Holiday fun.
Ah, the joys of the holidays. Yep.
As you know, our holiday weekend did not start out as smoothly as we would have hoped. Poor Amelia was sick with a virus of some sort and felt terrible. She would not eat, but seemed very interested in drinking juice when she woke up Wednesday morning...she quickly threw that up all over the bathroom sink. Luckily, I was getting ready to brush my teeth and holding Amelia when the juice hit her. Better the bathroom sink than any carpet, toys, etc.
But once Amelia went down for her afternoon nap Michael suggested that we should pack in hopes that she would feel better when she awoke. She did seem a bit better late that afternoon, and since I didn't think she would be sick again, and since it didn't make much sense for all of us to sit around being lonely and unhappy during the holidays we took a chance and headed up to Wisconsin that evening. (MS note: The doctor had earlier cleared us to go on the trip.)
We reached Jason and Ruth's house around one in the morning (Indiana time) and got to bed an hour later. The next morning Amelia's fever was gone, and she seemed to feel better. However, she still refused to eat and acted clingy and grouchy the entire day. Thanksgiving dinner was delicious, but becoming very stressful as Amelia cried and twisted in her high chair during the meal. Finally Ruth came up with the excellent idea of playing a Baby Einstein video for Amelia and she quieted down immediately. Say what you will, those videos have a place in a toddler's parent's home.
Mike and Jason went shopping for presents at five in the morning on Friday. The wind chill made the weather outside below freezing, but Mike thought that was neat and said he barely felt it since he was dressed warmly. The guys returned before Amelia and I even got out of bed. I found them on the living room floor going over their boxes of goodies and refund / rebate forms.
That afternoon friends and family came by for a post-Thanksgiving Day brunch that was as tasty as dinner the night before. Surprisingly, Mike, Jason, Ruth and I did not eat the entire 19 pound turkey that was served on Thursday, so there were lots of left-overs to go around. Amelia remained pretty grouchy on Friday, but enjoyed watching Elmo and other videos with Leah.
In fact, Amelia did a very good job around baby Leah and Jason and Ruth's cats. Amelia really enjoyed petting Bumper the cat and would ask to be held up so that she could reach her when the cat was resting on the back of the living room couch. The funny thing was that Amelia would pet the cat once, with one stroke, and then be done. She would walk around, play with her favorite squeaky, bouncy, cat toy and eventually return to pet the cat again.
Saturday morning was wonderful. It was wonderful because the irritable, fussy toddler who had taken over my daughter's body had decided to run away leaving my darling Amelia in her place. I knew things were back to normal when I brought Amelia into the living room and, pointing to Leah's high chair, Amelia stated clearly, "Eat."
Her appetite back, we packed the car and headed south to Milwaukee proper for lunch and frozen custard at Kopps. The custard was stupendous, once again, and Amelia enjoyed it immensely. Then we continued down the road toward home with a brief stop at the Mars Cheese Castle where Mike bought nine-year old sharp cheddar. (We also snuck next door for some full cream Munster which may be the best cheese I've ever eaten in my life!)
Amelia slept for a good portion of the drive home, but became a little cranky again north of Lafayette. Mike and I tried to amuse her with songs and games, but she would continually whine, "No, no," occasionally, accompanied with a wave of her hand. One of the funniest moments was when we tried to get her to join us for "Old MacDonald":
Daddy: "Old MacDonald had a farm"
Amelia: "No"
Daddy: "And on this farm, he had a..."
Amelia: "No"
Daddy: "With a..."
Amelia: "No, no"
Daddy: "Here, and a..."
Amelia: "No, no"
Daddy: "There."
Pretty funny. We also had a funny but heartbreaking experience with Amelia at the Cracker Barrel. Though half the store was a bit crowded, I allowed Amelia to wander around the store so she could get a bit of exercise and stretch her legs. While walking around I found some candy dispensers I thought she might like and showed them to her. One was a cow who would play drums when you pushed a plastic lever and the other was a chicken who played cymbals. Amelia took one in each hand and toddled around the store, careful to get under everyone's feet in the most crowded sections of the shop.
When it came time to leave and return to the car, I brought Amelia back over to the toy display and said, "Okay, we have to put the toys back." That did not go over well. She cried so pitifully it made your heart break. Still, we knew it would be a bad idea to start buying Amelia everything she liked everytime we went into a shop.
Out the door and in the car Amelia kept crying, "Cow...cow...cow!" Daddy explained to Amelia that the cow belonged to the store, and not to us. She seemed to understand this after thinking for a minute and said, "Okay." But only moments later, and a couple more miles down the highway she started crying again, "Cow...cow...cow." I guess I'll be buying her a cow toy for her Christmas stocking this year.
