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. 

After his first trip abroad, things slowly back to normal and a second tooth!

We took the baby and Carolina to visit the family in Mexico. It was his first airplane rides and first trip out of the country. He did pretty well. I had pretty high expectations as Carolina was a surprisingly good traveler and I had very low expectations with her. Again, my Carolina was a great traveler.

She slowly picked up some Spanish and got used to visiting a lot of people and missing her naps, and staying up late. In fact, she took only two naps in the car when we were going or coming home from visiting someone and the rest of the week she was up. And up late! She was a good girl most of the time and rarely gave us a truly hard time. I think playing with her cousins made it more fun. Once Angela went home midweek she was less interested in being there, but there was always Jose to play with and his little sister.

The baby was afraid of everyone the first day, of course. And the second day he slowly warmed up to family. He was having a week where he preferred men to women. Carolina was like that around this age: having a preference for men over women and then vice versa. Always, the babies prefer other babies. This was great as Elena is just a year old and also using a walker, so the babies had dueling "andaderas" (walkers).

Carolina was very excited to be there and be able to take off her socks and shoes and run around in the grass. I have to say, she got very dirty most days and was very happy about it. She was very loving with her Abuelos and was happy to see Tita and Bis. That was nice as it's the first time she was clearly happy to be there and the family was glad to have her, as always.

The baby, once he warmed up, was very charming indeed. We took them everywhere and only had 3 days where we stayed at my in-laws (aka "home"). In fact, we shared a room, all four of us. It wasn't too bad. It did get crazy half way through since the baby's second tooth came through. So, now he has two teeth!

And that night when it broke through was pretty much like the night his first tooth broke: he got up constantly and sometimes stayed up for up to an hour. Gratefully, Carolina was very tolerant and either didn't wake up or was able to go back to sleep. She would be more concerned with "what happen with the baby?" than "why's he waking me up?" She is more kind than I was!

Yesterday, our first full day back, was a bit of a trial. I forgot until the afternoon that the day after a big trip like that with a baby, you basically have to just throw away the next few days in terms of sleep patterns and just do whatever the baby needs. It's like when a baby gets sick: all bets are off and schedules are whatever the baby says. End of story.

He didn't sleep well Saturday night, and Sunday was skittish and didn't want to be put down. It was when we were plotting to get him into Carolina's room ASAP and thinking this was the beginning of a nightmare anti-sleep situation (we must let him cry it out for an hour!) that I realized the baby just needed more time to adjust. He didn't want me to put him down? He was afraid? He only wanted to sleep 30 minutes at a time and whine the rest of the time he was awake since he was exhausted? Ok! Let's just roll...

Last night was a bit better with him only waking up 4 times but always going back to sleep, and today's naps were back to a regular schedule.

I have to decide what to do next: Re-start the bottle with formula (to get him weened off me), Ween him off of the reflux meds, Start to move him into Carolina's room.

I think I'll do bottle in the morning tomorrow or Wednesday and start with weening him by the weekend. I just don't want to do too many changes in case something goes "wrong", then I won't know what the thing is that set off the "wrong".  Since we don't have any more big trips planned, I can start to plan for him to go into Carolina's room in a month or so.

After we all shared a room, Carolina was very interested in having her brother be in her room at home.

Finally, I should mention that the baby has started to "cruise". He figured out how to pull himself up in the crib while at my in-laws and sit back down (sort of). I say, "sort of" since he mostly just loses his grip and falls down. Mostly startling himself but not hurting himself. So when we got home, he's very adept at pulling himself up and has started to do that everywhere. He even tries to "walk" by holding on to chairs or a table or the couch. He's less interested in crawling than figuring out how to walk. He's clearly trying to keep up with his big sister.

His quick crawling style is still more military commando-behind-enemy-lines-on-the-belly, but even that changed while we were away. He's doing more and more crawling with his belly off the floor.

I had previously thought that crawling was important but not essential. I read an article about a book that talks about the correlation between the importance of the crawling stage and learning ability/styles in later development (early childhood), in particular the lack of crawling and ADD/ADHD. So, now I know that it's REALLY important for the brain to go through that phase. I'm not worried that Ismael will miss the crawling phase, but now I understand it's importance as more than just being a milestone between sitting up and walking.

