Ellie and the Beeps

So, Ari-Ellie seems to be doing a great job adjusting to the presence of her little sister. At first, it was one big emotional breakdown after another. Between spending two full days away from us and getting less attention once we got home, Ariel was a wreck. She sobbed and she screamed and she demanded and she buckled her knees anytime we tried to lead her anywhere. Dan looked at the budget and decided to stay home on Monday, to give her one more day to adjust with both of us, and the result was wonderful! By the end of the day, she seemed to be acting far more normally far more of the time. At one point, Felicity and I left for a couple hours and Dan just played with Ariel. I think she really benefited a lot from that time.


So Tuesday was our first day home without Dan. Mom came over for a good chunk of the day, and Felicity actually let Mom hold her (this was Felicity's first day letting anyone besides me hold her for more than a few minutes, Daddy included). I was free to take care of Ariel, and having me do things for her seemed to help Ariel further. Something that had really been upsetting Ariel over the weekend was if she asked me for something ("cup?") and I said, "Ask Daddy."

Wednesday was busy, but nice. Mom dropped by for about half an hour in the morning, and then RaeAnn and Juli came over with their girls for about an hour and a half, I think? I wasn't watching the clock. At one point, while everyone was playing happily, RaeAnn said to Juli, "We need to get out of here; the girls are about at their limit." I questioned this, but I shouldn't have. about 3 minutes later, all the girls were crying or being cranky at once. The older 3 recovered pretty quickly, but Ivy was still sobbing a little as they made their way out the door. And of course, as soon as they started putting their shoes on, Ariel started getting upset - she had had so much fun playing with them! All in all, it was a very, very fun visit, for moms and kiddos, and I think we need to do it again. Hear that, ladies?

Later in the day yesterday, my lovely friend Navi came over with her almost-one-year-old, Luna, and they hung out for a few hours (Ariel and Luna swapped sippies and bottles and Ariel ate most of Luna's snack - oops), and then my dear friend Mary brought us dinner, so all in all we had 9 people come over yesterday. Dan got home, I tried to serve up some lasagna onto a plate, it spilled, and I burst into tears. Dan asked, "What's wrong?" I hate that question! I don't know! Nothing! Leave me alone! The lasagna's wrong, isn't that enough? After thinking about it, I realized that it was just the complete lack of down time yesterday. I don't regret having anyone over - it was so much fun - but I'm glad to have this morning to regroup before any more visitors come.

So, anyway, back to the girls, who are what I was SUPPOSED to be posting about! This morning, I got Ariel up and put her on the floor, and she immediately said, "Beeps?" and ran into the living room with her head cocked to look for her baby sister. "Beeps" is her word for "baby," by the way. I said, "Ariel, the baby is in Mommy and Daddy's room," and she turned around and headed in there excitedly to offer kisses.

She loves to "share" her sippy cups and snacks - this morning she insisted on sharing her cereal and muffin with the Beeps. She has to hold the food real close to Felicity's mouth, and then either Ariel or I will go "numnumnum" and smack our lips, to indicate that the baby is eating. Then Ariel says "Ticks!" (thanks) and takes a bite herself. SO CUTE! She hasn't behaved aggressively toward Felicity at all (we've had a little bit of rough play, but it was innocent enough), so that's really positive. I think maybe she's young enough that she doesn't fully understand that the lack of attention she is receiving is the baby's "fault." She's more mad at us, which is just fine with me. She's not capable of inflicting any serious injuries upon me, whereas I've heard several new baby-sibling horror stories.


So that's how things are going so far. To schedule a baby viewing of your own, give me a buzz! ;-)