On Vacation Again

I made it through the school year and now I'm on vacation again.  We just had a playdate with A, which went rather well.  I was hoping Cordelia could get more practice sharing as she can be very possessive lately.  She was very friendly and cheerful almost the whole time.  There was one time when she picked up a toy that A had played with and then discarded and tried to take it away, "No, that's mine, that's not for you!"  and stalked out of the room muttering darkly to herself.  I pointed out to A's mom that this is what I had been warning her about.  Fortunately, it didn't last and C was even able to ask to take turns with certain toys and was generally happy to have A there.  But when she does get possessive, it is very feisty and a little mean.  Still typical for a two year old, but especially with her words she sounds like an older child (maybe from spending time around her cousins?).  And part of it is her temperament and also being an only child at home, unlike her cousins, who have to actually deal with each other all the time.  When she gets mad, she is mad.  She is also trying to feel powerful and control things.  She is also into refusing things just to say No.  Yesterday she said "No, I don't like grapes" and proceeded to eat all the grapes and ask for more.  A walking contradiction, with lots of two year old attitude.

Over the last 2 months we have had more regular melt downs as she wrestles with these big emotions.  She has been having a hard time sharing, cleaning up, and taking naps at Meme's house.  She will also some times reject Dada, and also gets jealous if we hug or hold hands, saying "No, that's MY mama.".  She doesn't like me to hold the cats (or Meme's dogs), but I have been working to foster more positive interactions, such as giving the cats treats or playing with cat toys.  With a little help and redirecting, at home I can usually convince her to get through things.  In between all of this, I still see the happy, exuberant, adorable little girl that I know and love.  That is her core personality, even if she is not that happy sweet baby all the time anymore.  She is moving out of being a toddler and developmentally wanting to be a bigger kid.

 Judy's husband compared Cordelia to a "pet hug pack animal", basically, a therapy pet, making everyone she visits just feel better to be around her because she's so sweet and cheerful.  I know this defiance is just a phase and eventually she will grow out of it as she gains more experience and more confidence.  Fortunately, they are only moments here and there and don't dominate our days.  (Though sometimes Meme has reported to me "there was no pleasing her today!"  She had a cold and was so cranky we even had her checked for an ear infection.  It may also be her molars, which are mostly in, but she still seems to want to chew on everything all of a sudden).

She has pooped on the potty a few times!  Other times she will sit and read books for ages and then come out squealing "Mama! Dada!  Look what I made!"  and there is nothing there.  Ha ha.  A little bit of pee, but never a lot.

We have done some fun outings, like going to see Alyssa's horses.  That was really exciting for Cordelia.  I hope to go back soon!  It would be nice to have C comfortable around horses and also (when older) it teaches great responsibility.  However, she was excited, but also wary.  She has been scared by things more easily now.  We went to the Little Farm this weekend and she wouldn't feed the animals their celery this time.  One time she and Jason played in a card board box and he closed it up around her.  Immediately, she was scared!

She is going to start school when we get back from break.  I have had some frustrations with that not going quite how I think it should be handled (administratively), but I hope the environment will be worth it.  And I think going to school will be good to socialize her.  I hope it will be worth it, because it is going to be very expensive.

I am most nervous about the first two weeks because Meme and Papa are going on a vacation and we are planning to have our friend who also has a baby watch Cordelia.  We have watched the baby a couple times, but C has never been at their house for full days or at school for full days.  I am very anxious that it will be so many changes for her all at once and it will be so hard for her.  Jason thinks she will be fine, but of course, I'm a worrier.

Also, I agreed to a writing project and have a dead line and no ideas.  It's kinda cramping my vacation relaxation.  Arrg.

Recent Memories

Some comments on fish.  We have started giving C a cup to drink from and she has managed fairly well without spilling too much. There are some fish on her cup, which she looked at and told us that the fish had wings and were going to fly.

That evening we also walked by the pool and she wanted to stop and kick her legs in the water.  Some sun glasses were at the bottom of the deep end.  Cordelia exclaimed that she could see a fish swimming in the water!

Towards the end of vacation, I commented that C never had any tantrums.  Well, vacation ended and in the transitions back to our busier routines resulted in tantrums.  Particularly over the pool and not swimming (it was cooler this week).  I had to start reading the Whole Brain Child to remind myself about the upstairs and downstairs brain.  She was able to calm down, but is definitely a lot more sensitive about trying to have her own way all the time.

