needed to reach out to Nikki again, so I just sent her a long email with dates we are available for a visit. Nikki has started working, so she doesn't have as much free time. She does get on Facebook occasionally, so that is another way we can stay in touch.
Much Better Reentry
You know how I always lament how difficult it is for me to return from vacation? Not this time! I had zero reentry problems. I think the main difference was that Avery went to school yesterday, giving me the chance to get all of our stuff unpacked and get the house back into a state of clean such that we can get back on our routine.
Dogs
Rachele's dad watched the dogs for us while both the G's and we were in Colorado (grammar experts: did I get the grammar correct in that sentence? I'm curious, but unsure. I know I could word it better, but is it grammatically correct?) He made this great video of their stay at his house.
Search in blog
I don't have this blog listed publicly. I don't mind that some people read it whom I don't know personally, having clicked over from the blogs of various friends, but I don't see the point in listing it publicly, especially since it's such a daily log blog. Anyway, Blogger has this bug where if you don't list your blog publicly, the search functionality for the blog doesn't work. It used to, but has been broken for a couple of years now. I often use my blog to look up when something happened with Avery or other things, so not having this search functionality work sucks. However, today I discovered that if I use the search functionality on the Edit Posts page, it works great!
New labs in gmail: preview and label hierarchy
For those who use gmail, they released two new labs that I particularly like. First, you can install message preview that shows a preview of a message you right click on. Handy.
Second, you can install the ability to create a label hierarchy. Sweet!
D and I had an unexpected lunch date today. Since we needed to meet with our designer/GC's showroom at 1, we met up for lunch beforehand. My head is rather in the ground on this whole house business. I have just kind of shut down and started to pretend like it's all beyond my control. It's the way I was when we bought this house, too. We made quick decisions and then I was ready for them to implement and for everything to be done. It's not lack of patience on my part as much as it is lack of interest in the process, I guess.
He's going to come back to us with a few more drawings for paint color options. You know the picture I scanned in before? I thought it was a computer drawing, but it's a hand drawing. Wow. Anyway, they're going to do a few more of those with different house colors to see if we can get it nailed down. We also decided to skip the porch - at least the porch that would be in front of the windows. We're most likely still doing a decking over the existing concrete steps we have. We're also looking into other options for replacing/changing the brick.
In case you're wondering, he was finally diagnosed with Bell's palsy. It is a less than clear cut case because he had paralysis on his entire right side of his body, not just on his face. He can walk without a cane now and we were able to meet with him in his showroom, so I think things are getting back to normal for him.
Tantrum update
Avery's been doing much better with her tantrums the last few days, and I've been handling them better, too. Of course, we have just been driving to and from school and those trips are usually without any issue, but she's also been a bit more toned down in her tantrums at home. She'll whine or cry when she doesn't get what she wants, but it's less drawn out and dramatic. I've been rewarding her with a sticker for getting into her car seat without a hassle. I figured we'll start smaller than a TV reward as long as I can get away with it. I found some free Sesame Street video podcasts that only last about five minutes. I don't like the idea of her watching a lot of TV in the car since that means less TV time at home (adhering to a screen limit time to avoid Angry Child at nighttime). I like TV time at home because it gives me a break. I don't want to waste TV time in the car.
Sleeping
She ended up sleeping with us last night. I vaguely remember pulling her into bed with us after she came into our room (which I was later informed by D was around 2:30 AM). First she came in without making noise, but since I wake up whenever there is any movement or sound of any kind, I was aware that she came into our room. At first she just stood next to the bed, then she went to sleep on the floor for a while. Eventually stood up and asked to come into bed with us. It's all a bit of a haze. Normally I would have checked the time and then told her to go back into her bed, so I'm not sure why that didn't happen last night. It wasn't desperation for sleep or frustration on my part. I think I might have been somewhat asleep and just wasn't thinking straight. Overall, she has gotten good at going back into her own bed without help from us if she wakes up in the middle of the night. I'm currently knocking on wood for that trend to continue.
Packing
I have told Avery several times about our upcoming trip to Colorado. When she got home from school yesterday, first she stripped down (always her first act when we get home), then decided she wanted to get into dinosaur jammies, then she she said she needed to pack for our trip. I gave her the ladybug bag to pack, but she also decided she needed to bring along the box that we had been pretending was a mailbox. What she packed: two pieces of junk mail, our mailbox key, and several shredded up pieces of paper. Sounds about right to me.
Comprehension
On the way to school this morning, I was explaining to Avery why she is going to school three days this week (our travel next week). I finished, then she said, "and daddy/daughter date night!" It seems all future events get all jumbled in her mind. I told her yesterday that tonight will be a Daddy/Daughter date night since I'm going out to dinner. It was very sweet to hear her so excited about it.
We talk a lot in the car lately. She likes to observe what I'm doing or not doing: "Mommy waving" or "Mommy not waving." The why questions have started, though I'm not sure she really understands what "why?" means since she doesn't always use it at logical times in a conversation. An example of her why question used properly: at the stoplight today, she said, "Mommy not going. Why?" I explained that we stop on red and go on green and she seemed satisfied with that answer. I'm curious to see if she'll retain that bit of knowledge.
And while this is not a leap in comprehension to document, she says the same thing every time we go to or leave school and I find it adorable. A couple of weeks ago, they went on a buggy ride around the hospital grounds and over near the private school. The private school apparently has goats on its grounds. They saw one of the goats. So now, every time we walk by the buggies, which are stored on either side of the entrance to her school, she says, "'member buggy ride?" I say, "I remember you telling me about the buggy ride. What did you see?" Then she yells, "Goats!!!" Then she usually points to the seat (I presume) she was sitting in and points to the seat next to it to say, "Ethan!" (whom I presume was sitting next to her). She talks about Ethan, Owen, and Ali from school. The other day she even asked for Ali. It's very different for me to hear her ask for friends from school since she's forged these little friendships on her own.
