All Growned Up

Well, I used to think that Gabby was the one to watch as far as smart-assedness, but Gavin is a contender, no question.

He is now the ripe old age of 21 months and while we still have some trouble understanding about 25% of what he says, what we do understand can often be hilarious. His favorite word is "more" and he is able to sign this and say it. Those of you who know him well understand how appropriate this is, considering how fond he is of keeping his stomach filled. At daycare, when he was in the infant class still, they had to introduce a SECOND afternoon snack to the room because Gavin was always so ready to eat - and so very vocal about being hungry.

Last weekend though, smart-ass and belly collided with funny results. We keep the juice boxes in a fridge that they can access, but they typically don't do so without asking first. He got one out and asked me to open it for him - and to be clear, by "ask" I mean he thrust it at me and said "pweass?" After shotgunning that one, he went and got a second. I said, "No you cannot have this." Usually at this point, he will throw quite the tantrum. Imagine my surprise when he ran off with said juice box to Daddy...

Daddy: Oh you want a juice box?
Me: No, Gavin! I just said you cannot have it.
Daddy: You heard Mommy. No juice box.

Again, I brace for the tantrum. Instead, he ran through the kitchen, and paused for a second to shake his finger at me: Not nice Mommy!

And was on his way.

Between that and the terrible temper he inherited from the paternal side, I think we're in for a ride...

So As It Happens...

Remember last week's urgent care visit? Well...

We have pieced together the story. But bear with me. Wouldn't be fun without some lead-up, would it?

The day after, I mentioned it to one of her teachers. Miss Annie looked horrified and clapped her hands over her mouth and asked about the mandatory Incident Report. Um, no, this was pure melodrama and theatrics for Daddy's attention. She didn't actually damage anything Miss Annie... just keep an eye on her please?

Two days later, Thursday, Spaz comes home and said that the daycare center director had tried calling me. Sure enough, there was a missed call and voice mail on my cell phone. I wasn't terribly concerned since, had it been an emergency, she would have called all five available numbers to reach me or Spaz. It was just an FYI: Gabby was running a low-grade fever, not enough for her to be picked up. Of course, said fever spiked and wasn't responding to treatment. 102 the next morning after a dose of Advil. She's still herself though, but fevers that don't go away with her mean only one thing: ear infection. Sure enough, we hit up the pediatricians' sick hours on Saturday and the tonsils are inflamed, throat is red, and there's pus in the ear.

Now, I had been given a prescription at the urgent care visit. I did not fill it, although they said there was slight redness in her ear. Why? They had diagnosed her with Acute Media Otitis - a middle ear infection - but there was only a little redness and no fluid? And a ridiculously aggressive dose of antibiotics: one teaspoon, four times a day, when she had had no recent history of ear infections and it has been probably 18 months since we last had to get a dose of antibiotics for her. I liken that to using a baseball bat to swat a mosquito. The pediatrician agreed and we were given a more appropriate antibiotic dose.

She is almost back to herself now, although she took two lengthy naps this weekend. Unheard of. Also, we are putting together a story: she had very early onset of the ear infection and her ear would have been tickling. She's also had a lingering cold, and a cough made worse by the horrible pollen, so the ear infection is not unexpected. She probably stuck a pencil in there to try to itch but didn't actually damage anything. But she won't be doing that again anytime soon.

I hope.

Good news is we've probably hit our deductible for the year with the Urgent Care visit. Yay us!

In Other News...

Wow, you're probably thinking. Twice in 24 hours?

I've been remiss in updating this little blog, so here goes!

The New One (aka Gavin), the Short One (aka Gabby), the Spaz and I traveled down to Trinidad for our almost-annual jaunt for Carnival. It also happened to be around the time of both kids' birthdays. Isn't it awesome that they both have birthdays in the same month?

This was Gavin's first trip(s) on a plane ever. He did beautifully. He slept on cue, ate on cue, behaved like an angel and flirted with all women in sight. Gabby was her usual self -- did all of those things if and when she felt like it, but she was also quite well-behaved. Gavin was also about to meet the majority of his facebook fan club, complete with aunties who would feed him at his slightest sigh, and slather him with all of the affection he could want. He stayed naked save a diaper for most of his trip, no shoes on his feet: heaven.


