Big girl

Where did my baby go?

I'ts official, my baby is gone and despite the fact that she still refers to herself as "baby" has transformed into a big girl.  While a part of me is mourning the loss of the helpless baby most of me is reveling in the fun that is toddlerdom.  A song that keeps coming on E's pandora station has a lyric "How did you grow so big over night, how did you get so strong and bright, yesterday you were asleep in my arms, today you're growing off the charts, I'm so proud of you"  and every time I hear it I tear up a little bit (still going to blame the hormones)

This age is so much fun!  E is becoming more playful every day, she plays with her toys using her imagination.  Her favorites are her animals and her people and anything having to do with the potty.  Today she put her baby doll on it's potty in front of her alphabet toy and proceeded to show him alphabet letters while making peeing noises.

She "reads" her favorite books and sings along to more songs that I can remember.  Her favorite song is "Wheels on the Bus"  she will sing that song all day.  Her favorite book is her Star Wars Colors book, which requires me singing the Imperial march and the cantina song when I read it.  She loves, loves, loves Sesame Street (especially Count, Elmo and Cookie Monster) despite never seeing a full episode. She knows them from her books. She calls Count "Ah, ah!" which makes me laugh every time.  She sleeps on a nap mat at daycare.  She uses her potty fairly regularly.  She hates clothes, diapers, and car seats.  She has her security items (Ellie, her musical elephant, LinLin her stuffed panda, babypada, and Rexy her t-rex pillow pet that goes to day care with her).  She threw a fit when I washed her daycare blankie over the weekend.

She gets sad when people go away, even complete strangers like waiters and such; and likes to call for people or things "reesa? weh are ooo reesa?"  (she really likes our neighbor Ms. Teresa, and calls for her when we go check the mail, but she'll also call for inanimate objects the same way)

She's curious about the world. Her favorite things to say seem to be "isit?" (what is it) and "do?" (what is he doing) and "eredidhego?" (where did he go?)

fearless!

She loves to tell us what color things are and "count"  For a long time everything was yellow and there were always 3 of everything.  But she's getting better about her colors, there are still usually 3 of everything though.  She loves to climb, swing and tries to jump.  She's a very physical kiddo, but also can be very focused and still.

We went on vacation to California (eventually I'll post about that, I swear) and it was such a different trip than a year ago.  

She's starting to assert her independence more (ie. more temper tantrums).  Her most common tantrum currently is about going to school.  If I even mention school she starts whimpering or crying.  She's also starting to be picky about her food.  Tonight she had a full meltdown about eating, all she wanted was grapes and she made a huge show of spitting out her bite of quinoa.  Between that and kicking dada earlier in the evening, she ended up going straight to bed after dinner for the first time ever.  To be fair she was REALLY tired because she didn't nap at daycare so her behavior had an explanation, but there is still no excuse.  I know it's important to be firm and fair about these things but it's still hard.  Thankfully she went almost straight to sleep with only a few minutes of crying once she was put to bed.

 Thankfully the good days still outnumber the bad, and hopefully that trend will continue as we delve down the path of the terrible twos.

She's my big girl, and she lets me know in her own funny way.  Tonight at dinner she asked for my fork "mama fork?" so I got her, her own adult fork to which she proudly declared "baby big girl!"

Yes baby, you are a big girl; but you're still my baby.

Sweetest Lullaby v.2.0

When E was just a little bitty one I wrote about the importance of lullabies to me and how much I love hearing Ken sing to her.

I've got a new favorite lullaby, but it changes every time I sing.  It's because E now sings along with them.
Granted it's an attempt to delay bedtime/naptime, which she is getting better and better at each night.  But it still melts my heart.

I'll be singing and she'll pipe in, in her super cute little baby voice, just on a few of the words, usually at the end of a verse or the chorus and give me this little happy smile as if she knows just how completely it melts my heart.  

18 months!

full force cute!

 The toddler tornado is in full force! At a year and a half this child runs circles around us (literally sometimes) but is such a sweet, good girl 90% of the time!  She really keeps us busy, nearly every day I think to myself "oh! I should blog about that!" or "Oh, I really want to remember that she did that!" and by the time bed time rolls around I've forgotten or I'm too exhausted to actually sit down and write.

full force smart!

