So today, after three days of fever and general irritability, Elena breaks out in a full rash, all over her face, chest and back. So.. she loses the paci, has four teeth breaking through (two of them molars) and roseola (which comes with fever and diarrhea) all at the same time. :(
Ultrasound today revealed that we’re having another GIRL! You think the Mustang nursery would look good in pink and purple? Haha… just kidding. :)
Just noticed Elena’s top molars have busted through on both sides. Great week to make her lose the pacifier. Oh well; she’s a survivor.
Elena had her first official “I need my paci!!!” meltdown. Not in those words of course, but in signs and screaming. Took her 45 minutes to go down for her nap today, most of that time spent signing sweetly for her paci, really laying on the sweetness, followed by me shaking my head no, and her screaming inconsolably. Rubbing her, singing to her, rocking her worked for a minute or two and then it would all start again. I’m probably lucky this happened on day 6 instead of day 1, because obviously I’m too committed to this now to give in. She’s had a low grade fever the past two days (and up to 103 the day before that), so I guess not feeling well and realizing that she’s probably never getting a paci again were just too much to handle today. :(
I had a fantastic day today. For the first time in a long time, I quite happily cleaned almost my entire house from top to bottom. Then we had the Donalds over for the Gator game. I made nachos and tacos and homemade guacamole that all came out delicious. Followed by some adorably decorated Gator cupcakes from Publix. Followed by some yummy Orange Crush floats. The Gators won. The kids were SUPER CUTE. Halle and Elena had a blast with Annabelle and Corgan; playing with toys, playing with the computer, playing with bubbles and having some Ele-fun. Both kids were asleep around 8:30. Elena hasn’t had a pacifier in over 48 hours with no issues (weaning her turned out to be just as easy as it was with Halle.. sweet!). Because we had mostly kept up with keeping the house and dishes clean throughout the day, I got to immediately relax and look through the 350 pictures I took today. :) Uploading 90 of those pics to the gallery now. What a great day. Here are just a few of my favorite pictures.
I’m also officially putting in a request that all of my friends that don’t currently live in Melbourne, and especially those with kids, and especially those who are Gator fans, start making plans to move to Melbourne. :) We miss you all so much and wish your kids could play with our kids more often!
Super thanks to the Donalds for being our surrogate Gator fans today. It was fun watching the game with you, even if you did don your Alabama attire. :) It was nice hearing Annabelle say things like, “Halle and I are Go Gator fans together!” And, “I can be Roll Tide AND a Go Gator fan sometimes.” You sure can, Annabelle! :)
For Grandparents Day, Halle and I baked cookies and filled this adorable cookie jar with them. We adorned it with a pink bow. Simple, but I think it came out so cute. Wanted to share. :)
I’m having some mixed feelings about whether or not its time to wean Elena from the pacifier, and maybe writing those feelings down will help me decide. She’s 15 months now, the age that Halle was when I weaned her, which worked perfectly for Halle. But as we all know by now, each kid is different and has different needs.
When I think about the reasons I weaned Halle at 15 months, those are:
1. I read somewhere that pacifiers or thumb sucking could start to have adverse effects on the kid’s teeth after about 18 months. Not even sure where I read that but that seems unlikely to me right now. I just did some quick research and this statement seems much more reasonable: “During a child’s first few years, sucking habits are unlikely to cause significant damage to a child’s mouth. But persistent and long-term sucking, especially after the permanent teeth begin to come into the mouth around age 6, can cause…” (and then it goes on to list the negative effects on the teeth and jaw). Anyway, I wanted Halle to be paci-free before the 18 months and just jumped the gun at 15 and it worked so I never looked back.
2. I wanted to wean her before she really got too attached and could communicate her disappointment about not having the pacifier. Although this is still somewhat of a concern, I already understand when Elena wants her pacifier and is disappointed because she doesn’t have it. Just because she’s not screaming the word “paci” doesn’t really change that. And I also understand now how flexible kids are and that no matter when I pull the plug she’ll have a few days of adjustment and then it’ll be over. So I’m not as worried about it.
3. Before I had Halle, I was aware of people’s judgmental attitudes about parents who let their older toddlers use a pacifier (many of them not even parents themselves), and I felt like I didn’t want to be one of those parents. This is a total nonissue to me now, as I have grown to appreciate my sanity far more than other people’s (often uninformed) judgments.
4. Halle was really ready and didn’t need it anymore.
Now that Elena is at this age, I keep telling myself that she’s just not ready. Far more than Halle did, Elena still puts everything in her mouth. I wonder if that’s because she’s used to having the paci and it’s one of those catch-22 cycles. Or if it’s just her nature right now to put things in her mouth. She’s 15 months old. They tend to do that, paci or not. And 99 times out of 100 I’d rather her have her paci in her mouth than whatever else she’s considering. And (shame on me for admitting it) I don’t have my eyes on her every minute of every day to stop her from putting things in her mouth. So there’s that.
She also has a real attachment to it. It’s like her blanky or her lovey. She doesn’t have an attachment to anything else. I’ve tried to get her interested in soft toys to sleep with, but they don’t interest her at all. And she absolutely loathes blankets. She runs hot, especially at night, and a blanket in Florida, at least in the summer, is totally out of the question. So it’s her thing that brings her comfort and I’m not sure I want to take that from her. But would she turn to something else in the absence of her pacifier and be fine with that other thing?
She’s surprisingly not that attached to it when sleeping. If she falls asleep without a pacifier, I don’t put one in her crib. She never wakes in the middle of the night wanting her paci in her mouth. She really doesn’t seem to associate it with sleep as much as most kids. Halle did wake up in the middle of the night (albeit rarely) only to want her pacifier replaced. Elena doesn’t do this. On the very rare occasions that Elena wakes up, putting the pacifier back in her mouth doesn’t put her back to sleep. This would be a reason in favor of just losing the pacifier, except that’s not what she uses it for.
The one thing I am concerned about is losing the pacifier before the baby comes. That’s only 4 or 5 months away (UM.. WHAT?!!). I’m a bit worried that having another baby with a pacifier is going to be confusing for Elena and make weaning her when I think she is ready much harder. And its going to make spreading germs to the baby much easier, because I can’t imagine her not taking the baby’s paci and putting in her mouth before giving it back.
So, having written this, I guess it did help. Despite all my arguments in favor of letting her keep the pacifier a little longer, I think I’m ready to pull it. I think being weaned before the baby comes is a totally valid concern and I think Elena will adjust just fine to life without a pacifier. I could give her another month or two, but I’m motivated to try it now. So, here goes. :)
Halle has had her daddy’s phone number memorized for some time now. Today, Daddy conducted three test runs with Halle to see if she could use my phone to call him, and sure enough, she knows how to call Daddy if Mommy is ever hurt and needs her big girl help. :)
This is the result of our trip to IKEA last weekend, and I couldn’t be any happier with it!
I’ve been wanting to put this kind of book shelf in Halle’s room for some time, and IKEA had the perfect shelves for it. I love that this is something she won’t outgrow too, because you can easily put letters up there to spell her name or some fun message or put picture frames or anything else that’s she into when she’s older. I love when a project comes out exactly how you imagined it!
These shelves are above her bed, just high enough that she can reach the bottom shelf when she’s standing on the bed, but she can’t accidentally bump into it at night or anything (and too high for Elena to get into it). I love it!
