One of Marie's Christmas presents this year was a doctor's bag full of play medical tools. Marie is very familiar with these items as she has had her ears looked into one too many times and Andy listens to her chest to check for wheezing if we are in an asthma flare-up.
She hasn't had much interest in the kit yet, but last night she discovered it in her bedroom. Before I knew it we had a full-on physical examination happening in the living room. Not only did the baby need her lungs and heart listened to, but also her head, foot, arms, and face.
Next Marie checked the baby' blood pressure. I wish I would have gotten video, because there was so much commentary happening. I think Marie was working on building rapport with her patient...Then it was Marie's turn for an examination. She had the baby listen to her heart and leg too.
Sidebar - what it is about a laundry basket? Marie loves this thing...
It is 2011 and we are once again back into the groove.
Marie is back to her wrestling her friends at school, Andy is stitching up foreheads and delivering babies, Kelly is fixing those speech sounds, and Charlie is probably napping and wishing he were hunting.
It's amazing how quickly we can fall out of our structured schedule with a small break from reality. Over our Christmas break we were a little lax about Marie's napping and bedtimes...we are paying for it now. Let's just say that you never really know how important sleep is until you hear "mommy?" at 4 a.m 2 days in a row.
With 2011 here, it is only natural for us to look back at how much our lives have changed. Andy has started his 3rd year of medical school which means a different rotation site every month. This has been a big change as were used to our schedule with him in Des Moines all the time the previous 2 years. His 3rd year has definitely been a learning experience. For example, I just got off the phone with him and he was talking about how he had been the one to catch the baby in a delivery! That is definitely more exciting than reading about it in a text book.
Obviously our biggest change is Marie. She is officially a toddler and is taking that role very seriously. If we had to pick one word to describe her, I think it would be independent. Marie has always been independent.
A perfect example is this photo:She was determined to eat that spaghetti with that fork all by herself.
It's amazing to us how she is understanding body language and facial expressions too. Over Christmas she was playing with her cousins and they were acting like Marie was the baby. So, they put her in a wagon and pulled her around the house. Can you tell what Marie thought about this idea?Her newest milestones include balancing, talking, and singing.
She loves to try to stand and balance on random objects around the house...I am thinking she will be a gymnast someday.
Her speech is expanding every day. She is putting 2-3 words together now along with her lovely conversational babble. Over Christmas she was looking at a snow globe and she said "I see boy."
Saying goodbye to someone includes, "bye, see ya." She says all her friends names at school and she loves to label the family members when we look at pictures together. For some reason Grandma always comes out with a different name...And she is great at saying "thank you."
She is now enjoying singing in the car with me. As we drive to and from school I sing and she joins in if the song is just right.
Another new thing is how she reads books. She doesn't always want us to read to her. She likes it if we sit next to each other and we both read our own books. Here is a recent video of her reading to herself and her stuffed sheep, Baa.
We welcome 2011 and can't wait to see what Marie comes up with next.sitting in her new doll stroller and saying 'cheese'
On Friday night we drove to Cedar Falls to be with Aunt Liz as she graduated from Cedar Falls. Next step, graduate school in speech pathology. Marie didn't sit much for the ceremony. She ran around with all the other babies until she fell asleep on Grandpa...I don't think Papa minded too much.While we were there, Marie enjoyed running around Liz's communication disorders department and mingling with the professors. We got to see Don & Jean, Nate, Andrew, Liz, and Grandpa & Grandma. Side Note: Marie is saying 'papa' for Grandpa and 'genka' for Grandma...
We made it back to Des Moines on Saturday evening. We needed to get Marie to bed because Sunday morning was going to be our own little Christmas morning before we leave for our extended family Christmas gatherings.
Marie woke up at 5:45 ready to roll. She opened one present, "Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?", and decided she had no interest in the others. Apparently she felt she had all she needed. So Dad & Mom opened the rest. Marie did like her presents when she found out what they were, especially the doll clothes and food for her kitchen.Side note: After we opened presents, it was time for Marie's medicine. We mentioned it to her and before we knew it, she was giving her baby the medicine. At one point the baby tried to get up and Marie said "No, medicine."Sunday afternoon was set aside for napping and then on to Santa! Marie woke up from her nap a little groggy until I said "Do you want to go see Santa?" Then she was ready to roll.
