Phoebe’s Big Weekend

This was a pretty exciting weekend for our little peanut (who emphatically prefers to be called “Phoebe.” She says “not little peanut!”) On Saturday morning we went to the hospital for New Baby Day Camp, which was a one-hour class for big brothers and sisters to be. Phoebe felt really shy at first, but she soon rallied and consented to hold one of the doll babies. She really liked the extremely silly video about siblings. And an older girl befriended her during the tour, so the two of them held hands as we looked at the recovery rooms. I ended up reading a Thomas the Train story to both girls before we could leave the hospital.

After the class, we drove over to Anna and Aaron’s house for a play date with a bunch of ex-Rowman & Littlefield friends of ours. The five kiddos range in age from 3 months up to 3 years. They had a good time with Micah’s toys, and Phoebe, true to form, took every book off the shelf and flipped through every page. It’s always fun to hear parenting stories and catch up with old friends.

Saturday afternoon, Phoebe and I set out to go swimming, but the rec center was closed for renovations, so we went to the Wow children’s museum instead, followed by the grocery store. She likes to use the cart with the car attached and then ride the one-cent horse at the end. I like to get the shopping for the week done on Saturday!

On Sunday, we went to church and then drove to Centennial (past Denver) to go to Ikea. I’d never been to an Ikea, and I found it ridiculously intimidating. It was like Disneyworld! Families with kids were streaming in, the aisles were clogged with people, and you had to follow a predetermined route. Sure, there were maps, but you couldn’t use them to get to the area you were trying to find. They were more like maps of buried treasure: pass this, this, and this, and you’ll eventually get to kids’ furniture! My brilliant idea to make the whole place more…well, American!…was to have a meandering lane and a fast lane on the path through the place. It was driving me nuts to try to get around people. I think, though, that the Ikea folks would rather force shoppers to look at everything.

We did finally get to the furniture; we wanted to buy Phoebe a big-girl bed. She had a blast trying out all the beds while I got more and more frustrated. Everything was in Swedish, and it seemed like everything said “Len” on it. I thought that if I knew I wanted one item called “Len,” I should be able to choose other items called “Len” and they would work together. Instead, I kept finding pieces that didn’t match the sizes of the pieces we already had. Finally, when my energy was almost completely drained, we had chosen a bed frame (with separate slats), a mattress, mattress protector, sheet (only the bottom one—apparently Scandinavians sleep under the duvet cover with no moderating sheet in between), duvet, and duvet cover and pillowcase (which Phoebe picked out). Dave had put several items back and found the correct sizes. We had to go to a different section (textiles) for a pillow that would fit the pillowcase. When we got back to the car, Dave realized that we hadn’t bought the slats for the bed frame, so he had to go back while Phoebe and I sang verse after verse of Old McDonald. Did you know that Old McDonald has a cell phone? He’s quite the modern fellow.

Some friends were coming over for dinner on Sunday evening, so I raced to the grocery store to rent a carpet shampooer. We were reorganizing Phoebe’s room to fit her new bed, so it was the perfect time to clean the carpets. I finished that just in time to start cooking Indian food (chicken and potatoes) for dinner. In the meantime, Dave and Phoebe put together the bed. Our friends left around Phoebe’s bedtime, so we read books, brushed teeth, and then watched her climb happily into her new bed. She was clearly ready for it—no sadness about the crib, and she told Dave the next day that her new brother or sister could use the crib. We’ve been talking about the big-girl bed for so long that I was almost used to the idea! (Her growing up is much harder on me than it is on her.) She did wake up around 3:30 a.m. that first night, confused and crying, but she went right back to sleep when we accompanied her back to bed. The next night she slept all the way through the night (and didn’t want to get up for school!)

On Monday morning we started Phoebe’s potty training countdown calendar. She puts a sticker on a calendar for 30 days, and when the countdown ends, she stops wearing diapers. Her teachers at school recommend this system, so we’re delighted to try it. She’s already been going potty quite a bit, but she’s not reliable at all. Fortunately, the teachers are on board with this program, so they’re willing to change underpants and clothes until it works. We’re a little nervous about the affects of a new baby on potty training, but we can always start over!

Here’s a video of Phoebe adding her second sticker to the chart.

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A few random things, too. My friend Christina gave me a little plant with a few leaves. It grew to be a humongously tall plant with many leaves, and once a year it makes a gorgeous flower with a really strong fragrance (not entirely pleasant). The flower lasts only 24 hours. And we managed to get a few photos!

One weekend ago, we camped out in the backyard because we hadn’t been camping in too long. Here’s a photo of the beautiful sunset we saw one night as we headed out to the tent to put Phoebe to bed.

Here’s our big girl getting ready to go to church on a Sunday on which Dave was playing his sax. (Usually we’re not early enough to take photos!)

Phoebe likes to walk around the long way (by herself) to get into the building. Here she goes!

After the early service, Phoebe and I went to the playground.

Finally, the Noodle’s due date is sneaking up on us. Hard to believe we’ll have two kiddos before too long!