State Fair on Saturday.  I had to join late because I stupidly forgot I had to run a Pirate Party Playdate for school.  Highlights were sitting on a firetruck, riding a pony, and going on a fair ride, a little boat with cousin Rocky.  She also played a carnival game of catching fish in a net and got to take home a stuffed purple fish as her prize.  We had dinner at Olive Garden near by and got to watch the Fair's fireworks show from the parking lots before driving home.  C had a great time.

A few times Cordelia has been asking "Shall we drink Mama's Milk?"  I have succeeded in distracting her, don't want to tell her it's all gone!

4th of July Break

I had a week off from school and it was heaven.  I am on a total burnout from my class, to be honest, so  I am not ready to go back at all.  Getting to spend everyday with Cordelia, all day was so nice.  Cordelia is just at such a fun, happy stage.  She occasionally will have a little fuss, but it takes little to redirect her.  We had a couple of playdates with friends and went swimming often.  Cordelia loves to the pool.  Her secure base is the stairs, but then she will venture out to be carried for a swim.  But then she says "Shall we go back to the stairs?"

Our one big outing was going to the beach at the beginning of the vacation.  It was cold, but not completely miserable.  Cordelia bravely played in the waves, happy having mom and dad their to make things seem fun.  The rockier beach I took her to on spring break was cold and windy and she was nervous to even leave the picnic blanket.  Now she was very adventurous.  Another difference was that she had watershoes now, which may have helped her with the sensory experience of the sand and water.  To play, I also used an internet idea, which was to bring her baby bath tub and fill it up with water.  She loved it.  She sat in the cold water and mixed it with sand, so happily.

The best part was we saw a dozen seals and sea lions being released back into the wild.  Cordelia was so happy watching them blorp across the sand and into the sea.  Shall we see the seals again?

She had her two year doctor appointment at last.  She weighs 26lb 12.8 oz (46.86%).  Her height is 2'11' (78.48%)'.  She had a shot for Hep A and also came down with a mild cold, which Jason also got.  I would say it was from the dr.'s, but her nose was already a lil runny that morning.

For the 4th, we went to Todos Santos for a pancake breakfast and playing on the playground.  We went in half price books, and then came out to watch the parade.  Yes, being a parent makes you do cheesy stuff.  It was a little boring, but the highlights were a lot of people going by on bicycles, some horse riders (especially the fancy prancing horses and the tiny ponies), and the two martial arts clubs that had Chinese Dragon dancers.

We came home for naps and then I took her for a swim.  After dinner we went to a fireworks show.  C stayed up quite late past her bedtime, but loved the show.  Jason got all the credit: "Thank you for the fireworks, Dada!"  She got a little tired towards the end, but said they were so pretty and went "Boom Boom!"

Today we went swimming again and planted a succulent garden.

I don't want to go back to worrrrrrk.

Weaned @ 24 Months

I am pretty proud, Cordelia weaned all by herself.  I think the last day was June 6th?  See, it is even hard to remember!  I wasn't sure it was going to be the last time, but then lately any time she nurse red had the possibility to be the last time.  We started skipping a day, sometimes two without offering it.  If I offered it, she would nurse for a tiny bit, but usually ask to switch sides and then eventually started also asking to be put to bed with singing songs.  Then I decided to see if she would ask for it if I didn't offer.  And she didn't!

The last time was pretty sweet and adorable, so I do feel like we had a little bit of a "good-bye" send off.  She has been going to bed great and sleeping every night so well.  I'm so glad we did it like this, and no like, what was it… back in February.  I think that was when she skipped a few times around Valentine's Day, but then got a little anxious about not getting her milks.  If she would wake up when being put in her bed she would cry and cry, begging for "More Mama Milk!"  But that phase came to an end as well and now she is all grown up and a big girl all the time! I had a very brief moment of sadness or two.  It is bittersweet that she is not a baby any more and that our special bond is over, but ultimately I am really happy with how she has transitioned.

Interestingly, she has tried skipping a few naps since stopping.  Those are probably more related to her day circumstances, but she has not been giving Meme an easy time with her naps, especially if her cousins are around.  She is just easily distracted, even if they are sleeping.

We went to A's 3rd Birthday party on Saturday.  She had a lot of fun and did well around the other children. She got to try and hit a piñata! She liked the gluten free/dairy free cake better than the cupcakes at her own party!  She loved the playroom at the house and the water table.  She and A hugged before going home and it was adorable!

For father's day we got Jason DnD books.

