Little Bunny Foo Foo

Sometimes I refer to myself as a circus side show. There seems to never be a moment where I'm not doing something insanely ridiculous to entertain the Monkey. It's for the kids, right?  Alright, alright. I guess I get a reprieve here or there throughout the day. I'm not standing on my head all the time. Just 1/2 the time.

Well meal time is no exception to full on circus side show around here.  I sing. I dance. I unload the dishwasher - yes this entertains her. We look at books. We play with Mommy's keys. We look inside monkey bowls. We put on sunglasses. We take off sunglasses. We put on sunglasses. She throws. I pick up. We look at the birds out the window.  We hope the kitty cat is inside. And in the middle of all of this (somewhere), she eats.  And so along the way I remembered the "Little Bunny Foo Foo" nursery rhyme and have added it to the mix.  So I sing...."Little Bunny Foo Foo hopping through the forest, finding all of the field mice and bopping them on the head."  (I've heard a not so friendly version of this so just know that we play nice over here and we "bop" on the head.)  While singing I hop my hand up and down on her high chair tray and then at the end I either bop her on the head or she bops me.  Fun, right?  The Monkey quickly caught on to the Foo Foo game and is now classified as a full on hopping and bopping expert.  Here she is from today....(post Hurricane Eloise)

Hopping...

and bopping...

and hopping....

and bopping....

and one last time...hopping....

and bopping!

Natural disaster

Hurricane season is upon us. The names for 2010 have been released. And for some reason, I didn't see Eloise on the list.  Despite her lack of recognition on an international weather level, I'll say Eloise hit the shores of the Vail household today and wasn't letting up. She destroyed all in her path with unbearable force and clean up took hours. What's that you ask??  Hurricane Eloise?  Ah yeah, that's what I'm going to forever call the incident I walked into post morning nap today when I opened the door and was greeted by a thick wall of poop smell. Seriously, it was unlike any amount of poop stench I've ever smelled out of this one.  And don't think that all of this poop was contained in her diaper. Oh no.  Hurricane Eloise whipped through and removed her own diaper and pooped all over every single surface available in her crib, which includes the sheet, mattress pad, blanket, crib rails, teething bumper guard, 2 stuff animal dogs, taggie lovey, the Monkey lovey, her shirt, socks, bare bum, legs, arms, hands, back, tummy and even the thumb she was sucking (while snuggled up to a poop covered Monkey lovey.)  Take my word for it....it was a storm of epic proportions. Serious mass distruction.  Casualties are still being counted. As of now, we've lost a pair of socks. Everything else is being washed for the 2nd time on hot water with Tide and Oxy Clean.

As the first on the scene, I wasn't exactly sure what to do. I would never be one you'd select for an "emergency preparedness" team. The stench was unreal. There was literally poop everywhere.  I'm a pinch haunted by the entire experience, really.  But alas, I scooped up my poop machine and dashed her into the bathroom. I peeled off her soaked shirt and socks, ran her under warm water in the sink and then straight into the tub she went.  This was all accomplished by 10:30am.  Hurricane Eloise hit land around 10:15am. She destroyed her room in about 2 minutes flat and then off she went.  Wow. Honestly, it was a storm of such magnitude that we've never seen anything like this before at the Vail household.

My only take-away from the entire experience is to never let Eloise sleep in just a diaper and a t-shirt ever again.  If she had pants or shorts on - lord, even a onesie - it would have been much more difficult for her to remove that diaper.  Major rookie mistake. Major. On a brighter (better smelling) note, you'll hear more later from me including some "Little Bunny Foo Foo" shots.

Monkey updates

Lots to jot down before the mind loses it. First, the Monkey got a new Trucks book and she loves it (of course.) Dirt, airplanes, trucks. That's my girl. In the book, she can match up the trucks to their mate. Dump truck goes with the dump truck. Fire truck goes with the fire truck, etc. etc. She has successfully showed Mommy the 4 trucks on one page and their mates. "Monkey, where is the dump truck." She points. "Now show Mommy the other dump truck." She looks at the adjacent page and points out the matching one. Mucho impressed, Monkey.

