Took a couple of pics this morning. Here you go.

CootieGirl is feeling better. Apparently she was fussy most of the day yesterday and only took a 2 hour nap. Poor thing was exhausted by the time I got home and fell asleep around 6:30 p.m. She had a couple moments of fitfulness during the night but after a few whimpers she’d settle back down into sleep.

Twelve full hours of sleep from her. And her normal good mood had been restored this morning, from what I could tell before I left for work.

Cootiepie is sick tonight. Daycare called CootieDad at around 4 p.m. and told him she was sick and needed to be picked up. Sure enough, by 9:00 p.m. her fever was around 102.2.

When I got home CootieDad was standing in our driveway with her, trying to keep her cool (her face was red as though she’d run a marathon). He had to leave to go to a work meeting, so I took over and after changing her diaper and putting her in a light t-shirt we went back outside and sat on the front step for about 30 minutes. The air was cool and it helped calm her down after a huge fit (the diaper change was miserable – she has a rash and did NOT want to be wiped down after creating a messy diaper). Once we came back inside I turned on the tv to one of the mellow music stations and we just cuddled – she was very tired and her head was a brick on my shoulder. When she became too sleepy to stay up, I took her upstairs and cuddled her in the rocker for another 30 minutes, and then laid her in her crib.

She slept for maybe 45 minutes before waking up with horrible cries. Since she’s sick, I immediately came upstairs (besides, American Idol finale was BORING) and we cuddled for another 30-45 minutes before I laid her down again. A few minutes later CootieDad came home and met me in the kitchen, saying, “She’s crying.” That nap had lasted about 10 minutes.

It’s now 10:20 p.m., she’s still awake, still feverish, still refusing to go to sleep. It’s going to be a long night.

Update the next day: Well, she never really slept well last night. She fell asleep for about 45 minutes soon after my post, but then woke up crying. We brought her into our bed and she proceeded to fuss for the next couple of hours. CootieDad was fortunate enough to sleep through most of it, but since she was laying on me while fussing, I got no sleep. I gave her meds, water, changed her diaper, cuddled and basically tried to comfort her, and it just wasn’t working. At some point she decided to faceplant into my neck but since we were in total darkness she missed her aim and ended up poking her eye right on the end of my nose. She screamed and squealed in pain for a while, causing CootieDad to wake up, at which point I send CootieGirl to him for a few minutes. I think it was around 4:30 a.m. that she finally settled enough that I could put her in her crib – but not before she was FULLY WIDE AWAY in our bed, doing her best to pet the cats, kiss me, sing or fuss. A nice mixed bag of emotions on her part. But she finally passed out and I put her in the crib with no problems and promptly passed out in my bed for two hours before having to get up for work.

Temp seemed to be lower this morning, but she was still hyperfussy when she woke up at 6:30 a.m. And no wonder – she’s got to be as tired as I am!

Looks like CootieGirl may be walking by the end of the week. Last week on various occasions she managed to take two steps before falling, and yesterday she took 3-4 steps between Ace and me before excitement took over on her part and she just began throwing herself at us instead of walking. CootieDad emailed me this morning to say that when he dropped her off at daycare he had her practice her walking with the daycare worker and she took about 5-6 steps.

Methinks we’ll be fully mobile by the end of the week.

Scary.

For a while now CootieGirl has rocked back and forth when certain music is played. She “dances” to songs on “Bear in the Big Blue House”, or certain commercials. It’s so cute to watch her bounce her head and rock back and forth while staring at the tv, completely enthralled and unaware that she’s dancing along.

With any luck she’ll end up with my sense of rhythm as opposed to CootieDad’. CootieDad can’t dance. At all. I, however, am quite the dancer, having spent ten years in the club culture, seven of that as a raver in DC. I can remember when I lived in California that we had this HUGE open space in our living room. When no one else was home I’d turn on some music and dance around the living room a la the 1980s version of “Star Search”, dreaming of fame and fortune as a professional dancer.

Last night we turned on one of the more lively music channels on tv (the Oldies station) and she immediately began dancing to the likes of Roy Orbison and Little Richard. I can’t wait until she’s independently mobile so that I can videotape her standing and dancing. For now, she’s content to sit and “dance” or hold on to the coffee table and shake her thang. Too precious.

I discovered last night that CootieGirl’s speech has improved dramatically. She now says words and knows what they mean. Apparently all the parroting on our part is actually working!

Case in point:

Last night CootieGirl was doing laps around the coffee table and saw the box of Kleenex on the top of the table. She stopped and pointed at the side of the box and said, “kitty cat” (the box has pictures of kittens all over it). Ok, so it was really gibberish – it was more like “kika”, but I could tell what she was TRYING to say. The capper to that was when she leaned over and kissed one of the kitten pictures. Then I asked her, “Can you see Ginger?” and she promptly nodded, pointed to Ginger the Cat and said, “Gin-er”.

I was so proud. We’ve also discovered that she knows how to say Tutter, which is a character on “Bear in the Big Blue House” – she says “Tuh-er”, which is pretty darn close!

CootieDad took CootieGirl to a go-see today in New Jersey, and upon showing up discovered about 500 people with babies waiting to get seen. So I don’t know how long he intended to wait, but methinks he wasn’t going to stay long if a headache ensured among the chaos.

Here’s a pic of CootieGirlas she slept in her car seat on the way to the supermarket Wegman’s.

I know you missed seeing CootieGirl (almost as much as we did), so here is one new pic to hold you over. She’s taking a nap now. Aunt Jen did a wonderful job in our absence. CootieGirleven stuck out her arms for Jen when aunty woke up and entered our room this morning. We’ve been replaced. *lol*