Gave up the pacifier without (much) of a fight

Yesterday, we had a party to celebrate Good Bye Chupon! and the party went well.

(See? Very windy.)

We've been talking with Carolina for months about giving up her pacifier and eventually ended up making this last pacifier THE LAST pacifier. We wanted to be settled with the move and her brother and new school before taking it away. I knew that if we didn't push it, she'd happily keep it for a VERY long time.

She'd recently chewed them while having them in her mouth and went through 4 in a month and a half this summer. So this latest one, I said "This is the last-last-last one. No more chupones after this one. When it breaks, we'll have a party."

She was planning her party and helped pick out the piñata and decorations. We just had to wait for this one to break. It didn't break. In fact, it was the longest lasting one in the past year, HOWEVER she started to get a rash on her chin, I think from the saliva sitting on her skin for several hours. (I'm still really not sure where the rash came as she's never had one similar before.)

I used it as the catalyst to move this along. We scheduled the party for yesterday, sent out an evite to the grandparents and aunt next door and got everything ready. For two days before, she was alternatively excited for the party and panicked about giving it up for good.

Yesterday morning we went apple picking and after her nap had the party. She woke up in a good mood and was very excited to have the party and "send the chupon up in the sky to the princesses". Unfortunately the pacifier was too heavy for even two balloons to take it up to the sky, so I had her draw a pacifier on a piece of paper and taped the paper to the balloon. It was SO VERY windy outside that the balloon went up into the sky extremely quickly. She took it all in stride and was happy.

Last night she wasn't so happy. I had anticipated this would be like when she had to give up her bottle and change from a crib to a big bed. It was similar. So bedtime took longer and I gave her a dose and a bit more of melatonin to help her relax. Otherwise I expected a LOT of headbanging to compensate.

She slept well and woke up in a very good mood. Better than most days recently. She did NOT take a nap today, and I expect a little fussing tonight. And then by tomorrow she'll take her nap and we'll move on. Occasionally over the next weeks, and maybe months, she'll ask and I'll tell her what happened and she'll accept it. Just like the other things. That's what I'm guessing. What happens, however, is up to her.

I'm still proud of her. As with all the 'big' changes in her life, she takes them more in stride than my worst fears and better than most.

Rolled over!

The baby just rolled over from his back to his stomach and back to his back for the first time! He's been able to pull himself up (with a bit of help) when we play "up, up, up" and has been threatening to roll over and now he just did it!

After a long day in the car and at the beach and boardwalk (Coney Island) -- he did it!

Baby talk and Up Up Up

For the first time, baby said "Hello" three days ago in response to my saying "Hello" to him. Granted it was more of a "heehwooo" but it's close enough.

Since then he's been trying to say "How are you" and what sounds like a million other things -- all at once. Throughout the day he will have talking spells when he just really makes an effort to talk. He's particularly interested in talking to Carolina and getting her to talk back.

This afternoon we were at the German butcher shop and the check out lady, a very dear, older German woman, started to smile and talk to Ismaelito. When she said, "Hello." He immediately smiled and said, "Hehwooo! Hehwoah!" She then smiled more broadly and exclaimed, "He just said Hello!"

So now other people can tell, too. This is so much fun!

Last night, during bath time, I put Carolina in first and then he brother. Usually he'll lie back and kick his legs a bit. Since he's started to be able to lift himself up, we've been practicing. I hold his arms gingerly, say, "Up. Up. Up." and he pulls himself up. So in the bath he insisted on sitting up to be able to see and talk to Carolina. When I tried to lie him back, thinking he wanted to "swim" like usual, he fussed until I sat him back up. Awesome!

Also, this past weekend we took Carolina to her first ice cream parlour. We went to Bishoff's in Teaneck. I let her choose from Bishoff's and Baumgart's. She chose Bishoff's because of the photos of ice cream online. It wasn't too busy, so it worked out really well. She LOVED it. She had chocolate ice cream, marshmallow topping with rainbow sprinkles.

It was a big, family adventure and those of us who are lactose intolerant were suffering, gladly, afterwards. :)

Moving makes things hectic

We just moved to New Jersey last week. I've been so busy with the kids I haven't had enough time to make notes about what's happening.

Carolina started a new school and loves it. Phew. The baby is growing apace and is about 13lbs now. As his reflux seems to have gotten a little worse, and I'm pretty sure it's due to my eating foods I like instead of only safe foods and he's teething. So my back has been killing me with carrying him around almost constantly and unpacking seems to be taking a LONG time.