And since the World Cup is going on, this next update is perfect timing. The Monkey showed off some pretty sweet soccer skills today. I tried so hard to get it on video but sadly it didn't work out because she saw me. I'll do my best to describe it. This was totally not prompted by me kicking the ball around first either. She found a ball and kicked it just a little, walked up behind it, kicked it just a little again, walked up behind it, kicked it just a little.....etc....etc.....etc. She did this across the room and back to me. Unreal. Mike will kick a ball around here so maybe this is where she got it from but I don't know. It completely wowed me for the cool factor but then also the fact that she completely found her own activity in her box of toys and created a little game for herself. Eloise entertains herself - score 1.

Also, we believe the Monkey can now add horse to her animal calls. She's got dog down. Is working like the dickins' on getting cat and now will "neigh neigh" when we ask her what a horse sounds like. This is new and still needs some practice but she's getting there.  What will be next? Probably cow. We're mooing all the time around here. It's a part of Operation Cow's Milk:)

The Monkey is pointing to her belly and nearly her nose (requires lots of prompting and a few "Peeeeee - eeeeew" skunk plugs to get her to touch her nose) when asked. Belly button is coming in as a close third in the body parts game but also requires some more work. The Dr. said at her 1 year appt to not expect body part recognition until 18 months and I told her that is likely going to be moved to 12 months for all kids thanks to Sandra Boynton's Belly Button Book (a household fav - thanks McKinley!) This has quickly become a baby shower fav so I know kids all across America will be "Bee-bo" fans before they know it!

Nap update - change is in the air at the Vail household and one certain Monkey is leading the charge. This past weekend she took 2+ hour naps. Really??? I kid not in this category.  You know me better than that. Do I sense a "normal" napper coming in my near future?? I hope so!  Today she gave us a few 1 hour long naps (and same yesterday) and so she's not set a 2+ hour nap trend yet but at least she's heading in the right direction. And I'm not going to lie, having her sleep for 2+ hours a shot this past weekend totally freaked me out. I honestly didn't know what to do with myself (besides want to grab a mirror and dash in there to see if she was still breathing. yes, I checked the baby monitor what seemed like 17,000 times.) A normal napper she is not and so after 12 months of no schedule, short naps, jotting down nap numbers like 34 minutes over and over and over again, and an extremely unpredictable baby, dare I say I might be joining the ranks of moms who have babies that actually sleep well during the day??? I can't say it yet. But maybe soon!

And for pictures, I was greeted this morning but another super cute outfit on the Monkey courtesy of the Baby Whisperer. She's too good. See when the Baby Whisperer arrives in the morning, the Monkey is still in her PJs. After her morning nap she changes her into her outfit for the day (or outfit for her first meal depending on how that goes:) Anyway, after she left, the Monkey and I went outside to play with her water table figures - she loves those things as you can tell - and so I could grab a few quick pics. Pair anything with some cowgirl boots and I'm totally in love.

Also, I've been meaning to get this into the blog for awhile. We've always used stuffed animals to try and teach Eloise "gentle" and also to try and get her to be good around pets. Not that the stuffed animal can replace the real thing (Azriel would agree) but it actually has been helpful. So in the process of teaching Eloise to be "gentle" she would take a stuffed animal to the ground and give it a nice big hug if we said "Ahhhhhhhhh......"  Yes, I know.....slamming a stuffed animal to the ground and giving it a rather forceful hug isn't the best display of being gentle but it's so darn cute to watch that we've just gone with it. So now, pretty much on queue, if anyone of us says, "Ahhhhhhh......." and her stuffed frog, dog or whatever is within reach, she bears down and gives it her best Eloise hug. I think a few kisses might be thrown there as well. Pics to show the Monkey's cute act of kindness...

