My co-worker, Meghan, returned from maternity leave on Monday. I went in early to show her around to all the pump rooms and offer tips and encouragement. I wish her the best of luck in returning to work. It made me remember how hard it was for me to go back and what a horrible, tearful day my first day apart from Lily was. After work on Monday, I had a doctor’s appointment. My usual GP didn’t have any openings for a few months so I saw someone else who seemed quite nice. I made the appointment because I’ve been experiencing discomfort at my c-section incision site. He didn’t think there were any hernias or anything wrong, just adhesions and scar tissue pulling and feeling a little odd as the muscle wall continues to heal. He said it should improve and become more flexible with time. I have also been experiencing a heavy feeling in my legs after long days on my feet ever since I had Lily. He said that the feeling was due to venous congestion in my varicose veins that was made worse by pregnancy and suggesting wearing old lady compression stockings. Oh joy! Paul and Lily waited around during my appointment because the office is right by Lily’s daycare then we all went to Salsarita’s for dinner then Meijer for grocery shopping. Lily was getting quite fussy as we were wrapping up our shopping trip but then I looked at the clock and realized that it was 9:30pm, an hour past her bedtime. We had completely lost track of time and the poor girl was really tired. I gave her a pea pod to eat in the produce section to keep her entertained as Paul wandered off to get the last few items. We have done this a million times before and she usually loves to eat them and has no problem with them but this time she didn’t chew it well and tried to swallow the entire pea pod which made her choke. I had to give her the Heimlich maneuver right in the aisle! I got on my knees and got her upside down, thumping on her back and chest. She got it out quickly, thank God. I was glad that all my years of CPR training did the trick and I did not panic until it was all over. She never got to the point where she couldn’t move any air but she was close. Afterward, the poor thing cried hysterically. Paul was nowhere near as all this went on but quite a few people were around us who just continued with their shopping and didn’t even offer to help or ask if we were okay. How insensitive! Right after I got Lily calmed back down, a clueless Paul came waltzing up with a green bean in his hand to offer Lily as a snack. I shouted, “NO!” and slapped it right out of his hand. Due to the late hour and exhaustion from all the drama, Lily slept in the car on the way home from the grocery store and didn’t even wake up when I took her out of the car and put her in bed.
We went to Gallup Park in Ann Arbor after work on Tuesday so that Paul could catch some fish to fertilize the vegetable garden and Lily could play. I took her on a walk around the park in her stroller but mostly she just wanted to play on the swings and run around chasing the very tame geese that live in the park. I brought us sandwiches and bananas so that we could have a picnic dinner. Lily got fussy around 7:00pm and luckily, Paul caught his limit shortly thereafter. Lily wore herself out pretty well and slept in the car on the way home. She woke up when we got home which was good because she needed to eat a snack and take a bath before bed. Unfortunately, she got a little too perked up and it took her a really long time to settle down to sleep in her crib. She kept standing up and staring at me then laying down then standing back up over and over for almost an hour.
