Big Girl Bed Time

It has been several months since I've posted, a situation I fully plan to remedy by getting back to more regular posting! 

What's been going on since I last posted? 

1.  Monica is a full fledged little person now.  18 months old, and she definitely has a mind of her own.  We have been busy surviving the holidays, surviving our first illness-ridden winter, and surviving the scariness of joining our local MOMS Club group.  So, other than the holidays, our winter has been pretty busy between watching movies, wiping noses, and going to play dates. 

2.  In addition to all of that, we have other big news..... Monica is going to be a big sister!  Grub 2.0 is due in just three short months!

3.  In preparation for #2's arrival, Monica is being moved into a big girl bed so that #2 can have the crib.  We've decided to tackle this transition sooner than later, in hope that Monica will be comfortably settled in her big girl bed by the time #2 arrives in June.

How is that going, you may ask?  Well....to be honest, I'm not sure.  We're just wrapping up the first week. The first few days went surprisingly well, with little issue, and then....I'm just not sure what happened!  She seems to think that she doesn't need to sleep at all during the day, and while she goes to bed without issue at night, she wakes up after several hours and is tough to settle down. 

So, it was 2:30pm, I was starving for my lunch, and she was showing no signs of settling down during the 45 minutes I spent attempting to cajole her into getting in her bed.  It was time to change tactics.  So, I told her good-bye and goodnight, and left the room.  I locked her gate behind me and went out of sight into my own room.  I had my phone for visual support, and the monitor was on, so I decided to just wait and see what happened.

Surprisingly, she didn't freak out or scream for me to come back into the room.  Instead, she took this opportunity to inspect every nook and cranny of her diaper pail.

Then she pulled out and inspected every toy in her toy basket, most of which she has not played with in three or more months.











I became hopeful when she actually started to climb into the bed.  Hooray, we're moving in the right direction!  She's sleepy and she's heading for bed on her own accord!

Alas, it was a cruel ruse, as she jumped right back out of the bed.  Then she went on a mission to tear her changing pad off of the dresser and throw it around the room. 

Then, things got quiet.  But she was in the small area of the room closest to the door, where the camera doesn't have visibility, so I wasn't sure what was happening.  And I couldn't approach the doorway for a peek, for fear that she'd see me and start crying.  After a good five minutes of quiet, I decided I would angle my phone around the door to try to see what she was doing.

It's hard to tell in the pic above, but the very faint shadow through the lattice of the gate is her!

I waited five more minutes and then snuck into the hallway.

Kiddo was fast asleep on the floor, using the changing pad as a pillow.  Little weirdo!

I didn't want to risk going into her room for a small blanket, and everything in our bedroom is for a king sized bed.  So I grabbed a bath towel to drape over her for warmth.

She slept there for two straight hours, I couldn't believe it!  After tiptoeing around and whispering all afternoon - I couldn't close the door with her sleeping against it - JK and I went up to wake her at nearly 5pm. 

JK and I talked a lot about what had changed during the week, and why she seemed to have a sudden aversion to the bed after a few good days of sleeping in it.  Temperatures dropped during the week, and he thinks she was cold with the bed next to the wall on the outside of the room.  I agreed, and before bedtime last night, we relocated the bed to the inside wall, where her crib used to be.  Miraculously, she slept through the night last night.  I'm hoping that solved the problem, and that we'll get back into a good bedtime routine in her bed - instead of on the floor or in our bed!

My New Stylist

Monica and I had just returned from a short shopping trip in Media, and I was checking my email while she was investigating the contents of her diaper bag.  The laptop was on the end table next to the couch, so my back was to her.  I heard a little giggle, and then felt a yank on my hair.  What the heck!  She never pulls my hair on purpose, so I was really shocked...until I turned around and found this:

My very own little stylist!









She had found my hairbrush in the diaper bag, and was giggling away while she worked on giving me a new 'do.  Can someone please tell this kid that teasing hair went out of style about 20 years ago??

 

It wasn't the most comfortable experience for me, but she sure was having a blast!

Whoops!  Don't eat the hair, kiddo!

 

Monica says, "Mama, I officially declare you to be lovely!"   It might be days before I'm able to untangle this mess....but she sure had fun, so it's worth it!

