Two Long Days

Yesterday and today have been two very long days. Actually, yesterday was probably the longest day of my life—or at least it felt like it—with numerous activities crammed in from sun up to sun down.

Yesterday I took Meredith to the OB with me. It was the first time I’ve taken her. She was surprisingly good. She stared with wide eyes as the nurse took my blood pressure and she held onto my foot the entire time I laid on the exam table. She glared at the doctor and absolutely refused to share her fishy crackers when he asked for one. I gave her three jelly beans as a reward for being good. Unfortunately I did not have an orange one (only green, purple, and red) and she was very upset by that.

The day ended with friends coming over—most of them were at our house to talk about starting a movie-discussion outreach program with our church, which Kevin is going to be involved in.

Today I took Meredith to our MOPS group’s end-of-the-year picnic. In addition to the playground equipment, “fun stations” were set-up for the kids—drawing with chalk, “fishing” for magnetic fish, bubbles, beanbag toss, face painting, balls and bikes, etc. Needless to say, Meredith had a grand old time.

Midway through the picnic, the Chick-fil-A cow showed up. Meredith liked the idea of the cow but was terrified of him when we got closer.

The funny thing is that, turns out, I am acquainted with the young man who was inside the cow costume! Such a small world! Of course, he was not allowed to speak to me or anyone else since cows aren’t supposed to talk. [Note for future reference: I would never make a good Chick-fil-A cow since I can never shut up for very long.]

Tomorrow should be much calmer. My weekly work deadline is over and I think me and the kidlet will be hanging out at the pool for a few hours with Aunt Megan.

Beauty and Serenity

We decided to be tourists in our own town and visited the Lilly Mansion grounds on Saturday. The property is so lovely and serene. Because of the formal gardens and French Chateau mansion in the backdrop, I told Kevin it felt like we spent the day in Europe, except that it was only a ten minute car ride ... and free.

Because of the numerous stairs throughout the gardens, we chucked the stroller and let Meredith walk (except that she preferred to run). She had a blast with her newfound freedom. By the time we put her in her stroller again, she was so tired that she fell asleep instantly. This worked out perfectly because we went to the art museum next (also on the same property) and Meredith slept the entire time, allowing for uninterrupted art-viewing by the adults. Nice!

What is really nice—the new director of the Indy art museum decided to make admission free. So we didn't feel pressure to "get our money's worth." We look forward to going again soon in order to explore some other exhibits.
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Conversation with my daughter:

Me: "Where is baby sister?"
Mer: "Mommy's tummy."
Me: "When is she coming out?"
Mer: [silence]
Me: "Remember? She's coming after your birthday."
Mer: "Cake!"
Me: "Yes, what kind of cake do you want for your birthday? Chocolate or Strawberry?"
Mer: "Strawberry. Um, no ... cinnamon cake!"

What is amazing to me about this is the fact that I don't think Meredith has ever had cinnamon cake. Nor do I ever really give her other cinnamon things. I have no idea where she learned that cinnamon exists in cakes. We’ll see if she still wants one for her birthday, come July.

Don’t let your summer go by …

… without fun!

Here are some fun ideas to do with kids this summer that are free or nearly free. If you guys have any ideas to share, I’d love to hear them.

Have a theme for the day: A “color” day where everything is green, for example. A “backwards” day where everything is done backwards (wear your clothes backwards, walk backwards, eat dinner for breakfast and breakfast for dinner and, of course, eat your dessert first).

Have a family hunt to find the best chocolate milkshake in the city.

Have a special craft day.

Have a campout in your backyard or living room, with a tent, etc.

Make a list at the beginning of the summer of all the fun things your kids want to do before fall and work at checking them off (make a fort in the basement, make chocolate chip cookies, etc.)

Give each child a day of the week that’s their day to choose a special activity.