After a hard day of work on Friday, we decided to treat ourselves and kick off the long Memorial Day weekend with margaritas and Mexican food. We decided to go to Sagebrush Cantina in Fenton at the recommendation of one of my co-workers. What a horrible experience we had! First, it’s about a half hour drive from our house which is not such a big deal but does factor into how long our evening took. We brought snacks for Lily like responsible parents and told the hostess that we would need a highchair when we checked in. We were told the wait would be about 30 minutes which wasn’t too bad but was apparently a gross underestimation. After waiting an hour, they finally paged us to be seated. I reminded the hostess that we would need a highchair as we were walking right by them and she suddenly started acting all put out and told me that the table we were going to didn’t accommodate highchairs, even though I told them when we checked in that we needed one. She said that very few tables in the restaurant accommodate highchairs and tried to talk me into using a booster seat even though I diplomatically explained to her how unsafe that would be for a child of Lily’s age and squirminess. She huffed and said that we would have to wait longer for a different table to open up and I very politely told her that was fine with us. Then we waited 30 more minutes at which point Lily was understandably getting fussy as she was sick of sitting, had eaten all of her snacks, and it was approaching her bedtime. She had been so good waiting with us for 2 long hours and none of us could be expected to patiently wait any longer. I went back to the hostess stand and said that we would have to leave if they couldn’t get us a table quickly. The hostess seemed surprised and confused and basically admitted that she completely forgot about us. She never apologized, though, and basically said it was my fault for not checking back with her sooner even though an hour prior to that, when I asked her for an estimate on how much longer we would have to wait, she acted like it was a huge inconvenience for her to check. Paul just wanted to leave the horrible restaurant at that point but we were hungry and the hostess miraculously found us a highchair-friendly table immediately so we stayed. Our meal was good but we had to eat fast and could barely enjoy it as Lily was cranky and tired. I thought that we would at least receive an apology or possibly be given a complimentary meal after our experience as I have gotten these in the past for much smaller offenses but we were never visited by management, never apologized to by the hostess, and offered a hefty bill at the end of it all. Needless to say, we will not be returning to Sagebrush Cantina and do not recommend it to anyone! The only good part of the evening was that our friend, Mary, joined us for drinks.
Paul spent the majority of the day on Saturday working in the yard while Lily and I hung out. She wanted to go outside a lot but it was very warm so we didn’t stay out for long. We then all got ready and headed up to Davison as there was a possibility of meeting up with some friends up there for dinner at Whitey’s. Unfortunately they never called us back so dinner was a no go but the trip wasn’t a total loss. We got some more plants for the yard from this great nursery, Wojo’s, then hung out with my parents and ended up having Whitey’s fish and chips for dinner with them. After dinner, we took Lily to the playscape at the Davison Regional Park. She absolutely loved it, especially the giant sandbox. She played in there forever. We will definitely have to get a sandbox for her.
Paul also spent Sunday working on his outdoor projects. Lily and I were bored hanging around the house and it was, again, too hot for us to spend much time outside so we decided to drive up to Davison and spend the day with my parents. Unfortunately, Lily cried and yelled the entire drive up there which made my eardrums hurt for hours afterward. She was good once we got to my parents’ house but then refused to go down for her afternoon nap even though she was clearly tired. I think that she was just having too much fun! Plus the pack-n-play in my parents’ room is not familiar to her. I sat near the end of the bed and read a book and ignored her as usual as she tried to go to sleep but she kept standing up and tapping me on the arm which was cute but got quickly annoying. I tried to nurse her and put her back in the pack-n-play a million times. Finally, after almost an hour, she fell asleep on the bed with me so I ended up dozing off as well. While I slept, my mom vacuumed and cleaned out my car while my dad installed Lily’s new carseat. I was very grateful to both of them. We bought new convertible carseats for each vehicle back in March but have never found the time to install them. We urgently needed to change her over, though, as she just surpassed the weight limit on her infant car seat. Lily has been increasingly noncompliant on car rides (as demonstrated by our drive to Davison) and I think that she is just done with being rear-facing so I had my dad install the seat facing forward. She has been old enough and big enough to turn around for quite a while but it is safer for kids to face the back so I tried to keep her that way as long as possible. However, I have also been told that toddlers are much better travelers once they face forward and can see what’s going on around them. I don’t blame them- I would get quickly bored staring at a seat instead of looking out the front window too! After Lily got up from her nap and went outside, she saw the new carseat in the car and wanted to climb right in and check it out. I was amazed! She seems to really like it. I like it, too. It’s pink and super cute. My grandmother came over for dinner then we went over to my Aunt Robin and Uncle Lee’s house. While we were there, we walked over to an ice cream shop then hung out in their gardens and visited. Lily loved walking on their garden paths.
