The Happiest Toddler

Kathleen has been having some issues lately -- not sure if it's her teeth, a growth spurt, or both. She's been staying up until midnight and then waking up sometime between 2 - 3 a.m. Orajel has helped but she's just still not herself.

Yesterday was very busy. Jodie joined us at Peabody park for the Tues morning playgroup. Most of the playground equipment was designed for older kids so we didn't stay as long as we usually would have stayed. Instead, we went to Barnes and Noble to purchase "The Happiest Toddler on the Block". I liked the handout we received at Lamaze class about "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and had heard positive things about the toddler book, so there I was. I have to say, a lot of what Dr Karp says in the book is what I already do/say to K. I'm not sure if it's just from all the years of working with 1 year olds or what. I did find it good to use certain words repeatedly when she's whining. It has worked well so far today. I also found it helpful that when the repeated words *aren't* working, it probably means she's overly tired or sick. Sure enough, both times when I tried repeating the word or words that I thought she was feeling at that time and she didn't calm down, I put her down for a nap in her crib and she slept. And slept. And slept.

Yesterday after Barnes and Noble, we came back and put on swimsuits. It was so hot and humid, we thought the pool would be fun. Jodie hadn't seen K swim around like a fish. It was very entertaining! We brought her over to the sand area but she didn't really like that. She definitely likes the pool and the things that spray water the best.

After the pool, we went to Stuc's pizza for lunch. I've only had food there twice before but it was always excellent. I wanted to actually eat in the restaurant. The food was fine. Maybe not quite as good as what I've had in the past, but that's OK. We finally got home at 2 p.m. and Kathleen *finally* got to take her nap. She still was awake until midnight!! ARRRRRGH!

Today was so hot and humid. We didn't end up going to the free movie today. We took Bucky for a walk and only managed to go about half our normal route because it was too hot for poor Bucky. Kathleen napped form 10:30-12:30 and again from 2:30 - 5:30 or 6. REALLY! I think she's just catching up from her missed morning nap yesterday! I spent a good part of the morning TSPing the walls in our bedroom and taking around the windows, doors and baseboards. THAT is a tedious job! I did manage to get one coat of primer on the walls before a late lunch. I was working on a second coat when Todd got home. I ran out of primer so that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Tomorrow Kathleen is going to the Hanson's. I think Karen has been going threw 'withdrawal' since her daycare has been closed for the past few weeks this summer. I do hope that one of the kids, Ava, who is close to Kathleen's age, will be able to come over to the Hanson's and play with Kathleen tomorrow. This should give me time to take some stuff out to storage, finish priming the walls and then, hopefully, get at least one coat of "Club Soda" paint on the walls. I hope!

- Tanya