First conversation and first night without waking up

To be completely frank, yesterday was a big day in Ismael's life thus far.

First, he took his nap and went to bed without me having to hold him or wait until he fell asleep. In fact, he clearly was not interested in me holding him after his bottle. He just laid there and fell asleep. He even slept through the night. He was very tired and I tried to get him down by about 5.30pm but couldn't and so he was asleep around 6pm. He didn't wake up until 5.45am this morning and he clearly only woke up because he pooped. He wasn't all that interested in being awake. He didn't cry out, he didn't need a bottle. He just slept. I think he just graduated from baby to toddler.

Second, last night at dinner he was very chatty and so was Carolina. She wasn't happy I gave her homemade chicken nuggets for dinner, she had expected the store bought popcorn chicken when I said "chicken nuggets". Since she wasn't going to eat much of it, I cut them up into smaller pieces and put them on the baby's tray. He ate them up happily. I gave Carolina a lot of strawberries for dinner and she was happier. (She had just eaten nearly a whole apple on the way home from the park so I wasn't surprised she wasn't very hungry. I did get her to eat a few small pieces of chicken, too.) I then cut up some elbow pasta for the baby and some broccoli, too. He ate all of it. Then while I was talking to Carolina I noticed that the baby was playing more with this food rather than eating it and had slowed down putting food into his mouth.

I asked him, "Do you want more?"
He just smiled
I asked him and with sign language, "More? Do you want More? or All Done? All Done?"
He says, "Duh."
I smiled and asked again (also with sign language), "All done or More?"
He says, "Ah duh. Duh."

I cleaned off his face and hands and picked him up and he seemed very pleased with himself. I was so excited he just spoke with recognizable words that I had to call his papa immediately.

After yesterday, which was his 11 month "birthday", I have to say, it was a good day.

Today is Carolina's school picture day, and she was excited about. We'll have a nice photo of her (I hope) to share soon.

Big news: Museum day with Papa & no pee in diapers!

I stand corrected. Papa planned to take Carolina to the Brooklyn Museum with two other families and their girls, so four adults and 3 girls all under the age of 6 at the museum. Looking at art. Meeting up at 1pm, you know, naptime. With over an hour on the subway each way. I thought, this is ABSOLUTELY a bad idea. I couldn't go, or rather I chose not to go as it was going to be tough to walk around and go up stairs and I'm tired enough as it is.

Papa didn't check his email that said the day before that the other two families weren't going to go anymore. So, he and Carolina headed out -- and she had been yawning saying she was tired. And apparently it went great. No complaining, no whining. They had a great time.

Even bigger news, she held her pee for when they arrived home instead of going in her diaper in the taxi. She waited! This is the third or fourth time we've been out and she had to go, and she decided she would wait. She's even gotten up in the middle of a TV show she likes and went to the bathroom herself, took off her pants and diaper and sat down to pee. And THEN told me she was done.

She likes to jump off the potty, with her pants around her ankles and then run around. She's tripped a few times, naturally, but she thinks it's funny.

She's earned the right to wear undies AND sit on the couch. Until recently we couldn't trust that she'd notify us since she had worn undies and peed all over her own little chair. Twice. So the rule was if you're on the couch, you're wearing a diaper.

But she's got the knack now.

In fact, there's only been pee in her diaper during nap or nighttime, and not always. And all the poop goes in the potty. THANK GOD. I had no idea how much easier it is to clean up than in a diaper. I'm happy and proud of our little girl.

Good thing she got this down before the baby comes. I'm sure there will be some regression, and probably potty time might suffer -- so we still have a large box of diapers just in case. But if not, then we'll just keep going. I think she'll enjoy the summer more in undies. Her little hiney was really, really sweaty last summer.

