A glimpse at my future?

Ryanne's not this gung ho, yet. She does BF her dolls quite a bit, though, and I did walk into the Y nursery to her feeding one of their dolls the other day.

Breastfeeding Mary

Imaginary friend

Ryanne has an imaginary friend named Josie. Josie goes pretty much everywhere with us. We are advised against sitting on her. She needs space at the table. She rides in the back of the van - I hope in a car seat, but I hesitate to ask. Sometimes Ryanne carries her, but most of the time she walks. It's very interesting to watch.

Ryanne spent all of Grandma and Bampa's visit playing with them. They took rocket ships to Target, the airport and Phoenix. Bampa sat on her computer and she had to get out her tools to fix it. They really took her to new realms in terms of the detail in her imaginary play. I don't know how I'm going to keep up or keep track.

She loves having the table cloth on the kitchen table. She now has a table house and loves to play in it. I guess we need to clean up the living room so we can make forts again.

Now she's tracing

Ryanne has been 'writing' for a while. She'll start moving the pen up and down along a line on a page and say that she's writing something.

The other day, I decided to see how ready she really was. I wrote out her name in broken lines and asked her to trace the letters.

I had to help her on the R. She didn't quite understand 'tracing'. She got it by the end of that one though. She was 'putting the lines together'.

Since then, she's asked me to write her name so she can trace it a few times. I don't know how far we are from me writing it and her copying it on another line, but I am guessing not far.

I do know one thing. She's getting a reusable (write and erase) letter tracing book for Christmas now.

Letters

Ryanne's letter and number recognition is really improving. I think I've said that I can tell what they've covered in MDO because she knows those. She's got her colors down, too, and if she gets it wrong, she's probably yanking your chain. Yes, a bit of a sense of humor developing.

The ABCs are now intact save for the L. She hears it and tries to say it, but seems to find H I J K M N O P easier. I can't blame her.

The cool thing, though, is that she's trying to write letters. She can actually write a decent A. She has formed R's and O's with objects on the ground (sticks and berries). She's written A's on paper and her magnetic board. Last week she wrote "g" and "o" and I sounded it out for her and she got all excited that it was a word.

Everywhere we go, she's pointing out "R is for Ryanne" and "3, mommy, I'm three."

She's playing with letter sounds sometimes, too. I think we're on the brink of reading readiness. I'm so not prepared for this. She's changing too quickly, and it's just amazing.

Angel

Today, Ryanne and I went to the mall to get an angel from the Salvation Army tree to adopt. We ended up picking 2, one for her and one for Corin. We made sure to pick for the correct ages.

We went first to get some clothes. They each got an outfit.

Then, we went to the Disney store because that's where RC wanted to go for a toy for her angel. Ryanne picked out the tea set that she always looks at when we're there. Then, she picked out a scarf and hat. She helped Corin get some bath toys for his angel and I got a couple of little stuffed animals for the baby boy.

We walked back to the tree to drop off the gifts. This was the hard part. We'd talked as we shopped about why we were doing this, but it didn't quite click until it was time to part with the tea set.

She was QUITE upset that we were leaving it. We went to get drinks and sit to talk. We talked about what a lucky girl she was and how she was going to get presents from Santa and family. We talked about how not all mommies and daddies could afford presents and how some kids weren't easy for Santa to find. We discussed how we could help her angel have a merry Christmas. We talked about how it was a relatively small thing for us, but would mean a lot to the little girl and boy on Christmas day. We discussed how she had 2 tea sets and maybe this girl didn't or would appreciate a new one. We discussed what she was going to ask Santa for, since she was easy to find in her house.

By the time we got to see daddy, she was talking about how she helped her angel. She said she "didn't keep the tea pot, (she) gave it to (her) angel so she could have a merry Christmas." She had that little smile that she gets when she's proud of herself for learning something new. She wasn't upset about it at all. That's my girl.

Of course, now we have to write a letter to Santa to make sure he can bring Popo-chan's hospital to her from Japan. That was what consoled her in the mall. Luckily, Santa's elves have that one taken care of.

"How old are you, Ryanne?"

"I don't know, mommy, I'm only 3."

She's used that one a couple of times. Cracks.me.up.

I *hate* this phase

The crankiness I knew to expect...oh.my.GOD. She just spent the 15 minute drive back from Barnes and Noble screeching at the top of her lungs, kicking my seat, throwing her shoes at me, spitting and flailing her arms (just in case I got close to her - yeah, right?) Why was she so upset? We had to leave B&N to go home to have lunch with daddy. You'd think it was the end of the world.

Stuff like this makes me not want to take her anywhere. I want to just sit her in front of the TV and leave her so she'll not have a fit. I know that's not what's best for her, but she turns it into such a trial to go anywhere that I have a hard time mustering the energy to do it.

It's times like these where I can see how parents lose control and (b)eat their young. It's so hard to retain any modicum of sanity when all I want is for her to be quiet. I can do it, but man it's not easy and it wears me out. I need a nap now.

I hear 4's better. *sigh*

2.5 hours is too long

Apparently I shouldn't let her run herself ragged at the park for 2.5 hours when she's already pretty ragged from school.

She did NOT sleep well last night. She kept waking up with nightmares and saying her legs hurt. I slept with her for much of the night. She was restless and all over me.

While I enjoyed the extra cuddles, I'm not happy that she was apparently in that much pain. I'm also not happy about how much sleep she lost as I fear we'll pay the price in crankiness today. We probably won't do that again.

Ryanne's 3 year appointment

She's 37.25" tall and 32.1 pounds. Her blood pressure was 84/44. She's 50th percentile for both height and weight - "perfect" says the doctor.

She had a vision test - 20/25, which is normal for her age. She knew two of the four letters they needed so they gave her a chart to symbol match and she did great with the 'game'.

Her hearing test will be repeated in January. She had fluid, but no infection, in her right ear and it seems to be skewing her hearing results in that ear. She wasn't hearing all of the beeps. Chrys and I think she didn't fully understand the 'game' that time so we'll work with her on that and hope she improves come January.

The doctor recommended the dentist at age 4 and seemed surprised that she'd been going since she got teeth.

She got a Tb test because of our time in Japan. She didn't like that, but did ok with sitting in my lap to get it. We go back on Monday to get it read.

She also got two shots - flu and HepA - and didn't cry. The nurse was very impressed. She flinched a lot at the flu shot (she said it burned), but got over it quickly.

In the car on the way to Whole Foods, she told me that "Shots are bad and are NOT fun." I said they were necessary, but agreed they weren't fun. She was asleep before we got to Whole Foods and slept in the sling the whole way through, back to the car, to the house and inside. She stayed asleep for about 2 hours so she's still awake now. *sigh*

Who is this child?

Today was the day that made me want to not be a mom anymore.

I am SO tired of her yelling "NO!" at me. I am so tired of her deliberately doing things that I've said hurt. (Accidentally bumps my toe. "Ryanne, please be careful around my toe." Deliberately smacks my toe, repeatedly, with increasing force. WTF?) I am so tired of her telling me she can't do things that she's done for months. I am so tired of her getting frustrated and taking a swing at me. I am so tired of her running away when I say it's time to go. I am tired of using the TV to keep her out of my hair. I am tired of her having too much energy and taking it out on me. I am tired of all the crap I was warned came with her being 3.

I'm hoping a lot of my frustration goes away when I'm not out of commission for one reason or another. First pregnancy, then birth, now my toe. It feels like years since I've really been equipped to handle her and she needs handling. I don't want Chrys to have to fight my battles for me, but I can't run her down and tell her that she has to do something. I can't catch her right now, and the pisser is that she knows it.

I just want to be 100% again. I want my house back in order and I want my daughter to act like a human again. Maybe that's too much to ask of a 3 year old.

Use your brain for good

She really is smart, but some of her ideas are plain evil.

