Becoming Her Own Little Person

After work today, as usual, I had to go claim my lil' sweet potato girlie from her preschool. When I arrived, she was in the midst of a diaper change and she didn't yet know I was there for her, but I could see her inside the changing room through it's top-to-bottom glass door.

After she was all clean n' changed, the teacher who had her, she set my lil' babe on her feet facing the door. My lil' toddler then turned round and lunged for the teacher's legs to give her a big thank-you hug, and she looked up at the teacher with a huge, uber darling smile while patting at one of the teacher's knees, and then my lil' chica spun right back around n' took off for the door with a squeal that could be heard from where I stood.

And then she saw me and she squealed again, even louder, "mommie!" and with 100% focus upon my face, she made a bee-line for me, smiling the whole way. As she met me, she threw herself into my legs, arms spread for giant leg-hug, all while looking up at me, "Moma, mahhhmmiee", she cooed. As I knelt down to her height, she offered me a sweet lil' puckered kiss, and she leaned her head into my shoulder, and she hugged me and held me and she gently patted the side of my face with one of her lil' chubby hands, all the while softly cooing "moma, moma, mommie."

And she does this kind of thing nearly every time I pick her up from school, and nearly every time it happens, I about die from overwhelming amazement, wondering how it is I got to be this lucky, to have a little person like her in my life. And I'm so grateful to be her mommie.

Letting My Buttons Be Pushed

Inner Thoughts for Next Time: "Ah, yes... Step back and recognize what's going on here - I know this feeling. Yes, my button is being pushed. Yup, you're pushing my buttons. Okay, now don't engage; just feel your response, but don't act on it. Just feel it and think about it, let it wash over you. Examine the push n' pull at play in this moment and the history involved. See it for what it is and then let it goooo."

Someday I'll get used to this - - I'll stop expecting to be given anything other than a contrary "No" response.

Duplos Jackpot!

So our baby girlie has recently discovered Lego Duplo blocks - - I knew it'd be just a matter of time! So yeah, she's likes them a lot... So this afternoon, while she was napping, I checked both Amazon.com and Target for Duplo sets ... and oh boy! A basic blocks set of 80 pieces is listed for $20 - - and a 'building set' of only 71 Duplo pieces is listed for $39-46!?! And a 95-piece set with a building plate is listed for $85?!?

IMPORTANT FACT: Anyone who knows anything at all about Legos or Duplos knows you need more than 80 pieces to make yourself a Duplos house!

Well, ten minutes ago I scored a Lot of 410 used Duplo blocks for $28.25 on eBay, thank you very much! CORRECTION: FOUR HUNDRED AND SEVENTY DUPLOS!

And when they get here, I'll throw 'em all into a hot bathtub with some ammonia cleanser and I'll soak 'em, and I'll scrub 'em, and I'll rinse 'em, and after they dry, I'll let her at 'em! And her big brother is coming for Memorial Day weekend --he hasn't been here since Easter!?!-- and I can only imagine the Duplo creations he'll make for her! WOO-HOO!

Sleepy Sweet Potato

My baby girlie is nearly dozing off in her high chair... although she won't say so, I think she's "all done."

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 53

Because he has the ability to step back from himself in order to measure the facts -to objectively weigh the value of our options- and he can come to a solid and sound determination, and he can not only accept it, but act on it, even if it's something he wouldn't necessarily want to do at first.

Happens to be one of the most valuable reasons I have to love and adore him (and it's one of the top reasons I married him!).

Our Shining Star

Our lil' sweet potato has moved from the 'transitioning-into-toddlerhood' Tadpoles class to the 'FULL-BLOWN-TODDLING-EVERYWHERE' toddlers group, Stars!

