Went to Mexico, came back with chatty Spanish speakers

Well, I can't say they're both talking in Spanish all the time, but I can say that Carolina's resistance has lessened. Playing with her (mostly) bilingual cousins made her want to talk in Spanish more. 

The baby also picked up more. He now will greet people with an "hola", instead of "hello." He's also gotten a little better at walking by himself instead if needing to be carried everywhere. 

He's got three new teeth coming in. And has a cold. I think there's some infection since the mucus is thick and yellow. But no fever so nothing big. 

Carolina really enjoyed visiting the family. I have to say, for first time, since my very first visit to vallarta, I had a really good time as well. It made me think I could live there. It's still too violent and corrupt, on an individual's level, for me, and I don't believe the educational system, or a culture for pursuing learning, is in place but it was nice. 

What I like about it for the children is that there is trustworthy, loving family in many places. Extended family are friends and the culture tolerates whatever a kid is going to do. It's really much more relaxed, not lazy. 

I really liked the weather, too. Secretly, I'm getting sick of the cold. Although I find it reassuring that it gets cold and snowy. It's not Christmas without the cold and snow. For me, it's really not. It never feels like Christmas when we're there. Plus all their holiday songs aren't mine and tv shows aren't either. The little cultural cues that tell me it's Christmas are missing. 

But, for the kids, who don't have those in place, it's great. It's running outside without shoes and having a great time with fewer restrictions. Eating cookies and candies, and believing that Mexicans are friendly, fun, loving people. My kids have no idea that Mexicans are viewed in a negative way in the States. So, for me, it's really interesting, and a bit of a relief, to see Carolina embrace it all so freely. 

Books are now real

Something happened yesterday and a book stopped only being something the baby wanted to gnaw on, but became "alive". 

I read him "I Love You Through and Through", which means he squirmed in my lap and tried to eat it but liked one part--when I gently rubbed his head when it says "hair".

So he's been walking around, occasionally rubbing his head and looks at me to say "hair", and does it if I happen to say "hair". Or he'll pick up that book and bring it to me and touch his hair. 

He's started to pick up other books for me to read, too. It's barely a page here and there but it's a huge change from before. 

I feel relieved, actually. Knowing he will be teachable and not in his oral stage forever. (I realize that's not going to happen anyway, but the glimmer of progressive change was reassuring just the same.)

In other news, his sister loves, loves going swimming with her grandmother. Just the two of them. And she's back on her Tiny Titans kick. This means nice comics to read and look at and a calmer Carolina who wants to "read" on her own. Love those Titans!!

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 :)

Happy Halloween!

Well, Halloween was a smashing success! Carolina went to a kid's party for about 2 hours and then they all went out trick-or-treating in the local group of houses known as 'The Gardens'. We got separated from the group of about 15 toddlers and parents shortly after we started out about 6.45pm. That was fine, as it was easier to navigate the older kids and homes without a large group.

Every house we went up to Carolina would say, clearly, "Trick or Treat!" "Tank you!" "Happy Halloween". She was very polite and all the parents seemed to enjoy giving her candy as she is very small and had on a very cute bat outfit.

A little after 7.30pm, she told me we needed to go to "Cah-lina's house" and nobody else's. I told her we were going to meet up with Papa (as he left work early to meet us outside), and then she had a meltdown. Poor kid was suddenly VERY tired. I not only forgot her sippy cup but also (didn't expect to be out this late) the chupon! Ack.

I was very glad she had taken a nearly 3 hour nap earlier today as she was able to better enjoy the evening.

So we found Papa and shortly after she was happy again. We called my parents, his parents, his grandmother and an aunt and uncle, so that Carolina could say 'Happy Halloween' to them, too.

It was actually a lot of fun to go with her, and I'm sure next year will be even better as she now has an idea of what happens. Her favorite candy this year was the lollipops. I promised she could have one when she got home, but she had pancakes instead for dinner as she was actually pretty hungry. Lollipops tomorrow, and mommy gets chocolate!!!

I'm so tired from this first trimester tiredness that we just ordered pizza. Hooray for mommy, too!

Potty training?

I'm not sure you can call this potty training, and I really don't care, but it's worth a post. Now that she's almost 28 months and still afraid of pooping without her diaper on, and not very interested I'm the potty, we decided to use her new Caillou doll as a guinea pig.