Birthday Celebrating

We got to celebrate our two year old doing fun stuff.  Although scheduling was complicated for me, I was able to get the morning off of work.  Jason also took the day off.  The weather had been chilly, but we went to the Little Farm anyway.  Meme and Papa brought her cousins too.  We fed all the animals celery.  Cordelia was less enamored of the goats this time and wanted to get back to the cows.  We learned from someone that one of the brown and white cows is actually named Cordelia!  There are also two calves, Bluebell and Buttercup. Meme bought her a stuffed cow at the gift shop, which we named Buttercup.  We then had cupcakes and played on the playground.  Her cousins got her some books and a Kitty Surprise, which was a total throw back toy as Rebecca totally had one in the 90s.  We left just in time as swarms of field trip children took over everything.  Jason dropped me off and took her home in time for a decent nap.  Then they went on a walk and saw a school bus in our neighborhood and he let her watch a little Peg + Cat.  We went out to dinner a Yokoso's, where we hadn't been in a while.  While we were there, Cordelia requested going to the Pet Store.  So we made one last stop so she could see some more animals.  Then we went home and she got to play with her big present, which is a huge dollhouse that Jason picked out.  It is a big hit and she plays with it every day.  She has named all the dolls for family members.

That weekend we went to Fanime/Clockwork Alchemy.  My folks and Rebecca came too.  Cordelia was a bit overwhelmed and kept asking, "Shall we go to the farm now?"  But she napped well in their hotel room, if sometimes later than normal.  We also stayed over one night with them, and my parents put her to sleep, so we could go to a dance and also a concert.  Cordelia liked riding the "city bus" between the conventions.  

For her actual party, we kept things really low key and had it at a park, but with a Dog and Cat theme.  I didn't invite too many people, mainly just families with kids.  That way there was lots of parallel play and if things got too overwhelming, we would just take all the kids out to the playground and turn em loose.  I went to the party store and got some balloons and then picked up Gillian at the bart.  The timing worked out nicely, even though her train was late.  I had been debating ditching the balloons, but they ended up being an impressive, simple way to add decor.  We used table cloths and Gillian also helped bring in a lot of color with her streamer skills along the chain link fence.  I was trying not to spend too much, but still probably spent more than I need to, but I kept finding cute stuff or great deals.  What can I say, I'm excited for my kid's birthday and my mom always threw us such fun, thoughtful parties growing up!  I think I did pretty well with the party favor bags with theme shlock…. it was much easier to find dog stuff than cat stuff, but there was a fair amount of plastic animals, balls, stickers, and bubbles.  Also dog hats I found at the thrift store and a stuffed dog or cat to "adopt" from our basket.  The adoption basket kept Cordelia very busy as she would arrange all the animals around food bowls.  She loved it.  It was perfect party for her.

The balloons were such a great addition.
Cordelia loved them!  This is the winning picture!

The basket of animals was so engaging, and definitely helped to have while we were setting up!
























Cordelia finds the two kittens and makes them kiss.

Birthday cupcakes.  I found cat and dog bookmark post-its (thrift store find, again) and taped them to toothpicks.  They were slightly curving, but managed to not peel all the way off.  "I spelled out Happy Birthday Cordelia" with the speech bubbles.

Having the birthday song sung by so many people kind of rocked Cordelia's world.  She kept talking about it often afterwards. It was very windy, so we barely managed to keep the candles lit, but she wasn't scared of them this time and actually made an effort to do a little puff to blow them out.  You can see the streamers and a little bit of the favor bags on the table.

That night Cordelia played with two halves of a cherry tomato and a half of a grape.  She pretended the tomatoes were Mommy and Daddy and the grape was a baby.  The Mommy and Daddy kissed the baby and said good bye and went to work.  Then they came back and kissed the baby some more.  It was such an incredible level of dramatic play and storytelling, I was super excited about it.

Last night (after my on-going terrible days at work), Cordelia gave me a HUGE HUG and actually squeeze me around the waist with two arms.  She said, "I love my mommy.  I missed you so much.  I'm so glad my mommy came back."  That is what she said, word for word.  I was about to cry!  It was so precious and such sweet love.  I mean, I probably say similar phrases to her often, but how wonderful is it to hear those words back to you.

Now she is waking up and playing with her crib crew.  She is saying "I will get all the babies" as she gathers up cats and dogs.

2 Years Old

You are talking so much now.  We call you a little parrot because you repeat everything that we say.  On your own, you talk in 4, 5, 10 word sentences, and it leaves us completely amazed.  You are starting to use articles and plurals and try and be grammatically correct!  I love every word, but especially when you grab my legs and say "HI.  I LOVE YOUUU!"  We call you a little sponge because you are soaking everything up and remembering it too.  You love songs, nursery rhymes, and books and try to commit them all to memory and then recite phrases, right on cue.  It is incredible, and leaves us in a state of delightful shock and awe all the time.

