I Was Wrong

Apparently, I slept through her second night of sleeping through the night. Her Aunt Annie went in around 12:30 and put her back to sleep. Since then, it has all been down hill. She's been waking at least once, if not 2 times a night. She doesn't seem to be cold, and she's always at the top of the bed. She may be banging her head against the rails, which wakes her up. I hope she figures out how to turn around soon. She's more active in her sleep than her brother ever was.



Her Mama and I will be battered and bruised from sleeping with her on our trip this weekend. She packs a good wallop in her sleep. We are hoping to tire her out so we all can get some rest. Its a good plan, but she usually destroys them, just like the bumper on her crib.

The Key or Molar?

Tori has been sleeping better the last 2 nights. I had turned the fan down the night before, hoping that she was waking because she was cold. Yesterday she awoke at 4:45 am, so with a little warmth and bottle, she went back to sleep. Last night, her Mama turned off the fan and Tori made it until 5:30 am without waking up. The evidence indicates that she was cold, but there could be another cause.

She is getting another tooth. We can feel a molar pushing through her bottom gum on the left side of her mouth. If her pattern of getting teeth holds, she'll have another one on the right side shortly. This could be waking her up, but she hasn't had a real bad night of sleep in awhile. We'll have a better idea if she sleeps through the night tonight. Then again we may never know. As long as she's sleeping through the night (or getting close to it like the last 2), we won't care if we ever find out. If she isn't getting enough sleep, she can take a nap on the way to the sitter's like she did this morning. In the meantime, Tori will just have to claim her teeth hurt to get more ice cream.

Rocker

Tori loves to bounce on things (See here). She loves riding Ollie's horse on the porch. She'll sit on it forever if our arms didn't give out from all the bouncing. She'll bounce in your arms when you hold her. She'll bounce while sitting in a chair. Any motion and she'll be content.

When we went to the Farm Park last weekend, they had a saddle in one of the displays for kids to sit on. Ollie didn't want anything to do with it. Tori didn't complain at all. She even tried to make it bounce like the horse ride at home.


Hay doesn't bounce, so her ride was over quickly. All the bouncing makes me wonder if we'll be purchasing a trampoline in our future. It also makes me wonder if she'll ever sit still.

Little Kisser

Tori has turned into a little kisser. She doesn't have the technique or the aim right or consistent. The technique starts when she opens her mouth wide and comes at you at full speed. This results in her missing her mark most of the time. You'll end up kissing her nose, 1 lip, the inside of her mouth and sometimes for fun the flat underside of her tongue because she is sticking it out at you!

She gave her Mama and Dada plenty of kisses last night, alternating between us. She thought it was a fun game and we only had to towel off a little. It is just another progression in her becoming a big kid like her brother. Its hard to remember sometimes that they were both so small and then they come at you at full speed.


Tori with her cleaning brush and apron on.

Out Like A Light and Sleeping Through the Night

For one night, Tori slept through the night. She complained vocally when she had to go to bed for only 5 minutes. That beats the 45 minutes from the previous night. We must've tired her out with all the activity last night. She walked, played, bathed, swam in the pool and had all kinds of fun.



She finished her bottle, was changed and sent to bed a bit after 9. I was surprised she was out that quickly since the previous night lasted so long. I was even more surprised that she made it all night. I doubt it'll repeat tonight, because she's not good at maintaining habits.

Walking and Sleeping

Tori spent Saturday walking around the Farm park. She walked every where she could. To the animals, down the pathways, in the school, around the porch swings and around the playground. She didn't want to be picked up, she just wanted to walk on her own, picking up things along the way. She fed several goats and came back with all her fingers intact. Apparently toddler fingers aren't on the goats menu.

She was worn out after almost 3 hours of fun, so she fell asleep on the way home and sacked out for several hours.

Sunday night was a test for sleeping. Tori got a late nap on Sunday and wasn't falling asleep to her usual routine. So, we dumped her in bed to let her cry it out. 45 minutes later, she had worn herself out and fell asleep. As good as this was, she still didn't sleep through the night. She woke up at 2 and was soaking wet. After being changed and drinking an ounce of bottle, she fell back asleep because she was too exhausted to eat. She was groggy this morning, but eventually woke up. We are going to try to let her cry it out again tonight and change her diaper before bed. Maybe then her parents can get out of the habit of waking at 2 am.

Boxed In

Ice Cream Bandit

After running errands last night, we went and got ice cream. The waffle cones we got were bigger than Tori's head, so we shared ours with her. All was well while we were at the top of our cone. She's have a bite of my oreo ice cream and waddle over to her mama for a bite of her butter pecan, then make the return trip to my ice cream.

Tori has a habit of taking your ice cream when you near the bottom of your cone. This habit continued last night as she swiped the remainder of my ice cream cone. She walked around the tables while occasionally taking a bite of her dripping ice cream loot. One wasn't enough for this little bandit. She next swiped her mama's butter pecan. This one was a bigger and better heist as there was more ice cream left in the cone. The thief made her way around the patio tables dripping an ice cream trail where ever she went. She'd occasionally stop to take a bite of one cone then the other and continue on her get away trip.

