a sleepy, snowy day

I wrote this yesterday....so keep that in mind as you read.

My day started at 2:30ish this morning, when our little one had one of her night terrors, or whatever they are. She had one a few days ago, but before then it had been months since she'd had one. I've learned not to go into her, even though she's crying and carrying on, because she's not awake and it only makes it last longer if I try to fix it. She works through it much better on her own. Around 2:45 her cry changed and I could tell that she was awake and was calling "mama." Then I went in and she was fine as soon as I picked her up. I sat down with her in the dark and rocked her and sang a few songs while she sat quietly. I couldn't tell if she had fallen back asleep or not. After a few minutes I said, "Are you ready to go nigh night some more?" "Okieeeee," she answered quietly. So I put her back down and she was quiet. I went back to bed, but for the next hour she would rouse every few minutes and do her strange "I'm not awake" cry, so I couldn't sleep (not to mention my husband's snoring, because he has a cold). I was tossing and turning and didn't want to keep him up, so I got up and came downstairs. I was wide awake by that point and didn't fall asleep (on the couch) until about 5:30. At 6:30 I heard my husband get up, and a few minutes after that our little one started making noise, too. So my day started (with very little sleep).

It snowed overnight, about an inch and a half, but then it started again and was supposed to continue all day, along with some freezing rain. All of the schools around us closed (including the city schools, which never close) and my husband says the road are pretty bad.

When I went to get her up after her nap (oh, I slept a little during her nap, by the way, so I felt much better by this point) I walked in her room and the hood from her hooded fleece was up on her head! I wished I had had a camera with me--it has a pointy hood and she just looked so funny sitting there in bed, hair all a mess, bright red cheeks, and a pointy hood on her head. Quite a sight.

So after her nap this afternoon we ventured out into the winter wonderland. She was, of course, excited to wear her boots. I threw a snowball to her, which she then picked up but wasn't sure what to do with. So she did what any exploring toddler would do, I suppose....put it in her mouth. She's almost through the putting everything in her mouth phase (I think!) but she couldn't resist. "Mmmmm," she said. "Yuck!" I said, as I told her no. It was dirty because the gloves I had pulled on as I rushed out the door were an old pair that I had used to help my husband out in the garage one time.

So she "threw" her first snowball and I helped her make her first snow angel. She liked it when I moved her legs back and forth and back and forth. She thought that was funny. She didn't get it, though, and when I tried to show her what she made she turned away and got interested in something else, but oh well. It's still her first snow angel:

We came inside after 10 minutes or so because it was lightly raining freezing rain and we were getting wet. She would've stayed out all afternoon, though. Then we played with one of her favorite things--her pretend food. Right now she's really into the ears of corn, a bunch of peas, and a pretend chocolate chip cookie. She carries them around for a significant portion of the day.

It's supposed to keep snowing, so we'll see what tomorrow holds, and whether we can go out again.

Okay, now it's back to today, Wednesday. I got much more sleep last night, though she still had one of her "episodes" as I've come to call them, since I don't know what to call them. This time it was at 10:00 though, just as I was getting ready for bed. It didn't last long and was much more manageable.

It did snow again last night a little bit. All of the schools are closed again here. I'm watching my niece today (she'll be here in a few minutes), so I'm sure my little social girl will be in all her glory with another little one to play with!

(Oh, and here's just a little of what goes on at my house....dancing with a jump rope in her mouth. Doesn't everyone do that?)

the pig tail war

My friend, Emily, recently posted on her blog about wishing she could put pig tails in her daughter's hair (our daughters are almost the same age), but her hair is still too short. I commented on her blog and said that I'd love to do pigtails too, but it's a battle I usually choose not to fight. She hates having her face or head touched to clean, brush, comb, wipe, etc, and makes it abundantly clear to the perpetrator (how do you spell that word, anyway?? I can't get my spell check to work!). Washing her ears, face, and hair is a daily battle I do choose, because, hello, she needs to be clean!

But anyway, until today she'd only had pigtails (successfully) two times, and that was because Daddy held her arms away so she couldn't grab her hair or my hands and make it impossible for me to do. I can't do them by myself at this point because she doesn't understand why Mommy's pulling her hair and can't help but pull away.

So today her hair was awful--she got out of bed looking like her finger was stuck in a light socket. Some mornings she wakes up and it looks almost perfect, and other mornings it's a static mess. Today is was the latter. So I decided to fight the battle of the pig tails. Daddy held her down and I, armed with a brush and two teeny tiny rubber bands, went to work. She wiggled, she squirmed, she cried and carried on, but Mommy (with reinforcement from Daddy) won. The pig tails stayed.

I tried to take pictures, but she was too busy either dancing, playing, fooling with her pig tails, or crying (because I wouldn't put the camera down) to really smile for me, but oh well. Here she is in her pig-taily cuteness (complete with drool on her jumper!).

my new name

First I was "da da." For a long time, actually.

Then came "dee da." My mom was that too for awhile. Last time we saw her she was "ga ga" (sounds kind of like "Grandma," right?)

Finally I became "Mama." I was so excited!

The other day I became "Nonny," as she's trying to say "Mommy." She'll say "nonny nonny nonny," and I'll correct her and make sure she's looking at my mouth as I say, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy." Then you can see her little mouth contorting just so and she says, "Mah-ny Mah-ny," and then finally a "Mommy" comes out. She'll say Mommy a couple of times and then it's like she just can't make her mouth say that anymore and it's back to "Mama," which is just fine with me! I'll take "Mama" anyday over "da da!"

I've had the thought for a long time that there's something wrong with the muscles in her mouth/lips. From day one she had eating problems (couldn't latch on correctly, had to switch to the bottle, had a zillion problems with that, too, and on and on). She can't drink out of a straw, uses the "d" sound for everything that's supposed to start with "b," and has trouble making the "m" sound, too. Something about putting those little lips in the right position just isn't easy for her. She can make the sounds now, but it's taken a long time, and it isn't very often that she uses them correctly in context (Mama is an exception). I mentioned this to the doctor a couple of months ago at a visit when she was sick, and she said we'd address it at her 2 year well check up, so we'll see. If there's a problem, I'd like to know about it now so we can get her in to see someone who can help us sooner rather than later. I hate that she's learning all of these wrong ways to say words! When she's in kindergarten I don't want her being made fun off because she wants to play "dasket-dall" or tells her friends "dye dye" at the end of the day, or can't drink out of juice boxes because she doesn't know how to use a straw!

So anyway, "Nonny" is off to bed. I just signed off of my class for the night (it's so weird that I can go to class 24/7 in my PJs if I want to), and I'm tired.

picture time

Okay, so I lied.... I said I wouldn't be around much this month, but I've gotten tons of work done for my class in the last two days and am several days ahead (chalk it up to being completely stressed about it all, so I worked hard to get as much as I could done), so now I can take a break and share some pictures with you.

Early this morning my little one found a hooded sweatshirt that she wore yesterday laying around--somehow it didn't make it up into the hamper last night when she went to bed. She decided to put it on (with Mommy's help when she couldn't get it on all by herself). Then she found Daddy's Steelers stocking hat (a hat he's had forever and a day) and put that on. She also still had her PJs on....she was quite a sight, so I decided to take some pictures. (By the way, notice that the back of her car is filled with her beads. That's where she likes to store them!)

