Talking, talking... clever!

Thanksgiving was a very relaxed affair. Carolina helped us call a few family members who don't live by and say "Happy Tanks-giveeng!"

We had to practice that one a few times during the days before Thanksgiving as "Happy Halloween" was her preferred greeting.

During Thanksgiving dinner, Carolina discovered two things:
She prefers ham to turkey, and she LOVES gravy.

So, when she'd run out of ham, she'd say "Mas ham pleeeze!" and when we gave her back her plate with new ham, she'd look at it first and then say, "Mas greevy?"

I had brought her new Christmas outfit (there are two) with the blue dress and white, faux fur coat. When she woke up from her nap, before we ate, we got her dressed in the fancy outfit. Decked out in fancy tights and new, fancy shoes. She was delighted.

Earlier that day, she came into my parents' new bathroom after I took a shower and asked me "What dat name?" (which is her way of saying "What's that called?"; an improvement from "Wha dat?") while pointing to the squeegee in their tub area. I explained it was a squeegee and that you use it to take water off the walls and windows. (The new bathroom has a glass door and wall instead of a shower curtain like we have at home.) The next morning after we got home, Carolina found a plastic piece from a clothing tag (the kind that is straight and then has a perpendicular piece at the end). She came up to me with the piece and says, "move the water away." I had to look at this thing in her hand closely before I realized that she thought it looked like a mini squeegee, and that we had talked about that the day before. Very clever.

One more story: This morning I went into Carolina's room to get her up and she was not only awake (as she normally is), she was quietly standing behind the door. Scared the bejesus out of me. So I quickly composed myself, kneeled down and said, "How did you get out of bed?" She explained in her own way that she got out of the crib, on to the big bed next to it, and climbed down the other side, walked around her crib and then came to look at the elephants on her wall. I then asked, "So you went to look at the elephants and the lion?" She then explained yes, and it was so she could do a "biiiiig poop" while standing up. (Standing up pooping is her preferred method these days. Just ask Aunt Jee.)

We then talked about how going poop in the potty or the big potty is more comfortable and easy since the big potty has water and you hear the poop go "PLOP" and in the little potty you hear a little "plop". So that she should call for mommy or papa when she needs to poop in the morning if we didn't come in yet. She thought that was all hilarious. We'll try using underwear and actually using the potty more than once a day after we get back from Mexico. I think it'll be easier since she'll be another month or two older and we will have time at home (with it snowing or raining or being too cold to go out) to really take the time to get comfortable with the potty. And if she's not ready then, we'll try again before she goes to nursery school in March.

Mama, poop!

Now I realize this isn't the first time she's alerted me to a poop she's done shortly after she's done it, but today was different.

We were at the park and she was playing in the dirt with a stick ("draw-en mama!") and I was sitting on a nearby bench. After about 5 minutes she walks over to me and says "Poop. Mama, poop!" So I said, "Ok, let me check." She walks closer and leans a bit forward (so I can look at her diaper) and I say, "yes! let's change you."

"Ok, mommy. Change you." And walked over to the stroller bag where she knew the mini diaper bag was. We changed her and I told her I was very proud of her for telling me right away. She looked very proud.

She did this with the babysitter yesterday, too. If she keeps this up, we can start potty training. This and getting her to sit on the potty without being afraid of it. All in good time...

No touch, doity

I hear it's the same with other 2 year olds in other states, around now they develop a Jersey/Brooklyn kind of accent on some words. Of course, it's no accent, their mouths are trying to say the new words and it comes out sounding a bit funny. Here are a few of my new favorites, with and without Jersey accent.

1. Doity (Dirty)
2. Peen-uh (Clean up)
3. Tank ooh mama (Thank you, Mama)
4. Tunna (Tunnel)
5. Toi-tul (Turtle)

And my favorite conversation from this week, so far:
*toot*
C: Hahaha. Poop! (pointing to her diaper/butt)
Me: No, not poop, fart. you did a fart!
C: Poop! Poop! (extra emphasis pointing)
Me: No, it's a fart. Fart! Air comes out of the same place as poop but without the poop. It's a fart.
C: Poop. (pointing at me)
Me: Ok, sure, poop.

