Much better

Today we employed the snowsuit and the hood of her coat instead of additional pants and itchy hat, so there was much less fussing on the way to school. The new scarf worked perfectly, keeping her face nice and covered, and keeping her legs warmer made her less upset about everything else. It also helps that the windchill is dramatically less than it was yesterday.

Live and learn. I ran into our neighbor on my way home this morning, and she said that they had trouble getting to school yesterday too (they go to the elementary school we walk past to get to our little school), so I feel less like a moron.

Yesterday as we made our way home, Gaz asked if I could pick her up today with the stroller instead of her having to walk. In light of the nap she took yesterday (and this kid hasn't had an afternoon nap, apart from days when she was really sick, for about two years) I think this is a good plan. I just hope her legs aren't so long now that her feet will be dragging!

Not entirely arctic, it turns out

Today it is cold. It's Chicago cold. There's the coldness (1 degree, according to the news this morning) and then there's the windiness. Weather.com is reporting the winds now as 19mph, but I think it was a little worse this morning. It's definitely gusting somewhat harder than that at times.

I got Gaz bundled up for school--way more bundled than she likes. I explained that it's horribly cold and that this was the reason for the multiple pairs of pants and socks and the reason for the horrible itchy wool scarf that mom crocheted being put to use. All was well as we made our way down our street. There's plenty of snow for Gaz to stomp in and kick around, and this is always fun. Yesterday on our way home from school Gaz threw herself onto the sidewalk to make a sudden snow angel, much to the amusement of the lady walking just behind us down the sidewalk. Snow is our friend and so much fun to play in that I have to remind her constantly to keep walking.

Then we turn the corner.

Within seconds of being face-first into the driving wind (most of our walk is due west, right into the wind) she is hysterical. No matter how I try to explain that crying just makes her face colder, she says she can't help herself. She wails all the way to school, but at least I don't have to remind her to keep walking very often. A lady who is walking her son to school gives me this horrified look and asks me what's wrong. I explain for the first of many times this morning that this is the first time she's had to walk to school in the horrible cold and then spend the rest of the time waiting for the traffic light to change trying to cuddle my distraught girl.

We get to school and she has mostly stopped crying, but she refuses to look at any of the teachers because she doesn't want anyone to see her crying. Eventually I get her stripped of her outer layers--not the extra pants, though; she wanted to keep those on--and carry her to the bathroom. She's so upset by the cold that she clings to me for another five minutes (while ignoring her best friend, who came by expressing concern) before I talk her into a potty break and she manages to calm herself down the rest of the way. I explain what a ski mask is, and she says she would like one.

Now I've been to the thrift store where there were no ski masks, but I did find a nice soft purple scarf that at least won't be scratchy. I did find a ski mask, black of course, in a nearby shop, but I forgot my cash when I left the house. What are the odds of finding such a thing in pink and covered with flowers?

At least on the way home we'll have the wind at our backs. My poor not-quite-arctic child. She'll get used to it, but it's not going to be easy on either of us.

(Edited to add: I did find a floral polar fleece balaclava thing on Amazon, and it's now on it's way to us. I hope the new scarf will do the job until it gets here.)

2T, kina

We just got her in some 2T jammies tonight. It was a bit of a struggle with the zipper. She looks a bit like 30 lbs. of toddler in a 20 lbs. sack made from one of those fuzzy hotel blankets, but at least we didn't have to pinch her chubby, chubby thighs to zip her in. That's a good thing. We don't have any long-sleeved jammies in 24 mo. size, so we are working with what we have. I suppose we could always put her in the 3T jammies and hope for the best if she doesn't stretch out soon. I might have to start making her some homemade pants that include plenty of room for a diaper in addition to all of her. Oh, how this post will embarrass her in the future!

Anyway, she's a healthy little girl, regardless of how clothes fit. Pretty happy, too.

pants and palabras

So here's an important note if you plan to buy anything for Gaz's lower half: she's now in size 5 diapers and she won't be wearing any denim/woven fabric pants any time soon. If you must send her pants, send her knit pants. She can't climb in pants with no give, and when she can't climb she throws a tantrum. I don't care for tantrums, so please, no jeans. You can buy them if you really want to, but I won't be dressing her in them. Thank you.

At long last I think we can identify a tie for Gaz's first word. After many almosts, it seems she actually gets "hi" and "tree." Why those two? No idea. But I do say "hi" to her probably hundreds of times every day, and we do look at trees rather often. Mama and Dada she can say, but I don't think she's figured out that those words are our labels, and while we were really optimistic that "Proton" might win out, she's only been teasing me with an occassional random "poh-twon." Nope. The winners are "hi" and "tree." Silly baby.

Insert the usual comments about how Gaz just won't nap or go to sleep when she ought to here. What else can I say? It's just a fact of life right now. Difficult as all get out, but so far as we have tried various tactics it can't be helped right this second.

sleeping better, cat worse, jumping fun (for a while)

Nap time
Originally uploaded by georgiegrrrrl.