Later on in the morning I decided to attempt fingerpainting for the first time with her. I was feeling blah and we didn't have any plans today, the weather was gross, and I needed something different and exciting to add pizazz to our day. I figured I'd have a big mess to clean up, but oh well. I was up for the challenge. So I taped newspaper to the kitchen table (actually, all the newspaper had already been taken out, so all I had were a few ads I had saved), and then taped a big piece of paper over the top of it. I squeezed a small bit of each color of finger paint onto a paper plate. Then I brought her over and put her new art smock on her that she got for Christmas (it's HUMONGOUS!--but it did the job!) and put her in her high chair. She didn't quite understand what was going on, but she was excited. I then put my finger in the paint and drew a smiley face for her to show her how to do it. She got a huge smile on her face and dipped her finger right in. It took her awhile to get the hang of it, and she tried a few times to bring her finger up to her mouth (but I was able to keep it from getting into her mouth, and she eventually stopped trying), but she seemed to really enjoy it.

After she was done, but before I cleaned up, I was trying to get her to smile for a few pictures. I started singing a song to make her smile, and she, in turn, started dancing. In the process she got some paint on her face. Up until that point she had stayed so clean! Actually, there was very little mess to clean up, so I was happy about that.

All day long she kept asking for more. I'm afraid I've started something.... Maybe she'll forget about it by tomorrow!

a few quick tidbits

The other night Daddy snapped his fingers (I think it was to some music). Our little one thought that was great, so decided to snap herself. After all, snapping is just moving your hand up and down and saying, "K," isn't it? Well, that's what she thinks it is, anyway. It was so funny I started crying I was laughing so hard.

There's a Wiggles song about standing on one foot and shaking your hands. She's got the standing on one foot part down pat: she holds onto the coffee table and lifts her foot up whenever that part of the song comes on. It's too cute.

There's another Wiggles song about moving your arms like Henry (he's an octopus, for all of you non-Wiggles fans out there). The dancers move their arms around and around. Well, the other night, out of nowhere, she started moving her arms really slowly around and around (mind you, she wasn't watching the Wiggles....just wandering around moving her arms). I couldn't figure out what she was doing. Yesterday as she watched that song, she started moving her arms around and I finally figured out that's what she was practicing several nights before!

This story is for my friend, Nancy (Nancy and I were roommates in college). Nancy made R a beautiful quilt when she was first born. When we used to lay her down on the floor to play we always laid her down on that quilt. Since she's been mobile and doesn't play in one place anymore the quilt has been folded up, hanging on the back of the rocking chair in her room, and occasionally if I go in to check on her and it's cold I'll put the quilt on top of her. Well, in the last couple of weeks, when she gets up from a nap or gets up in the morning she wants to crawl up on the rocking chair and point to the colors in the quilt. She says "blue" and "green" when she points to the those colors, and wants me to say "pink" and "yellow" when she points to those colors. Then she wants to take the quilt down onto the floor, spread it out just so (if it has wrinkles in it, she fusses), sit on it, and look at her books. We do this nearly every day at least once. And before we leave the room she makes sure I fold the quilt back up and hang it back on the back of the chair. Nancy, I thought you'd like to know that your quilt is still used and loved!

I probably won't be posting much for the next month or so. I'm taking two online classes, starting today, in order to get the credits I need to keep my teaching license valid. It expires this summer, so I needed to get on the ball and get this done. I got the syllabus last night for the first class and it looks like a ton of work, so I don't know that I'll have a lot of time to post here. We shall see! I'm a little worried about how I'll get all of the work done, but my husband assures me that I don't need to get an A, I just need to pass. He thinks I should aim for a B or C. I told him that I don't work that way. How about I just do my best and see what that gets me? I'll be glad when March 11th is here and I'm all done!

obsessed

Here are a few of her latest obsessions....


1) The aforementioned ladybugs. I won't elaborate...you can read the previous post.


2) Climbing onto the kitchen chair. But now instead of just climbing on the chair, she also likes to try to sneak past Mom and Dad and continue up on the table! Sadly, she's succeeded twice on two different days--once with Mom, once with Dad. Big trouble ensued....


Yesterday she climbed up there and I gave her a snack. She just couldn't wipe the smile off of her face--you could tell she felt like such a big girl, not having to eat in her booster seat. The sun started coming in through the window right onto her face. She pointed up to it and said, "Moo, moo, moo," which means "Moon, moon, moon..." the title of a Laurie Berkner song. She likes to mix up the sun and moon a lot. We'll need to work on that!


3) Watches. I also mentioned in a previous post about how she likes to run back and forth looking at everyone's watches and saying "tick tick tick." Yesterday at the library she saw my watch and then ran around to several other moms in the room to try and look at their watches. That's my daughter for you.... No strangers....


4) Brushing her teeth. She loves it. Well, she loves the thought of it anyway. As soon as we go up for her bath she starts pretending to brush her teeth with her finger, which is her way of asking me for her toothbrush. I give it to her with the toothpaste on it, but she just likes to chew on it. When I take the brush and actually start brushing, she suddenly has no interest. But anytime she sees a picture of someone brushing their teeth, she brushes her teeth with her finger again, trying to get me to let her do it again.


5) Much to her parents' dismay, TV. She doesn't want to live without it. We've been keeping it off more and more (much to her dismay) because she seems so intent on watching it and we'd rather have her playing or reading. But there are certain times that it's just necessary to turn it on....


So last night Daddy was gone for the third evening in a row, and Mommy was tired after three very full days of watching her, so I had the TV on before dinner for Dora and after dinner for The Backyardigans...two of her favorite shows. What she likes best about The Backyardigans is the theme song. She'll drop whatever she's doing in another room when she hears it and make a mad dash for the TV to dance along. So last night it came on and this is what she did:

She started off subtle, but then got more excited as the song went on:

As she watched, I took pictures of her various TV watching positions. She doesn't watch it in one spot for very long, as you can see!

There's also one of her in her rocking chair watching, but for some reason it didn't upload when I put them on the computer. Oh well...you get the idea.

Oh, and this isn't obsession, just kind of funny. As we were leaving the grocery yesterday she saw broccoli in the bag. "Gocky!" she shouted (this is a new word....I'd never heard her use it before, so I'm not sure how she knew it!). She loves broccoli, and we hadn't had it for a week or so, so I guess she was missing it, because she kept calling out "gocky" all afternoon until she finally got it for dinner....ate all of hers and almost all of mine! Guess I better buy "gocky" more often!

sleep and squeals

Last night I posted about the two nap/waking up early problem. Well, last night I put her to bed a half hour early, since I've learned that "sleep begets sleep," when it comes to her. If she sleeps well, she sleeps longer. So I put her to bed early in hopes that she'd sleep longer this morning. It worked! She slept until just after 7:00 this morning. It was great--I had time to myself, took my shower, and was much more excited to greet her than I have been at 5:00, 5:30, or 6:00 this past week or two.

Since she slept later, I decided on no morning nap--I'll try just one today and see how she does. So what did we do with our long morning with no nap? I decided to brave the cold and attempt storytime at the library again. I haven't done it in months and months. The last two fiascos have made me shy away from them. But this morning I realized that she really needs the social interaction and I need to get over my fear of her social interactions (the fact that she's so social and I'm not), so we went. I took her there a little early because she likes playing in this little playroom they have in the library with puzzles and books. If we go there for a quick trip to just drop off or pick up something, she gets very bent out of shape if she misses her time in the playroom (to which I usually say, "too bad," and ignore her fit, but on a day like today when I wanted her to behave herself in a big group of people, I decided it was worth it to play a little first in the playroom and then go to the storytime). Well, everyone else going to the storytime seemed to have the same idea, because the playroom was packed with moms and toddlers. All the kids were sizing each other up, just watching and kind of milling around. Not my daughter.....guess whose child was in the center of the room jumping, dancing, smiling, and squealing with delight with all of the eyes on her!? Yeah....mine....how she ever is a product of my flesh and blood, I'll never know, but she's mine and I love her.

