Knot What We Wanted for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving with Quinn this year was really... a lot of work! It was wonderful, but the girl is becoming a handful, that's for sure! Thursday afternoon at Paula's was really a fun time. Kudos to Paula for working her tail off all day (and probably days before to prepare) for a great meal. As she said, all that prep, and it's over in the matter of 45 minutes! But it was wonderful and Quinn helped me eat all of my turkey and veggies. We forgot her booster seat, so it made for a challenging meal, let me tell you! She sat on my lap and even though she can use her fork pretty well, she still likes to get her hands into her food, which subsequently was my food, too!

She was good company to the boys, and finally, finally gave Chris a little bit of attention! The whole week in NC, Chris continually got snubbed by his little cousin. She wouldn't give him a High-5, nothing. Well, he finally got the "fist pound" on Thanksgiving night, so I think she's back in his good graces now :-)

Friday morning we headed up to PA to spend an evening with the crazy Rudzik Family. We played a mean game of Charades, and Quinn was so enthralled in the action she absolutely refused to go to bed until a little before 10pm, when she finally just completely melted down. She slept wonderfully in her Pack & Play, which gives us hope that she will sleep well when we're in MI next month for a week for Christmas. Fingers crossed!

Saturday morning Quinn, Mike and I were on the landing of the stairs just chatting and playing when it happened. With Mike and I literally inches away from her, she took a tumble head-first into the stair rail. That girl developed a knot on her forehead the size of Kansas - well, at least the size of a Robin egg. It was huge! As soon as it happened, Mike grabbed her and started saying, "Shake it off!" But we both knew by the sound of that "thud" that it was gonna be a good one. And it was! Quinn cried (of course) as I brought her down the back stairs into the kitchen, and her head swelled up immediately. Well, I have to say - that girl is as tough as nails. She stopped crying after maybe 5 minutes and wanted to climb back up the stairs! Kirch and I, on the other hand, were trying to force a little cold compress to her head. Well... she wanted absolutely NONE of that! She cried harder and longer because her parents were just trying to ease the swelling! So we gave it up and after another 15 minutes, she was absolutely fine, playing like nothing ever happened. I'll admit right now if I were the one to smack my head like that, I'd be out for the rest of the day. My girl was right back at it within a half hour, totally oblivious to the emotional scar that spill left on Kirch and me!

Saturday afternoon, after the Rudziks headed out, the Kirchers and the Beavers came up for dinner. Quinn was a bit more difficult for this dinner. She was hours past her nap time and didn't want to go down. It proved to be a very trying meal, and finally we gave up and I took her upstairs and gave her her nap. She fought it a bit, but after about 5 minutes of crying, she was out like a light and I was finally able to eat some HOT food!

The rest of Saturday was great. Quinn was a joy to be around all day. She played and was not shy around anyone the whole weekend. She was a blast! She loved being outside, even though it was pretty damn cold up there! She's continually learning at a rate that is unreal. Her dexterity is getting very good. She's close to zipping up her own coat! She wants to so badly, but still gets a bit frustrated with trying to actually get the zipper together. She's a pro at UNZIPPING, though!

Quinn slept great Saturday night, and it gave me, Kirch, Rachel, Mike and Chris some time to hang out and chat. But the previous evening of Charades proved to be too exhausting for Rachel and me, so we left the group at about 9:30 to turn in. I never even heard Kirch come to bed, I was so out!

Sunday morning, we took another walk outside with Quinn and played in the leaves some more. The colors were beautiful - most of the leaves are off the trees now, but it was still pretty to see them all on the ground, with a bright blue sky up above.

Aside from the knot, the whole weekend was a great one. Holidays with the Kirchers are always memorable. I have a good family. I am lucky.

Thinking about my Grandma Swanson

From the time when Quinn was just days old, I have been singing a song to her that my grandma sang to me whenever I spent the night at her house. It was strange - I hadn't thought about that song in years - probably 20, at least - until I was struggling to think of lullabies to sing to my new baby girl. I was in the rocker one night, and some of the words came back... "and it stopped short, never to go again, when the old man died." What was that song? I remember Grandma singing it to me... what was it? Something about a grandfather clock... that's it! "My Grandfather's Clock!" Well, of course I couldn't remember any other words and even the melody was fuzzy. So I went online and voila - in no time at all, I found the lyrics and melody to the very same song that was sung to me so long ago. Two things happened - all of the words came back to me, and I realized that there were several verses that my grandma never sang - at all. So it took me forever to learn and remember all 4 verses because I'd always skim the paper when I was doing something else. When it was time to turn the light out and sing to my little munchkin, all of those words escaped me.