 One of the things I constantly want to blog about is how much E absorbs every day.  She's a little sponge.  At her 12 month check up her doctor was worried about her verbal development.  Her 18 month check up will be on Tuesday and I'll be happy to report that she has a vocabulary of so many words I've lost count.  She says new words every day.  Of course you still have to be well versed in E-speak to understand everything (and sometimes I don't even understand it) but she's really talking.  Even full sentences.  The other day she spilled her water down her front then wiped her hand across her shirt and said "isiwet" (This is wet).  She'll assert her independence verbally now "Isee" (I want to see it) "babydo" (I want to do it) "nome!" (let me do it!).  Her current favorite phrases are "uh-sigh" (other side), "uhkay" (okay) and of course "mo" (more).

full force curious!

She is also absorbing knowledge at a phenomenal rate.  The other day I drew shapes on the ground with chalk and she ran up to the circle, danced around inside it and said "ro, ro, siruhl" (roll, roll, circle).  She sorts her "High Ho Cherry O" fruits by color, though she finds it hilarious to put the wrong color in a basket and shout "uh-oh!, Uh-no!" She names her colors frequently (though she still thinks most things are yellow on first try).  She's even beginning to count.  She can reliably do "uh, tooo, teee" (one, two, three) and "helps" mommy count to ten by saying every other number.  He favorite number book is her  Star Wars 123 book.  She especially likes the 7 bounty hunters and the 100 storm troopers (we don't count those) but she starts singing the Imperial March when she turns to that page. (why yes, I am raising a nerd, thank you)  Her favorite page is the 1 Yoda page.  She asks for that book by saying "wee, weed, oda peas!" (read, read, Yoda please!)

She likes to sit at her "desk" and "write her letters" (pictured above).  She has taken over the end table.  She climbs up, puts her feet under the drawer so she can scoot up to the the top shelf and then uses the travel Scrabble dice and pencil to trace the letter on the die with the pencil and then scribble on the paper.

full force spaghetti monster!

She also loves to sing.  We are starting to get snippets of "the ABC song", "Twinkle, twinkle", "the imperial march", "Farmer in the Dell" and of course "row, row, row your boat"  she asks for music to be put on almost constantly and will play with her musical toys while the music is playing (this drives mama a little bit nuts).

She also, still, LOVES to eat.  I think her favorite foods currently are yogurt, blueberries, grapes, peas, pasta, ham and cheese.  But she still eats nearly anything.  She eats raw onions and lemons!  She devours Italiano's spaghetti with reckless abandon.  She calls tortillas "nana" which makes me laugh though I have no idea why she thinks a tortilla and a banana are the same thing (she does use the same word for banana).  She has stopped eating yellow squash, tomatoes and mushrooms.  They get nibbled and then she shakes her head and says "no" and then hands them back to me.  She did the same thing with a raspberry tonight.

full force play!

 Summer has brought about several big events.  The first being E no longer goes to daycare!  Mommy has the summer off so we took E out of daycare to save money.  We will be returning to daycare once school starts back up in August but she will no longer be in the infant room, she'll be in the toddler room where they no longer have cribs but instead sleep in cots (scary!) and they do more formal lessons (awesome!) and lots more crafts (excellent!).  Oh and they can do part time rates in that room too (YAY!).    Not being in daycare means mommy gets to take E on playdates more!  Many of which involved water which suits E just fine.  She would spend all day, every day at the pool or a splash pad.  She LOVES the water.

participation medals
taste good!

 Summer also meant the end of E's season at Little Gym.  She's been in the same "Birds" class since she was 8 months old and both she and mommy made some friends in the class.  She had her "show" the last week of class.  Her teacher's praise was that "E always does what I ask her to do" and then she asked E to stand up and E promptly sat down.  I laughed.  E has such a strong will.  Thankfully we are getting good at finding ways to make what we want her to do something she wants to do, but be wary if you butt up against that will!  We enrolled for summer session and E had her first class, she was a little taken aback when all the other kids were new. She's still in the Birds class because of her age but most of her friends moved into the "Beasts" class.  I know that one of her friends is supposed to be there, but was out last week for some reason, hopefully she'll be back this week.

full force passed out!

