We Have A Walker!

A few weeks ago I thought Paige may never walk. Realistically, that was my sore back talking, but it was hard to ignore.
For months now, Paige has been cruising around the house and walking with the assistance of a push car or someone's finger. Just before Thanksgiving she was willing to take one or two steps toward someone if you distracted her and removed your support just before she reached them. At any other time, though, if you tried to get her to walk by herself, she would scowl at you and then promptly sit down. If she could talk I'm sure she was saying, "You can't make me do this. What do you think you're doing over THERE? Come back and help me." Sometimes, even the act of setting her down on her feet would bring on body arching and wet noodlism.


Then, last week, she began playing one of her favorite games--climb onto the blue chair.
This time, though, after she turned around and sat down, she slid off the edge onto her feet and walked across the room to me. This was not a wobbly one or two step affair. She stood up and walked easily 6 feet without a stumble. Proud of herself and happy with my excited reaction, she continued to go back to the chair, crawl in, turn around, stand up and walk around her room. By the tenth time she slid down she turned and walked out of her room and down the hallway. And we were off to the races....Here's some video taken during her first day walking.


This walking experience is just another interesting point of comparison for the girls. Reese walked (and crawled) at an earlier age than Paige, but in doing so, she went through EVERY iteration of the experience. When it came to walking, Reese began to stand independently first and then try one or two steps at a time. This process lasted a few weeks before she really began to walk steadily. With Paige, everything seems to click on her timetable. She doesn't make a move until she's sure she can do it perfectly.

It's been less than a week since she took those first steps and she already is carrying items around with her while walking, drinking her cup while walking, bending down to get things, and her balance and ability to catch herself to prevent falls is impressive.

Reese was Paige's biggest cheerleader for the first day...then, some jealousy kicked in. It only took one time out for pushing sister down to straighten things out. Now Reese is ready for Paige to dance with her. I'm guessing in a few weeks Paige will surprise us all with a perfectly executed twirl or two.

Reese Updates

Just some notes about Reese for posterity:

1. During the week of Thanksgiving she mastered the art of swinging by herself! (Insert angelic choir singing here) The ability to "pump her legs" means no more marathon pushing sessions for Mommy and Daddy, and she's thrilled with the idea that she can swing as high as she wants and for as long as she wants. Since Daddy broke her of her slide phobia the weekend before, she is now a much more independent girl when it comes to the park. With two weeks of cool wet weather lately we haven't been at the park often, and I'm a little worried that our absence may cause some back-tracking, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

2. Reese is absolutely TERRIFIED of the Santa at our local mall. On the two occasions we've visited, she has covered her face and hid behind Paige's stroller. She's unable to articulate her fear, but she felt a little better when I assured her that I wasn't going to make her sit on his lap. We decided to write him a letter this year instead. I'm kicking myself for not scanning the letter into our computer before we mailed it because she even helped with some of the writing. (The letters she feels comfortable with--mainly S, E, C, T, L, and I) We took the letter to the big red mail box at Macy's (since their campaign makes donations based on the number of letters received) after Reese helped address it and stamp it herself. Her "big request" this year? A jack-in-the-box. No problem.

3. Reese and Madeline are becoming best buds. Reese has figured out how to move quietly and slowly in order to approach the cat. Reese also pets her gently, makes her purr, and has even gotten Madeline to roll over for belly rubs.
4. Reese has been very anxious for Paige to walk. She has followed Paige around helping her steer her push-car and is always clapping and cheering for any efforts Paige makes to get mobile.


5. When Aunt Kim recently announced her engagement, Mommy nearly brought down the house with her squeals of delight. I then had to explain to two startled girls the cause of my outburst. While Reese didn't react to the news immediately, several days later, she wrapped her self in this blanket and pranced around the house. She explained that the blanket was her wedding dress. When I asked who she was getting married to she replied, "Ellie!"

Christmas Preparations

After feeling blindsided by Thanksgiving, we were determined to get into the Christmas spirit before it was too late. After returning from our trip out of town, we got to work setting up the Christmas tree.

As in years past, Reese was a big help. And, actually, this year she WAS. If I had been satisfied with the idea of only having ornaments on the bottom third of the tree, Reese would have gladly hung them all for me. As it was, we worked together during Paige's nap without a single ornament casualty. Every day since Reese has spent time rearranging the ornaments on the bottom of the tree to better "keep Paige safe."