You like to cuddle and give me hugs all the time. You give kisses by lightly pressing your lips on my face, but never really puckering up! You like to wait for people to kiss you.  You love being silly with Dada.  You giggle like crazy.

You love food!  I can't even think of something that you don't like to eat.  Maybe raw salad and avocados?  We gave you Indian food and you said it was too hot, but the other day you tried my Thai yellow curry sauce on rice and ate it up.  You love pasta and cheese and pancakes with syrup.  You like sausage and chicken and asparagus and broccoli and cooked spinach.  You love zucchini with parmesan cheese! Powdered parmesan cheese means you will eat anything.   You eat all kinds of fruit, but your favorite is blueberries.  You love snacks and are always asking for crackers and chips and your "Dog Biscuit" shaped cookies.  Oh and yogurt raisins, which you call "Nuts" because they come in trail mix.  You stand at the counter saying, "Want nut.  Want nut."  It is adorable.

You love to play outside.  Sometimes you even request, "Play outside all day!" or "Go for a niiiiice walk!"  On our walks, I try and point out every bird and bug and airplane.  You saw a grasshopper once and are still leaving a delicious stick out for it to entice it to come back and eat it.  You pick up unripe peaches that have fallen from the trees and try and leave it for ladybugs on the ladybug tree.  There are so few ladybugs left this late into spring, but you want to feed them, nonetheless! I was so happy to find one today and let it crawl over a few pieces of fruit left in your offering on the planter box ledge.  It was a green ladybug, and you noticed its spots!  What will we do when there are no more ladybugs??  You also like to find tiny broken bits of plastic easter egg shells and leave them next to the little ant hill for the ants to come and eat.  It is so sweet how you want to feed and care for all the creatures.

You love animals.  You love cats and dogs, and trips to the pet store fill your heart with joy.  You like snakes and turtles and brown mice (they stand out from the white mice). You like to feed bravely cows and goats at the Little Farm.

You don't like having your teeth brushed by anyone other than you.  You don't like having your hair rinsed or getting water in your eyes.  You don't like having your hair brushed.  You seem a little sensitive to bright lights.  You prefer wearing your little moccasins to the cute sneakers I bought you.  I think you like to be able to feel the ground beneath your feet.  They say it's supposed to be good for you, at least!  You don't like it when pets or other babies get held on Mama's lap.  You don't like bandaids or having neosporin or lotion/sun screen put on.

You love going to Meme and Papa's house.  You like to play with toys and watch Caillou and get spoiled rotten stinkin' good!  Meme is your touchstone and no one makes you light up like Papa.  You love playing with your cousins.

You love school buses and playing in cars.  You love trying to fit keys in keyholes.  You love taking your pull-toy dog Rufus on walks.  You love to dance.  You are learning how to hop and actually get your feet off the floor.  It is the cutest thing.

You are full of curiosity and wonder.  You just seem to have this spark, this desire to investigate everything, while at the same time being sweet and happy.  It's pure delight.   Two years have already gone by, but I can't imagine a day without you.  You are magical, Cordelia, and I'm so happy to be your Mama.

2 Days Til 2

Well, much less than that by this hour of night.

We had Auntie A visiting us for part of the weekend and then she baby sat Cordelia yesterday all by herself.  Cordelia was happy to be entertained by her auntie all day.  They went on walks, read books, and ate quesadillas.  Auntie A had to change 3 poopy diapers.  Cordelia regularly has between 1-3 poops in a day.  Yesterday she had a total of 4, which is a lot for her.  She just eats so many fruits and veggies with gusto, she she has regular BMs. Tonight she asked for more asparagus several times!

Cordelia has been going to sleep very well lately.  She does not stay up playing and talking to herself as much aka "The Cordelia Show" on the baby monitor.  Even at bedtime, I am able to put her in bed still awake if she is not falling asleep on me.  She likes to be on our shoulders and have a few songs, like Rock a bye Baby, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and You are My Sunshine.  Sometimes she has been saying "Good Night, Kiddo," when she is put in her crib, sending herself off to sleep.  I tell her to lie down and Mama will cover you up, and then she does not even move!  She goes right to sleep.  She has not even been waking up crying, though her molars are yet to come in.  We are in a good place!  I am thinking of gently weaning her over the next month or so.  We made it to 2 years. Wow!  With how well she is doing with sleep routines, and not popping back up begging for "more mama milk!",  I think it will go smoothly.

