The girls and I are down in LA visiting the grandparents right now. We are just coming off a whirl-wind weekend of fun. Suzy, Dan and their boys came up and we had a massive cousin-fest. It was absolutely wonderful. As the kids get older, they are beginning to play together more and more. There is something so sweet hearing two small people chat. At one point Leina and Daniel found themselves in a yes-no war. You remember these. One person takes “yes it is” and the other takes “no it’s not” and you go back and forth adnausium. So sweet.

Kulia spend the whole time trying to break into the big kids group. As the baby, she’ll have to get used to trailling behind the older cousins. They all did great with her but Daniel was especially sweet. He let Kulia climb all over him and loved giving her very gentle hugs and kisses. I think you can tell a lot about a child by how he or she acts around small babies and Daniel confirmed what I always knew. He is a very sweet boy.

Sammy and Leina picked right up as tumble buddies. At the beach, they would dig side by side. Outside, they’d play chase. If Leina wanted to run, Sammy was her man. She was tickled pink to have someone to go crazy with.

My favorite memory will be heading down to the beach together with sand toys and a big Nemo kite, watching dolphins swim by and waves crash, letting the kids dig in the sand and build sand castles, and running the bubble machine so the cousins could chase hundreds of little bubbles across the sand. I think Leina summed it up best when she turned to me at the end of the day and said, “mommy, today was the best day ever.”

Yes, honey, it certainly was!

It is with great joy that I can now announce that the Great Poop Watch of 2006 (GPW06) has officially ended.

If you have ever found yourself lying awake at an ungodly hour of the morning wondering just how long it would take a foreign body to pass through the digestive track of an eight month child, you may now sleep in peace. I can say, from experience, that the answer is 96 hours exactly. How do I know this? Gather near my child, and listen as I tell you the tale of the GPW06.

It was a cold February eve. Milk froze in sippy cups and cheeks were chapped quicker than a child could pick all the marshmellows out of her Lucky Charms cereal. The McLaughlin household was in an uproar. A visitor was arriving and the sad excuse for a mother was trying desperately to clean that which had remained unclean for far too long.

The Father was upstairs with the youngest. A sweet child of only eight months. He was trying to put legos back in bins, crayons settled into boxes, and Thomas trains returned to tracks. During his work, he gave his child some “distraction action” in the form of two orange earplugs attached to either end of a blue cord. The happy child began to gum away on the ear plugs and the harried father continued his futile attempt to find a place for an obscene amount of plastic junk. Glancing over at his youngest, he saw a sight that would make any parent’s blood run cold in their veins. His child was still chewing on the earplug cord only the end that dangled from her cooing and drooling mouth was barren. One earplug was gone.

Alarmed, he sprang from his work, casting aside wooden food and plastic pots and began emergency exploration. Alas, his finger found only slobber in the child’s mouth. The wayward earplug was no where to be found. Quickly he scanned around the chubby and cooing infant hoping against hope to find a spongy orange plug strewn about. Alas, his searching was in vain. Scooping up the child, he rushed down the stairs to the Mother who was putting stuffed animals away and trying to explain to her eldest daughter why, exactly, you cannot touch the dog’s pee-pee.

The Mother listened with growing horror as the tale unfolded before her. A quick mouth check by Mom confirmed the Father’s story and the worried parents came to the only possible conclusion. The neon orange earplug had been digested. The chagrined Father was sent upstairs with both children while the distraught Mother called the doctor.

It was 6:30pm on Thursday night and unbeknowst to either parent, the GPW06 had offically begun.

The doctor declared that the plug should re-emerge from the opposite end of injestion within 24 to 48 hours and great attention should be paid to each soiled diaper. Per the doctor’s orders, each poopy diaper was greeted with baited breath. The poop was meticulously sifted for signs of neon orange foam and the infant was fed an amazing amount of prunes. The effect was spectatular. Diaper after diaper after diaper came and yet, no earplug.

Friday faded to Saturday. Saturday to Sunday. Finally, Monday morning dawned cold and clear.

When the morning diaper delivered nothing but poop, the poor Father called and made an appointment with the doctor. When asked what was the nature of the emergency, he swallowed his pride and announce that his daughter had swallowed an earplug. Yes, that’s right, an earplug. After a bit of snickering. a time was secured and a visit proceeded. The doctor examined the happy child and declared that “this too shall pass” and sent mother and daughter home.

The GPW06 continued.

And then…..a passing of gas….a grunt…..a smell.

At exactly 6:38pm Monday, nestled amoungst mounds of smelly prune poop, there lay a glint of orange. Very carefully the poop was seperated and yes! There is was! The vigil was over. The plug was found..

And that is the story of the Great Poop Watch of 2006. I know, it sounds fantastic. Almost too incredible to be true. But it really happened.

How do I know?

Because, my dear readers. I was there. I saw the earplug in the diaper. I tried to take a picture but was told that was too gross so you’ll just have to trust me.

And so my tale ends. Rest easy tonight my friend. You midnight turnings and tossings will be no more. Sooth yourself in the knowledge that in 96 hours, and nine servings of prunes later, an eigth month old child can poop out an ear plug.

Leina loves to nurse. She constantly assesses her stuffed animals for signs of thirst. And if, say, Tigger is looking a bit parched, she settles herself down, lifts her little shirt, and stuffs Tigger on her chest while proudly announcing, “look mommy, I’m nursing my baby!” After a few minutes, she will remove Tigger, burb him, and then select her next hungry baby.