Carolina is clearly jealous of this and wants to be held, too. I don't blame her. It's truly short amounts of time that I spend with just her. But she still loves "her baby" a LOT and at least has school to make her own.

She was really helpful while we were packing. She helped with her scissors to cut the tape and we asked her to draw on whatever boxes she wanted. She also put stickers on the boxes.

All the boxes made her anxious. The idea of a new house was something she liked and didn't understand at the same time.  It wasn't until the day before when she saw the apartment and her new room that she seemed to feel better about it. And she has adjusted to her new room very well. I'm actually very surprised at how quickly she's adjusted.

We had to lose her blackout shades as they have vertical blinds in every room. But even with the extra light at naptime, she naps well. It was actually the baby who seemed unsure about all the changes. I had him in my arms or sleeping on me pretty much all week. The first 2-3 days he seemed nervous.

So my anxious kid was okay and my calm kid was nervous. Go figure.

Getting used to driving everywhere and taking the kids in the car to do shopping is a BIG change.

I've already learned that I can only go to 1-2 stores with them. Poor baby doesn't get much sleep with all the going in and out of the car.

Speaking of sleep, he slept for nearly 8 hours last night. So I got 5 hours of sleep. He then was up from 4am until a little after 5am. He was trying to fall back to sleep but was too wormy. It was a poop that was bothering him and didn't get relief from until a few hours later.


I could go on and want to but I'm tired. Really tired. And my back hurts. I just want to lie down. So, well, good night!

Sleep, Telling Stories and Moving

Last night the baby slept for 7 hours straight. I'd like to say that I got 7 hours of sleep but it was good enough. He went down at 8pm and didn't wake up to feed until nearly 3am. It's nice since the night before he was up every, almost, 2 hours. Ah, newborns...

Carolina told her brother a story, her first real story, yesterday. It went something like this:
Once upon a time there was a baby, it was YOU! And his name was Ismael ("Izmail") and he was moving and crying and looking around. Bah, bah, bah, weeeeeeeeeee (insert more noises that aren't words), and then he went to take a nap.

Pretty good! It has a start, middle and exciting ending! :)

We're still packing up for our move to Jersey. Carolina is talking about it now like she understands but I know there's a lot of anxiety behind it since all day long we get a nearly constant stream of "What you doin?" from her. As more boxes go up, the more that question comes up. However, she's been very helpful with packing and we're keeping her involved as much as possible to help her be part of the process.

Today on the phone with her aunt, who asked during a Skype call if there were a lot of boxes at home, she said, "No. We packin' an we gonna move to a new house near granma an granpa and I'm gonna fly over to deh house like "woosh"." (Another time she explained that she will be able to fly to my parents place (in the next building) like Superman and Krypto and Fussy, from Superman Family Adventures comics.) I thought that was pretty clever. I hope she doesn't try to fly there but at least she gets what's happening in some way that makes sense to her and others.

Ok, gotta go...

Music & Art camp

Carolina LOVED this. I wish it had lasted all July. She learned how to play the violin and piano. The art the kids did was really fun and she adored her art teacher. It was a wonderful experience all around for her, and really great after having such a not good time at preschool in the neighborhood earlier in the spring.

Doctor visits, all together now...

This week I took the kids to two of the baby's doctor visits. The ENT specialist says his reflux is getting better but still not completely healed, and his pediatrician agreed he's starting to teethe. She also noted how big and strong he is. Nearly 12lbs and almost 24" long. He's in the 49% for weight and 75% for height. I think Carolina was this big about 3-4 months from now. She was mostly good in the taxi rides and at the offices but not really. The baby's crying during his vaccinations, which I warned her about, really upset her. And she scraped her knee leaving an office en route to getting a cab. You'd have thought she broke her leg with all the crying. I was prepared with bandaids and antibiotic cream. But she wanted me to carry her. She's 3, so she wanted extra comfort. It was 90 degrees outside and I was carrying the baby in his car seat and diaper bag, so I couldn't. The next visit ended with a huge summer storm, complete with some hail and downpour. We waited about 30 minutes to be able to go outside to get a cab. And since it was around 5pm, when cabs go off duty, it was almost impossible. Thank god another woman helped me since Carolina was hungry and bored and decided to have a meltdown under her umbrella while I'm holding the baby in his car seat, diaper bag and umbrella. Whoever said a 3 year old is unhelpful must have met my tired, hungry, bored daughter. They were two VERY long days. These experience made me yearn for a car and look forward with renewed vigor to our move to NJ in a few weeks. I'm certain suburbia will lend us differently challenging experiences. All hail the kids for keeping me on top of my game. Ha.