Sleeping and Eating

Some good news and some bad news.

So, I am happy to continue breastfeeding my toddler.  We both love it.  It is "work" for me, but also very rewarding and beneficial for her.  Cordelia nurses when she wakes up and before she goes to bed. If I am home I will nurse her when she wakes up from her nap.  Sometimes, she asks for a late afternoon milk session, usually by bringing me the nursing pillow and saying "Mmirh."

For months our routine for bedtime has been for me to nurse her in our dark bedroom and then she will fall asleep at the boob.  She usually keeps drinking a while in her sleep.  For a while, it was cutting down to almost as little as 30 mins for her to go to sleep.  But lately, she has been getting distracted more easily, and then returning to nurse more, and then rolling off to try and play or just lie on the bed.  She does not fall asleep on the bed easily.  She rolls and thrashes and gets up a lot.  Sometimes, she eventually lies down and I can kind of stroke her forehead until she goes to sleep. But it is a lot of work and takes a lot of time for her to go down this way.  And then transfer her to her crib, which has been going pretty well most days, but sometimes still fails.

So on nights when Cordelia is extra playful, I have given up and just put her in her crib.  As you might expect, the result is screams.  Sometimes when she realizes what is happening, she stands up in her crib and reaches up for me to hug her, saying, "Mama.  Up."  How tragic and heart breaking is that?

But the last few times, knowing she was fed and dry and needing to go to sleep, I have left her in her dark room.  She is able to put herself to sleep for her naps now, with minimal to no crying, this is not too different.  At first, she cried maybe 30 mins.  Then 15-20.  Then maybe 10.  Then last night, she fell asleep in our room with me, but woke up when I transferred her.  She stood up and cried for maybe 5 minutes but then lay back down and slept through the night!  (She has also had to have a bit of tylenol because she is teething like crazy).

I just put her in her crib for a nap, with the routine books of 10 Little Ladybugs and You Are My Sunshine and she did not even cry at all when I left.  She read books, played with her kitties, and then lay down to sleep!

Go C Go!

Even though I don't believe in "cry it out" for little ones, it is easier now that she is older and I KNOW as a parent that she can do it.  And this is how cry it out is supposed to work with gradual less and less crying each night, right?  Eventually, she was ready to learn some better sleeping habits.  Hopefully things will not change now that I've written this.

In the bad news department, I also got mastitis again. WTF.

Is it the switch between vacation nursing and back to work pumping?  I don't know what messed me up, but Tuesday afternoon I was feeling terrible and finally realized I had red streaks.  I thought my boobs were just tender from being suctioned by the pump after a break.  I had fever and chills.  No fun. No obvious back up or plugged duct, but there was an area of knotted tissue, where the infection was.  Back to school prep week is the WORST time to be sick.  I was able to get a phone appointment and antibiotics without having to go it… no time for that when staging a classroom!

It wasn't too bad overall, especially once I started the meds.  I just need to remember to take them 4 times a day.  No slacking or forgetting!  It is hard because they have to be on an empty stomach: 2-3 hours after eating and 1 hour before.  Don't they know I eat every 3 hours?  By the time I'm supposed to take a pill, I'm hungry again.

I started having weird heartburn last night after I took a pill.  Did I swallow it wrong some how?  That was so uncomfortable, now I know how my mom feels a lot!

I was going to write about her eating habits too, but not enough time.  She has been throwing food a lot at the table.  Ah, toddlerhood!

15 Months

I wish I had 3 more weeks of vacation!

C and I bonded so much during our days together.  I feel like when I  don't have to leave her, she starts to just RELAX.  So comfortable and secure.  

Vacation events:

-Shopping at Ikea

-Shopping and Dinner with Auntie Gillian and Mommy in Berkeley.  Cordelia really liked dinner at the Mediterranean restaurant, where dada also joined us!

-A playdate with Anabelle

-Visiting Dada at Camp Awesome

-A morning visit to a park

-Seeing lots of fishies and sharks at the Bay Aquarium.  Cordelia was fascinated by everything.  Her favorite part though was the river otters.  It was their feeding time, so they were running back and forth, back and forth, back and forth right in front of the door to their glass cage.  Which was right at eye level where Cordelia was standing.  She started giggling hysterically as they would run by and every so often  stop directly in front of her.  She laughed and laughed.

-We had an earthquake Sunday morning (3:20 am).  It was a 6.0, about 20 miles away.  Big shaker!  Cordelia slept through it but was awakened by mama and dada coming into her room.  It took her an hour and a half to go back to sleep.  She wanted to play and eventually we just had to put her in her bed.  It took a bit of time and some crying, but she did put herself to sleep.  She did the same tonight!

Cordelia likes to walk places and gets mad when she has to be carried or moved when she's not ready.  

She likes to point out people's shoes and say "shoes."  Though it sounds more like "ooo hs"

When she wants to wash her hands, she says "ssshhh."  It is like she is trying to say "wash" or also making the sound of the water.  She points at the sink and says "shhhh".

If you mention teeth brushing, she goes to the bathroom and wants to brush her teeth.  If you mention going on a walk, she goes to the door and tries to open it.  

She surprised me a few days ago.  I had her sitting in a plastic box, pretending it was a choo choo train. I said, "On your mark. . . Get set. . ." And Cordelia said, "Go!"  She did it a few times for a day but then started to want us to say "go".  She would look at us expectantly, waiting for us to say it.  The funny thing was, we had never said "On your mark, get set, go!" with her before.  It was something she must have learned at Meme's House!  She also says both Meme and Papa's names now!

She started eating yogurt with a spoon.  She does pretty well.  She has also started tossing unwanted food on the floor.  Trying to dissuade her from this.  

Love our snuggle baby! Every day I am in awe of her cuteness.

 

Last Day As A Toddler Teacher...

Tomorrow is my last day as a toddler teacher at my school.  But I will have a toddler at home full time! We have started calling Cordelia Coco a bit.  We met someone at a party whose Great Aunt Cordelia went by Coco.  Jason and I were surprised by how much we liked it.  I often sing, "Coco bean, Coco bean, where o where has Coco been?"  She seems to like it too.  I do try and call her Cordelia a lot though. It is her name and must get used!

The other night she started saying "shoes".  We also read a book about a dog making a sandwich, alternating bread and cheese. She read the book to herself saying, "bre."  "shees."  She can say "eyes" and "nose" and identify "ears."   Today she climbed to the top the smaller cat tree.

She has been teething again, getting her second bottom molar in.  It has given her a lot of discomfort. She doesn't like chew toys, but has been using a raspberry shaped pacifier (bumpy texture).  It is kinda weird seeing her with a paci in her mouth.  It's like, is that my baby?  She doesn't use it for long, but it makes her seem littler.  I think her tooth is just breaking through, so hopefully she will sleep better tonight without needing tylenol!  We can hope!

I cleaned our kitchen tonight.  FILTH FILTH FILTH.  Ug, you don't even want to know.  Jason's main chores are dishes and laundry and I am in charge of vacuuming, mopping, and scrubbing any surfaces.  Also putting away junk and scooping cat litter. Anyway, I have not wiped down surfaces like kitchen counters and the microwave in… I don't even want to think about how long.  Yick.  Hopefully C will sleep well and I can do more cleaning on my vacation.

One more day of school.  Then vacation.  A whole week I don't have to leave my baby girl.  Can't get to it fast enough!