Thursday, December 30, 2010

Potty training

Hey, I think we're kind of getting the hang of peeing in the potty! The other week, D was running around without her diaper on and she ran right over to her potty and peed! Yeay! We were all so proud and made a very big deal. Then, the other day she's pretending to go potty while mommy's in the bathroom and she actually did go pee in her potty! Again, very big deal! Called Daddy in to see and also make a big hullabaloo! Baby steps here.
Oh yeah, and the other week when she had so smartly gone to the potty to pee all on her own, she also did poop on the floor later without even batting an eye. It was as if she didn't even know she had poop coming out behind there. Just stood there. Odd. But like I said, baby steps.
This morning, I took D's diaper off and it seemed rather dry still so I asked her if she wanted to go pee on the potty. I took her into the bathroom. Told her to wait a minute while I find her a book and before I even got back, she had peed in her potty! Yeayyy!! Again, a very big deal all around. We even went upstairs to wake Daddy to tell him the good news!
Truly, this has just been experimentation since the book I am reading says the two signs that a child is ready to be potty trained is 1) She tells you when she has a dirty diaper and needs to be changed (D does not do that. In fact she seems to be perfectly content to sit in her own poop til someone discovers) and 2) she should be able to pull on and off her own pants. (well, that seems like a "duh") So right now we are just doing whatever and this whatever just seems to be working.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

An independent spirit

D has such a wonderful independent spirit in her. We just went to Chattanooga for a few days to take D swimming at a hotel that had an indoor pool. There's also a great discovery museum for kids there, plus some great dining for mom and dad.
I mean, this is what I love about D and her independence. She was watching a little girl jumping and swimming in the pool and D just wanted to take off and do the same. She kept saying, "Bao Bae tse chi yo yong." (Bao Bae swim by herself). I had to keep explaining to her that if I let her go, she would sink so instead kept trying to teach her how to hold her breath. Not an easy feat after all she can't really tell what I am doing when I hold my breath...if only we could color our breath...
Today we took her to a bouncy indoor play area called Monkey Joe's. D loved it and was running around and running around. She just was so crazed because she knew she couldn't hurt herself if she fell. It was awesome to see.
What was really funny was - there were these cars that you could ride for a quarter and of course, D loves to pretend like she's driving a car. (the more to be like Mom, I'm sure). But she doesn't just sit in the car and turn the wheel. She really turns that wheel with purpose. I mean, I looked at G and said, "Uhh, she is clearly going to be a speed demon when she grows up..." I don't know where she gets it from. I am a pretty mellow driver. I am certainly never speeding, but I think it's just innate in D to just be passionate. And maybe a little bit crazy.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Sugar high?

Christmas brunch:
Can't leave without eating dessert...which means, D too! She had some mini pumpkin pie, some chocolate dipped strawberries and rice krispy treats, Daddy topped off with a bite of some kind of berry tart and some kind of chocolate something or other.
Daddy: It's Christmas. It's fine if she indulges...can't wait to see when the sugar high kicks in.
Mommy: Hmm, really? I don't know. I don't think I ever see any hyperactivity ensue after she eats the muffins that I make or cookies. And that has sugar. Maybe it's the high fructose corn syrup. (shrug) We'll see.
Some minutes later in the elevator, D is jumping up and down.
Daddy: Here's the sugar high.
Mommy: Really? That fast? I'm not sure. She always likes jumping in elevators.
At home, it's naptime. Mommy puts D into her crib and shuts the door.
As usual, D chats to herself for a bit...
Then...(bang! bang! boom!) Apparently, D is jumping up and down in her crib so forcefully we can hear the crib knocking against the wall. Since there is no way to see her, we can only imagine she is "bouncing off the walls" a bit and then loud singing of "Jingle Bells!! Jingle Bells"
Ahh, there it is. There is the sugar high.
Mommy: Nice that D can work off her sugar high in her crib...and then fall asleep.
:o) Smiles all around.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Parenting myths

This is a funny video from ted.com. I enjoyed it since it's a little bit along the same lines as why I write my blog. Because parenting is not all sugar and sweet and roses...and why don't people tell you that? I always forewarn people that are pregnant, "Oooh, you don't want to talk to me. I have nothing good to say about the birthing, the parenting, the first few months..."

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Sittin in the lap of luxury

I just recently attended a friend's holiday party where I met this woman who had just given birth to a new baby - 12 days old to be exact. This woman looked fantastically rested and relaxed. I was amazed, of course (because I'm sure I didn't ever leave the house for the first month except to go to the dr and I'm pretty sure I didn't look so glowing). I asked her "What gives?"
She replied, "I live with my parents!" And went on to describe how wonderful it is because her mom has been a huge help. When the baby wakes up for a feeding in the middle of the night, her mother tiptoes in and gets the baby, feeds him, rocks him, tends to him.
I have another friend who recently gave birth and same scenario - baby is wonderful, life is wonderful. So easy. Piece of cake. And she too, has the luxury of her mother coming to care for the baby every Thursday and sometimes on weekends too!
THAT is certainly the secret of great parenting - when YOUR parents care for the child early on.
The problem for me in this equation is, have you met my mother? Yeah, no. She is not the nurturing kind (for that matter, have ya met me? yeah no. Not the nurturing kind.) As children we were never coddled and really, it takes the coddling kind to really want to take care of your kids, right? I am of the ilk - Hey, I raised you. I'm pretty sure I don't want to have to raise your kids too.
Luckily, for us G's mother is still a caregiver/caretaker. She still very much takes care of her husband (my parents are divorced), her family, her kids and when G's sister had her kids, her mother was really helpful. At the very least taking care of the meals and the house, etc.
Again, the problem with handing my child off to someone else to care for lies with me. I have a problem allowing someone else to care for D. It must be that control thing - "nobody else can do it as well as I would." Tsk! Tsk! Very bad trait to have. Really.
I mean, case in point - we were recently in Florida with G's parents. We were really tired so as soon as we got in, G's mom had announced, "We will take over entertaining D! You guys go get some rest!" So, we took a nap. Upon waking, the whole world had not collapsed! D was fine. G's mom reported they had gone to the grocery store, they walked around outside, D ate, she pooped. All was good.
Then, later as I was changing D's diaper, her butt was dirty! The butt crack was not cleaned properly (from when she had pooped). Eww! I did not make a big deal, but in my mind, I certainly filed that one away as "Upp, see, she's just not as good as I am (about cleaning up after D...)" So, of course, in the future I will still have reservations about leaving D alone with the grandparents! Sad. Well, I'm sure I'll reconsider when she's four.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Attachment parenting