UPDATE: We're going to move this summer; we've decided. I've got a tentative spot held for Carolina at the school that I want to send her to, too. She's still having nightmares and the other night was calling out for me, and then stopped. I don't think she even woke up. Head banging is back, even during naptime, which is very unusual. So I'm giving her melatonin drops to help make her drowsy earlier at night. After moaning and banging for over an hour and a half late last week, I had enough of listening to her try to calm herself down. We'll do this for a week and then see how it goes. I know that moving will be a big adjustment for her. Plus having a brother. Plus a new school. It's a lot at once. But it's time. So, like taking off a sticky bandage, we're going to rip it off as quickly as possible and get it all over with at once.

Naps change, again, but I'm nothing if not persistent

Yesterday, after school, she was TIRED. So going to take her nap at 1pm wasn't a big deal.

Today, we were both tired in the morning and ready to lie down and read and such by about 11.30am, after her music class. So we got the pajamas ("ja-mamas" as she calls them) and pacifier and changed her diaper.

I left her room at 12pm and about 45 minutes later she was still talking to herself and then called out "Momma! I pooped!" So, I went in to change her and, again, told her to close her eyes and be very quiet.

"I can't be quiet. Want Mary to talk."
(She has a little Virgin Mary figure next to her bed and recently has taken to holding it in her hand for naps in order to fall asleep. When I explained that Mary was tired, too, she told me that Mary had a snake. I told her Mary is stepping on the snake, so there's nothing to worry about. She then said that Mary can't sleep. I explained that Mary is a mommy and made Baby Jesus take a nap, too. She insisted that wasn't true. So I just went blunt and told her it was time to take a nap, and left.)

Over an hour later she's still in there talking loudly and moving around. So I go in again, now it's nearly 2pm. I had considered just letting her get up and forget the nap, but I know better now. If I keep at this, she'll eventually go to sleep and in a week or so we'll go back to "normal". If I let her give it up, she'll be exhausted AND I'll be exhausted, and more importantly, she's not ready to give it up. (I've seen what happens when a parent lets the kid give up a nap before they're really ready to give it up for good. They're the twirlers and/or whiny and/or super-hyper ones at the park. With parents that often look befuddled. I'm not befuddled, I have a newborn on the way who is going to need some sleep, a toddler that's going through another adjustment phase, and a family in a two-bedroom apartment to keep happy.)

At this point, she looked EXHAUSTED. So I told her it was time to be quiet and close her eyes. She said, "Oh, okay, mommy. Have good nap." and rolled over on her side.

Then, quiet. Finally.

Of course, I haven't rested much but at least she is. I think we'll make some strawberry muffins today as she asked for a lot of them yesterday and then didn't eat them. So I have a big bowl cut up and no cream to eat them with :)

Another successful journey with the tiny dancer

She was good on the Amtrak train for 3 hours to BWI and fantastic on the way home. She enjoyed, immensely, playing with her cousins. I was grateful they wore her out as all but one night she went to sleep like a log. And, gratefully, she got enough good naps in that was wasn't super whiny or aggressive.

We went to the Air & Space museum out by Dulles. It was great as I got to hear, "Ay-pane!" very excitedly. A lot. And then "ah-na-naught" when we got to the space section. Her cousin bought her this lights/vibrating wand that she adores. As ge told us in the car, shortly after Carolina started to nod off, "you should make sure to let her use it. It helps her sleep." ha!

I've noticed as she gets older, tired becomes more about whining and physical aggressiveness. And that's when I hear a lot of "No, mine!" which is actually funny to me. I try not to laugh because she's asserting her independence and I need to balance that with calm/polite behavior -- but she's still so young that I find it a bit amusing.

It seems her aunts and uncles were happy to have us visit, too.

So we can now add napping on a train to the list of transportation methods she's willing to tolerate. Next we should add a boat. Except mommy doesn't like boats. Especially with a two year old.

And the next day all's well

After a good night's rest, the little monkey was back to her happy self and had a good day. Had a good nap and a good day the following day.

Ahhhh, happy sleep. Good naps for the under 4 crowd can't be overstated.

Nap Protesting

In the past few weeks, maybe a month, naptime has gone from a nearly reliable tradition where I put her down and more or less she sleeps for two hours (or more), to spending time going in once or twice (mostly to make sure she's not up calling for me because she pooped) before she sleeps.