Take a trip to the dollar store and fill up a bucket—kids can choose one item each on those days when boredom starts setting in. Apparently, from what I'm told, a roll of scotch tape can provide hours of entertainment.

- Go berry picking
- Free concerts in the park
- Free movies in the park (a lot of cities have kid-friendly movies)
- Splash Cinema (swim and watch movies)
- Squirt parks
- Library reading programs
- Bike rides / rollerblading on a long walking trail
- Vacation Bible Schools
- Free museum days

Reality Strikes

Behind on everything. Trying to keep my head above water. And then …

A dose of reality.

My life is going to be so much more hectic come August. I just finished reading a book about having a second child. At the end of the book are all these testimonials of women who explain—with no holds barred—how much more difficult it is with a toddler and a newborn and how tired they were all the time after the birth of their second child. I almost wish I hadn’t read it. Ignorance is bliss, right?

And, here’s the worst part. All the women in these testimonials were SAHMs who don’t have a side job (like me) and a husband who is absent evenings and weekends with school and study, in addition to work (like me). If they could barely survive those first months, what are my prospects?

If I’m already feeling behind with just one kid, how am I ever going to do it with two? “What were we thinking?” I asked Kevin last night, only half joking.

Not to mention that the book also mentions that, statistically, the most difficult year in a marriage is the year following the birth of a second child. [Pause for further dark meditations.]

I really don’t want my fears to get in the way of me fully enjoying the welcoming of my second child into this world and relishing every moment of her precious babyhood.

I know it’s only a temporary time. It’s only one more year and then life will become less complicated as far as our family schedule is concerned. But can I survive this coming year? Is there any hope that I can be a good parent and make good memories with my kids in the midst of the sheer chaos?

(Yes, I know … God’s grace.)

Speaking of which [making memories with your kids] … today’s MOPS topic was on having fun with your kids. I’ll write more about that later …

Mother's Day

Mother’s Day 2007 came and went. Honestly, it still feels somewhat awkward to celebrate it. Mother’s Day (no offense) is for older women. It’s really weird to have a holiday that I never celebrated—until just two years ago—suddenly thrust upon me.

I did get breakfast in bed, though. That was nice. And Meredith rushed into the room to wake me up, with a homemade card in her hand, yelling “Happy Dirth-day.” (That’s how she pronounces “birthday.”) Kevin then burst out laughing because he had coached her for the last five minutes to say “Happy Mother’s Day.” In her excitement to wake me up, Meredith forgot the right thing to say. Hmmmm … I love my family.
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Earlier I asked Meredith, “Who is your mommy?” She said, “Mommy.” Then I asked, “Yes, but which one?” She then yelled at the top of her lungs, “Amy!!!”

The other night Kevin was going to take Meredith to run errands. They were going to look for exciting things like ink cartridge toner. When I told Meredith she was going to go shopping with daddy, her eyes lit up, she gasped, and she asked, “New shoes?” She has learned early in life the meaning of true shopping.

Lately Meredith has been referring to herself as a dolphin, her new favorite animal. She always says things like, “Dolphin’s knee is hurt. Kiss it.” And “Dolphin sit on daddy’s lap.” And “Dolphin eats chicken. Yum!” It’s so funny that she imagines herself to be a sea creature. She also pretends to be a puppy and a lamb, at various times. Cute.

Planting Time

I wish I could say that I have a garden full of a variety of things but, while in our rental house, a bunch of potted flowers—and hopefully a few herbs—are going to have to do.

We got some flowers planted over the weekend and it makes such a big difference! I love it!

We are trying to enforce the "one finger rule" so Meredith can enjoy touching the flowers without destroying them. She picked a Gerbera daisy today so she's not always very obedient.

Kevin gets the credit for this "arrangement" and I get the credit for keeping it alive (presuming I can).

“Elmo is so proud of you!”

Aaaaaahhhhhh!!! The potty talks!!! It says things like “Elmo is so proud of you!” and “You did it! Way to go!” and “It’s potty time with Elmo!”—in both English and Spanish.

