Bronchiolitis

Took Brooke into the doctor for a few various things and were told she has bronchiolitis. This explains the sleepless nights and nasty sounding cough. We were prescribed an inhaler and also a chamber she needs to use in order to actually get the mist from the inhaler.
Although this gives an idea of what the chamber is like, the little patient in the picture is nothing like our little patient. Ours does not readily put her face into the mask and inhale the mist from the chamber ... quite the opposite, in fact. Its been traumatic for all of us but hopefully it will help her heal and get better soon. And most importantly, we hope she has no recollection of this whole episode. Just in case, we are taking turns administering the inhaler to her so that she hates mommy and daddy equally instead of just one of us being the bad guy ;)

"Feels Like" 25 Degrees Out

But Mommy still needs her Starbucks. Bundle up Brooke!

Trouble. Big Trouble.

Let Your iPhone Figure Out Your Baby's Needs

Figured it wouldnt take long: iPhone App Claims to Know What Crying Baby Wants. Supposedly this new app can tell the difference between five basic infant cries: hungry, tired, bored, annoyed or stressed.

Brooke is too old for this, but if it honesly works it would haved been helpful for the three months (solid) where she pretty much never stopped crying ;)

And this is seriously the most expensive iPhone app I have ever seen. In fact, it might honestly be the most expensive one of them all. Its $9.99 through the holidays and then goes to its regular price ... 30 BUCKS.

And maybe it does work. But here is another question - does it also understand the language a baby is crying in? Recent research suggests that all cries are not the same and that a newborn baby from Germany has a different cry than one from France. So how do we know that our $30 buys an application that understands our babies cry, along with the accent? Hmmm....

Trick Of The Day

Today she figured out how to ...

Flush the toilet.

I knew it was only a matter of time :(

Our Little Angel

Mac N Cheese Please!

Brooke has decided to wear her mac n cheese as a hair accessory. I've
been patiently waiting for her hair to grow so she could wear a
barette, but I guess she just couldn't wait any longer.

What Tinkering Did She Do Today?

Don't think that Brooke is going to take a day off of exploration. She is a busy girl with eyes that roam and fingers that like to push buttons. For a few days now she has noticed that we have a light switch about 3 feet from the ground, on a short wall that separates two rooms. She has pointed at the switch and reached for it, but quicky gets distracted and moves to a new target.

Tonight was a different story. She was enthralled with the switch and couldnt leave it alone. It is similar to the one at the right, a dimmer switch. It has a few lights on the side that make it extra eye-catching. Unfortunately, you just have to tap it to turn it on or off. Of course, Brooke figured out that she can reach it, and spent a good portion of the night turning the lights on and off.

We arent too sure she knows she was actually turning the overhead lights on and off - because the lights along the side of the switch go up and down when you tap it. She seemed to be watching the lights on the dimmer and didnt seem to be noticing what was going on above.

Because she is pretty good at identifying the actual impact a pushed button has ... I dont doubt she knew full well what she was doing. And I expect our family room to be flashing lights like a disco party for the next few days, until she grows bored and finds something new to get into.

Oops She Did It Again

Brooke was enjoying a nice bath tonight when she noticed the drain. She just went to a "big girl bath" a few weeks ago and prior to that was confined to a chair that was suction-cupped to the tub. She had limited mobility and couldnt see (or access) a good part of the tub. Things have changed and each bath she gets a little more adventurous.

Immediately after spotting it she pulled the plug. Go figure. I told her "NO" and put the plug back in. The rest of the bath (which was cut short due to her tinkering) was filled with her providing me a snooty smile followed by her pulling the plug (or reaching for the plug). Over and over and over. Once she sets her mind to do something she just cannot be stopped. Thus, we ended the bath a bit earlier than expected so that she could find some other way to get into trouble.

Nap Trouble

Brooke hasnt been herself lately, but seems a bit better as of yesterday. We still dont know what it is/was, but I am ruling out teething. The fact that she is doing better but yet still hasn't had new teeth come in is a pretty good sign something else is/was up. For sure she now has a cold - runny nose and a horrible cough. She is a little trooper but still seems to get hit with a lot of stuff :(

Since whatever-she-has-or-had started she has been irritable and also very tired. We started putting her down for two naps again, to try to help her mood during the day, make up for the restless nights, and give us a little bit of a break! Yesterday she seemed like she was feeling better and last night she slept a little better, so I figured we better go back down to one nap.

Today she didnt wake up until 7:30 (usual is about 6:45 or 7:00) but was rubbing her eyes by 9:30. I knew I was in trouble. I tried to keep her entertained and busy, but her mood increasingly grew to be more feisty. She starting throwing herself on the floor and writhing around anytime I told her no (yes, we now do temper-tantrums, though the are yet to be common). She would start crying about nothing. I put up with her (and she with me) for as long as I could. We had an early lunch and she was in bed by 12:00, versus her usual 1:30 naptime. I'm hoping she quickly jumps back into her one-nap routine as easily as she did initially, but I think it might take us a couple of days :)

The Button Pusher Strikes Again

Today Brooke moseyed over to the microwave and promptly pushed
"reheat" like she had done it a billion times before. I didn't even
notice the Tiny Tinkerer till I heard the microwave going (and I was
right next to her - although invested in cutting up a watermellon).

