Difficult nights and playing with Sam

Megan has only slept through the night one time in the past 2.5 weeks. It started out as really bad teething pain, she was waking up about 30 minutes before her pain meds wore off; but the last 3 nights she has been waking up very early. We suspect that she has gotten used to getting up and spending time with us so she is keeping it up. We are hoping to break the cycle tonight.

On a good note she is approaching Sam on her own now. We have been propping him up on a bobby in the floor or putting him in a bouncy seat or swing. The past few days she has been going over to where he is at and playing with him. Will said that today she was bouncy his seat for him and playing with the toy bar. He said that Sam was enjoying the ride.

Everywhere!

Megan has always been content to play in the same general area. Lately she has been more adventurous; but nothing like today. I was feeding Sam and she decided to be little miss wanderer. I had to put Sam down 5 times to get her - she was literally in every corner of the living room.

Busted...but in a good way

I just *caught* Megan trying to pull up on her crib. She was up in "high knees" with her hand on the top of her crib rail, and she was trying to pull up. She didn't quite have enough leverage or support to get the job done, but she was trying.

At least one new tooth

The 4th tooth on the bottom front has broken through, finally! This one has taken foreverd too. She has been working on her bottom molars - I think I can feel the tip of one on the right side of her mouth. It is difficult to tell for sure because she doesn't like my finger in there and she bites down with the VERY sharp upper molar when I do manage to get it back there.

As you can imagine, it is difficult to concentrate on what I am feeling with the tip of my finger when the top of it is in pain from her bite. I might be able to get a look tonight when she is laughing if I have a flashlight. I think if Will makes her laugh and I am standing there ready it might work.

Funny little one

Megan loves to lick our shoes. I don't know why, other than that she loves shoes. She constantly crawls over to where we are sitting and will try to lick our shoes. Of course we don't let her lick them, if we can help it - sometimes she is just way too fast.

Earlier today she came over to get my shoes and I told her "no licking the shoes". She just looked at me. She is VERY good at distraction. She should be, we use it on her all the time. Anyway, she will act like she is not interested in whatever you don't want her to have and then incredibly fast will get it. So she was laying on her tummy looking at my shoe. I had told her not to lick it so she was just looking up at me. Then she did the funniest thing. She licked her hand and then touched her hand to my shoe.

Seriously funny.

Teeth brushing

I have been trying to brush Megan's teeth for months. She usually doesn't let me put the toothbrush in her mouth. I can't blame her, her mouth is usually hurting from teething. I was just using a wet toothbrush. Two days ago when I was at the store I saw some toothpaste for toddlers and I got some for her.

I have now successfully brushed Megan's teeth for the past two days. Yay!

Rough night

Megan had a rough time last night. She finally went to sleep a little after 3:00 am. She is cutting her bottom molars, at least we think that is what is going on.

She got about 5 hours of sleep, woke up for breakfast and then about 15 minutes later asked to go back to bed.

So proud of our little girl

Megan is getting more comfortable with Sam. She is touching him and playing with him. She is doing a great job with being "easy" with him. Sometimes she gets excited and is a little rough but is quick to correct it.

She is standing so much more now. The therapist said that she will need ortho inserts for her shoes once she starts walking because she is putting all of her weight on the inside of her feet. After this week I am going to talk to her about going ahead and getting them because Megan can't take sideways steps, like to cruise around furniture, because her weight is so much on the inside. She wants to take off and get things and can't get going so she either dives for it or reaches for it and looks at us and fusses for us to help her.

Lots of friends and hanging with Sam

Yesterday my good friend Piper came by to meet Sam and 3 of her 4 kiddos were with her. These kids are used to playing with each other so they were all over Megan, sitting on her leg, stepping on her feet, taking toys from her, giving toys to her, in her face and basically all over the place. Megan did awesome. She sat and watched everything for a few minutes and then started playing with her toys. Eventually she made her way to an out of the way place to play so that she wasn't in the thick of things so much. She was okay with them playing with all of her toys, even her favorite toy. I was so very proud of her.

Last night I was holding Sam in my left arm and Will sat Megan on my right leg so she was laying back on me. After watching Sam for a couple of minutes she decided to give him a "high five". She did this a few times. It was very sweet, and Sam just laid there for it.

Super sweet big sister or just annoyed?

Sam was fussing in his bassinet off and on for a few minutes. Eventually he started getting louder and Megan looked at me did the sign for "eat" and then covered her ears. So, she was telling me to feed Sam so he would stop making noise.

Super sweet? She wanted me to feed her brother because he was upset

OR

Just annoyed? She just wanted me to do something to make him stop crying

Learning new things

Megan has one of the farm toys where you push/pull/twist buttons that cause doors to pop up with animals in them; and then you close them and do that again. She has been closing the doors for some time now, but hadn't quite figured out how to open them. She was trying to open them the same way she opens the door on her piggy bank and the door on her shape sorter; which is by pulling the door back up. Well, two days ago she managed to open one of the doors once or twice and then yesterday she did it repeatedly. So proud of her for figuring this out. Now she can play with the toy all by herself.

She has a bead puzzle board - the kind that has a wooden base and then 3 different wires that snake around and you push beads back and forth on them. She started taking an interest in the toy a couple of weeks ago and would just spin the beads, but a few days ago she started moving the beads through the maze. She will stick her arm through different areas to get them all the way. She is very methodical about it and concentrates to get what she wants accomplished.

Megan's pony that she got for Christmas talks and sings when you pinch the ears. This morning she was able to pinch the ear in the right spot to get it to sing for her.

She stood up at the coffee table again yesterday multiple times and played with various toys. She is getting so much stronger.

Various skills

A couple of days ago Megan learned a new skill - how to clap "up high", "in the middle", "down low" and "behind the head". She can do this on command and loves it.

Talking like crazy - she is talking all the time now; we can't understand her but she clearly knows what she is saying.

Tonight she stood up out of a chair by holding onto the coffee table. She stood there and played for a few minutes before she sat back down. She stood back up several times to get to things on the table.

Military Crawl

Megan started using the military crawl a couple of weeks ago - she is very good at it. She is no longer launching herself, this option is more efficient, takes less energy and doesn't include the thud at the end.

Kisses for Sam

Megan was fascinated with Sam tonight. I was feeding him and Will was sitting on the other end of the couch with her. She watched everything I did.

Eventually Will took Sam and I was holding Megan. Will lowered Sam down to her level and I gave him a kiss on the forehead and then I moved her to do the same. She did it, she didn't make the kissing noise or give him a big wet kiss, but she did kiss him.