Halfway!

Max has had his cast on for a full two weeks as of today -- hopefully only two more weeks to go! I'd like to say that the whole "toddler in a cast" experience is getting easier, but that doesn't seem to be the case. We're managing, but it sure isn't easy. Many, many thanks to everyone who sent well wishes and cards and care packages -- Max (and Mom and Dad!) are very appreciative. We keep trying different things to keep him busy -- he seems to like having his beanbag moved from room to room, so we migrate around the house. We haven't been able to go out for many walks, because the weather here has been awful (yup, snow in April).

We've been trying just about everything to keep Max busy. You know that you're scraping the bottom of the entertainment barrel when you give your toddler the coveted TV remote control (which you usually have to pry out of his hands) and he immediately hands it back to you and exclaims, "All done!" He's been watching a ton of DVDs and we've discovered that he really likes Blue's Clues (he calls it "bwus cwus cwus"). He'll (chair) dance along with the show and he thinks the Mail Song is hysterically funny (especially when Mom sings it). I now have all the songs deeply ingrained in my memory, but I'm rather thankful that he didn't decide to like something truly irritating (like Teletubbies).

We're thinking of taking advantage of Max's current immobile state and trying to transition him to a big boy bed next week. I figure that we might be able to get through that awkward bed transition period a little easier if the "big boy" is physically incapable of getting up out of bed. ;) Maybe by the time his cast comes off, he'll be used to the new sleeping arrangements and the novelty will have worn off. We were planning to start him off on a mattress on the floor, so he can't possibly fall out and hurt himself. But, sleeping is one of the few things that he's still doing happily and easily, so we're not sure if we want to push the envelope or not.

As if to thumb her nose at Max's immobility, Molly is becoming increasingly mobile. She gets up on all fours and starts rocking, throws herself forward, and then uses her elbows, arms, and hands to army crawl a little way before repeating the process. Molly is delighted that she can actually get where she wants to go and she's usually smiling and giggling as she frantically tries to get to you. And, to thumb her noses at us, she's picked these couple of weeks to teethe in earnest. We've had a couple of days of respite here and there, but Molly has been super crabby these last couple of weeks. She wants you to hold her constantly, refuses to sleep, goes on periodic nursing strikes, and sometimes just cries and fusses no matter what you do. Her timing couldn't have been worse! It's a good thing that she's terribly cute, even when she's cranky. She's still babbling away and it seems that Dad has once again won the first word contest -- Molly is saying "da da" and appears to know what it means. Foiled again! You'd think that after the bedrest and the labor and countless nighttime feeds and diaper changes that she could squeak out a measly little "ma ma" but noOOoooo -- it's all about the Dada! ;)

Molly is working her way through her food trials and is loving solid food. We've tried peas, yams, acorn squash, and bananas so far -- all hits. Apples and pears are next on the agenda. Now that we have a Food Saver, it is even easier to make and store batches of baby food. I just cook up the food, puree it in the food processor, freeze it in ice cube trays, vacuum seal the cubes, and toss them back in the freezer. Good eats!

On a completely unrelated note, Dad managed to finagle our cable company into giving us HBO and knocking a bit off of our monthly bill to boot! That means that we get to watch the new season of the Sopranos after all. Hooray! Hey, maybe Max will like that better than Blue's Clues (just kidding). ;)