BACKGROUND INFO: A month before the winter/spring school session was to end, May 7th, her Tadpoles head teacher had said that if our girlie wasn't walking by May 1st, they'd keep her in Tadpoles for the new summer session. Well, she was walking independently by April's end, so her head teacher decided she could move up into Stars with the rest of her classmates. But then the program director worried she was too young when compared to her Tadpole peers, as most of them are 5-7 months older than her, although she's the very same size as the oldest babe in the group. Nonetheless, they proposed that she remain in Tadpoles until June 1st, giving her more time to master her new biped skills. At the same time though, her head teacher voiced that our girlie might regress if she found herself surrounded by a bunch of new, non-walking Tadpoles...

MORE BACKGROUND INFO: As of this week, the majority of the kids who make up the current Stars class were Tadpoles just last week. So this past Monday they'd all moved on and up, ahead of our sweet potato, and she was the only one in her Tadpoles class to remain a Tadpole. But indeed, after all the walking kiddies left Tadpoles and the new crawling-only babies moved into Tadpoles, our girlie became SERIOUSLY and IMMEDIATELY bored with her Tadpoles classroom, with her new classmates, and she began monopolizing her teachers' time, whining a lot and demanding a lot of one-on-one reading time. More importantly, this past Monday and since then, remaining in Tadpoles, she almost altogether quit trying to walk as her primary mode of personal transportation - - She began to crawl again (unless she was with us at home) = NOT GOOD.

So her head teacher talked with the program director and they had our girlie visit the Stars classroom for 'free play' by late Tuesday afternoon, and yesterday they brought her to the Stars classroom during their snack time, and she was just fine with all the older kids, so it became official today - - she's now a Star.

Sooo, she was the second babe to arrive to the Stars classroom this morning, and she immediately recognized the first and only kiddo there, who had moved up from Tadpoles into this new classroom, and my lil' sweet potato, she shrieked with glee and she toddled right over and gave her playmate an enthusiastic pat-pat hug, nearly knocking her lil' friend over.

And right then and there, I melted into a big 'oh-my-darling-daughter-adoring' pile of uber vehclempted goo, right in front of her new Stars head teacher, who I had just met for the first time.

And now I'm off of work, about to go claim my lil' shining Star!

We Have a Puppy!

Last weekend, our baby sweet potato girlie began imitating a doggie, saying "woof, woof!" And this morning she added panting to her doggie imitation. I love it!

Our Lil' Book Worm

Our baby sweet potato girl is a book worm! Her head teacher has confirmed she loves books and more so than any of her classmates. She LOVES "Circle Time," always eager to sit beside her classmates in a semi-circle for daily reading time.

Her definite very first favorite book was "Sounds" from Hinkler Books, part of their Baby's Firsts series. It simply features images of all sorts of things with the sound each makes written across the page bottom. She will still bring this book over, climbing into my lap, ready to hear me read the sounds.

Her second favorite book was a solid tie between Piggy Toe's "Ten Little Ladybugs" and Harper Festival's "Cow Moo Mee" - - she still loves them both, although only recently did she rediscover the "Ten Little Ladybugs," eager now to point out and identify all the different bugs and animals.

Her third favorite book is from Cartwheel Books, "It's Spring," by Samantha Berger. Our lil' sweet potato still really loves this book, nightly, and now points at each of the animals featured, trying each time to use the sign for birdies.

Her fourth favorite book is one of my very favorites - the illustrations are so darling - from Chronicle Books, "My Friends," by Taro Gomi.

Her fifth favorite, a well known classic, "Goodnight Moon" from Harper Festival. This book didn't hit her favorites list though until she was about 11 months old.

We have tons of books for her to read, including a number of great Priddy Books, and nearly a dozen from the fantastic Touchy-Feely board books series by Fiona Watts from Usborne Publishing, but all the aforementioned "Top 5 Favorites" have been the ones she wants read to her, over and over, sometimes each read repeatedly in one sitting.

Not until her first birthday, did she really add new titles to her Top 5 Favorites rotation. It should be noted that we haven't yet been able to trust her to handle paper-page books with care, so the majority of the books we read and give her are all board books... but she has, like, 30 or 40 of them now since her first birthday for which I'd encouraged people to give her board books ~ yay me! Lookin' out for my lil' book worm!