She's decided that the potty isn't scary and tries it out 1-2 times a day. Sometimes with all her clothes on and sometimes with clothes and diaper off. She might sit for a few seconds or a few minutes while reading. Who can say? It hasn't involved actual pee or poop in the potty yet but she's making progress. At least her baby dolls know that's where you have to go as she puts one of them on there and tells it to "poop!"

Final thoughts of the day:
In summation of the last few months of looking in the 3 favorite boroughs and NJ: If the homes (apartments or houses) are cheap, the schools are bad. If the home is near public transportation, the schools are bad. If there's little to no public transportation, the schools are excellent. If you're in NJ and your commute time to Manhattan is less than an hour, the schools are middling to bad.

Poop? No.

This is an actual excerpt from a conversation this morning.

(Carolina & Ismael in the kitchen eating breakfast, I walk in from the other room just started vacuuming.)

Me: Whoa, it smells like poop in here!
Is: I don't smell anything
Me: When she's done eating, I'll change her.
(She then stopped eating and came into the living room. I smelled her butt.)
Me: Whoa! Yup, that's a big one!
(Change her and yes, it was a mess)
Is: I really didn't smell anything. I guess since I was in the room with her when she... well, she did take the "poop position" in the other room just before I brought her into the kitchen to eat. Maybe she did it then?
Me: That must have been why it was everywhere.
Is: Well, I asked her if she pooped and she said "No".
Me: Hahaha, she's two! She says "no" to a lot of things.

Lesson for my husband: When a two year old tells you "no" after you asked her if she's pooped, check the butt anyway.

Jeez...

Just when I think it's forever, it's going to change soon (again)

Just as I get really comfortable with always buying diapers and forgetting that she won't need them -- even though we have conversations about her going to potty train one day -- I finally realized she's going to be out of diapers sooner than I imagined.

I'm not going to get ahead of myself, and honestly I'm not really looking forward to it. I just know that she's starting to show signs of 'being ready' to start potty training. She tells me that she has to poop, sometimes. She shows me the ASL sign for changing diaper when she wants her diaper changed, even if it's a lot of pee. And I'm just impressed that this is happening, by her own momentum, at all.

Since we'll be away for 6 weeks, I've zero intention of starting to train her while not at home. But there is a potty at Abuela's house and maybe, if she shows interest and wakes up with a dry diaper, I'll start to put her on it and read her a book to see if she pees in there.

So far my entire knowledge about potty training is what few things my mom told me last week and something a friend told me last year.

As you all probably know, I can get too caught up in something if I get anxious. So, I'll get the potty training book from the library when we get home and listen to advice from other mothers while we are away. I'm certain there will be sufficient advice and tips that I may not even need a book. It really will depend on how my little munchkin takes to it and how ready she is when we get started.

Funnily enough, of all the things about being a new mom I never minded was changing diapers. I'd get tired of it some days and some poops were good enough to make me want to pass out, but honestly it was fine. I've always viewed it as a daily reminder(s) that she's healthy and everything is working -- or not.

Ok poop-tastic chat over!

15 month checkup

Rock 'n Roll t-shirt at the park

So far, so good. She's still about the same height (I forgot to ask exactly how tall, but my last attempt at measuring her she was about 29"). And has lost a little weight at 18.8lbs now. Apparently, this age is common to lose a little weight since they are so active.

The only concern was with her calcium levels. The doctor didn't measure anything but since Carolina has a bit of trouble with dairy, I haven't been giving her as much milk as other kids get. She does love ice cream, frozen yogurt, yogurt and cheese. I mostly give her cheese and some frozen stuff.

So they gave me a Vitamin D supplement, probiotics (again), and want me to get her a calcium supplement. Additionally, she's to eat ice cream pretty regularly -- if her belly can handle it. Her brain, as I knew, needs the fat. Apparently, ice cream is a good source of milk fat and calcium in the smallest possible "package".


If she can handle the gas and diarrhea, then I can give her more milk and cheese. I can deal with the super stinky poop cleanup if it means she's getting enough fat and calcium.

Otherwise, she's talking up a storm, basically running around and obsessed with stairs. I think it's fair to say she's pretty obsessed since, even if there is ONE stair, she'll go up and down it until you pull her away from it. Yeah...