Personally, I find this hilarious especially when she declares that Puppy is nursing lemonade or orange juice. What can I say, the kid is gifted.

So it isn’t exaggerating in the least when I say I fell over backwards in hysterics when the inevitable happened yesterday. Leina decided to nurse one of her babies, looked over her animal kingdom and her gaze rested on…… her sister.

Yes, Kulia was unfortunate enough to find herself within Leina’s line of vision and I guess she looked hungry ’cause Leina hoisted her shirt, grabbed Kulia’s head and thrust her against her chest.

Poor sister was stunned into immobility. Much like a deer in headlights, Kulia froze when confronted with Leina’s little chest. I thought for sure she’d start screaming bloody murder for being manhandled (or rather, sister-handled) but she took it in stride. Leina sat, beaming, with her sister’s face smashed into her belly. After a moment, Leina announced “she’s all done!” and released her dazed sister. She then began to vigorously pat Kulia on the back, looking for a burb. Kulia, thinking this was some kind of new game, broke into a big grin and started whopping Leina in the face. This was not quite what Leina had in mind and this Hallmark sister moment quickly degraded into shrieks, screams and fisticuffs.

My only regret is that I didn’t have the camera near by because you know the girls would want me to preserve that moment. Of course, it might have been a tad difficult to find scrap book stickers to decorate a “look, I’m nursing my sister” page. But I’m crafty, I could have worked around that.

Every night as I head to bed I wonder what my nightly surprise will be. I never know what I will find when I turn back my sheets.

Cheerios? Goldfish crackers? A stray sock? A stuffed animal? A Thomas train?

Instead of being grumpy as I lay in a bed of pretzel crumbs or roll over on a wooden block, I find myself grinning. It all reminds me of those sweet sweet girls sleeping down the hall.

What will it be tonight! Lets go see….

As a little sister, Kulis dutifully adores Leina. This is to be expected. Kulia wants to do everything Leina does, eat everything Leina eats, and play with every toy Leina plays with. She is your basic little sister.

Leina, however, is beginning to show signs of baby love. At first, Kulia was a blob. Not too interesting, cried a lot, and took up precious mom time. Then Kulia became a nuisance. Always taking her toys, slowing us down, and making us wait around the house for her to wake up. Lately though, I think Leina is beginning to fall in love with Kulia.

Leina has become randomly affectionate. Kulia will be playing or cooing or smearing herself with yams and Leina will stop, watch her, and then turn to me and say, “isn’t she so cute!”

Last night Leina was chasing Kevin around the living room with Tutu arms. Kulia gave up trying to crawl after them and sat in the center of the room squealling with delight as they ran laps around her. Kulia would laugh, clap her hands, and bounce in place each time they ran by. On the third pass, Leina stopped chasing Kevin, leaned over and kissed Kulia on the top of the head, and then resumed the chase. Thereafter, every time they ran past Kulia, Leina would stop and give her some quick love; a pat on the head, a kiss on the cheek or a quick squeeze.

I just about died.

Even sharing is getting easier. Sometimes Leina wil sit with Kulia and play, letting her grab every toy and crash every building without the slightest complaint. I love it when Leina discovers something redeeming in Kulia. I can force her to tolerate Kulia but I can’t force her to love Kulia. That has to happen on its own. I guess I just didn’t expect it to happen so quickly or how sweet and heart-achingly wonderful it is to watch.

Sister.

Is there anything better?

Kulia’s fever has broken and while she is still drooling and gnawing away, she is much happier. We went from a level 11 to level 5. It sure is wonderful to have my sweet baby (mostly) back.

Her latest trick is to balance. She loves to stand on her own with these big wide eyes. And when she gets it just right and stands, she starts to laugh hysterically which, of course, throws off her balance and down she falls. She is so proud of her new found trick. Everyday she stands for longer and longer periods on her own. I’m afraid walking is right around the corner.

One trick I like to pull is the Patches test. Kulia has this little snuggly Pooh blanket we’ve named Patches. It’s about the size of a napkin and is furry soft on one side and satiny smooth on the other. Kulia adores Patches and snuggles it during every nap. I’ve discovered that Patches is the ideal way to test Kulia’s sleep state. She’ll be crawling around wrecking everything in sight. When I can guess her path, I’ll throw Patches in the line of crawl. If she is nice and awake, she’ll crawl right on by without missing a beat. If, however, she is sleepy, she will immediately throw herself face down on Patches, grasp a good handful and stuff it, and her thumb, into her mouth. The amount of time she spends face down on the floor is directly proportional to her sleepiness. A quick grab and rest means she’s tired but not quite ready while a prolonged Patches snuggle means it’s time to get her crib ready. It’s quite hilarious to see her plop down and snuggle away in mid-crawl.

Her newest game is drop. I believe she is discovering gravity and is quite amused. If she gets fussy sitting on my lap I will give her some toy to rattle or shake. Once that no longer grabs her attention, she will purposely lean over and drop the toy on the ground. She will stare at in on the ground for a while, drool flowing freely from her mouth and then reach for it an grunt. This is my cue to bend over, pick it up, and give it back to her. Rattle, drop, dool, grunt. And repeat. We can play this game for up to 20 minutes at which point my back starts to hurt. I’m not sure how long Kulia could go. Probably hours.

Well, Leina is up and yelling for me. Just my luck, she’s decided to skip her nap today. Yipee! A cranky two year old and it’s pouring rain outside! If I’m really lucky, Kulia will wake early and then I can add a teething toddler to the mix! Motherhood, ain’t it grand!