Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Speaking of those wedding pictures

The link is in the title. Click on "CLICK HERE TO VIEW PICTURES OF WEDDINGS". Event is "Gumbert - Rosenburg" (shame they can't spell the groom's name). Password is aaa.

There are lots of RC. It's not like she's cute or anything. That's the dress I made and me in the dress I LOVE (What an awesome bride to let us pick our own, huh?) Chrys looks pretty dapper in his tux, too.

Enjoy!

Friday, April 22, 2005

"ah cee ig irl"

Ryanne has been very, VERY good at helping lately. Yesterday, I told her to go turn off the television (which she had turned on) and she did. She also got her shoes, as requested. She will put things back in their correct location when I ask her. She's really turning into a little person.

This afternoon, she and I were playing Legos. She got bored and wanted her Weebles. I told her we had to clean up the Legos and she did (and the blocks that were with them). Each was carefully put in it's proper container. When we started the process, I commented on what a big girl she was cleaning up. I always try to praise her with "good girl" when she helps with things.

As we finished, I thanked her for her help with cleaning. As she put the last thing away, I hear "ah cee g irl". I don't know if RC's a big girl or a good girl, but I'll agree with either.

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Peet ahhh

Ryanne's favorite game is Peek-a-Boo. She will play it whenever and wherever. She's getting creative - hands over her eyes, hands over my eyes, hiding behind curtains, the sofa, blankets, etc. She gets quite in to it and always giggles like a fiend when we play.

Today for her nap, she decided to take her Peek-a-Boo book to bed with her. She grabbed the book and ran into the bedroom. As I walked in, I hear "peet ahh" over and over again. She was interacting with the book (for the first time that I've seen). She lifted all of the flaps and yelled "peeet ahhh" at each one. She was in heaven.

As I headed out of the room, she lifted up the blanket that I always throw on her and yelled "peet ahhh" at me. Then she blew me a kiss. What fun!

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Return of face plant

I almost forgot...she's been falling a lot lately. Mostly carelessness on her part. She gets running and her feet just seem to get tangled up. When she was learning to crawl, she would push herself up on her hands and then fall forward - face plant - to move so I dubbed her such. I think I'm going to revive that nickname.

Yesterday, she decided she could take one of the big hills at the park by herself. Going down. She started down ok. Picked up some speed. Ended up running. Got going really fast. Splat! Next thing I know, she's gotten away from me and is face down, sliding the rest of the way down the hill. She only went a few inches, in reality. She was SO close to the bottom. She's got some little scrapes from her forehead to her cheek. They're nothing big.

She also thinks she's VERY tall. She wants to take the stairs on the slide two at a time. Mind you, these stairs are each about half her height. This weekend, she missed and almost went down them backwards. I caught her before she even finished slipping, though.

Ironically, Chrys and I had just been discussing when we would be able to just let her go running through the park and not worry about her. We decided it would probably never happen because we'd worry about something. After she slipped, I told him it certainly wasn't today, or anytime soon. She has no concept of her limitations - what 1 year old does? - and I'd hate for something to happen. I see moms with little kids not much older than she that just let them run while they sit on the sidelines. I'm too worried about her falling and really hurting herself. Maybe it's because she's fallen some that I worry more. I'm just not that cavalier about her safety, though.

"Daibobu"

We went to the park for a little bit today. Ryanne was playing on the swings next to a little girl that was "pushing" her daddy. The little girl tripped and fell pretty hard. She was crying. Next thing I know, Ryanne's launched herself out of the swing and is "shhhh"ing the little girl. I told Ryanne that the little girl was ok, daijobu (it's alright). Ryanne started saying "daibobu" and walking around the park with her finger to her lips. She kept looking back at the little girl until the little girl moved on. I was surprised at the compassion from my almost 18 month old (YIKES!).

She also spent today saying "ma-mee" and "da-dee". Her pronunciation of them is kind of cute. Chrys and I call each other "mama" and "dada" so I guess she's making this transition mostly on her own, which I find interesting. I wonder what will stick when she's done experimenting. I don't mind either title, really. I figure she'll pick something she likes to call me and as long as it's not profane or "mother", I'm good.

Friday, April 15, 2005

Free Lovin'

Ryanne loves everybody these days. Her favorite thing to do right now is "bye bye. Ah dub du" to any and everything. Today, I got as many hugs and kisses as I could ask for. She was more than willing to dish them out, and I loved every one of them. She's a great hugger.

She is also getting more into clean up. She'll put books on the shelf or toys in the bin if I ask her to. She'll also clean up her messes. (Like tonight, she was dumping water from cup to cup - went well small to large, not so well the other way. She cleaned up the spill so no one would slip on the tile. Loved it!) The big one, though, is her diapers. As soon as I'm done wiping her off, she starts yelling "Toe Away." I am lucky to get the new diaper sealed most days before she's grabbed the dirty one and is running for the trash can.

