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.

Potty training and more talking

So, well, potty training continues. It's expectedly hit or miss. We're getting more action on the poop front as I get SOME advanced warning when I hear, "Mommy, tummy hurts."

Peeing, I've noticed she's able to sit down for a while, ocassionally pee in the potty, but is mostly now holding it. So her post-nap and post-bedtime diapers are FULL. When before they were dry. She will even not pee in the potty and then when we put on a diaper to go outside, she'll pee then.

I hear this is pretty common, so we're just moving along. I'm still having to gently cajole her to sit on the potty at regular times. And when we're staying at home in the afternoon, she gets "nudie time", whereby she only has on underwear and gets to run around without clothes. She likes this a lot. Although it doesn't encourage her to tell me she has to go. She might hold it all or just go in the undies.

Honestly, she's never been a baby or kid to complain about a wet or soiled diaper. UNLESS it was stinging her skin. Otherwise she could wait. So, alerting me isn't forthcoming.

It'll take more time and I'm sure she will work it out one day when she is ready. Hopefully that is before she starts mornings-only during the weekdays at school this fall.

A few funnier things she's said recently:
1. I can't like that. (For anything she doesn't want to eat.)
2. Who deez people eatin my fruit rope? (When my dad tried a tiny piece of her fruit rope before I gave it to her.)
3. Not cool! (Anytime she doesn't like or doesn't want to wear something. As in, this barrette is not cool. Or those shoes you are wearing mommy are not cool.)
4. My eyes are crying or I have crying eyes. (Often told to me when I've accused her of whining. She will tell me it's not whining but crying, so I should take it more seriously.)
5. What (s)he doin? (An all-time favorite about anyone on the street, in a book or seen within eye shot.)
6. No, da baby in heeah. (Accompanied by her pointing at my belly when asked if she is going to have a brother or sister. Often followed by a big hug to the belly and telling it "I love you baby.")

Potty training, glucose tests and naps

We have gotten more serious about potty training. And by "we", I mean me, and by "serious", I mean that we spend a lot more time in the bathroom even though there is virtually no pee going into the potty.

I noticed on last Year's calendar that she was actually pering in the potty last July. I knew she wasn't ready but I could have pushed it. I wish now I had. She's still apprehensive about the potty. Being "nudie" isn't a problem. It's letting the pee actually go into the pot. And now I INSIST she is at least in the bathroom when she says her tummy hurts since I know a poop is coming. I don't force her to take off her diaper for that since she's too anxious and will just cry and fight me. It's not worth the struggle and stress.

We sit on it in the morning, before nap, after nap, and before bathtime. I should do it more often but nothing is happening and we can easily be in there for 20+ minutes. Totally boring. Even reading her a book or the comics. I end up peeing more than usual just because we are in there. And as my back has been killing me, hanging out in the bathroom is not fun for me. So if we are in there for 10 minutes, I call it quits and back on the diaper.

If we aren't going outside, I've started to let her wear the training undies. She doesn't like them so if that doesn't work, nudie it is!

I know pee will happen.

Last night she told me she had to go while watching Super Why on PBS. I said Let's go to the potty. Then she said, "No mommy not yet." and for some reason I took her seriously. What she meant was, "I'm busy watching tv and I'll just pee here in the undies on my chair." which is exactly what she did.

I learned MY lesson and the tv gets put on pause and turned off, and we go to the bathroom right away.

I have to say, being in light to moderate pain all the time makes me far less ambitious than I normally am. I realized I'm walking differently and holding my butt too tightly. So I think that has a lot to do with the pain. I'm really waddling more than walking to compensate. Not good.

And I "barely" failed the 1-hr glucose tolerance test last week. So now I have to go tomorrow morning, after another full night of fasting, for the 3-hr test. Basically, after dinner tonight at about 8.30, I won't eat or drink anything (except the glucose drink) until about 11am tomorrow. Holy Christmas, I'm going to be shaking, and fall asleep from the lack of eating.

I'm eating more protein and less carbs than usual tonight. Honestly, I can't believe I failed it. And if I fail this one, I will absolutely cry out of sheer frustration.