Right now, she's stacking her DVDs on top of her (flimsy) red chair. This is an effort to 'get it big to help me get up dere to get the tewebision wemote' which I placed on the speaker on top of the mantle in an effort to keep it away from her. She's got about 2 dozen DVDs stacked up now and keeps going back for more. I really, really hope she doesn't even try to climb on it.

I explained to her that she shouldn't try to get up on it because she would hurt herself. Now she's chanting, "I'm not gonna hurt myself" as she keeps stacking.

Chrys pointed out that this is going to be funny...to explain to the EMTs.

Hypocrite

Me, not her.

Today we were at Whole Foods. She loves getting the special carts there. They're little cars with baskets on the top for the groceries. They're a PITA to steer. I despise them, but it keeps her contained and much happier than a traditional cart so I get them whenever we see one.

When there's one there, she always gets to run ahead to get it as soon as we get out of the parking lot. This is even more important now that I walk a lot slower. We haven't seen one out in a couple of weeks, I think.

Today, she was over halfway across the front of the store when this MUCH older looking girl ducks in and grabs it. Ryanne burst into tears - hysterical tears. Every one is looking at us. The mother type figure with the other girl looks up, realizes what's happened, shrugs, mouths sorry, and takes the cart inside.
I get Ryanne over to the other carts. I get her into the cart. I start walking through the store. I'm telling her how sometimes somebody gets something we want very much and it's very disappointing. Sometimes, no matter how fast we hurry, we can't get there in time. How it's ok to be mad and upset when that happens, but we just have to hope the other person appreciates it and enjoys it. There will be other chances for us to use one and we've probably beaten other people to the carts because she's such a fast runner. Etc...

We go through the whole store like this. She would not calm down. She talked about how much she loved the car cart the whole time. I got 4 things, gave up and checked out. She got a tattoo and truffle at checkout because the cashier felt sorry for her, even, when she told him (helped by my translation) why she was crying. That calmed her down some, but not completely.

I saw the cart in the store. The girl was kicked back with her feet up - she had to be 6 or 7 (possible even since school's out today). She barely fit in the car. I think it was more of a way for her to be lazy and get through the store than a love of driving the car. The mom looked a bit guilty when she saw my still hysterical little girl as she struggled to shove this behemoth of a cart with her too large kid. I must confess seeing her struggle to push it made me feel a bit better.

Nevertheless, the Mama Bear in me is thinking, "bitch, you aren't even enjoying it" while I extol the virtues of sharing and how much she'll enjoy it the next time.

See...Hypocrite.

We are gonna be in SO much trouble

Tonight, Ryanne was sitting on my lap at Aunt Owly's house. She shoved her feet between my legs and Uncle Bwent's. She got stuck. She lost her shoe. She looked him square in the eye.

"Move your damn legs so I can get my damn shoe."

I was certain I was going to pop a vein trying not to laugh. Tears running down my cheeks.

Chrys asked if I was volunteering to go to the first parent-teacher conference. I told him I felt we needed to present a united front.

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

A few weeks ago, we got this book at the library. Ryanne made me read it no less than 12 dozen times in the two weeks we had it. When I saw it at Half Price Books, she needed a copy.

She made daddy read it. And read it some more. I think it's currently read almost every night.

The premise is that the bus driver is 'stepping out' for a moment and wants you to watch the bus while he's gone. One night, she explained that the bus driver was going to Taco Bell to get lunch.

Fortunately, Chrys remembered that we had seen a bus driver stop at Taco Bell, leaving his bus parked on the street, and go in to get lunch. We had discussed the ethics of leaving your bus, running, on the street while you go get your lunch. We also pondered whether or not there was time built into the schedule for him to actually sit outside Taco Bell and eat.

Some days, it truly amazes me what she puts together.

They come in blue?

Last week, Ryanne was in the kitchen playing with her markers and, I thought, paper. These were markers given to her by J&J when they moved into town. They weren't washable. They were just various brands of markers in a big tub.

She came around the corner and was blue from toe to hip on both legs. I took her into the kitchen and there was a pool of blue marker on the tile. I was immensely displeased.

Turns out, the blue on the tile wiped up pretty well. Honestly, I wouldn't have been that worried if it hadn't as we're jonesin' to replace the tile anyway. There was enough of it that it was still wet.

We next went to the bathroom. I did my best to wipe down her legs and get most of the marker off. I had moderate success.

I warned Chrys since her pants were back on by the time he got home. Turns out, this was very fortunate.

He gave her a bath that night. Her clitoris was blue. Very blue. It apparently took a few baths for it to be fully pink again.

Birthday #3

Three years. In some ways, she was born only yesterday. In others, it's a lifetime ago.

Today was her day. She woke up late. She played with daddy. Meals were entirely her choice: Kenny's for breakfast, Burger King for lunch (so she could play, Chik Fil A is closed on Sundays), Logan's for dinner (so she could crack open peanuts), Ben & Jerry's ice cream cake (chocolate) at home for dessert. She got quite the bounty, too.

When we got home from Kenny's, we got the bike she picked out yesterday out of the van. She did laps around the cul de sac, giggling the whole time (well, not when she fell over). She got a 16" Huffy with training wheels that's purple and hot pink. She loves her "pupple bike".

When daddy got tired of running, we came inside to open presents from gamazonas and great-greendad. She got 2 Halloween ponies and a Cabbage Patch Kid (Eileen Amy) from G&G and an outfit for "her baby" from GG. I read her the adoption oath from the doll and she repeated it back to me. Then, she undressed Eiweenamy.

When she was done playing with the doll, she went and got her Play-doh bucket out. I took that opportunity to give her the Play-doh birthday set that we got her. It's 50 colors in little tubs. She used them as stacking blocks and got quite a tower.

Then, it was lunch.

After lunch, we got the mail and there was a package from Aunt Fyoire. RC got markers and more stuff for her 'dough'. She was also excited because this, apparently, fit the bill for the "widdle pwesent" she asked for. She refuses to tell me how big a little present it or what it should contain. Ponies are apparently not little, but the cube priority mail box is. I just hope she uses the markers responsibly. (I threw out the ones she got when we helped friends move because they weren't washable and she colored all over the floor and herself with them - more on the 'herself' later.)

We did some yard work and she helped daddy mow and mommy pull weeds. We had an early dinner and stopped off to get her cake.

At home, she got all excited about fire on her cake. We assured her there would be and she watched me put the candles in it. We sang and she blew them out. She picked at her cake, much as I expected her to - she's not a huge sweets fan.

While daddy gave Corin a bath, I told her the story of her birth day. She asked questions as I talked and it was fun. She had her bath. She took Eiweenamy to bed (after putting her diaper back on, which she had 'dumped the poop out of because it was yucky'). Chrys told her to dream of birthday #4 and she looked at him awestruck.

I abused the fact that I suspect it will be the last one that we aren't required to share. I suspect next year she'll want a party with friends. This year, the day was all about her, but just with family. I think she had a great time.

Cuteness with a pumpkin

We went to Whole Foods yesterday. This is the first time I've had little enough pain to go in quite some time. It was nice. Ryanne really appreciated it. She loves getting chocolate milk from their kid's club baskets when we go in. I figure there are worse things she could look forward to.

We walked in, and I wanted to get a sugar pumpkin. There weren't many left so I spent a little time trying to maneuver myself and my bum foot over the display to get a grip on one of the remaining ones. This was made more difficult by having Corin in the sling and him already falling asleep.

This left Ryanne time to peruse the rest of the display.

"Mommy, look! It's a tiny, baby punkin"
"Yes, it is"
"Mommy, I want...may I pwease have the little baby punkin to take home"

Of course, with a request like that, I couldn't say no. I couldn't find the price so I just hoped it wasn't too bad (turns out it was $0.50, I can handle that).

This thing is about the size of her palm and she carried it with her everywhere. She even had to tell the lady that checked us out about how it was a baby pumpkin. I washed the dirt off when we got home and she left it to dry on her "twankoween (trampoline)" Then she was putting it in her Hoberman sphere and just carting it around. She's bonded with this and is really loving it.

