Jumping at the Phone

Yesterday, I knew I'd be back in the Production Department at work for much of the morning, so I told Evelin to call me on my cell if she needed anything instead of leaving a message at my desk phone or something. My phone, nestled in my pocket, is set to vibrate and then ring. The first time she called (to let me know what time Celeste woke up and how she was feeling), I jumped. And then I jumped each of the next three or four times she called over the course of the morning.

This evening, as Evelin was walking in the door, the phone rang. I picked it up and the Caller ID read the name of the friend who is lined up to watch Celeste when we have to head to the birthing center. I hand the phone over, and hear Evelin say something like "I just called you a moment ago" ... and I start panicking thinking that this is it.

As with each of yesterday's calls, I need to just calm down. Evelin was just calling G--- to iron out a few additional details. (For example, If we call in the middle of the night, is Celeste going there or is G--- coming here?)

We're still two-and-a-half weeks or so away from the due date ... hopefully, if the baby does wait that long, I'll figure out how to calm down a little before then.

Crying at the Park

Celeste is feeling a little better, I think. She ate pretty well today (pasta with marinara sauce at every meal, which may not be great, but she showed some appetite and it's not like we were feeding her SpaghettiO's) and we went to both the library and the park this afternoon.

The funny thing is that over the past week or three, Celeste has gotten a bit phobic about something at the park and we're not sure what. Since Evelin was ordered to take it easy a few weeks ago, she'd been driving to the park instead of walking, and last week and today Celeste and I added a trip to the park at the end of an outing, so we were already in the T.R.U.C.K. and it didn't make sense to stop at the house and then head back out.

At the park, Celeste is fine for a few steps in the parking lot, but she soon breaks into tears and demands to be carried to the swings, still sobbing. Today, she did walk across the parking lot, essentially chasing me as I walked ahead over her as staying just out of reach, but she stopped on the sidewalk and refused to step on to the grass unless I promised to carry her the rest of the way. We're not talking a very great distance here.

After swinging on the first group of swings, Celeste wants to move over to the other swings. Again, there are tears as I try to get her to walk where she wants to go. The smiles return as soon as she's in the other swings.

Once those swings have grown tiresome, she wants to be carried again. I ask if she wants to go home or to something else in the park, and she's a little non-committal. So we walk over to the firetruck.

After the firetruck, she's fine. She walks all over the place, even slips and falls to a sitting position on one of the play structures and instead of crying about it just scoots over to the slide and goes down.

Talking with Evelin about it tonight, she said she's noticed the same thing. The parking lot to the swings to the swings is all tears. After that, Celeste is fine. We have no idea what's going on in her head. The other variable is that she's much less likely to demand to be carried if we walk to the park instead of drive.

Technorati tags: phone playground toddler crying