So then it was time for storytime. Once again, everyone was sitting on Mommy's or Grandma's lap (or at least right next to Mommy or Grandma). Not us.... When we first went in the room she spotted the CD player on the table in the front, which looks almost just like ours. She ran up to it and tried to push the button to start it, jumping up and down because she was so excited. The storytime lady came over and rescued the CD player by moving it back and then commented on how excited she was. Then when storytime started we sang, "If You're Happy and You Know It." She loves that song anyway, so she just clapped and squealed through the whole thing, while all the other kids were just kind of standing there--a few clapping, but mostly just the moms doing the words and motions. Everyone kept looking over at her (smiling, thankfully!). When the story lady started a book, of course she wanted nothing to do with sitting still. She wanted to go up to get the book, but I wouldn't let her. First I held her hand....she wriggled free. Then I took her to the back where there were a couple of boys kind of wandering around so she could wander around too. That worked okay--she wandered and smiled at the boys while the story was read, but every once in awhile she'd just squeal--she is just so excited when she's around other little kids that she just can't contain herself! During a felt board story, she actually did sit in my lap (for about half of it) and listen. For the other half, after she wriggled off my lap, I stood up and held her so she wouldn't run around bothering everyone else and she listened. She stayed in my arms the rest of the time. I think she was getting sleepy because every once in awhile she put her head on my shoulder for a second (which she never ever does!). She did pretty well listening the rest of the time, but every so often she'd push against me and try to get down. I wasn't going to chase her around the room, so I wouldn't let her down. She gave in and kept listening, especially enjoying the songs (one of them was actually a Laurie Berkner song she knows and loves, so she really liked that one). After every song or story when everyone would clap, she would not only clap, but squeal with glee. What an enthusiastic girl I have!

So overall it was more successful than the previous attempts, but she still has a long way to go. I know I need to keep taking her or she'll never learn....but will she ever learn? My husband and I are already worried about how she'll ever learn to sit still in school!!! I'm a teacher....I can't have one of those students! Tell me there's still time.....

odds and ends

Yesterday was a better day. We played outside and she would've stayed out all day if I'd let her. My mom asked, "What does she do outside?" Well, after swinging for about 15 minutes, she spent the next 15 minutes picking up sticks in the backyard and putting them in the wood pile in the back of the yard. Then we went out in the front and took a walk around the cul de sac. It's always a very slow ramble, as she stops at nearly every crack in the sidewalk and picks at it with a stick, picks up every stone and broken piece of cement she encounters, admires every acorn top (we have an oak tree in our front yard so there are millions of acorns!), and collects leaves. I've tried taking her bucket outside to put everything in because she tries to hold it all, drops it, and tries to pick it all up again, but she likes keeping her bucket empty! We never make it all the way around the circle.

Both yesterday and today she's come to me several times to tell me she needs a new diaper (in her own way, of course--touching her bottom and saying, "dit!" Sounds a lot like, "Mommy, I need a new diaper, please," doesn't it?!). I say, "Do you need a new diaper?" and she answers, "Okieeeee." This is new, and I'm wondering if a potty chair is in our near future? I'm in no hurry to start potty training, but neither do I want to miss the cues, and this seems like one to me.

Remember I said that she was back to one nap and sleeping in? Well....I spoke too soon, I guess. Once she started getting sick she started waking up very early again (between 5 and 6 AM). This means she's tired again by 8:00, goes back to bed, and takes another nap in the afternoon. I'm ready for the one nap/sleeping in regime.

I'm sick of the Wiggles, so today instead of Wigglydancing, I pulled out Baby Noah, an oldie but goody. She hadn't watched it in months and was completely enthralled. This time around she started doing all of the animal sounds and trying to say the names of the animals. She was very fun to watch.

Sorry there are no pictures lately....I need to be better about taking them. I'll try to get some up soon. Hopefully my scintillating tales are enough to keep you coming back! :)

a ray of sunshine

...literally!

I've been so frustrated with our constant health issues lately, but today I feel more hopeful. Today the sun is out and it's supposed to be close to 50 degrees! Our little one's cough is better and her nose is a little less stuffy and runny, and things are looking up a bit. I've felt rather like a caged lion lately, not wanting to take her much of anywhere because I don't want her getting anything else or giving her germs to some other unsuspecting little one, but going crazy inside these four walls. So I haven't been out a whole lot, which is hard for me. I'm looking forward to going outside this afternoon to play and for a walk. And tonight I tutor, which I always enjoy.

Crayons are a big obsession at the moment. Ever since Daddy got them out a week or so ago, she asks for them several times a day. It's really increased her excitement about colors. She's becoming much more consistent at naming them correctly or pointing to the right ones when you ask her. Blue used to be her favorite to talk about. Then pink. The last two days it's been green ("geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee," she calls it). She's been pointing out green things all the time.

She's also obsessed with ladybugs right now. She has a sleeper with ladybugs all over and she goes berserk whenever she sees it. I can't get it on her fast enough if I have it out. She bends over and points to them on her feet and legs, then stands up and points to them on her tummy and her arms. Then she points to the ladybug on her wall (a painted wooden one that I made before she was born--there are lots of little bugs and things up on her wall for decoration). Last night she discovered lady bugs on the cover of her current favorite book (Each Peach Pear Plum is the book). She wouldn't stop pointing to those.

We've started doing bedtime stories recently. While she drinks her milk sitting on my lap in the rocking chair after her bath, I read her a book. Each Peach Pear Plum is the one she chooses the most right now. But once in awhile she'll choose Guess How Much I Love You, which always makes me cry, if she actually lets me get to the end of it (she just likes to look at the pictures in that one and keeps turning the pages before I get to the end of the sentence!). Sometimes she just likes looking at pictures in her Richard Scarry word book. She goes through phases, but always returns to the same things. I'm ready to move on to something new! What books do your little ones like at the moment?

coughing and ketchup

Remember what I said about our little one getting better? Well, I spoke too soon. She's sick yet again, or maybe I should say still. It's the same old stuff...runny/stuffy nose and horrible cough. Just horrible. She's coughing until she gags and her eyes are watering. Her face turns bright red and she just looks and sounds miserable. Yesterday was the first day that she just wasn't herself. Up until then she was her usual happy self all through the sickness, but yesterday you could definitely notice a change. She was clingier than normal and she threw a huge fit in the middle of the afternoon, which is not like her. I finally had to put her in bed just to give herself some time and space to calm herself down because nothing else would do it.

Before I put her to bed last night I remembered reading once that you should put Vicks on a child's feet under their socks before bedtime to help with coughing . Sounds strange, but the coughing was so bad that I decided I'd try anything to help her sleep. So after her bath I lathered up her feet with Vicks. Whew! It was strong! And from the moment I laid her down, she didn't cough once! We heard her several hours later, but she only coughed once, and then slept all night. I didn't hear her again until 6:00 this morning, when I normally hear her.

Well, she got up just miserable. Totally stuffed up, coughing non stop again, watery eyes, the works. She wasn't even very excited when The Wiggles came on at 7:00, usually one of the highlights of her day! She sat on my lap and watched, but didn't dance and bop along like normal. A little bit after that she was rubbing her head. I started wondering if maybe she didn't have a huge headache from coughing so much. I said, "Do you want Mommy to give you some medicine?" "Okay," she answered. So I gave her tylenol. Then she was rubbing her eyes. I said, "Do you want to go nigh night?" "Okay," again. You know she's sick when she asks to go to bed after not even being up 2 hours! I put more Vicks on her feet and again, from the moment I laid her down, her coughing stopped! Amazing!