We finally went out and bought the Elmo potty for Meredith—the one that she has been asking for about ten times per day for the last two months. She was ecstatic, of course. She hugged it tightly to herserlf in the car on the way home.

Since I am totally unprepared to begin potty training—and I have my doubts as to whether Meredith is even READY to start potty training—I started reading a potty training book in the car on the way to Toy’s R Us to buy the potty. (I know … I can’t stand it either … I’m such an advance planner.)

My suspicions were confirmed that Meredith probably needs a few more months. I hope we didn’t jump the gun. It would be ideal for her enthusiasm over the potty to peak around the same time that she is ready to begin her training. Oh well.

Kevin and I both had a big chuckle over this paragraph in the book—which our experience shows is entirely untrue!

[In speaking about the tools you will need to purchase to begin potty training, the chapter starts with the obvious one, the potty chair itself.]

“New chairs start around $10.00 and go up from there depending on how many bells and whistles you desire. The ‘you’ in that last sentence refers to Mom and Dad because your child really doesn’t have a preference at this early age what her potty chair will look like or what fancy sounds it can make.”

Ha, ha, ha!!! Very funny.

Okay, well maybe not when I'm hearing the “Elmo is so proud of you!” mantra in my sleep.

One Year

It suddenly dawned on me, as I was sitting behind the steering wheel at some nondescript intersection waiting for the light to change, that today is our one-year anniversary of moving to Indiana. It was one year ago today that we left our hotel in the Wisconsin Dells, drove through Illinois, and crossed the border into Indiana to begin this most recent chapter of our life.

Like many things in life, it’s hard to believe it’s only been a year, yet, at the same time, it’s hard to believe it’s been a whole year. Do you know what I mean?

When I remarked to Kevin that today is a one-year marker for us, his first reply was, “Can you believe you still haven’t been to the BMV yet to get your driver’s licensed changed over?”

Some of us, unlike the Kevins of this world, aren’t perfect. Some of us don’t rush in the week we move to take care of all the necessary business transactions.

Also, to be perfectly honest, I’m kind of scared to take the test. I don’t want to do it cold turkey but, at the same time, I haven’t felt like reading the driver’s manual. There are so many more interesting things to read, don’t you agree?

Isn’t that ridiculous? I took the California bar exam without batting an eye but every time I think about having to take the BMV test, I run and cower.

I know I’m going to have to do it eventually ...

My California driver’s license expires in 2009.

[Just kidding—I’ve already promised Kevin that I’ll take it next week.]

Spontaneity

My friend Kristi called this morning and invited Meredith and I to go to the zoo with her and her three kids. I took a speed shower, got Meredith ready, packed a lunch, and we flew out the door. We had a great time, except for the fact that a lot of the animals were missing from their cages! I felt sorry for little Levi who talked excitedly about seeing the kangaroos … until we got there and they were mysteriously gone. Fortunately Kristi has a pass and we all got in free! But we still had fun visiting and seeing the animals that we did see. Meredith was very happy to see the giraffes, elephants and monkeys. She’s getting to the age where she really appreciates the zoo.

I think spontaneity is important. It’s important to be willing to chuck the prearranged plans at the last-minute and do something new. If you always stick with your Plan A, life rarely has any surprise or adventure to it.

It was fun to hang with Kristi because she is the type of friend who inspires me with her endless energy and love for life. She has twins who are three and a 15-month old, yet she never allows having three toddlers to get in the way of family fun! Everyone needs a “sure-why-not?” and “let’s-do-it” friend. I’ve found that in Kristi.

Irrational Fear

Meredith has suddenly—overnight—decided that she is afraid of her diaper changing table. Whenever we put her up there she kicks and screams and claws at us with sheer, authentic terror in her eyes. We cannot understand what has gotten into her. Whenever we approach the table, she starts crying, “No! Fall off! Change on ground! Change you floor!” If we set her on the floor, she runs over to where the carpet is, in the hallway, and lays down to wait for us to join her.