I think the cats may like batting it around a bit, too...

Role play

Ryanne is really playing with pretend play and role playing.

The other night, she was in bed and we heard her discussing things with her "monster". She had been telling Chrys about the baby monster that lived under her bed while they bathed. She was calling it, "come here, baby," and telling it hello. She chattered away about it for some time.

She's also playing with role play. Last night she was Daddy and Daddy was Ryanne from dinner to bedtime. It got confusing. It was interesting to her her interpretations of things. When Chrys took Corin up for a bath, she asked "can I keep you guys company?" When she plays Mommy, she says no a lot - hmph. It's really cool to see yourself through another's eyes, though.

Learning words

Ryanne has really come a long way in her language skills. At this point, I think there is very little that she can't communicate. Some times she has to repeat herself a few times, trying to find the right word. Sometimes she doesn't know the words and is able to communicate the concept amazingly well.

A few examples:
A little boat with scoopers - row boat
a glass cup - a glass
candy rings - lifesavers

She's also learning subtleties. The other day in the car, Queen's "We are the Champions" came on. Chrys and I were singing along. Well, little miss decided it would be fun to point out that "we aren'T the champions" (emphasis on the T). She kept the tempo, but really cracked herself (and us) up. Occasionally she'd throw a "we are NOT the champions" in there to take advantage of the extended note. We just about died.

Mooooooo - om

I swear I thought I had another 4+ years before I had to listen to that. Turns out, I was wrong.

When she gets really frustrated with me, she strings out the moooooooom. It drives me nuts.

For one thing, when did I become mom? Chrys and I call ourselves mommy and daddy. She reverts to mama when she's being whiny. I certainly did not authorize mom. Who taught her that?

For another, the whiny mooooom is just... she's too young for that. This growing up stuff has got to stop.

Another hard part of parenting

No one ever warned us how many times we would have to suppress the overwhelming desire to laugh at our child. She does or says some of the craziest things and, if we don't want it to happen again, we can't laugh. There are SO many things that our potty brains just find too amusing.

Today's instance was in Target. We're walking through the aisles and she suddenly stands up, bare bum, in the cart. I quietly, but firmly, told her to pull her pants back up.

We tried to figure out how on earth she managed to get her pants pulled down while riding in the seat. Near as we can tell, she just managed to maneuver herself to get them reliably stuck on the sides.

It was SO incredibly hard not to burst out laughing at my daughter mooning the infant clothing section.

Memories

One of the fun things about having the second kid is remembering things about the first at that age. Since I wasn't very good about keeping up with her blog in those days, I thought I'd get some of them written down now.

Changing mishaps: When she was a week or two old, I learned to be more careful with her on the changing table. I put her down in her room in the Rossport house. I had her legs up in the air and was sliding a new diaper under her when she pooped. We're talking projectile. I went all the way to the wall behind her door. Luckily, Gamma Ree was still visiting so she came in and helped me clean it up. Quite the mess.

Mirrors: She had the Tiny Love Gym with a mirror. When she finally figured out to look at the mirror, she would sit and just stare at it for most of her time on the mat. Usually, I was behind the mirror and would play Peek A Boo with her. One night, I went behind her so she could see my reflection in the mirror. She burst into tears. Our best guess was that the baby in the mirror had her mommy and that upset her greatly!

Unweaning

Confession time...Ryanne only stopped nursing for a few months. As Corin's birth grew near, she would ask more and more often for "mommy's milk". Once I was term, I indulged her more willingly, fully aware that she would only ask more.

She asks at least once or twice a week now. Multiple times a day since she's been sick. This last cold, she got over in less than a week because she nursed a decent amount the first day. I give in about once a week; more lately because I hate seeing her sick when I'm not and know that the milk can help that.

It's not entirely comfortable and, at this point, that's the biggest reason I turn her down. Her bottom teeth dig in a decent amount. She's getting better about not biting down. Amazingly enough, she remembered how to latch and didn't try the puckered lip straw suck like I expected her to. She even tells me "big mouf" while she's latching. I guess that was worth teaching her.

It's awkward. Somewhere in there she got huge. It's hard to wrangle her on my lap. It's easiest if I can lie down and get her to lie down with me. She's not always interested in that, though.

It's kind of nice to have that remnant of baby when she's busily telling me how big she is. I know it won't last long. I know it's mostly jealously. She gets royally ticked that Corin goes first every time, but she acknowledges that that's the way it has to be because it's his only food.

What have I done?

I've been working out on Tuesdays and Thursdays when Ryanne goes to school. Today, I took ear buds and listened to my iPod. It was awesome.

I left it on the center console in the car when I went to pick her up. She spotted it. She asked what was on it. I told her it was my iPod and it had headphones in it.

She asked if she could listen to music. I turned on her playlist and handed it to her. She put the ear buds up to her ears and got SO excited. She listened to it while I ran errands (and got stuck in traffic). She wasn't bothered that Corin was screaming at the top of his lungs. She kept telling me the songs she recognized. She got it unlocked and was skipping tracks and playing with the volume.

"Mama, is too woud"
"Turn it down"
"I don know how turn it down"
"Rub the big circle"
"It's wouder"
"Rub it the other direction"
"*gasp* It worked! It's quiet."

It was awesome.

When we got home, she wanted to take it inside so she could keep listening. She was holding it like it was her 'precious' and wouldn't put it down. She even took it to the bathroom with her.

I wonder if I'll ever get my iPod back without having to buy her one.

Too many changes

August was a big month for Ryanne. She started pre-school (mother's day out). She moved to the teacher class at Little Gym (no more mommy and me). I think it was a little rough on her.

We went through about a week where she was just plain mean. She was kicking and hitting everyone - me, kids at school, kids at gym. I got complaints from the teachers. I was tired of it. It was ugly.

We talked. We talked about it until we were blue in the face. She cried. She screamed. She kicked and threw fits. I told her it was all ok. I told her she could be mad that I wasn't there with her for all of this anymore. She learned to be 'fwusterated'.

She stopped hitting. She stopped kicking. I get compliments on how well she's listening and adjusting. We made it.

On the flip side, she plays for really long stretches all by herself. She does it at home, too. She will get out her PlayDoh and play with it for 45 minutes or more. She'll color. She'll play with her doll. She plays with her dollhouse. She's learning to tell stories about her day. She's 'reading' books based on the pictures (really cute when she reads the color book she got for Corin to him). She's memorizing everything - books, songs, stories. She sings me songs. She does things she's learned at school (saying "spiders, spiders, spiiiiiiiderrrrrs' as she tickles up my tummy). It's amazing to see this independent little girl developing, and quickly.

She crawls into my lap. I lay her over and cradle her. She tells me she's not a baby and tries to sit up. I tell her she'll always be my baby girl and she tells me she's a big girl. A part of me misses my baby, but the rest can't wait to learn more about the girl she's becoming.

Death of the Japanese spoon

Ryanne broke her "Japan spoon" today. She was carrying it to the breakfast table to eat her yogurt and I heard the telltale chink of porcelain breaking as it hit the floor. She was crushed. This thing was her pride and joy. If it was clean, you can bet she was eating with it. She adored it.

"Oh no"
"What happened, honey?"
"My Japan spoon"
"Did it break?"
"Mama, you need a gwoo it"
"I'll try" (followed by many desperate minutes of trying...and failing...to put it back together with super glue)
"Mama, fix it"
"I can't, sweetie. It's broken in a place that I can't get it back together." (the handle broke about halfway up)
"Mama, I need anodder Japan spoon" (as she runs to the drawer)
"Ryanne, we only had one porcelain spoon. That was it."
"Nooooooo, mama, my poon"

There were tears. Lots of tears.

Yeah...guess who's googling "porcelain spoon" and hoping for a miracle. The biggest problem is that it's not one of the standard white Japanese soup spoons. Stupid thing was free at the porcelain shop I always went to in Arita. I think it was for coffee. Curses.