Eventually the caper came to an end. She was caught cold handed and relieved of her loot. It was too late for the prior owners to reclaim their ice cream. It was all over the bandits face and hands. The rest of it was discarded into the trash as it was time to leave. The bandit was not happy about having her loot taking and wailed for her looted ice cream back. After a few seconds of cleaning, she had forgotten all about her lost ice cream and began planning her next caper.


If you see this ice cream bandit, report her immediately. She is dangerous around ice cream and will use all tactics, such as smiling, crying, wailing and outright theft to get her ice cream.

In other non-ice cream bandit related news, she and the pavement at petsmart had a face-to-face meeting. The sidewalk tripped her and she got a little road rash on her face. Apparently, the sidewalk didn't trust her either.

I'm just glad we got her pictures taken BEFORE her latest fall.

The Pictures and The Orchard - Tori's Side

Tori is a much more agreeable picture taker than her brother is. She sat for all the poses, rarely moved and smiled for almost all the pictures. She even had a few taken by herself. It being her nap time, we were happy she smiled for most of the pictures. Last time she had her picture taken when she was tired, we got a blank stare. These are much better as we'll see in 2-3 weeks.

The orchard was just as much fun for Tori as it was for Ollie. As you can see by her photos starting here. She was able to pretty much go where her brother did and even did a slide or two her brother wouldn't. She even got to play with the goat that they let out for awhile.



She was a little tentative (and tired since she missed her nap), but once she got going, there seemed to be no stopping her. She zonked out on the way home and had a nap once we got there. She then slept almost all night and got up at 5:30, only to take her first nap at 8:30. She was worn out, but it was back to the routine last night.

Sprawl

Tori was tuckered out yesterday. She missed her morning nap, so about 11, she laid down in front of the TV with her arms and legs extended and fell asleep. Apparently it was nap time.


Tori checking her feet out.

Cut and Panic

A couple of days ago, Tori was playing with an old soap dispenser that had been stored in the closet. It was shiny metal and pretty, so she was naturally attracted to it. The lid was off and she put her fingers inside the hole.

She started crying while standing by the stairs. Nothing seemed wrong, nothing in her hands, no mean brother around, she must've been scared by something. She came over and sat in my lap. Everything seemed fine. Then I noticed the blood on my shirt. Then I saw it on my shoulder where she had laid her head. I admit I panicked! I tried to stop the bleeding with a towel. I pressed too hard and it made Tori cry. I tried washing it off, more crying. Drying, more crying. Band-aid attempts were met with resistance, blood and more crying.

After I caused a fight with my panic, she settled down with a bottle and her hand stopped bleeding on its own. Her two fingers were dried together and she had other spots of blood on her where she had wiped her hand.

In the morning she was all cleaned up. It ended up being a small cut that bled profusely. She never took notice of it again.



Her father, however, needs to learn to not panic and make the situation worse by going overboard. If not, they are going to be running to their Mama with every boo-boo.

Chair Envy

Tori has a slight case of chair envy. Since she's learned to climb, one of the few things she can climb on is her brother's chair. As soon as he's out, she's in. Envy and jealousy works both ways with these two.

Rejected

On Wednesday night Tori had her haircut along with the rest of us. She had her ends trimmed as her hair growth is still a bit wonky. We are waiting for the day we can put her hair up in dog ears. She has to let us put things in her hair and she has to leave them there. In time I guess.

Before we left the hair dressers, Tori let Holly our hairdresser hold her. She has seen her enough that Tori is comfortable with her. We paid and made our next hair appointment and went to take Tori from Holly. Tresa tried first and Tori buried her head in Holly's shoulder. She tried again, same result. Since I'm the favorite parent, I tried. Rejected as well. Eventually, we pried Tori away from Holly, but not before 1 more hug.



Yesterday, Tori went for 2 more vaccinations. I tried to take her from the sitter so we could go and Tori buried her face in Sharon's shoulder. I took her anyway and she started to cry as we left. I don't know if it was because we left her brother or because she left the sitter's. She was happy as a clam when we got back. I guess Tori is telling us that she'd rather be with other people. Apparently, we aren't the favorites anymore.

2 Nights in a Row

She's slept all the way through with very little moaning. Maybe she's turning the corner, but I doubt it'll last much longer. If nothing else, teething will ruin it.

Tonight we all get haircuts. Tori's hair is still fine, but she has more of it than her brother did at 1. We can't put her hair up because there isn't enough of it and she pulls the clips out and chews on them. It might be long enough by Thanksgiving to keep it up without much interference.



Here's to chopping some off!

Hand in Mouth

It seems Tori spent most of yesterday at the sitter's with her hand in her mouth. She's getting more teeth (probably molars), but she won't let us peek in her mouth to verify. She chewed on anything she could get her hands on last night. I tried to poke my finger in to check, but couldn't feel anything on the left bottom side. She tried to bite my finger off, so I didn't try again.


Last night was an odd sleeping schedule for Tori, She feel asleep around 6:30 got up groggily around 7 and rolled around the floor for a little while. She wasn't quite awake. Eventually she got herself together and played until 10. Then she slept all night without much fussing. I'm sure she'll be back to her normal waking schedule tonight. It doesn't last long with her.