Naptime has become different again. Many days, she will take her nap like usual. But there are increasing days where she's in there talking to herself or singing for over an hour. I don't allow the talking and singing but the babysitters were. So we had a chat. What's interesting is that she's tired and clearly needs a nap. But what she is really after is more time with me hugging her while she lays down and singing quiet lullabies.

I guess the regression is in part because of my pregnancy and also she is getting older so naps will eventually fade. But not now. She's not really capable of going without a nap and being normal all day. If no nap happens, she basically loses her mind about 5pm.


I've been getting really frustrated with her this week. My god she can talk endlessly. I now understand more and more what my mom went through with me. Just a couple of anxious Chatty Kathies. Whew. It's exhausting.

I love my papa; Can I hug frosty?

After her nap today, Carolina stood up and said, "Look, mommy. Picture of papa!" and in fact there was in the hallway outside her room. She then looks at me and says, "I love papa" and gave me a huge hug. I'm supposing that was really for him but he's at home and we're still visiting abuela.

Every night she's asked to go home and often during the day for papa.

While watching Frosty for the hundredth time, and it might actually be 100 times by now, she asked if she could hug Frosty. So we'll have to do that when it snows as she's also been asking for her "Carolina snow boots. Big boots." and those are at home, too. Along with any possibility of snow.

A nice thing is that I'm now "allowed" to speak Spanish to her and to others as well as she wants to watch her Mickey DVDs here in Spanish. I guess Spanish isn't so bad after all.

Some highlights from this week

We put a turtleneck on her this morning for the first time and told her it's a "turtleneck", to which she asked, "Wheah turtle?" 

After making chocolate chip cookies and I showed her where the chocolate chunk was, she took a bite and said, "I like eating chocolate!"

She has been refusing to eat dinner and so I let her pick most nights what she has for dinner. This has amounted to: plain pasta with butter, toast with margarine, hummus with crackers where the cracker simply serves as a reusable spoon (twice this week), and pasta with a pork tenderloin that she actually ate TWICE. But that's the only meat in about two weeks.

Fun stuff!!!!

We are going to get her a twin bed after the holidays and take down the crib and crib mattress and put it away until #2 is ready for it. I'm thinking solid color comforter and bed skirt with character sheets that she picks out. I'm guessing Hello Kitty, Minnie and Pooh or Peanuts will be top contenders.

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.

Papa find it!

This has been said with great pleasure in our home recently, "Papa find it!"

It's not a command or a request, it's more of a celebratory exclamation. Here's how it came about:

Roughly a month or so ago, Carolina couldn't find something (probably one of the pieces of her etch-a-sketch set or one of her Minnie dolls) and we started looking. We looked under the couch, bookshelves, beds, in the seat cushions, etc. We couldn't find it, and by "we" I mean "Mommy". So to cut short her anxiety and asking about it, I just said, "Maybe Papa can find it when he gets home." She was happy with that.

During her bath, Ismael came home. I told him we were looking for whatever it was, and he found it inside of a minute or so. He showed Carolina and she was delighted, "Papa find it!"

Something similar happened a few days or a week later. And Papa found it again.

Since then, whenever anything is lost (or she can't find it immediately after looking absolutely nowhere or calling out for the inanimate object "Where are you?"), Carolina tells me "Papa find it."

It became a joke and then there was something missing last week or the week before and after much looking *I* found it. I was pretty proud as it was small and in an unusual place, found after 2 days of looking. I presented it to Carolina by saying, "Look! Carolina I found it. Mommy found it." And she looked at me and said gleefully, "Papa find it!"

I let it go. The important thing was that it was found and she was happy. Then a day or so later, this happened again where I found the thing. She tells me again that Papa find it. I decided to test this.

"No, Carolina, Mommy found it."
"Papa find it!"
"Carolina, Papa is at work. Mommy just found it for you. Mommy find it."
"No! Papa find it!"