Today is perhaps the worst it's been so far. I'm grateful she doesn't have a bed as she would most certainly be at her door knocking on it while calling for me or playing with whatever she could find in there. Instead of resting.

She's started to buck against sleep at night too. Not just the head banging and body rocking, yes that's still going on to some degree, but she objects to sleep. I know full well thus is that age. I fluctuate between going in to get her to sleep and ignoring her. I'm not sure what tactic is best but I'm trying to be reasonable while also trying to get her to sort it out on her own in there.

Trying is the operative word as I'm not sure if what I'm doing is helping, hurting, or simply following along this new path.

It's been just over an hour and she's still calling out for me in increasingly whiny and tired tones.

And today is very hot and humid out, so as we are probably apartment-bound this afternoon, should be a major pain if she's refused a nap today. That doesn't happen very often, but it does happen.

Hilariously, there's a kid outside our building about her age having a total meltdown. She's calling out to him from her room. The chorus of the over-tired toddlers in joint protest.

Good night, Mommy

After I tucked her in and kissed her good night, and then said good night to both Carolina and "Baby", I usually just walk out. Tonight, as I walk toward the door I hear, "Goo nigh mommy." I said, "Good night my baby" and walked out.

Now how sweet is that for the first time, saying good night?

No bottle and a great day

So it's been two nights without a bottle and it's going well. Some protesting but as I left the bottle at my parents place by accident, I feel more confident saying Sorry it's not here. She's not a fan of milk but she's coming around to drinking it.

We had a great day. Over an hour at the park this morning, not too hot outside. A lovely nap and then a good lunch of polenta, beef and cheese. Then the afternoon at Bryant Park's carousel (4 rides @$2 a pop!) and then reading outside in the park on mini chairs and mini tables as part of NYPL's kid's Reading Room. Sponsored by Scholastic (eyes rolling), but still a very cool idea and was appreciated!!

Now I have a worn out toddler and we are both very happy. Hooray!

Less impressed, more ooh!

Since the early, sound, deep nap happened again today, I realized it wasn't maturation but baby allergy medicine. She's got a cough and sneezing. I bought generic baby allergy relief to help with the symptoms and it's knocking her out!

I now understand why my sister-in-law gives our niece some Dramamine before a long car ride. Knocks the kid out for quieter travel.

Since the allergies aren't THAT bad, I'll back off the full dose. I feel badly making her wonky. Although it is a little bit of a relief to see her able to sleep so soundly in the car.

Ah well...

I am super IMpressed

Two firsts in travel and sleep today.

First, she took over an hour nap in the car two HOURS before her normally scheduled nap.  normally she waits until she's overtired to pass out on any car ride and secondly she never sleeps more than an hour in the car. And what's more, she was very well behaved in the car during the four hour ride. (I guess either she's adapted to all the travel we did in Mexico and/or she's matured a little in the meantime.)

Second, she was very tired by 7pm. So we left my aunt's house and drove to my cousin's (where we were going to spend the night). Right to a bath and then bottle and bed. She asked for the bath and bed. She didn't try to stay up longer or watch tv and went right to sleep with minimal head banging. And shortly after 8pm. 

Like I imagine a bigger kid might do. This may be a one off -- and I'll take it. Super impressed. A very good and flexible kid today. Made the car journey and day go much nicer all around. 

Packing to go home. Are we ready?

Well, yes, for the most part we are all looking forward to our own beds and some sleep. We will probably all miss not having friends and family close by. People we like to see most days of the week. It's what Papa misses most about living in Mexico:

Calling a friend: You around? Great. See you in 10 mins.

Can't do that in New York. Everyone is always so busy you have to schedule something a week or few in advance. And all our closest friends live at least 30-45 mins away. When at home that sounds fine and normal. Here, it sound ludicrous. Of course Celaya isn't NYC. And that's why I want to go home.