No Device Is Safe From The Tiny Tinkerer

Brooke loves to push buttons and tinker with stuff, like remotes, iPhones and laptops. Recently she has been playing around with my old laptop (my new one finally arrived) and since I have a replacement I have been a little less concerned about her button pushing.

The other day I took my eye off of her for a second, and when I looked back she had something in her mouth. I couldnt figure out what it could possibly be ... until I looked down at the laptop and noticed a key missing. She easily gave the key up and after a few minutes I figured out how to get it back onto the laptop. I have no clue how she got it off in the first place.

Today my old laptop was sitting on our ottoman and I saw Brooke eyeing it. I figured we werent in any sort of trouble since it wasnt even on. Of course, I was wrong. Brooke teetered over to the ottoman and started pressing buttons. She looked to the screen for results of her tinkering and found nothing. What did she do? She reached to the top of the keyboard, pressed (and held down) a little button on the top. The power button. Yup, she powered the thing up herself.

Think its a freak occurance? You might. Except every time I powered it back down she would push that button again and start it back up.

Stacking

The other day Brooke finally placed a ring on her stacker. We have had the toy for months and thus far she has eaten them, thrown them, and looked through them ... but she hasnt actually attempted to stack them. Over the weekend she put a ring or two on here and there, but by today she is stacking them like an old pro ;) Its a great way for her to build her eye-hand coordination and has already given her the courage to start stacking some other items.

Next on the list: shape sorting!

Maclaren Recall

Just got sent a link regarding a Maclaren recall.

The recall is voluntary and encompasses over a million strollers, models include: Volo, Triumph, Quest Sport, Quest Mod, Techno XT, Techno XLR, Twin Triumph, Twin Techno and Easy Traveller. According to msnbc, "Maclaren, in cooperation with the CPSC, is providing consumers and retailers free repair kits which will cover a joint on the faulty hinge mechanism."

They also say: "Consumers should stop using the strollers immediately and contact Maclaren via its Web site or by calling toll-free at (877) 688-2326, the company said."

Might want to wait until the news is a little bit older! We have a Maclaren umbrella stroller and I thought I would check out the recall - but you cant get on their website. Looks like about a million other people are trying to hit the same site I am - and we crashed it. Luckily its not our primary stroller so I'm in no rush ;)

Fun With Food

Mealtime with Brooke is a delight. She either screams and yells "MORE" or throws every item from her tray. In addition, she has a few other fun tricks. The newest trick is the good old place-everything-on-your-head trick. She has been doing this here and there with a lot of things (like toys and books) but prefers food. I think because it will stick?

Here she is storing a piece of melon, on her melon. She also kindly offer up pieces of food that she no longer wants. Generally she offers these things to the dog, who patiently sits next to Brooke's highchair waiting for the moment Brooke tires of what she is eating. Occasionally, she likes to offer Mommy some of her sloppy seconds.

The Joy Of Being Adorable

It must be hard to be so cute, that you cant even resist your own
self. Here she is, kissing her own reflection in the microwave.

Some Nice Weather!

Thanks to a run of good weather we decided to do a last-minute tag along with Paige and Evan on a planned trip, and spent a few hours at the zoo visiting some of Brooke's favorite animals.

Thanks for letting us crash your adventure Paige & Evan!



Brooke checking out some monkeys. We spent most of our time watching monkeys today.
They were highly entertaining, definite show stoppers!

Today, these guys were the for sure winners:

While eating lunch on the go today, she got to try out
a new snack cup in which she actually gets to serve herself.

Brooke figured out that if she pushed the tab in (versus inserting her hand)
she could easily pour all of the contents out into the stroller.

She really enjoyed the animals today and is getting much better at linking the sound to the animal. She growled at the lion and said "oohh oohh" at the monkey. Though she is getting it, she does occasionally slip up. I showed her the zebra and she said "Roar!". I gently told her that I didnt think zebras said "roar" and she replied "ROAR!". So for now, a zebra says roar. (So does the tiger and the leopard ... but hey, even an adult cant tell you the difference between the noises a lion, tiger and leopard :)

Halloween Pics - Again

We took Brooke to a local photo studio, Jookie, on Halloween for a charity-based photo shoot. In exchange for a donation to the Saving Tiny Hearts Society, Brooke and some of her friends got their pics taken in their adorable costumes. Since you can never have too much of kids-in-costumes, I thought I'd post them for everyone to see.

First (of course) is Brooke


Then we have Olivia & Daniel


And Paige & Evan

Wrigley's Lucky Day

Brooke shared "her" window with Wrigley for a minute ... Just in time
to catch a squirrel running by.

The bonding moment was over seconds later when Brooke pushed her out
of the window, and out of her way. We have yet to master the art of
sharing.

Peek-A-Boo

Brooke has been all about peek-a-boo lately. She loves to peek around corners, toys, pillows, clothing ... anything! She has also been quite a handful lately. Nonstop activity and lots of boundary testing. Needless to say, we are all exhausted.

Here she is doing a little bit of peeking earlier today