Sooo, her latest BIG BIG favorite that she wants read every night now (along with "Goodnight Moon" and "It's Spring") is a Sandra Boynton board book from Little Simon books, "The Going to Bed Book," given to her for her 1st birthday. She loves this book and will point to all the animals, and she will turn round and look up at me, wanting me to identify each of geanimals as she points to each of them, like the moose and the rhinoceros.

A recent new favorite is another Harper Festival pub, "Harry the Dirty Dog." She goes nuts pointing out all the doggies and birdies and trees and flowers and the butterflies and she just gets soooo excited. She doesn't really let me read this book though - - she wants to flips through the pages faster than I can read them.

Another new favorite is "The Paper Bag Princess" from Annick Press. I think it's the voices I use though to read it that she finds the most amusing - - she doesn't yet know/recognize/appreciate this lil' books fantastic message for young girls. I'm really looking forward to the day I can try to teach other similar lessons, especially important for today's growing girls.

Lastly, the book for which I'd written a blatant plug last week, "On the Night You Were Born," from Feiwel and Friends... It isn't yet on her favorites list, but it's getting close (due to repetition) and all the ladybugs on one of its pages near the book's end. Ha!

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 52

Because he continues to argue with me about the merits of the band Rush, the subject up for discussion again due to a recent Tribeca Film Festival winner.

Him: "Ya gotta put a link to their website... (as he smacks me on the arm with his napkin) ..."Quit making fun of your husband. "

He leans over to see what I'm typing and then he tells me, "You can't post that until you add a link to the band. Go get it right now."

Me: "As if I would EVER post a link to anything RUSH-related on my blog!!!?!"

Him: "How dare you! They're gods among mere mortals."

He's now making me watch some trailer for a Rush documentary - - and I do this, why?
Because I love him...

Signing Times n' Other Baby Milestones

Before I forget, I need to write this stuff down:

For her first notable sign, we're actually still trying to determine exactly what it means: She holds a pointed index finger upward, thumb extended out to the side, and then she waves her hand back and forth from the wrist, and does so very deliberately. She does this action most whenever the cats appear, or she sees a plane, and sometimes when she sees the angel boy-O's mommie, Wendy. It seems to mean 'look at that/them/her.'

Her 2nd recognizable sign was for 'more', pointing an index finger into the palm of her opposite hand... This is not what we taught her - - she learned this method at school.

3rd recognizable sign was for 'food/hungry,' inserting a baby index finger into her mouth, closing her lil' lips about her finger and then pulling her finger out of her mouth - - and she usually opens her eyes real big and wide when she does it = TOTALLY ADORABLE! We did not teach her this sign, but did have another approach, which she's never used. She came up with this on her own.

4th recognizable sign = the usual signing for 'milk'

5th/6th sign: She's trying reallllly hard to master her index-to-thumb pincher action, trying to sign 'bird'. She only began this effort a little over a week ago - - or at least that's when we finally caught on.

6th/5th sign: She's also trying reallllly hard to master the sign for airplane - - she LOVES airplanes!! I'd say kitties and airplanes are about tied right now. She always recognizes a plane's roar in the sky as they fly nearby or pass overhead when we're leaving her school, and she'll look around and point to the sky, and she can spot 'em like a lil' pro. For the last two weeks, she's been trying to use the sign for airplane whenever she sees one.

7th sign: This past week, she's been trying to use the sign for 'fish,' but it only looks like a casual one-swipe swap or low-waisted wave so far.

And tonight, for the first time, she put her palms together and opened them to sign 'book'!!! She was quite tickled when I squealed "BOOK" with delight!

She still refuses to use any kind of sign for 'drink - - she will only squawk and point vigorously in the direction of a glass, sippy cup, bottle, etc. Although at one point, we were convinced she was saying 'my bottle' in French and quite recognizably so.