Another fun thing we did earlier in the month (on Mama's Bday actually) was go to a wedding for some community center friends of Jason's.  Actually their reception was AT the community center.  Cordelia partied hard!  We took her out to the playground a few times, but she really liked dancing and jamming to the music.  There was a disco ball of colored light displays on the floor and she LOVED that so much.  After the bouquet toss there was sparkly confetti all over the floor too.  She was celebrating and dancing with us so much and we even got to dance with each other a bit too as her aunt and uncle held her for us.  Both her cousins were sick and Papa and Mama got the same tummy bug later in the week.  I am still praying Cordelia  and Jason will hold out against it, because I don't want anyone to be sick on her birthday!

We took some pictures of her for Mother's Day gifts.  She is just too cute.

Meow and Dog deserved a picture, and I think it is my favorite.  I feel like they represent her love of being one year old.  To be honest, her love of cats and dogs began before her first birthday, and I remember thinking instead of a Milk and Cookies Party, a Dog Party would have been a great theme.  Well, the passion has lasted, so this year we will have a Cat and Dog Party.  Meow joined us on Cordelia's birthday and became her favorite love, like no other stuffed animal had before.  She doesn't cuddle and carry Meow around, but her loves are a comfort to her and a signal to sleep.  Cordelia picked Dog herself.  He is a $5 wolf sold at Kohls with some charity tie in.  She picked it up as something to carry around the store to keep her occupied while we shopped.  I thought we should put it back, because we didn't need to buy our daughter every toy that strikes her fancy for a few moments.  But Jason said, "Come on!  It's $5!" He likes to spoil our daughter.  But this was a $5 well spent. Dog is gray and white and basically… the dog version of Meow.  Cordelia named them both herself.  Dog joined the "Crib Crew".  There is also a small black and white cat named "Little Meow" and a calico cat from Meme on Halloween, so his name is Jack (for Jack o lantern.)  At the thrift store I recently got two beanie babies that she now sleeps with too.  "Kitten" and "Puppy."  I try and hold off on having more members of the Crib Crew because her bed is getting full, but she really likes them.  Puppy looks like Carl from the books.

A Perfect Day

Cordelia is 23 months old now.

It was Saturday and both Jason and I were to be home all day.  Yay!  A few weekends, he still has work finishing up at the community center with things that were already scheduled.

We had breakfast and told Cordelia we had to go to the store to run some errands after.  Cordelia suggested the pet store, where she loves looking at the animals.  We agreed we could fit the pet store into our day.  She specifically asked to see a snake.

We got dressed and I put Cordelia in a white turtleneck to wear under her gray dress with the elephants from Gillian.  I buttoned the snaps and then Cordelia put her hand to her neck and said, "Noooo, too tight!"  The shirt was a little small, so I took it off her.  She then rejected the other white shirt I brought her, also insisting it was too tight, even though it was not.  We let her pick her own shirt.  Of course, she asked for her "bird shirt," a cream colored shirt with pink birds on it from Old Navy.  I think it is her favorite.  She has never really rejected an outfit out of sensitivity before, although I know other children who do all the time.

We went and saw a snake.  It was sleeping.   There were a lot of other animals too.

We ran errands and came home.

After her nap, Cordelia asked to wear her green and pink butterfly dress.  It's not really a princess dress, more of a fairy dress, with wings on the back.  Cordelia called it her "pretty dress."  Then she wanted her rain boots.  Then she asked to Go Outside and look for the moon.  Once outside, we saw our 4 year old neighbor and his mom who commented on how fancy Cordelia was.  The boy was wearing a baseball hat and Cordelia immediately requested a hat to add to her ensemble.  We added her blue turtle hat.  She looked incredible.

Cordelia ate a huge dinner of sticky chicken, rice, broccoli, and carrots.  I am so proud of how she eats everything, especially her vegetables.  Way to go!

After dinner, I put her in another costume, a pink tutu Stephanie made her for her 1st birthday.  Then she wore a pink crown.  And went around fixing our doors with a screwdriver.  YES!

I am so thrilled with my growing, independent, talkative little girl.  She is a force to be reckoned with, look out world!

Adjusting to Changes

A lot has happened and there are a few memories I also want to record.  Let's see what gets done.