Well, those who know me know that I am not a big fan of attachment parenting. Dr. Sears be damned! Who is HE to tell us that wearing our babies 24/7 is the proper way to nurture a child?? Sure, there are plenty of other cultures that do wear their newborns on their bodies for at least a year, but those are often underdeveloped countries where the mothers are probably out hunting and gathering too so having a baby strapped to your back is no big deal. Have you ever tried carrying your baby and typing on a computer? Or conduct a conference call? Not too much fun. How about cook a meal over hot fire with oil sparking up? Kind of dangerous.
When my friend, who kind of just fell into attachment parenting because she kind of just LOOVES her son too much to put him down was out visiting once, she did quote a part in the Dr. Sears book that says something to the effect of "you are hindering your child's development process when you let them CIO because they are wasting precious energy crying rather than being calmly nurtured and cuddled in their mothers arms."
That is ridiculous. On the contrary, I don't think D ever slept well while sleeping in my arms. A baby needs to sleep in order for her brain to develop and I don't believe that babies sleep long and hard while being carried. Unless, as a mother you too are sleeping? Who can sleep deeply in/on a moving vehicle? Whether it be a car or a mother?
But I digress. Suffice it to say I am not a fan of attachment parenting. However...somehow this child of mine is VERY ATTACHED to me. A mom friend of mine remarked the other day that a) she was surprised that D wasn't in the same room as me (sarcasm)...and then b) said, "Uhh, D is VERY ATTACHED to you."
Ummm. Yeah. She kind of is. What is up with that??
Well, if I do a little introspection (which I do a lot of...) I really have dug my own grave. It is not so much D that is attached to me I guess but rather I have spent the entirety of her life being attached to her! I know that I try to schedule my runs, my errands, my time away from her during her nap times or after she goes to bed. I tell myself that G has to work so I try not to make him have to watch her during working hours. But really, we all know G doesn't work THAT hard and he is fully capable of watching and caring for D for extended periods of time.
It's funny. People will say, "Ooh, that's so nice that the both of you work from home so D gets to spend time with both of you." That is true in a way, but what really has happened is that D gets me practically 100% of the time and then she just spends pockets of time with her dad. And even those pockets of time are not solo. I am always around. And because I get breaks throughout the day (when G plays with her) there is never that sense of "Here! You take her." That most stay at home moms get when they've been tending to their child all day and Daddy finally gets home.
That's one reason. Another could be because I am a bit of a control freak and I dunno, kinda need to have D with me as much as possible? Or could it really be that I love spending time with this child? Come on now? Really? Me? But, I don't like kids...
The reality is, yes, I love this child. I want to hug her and squeeze her and roll her up into a little ball to fit into my pocket! But, because I spend so much time with her, I start to get irritated over how what once were easy tasks are now made more difficult because I (have) to drag her around. I can't just run out to the store to grab something. I can't just walk through a grocery store and get the things I need and run out. Every task is a process. And yet, on the other hand the reward that comes from letting this process run its course is part of the fun, isn't it? Seeing how she discovers every little thing around her and calls everything that's spiral a snail or everything that has an open mouth a hippo that's yawning.
I'm conflicted.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Who ignores a hysterically crying baby??!!

I DO! That's who!! Uggh last night was horrible!! First of all, I should've minded my first instinct (at 12:30am) which was to ignore her cries and let her cry it out. But when I was listening to her cries, she at one point said, "Wo Ai Ne, Mama..." (That would be "I love you, Mama", for those reading that are not familiar with the Chinese language...) So, obviously my heart sank and I had to go in. Plus, I was not sure if she maybe had pooped. Considering, once when she was very young and we were in the midst of CIO training, she had cried out in her sleep and I ignored only to walk in in the morning to find D had puked. Whoops.
I went in, picked her up. Held her for a bit and then put her back down and told her she had to go back to sleep. I told her I would sleep next to her on the floor. She eventually fell asleep and I left the room. 10 minutes later, she's screaming bloody murder again! Uggh. So, back I go, into her room dragging my comforter with me. This time, though I change her diaper since I'm now thinking maybe her wet diaper is bothering her. This time, she is not having ANY of the "I'll be sleeping next to you on the floor." She is screaming at the top of her lungs, clearly very distraught and disappointed that I won't pick her up. Finally, I pick her up to see if she will actually sleep next to me on the floor.
The answer to that (which I knew) was obviously, No. And, she got up with a big smile like "Hey, it's morning! Let's go play!" Uhh, no. It was about 2 in the morning. Finally, I bucked up, put her in her crib and walked out the door. Ready to just let her cry it out. I HAD to! I know she does not actually sleep if I am holding her or even if I am sleeping next to her. She somehow manages to sleep with one eye open if I am anywhere near.
This time...this time when I leave the room she is hysterical! I mean, HYSTERICAL and crying and screaming "Where are you Momma?!! Where are you Momma?!" Oh gawd, the torture.
Thankfully, it is G who holds his wits about him and very sternly just states, "She needs to sleep. She needs to just cry it out." So...we wait and we wait and she cries and she cries. I finally feel like she has calmed down and has fallen asleep and I finally fall asleep around 3am. G informs me that he continued to hear her cries (even when she wasn't crying) for the rest of the morning. But, that she actually did give one last cry around 3:15am and then fell asleep for good.
WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT??! Anyhoo..poor girl had the worst puffy cry eyes in the morning. And, I think she held a bit of a grudge. I looked at her this morning and said, "Hi baby. You look very tired..." She looked at me with a bit of a "glare" (maybe daggers?) and turned her entire body away from me. Whoops again. What is a mother to do?

A feat

You know what's a real feat when there's a toddler in the house? NOT breaking your own neck! There is CRAP all over this place. Little pieces of what-nots all over the house that I am either stepping on, kicking or tripping over. Sure, I could be a little more diligent about picking up, but isn't it more fun to see how coordinated we can be in balancing and rebounding after tripping? It keeps the brain working...

Friday, December 10, 2010

Running up the stairs

Now whyyyy would I ask D to come upstairs with me "real quick" to get something?? "Real quick" and D don't quite mix...
D jumps up and says, "Yeah!!" Then she happily steps on the first step, then starts counting, "Two, Three, Four..." And then looks to the left and says, "Bye-bye Humphrey. We'll see you later. Bye-bye Ya-ya (duck). We'll see you later." What she's looking at to our left would be her play area that pretty much has all her toys. So, you see how this process of saying bye-bye to all her stuffed animals would pretty much make my trek upstairs a moot process.
Why do I do that to myself? Oh yeah, that's right. Because nature has made a mother's brain mush so she constantly forgets all the stupid things that happen so instead of taking steps to avoid, we go and do it again. Kinda like getting pregs again. Now whyyy would I do that? Oh yeah, that's right - cuz I forget how painful and irritating childbirth was...right?

Monday, December 6, 2010

Noooo, I don't want toooooo...

Okay, let's get something straight here, D. I don't know where you got that phrase from (me, perhaps), but you better unlearn it fast.
"Noooo I don't want tooooo...." all day, every day. All sing-songy and whiney. And for effect, she sometimes throws herself down on the floor. Great...

Saturday, December 4, 2010

I working

Oh goodness...oftentimes D plays and will walk around with a little tote hanging from her arm and say, "Bye! I leaving. I go working." Yes, we know she gets that from daddy running off to work some days. But today, today takes the cake. She is sitting down in front of daddy's computer and saying, "I working!" Then, she asks daddy where his phone is. She gets his cell phone, puts it up to her ear and starts typing on the computer saying, "I working!" Now, that she gets from mommy. That's crazy.
But a funnier story is when we were in Puerto Rico with our friends last week. They have an almost three year old son. One night as we were all hanging out, we had the music playing and D right now looves to dance. So she's dancing around and we tell D's little friend, A to dance. He looks around, finds the mini remote control for the iHome and holds it to his ear like a phone then starts bouncing up and down and dancing! Whaaat??!! And when A puts the mini remote down, D proceeds to pick it up and dance around with the "cell phone" to her ear.
Amazing...really. And it really is funny to see because there would be times where D and A will be sitting next to each other on the couch, silent, both intently staring at the iPhones in their palms. A is watching a movie and D is playing games on mommy's phone.
And yet, we look at each other and here we are - Daddy's on his iPad, A's dad is on his iPad...then we are passing A's iPad around playing Scrabble among all of us. What technology-laden lives we lead.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Like mother, like daughter

And in this case...may not be such a good thing.
D has been working to cultivate her dirty look. Now, the dirty look is something I save only for my nearest and dearest. :o) And I am quite proud of my "evil eye" It drives G crazy.
Apparently, I have noticed that when D is being bad sometimes, I can't help but give her the dirty look because I can't think of anything else to do aside from screaming at her and shaking her (which obvi is a no-no).
So, I have seen her slanting her eyes and looking in the mirror to check her look out.
The other evening (oh, it was the night of my birthday dinner) she wanted to eat something like a cookie and I had said, "Okay, D, but can you at least just take one more bite of your food?"
Oh, she whipped out a pretty darn good representation of the "evil eye" as she took her last bite of food. My best friend in the whole wide world was there to witness it!!
We were both cracking up!! Uh-oh...watch old world...