Gabby disappeared the moment the car pulled up to Pamela's house, to take up residence at Heather's. She appeared at mealtimes, occasional bedtimes, and those times when she had fallings-out with her Beloved Auntie Heather. She also, the little stinker!, sat still for TWO HOURS for Symone to do this to her hair.

Now, this was quite an elaborate hairstyle, done on the child who screams bloody murder when I approach with comb. But whatever -- this is the prerogative of the pre-schooler, I imagine.

Gavin spent his time on an eating tour of Fifth Street. He ate all the fresh fruit and vegetables he could get his hands on, gained a couple of pounds, and generally had a blast. We started him on table food instead of bothering with the purees for very long, and in general did not cut his food up into those tiny "bite-sized" pieces that can be choking hazards. Instead, loosely following the Baby Led Weaning method, we gave him his food and he would gnaw or suck on it and eventually learned to chew and bite off only what he could handle. He has never choked. I explained this to Auntie Pam one day and she looked at me weirdly until the time that Mr. Man was eating some chicken (yes, with his two teeth) and he got something he couldn't chew. He reached into his mouth, pulled out that piece and set it on his plate, and got on with the business of eating. She was amazed. The boy likes his food, what can I say?

Meanwhile, Spanky and the Spaz feted, played mas, feted, and enjoyed the pleasures of unlimited babysitters. It was awesome.


 Auntie Judy and I enjoyed a somewhat ill-fated night out on the town...

Judy and Rae Ann at Panorama Finals 

I played with Bliss, crown supplied by the awesome Natalie Wittle and Lilly Lane Couture.

All prettied up for Carnival Tuesday

 Of course there was some J'Ouvert action!

J'Ouvert Morning

Girl Power was good... mostly. Free drinks helped.

We also had the children's birthday party. There was no shortage of other children and a good time was had by all. I question the wisdom of doing this on Ash Wednesday, but... we survived!

 Gabby chose this image herself. Many thanks again to Auntie Nicole.

 The Princess prepares to blow out her cake. This child is a natural born leader. Assertive to a fault!

All in all, a fun visit to Trini! Can't wait till the next one. 

Adventures of a (Mini) Drama Queen

At 5:45 I see a missed call from the Spaz. Instead of listening to the voice mail, I just call him...

WHAAAA!!! AAAAHHHH!!! I  CAN'T HEAR!!!! IT HURTS!!!! WHAAAA!!!

This background noise has all the makings of a minor-league injury blown up to major-league proportions. I ask the hubs, "What's going on?" with that totally resigned note in my voice that says I will be knocking off an hour earlier than planned.

"Gabby says that she stuck a pencil in her ear."

"Really? Why don't you just take her home and I'll meet you there in an hour." My Mommy-senses are tingling and it's not with that, "Oh, my poor baby!" sense so much as, "I smell something and it's not a perforated eardrum."

"No, I'll take her to urgent care."

"Is she bleeding? No? Really, take her home. You already have Gavin, it will be a struggle to deal with both of them at the ER..."

"I'm taking her. It's on our way, etc. etc."

"Okay, I'll see you there in an hour."

I roll up and see the tear-stained cheeks and start to think, "Wow, maybe she is actually hurt..." Hubs rolls on home with Gavin and I take over. I whisper something in her ear... "Why are you saying Gavin?"

Uh huh. Suspicions confirmed. But just in case... The nurse calls us back for the first assessment and shows Gabby the pain chart and asks her to point to the one that describes her pain level. She chooses the smiley face. Mentally, I have an "Oh fuck" moment, but still...

We are waiting still. This place moves things along fairly quickly for an ER, but she goes, "Mommy, why is this taking so long? And I'm hungry. What's for dinner?" Yes, for certain, we have been suckered. Eventually we are led back to a room and the LPN takes a look and sees some redness in there but nothing else that would indicate presence of a pencil. Le sigh. The Drama Queen has conquered.

"Mommy, when we go home, can I have some beef and green beans?"

"Does your ear hurt?"

"Uh huh. And how about a banana?"

Summertime!

It's summertime in the 'hood. It's been nastily hot around here, with record-breaking temperatures in the triple digits. The small people have been keeping cool by staying indoors. After a promising start with the garden, we pretty much have forgotten about it. I remember now why I opted to not keep a garden when Gabby was an infant; so much work when there's a baby around! Yesterday, we went swimming at Granny's new apartment building pool. Gabby loves the water; Gavin was a natural, instinctively kicking his feet as I guided him through the water.

