Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Hopefully, Natalie is down for the night...
It certainly would not be good if she wakes up four hours later and decides to stay up. That has happened quite a few times now. That is one of the downfalls having an open schedule the way we do here, a necessary thing in light of John's constantly changing upside down work schedules. Admittedly, she hasn't had any dinner but then again, she is still not the greatest of eaters, toddler pickiness having struck full force here. Even things she loved to eat previously she's not really too big on now and it is a constant struggle getting her to eat ANYTHING, even things she requests to eat. But, it's one of those things I don't push right now in light of the drastic change we will be making come October and November for even while we more than likely will not be going over right away with John to South Korea, there will be some adjustments as we stay with my younger sister for the month and then some adjustments again once we actually get over to Korea.In the meantime, I am doing the best I can trying to keep things somewhat normal here even as I prepare for us to go. I'm sure she is confused by the constant rearranging of items in the apartment as I prepare for our rummage sale (unfortunately, including some of her toys, specifically ones I had gotten her from Discovery Toys that she has already outgrown) and she probably doesn't understand what John is telling her at all as he tries to explain what will be happening in the next few months. One of my concerns is how she is going to deal with a month without her dad. The two are very close and I can see her becoming quite distraught once she realizes that he is not going to be coming back right away (actually, not at all as we'll be going to him). I wish there was another way around this but there just hasn't been anyway to get enough together to get the tickets we need considering the problems we keep having with vehicles. The two weeks of work John lost due to our car going kaput and the loss of his full time hours for over two months have really hurt us. We were able to at least pay bills but saving any extra money hasn't been an option.
We're trying though and I'm hoping that the rummage sale we have next week will help us too. I was actually hoping to have it this week but I want to be able to have it on Thursday and Friday and this Thursday is just going to be too crazy. I have my Le Leche League meeting this week and I'm REALLY hoping to go this time. Last month, we were not able to attend because Natalie ended up running a fever the night before. It was a pretty high one for her too, just over 102 degrees. And while there were no other symptoms and she was over it by the next morning, I didn't want to take any chances and drag her out to a meeting with a bunch of other kids (thereby possibly exposing them to whatever it was she had) and tire her out too much. As it was, she had had a hearing appointment that afternoon and that we did go to, it would have been a bit much with the 30 minute plus drive there, then the meeting, then the drive back and THEN the appointment, not when she had been SO out of sorts just the evening before. Fortunately, whatever she did have went away pretty much as soon as it hit her (the power of nursing, I like to think) but still, didn't want to push it. And therefore, another month went by with me not being able to go to my meeting. I have not had much luck with getting to my LLL meetings. I guess that's what I get for choosing Fond du Lac instead of Madison for a meeting location but I was hoping to use that as a good time to see my mom too. However, visitation has yet to be approved. And it wouldn't be that big of a deal if it wasn't for the fact that I borrowed a book that I have YET to return. I forgot it when I went to the last meeting back in May and haven't been at a meeting since then. If I DON'T make it up there this week, I'm going to have to make some other arrangements as I don't think I'm going to make it up there next month with all the planning we're going to have to do to be out of here. Then again, if I can get visitation approved by then, that would be a good time to go and see my mom.
Anyway, these days Natalie is VERY much asserting her own brand of independence, much to our dismay. Listening is the last thing she wants to do and being demand is the in thing for her right now, especially when it comes to nursing. Therefore, I have really come down hard on her with the nursing bit, expecting her not only to ask but to ask in a very specific way including being grammatically correct when she asks to nurse. What else can you expect from a former English major? It has taken some work but she is getting much better with it and at the very least, is not trying to drag me to the couch by pulling on my shirt (a rather popular way for her to ask me previously). I do not see weaning in our immediate future because I don't want to push that on her when we have so many changes to go through before she reaches the age of 3. Not to mention, I do believe in letting her decide when she is done and so far at least, have the full support of John in that process. But, when she asks the way she does towards it at times, it has had me wondering if I should put more limits on the process. At the very least, that nursing "on demand" should not be quite as SHE demands it! But, I like to think that it is just another step in our nursing relationship and, as I really do not know very many moms (in real life or online) who have ventured this far with nursing, I just have to figure out the ropes on my own. It sure would be helpful though if she would just EAT a little more.
Well, I just heard her wake up so that not being much of a nap, she's a bit on the cranky side so off I go!
| posted by Janeen at 7:19 PM