Germs Galore

10/9/2012
We are in the throes of Monica's very first cold.  I really shouldn't complain, as we made it 13 months without her getting sick once.  Unfortunately, I'm still getting over this horrible illness, so I am in a weakened condition, myself.  However, I suppose that this is preferable to the alternative, which would be me getting sick the moment she becomes healthy again, as she will assuredly regain her normal energy x 1,000. 

The best word to describe our current situation would be "disgusting."  I actually found myself holding a tissue up to her nose and saying, "blow" yesterday, and then laughing uncontrollably at myself for being so idiotic.   It didn't dawn on me until that moment that she doesn't know how to blow her nose.  So she just sits there with snot running out of it at continuously, which means that I am wiping her nose with a tissue every two minutes; during which, she repeatedly jerks her head, thus smearing snot across her cheeks.  Where it dries into a crust because I am too busy throwing out the snotty tissue and washing my hands in preparation for the next round of nose wiping in t-minus 45 seconds.  That is, as long as she hasn't already wiped it on the couch.

The saddest part is that she can't suck her thumb while she sleeps because she can't breathe through her nose.  So she is alternating between sucking her thumb for a few seconds and then pulling it out to frantically gasp for breath.  Poor thing!

Except for when we're (sorta) sleeping, I don't think we've stopped watching TV since Saturday afternoon.  I'm pretty sure she is in heaven, as I have been too weak to try to engage her in actual brain-developing learning activities.  
 
10/10/2012
Unrelated post note - I just wrote 2011 and kept going like it was nothing.  And then I realized 2012 is almost over.  Brain = dead.

My fears have come true.  Monica is rallying even quicker than I thought possible, while I remain a supine, inert lump on the couch.  To her credit, she has been a perfect angel for most of the day today, revisiting with her toys that were ignored during her snuffly couch potato phase.  Unfortunately, she seems sick of watching television, and I don't think that I have much more time before she is climbing the walls and needed to get out of the house to burn off some energy.  Perhaps I will rouse myself after her nap for a quick trip to the bank.  The bank is a good errand because we can hit the drive through without changing out of our pajamas.  Seems silly to get dressed at 5pm, the day is practically over!

JK has been trying to convince himself that I have an exponentially worse version of a slight sore throat and mild fatigue he was feeling last week.  While I seriously hope he is right, I remain unconvinced due to the coughing he was just doing on his way out the door.

So, that's what's going on over here.  No cute picture to end this blog post, we're not the most photogenic bunch right now!

The Great Self-Feeding Experiment

The Grubster eats a lot.  That statement can be interpreted in two ways, and both apply.  She eats large quantities of food, and she eats on a frequent basis.

As of right now, I am basically serving her four meals a day.  We have breakfast when she wakes up (9am), first lunch before nap (12:30pm), second lunch after nap (4:30pm) and dinner (7pm) every day.  Once in a while one of the lunches is more snack-like, but there is never any telling as to how much she will eat.  And since she generally demands a variety of foods at each of these four meals, my on-the-spot culinary skills are unparalleled these days.  Thank God for the internet, which has a wealth of recipes and information relative to feeding toddlers!

This week, I was gauging her level of hunger for first lunch before her nap.  Thinking she was too tired to invest herself in a full meal, I handed her a cup of milk and a couple of puffs, and spooned some yogurt into a small bowl.  I figured it would fill her up enough so that she'd take a decent nap, and then we'd have a real lunch after she woke up.

I stepped into the living room to grab my phone off the end table.  JK usually texts me when he is on his way home, so I wanted to think ahead to what we could eat for lunch after Monica was asleep.  And when I got back, I found this:

 

Her high chair has this attached semi-tray that you see in the picture, as well as the removable full-sized tray.  Since she started eating finger foods, we ALWAYS have the full-sized tray on the high chair.  She hasn't had a meal without the full-sized tray since we started having meals in the dining room several months ago; which is why I had never before encountered this situation. 

Without the full-sized tray, Monica can reach out and grab whatever is close by on the dining room table.  In this case, happened to be the yogurt bowl and spoon. 

I decided to let her have at it and just see what happened.  She has tried to take a spoon out of my hand to feed herself some of whatever I was spooning onto her tray, but she never gets any food into her mouth that way.  She isn't quite ready to balance the spoon in a way that food won't slide off of it before it gets to her mouth.