Another haircut

We got another hair cut yesterday because she was starting to get bit mats again. We went back to the salon near the house, but got a different stylist. She took off about 2 inches so it's chin length now. I think the back is almost the same length as the front bangs (at least stage one; there appear to be even more growing in as her hairline gets more and more established). She looks like such a big girl now.

It's so freaking cute!

Big girl bed

Today, she decided she REALLY wanted her big girl bed. We've tossed the idea around and discussed it some in the past, but she never really showed any interest.

We tried to talk her into waiting until tomorrow since we weren't going to have time to move the bed into her room tonight. Plus, the last time she went to a bed without rails was disasterous. She ended up needing us to stay there with her to get to bed and as soon as she woke up, she was out of the bed and in ours.

Well, when we got home from Kity's house, she had an absolute fit as we got her ready for bed. She needed her big girl bed tonight. She wanted to sleep in it. Just taking the rail off her crib wasn't enough.

I convinced her that she could try it out in Corin's room (where it is now). I figured that if she doesn't stay, we don't have to move it. If she does, we have avoided doing two transitions (from crib -> toddler bed/crib sans rail -> big bed). We talked about the rules and how she has to stay in the bed and sleep and not get out of it until morning.

I started putting the white sheets on it because I hadn't gotten around to washing her big girl bedding. More meltdown ensues. We decided that, since she's never shown any sensitivity to fabric chemicals, we'd just put her new sheets/comforter on it and wash them tomorrow if it works out. She helped me make the bed (help is relative, really). She was in hog heaven.

Chrys says she curled up and was very happy. We heard some tossing and turning and a bit of kicking when we figure a cat jumped up on the bed, but no cries, no trauma, no getting in and out of bed. She told me she didn't even want any of her animals/lovies/blankets out of her crib.

At this point, she must be asleep. The monitor is quiet and it's crazy late - even for a little girl that napped today.

The only flaw in my plan - Chrys says she gasped (with delight) when the lights went out and she saw the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. I hadn't planned on having to get more for her room, but I figure it's a pretty small price to pay.

All worth it

All the crankiness, the whining, the arguing, the hitting, the whatever that she does that drives me NUTS is totally undone when she falls asleep cuddled in my arms while I read her a book.

Too much take out p'raps?

Pretend play rocks.

Ryanne's currently sitting on the couch pretending to drive. After a bit, she stops waving her hands back and forth (around the steering wheel) and grabs the receiver for the baby monitor.

"I'd like grill cheese, please. And bake potato, add cheese."

This is very revealing. 1) I think she wants to go to the coffee house where those are the two things she usually gets to pick from. 2) She likes cheese, but I knew that.

When she gets the potato, she downs practically the entire inside of it and sometimes some skin, too. It's a respectably sized russet. The kid can eat.

Like Aunt Mawy Kay

When Corin was born, I had a selection of presents set aside for him to give to Ryanne. He gave her one gift each day for half a week.

The first day, he gave her the baby boy for her doll house family. The next day, he gave her a book she's been playing with every time we go to B&N (this Dora story book with a projector and little discs - like a ViewMaster that you can see on the wall). Then he gave her a stethoscope that actually works (albeit quietly). Last was Finding Nemo.

The stethoscope was a huge hit. She took it to the midwife's office and proudly listened to everyone there. She listens to me and to Corin regularly.

She remembers clearly the time we were in NY and Auntie MK listened to her heartbeat and took her blood pressure, etc. She's declared that she's going to be a midwife and listen to heartbeats like aunt Mawy Kay. I haven't explained that MK isn't working on being a midwife as RC still thinks midwives are doctors, etc. Someday we'll work on the difference, but I think it's kind of neat that the 'I want to be' stage is starting already. Lucky for us, she's got some AWESOME role models.

School prep

So I just about cried a couple of weeks ago when we went to Target to get RC's backpack and lunchbox so she can go to Mother's Day Out (pre-school, 9a-1p, 2 days a week) at the YMCA. I told Chrys and he kept trying to focus me on the 2 day old Corin in the cart. I asked him what I was supposed to do in 3 years when this was him. His only response was that I should stop watching RC at that point. *wah*

She proudly picked out a My Little Pony backpack (complete with hair) and a Hello Kitty lunch box. Then she wouldn't take them off and proceeded to walk the rest of Target with the backpack on (it's 3/4 of her size, by the way) and the lunch box in hand. It was so bittersweet watching my baby parade through the aisles with her big girl stuff.

Tonight, we made her lunch together after a long debate about how she didn't want "tuna and egg" and I kept reiterating the "or". Eventually, she picked egg salad. It's crazy hard to make a portable lunch for someone that won't eat a sandwich.

She's taking egg salad, strawberries, cheese, raisins and veggie booty. I'll try to squeeze a juice box in there and put a water bottle in her backpack, too. The lunch box is looking pretty full, though. It's all packed in plastic bowls and she can open them without too much effort. Hopefully she won't send it all flying tomorrow when she tries to do it there.

We'll see how much she eats. Normally, she'd down all of that and ask for more, but I expect she'll be a lighter eater as she doesn't seem to be in a growth spurt right now and tomorrow should be pretty exciting stuff.

*sigh* Tomorrow. Time just needs to slow down.

Drawing

RC has started really drawing things instead of just scribbling. Both of these were on her magnetic board in the car.

The one on the left is me. I was still pregnant (hence the large circle in the middle of my body. You can see a head, eyes, mouth, etc. I think the thing on top of my head is my ponytail.














The one on the right is daddy. He's got legs, but no distinct head. I think she drew this one first and then incorporated some of our questions into the one of me.

"Go baseballs!!!!"

That's her mantra for this evening. We went to Christmas in July with the Round Rock Express. She had a blast and actually just watched most of the game happily in the seats. Of course, we left at the 7th inning stretch as she was looking a little dazed and starting to prefer sitting with her face away from the game and her ears covered. She took 3 walks with daddy - water, snow (turns out it was foam so she didn't get to play in it), and cotton candy (which she NEEDED).

She liked watching the ball the most. We couldn't get her to clap or cheer much, though. She would yell "nice catch" and "almost got it" at semi-appropriate times. The folks around us seemed to mostly enjoy her. One woman seemed disappointed that we didn't direct her to cheer for the team instead of the ball - pah!

We talked about the men in blue - the umpires - and how Uncle D was one, but not there. She thought that was cool, as if he wasn't cool enough already.

On the way out, she picked out one of those little wooden bats that they sell - in pink, the girly side comes out. She tried repeatedly to get me to buy her a ball because she needed one to hit, but I convinced her that I'd buy her a softer one (instead of the pink baseball she wanted).
On the drive home, she kept telling us that she was going to play lots of baseball games. Yeah, I think she's hooked for good.

Shameless non-RC plug

On July 29, hundreds of bloggers from around the world will put their endurance to the test for charity, blogging every 30 minutes for 24 hours straight. This is the Sixth Annual International Blogathon, an event that creates a worldwide community for a day, serves up fascinating content, and most importantly, raises tens of thousands of dollars for dozens of charities. Bloggers choose the charity and collect sponsorships. At the end of the event, those sponsors fulfill their pledges directly with the charity.

It's not too late to sign up if you'd like to blog! You can also help by sponsoring a blogger, just check out the List of Bloggers at the site. Stay up late, make a difference.

Our good friend, Caryn, is blogging for American Cancer Society (one near and dear to my heart for SO many reasons). If you have a moment, stop by and sponsor someone blogging for a charity you care about. If you want to sponsor her, her blog is linked in the title.

Bargaining 101

Kity's neighbors were having a garage sale that started tonight. They had a Razr scooter out on the lawn. Chrys came to the sudden realization that we were about to have 2 kids and 1 scooter. Since kid #1 LOVES the scooter, this could be a really bad scenario when kid #2 is big enough to want to ride one. He went over to ask the price - $8 - while RC and I went inside.

He came back and we decided that we only paid about $5 for the one we bought in Japan and weren't willing to go higher. He hates bargaining. I told him to give me a $5 bill. I hand the $5 to RC.