Miss C has been having a lot of travel to deal with. Mostly it's fine but then we get the occasional "too many changes at once mommy!" trip. Our first night in Leon she REFUSED to go to bed. She was up, an hour after me, until midnight. And then woke up at 6.30/7am.

Different house, different crib, no curtains on the windows, no door. Too much activity for my curious babe to be able to resist. Next afternoon she passed put in the car. So we drove around for an hour until she woke up. Figured she needed SOME sleep. Ha. Mommy and Papa needed more...

I think she is going to miss her Abuelos. In particular her Abuela. They had a very good day together a few weeks ago when we both went out during the day. She asks for Abuela in the morning and Abuela is always around. Ah well...

Two cute things from today

First, we were listening to music from iTunes on this computer and after each song Carolina would clap and say "bravo! bravo!". Really, she did.

Then tonight when I was holding her and humming so she'd relax. Wait, let me back up a minute. She woke up at 5am and then 6am, and has been teething a lot because a front canine and a back "2 year molar" are coming in at the same time. She's been very uncomfortable and sleeping through the night has been harder than usual. She napped for 3 hours today and then I woke her up -- she wasn't happy with me about that.

So I held her and hummed for longer than usual, to help her relax and maybe bang her head less. Well, after about 10 minutes she noticed I had my eyes open so she waved goodbye to me. I nodded, picked her up, brought her to the crib and kissed her. As I am putting her down into the crib she puts Elmo towards me, and I kiss him good night too. She seemed satisfied that I kissed them both good night.

Super, super cute!

And man, she's really talking more and more. More words, more sentences and I just can't wait to understand all of it. I also can't wait for all these teeth to come in. She seems to be really tortured by it, more than usual. I've seriously considered putting alcohol on her gums but I know that just gets her drunk and doesn't actually soothe the pain. I'm still mulling it over, depends on how badly this crying out at night gets.

The first day without a nap

It's been an unusual day:
She's still teething, so multiple stinky poops are the norm and red cheeks. She is, also, incredibly pleasant and happy this week. Nice!

Today she didn't wake up until 8am, and that was only because I woke her. She did two poops (don't worry this is relevant) and ate a good snack of cheese, pear and small box of raisins. Then insisted on a bottle (formula, again relevant) and I put her down at about 1pm groggy.

For the next two hours, while I worked, she was intermittently chatting to herself and dolls and then quiet. So at 2.45pm I went in. The room stunk to high heaven. She was desperate for me to pick her up. She was adamant she didn't want me to lay her down for a diaper change even though she gave me the ASL sign for change diaper.

I took it off and she had a very definite rash in many places. It hurt her so much that when I took her to the sink to wash it off, she was nearly hysterical. I slathered on the diaper rash cream but she was still screaming and writhing. I got the diaper on and now it's lunch in front of Tinker Bell movie.

It was the dairy. Whenever she has had "too much" the poops got the vomit smell. Poor kid.

I feel horrible I didn't check on her earlier and yet she's fine. Clearly a little tired but really ok.

I hope it's an early night for her sake and she's healed by bathtime.

The poop burned! Good lord what a time being a little one can be.


PS Good thing she loves raisins. those and the blueberries are keeping her regular. And very, very happy.

She put herself to sleep at naptime

For many months, she's put herself to sleep at night. Not naptime. At least not with me. Any babysitter, my parents, ismael. They could but I didn't mind humming to her and holding her for a nap. I tried a bunch of times over the past year but she wasn't interested.

She was ready at 4 months and it was going great but that was the week of the ear piercing trauma and i lost it.

Today, twice (since she got up after 45 mins because of a poop), she basically told me to put her in the crib and leave. I was confused and frustrated at first she wouldn't just fall asleep since I knew she was tired. But now I'm proud.

Do I think this change is permanent? No. Will I try it everyday? Yes.

I keep wondering when she will be ready for a big bed. Clearly, like everything else, she will let me know. I know, though, that since I'm thinking this seriously that we are in the realm of possibility.

This is really more fun than I imagined

This post-18 month milestone is really the start of fun times. The laughing, whining, definite preferences, ability to run, climb and walk very well. The sometimes nearly-constant babble chatter that I know will soon turn into full-blown conversations.