I also decided to purchase an advent calendar this year. I really wanted a reusable one that could become part of our family's Christmas tradition. My main motivation was the idea that an advent calendar could help us count down the days until Christmas and keep Reese from asking me EVERY day when Christmas was coming. I didn't think I had set myself up for such a daunting task. Surely advent calendars are easy to find, right? Well, not when you wait until November 29th to start looking for them. I refused, on principle, to buy one that was made of felt and cost over $40, so I began to momentarily fantasize about making one of my own. Ten seconds later I was searching amazon. You can find anything on amazon, right? Not this time. So, I headed to Target and found two options. Neither were exactly what I pictured, but they fit my budget and with one day until the countdown began, I caved. Here's the one I bought:


How long did it take you to find the egregious error in our advent calendar? If your answer is less than three hours, congratulations, I wish you had been at the store with me and steered me clear. But, after dragging two children out on a mission that involved buying a dressed up candy hopper with promises of chocolate in their future, I wasn't about to return it. We'll use it as a learning experience, and it will just add to the yearly counting whimsy.

The calendar is in place on our mantel and every morning after breakfast we visit it to reveal the day's special treat (and then have a super-duper tooth brushing party afterward). Paige quickly learned that the calendar is a receptacle for delicious, messy treats and she approaches the fire place at least three or four times a day pointing and grunting in an effort to get more candy. Somehow 14 days of repeatedly showing her the empty door has done nothing to dissuade her.

Thanksgiving

Before I could blink, Thanksgiving was upon us.
Reese's school celebrated Thanksgiving with a special assembly and picnic. Her class dressed up as Native Americans and each child had their own name. As "Dancing Rainbow" Reese was (apparently) the envy of all the other girls in the class. On the day of the picnic, half of the classes dressed up as pilgrims and the other half as Native Americans. They enjoyed a feast of sliced turkey, cheese, pumpkin bread, and a party-mix (a la Chex Mix) that included Bugles (who knew those were still around?!). Daddy and I joked that we were going to save Reese's outfit because its fringe will probably be in vogue when she's a teenager.


For Thanksgiving we visited with both sets of grandparents. We enjoyed two turkey dinners--one before, and one after UT BTHO A&M for the last time.

More Doctor Drama

Hi, my name is Paige and it's a good thing I've got health insurance. Why's, that? Because I LOVE to scare the &*%$ out of my parents and require lots of really fancy, expensive, and invasive tests.

This is what I imagine Paige would say had she been able to talk to us the week after Halloween. When her congestion didn't subside and she ran a fever one morning I scheduled an appointment at the pediatrician. I figured they'd check her over, tell me it was a virus and I'd be on my way with the comfort of knowing we just had to wait it out. Instead, they decided to do some blood work.

Two blood draws and one blood culture later I got a call from the pediatrician telling me to take Paige straight to the emergency room. Her blood culture had come back positive for an infection in her blood stream and she was going to have to be admitted for IV antibiotics. After speaking to the specialists at infectious disease they were fairly positive it wasn't a contaminated culture and we needed to prepare for at least two days of hospitalization. This was just the news I wanted on my way to pick up Reese from school.

Paige, Daddy, and I spent the next 10 hours at the children's hospital's emergency wing. Paige can now add chest x-ray, THREE more blood draws, and an IV to her growing list of medical experiences. When her second set of cultures came back clear they sent us home with a follow up appointment with an infectious disease specialist.

During that appointment I wondered multiple times: Do you really want your kid to look at the books or toys in the waiting room for an infectious disease doctor? We played with the contents of my diaper bag instead.

I literally spoke to the infectious disease doctor every day for five days following our appointment to analyze Paige's temperature and behavior. In the end, we discovered that Paige's initial blood culture had a rare contaminant--one that had to grow for 5-7 days before they could definitively say "oops, never mind."

I wish the same applied to the bills we are now receiving.

Oh, and just to keep everyone up to speed, the following week she developed a sinus infection and was on antibiotics until Thanksgiving; with two bulging ear drums she is now on another round of antibiotics, and for the first time in MONTHS she woke up yesterday morning and was NOT covered in green snot. It's about time.

Ten days until Christmas? How'd that happen?!

Fall is over and I have little to show for it in way of our blog. I've more than made up for the lack of posting with a flurry of activity around here. There have been no shortage of doctor visits or milestones to recount as my absence might indicate. So, brace yourselves for a condensed version of Halloween-Christmas and I'll try not to get too behind in the new year.