Together Again in Heaven: Boogie through Winter with Lucy

This past month has felt more like spring than winter and I am not complaining! It has been the warmest January I can remember here in Michigan and it has definitely made life with kids easier. Less bundling, more time outside and less time stuck home because of snow has made for happier kids and a happier mama. That's not to say that I still don't have my moments, where Lucy tells me,"Calm down mom. You're okay, mom. You're okay."

Yup, thank goodness for the sunshine this month because Lucy seems to have outgrown her naps. I can't imagine how I'd be coping with this if there was two feet of snow outside and frigid temperatures! I think Lucy took a total of three naps in January, two of which were in the car and the third when she was fighting a cold. We have resigned ourselves to this new milestone however, and it has made bedtime a lot easier. We now have "Quiet Time" in the afternoon and there is no longer the pressure to have Lucy take a nap before such-and-such a time or she will never go to sleep at night. This helps because Lucy can do Quiet Time while Emma takes her late afternoon nap and gives the rest of our day a bit more flexibility.

Lucy is still getting up one to two times at night despite bedtime being easier, and has developed some new night time fears of spiders and monsters. She now covers her eyes with her hands when she is falling asleep, "So the spiders can't see me mom" and I make sure the closet door is closed when I tuck her in "so the monsters can't get out".

After we tuck Lucy in at night, her last words to us before we leave the room are, "Say a prayer to Luke, Mom. Sweet Dreams!" Lucy continues to talk about Luke and heaven, trying in her own way to understand. The other day she asked me if we needed to bring the diaper bag when we go to heaven. I think it was her way of trying to decipher if going to heaven will be a short or long trip. This month she has also started talking about Jesus more. Based on how she talks about Luke and Jesus, we are wondering if Lucy thinks that they are both her brothers. Technically they are, but as a friend pointed out to me - one is just Lucy's brother, and the other is everyone's brother! I have yet to make that clear to Lucy, but I am working on it. It is tough explaining something based solely on faith to a toddler who operates on such a literal basis. The other day I told Lucy I had some cucumbers with her name on them and she excitedly responded, "Where's my name mom?" as she carefully looked the cucumber slices over.

If I had to sum up this past month in relation to Lucy with just one word, it would have to be "Boogers". This girl has an amazing amount of these gooey, germ-laden things. Numerous times I have had to take her by the hand with a wet wipe in the other and oversee her washing off her latest booger collection from the car door. Clearly, booger collecting while riding in your car seat is all the rage this winter. Not to mention how many times she has proudly yelled, "BOOGER!" while holding up her finger with the offending goober on it. If you want to see how fast Will and I move to get a Kleenex connected to that sticky little index finger, stop by any time, as it happens at least a dozen times a day. Why God made nostrils and fingers the perfect fit is beyond me.

We had another encounter with Poison Control this month too. This time it was with those little silica gel packets that they put in shoe boxes and apparently between the cloth liner and wicker basket from Target that we keep her toys in. Lucy discovered the little gel pack unbeknownst to me, and took it upstairs behind the rocking chair in her room to investigate it more fully. Later on that day, she asked Will if he wanted some medicine. Lucy plays doctor and nurse all the time, so Will thought it was just another game until she handed him tiny little clear "pills". While trying to remain calm, we got out of Lucy that she ate two of these "pills" and with a racing heart I called Poison Control. Fortunately, they told me that silica gel is just a fancy name for manufactured sand and the reason the packets come with dire warnings is because they are purely a choking hazard. The nice gentleman on the other end of the phone reassured me that she would have probably ingested more sand if she had spent a day at the beach. After I hung up the phone I asked Lucy what the "pills" tasted like, and without missing a beat she scrunched up her face and said, "Diarrhea." Nothing like ending an adrenaline crash with a good laugh!

Lucy has been enjoying all of her great Christmas presents this month. Above she is having "Arts and Crafts" time with her new art supplies from Aunt Karen. Below she is playing with her bin of blocks from Grandma and Grandma Hines, Santa and Aunt Karen. Fortunately, in this instance, Lucy and Emma were playing quite peacefully.