She's learning to blow her nose. Most times, she'll refuse to even try. If you can get her to wrinkle up her nose, though, she'll give you a little blow. This is particularly handy right now as she's battling yet another runny nose. Teething, bad sand at the park - who knows. The tissue, though, gotta throw it away, too.

Her current obsession is bare feet in the car. Most days, I'm lucky to get in the front seat before she's pulling the velcro open on her shoes. Those come off quickly, then the socks. Then the socks go on the hands. Pretty effortlessly, which demonstrates some coordination that I feel I lack some days so I'm impressed. Then she'll wave, fake blow her nose, clap (noiselessly which cracks her up), or just plain goof off with her socks on her hands. We couldn't get her to wear mittens in the snow, but socks on her hands in the spring - sign her up!

Today we went swimming. She kicked til she could barely move her legs. She loved being in the floaties. I let her go a couple of times so she could really experience just being in the water. I was right there, but I let her know I wasn't holding her. She'd kick a bit and propel herself forward a bit. Loved that! She showed her typical new place apprehension, but warmed quickly and was giggling and cheering by the end. I even got a bonus fit when it was time to stop playing with the toys and get out - go me!

Yesterday, we went to her gym playgroup for the first time in over a month. She actually cried when the lady first came up to her. Now, this is the kid that loves everyone. Strangers in the park are allowed to hold her, yet she CRIED on my shoulder when we got there. Not sure what was wrong with it, but it took her most of the first hour to warm up to the place and end up laughing and running around with the rest of the kids. Maybe it's because her naps were messed up so we could go to the bigger kid class. Maybe it's that she's feeling a little under the weater. Maybe the lady is just TOO in her face. Maybe it's just been too long since we've been there. All I know is that I hope she's better there next week - I felt so bad for her.

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Legos

Finally...some inkling that this is our child! She has really gotten into her Lego blocks recently. Chrys and I are Lego freaks, shall we say. Ryanne loves to "help" us build stuff with her little set. Of course, right now, her favorite thing is to sit on whatever I build when it's done. I think I started this by first building a slide. She could sort of slide down it and thought that was cooler than letting her little Pooh doll slide down it. Today, I built a chicken...she sat on it. *sigh*

The slide is her favorite thing at the park. There's one that has a central stair that goes to two slides. She loves it. She can easily climb the ladder and then gets to pick which side she goes down. This is no baby slide, either. She's a daredevil!

She is currently obsessed with facial features. Eyes, especially. Unfortunately, this means we get poked in the eye a lot. Oh well, at least she can identify features - eyes, nose, mouth, ears are reliable.

She has a couple of new animal noises - elephant (hand to the nose and raspberry) and pig (oi oi oi). She still gets birds and fish confused sometimes.

We went yesterday to preview a swim class. We have our trial lesson tomorrow and then may sign up for 4-8 sessions in the next month. They've got a good deal going on them for the month of May. Not sure if we'll continue after that. I guess it depends on when the pool across the street opens up.

We got some new family & friends pictures for her picture book. I put them in there last night. She is obsessed with her aunt Fyoire. She grabs the book and starts saying her (real) name - very clearly. She opens to the right picture. Then, she usually beeps her nose. She has also attempted the Cap'n's name. She beeps MK's nose. Others, she looks at, but those she's picked out for now. She has another book with grandmas and grandpas in it that she loves. Of course, she likes to identify her dada in those.

We've also entered the era of seemingly constant skinned knees. This led to her learning "owie" and wanting mehcine (no di yet) and banays (band-aids) on all of them. We target the freshest and get them treated each night before bed. She hasn't had a new on in a couple of days, but it's been a couple of days since we went to the park. This summer should be fun. She'll either get more careful or we'll need to invest in Neosporin and Band-aid.

Saturday, April 09, 2005

No harm, no foul

Turns out, she must have a hard head. She was a little clingy on Friday, but showed no signs of any permanent damage. She ran and played her heart out at the park that afternoon and didn't seem any worse off than normal. I still feel bad, but at least she's ok.

She's adding a few new animal 'things'. The octopus makes a weird noise and paws her chest (popping and paws anything, but Chrys points out that I usually start with her chest). The monkey screams "aaaaaaaa" (not quite ee ee ee aa aa aa, but hey).

I also apparently use "I know" to calm her a lot. One day she and I were walking around and she got upset. I put her head on my shoulder and was "sssshhh"ing her. All of a sudden, she starts babbling "iknowiknowiknow" and got calmer. Now, she babbles it regularly when she's upset. I try not to abuse it, but I'm amused with myself and it's hard. I guess that's what toddlers are for...

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Amazing how a bad end trumps anything else that may have happened.

