Category: Mara Joy

Sooo my precious little daughter has the flu

Posted on by Becky

It’s midnight, and thankfully she is in my arms, throwing up on my clothes and her clothes–and unfortunately, on Blue Bear–but NOT in her bed! This means I don’t have to change her sheets and blankets, so I am thankful.

But she begins to cry. “Spit-up!” she says wearily through her feverish tears. “Spit-up–mommy’s shirt!”

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” I say. “Mommy can put on clean clothes.”

Daddy changes Mara’s diaper and puts on new PJs, while Mommy cleans vomit off the bedroom floor and throws Blue Bear into the pile that is going in the washing machine.

When we finally lay her back down in her crib, she looks up again through her tears, asking, “Blue Bear? Blue Bear?”

“Blue Bear has throw-up all over him,” I explain. “Blue Bear has to be washed.”

“Blue Bear–new clothes!” Mara insists. In her mind, it’s that simple: we change Blue Bear’s clothes, just like we changed Mara’s and Mommy’s clothes! . . . but it’s NOT that simple. So there are many tears between midnight and 2:15 a.m. when Blue Bear comes out of the laundry all clean!!

Then all is well again, and Mara sleeps till almost 8:30.

The Mara Joy Cooking Show

Posted on by Becky

It’s Friday night. After dinner, Daniel suggested that he and Mara could make cookies for a little fun father-daughter time.

Last week, Mara and I made cookies from a Funfetti cake mix. Kids love those cakes with the colorful sprinkles in the mix, and making the cookies couldn’t be easier. Just add eggs & oil, stir it up, roll the dough into balls, press them down, and bake! Of course, Mara “helped” . . . or didn’t help at all, but we had a great time nonetheless! She would try to roll a ball–which would turn out like a little glob–and hurl it onto the cookie sheet, without regard to the previous placement of other cookies. But it was fun seeing her try!? So Daniel suggested that he and Mara could make those same cookies again.

That was when Mara piped up! I will include Mara’s words and Mommy’s translations:

“Roll it! Roll it!” she said “rolling” imaginary cookies between her hands.

Then she held her hands out flat. “Sheet! Sheet!” Place them on the cookie sheet.

“Ah-nen!” [put them in the oven] “Hah! Hah!” [Hot, she said of the oven, holding one hand up.]

“Bee-beep! Bee-beep!” That’s the timer going off. 🙂

“Eesh!” Then she stuck her index finger in her mouth and pulled it out. [This means “eat” the cookies.]

Finally, she added, “Mulk! Mulk!” Yes, there must be milk with cookies!

That’s right, Mara! You’ve got this cookie baking down!!! I think you can show Daddy how to do it!

Look out, Rachel Ray!!

The Grocery Store Lecture

Posted on by Becky

Over the summer, Mara struggled quite a bit with discipline, particularly whenever we went to the store. She might stand defiantly in the shopping cart seat or, when I was not supposed to be picking her up, she might refuse to hold my hand walking into the store. This behavior is simply unacceptable for several reasons, including her safety. So for several months now, I’ve been giving her the “grocery store lecture” in the parking lot right before we get out of the car. I want to make sure the expectations are clear. It goes something like this:

“Mara, we’re going to the grocery store now. When we get out of the car, you need to obey Mommy. If we’re walking, and I say ‘hold my hand,’ you need to hold my hand! If you’re in the shopping cart, and I say, ‘sit down,’ you need to sit down! You need to obey Mommy. . . ” Up to this point, I’m pretty stern, and you can always see her little wheels turning, processing all this. At the end, I try to reassure her: “I think you will obey, because I think you want to be a good girl!” and I give her a smile and a hug as we get out of the car.

Well, on Thursday afternoon, we pulled into the Shoprite parking lot, and I was sticking something in the diaper bag, when Mara looked at me, questioningly and asked, “Walk? Walk?”

Then with a stern expression and furrowed brow, she said, “Hand! Hand! [that was either me saying ‘hold my hand’ or else Mara assuring me that if I let her “walk,” she would hold my hand].

She continued, “OH-bay! OH-bay!? . . . GOOD girl!!!” Then she gave me a big smile.

Wow, something inside me felt torn between laughing and crying. Laughing, because it was the cutest lecture ever, so perfectly “rehearsed,” but at the same time, I somehow felt like crying, realizing just how much she comprehends and how much she remembers . . . She just gave me the entire grocery store lecture!

It’s humbling, sobering to realize that she remembers so much and notices every little word, every little gesture, and repeats them!

“May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord. . .”

“No”

Posted on by Becky

Well, Mara has finally learned to say “no.” Thankfully, she has yet to use it in a defiant manner! That will go badly for her, as Daniel says.

But she uses it freely otherwise.

“Are you ready for a nap?”

“No.”

“Mara, do you want to brush your teeth?”

“No.”

“Are you going to share your snack with Daddy?”

“No.”

Well, there you have it, dear. . . You did ask!

So Fast . . .

Posted on by Becky

onmonitorOn Tuesday I got a call from Jefferson’s apnea people, saying that Monday’s download showed no true episodes and the doctor who reviews Micah’s downloads is recommending that he come off the monitor!

offmonitorI was so excited! Especially since Sean had said that some of the airlines don’t allow the baby to fly with a monitor. . . and we have tickets to visit my family in South Dakota in the middle of October! So I wasted no time calling the pediatrician and getting the final okay from him. Here are the pictures: what I carried around BEFORE and AFTER!! (“After” is so much simpler!!!!)

And Tuesday night, Micah went to bed for the first time in his life without any wires or tubes on or in his body! It was great to see the little guy lying there in his cradle, just like any other little baby! . . .firstnightwomonitorHe really is getting so big! His feet reach the end of the newborn-sized sleepers now. It won’t be much longer before I have to pack away his “newborn” clothes with the “preemie” ones. The past couple of weeks, he has started really smiling, and almost laughing. It is wonderful that he is a normal baby now. He’s also started enjoying the Baby Einstein activity mat, kicking his legs and waving his arms to activate the lights & start the music. Sometimes this summer it seemed like this stage would never come . . .

“It goes by so fast,” people keep telling me. So I want to write it down and remember it all.