All this fantastic development and endless energy result in a pretty tired kid.  She has her bedtime routine down pat.  She knows that after dinner we have a bath, then pajamas, then she runs to daddy for milk and books, then she runs to the bathroom to brush her teeth and then she calls for daddy to sing her to sleep.  Usually she goes down with no problem.  Even now with the binky weaning she goes to sleep well.  However, she's having a hard time staying asleep.  I think it may be a combination of separation anxiety, binky weaning, 18 month sleep regression and teething.  This past week has been a tough one.  Everything I read says the 18 month regression can be tough...and can last up to 2 months.  I hope E gets this out of her system a lot faster than that or Mommy might need a vacation.  Her pattern for the last week has been sleep from 8-11ish, wake up and scream until mommy comes to get me, scream until mommy lets me sleep with her (on the floor, in the bed, wherever), fuss and cry every few hours, then get up sometime between 5 and 530.  Coming from the baby who slept from 8-7 with maybe one or two fussy points during the night where she self soothed most of the time this change is killing me!  I know it will pass, I know it will get better, and I'm hoping it will happen quickly.  I haven't been this much of an irratable zombie since she was a newborn!

I hope E keeps me busy, though I do hope I can sit down and blog a little more, between my blog and facebook I have some hope of eventually sitting down and scrabooking her baby book, but at the rate E is running these days that won't be until she's in college so I need to take the time to document what I can, when I can!

full force love!

Big Girl(s)

Sunday E went through a bit of shell shock. She woke up and did what she'd done for the last nine days, she asked for "Ah-ee, Shar" but for the first time in nine days I had to tell her they were gone.  She spent the better part of the day asking for them and "Uh-Sha" and trying to find them in their usual places.

Our family friends stayed with us for 10 days to see some graduations and E loved having the built in playmates.  The 'big girls' are 8 and 6 and have a 2 year old sister so they were phenomenal with E.  E loved copying them and being a 'big girl' like them.  We went out to dinner one night and the girls were telling knock-knock jokes.  E spent the better part of dinner shouting "nah-nah!" to anyone who would look at her.  Unfortunately that's where her knock-knock expertise ends and no matter how hard the girls tried she wouldn't say any more of the joke.

E became very attached to A and C during their stay.  She watched them like a hawk and followed them around like a puppy.  Another point that sticks out was sitting in E's room with all three girls sitting and reading their own books.  E picked up one of her picture books and sat with it the whole time that the big girls were reading.  She also had a hard time understanding when they were roughhousing.  She got very upset when the big girls were shrieking or play fight tickling.  She'd start crying and trying to stop the person tickling the girl.  Or if the big girls were crying E wanted to go to them and comfort them.  It was very cute to watch.

Her obsession with the big girls also allowed us to start on another big step for E...weaning off the binky.  Sunday after she got up all of her binkies "broke".  I cut a slit in the end of each binky so that she doesn't get good suction on them anymore.  We explained to her that she was becoming a big girl, and big girls don't use binkies, so her binkies all broke.  We talked about how A and C were big girls and they didn't use binkies.  E was so mad at nap time that it took over an hour and three visits from mommy and daddy, with mommy eventually laying down with her to get her to go to sleep.  Riding in the car she was getting so mad at her binky that she she was trying to throw it away from her, but it's attached to the car seat, so she just got more frustrated and mad.  Bed time was rough too, once she was asleep she'd wake up every so often and whine.  At one point I went in and she whined and cried so much with such a pained expression on her face that it just broke my heart.  If there had been a non snipped binky in the house I probably would have caved in and given it to her.  Thankfully there wasn't and eventually despite tears from both mommy and E, angry cries and screams of frustration from E, and a lot of rocking and singing E went to sleep and did about the same as a normal night.  It's so hard to remember that she's becoming a 'big girl'  When she fell alseep at nap time she was curled up close to me, her hands folded and her face looked so much like it used to when she was a tiny baby.  Part of me longs for her to stay my little baby but the other part is dosed in the reality that she is nearly 18 months, has all her baby teeth except her 2 year molars, and needs to go through these transitions, no matter ho much it hurts my heart.

