This One Is For The Birds!

Man, it has been a rough couple of days!
Pufferfish has been beside herself lately! She spent the whole day yesterday just screaming her head off! She wouldn't let me hold her or even talk to her, and hollered "NOOOOOO, NICKI!" every time I had the audacity to offer her some cereal, ask her if she wanted to watch TV, or feel her forehead to see i she was running some sort of fever.
It was weird for me, because she's usually a clingy little munchkin, and whenever I heard her crying I literally ached to pick her up, hold her, and comfort her. But she wouldn't let me! I felt so rejected! There was no apparent reason for it, either. She didn't have a fever, and she usually is able to tell us if something is hurting her. The only thing I could think of is that, even though she seems happy about the new house, maybe she's showing some anxiety in a toddler-ish kind of way!
At about two o'clock yesterday, Pufferfish finally calmed down enough to let me change her diaper, and she asked me for some crackers and a banana. Here's a picture I took of her, in her short-lived happy mood, eating her snack, still in her jammies and with her hair all dishevelled because she wouldn't let me have anything to do with her before this!

Then I let her play in the tubby for a while, which also made her happy. But just when I thought we had gotten through her horrid mood, Jimmy came home early from work, and Pufferfish went crazy because she wanted to be with him. He was sick to his stomach and had come home to take a nap, and Pufferfish ended up laying down with him for the rest of the day.
Today started out like it wouldn't be any better! Pufferfish woke up acting like she was possessed, screaming bloody murder all morning long! When I changed her diaper and got her dressed, she acted like I was ripping her limb from limb! I decided to just ignore her this time, turned on the TV for her, and left the room. After about half an hour I heard her talking cheerfully to the TV as she watched "The backyardigans," so I went and sat by her, and it seemed to go well. And she was fine, after that! Little Bear came home from school, and we all ate lunch, and Pufferfish even let me do her hair so she didn't look like a banshee anymore!
I had been particularly worried because I had to go to traffic court today, for a ticket I got a few months ago when my license plate sneaked around and expired without telling me. I was afraid that Pufferfish would scream so much in court that I'd end up going to jail or something... if not for being in contempt of court because of the noise, then for ducktaping Pufferfish's mouth shut!!!!! But by the time we left for court, Pufferfish was in a great mood. And just to be safe, I bought a bag of Dum-Dums, and handed each of the kids two suckers as soon as we sat down in the court room. The suckers were to keep their mouths busy and quiet and their minds happy. It worked like a charm! Both of them sat quietly beside me, double-fisting their suckers and not bothering anyone!
Here are some picks of them by the fountain outside the courthouse. They had seen it on the way in, and I'd promised them, if they were quiet, we'd go see the fountain afterwards. I especially love the picture of Little Bear... doesn't she look beautiful here?

Anyway. Then came our actual educational project for the day.
We've been learning about birds for the past week or so. So we made nesting balls! All you do is get a mesh bag, like the kind that apples sometimes come in, and fill it up with stuff that can be used to make a nest. (We used cotton balls, feathers, and pieces of ribbon and string.) You secure the top of the bag with a rubberband, and you hang the whole thing in a tree. Birds can then pull out pieces and use them to build, or pad, their nests!
Here is our very colorful nesting ball.

Here is Little Bear climbing into a tree to hang it. This is actually Little Bear's personal tree. She discovered it one day while we were walking in the park, and she adopted it as her own! Its a great climbing tree, as you can see!

And here is our nesting ball in the tree, just waiting for some birds!

After that, we climbed up to the top of the hill (the same one that I once tumbled head over heels down and nearly broke my spine) and did some bird watching!

So it turned out to be a pretty good day! Although, after we got home, it did go sort of sour. Pufferfish mentioned that her tummy hurt, and then went into the bedroom to play. When she came out, she had gotten diarrhea and it had leaked out of her diaper, and gotten all over her legs and the back of her dress and even on the bedroom floor! That took a while to clean up. But Pufferfish enjoyed another mid-day bath, and everything turned out just super after all!

Comments

[Blondefabulous]

Busy, busy, busy!

[ALF]

Looks like a wonderful outside day!

[Melanie]

I'm glad Pufferfish is feeling better- hopefully she still is. Maybe it was just an off day for her- I know sometimes I feel pretty grouchy for no reason at all. Hopefully that's all it was and she's not coming down with anything.

[Tanya @ Teenautism]

Very smart of you to bring suckers for the girls while you were in court!