Spring Things (The Good, The Bad and The Bizarre)

Oh God, Oh God, Oh God...

So, Kayla has had the never-ending cold from Hades for about six weeks now. I think it was a train of two, maybe three colds, really, but it has basically left her sniffling and coughing for the last month and a half. And though she seemed like she was starting to feel better yesterday - great appetite, in great spirits, conquering all kinds of new feats (more on that), today she seems to have taken a few steps backward and she's having a tough go of it. The poor thing is just dripping snot and her cough is horrendous. To top it all off, she is pulling constantly at her ear. To this, I say, "NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!" You can not do this to me Virus Gods! You can not give my baby her first ear infection on the week of her birthday. I will not allow it. You back on off of my baby and you leave her healthy and happy, preferably forever, but I'll take until next Monday. Honestly...timing is a b****.

In other news though, yesterday was a major Big Girl Day for Kayla. We are supposed to be transitioning her from the bottle to a sippy cup. She has been drinking water from her sippy cup for a long time now and does great, but we are now supposed to be giving up bottles and only drinking from cups. Sigh...my baby is a toddler. Anyway, the first couple of times I gave this a go, she pretty much refused to take her milk from a cup. She would eagerly grab the cup, take a big sip and then go "Waaaaait a minute! This is not water!" and she would set the cup down, give me a look of disdain and then patiently refuse to drink any more milk until it was transferred to a bottle where it belongs, silly woman. So, realizing that her birthday is now almost here and that most of the daycare centers we're looking at have kids transitioned to sippy cups by 12 months, I decided yesterday that I better give it another go. This time, I tried it with her first bottle of the day, thinking maybe she'd be too hungry to refuse. Sure enough, without hesitation, she sucked it all down. Victory! Then, her second bottle of the day...I was 100% anticipating she would now be less hungry and would return to giving me the "Are you a moron" look...Sluuuuuurp. Sucked it right down again! Victory x 2! I have absolutely no idea what made the difference yesterday, but she didn't even blink while drinking every last ounce of milk from those cups. I wasn't brave enough to try it before bedtime but, despite a little hesitation this morning, her first milk of the day once again came in cup format. Looks like the transition may happen after all!

So, that was the first big girl thing. The second thing was that we went out to dinner last night and Kayla used a straw! She has tried numerous times before, but usually just winds up chewing frustratedly on the straw, looking at me like "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?" This time, she chewed, stopped, chewed, stopped, chewed, stopped then sucked! And then sucked some more! And then got all excited and drank the rest of my very yummy carrot juice. Can kids have carrot juice? Let's hope so! But yep, two Big Girl mountains conquered in one day. This kid is growing up way too fast.

In non-Kayla related news, it is spring time. It is spring time and this means that the Easter Bunny has returned to a mall near you. Can I just say, right here, right now, that the Easter Bunny is a scary bizarre freak of nature? I mean, really...A gigantic, walking, talking rodent that steals some poor chickens eggs, paints them funny colors and then hides them in strange and unlikely places? Who came up with this? The Catholic Encyclopedia, of course, says: "The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility." So, the fertility god rabbit brings pretty painted EGGS to small children? Creepier and creepier. Laugh all you want, but the Easter Bunny seriously freaks me out. I mean, really...



Do I really have to introduce my child to this? Can't we do egg and basket hunts (because those are just way too fun) without having to get into the whole "The Easter Bunny brought it," thing? Can't we just celebrate spring and talk about flowers blooming, chicks being hatched, etc., without discussing some humongous rabbit who somehow managed to get past our security system? I keep seeing Easter bunnies around town and, let's be honest, this is the weirdest tradition in the history of holidays. Well, no, that's not fair. There are some pretty bizarre holiday traditions in every corner of the world...ever been to India? But that is a story for another time. But this bunny...why? I can't help it, I am a little bit glad that Kayla is still too young for Easter and we have time left to figure out how to handle it. Easter Bunny...ugh.