Nap time today was better, it only took 25 minutes of crying and so far bed time has been a breeze.  Hopefully this is a sign that my baby is really becoming a big girl.






Update:

Discipline

So apparently it's common knowledge among veteran parents that the "terrible twos" actually start around one.  Why no one tells us rookies this is a mystery to me but when I tell my veteran parent friends about E's misadventures in tantrums, mischief and being generally naughty limit testing they all just smile and say something along the lines of "yeah, terrible twos start early"

So Ken and I have been working on a discipline system that works for us.  For now, when E gives us her little 'I'm going to test you right now' smirk and deliberately disobeys what we just asked her to do we do the following:

-remind her that big girls make smart choices
-tell her what a good choice would be
-give her another chance to make a good choice
-warn what the sad consequence will be (it's a 'time out'* right now)
-enforce the sad consequence

*our version of 'time out' is that we take her to her room, sit in the rocking chair with her and talk about the choice she made and why it was a sad choice and what she should do next time.  This is all happening while she is screaming her head off for her binky or to be read to, or to be let down in general.  Then we sit with her until she has calmed down, ask her to say sorry, then give her a chance to do the smart choice, with lots of hugs and praise when she does.  It's also usually accompanied by a short session with the binky after she has calmed down and said sorry.

On Monday we got a note from her daycare:

I had to recreate the note, I lost the original

Her normal teacher was gone by the time I picked her up.  I thought it might be just because she's teething and got over excited.  I got the details eventually:  she and another child were fighting over a toy and she leaned over and bit him!

I have NO idea where she learned biting, but learned it she has.  So Ken and I have been on the look-out for biting behavior.

Tonight during dessert  Ken was petting her hair and she was pushing his hand away and saying "no"  We are working with her to try to get her to say "no thank you" so I reminded her that we say "no thank you" and Ken pet her head again and she grabbed his hand and started guiding it to her open mouth.

Breaking what I just told her moments before I let out a very loud and stern "NO!  No biting!"  She looked stunned and dropped his hand.  We took away her frozen yogurt and I reminded her that it was okay to be mad but not to be mean, and biting is mean because it hurts people and asked her to say sorry to Daddy.  Her face crumpled into the realization that she was in trouble, she tried a few times to continue eating or playing, completely avoiding looking at Ken.  Eventually we had to enforce the sad consequence.

I brought a friend to time out with us, her Cookie Monster snack keeper. It's basically Cookie Monster's head and the mouth opens and closes.  I sat her on my lap and we talked about how biting hurts.  Then I had Cookie Monster bite my finger and I made a big dramatic show of saying "ow!"  And that's when she started wailing.

While she was crying on my lap I had a conversation with Cookie.  He apologized for biting me and I gave him hugs and kisses (sometimes being a parent makes you look nuts) but E kept crying and crying and crying.  She immediately said "sorry" to Ken and gave him hugs and kisses, and kept crying and crying and crying.

I think I made my point...though I may have traumatized my child against Cookie Monster in the process of doing so.  As we were getting ready for bed she saw Cookie on the dresser and said "no!no! ow!"  and started crying again.  I tried to show her that Cookie and I were friends by giving him lots of hugs and kisses and having him kiss her and promise no more biting, but she would have none of it.  She wouldn't stop crying until I put Cookie Monster in a toy bin out of sight.

I guess he'll stay there....until the next time she bites someone.

My day take 2

Last year I used today to update E's followers on my life and well being. I like that idea and so shall continue it this year... No guarantees for making a tradition though!

I do it!

So....how is momma?  Momma is good.  Momma is loving life.  Momma is amazed every day at this little person who sings and dances, runs and climbs, plays in every little puddle of water as if it were a swimming pool, talks and signs, eats and eats and eats, wants to cuddle and be independent, entertains herself and wants to be read to all the time.  She is so much fun to be around.  Momma is also lucky to have Daddy around.  Daddy helps so much and makes everything so much more enjoyable.

