Devils and Details

Details I didn't bother to mention yesterday:

Penny's blood sugars were almost suspiciously excellent for the whole trip to Atlanta. She had a couple of lows when meals were delayed or we were doing a lot of walking around, and we had to chase a couple of carb-heavy meals with some additional insulin, but as a rule, she responded to corrections quickly and smoothly and was back in range by the next check. It was a relief for things to be so nearly normal.

Alex was sleeping on a little roll-out trundle bed and sharing a room with Penny. Matt and I were a little nervous about it, because he's still in a crib at home, and while I was fairly sure he wouldn't fall out of bed (he sleeps on a cot at daycare just fine) we weren't sure he would stay put once we left the room. But he was fantastic about going to bed -- all our relatives were downright flabbergasted at how smoothly naptimes and bedtimes went. And the mornings weren't too bad, really -- Penny woke me up around 7 the first two mornings (which was hysterical, since she didn't have a clock in her room) and then Alex came and got me at 6:30 the last morning, which was earlier than I'd have liked, but within the realm of reasonable.

On the other hand, the middle of the night was not nearly so smooth. The first night, Penny woke me up around 3:30 to come and soothe Alex back to sleep. And then again the next night she came and got me around 2:30, and then kept coming into our room and waking us up every fifteen minutes -- and then Alex figured out that he, too, could get out of bed and come in search of Mommy. I think it was an artifact of having them in the same room together: having woken each other up, they weren't familiar enough with having another person in the room to get back to sleep. At one point, Penny came in and complained, "Mom, Alex is rolling!" Finally, I had Alex get into bed with Matt and I for about half an hour (which ensured that all three of us stayed awake) until I was sure Penny had fallen asleep, and then put him back to bed -- which wasn't until about 4:30. We all took a nap the next day! At least they stayed asleep the third night.

I was also a little nervous about the stairs -- Bill and Sharon's house is three stories high, and the stairs go straight down the middle of the living areas. Alex is usually pretty good on stairs, these days, but he's occasionally a bit unsteady, and I was a little worried he'd attempt the stairs on his own in the dark and get hurt. But he wouldn't go near them even in broad daylight without Matt or I holding his hand (and more often than not, the lazy little weenie would beg to be carried up or down anyway), so that went well, too, and I have a lot less concern now about the trip to Chicago in July. Also, I'm beginning to think we might finally be able to get rid of the gate on our stairs at home. Penny was 2 and a half when I started letting her navigate the stairs by herself, now that I think of it.

Both kids were amazingly good about being at the nursing home where my grandmother lives. They were a bit shy and wary of all the old people admiring them, but Alex didn't flip out or get upset, and Penny was very patient about answering all the repetitive questions ("What's your name? How old are you? What grade are you in ?") and enduring the ones who wanted to touch her hair or her arm. I was really proud of both of them.