Santa was very busy, but we found things to do in the store. She loves looking at all the animals and the big fish aquarium, too. Pretty soon, it was time. Marie could hardly wait. She kept trying to break loose and run to Santa. She watched intently as the other kids took their turn on his lap sharing their list. Ok, our turn. Marie walked up to him, said "ho ho ho," got on his lap, and.... cried, cried, cried! I stepped back, assuring her that it was ok, and said in my high pitched mommy voice, "you're ok, this is Santa!"She began to calm down, gave a fake smile for the camera, and stared at his face.All in all, it wasn't too bad. Hopefully not too traumatic. Not exactly how we thought it would go. At least we have a fun story to share with her and she has an awkward picture to share with her kids someday.
Marie had a touch of the flu on Sunday night. It was over in 12 hours, but it left behind a flare up with her asthma. She has been coughing, wheezing, and not sleeping. Andy took her to the clinic yesterday so she is now on a oral steroid again plus her other treatments (2 other meds).
Last time she was on this it caused her to be very alert and not sleep well. So far it isn't as bad as last time, but she is still restless at night.
Please keep her in your thoughts this week as she deals with this. She is very good about doing her treatments with the nebulizer at home and at school, but the oral steroid is another story. Thankfully bribes are starting to work with this girl - M&Ms anyone?
We may be looking into another type of medicine when we visit her asthma specialist in January.
P.S. only 1 more day until we are on Christmas Vacation!
Unfortunately, it came in the form of a blizzard. We were supposed to go visit our good friends, Eddie & Jess (and baby due in January), but the weather prevented it. We were so excited to go. I had made homemade hot cocoa, we were going to build a Gingerbread House, and I tried my first batch of homemade caramel corn.
Although it was disappointing, our weekend did turn into a nice family time. I don't remember the last time we had a whole weekend where we had nothing to do and nowhere to go. So our time was spent reading books, taking naps, wrapping gifts, and continuing to prep for Christmas.
Marie decided to wake up at 5:15 on Sunday morning - not in our plans, but it was the perfect time to decorate cookies. We never knew we could get so much accomplished before the sun was up. Marie decorated 2 cookies but ate enough frosting for 3. This was evident with the sugar high we experienced in the middle of church a few hours later. Marie also received a few Christmas gifts in the mail. We figured she deserved to open a few early...she got a teddy bear from Great Grammy & Papa Mueting, and a DVD made just for her by her Great Aunt Pat. They are very special gifts and Marie loves them already.
Last but not least, on Sunday morning I walked into the living room to find this: Charlie had climbed up onto the couch to lay with his Marie. She didn't know I was watching, but she leaned over, kissed his head, starting petting him and said "good boy Char Char." I agree...good boy, Char Char.
As I write this we still do not have snow on the ground. Snow is something that the Mueting household REALLY enjoys. Because she couldn't walk yet last year, we are anxious to get Marie's new snow pants and boots out to go sledding or build a snowman.
I am sure she will love it just as much as her parents and Charlie.
She is very aware of the holiday decorations and traditions this year.
She knows who Santa is and says "ho ho ho."
She knows who Frosty is and says "foffy" (or something of that nature) and tries to sing the "frosty the snowman" song.
We read a meaningful Christmas story almost every night together (ok, Andy & I read it outloud while Marie pretends to change her baby's diaper and feed her a bottle or plastic fruit.)Our house is decorated for Christmas. This year we added a Christmas tree outside with all the lights. Andy does a great job at decorating the house. No matter where we live (Vermillion, SD or Des Moines, IA) our neighbors always comment on our Christmas lights.
All we are missing is snow.
So to get us in the holiday spirit, we enjoyed an old fashion ride on a two-horse open sleigh this week. It was very cold, but we were warmed by the yummy fudge and suckers from a sweets shop nearby. Marie loved the horses. It was hard to get a picture of her because she was so busy staring at the horses in front. The streets were decorated with lights, carolers were singing songs, and we even had a trip to a toy store.
One of Marie's Christmas presents this year was a doctor's bag full of play medical tools. Marie is very familiar with these items as she has had her ears looked into one too many times and Andy listens to her chest to check for wheezing if we are in an asthma flare-up.
Next Marie checked the baby' blood pressure. I wish I would have gotten video, because there was so much commentary happening. I think Marie was working on building rapport with her patient...
Then it was Marie's turn for an examination. She had the baby listen to her heart and leg too.