It's been almost 2 years now and I still sing that song to Quinn just about every night. I always get very nostalgic when I'm in there singing. It makes me feel much closer to a woman who helped raise me, and to whom I haven't talked to in almost 17 years. My grandma died 10 days after my 18th birthday, on February 18th, 1991. I can't believe it's been that long. So my daughter has brought my grandmother and I back together in the most precious way... through a song that I once loved as a child.

Earlier this week Quinn discovered my grandma's old rocking chair - the very same one she used to rock me in. I snapped this picture with a very warm heart. I don't know if anyone had that chair before my grandma, but at least 4 generations of the Swanson Family have sat in it now...

Me and my closest friends!

What She's Doing Nowadays...

It's true that every new stage Quinn goes through, I say is the best stage. So I'm saying it again - she's 20 months old now, and this definitely is the BEST stage so far! She's just so, so... smart. You can't get anything past her anymore. She catches everything. She remembers everything. She learns at a rate that is astonishing. It's truly something amazing to watch. She's growing up right before my eyes.

What do you mean, I can't play with the plastic wear???

Quinn is counting now. And saying her ABC's. In no particular order (I had you going, thinking she was some sort of prodigy, didn't I?). It's hysterical. "One, Two, Fee, Fi..." I think, what happened to four? She gets as far as five and then I help. As soon as I say, "Six" she says "Eight!" Then she starts to say, "Q, B, T..." They're all mixed up in Quinnspeak, and it totally cracks me up! But it's incredible to me that she "gets it." Daycare is truly paying off - Tiana and Chrissy really work with the children and it is obviously sinking in. I count to 10 and say (or sing) the ABC's everyday with Quinn. More than once... it's so much fun.

Her long term memory has really kicked in. I can't do the "bait and switch" so easy anymore. She realizes the comb she was just playing with is missing. She knows when I take the fork off her plate when she isn't looking. And she lets me know how much it pisses her off :-)

That's the downside of this stage - the "Terrible Two's" started in earnest tonight at Great Beginnings. We were shopping for some Christmas items and she was getting antsy, so I let her out to sit on the kiddie rocking chairs. She loved it! She smiled and giggled and rocked away. When it was time to go, the Quinn I know disappeared and this new Devil Child threw her 1st full fledged temper tantrum. She threw herself onto the floor. She kicked. She screamed. When I finally go a hold of my little Wiggle Worm to put her back into her stroller, she suddenly turned stiff as a board and would NOT let me buckle her in. I have to say, I laughed through this whole ordeal. I was a bit frustrated and embarrassed, but hey - I'm in a toy store with a 20-month-old. I'm not THAT out of place.

She cried all the way through the line, out to the car, and then pulled the straight-back gag again when I had to strap her into her car seat. She cried all the way home. It's amazing to see such a sweet-tempered girl turn into Satan's Spawn right in front of your eyes. That was the first one - the first one of many, many, MANY meltdowns to come.

But then she does the cutest damn things, like take her socks off her feet and put them over her hands, and THEN falls asleep that way! I mean, how can you not think that isn't adorable?

Her hands must have been colder than her feet!

She's very into hats and mittens right now. She loves putting them on and walking through the house with them. She's starting to "pretend" now, too. She pretends to take drinks from empty cups, or sip soup off a spoon. It's so much fun to play with her, she just takes it all in with a big old grin on her face!

Check out my rad ski hat!

I know I'm cute, but it doesn't hurt to tell me...

The Art of the Fart

No kidding - Quinn actually "gets" what farting is all about, and she thinks it's hilarious! Yesterday I was changing her diaper and I heard a little "toot" come out of her. Well, I made a comment and laughed a bit, thinking nothing of it... something to the effect of, "Quinn, did you just fart?" Well, she thought this was very comical, so the next thing I know, she is straining to fart some more! She must have squeaked out about 5 little toots before all was said and done. And I swore she was going to pop a blood vessel in her head her little face was so red!

Later on that afternoon, I hear a little fart again - well, it started all over. I thought she was trying to "go" but OH NO... she was trying to squeeze one out again! And this evening, sure enough on the changing table, she's smiling away, grunting her hardest to get a little sound out of that rear end of hers!

I know this post is a bit on the toilet humor side, but come ON. You have to admit, it is pretty hysterical when a 20-month-old is trying to rip one out!