While she was sleeping I called the doctor and made an appointment. When I've called before I feel like they've done everything possible to keep me from bringing her in. I know there's not much they can do for a cold these days, with no cold or cough medicines allowed anymore, but gosh, this has been going on since about Thanksgiving!!! So I got her up over and hour later and we went to the doctor. The doctor wasn't much help, but gave us an antibiotic to treat a sinus infection, even though she doesn't know if that's what it is. She said her lungs are fine, her ears are fine, her throat is fine....so it must be her sinuses. She looked in her nose and said it doesn't look like allergies, so she's going under the assumption that it's a sinus infection. It's a different antibiotic than normal, since the pink stuff didn't do anything to help last time. We'll see if this one helps (if I can get her to take it! She hates the pink stuff, and this is something different...and not anymore tasty! She took most of it this first time, with difficulty, but we'll see what kind of reception I have the next time she sees it. Ugh....two weeks of that does not sound fun. But neither does two weeks of coughing. Maybe this will help.)

After the doctor we went to go get some lunch. Well, she discovered ketchup. I was dipping my french fries in ketchup and she started pointing to it. So I dipped one in just a little bit and gave it to her. She made a funny face when she tasted it, but then dipped it back in, and continued over and over. Everytime she'd put it in her mouth she'd make a face, so I don't know that she really liked it, but she sure liked the dipping process! The novelty of it, I suppose, more than anything else. So I got her her own little cup with just a very little bit of ketchup in it (because she kept trying to put her fingers in the full cup). This entertained her the rest of the meal. If only everything was so easily solved....

Oh, wait, I almost forgot! Her weight!! She weighs 22 pounds, 4 ounces now, which is WAY more than last time. The doctor was so happy with her weight--she seems to be growing out of whatever her problem was, even with her eating strikes she's been going on lately. I guess she's still getting the calories she needs (graham crackers and milk really pack on the pounds, apparently!) Whatever the reason, I'm so glad!

good as new

....well, not quite, but I tried!



Since Christmas my little one has been playing with my old baby doll, Baby Heen. But it's been bugging me that she's so dirty and messy. I remember my mom used to wash her and I would be so thrilled to get her fresh, warm, and clean out of the dryer.

So today Baby Heen got a makeover of sorts. I soaked her and all of her clothes in a big bucket of Oxyclean and scalding hot water. Then I scrubbed her and her clothes with an old toothbrush. You should've seen the nasty stuff that came out! Her cloth skin looks so much cleaner. Her hair, however, is a different story. It came out of the bucket terribly matted and nasty. Of course, when she went into the bucket it was matted and nasty, too, so this wasn't a huge difference. But I got a wide toothed comb and actually combed her hair--I felt like I was six again, doing my doll's hair (I used to put curlers in Mandy and Becky's hair--do you remember Mandy, Becky, Jenny, or Joey dolls? I had Mandy and Becky, my next door neighbor had Jenny, and my brother had Joey, and we used to play with them all together). Anyway, I got a lot of the tangles out and thought maybe I had made a difference in her hair.

Then I put her in the dryer with a pillow (to help with the thumping noise she made every time her hard, plastic face hit the wall of the dryer!). After a few minutes I took her out to make sure she wasn't melting from the heat (even though I had it on low). She wasn't melting, but her hair was dry and still matted and nasty, just like it was before it got wet. Oh well. It was no worse for wear.

But she does look better....infinitely cleaner and ready for lots of playing! My daughter really could care less, but I feel better about it, anyway.

a look inside the mind of a 21 month old

...well, my 21 month old, anyway. Read the following stories and just see the wheels turning in her little brain!

1) Background: She loves watches. Everytime she's around my parents, who both wear watches, she goes back and forth between them, pushing their sleeves up to see their watches. On the few occasions that I wear a watch, she's obsessed those days with looking at mine. Whenever she does this she points to it, says "tick tick tick" and then points to the clock on the wall above the mantle and does the same thing.

Okay, so here's the story. Today I was cooking dinner and she was a little cranky. Daddy tried to entertain her to keep her out of my way, but that only lasted so long and then she was at my feet again, trying to push me away from the counter like she always does. I encouraged her to go into her play kitchen and to cook some chicken, just like mommy (I was making chicken and dumplings). She did, but again, that didn't last long and she was back. So I was going to pick her up and hold her while I stirred the dumplings in the pot on the stove, so I said, "Do you want to watch?" She said, "ohhh-kie," and came up to my awaiting arms and instead of letting me pick her up she pushed up my sleeve, looked for a watch, and said, "tick tick tick!" Funny girl!!! (Lesson learned....the next time I said, "Do you want to see what Mommy's doing?")

2) Background: One of her favorite things these days is to see one of us laying down and making a snoring noise, telling us to pretend that we're sleeping. When we comply and then pretend to sleep, she laughs and laughs. Yesterday I was looking at a Parenting magazine and she saw a picture of a sleeping baby. She proceeded to lay down on the floor and start her pretend snoring. She does this with her baby dolls, her stuffed animals, her little people people.... all the time. Her favorite part of the Wiggles is when Jeff is sleeping, so she can make her snoring noise (which, incidentally, sounds just like her pig snorting noise!).

So at lunch today she decided to chew threw the soft, rubbery spout on her sippy cup. These are the ones she started out with when she was just learning to use a sippy cup. She's since moved on to hard spouts, but I still use the old soft ones (guess I won't be anymore!). So I took that one away to throw in the trash and got out a tall one that I don't use very much. It's a really cool Nalgene bottle/sippy cup with the name of my college on it that my mom bought for her when we were visiting the bookstore of my college over the summer. But since it's so big I just usually don't use it. When I pulled it out this afternoon she was SO excited and carried it around, patting it, showing it to me, and taking drinks of water out of it.

Fast forward to dinnertime. We were eating and she was playing in her booster seat (she had finished her chicken and veggies already and didn't want anymore). She started playing with her precious big cup. It tipped over and was laying on its side on the tray of her booster seat. After looking at it a bit, she started snoring and smiling, looking at me. It took me a minute to realize what she was doing, but she was showing me that the cup was laying down, sleeping!

3) One of the things Daddy did with her to entertain her while I was cooking dinner was to get out the crayons and some paper--a big treat, since she still likes to try to put them in her mouth on occasion, and I don't get them out very often. After dinner she saw the paper she had colored on, remembered, and pointed up to where we had stored the crayons, out of her reach. So I got them back down and she sat at her little table and chairs to color a bit. Coloring doesn't last long, though--mostly she just likes playing with the crayons. So she proceeded to pick up a blue crayon and say "boooooooo" (which is how she says blue...the only color she knows consistenly--the others are hit or miss). Then she picked up another blue crayon and did the same thing. There were three or four different shades of blue in the box, and she picked them all up and held them in a bunch, so proud of her blue crayons. She then pointed to a toy nearby that had blue on it and said, "booooooo." I praised her and then pointed to her outfit, which was blue, and said, "blue." She kept looking around and pointing out blue things. Then she started doing the same thing with the purples ones, except I had to say, "purple" because she doesn't say that one. But when I'd say, "Where's another purple one?" she could pick it out and find it. We did it for green and orange, too. Then she picked up the pink crayon. I said, "pink." She immediately looked down at her feet and stuck out one of them. Sure enough, there was her little pink fuzzy slipper! Pink! She amazes me every day with what she knows but can't say yet.

If only she would learn to talk (well, talk so I can understand her, anyway!). This afternoon after her nap she was all out of sorts and wanted something but couldn't communicate to me what it was. She was pointing and fussing and I was trying and trying to figure out what it was, but nothing I did was what she wanted. I was getting so frustrated and held her fussy face in my hands, saying, "AHHHHHH! PLEASE learn to talk!!!!" And I know she would if she could. I never did figure out what it was she wanted. I diverted her attention by putting in a new Wiggles video I had gotten at the library yesterday! (Yeah, probably not the best thing to do to improve our communication, but it did improve both of our moods!) The Wiggles work wonders right now...all was right in her world again, and in mine.