This is the book if anyone is interested: http://www.amazon.com/Stopping-ADHD-Nancy-E-ODell/dp/1583331972.

And this is the part that I'm talking about from http://stoppingadhd.com:
The Main Problem: There are many children and adults, at least 10% of the total population, who cannot seem to sit still comfortably for more than a few minutes. They are often classified as ADD or ADHD. The mechanical aspect of writing, just getting the words down on paper, becomes an incredibly difficult task. Many of these difficulties can be traced to an immature Symmetric Tonic Neck Reflex.

The Cause: Although the Symmetric Tonic Neck Reflex (STNR) occurs naturally in the normal development of children, if this reflex stays at an immature level, it can greatly interfere with specific and general coordination tasks. The STNR will stay at an immature level if the child does not crawl enough or properly in infancy. Individuals with an immature STNR will be extremely uncomfortable in what is generally considered the “proper” sitting position: sitting up straight and sitting still.

Every kid she's played with has had a cold, so...

Yup, now she's sick, too. The past two nights she's had a terrible cough. No fever or much mucus but a croup-like cough. So we're taking her to the doctor today to see if he can determine what she's got.

Like with food and naps and sleep and how carefully they're watched at the park, here it's different with kids and their colds. If we were at home, we'd have seen almost no one with a child this past week as at home no one would have taken their kid put with as much snot, coughing and sneezing as they all had. But the parents did, and the kids had fun playing.

Anyway, now she's got a cough that woke her up and hurt enough at 4am she was up until 6am. At least she wanted to go back to sleep in her crib. Means she was serious about wanting to go back to sleep.

The good thing is she's in a good mood and no other symptoms.

Maybe this is why she started asking to go home to "Carolina's big house" in new york. At first we though she wanted to leave Guanajuato and go to see Abuela, who didn't come with us on the day trip. And then though she wanted to go to her little play house in their back garden. But when we got home to Abuela's house, she started crying a lot. Demanding to go home. So we understood.

Then we had a Skype call yesterday with my parents and she got upset since she wanted to be at their place since they had new presents for her from a family friend.

I'm not sure what to tell her as she gets more upset when I say we'll go soon. As her papa is going home tomorrow very early, before she's awake. And we are here another 5 days. And then a night at my folks'.

I'm a bit nervous.

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.

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. 

It takes one day to adjust

So after many short trips and the big one back home, we have figured out it takes Carolina one day to adjust. The first day back she was irritable and fussy. Out of sorts. The next day she rested and was more herself. She's still a little off but then she's not settled back into any kind of routine since we've done something different every day.

Looking at apartments and meeting up with some friends at the High Line.

Since I can't know when a new change is coming because she's getting older vs a temporary change because she's not well or something's up. I feel frustrated (and depending on how long it goes on for) a bit of a cockup until I figure it out. My in-laws have a different approach: If there's nothing obviously wrong and she's not sick, just ignore it. It'll pass. This is totally not me and it's probably how they raised so many children.

Don't try to figure it out; just roll.

I can't. I gotta know. Like the head banging and body rocking. I need to figure out why and help her stop. It was pretty exhausting the whole month. Made me wonder if I can handle a second one. And then most of the time I was bummed out I wasn't pregnant already.

I think C will make a great big sister.

In the meantime, as soon as I get the baby potty I ordered from my parents place, we are going to start a laisse faire approach to potty training.

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...

Went to the DF... there were no naps and a stomach bug

Three days in Mexico City and I got a stomach bug while Miss C just had one 1-hour nap on day two. It was a good visit overall. We stayed at a really nice hotel, Hotel Nikko Mexico. A Japanese/JAL chain. Went to Chapultapec park and then Zocolo the next day. It was short not just because of it being only 3 days but my stomach bug cut the last morning short. We didn't go see the ruins just outside the city. Next time...

15 months and going...

It's been quite a while since I posted something. The summer was brutally hot and humid and we spent a lot of our days in the park or avoiding outside, depending on how the weather was.

We just returned from a week in Mexico visiting Abuelos y familia. It took her about 4 days to really get comfortable with the family since she hadn't seen them since March and, surprisingly, warmed up to Tio David pretty quickly. I guess since he was willing to hold her hands up and down the stairs (her favorite activity after watching Dora), he won that spot in her heart :) All considered, she was pretty good on the planes there with me and then on the way back with both of us.