Advancing

Wow, I am now a firm believer that when a child is really starting to pick up words and forming sentences, one should spend as much time as possible socializing with adult friends/family and older children!
We recently took D to New York and to LA, just for fun and to visit with friends and family but because she was exposed to all conversation, I swear her vocabulary has expanded by leaps and bounds! She literally will parrot almost everything she hears and then she sits and processes how the words are used, in what context.
One thing that D has been saying lately that I think is really neat is - after we go somewhere fun, like the zoo or the playground, she will say, "Was that fun??" And then I repeat it back to her and she responds, "Yeah!!"

Memory game

I would love to play the memory game with D. She has a fantastic memory. About three months ago or more, I was going through her shoes - ones that we had forgotten she had - and was trying them on her feet. Some were too small and had never been worn! So, I had said, "Ooh, what a bummer..." to the ones that didn't fit. I think she had repeated me at the time.
Today, I was looking through that same closet to make sure I didn't have any long-forgotten shoes loitering in there and D picked up one of the too small shoes, held it up to me and said, "What a bummmmer...." It took me a few minutes to figure out what she was saying since I had long forgotten we even said that! Amazing.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Waking up to singing

Okay, I LOOOVE animals. Animals of all kinds - even if you are a raccoon or coyote raiding our campsite. G and I took D camping again last night. This would be her second time. I think she thoroughly enjoyed it.
So, early this am, I am awakened by rustling outside by our trash bag (that sits maybe 1 foot away from our tent). It's on a post, but we forgot to close it. So, it could've a been a raccoon, but due to how high it was above our heads, we are inclined to think it might've been a canine-type of some sort. Ooh boy would I have LOVED to see it..in the dark. Even maybe just it's silhouette. Sadly, we had the rain tarp over the tent so the windows were covered. Boo.
So, it was really lovely to hear the rustling. But, better still was when D started to wake up (sure, it was probably around 5:30am) and this is what we hear. We hear her singing (in her super cute baby voice), "Somewhere...pale moonlight" "Somewhere...pale moonlight" Oh, my heart just about melted.
Now let me give you some backstory. Ever since D was young, I've sung to her. Not because I have a great voice (or even a good voice). I just thought some singing would soothe her and it actually does. It works GREAT. However, now that she can speak she is often ordering me to sing, "Mama! Tsang ge!" (English: Mama, sing!) So, I always defer to the only song I kinda know all the words to which is Somewhere Out There from American Tale - Fievel's song. :o)
And then I'll also sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. But lately, since she is always telling me to sing, I've been singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Mary Had a Little Lamb so as to save poor G's ear drums. I figure you can't really butcher up the melody on the latter two songs...
She often will say, "Mama! Tsang Mewy Lam" and I will sing Mary Had a Little Lamb. She's never really asked me to specifically sing either of the grown up songs. Probably because she couldn't really articulate.
So I was so surprised and happily gushing to hear her sing the lyrics as she knows them. SOO CUTE!
And then on the car ride home this afternoon she says, "Mama! Tsang Over the Rainbow?" OMG!! I was floored! Well, of course I can sing that for you!
The funny thing is, when G tries to join in, she says, "No. No daddy sing." And yesterday, when we were driving to the campground and she was really overtired and crying to have me sing to her, she went bananas when G tried to join in. She was already very teary-eyed while I was singing to her and when G joined in, she lost it and was screaming, "No! NOooooo! No daddy sing!!"

Success! And then accident!

Today, D was running around without a diaper. I've been letting her go bare-bottom b/c she gets such crazy rashes. She ran into the bathroom and pulled out her porta-potty. Then sat in it, then brought her step stool over to throw her feet up (don't know where she got that from...really!), paused and then got a book. She sat down again and then surprised me and her by peeing! Oh, I made such a big show. "Yeay!! Good job! You pee'd! Yeayy!" Then daddy came over and congratulated her also.
A couple of hours later, we are skyping with the grandparents and she pees on the floor. She started to cry but only a little. She was not as distraught as the first time so that's good. But then again, is it good? Perhaps she will end up thinking it's okay to pee anywhere? Fun. The joys of parenthood.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Oopsie! A little accident...

So D lately has been really insistent on not wearing her diapers. She likes to just run around bare-bottomed and last night, she actually said she had to go pee-pee after the bath and I put her on the little potty and she might've peed just a weee bit (no pun intended).
Today, she didn't want to wear her diaper so I said, fine. Just let her pull her pants up.
We left the house to run some errands and when we got back, she had fallen asleep in her car seat.
I put her in her crib and announced to G, "Well, this should be interesting. D is sleeping without any diaper on..." Heheh!
Not a problem! D woke up bone dry. I asked her if she had to pee and she said no. So we piddled (no pun intended here, either) around the house and eventually sat her in her high chair to have some snacks. At which point, after some cookies and some cheese, she peed!! Right in her high chair and onto the floor. She was mortified and cried and cried.
I whipped her out of the chair, took her to her potty and tried talking her through the whole thing..."It's okay D. You pee'd! It's a good thing that you pee'd but you should pee on the potty."
She was so sad. She cried and cried, but still announced she didn't want to wear her diaper.
Ummm...I might've just sabotaged our future potty training efforts. Ugggh! I sure hope not. I better hurry up and read that potty training book! Get a jump start on this stuff!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Chinese child-rearing vs. other cultures

I'm not familiar with other parenting styles, but I am getting a good idea of how the Chinese do it based on watching our Chinese nanny and recalling what it was like growing up in a Chinese household...
For the Chinese, it's all about the competition. You have to be better than the other person. Doesn't matter who it is or what the task is, you should try to beat the other person. Also, they are big on "outward appearances"... I can't quite describe it but let me try to explain it to you.
This morning, when Nanny showed up ("N"), D was crying. She was crying because she didn't want to hang out with N (despite the fact that they seemed to have a great time together last Tuesday). As is customary, oftentimes when D is crying and I see no reason for her to be crying, I just put her down. So, she is crying her little eyes out and of course, N goes in to rescue her.
I hear N in the room saying, "Don't cry D...look at all your friends. They are all laughing at you. You don't want them laughing at you, do you?"
Thank GOODNESS D is not old enough to understand that!! I was really irritated at hearing that! But, there is a little bit of a language barrier so I didn't want to go in and reprimand the N. But I did not like that one bit. Had the N been able to speak English, I would kindly explain to her that in this household we don't speak to our child that way. If she is crying, we try to appease her and ask her what's wrong and we try to divert her attention. (Or as I mentioned above, we leave her on the floor) :o) We do NOT tell her all her dollies/stuffed animals are laughing at her. What is UP with that??
And whenever we are sitting down and eating, the N, who is tasked with feeding D, will undoubtedly remark, "Look who's eating the fastest. Let's compete with mommy and see who can finish faster."
I also hate that. I do not like to foster competition in my child. Doing well in life is not about how you measure up against others. It's about how you measure up against yourself.
I can't help but reflect back to my own childhood and how often my mother would say, "You got what grade?! So-and-so-got an A..." Yeah...that never worked on me. I didn't care what other people got. I got what I got and I'm not working any harder than I feel like it. But that was me. My sister, on the other hand worked her A** off to remain competitive in her/my mom's circle of friends. Sure, she was a straight A student but where did it get her in life? It got her an anal sense of being and an overly stressed personality. No thanks.
I might have to get rid of the Chinese N. D can learn Chinese at Chinese school.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