Oh, and for those who read last night's post and were wondering, she's not sick.... I think it must've just been the full tummy, like I thought! She slept all night and was fine all day today. Hooray for no more throwing up!

an unpleasant milestone

Well, I just had a motherhood first..... (a little gross...don't read if you have a weak stomach!)

I went in to check on our little one before I went to bed. I walked in there and it smelled really bad. At first I thought she must have a stinky diaper, but then I realized it wasn't that smell, it was throw-up smell. Then I remembered that after I put her down at bedtime and left the room I heard her cough a really loud, hard cough. But then she coughed just a little regular cough, so I didn't think much of it.

Well I went to get a flashlight and sure enough, at one end of her bed, there it was. She was asleep at the other end. So I got my husband (who was up all night last night at a lock in, mind you, and really wanted to go to bed!!) and we went in and got a clean sheet and matress pad out of the dresser, then I picked her up--she woke up but was really groggy. It was all matted in her hair--nasty!!!! So I took her into the bathroom and started a bath--she was quiet and still, just staring at the water, probably wondering what in the world I was doing, waking her up and giving her a bath in the middle of the night! (okay, so it was 10 pm, but that's the middle of her night, anyway!) She was SO good the whole time...getting her undressed, putting her in the tub... except when I rinsed her hair, when she cried pretty hard. She normally hates that anyway, and being half asleep and probably not feeling great made it 10 times worse. I had trouble getting all of it out of her hair, and she was crying...that part wasn't fun at all. I got her out and she was shaking she was so cold and crying. I held her for a long time as she calmed down and I tried to warm her up. Then I got her dressed and she started covering her eyes playing peekaboo with the two of us (he had just finished changing her bed and was talking to her), so she had cheered up.

Can you imagine if I hadn't gone in--she would've slept in that all night! Poor girl!!! She ate a TON for dinner (because she hadn't eaten much earlier in the day) and I think when she coughed so hard that time, some of it must've just come up. I don't think she's sick--at least I hope not. She did feel kind of warm when I first put her to bed and I gave her some tylenol just in case.... she wasn't acting sick, though.

I sat down with her in the rocker and offered her water, but she didn't drink it. I rocked her a bit in the dark and she was yawning. I said, "Are you ready to go nigh night again?" and she said "Okay," (remember, I said last night she doesn't answer "okay" to that question?!?!? I guess in this circumstance she does!) so I put her back in bed with her other blanket and she didn't make a sound. I cleaned the bathtub and am washing the load of the sheets, blanket, PJs, etc. now.

So that was my first throw up experience as a mother--not a particularly fun milestone, I have to say! Won't be the last, I'm sure. And Daddy was a good sport and didn't even throw up himself from the smell, even though he did feel sick to his stomach (I did too a little bit, but I was so concerned about her that it didn't really bother me too much).

Now I can't sleep....worried that she might be sick. I hope it was just a full tummy.

good news, bad news

Good news: Our little one has gone back to taking one nap a day again. Before Christmas when she was sick she started waking up really early because of her stuffy nose and then needed a morning nap. This kind of stuck all through the Christmas season. This week we were out one morning and she didn't get a morning nap, and did just fine. The nap she did get was longer and she was happy the rest of the day. This means I can be gone in the mornings and not have to worry about getting back in time for a nap. Another added bonus is that because she's only getting one nap, she's sleeping in later in the mornings! Yippee!

Bad news: Only one nap means only one time a day to myself to get things done.

Good news: She continues to love her bathtub letters and knows T, O, S, and A. She even recognizes them on her leap frog caterpillar.

Bad news: I've searched all over town this week for magnetic letters for the refrigerator. Who knew they were so hard to find!? I found a set at the teacher store but they wanted an arm and a leg for them. I looked on ebay and have a few that I'm watching, so maybe I'll get some soon. But by that time her fascination with letters could be gone.

Good news: She's so fun to communicate with these days. When you ask her a question she almost always answers with, "ohhh-kie," which is her version of "okay."

Bad news: This only works if it's something she wants...."Do you want some milk?" "Ohhh-kie." "Would you like to watch The Wiggles?" "Ohhh-kie." "Are you ready to go nigh-night?" Silence..... It doesn't work like a charm, unfortunately.

Good news: Today she ate pizza, yogurt, graham crackers (LOTS of graham crackers), apple, french toast sticks, cheerios.... that's a lot of food for her in one day.

Bad news: Today she ate pizza, yogurt, graham crackers (LOTS of graham crackers), apple, french toast sticks, cheerios.... that's a lot of carbs in one day, very little fruit, and NO vegetables! She's been pickier than normal these days. I'm lucky if I can get her to eat anything.

Good news: Her cold and cough are getting better.

Bad news: Her nose is running like a faucet as she gets rid of everything. Her little nose is raw and red underneath from Mommy wiping it so much.

Good news: She's in bed, Daddy's gone for the night (at the middle school lock in at our church--there's nowhere on earth I would rather NOT be!), and I have the whole evening to myself!

Bad news: Daddy will come home in the morning very tired and want to sleep most of the day.

Good news: He loves it and will come home happy, though tired.

playtime

Just thought I'd post some pictures of playtime these days. We got her some beads, after her introduction to them on New Year's Eve, and she's loving them!

Yesterday she decided to share the wealth with her baby doll.

She became a little monkey a few weeks ago and learned how to climb on the kitchen chairs, the couch (sometimes....sometimes she can't make it up on her own), and the piano bench. Sometimes I'll open the piano and let her play when she climbs up there (with one finger...she's not allowed to pound), which she loves.

midnight musings

Well, it's not quite midnight, but I can't sleep and it's only 44 minutes away as I begin typing this, so I declare it close enough to call it midnight!

Our little one is sick again. It seems one of us always is these days. My husband and I are both better, so that means it's her turn to get sick. She's coughing a lot and I'm going to keep her home from church tomorrow--no use passing all of those germs along to the other innocent toddlers (though that's where many of her germs seem to originate!). A friend of mine said recently that her son is sick every Tuesday, after being in the church nursery on Sunday! Then he gets better, goes to church again and gets sick again on Tuesday! Our situation isn't quite so predictable, but I can understand her point.

Spinning has become a popular dance move for her lately. She's been getting into The Wiggles a lot lately (and I mean a lot....I pretty much know every song and dance by heart. Move over, Laurie Berkner! --though she still loves those CDs, too). She's been watching Wiggles videos from the library, though--right up her alley with all of the music and dancing. Well, somehow she got the idea to spin around to the music, in addition to her usual repertoire of dance steps. She turns and turns around until she nearly (and sometimes actually does) start to fall down, frequently dangerously close to the coffee table, so I'm trying not to encourage the spinning! It's cute and all, but a big bump on the head wouldn't be worth the cuteness of it.

I hope you all don't mind, but I just have to brag for a minute about her....not that this whole entire blog isn't one giant brag-fest about our daughter, but this is blatant bragging at it's best! For Christmas we gave her this set of foam letters and numbers for the bath tub. She's in love with them and gets even more excited than usual about taking her bath every night because of them. Well, several nights ago while she was holding up letters one by one, I started telling her what letter they were and what sound they made. For some reason she became really excited about the letter "T" and its sound and kept repeating it over and over: "t, t, t, t, t, t" (the sound, not the actual name of the letter). So the next night I found the T and did it again. We did this for a few nights. So the night before last I asked her, "Can you find the letter T?" and then made the "t" sound for her. She looked and looked all around the tub--mind you, there are 26 letters floating around and the numbers 0-9. She couldn't find it, so I pointed in the general direction and she found it. So last night we asked her again, and without any prompting about where it was, she found it and held it up proudly! She picked it out of all of the letters of the alphabet! I couldn't believe it. Then she proceeded to do the same thing with "O!" That's another one we had worked on and that she seems to like a lot (why you like one letter over all of the others, I'm not sure, but she seems to have her favorites--she likes to play with the W and M a lot, too--I think because they look almost identical and she likes having two of everything--one in each hand. Incidentally, those are my initials! She also likes the B and 8--again, because I think she thinks they look the same! Funny girl!). Looks like it's time to go buy some magnet letters for the fridge--that's how I learned my letters and learned to read. Can you tell I'm a teacher? Already pushing my not quite 2-year-old to read!!!!