She’s not the type of kid who is ordinarily fearful. She normally doesn’t mind heights. Like I said, we cannot understand her sudden fear of being up on the changing table.

We wonder if something happened that we don’t know about. Maybe she fell off the changing table at the MOPS group or at the church nursery. I’ll have to ask around to see if anyone knows about this. Until then, I’ll just be puzzled by it.

Maybe potty training time will come sooner than I thought. She refuses to let us put her on the fold out table in public restrooms and I’m certainly not going to change her on the public restroom floor!

Another reason potty training time might come sooner … Meredith spotted an “Elmo potty” in the Babies R Us catalogue (she loves to look through this catalogue whenever it comes in the mail) and daddy promised he’d buy it for her if she was good to sit still in church for four Sundays in a row. Every time she hears the words “good girl,” “church” or “shopping,” she pipes up, “Elmo potty!” How could we forget? It just so happens that this coming Sunday is the fourth Sunday.

Pasta, Procrastinating, Dating, and Finals Begin

Today I ordered “Cooking Light Pasta” on Amazon. Although I enjoy cooking I rarely buy cookbooks because there are often only 5-6 recipes in a particular book that I think I would really try out and likely enjoy. (So, I’m cheap and I copy them by hand instead!) But after browsing through the “63 essential recipes to eat smart, be fit, and live well” in “Cooking Light Pasta,” I thought to myself that I would likely try at least 52 of them. So, I bought it for only six bucks, including shipping, online. Nice! I think it will truly be worth the money. The book features everything from family favorites to casual entertaining to world cuisine.

Today I also procrastinated (only for a short time) in getting my work-work (as opposed to household work) done. My favorite way to procrastinate doing work these days is to look at homes for sale online. It’s not that we’ll be able to buy any time soon—not at least until Kevin is done with school which is Summer 2008, but, hey, it’s nice to dream. Plus, it’s very wise of me to get an idea what the value of homes really are. Right? Right.

Today I also went on a date with my husband. He took a break from the books—and we took advantage of Meredith being at her grandparents’ house—to walk across the street and go to a restaurant we’ve been wanting to try for eight months. I can’t believe that we live in this “hip” part of town with lots of young people, restaurants, and night life and we never go out. Today we tried to remedy that a little bit.

Final exams begin for Kevin tomorrow. He’s taking five of them in the next two weeks. He was really happy on the last day of class (Monday) when he could fill out one particular professor evaluation form. He felt like this was the worst professor he’d ever encountered and said it was "the day he was waiting for all semester." He took all of his frustration out on that poor little form!

So far Kevin seems pretty stress-free about final exams. I hope it stays that way. We can’t wait for summer to begin! May 9th, finals are over and summer begins for the Koons household! Yay!

Glimpses

This weekend we tried to spend as much time outside as possible because it’s been simply gorgeous here—warm with cool breezes.

Here are a few glimpses of our weekend …

Before we got to fly the kite, the guys had to figure out how to put it together.

It was purchased in China with no directions.

Meredith thought she was such a big help! She kept yelling things like,

“Me do it! Here. Help you! Hey, Uncle Colin! Oh!”

Finally, Soaring! Success!

Laughing

Me and My Girl

Hot Momma (don't ask me how far along I am because it's my second pregnancy and, frankly, I can't remember anymore--I think I'm due some time late summer??)

Brothers and the Tag-along (I can't remember what they're enamored about. Maybe grandpa is flying the kite).

Family Circus, er, I mean, Circle

Meredith went to a birthday party for a boy at our church turning two years old.

She didn’t understand why he got all the presents.

She loved every bite and lick of cupcake!

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Okay, one cute Meredith-ism. I don’t mean to go on and on about my child but, I guess that’s my prerogative, right?

