Errrr...Happy birthday to me. So let me tell you about the chaos. I meant to ask Stella for "no fussy" as a birthday present but forgot. Not that it would have mattered.
The sleep consultant told me that she's not getting enough good fat and calories. What? The girl can not go a day without a hefty amount of avocado. But, she's weaning and after going over her diet, that was the conclusion. Her naps are getting shorter and she's crabby in the late afternoon before dinner. She now needs a morning and afternoon snack that's crammed full of calories, protein and fat. That's 5, yes 5, meals a day really. That's also 5 changes of clothing more or less. Ugh.
Today was the first 5 meal day and that pretty much threw this family into chaos. Dan got back from Jakarta late last night so the house was already reeling from 2 days of just me and her. I can't get a thing done functioning like that because she's attached to my leg during her waking hours and when she sleeps the acoustics in our flat are so bad that I'm banished to our bedroom. Dan made me a really good breakfast while I fed her. I got her lunch and "snack" ready to go since we have to leave for Gymboree straight after her morning nap and we don't get home until 30+ minutes past her normal lunch time. Those things took up most of the pre-morning nap time. Her snack was an entire grilled cheese and chicken sandwich with the crust cut off. She ate it on the way to Gymboree and that was by far the happiest she's ever been riding in her stroller.
She also caused a mini rebellion at Gymboree that was funny but slightly embarrassing. Stella is not good at not getting exactly what she wants. She has trouble during the "instruction" portions of Gymboree and Panda Junction. Yesterday at Panda Junction was the worst. At one point they gave us a ball, a ladle and a plastic pot that we were to play various games with. Like drop the ball in the pot with the ladle, play catch with the ball, etc. Stella flat out refused to let go of the ball, period. She pitched a fit. In order not to disrupt the class, we just sat there with her clutching the ball. Everyone else did what they were supposed to. I think it may be because she gets tired and hungry toward the end of class. But, today she ate an entire sandwich on the way to Gymboree so I figured today would be different. And it was...sort of.
There is a portion of Gymboree that Stella and the other babies love called "Magic Box" where the instructor brings over a treasure chest full of different toys every week. There is a big production during the opening of the box and then they get about 5 minutes or so to play with whatever is inside. The exercise is to be able to put the toys back in and then say "bye-bye" to the Magic Box without getting fussy. She is not good at this. She clutches on to whatever toy and even to the sides of the box while the instructor is politely trying to take it away. Today was no different, but she didn't cry or act fussy as it was being taken away. Progress, I thought. We moved on to the next group exercise which involved blowing bubbles. She loves that. Except that during this she crawled away from the circle where we were all sitting, to the ledge where the Magic Box is kept. I thought she'd crawl back, so I stayed with the group and waved her back. She didn't come. I thought to myself, "ok, well, I'll go get her" and as I was getting up, she stood up, pointed her fingers in the air and started screaming "DA DA DA BLAH BLAH" babble at the top of her lungs with serious conviction. Then ALL of the babies rushed over to her. The instructor totally stopped the lesson because the parents and nannies had to go corral their kids. The other babies were all now with her, staring at the Magic Box. Then, of course, they ALL started to cry as they were being taken away. There were 8 babies in the class today. It felt like it took forever to get them all back under control.
The upshot was that she wasn't fussy in her stroller on the walk back home for once. She was all smiles and even managed to take off her shoes and socks during the walk. She put her socks on her head and thought that was funny, as did the seemingly millions of people rushing out to lunch. Central Hong Kong is a mess between noon and 2pm but I plow through the crowds with the giant Bugaboo at full speed. I thought I was going to get yelled at in Cantonese for her having bare feet, but instead just a lot of giggling at the little girl with messed up teeth and socks on her head. Then, she ate a full lunch and an almond butter, banana sandwich for her late afternoon snack before we went out to Thursday coffee with her friends (and mine). So that's 2 extra sandwiches on top of her normal eating.
Not to mention that this morning I pulled a muscle in my back and my reaction time is pretty slow. So, as a result, she got into the pantry and ate part of an Earl Grey teabag, dumped my expensive powdered makeup all over the floor, rubbed banana in the rug, pulled all of the trash out of one trash can (the bedroom one which only has papers in it), and several other unsavory things. Like when I tried to change a disgusting diaper, in desperation, I gave her my cell phone to try to distract her enough to get her to lie flat. During our wrestling match, my cell phone fell on the changing mat and she sat on it therefore rubbing poo into the buttons. It's like chasing after a tornado. Our house was in so much chaos that we couldn't even have housekeeping come clean it...
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