Rolling over and over and over, after weeks of sick

It seems like my son is a "stealth" roller. He rolled over to his belly and then to his back again - twice! But has only done it while no one was paying attention. I was sleeping, or trying to, and Ismael and Carolina were doing something while the baby was on a blanket on the rug. Ismael says the baby was on his back, then he looked again and he was on his belly holding up his head, and then when he looked back again the baby was on his back again.

Of course, if we grab a camera or cell phone to take a photo or video, he just looks at us.

I'm glad the last two weeks are over. Carolina had a cold for a few days and the day after she started, her brother started. It was mostly a high temperature but no fever, lots of congestion that stayed in the sinuses and lots of poop. Lots. And since the baby couldn't sleep when he can't breath well, and I can't give him any medicine, and humidifying the room only worked so well -- we had a lot of interesting, long nights to get through.

And since he's been resisting the bottle like a, I don't know what, I gave up trying to get him to take it while he wasn't feeling well and couldn't breath well. So, we'll start up again tomorrow. I'm STILL the only person he'll take the bottle from, and only after a LOT of cajoling. I'm just going to have to figure out a way to get someone other than me to give it to him while I am not around. 

I have to say, in the last two weeks I haven't gotten more than 2 hours of sleep at a time and it's rough. Mostly my patience -- with whining, crying (from both of them) and super-short naps (and lots of frequent wakings at night) -- is very thin. And I've realized it's less about the lack of sleep that drains me, it's the whining and crying. It's like when Obi Wan turns off the power generators of the Death Star in Star Wars Episode IV, that sound of going "ooooooooo" from loud to quiet when the power is draining off. Yup, that's my brain as the whining and crying out of frustration and unhappiness goes on and on.

The requests for her "chupon" are still coming up a lot but it's manageable. And she's started to decide that she's "afraid" to go by herself to the bathroom or her room to get something if we've asked her to. I've made light of it and get her to go anyway, or walk her part way. I'm not entertaining this new phase with a lot of sympathy as I'm hoping it doesn't "stick".

Gratefully, Carolina was well enough to go to school on the second day and, luckily, she was out the day that some kid with strep throat was in school. So she missed being exposed to him or her and so far no one else seems to have caught it.

We're in the process of changing pediatricians (I thought it was a quick and easy thing to do...) and so I'm looking forward to when we can go to a doctor that is only 5 minutes away instead of 30-40 minutes drive each way, and then pay for parking at a Manhattan lot. Although I LOVE their current pediatrician, it's just too far and too much of a hassle for when they're sick AND needing immunization shots. Oy!

Here's hoping this week is better.

Gave up the pacifier without (much) of a fight

Yesterday, we had a party to celebrate Good Bye Chupon! and the party went well.

(See? Very windy.)

We've been talking with Carolina for months about giving up her pacifier and eventually ended up making this last pacifier THE LAST pacifier. We wanted to be settled with the move and her brother and new school before taking it away. I knew that if we didn't push it, she'd happily keep it for a VERY long time.

She'd recently chewed them while having them in her mouth and went through 4 in a month and a half this summer. So this latest one, I said "This is the last-last-last one. No more chupones after this one. When it breaks, we'll have a party."

She was planning her party and helped pick out the piñata and decorations. We just had to wait for this one to break. It didn't break. In fact, it was the longest lasting one in the past year, HOWEVER she started to get a rash on her chin, I think from the saliva sitting on her skin for several hours. (I'm still really not sure where the rash came as she's never had one similar before.)

I used it as the catalyst to move this along. We scheduled the party for yesterday, sent out an evite to the grandparents and aunt next door and got everything ready. For two days before, she was alternatively excited for the party and panicked about giving it up for good.

Yesterday morning we went apple picking and after her nap had the party. She woke up in a good mood and was very excited to have the party and "send the chupon up in the sky to the princesses". Unfortunately the pacifier was too heavy for even two balloons to take it up to the sky, so I had her draw a pacifier on a piece of paper and taped the paper to the balloon. It was SO VERY windy outside that the balloon went up into the sky extremely quickly. She took it all in stride and was happy.

Last night she wasn't so happy. I had anticipated this would be like when she had to give up her bottle and change from a crib to a big bed. It was similar. So bedtime took longer and I gave her a dose and a bit more of melatonin to help her relax. Otherwise I expected a LOT of headbanging to compensate.

She slept well and woke up in a very good mood. Better than most days recently. She did NOT take a nap today, and I expect a little fussing tonight. And then by tomorrow she'll take her nap and we'll move on. Occasionally over the next weeks, and maybe months, she'll ask and I'll tell her what happened and she'll accept it. Just like the other things. That's what I'm guessing. What happens, however, is up to her.

I'm still proud of her. As with all the 'big' changes in her life, she takes them more in stride than my worst fears and better than most.

Rolled over!

The baby just rolled over from his back to his stomach and back to his back for the first time! He's been able to pull himself up (with a bit of help) when we play "up, up, up" and has been threatening to roll over and now he just did it!

After a long day in the car and at the beach and boardwalk (Coney Island) -- he did it!

