Life with Aurelia

Hello outside world.  This is Matthew, hijacking the blog while Jamie is out helping family and re familiarizing herself with how to speak Jersey.  I felt like I should provide a week in the life of Aurelia, as seen by Daddy.

Aurelia and I dropped Jamie and TJ off at the airport on Tuesday at about two, then drove back to Coeur d'Alene.  This trip was aided by my newest discovery, that you can make a Pandora song list of Disney songs.  We did run into one minor problem, which was that you can only skip so many songs before you are stuck listening to whatever comes on next.  After skipping four Randy Newman songs written about what he sees, it meant that we were forced to listen to the theme song of the 'It's a Small World' ride from Disney.

Aurelia had been diagnosed with Strep Throat on Sunday, which meant she was taking antibiotics.  It also meant that when the rash started that covered her body, I knew the cause.  We went straight from the airport to the pharmacy to have them call and ask for a new prescription.  After some waiting, a trip to the doctor ourselves, and a trip back to the pharmacy, we were on our way home.

Even though we were afflicted with this torture we didn't go straight home - on our way home we grabbed Taco Bell (a food that is restricted to when Jamie is out of town).  That night I made Aurelia a plate filled with apple sauce, cheese, bagel with cheese spread, and some sort of protein.  I had my burritos.  She ate the burritos (as much as she could) and left me with the stuff I made for her.  If we are keeping track this is one point for Aurelia - zero for Matthew. 

The next morning we woke up late, had bagels and chocolate milk for breakfast, then watched TV.  Aurelia was still feeling sick, so we had a quiet morning.

After a bit I realized we needed to make a trip to the outdoors so we went to Jamie's least favorite place in the world - Walmart.  I needed Coke - (my excuse) and we ended up with that, chocolate sauce, a frozen pizza, hamburger meat, Ice Age and Ice Age 2, and a coloring book.  I swear that every time I go shopping without supervision that we end up with a cart that looks like it belongs to a stoner.  Aurelia was quite well behaved and helped me push the cart, so shopping was fun for her, albeit VERY slow.

When we got home Aurelia got another cup of chocolate milk for being so good, then took an antihistamine induced nap to help take care of the rash. She awoke in time for dinner, which again included chocolate milk, and some sugar laced snacks for desert.  For those keeping track at home, that is 3 cups of chocolate milk and a bowl full of sugar.  The antihistamine had also done its job and Aurelia felt great.  She demonstrated her good health by running around the house with her hands over her head yelling.  She would careen into objects, stop briefly and say "Sorry", then continue along her way.  This lasted at least 20 minutes and was AWESOME!!!  I finally got her wound down enough to get in the tub and go to bed, but it was hilarious.  Score - Aurelia 2 - Daddy 0.

Thursday, I finally came into my own and started to figure this whole thing out.  We got up early, went to the park and played on the swings and in the water, came home and played with the bubble machine and chalk out back, and watched TV in between.  She started two new things - saying "Thank you very much" instead of just thank you, and saying "Uh oh" when the show was over and saying that it was broke and asking me to fix it (start another one).  The day passed fairly uneventfully, outside of running out of bagels and Lucky Charms or "Luckies?"
Score - Aurelia 2 - Daddy 1.

Friday we kicked butt.  We did all of the successful Thursday stuff, plus went and signed a new lease.  Aurelia enjoyed running around an empty house opening and closing doors, with herself on either side.  I only had one minor scare when she managed to get out the front door, but she was quickly aprehended before she could make it to the street (it only took me about 15 seconds to get there because I was expecting it). We got some shopping done to replace our missing staples and headed home for dinner and bed.
Score - Aurelia 2 - Daddy 2.

We are halfway through our day on Saturday and it has been a tie so far.  We went to Walmart again (as I am incapable of buying food or beverages for more than two days in advance), and Aurelia had to push the cart again.  We only went for more soda, but it still took us almost an hour and a half to buy 28 cokes.  I have this feeling that after our nap I am going to be back on the defensive. 
Score - Aurelia 3 - Daddy 2.

Additional thoughts -
1. I now know why Jamie talks to the kids all the time.  You can either do that or be the crazy person talking to yourself.
2.  Strangers do not like it when kids walk in front of them and stop at the store.  They like it less when I look at them like I may punch them if they say anything.
3.  I do not know how Jamie is able to get anything done.  She normally has two kids on her (usually literally) and can still manage to do laundry, dishes, clean the house, and make dinner for everyone.  (To the home reader - I actually have done all of this stuff, but I have to do it when the kid is asleep, not throughout the day)
4.  My daughter is awesome.  I think that I have focused on TJ more since his birth, as he tends to need more attention.  This has led me to miss or gloss over some of the fantastic things that Aurelia does and says.
  I am super excited to see what she is going to do next.
5.  This is from a couple of weeks ago, but strangers don't like being touched, even by a two year old.  We were at an event at the college where they were raffling off a house for $100 dollar tickets.  They only sell 5,000, and have the drawing on campus in a park area behind the Student Union.  Aurelia, TJ, Jamie and I have been buying tickets for three years and thought that this year was our shot.  So we packed everyone up, and brought them to the campus for two hours in a park with about 4,000 other people.  There was a band (which Aurelia danced to) and food, but after an hour and a half our daughter lost interest in being a well-behaved child and wanted to do what she wanted.  This involved running away from us, but not the normal kind where they go for a free opening as fast as they can.  Instead she would walk through the seated crowd with both of her hands wide to the sides and would touch everyone she could.  It was a challenge to navigate through everyone to catch her, so she would usually get about 15 to 20 people per escape attempt.  I was holding TJ, so Jamie managed to catch all of the glares that came from her victims.

That is all. 

My thoughts and wishes go to Jamie and her family as they deal with their loss.