Words she's speaking:

Update for her 1st word: Still no hard 'k' for book, but she says 'buh' all the time

Still 'Ba' most of the time, but now sometimes 'Ba ba' for bottle

'Bi-bi' for blanket or binky (NOTE: She only uses a binky at bedtime now or in the car.)

And exciting new behavior: Around Easter she began saying 'Gubba' - and over the last couple weeks, she seems to be using it to refer to her big brother, our angel boy-O, who she's been enthusiastically identifying in pictures for over 3 weeks, pointing him out with a lil' chubby baby index finger - - She first began pointing at his photos every time we head up the stairs and now, it also happens whenever we walk into her bedroom and turn on the lights - - there are two framed pictures of the two babes hung along the side of tall shelf that stands beside her light switch. And for the last week, if holding her in my arms while standing anywhere near the fridge, she about leaps from my arms in the direction of the fridge, wanting to point out every single picture of her brother posted on the freezer door (and there are 8 pictures of him!).

In the last two weeks or so, she also began to say 'kuh' for cat (no hard 'T'), and something much closer to dog, now a one-syllable 'duhg' with a realllly softly spoken 'g'.

And last week she began to point out images of cats/kitties, dogs, butterflies, ladybugs, birdies and frogs in her books.

She's realllly in love with the wooden creatures I've placed beneath the shelf that hangs above her diaper changing table, which she can look up and see while lying there (listed using my left to right, if facing the wall): butterfly, frog, ladybug and a dragonfly
She favors the ladybug and points to it first every time.

She has a light up ladybug, called the Twilight Ladybug (scroll down, down, down the linked page), and we call it the "starshine ladybug." Whenever she wants it, she'll point to the shelf where it's kept and will then point to the ceiling and back to the shelf. Smart lil' cookie, eh?

For over a month or more now, she'll point to her sweater or a jacket of hers, or full go on n' grab one, and she'll then point to the door that takes her out of the house. BTW, she loves the outdoors and loves to get out of the house! If she gets her hands on a jacket/sweater of hers and we won't/aren't going anywhere at that time, she'll start to squawk and will hold her jacket/sweater up to us as high as she can, sometimes waving it, insisting it's time to leave and now. She gets very excited whenever she gets her hands on her jackets/sweaters --very happy, very eager-- and she now hugs them and will then try to put them on by herself in her efforts to convince us she's ready to go-go!

She still a reallllly impatient eater. No change there. However, she now wants to feed herself ALL THE TIME. Only if she's ravenous, will she let me spoon feed her. Otherwise, she's totally hands on around mealtimes, and just last week, she began eating with a spoon without assistance! - - she's not real good at it yet, of course, but she loaded her spoon several times and the majority of it all made it inside her mouth.

I've been trying for several months to introduce her to the world of haircare. For a couple months now, she's been trying to brush her hair using a baby hairbrush (and with a dish scrubber just last night!), and she will also remove any hairclip I may put in her hair, immediately trying to return the clip to it's original position, but on her own, without my help. She gets VERY frustrated with her inability to make them stay, and again, she DOES NOT want my help for nuthin'! Sooo, no wearing of hairclips or bows yet --and she's never been a fan of those baby headband/bow thingies-- all of which is fine by me.

She grabs her toothbrush on her own, often without my reminding her, and she'll brush at her teeth and gums in the mornings, after bathtime, before bed, and any time she's in the shower.

And she's walking across entire rooms now, back and forth between walls. Over this past weekend, she just went for it... from no more than 5-6 unassisted steps a handful of times over the last two weeks, to 15 unassisted steps! 20 steps! and30! She's still very wobbly once upright and moving, and most of the time she winds up on all fours, crawling still, but she's about to become a full fledged biped! What I love is when she'll get her momentum really going and just before she gets too ahead of herself and loses it, she'll sometimes stop suddenly, standing still, wearing a huge, sheepish lil' grin on her face as she calms and regains full balance, and then she just explode forward, squealing with glee as she tries another go at it, falling sooner than later.