Baby talk and Up Up Up

For the first time, baby said "Hello" three days ago in response to my saying "Hello" to him. Granted it was more of a "heehwooo" but it's close enough.

Since then he's been trying to say "How are you" and what sounds like a million other things -- all at once. Throughout the day he will have talking spells when he just really makes an effort to talk. He's particularly interested in talking to Carolina and getting her to talk back.

This afternoon we were at the German butcher shop and the check out lady, a very dear, older German woman, started to smile and talk to Ismaelito. When she said, "Hello." He immediately smiled and said, "Hehwooo! Hehwoah!" She then smiled more broadly and exclaimed, "He just said Hello!"

So now other people can tell, too. This is so much fun!

Last night, during bath time, I put Carolina in first and then he brother. Usually he'll lie back and kick his legs a bit. Since he's started to be able to lift himself up, we've been practicing. I hold his arms gingerly, say, "Up. Up. Up." and he pulls himself up. So in the bath he insisted on sitting up to be able to see and talk to Carolina. When I tried to lie him back, thinking he wanted to "swim" like usual, he fussed until I sat him back up. Awesome!

Also, this past weekend we took Carolina to her first ice cream parlour. We went to Bishoff's in Teaneck. I let her choose from Bishoff's and Baumgart's. She chose Bishoff's because of the photos of ice cream online. It wasn't too busy, so it worked out really well. She LOVED it. She had chocolate ice cream, marshmallow topping with rainbow sprinkles.

It was a big, family adventure and those of us who are lactose intolerant were suffering, gladly, afterwards. :)

Moving makes things hectic

We just moved to New Jersey last week. I've been so busy with the kids I haven't had enough time to make notes about what's happening.

Carolina started a new school and loves it. Phew. The baby is growing apace and is about 13lbs now. As his reflux seems to have gotten a little worse, and I'm pretty sure it's due to my eating foods I like instead of only safe foods and he's teething. So my back has been killing me with carrying him around almost constantly and unpacking seems to be taking a LONG time.

Carolina is clearly jealous of this and wants to be held, too. I don't blame her. It's truly short amounts of time that I spend with just her. But she still loves "her baby" a LOT and at least has school to make her own.

She was really helpful while we were packing. She helped with her scissors to cut the tape and we asked her to draw on whatever boxes she wanted. She also put stickers on the boxes.

All the boxes made her anxious. The idea of a new house was something she liked and didn't understand at the same time.  It wasn't until the day before when she saw the apartment and her new room that she seemed to feel better about it. And she has adjusted to her new room very well. I'm actually very surprised at how quickly she's adjusted.

We had to lose her blackout shades as they have vertical blinds in every room. But even with the extra light at naptime, she naps well. It was actually the baby who seemed unsure about all the changes. I had him in my arms or sleeping on me pretty much all week. The first 2-3 days he seemed nervous.

So my anxious kid was okay and my calm kid was nervous. Go figure.

Getting used to driving everywhere and taking the kids in the car to do shopping is a BIG change.

I've already learned that I can only go to 1-2 stores with them. Poor baby doesn't get much sleep with all the going in and out of the car.

Speaking of sleep, he slept for nearly 8 hours last night. So I got 5 hours of sleep. He then was up from 4am until a little after 5am. He was trying to fall back to sleep but was too wormy. It was a poop that was bothering him and didn't get relief from until a few hours later.


I could go on and want to but I'm tired. Really tired. And my back hurts. I just want to lie down. So, well, good night!

Sleep, Telling Stories and Moving

Last night the baby slept for 7 hours straight. I'd like to say that I got 7 hours of sleep but it was good enough. He went down at 8pm and didn't wake up to feed until nearly 3am. It's nice since the night before he was up every, almost, 2 hours. Ah, newborns...

Carolina told her brother a story, her first real story, yesterday. It went something like this:
Once upon a time there was a baby, it was YOU! And his name was Ismael ("Izmail") and he was moving and crying and looking around. Bah, bah, bah, weeeeeeeeeee (insert more noises that aren't words), and then he went to take a nap.

Pretty good! It has a start, middle and exciting ending! :)

We're still packing up for our move to Jersey. Carolina is talking about it now like she understands but I know there's a lot of anxiety behind it since all day long we get a nearly constant stream of "What you doin?" from her. As more boxes go up, the more that question comes up. However, she's been very helpful with packing and we're keeping her involved as much as possible to help her be part of the process.

Today on the phone with her aunt, who asked during a Skype call if there were a lot of boxes at home, she said, "No. We packin' an we gonna move to a new house near granma an granpa and I'm gonna fly over to deh house like "woosh"." (Another time she explained that she will be able to fly to my parents place (in the next building) like Superman and Krypto and Fussy, from Superman Family Adventures comics.) I thought that was pretty clever. I hope she doesn't try to fly there but at least she gets what's happening in some way that makes sense to her and others.

Ok, gotta go...

Music & Art camp

Carolina LOVED this. I wish it had lasted all July. She learned how to play the violin and piano. The art the kids did was really fun and she adored her art teacher. It was a wonderful experience all around for her, and really great after having such a not good time at preschool in the neighborhood earlier in the spring.