Augh

Well, I certainly spoke too soon about things getting easier. I also think one of us made the mistake of telling someone that we'd had a good winter sickness-wise. After recovering somewhat from the walking pneumonia, Clementine and I picked up a new cold. Calliope started to get really fussy two Sundays ago, and couldn't sleep all night. Ryan and I were both exhausted and desperate (we know to spell one another if there's a sick kid but this one took us by surprise). At about 3am I put her in the car in the hopes of getting her soundly to sleep, finally. About 20 miles outside of town she started complaining about her tummy and then... you guessed it... threw up all over her car seat. She handled it like a champ, since it was her first time ever she seemed surprised but not particularly upset. I mopped her up as best I could and then drove her home, stopping to get a soda at the machine outside the City Market. She refused to drink anything (well, except I am thinking of weaning her but soo glad I hadn't yet, as she will always drink that, and keep it down), but she did sit with me and fall asleep watching The Daily Show on my computer. I'm not sure John Stewart would be happy to know that. Anyway, she slept from maybe 4:30 - 7:30, and then nursed again but wouldn't eat. She told me she'd eat rice so we went for sushi and I was very happy that she ate. Of course she didn't nap that day, and slept marginally better that night. Tuesday night she had a fever so Wednesday morning we headed to the pediatrician. Calliope had an ear infection (poor thing), probably a result of when she'd had that fever way back before the rest of us got pneumonia. SO... We got antibiotics, and ear drops that would help with the pain. The pediatrician says she's seen lots of kids with colds who are also vomiting, which with this whole swine flu thing is slightly unnerving. But Calliope still has a little cough and runny nose but is otherwise much better. It was not good that we left the doctor's office on Wednesday and headed straight to the airport where I headed off for 3 days, but it's very good that we got her treated before I left.

Calliope is definitely coming into her two-ness, using the word "NO" liberally (which makes giving her medicine nearly impossible). She's also communicating better, doing kind of meta-communication, saying things like, "Do you understand?" and "Well..." She and Clementine are fighting more, and Clementine has moved through her easier phase to being less interested in cooperating generally. She doesn't do anything the first time she's asked, unless she's excited about doing something all by herself. This doesn't happen as much as we'd like. :-\ We are trying to keep our energy up to make things more exciting generally, but I think she's onto us. She's refused to go to ballet for the last month. I am trying to let it slide -- obviously I can't make her participate. I don't want her to give up and we talked about persistence, but I'm sensing it getting into a power thing and I don't want to go there. I even rented Ballet Shoes, and afterward Clementine said, "That movie was, like, really good, but I still don't want to go to ballet class." (Yes, she uses the word "like" liberally.) Ah well. So she's signed up for soccer and I'll look at gymnastics and hopefully she'll get interested again or we'll find a class that she has a friend in. >sigh<

On the fun front, the girls both have "treasure jars" that we've made out of mason jars and felt and buttons. They're really into these treasure jars and often pick things up to bring home for them... marbles, bark, sticks, styrofoam peanuts, rocks... It's fascinating to see what they think is a treasure and what isn't. Of course the contents are pretty flexible since they're emptied and refilled quite often. But I love the little insights I see through them, and that both girls are into the same thing.