On the way up the stairs to our apartment tonight I was told, "Papa, mama, bye, ball, apple" in quick succession. These are probably her favorite words. Plus the occasional "Jee" and "ya-nah" and "Ga-ma" and "Lola" for good measure.

She knows who everyone is by name and follows simple commands.

I guess it's good that we are thinking about starting to try for #2. now, I didn't say we are trying. Just talking. I couldn't have imagined I'd have this conversation last December. Still in the midst of nearly no sleep and only starting solids plus breastfeeding at least every two hours for my snacker. Man it's great she can eat on her own now and tell me what she wants. I really love that.

My favorite two times of the day are when Carolina wakes up and Ismael comes home from work.

Even though I have a cold, and so does Carolina, we are nearly done. So much snot!!

Ready to walk? Oh, yes indeedy!

This week she has taken a few more steps everyday. Culminating to this evening when she walked the entire length of my parents' apartment (ok, maybe like 20 feet) straight. And then in and out of all the rooms. Closed a door, even. For about 45 minutes she was getting up (or being helped by a hand) and walking. Sometimes many, many steps and other times just a few. There was lots of "Very good, Carolina" and clapping. Both by Carolina and the three of us.

She is very proud of herself and I expect this means there is only more walking in the coming days. Hooray and I should be worried.

Since we were at the mall, yes really, I didn't give her a snack between lunch at about 2.30 and dinner at about 6.30. Actually I tried but the teething and whining (boredom. Wanted to crawl around and one-leg walk instead of stay in the stroller) she didn't want the rice cracker I offered her. Maybe gums were too sore?

But she ate a great dinner of chicken, ravioli and some bread. Finished her whole bottle, too. I think she wanted more dinner but seemed really frustrated. Again, maybe sore gums and chewing hurt.

She's been grabbing her ears and sticking her fingers in them, particularly her left ear, all week. There was a LOT of that today. I hope these damn molars come in soon. She's suffered enough and I like her better when she's not so terribly irritable and will let me put her down. It was like having a little monkey on me today. A very cute, good smelling monkey.

Bedtime was about 8. I think there was some headbanging --as to be expected. The foam columns my dad and I came up with for the metal rods on each corner are working well. Actually it was my therapist's idea but we implemented it nicely. Ok, dad did. Ha!

But she's resting well now. Phew. What a day, kiddo! Good job!!!

She's a great dancer, and likes to play with other kids

Two things I learned about Carolina this week are:
1. She likes to dance, and has a good sense of rhythm. She prefers music with a Latin beat. Seriously. (Our first indication was a trip to Vallarta in Feb 2009 before she was born, and we were in the Cuban restaurant where they play really great music. She was kicking me like never before. She was our 'tiny dancer'.) She was rocking out to a Ricky Martin song today at the local Gymboree.

2. She likes to play with other kids. Now I knew this already but I had no idea how much now. We've just started a discount/trial month at a Gymboree on the UES (got it through groupon.com. She's in a play/movement class once a week on an afternoon and we go to the gym when they have 'open' sessions twice a week in the early morning. During today's open gym, she was so very very disappointed when we had to leave. She was playing 'catch' with an older boy by rolling the ball between them. She was very interested in playing with a 4-year-old girl who was running around, throwing herself on the mats, and jumping up and down. Carolina tried to keep up with her for a bit, then looked at me a little confused. I smiled and said "Go ahead. Keep going." And she smiled and kept trying to keep up, but she couldn't.

She climbed on everything and was seemingly very proud of herself for being so independent. I have to say, I was impressed. I try to usually keep back and let her do her own thing when I can. She almost didn't need me at all. Woo hoo!

Food, these days, is another matter. Her pickiness continues. I've been given some very helpful advice to give her what she likes and wants, instead of what I want her to eat. This has turned out to be surprisingly healthy, for the most part. Yesterday she ate her first (whole) navel orange, and today her first (entire) peach.