The mosquito bite

D has had an open/healing wound on her face for probably more than a month now. G and I are crazy over it. We can't stand the sight of it and it's taking forever to heal because not only does D tend to sleep on her face (rubbing the wound on her flat sheet), but she also tends to pick at it. It doesn't seem to bother her - it's just something to pick at.
It started as a mosquito bite that she scratched and became an open wound. Then somehow it became two boo-boos. Then while we were trying to fix it with liquid band-aid, somehow all the messing around seemed to give her a pimple so now it's three open wounds! NOTHING helped. The liquid bandaid just made her want to touch it more.
It's finally come down to driving her around for her naps to make sure she doesn't touch it while trying to go down for a nap. While I drive, I keep the mirror on her and sometimes I catch her hand moving up to her face and I have to snap at her, "Don't touch your face!!!"
After she goes down, I sneak into her room and put a band aid on her face. This inevitably finds its way off of her face by the time we go in to pick her up from her nap, but at least she's picking at the band aid, and hopefully, not her face. The band aid also keeps her wounds from being rubbed on the flat sheet.
Lamented to my sister about this mess yesterday and she gave me the brilliant idea of also putting band aids over D's fingers so she can't scratch them! So, that is what I did today. Drove her around. Then put her in her crib fast asleep. I then snuck in, slapped a band aid on her face then two little round band aids around her two fingers on her right hand (pointer and middle). We'll see how we fare with this....I hope it doesn't leave a permanent scar.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Oh waddle, waddle

Go away...don't come back any day...
Yes, in my old age, I have the arm waddle. Anyone ever watch "Ally McBeal"? That show often referenced the "waddle" the extra sagging skin that hangs out between your chin and your neck. Usually happens to older people. Well, I have the arm waddle - the extra skin that hangs out on the underside of your upper arm between the armpit and the elbow.
Usually, I avoid noticing the arm waddle by never waving my arms up high. When I see people, I wave with a little crooked arm and a curving of my fingers to indicate "hi"! However, it is made painfully (pun intended) evident when D wants to play the "night-night game" (play napping) on the ground and as I am lying there with my arm outstretched, she comes over and either steps on or kneels on my arm waddle! Since it is obviously lying flat on the ground, outstretched from my arm. Pool girl thinks she is siddling up to me all snuggly and I'm writhing in pain because she's on my waddle. Curses.

Be careful what you wish for

I think ever since D was born I'd been saying, "I can't wait 'til she can speak!!" And all the other parents would say, "Uh-no. You don't want that. Then they don't stop and they keep asking questions and they talk back.." And I would respond, "No way, I can't wait to hear what fun things she comes up with as back talk!"
Well, D is not quite at the back talking or questioning stage yet, but she does certainly know her words. And while she can say some things, she can't finish her thoughts sometimes.
For instance, the other day she kept saying, "Owieeee!" when I put her shoe on her foot. (Okay, D, I know your shoe is a bit small but we don't have one size bigger yet. Just deal.) But then after repeated "owies", I took her shoe off only to find a large pebble stuck in the front. Whoops! See, if she could only have just said, "Owie! My toe!" Then I would've known right away.
And now that she knows how to say, "Walk" and "tsu chuee" (outside, in Chinese) she will use it when we are somewhere (usually in a group of friends or at a friend's house) and she is bored of her current state.
Case in point, the other night our friends, R and M had us over for dinner. Of course, being the lame mother that I can be sometimes, I neglected to bring any toys for D and R and M don't have kids and kind of have a very clean house so nothing laying around for her to play with. D was fine for the first hour or two but shortly after dinner and before dessert, she kept saying, "Tsu Chuee. Tsu Chuee" That's when I know it's time to go...she's bored.
Imagine being younger and being bored and not having the words to express that she wants outta here! Hmm, perhaps life was a bit better before she knew her words...Just kidding. I really love that D can speak. Even if she is always saying, "Mama, walk." when she wants outta certain situations.

She's your very own personal playmate

The nanny. Yes, she is! It's a revelation for D today. For the first time in I don't know how many weeks, D has actually taken to her Chinese speaking nanny and has been playing with her all morning! I was JUST going to write an entry complaining about how I can't seem to get anything done. Before having a child I was great about doing the laundry - getting it all cleaned, folded and put away on the same day. Mopping the floors every week...ironing..
And yet, just yesterday I was staring at the pile of clothes that had been laundered and folded (last week), but not put away. And then I walked into the closet and sighed to see the laundered pile of clothes from months and months ago that needed ironing. I thought to myself, "Why can't I get anything done?? Laundry sits around for days before getting folded..ironing sits for months."
And now, this morning has been so productive! Got my work done, put the laundry away and finally ironed the clothes! It's a wonderful feeling. I'm finally benefitting from having a nanny twice a week.

Monday, October 4, 2010

A little sweetness

But first an Uh-oh...D fell asleep in the midst of biting into a piece of apple! This car-riding to sleep thing is like an Ambien! It lulls her right to sleep. And I thought it was really cute that she fell asleep with a bit of apple in her mouth. Thought it would be funny to keep in her mouth to show to her daddy when I got inside the house. Well....turns out not such a great idea. Dad was on a conference call and then she started kind of chewing the apple and now she's sleeping in her crib with a piece of apple in her mouth!! I tried to pry it out but every time I moved it around in her mouth, she would start chewing a bit. Oh goodness. Will try and go in again soon to dislodge it. Ayayayay...
Okay, now onto a bit of sweetness. Yesterday morning as D was playing around in her room, I was on the ground with her and I said, "Ching-ching!" (Kiss in Chinese). So she saunters over to me and ever so sweetly kisses me. Then says, "Ching-ching nose" and kisses my nose. Then, "Ching-ching eye!" and kisses my eye. Then, "Ching-ching head" and kisses my head! D then stands back with a big proud grin on her face and I, of course am beaming from happiness!
Then at breakfast, she is eating some oranges with yogurt. So she has yogurt all over her face and mouth and she says to her daddy, "Kiss! Kiss!" So he leans in and gives her a kiss and when he stands back up, she is all proud and says, "I loob you daddy!!"
Awwww!! G and I just looked at each other and were like, "Awww, that is so cuuute!!!"

Friday, October 1, 2010

Hippo

D has a great sense of imagination! We have this wooden bench on our front porch and to her, it looks like a hippo! One day as she was playing on it, she just said, "Hippo. Hippo dah ha chien." Which means, "Hippo yawning." How cute is that?
Now sometimes she will just refer to the bench as Hippo! Check it out for yourself!

Round and round...

I don't know if any of you have checked out DM's blog lately. If you have, you'd see that she has this nasty little mosquito bite on her cheek that has become a terrible looking scar and then another boo-boo right by it that also has scarred. This scab thing, open wound has been plaguing us for at least a month!!! Darn Mosquitos! Wouldn't have this mess to deal with if we were living somewhere sane like LA...or SF...
Anyhoooo, D has this terrible mosquito bite that just doesn't get better because, 1) she picks at it as she is falling asleep (no bandaids can keep her from it) and 2) she often sleeps on her face and then rubs her face on the sheet and that irritates the scab too.
So, in order to avoid excess face picking I have now been relegated to driving her around and around until she falls asleep for her naps. Otherwise, if I just put her in her crib, she will just pick and pick as she is talking, singing, what not until she tires and falls asleep.
We still have the problem of her possibly picking at the scab when she awakens (in the morning or from her naps) but while I do go in there and put bandaids on her face while she is asleep, they are almost never still there when I go to get her. Sigh.
It kills us. We hate the thought of her forming a scar because of stupid little mosquito.
I have heard of parents who would drive their children around so they could fall asleep, but I had never been one that had to do it. Now I have become one and yup! It's just as I would've imagined - Annoying.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Who's your daddy??