Lily started playing a cute peek-a-boo game this week where she hides behind something like her highchair (where she also hides to poo) and waits for me to say, "Where's my Lily?" Then she pops out laughing hysterically. It is so cute. She also sometimes covers her face with her hands to play the same game. Apparently she doesn't yet realize that just because she can't see us, doesn't mean that we can't see her!
I read an article on babycenter.com this week that summarizes my little Lily perfectly. I will abbreviate it a bit, though. “A 14-month-old is a study in stubbornness. He may suddenly be very assertive about what he wants to do and eat and where he wants to go. Of course the things that you most want him not to do are exactly the things he wants to do most. Your toddler may also be determined to do things for himself, such as put on his shoes, even if he's not quite capable of such tasks yet. What you can do: If you feel like the word you say most often is "no," consider ways you can make your house, or at least parts of your house and yard, utterly safe for his investigations. And let your child try feeding himself, even if it makes a big mess. Remember that play and exploration are how toddlers learn about the world, so it's not that your 14-month-old is being intentionally defiant, simply that he is curious about everything around him and doesn't want anyone to stop him from checking things out.” Lily is definitely quite inquisitive and is growing more stubborn as she wants to do more things for and by herself. She is really into learning what things are. She will point to stuff in books and around the house and yard, wanting me to tell her what they are. She also clearly understands quite a bit. When I ask her to point to her stuffed Tigger, point to the elephant in the book, or point to her nose, for example, she will do it perfectly. When I sing to her or talk close to her face, especially when I am washing her in the tub, she stares at my mouth curiously with furrowed brows and pays close attention to how I form each word with my mouth. Sometimes she even mimics how my mouth moves. She seems eager to learn how to form words on her own.
Here are some pictures from this week.
Lily loved that she could get very close to the geese at Gallup Park on Tuesday. Check out her farmer's tan:
She greatly enjoyed the bucket swings:
Hello:
I wonder if this tastes good:
Lily always tries to climb up slides ever since she saw our neighbor boys do it:
Lily staring intently:
What she was staring at- a baby goose and its mom:
Lily playing with empty cell packs after helping Paul plant flowers on Wednesday:
Peek-a-boo, I see you:
My cute little fishie on Saturday afternoon:
Lily wanted to eat a cookie but I didn't want her to get her adorable outfit messed up so I draped her in a towel and a bib first. To appease her during this process, I gave her some plastic spoons to play with:
Lily trying to eat her cookie with the spoons:
Lily in her new kitty folding chair from Grandma and Papi:
Being mischievous:
Lily loved the playscape at Davison Regional Park, especially the giant sandbox:
Lily throwing shovel-fuls of sand delightedly into the air:
She then decided to get down and bury her legs in the sand:
Peering out of the sandbox area through the dog's mouth:
Paul gave Lily a piggy-back ride as we explored what else the playscape had to offer:
Lily loved playing in the big red car and found it even more delightful when another kid jumped in and showed her how it bounced:
Driving the school bus:
Lily in her new carseat for my car. She absolutely loves facing forward:
Hanging out with my Aunt Robin in her garden on Sunday:
Lily loved walking along the garden paths:
Lee, Robin, my mom, my dad, Lily, and Todd enjoying the evening:
She then decided to get down and bury her legs in the sand:
Peering out of the sandbox area through the dog's mouth:
Paul gave Lily a piggy-back ride as we explored what else the playscape had to offer:
The playscape was built sometime when I was in college. My parents donated money and labor to help build it. After wandering around for a while, we found the slat with our name on it that was made in recognition of their donation. Coincidentally, it is right next to my aunt and uncle's slat:
Lily loved playing in the big red car and found it even more delightful when another kid jumped in and showed her how it bounced:
Driving the school bus:
Lily in her new carseat for my car. She absolutely loves facing forward:
Hanging out with my Aunt Robin in her garden on Sunday:
Lily loved walking along the garden paths:
Lee, Robin, my mom, my dad, Lily, and Todd enjoying the evening:
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