Monday, August 31, 2009

Trying to get a couple posts in...

Since I can't seem to find time otherwise.
I was out the other day, taking care of my other babies (the boys) and we had friends coming over. Dillon has hung out with Kelani and Jim before and actually has been very friendly with Kelani.
But, I don't know if I've shared this before, but apparently, out in California Dillon developed a neediness for mommy whenever she is sad, tired, scared, whatever. Daddy just will not do. Weird.
Anyhooo, when I get home I see Dillon playing on the couch with Kelani which I fully expected. But then she started to sputter and cry with a little sad face. She wanted ME! So weird.
And then I am told by Kelani that Dillon, though she let others occupy her time never once cracked a smile. She just tolerated. But once she saw the dogs run in, she was so excited and then when I picked her up, then she smiled and laughed.
Wow, who knew?? I'm sure this will all change once she gets to know the real me...hahaha. When she is in her teens and we are again battling by arguing. She will come to realize that Daddy's her man. :oD Hahaha!!

Battle of wills

The other night, Dillon and I had a battle of the wills. She cried and cried and I ignored. She had woken up at 2am and I fed her. She ate. She had been randomly waking up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason (to eat?...but no, that's not allowed anymore..) and I have been indulging her. But, I finally decided to put a stop to this nonsense so we battled it out at 4:06am. She wailed until 4:46am on the dot and then promptly fell asleep.
And so now we forever after sleep through the night. :o)
Well, not totally. She still tries to pull her antics every so often and I just reach over and turn the volume down and ignore her. Sometimes, you just have to put your foot down. Of course, I firmly believe that they sleep better if they are not waking up in the middle of the night for whatever reason, whether it be to eat or just for some cuddling so the sooner she learns this, the better it is...for all of us.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

It's the pot calling the kettle black

That would be me I'm referring to...do y'all remember a while back when I was blogging that G always runs to pick D up whenever she cries...and he is spoiling her. Well, I am finding that I seem to always be picking her up and carrying her and holding her. Maybe not so much when she is fussing and crying but just when I feel like it. Tsk! Tsk!
She will be sitting around or in her Jumperoo and I will say, "Ma-Ma bao!" Which means, "Mama pick up?" in Chinese.
I swear it's because I say that every time I pick her up that now, when she is distraught or feeling shy and doesn't want to be held by strangers, she looks over and says, "Ma-Ma..Ma-Ma".
I mean, am I crazy? I think most babies tend to start off saying, "Papa" or "baba" when they start forming words and baby babbling, which she also does...but she does also say "Ma-Ma".
By the way, both Papa and baba mean father...papa in English and baba in Chinese! So unfair...

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Discovering something new

I often wonder what goes through D's head when she just sits and zones while watching her little hand open and close. Or when she is sitting on the floor playing and all of a sudden will smile and laugh a little for no apparent reason. Is she just happy?
In any case, whatever she is doing, she is really very cute. I realize I sound ridiculous because I am so in love with this child, but she really is very cute! Hah!
The other day, she discovered a whistling sound. I bought her some blocks that come in different shapes - circle, cube, X, triangle and they have a hole in the middle. So, she picks up the block and holds it up to her mouth and blows short breaths into it. It's pretty funny and she is so intrigued by it! Oh the wonders of discovery for her....

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Back to Nashville

We just returned back from Dillon's West Coast debut! Well, we got back on Sunday and she is now back in the swing of things. She did great on the plane all three times and she did great socializing...for the most part.
For some reason, she had a couple meltdowns in the car in LA. Once was when my mother was sitting back there with her. She literally went BANANAS, wailing at the top of her lungs, inconsolable, boogies flying everywhere and really...not making a very good impression on the old mom there. Sigh. Oh well. Then she had the SAME meltdown when I was sitting in the back with her another day. Really weird. I can only attribute it to the fact that she may have been EXTREMELY tired and pissed off that I was sitting in back with her but not cuddling her. She had a fit and then, all of a sudden decided she was over her fit (20 looong minutes later) and just stopped and started chewing on her toy and acted as if nothing happened. As I think back to it now, I am laughing but at the time...I was a bit frantic.
Poor D is just not an LA girl. She's not used to being on long car rides and just "going with the flow..." I'm gonna have to start driving around in circles to get her into the groove. Hah! Not.
Travelling with a baby is quite tiring, not to mention the amount of things you have to pack! Well, we won't have to pack the car seat base for NYC cuz we'll just walk or take public transportation, but otherwise, we need to back the car seat base, the stroller, the car seat, a pack n'play if we don't have a crib at our destination...plus her clothes, her bibs, towels, formula bottles, etc, etc, etc. Whew! Can't wait until she's on solids for good then she can just eat what we eat.
The night she got home, she had a little bit of a difficult time going down. I put her down at 6:30pm, she woke up crying at 7, rocked her back to sleep, then at 8, same thing, then at 9, same thing. Then at 9:30 I went in with a bottle, fed her, put her back to sleep and then she was fine. Slept until 6am the next day. By Monday, she was fine.
Yup, she's a fine traveller! We're off to the doctor's tomorrow for her 6 months wellness visit. Can't wait to see how much she weighs and how long she might be. She definitely feels heavier to me.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Squirmy Mcsquirmison

Dillon loooves to squirm these days. She will not sit still to take her bottle, sometimes insisting on flipping her head back so she is drinking upside down (am I concerned about the blood rushing to her head? Well, yes, but she has strong neck and back muscle now so she will fight it if I try to reposition her).
And, whether she is eating solids or drinking her formula, if she hears one noise (like the dogs walking or Greg moving around) she whips her head around to check out the noise. Messy, messy.
She also really likes to reach for her bottle on her own to feed herself, though she hasn't quite grasped the concept of feeding herself nor does she have the strength to hold the bottle, really. But, it's fun letting her practice. She'll whip the bottle out of her mouth and sit up, then reach for the bottle to put in her mouth but doesn't want to lean back in order for the milk to flow...so she chews on the nipple...I think this must just be fun and games to her. It cracks me up.

Monday, August 3, 2009

New skills...

Whoa, has it been THAT long since I've written in here? For shame, for shame. Dillon has been growing by leaps and bounds, acquiring new skills and just getting to be a lot of fun. Her new skill lately has been to grab things and then toss them on the ground with a forceful jolt of her hand. And when I am rocking her for her nap, that translates to grabbing a handful of mommy's hair and pulling it out of her head. Ouch! Thankfully, I am usually pretty good about keeping an elastic around my wrist to tie my hair up to prevent that.
However, last night, I forgot and as I am feeding her her bottle for bedtime, she is playing with my hair as it hangs in my face. I know there is a slight chance that she will pull it, but...what can I do? She tugged at it a little bit, but mostly just ran her fingers, her little hand back and forth through the strands. Very cute!
I've decided to get rid of Dillon's nighttime feedings. I just feel like she doesn't need them anymore...they were so sporadic and she mostly only drank 4 oz each time anyway. So...while Greg was away last week, I implemented my plan and just let her fuss/cry when she woke up. AND, the other thing that I've decided is waking up anytime before 6am is not allowed either so again, I would just let her do whatever she was doing (at 4, 5, 5:30am), whether it's playing or falling back asleep and pick her up only around 6am.
And now she sleeps until 7/8am-ish! I'm kinda cool with that!