Well, it's not midnight yet, but I don't think I have enough musings to make it for another 19 minutes, and my eyes are now getting sleepy, so I'll say goodnight!

my very favorite people

This was taken Labor Day weekend after a rousing game of wiffle ball. We all got together at my parents' because my younger brother, Jack, and his wife were in town from NYC, and they don't get home very often. I had totally forgotten about this picture until my mom sent it to me just recently. These are my very favorite people in the whole wide world!

Top Row: Megan (Jack's wife), Jack, Ted (my older brother), my grandpa

Middle Row: Leslie (Ted's wife), my dad, my mom, me, our little one, my husband

Bottom Row: Ted's kids--Alex (2 1/2), Emma (5), and Ethan (7)

We saw all of these people at Christmas (and lots more) but we didn't get a group picture. So I'm posting this one instead.

outer banks, anyone?

I've talked to a few of you about this already, but for everyone else, have you ever been to the Outer Banks? We think we're headed here in June for vacation (with our little one this year!) and I'm in information overload as I research options online. So I've been turning to those I know to give me more specific advice, rather than trying to weed through it all myself, though I've already done a fair amount of that! I think we've narrowed it down to a couple of oceanfront condos in Duck, but I'm up for advice from anyone with experience--restaurants, the best beaches, things to do, etc. So if you have some experience to share, write me a comment (in case you don't know how to do that....click under my post where it says "O Comments" or "1 Comment" or whatever it happens to say at the moment).

On the home front, I'm finally starting to recover from the never ending party going on in my sinuses--it started way back in mid December, and hasn't stopped. Ever see the Mucinex commercial with those germs who don't want to leave? Well, that's what they're doing inside of my sinus cavities. I don't just get colds, normally. I get full blown sinus infections of epic proportions. I haven't tried Mucinex, actually, and maybe I should've to see if their commercial really does what they say it does! But it's finally starting to clear up and I've probably only used about 20 tissues today as opposed to the usual 47 or so! I've gone through two of those huge boxes of Puffs since this all started. And today at dinner my husband informed me that he's felt a cold coming on all afternoon. Wonderful! More germs to pass around our little family.

Mama continues to be a favorite phrase for our little one, which is such a wonderful thing to hear! Tonight in the car on the way home from dinner (we went out, which was a nice treat), she was saying it over and over (mamamamamamamamamamamamama.....like that). Daddy says she's making up for lost time! This morning he got up (very early) with her while I got a little extra sleep, since he got to sleep in yesterday. After an hour or so I woke up to get ready for church and heard "mama" coming from outside my closed bedroom door. Usually we don't close our bedroom door because then I couldn't hear her if she wakes up in the middle of the night, but it was closed after he got up with her so I could continue sleeping. So anyway, I open my door and there she is at the top of the stairs saying "Mama," all by herself--Daddy was still downstairs and didn't know she had climbed upstairs by herself to find me, the sneaky little stinker! Sweet.....but dangerous. She's not allowed to crawl up the stairs by herself, because I'm terrified of her tumbling down again.

home alone

I can't tell you the last time I was at home, alone in my own house. Until right now, that is! Oh my, it's such a strange, free-ing feeling! This morning I was up really early with our daughter, then couldn't go back to sleep after I put her back to bed, since my husband was snoring. So I got up and read, and by the time I was ready to go back to bed, guess who was babbling and ready to get up for the day, saying "ma ma" in her crib (for only the second time....who can resist her when she's finally calling my name???) So she got up and I was playing Mommy for a few hours while Daddy slept in.

Around 8 he finally came downstairs and I was sitting on the floor "playing" while our little one was whipping up some delicious concoction in her play kitchen. My playing involved sitting with my eyes closed and my chin in my hands trying to rest until she came bouncing over to me for me to taste what she had made and say, "Mmmmm!" He told me to go back to bed, so I did! He got her dressed and took her to his woodworking store, which is on the other side of town and always takes a long time. I slept for almost two hours, got up and took a shower, and they're still not home.

Uh oh, I take that back. The front door just opened. But boy, was it nice while it lasted!

little drummer girl

Did you have one of these drum sets when you were little? We did. My mom found this one, like new, on ebay for her for Christmas. It even says "Fisher Price 1979" on the bottom. Ours got lots of use growing up, as I'm sure this one will, too.

She loves the harmonica inside, though all she can do is hum when she puts it up to her mouth to make it "play." She loves it when I play it, but when she tries it herself, it's just her singing. I'm sure she'll get it someday! It also has maracas and cymbals inside, which are lots of fun, too.

happy 2008

We rang in the hours before the new year with lots of friends (and their children) last night. It was lots of fun, especially for our little social butterfly. She had a great time and seemed to be the life of the party. How she ever came from my husband and myself, I'll never know, because neither of us would EVER be the life of the party!

She found a box of beads that belonged to the little girl whose parents hosted the party. She decided to beautify herself by putting on as many as she could (then taking them off, putting them on, taking them off, putting them on....you get the idea). Pretty soon about every girl in the room was wearing at least one strand of beads, and even the one boy, her best friend, Kaden. She's such a little trend setter!

Toward the end of the evening we took a group picture of all of our kids (there were about 8 or 9 couples there, and upwards of 12 little ones--some had left and one had gone to bed by the time we took the picture). There wasn't room for our little one to sit on the couch, so she, Kaden, and another little girl sat on the back of the couch while the other two moms and I hunched down behind the couch and held them up there. The rest of the parents were standing out in front either taking pictures or clapping and trying to make everyone smile. Well, our daughter, the life of the party, decided she was a super star or something, and started cheering, squealing and smiling like crazy.

She's the only smiling one in the bunch! I think Leah, the little girl below her, is crying because she got kicked in the head by my little one's foot! We're sorry, Leah!

She put up a fuss when we had to leave; she was having such a great time. We got home around 8, a little bit past her bedtime, but not too late (Yeah, I know...we're quite the party animals, aren't we? But everyone else was leaving too, so we weren't the only ones. That's what happens when you have kids, I guess). After we got her in bed we put in a movie, but I was asleep on the couch within a half hour! Some date I was! I was in bed and sound asleep well before the new year, but that's just fine with me!

Happy New Year!

pictures, as promised

I finally uploaded them to the computer and can post them now.

The present opening began on Christmas eve with the traditional Christmas PJs. We always got to open one present on Christmas eve growing up, and it was always PJs. I'm continuing the tradition, and here she is.

A tradition Daddy wanted to start was to read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and the real Christmas story before she goes to bed on Christmas eve, so he did that as well.

He was pointing up to the star on the Christmas tree and showing her the star above the stable in Bethlehem in the story.

After she went to bed, Santa's elves got to work putting things together and getting them all set up. He made me get in here to pose for this!

Here is is all put together.

And here's the big gift this year: a table and chairs that Daddy made for her by hand. He worked soooooooooooooooo hard on these. He started in September!

The day before Christmas eve he had a catastrophe while trying to stain them--the type of stain he decided to use didn't work right and it ruined the table. I was crying because I felt so bad for how hard he had worked, and now it was ruined. But he was able to strip it off using bleach and use a different kind of stain he had used before, and it ended up looking just gorgeous.