Last week it rained one morning so I sang her the song, “Rain, Rain Go Away!” I probably sang it three or four times throughout the day. Several days ago it rained again. She asked to go to the park and I told her, “No, because it’s raining.” She then burst out singing every single word of the song:

Rain, rain go away!
Come again some other day.
Little Meredith wants to play.
Rain, rain go away!

The “little Meredith” part is the cutest thing I’ve ever heard coming from her lips. She loves to sing and songs really make an impression on her. She remembers songs that she only hears a few times because she really, really loves them. In the next few years I have to find a choir for her to join because it seems to be her passion.

Me and the Cheese Case

Lately I’ve been tired of the same old, same old cuisine. I tend to cook a lot of the tried-and-trues for a few weeks and then I get sick of it all and want new things to explore with my taste buds. So, this week I’ve planned for a week of dinners that I’ve never made before.

When I went grocery shopping to buy the ingredients, there were naturally many items that I wasn't sure where exactly to locate. It took me forever-and-a-day to find stuff. And, to make matters worse, I didn’t head out the door until 11:00 p.m.

I’m convinced that people who grocery shop until midnight are either crazy or desperate, and definitely tired.

So, there I was, a crazy, desperate, tired person moving my cart through the aisles, trying in vain to find things like Kahlua for coffee crème brulee, lemon grass and fish sauce for Thai soup, and gruyere cheese for a Panini recipe.

It wouldn’t have been so bad except for the fact that, as I was standing over the imported cheese counter, squinting my eyes to find the gruyere, my grocery list (which included the planned-out menu for the week) fell through the slat of the cheese display. The slat was only about a half inch thick and my grocery list must have been just vertical enough to easily fall through it.

What are the chances of that?

At first I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t move on without my list because I had spent about an hour putting it together and had only just begun my shopping. I found a lady sweeping up behind the deli counter who looked to be about a hundred years old. I asked her if she could help me, presuming that she would call some robust man to come take the display apart and find my list. Instead, she started moving cheeses and attempting to dismantle the display herself.

The worst part is that I couldn’t remember exactly where I was standing when I dropped my list. So, we moved a bunch of cheese, lifted up a large slat in the case (it took both of us to do the lifting), and the list wasn’t there. We rearranged the cheeses, moved more cheeses, and lifted up a second slat. It wasn’t there either.

By that time, the lady looked at me like I was on drugs or something and asked, “So, you don’t know where you were standing?” I told her that I thought we should try one more area of the case and fortunately it was there—my little grocery list written on yellow legal paper! Relief!

The cheese case was a mess by the time we got through. We tried to put everything back but it was obvious that it had been sorely tampered with. The previously neat little rows of overlapping cheeses were now in complete disarray.

To my surprise, the elderly worker lady said, “Ah, as good as new!” Then she added, “I won’t be here tomorrow. No one will know.”

I seriously doubt I will ever let my grocery list near a cheese display ever again.

Hidden Forms of Exercise

Over the weekend I was inspired to do some Spring Cleaning. I got online, took a look at Martha Stewart’s spring cleaning checklist, and quickly became uninspired.

Who has time to vacuum all their mattresses and dust every single book on their shelf?

I was lucky to get my windows clean! It took about two hours and I figure that I burned 400 calories. I found this handy-dandy chart online that tells me I’m exercising even when I don’t think I am. I love it!

Staying Fit—Hidden forms of exercise

Ever wonder why you're huffing and puffing after vacuuming? It's because you're burning about 200 calories an hour! Here are some other daily activities that can get your heart going and make your body stronger.

• Kissing: 58 calories an hour
• Playing with a toddler: 216 calories an hour
• Washing windows: 200 calories an hour
• Walking the dog: 238 calories an hour
• Gardening: 324 calories an hour
• Heavy cleaning: 432 calories an hour

Second-Born

My aunt, who is a second-born child, recently sent me some advice about second-borns:

“As a second child, speaking from experience, let me tell you: don't forget to set time apart separately for each child. Us middle/second-born kids tend to always feel overlooked. The oldest and youngest children tend to get all the attention. Especially when it comes to baby/childhood photos.”