I was recently talking with a friend of mine who has an 8 month old about what foods I was giving at that time. It made me realize I forgot and how quickly these little ones change. So I'm going to write down what we do now, for future reference:

She's on one nap a day and is usually from 11/12pm for 1-2 hours. She went to sleep at 10.30am on Tuesday (after the extra-long day on Monday getting home with a serious delay at Houston) and didn't get up until 2.30pm. Very unusual but expected. She's usually desperate for sleep by about 6.30/7pm, mostly since she's walking EVERYWHERE and loves going up and down stairs. While in Mexico I didn't force her to go to sleep at her usual time, in case she wanted to stay up to play with her cousins. Nope, she's like a clock... Was ready for bed at about 7pm CST.

She has gotten much pickier about her food and likes more variety in her diet, and more sweets. She's crazy about pizzelle that my mom makes. Since the past few weeks she's been super-hungry, I was feeding her more since she's just finished a growth spurt. But it's mostly like this:

Get up for breakfast. Cereal with milk, toast, eggs (with cheese usually)
Go to the park, snack (like "healthy" cookies or crackers like Hot Kid Organic Baby Mum-Mum Original Rice Rusks) on the way back or substantial snack (more like lunch #1) like grapes, peaches, grape tomatoes, blueberries once we're home.
Nap
Lunch #2. Usually largest meal of the day includes some kind of meat, veg or fruit and pasta or rice. Cheese, sometimes. Sometimes it's just cheese, and sometimes it's just an endless array of fruit. Other days it's more balanced. I've learned to go with it and fight her less. Much easier on us both.
Park.
Snack on way home
Dinner. Like lunch but smaller, unless she's really hungry that day.
Bath, Dora, book, bottle, bed.

My mother-in-law insisted that I give her 3 bottles a day, maybe 4. She said the baby needs it. I said I don't think so and that eating real food is more filling. I gave it a try mid-week while in Mexico, to be polite while we were there, but she was waking up early in the morning and crying out more at night. I'm really really not sure why the change but we fed her a bottle when she did get up at 4am. That didn't help her go back to sleep right away, but she would finish it. I'm doubtful it was waking up because she was hungry but I went back to our normal routine when we came home just the same. I think it was more anxiety that she was waking up with. Her cries were more like scared/stressed than hungry.

While teething, as I've mentioned before, she's been a blueberry-a-holic. This week, since her 4th molar finally broke through. She's less obsessed with frozen blueberries. She wouldn't eat a frozen one since Monday when it broke through. Yesterday I got her to have some but only after I defrosted them a little.

This is good news as although it means frozen blueberries might be off the go-to list for a while, at least she's been less cranky from the teething. Phew!

So now she has 12 teeth: four top/front, four bottom/front, four molars. I don't know when the others are supposed to come in but I don't care. She's happy, I'm happy.

She's also started to be more shy around strangers. And is less willing to go in the park without me if other kids are around. Just the past 2 weeks, around when she turned 15 months. Something clicked in her head and something changed. I'm assuming this is a new change that is part of the growing cycle. It's curious. she's also having temper tantrums. They're not terrible and not very often, but they're there and they are definite. I ignore her for the most part -- just make sure she doesn't smack her head on the floor or ground as she's doing it. And then when it's done, I go "all done?" And she gets up and we move on.

I've wanted to get her into more classes, the Gymboree ones are great and the equipment is really super. But they're very, very expensive. So, we go to the public park. Not the nice, private one with the grass -- the city ones with the rubber "floors" and sprinklers and slides and stairs and swings. They do the trick. It gets a bit boring but at least we have 2 to choose from that are within 10-15 blocks of the apartment.

Being humbled by my child

I was talking with another mom of a boy a little older than Carolina. We found out, quickly, that we had exceptionally similar experiences of becoming a new mother and how our influence (or not) seemed to bear little affect to our newborns. We discovered we both had "not a good sleeper". Upon this realization, sometime around 9 months, we both gave up. And then realized that was around the time things started to change.

In a sense, we gave up trying to control the baby and listening to EVERYONE's opinions about what magic trick they used to get their child to sleep well. Yeah, we both had the same verbally aggressive reaction to that time of our lives, and laughed about it pretty heartily.

It was summed up (politely) as: That's wonderful your child is accommodating and will sleep for you. I'm certain you feel proud and superior for it. Now, on yer bike...