School has been a lot of fun for Gabby and Gavin. Both are doing very well, and Gavin continues to grow by leaps and bounds. In the last week, the report was that he is trying to hold his bottle by himself but if anyone attempts to help him, their hands are swatted away. Another Mini-Me in the making! The staff at the center continually remark how much he is like his sister in attitude and looks, but fortunately not in temperament. That kid can turn on the waterworks at the drop of a hat. What is it about hearing your own child whine that is so neurologically piercing? Someone actually did a study on this; I need to dig it up.

Speaking of Gabby, she continues to take this Big Sister business seriously although she still has to work on the gentle part. She and Gavin have the most entertaining "conversations" where she tells him how cute he is and he babbles back to her. She can also capture his attention in a second, and no one can make him break out in a big gummy grin like Gabby.

We started Gavin on solid food within the last week. He has the same reaction that Gabby did: WOMAN, *WHY* did you wait so long to introduce me to this deliciousness? Very amusing! 

We're planning our trip to Trinidad so the other Gordons can meet Gavin. I hope they're ready for him!

Three Months Later...

I made Bill go to the kids' evaluations. Yep, you read that right: they *both* had evaluations!

Gavin is hitting all of his milestones. I found out this week that one of his teachers is so attached to him that she doesn't like to put him down. He was also attached to her very early on. But this was starting to have a negative impact at home as he would scream bloody murder (no tears) just to have someone always be there talking to him or holding him. So we nipped that one in the bud this week. He is also doing things a little ahead of schedule. This morning, Bill tried to take him from me and he actually turned his whole body away from him! It was pretty funny.

Gavin is also a big-time babbler. He talks to anything and anyone that falls into his line of vision. I suspect this means he will also start talking early. I'm unsurprised by this since Gabby is always talking to him, and while this may come as a big surprise to many of you, I'm a big talker as well. One thing that drives me bananas with his teachers though, and thank goodness they are more caregivers than teachers, is that they have terrible grammar. They use random apostrophes to indicate plurals when they are communicating with us by newsletter and in the evaluation as well. Good thing they won't be teaching him to read...

Gabby is doing things that signify she's ready for kindergarten, even though she's in pre-school. I checked the MD state guidelines for kindergarten readiness and she was doing most of the things on the list already. She is, of course, going to stay with her peers for now but it's refreshing to know that she's ready when the time comes.

Her teachers told Bill that they didn't want to play favorites in the classroom, but Gabby is one of their favorites. She is also the smartest one in the class, while being one of the youngest. This is totally awesome news to hear. As far as reading goes, she can not only recognize her own name when it is written, but also "Gavin", "Mommy", and "Daddy" along with a couple others. She can write her own name and most letters in the alphabet. She is very assertive and loves to make her own choices. Recently though, she has started showing more patience and a willingness to wait her turn. That comes in very handy when I'm alone with the both of them and she needs something but I'm tending to Gavin. She loves to draw and paint and I'm really glad of the investment we made for her Christmas gift of an easel with rolls of paper, paint, and paintbrushes. We also have lots of sidewalk chalk to decorate the back patio. She is learning more coordinated movements too, and likes to dance; unfortunately she has Bill's sense of rhythm. Hopefully we can work on that one.

Both kids love being outside. I've found the easiest way to get Gavin to sleep is to have him outside for a bit. Gabby... that child has an immeasurable store of energy! She can go crazy outside for hours and still not go to bed early. And does not love to nap at home.

Welcome Gavin Alexander!

The littlest Wilson made his appearance via scheduled C-Section on February 28. My original due date was March 4, but after a final ultrasound revealed him to be, at 36.5 weeks, already larger than Gabby had been at birth, I opted for the c-section instead of the VBAC for a variety of reasons.

Gavin was 8 pounds, 15 ounces, and 21 inches long. A casual survey among the Gordon aunties reveals him to have been the heaviest baby born to any of them or any of their children (my cousins). Big boy. Had I waited to go into labor, he surely would have come in at well over 9 pounds.

He is now three weeks old and doing well. Big sister Gabby loves to help, but does display some occasional jealousy, not toward him but jealousy that I am not able to give her as much attention as she would have received in the past. As I continue to heal from the C-section, this is not as easy to do as I had hoped, but she is content to have me put her to bed and read her stories, along with allowing her to change diapers and feed him the occasional bottle. Big Sister at her finest.