Dentist

Yesterday Eliza went to the dentist for the first time. I'd been putting it off because, really, who likes going to the dentist? Much less who likes bringing a kid to the dentist. So, one of Eliza's old teachers, Ms. Megan, has been in dental hygienist school for a year or so. They have a clinic where they get to practice on the public. Ms. Megan still comes to help out at school over winter breaks and she asked if I'd be interested in bringing Eliza in. Seemed like a perfect way to introduce her to dentistry, with someone she already loves, who is fantastic with kids. Ms. Megan was very thorough. She did all sorts of screenings, taught Eliza all sorts of things, explained everything she did in terms Eliza could understand, etc. And she let Eliza watch Strawberry Shortcake. Eliza was in the chair for 2.5 hours and that is a heck of a lot more TV than she normally gets to watch, so she was double stoked. Plus she got a prize and a new toothbrush. The bad news is she has a cavity. And they said she'll probably need braces when she's older. They showed us which of her teeth is likely to fall out first and said it shouldn't be long! So, I just ordered a tooth fairy pillow for her and some "fairy dust" so we'll be prepared! We have to go to another dentist for the filling (they don't actually do fillings there) but, there's a good pedi dentist near our house that promised a TV and a prize, so hopefully it will go well.

Fashion

Eliza has been picking out her own clothes for quite some time.  (Side note: she hates "bumpies" in her socks or in her hairdos) Sometimes she looks ridiculous, but many times we look at her unusual choices and say, "She totally made that work!" Her latest trend is for her entire outfit to be in the same shade.  This morning she's wearing a denim dress with denim jeans.  She proclaimed, "This looks so good!!" Ha.  The other day she was wearing head to toe purple and got her purple socks wet.  S told her to change them.  "But, but, I don't have any other clean purple socks!!"  Tragic. 

Speaking of clothes, when I found out Ezra was a boy, I started perusing the boy sections of various stores.  I was annoyed by the fact that 90% of the boys section seems to involve sports, animals or transportation.  I bought none of it.  I did my best to dress Ezra in other outfits.  But guess what?  Turns out all of the clothes are like that because that's what boys want to wear.  Ezra would much rather wear his dog shirt or his bulldozer pants than the stuff I pick out.  This lesson feels familiar.  I used to avoid dressing Eliza in pink and was annoyed at how princessy most of the girls' stuff was and surprise, surprise, that's what she likes too.  If I had unlimited funds and less opinionated children, I'd dress them both in head to toe Baby Gap or LL Bean.  But I don't.  So, I'll let them express themselves- as long as it's weather appropriate, of course. 

Shenanigans

For the past month S and I have been working really hard to get Ezra to sleep better.  I finally night weaned him and S has been handling all the middle of the night wake ups because Ezra is much less likely to throw a fit for him.  We went back to the pedi to get him back on reflux meds because he just isn't growing out of his reflux like most kids do by now.  He hated the new meds and it was drama drama drama to get him to take it each night; he spit most of it out no matter what we tried.  So, the pharmacist at People's was cool enough to try mixing several different flavors for us until we found one that masks the acidic taste of the meds.  Marshmallow flavor seems to be the winner.  Then, we dramatically cut down on the dairy and gluten in his diet (made more difficult with Eliza still being a vegetarian) because the pedi said those tend to be the main triggers of reflux past age 1.  Once we felt confident that physically he was feeling better, we focused on getting him to fall asleep on his own.  Luckily he didn't fuss too much and for two glorious nights he slept for 6 hours straight- the most he's EVER slept in a row.  I felt like we had finally made it to the parenting promised land; I was so happy we'd be getting more sleep. 

Wednesday night I put Ez in his crib drowsy but awake and walked away.  I expected him to cry for 5 minutes or less and then fall asleep.  I went into Eliza's room to read her stories.  After a couple of minutes of crying, I hear Ezra's door open.  I was annoyed that Scott must have gone in to check on him, since that wasn't part of our new sleep plan.  I walk out into the dark hallway and there's Ezra.  Scott thought I had gotten him out of bed.  We were both dumbfounded; it was like he was a ninja.  We had no idea how he had gotten out of the crib and opened his own door.  I thought maybe he had stood on his teddy bear for a boost.  We took the bear out, put him back in his crib and turned off the light while we hid to watch him.  He climbed out of the crib in 5 seconds- tops- like it was the easiest thing in the world.  Thank goodness he didn't get hurt. 

So, it looks like we're shopping for a toddler bed this weekend and that sleeping through the night is just out of reach once again.  For the past two nights he's been sleeping on his mattress on the floor and waking up 2 to 3 times a night.  Two steps forward, one step back.  He'll sleep through the night before prom, right?

ASL ABCs and allergies

Ezra has started "signing" his ABCs when he hears someone sing the ABC song.  His teacher, Sarah, signs along as she sings at school.  She did the same thing when Eliza was in her class 3 years ago.  The funniest part is that he doesn't really know the signs at all, but he is so proud as he's doing it, with complete confidence that he's 100% accurate.  His proud grin is absolutely adorable!