Really, what we realized was that our children have their own personalities and that has WAY more to do with what the baby is going to be like than anything we could have done (or not done). It was only when we stopped trying to DO something, that we got any peace.

It still stings and we both find ourselves offering advice to mothers of younger babies, but it's mostly in the frame of "I tried this, and this and this. Nothing worked. Then he/she turned X months and boom. So just hang in there, good luck, and feel free to cry if it makes you feel better. Just trust that it'll pass, and know it'll probably take longer than you want. Something else taxing will take its place, and something new unexpected will bloom, but the peace or satisfaction in your mind will eventually happen."

What's humbling about it is that, as a mother, I wasn't as influential as I had once thought I'd be. Or rather, I'm not influential in the ways and means I thought I'd be.

Perhaps, that's going to prove to be even more influential later. That I know I have to trust this baby to lead the way.

PS Stroller nap training is like the sleep problem. She's decided that she'll sleep for a bit, if she's able to relax, in the baby carrier. By the time she's great at sleeping anywhere, it'll be time for a true umbrella stroller or she'll be walking everywhere with me. Either way, I've given up on trying to 'train' her. I just do what I have to do during the day(s) and if she naps - great, but if she's a pain - ok *sigh* and we move on.

PS I don't know if I've ever mentioned this but on a return trip from Toronto, while working at Organic, I sat next to a mother with her newborn. She was very "mother earth" type and was telling me about breastfeeding and how once she learned to give in to the baby's schedule and stop fighting and trying to make the baby fit into her schedule, everything was much more peaceful. I knew during that flight that this kind of kooky woman was telling me something I'd remember forever. It's a conversation I run through my head sometimes daily. I thought at the time it was very insightful and that she was right. I just didn't really understand it in the way I do now. 

10 months: travel, sleep, fun

While Ismael was away on business for almost 2 weeks, Carolina and I stayed with my parents. I thought it was going to be a good idea for her to spend more time with her grandparents, while I simultaneously got some intermittent babysitting so I could do my part-time PM work on the project Ismael was participating in.

The week+ was both a surprising lot of fun and total disaster. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration. I found out Carolina adores blueberries. Frozen, warm, partially frozen, on chicken, with carrots, with yogurt, whole, mushed up, whatever. At the end of our time on 'vacation' if it didn't have blueberries she almost didn't want to eat it. The only food she wanted more than something with blueberries, was something a grown up was eating.

Now, I thought this wasn't supposed to happen (table food envy) until she was older. So we had some screaming tantrums, very short lived but still, when she wanted something I had that she wasn't allowed. Like chocolate, coffee, or ice cream.

I've resisted giving her ice cream since she's not supposed to be on whole milk (vs. formula) until after she's a year old. To prevent allergies, I hear. But we were at Whole Foods and having a gelato, she was carrying on so much, and I figured -- well, a little can't hurt.

She had already eaten so much I was surprised she was hungry. She gobbled up every mini spoonful of malted-balls gelato I was willing to give her. Later that evening, she threw up. Twice. Not a lot, but enough. And on my shirt. She smelled like ice cream.

Then she had a terrible sleeping night and proceeded to poop about 8 times (seriously). So between the gelato and blueberries -- she had too much going on in her belly and it eventually all made its way out.

She also re-developed the habit of getting up for the day at 4 or 5am. Yeah. And neither my parents nor my mother-in-law have any stomach for Carolina crying out. So I had to go into the room to comfort her, which ended up being 'playing with'. So after working most of the day, and then playing with Carolina, and she not taking her normal 1-hour naps and not twice a day -- I was beyond exhausted by the end of the first 5 days. The last 3 days were the worst. She knew I'd run in there, so she took full advantage. AND AND AND she was super, super teething.

I'd like to know why when we spend time with my parents, she's always teething. They are both so quick to 'get the orajel' to relieve her pain, that we went through a whole tube in about 4-5 days. I was tired of arguing against it, so I went along with it. I think that was too much. I mean, sometimes, it's bad - yes - but sometimes nothing helps and she just has to get through it. Right? Maybe I'm wrong and cruel. I think not, but what do I know? (I've learned I know a lot but I have to keep that to myself.)