RC and I go over. We find the scooter. It's not in great shape, but it's not bad.

Me (pointing at scooter): "RC is that what you were asking about?"
RC: "I was asking about da scooter."
Me: "Do you want a scooter?"
RC: "I needa scooter" (We're working on want vs. need...right now, she NEEDS everything)
Me: "But RC, you only have $5 saved up."
RC (sadly, holding out her $5): "I onwy have $5"
Women running the sale (3 of 'em): "Oh, honey, that's ok. $5 is plenty."

They proceed to work with RC to trade the $5 bill for the scooter. She rides it out of the driveway, beaming, back over to Kity's house where I get chastised for "swindling the neighbors". What can I say, the kid's a natural.

Movie girl

This girl loves movies.

We took her to see Cars the other day. She got a little fidgety in the middle. Chrys took her to the bathroom and she was fine when she got back.

At home, she loves to watch Monsters, Inc and Robots. When she was sick the other day, we cycled through Shrek, too, and that was a moderate hit. She doesn't seem to have as much patience with the traditional Disney flicks (Lady and the Tramp, Little Mermaid) as the Pixar ones. I don't know if she likes the stories better or the animation.

They keep her attention and she asks for them regularly. I let her watch one on occasion when one of us isn't feeling well.

They're also good for getting some time to journal...

Buttons

Grandma G sent RC a new sweater (that she made). She meant for it to be a bit big, but it fits really nicely now. It's a little large, but nothing drastic. RC *loves* this sweater. She puts it on almost every day. I think she's most fascinated by the buttons.

It has large wooden toggle buttons. She can button them. She is crazy proud of herself.

Fireworks

Ryanne loved the 4th of July. Apparently fireworks aren't illegal in our MUD/city/county so everyone in our little cul-de-sac was out setting them off. It was quite a sight. They were doing quite a few aerials, too. I wouldn't have minded as much if they were doing them more in the middle, or even in front of their house. The fact that they were about 10 feet in front of my driveway (and two old cars - Hellybuny's and Chrys') bothered me a bit.

We went back out a bit later and watched the big show that the MUD put on. Ryanne liked those, too. At one point, she cuddled in to my side with her hands over her ears, but she had a huge grin on her face so I don't think it really bothered her. Everyone kept asking if it was too loud so I guess she decided it was expected.

She got to bed quite late that night. As we were getting her ready, she kept telling me that she and Sully's Boo (from Monsters, Inc) were going to go make fireworks and then go outside and make them BOOM! It was pretty funny. She was exhausted, but happy. She also told me that next year, she was going to show them to baby brother and help him not be scared. I thought that was sweet.

Since then, she keeps asking to see more fireworks. It's hard to make her understand that it will be New Year's, if not the next 4th, before she sees more. Too bad she can't read a calendar yet.

Haircuts

OK, the picture's for Auntie ALM. This was the before shot on her second hair cut.

Her first hair cut... I'm sorry... hair "fix" was in early April. We took her to one of those kid's cut places and they insist that it not be called a cut because then the child might decide that they can 'cut' their own hair with the scissors once they learn to cut. Plus, cut is apparently frightening and should be avoided. Ryanne didn't know what to make of it.

We told the lady it was the first cut and I explained that she had some split ends that were matting and I wanted to get rid of them. I was adamant that I didn't want bangs. She said she'd do layers and took off maybe an inch of hair. It wasn't enough to get rid of the split ends. Worse yet, we now had two large mats of hair in the morning. It just looked funky, but it was a little better. She got a tattoo when she was done and we have a little certificate for her first cut and some locks of hair in a plastic baggie.

The one from this shot was about a week ago. I took her to the normal salon around the corner from our new house. I explained that this was her second hair cut. I also said that I had no familiarity with curly hair, but whatever was done on the first cut wasn't working out. She asked what they had done and I said it was supposed to be layers, but that they had pulled the hair straight back and cut vertically. She said that could look nice, but wasn't a good cut for RC's hair. She fixed the layers so they actually layer and the curls actually flow through the layers. I asked her to take off some length since it was getting hot. She cut it loosely to below RC's shoulders so when it dries and curls, it's about shoulder length. She rounded out the transition from bangs to length so it frames her face a bit better. She didn't trim her bangs.

When she was done, she did a little bang fountain on RC's head that RC actually didn't pull out (unlike every attempt I've made to get her bangs out of her face). RC has since decided that she likes having her bangs out of her face and lets me pull it back every morning. I really like the cut. I think it looks tamer and it's certainly easier to comb and work with. Best part was that we walked in with no appointment and were done in 15 minutes.

This is ponderous

While I was gone, the vent (that had been hanging precariously for weeks now) fell from the ceiling. Apparently this disturbed Ryanne.

Ryanne: "We needa get da wadder."

Daddy goes to get the ladder and sets it up in the kitchen. Ryanne asks repeatedly to get on the ladder and is denied.

Ryanne: "Daddy, may I tink you?"
Daddy (and Aunt Amy): "What me?"
Ryanne: "May I teenk you?"

Daddy leans down to pick her up because he has no idea what she's talking about. At that point, she reaches out and starts stroking his chin which he has taught her means that he's thinking.

Ryanne: "Daddy may I help you teenk?"
Daddy (choking back laughter): "Sure"

Lesson ensues on how to pronounce "think".

"Wyanne's Max"

Until Aunt Fyoire showed up, RC and I had a ritual. Now, it happens periodically, but since Max has traded us in on someone older and less...in your face...it's not an every day thing, but still happens.

She'd wake up and come into my room. We get in bed and call Max.

(For those of you that don't know, Max is our one boy cat. He's named after the character in Grumpy Old Men because he looks like a grumpy old man. He doesn't like Chrys one shred. We never thought he'd like Ryanne, but he loves to curl up against my pregnant tummy and purr so we knew she'd like him. Likely the same goes for baby brother.)

He'd come out from wherever and mew and whine around for a bit before finally jumping up on the bed. He'd lie down on whatever side Ryanne wasn't and curl up into me to start purring.

She'd crawl over me and put her head on him to listen and tell me, "he's puwwing." He'd take this, as long as I kept scratching him.

Well, now he's less picky about making sure it's not her side. He lets her cuddle him. Moreover, she's claimed him. If she's petting him and I try to get in there, too - "Mommy, no pet Max. Wyanne's Max. I pet him by myself."

Now that he's spending more time in Aunt Fyoire's room so is RC. Doesn't bother me, but I think it's funny that she insists on following him around. At least he puts up with her and I think they might even grow to be friends. He's certainly the most likely, right now, to spend any time near her.

Ryanne's clothes

I finally got off my tush and went through the buckets of RC's old clothes to get the neutral stuff out. Ryanne helped.

We talked about them being Baby Ryanne's clothes. I think she recognized some of them from pictures. She kept telling me she was going to wear them and I always insisted that they were too small for her now.

Eventually, she got upset that I wouldn't let her try one on so I decided not to battle that part. She wanted to wear the little bear jacket that Kity and I got for her. We tugged and pulled and got it on.

The cuffs of the sleeves were above her elbow. Her shoulders were pretty securely held back so she couldn't bring her arms together. The waistline was about chest high.

Nevertheless, she was ecstatic and ran off to show Aunt Fyoire. A couple of minutes later, she runs back into my room almost as upset as she was when I wouldn't let her put something on.

"I STUCK!"

We wrangled the jacket back off of her and she decided she didn't need to try anything else on.

More fun with baby brother

When RC woke from her nap today, she wanted to cuddle so we went to hang out in my bed. The act of lying down made baby brother decide it was time to get all riled up. He was moving all around.

I moved my shirt up a bit and pointed out the bulges and motions to RC. She looked at me perplexed. "Baby brudder going come out." I explained that he wouldn't come out through my stomach; he was just moving around a lot. She watched and watched, with her eyebrows tightly knit together. "Baby brudder moving."