I remember my second-born sister always complaining about how every baby photo of her also had me in it too. She hated the fact that there weren’t any baby photos of her just by herself.

Are there any other second-borns out there with any advice?

Honestly, I’m somewhat scared about being a mom to a second-born. When this child is born she will enter a world of first-born people. Everyone else in her immediate family will be first-borns. And even all her grandparents except for one (my dad) will be first-borns.

I feel that I don’t have very much understanding or wisdom about second-born children. In fact, come to think about it, the amazing, overwhelming majority of all my friends growing up and currently are first-borns too!

Probably the best thing going for me is that I was a first-born daughter with a second-born sister and I can learn from the mistakes I made as a first-born. So, I will have A LOT to say to Meredith about what to do and not do. I have some regrets about how I treated my second-born sister. These regrets are mostly related to how I shunned her and wouldn’t include her with “my friends.”

So, maybe the best thing I can do is try to follow my aunt’s advice—to make this one feel as special and distinct and unique as possible—and then spend lots of time telling Meredith how to love her sister better and do the first-born thing right.

Easter

I love Easter. It’s my favorite. I know I say that about pretty much every holiday but (trying to be objective here), Easter is at least in the top two. The Resurrection means Victory in the Christian faith. I love celebrating this victory. I love celebrating new life. I love spring! And, okay, I admit. This year it was especially fun to make Meredith’s basket and get her all dressed up. The best thing about having children is reliving the newness of something—seeing excitement in their eyes, which is contagious.

Happy Family

Mer got these glasses in her basket from grandma.

She wore them nearly all day.

It was obvious she thought she was a rock star.

With Uncle Colin, looking fabulous in pink.

Or, did he say it was "egg shell"?

Huggin' cousin Cole.

Once she figured the eggs were supposed to go IN the basket, she really got into the hunt. She loved it! (Especially when she realized there was chocolate inside!!)

I think this picture is great! Kevin took it—of the paparazzi surrounding Cole. It captures on the faces of the adults the joy that a child can bring.

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Seven ladies, a good book, and tea to go around.

We had our first book club meeting last Thursday and it was great fun. If any of you out there have thought about joining a book discussion group, I would encourage it. Either that, or start your own. One thing I love about this club is being able to discuss views and opinions on a book with other people who have the same frame of reference. I’m excited about being able to get together with these ladies once a month to delve into a new plot and new topics. It's a great group of people—I consider myself blessed to have such quality, thoughtful friends.

To kick off the club, we had Chinese treats. Heather thought of that idea, since the setting for the book was 19th Century rural China. I made fortune cookies and almond cookies and Heather brought egg custard tarts. Shannon brought some yummy authentic tea. And, best of all, we had authentic China from China. It helps to have a SIL living in Beijing who can get you stuff. This set of China was a gift from Laura, purchased via Megan.

I can’t wait for our next club meeting, in May! We’re going to try a non-fiction book and see how it goes. I have mixed feelings about this. It will be nice to try a variety of things but I did really enjoy reading and discussing a novel.

Lipstick

Typically I have Meredith watch a video while I take a shower to keep her distracted. This morning I decided to let her play by herself. That was a mistake.

As I exited the shower I noticed that she hadn’t taken all her clothes out of the dresser and strewn them across her bedroom, which she is prone to do. That made me glad. Then I noticed that my bedroom door was shut. She doesn’t know how to work door knobs yet, so I figured she was trapped in my room playing. I opened the door to discover what she had been up to. She had pulled my purse off the dresser and had gotten into the forbidden lipstick. She had been looking at herself in the mirror, attached to the back of the door, while doing the job.

