Master of Manipulation

Teagan got on an antibiotic for her infected eye and within a couple of doses it looked much better.
Last week we had a lot going on and weren't really able to get her to bed on time any night. It seemed to catch up with us this week. She was exceptionally feisty and stubborn. We dealt with many meltdowns and tantrums.
She's also learning very well how to manipulate, delay her bedtime, and milk her "boo-boos" for the maximum amount of sympathy. Bedtime has started to go like this:
Us: "Ok Teagan, time to get ready for bed"
Teagan: "I hungry"
Us: "No, you already had dinner, let's go."
Teagan: "I need drink water"
Us: "Ok, drink some water and then go brush your teeth."
Teagan: "I gotta go potty." (Keep in mind that we've barely scratched the surface of potty training and more often than not she's just trying to change the subject.)
Us: "No you don't, you just went. Let's go brush your teeth."
Teagan "I GOTTA GO POTTY!!!" (Insert complete meltdown here.)
Once the calm has set back in, after the routine teeth brushing and the book reading and three songs, it starts again.
Teagan: "I wanna hear Barney song". (If it were up to Rog and I, she wouldn't know who Barney is, but she learned at daycare.)
Me: "Ok" (Sing "Barney" song). "Time for bed."
Teagan: "I need drink water."
Me: "No you don't. Get in bed."
Teagan: "I want book."
Me: "Ok, get a book and take it to bed."
The other day, she tripped on the sidewalk and scraped up her knee. Each time this happens (and it seems to happen a lot), you would think that her world is crashing down on her. She is such a drama queen.
Well, this particular night, the same day she scraped up her knee and after we had gone through the usual ordeal of getting her to bed, saying her prayers and kissing goodnight, I started to leave. Then I heard her say “My boo boo hurt”. I replied by kissing her boo boo and saying “You’re fine, goodnight, I love you.”
I then shut the door and could actually hear her working up tears. It was the fake, slow crying which slowly mounted to full blown actual sobbing in between, “Owee, my boo boo hurt!”
Now, overall, we have been very lucky these past two and a half years. Teagan has always gone to bed very easily until this new phase began. In the past, if she has cried, I’ve let it go and it usually stops quickly. But when I heard this actual crying, I couldn’t help myself, so I went back in there. What a sucker I am. I came in, wiped her tears, kissed her knee again, and the tears stopped almost instantly.
Teagan: “I wanna sing.”
Me: “Ok, but you’re staying in bed, we’re not going to rock. What song?”
Teagan: “Barney song.” (Ugh… again??)
So, I proceeded to sing that song again, but couldn’t cover her with her sheet afterwards because her boo boo apparently hurt too much.
FINALLY she let me leave with a “Lushyoutoo, mommy”. Then she was sound asleep within minutes. I just don’t understand why kids fight the sleep when they’re clearly so tired!

What a Shiner

Saturday evening, Teagan was bitten on the arm and near the eye by a mosquito. She's always had sensitive skin, so insect bites tend to swell to larger than normal size. Sunday morning she woke up with a mountain on her arm and one eye almost swelled shut. It didn't seem to bother her much and we didn't want her to miss out on her buddy Quinn's third birthday party that day. So we took her to the party and explained to everyone what had happened. It was a beach party theme and she had a blast. They had containers filled with sand and shells, and they set up the slide to go into the little wading pool. There were minimal disagreements and a lot of laughing and squealing. They finished up the party by decorating cupcakes and then returning to the pool. Teagan stuck out the lower lip and tried her best to squeeze out some tears when it was time to go, but once we got her in the car she began to zone out. That night we tried a few things to alleviate the itching of her eye, but nothing seemed to make much of a difference. The next morning, her eye looked worse and she could barely open it. We iced it down and got an appointment at the doctor. I took the day off just so I could be there with both Teagan and Rog. As it turns out, it had become infected so we were prescribed an antibiotic. After the visit, she perked up so we took her to lunch and generally had a nice family day. I was a little nervous taking her out in public because of the swollen eye, but if anyone asked, we just told them what happened. After two doses of the antibiotic her eye already looked much better when she woke up this morning. Despite the doctor's office visit, we had a pretty nice three day weekend.

Sugar High

This weekend we took a trip down to Cape to visit "Hamaw" and "Hampaw". Teagan seems to pronounce it differently every time we see them. It was a big celebratory weekend. Saturday we celebrated Roger's grandmother's 95th birthday. As the 20 or so people showed up at the house for the celebration, Teagan went through the usual motions of clinging to Mommy or Daddy and not talking to anyone. However, we finally learned what happens when Teagan gets too much sugar in her system. She had what I considered to be a small piece of cake and some ice cream, but it was apparently more than she had ever had at once. After a short amount of time, she was literally bouncing off the walls. She would run from one end of the house to the other yelling, hit a wall and then turn around and go again. She became very friendly with everyone at the party, and took an exceptional liking to her great Uncle Joe. (Or Unkey Joe, as she called him. Sounds a lot like Monkey Joe's, huh?) She had a blast, and I think a lot of people had a blast watching the spectacle. Roger and I definitely did. Once it was finally time to go to bed, she requested that "Hamaw" read to her and put her down. She seemingly crashed pretty hard, because we didn't hear a peep after Liz left the room.
The next day we went to another party to celebrate our niece Andrea's high school graduation. This time around we were a bit wiser with the cake portion!
I kept thinking about how quickly time flies. When I first met Roger, Andrea was this cute little seven year old, and now she's a beautiful grown up eighteen year old. It's difficult to comprehend. I know Teagan will be graduating high school before we know it. I just need to try to enjoy and take in every day I have with her!