Suddenly, she gets this almost devilish grin on her face and, open palmed, pushes on my stomach where the biggest motions were happening. He kicked right back at her and she bust up laughing. "I push him and he push back." I didn't want to be in the middle of this war so I told her she was right, but she needed to be gentle with mommy, if nothing else. She seemed content with that and went back to watching and laughing at the motions.

Then, she explains to me that, when baby brother comes out, she's going to help him. She's going to walk with him to get the mail and take him to the pond to feed the ducks. She's even going to teach him to dance, "wike dis", which involves waving her hands above her head like a monkey and jumping around. (Yeah, daddy taught her her 'leet dance skillz.) I told her that would be very nice of her and that she's going to have to be patient because it's going to take him a long time to understand what she's teaching. She said that was ok. I think she's going to be a wonderful big sister.

Eating bugs

No, it's not what you think...

Unca D and Aunt MK gave her a book for Christmas. She loves this book. We read it a lot.

Early in the book's lifetime, she decided that the thing to do was to pick the ladybugs (pretend of course) off the page and eat them. We don't know what made her decide to do this. She does it more for Chrys, but I think she picks that book more for him. It's borderline disturbing.

Apparently tonight, she decided that eating the ladybugs wasn't the thing to do anymore. Chrys explained that she now, eagerly, picks their eyes off because they are 'soft and tasty'. Yeah, we crossed that border.

Why you don't share the child's past with the child

Tonight, I was reading a book to RC called "Happy Birth Day!" It talked about what happened after the baby was born - cutting the cord, nursing, lots of sleeping, love, etc.

One of the pages talked about the little band that's put on the child's ankle when he/she is born. Thanks to our recent move, I had just seen RC's and knew it was on Chrys' desk. She was asking about the 'bracewet' so I told her I knew where hers was and asked if she wanted to see it. She did.

I got it from Chrys' desk and showed it to her. She was looking at it and the letters and asking what it said. Next thing I know, she's grabbed the tiny bit of strap that's left when it gets cut to size and showing me how it gets pulled around the ankle...just like in the book. *sigh*

So, now this little memento that we managed to get off of her in one piece is ... many sizes smaller and thanks to security measures (little plastic barbs inside the band) will be [very hard|impossible] to fix. I must confess disappointment.

I can see the original marks. If I get [really bored|desperate] I might be able to get it back to the position it was in when it came off her foot. On the other hand, maybe it's just made it more special that she got to see it and understand what it was at so early an age.

Playmates

Sammy came over tonight for dinner. She and RC were playing out in the backyard. T was out there with them on and off just to make sure that they were ok.

Suddenly all were ushered inside. T reports that RC has been dragging a piece of plastic through one of the resident fire ant hills. Royally ticked ants do not make for a pleasant play space and our yard, unfortunately, is mostly ants right now.

Later he tells me what he witnessed:
Slow dragging across the hills. "I make ants walk."
Faster dragging. *giggle* "I make ants run."
Frantic swishing of the plastic through the ants. *borderline maniacal laugh* "Ants HAPPY!!!!"

Yeah...happy...especially when they manage to find your feet. So much for my lessons to fear the ants.

It's official

We're parents of a little girl.

This morning, Ryanne found some stickers while I was doing dishes. In the past, this wasn't a big deal. She'd usually stick them to interesting places on herself or on a bag or something.

Today, I asked her where they were. She proudly told me she'd stuck them to the trash can.

Yup...little animal stickers all over our new trash can. I couldn't help but laugh.

Glue

Ryanne has used lots of glue sticks at the various story times. She has seen, on rare occasion, me use a tube of lip gloss. Maybe Grandma A has used lipstick in her presence when we're staying there.

One day I went into my bathroom and she had her rubber duckie and one of my tubes of mini-lipstick (like the sample size ones). She proceeded to tell me that she had glued the duck's lips. I was confused.

Then I looked at the duck. Its mouth and neck were covered in lipstick. She was SO proud.

Abby normal

Tonight, Ryanne shunned her tater tots in favor of "more small spinach leafs".

As a parent, I am incredibly proud that she has a taste for veggies and seems to like them.

As a human being struggling with weight, I have to say, "WHAT?!?!?!"

Hopefully her tastes will keep her from ever falling into the second set. This is her first time actually showing an interest in cold, leafy veggies. We keep serving them, hoping she'd give them a chance one day since they're really nice sides in the hot Texas summers. I read that you may have to serve something 7 times before most toddlers will eat it. I think we're way beyond that, but I'm glad we didn't give up.

Ready for her sibling

Yeah, she's got the bipolar reactions to her little brother down pat.

Some days, she's sitting in my lap and she'll feel him moving. I just describe this as kicking. More often that not, after she's been kicked for a while, she'll swing around in my lap (no small feat given how small it's getting) and kick him back. Usually this comes with some announcement like, "He kick me. I kick him back." It's all I can do not to laugh.

Tonight, though, I went upstairs to say goodnight after her bath. I got my usual hugs and kisses and put her down. She lifts my shirt and starts tugging on my waistband saying, "Good night, baby brudder." I helped her get my shorts below the belly and she gave the belly a kiss. Then came the usual nightly pronouncements, "I love you, baby brudder. Have sweet dreams." I melted.

I guess we have her prepared. I don't know that she really knows what she's getting in to, but she acknowledges him as a person, even in utero.

More from the front lines

"I needa pee. I needa pee. I needa Pot Bot."

This was said as she, turns out, peed all over my chair at the kitchen table. Ah well, now mine and Chrys' have both been christened. I'm sure they're the first of many.

To her credit, this is the first accident in days (4, I think) and the first in almost a week that has been more than a dime size spec on her panties as she catches herself and holds it. She was running around naked so it probably took a bit for the wetness to actually hit her.

Now, I'll take the time to shamelessly plug the "Pot bot". It's awesome if you have tons of animals (that like to throw up on your carpet) or a potty training toddler. Quick, easy and you can set it and walk away (for most things...chairs, it only takes a few seconds with the hose). Plus, the toddler finds it a great source of entertainment so if you set it and walk away, you get a bonus 5+ minutes of peace as it cleans. She can't see much, but is fascinated by what it might be doing under there.

From the mouths of the potty training

Today, she was wearing panties again (day 3, thank you very much). These were coupled with a pair of overalls that might *finally* be getting a bit short - they are from last summer.

We go to dinner, we run through the rain to and from the car/restaurant/house. We walk inside and she starts grabbing at her tush the way she often does when she's wet or needs to pee. I'm confused as she peed seconds before we left the restaurant, but ask her, "What's up?" anyway.

She looks at me, earnestly, and says, "My tush is stuck."

I go over to help her, only to discover that she's got a whale of a wedgie. Chrys and I just about died laughing and trying to stifle it. Best.line.ever.

Potty training

Today, she wanted to wear panties when we got dressed. I give her the option every day and she sometimes takes me up for it for an hour or two and then wants to go back to the diaper. Sometimes the panties stay dry while she's in them, but more often than not the decision to go back to the diaper is made when she wets after said hour or two. Usually, though, she just wants the diaper.

The real news is that she wore them all day and was dry for 90+% of the day, through visits to the Y (for my exercise class) and Target (where she even used their restroom) for groceries.

I blame myself for the one accident. We were done with dinner and getting ready to go outside. I asked her to please go pee before we went outside. Sure enough, she squatted down where she stood and did just that. Boy did I feel dumb for not providing a clearer "where" for the action.

I think we'll still put her in a diaper for night because she tends to use the restroom immediately upon waking and I'm not sure we can get to her in time - all the time. Plus, I have some diapers to use up so I don't have to store them for 2 more years. I am really excited at the prospect of having her trained and, honestly, it's been so much easier than I expected.

I've tried very hard to keep this whole process pressure free and let her lead. She's been so close (Japan and lately) and would back down at the last minute. I think we might actually be headed to permanence, though. I guess at this point, she's confirmed (by exploration...trust me) that just about every toilet that she'll ever visit has neither buttons nor beeps (that bidet will haunt her forever, I fear). I hope she still wants to wear panties tomorrow.