Today at lunch after her nap was pretty funny. She took a few bites of the cod I was eating, then didn't want that. I gave her a bunch of peeled grapes cut up from her snack before nap and after about 10 of those, she was done. So she was pointing to the blueberry muffins on the table, which are next to the peaches I just bought yesterday. I decided to give her a peach instead of the muffin she wanted. She cried, very loudly, with tears when I put a few small cut up pieces of peach on her high chair tray. Carried on like it was the end of her little life.

At one point she threw her head back and opened her mouth widely while wailing, and I put a piece of peach in there. She closed her mouth as she brought her head down and had no choice but to taste the peach. She stopped crying immediately, made a few contentious noises and then ate it. And grabbed the rest on the tray with gusto. She then pointed to the counter where the rest of the peach was and started to make a fuss that she wanted more. This resulted in her eating the ENTIRE peach.

The crying and carrying on is exhausting for me to listen to but, really, I'm glad we now have more food on her "approved" list, which includes:

1. blueberries
2. hummus
3. spanakopita (Greek spinach pie)
4. raspberries
5. peaches
6. grapes, green ones
7. cherry/grape tomatoes (although they frustrate her since she can't eat the skin but she loves the taste and that they are juicy in her mouth.)
8. rice crackers (the Mum Mum kind)
9. Graham crackers
10. broccoli (sometimes)
11. caesar salad dressing (not a meal but as a topping. I hate giving her this one since it's so salt/fatty so I don't unless I'm desperate.)
12. squash/zucchini (sometimes, and only with something else like spanakopita or hummus)
13. navel oranges
14. strawberries (but they seem to give her less than a handful of  little pimples on her face every time)
15. Berry flavored "fiddlesticks" (rice crackers in a stick form she can easily hold)
16. Cheerios cereal
17. Life cereal


Of course there's cake and apple/cherry/blueberry/orange juices on the list but above is what I can get her to eat. MOSTLY without fuss.

With fuss, recently, there's chicken, fish, beef. I'm working on getting eggs into the list and watching her face breakout/not since earlier in the year she loved eggs but they gave her the same thing that strawberries seemed to. I'll try it again.

And in terms of naps, she's almost solidly a 12pm-2pm girl. Sometimes takes until closer to 12.30 and sometimes only until 1.30pm but I can mostly get her to take her nap on schedule, which is nice. For me.

A few things about living with Carolina

I've been so preoccupied with Carolina's molars coming in, and they still haven't, that I completely missed a third front/bottom tooth was en route. It appeared Friday morning. She has been on frozen blueberry overload these past two weeks.

Gratefully she's sleeping through the night and the earliest she got up has been 6am, but still she's got some pain that goes into her ears or the back of her head -- from where I can see her grabbing. I know I've said this before, but I'll be glad when this latest round of teeth come in and we get a few days (ojalá que sí) rest from teething.

For some reason, and it might be totally standard and I just don't know better, the past week to two weeks she's been very, very picky about her food. She's no longer content to have the same mix of food day in and day out. I used to change it up a little but mostly some combination of: meat, veg, starch. And breakfast was rice cereal, apples/pears, prunes and her vitamin mixed in.

No more. She takes food out of her mouth and throws it on the floor, and also just uses her tongue to forcefully push it out of  her mouth and will not let it back in. So it has to be all nice and interesting food all the time, or there's a crying fit. And I always lose, unless I'm willing to let her go hungry. She's interested in snacks (toddler crackers, cookies), blueberries and hummus. Sometimes I can get her to eat by covering the bowl of food in hummus or tomato sauce.

I constantly worry I'm on the wrong side of spoiling her, but most of the time I am worn down by the whining and crying and just want to her to eat. I still won't give her cookies or crackers as a meal but some days, really, it's been almost exclusively blueberries for dinner.