Ok, ok. Papa find it. Of course, Papa is exceptionally proud to be the one she thinks of and credits when anything is missing and needs to be found. He's also the one we go to when something is tangled up. He's VERY good at both finding things and fixing tangled things.

So, okay, it's a little disappointing not to get credit -- but she adores her father. If he needs to find it so she's happy, I can live with that.

PS Started reading 1Q84 by Murakami. It's enormous and I hope to be done with it before the second baby comes in May as I KNOW I'll not get to read anything for about a year after he (or she) arrives :)

Being polite

Today, during music class, the teacher let the kids (as usual) strum the guitar strings at the close of class.

About 4 kids ran over and pushed in front of Carolina. She looked at me, looks back at them and then says, "Cuse me kids. Play geetar too?" no one moved. She lOoked at me again. I smiled and motioned to her to move in. She lOoked frustrated.

I walked closer and said quietly "If you walk around there, there's some room for you to squish in."

She did and then all the kids left to get stickers. So she had the geetar all to herself for a few minutes. Delighted!

Me, Carolina

Just about last Wednesday or Tgursday, Carolina said her own name in response to the question "what's your name."

In the following days, she's embraced this identification and even is Introducing herself to kids at the park. Now, of course, she's not saying her name like we do. She says "Cah-leena", which is good enough.

This weekend she even did a Me-Tarzan-You-Jane intro to a newly-walking baby by putting her hand on her chest and said, "Cahleena", "Hi baby" and then pointing to me says, "Mommy. Mine."

It was very cute.

She's also started to tell me, "Cahleena. Pincess." I have NO idea where this is from but it cracks me up and sure, you're a princess.

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...

More please!

Just yesterday, for the first time, Carolina exclaimed happily "More, please!"

It was just after her nap and as part of her post-nap meal, which is like 1/2 lunch, I gave her a little bowl of chocolate Lactaid ice cream. She had a wee bit of trouble spooning it up but mostly got the hang of it, and was clearly getting VERY COLD. I figured she'd be done after the bowl, but lo and behold when the last spoonful went it she said (very clearly), "Mo please!"

So I gave her another half a bowl, which she didn't quite finish but was delighted to have it as part of her 'lunch'.

Later that afternoon, while we were at the park, she was going up to different kids and saying, "Hi!" Sometimes she'd also point to me and say something that was mostly indecipherable but included "Mama" or "Mommy" -- as in, that's my mom over there. By introducing herself to other kids she ended up playing with an older girl, who is about 8 and lives in the building next to ours. The girl was swinging Carolina very high on the swing and Carolina was laughing and screaming with the utmost delight. I was listening carefully for any signs or sounds of fear (as I was very nervous) but she was more than fine. She even learned how to say "More high! More high!" to go higher in the swing.

She was also very disappointed when the little girl had to go home with her mother. She looked at me and said "Mo girl! Mo kids!" I had to explain that the little girl had to go with her Mommy, to which Carolina looked at me and said quite emphatically, "No home mommy. No home. Mas! Mas!"

So I pushed her a while longer but it wasn't the same.

We had been at the park for over an hour and a half yesterday, and last night she was exhausted and slept well.

Instead of "OK", we got a "Yes"

Just arrived off the Amtrak train to visit my family in Maryland and got into my cousin's car with my aunt and cousin.

 Once we arrived at her house, my aunt turned to Carolina and said, "Did you have a good time on the train?" Clear as day, and without hesitation Carolina said, "Yes!"

I was stunned. She didn't say "Okay" or just smile, like usual. Or even "Yeah"; she said, "Yes."

Awesome.  

Things this kid says...

Each week Carolina seems to be talking more and more. Her sentences are now up to three words long and her speech is more and more clear.

Here are a few of the "big sentences" she's using regularly within the last two weeks:

1. "I deh eht" (I did it)
2. "Lookah mee" (Look at me)
3. "I findet" (I found it)
4. "Iz mine" (It's mine)
5. "Luvuu mahmee" (I love you, Mommy) *easily my new favorite and usually said just after "goo-nigh momee" before I close the door for the night at bedtime.