Eliza woke up this morning with bloodshot eyes.  She immediately said she had pink eye- a friend had it a couple of months ago and I guess it sounds pretty cool when your favorite color is pink.  I couldn't tell if it was allergies or the real thing, so I decided to take her to the pedi first thing.  Mind you I had a client at 10am and the earliest appointment was 8:45, so I knew it would be a tight fit.  Good news is the pedi said it was just allergies and everyone got to go to school (first week of class is not a good time to cancel a whole day full of clients).  I drop off the kids and snacks for 60 kids (of course it would also be my turn for snack duty) and hustle to work, just in time to sneak in the back door and wipe the sweat off my face before seeing my 10:00.  Within 30 minutes school is calling because Eliza has told all the parents, teachers and students that she DOES have pink eye and of course they are not happy to hear it.  Fortunately the director and I have a very good relationship and she took me at my word that I would not knowingly take a super contagious kid to school.   I'm sure our little drama queen adored the attention though. :)

Tinky

Now when Ezra has a poopy diaper, he waves his hand in front of his butt and says, "Tinky!" and wrinkes his nose. It's very cute.  Plus he keeps doing it the whole time you change him, which keeps him busy and distracted from his previously enjoyed changing activity: kicking and trying to get away.

Eliza must have said, "Oh my God!" about 100 times this weekend.  She sounded like such a teenager and not in a good way.  I said, "Hey, you're saying that a lot. I like it better when you say gosh or goodness instead."  "Really, Mom?  Because you say, "Oh my God" a lot too, usually when Ezra does something dangerous."  Oops.  I better work on that. 

Resolutions

Looking at this guy's sweet face is good motivation for me to stick with my resolutions this year.  Over the past couple of years, S and I have really reformed our eating, after reading a lot of Michael Pollan, watching Food, Inc., Forks Over Knives, etc.  One of my favorite blogs is 100 Days of Real Food, and although we'll never be perfect, Greenling has helped a lot and I feel like we're moving in the right direction, with one exception.  Soda.  I still drink soda a lot for the sugar and caffeine rush, knowing it's terrible for me.  Last month, before we went to the Trail of Lights, I took both kids to Qdoba for a quick dinner.  While I was opening something for Eliza, I looked down and realized Ezra had grabbed my Coke and was slurping it like there was no tomorrow.  I wondered why I had something on the table in front of him that was full of high fructose corn syrup, if I didn't want him to drink it.  And why was it okay for me to drink it?  So, I decided to limit myself to one soda a month and I won't be drinking that one soda in front of the kids.  So far so good. 

My other resolution is to be more vigilant about artificial coloring in the kids' food and drinks.  I'm most concerned with Red#40.  I'll admit I've been the first one in the past to use food coloring to decorate cookies and cupcakes, etc. to make them fun.  And I don't like to subscribe to conspiracy theories.  I'd read about how artificial food coloring leads to cancer and hyperactivity in children, but I wasn't sure how mainstream some of the information was.  Then I heard about how American companies alter their products (M&Ms, Nutrigrain bars, etc.) for European markets to remove Red#40, but they don't bother to do the same thing for the US, because we don't regulate food as strictly and it's cheaper to use the artificial, petroleum based stuff.  That made it more real for me. 

This whole healthy lifestyle thing is obviously a continuum and I'm never going to be able to completely rid my kids from everything unhealthy.  But, I at least want to take control over my own household, even if I can't control everything at school, etc.  The good thing is that the kid's preschool is hyper vigilant about a lot of this stuff, so I'm a little spoiled.  I'm so used to our little co-op school requiring organic dairy, 100% whole wheat, no sugar for the first 3 ingredients, etc. Sometimes I forget it's not the norm.  The other day my friend said her daughter's preschool served her 1 year old a white bread sandwich, complete with fritos and fruit snacks!  She was about to have a discussion with their director, and I was reminded to be grateful for our current set up! 

2013 Here We Go!

Today was the first day of our new semester.  We continued the tradition of taking a picture in front of school on the first day.  Both kids were happy to see their friends and teachers.  We had a great holiday, filled with friends and family.  Yesterday we capped off the break with a trip to Kiddie Acres.  Ezra is just the right age to go for the first time and Eliza still thinks it's fun too.  Both kids were totally fearless.  We also made an impromptu trip out to Bertram to see the snow, since it didn't quite make its way to Austin.  The 3 of us intended to surprise the grandparents but we got so drenched from playing in the snow we ended up just heading home after, the kids half naked and covered in one of GG's quilts.  We also made two trips to the neighborhood bouncy castle with friends, did the Trail of Lights, had a New Year's Eve tea party with the grandparents and cousin Drew, spent lots of time sipping hot chocolate and playing with new toys, saw Ezra's BFF Jamey at the Christmas Eve service and the beloved Ms. Shanisha, as well as getting Ezra his first haircut.  And Eliza was a proud cow in the Christmas pageant. It was the perfect balance between busy and calm. 

I really have no idea what's in store for 2013!  It feels a little like 2010 that way.  We don't know if Eliza will get into our top choice for elementary school, or if we'll have to move to get into a better school, etc.  Of course as a toddler, Ezra will change tremendously in the next year.  There's a possibility of me being in a different office with a different supervisor this year as well, but that's very much up in the air.  Scott's project might be done at the very end of the year, and whenever it's finished, he'll have some decisions to make about where he'll be next.  Who knows!  Let's hope we enjoy the ride!