Luckily for her, yogurt is sticky, and it stuck to the spoon.  All she had to do was stick the spoon in the bowl, and then stick the spoon in her mouth.  I was amazed and impressed that she was actually eating so much of the yogurt.  And boy, was she proud of herself....I had to refill the little bowl three times!  I'm not entirely sure that she was even that hungry, I think she was just showing off her sweet skills. 

Ahhhhh, this independent little baby isn't that much of a baby anymore!!! 

 

Monica is One Year Old!

Our little love, Miss Monica, turned one year old on August 29th, 2012. I have had a heck of a time putting together any words to describe how incredible this past year has been for us. And when I try to skip the words and try to work on pictures...well...I get so lost, looking at over 1,800 pictures that I have taken (and these are just the saved ones!), and how much she has changed, and thinking back on all the wonderful times we have had with this little lady since she came into our lives.

Hello, world! I'm brand new here :)

She looks so tiny in her Daddy's arms.

Sleeping peacefully with Mommy

Dog brother watching over her.  I think he's finally accepted that she's here to stay!

At one year, Monica is weighing in at 20 pounds, 1.5 ounces, which is in the 50.86th percentile

She is 30.43" tall (2'6.43"), which is in the 82.98th percentile 

So, what has our one year old been up to lately?  Well....raising hell, to be honest!  

She's in total daredevil mode.  Frankly, I don't have a ton of pictures of her doing anything particularly funny or crazy, because JK and I are always too busy swooping in to avoid disaster.  There is no time to pause for pictures in these situations!  Take today for example.  I ran (literally, I was running!) from the living room to the kitchen to trash a dirty diaper and perform the world's quickest wash (translation: cold water rinse, no soap) of my hands.  I didn't even dry them, I kid you not, I was wiping them dry on my t-shirt as I jogged back to the living room.  There she was, bumping her head on the lamp shade, which was blocking her way to stretching up to fully standing - - -  on the end table.  And yes, if you will remember, the end tables have glass inserts on the top.  Not the safest place for a baby, right?!?!

Sooo....this is just one of many examples of what is going on in our household lately.  Between her crazy acrobatics, daily in-house dance parties, and adventures out to explore various parks and playgrounds, we are certainly keeping busy with this little munchkin.

So I will just wrap up and say, we love you, Monica.  Here's to many more wonderful years ahead!

Pillow Fest!!!  Snuggling and giggling with mommy while we get ready for bed :)

The Tasmanian Grubster

Today was JK's class registration and orientation at Temple, and he had to get up early (it was still dark!) to get ready to leave by 7:00 am. I fully recognize that I am quite possibly the most spoiled Stay at Home Mom on the planet, having a husband who works from home. Even though he is working during the day, we do get to have our morning coffee and lunch breaks together, which goes a long way towards helping me to maintain my sanity.

In anticipation of JK being out of the house more often than we're used to, Monica and I decided we'd try to kick off the semester in our own way, by being super productive around the house.  We came downstairs and I put on an episode of Blues Clues so I could quickly run the vacuum in the dining room. As I was finishing up, I peeked around the corner to find that Monica was sitting on the couch watching her show.  I did not put her there! 

She laughed at me because she knew she wasn't supposed to be up there. I went in and put her down in the middle of the room, and then turned to go put the vacuum away in the hall closet. In two seconds flat, before I could even get out of the room, I watched her run over to the ottoman barricade, climb one of the little ottomans, and get right back into position on the couch - in her daddy's spot, with daddy's computer mouse and the TV remote. 

This was no fluke, as I got her on video on the third attempt after I removed her the second time:

Sooo....I put the vacuum away and proceded to pack up the little ottomans into the big ottoman.  She made an attempt to climb back onto the couch without using them for a boost, but was unsuccessful.  I breathed a huge sigh of relief, and we headed off to the kitchen for breakfast. 

I brought her back into the living room after breakfast, and then I ran back to the kitchen to put the yogurt into the fridge.  When I came back, she was on the couch.  Again.  Yep.  She can climb up onto the couch from the floor.  

I was stumped.  I couldn't leave the room because she wouldn't stay off the couch.  Normally JK is on the couch, working, and would be there to deter her, if necessary.  But with just her and I, well...I couldn't let her out of my sight.  As I slumped on the couch and tried to figure out how to tackle this problem, she was playing with her toys.  I was thankful that she was at least staying at floor level while I was right there in the room.  