Who cares? "mama" is the word of the day, month, maybe year. :o)
When D was born, I was sure she was going to be "Daddy's girl". Not only because G is certainly the cooler of the two of us, but because truly he loves her more!! His heart hurts when she cries. I just shoot daggers at her. Okay, I don't. My eyes just glaze over cuuuuz..I don't care when D cries.
But, nonetheless, D wakes up every morning and every naptime calling out MY name. When she is playing, she often calls ME over to sit with her.
I ain't gonna lie, it certainly is heart-warming. I love this child. :o) How egotistical of me, I know.
This was never more apparent than on our recent trip out to SF. We were at a friend's house and I passed D to G because I had to use the restroom. Surprisingly, D started wimpering and crying despite G's reassurance that mommy was coming right back. Shocking, really.
But more surprising was what happened to today. She had come out from her nap. We were hanging out and then G came to hang out with us. He asked her if she wanted to watch reading, which is to watch her "Your Baby Can Read" DVD and she said, "Yes."
So, D and G are watching the video and I walk across to the couch and announce, "I'm gonna take a nap."
Shortly after I shut my eyes, I guess D started crying. We didn't know why. And then she was saying, "Mama. Mama" And I would just open my eyes and say, "Yes Bao Bae" And then G would say, "Mama is napping" and then that would set the tears flowing again! That is so weird.
And G tells me, "It was so weird. She was just standing at the table, watching the video and her eyes just started welling up and then she started crying."
Awww...pooor baby! She's just yummily adorable.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Putting two and two together

I don't know why I find babies so fascinating! The other day D and I were at the community center where we've taken her skating before. Usually, the cc has their gym open on Fridays for open skating. So D says to me, "Lio bing, lio bing" (which, obvi, means "rollerskating" in Chinese).
And I replied, "No, sorry baby. They are closed today. (The cc was getting their floors redone).

D thinks about my reply for a second and says, "Chiao Chiao" ("Knock", as in knock on the door in Chinese). And then says and motions at the same time, "Kai men. Kai men" which means "open the door" in Chinese.

Isn't that amazing?! It's crazy how they can put two and two together!!

Monday, August 30, 2010

Gutter mind

Yes, we are not talking about D here. We are talking about me. If you know me, you know that my mind is constantly in the gutter...
I'm sure I've posted before on how tragic baby games can be and what it sounds like when you are commending them on their play. For instance, "Wow, great job D. Put the stick in the hole. Yes! Good job!" Errm...hello...
And now D is picking up almost everything we say. I mean, I say, "Deeelicious!!" every day but does she pick up on that word? Hardly ever. I think she said it once when my friend was over and said it to her.
But, no she is constantly saying "Shut Up!" all day long...I exclaimed that ONCE while out with a friend!
And today, we are in the car and G's driving. Sometimes he jokes around and will have me feel his muscle or look at his pecs or whatever. So today he's in the car and he says, "Honey, feel my forearms!" And I feel them and I say, "Wow, so muscular..." and because I have a gutter mind, I add, "must be from all the jacking off". I said that rather quietly, mind you but NEXT THING YOU KNOW, D's in the back repeating, "Jacking off!" "Jacking off"
To which I replied, "Jacket off, sweetie? You want your jacket off? Okay!"
G and I are totally cracking up and TOTALLY trying to ignore what she just said lest she thinks it's a good phrase to pick up...like "shut up."

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Oh reeaaally...is THAT how it is...

We were riding in the car the other day and D was probably getting a bit tired. That's when she tends to start screaming for food, "Eat! Eat! Eat!" even if she's not really hungry.
Anyhoo...she wanted a snackie so I gave her some snackies in a small container. Just some raisins and some of the airy cheerio type things.
A couple minutes later I turned around and saw that she had dropped some of the cheerios on herself so I said, "Uh-oh, bao bae. Did you make a mess?"
And she replied, "No. No." Shaking her head.
I responded saying, "Yes, you did. You made a mess."
Not two seconds later, she looked straight at me and dumped the rest of the container's contents all over herself and her car seat.
Oh yes, she did. I looked at G and said, "Can you believe that she purposely just dumped all the contents of her snack container b/c I accused her of making a mess? I saw it in her eyes!!"

Thursday, August 26, 2010

In denial

Yesterday as I was walking D back from some play time at the park, randomly a car passes by with two girls in it. The passenger was kicking back with her leg up on the dashboard and the driver looked like she was having fun too and just sipping from a fountain soda...and all of a sudden, I just thought to myself, "Hmm, I remember carefree days. Who ever would have thunk that I would be that woman, walking down the street pushing a stroller..containing my child no less..."
It was a weird moment in my mind.
I guess love makes you do crazy things because I distinctly remember the day I looked at G and thought, "I want to have your child." Meanwhile...having a child never, ever crossed my mind in any years prior. It's no picnic. Sure, she's great and we have so much fun with her and she keeps us laughing....but, she also keeps these bags perpetually under my eyes. And she keeps me from just jetting off and going places. Not being remorseful here, just pondering...thoughtful, if you will...

Friday, August 20, 2010

Cool website alert!

IF you are like me and sometimes find yourself uninspired in the kitchen. I just happened upon this blog the other day and it looks pretty good for nutritious recipes - Daily Diner.
I especially like her description:

I am a certified nutrition educator working as a Healthy Eating Specialist for Whole Foods Market in Arlington, VA.

My family recently relocated to the Washington DC Metro area (from California) and we are in a time of transition.

I love food, and approach nutrition from a love of eating.

We make regular American food, such as hamburgers and french fries, and make them with nutrient dense, real, sustainable ingredients.

Animals eaten are free range or grass fed, or wild caught.

Produce is local and seasonal.

Legumes and grains are dry, soaked and often sprouted.

Food is always "clean" (without funky ingredients and artificial preservatives)

Each week, I meal plan (and post) 4-6 dinners. 4-6 dinners a week seems to be enough to keep a budget down, and not overwhelming.

I mean, what more can you ask for?? A woman after my own heart.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

A couple of things...

One: I think we've sunken to a new low. We've apparently taken D to Costco for dinner...Whaaat?! You might ask? - But Costco only sells pizza, hot dogs and ice cream. Yeah, no. We've taken her around and given her samples for dinner. Yup! That's us. The Vitamix woman was there giving demonstrations so D got a fruit smoothie, a greens smoothie and some strawberry ice cream. Then, it just so happens that they were handing out samples of brown rice and quinoa. Sweet! Grains and protein to round out her meal. Okay, we're off to home and then to bed. :o)

Two: On the subject of smoothies, I think we have our very own Victoria Beckham on our hands. Ooh, I don't mean that I think D is beautiful and smart and will build her own empire one day (though I'm also not saying she won't) but what I mean is - D spends all day saying "moothie! moothie!" This girl is all about her liquid diet. After eating up all those smoothie samples from Costco, she came home and demanded MORE smoothies! So, I gave her the rest of the smoothie I made from this morning and then G made soup for dinner. Ayayay...what have we done?!

Mama, jerk!

Yes, well, I guess I deserved it.
This morning, D asked me to make her a smoothie. So I did. I love making her smoothies. But did she drink it? No. She proceeded to play with it, dipped her fingers in it though I kept saying, "No, sweetie, let's not play with it. You need to drink it."
Then she dipped more of her fingers into it and rubbed it all in her hair and the side of her face, her neck....
At which point, I took it away and poured it down the drain.
Then Daddy comes down and picks her up and she says, "Smoothie. Smoothie"
Daddy asks, "D, you want a smoothie?"
To which I replied, "No, she asked for one earlier. I made it and she just rubbed it all over her hair. She's just being a jerk."
Next thing I know, she's saying, "Mama, jerk. Mama, jerk."
G and I are silently laughing now...I mean, seriously. This girl is smart.
I better watch what I say...

Monday, August 16, 2010

It's all in the presentation

D...she's a tough one. Lately, she has learned some new words that she likes to use - pancake, smoothie, milk, water (I mean, she's known milk and water for months now but she's really getting into them now) I mean, now she just likes to throw around "milk" and "water" to get some and then play with them. No thank you very much.

So, today she says she wants a smoothie. Second day in a row! No problem, I make her a kale, tomato, pear, blueberry and yogurt smoothie with some flax seed thrown in. I serve it to her in a bowl b/c lately it seems like if she has it in a cup and there is a bowl nearby, she will pour it into the bowl anyhow. Thought I'd just save her a step.