Moving

We gave ourselves a month to move out of our old house and into the new. At this point, we're about 2 weeks in and Chrys is making substantial progress moving us out while I make progress moving us in. This means that things come in spurts while RC sleeps. We made her toys and things a priority and as she's asked for other stuff, we've made sure it's there the next day. Mostly, though, she hasn't been worried that things aren't there and very pleased when they are the next day.

Well, tonight was different. Tonight, I was cooking dinner while we waited for Chrys to get home. I asked if she wanted to help me cook and she said no. All of a sudden, she runs into the kitchen and looks at me, very concerned, "My oven?!"

I told her that daddy hadn't moved it (her Hello Kitty kitchen set) yet and it was still at the old house.

Apparently she's realized that enough stuff has been moved that this was cause for concern because we must have forgotten it. She starts running laps around the kitchen/living room/dinette, yelling, "My oven. Where is it?"

I kept telling her I would ask daddy to bring it tonight, but she just kept the laps up. I got down to talk to her and explained that it hadn't been lost or forgotten, just not prioritized since she hadn't seemed to miss it yet. Now that she missed it, it would be there in the morning when she woke up. We talked about this and she calmed down and went back to jumping off the chair and couch.

Honestly, I felt her pain. There were some things that I've missed from the old house, too. At the same time, it was borderline funny watching her as she tried to process and figure out where we'd managed to stash her big kitchen set since there was obviously some large space that she just didn't know about.

Ma nah ma nah

That was RC's favorite song for a bit. She gets the emphasis wrong, but she likes MahnaMahna (from the first season of the Muppet Show). Chrys and I really like the song so we've gone along with her liking it. I think she likes that we sing and it's easy for her to sing along to (doo's and mahnamahna). She requested it on every car ride until I had to move that CD inside for my own sanity.

Dentist, now in English

Today, RC got to go to the dentist again. She did SO well. She opened wide and looked up so the dentist could count her teeth. She bit down so the dentist could see her bite. She smiled, laughed, talked and didn't cry or act a bit worried. It was a great visit. They all commended her on being such a good patient and said they might even try a cleaning next time.

The room was very comfortable, just two chairs and the dentist and I sat knee to knee with RC on my lap. Normally, they have the child face the parent and lean back, but RC wanted to face the dentist and just look up when asked.

The dentist says she has small teeth and a small mouth. If she gets small adult teeth, we'll be ok. If she doesn't, well, I guess we'll have to make sure she gets good orthodontia. Her teeth looked clean and the dentist saw the bumps for the rest of her molars - whenever they finally decide to peek through.

RC loved the office and loved her balloon that she got for doing everything the dentist asked. She asked about the xray machine and I assured her that they'd take pictures of her teeth someday, but not today. She wanted to lie down on the tables in the normal exam area, but that wasn't on the docket either. She seemed a bit bummed that she didn't get a toothbrush, which I find really amusing since she has quite a collection from the ones we bought for Japan, ones we've been given by family, ones we've been given by dentists, etc. She wanted one more, but was ok with "maybe next time."

I wan it WOUD!

Yes, this is the chant of choice at our house. With the new house came a loss of the large over fireplace area that held our TV and all of the assorted stereo gear. It now sits on a 12" high table. Sadly, this means that Pandora's Box of cacophony has opened for our little girl.

"I wan muuuuzic." Luckily, she doesn't know where the power button is yet (it breaks the round, green button rule that helped her figure out EVERY remote in the world). We have to turn it on for her.

She loves BNL.

"I wan it WOUD" precedes her turning the volume knob. Sometimes she does it slowly so it's only a bit louder. Sometimes she manages to find ears bleeding volume very quickly.

"I dancin" accompanies her father-taught dance moves. Mostly, this looks like she's in the middle of a spastic mosh pit. I'll leave any further explanation to your imagination.

Frick

Yup...that's RC's word of choice. She uses it to express any frustrations she has - bumped head, dropped toy, etc. "Holeee Cow(ie)" is to express amazement. I just keep telling myself that it could be SO much worse.

What's that?

RC and I spent most of yesterday at the new house, measuring and what not. In the late afternoon, Chrys took over while I took Bro to an appointment. I had faced countless "What's Dat?" over the course of the day - ceiling fan, air conditioner vent, nickel, etc. Chrys got the outdoor version when he took her for a walk.

From him:
We went for a walk down the 2 blocks to the area around the pond. The whole time, Roo was asking "Whassat?" "That's a windmill." "That's a bird house." "That's a cable TV utility box." "That's a trash can on a stick" "That's a Mazda Protege" "That's a sign". You get the idea. Her last such question, 30 minutes into the walk, "Whassat?" "That's a box for dog poop" (I over simplified -- it was a sign instructing dog owners to be responsible and providing free plastic bags.) Her response was horrifying, but completely understandable, given her background: in more of a confused tone than a true question -- "Feed the ducks?"

In Japan, she went to a number of zoos and "Biology Parks". It is very important there for people to go to see wildlife in captivity so they know what a non-tamed animal is like and why it's worth protecting. They do everything they can to make the patrons more attached to the animals and enjoy their stay. The desperate hope is that they'll go home, tell their friends how great everything was and how it was worth saving their habitats, etc. Part of this effort is accomplished by having visitors feed them wherever possible. Sometimes there are boxes on posts with signs, and in the box is food appropriate for the nearby animals.

I'm certain it's easy for you to imagine a toddler's perspective where you feed the animals with the stuff provided. And my explanation, after 30 minutes of "Whassat?" wasn't as helpful as it could have been. Her conclusion is perfectly logical. It makes it almost comical that she has trouble with the "f" on the beginning of "food" and pronounces it "pood".

Mistress Coordination

She rocks at gym. She's totally fearless and has a decent amount of coordination to go with it. If she could figure out how to control her head and not smack her chin into the bars, she'd be all set.

At this point, she can get her feet up on the bar on the outside of her hands without assistance so she's hanging like a basket. She has walked up walls to do handstands both on the floor and on the bars. We need to work on her shoulder strength so she can keep herself up a bit better. We do wheelbarrows for that when she'll let me. She walks the balance beam - high and low - with her arms held out and noone holding on to her. She can walk sideways on it, too, but does so very slowly. If I support under her arms, she'll dip her feet down to the sides as she walks.

She can walk up the stairs by herself with one foot per step. I think that's a major physical milestone of some sort. She can come down one foot per step if she's holding your hand and occasionally does it by herself.

She also pedals her trike. She can only do it for short distances and she gets stuck easily, but she can move herself. Steering is something else entirely. Chrys says she steers a bit on the scooter and is slowly learning how to push with one foot; she's only ridden on that a couple of times, though.

Swimming is going well. She paddles her arms - looks more like she's doing "roll 'em up" from pattycake, but she's got to start someplace. She can kick...lots. She can pull herself out of the water on the side of the pool without assistance, which makes this mama much more comfortable with the thought of her being near a pool. She has no fear of walking in water, even up to her chin level. She's actually pretty reckless with it, but doesn't freak out too much when she does slip and go under so that's a good sign.

Yeah...she's got my coordination (and then some) and Chrys' lack of fear. She's going to be nothing but trouble.

"Oh, that's right"

RC has picked up some interesting quirks in her speech. I am sure it is mimicry of what Chrys or I do, but it's amusing to get her interpretation of what we say.

The best one, yet, though has to be when we are guessing what she's saying and we get it right. She looks at us, smiles and says, "Ohhh, that's right." I haven't caught myself or Chrys saying this exactly so it's a semi-creation of her own. Cracks me up.

Back in the crib

After months of trying RC in her bed because it was safer, we are back to the crib for our sanity.

She's not a great sleeper. She never has been. It may be partially that we didn't know what we were doing in setting up good sleep behaviors. It may be partially her nature. Regardless of what 'caused' it, it's there.