 

Weekend recap

The Vail visit was really fun. Despite the crazy hot weather, we got out and about (just a little but better than not at all) and fared the humidity and heat index and had a good time. 

Let's start off with my favorite picture of the weekend entitled "cousins."  How cute is this?? Frame, please!

I broke my "no swimmers" rule and we ventured over to the spraygrounds for a couple of hours. The Monkey was lathered up in Desitin and ready to go.

Then the ice cream truck arrived and Grandma Vail hooked everyone up!

And the Monkey asked that I share....Thank you for my ice cream, Grandma. (and also for giving me my very first ice cream sandwich when I fell and hurt my lip.) I also really like the birdies on your shirt. Birds fly way up in the sky!

And Daddy and Grandpa....thanks for putting your beer in the door of the refrigerator. Sometimes Mommy lets me look in there and I was really excited to find these fun cans to play with.

Thanks for coming to see me Grandma and Grandpa Vail, Cousin Maddie and Aunt Liz. I love you and hope you got home safe and sound!

Friday's update

TGIF!  Mike is back and the Grandma and Grandpa Vail, Aunt Liz and Cousin Maddie are in town for the weekend. We're glad it's Friday! For updates, the Monkey is my little parrot at this stage. She can't exactly say each word but if I ask her, she will try. "Eloise, say Duck."  "Duh."  "Eloise, what does a kitty say?" "Ooo."  So obviously, she's not exactly there but A+ for effort.

The weather has been truly insane lately. It's nothing anymore for the heat index to peak over 100 and seriously sizzle us Southerners. I'm not complaining but honestly, it's a bit much - even for my "almost Southern" blooded self. I'm hoping my in-laws don't melt this weekend. I hate to say it but we'll likely be spending the entire time inside. It's just too crazy out there. The Monkey and I have been resorting to very early morning runs (when we're excited that it's 81. wow.), and I've put a ban on swim diapers until this rash clears up so that kind of eliminates a lot that we can do other than stay put. We could head out to Discovery Place on Sunday for their grand re-opening since their renovation but I'm afraid all of CLT will be doing the same and that could make for a mob scene that I'm not interested in.  Regardless, I've grocery shopped, the fridge is stocked with lots of cold beverages, and so a weekend inside for the Lakewood and CLT Vails may be in order.

The diaper rash is maybe getting better. Maybe. Honestly, I think I'm just willing it to be better but it's probably not. It looks like it's covering less area but it still just as red. I feel so bad for the Monkey. She's being a trooper over the entire situation. She only fusses when her pee pee burns her (happened when she was having diaper free time. nearly broke my heart. poor thing.) otherwise she's been great with the cool hair dryer, multiple applications of crazy concoctions, twice daily baths, and what seems like 100 diaper changes a day.  All for not though because I really don't see it getting much better. I drove around today looking for Calmoseptine, per my friend's recommendation, and both Target pharmacy and CVS didn't have it. Serious bummer. I'm going to place a call into Rite Aid otherwise Target can order it for me and have it by Monday afternoon. If that's the best they can do, that's fine. I'll take it late vs. never. I'm looking for a miracle at this point so maybe that miracle will come on Monday. And per Graham, in honor of the Monkey's sore bum, this week's song is "Rumpshaker." Shake your sore tush, Eloise!

Ok, short and sweet Friday's update for this week. For pics, I found these old ones that crack me up. These are from September when Eloise was 3 months old and Brody was in town. He gave her the monkey lovey and I'll tell you, that is still a serious life saver to this day.  The Monkey LOVES her monkey lovey, which means Mommy LOVES it as well:)

Operation Hiney

The Monkey has a serious case of diaper rash that has called for Operation Hiney at the Vail household. Reinforcements have been called in, strategies have been laid out, and the troops are on the ground making their way towards the enemy line.

