David, Michele and … Piper

Yesterday was a little bit on the difficult side for everyone involved. While very necessary, those rascally molars are really making things tough for our little girl. She’s in a fair amount of pain and, therefore, pretty cranky despite the fact that naps are back to normal and Motrin or Tylenol is administered frequently.  Lovey Bear has been treated with the appropriate level of respect for the past two days, so everyone is happier at nap time. But the teeth, my gosh, the teeth. And we’ve had some cabin fever.

I thought that Play Group at Northpark Mall yesterday would cure the cabin fever but I think it only exacerbated it. Piper wanted to get down and explore but was instead confined… first to her carseat, then to the stroller, then to my arms while in line at Chick Fil-A, then to a high chair (where Mommy poorly balanced time talking to friends, eating her own lunch and helping Pip to eat–very unsettling for both of us), then back in the stroller… and finally to Baby Bounce, where we sat on the floor surrounded by lots of other kids who also had in their hot little hands the shakers, tambourines and scarves that are handed out when you walk in the door. But those items belonged temporarily to the other little kids, not Piper Peters. Eleven month old children have a strong sense of ownership–as in, “Everything is mine!” So we spent most of Baby Bounce, not bouncing to the music and having fun but being told “No!” and being pulled away from all the other little children and their toys. I found myself unable to dig up out of the reserves any energy for disciplining–or even distracting, which would have been much more effective–and instead ended up just trying to survive the rest of the event. We both left exhausted. In retrospect, I think we should have left after the first few minutes when it became apparent how the next 25 minutes would likely unfold. Next time we will leave. Live and learn.

After the train wreck morning, I decided to switch up our plans for the afternoon. Instead of running errands, we went to the park. It was sunny and 65 degrees for the first time in a while, so I packed the stroller with sippy cup, some balls (her favorite toy right now, by far) and our heavy duty waterproof blanket. There’s a pretty park with with a pond, fountain, ducks, swans and other kids nearby and that’s where we went. Enjoy some pics from our trip.

Someday I will learn to use our camera. After looking at the pictures when we got home, I couldn’t believe how different the lighting was depending on how I moved–even if only by an inch or if the light flickered through the trees. Piper is also anti-cam and will crawl away from me the minute I pull out the camera. That I even got five decent shots of her is nothing short of a miracle. Not bad for snapping 135 pictures, right? Yes, someday I will learn to use our camera. AND, on a day off, we will bring Daddy along for entertainment so we can actually catch the Many Expressions of Pip on film. Until then, I’m banking on luck.

The snow, while beautiful, brought with it a friend: Devastation. Live Oak trees, Magnolias and other pretty, leafy-in-winter trees all over Dallas had trouble holding themselves up under the weight of the snow last week. Many survived the storm without incident but others were maimed, some destroyed. The above shot is my neighbor’s house, about ten or fifteen houses down. That huge limb is actually sitting on top of his roof (I can only imagine THAT noise in the night). Another limb was in the road and had to be cleared by the City, said the neighbor across the street who was trimming whatever limbs he could reach in his own trees. This is one serious split:

Our Magnolia out front lost a hefty branch, but that was the extent of our damage, thankfully. The tree trimming business is making a killing right now, and a lot of the streets in our neighborhood have piles of debris stacked like this, awaiting Bulk Trash Pick-up Day that isn’t for another two weeks or more:

Piper and I walked by again today (regretfully without the camera) and there was a roofing truck parked by the side of the road with its driver hammering on the roof. Despite my hopes that it could be salvaged, that big ole beautiful tree has been totally cut down. I don’t fit the definition of tree hugger. At all. They would run me out of the State of California if I ever threatened residency. But I deeply appreciate God’s creation when I stop for long enough to soak it in. And old trees hold a certain mystery to me. They seem wise and strong, full of memories and the secrets of those around them. And it sounds silly because I don’t even know those neighbors and I didn’t have a personal relationship with that tree–no memories of me or my children swinging from it’s limbs or climbing it in the summer–but it made me choke back a few tears to see it chopped up and tossed by the roadside today.

A gaping wound is now all that’s left where a beautiful tree once stood tall and pretty, offering its free gift of shade, food and shelter to those who would accept it. That’s almost as sad as Pip carelessly tossing Lovey Bear over the side of the crib during both naps today.

Gravity has a way of humbling us.  It still gets in my way a lot.  It’s also a pretty hard concept to learn when you’re 11 months old.  Like someone REALLY cute that we know.

Meet Lovey Bear. This is Piper’s best friend. They only hang out around nap and bed time. Lovey Bear is not allowed out of the bedrooms in the back of the house because we have vowed (for today at least–ask me again in another year how it’s going) that Piper won’t be one of those kids that has to have her Lovey Bear with her all of the time. I have friends who have been down this road before and they say it requires a lot of searches for LB when he is misplaced, lots of germs and extra washings (yes, we have two, but I fear that’s not enough), lots of tears and howling when he is left behind, etc. Just ask my mom about Gray Dog AND Blankie. Anyway, all that just doesn’t sound too appealing to us so we’re trying to set a precedence.  Right now, LB just hangs out in the back of the house and waits for Pip to get sleepy. He is already very necessary in that Piper chooses NOT to sleep if she doesn’t have him with her.  In direct opposition to Piper’s No Sleep Without LB Rule, she is also learning how gravity works, and delights in chunking items over the edge of everything–the bathtub, the high chair…  the crib. Everything including LB.