In February, a friend posted about a job at Mills in their housing department.  As Jason has housing experience, he applied.  For weeks, we heard nothing and then they asked for an interview!  After the interview, we heard nothing for a week and then he was asked for another interview.  At last he was told he was their top choice and soon after was made a formal offer.  This was back in early March, with plans for him to start the first week of April.  It is a full time job with BENEFITS starting in May.  Unfortunately, he still has to pay out of his pay check to cover himself and Cordelia, so instead of coming out of mine it will come out of his, but ultimately it will be a better plan.  And he will also have dental and vision and life insurance and all those things.  This is all great news for the security, stability, as well as being a huge financial relief to us.  He does have a pretty long commute… good thing he insisted on getting a hybrid car.

The downside is that Jason has had to give up his stay at home Dad days, which all three of us love so much.  He is really missing it.  I said, now you know how I felt about going back to work!  But he countered, it's worse for me because I had so much longer to get used to being with her!  It was such a blessing for him to have that time for her, and we weren't really prepared for it to end.  It is painful being away from her!

We were very lucky that he started his job on the day that my Spring Break began, so we could get used to his new schedule.  We are now into our second week of Cordelia staying at Meme's house 5 full days and she is transitioning really smoothly.  Waking her up is a little bit tough because she is always so groggy when she wakes and very clingy.  I used to hold her and eat breakfast on my lap as part of our routine once she had dropped her morning nursing.  It was so we still felt close and had some time together.  Now we just load her up in the car!  Jason is dropping her off, so he can at least see his mom briefly and get a little time with Cordelia too.  We are rushing around quite a bit, of course.  But the best thing is how much Cordelia loves her Meme.  She likes playing with homes and dolls especially right now.   I am picking her up, either after 5 or 5:30, depending on my schedule.  It is a very long day for her, but she is excited when she gets home and wants to play.  The dinner, bath, bed routine is taking longer as we all want time together, but a Mama friend remarked that letting go of the schedule may be more worthwhile to keep everyone happy.  Not that we had the tightest schedule lined up, either….

A few stories.

One day at the playground, we saw a grasshopper sitting on the cement.  It was quite still, so I got a stick to point it out and give it a gentle nudge to see if it would move around.  It didn't go far.  Cordelia enjoyed looking at it and saying, "Hi Grasshopper."  It made quite an impression.  The next day when we went back, Cordelia started saying, "Hi Grasshopper. Come see you!"  She wanted to find it again so badly  When I told her it went bye bye she began to look for a stick to bring the grasshopper, so that it could eat it.  A logical theory as to why I had brought the stick over.  For days, she has been leaving a stick for the grasshopper to come back.  It is just about the cutest thing.  She also enjoys finding ladybugs and has held one a few times.

She asked to cuddle on Dada's lap last night.  It was very sweet.

She has a really runny nose.  Hope she gets better soon.

Cordelia has a cold.  Boo. :(

This morning we read a 61 page nursery rhyme book with Cordelia during breakfast.

Now she is playing with her wooden barn that she loves.  She has the horse and sheep, both of which have hooves, painted black.  Then she picks up the pig and makes it come over to the sheep and horse, saying "Need. Shoes.  Need. Shoes."  The pig is solid color, so its hooves are not black.

Then she makes the sheep and pig face away from the horse, saying "Go bye-bye.  Go bye-bye"

My Lambie

I call Cordelia my little lamb more than I call her a little bear these days.  I pick her up and cuddle her and say "Hi lambie." She had a super snugly day with me yesterday.  I just have to cover her in kisses.  She says, "Mama Home!"  and I am glad to be there!

She is still nursing a little bit.  For a couple days she had no milk or just a little milk, once.  She likes it more when she is tired and hasn't napped well.  When I am home on weekends, she seems less into it.  But then, yesterday, I was sitting with her in the reading chair and we started doing rock a bye baby.  And I had to rock her and rock her and she really snuggled in deep, not like she usually does when she is rocked, enjoying it more as a fun ride.  She was a little baby, wanting closeness to her mama again, and asked for milk.  It was really, really sweet and even if our BF days are becoming fewer, she will always be my little lambie and I'm glad we could have this special part of our relationship for as long as we did.  It was my super mommy power.  Even though Cordelia still calls herself Baby, she is turning into a Big Kid.  She repeated "Big Kid!" after dinner tonight.  And so we grow up!

Cordelia really liked me singing Rockin' Robin today.  In the bath, she tries to say "Captain Ahab" and "Mac"  She makes them sit in their boat, and the holes for their figures are alternatively their potties or food bowls for the bath toy dogs I got her.  LOL.

Happy Valentine's Day

Cordelia's 2nd Valentine's Day.  Last year, we were getting ready to move the following day, so we did not even celebrate other than to dress C up in an outfit, that I think her diaper leaked on and she had to be changed.  Now we are all settled and happily living in our place.

