Evil Elmo and more blessings...

This is the true story of why I had an interesting day today...I had an interesting day because of my daughter and because of my school.

Being a single parent here, I've had to make some tough decisions about my schedule and my daughter's schedule. It never fails that if we're up and ready to go early (ie before 7:30 a.m.) & I can drop K off at daycare before 7:30, then I have meetings or something else going on until 5 or 5:30 p.m. I hate leaving her at daycare for longer than 8.5 or 9 hours per day. I know from personal experience at Cross View that those infants/toddlers who were left for more than 9 hours at a time just didn't seem to have the same quality time with their parents as the ones who were there for less than 10 hours. It's a tough balance here. I have decided that she will probably do better if I give her a bath, feed her some breakfast (oatmeal or yogurt, etc) and just take her to MY school each morning with me for devotions at 7:45 a.m. This week I have "door duty" and welcome the kids as they enter (and then stand outside and dismiss them when they're picked up at the end of the day). It's not as convenient to have her at school when I have door duty but the school kids seemed to love seeing her. I take her to daycare around 8:30 a.m. This gave me the chance to workout after school and still be able to pick her up before 5:30 p.m. (and beat the "9 hour" limit I've imposed on myself...)

After dropping her off at 8:30 a.m., I headed directly for the post office. Remember the Bible verse from Malachi -- pour out so much blessing there won't be room for it all? I saw that for real this past week. I asked the school kids to bring in beef jerky, peanuts/cashews, hard candy, gum and lotion/chapstick for my college friend Martha's younger brother in Afghanistan. They had one week to bring items in to school. We had 18 flat-rate boxes FULL of goods for the troops! Even the lady at the post office was surprised! I had to fill out 18 customs forms -- so I was at the post office for over an hour. But it was worth it. It was about $200 to mail everything, but again, God provides. We had extra money in our "Scrip" account and we'll be using that to pay the postage. God is good -- all the time!!

So, that wraps up the "more blessings" part... on to "Evil Elmo"...

K doesn't really watch tv. I bought her a Sesame Street DVD, thinking it would keep her busy while I make supper but she couldn't care less about it. They must have/do a lot with Elmo at daycare because she definitely recognizes 'him'. As a baby shower gift 2 years ago, a family gave us these little plastic bowls/lids with Sesame Street characters on them. It is on the TOP SHELF of my one kitchen cabinet. I swear she has hawk-like eye sight because she can ALWAYS spy it! And then she yells "Elmo! Elmo!" I showed her that there is only Tang-drinkmix powder in there. Of course, being a toddler, she dipped her finger in there a week or so ago. Ha ha -- don't do that again! So tonight she screamed for Elmo AND for the powder (ick!). I showed her that it hadn't changed. I had the lid off and it was on the counter -- I then turned to put laundry in the washer (which is in our pantry room, right next to the kitchen). Next thing I know, she had pulled the container OFF the shelf (?!!!?) and was 'eating' the powder! Her hands and face were covered in it! ACK!!! Not like it's poisonous but still -- it was EVERYWHERE. Oh that Evil Elmo! Tempting her to be naughty! So Elmo is 'hiding' on the very back of the shelf!

K has been struggling to sleep well the past few nights. I have tried everything -- Tylenol, Motrin and even some Benadryl. She has a green runny nose so I thought the Benadryl would help the most. Not really. I can't tell if it's just a cold, or if she's teething again, or if she's growing (which I'm guessing, since she's eating anything I offer her), or if she's having night terrors. It's so hard to know what to do for her. I finally realized that I should do what worked a few weeks ago -- I put her in her highchair/booster seat thing and tilt it back so she's sleeping at a 45 degree angle. I think that's helping her breathe and she's finally getting some rest.

Which is what I plan to (try to) do right now too! Night!

-Tanya