On Friday, Piper began whimpering about 20 minutes after going down for the afternoon nap.  It was discovered that LB had been the object of another gravity experiment, and LB was quickly returned to very appreciative arms and the nap was resumed.  On Saturday afternoon, history repeated itself.  On Sunday, it happened during the morning nap.  It was clearly time for all of us to be stretched a little.  So we made the decision to allow Piper to live with the consequences of her decision to throw LB over the edge.  There were a lot of tears.  Two of us cried, actually. When I couldn’t take any more, I finally went in and announced that the nap was over.  We went in the other room where I hugged the tar out of Piper and tried to comfort her as best I could.  She was understandably really upset and kept leaning her head affectionately into my arm.  It was so sweet and sad, all at the same time.  And the rest of the day was really tough for everyone because of the skipped nap and the lower left molar that we think MIGHT have finally poked through in the night.  But we all needed for the LB Incident to happen and, thankfully, it hasn’t happened again since.  We talk to her a lot about holding on tightly to LB. We talk about it while she’s playing and just before we put her down to sleep.  It seems crazy, but that little girl understands a LOT of things.

Everything that I have read about child development talks about this age being big on attachment (enter Stage Left separation anxiety, etc), and how LB and other objects like him give comfort in the crib while Mom and Dad aren’t there.  So I’ve just been thinking for the past 24 hours about how painful it was for me to listen to Piper crying in her crib and presumably feeling scared and alone.  And all the while, I know that I could do something about it. But I also know that she wouldn’t learn anything from it if I merely remedied the situation–again. And we think she’s old enough to begin learning consequences (if you think otherwise, please feel free to let me know!) Oh, but the sadness in my heart! David and I have had a lot of (difficult!) conversations about this and think it’s best to follow through, but… I’m just praying we don’t have to let her cry it out again–especially at night.

God says He loves me even more than I love Piper Whitney Peters.  A part of me kind of thinks that this is true (pretty much only because the Bible says it’s true) but it just blows my mind how that could be possible. Man, I love that little baby girl so much! So how must God feel when I choose destructive paths–even if just “testing”–that have negative consequences? Consequences that separate me from Him and leave me in pain. I mess up prolly just shy of a million times a day and He knows about every single one. Yet He gives me the will to choose, even when my choices bring both of us pain. It’s tempting to try to force Piper to behave a certain way, to strip her of her will. We all know how that kind of parenting works out, but it’s tempting nonetheless. Easier to “help” her avoid the pain for both of us.  And God could’ve created all of us to be His little robots, but He didn’t.  And He has like a quadrillion children of His own, stretched out over time with a googleplex of poor choices each PLUS the ensuing pain from those choices. How in the world does He do it? How stinkin’ big is His heart? And how broken does it get each second of every day?

I think about how much I am dreading the pain of a repeat performance from Pip. And that’s not even a drop in the bucket.

Piper has been taking some wobbly, unassisted steps here and there for the past couple of weeks. They were just little teensy tiny steps–and usually only one step or two.  The first one was at the in-laws’ house on February 3rd in the guest bathroom while I was drawing her nightly pre-bedtime bath. Piper was hanging out in her birthday suit, looking like the cutest thing that I have ever seen and practicing two of her new favorite maneuvers:

1. The “Practice Stand” where she literally just stands there for sometimes a couple of minutes or more, usually with at least one item of interest in each hand, and
2. The “Easy Up” where she goes from sitting to standing without using anything to pull herself up.  She usually sits down after a Practice Stand and quickly goes back into an Easy Up.

But that night, she just put one foot in front of the other and took a step.  It was magical! Unfortunately, I was the only one to witness it but David has since seen a couple of itty bitty baby steps himself. Lots of clapping and cheering happen after a step is taken.  Daddy likes to scream “The roof! The roof! Raise the roof! Raise the roof!” while pushing his hands up in the air. That’s usually a big hit. (Sidebar: He also has a football ditty that he performs for Pip that is ALWAYS a crowd pleaser. It’s call the Pick Six cheer and I can’t even begin to explain it but it involves some running in place and what looks like an in-place diving motion. I actually get a good laugh out of it too.)

And that leads us to today…  After too many days of being cooped up from the snow and cold, Piper and I ventured out to what is probably her favorite place in the whole wide world: The Play Area on the 3rd floor of the Galleria Mall. It has been a few weeks since we were last there and her crawling and assisted-walking skills have improved dramatically since then. She really tore it up today. She took three unassisted steps in a row and then stopped because another little kid was in her way. So I texted David and he came home early from work. After dinner tonight, he got on the floor to play with Piper (*sigh*) and yelled for me to get the video camera. Below is the video of her first real walking extravaganza–baby steps aside–which also includes turning around!