Mom-mom, and Aunties A and R are visiting us for the long weekend.  We took Cordelia to the wonderful park.  She had fun.  We read her lots of books.  We watched the "Cordelia show" on the baby monitor, as she talked endlessly to herself before falling asleep to nap.

A momentous day… Cordelia did not have any breastmilk at all.  Usually she has some when she wakes up, but today she just wanted to read books and then go have pancakes.  This evening, my folks did the baby sitting, which they offered to do so that Jason and I could go on a date.  We had Thai food and went to the movies and saw Birdman.  My mom sang Cordelia some Gershwin songs and put her to bed.  Apparently she asked when we were coming home but was very good for Mom-Mom, except when she needed her teeth brushed.  So no Na in the morning or at night. This was the first time in her whole life.  My little baby is growing into a big girl!!!!  Everyday she just keeps getting bigger.

I love you, my little Valentine!

Rainy Day

It is a very rainy day, which is good as we have had little rain in this drought.  But it has been pouring so much that we couldn't go outside until the afternoon.  I put her in her blue rain boots and her light yellow raincoat.  It has some butterflies on it.  I got it at the thrift store for $3!  It was her first time wearing it.  Even though it was not raining, she was good about keeping her hood up.  She called it her hat.  We walked down the street.  It wasn't too cold, but a bit of a chilly wind.

We stepping in some puddles and did a little splashing.  We saw the cat Tucker out by his house.  He meowed and followed us a bit.

In a deep puddle, I saw a worm.  I moved it out of the water so Cordelia could see it.  She said, "Snake! Snake!"  I told her it was a worm and she said "Hi," and "worm"  and gave it a little wave.  SO ADORABLE, I melted.

On the way back we saw a rainbow.  Cordelia said "Rain bow."  Then she touched her hair bows.  I think she saw it, as I tried pointing to the clouds and sky, but it was a little hard to tell.

We checked in at her new play home and saw a baby snail.  Cordelia seemed a little unsure, so I quoted her "Over in the Garden" book, which has a page about snails.  She seemed to accept it and also said "Hi." to the snail.

Cordelia has asked me to read "Hush Little Baby" (the natural version) a lot of times.  She says "Hush baby" and is already filling in words.  I wonder if she remembers when I would sing it before she was born.

Cordelia has a baby farm animal book.  On one page, the chicks tell the ducklings that their mother hen told them they couldn't go for a swim in the water.  We were just reading her 100 First Words book and and the farm animal page, we connected it to the other book.  Cordelia said, "Chicks no swim.  Ducks yes swim."

Cordelia has been having some small tantrums lately when she is told no.  She is usually very well behaved so we don't have to tell her no often.  Other times, I am able to positively redirect her to something else, wanting to save No for really important things.  But I am noticing she is starting to have a very hard time accepting no in the moment.  She cries very hard and lies down on the floor, sometimes turning into screaming.  Ah, toddlerhood.  I think we are going to work on telling her no a bit more often, just to be clearer with our limit setting.  I think it is important that she be able to accept no a little better, but then she is used to Dada letting her climb on the coffee table. :P

You Are My Sunshine

As I've mentioned, Cordelia loves to fill in the blanks if you leave out key words of songs or books, typically the last word in the line.  But the other night she recited a bit: "You are My Sunshine.  My Only Sunshine."  Jason and I were amazed!

She sings the ABCs and counts to ten, with some prompts/fill ins.  If you say one, she says two.  If you say two, she says three and so on in order.  I know it it only rote memorization, but it is still exciting.  

She has enough hair to make two pigtails now.  If you mention them, she will reach up to feel her hair and say, "Pig. Tail.  Pig. Tail."  It is very cute.

The other day as we got our of the car we heard a train.  "Baby hear train!"  Then a car beeped.  "Baby hear car!"  I asked her at dinner and she remembered what she heard.

She visited Prairie's house and reported on the animals seen: "Honey. Cat. Jack. Mouse." Judy told me she thought C says hi to her, but then realizes she is saying Honey to their dog.

She loves to play outside and go on her walks.  We go on daily walks, sometimes twice a day.  She goes to the door and says "Out. Side.  Out. Side."

It's late, time for bed!  I love to hear her words!

20 Months Old

I'm not going to try and catch up, but just post about what Cordelia is like now.

It took 20 months, but I finally forgot how many months old my child was.  There was a moment when I was questioning, is she 19 months or 20 months?  Mostly we have been saying one and a half.  But it is just another indicator that time is marching on and soon her birthday will just be measured in years and halves of years, no longer counting month by month.  It seems hard to believe that her 2nd birthday approaches in 4 months.