Lisa
As you know, our holiday weekend did not start out as smoothly as we would have hoped. Poor Amelia was sick with a virus of some sort and felt terrible. She would not eat, but seemed very interested in drinking juice when she woke up Wednesday morning...she quickly threw that up all over the bathroom sink. Luckily, I was getting ready to brush my teeth and holding Amelia when the juice hit her. Better the bathroom sink than any carpet, toys, etc.
But once Amelia went down for her afternoon nap Michael suggested that we should pack in hopes that she would feel better when she awoke. She did seem a bit better late that afternoon, and since I didn't think she would be sick again, and since it didn't make much sense for all of us to sit around being lonely and unhappy during the holidays we took a chance and headed up to Wisconsin that evening. (MS note: The doctor had earlier cleared us to go on the trip.)
We reached Jason and Ruth's house around one in the morning (Indiana time) and got to bed an hour later. The next morning Amelia's fever was gone, and she seemed to feel better. However, she still refused to eat and acted clingy and grouchy the entire day. Thanksgiving dinner was delicious, but becoming very stressful as Amelia cried and twisted in her high chair during the meal. Finally Ruth came up with the excellent idea of playing a Baby Einstein video for Amelia and she quieted down immediately. Say what you will, those videos have a place in a toddler's parent's home.
Mike and Jason went shopping for presents at five in the morning on Friday. The wind chill made the weather outside below freezing, but Mike thought that was neat and said he barely felt it since he was dressed warmly. The guys returned before Amelia and I even got out of bed. I found them on the living room floor going over their boxes of goodies and refund / rebate forms.
That afternoon friends and family came by for a post-Thanksgiving Day brunch that was as tasty as dinner the night before. Surprisingly, Mike, Jason, Ruth and I did not eat the entire 19 pound turkey that was served on Thursday, so there were lots of left-overs to go around. Amelia remained pretty grouchy on Friday, but enjoyed watching Elmo and other videos with Leah.
In fact, Amelia did a very good job around baby Leah and Jason and Ruth's cats. Amelia really enjoyed petting Bumper the cat and would ask to be held up so that she could reach her when the cat was resting on the back of the living room couch. The funny thing was that Amelia would pet the cat once, with one stroke, and then be done. She would walk around, play with her favorite squeaky, bouncy, cat toy and eventually return to pet the cat again.
Saturday morning was wonderful. It was wonderful because the irritable, fussy toddler who had taken over my daughter's body had decided to run away leaving my darling Amelia in her place. I knew things were back to normal when I brought Amelia into the living room and, pointing to Leah's high chair, Amelia stated clearly, "Eat."
Her appetite back, we packed the car and headed south to Milwaukee proper for lunch and frozen custard at Kopps. The custard was stupendous, once again, and Amelia enjoyed it immensely. Then we continued down the road toward home with a brief stop at the Mars Cheese Castle where Mike bought nine-year old sharp cheddar. (We also snuck next door for some full cream Munster which may be the best cheese I've ever eaten in my life!)
Amelia slept for a good portion of the drive home, but became a little cranky again north of Lafayette. Mike and I tried to amuse her with songs and games, but she would continually whine, "No, no," occasionally, accompanied with a wave of her hand. One of the funniest moments was when we tried to get her to join us for "Old MacDonald":
Daddy: "Old MacDonald had a farm"
Amelia: "No"
Daddy: "And on this farm, he had a..."
Amelia: "No"
Daddy: "With a..."
Amelia: "No, no"
Daddy: "Here, and a..."
Amelia: "No, no"
Daddy: "There."
Pretty funny. We also had a funny but heartbreaking experience with Amelia at the Cracker Barrel. Though half the store was a bit crowded, I allowed Amelia to wander around the store so she could get a bit of exercise and stretch her legs. While walking around I found some candy dispensers I thought she might like and showed them to her. One was a cow who would play drums when you pushed a plastic lever and the other was a chicken who played cymbals. Amelia took one in each hand and toddled around the store, careful to get under everyone's feet in the most crowded sections of the shop.
When it came time to leave and return to the car, I brought Amelia back over to the toy display and said, "Okay, we have to put the toys back." That did not go over well. She cried so pitifully it made your heart break. Still, we knew it would be a bad idea to start buying Amelia everything she liked everytime we went into a shop.
Out the door and in the car Amelia kept crying, "Cow...cow...cow!" Daddy explained to Amelia that the cow belonged to the store, and not to us. She seemed to understand this after thinking for a minute and said, "Okay." But only moments later, and a couple more miles down the highway she started crying again, "Cow...cow...cow." I guess I'll be buying her a cow toy for her Christmas stocking this year.
Lisa
posted by Lisa, Mike, Amelia, and Diana at 9:27 PM
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