The poor little Monkey is hurting. And sadly I think it's my rookie mistake of having her in swim diapers for 3 days in a row. Saturday we were at the spraygrounds. Sunday we busted out the water table here at the house, and then of course Monday was the first boating trip.  She wasn't in her swimmers for all that long on any of said days but combine them all together (and maybe add in a little of that green lake water from Monday - yikes) and we have a bright red bum shaking her little tail feathers around here.

I called the Dr's office today and spoke to a nurse. Here's the plan of attack....

1) Stop using baby wipes immediately. Done - no more baby wipes until the rash is completely gone.

2) Purchase Lotrimin AF. In case there is some sort of yeast infection, this will knock it out.  Apply this 4 times per day to a completely dry bum and then follow up with a heavy dallop of Desitin. Done - purchase has been made and she got her first lather before bedtime tonight.

3) Purchase Maalox. Maalox??  Disolve tablet and apply to bum with a cotton ball every other time you use Lotrimin AF.  Purchase has been made. We haven't done this step yet.

4) Soak Monkey in a warm tub a few times a day with a 1/2 cup of baking soda. Done - she soaked in a bath of baking soda this afternoon and for her bath tonight we did this again and also added an Aveeno oatmeal bath treatment.

5) Use a hair dryer to dry her bum. A hair dryer?? Done - my hair dryer has been moved over to the Monkey's bedroom and I used it tonight to dry her tush when she got her last diaper of the day with her PJs.

6) Diaper free time. Done - she spent about an hour total today with no diaper on cruising the house naked-nudey.  Only one pee pee (or tee tee, as we call it) accident, but to be expected and I had towels on hand waiting for the tinkle to appear.

After 3 days if the rash doesn't clear up we're to go to the Dr. I'm hoping even by tomorrow it will knock down a red tone or two on the color chart. Something fierce is going on down there. Poor, poor Monkey.

So of course, I had to take some hiney shots to commemorate Operation Hiney. And as soon as I got a shot of her behind, she turned around and perfectly placed the stroller in front of her girl parts. That's my Monkey!

Yes, I'm that mom....

I never said never on this one but now I'll just flat out admit it, I'm that mom. I'm the one you hear belting out nursery rhymes in the grocery store. I'm the one who's down on all fours screeching and smashing trucks into one another (at Marshalls, Toys R Us and at home:). I'm the one who goes 'clubbing' with the Monkey during "Dance Party USA" and stops a diaper changing session just to see the recyle truck go by on "Big Truck Wednesday".  It's not that airplanes and birds and butterflies fly. Oh no.....they fly WAY UP IN THE SKY (insert major inflection and throw your hands up over your head and sing with us!)

Now with Eloise on board, I'm so over the top. Affected at it's best. And I'm not saying all of this for props. Believe me. Rather, I'm forewarning you.  You know those parents that I'm talking about. They're crazy. Likely clinical but it doesn't seem to matter. They don't look around to see the reactions of people around them. They don't even care what other people think. Yeah, one of those.  Those are the parents who are really nuts. And there seems to be nothing you can do or say to reason with them. Yup, that's me. Crazy Town. I'm that mom.

First boating trip

Both Mike and I agree, we're giving the Monkey a solid B+ for her first boating trip yesterday. It was rough going at first. She did not like the life jacket and so that threw her off for a bit but she rebounded and ended up having a really good time out there.  Here she is in the life jacket for the first time. Not happy.

 

Going under the bridge, which helped a little because there were lots of trucks and cars for her to check out.

Then when we got to our usual cove we let her take her life jacket off so she could make friends with it. It sounds ridiculous but it actually helped the cause.

She also got her sea legs very quickly. We were mucho impressed.

Our first dip in the lake wasn't really getting her going. Again, it was affected by her dislike of the life jacket. Some cute pics nontheless.

Then we tried our new floating device which was a hit. She actually started enjoying the water at this point.

And a video to show a little more of the floaty thing.

A  little more life jacket exploration before we split for the day. 

Oh, and I got wise to the sad life jacket situation. Nothing a little monkey lovey can't fix for the drive home:)