Nope, not gonna have it. She just looked at the smoothie. What's that? So she takes her smoothie (in a bowl) and pours it into another bowl that she had emptied. Then just sort of stared at it. Okaaay...so I put the smoothie away. Then, when I was giving her water from a mini cup, I decided to put some smoothie into it AND give her a straw! That did it! She was totally into it then. She ended up finishing the entire serving of smoothie.

Crazy how that works.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

The Chinese...

Y'know...I don't know what it is about the Chinese...but there is one thing that they do that irritates me when I see it happening.
When a baby is crying, say, mine for instance, my mom or whoever other Chinese is in the room will say, "Aya, bu yao ku. Ni ku chi lai lian jeo how nan kan." Which translates as "ooh, stop crying. Your face is so ugly when you cry..."
I hate that. I have an Asian nanny who comes twice a week for a few hours and today D was out of control crying (possibly b/c she was so distraught over last night's babysitting gig that she was on high alert today) and our nanny was saying that.
I didn't have the heart reprimand her since I know it's kind of a Chinese thing. My mom does it too. But I really dislike when they say that b/c I don't want D to be the type of baby who thinks beauty is all that it's about. Who CARES if their face is ugly when they cry?? Just cry. Do what makes you feel better, darling.
Eh, so anyhow, I didn't reprimand the nanny b/c she only comes two days a week and D is hardly ever crying when she is around. Today was just a fluke.

Bribery 101

We have an amazing babysitter. I just love her because she is so very sweet and you know she is great with kids. We had tried to offer her a nanny position for us, but she had to take a full time job elsewhere so we get our fix by having her babysit. :o)
Last night, we had R come to babysit and here is why she is a great babysitter.
She showed up half an hour before we were due to leave (like we had scheduled) and I walked her through a couple reminders: Bedtime routine, all the stuff for dinner, pajamas, etc. And I gave her a quick rundown of a couple Chinese words D might use and what they mean: "bao-bao" - pick her up and most importantly, "Bing gan" - cookie. But I had to whisper that b/c D has eagle ears and if she had heard she would have bolted the the kitchen and asked for some. And I gave her specific instructions that if D asked for some, she could give her some but only two and that's it. Fine.
So off we go on our merry way. D, these days has been very clingy. So, we said our goodbyes and she was wailing. Fine, we just left. When we got home we asked how the night was and this is what R said:
Well, I had to give D some cookies...
I said, "Oh, she asked for some?"
And R replied, "Well, nooo....I kind of offered them to her...well, she was inconsolable when you guys left and was crying for like five minutes. Then I remembered you mentioned the cookies, what was the word? 'Binban'? So, I said, "Binban?" And she instantly stopped crying and nodded her head."
I just laughed. I loved that story.
Now, what makes R the best babysitter is not the fact that she bribed D, but the fact that she even remembered the word for cookie!!! I LOVE that girl!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Water play in the house?

Yeah...I was kind of having a good day yesterday. Good day meaning I was actually not "seeing red" every time D sat down to eat. Not so much the previous day when she started the day fussing and overturning her entire cup of milk. Which prompted me to just vacuum and mop the floors. Of course, during dinner, she spilled the contents of her soup bowl onto the floor. Sigh...
I try and I try not to get so aggravated but it is such a challenge for me.
Apparently, I have little patience for hmm...my child??
BUT! I am seriously working on it and yesterday was a good day.
She wanted to play with water and I didn't feel like going outside cuz we'd already gotten enough mosquito bites to dot most exposed portions of our skin so I let her play with a bucket of water on the kitchen floor. I gave her specific instructions not to spill. Hah! She started to transfer contents of one pail into her rolling bucket. That was fine until all of a sudden, she slipped in the water and knocked over the whole pail. Whoops.
I didn't even flinch (and surely that's nothing to report probably for most people...but for me, it's a small feat), I just picked up a towel and dried everything off. All the while just speaking at an even tone to D and explaining what I was doing. The key here is that I didn't flinch. Under normal circumstances, I might've gotten mad but not shown it since I knew it wasn't her fault. But I know that's not good enough because oftentimes it's hard for me to suppress my anger. So I felt good about not getting mad at all. It's just water, after all...just as it's just food, it's just milk, it's NO BIG DEAL.
Hard lessons to learn for me.
I went about my merry day all day feeling pretty mellow - with D doing her baby things, dropping food all over the floor and me just happily wiping it up. :oD
I feel pretty good. I hate when I lose it and I really am trying hard to be more patient.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Sleep is good..or maybe sleep is great

D had a monster nighttime sleep last night. I put her down a little after 7:30pm and she didn't wake up this morning until close to 8:30am! Cool! I wonder if the rain and darkened skies had anything to do with it?
Regardless, she was just a powerhouse of knowledge this morning.
When I picked her up from the crib, I brought her to the window to show her how it had rained. Saying in Chinese, "It rained last night. It's all wet outside." To which she responded, "Wet!"
And then continued to say, "Da lay" (lightening - which is something we talked about when it rained last time.) Then she said, "Umbrella!" Whoa...this girl was pulling out all the words that she knew corresponded with rain. That was pretty cool.
Then I'm feeding her breakfast and I'm making sliced oranges with yogurt. She's saying, "Orange, orange" as I'm pulling it out of the fridge but her pronounciation is more like, "oranch, oranch"
And while we are eating, she always likes to eat what I'm eating even if we are having the same exact thing so I give her a scoop of my yogurt. And she announces after she eats it, "Yogurt"!
Whaat?! This girl is on a roll today. And that's not the end.
We are on the staircase just sitting and playing and she is having me pet her stuffed giraffe, the entire time saying, "Muo, muo" which means "pet" in Chinese. The she announces, "PET!" as we are stroking the giraffe. I was all excited and so proud of her. Then she announces, "PAT!" and pats her own back and then pats mine!!
I am telling you...it's crazy. All this before noon.
On the flip side, she is so cognizant of everything that is going on, that she intentionally screams and carries on when I am on the phone. She refuses to go play by herself and latches onto me so I can't hear a word of conversation. Hello? I am not usually on the phone when I am watching her obviously but if it's my boss, I do try to pick up. And here I have this crazy child making all sorts of noises so we can't even have a civilized conversation.
Right now, as I am typing this it's making me crack up at how smart she is, but at the time that she is carrying on, I feel a tad embarrassed and maybe a smidge irked that I can't just say, "Shhh, be quiet" and have her understand me.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Raising our Children, Raising Ourselves

This is the book I am currently reading...Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves.
Clearly I need to move faster to get through this book. Currently only on page 19 or 20...
One of the points made early on is, obviously, stop to think before you actually react (unfavorably) to an action your child has committed. In this one section, it says to - take a moment and act out in your mind what you would like to do - yell, scream, tear her head off (the last four descriptors would be my own).
Today I am having one of those days. I want to tear D's head off because she will constantly say, "Milk, milk" so I give her her milk but instead of drinking it, she likes to turn the sippy cup around and spill it all over the place. All over her hands, her shirt..whatever. She is playing with her milk. And sometimes now she doesn't eat her food, she wants to play with it.
Yeah, sure, "it's a baby's job to play with her food..." But not if I have to be the one to clean it up. Yes, I have my days where I am easy breezy and I just do whatever. Keep giving her food, milk, snacks and clean up after her mess. But then I have my agro days where I am ready to kill someone because she keeps playing with her food. I feel like she's old enough to know exactly what I am saying and she needs to heed. But, then after I stop and think I think, "well, I know she knows she's not supposed to be doing this, but she is doing it anyway because she wants attention...." Boohoo. Poor neglected baby. Blah.
Yes, off to read this book immediately after I put her to bed!!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Oh happy days

You know what warms my heart? It's looking into the rearview mirror and seeing D happily eating her snacks out of one container and then picking up her water bottle with her other hand and having a drink now and then - All by herself. I love this autonomy. I do. It's awesome.
On the other hand, as I am watching D develop into a little human being...I fear what kind of personality she will ultimately have. More so, I fear how our relationship is going to pan out because I already see that when her father speaks sternly to her, her lips start to tremble and she starts bawling. But when I speak sternly to her, she laughs outright. WHHAATT?? What's going on here? Yes, she laughs and just continues to do what I've just told her not to do. I throw my hands up in the air. What to do with this child...I don't know. We shall see...we shall see.

