Raising Paige

Something very strange happened yesterday. Paige fell asleep on the way home. Ok, that’s not strange. Jodi put her down on the couch to sleep. That’s not strange either. About an hour later Paige woke up crying and wanting a bottle. She always struggles to wake up from a nap so that’s not strange either. I gave her a few ounces of milk and she snuggled up to me. Comforting for me but that’s not strange either. After she finished her bottle she put her head down on me and fell back asleep. That was strange. We tried to wake her up to have supper but she just couldn’t keep her eyes open. That was strange. Jodi tried to change her into PJs to put her in bed and Paige couldn’t even keep her eyes open for that. That was strange. Paige then went right into her crib and didn’t wake up until around 6am today. That was strange. This morning she was her usual happy self and sat with me while eating cereal before I went to work. I have to say THAT is a great way to sta...

Hello everyone. I realize it has been quite a while since I wrote anything on this blog. My apologies. Life got pretty busy for me as I applied for, interviewed, tested and eventually started a new position at work. Travel to the US and a project and exam later and life is settling down a bit now. So here we are. Since the last post (ages ago I know) Paige has changed quite a bit and thus raising Paige has changed as well. She has been speaking quite a bit more – maybe too much sometimes – and her personality continues to evolve. She is still the sweetest and funniest little person I know. Having said that, her new thing lately is yelling ‘Stop It’ and putting her hand out towards me. She does this to others on occasion but it seems I’m her favorite target. It doesn’t matter if I’m talking directly to her or just walking near her. I’m not sure what sets it off actually, but in her mind I’m doing something she doesn’t like and she wants me to stop. It’s adorable, funny a...

Life has been pretty hectic lately and as usual things get pushed aside or forgotten. This blog is a good example. Paige has been changing so much in the past few months it's incredible to watch. She is funny, observant, smart and a little mischievous. In just a few short weeks she will be turning 2 years old and she is becoming a handful right on schedule. LOL. This past weekend we spent two days together while my wife was teaching a aircraft fabric covering course. Although we had a few bumps on Saturday (no nap, cranky by 4pm) I have to say that both days were a joy. We played on the floor, she dragged me around the house by my finger, she frustrated me by asking to watch a movie only to change her mind 3 more times, we went to the park on Saturday to swing and a walk on Sunday to pick up mail and we had a lot of laughs. She is a picky eater but doesn't mind snacking throughout the day. That makes it difficult to get her to eat the right things but somehow I managed ...

So Paige has been recovering from HFMD and although the spots are going away her skin is still peeling and falling off where the sores were. She doesn't seem to be bothered by it at all and has been her regular funny, sweet self. Although two days ago she came home from child minding with my wife and as usual she fell asleep on the ride home. What was unusual is that she kept sleeping once she got home. We laid her on the couch while we got supper ready and she continued to sleep. We finally had to wake her up in order for her to eat and it was a battle. She was very tired and didn't eat much. She stayed up until 8:30pm (about 60-90 mins longer than usual) and then promptly wanted to go back to bed. She slept through the night, only waking up once. Yesterday the same thing happened. We noticed she barely ate during the day and we had to wake her up from the couch after 7pm. She could barely keep her eyes open so my wife asked her if she wanted a bottle and to go right to be...

For the past 4-5 days now Paige has be suffering with Hand Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD). I'm not sure why they call it a disease. Likely because it's a virus, but whatever. Bumps and spots around her mouth, hands and feet as well as some sores in her mouth - on her tongue that we can see at least. For a few nights she was waking up every hour crying and sometimes screaming. We would do our best to console her and get her back to sleep, and by 'we' I mostly mean my wife. It's not that I don't want to help it's just that when Paige is really not feeling well she wants Grandma. Although she does like to snuggle with Poppa sometimes too, which is nice. I have to say that through all of this she has been a real trooper. During the day, especially when she has some Tylenol in her, she's still busy and loves to play. She drags me around by one finger and makes me join her in playing with fridge magnets while I sit on the floor, or hand her puzzle pieces so...

Was there ever a sequel to Sleepless in Seattle? I’m guessing everyone was just too tired to write one. I know the feeling. So I already did a post on being tired thanks to Paige waking up in the night but I noticed I didn’t go into a lot of detail on how that affects us. Us being me and my wife. Let’s be honest. Husbands and wives don’t always get along. Throw in a toddler when you’re both over 40 and include a restless night’s sleep and things can get worse. By worse I mean saying and doing things you don’t really intend to simply because you’re tired or in a zombie-like trance and don’t really realize it. As a husband I have found that these are the times when you need to apologize, even if an apology isn’t necessarily needed. After all, we’re both in the same boat. Paige doesn’t wake up every night on purpose just to interrupt our sleep so it’s not really her fault we’re tired. We don’t get upset with her for waking up but we certainly get upset with each other over...

Last night I got to give Paige a tub, which is something my wife and I share of course, and as usual it was an adventure. She loves to play with toys, put her head in the water and of course splash. Oh the splashing. I always have a towel for her and a towel for me. She also likes to occasionally dip her finger in the water and taste it and sometimes she will actually try to pour water in her mouth. Now, you can't just tell a 21 month-old not to drink the water because it's actually bum soup. They wouldn't understand. So instead I made a scrunched up face, stuck out my tongue and said 'Blah!'. Well THAT was apparently the funniest thing she had seen all day because not only did she start to laugh but she also started to try and drink more water. She didn't drink much but we spent about 5 minutes playing that game. She pretends to drink bath water. I make the face and say 'Blah!'. She laughs then pretends to drink bath water again. Eventua...