The night we came home, she slept her normal 12 hours, and only cried out twice for only a few seconds. Didn't get up until 6am, and the rest of the days she's back to a 7pm to 7am (maybe 6am) days. And she was a super-napper the first two days back. Poor thing was totally tired.

We've had a few great, fun days. Now today she's back to being irritable and chewing on everything. Frozen blueberries have helped.

I hear from other moms that after the first few teeth came in, their babies didn't complain and teeth would just come in. Yeah, not my Carolina. So I think she's working on either just tooth #7 or both #7 and #8. I can't tell. But I can tell you that the top teeth seem to be on a rampage and she's just got the bottom two in the front to represent that lower jaw. Ha!

I'm having a lot of difficulty with working part time, because it turned into a bit of crisis management that entire week+ and was full time, while being a full-time mom at home. So I'm going to call a local, recommended babysitter to see how that works out. It's proven to be impossible for me to work at home and Carolina be at home, too. No matter who or what is around, she wants to be with me. So either she leaves or I leave if work is to be done.

I'm debating whether I need the aggravation and we need the money or not.

It's not THAT much money, it's a ton of aggravation so far, but - honestly - it's also nice to do something 'grown up' for a while. I might be great at project management, but I don't really enjoy it.

So, the jury is out if I'm going to continue. I'm leaning towards 'no'.

I do think, however, that having a babysitter for Carolina is still a good idea. Get her used to someone other than me, Ismael, and my parents. I'm totally against putting her in daycare, if only because those kids get colds all the bloody time -- and jesus, it's expensive.

ok, end rant here. :)

In other news, she took a decent (30 min) stroller nap after only whining/crying for about 5-10 minutes in Central Park. While Jee and I walked down 5th Ave (from 81st to 14th St), Carolina slept until about 42nd St. I was impressed that she slept with all that traffic noise for that long. Stroller naps are going to be a minimum of a once-a-week event since I gotta get this kid used to being in the stroller (not just having me carry her in the carrier all the time, she's getting heavy), and also sleeping somewhere other than her bed. Otherwise, traveling becomes complicated and stressful, and I feel we'll be doing a lot more traveling in her future.

Finally, she's developed a real like of Dora the Explorer. She is usually only interested in the opening song and animation, and maybe another 1-5 minutes more -- but she truly smiles at Dora and jumps up and down on her knees in excitement. Spongebob Squarepants is still a favorite too, but I think Dora has moved up a notch.

I've also showed her a few minutes of The Backyardigans a few times. I think they might be for slightly older kids. Actually, I know all these shows are for children older than 10 months. I'm just amused she likes Dora and Spongebob so much.

Recently, she had a growth spurt. I think she gained almost an inch in a week because she was eating like a horse and I couldn't get the food in fast enough. There were about 4 days when she was eating at least a full, adult cereal bowl full of food. I mean like chicken, carrots, apples, blueberries, rice, beef, avocados, spinach, etc. Anything I could grab to feed her, it went in and was followed by crying if I didn't get more in there fast enough.

Occasionally, when she's tired but has to eat dinner and she otherwise refuses to let me put any food in her mouth, I'll put an episode of Dora on my iphone in the kitchen. That usually gets me about 3 minutes of her opening her mouth to accept food without realizing she's doing it. Ah, the diplomatic treaty negotiations have begun...

Milestone: 5 hours of sleep and "Hi"

Last night she went to sleep a bit early (6pm) after a long, fun day with daddy. She even took TWO BOTTLES during the day. After 3 months away from bottles, it's been a daily struggle to get her first meal of the day out of a bottle, but we persevere!

As a reward to mommy for going out and leaving daddy in charge (at least that's how I've personalized it), I got to sleep for 5 hours straight -- twice! It was crazy. I woke up with a too-much-sleep headache. Seriously. But I could get used to this!

She said "Hi" to me at the end of her 2nd wakeup of the night (there were only 2) at about 3am. Clear as day "Hi". In a voice I'd not heard before. It was a little deeper than her usual "blah blah blah" voice. She said, and I swear "Yeah" on Friday. Again, clear as day. Both times, it was the only sound she made. Yeah was during the middle of the day. But she was quiet before and after both times. It was the only sound she made and damn it sounded like the real deal.

I'm not marking it down as her first words since I really don't know that she said them in the way that I think of someone actually talking. But I heard them.