The fact is that she never asked for a big bed. She's never seemed ready for it to me. The only reason we put her in it was because she climbed out and most people say that means we have to transition her. Having thought about it, and read some more, I realize that she never hurt herself climbing and it never seemed that she would. She only climbed when she was alert and being careful. At this point, the girl knows how to climb and do it safely so safety concerns are pretty moot.

She won't stay in bed. She doesn't grasp that she has to stay in bed to sleep. She wants to play and keep going until she just can't keep her eyes open any longer. In her crib, she'd fuss for a bit and then she'd sleep, just like she needs to do.

Anyway...in my reading, I think I've decided that she's not getting enough sleep since giving up her nap. Giving up the nap is mostly my fault. I wasn't consistent with her routine or giving her a place to rest or anything. She gave it up and I/we have suffered for it with cranky afternoons. Last night, she slept for 14 hours (instead of her usual 11), waking at 10am (instead of 7ish). That was the last piece of correlation I needed.

Given that, she's back in her crib. She fussed for an hour at nap time, but the lack of playing = downtime and I think we had a better afternoon for it. Tonight, she got herself to sleep without Chrys. It might have taken 15 minutes instead of 10, but hopefully she'll relearn how to soothe herself and we'll all get more sleep in the meantime.

I don't want to be a sleep nazi. She's always been pretty flexible with changes in schedule. Heck, she went back and forth to Japan enough and did great. Nevertheless, I need to recognize that, as she ages, she needs more structure to get her through and I need to help that, for both our sakes.

Time with the Bunny

RC wanted desperately to talk to the Easter Bunny. She's wanted jelly beans every time we've walked into Target for quite some time now. I've put it off with telling her that she should ask the Easter Bunny to bring her some for Easter. I asked her today if she was ready to go talk to him and get her picture taken - boy, was she.

She kept looking confused when I asked her to smile so I asked for a 'cheesy smile' and got one.

(And no, I didn't pierce her ears. She wanted earrings desperately so she has a couple of pairs of clip ons that she decides to wear sometimes. Apparently the bunny warranted that much dressing up.)

She did manage to ask for her jelly beans so I'm sure she'll get tons. She got Sweet Tarts as a treat for coming to see him. She declared them jelly beans so I hope she won't be disappointed if she gets real ones. Then, she decided they were tummy medicine (Tums, like mommy takes TONS of every day right now). That cracked me up.

When I put her in the car, she asked for her '3 tummy medsins' - turns out there were 3 left on the tray of the stroller. I was impressed.

Teeth

RC cut her last 1 year molar - whichever one was left - when we were in Tokyo for Thanksgiving.

She cut her first 2 year molar - lower left side - about 2 weeks ago. It's slowly making its way in. We can see the lower right one, but it's going to take a bit, I think.

Considering she's possibly the worst.teether.ever. I will be very happy to get through these last 4.

Now, if I can just find a dentist to keep looking at her to keep her comfortable. Why is that we take our kids to the doctor every 3, 6, 12 months at an early age to make them comfortable, but they're just supposed to suddenly be introduced to the dentist and eye doctor at age 6 and be ok with it?

Charlotte's Web

In keeping with long standing lucky family tradition, RC won tickets to see a play in a random drawing at Barnes and Noble a couple of weeks ago. Today was the show date. We 3 went down there and I was very excited to see how she'd react.

In short, she was great. Her last play experience was in utero (about 2 months further along than baby brother is now). She sat through this one, mostly riveted. She started to get tired at the end and wasn't paying as much attention, but I could still talk to her about stuff. It was 75 minutes of her quiet and sitting in my lap.

Funny quote - when Charlotte started talking about how she was going to have babies, RC turns, looks at me and says, "She go midwife." Took me a second to process who and why, but I was impressed. Budding crunchy one - check.

She spent the car ride home talking on her toy cell phone to Charlotte and Charlotte's babies. We're going to be in BIG trouble next time we try to squash a spider, I fear.

Letters

RC has always called all letters ABs. When we were in Japan, this included kana and kanji as well as the Roman alphabet. Turns out that we REALLY need to work on individual letter recognition now.

Tonight, she saw letters on a sign above our clock and started saying the alphabet. She said the whole thing. She's getting faster, but it takes a looooooong time to let us know she saw a letter.

More ABCs

Saturday night, we went out for dinner. On the way home, RC was using her straw as a microphone.

"ABCDEFGHIKKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY and Z. I'm not done yet. Now I sing ABCs, x time sing with me. I'm DONE!

ABCDEFG. I'm not done yet. ABCDEFG. I'm not done yet. WX. I'm not done. Y and Z. I'm not done. x time sing with me. I'm DONE!"

It went on with various letters being strung together and various insertions of "I'm not done yet" in random places for most of the drive home.

At one point, I asked her if I could sing it. "No. I'm not done." She sang a few more times and then says, "Mommy sing with straw." The straw was passed forward and I sang into the straw. She laughed hysterically and shouted, "You did it" when I was finished. I gave the straw back and she kept right on singing for the rest of the drive.

Fffffffff

The other night, Chrys was trying to get RC to say the "f" sound. Right now, she says "pinger", "pood", "poot (foot)", etc. She was talking about the owie on her pinger and Chrys says to her "fffffffffinger" so she repeats "ffffffffffpinger". It was really hilarious. After a bit, she was starting to drop the "p" and get just the "ffffffinger" out.

At this point, I don't know what possessed him. He decided to try to get her to pucker up and give him a kiss. He asked her if she could pucker her lips. Well, given the lesson that she just learned she decided to replace the "p" with "ffffff".

I ducked around the corner and tried to hide my laughs in my elbow, but could still hear him laughing.

Working on the ABCs

HIJKLMNOP URSWXY and Z
ABCD QRWXYZ
QRSWXY and Z

Those are the renditions I've managed to catch in the last 5 minutes. I'm most impressed by the random starting point and the coverage of letters from there. She's even catching most of the "now I know my ABCs" piece at the end.

She doesn't seem to like starting at A. I had to prompt to get that one. Her voluntary ones all start somewhere in the middle.

27 months, 1 day

After my long lament on how horrid weaning felt, I undid it. When she woke the next morning, she nursed her little heart out and we both felt much more secure and happy. It was good.

After that, we began the slow process to weaning for real. I knew I wanted her weaned sooner rather than later. However, I also knew that I needed to do it gently.

We started off by keeping our no nursing after dinner requirement and adding to that that there was no nursing until 7am. She's getting decent at detecting patterns on the clock and I hoped this would work. It did. My frequent waker went to sleeping through the night on a regular basis. It was delightful.

After a few weeks, we added no nursing after lunch. That eliminated her nap time nursing. A few weeks later, we went to no nursing after breakfast which eliminated all but her first nursing of the morning.

The last step was, by far, the hardest. That first nursing of the morning bought me valuable sleep time and she kept moving it earlier and earlier. Eventually, though, we got her down to one side after 7am. We did that for a week or so and then we just started getting out of bed as soon as she woke. If she asked for milk, she was given (organic skim) cow's milk whenever I had it available. Sometimes, I just tell her that mommy's milk is gone.

When we were in Albany, she managed to find a breast and latch on. She was delighted, but I don't think she got much and seemed a little disappointed.

She still asks for milk sometimes when we're cuddled up. More often, she simply asks to suck on my fingers and I'll have to figure out a way to wean her from that, too. She switches comfort methods on a regular basis, but with me, that's always been the one constant. Right now, her favorite is holding hands or covering her ears. That's only when I tell her that my fingers have too many owies, though.

The last morning that she nursed, she was 27 months, 1 day. It was 3 months longer than my goal for her. I am happy we lasted so long and sometimes have a bit of remorse that we aren't nursing still. The remorse is usually countered by putting on a cute bra that's actually a little big in the cup these days and doesn't have any nursing hooks or one glance at the scabs on the backs of my fingers that brings on the utter delight that those aren't the scabs anywhere else.