Even More Guys

I was getting Alice ready for her afternoon nap (okay, non-nap). She was carrying her guys around with her when she went into the spare bedroom. A minute later she came out without her guys. I put Alice into her crib and tucked her in for her non-nap, then I went to look for her guys. Didn’t want these ones to get lost so soon. Turns out she had put her new guys under the comforter on the spare bed … with the original two guys. All this time the first two guys had been on the spare bed, while we were tearing apart the rest of the house. I thought it was especially funny that she put the new guys in with the old and didn’t say a thing to me.

Alice is a Big Girl

Alice had a good night last night. We didn’t think she’d sleep well without any soothers, but she slept soundly from about 8PM until 7:15AM. I guess Alice was ready to give her soothers away. She’s not a little girl any longer.

No More Dooers! Alice's Guys Return

This morning when Alice woke up we asked her to give away her last soother. She did so very willingly, just as she has all week. Tonight when we were getting Alice ready for bed, she asked for her soother. We reminded her that she had given all of them away. She was very upset, and cuddled with mommy. We distracted her with a story, and with her ‘guys’. Who are her guys? A few weeks ago mommy bought Alice a Backyardigans pirate ship, complete with two pirates (Uniqua and Pablo). The two pirates went missing within a couple days, and had not been seen since. Mommy and I have done multiple exhaustive searches to no avail. Alice often talks about her ‘guys’ – that’s what she calls the two pirates. She’ll wake up from a nap and we’ll ask her if she had sweet dreams. “Yup.” “What did you dream about?” “My guys.” How precious is that? We’ve been telling Alice that her guys must be away on an adventure. Given this weeks events, we decided to find replacment pirates. These new guys appeared on Alice’s dresser this evening, much to her delight. We told Alice that she could sleep with her guys tonight, and they could tell her all about their adventure. This seemed to make her very happy. We read her a few stories and then put her to bed. She didn’t ask for her soothers – why would she when she had her guys? So far, she’s been very quiet. We expected her to be very upset, but she seems to be adjusting very well to not having any dooers. She’s been asleep for a couple hours now. Hopefully she’ll sleep until her usual 7:30AM.

Only One Dooer Left

Corinna has corrected my spelling of soother – it’s dooer. My mistake. Tonight Alice gave her second-last soother, an orange one, to a baby that doesn’t have any. As a reward, Alice had another Crave cupcake. Tomorrow morning we’ll ask Alice to give away her last dooer. She’ll be fine at the dayhome – it’s been many months since she’s had a soother at Donna’s. But tomorrow night, Alice will have to sleep without a soother for the first time in almost two years.

T-minus Two Dooders

Tonight Alice gave away her pink soother, to give to a baby that doesn’t have any. Again, she was very good about this. I had a box for her to put the soother in and Alice picked the pink one, leaving her with two orange ones. We gave her a couple smarties as a reward for being such a grown-up girl. She sure loves her marties. Tonight she’s sleeping with only one of her orange dooders.

Giving Away Alice's Soothers

We are working on getting Alice to give up her soothers. We’ve been telling her for a few days now that we need to give her soothers to babies that don’t have any. This seems to resonate with her (at least while she still has some soothers of her own). Last night was the first night Alice had to give away a soother. I found a box to put the soother in for the recipient. Corinna and I told Alice she had to pick a soother to give away. She choose her blue soother, long one of her favourites. Alice didn’t seem to mind this exercise, though I’m not sure she fully understood the implications. At any rate, she was rewarded for her generosity with a cupcake from Crave. Alice slept with only one soother last night – she usually has two. She’s like her Daddy: backups are important. But she made it through the night without needing a second soother, so this is promising. There are only three soothers remaining. Alice has to give one away each day until they are gone, so Friday night will be the real test.

Chase Making Progress

Chase seems to be improving. He’s much better at hobbling around on three paws, and he seems much more comfortable. Yesterday after supper I was concerned about his paw. One of his toes was red and it looked like it his paw was swelling, so I took him back to Fish Creek Vets. Dr. Walker was just finishing his shift, but stuck around to have a look at Chase. Because he was just wanting to examine the paw, he didn’t want to put Chase under. There was a huge battle with lots of hissing and spitting, but Dr. Walker was satisfied that Chase was okay. I took Chase back to the car and he was still hissing, but he was quiet the whole way home.

Donna's

Daddy just got home from work and asked Alice how her day was. She replied: “Donna’s house play phones play blocks at Donna’s house”. It’s so nice she can give us details! It used to be we’d ask if she had a good day, and she’d say “yup”, or just nod her head.

Alice's Day

Tonight over supper, Alice and I had the following conversation. “What did you do today?” “Cassie, Auntie, Mommy.” “How nice. Auntie Chrissy and Cassie came to visit. What did you do with them?” “Pway toys. Take turns.”

Unstoppable Cat Meets Unmovable Door

Yesterday morning I was trying to take Chase to the basement. He was biting me and trying to get me to take him outside. I picked him up and took him to the basement. He was having none of it and fought me the whole way. Before we got to the landing he jumped out of my arms and landed hard against the basement door. He immediately started yowling and favouring his right hind leg. We took him to the Fish Creek Pet Hospital right away and saw Dr. Mark Norman. Because Chase hates his regular vet visits soo much (he’s going to be sedated for his next shots), we decided it was best if we observed him at home for 24 hours to see how he behaved. We were both pretty convinced the leg was broken, but since it didn’t look like a dislocation there was no need to treat him immediately. Once he was home again, Chase stopped putting any weight at all on his leg. This reinforced our suspicion that he’d broken his leg. Today I packed Chase up again and took him back to Fish Creek Pet Hospital. Dr. Norman was there, but Chase saw Dr. Dave Walker instead – he’s an orthopedic specialist. The first thing they did was put a plastic bag around his kennel and administered ‘iso’ to make him sleepy. This was a great idea, since it meant Chase wouldn’t injure any staff members while he was being examined. Once he was unconscious Dr. Norman examined the leg. Sure enough, it was broken. The X-ray confirmed two broken bones. The next step was to prep his leg for a cast. Once Dr. Walker had the cast on and set they took another X-ray. They also gave Chase a little hydromorphine to make him more comfortable once he woke again. They don’t recommend pain meds for animals since it makes them feel better, and then they agravate their injuries. Chase has to tough it out, poor little guy. Chase has to return in 3-5 days for a follow-up visit. They did a ‘bi-valve’ on the cast – meaning they cut it in half and taped it back together again. This makes later exams easier. Chase will need to be in a cast for about 6 weeks, which I’m sure he’ll absolutely hate. On the upside, his prognosis is good.