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We woke up to about two inches of snow this morning.  I didn’t believe it was actually coming because our weathermen often lean toward the Hype instead of the Reality… but this one was obviously correct!  I was too lazy to step out into the cold this afternoon, so I took the picture from the door.  Here’s what it looked like out there a couple of hours ago–and it’s still coming down like crazy!

David took Piper outside to marvel at the snow before he went to work.  She wasn’t happy about not being allowed to get in the actual snow.  Mommy said “no” to that plan because she only has the one pair of shoes that fits well with socks and she needed to wear them today, so I didn’t want them getting wet.  She needs the socks for warmth because our house is a little chilly, and she needs the shoes for tread because our floors are hardwoods.

Don’t get me started on the floors.  If I can type about it without having a mental breakdown, I will share our Coker Floor Company story with you all.  It won’t be this week, though.  It’s all still too recent.  Anyway, here’s a picture from this morning of my two favorite people in the whole wide world.  They are like peas in a pod and LOVE spending time together.  There’s just nothing in the world quite like watching your husband become a father.  Sigh.

We were supposed to go to Play Group today at Kristen’s house in Murphy.  She made delicious hot soup and Jennifer brought chocolate cupcakes.  David wasn’t a huge fan of us driving out there because the forecast predicted more snow and temperatures below freezing all day long.  I felt like I needed a nap anyway, so we allowed ourselves to be snowed in.  I took a nap while Pip napped this morning and then we played together for a long time on the floor after she woke up.  We had a lazy, fun, drawn-out lunch together… that required a bath afterward.

Here’s a funny face to go with the funny face:

Piper is eating Chicken Continental, courtesy of Lulie and Herb Thomas who brought dinner last night (see recipe at the end of this post).  They are walking us through a Marital Communication class one-on-one on Wednesday nights to help us get better at this vitally important skill.  David and I just kept having the same arguments over and over again without making any headway on them, and we discovered that we are somehow missing one another in all the madness.  Sound familiar?  Everyone I know has been there before, in one relationship or another.  I think we can all stand to get better at communicating.  And what better relationship to practice on?  Only the most important earthly relationship that a person can have!  So Herb and Lulie are pros at this kind of thing and offered to help.  In all their spare time (see previous post re: Taipei).  Yes, I know.  They drive all the way to our house, let us take up one night of their week (in addition to Tuesday nights for Community Group), teach us something of greater value than a winning lotto ticket AND bring dinner. Angels, these two.

So we are re-learning some great things we learned in our Newly Married Class–like HALT! Don’t discuss hot topics when you are:

H-Hungry

A-Angry

L-Late (for an appointment/trying to get somewhere, etc.) or

T-Tired (some people add in a “D” for Drunk and make it HALTeD)

and don’t be a WENI during discussions:

W-Withdraw from the convo/other person

E-Escalate the Argument (raise voice, etc)

N-Negatively Interpret what the other person is saying (expect the worst–get clarification)

I-Invalidate the feelings/statements of the other.

Next week, we are going to discuss a couple of our hot topics in front of them, using “The Floor”.  The Floor is a great technique for really listening to the other person’s heart in the interest of seeking understanding.  It involves repeating back to them what you heard when they spoke.  Problem solving comes AFTER this step–we tend to try to do them both at the same time and it doesn’t work.  So we will get some guided practice with The Floor next week.  We’ve done it a couple of times and it feels cheesy and corndog, so I shy away from it.  But I know it really works, so it is worth our time to practice and get good at it.  My husband is an amazing man.  To desire to understand his wife–the one that thinks in the same way that she types (how about all those rabbit trails I’ve taken you on in this post)–well, that’s just a good man right there.  Even more so, in light of his logical, straight-forward way of thinking.

Soooooooo Piper and I had left overs today.  And she is experimenting with gravity a lot during mealtime, so some of her chow ends up on the floor.  I don’t have one of those handy mats under her high chair, so I do a lot of cleaning up.  Today, Spike the Cat proved himself worth a lick (I couldn’t resist the pun) and did a little clean up FOR me.  It’s a rare thing for him to actually be worth the amount that we pay for his gourmet cat food. But today he was great.  See, EVERYONE loves this recipe!  What’s NOT to love???

Piper is waking up from her afternoon nap right now and we are going to play some more. Inside. There is a pot roast in the oven that is filling the house with a wonderful aroma. We are having fake homemade bread (from the frozen section) and a salad with it for dinner.  In light of the snow, David is going to try to get home early, so Pip and I will be enjoying some Daddy Time this afternoon, too. I love my life. Snow days are fun!

Chicken Continental

Wrap 4-6 pieces of trimmed, washed and dried boneless, skinless chicken breasts with a single slice of bacon and put in the crockpot.  Add one can of cream of mushroom soup and an equal amount of sour cream.  Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4-6 hours until cooked through.  Boil 1/2 container of angel hair pasta in water with a cube of chicken bouillon.  Drain the pasta and put in a serving dish or platter.  Pour chicken and sauce over the pasta.  If the sauce is too thick, use some of the pasta water to thin it out.  Sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese (optional) and serve. DELISH!