Fever

Crap. I got a phone call from daycare at 3:00 today saying that Nora had a 100 degree fever. Not that big of a deal. BUT as I was pulling into daycare at 4:00, they called back to say it was up to 102.5.

I've given her both Tylenol and Motrin and it is down. She doesn't seem that out of sorts, but she can't go back to school tomorrow. Brian is manning the home front for the morning and I'll take over in the afternoon. Hopefully she'll kick this one quickly.

The only nice thing about this one was that daycare actually informed me, in the middle of last week, that there was a virus going around. I'm telling you, this daycare is exactly what we were hoping for. Responsible, caring, they actually teach concepts, and they prepare all homemade meals. Pumpkin bars, blueberry muffins, and trail mix are some of their snack items. No sugar cookies for 10:00 am snack like I saw the last place giving. No wonder she was only napping for and hour or an hour and a half there towards the end. She was all jazzed up on sugar! Nasty.

That's what's going on here!

Weekend update: Dentists, eagles and salmon

This weekend was a busy one for Nora!

Saturday morning was Nora's first visit to the dentist. She sat on the chair while Mommy got her teeth cleaned, then took her turn. She did a great job at sitting still for the hygenists, and thought that the suction tool was the coolest thing ever. She even managed to score a helium smiley-face balloon!

Then, on Sunday, it was back to the mountains. We drove up Highway 9 to Rockport, a prime eagle-watching area along the Skagit river. Rockport is in the center of the North Cascades range and has some incredible scenery. This weekend was the first time in several weeks that the weather has been sunny, and the view of the mountains was spectacular.

The time from the end of December to the beginning of February is when the salmon swim upriver to spawn and die. This makes it prime feeding time for the bald eagles. We were not disappointed...with the help of one of the eagle watching guides we were easily able to spot a bald eagle roosting on one side of the river, and a Great Blue Heron on the other.

We drove a few miles further up the road and toured a salmon hatchery which has been operating in the area since the late 1940s. It was amazing to see the hundreds of thousands of baby salmon swimming in the tanks. We learned that this year would have been the best year in decades for the salmon population, but the flooding in the area over the past couple of months has wiped out a lot of the eggs that would normally be hatching now.

Tomorrow it's back to the new daycare for week 2. Nora's behavior has been great (no more biting!!) and she seems to be having a lot of fun. After seeing the difference between this new daycare and her old one, I think we definitely made the right decision. Now I just have to find a better way to get to work in the morning!

First day at the new daycare

This morning was Nora's first day at her new daycare, which seems to be a considerable improvement over the one she was attending before. We dropped her off this morning and she ran off to play with the other kids without a moment's hesitation. The location of this new place is not really convenient for either one of us but I have no doubt that the change will be worth the extra commute time.

There has also been some relief in the sleep department...Saturday night was the first night in recent memory that Nora slept all the way through the night in her own bed, without interruption.

Snowday: part 6

April's phone rang at 5:15 this morning. Guess what that means? Yep, another snowday!!!

Today marks the sixth day that school has been cancelled due to weather since the end of November. The entire region, once again, is freaking out over 2 inches of snow.

Weekend in the mountains

We spent the weekend with Auntie Pea at White Pass, a ski area in the middle of the Cascades. It was a lot of fun to get out and play in the snow, although it required some bundling up: the air temperature up in the mountains was only 5 degrees!

Nora seemed to especially enjoy eating the snow and making snow angels.

Chopsticks

One of the coolest presents Nora got for Christmas this year was a pair of chopstick holders, in the form of a little rubber girl with holes in her feet. They have come in quite handy given our family's penchant for dim sum.

We celebrated New Year's Day by going back to China Gate, our favorite dim sum place in the International District. Nora got to try out the chopstick holder for the first time, and within a couple of minutes she was making short work of her pork shu mai and sticky rice.

More snowdays!

The crazy weather here continues...yesterday we were pounded by another snowstorm, which threw the area into a panic once again. Streets are closed, and schools are not opening again until next Tuesday. This nice 5-day weekend means that the school year is going to extend to June 27th. In contrast to the last storm, we are not having any problems with the electricity.

Nora went out to play in the snow this afternoon, sporting her new pink snowpants which were originally purchased for our upcoming trip to the mountains this weekend. Little did we know they would come in quite handy this whole week!

In other news, we found out today that we must have been torturing Nora with shoes that were too small...we had her feet measured today and she has gone from a size 6 to a size 8 1/2 in a matter of months. Unfortunately her new shoes are not nearly as cool as her cousins' as there are no sound effects or blinking lights.

Daycare Change...thank goodness

I've finally had enough of Nora's daycare. Nora was sent home from school at 10:00 last Tuesday because she had bit a child three times. Nice, huh? Don't you think after the first time you'd...there's no need to rant right now.

I took off the next morning to go in and chat with the director about her thoughts on why she thought all of this was happening and make the recommendation that she be put with the older group. When I arrived at 8:30, the director was 'out' and the teacher for the room Nora was supposed to move into had not yet arrived. Nora and I went into her new room and I showed her around. We looked at all the new toys and friends that she was going to get to make. By 9:30, the director had not returned and the classroom teacher was not there. Nora's group of 2-3 year olds were grouped with the 4 year olds as well. There were two teachers in the room with 20 students. They were well over the 7 to 1 ratio that is mandated by law. I was not a happy camper.

When the director returned, I gave her a few minutes to get settled and went into her office. She was having a personal conversation on the telephone when Iwalked in. She said to her friend, "Just a minute," put the phone on her lap and asked, "I only have second." What? A second to discuss how to help my baby? You've got to be kidding me.

I left Nora's daycare (reluctantly) at 10:00 and went to observe two other centers. I was very impressed with one place and put Nora's name on the waiting list. I was told there would be about a one month waiting list. Not the best scenario, but the best we could do on such short notice.

On Friday, I found out that the eldest of the family that watches Nora is off from her normal nanny job until the end of the month! I was so excited that I called that daycare to confirm that Nora would be able to be in there by the end of the month. To make a long story short, Nora is starting at Kid's Country in Woodinville on January 22nd, and Dyanna is going to be watching Nora, in our home, until then! I couldn't be happier! I think Nora needs a little time by herself, and then she'll be entering a wonderful environment that has a REAL teacher (and has stayed in her job for 6 years!) and real curriculum.

We're finally back on the right track.

Hanging out in Milwaukee

Nora hanging out with Auntie Nessa

Opening presents is so much fun! Especially when Santa follows me from one state to the next!


Showing off dance moves to Louise


With Angie and Ava at the Milwaukee Children's Museum

Tackle!

Highlights from Wisconsin

Nora had lots of fun playing with her cousins Ethan and Logan last week. It was amazing to see how much the boys had grown even since we last saw them in August.

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year everyone!


We arrived safe and sound in Seattle last night, shortly before the turn of the New Year in the Pacific time zone. The journey home took us a little over 18 hours, and we were all very happy to get some sleep. Our thanks go out to Grandpa and Grandma, who braved the 6-hour roundtrip through a snowstorm to get us to the airport on time!