Nearly every day Meredith watches me put on makeup. I usually let her put on powder and Chapstick so she can feel a part of it. I should have known she would attempt a self-application at some point!

The lipstick had gotten all the way up her nostrils. Have you ever tried to clean lipstick out of nostrils before? Only a mother of a toddler would know I guess. The things I never expected to experience ... and now I have.

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This week has flown by. Things have been really busy here. I can’t believe Easter is coming up in a few days.

Over the weekend we took Kevin on a trip down Memory Lane—we went to a cool park he used to frequent for little league games. The weather has been so glorious! It was great to be outside. (We went to several different local parks with trails over the weekend.) Then we went to this hole-in-the-wall pizzeria called “Pizza King”—a place Kevin also went to as a boy. He had fond memories of it because they have video games at every table and a little choo choo train comes down a track to bring your drink order to your table. It was a hoot! And the pizza wasn’t totally bad either.

Okay, now I need to go get Meredith out of her bath, which I’m sure is dyed red with lipstick by now.

Blogs are So Cool

Okay, I’ve always thought blogs are cool … why else would I have one, and read so many blogs on a weekly basis, if I didn’t think that. But recently I’ve decided they’re even more cool than I thought they were before, mainly because of two recent comments left on my blog.

The first comment is from a girl I was in church nursery school with at First Baptist Church Long Beach! Aaaaahhhh! Even though Rhonda and I were like five years old, I have distinct memories playing with her as a child, along with two other girls, Jessica and Katie. I distinctly remember her large backyard and swing set, kitchen, dining room, and another big room upstairs in her house that was full of toys and a TV set. I also remember all of her red-headed and blonde siblings. Crazy! She still lives in Long Beach and has recently realized her lifelong dream of becoming a zoo keeper.

The second comment is from a student in India—a total stranger to me. He randomly came across my blog while doing research for a book review. He apparently told some friends about Meredith and now several of his friends, also from India, have left sweet comments on the Toddler Days post. They have all made me smile, and even laugh. Then I checked out Shrikant’s blog, and found it to be very entertaining, with lots of great quotes that made me think deeper about life. So, I’m glad to have found his blog too.

Blogs make the world smaller. Blogs bring people together. Blogs enrich life.

Pacifier Funeral

We are alive! The weekend I was dreading for months, if not longer, has finally come and gone. We had designated this past weekend as “the” weekend to finally take away Meredith’s pacifiers. I cannot believe how emotionally attached she was to her passy. It had become her total comfort and joy. She wanted to have it either in her mouth or by her side at all times. She was upset when she lost it and overjoyed when she found it again.

Because of her extreme love for and attachment to her passy, I felt like a total villain for taking it away. But then I also knew I had to administer some tough-love because her passy was starting to mess up her teeth. I could already tell its affects on her bite. So, this past weekend was THE weekend.

We started with a “Big Girl Ceremony” on Friday night to inaugurate the big weekend. The ceremony was complete with eloquent speeches, a passy gathering (the "pink one," "white one," "monkey one," etc.), a trash dumping (done by Meredith herself), a final prayer for all of Meredith’s dearly departed pacifiers and grace for her to get through the first couple days and nights, plus ice cream to celebrate.

First let me say, I cannot believe how much time I spent dreading this compared to how much of a problem it really was. Meredith clearly understood what had happened so, whenever she asked for her passy, we reminded her: “Meredith, what did you do with your passy?” “Trash,” she would reply. She wept a few times but never cried herself to sleep, like I expected she might. As the weekend progressed, she asked for it fewer and fewer times. Today, she’s only asked for it once so far.

The hardest part was that she got the flu on Saturday morning (of course, the weekend we were going to take the passy away, she would get sick). Several times I was tempted to give in but, since Meredith had already emotionally said good-bye, I knew I had to hold my ground. In the end I’m glad that we staid course. She’s now feeling better and, with the passing of her pacifier, it seems she has officially entered big girlhood.