My little Mellow Yellow

No, Sophia doesn’t have jaundice nor has she been smoking dried banana skins. Not that I know of anyway. She has been incredibly mellow for the past couple days though. Mellow, even for her.

The day before yesterday I spent the morning running errands. Sophia became frustrated with getting in and out of the car so I took her to the park to burn off some energy before doing some grocery shopping. She went to the play equipment excitedly but once on it she just stood there like a bump as kids made their way around her. She would wander around the park a bit, then climb on the equipment again, and just stand. I chalked it up to not being fully recovered from her cold. We didn’t stay very long.

Yesterday morning she woke up crying as she did everyday that she was sick. After about five minutes, she went back to sleep for an hour then cried again. I got her up at eight, gave her milk, and made breakfast as usual. She didn’t touch her breakfast.

It was supposed to be my cleaning day so I zoomed up and down the stairs gathering stuff together. Sophia got upset because she could keep up with me so I sat with her and read one of the books she always carries with her. After the third time through the book I told her I had to go clean the house. She wasn’t happy.

It was only 10am and she looked tired. Her tantrum seemed to me like a cry for a nap. I picked her up and put her in her crib with her book. She protested for about five minutes and then either sat quietly plotting my demise or fell asleep. It was completely silent until about three, but even then, I only heard a couple tiny sounds that didn’t seem like a fully awakened toddler.

I had left her there all day with the assumption that she must have needed the sleep, but at Kurt’s urging I got her up at four thirty so that she would still sleep at night. I opened the door to a fully awake toddler, laying on her back, and reading her book. She cuddled with us the rest of the evening. She wasn’t interested in playing at all.

I asked Kurt to wake the baby from her nap yesterday because I was making dinner. She didn’t fall asleep until three but I didn’t want her to take too late and then not go to bed at night. He went up and I heard Sophia crying, then Kurt laughing. He came down with fussy baby in his arms. Though I was curious as to why the crying baby made him laugh, I wasn’t looking.

Kurt: I’m guessing when you put her down for her nap she was fully dressed?
Me: Yes

I looked up. Sophia had no pants and had pulled her left arm out of it’s sleeve through the neck hole. She looked like a cave baby with a diaper.

Yesterday I went to my parent’s house to make tamales with my mom. In the morning, I cooked the chicken, which makes chicken stock at the same time, de-boned the chicken, and then made the tamale filling with the shredded chicken. All the while I had a toddler who kept alternating between hanging onto my pant leg, going for the cat food on the floor, and demanding food from the confines of her booster seat. After I finished that task, I put the baby gate up at the front door and made trips from the kitchen to the car. I checked off that I also brought food, formula, diapers, booster seat, and baby gate up to grandma’s house to make tamales. Babies need a lot of shit!

I planned this whole thing relying on Sophia sleeping on the way up to grandma’s house. Though it would be a short nap, at least it would be a nap. My darling daughter stayed awake, quiet, but most assuredly awake through the whole trip until I was literally blocks from grandma’s house. Ok, fine. I’ll stealthily take her out of the car seat, tip-toe up to an empty room and quietly set her down. Nope, she’s awake. Shit.

Sophia stayed awake the WHOLE day. She pointed out exactly where grandma needs to baby proof her house about every five seconds, but she didn’t fuss. While I was assembling tamales, Sophia actually amused herself for half an hour with a small empty plain brown cardboard box. MYGOD she really is my child.

My mom and I experimented with substituting 2/3 of the Crisco we usually use with olive oil. I think it tastes a lot better and I know it’s a lot healthier. After we’ve used up all the Crisco we have left, we’ll probably switch to 100% olive oil.

My dad and I talked about the election. He couldn’t believe how fast it all went. He didn’t expect to know so quickly.

My parents live in a small city in a Hispanic neighborhood. They’re within a mile of a community college and blocks from an elementary school. My dad said after Obama was announced president elect that he stepped outside. The neighborhood was quiet, but in the surrounding area, he could hear shouts and cheers. It’s really amazing. I’ve always thought of picking a president as choosing between the lesser of two evils, not so this time. I really have high hopes for Obama. I know he’s inheriting a huge fuckin’ mess, so it’ll be slow going, but I really think he has our best interests in mind.

My mom commented about Rev. Jesse Jackson crying at Obama’s speech. I joked that of course he cried, he wanted that spot for himself. Jesse could never make it, not in 1984, 1988, not now, nor anytime in the future. His whole platform would be about a black man making it in a white world, which fractures the crowd. That only captures a small percentage of the population because it even alienates other minorities. Obama obviously brought us all together and has the attention of the world. His election is being compared to the fall of the Berlin wall and Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon.

Obama victory sparks cheers around the globe
By JOHN LEICESTER
Associated Press Writer
People across Africa stayed up all night or woke before dawn to watch U.S. history being made, while the president of Kenya – where Obama’s father was born – declared a public holiday.

In Indonesia, where Obama lived as child, hundreds of students at his former elementary school erupted in cheers when he was declared winner and poured into the courtyard where they hugged each other, danced in the rain and chanted “Obama! Obama!”

Many expressed amazement and satisfaction that the United States could overcome centuries of racial strife and elect an African-American as president.

“This is the fall of the Berlin Wall times ten,” Rama Yade, France’s black junior minister for human rights, told French radio. “America is rebecoming a New World.

“On this morning, we all want to be American so we can take a bite of this dream unfolding before our eyes,” she said.

In Britain, The Sun newspaper borrowed from Neil Armstrong’s 1969 moon landing in describing Obama’s election as “one giant leap for mankind.”

Wednesday morning I awoke to the sounds of hand clapping, babbling, happy shrikes, and little pajama traction feet rubbing and stomping against the wall.  It lasted from two in the morning until four.  I was not amused.  Hopefully she’ll sleep in.  Not a chance!  Maybe she’ll take a long nap.  DENIED!  Oh, you little shit.

Last night Sophia had a fever of 100.4. I gave her Tylenol which she promptly spit out. I don’t know if she spit it all out or if she actually got some in so I didn’t do another dose. An hour later I was still awake so I took her temperature again. Same temp. This morning she still had the same temperature. So far I’ve given her two doses of Tylenol and she has had two naps – both under twenty minutes. I don’t think I’ve taken a temperature under or over 100.4 today. She is working on her third nap and I’m debating on weather I should shower or try and get some sleep. Most likely I’ll keep debating with myself and neither will get done.