The logistics of her being able to get onto the couch are a nightmare.  For one, she has no awareness of the danger of falling off of the couch, and will blissfully run from one end to the other, stumbling on pillows and falling all over the place.  There is absolutely no way that she can be left alone on the couch for even the shortest period of time without the chance of her seriously hurting herself.  Second, the ends of the couch are part of their own barricade to keep her from the end tables where we keep all manner of dangerous/expensive/breakable items.  Even if she could be left on the couch safely, the couch gives her access to things like laptops and lamps and plants.  Was I going to have to rearrange the entire living room?

As I was mulling all of this over, I glanced over and saw this:

The Grubster was helping herself to some Party Mix.

When we get done with all the "good" stuff in the Party Mix (i.e. Cheetos), and all that is left is a handful of lame pretzels and BBQ corn chip crumbs, we usually give the container to Monica.  The little bit of leftover snacks makes a fun noise when she rolls it around, and the container itself makes a great drum.  I have no idea what prompted her to attempt - and succeed - at removing the lid this morning, but she was having herself a fine snack.

Sick of the suddenly-not-baby-proofed-at-all living room, I took her upstairs to give myself a break.  We made a pit stop to wash the cheesy crumbs and stains off her face and fingers, and then I let her go about her business.

We were playing in her room and I was sitting in the glider while Monica was "doing laundry," which involves running amok while carrying various items of clothing from room to room.  And then this happened:

She decided to climb right over the glider ottoman that we keep wedged between the dresser and the rocker to barricade her from the outlet behind it.

Still in disbelief from the morning's downstairs antics, I got to work on moving the dresser.  This entailed removing half the drawers so it would be light enough to move, and dragging the dresser in front of the outlet, all while trying to keep an excited frenzied Monica from completely destroying the nicely folded contents of the drawers that were temporarily on the floor.  I finished the heavy lifting and shooed her away as I worked on putting the drawers back into the dresser.  While I wasn't sold on the new location of the dresser, it would work until JK got home to help with a more permanent relocation.

She had gone running out of the room, so I followed to see what she was up to.  I found her in the bathroom, crouched behind the toilet, examining the toilet's plumbing connections.  With her mouth.  For obvious reasons, there is no picture of this disgusting incident.  

A glance at the clock showed that it was 11am.  I have never been so happy to declare nap time, and I have never been so grateful as when she went right to sleep without a fuss.  

Surprisingly, the remainder of the day was fairly tame, with only one more unexpected kamikaze move when she tried to throw herself into the bathtub.  JK couldn't believe that he missed so much activity in only three short hours of time.  I still have no idea what we're going to do about the couch situation, but at least JK will be home tomorrow to help me figure it out!  Maybe while she's asleep she'll forget about all the crazy new tricks she learned today?

Mama, mama, mama, mama, mama

To put it nicely, Monica has been a bit of a challenge lately.  It's "Mama, mama, mama, mama, mama" 24/7. I can't leave her sight without an episode of shrieking and screaming.  She does not care if JK is right there playing with her, she goes postal when I walk away. When we're playing upstairs and I try to go into the bathroom, she throws herself on the floor outside of the door and screams and rolls around until I let her in.  Then, when I open the door, she comes in and hangs on my leg with the "Mama, mama, mama, mama" on repeat, reaching up for me to hold her on my lap.  Sorry, kid, but no. 

JK has taken to referring to himself as "Not the Mama," instead of Dada.

Me, I'm feeling a lot like this:

90% of the time, she doesn't actually need anything.  For instance, she hangs on my leg and whines when I'm sitting on the couch.  As soon as I relocate to the floor, she is off and playing with her toys.  The second I sneak back onto the couch, she is hanging on my leg.  It's making me nuts!  Not to mention that my back is breaking from constantly sitting on the floor or holding her or carrying her.

Therefore, JK has had to become really creative in his attempts to amuse her when I need to step away for a minute.  So, the other, day, I came out of the bathroom and found this going on in her room:

 

Hilarious, right?

But here's the thing....she now thinks it is the funniest thing ever to put things on her head and run full speed while she can't see anything.  Since we have never-ending piles of laundry on the floor, she has easy access to grab a t-shirt, throw it over her head and face, and go running amok.  JK found her crashing into the hallway walls repeatedly, and then collapsing in a fit of giggles on the floor.

Her cast comes off one week from today.  Why do I get the sneaking suspicion that this first cast is not going to be the last cast?