Sick Parents

We were stricken simultaneously with the virus on Friday. Imagine two sick parents, lying on the living room rug shivering under blankets, taking it in turns to either run to the bathroom or retrieve Lilli from mischief. Are not these virulent bugs meant to afflict each member of the family one by one, allowing at least one adult member to be fully functioning? Friday was a tough and very sad day. Our weekend escape to Orcas Island, that I had been so looking forward to, cancelled. A baby with diarrhea, that still shows no sign of abating, and two very pathetic parents.

Sick Baby

Oh dear, we have a sick baby here and things are rather stressful. Yesterday Lilli went down for her afternoon nap with a severe case of hiccups, but for once she didn't cry. Just a few murmurs and whimpers. I relaxed outside in the sunshine with my knitting and didn't hear a peep from her. An hour and a half later I found my poor baby sleeping off the effects of what looked like a nasty bout of sickness. The mattress was covered with vomit, as was Lilli, from head to toe, with a piece of regurgitated strawberry dangling from her hair, just for good measure. It was awful. She refused to nurse or to drink any water. I frantically called Jon and demanded that he return home immediately and called the doctor for advice. Our very energetic baby for once was subdued. I nestled her in the carrier and walked around the house in bemused circles singing nursery songs for the remainder of the day.

Well today her stomach is settled, but the bug or whatever is behind this, is still in her system and causing some explosive diarrhea. She's nursing happily but refusing all food apart from puffs!! Frustratingly she wrinkles her nose at Pedialyte, but who can blame her. I hope she's feeling better tomorrow. I miss our crazy baby and I don't want to cancel our weekend escape to Orcas Island. Oh, and our beautiful new carpet was christened yesterday, a week to the day it was installed.

A Pee and Poop Story

Phew! It's been a busy week!! I've been frantically painting the upstairs, readying it for the carpet installation which is happening as I write. Amazingly Lilli is sleeping through loud hammering. I envy her ability to sleep through this deafening noise. Such a skill would be handy for siestas interrupted by the obnoxious whine of leaf blowers (they should be outlawed) and Sunday morning lawn mowing (why do people cut their grass at the crack of dawn on the weekend?).

Our late night painting sessions and my entire weekend which I dedicated to the brush and roller have paid off and our upstairs looks amazing. I on the other hand look awful! Oh well! Soon I'll be able to stretch my battered knees in my new bedroom which will be perfect for morning yoga practice and I will be far above the persistent blaring of car alarms in my peaceful attic allowing for some much needed afternoon naps! Lilli permitting.

While I was busy slapping on the paint, a lovely pale butter colour, Jon was busy entertaining Lilli this weekend, with much needed assistance from Pete. She certainly kept them occupied! A very nasty diaper rash forced us to roll up the rug and let Lilli loose on the floor with naked bottom. She peed standing up, while squatting by the guitar, a couple of times while investigating the corner near the bathroom. She peed everywhere! She pooped once on the floor which Uncle Pete stepped in while rushing her to the potty. She also pooped in the bathtub on Sunday night. I decided that was one clean-up operation that warranted my help! We were all exhausted by the end of the weekend. But the upstairs was closer to completion and the diaper rash was on the way out!

Put in, Take out, Underneath

It is as though Lilli woke up a couple of mornings ago and decided, hey, I'm ready to start learning about taking things apart and fitting them back together. And ever since that morning she has been perfecting her skills. She has three colourful plastic nesting pots which are now the favoured toy. She attempts to fit the big one in the small one and the medium one in the big one and so on. An added bonus is that her wooden balls fit perfectly in the pots. When she tires of nesting pots we play "Guess which Pot the Ball is Under!" Once this game becomes old then Lilli returns to an old favourite: "Chase the Ball around the House."

Music Time

Have you ever seen a 9 month old push a 3 1/2 year old off a toy? I was impressed with Lilli's determination today. Lilli and her older friend were playing a duet on a small keyboard, but Lilli was obviously limited with the higher notes and wanted the whole keyboard for herself. With the help of her leg and foot she successfully took control of the keys playing the upper notes with banging hands and the lower keys with that sneaky left foot. However where Lilli had brute force, her friend had cunning and turned the volume down so low that we couldn't hear Lilli's modern composition.

Potty Time

Lilli loves her potty! She sits on the potty before and after sleeping. Most of the time she pees in it and we shower her with oodles of praise. She still pees and poops in her diaper, but that's ok. We don't expect her to wait until we put her on her shiny red plastic throne. She won't develop bladder/bowel control for a while yet. Right now we're only working on associating the sensation of peeing with sitting on the potty and taking advantage of her eagerness to please. She applauds herself with hand clapping and smiles when we praise her with "yays," "woos" and "good job Lilli."

She's fascinated with her pee. She reaches down between her legs to feel the stream of liquid and often times tries to reach even further down to splash with the pee in the bowl. Oh such fun!! Thankfully hand washing is just as entertaining!

Maybe by the time she's two she'll be fully potty trained. Just think of all those diapers we will have saved from the land fill and the water we'll save from washing our cloth inserts. She'll be wearing colourful little pants while her peers are only just going through the change!

Road Kill Teddy

Lilli is loving Floppy Teddy to death. Floppy Teddy resides in Lilli's crib. She likes to snuggle up with him, chew him, feel his soft bumpy tummy and sleep on top of him. Sometimes he's a teddy to cuddle and other times a handy pillow for her head. Floppy Teddy is one of my creations, knitted out of scrap yarn. He has two purple arms and two purple ears, two multicoloured legs and a tan head and body. Unfortunately I was a little too frugal with the stuffing. Consequently Floppy Teddy doesn't have a physique of which to be proud. He's a rather hunched and retiring little fellow. However after a night underneath the sleeping Lilli he closely resembles road kill. Every morning we find him flattened in various tortured poses. I won't even dwell on the holes and snags Lilli inflicts upon him with her teeth!

9 months

Length: 28.5" (75th %ile)

Weight: 17lbs 7oz (25th %ile)

Head circumference: 16" (75th %ile)