Momma is less tired than a year ago!  Working part time has allowed me to get a little more sleep (no more getting up at 4:30!) E still doesn't sleep through the night regularly.   But we have gotten to the point where we don't turn on the baby monitor most nights. She sleeps, but will cry in the middle of the night just enough to wake me up, even without the monitor.  She usually puts herself back to sleep but lately has been teething her canine teeth.  So she's pretty sad and woeful. (see ode to teeth).  She helped me get my Mother's day off to an early start this morning.  We got back from one of Ken's co-worker's wedding around midnight and E had already thrown up in bed for the baby sitter, who had thankfully cleaned up the baby.  Around 3:30 E woke in full woe and needed cuddles and a bottle of water.  Then again around 4:15.  At 5 she woke and demanded yogurt, then milk and didn't actually eat either, well she fell asleep mid bite of yogurt.  So I tried to lay her back in bed...big mistake!  so we ended up sleeping in the chair and eventually the guest bedroom bed until 7 or so when she woke up and actually wanted yogurt.
Thankfully this is a strange occurrence.  Most nights it's only one wake up with no mommy intervention needed. A few nights before the teething set in she actually slept through without making a peep.  Hopefully once these teeth are through we will have more of that!

Super girl!

Mommy is also loving working part time.  It's hard to give up science and my students but it's so worth having those extra hours in the morning with E and Fridays are awesome.  E has become so much more fun than a year ago.  I think I love this age the most yet (I'll probably say that for a while)  We go to Little Gym on Wednesdays and she just loves it.  We've made some good potential out of class friends.  We even wen to an Easter Egg hunt with one of them.

first Carousel!

Fridays we are starting to have Mommy and E adventures!  We go to the Children's museum or the Zoo or even just shopping or to the playground.  Soon the pool will be open and Mommy will be home full time for summer.  I do worry about going stir crazy, I will still need adult contact and time away from my E to maintain my sanity but I'm looking forward to having more Mom-ventures with her, despite the horrible summer humidity.  I've joined a meet-up group that has something almost every day. I haven't been able to go to many because they pretty much all start at 10 and I have to leave for work around 10:30 so I'm looking forward to exploring those playdate options a little more come summer!

Mommy and "sissy" on
their adventure!

Mommy is also taking more "me" time.  I went away from E over night for the first time.  I thought it would be terrible but it wasn't.  My mentee (E calls her "sissy") and I went and explored a college that she was considering.  It was wonderful to spend time with her and while I missed E and Ken it was okay.  It's good to know I can be okay away from them (and they were just fine without me!).  Ken and I are also leaving E with baby sitters that aren't family occasionally!  We actually have had 2 date nights without having to have family come to town!

In honor of the first Mom's
day post, here is E with
something random on her head!

Momma is also working on getting in shape.  We are making much smarter food decisions as a family and it's helping a lot!  We also got fitbits for Christmas and I've been loving making sure I get my goals every day.  Running around after E in the morning certainly helps with it!  So does the fact that my classroom is across campus from the rest of the school and I have to walk students to and from class at least 6 times every day!

out for a hike!

As a family we've gone on a lot more walks since the weather has been wonderful.  E loves her push tricycle, her stroller and even her backpack.  We also recently got her a bike trailer.  She's still a bit small for it and needs to be propped up with a pillow behind her so that her helmet isn't shoved into her eyes but once we figured that out, she loves riding in her trailer!  We went to the pool as a family today and I used E's nap time today to finally clean up half of the front garden bed and lay down the mulch that has been sitting on the driveway for the last 2 months.  I will probably be sore tomorrow but it's a good thing.  I'm still not as strong as I was pre-pregnancy but I'm better than where I was a year ago.  Nowhere to go but up!

helmet!

We are not looking forward to the increase in humidity, but we are going to try our hardest to still get outside.  Mostly because E loves it out there.  All day long she'll ask for "side?" "side?"  and she'll cry when we come in.  She's an outdoor girl and we want to encourage that!

So all in all, Mommy is great.  Loving this mommy business, even when it's so hard I want to cry.  It's so worth it too.

Happy mother's day!

an ode to teeth

Oh teeth, oh teeth,

You are so much woe

You bring it

Every time you grow.

You make my baby

Scream and wail,

Telling such a woeful tale.

You steal away

My precious sleep,

As all night long

E wants to weep.

We love you

Because you help E eat,

But growing you

Is such a feat.

When you are done

We will be so glad,

Oh teething makes

The world so sad.