OCD Revisited

Let's revisit a few blogs ago where I mentioned Maggie was pretending to clean the floors and that this might indicate OCD behavior. She has a fairly new thing now where she will find the tiniest crumb, piece of dust, etc. and examine it forever as if she's thinking in her head "who cleans this house?".

This morning, she was sitting on the floor picking up every piece of lint she could find and handing it to me. I think she's trying to give me a hint and I'd like to say that I have a bad vacuum but we just bought a Dyson...it's doesn't get much better than that. In my defense though, we have an area rug that sheds incessantly over a white carpet so it shows everything! I am explaining myself via blog to a 10 month old. How pathetic.

Erik, if you are reading this, I found my reason for needing hardwood floors. YOUR OCD CHILD!

Updates

I'm a bad blogger...I may have lost my only fan (thanks Jen). But since it's been a while I wanted to give some Maggie updates:

* No teeth yet. This has got to be a marathon teething process. But still we attribute every time she is fussy to the poor thing must be cutting teeth. Nothing has changed in that regard.

* She mimics. You say la la la, she says la la la; you say ba ba ba, she says ba ba ba; you say ma ma ma, she says da da da; you say give me a kiss, she goes bpbbpbppb right in your face. Which leads me to...

* She has a great sense of humor. She knows what she's doing when you ask for a kiss and she gets so close to your face you pucker up only for her to blow a raspberry instead.

* She's just figuring things out...

...she tries to put her socks on now (not the least bit successfully but you have to hand it to her for trying)

...she knows how to put the rings on her Rock-a-Stack(granted she repeatedly puts the blue one on, removes it, then shakes it in the air while we cheer for her. Is there such a thing as too much praise?)

...she knows the tray under the ottoman in the family room has treasures (Wii remotes) for her and she takes every opportunity she can to uncover them

She's just fun. More fun than ever. I think what "they" say is right that every stage is better than the last. Except I may take back that comment when she is 16 and hating me for not buying her $300 jeans. Or then again, she and I may be sneaking those jeans into the house so Erik doesn't find out. That remains to be seen.

Is she or isn't she?

Ever since Maggie was 5 months old, whenever she was inexplicably fussy we determined she must be teething. There's no way our perfect child could just be fussy...she MUST be in pain. Well, Maggie is 10 months old tomorrow and has not one tooth.

Fast forward to today where I swear she is really teething. Either that or I live with Sybil. From the minute I come home from work until the minute she falls asleep she is a roller coaster of emotions. From screaming happy as we run around the house while Erik scares us around every corner to crying for me to hold her only to have her want to get down as soon as I do and back to happy again.

It has to be the teething right? According to her "My Day" sheet at daycare she is taking her usual 2 naps, she is healthy (no cough!!), eating well and sleeping all night. And the big shocker is her former favorite place to be in the world, her changing table, is now her least favorite place to be which makes changing time and putting on pajama time really special.

So each morning I wake up like it's Christmas morning, run in to check on her, open up her mouth and....nothing. I can't imagine how excited I will be when I see a little tooth as fruit of her 5 month labor. Poor little thing...stay tuned!

One Giant Leap...

An IM conversation between Erik and me this morning:

Erik says:
your daughter is struggling, but she just crawled across the room
Amy says:
no way!
Erik says:
forward
Amy says:
Video it
Erik says:
too painful to watch
Amy says:
is she on her knees or belly?
Erik says:
both

OK...so it's not pretty but she's crawling! She's found a way to move around without putting her hands up for her lowly servants to walk her around.

Let me just revel in the moment...

OCD?

Just one more thing that Maggie seems to have inherited from her dad...OCD behavior! Can't she get anything from me...preferably my laid back attitude? Let's recap the recent events that lead me to this conclusion:

* At Gramma and Pap's the other night, she was sitting on the floor with the diaper bag next to her All of a sudden she became obsessed with taking a wash cloth out of the bag, wiping the floor in front of her, putting the cloth back in the bag and repeating these steps over and over and over and over... It was as if she was cleaning the floors and kept dunking the cloth into the water bucket. So either she's obsessive or the daycare workers are actually wicked step-sisters and she's Cinderella by day. I can definitely confirm she is not mimicking this behavior from me!

* When there are too many toys in her bath when she gets in, she gets very angry and kicks them until I take them out and put them on the side of the bathtub. She eventually brings each toy back into the bath, but on HER TERMS!

* If there is something round and ball-like in front of her, she must kick it. This might be stretching it to call it OCD behavior, Erik and I just choose to call her a soccer prodigy. But it's a little difficult when you want her to sit down and she refuses to bend at the waist if there is anything "kick-able" in her sights.

I can't think of any other examples so maybe self-diagnosing her with OCD is a little presumptive...I declare her cured! But if she starts making sure the change in my car is heads up I think I need to have an intervention.

Life is Good...for now

Everything is going so well right now I'm a little afraid to write about it for fear of jinxing it. It's almost going too well...I have nothing to write...I have blogger block. Or blogck...a term I coined today and got a "nice" from Erik so I felt it was worthy of publishing.

Maggie's cough that has persisted for 4 months (no exaggeration) is nearly gone, she sleeps 12 hours straight most nights, she is so much fun to play with and we're all over our various illnesses. I think Erik who is much more creative than I am wrote it best: "I am super because Maggie has become a complete joy to have around. I am super because Amy has become a complete joy to have around. I am super because I am a complete joy to be around."

BUT...a wise woman who was sitting next to me in the doctor's office one day once told me that everything is a phase, even the good things so don't get too used to anything. So I say Life is Good with trepidation because who knows what next week holds for us. One thing I know is that I am enjoying every second right now.

Could this entry BE more glass half empty...I just find it easier to be pleasantly surprised than sadly disappointed!

Slow down...

I try to make the mornings seem non-stressful for Maggie so they go a little more smoothly. Even if I'm going crazy rushing inside my head, I never let her see me sweat...somehow it all seems easier when it at least feels like we are on her schedule. While I was bundling her up for getting into a cold car this morning, I sang "Itsy Bitsy Spider" to her. She immediately gave me the biggest smile and kept looking at me like "you know that song too?" Pap sings it to her...maybe she was impresssed that I knew something that Pap did.

This morning I could not figure out why no matter what I did Maggie would cry. Changing her diaper, her clothes, feeding her, all resulted in the same reaction - WAAAAHHHH!!! I had to repeat my mantra in my head...slow down, no stress...I stopped what we were doing, held her in my arms and sang itsy bitsy spider to her. She gave me a few "eh's?" and was perfect for the rest of the morning.

My baby that doesn't like to cuddle just wanted to cuddle!