Here are her top 3 hits:
1. The swings at the park (Regardless how hot it is and how much heat rash she's itching.)
2. Blueberries, most recently prefers frozen over all other types. (Made her blueberry muffins yesterday and only wants the part of the muffin with the blueberries.)
3. Dora (Knows which TV has the DVD player with Dora disc in it, and which one has it on the DVR list and knows how to use the TV remote, more or less, to try to get to what she wants.)
4. Music and dancing. (Often asking us to put on the iPod stereo and has a sense of rythmn I can vouch for!)

She's even taught me some features that my iPhone can do that  (A) I had no idea about and (B) would never have found on my own. Additionally, she showed us how to change the "source" on our TV without using the TV remote, just from the cable remote. So now we only need the 1 remote. Thanks, baby!

So now that she's getting along with the babysitter and I find that I enjoy not being at home every day, I'm starting to look for some work. I realized I have no interest in going back to an office full time and would have to make a butt-load of cash in order to cover the babysitter AND taxes. I'm not ready to put her into daycare, which would overall be a cheaper option than sitter or shared nanny. So maybe a 1-2 day/week job. Maybe freelance so I don't have to be in an office. Maybe nothing. But the extra income would be much nicer. Anyway, time for bed!

Last few weeks

Have been very, very hot and humid. This past week, after 3 days of only going to the park early in the morning for about 30 minutes on the swings and then after her mid-day nap, hanging around the apartment until bedtime -- mommy had enough. So I called my mom and Carolina and I went there for Thursday and Friday to go to the pool and hang out with grandma and grandpa. MUCH more fun!

Carolina didn't sleep very well overnight, but at least she didn't bang her head too much. She's been teething with at least two molars coming in, one on each side. There might be a 3rd or 4th molar also coming in but I'm having a hard time telling. I just wish the two mounds in the back of her mouth that are sore would just have the teeth break through and be done with it. She's been suffering more with these molars, as expected, than any other teeth so far.

I signed her up for another set of music classes and got a deal on "open gym time" at a Gymboree in the city for a month. Since she's napping from about 11-1pm every day, they have open gym time at about 9.30 on Tuesdays. So I'll take her to the UES for some fun with other babies.

We didn't join the local, private park -- the only one with grass in the area. I principally object to having to pay for access to grass when we pay a very large portion of our income on city tax and a portion of that tax goes to maintaining all the city parks. Why Sunnyside can't get that park to be part of the Parks Department, I don't know. I'm sure there's a good reason, other than keeping it for middle-class white people in the area. Yes, I did just say that and yes it is true.

Anyway, Carolina is starting to say more words -- or at least repeat them. She repeated, fairly clearly, this week: "Okay", "Grandpa" and "delicious".  Yum-yum is definitely the key word for letting her know it's time for dinner or lunch -- and gauging how hungry she is by how quickly and emphatically she says "yum yum" back to you.

She's standing more and took another 2-3 little steps today. I'm guessing that by the time we leave for Celaya late in August, she'll be walking. But that's just a guess as I have NO idea how this all works on timing.

Well, she's asleep -- it was a regular/early night at 6.30. So time for me to make dinner for the grownups!

one nap a day: mommy, i can do it myself

So the past two days, the morning has been a bit rough. She gets tired, wants her bottle and sort-of wants a nap around 9am (old first nap time). So I take her outside and she gets whiny but I keep her up until about 11am.

I give her 1/3-1/2 of her lunch just before time to go for a nap, and then the surprise. The past few months, I've been itching to just put her down to sleep and walk out. But she wasn't ready. She must have been ready for at least a month since it's been the 2nd nap that was tough to get her to relax so I could put her down. Her babysitters, both, found the same difficulty.

So, independently, both Hannah and I have put her down after only a minute or so of holding her realizing that she's not able to get comfortable in our arms. She just lays in the crib and falls asleep.

Clearly, my mother (who told me to try this last week) was right. She was ready to put herself down for a nap as long as I was smart about WHEN to do it.

In addition to this being the one-nap-a-day transition, it's also the mommy-i-can-do-it-myself transition. Both are mostly transitions for me.

I've also been considering whether or not to consider working again. But that's another story and far too early to even write anything more than what I just did.

So, baby's asleep. Time for me to relax!