Since the doll has removable shorts, my husband showed Carolina that Caillou goes potty just like they do in her potty book. So she was willing to sit on the potty without pants and a diaper after Caillou. But she will only go with her papa. And doesn't actually pee.

If she has to really go, she wants her diaper on. Which, honestly, is fine.

We're just having Caillou go after breakfast and if that gets her to sit down for a minute or two, then great.

She's not telling me she has to go and usually tells me "no" when I ask if she's pooing and she VERY clearly is.

I will not change Caillou's "diaper". He's the only doll she has and loves that's definitely a big kid who uses the potty. At least I was quick enough to do that when she asked me to change his diaper too, one day.

I'm sure she'll get the hang of it. And I may mourn the passing of diapers as they are CONVENIENT on the subway and other outings.

It's funny, by the time I'm pregnant with #2, maybe she will be on her way to potty training. Or we'll have two in diapers. Whatever. Everyone poops :)

Two episodes of crying -- but not what you'd think

First, we went for a walk after her afternoon nap and lunch. It was about 5pm and overcast so we just went to walk around the surrounding blocks. When we got to 46th Street, we heard some drums and I thought it sounded (correctly) like a marching band. We ran down towards where the sound was coming from and lo and behold a young drum corp was coming down the street.

Carolina was delighted and so we waved and walked along the remaining portion of the "parade route". It wasn't much of a parade but something to do with Jesus on the cross and stopping at the local Episcopal church. The drum corp had about 20 members and they were all between the ages of 8 and 12. They were pretty good, and Carolina kept saying "mas! mas!" after each set.

When the playing was over and everyone was filing into the church entrance, Carolina started bawling. Hysterically. She was so loud, people a half a block away were looking our way. It was because the music stopped and there wasn't going to be more. She was so terribly disappointed that it took her 2 blocks to calm down. Poor musical kid.

Tonight she played her first video game with her Papa on the Wii: Super Mario Galaxy. She had such a good time that when Papa turned off the Wii, since it was bath time, she started crying. The kind of crying you might hear if she hurt herself and wasn't terribly injured but very "sentimental" (as my husband would say in Spanish).

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.

No no blah blah blah

This week she's started saying "No [whatever the last thing you just said]."

So, yesterday's examples:
Do you want to go to the park? No park.
Let's brush our teeth. No brusha teeth.
Want some dinner? No dinner.
Let's go upstairs. No uh-tairs.
Want to watch Caillou? No caillou.
Come on, walk up the stairs. No wahk uh-tairs.
Say hi to papa (on the phone). No papa phone.

This is all followed up by possibly doing the thing she just adamantly said "No" to, or could be followed up with stamping of feet and crying or whining.

She's even said "No cake". But I still think that was a mistake. She never turns down cake. At least only when there are new toys and a friend to play with, then she MIGHT say no and mean it.

Going to church is only good for 20 minutes

I took Carolina to morning mass today so I could do what I normally find pointless: pray.

When I feel lost or just want to give thanks, I pray. When I feel badly, I actually go to church. Makes me a hypocrite based on my beliefs, but I can deal with that. I needed closure and that's where I made my closure last time.

So we went to a local chuch that I've not been to before. It was pretty full for a 9am mass, and expectedly with older/elderly churchgoers. (The other local church has a lot of children as part of the parish.) so there wasn't much tolerance for Carolina talking. Granted, she was almost silent for about 15 minutes and then started whispering where "Jesus' mommy" was and that the stained glass windows had flowers.

It was after some shushing from the old lady in front and then Carolina cry/whining when she gave the dollar donation to the guy who passed the basket for the collection. She liked giving him the dollar but then wanted it back, or another dollar. As if it was a game. Before she got loud, we went out into the entry foyer. Looked at the flowers and votives by "Jesus' mommy" statue. Then went to the store and home.

It worked out pretty well as it started raining when we left, and got home before it picked up.

We will go again, this next time we will sit near the "Jesus' mommy" window with "baby Jesus" and "moon moon". That should give me an extra 5 minutes of entertainment.

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.

Bye bye dirty!

I must share this.

Yesterday, my husband shaved off his beard. To avoid any possible confusion or being upset from Carolina, we encouraged her to watch. She wasn't interested. I'd bring her in after he'd finish a large section. When he was mostly done, I brought her over to see. Ismael turns to look at her, she ponints to him very matter of factly and says, "doity."

"Dirty? What's dirty?"

Then points to his face again and says "Bye bye doity". And then runs off.

Awesome. The beard was dirty. Ha. Love it.