A The Most Wonderful Children's Book by Nancy Tillman

This one had me crying by the second page: "On The Night You Were Born"

If you have children, you should buy this book and stat ~ I read it aloud to my lil' sweet potato tonight and she looked up to stare at me in wonder when my fat tears plopped down upon her yummy lil' chubby baby arm ~ and she gave me a hug.

Thank you again, soooo much, Leslie!
Mmmwah! oxoxo

Loving Kurt's Solo

GLEEEEEEE!

Lovin' Akeelah and the Bee!

This movie is sooo going on our 'kids must watch this' list for the angel boy-O and our lil' sweet potato!

I Need to Write This Stuff Down!

Man, there's so much going on with this baby girl of mine! I can't keep up! - - and haven't been for months now. I'm soooo behind on all the bloggin I've wanted to post. Ahhh, gotta go - - baby's waking and in less than 30 seconds, screaming for attention!

No Napping, Not Today

With all this building excitement over the last few days, with our sweet potato on the cusp of establishing full throttle, self-motorized biped action, today she altogether refused to take any sort of nap, not even a 15 minute snoozer! Yeah. NO NAP! And she's still sick, yet seems to think she should be training for a walking-babies marathon. She was at home with her daddy and it was non-stop all day long, and NO NAP.

She crashed by 5:30pm and she slept until 6am!

Steppin' it Up!

Last Wednesday, our baby sweet potato's head teacher had written on her daily sheet for the day that our girlie had taken FIVE unassisted steps...

Well, my honey-man just called me at work from home and confirmed more of the same: Outside, playing in our back patio area, she walked across her playmat from her crafts table, over to the wicker loveseat! FIVE WHOLE UNASSISTED STEPS!

She's on her way to walkin' and fast! Woo-hoo!

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 51

Between yesterday and today, my wonderful, wonderful, OH-SO freakin' wonderful, and uber generous honey-man allowed me to acquire an extra 9 hours of sleep - - that's like gaining an entire extra night's sleep over two days! I slept in until 9am yesterday, and this morning, slept in again, this time until 9:30am, and this afternoon, I napped from noon until 2:30pm.

Mind you, I still feel dreadful, with this super snotty congested cold I've got, but I'm a well-rested dreadful - - I can't imagine how I'd feel right now if I hadn't of gotten all the extra shut-eye. (shaking my head in disbelief) Kinda scary to imagine, really.

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 50

We had exactly two solid snotty-free weeks for our baby sweet potato until last night. I picked her up from her school yesterday and noticed two of her lil' playmates had lil' greenie rivers flowing from their noseys, so I knew it'd just be a matter of time, but I didn't think it'd be so soon! So I'm at home today, caring for my lil' snot ball.

She had such a hard time breathing last night, around midnight we had to set her up on the floor of her bedroom, sitting upright in one of her old baby swings, and my honey-man --her darling, sweet daddy-- he slept on her bedroom floor, laying right beside her.

He is such a wonderful, wonderful daddy and we're so very lucky to have him.

Why I Love Mah Honey-Man ~ Reason 49

Because he was up at 5:15 this morning and he made us fresh coffee before we walked out the door with our girlie babe in tow at 5:40am, just in time for us to be on location at 6am to help with set up for this year's Walk MS event. And he made our lunches last night as well, in preparation for our drive after the MS event to St. George, UT.

And we got home not long ago and it was such a loooong and good day spent together.

Stalling

After work today, after I'd picked up our baby sweet potato girlie from her school, we met my honey-man for dinner somewhere nearby. For the past two months now, this has been our Tuesday night ritual, however, what happened once we got home, not exactly so.

I was home with the girlie by 5:40pm, and although I really should have given her nothing more than a quickie dip in the kitchen sink, we lazed around and took our sweet time in the tub for nearly an hour. And we read 5 books instead of 3 (and I read 2 of the 5 books twice). And instead of laying her down in her crib semi-awake before she'd totally doze off in my arms, I rocked her to sleep and held her for at least a half hour before finally laying her down in her crib come 7:30pm. I just wanted more time.