Here's one of her favorites...

And then it was Christmas morning. A lot of it we got on video, so we don't have as many pictures as we normally would, but here are a few.

Enjoying her new playhouse

Sitting at her new table (with her ice cream....another favorite)

Enjoying the playhouse and her play food (and grocery cart) all at once!

At Grandma's house (we did video at Granny's house, so

I'm afraid we don't have pictures of that)

The day after Christmas I went up in the attic at my parents' and found my old dolls and high chair. I loved watching her play with dolls I once played with. This is "Baby Heen." Her real name was "Baby Ann," but I couldn't say that, so she became "Baby Heen."And this is our little family....before Christmas we had our picture taken, but I couldn't put it on here because it was a Christmas present for our parents! Her hand looks so funny because she was throwing a ball to the guy who was there helping the photographer to make her smile! I had to scan it in, so there are some lines and things in the picture that aren't actually there, but you can get the idea.

holiday highlights

Whew, it's been a busy week! I've been wanting to update for days, but we've been out of town since Christmas day, and there are always other things to do than sit around with the computer, so I haven't had a chance.

So....Christmas morning.....what a blast! It was our first year in our own house to wake up Christmas morning and go downstairs to open presents. I woke up really early with so many things on my mind (we were leaving around 10:00 for several days and I still didn't have everything packed at that point, and didn't know how I'd get it done with the present opening and everything we had to do). Finally around 6:00 our little one started stirring, and instead of letting her talk awhile and maybe fall back asleep, we went ahead and got her up. I gave her her milk upstairs instead of going downstairs like I usually do--I wanted to make sure she drank it, and knew she'd be WAY too distracted if I took her down and she saw all of the presents! So after the milk, Daddy filmed us coming down the stairs. She had a huge smile on her face as she just stared around the room at everything--she knew things were different but I think it must've taken awhile for it all to register, because she just stood there. Finally she took off running across the room for her new kitchen. She immediately turned on the burner, which makes a sizzling noise, and turned it on over and over again.

I couldn't believe she hadn't noticed her playhouse yet by this point, though, so I rang the doorbell on it to get her attention. She then came over to see that. She enjoyed ringing the doorbell over and over and opening the door. Her stocking was inside the house, but she was too busy that she didn't even notice it, so we had to take it out and get her interested in that. She immediately pulled out the chocolate santa on top and wanted me to open it. She was allowed a little tiny piece of that before we moved on to other things.

After her stocking, we opened our stockings while she continued to play with the kitchen and house. We then let her open her first present--a huge box of play food. She got the hang of opening presents right away, and had to get every little scrap of paper off and put it in a certain place before she could look at the present. We took the food out of the box and she just went to town touching it all, putting it in her mouth, and carrying it all around the room. Her favorite were the ice cream cones ("ice," is what she calls it). She carried those around for hours.

We had to pull her away from the play food to open another present, and another, and another. Eventually we gave up, let her play, and opened our own presents! It worked much better that way. And every so often she'd come over and want to open one, so we let her, she'd play with it a bit, and then go back to the food! It was definitely a hit! She just had so much fun all morning and was so happy.

After presents, breakfast, and packing, we got on the road and headed for Granny and Papa's (Daddy's parents' house). She slept almost the entire way, and was a perfect angel. When she got there she was so excited to see their tree (she has fallen in love with our tree, and therefore any tree!). She had a good time exploring things at Granny's house (especially the snow globe, which she kept turning over and wanting us to wind it up to play music, like hers, but this one didn't play music! Apparently every snow globe is supposed to have music, if you ask her!). We had lunch and opened presents at Granny's, and she was such a good girl all afternoon.

We headed to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner, and again she was an angel in the car, which isn't usually the case. So this was quite a treat for us! She was happy, looking at some new books she had gotten in her stocking, and playing with the ice cream cones. When we got to Grandma's she practically jumped out of my arms when she saw Grandma standing at the bottom of the steps by the back door. She was so excited to be there, and everyone was so excited to see her, too.

Next came a whirlwind of presents and chaos, as we all tried to open presents, but also help our little ones open presents and get those confounded toys out of their boxes, with the fifty zillion twist ties. Ugh! But it was all lots of fun.

She continued to be so happy and well behaved the whole day and even went to bed really easily, even without her usual bathtime routine (it was past her bedtime and I didn't want to make it later by giving her a bath). All of that changed around 11pm, just when we were thinking about heading to bed, when she woke up crying. We let her cry awhile, but it kept getting worse and worse. We got her up. She pointed downstairs, so we took her downstairs, but as soon as she got down there and saw people she didn't know very well (my aunt, uncle, and cousins were still there), she decided she didn't like that, and wanted to go back upstairs. I got her calmed down and put her back in bed, but before long she started crying again. After she wouldn't calm down on her own, I went and got her again....this went on for quite awhile. Eventually everyone went to bed, but she wouldn't stop crying. This was so unlike her--I'm sure she was just so overtired and stimulated from her busy day of people and presents. Well, I finally sat downstairs in the dark with her, rocking her back and forth, singing, "Go to Sleep, my Baby," over and over and over and over until my throat hurt! Everytime I'd stop she'd start to fuss, so I'd start again. She fell asleep, so I was transferring her to my shoulder, when she woke up and started again.....so I started the rocking and singing again, and kept it up for probably a half hour. Finally she was asleep (and snoring softly, so I knew she was really asleep), and I carefully transferred her to my shoulder so I could take her back upstairs. I laid her gently in her bed and collapsed in bed myself at 2:30. Oh my, was that a long night!

But every other night was a breeze....as was every day. She was as good as gold the whole time we were gone. She loved being surrounded by so many people who love her so much and was just as happy as can be every minute! We couldn't have asked for better behavior from our little girl.

The most exciting thing for me was that she's finally, finally, in the last day or two, started calling me "Mama!!!!!" My mom kept pointing to me and saying, "Who is this?" and she'd say, "Da da da da" like she always does. And my mom would correct her and tell her no, that I was "ma ma ma ma ma." So she finally started saying it. She'll say "da da da da" sometimes, but if you ask her again, she gets it right. Hooray! I'm finally Ma ma!

Pictures will be forthcoming. I haven't uploaded them yet, and will get to it soon. We still have toys to unpack, clothes to unpack, and more toys to unpack. And we thought we had a lot of toys before.....sheesh! That was nothing!

When we got back today it was like Christmas morning all over again as she saw her presents again after several days. She played for hours with the food and kitchen again. Definitely her favorites, I think!

Pictures later...check back soon! Merry Christmas!

ho ho ho

We just got back from seeing Santa. I'm not sure it was the best decision to go on December 21st at one of the most popular shopping venues in the city, but we didn't decide until just a couple of days ago to actually go, and we chose this particular Santa because on their website it says they allow you to take your own pictures without buying a huge, horribly overpriced package of a poor quality photo (we know....we did it last year, on a whim because we went to a mall back home that's now almost empty and we felt sorry for Santa, who had no one visiting him).

So we decided a few days ago, like I said, but I was sick, then my husband was sick, and today was the first day we could actually do it. We had decided to meet during his lunchtime on a week day, thinking it would better than trying to go on the last weekend before Christmas, when this shopping area would be packed. Me and my bright ideas.... I knew as soon as I had to wait in a huge line just to get into the parking garage that it was probably not a good idea, but we had gotten this far.... I found a parking place (no easy feat with my monster truck I have to drive), got everything unloaded and into the stroller, and made our way into the area where Santa was. The line was miles long, with millions of parents and dressed up children of various ages and temperaments, waiting for their turn with the man in red (okay, millions is probably not an accurate number, but there were lots, and lots were excited, lots were crying, and lots were dancing around pulling on their parents' hands). We saw Daddy make his way down the stairway to where we were, shaking his head at the scene before him. We got in line, but were seriously second guessing ourselves, especially when our little one started throwing a fit when I wouldn't let her get out of the stroller when I took her coat off. But we had gotten this far....

