Sugar + Toddler = Problem

I knew there was a good reason that I try to limit Calleigh's sugar intake. I don't see any need for her eating sweets except on special occasions. So yesterday we were at Braelyn's birthday party and she ate an entire cupcake. Okay, no problem. It's a birthday party, it's early afternoon, all is well. Later in the day, Elaine and I, along with Calleigh, met Terry and Toni at Forest Lake Academy for the International Food Fair. We ate a good meal and then it was on to the dessert table. Elaine comes back to the table with two cupcakes. Since it was late in the day, they were giving two cupcakes for one ticket. Calleigh chose one and proceeded to lick the majority of the frosting off. Since the rest of us were still eating and since I wasn't thinking with a clear head, when she pointed at the other one, I let her lick that one too. MAJOR MISTAKE. Elaine joked that Grandma didn't mind giving sweets because she knew it would be me that would have to deal with the aftermath. How right she was. She went to bed a little later than usual, a bit after 8 o'clock. She seemed to settle right in but not so fast. She started pacing in her crib and intermittently crying. Over the next 3+ hours, I got her up three different times to see if I could tire her out. We thought at first that she might have a bellyache but as soon as we would get her out of the crib, she would start in talking as if it was the middle of the day. So we knew it was just plain old sleeplessness. I even tried to bring her into my bed at like 11:15 to see if that would work but all she wanted to do was walk around on the bed. At long last, because I wanted to go to bed myself, I put her back in her crib and she FINALLY fell asleep at 11:45. Never again! This morning she slept in about 15 extra minutes (I wouldn't let her sleep much longer than that anyway even if she hadn't woken up herself) and then, I prepared myself for her being in a foul mood. But she was remarkably pleasant for the whole day. Anyway, this has definitely been a learning experience.

We had a nice, uneventful Sabbath. Shannon came by after work and had supper with us and then we watched a few TV shows we had taped. I also talked to Ricky and caught up on his activities. It's always nice when he's traveling between the school and Baltimore because then he has time to chat on the phone. He's quite excited since he'll be going to the Middle East on a school trip during the month of June.

Braelyn's birthday party was at 11 am on Sunday at the clubhouse in their community. There were about seven or eight kids and twice the adults. Calleigh had a fantastic time. They have a pool that has a little ramp (as opposed to stairs) so it's perfect for kids to wade in. The water was cold but it was about 85 degrees out so it felt pretty good and the kids sure didn't mind the cold. We brought her bathing suit and she went right in. Braelyn had a lot of pool toys that they played with and Calleigh also spent some of the time trying to wade out farther than I would have liked so I had to keep herding her back in. They also have a playground there that she took a turn in. When it was time for lunch, I think she was too wound up with excitement to eat and wouldn't eat any of her food. She had to go out and play some more and then eat after everyone else was already done. And even then, she mostly had strawberries and a few bites of PB&J. When it was time for cake, I kept my fingers crossed and fortunately she made no signs of terror. The cake was a bunch of cupcakes all put together to form a cake. Neat idea! After cake, we lingered just long enough to watch Braelyn open her presents that we brought and then we were off. By that time, it was a good half hour past nap time and the fatigue was showing. Duncan stayed behind because he was going golfing with Allen after the party. I thought for sure she would fall asleep on the way home but I actually kept her awake.

The disturbing news from the party is that Calleigh BIT a 7-month old baby on the cheek. There was no denying it. The teeth marks were as plain as day. I was appalled, embarrassed, you name it. The poor baby started wailing as you can imagine. I immediately grabbed Calleigh and put her in a timeout and apologized profusely to the mother who thankfully was very understanding (the baby has a 3-year old brother so at least he's used to a little bit of roughhousing I suppose). Calleigh has never attempted to bite a baby before as her MO is usually to squeeze it to death with a hug. So I can't figure out if she was trying to kiss the baby and it went awry or what happened. She did apologize to the baby afterwards and kept saying for the rest of the day "Baby's okay." At any rate, I'll obviously have to keep a close eye on her. Apparently I was a biter as a child so maybe I'm the one to blame. It's in the genes.

Today we did our usual - story time. There was a big crowd of kids today but Calleigh still managed to do her usual jumping around and chasing bubbles. I talked to Sue, the grandmother who attends the story time that I've gotten to know, and she was talking about how Jillian is turning one tomorrow and they are having 42 people at the party. Can you imagine?? She said it's her daughter-in-law, the baby's mother, whose planning it and she's staying out of it.

Tomorrow Calleigh is going to be spending the day with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Toni, and Shannon. They're taking her to Animal Kingdom (since they all have passes). Meanwhile, I'm going to the dentist in the morning and then have a big meeting at work starting at 3. If the timing works out right, I thought I might be able to squeeze in an hour laying out at the pool. What a glorious thought! I'm trying to get rid of this pasty white skin.

That's all for now. Have a good night!