Cordelia is perfect.  She brings us such joy and lights up our world.

Her favorite thing to do is read books.  She brings us books and forcefully puts them in our hands, with a little push and an insistent demand of "Mama.  READ.  Dada, Dada.  READ."  When that book is finished she will go back to the shelves or the basket for more.  Or she will request the same book over and over again.  Lately though, she has begun to show her independence.  Sometimes she will snatch a book back with a proclamation: "BABY read!"  Meaning she wants to read it herself.  And read she can.  She can look through book and recite words associated with certain pages, like in I'll Save You Bobo. ("Yes."  "Snake! Ahhhh!")  She can even sit and entertain herself while we cook dinner or can't give her our full attention.  Sometimes I  think Cordelia's living a nursery rhyme.  We read nursery rhymes and mother goose stuff stuff and she loves it.  She likes to fill in words in songs and stories that she knows well.  Songs she loves include: Down By the Bay; Row Row Row Your Boat; The Wheels on the Bus; Pat-a-Cake; The Farmer In the Dell; Old MacDonald; Open Shut Them; Songs with Family names etc.  I would sing to her all day long, I guess.  I really like in her Rosemary Wells collection it comments about the benefits of nursery rhymes:  Oh you fell down?  Well, that is only to be expected.  Jack and Jill fell down too…   Life lessons.

Cordelia is a very good eater.  She eats best at home when she is eating the same food at us.  I feed her directly off of my plate.  She likes fruits, vegetables, meat, and cheese.  She even eats brussel sprouts and spinach.  She loves "Sausage. Hot."(veggie sausage).  She eats waffles and eggs and melon as breakfast staples.  She loves pickles and olives, which I am ok with because I want her to like everything.

She loves to go on walks.  She is still wearing the Stride Rite shoes, so they were a great investment.  She has a few other pairs, but especially now that it is cold, the booties are less practical.  We walk around our neighborhood, which is mostly asphalt, but still nice to be outdoors.  She likes to go down to the house on the corner and look for the cats Poptart and Tucker and go on the play structure with the big yellow slide.  It is in muddy wood chips, but she loves it.  She also loves playing in our cars.  She climbs in the driver's seat, pushes buttons (especially the hazard lights) and turns switches. Vrooom! Beep Beep!

Cordelia says so many words.  She even speaks in three word sentences.  "Dada wash berries!"  "Cats eat food!"  She likes to ask for help when she needs it.

Cordelia has become interested in the potty.  She says poop for both peeing and pooping, but frequently tells you when she has a wet diaper.  She does not like to have a poopy diaper for long!  She had a playdate with her 2 year old friend Anabelle and watched her go potty and then wanted to sit on it too.  She was so excited about it that we had to buy her a potty.  We went with a simple blue Bjorn one with a bear on it.  No need for fancy bells and whistles.  Cordelia loves to sit on it because it means she will read a ton of books.  She pooped in the potty 3 times, though they were more well timed by us than attempts to control her bodily functions.  Still, no small accomplishments for a 19 month old.  But she was scared and cried, so we are being careful not to rush things either.

C typically sleeps through the night, not waking after I put her in bed  But just to prove me wrong, she has just sat up crying.  Go to sleep, my lamb!  Ok she is lying back down…..

She still nurses before I leave for work and before bed.  I plan to nurse her until 2 years old if she wants and then start to cut back.  But she still loves her milk.  She made up her own word for it, "Nah!"  She says "Nah.  Yum Yum.  Yum. Yum."  Baby eat Nah!  Good to know it is so delicious! Thanks, Cordelia!

 I stopped pumping entirely at 17 months and promptly got my period back.  But it is nice to no longer have to worry about pump parts and bottles.  That was quite a commitment!  I made it through that transition without any plugged ducts, but I am a little nervous to drop the morning pump session completely.

I asked Cordelia what her favorite animal is and she says "Cat."  The next time I asked she said "Dog." and then "Cat" again.  I am thinking of having a Cat and Dog themed birthday party for her this year. But she loves all animals so much.  We have also set up a humming bird feeder by the play home (which I scored from a neighbor who was giving it away for free!)

Can't wait more adventures, hope to write them down more often!








 

On Children by Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

I heard this quote at the Marin Child Care Striving For Excellence Conference at Michael Pritchard's Keynote speech.  I particularly like the first two verses, the third verse gets a little too symbolic for me.  But this is the first poem on parenting I have fallen in love with since Alison introduced me to Please Bring Strange Things.  It has been many months since I posted, but this was worth saving.