After awhile (and lots of cheerios for our little one, who had cheered up), we decided to take turns waiting in line while the other one took her around the mall to look around. This worked rather well, as she was very happy to run around and let off some steam. At one point she was up on the second level with Daddy and he was trying to point to me, to show her where I was. For awhile she couldn't see me, but all of a sudden the look of recognition flashed across her face as she smiled a huge grin, let out a very loud squeal, and waved and waved to me, like I was the biggest celebrity in the world. It was too cute.

As I got closer to the front of the line, I saw everyone with envelopes describing the packages you could buy (the cheapest being $20, which is outrageous, if you ask me), and though I did see a couple of people take a few pictures themselves, it was always when Santa's elves were also taking a picture, so I was doubting whether they would really allow us to take pictures without buying anything. There were several times I thought about getting out of line, afraid I would've waited in line all that time for nothing, because I did not want to spend $20 for a silly picture with Santa. But once again, we had made it this far....so I decided to stick it out.

As I neared the front, Daddy brought her back and she could finally actually see Santa from our place in line. She was very excited and waved and waved at him, saying "hu hu," which is her own version of "ho ho ho." She started getting impatient as we got closer because she could actually see him and wanted to go to him, so we passed the last few minutes by asking her animal sounds and body parts (Where's your head? Where are your feet? What does a lion say.... you get the idea). This kept her occupied well enough until it was finally our turn.

The elf asked us, "Do you know which package you'd like to purchase?" when we got up there. I said, "Online it says we can take our own pictures," to which she nodded and said, "Okay! Go ahead!" Hooray!!! So we approached Santa and our little one had a smile on her face, but I wasn't sure how long it would last, as she's sometimes a little leery of strangers for a few minutes (but not usually for long at all). But she went right up to him and said, "hu hu!" to which he answered, "Ho, ho, ho!" I put her on his lap, and though she wasn't quite sure she wanted to stay there, she did, and actually smiled at me when Santa pointed to me, after I went over by Daddy so he could take some pictures. Of course, she had to point to me too, so there's a lot of pointing in the pictures, but oh well!

Mission accomplished!

two steps forward, one step back

Things have improved since I last wrote...she's been tantrum and terror free for two days. Those are the two steps forward.

The one step back is that now Daddy is sick with the flu. So we've got Mommy with a cold and Daddy with the flu. We're a picture of health here! I'm actually feeling better, though my cold's still hanging around, but it's a good thing, because I have to take care of him! Hopefully our little one won't catch germs from either of us. She's had an ongoing cough, runny nose thing going on for a long time, so she's had her share of germs....I just don't want her to get any more.

But despite the sickness, it's been a more pleasant place here for the last couple of days without any tantrums and a full night of sleep. She's back to her usual happy, funny self. Her newest thing to say is "moon, moon, moon." It's a song on her favorite CD, but she also says it when she sees a picture of a moon. She doesn't just say "moon," though. It has to be "moon, moon, moon." What's strange is that she can say "moon," but she can't say "moo" when you ask her what a cow says. Instead she says, "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" for a cow sound.

She's also started nodding, which is quite helpful in communicating with her. I can say, "would you like some crackers?" and now she actually answers me with a nod (and her own little language, too---not that she would ever answer "no" to that question. The girl would live on crackers and milk if I would let her.)

tantrums, terrors, and trucks

Seemingly overnight my sweet, funny girl has turned into a tantrum-throwing toddler. I don't know how or when it happened, but for the last few days we've been seeing at least one tantrum a day. Where do they learn these things? She's not around other children very much to see them do it....I guess it's innate, but that's a little frightening. She's thrown them when a puzzle piece wouldn't go in the way she wanted it to, when she couldn't carry three toys at once and kept dropping them, and when she couldn't brush her teeth before her bath, like she wanted to (that one was quite a doozie, lasting all through the bath, while we put her clothes on--because it took two of us to do that with a screaming little tantrum thrower, and even through the usually pleasant milk drinking and rocking before bed). It was very, very frustrating. And I'm sure this is only the beginning. It's so puzzling because it's such a difference from her normally sweet and happy disposition.

In addition to this, she's also having night terrors, waking up screaming in the middle of the night without being consoled. It's scary and exhausting. Anyone have any advice about these?

To top this off, I'm sick with a bad cold, and hardly feel like dealing with a tantrum throwing toddler, and yesterday I tried to go through the new drive through pharmacy window lane at my local grocery store, in order to prevent having to take my fussy daughter in and out of her car seat one more time and discovered that the turn to get into the lane wasn't designed for an extended cab truck like I have to drive....and I proceeded to bang the back end of the truck into a pole (a pole that is padded, indicating that other people have had this same issue). The icing on the cake of my frustrating few days. I've always hated driving that truck....this just adds fuel to my fire and I've had it! I had to call the insurance company today to open a claim and we have to have it looked at on Saturday. Just what we want to be doing on the Saturday before Christmas. Ugh.

When it rains, it pours, I guess.

funny girl

Here are just a few of the times I laughed today at my funny, funny girl....

...She was playing with her little people nativity set. She took Jesus out and said, "baby." Then she took off for the dining room, where most of her toys are. I figured she was getting a baby doll, since she was saying baby. A few minutes later she comes back pushing her doll stroller with the tiny little baby Jesus figurine taking a ride. Isn't it strange to think of baby Jesus being pushed around in a stroller by Mary? (that is, if they had had strollers back in that day....even so, it's strange to think of Him being a regular little baby at all who cried and had stinky diapers and didn't sleep through the night!)

...I was reading "Five Little Monkeys" to her. When I came to the part, "no more monkeys jumping on the bed," instead of me wagging my finger like I usually do, and her joining in wagging her finger like she normally does, she took my finger in her little hand and wagged it for me and said it herself, except it sounded more like "nnnooo mmmmoooo mmmmmkkkssss asdf ;lkj asdflajsdf ja;lksjdf." The first three words were pretty clear (especially for her, who doesn't speak clearly at all.) I had to do it over and over just so I could hear her do it a bunch of times because I thought it was so funny. My husband wasn't here so I didn't get so share in my laughter with him. He'll be sorry he missed it.

...While looking at an animal book she found a spider and pointed to it. I said, "spider." She then got a wide grin on her face and she put her little fingers together (think "itsy bitsy spider"). She waited for me to sing the song and then grinned all the while when I complied.

...We were watching her Laurie Berkner DVD (she loves that thing and sits still for the entire half hour!) and the song, "Moon, Moon, Moon" came on. We've heard the song a zillion times and she loves it, but this time, she heard the first line, smiled a big smile, and ran into the dining room (her toy room). She came running back with the book, "Goodnight, Moon!" Amazing!

And those are just a few of them. I can't remember the others. I just know that she keeps me laughing and amazed all day.

I love my sweet, funny girl.

four for four!

Ha! I didn't even realize that title was all the same words...just spelled differently...until after I wrote it. Hmmmm....

Anyway, here's what it means. Tonight Daddy was quizzing her on pointing to the right colors of Christmas lights. "Where's the blue one?" She pointed to the right one. "Where's the pink one?" Correct. "Where's the green one?" Right again. "Where's the yellow one?" Hooray! She got all four right! We were amazed. She can't say Mommy, but she can point to her colors! We'll see how consistently she can do it, but for tonight, anyway, we're proud parents. Let's not think about the fact that it could all be a fluke and she could get them all wrong in the morning!