I'm just waiting for the "Give it to me, no, it's mine, I don't want to share" sentence that's looming in the near future when she gets more complex and self-aware. Should be fun :)

First Spanish sentence

In preparation for going to the park today, Carolina decided she MUST have her monkey leash and walk "Mano Mano" with me. Even though she normally is excited to ride in her stroller.

I objected since I had to bring the stroller anyway, knowing full well that she'd tire en route and want a ride. It's tricky getting her, the stroller and holding her hand all down the stairs and outvote building.

But after I said, "but you like the stroller." she cried out and then calmly asked, "Te lo pongo?" which is what ismael says to her when he is going to put something on her. I'll put it on you.

I said, "Wait. What?"

She repeated, "Te lo pongo" as if it was one word.

I was so impressed, we figured out a way she could walk with the monkey, holding my hand, while I pushed the stroller too. And lo, after half a block of walking nicely Mano-Mano, she decided riding in the stroller was better on this very hot day.

Fun!

Orange fish is doity

She's really beginning to pretend play. Changing her baby doll's "diaper" and "eating" what she makes in her play kitchen. 

She believes that something gross is called "ew" because that's what I say. And anything that's dirt, dirty or on the floor is "doity". "Faht" is fart and still funny. 

In fact, yesterday she told me "papa faht" right after she farted, and then giggled. 

We went to visit the local fish pond which is just a small 2 foot "pool" of water outside one of the local coop buildings. They have the best Halloween and Christmas decorations, too. Always worth a visit. So once there she tells me "oh-anj fee-sh doity".  I couldn't figure out what was dirty. Then I looked where she was pointing. At the area next to the "pond" are flowers planted in the ground. Dirt. She was telling me that the dirt is doity. True!

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.

A second birthday

Well her second birthday came and went. I think the crayons, Mr Potato Head, a Tinkerbell personal fan, and a Minnie dress were a big hit. She's worn that dress two days in a row! And yesterday was hot -- didn't matter she wanted it "off", which meant "on".


She's talking a lot more and more clearly. "Doe" for "Dora" is now "Doe-ah". She says "Dank you Papa" and "shooz". Shoes are both socks and shoes. "Ay-toe" is Mr Potato Head and "book" (with an extra emphasis on the "k") is book. "Gah-sez" are glasses.

She's wearing the mardi gras necklaces and bracelets from Kari a lot. Basically she really liked her party and had a good time.

We all slept in the next day until 8.30am when we heard "Mah-MA!!!" from the other room.

In fact, this morning she didn't call out until about 7.15am but had clearly been awake for a little while. She told me what she had been practicing by immediately showing me and saying "Elmo, noz" and pointing to his nose. Then "Icky noz", "iglit noz" and "baby noz" for Mickey, piglet and her baby.

She has a few dolls called "Baby" and since we returned from Mexico they're all pronounced "Bay-beh" instead of "Bay-bee". Very cute. 

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.

Counted to five all by herself, in Spanish

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that little Miss C surprised me in the morning by counting to five in Spanish on her own.

We weren't talking about numbers, even. She was babbling and then said "Uno?" so I repeated "uno". She then continues and I repeat after her: "dos", "tre", "quatra", "quatro".

Now I realize she didn't say "cinco" but she got the idea. So we can say she counted to four :)

Neat, right? I have zero idea when this kind of thing is normally supposed to happen, so I'll just assume she's smart and doing it in the normal range of things.

Like when she learns other words, she will do it one time with confidence and clarity and then that's it. It really is like her mind organizes the synapses for a moment, goes yup that's it, and then goes back to working on something else.

I know I could read a lot to figure it out but I'm trying to avoid obsessing. So I'll go without knowing and laugh more. Know less, laugh more. Seems to be working as Carolina and I have been having a grand ol time these past two weeks. Not every day but many big laugh moments. She has even had a bunch of playmates and was pleasant and fun and didn't get overly excited and start screaming or running around like, as my mother in law says about her, a baby on peyote.

Funnily enough she has been less interested in watching tv the last two days and wanted to play and read books more. Fine with me!

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!!