Never dull around here!

As of late, Emily Rose had been getting out of bed around 6:30 a.m. or 7:00 a.m. and coming directly into our bedroom for quiet morning cuddles. A beautiful thing. That changed two mornings ago. You remember the face cream she was after...and the cheesestick? Well, we planned to lock her door the next night, to avoid another potentially dangerous situation the following morning. Safety gates are useless; she gets over them or pushes them down quite easily.

But perimenopause puts one into foggy brain, just as pregnancy does. So I forgot to lock the door, and besides, I wasn't really comfortable with that solution because how would she get out in case of a fire? And setting our alarm for fifteen minutes before we expected her up wasn't feasible either; we can't get to bed before midnight (chores you know), and after midnight our sleep is interrupted often by Anna. Every minute of sleep counts.

But the fact that she got into the fish oil capsules yesterday morning really drove it home that this could be a matter of life and death. Luckily, they apparently taste horrible--when chewed! Yes, the evidence I found was that she chewed it up, and then must have swallowed the oil, and afterwards put the shell into a paper towel. Nice and neat, see? She could have left the shell sticking to the furniture. I hounded her for fifteen minutes about how many she had sampled, and finally came to the conclusion that it was only one. Stressful way to start the day, don't you think? Never a dull moment, I tell you. And yes, I have now cleared all surfaces of anything remotely dangerous. I'm a slow learner.

So yesterday, I bought the safety doorknob attachment...you know, the thing that is supposed to prevent children from turning door knobs? Well, suffice it to say that the score is now Emily = 2, Parents = 0. Yeah, she's a problem solver, gosh darnit. Problem solving is a wonderful thing when math and science come along in the schooling years....but at two? It's dangerous!

Anna Grace takes after big sister. We don't have any sound/music systems in our house. We could never afford anything except for a boom box. So yesterday I set it up in the living room so I could listen to our Christian station while I sorted and folded socks. The cord was well above Anna's crawling or reaching height...or so I thought. I left the room briefly to distribute socks into bedrooms. When I returned, there was no music playing, and the cord was in Anna's mouth. How she solved the problem of the cord being well above her head and reach, I'll never know. The only reasonable solution is that she pulled up onto a box in the area and had just enough arm strength to get to the cord and fall back down. That girl is not only a problem solver, but a very, very strong girl! She amazes me. Yesterday she mastered not only sitting up tall with a straight back, but also getting into this position from the floor. At seven and a quarter months Anna, you are quite the athletic type!

The newest thing you are working on is standing up. You use your arm strength to get yourself into a touch-your-toes standing-stretch position. I can tell you want to straighten up from there and stand, but you don't yet have the balance or stomach muscles to make it happen. But you try numerous times a day.

In other news, Daddy forgot Emily Rose last night at the church nursery. He was helping in Vacation Bible School and went to the boys' classroom to pick them up and then proceeded to drive home without Emily. This happened after he had just gone in there to check on her before getting the boys. She has been crying again in the nursery, for the last three weeks, after having stopped it about three months ago. We are baffled and stressed about it.

Last Sunday she had a rash on her upper chest, due to irritation from sunscreen. She has the most sensitive skin and almost always has some dermatitis--even though we are careful about not using anything scented and we always buy sensitive-skin products. Anyhow, she was crying on the church worker's lap and got overheated. This fact, along with the rash, made the worker think Emily was sick. She isolated Emily from the rest of the kids and had someone go and get Don from the sanctuary. He was baffled and felt her forehead, which the worker said was "burning up". It wasn't by this time, and Don told the worker that Emily definitely wasn't sick. He didn't mention her nearly constant eczema, as I would have done. The worker then agreed that she didn't seem hot. She asked Emily if she wanted to stay, and of course Emily said no. Don brought her home to me, since I stayed home with the baby that morning, and then he drove back to church. Emily is so active she would never stay put in the sanctuary.

Don took her to the nursery last night while he helped with VBS, so that Emily could "get back in the saddle" and try to get over her fear of the nursery. There is a very kind elderly blind gentleman who works the nursery with his wife during special events like Awana and VBS. Emily loves him, and spent time in his lap hugging him. That helped her fears and crying tremendously, thank the Lord. He isn't in there on Sundays, unfortunately.

Anyhow, back to Emily being forgotten. Daddy came to the door with the boys and I didn't see Emily in her carseat in the van. I said, "WHERE'S EMILY?!!" Don gave me a mildly alarmed look, and just said, "I'll go back and get her!" It's an eight-minute drive, and I was hoping no one was too inconvenienced by the shocking fact that, yes, we forgot our beloved daughter!

Meanwhile, I gave the boys a quick snack and hustled them into their pajamas and supervised the washing up and toothbrushing. They had returned home around 8:50 p.m., and it was now pushing 9:15. Did I mention I hate VBS with as much passion as my children love it? Yes, children get saved by the millions across the country due to VBS. That's a fabulous thing. But by Tuesday night, my children are so excited that they just can't fall asleep...until about 10:00 - 10:30!...leaving us to deal with the behavior issues that ultimately result. Grueling!

Last year we settled on an every other night schedule for VBS, knowing they would miss some fun. This year, Timothy is 5.5 years old, so we thought he could handle it better. But no, he was so excited he didn't fall asleep until 10:15 p.m. last night. Most churches now do it at night, due to all the dual-career families. That irritates me, but I know it's just one hellish week among many other normal weeks. Not really a big deal, and I'm ashamed for being so irritated.

After all, Timothy accepted the Lord during Monday night's VBS, so what in the world am I complaining about? He previously did have a relationship with the Lord, but he's never raised his hand before to a formal altar call. That public acknowledgement is important, and helps prep them for baptism and sharing their testimony when they feel brave enough. Daniel has been a Christian for quite awhile, but still doesn't feel like he's ready for the dunking. We told him he could wait until he feels ready, but that the Lord is always very pleased when we get baptized.

Anyhow, back again to the fact that our beloved daughter was forgotten about.

Daniel: "How COULD Daddy forget Emily? How could he do that!"

Mom: "I don't know." (Then I tried to change the subject.) "Did you have ever so much fun tonight?"

Daniel: "Emily must be crying her eyes out! I can't believe Daddy did that!"

Mom: "Well, didn't you and Timothy forget her as well? You didn't say anything to Daddy on the way home, did you?"

Daniel: "But I'm not the adult! Adults should NEVER forget their kids!"

And there you have it, Blogworld! Daniel is ready to fire us. And he's not even a teenager yet. God help us!

BTW: Emily was not the least traumatized by being forgotten. She seemed pretty unaware, actually.