Head plant

Oh lordy...recently I have been putting D into the product portion of shopping carts (instead of the secured seat up in the front) because it seems to thrill her to be riding where she is looking ahead and actually sitting down low. I think you may have an idea where this entry is headed...no pun intended.
The other day, G and I were at Costco. We placed D in the big section of the cart and had stopped wheeling for a minute and were engrossed in a conversation about my sunglasses which I had just dropped and the lens had popped out. Next thing I see is D going over the railing of the cart (me screaming bloody murder from shock) and then D landing on her back on the floor. Costco, mind you, has cement floors. However, from the look on D's face, she seemed to be fine but went berserko after she heard my banshee scream. That probably scared her more, though I don't doubt her whole body might've hurt after the initial shock of the fall.
Ohhh, my poor baby...it all happened so fast! Who knew Costco's shopping carts were so low in the railings. D was very sad, but not inconsolable, thankfully.
All's well.

Monday, June 21, 2010

A moment of pride

We attended a wedding this past weekend and to prep for Dillon's first night with a babysitter, we had our sitter come the weekend before to watch D for a couple hours while we went to catch a movie. Apparently, the first babysitting gig went all right. She cried for a minute when we left, then played and then after a few hours I guess must've realized that she hadn't seen G or myself materialize in a while and according to R, the sitter, she then started saying, "Mama" and looking around and then started crying. Half an hour later, we came home to a baby with big fat alligator tears welling up in her eyes. All-in-all, not too bad.
So, we were a little bit nervous with leaving her for the night with someone else to put her to bed. Mind you, D has never been put to bed by anyone other than myself and G. Once, we left D to be put to bed by her grandparents (Yieyie, Nainai and Popo - yup, all three) and she had all three in a tizzy b/c she bawled her eyes out the minute one would try to leave the room. Finally, my mom (Popo) who has seen how I deal with a crying D, just told G's mom (nainai) to leave her be. She will eventually fall asleep. And she did.
Alas, all our worry was for naught. R showed up about an hour before we were to leave the house. She played with D while I was getting ready and then we (G and I) both held her for a bit before we actually left. All was good! The report when we got home was that D didn't even cry when we left, she ate her entire dinner without any fuss and only cried for barely less than a minute before falling straight to sleep!
I cannot tell you the PRIDE that I felt going to sleep that night. My heart was bursting that D handled her first babysitting extravaganza so well. I am so relieved and looking forward to more occasions out now. Our baby is growing up. And not a moment too soon! I need one of those advent calendars...to count each day until D turns 4.

Monday, June 14, 2010

I can't get away from myself

A couple weeks ago, my mom spent some time with us and when I watched her interacting with D, I essentially saw myself. Yesterday, D was getting on my last nerve...yes, I have days like that (not sure whyyyy my friend, L thinks she aspires to be a mother like me). So, she threw some of her food on the floor as she is prone to do when she is upset and I was so mad, I banged my hand on her high chair table and said, "No!"
And so...hello mom, mirror image going on here. I was feeding D dinner tonight and she was starting to get upset because she was tired and not feeling like eating what she was being fed. So, what does she do? She throws some noodles on the floor and then BANGS HER HAND ON THE TABLE! Continuously. Mind you, she is skyping with her grandmother and trying to make a point by continuously banging her hand on the table and looking straight at her grandma.
Ayayayyay...

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Oh, I guess it was hotter than I remembered

I made D and myself some eggs this morning. Pan fried with shredded cheese. I used Habanero cheese...I don't know why I recalled this cheese as being not super spicy the last time I had it. But I guess I remembered wrong because D kept getting mad saying, "Hot! Hot!"
So, I just mildly told her, "Eat the bread, eat the bread" to counter the spice, but I still wanted her to eat the eggs. Not because I thought she'd be wasting the eggs, but because I want her to get used to eating spicy foods. :oD
I then got her a glass of milk that soothes heat which suited her just fine. We had a lovely meal of eggs and toast. Hehehe.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Temper...temper

My does D have a temper! The other day, I'm sure I did something that made her mad...probably didn't pick her up or denied her some food. She marched over to her play kitchen and knocked EVERYTHING off of it. Just flung her arms around and sent everything flying. Not satisfied with that motion, she then picked a cap up off the floor and threw it. (Still no reaction from us. We were quite amused.)
She then marched herself over to where the cap landed, picked it up and threw it again.
Phew! I think she made her point. Still no reaction from us. Just me saying, "Wow, D, you sure are mad..."

"No"

It seems Dillon has learned the word, "No." I think she knows to say it when she doesn't want something to happen. She also seems to know to say "no" when she knows something has been done wrong - such as her spilling milk on the floor. When I shoot daggers at her with my eyes, she says, "No" and wags her pointer finger back and forth. Funny? Maybe.
However, the other night was kind of cool. She was taking a bath, which she loves and when I said, "Okay, time to get out." She said, "No" and shook her head emphatically.
To which I replied, "Okay, you can play in the bath for three more minutes and then we will get out."
And that is what we did and when I said, "Time to get out" and motioned to pick her up, she complied.
I think that's pretty cool.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Watching my mother, seeing myself

My mother has been visiting for the past two weeks. It's the first time that I've really been able to watch her as she interacts with her grand-daughter. Sure, we've visited her in LA, but we are both always so busy that it's really just me tending to D, my mom saying hi and bye and maybe watching her play for a short time.
This time, in Nashville, my mom got to really interact with D on a daily basis - feed her, play with her, take her out and spend quality time with her.
As I am watching my mother tend to D while D is eating, I see that my mother always takes D's spoon and feeds her. So, I say to her, "Mom, you don't have to feed her. She can feed herself..."
To which my mother replies, "I know, but she is so messy. I'd rather just feed her." As she is spoon feeding D and picking up stray pieces from her bib.
It is at that point, that I realize I am actually watching myself. I don't know if y'all recall an earlier posting of mine where I declare that I just cannot take how messy D is while learning how to use a spoon so she is just going to have to master feeding herself when she is a bit more coordinated. Of course, I had since changed my irrational thinking. I mean, kids are supposed to get messy, right? But seeing how my mother was so prissy while feeding D really surprised me that I should take after my mother without even being cognizant of it.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Kisses

Dillon is soo cute right now! Today, we were walking my friend's stroller with her baby in it. D and H are actually friends. D often plays well with H even though H is only 8 months. So as we were walking I just said, "Bao Bae, gay H ching-ching!" (translation: BB, give H a kiss!) And she walked over and gave H a kiss!!
It was awesome. And when I was putting her down to bed this evening, she kept looking up for kisses!! She wanted about a dozen kisses and then she was laughing. It was SO CUTE!
These are the best days ever!
My mother is in town right now and she says, "Ooh, D is soo cute! You should really have another one!"
I said, "Why? They only get cute when they are 15 months...if I could birth one and have her come out 15 months old..."
My mom, "Well, go and invent that then..."

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Here, puppy!