We're all sleeping better these days. Frequent or long-duration naps during the day have been the magic bullet for Miss Gaz, so the night-screaming-that-cannot-be-countered is at a minimum. Now that the settling is feeling more settled, we're all a lot less stressed. Which leaves only the usual stresses of work, trying to keep the dishes/laundry/etc. from taking over, and trying to keep the cat from breaking/ruining everything in sight.

As far as Gaz is concerned, he's a wonderful cat. He lets her grab big fistfulls of his face or back or tail or belly, sometimes even an ear, and only complains a little when she pulls with all her baby might (which is not an insignificant level of might, I must say). No, he's only a bad cat with the adults. Like today, when I finally get Gaz down for what I hoped would be a longer than average nap (average nap this weekend: 15 minutes) and he just can't stop screaming at the bedroom door or the hall door, which is right next to the bedroom door. I spray the alleged pet deterrant on both doors, and he looks at me, screams, and goes right back to screaming at the doors. So I confine him to the back bedroom and what does he do? He uses the playpen for a litter box, and Gaz's toys and a blanket as litter to cover his business. Then no sooner had Mark cleaned up that mess, Gaz had a little explosion in her pants. The poop bucket is full tonight.

So the cat is driving the adults insane. He still gets attention, just like we've been trying to do since Gaz was born. He was just fine for the longest time, but the older she gets, the worse he acts out. I don't know what we're going to do about that. Is there cat prozac?

But enough whining about the cat.

Right now Gaz is wearing some jammies that Grandma Cel brought up last weekend. Just a week ago she was routinely crawling out of the legs because while the top half of her is definitely 18 mo. size, her legs tend to be a bit shorter and her feet are definitely on the stumpy side so far. I'm sure that'll change once she starts walking and her little hams will become perfectly serviceable strolling apendages. But for now, ham feet. Ham feet that don't fill out jammy feet all that well. She's filling out the jammies so well, I can't believe it's only been one week of growing. Right now she's bouncing in her doorway jumper, but we've almost exhausted the fun of that. She's jumping wildly, which is soon to turn to jumpin maniacally, which then becomes jumping and crying hysterically. It's interesting to watch the progression. And she's still got a cat toy in her hand, so if anyone was wondering how long cat toys are fun for, the answer is "at least a month."

So we're okay, but now I definitely have to move her to another entertainment device.

Sorry this is so fractured and random. It's hard to be coherent while keeping an eye on her. More later, perhaps when sleep happens.

on the tooth front

One of those front teeth is finally definitely on the move. At the rate these bums have been moving there's no telling when either will emerge, but they're definitely closer to the bottom edge of her gum now. My money's on the left one but I've been wrong plenty of times.

Weighed the Gaz yesterday and she was 23 lbs. I'd previously cut myself off from weighing her because I was getting bent out of shape with what looked like a lack of growth from week to week, so now I'll just weigh her once a monthish and not at all on the months where she's got a doctor appointment. Their scales are better than me weighing us together and then just me and doing the math. I think we all know how great I am at the math. Anyway, what this means is that it's time to put the 9 mo. clothes away, which is something that occurred to me when I put her in one of the 9 mo. sleepers earlier in the week. So we're totally in the 12 monthers now, with an eye to trying on some of the 18 mo. outfits to see how they fit.

She's really enamored of toys these days and will play happily by herself for increasing amounts of time. Meals are much less of a problem now that she's happy in the doorway jumper while food is being prepared (most days) and will cheerfully play with a toy while sitting next to one of us on the couch while the grown ups eat. That's pretty awesome. This morning she chewed away on a teething ring (one made of solid plastic beads, which is quite fun to throw as well) and when I looked up at her she let go of the ring, letting it hang in her mouth, while she smiled up at me. She looked like an adorable puppy-child. :)

Another fun game lately is to lean forward to touch something while sitting up, then to lean back into whatever's back there, and repeat. It works best on the couch but she'll try it on the floor when she's sitting in her Boppy too.

giant baby attack

Did I say that she's wearing 6 month clothes? Make that 6 - 9 month clothes. The 9 mo. stuff is a little baggy, but just a little. Next month that stuff should fit fine. I'm also just realizing that we don't have enough fall/winter clothes, including things like pants. Thanks to a recent visit from Grandma Cel and Grandpa Charley, we now have trousers! We had to go to the boys' section to find pants without tons of embroidery, but we've got green cargo pants and khaki cords and jeans and, of course, camoflage! Also cardigans and hoodies and other things in unisex colors. We're hoping our next one is a boy, and we're not the only ones in the family hoping for a boy so I figure I'm shopping for the future just as much as I'm shopping today. Don't fret. She's wicked cute whatever she's wearing.

I just can't believe how big she is. Especially since she's now beginning to teethe. You read that right. She's developing so fast it's about enough to make a gal dizzy.