Strolling Along

Madeleine left, Emily right

The girls' German grandparents, Oma and Opa, gave the girls baby strollers for their birthday. This week we took the girls' babies out for a spin. As it was approximately 95 degrees (at 9:30 AM) we did not last too long outside (we also didn't do overwhelmingly well keeping our sun hats on).

Madeleine

Emily

After our nap, we decided to convert the strollers to their shopping cart configuration and gave Lucy a ride or two around the family room. Despite the look on her face, she was amazingly patient with whole process and stayed in the carts, purring, until the drivers granted permission for her to be removed.

Emily
Madeleine

In other, less happy news, Miss Madeleine has been out of sorts for a little over a week. I had suspected teething (the arrival of two-year molars) and looked, poked, pushed, etc. in search of the tell-tale swollen red gum - nothing. Then Thursday night when I was brushing her teeth I noticed the tiniest little white corner of a tooth on the lower right side of her mouth. We started doling out the Ibuprofen and thought she'd improve. Saturday we made a disastrous trip to Busch Gardens where she consistently screamed about her "mouth hurt" and I lost my temper and just screamed. We continued with the Ibuprofen and even added Infant Orajel. Sunday night when I was giving Madeleine her bath and she was again screaming I noticed she had bad breath, which has never happened before. Yesterday I noticed she had white stuff on her tongue and when she said "mouth hurt" she was pointing more to her tongue. The long and short of it is we have our first case of thrush (usually found in infants, but we decided to wait until nearly 29 months). While the girls have gone round and round with the yeast organism that causes thrush, it has always been in the form of a diaper rash...new experiences. At the pediatrician's Madeleine wanted to make sure Emily (who has done really well with the short end of the stick over the past week) was given equal attention. The doctor had to basically pin Madeleine to the table (I got to hold her hands over her head - yippy) in order to get a strep culture from the back of her throat. Following this tremendous outrage Madeleine was sitting, with a tear stained face, on the table holding her blankie. The Dr. walked out of the room and Madeleine yelled after him "Do Memy." (In an effort to say each others names, the girls have come up with Memy for Emily and Mama ("a" as in apple) for Madeleine.) Memy did not feel the need to experience a strep culture, but was thrilled when the doctor humored her with a cursory look in her mouth and ears. My favorite part of the whole thing is the directions for the medicine. Put 1 ml on her tongue and rub it into the thrush with a Q-tip four times a day. OK, and then I'll wake up blond and anorexic tomorrow morning, grow wings, and fly to the moon under my own power. I'm seriously considering putting a little chocolate syrup on her chin to get her tongue out of her mouth....we'll see. Did I mention this is highly contagious if the girls are putting shared items in their mouths? In a household where blankies, silverware, sippy cups, and even toothbrushes are moved back and forth (they love the toothpaste and are always convinced the other child got more; if you have the first bath you try, with all your might, to grab your sister's brush and suck off her toothpaste) - let's just say Emily begins the day with "Show Mommy your tongue."

This is the girls' final week of "school" until September. While they don't realize this, Mommy isn't too happy. However, we will be in Spokane for two of the weeks the girls do not have school, so I can't whine too much.

The girls are beginning to count the days until we go to see "Bapa and Mama" (Grandpa and Grandma) in Spokane. Yesterday in the car Madeleine was listing the aunts and uncles they will see. She is a little confused in her geography as she seems pretty convinced Uncle Bodo will be there too. Emily keeps reminding me that we have to go on two planes and after the first plane they get to eat and have new diapers (I'm really hoping our connection isn't cut short, I don't know that the snacks I bring would count as acceptable) .