Ryanne hit her head today. Hard. We were at Baskin Robbins and she was crawling all over the booth and me, as usual. She had her body mostly in the booth and was putting her head on my knees. She was squirming a lot.

Next thing I know she was sliding off and I heard the thud before I could even react. She hit the top front of her head, in the arc between her eye and her ear. Left side, right above the hairline.

It seemed like she screamed immediately so I don't think she blacked out for even a second. She threw up as soon as I went to walk her outside because she was inconsolable. I just held her as she cried and I shook.

We brought her home and Chrys googled while she and I took a bath to smell better.

It seems that it's normal to throw up once, and concern happens if she does it again. She was able to answer simple questions - animal noises - correctly and without hesitation. She knew when we got home and was eager to play with the "deedong" (doorbell). She went through her normal bath and bed routine without hesitation. I think she's ok, but I still feel like the worst kind of person for letting her fall.

It will be 24 hours before we can be mostly reassured that she's going to be fine. In the meantime, I'm setting an alarm to check on her every couple of hours. Hopefully she'll sleep normally and I won't have to wake her. We're sleeping in the same room so we'll be more likely to hear her if anything goes weird.

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Today's cute fix



Ryanne's Easter Outfit
  


Ryanne with her first pineapple...man, was that good, even if she didn't like it once we cut it open
 


Ryanne and her Godmother



Ryanne in the snow in Boston



The rare sleeping toddler shot...

Monday, April 04, 2005

Seg fault (core dumped)

So many things I've been meaning to write about so here goes...

Ryanne says her name. She's either "eye-yah" or "eye-c". We're not 100% sure that she completely associates these words as her, but she has shown the ability to do 'roll call' - dada, mama, do itoe, eyec - so she's got some understanding of herself and who should be there.

The snapping alligator is now associated with her denim jacket (from Grandma G, remember buying that SO long ago?). We have always zipped her winter coats and now that she's in that one, it must be sealed for her to be comfortable. Well, I started asking her if she wanted it snapped when she'd go ballistic on the way out the door. After watching the video again (and again and again...) she knows that the alligator goes "snap, snap" so she now reaches her arms out and snaps when she wants her jacket closed. Pretty clever and much nicer than the fit.

She got a tricycle on Sunday (yikes...such a big girl). She can just reach the pedals, but not if she steers too hard right or left. It's got a little basket that she started putting things in immediately (blocks on Sunday). It has a handle on the rear that can steer the front with little effort. The front pedals can lock for pedal action or be free for us to just push her without worrying about her feet getting tangled up. The whole thing folds up nice and tidy so it sits in the corner of our entry way, easy to get to. We 'rode' to the park on Sunday afternoon and she had fun. She wanted to push it home, but it kept getting away from her (and both would hit the ground) so dada pulled it and I carried the big girl.

She had a rash of two word sentences at the park on Friday. She said "bye bye do(g)", "bye bye chay-uh (swing)", "chay-uh sit (to get into the swing)". That was more than we'd heard out of her in a long time. They were largely unprovoked. We've heard one more bye bye (object) since, but that's it. Amazing to hear the language develop.

She now sleeps (shhhhhh...) from 7:30 to about 6 every day. When she wakes up for the day, she just stands up and calls "mama". One day, I didn't go get her immediately. She yelled "mama" over and over. Eventually, progressed to "dada" for a bit, then alternating mama and dada. After those got no response, she threw in a "do itoe" and then quickly went back to "mama". I guess she decided that her uncle wasn't a valid choice after all.

She has also developed quite an attachment to her Elmo in the past couple of days. Saturday night, she kept waking up so I brought her to bed with me around 4:30 just so we could sleep. When we got to bed, she asked about "nyelno". I told her "mama had her. Elmo was still sleeping in her bed and everything would be fine". She calmed down and eventually fell asleep. Now, when she gets up in the morning, I go in to get her and she bends down to get Elmo before reaching her arms up to be picked up. Guess I know where I rank. She's also pretty attached to her Elmo phone in the car and it's hard to get her to leave it behind these days.

Lastly, I think (because it's late), she's developing an infatuation with shoes. She loves to get my shoes, put them on and try to walk around the house. She does this pretty much daily. Well, she also will go and get her nice shoes that we bought for her Cinderella dress. I think she likes the noise they make. She'll bring them in, want to put them on and then will run (clomping) throught the tiled areas of the house giggling like a mad woman. It's quite the racket. On Sunday, it was warmer than it had been, too. She was in her tennis shoes and sweating tons. She kept pulling her shoes and socks off, even wanted them off to eat lunch - yikes! I suggested we get her sandals if we could find some. They didn't have much of a selection, but she went nuts over all of the "sues" we looked at. We ended up with this garish pair of blue foamy sandals with writing and some little character on them. They are obviously Japanese...obviously. She was happy, though.