Growing Pains

New past time...blowing bubbles in the rain

As the pitter patter of two more feet in our household approaches, we are slowly beginning to fully understand the magnitude of this event’s impact. From a logistics standpoint, the crib, booster seat, diaper genie, pack and play and other accessories have to be taken out of the moth balls, not to mention age appropriate toys, sippy cups, clothing–mountains of clothing, and the like. Wow! In addition, I am trying to be sensible and mindful that Treya needs to have a few special things of her own. This means mommy gets to go shopping and Devi has requested that sisters should have matching outfits!

For size, once again it is that shot in the dark. Pictures can be so deceiving and in our video, Treya is never close to anything that may help judge her size. I know our eyes played tricks on us with Devi. She looked huge in the pictures of her lying in the bassinet, but we trusted her weight and it was right, making us put back the 6x sized items for the more sensible 3-6 month items that fit perfectly at 10 months of age. I know there must be some mathematical formula to apply here to arrive at Treya’s size, but for the life of me, I can’t figure it out, so I guess we will rely on a ponderous squint aimed at her photographs and gut instinct method instead.

Then there is the issue of shoes. The unique twinkly toes of our sugar plum may require special shoes, or perhaps shoes in two different sizes; one for each foot. All ready we find ourselves pondering things that I’ve never given much thought to before. Who would ever question that shoes only come in matched pairs? Hmmm....

While on the subject of size, Devi is noticeably taller - even to the trained eyes of mommy and daddy who swear we know every inch of her. She recently has had several bad nights of leg aches that wake her from a sound sleep and the past couple weeks of naps find me waking our groggy girl after 3 and a half hours. Thankfully, a warm rice bag and a bit of Tylenol (the non recalled batches) help the leg ache and the long naps have rekindled our love of cuddling in that sleepy time state. I, for one, am loving that :)

Killed by curiosity, we measured her again this week and found that she has grown 1 and 3/4 inches in two months standing tall at a smidgen under 40 inches! Her weight, on the other hand is holding steady at 27 and a half pounds supported by her long and skinny feet that have also gone up 2 sizes in the past few months.

While all this growing has been going on we’ve kept ourselves busy finding new sources of entertainment during our unseasonal wet and cold weather. One proud moment being just last week when Devi announced that she was going to get dressed all by herself. There is no doubt that she is capable of dressing herself and has been able to do so for a long time. Getting her interested in doing it is a whole other story. But on this particular day, the idea of being all grown up was appealing and so she selected her own outfit and dressed herself from head to foot including shoes (I helped with the hair, as our imaginary furry friend Willy, generally leaves several rat’s nests in her hair with his toes overnight that require a gentle touch and patience to work through)

The two big pieces of news are that Devi has moved up to a level in swimming lessons that no longer require an adult to be in the pool with her AND our answer to prayer, she has moved up to the next level in preschool (although ready for more challenges for a long time now, there simply was not an open spot in enrollment for her to move up) We have been so torn wondering whether to wait it out or find a new preschool. This is truly the best scenario, as we like this school and her little friends and teachers and Dev does not take to change very well. This is a huge source of relief for us all. We are so proud of her accomplishments, which are just another sign that our baby is growing up.

Lastly, a bit our recent conversations that for the life of me, I have no idea how they surface.

A recent bedtime stalling conversation:

Devi: Mommy what is a jail?

Julie: A place where people go to the thinking spot for a really long time.

Devi: Mommy what is a dungeon?

Julie: A dungeon a jail in the basement of a castle.

Devi: Okay, good night.

While driving in the car...

Devi:When I grow up can I drink wine?

Julie: When you are a grown up, yes, you may choose to drink wine. How old will you be when you are grown up?

Devi: 5

When Devi woke up this morning she said, “Mom when I grow up I wanna be a mommy. Treya is growing in my tummy right now!

Later in the day she opted to take her woman’s prerogative and said, “Actually, I am going to grow up to be a big sister, not a mommy. Big sisters have way more fun."

First trip of the season in the trailer

The magic of a bike trailer at work

Rainy day project - peanut butter and bird seed feeders

In between rain showers, we take a nature walk and discover slugs
and this chair carved in a log...

...and make wishes that Treya can come home soon!

Rooting for our home team....anxiously awaiting World Cup!