I've started to read The True History of Chocolate (The True History of Chocolate, Second Edition) and it's pretty good. Made me really want chocolate every night, and so bought some Ben & Jerry's Chocolate (no other stuff, just the straight chocolate) ice cream. Man that's good stuff. I want to give Carolina some but Chocolate makes her crazy. I don't mean she gets hyper after, I mean she thinks it tastes so good she's a little crazy for it. I'll just leave it to her dad to deal with giving her chocolate ice cream when I'm not looking :)

What I learned in the book that I didn't know is the reason you're not supposed to give babies chocolate isn't the caffeine and sugar, which is bad, but dark chocolate is actually toxic to small animals (and human babies). It's only larger humans that can process it. It's something about the alkaloids. Yeah, I read but I don't remember all the details as well as I used to.

I know Carolina isn't a baby-baby anymore, but I'm still careful with the food she gets. Probably too careful.

I need to get a new recipe for zucchini bread-muffins. The one I have uses too much olive oil, which is weird anyway, and tastes too oily.

Today she said "mouth", and she keeps trying to say "shoes" by saying "sssssooo". When she wants to watch Dora, she'll sit in her little seat (a totally awesome 1970s Costco chair, which is a rip off of an Eames design) and she'll say "Doh-da", and sometimes also point to the bookshelf where we often leave the cable remote. Yup, she knows what she wants and isn't afraid to ask for it.

I love this. That she can tell me what she wants and needs. Awesome. I can put up with the tantrums occasionally so that we get this communication. Love it!

snow, in all day, boogers and poop

I'd like to give another shout out to the strangers in new york who continually entertain and engage with Carolina on the bus and subway. Really. I find out some of the most interesting things from total strangers because I'm traveling with Carolina. She's quite the social butterfly.

We've been inside all day. She's just about to get up from her 3rd nap. I can hear her moving around and rattling her 'baby' doll.

With this stuffy/runny nose this week (glad the fever is gone) and uber-teething with 4 upper teeth threatening to come down, she's been up 3x a night and takes 3 naps a day. So after a month of solid effort to get her to wake up less frequently during the night, we're right back where we started.

We had a glimmer of hope this morning when she missed her 4am wakeup, but then she started crying at 5.30am When I went in at a little after 6am, and YES it was still dark out, she hadn't even pooped. Lord knows why she thought she needed to be up that early. The full-on poop came hours later. Which required a complete change of clothes, bed and baby's hair needing to be washed. Oh yeah...

Anyway, after these teeth come in, like last time, I'm hoping for a reprieve. And back to waking up just once a night.

You know what's going to happen. She'll be back to it for like 2 days and then we leave for a week in Mexico with a lot of travel while we're there and she'll be up every 2 hours since we'll be sleeping in the same room. Actually, it'll probably be a surprise whatever happens.

I'm looking forward to going to a friend's house after Carolina is asleep one night soon. See how she responds to daddy bringing her a bottle when she wakes up, and she's expecting the boob. She normally isn't receptive to it AT ALL. So should be interesting for daddy. Good man!

A call out to parents: nighttime poopy diaper, to change or not to change?

The most funny, but least oppotune time of smiling is at 4am after that feed and she's done a big poop... so I'm changing her diaper. Not always a poop time. Sometimes earlier at 1am or 3am but it has the same affect...

There is only a small nightlight but she can still see me. I know you're not supposed to look at them or talk to them during sleep times. So it's all I can do not to laugh.

I've just started to see if I can tolerate not changing her during the night and just feeding her. She's still at about 4-6 feeds a night and changing her after a poop seems to help wake her up. Not something I want to do. But then I feel guilty she's in her poop.

Ismael keeps reminding me that if she DID sleep through the night already I wouldn't be getting up to change her and she'd have to wait until morning anyway. And it seems that by using some Triple Paste the red from her butt goes away very quickly.

I've only done this one night. Should this be the new "way"? Or should I change her when she poops no matter what?

PS I must have slept almost enough since I had a dream! Spike Lee was directing a movie on the street I was walking across and he tells me to change her only when necessary since I'm blocking his shot. I'll do what Spike Lee says, just need to know what "necessary" means! :)