I also apologized to her... "I'm really sorry, but I guess you had no choice but to say 'Yeah' and 'Hi'. Your mom is from Jersey, this is what she says. Well, at least it wasn't 'Ok' and 'Whatever'." Ha!

She's been, unusually, sleeping for over 1.5 hours this afternoon. Usually the first nap is longer but this morning it was a quick 30 minute nap. Then she's been asleep with the occasional cry out but not waking. Her teeth are breaking through again. I can see and feel them. She's been irritable.

For Carolina that means smiling a lot and then, what appears to be randomly, yelling out or being loud with "whiny voice". I can't blame her. So I take her out for walks as often as possible. Gives her something to pay attention to instead of her teeth. She's so much like me in that way. Maybe like most people...

You can easily distract me from something that bothers me by changing my scenery, especially if it's GOING somewhere else. Hooray for mini travel!

Final thought, I'm going to use the Maclaren this week. She's too little to possibly get her fingers in between the place where it could get amputated since I hold her all the time. I had this conversation with two different people yesterday. We still haven't gotten the kit from Maclaren, but I think we can manage without it until it arrives.

Onward and upward for the occasional stroller nap. Now, I just need to get some of the accessories, like the plastic cover for when it's super windy or rains. I don't think I'm going to get the "Comfort Pack" which is essentially 3 little pillows that attach to the back and two sides of the stroller. I'm thinking some well-placed, rolled-up blankets will do the trick, and reclining the back.

Other moms, let me know if it's worth the purchase or not.

Vacation went surprisingly well, being home however...

One day and night at grandpa's apartment followed by three days and two nights at the beach went surprisingly well. Gratefully the hotel room had very dark curtains so Carolina was able to sleep well. And we were mostly able to keep her nap and sleep schedule. She basically slept all day on Monday at home as she recovered from being tired from the weekend.

I just hope she forgives me for her first experience with ocean water. Which was freezing. And I asked her dad to put her feet in. And she sooner than immediately screamed. Screamed!! And didn't stop for about 10 minutes. See the photo (on the left) I took thinking she'd be smiling. Stupid mommy, really. And then later that day when she's tired but not having a fit. Notice the pink sweatshirt. It's from 1976. It was mommy's. Aunt Diana found it in our old closet and Grandma Carmela brought it to the beach. Hooray! That plus socks made Carolina's cold feet much happier!

The car ride there and back was okay. She wasn't a fan of the car seat, 'natch. She fussed and we made a few, brief stops along the way to stretch, change diaper, feed and walk around outside. But 3+ hours in the car is definitely her max. The whole trip was about 4+ hours with all the stops. and the traffic we hit on the way home took am extra hour that I would have gladly paid to avoid. Let's just say we ran out of milk in a bottle and when going over the GWB, she woke up with 10-20 mins left until Queens without traffic, more traffic on the FDR and I bought us about 10 mins of not crying by giving her a bottle of cold water. This distracted her but she was still crying when we pulled up and I rushed inside to feed her.


All in all it made me VERY hopeful for our two week trip to Mexico at Christmas.

Yesterday, however, was a different matter. She hardly napped. Nursed for a few minutes every hour but it felt like constantly. I was exhausted by 3pm. I had to keep walking outside around 2pm so she would (finally) sleep a little. She slept for only 30 mins but that's better than nothing. I ended up walking for 90 minutes outside. Mostly up and down our block wher the light breeze hit her head just as she likes it. I even had to ask Ismael to come home early since I was worn out by her. She was very clingy too. Maybe just one of her 'crazy' days.

Her poop has been greenish and on the sticky side for nearly a week. I'd be more worried except mine is too. I think it's the lack of fruit and veg while on vacation. Or maybe I'm a bit sick. I ate granola last week. Found a new one without nuts. Very yummy. But sometimes oats tear up my stomach. So that could be a contributing factor.

I'd call her pediatricians office but the doctor that does the callbacks usually is glib and gives me no information I couldn't get online or figure out myself. She really irritates me. Next month we start with a new doctor who is in network. I hope it works out since paying $200-500 per visit is murder on the wallet. Especially since insurance reimburses what amounts to around 30%. So many pediatricians in the city don't take insuranace. Not sure if the Obama plan would make a difference but having a baby is bloody expensive.

I hope today is a better nap day for my shorty.