Twenty-Seven Months Old

Pearl is twenty-seven months old now and cute as can be! We've been having lots of fun lately.



She is playing with her toys in new ways, putting various dolls and animals through many of the things she herself does each day, and describes it all as she makes it happen: "Baby is sleeping!" "Pig is drinking; the pig is so thirsty!" and so on.

Pearl enjoys watching nature videos and has picked up a few quotes that she likes. It amuses me greatly to hear her announce as she descends from wherever she is perched, "It's safe to come down and gather food."



She had her first bad stomach bug during the first half of this month... a fever and runny nose, accompanied by diarrhea. We almost took her to see a doctor after a week of it, but the research I'd done and my instincts told me it wasn't anything to be worried about and I'm glad we didn't, because it cleared up in a few more days. Still, it was less than fun for all involved.

After a nice stretch of easy bedtimes and restful naps, getting her to sleep is taking a lot of time and effort again... Always, the ups and downs. She has upper molars coming in now, which has something to do with it I'm sure.

She still feels the urge to lash out when she is angry or upset (so different from her mama, who tends to hold her hurts close - Pearl's way is healthier, no doubt.) but has learned to refrain from hitting for the most part; she instead swings her arms at her sides and mutters, "No hitting," or sometimes, "So angry." There's been some headbutting and biting too, but we're dealing with it and trying to help her find alternate ways of expressing her negative emotions.

She likes to "do faces": I'll say, "Show me your x face," and she'll make the appropriate face . Interestingly, her responses to being asked to show happy expressions tend to include bouncing up and down, and interpretations of negative emotions include leaning back and sticking her big belly out.

This month I went out by myself after putting Pearl to sleep for the night. I went to a party and had a wonderful time, but had to come back to a very upset baby and a very unsettled Daddy. I hadn't really prepared her in any way because I didn't think she'd wake before I returned - so of course she did, and was extremely unhappy that I wasn't there. She went right back to sleep as I nursed her and didn't show any signs of having suffered from it the next day or afterwards, so hopefully it wasn't too traumatic.



It was so nice to get out and have some grown-up fun by myself; it makes being at home with the most beautiful and amazing thing at the world even more wonderful.

Stagnant

Stagnant is the word that best sums up how it feels to be me these days. Nothing new flows in, nothing flows out, and all is murky and sluggish.

The house is quite a mess, clutter piling up wherever it can, and dust accumulates along with it. I both see the disorder and don't see it: it uses its chaos as camouflage. Making myself actually look at it and see what is there - let alone do something about it - takes some form of energy or discipline I can't seem to muster up lately.

I want to write more but it is hard to find uninterrupted time, time alone. Naptime and its accompanying quiet invite me to do so many other things, both frivolous and the important. It feels good just to have typed out what I have so far.

We are thinking of moving again. Not out of town, just to a different house. We had planned to stay here until we are ready to buy/build a home but, having lived here for over a year now we've learned that there are reasons than isn't practical or desirable (large populations of brown recluses, anyone? For the past few weeks I have been coming across & killing one almost daily... the other day while I was sewing I looked down and there was one crawling on my pants. Have had enough of that. Am desperately hoping we do not bring them with us when/if we move.)

So, this feels like a time of stillness. A time of waiting... waiting for the oppressive August heat to break, for the gentle warm days of September in the Ozarks. Watching the classified ads, waiting for a suitable home to open up. Waiting for a belly dancing class and possibly a yoga class to start - I am hoping that getting out of the house and doing these things will be the something new flowing in that will shake me out of this stagnant state.