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Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Make This: Reindeer Food



Major accomplishment today, making something with the big kid. Before I tell you why I'm crowing, let me tell you what we did so you can do it too!

Reindeer Food:

Materials:
sugar
oats
liquid food dye

I put about 2 Tbsp of sugar in a jar and let E squeeze in 2 or 3 (or 5 or 6- whoops!) drops of food coloring. She shook that really good, then we funneled in about 1/2 cup of oats. And there you have it- oats for the reindeer, and sparkles to catch the light of Rudolph's nose and show Santa where to land. Ernie's dad will help her throw a few handfuls up on the roof Christmas Eve.

I've seen this done with glitter, but glitter isn't very kind to birdie tummies, so we used sugar.


Now....let Mimi summarize the rest of our week up to this point.
For some unknown reason, Mimi can.not.sleep. Last night: asleep 8-11:30. Nursed, and we both went back to bed. I'd been in bed since 9, but never fell asleep. (Whatever I've done to be punished with insomnia, I'm sorry!) She fell asleep right away, I dozed off around 12:30. She was up again at 1:15, and just couldn't sleep in her crib. I hauled out the quilt and sat in the chair with her until 5:30- she slept fine, but I've lost my magical sleep-sitting-up abilities. I finally put her back down and tried to sleep. I fell asleep around 6:15, and was up at 7:30 to teach piano lessons. She took a 45 minute nap in the afternoon- I never managed to fall asleep. Drat.

When I say she can't sleep in her crib, I mean it. Believe me, after 3 nights of nearly no sleep, you better believe that I'm trying everything I can. This is one tired mama! I don't know if it's a sore throat, or achy teeth, or maybe something in her ears? She has snuffly breathing at night, but no runny nose during the day. However, she likes to sleep on her tummy and knees, bum up in the air. She quiets as soon as I get her out, and often just rests on my shoulder for a minute or two before jumping from my arms back to her crib. I tuck her in...and she's crying again 2 minutes later. She's exhausted, and she and I both want nothing more than some good quality crib time for this poor girl! Tylenol, space heater, cuddly blankets, humidifier, normal routine...she has them all.

So please send sleepy thoughts our way. I have 3 more piano lessons to get through tomorrow, and then I'm hosting a piano recital for all 14 of my students, and up to 30 more spectators. Forty-five people in my living room tomorrow night... why I never thought of moving the recital to a larger location, I'm sure I don't know.
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8 comments:

Teresa said...

Oh so sorry about the lack of sleep...not fun. Wish I had something wise to tell you on how to get the little one to sleep- but after 5 children and 6 grandchildren- it's still a mystery. What works for one doesn't work for the other.
But I will try and send a little sleep dust your way =)

Su said...

Ohhh.. poor Mimi. That sounds exhausting for everyone!
Sleepy thoughts your way.

And love the reindeer food idea

LunaMoonbeam said...

Sending sleepy dust. :-(

Casey said...

Yikes! William had trouble sleeping for a long time and we ended up putting a folding mat in his room so that we could sleep on the floor next to his crib. We didn't have to do it all the time, but it worked.

Ticia said...

No sleep is no fun. I've been blessed to never really have a kid who went through that, but I'll be praying things look up.

I Wonder Wye said...

Ahh, raindeer food - that's very clever....

Mama Papaya said...

Wishing sleep on both our houses. Children are sleeping here, but Mama Clause is busy 'til too late for my old bones. Tired enough to read your last sentence as "why I never thought of moving the rectal to a larger location..."

Oh dear.

Sleep Mimi, sleep.

Tammy said...

I always have a hard time getting my girls to sleep in the crib... Vi has been sleeping so well with us that I am too lazy to try the crib... I am doing Reindeer food this year also, but I bought pearl luster dust for baking instead of edible glitter... Hope Sophie likes it.