Another good more food story:
So, the other day I'm at Storytime at our downtown library and mind you, I always make sure that I've fed D before we go so she's not hungry. Even though her eyes always still get big when she sees other kids with their little snack cups. Yesterday was really funny. Since she knows my black baby bag usually houses snackies for her, she often goes for it and wants me to open it up. This time, I just had some wasa crackers (similar to cardboard...but she likes it sometimes!) Yesterday, not so much. She just kind of broke it up, sucked on it a bit and then saw the little boy next to us with a whole spill proof snack cup full of goldfish crackers. She marched right up to him, plopped herself next to his snack cup and said, "Hi!" in her super cute high pitched, singsongy voice. SO cute! But, of course, the boy was not sharing.
Today, she had her lunch - pasta with eggplant and then sat down with my friend and me and ate some grilled cheese.
After her lunch, I was sitting around finishing my own lunch and she comes over to get some bitefuls.
When my mom comes out, I fix her a salad. As she sits down to eat, D clamors up to her on the couch, plops herself down and says, "Hi!" again, high pitched sing-songy voice. So of course my mom gives her bites of her salad - an avo here, a piece of cheese there, then some tomato...
I looked at my mom and said, "Gawd, she's like a dog. She'll be your best friend if you give her treats..."
My mom's reply, "Yes! You lost your dog and here you gained one..." Hahah!!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Signing...

D has inadvertently learned the sign language for milk and for eat. She usually signs "eat" after I ask her if she wants to eat..but she signs for "milk" all the time which makes me think she is just using it for the novelty of it. Sure, she loves her milk but come ON girl. You can't want to drink that much milk.
Maybe she also thinks it means water too, but maybe not so much. She usually shakes her head no when I try to offer her water instead of milk.
And now she seems to think my baby bag is an endless source of food so she is constantly motioning for it when she sees it in the car.
I swear, D is a machine when it comes to eating. She always wants to eat.
The other day, she is sitting in the living room watching her "Your Baby Can Read" DVD and she hears G in his office clinking the spoon in his cereal bowl so she jumps of the couch and goes toddling over to him and proceeds to ask for some cereal and eats the rest of it. Mind you, she's already had her own big breakfast.
So here is the schedule. She usually wakes up, we feed her her breakfast. Then we play but while we are playing G and I are usually trying to fix our own breakfast, whatever it might be. By the time we finish prepping our breakfast and try to eat it, she wants some too. So she will have some. Then after playing some more, she wanders into the kitchen and peruses the entire countertop for anything she can put in her mouth to eat. So she will snack some more.
Seriously...this is pretty ridiculous. I mean, she's a baby. I'm not going to deprive her of eating but come on now, darling. She's eating five to seven meals a day.
But it's good to know that she is not prone to over-consumption at least. The other evening, we took her out to a party with us where she snacked on a bunch of the goodies there. When we got home and tried to feed her dinner, she was shaking her head "No". Nope, not hungry, thanks. So, I feel pretty good about that. I just have to make sure that she snacks on healthy things throughout the day!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

I'm BOOOORRRED!!!

That is pretty much what Dillon is telling us every time we try to stick her in her car seat for long periods of time for a road trip. She is not a good car sleeper and then will stay awake and scream at the top of her lungs.
We recently took a trip to Atlanta and D was a BEAR getting there and coming back. I think G was probably white knuckled by the time we got back home. He just cannot bear hearing his little girl cry or fret. We finally did have to stop in Chattanooga just so she could stretch her legs a bit but certainly after about 40 more minutes in the car, she started screaming. The girl likes to exercise her lungs...
G's reaction, "Well, she is certainly not going on any more trips! She is demonstrating that she is totally incapable of handling long car rides which I am also going to assume will be same for plane rides! She will not be going anywhere!"
Hehe! He jests of course. We realize she is just bored because we have not properly prepped for taking her on a long car ride. We should have games for her or at least learning CDs so she is not bored. The girl is at the height of her learning capability! She does not want to be idle! Can I blame her? Bless her little heart...off to shop online for learning CDs for the car!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Did she say Mama??!

Yes! Today at playgroup, Mama L and I were talking and saying how D doesn't really talk. She knows Ball (but doesn't every baby know ball or bah or some form or another of the B sound??), but that's about it. She understands when I speak to her, but she can't speak yet.
And I was playing with L's daughter, L says to D, "Dillon, do you want to say Mama?"
And D says, "Mama?!" while pointing at me!! What??!! Where??!! How th-...
She is full of surprises, this little one.
L and I started cracking up! We were shocked and amused. I'm sure I won't hear that word out of her till she's, like, two. Or even then...
And I swear....this evening when we were going through the pics on our fridge, after I pointed out her cousin, Hope, she repeated, "O-pah"
And then since we were on a roll, I named some other pics on the fridge and after I said, "Aiden", she repeated, "Aay de"!! I swear!! She is going to be speaking sensibly in no time! I can feel it!!
She IS my daughter after all. Talking is an essential part of her being. Hahah!

Monday, April 26, 2010

Peace and quiet, at last

Oh man...it's been a while since G's gone away on a business trip. At least I feel like it. And I gotta tell ya...it's a FULL-TIME JOB watching this little one. Especially now that she's down to one nap a day? I can hardly get any time to myself!
Add on top of that, the fact that I guess she might be teething so she woke up at 1:30am last night crying her eyes out and not wanting to be let go. That's when I kind of wish we had an actual twin bed in her room too so I can just crawl from my bed to that bed and maybe she'd just sleep with me on the bed. Hmmm...something to think about.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Just some cool stuff

D's usual morning routine consists of waking up, playing in her crib for a bit, then playing in her room for a bit, we change and then we head to the kitchen for breakfast. She usually is so anxious for her morning cup of milk that she looks forward to the kitchen and doesn't like to stray much from this routine.
The other morning, however, we came out of her room and she said, "Ba!" (Ba-ba is dad in Chinese. She only says it occasionally so I don't know if that's what she really means), but I replied, Daddy is upstairs sleeping. She points upstairs so I take her up there and put her onto the bed with daddy. We were sitting there and I said to her, "Bao Bae, gay ba-ba ching ching." (translation - Bao Bae, go give daddy a kiss." And would you believe it??! She sat for a second and then crawled over to G and gave him a big kiss!! I was flabbergasted! I mean, I just say these things to her to say it. I can't believe she understands. It's amazing. Babies are amazing...
Yesterday, we were at the mall and I wanted some candy. But I know I can't eat anything in front of D or else she will want some. I mean, if she even sees my mouth moving at all, she will want whatever it is.
But I kid you not. I was careful to stay behind her stroller as I am eating away at my candy (sour taffy) and while I am eating I am talking to G. And NO JOKE, she HEARD me talking with my mouth full and leaned forward in her stroller to crane her neck around and reach out her arms to me as she points for whatever I am eating!! No joke!! No Joke!! I almost choked!! She is crazy!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

The passing of my pup

On the morning of April 14, my beloved Boulder passed away. I am told he passed in his sleep but I was not there to witness it. He was at the vet's office, hooked up to an IV drip and on serious meds for his conjective heart disease. I have never been so heartbroken in my life. My dogs were part of me. I lived my life around them and now, within six months of each other, they have both passed. While I wish I could've been there with Boulder, I know that would've been impossible. If it were just me and him, he probably would have died from suffocation with the fluid in his lungs and his heart not being able to move fast enough. I am also heartened by the fact that he did love his vet dr. and the nurses that worked at the hospital so I am quite sure he felt content and loved to be there as well.
It's also hard to grieve with a baby around because I don't want her to see me so anguished since she doesn't understand what is going on. I would hate for her to think it was something that she might've done. If I could, I would love to just run away and hide for while people seem to be saying, "Well, good thing you have Dillon to focus on..." she is the last thing I want to focus on right now. In fact, it killed me every time I had to choose tending to her over my own pups.
Don't get me wrong, I love D, but I loved the dogs too and they were first into my heart and nothing could replace them. When D was born, my mother was here for a bit to help out and G's mom came out for a bit to help and while they both were attentive to my pups, I worked hard to get out of bed and away from D so that I could take the babies out myself for a walk. I wanted to let them know that they absolutely still mattered. But try as I might, I often did have to focus on D over the babies. In fact, I'm convinced depression is what killed Rocky in the end. He was such a mommy's shadow and was so distraught over having to play second fiddle to something else. You never know...depression can manifest in many ways.
I think my depression manifests as exhaustion. I have felt exhausted ever since Boulder passed away. I cried my fair share, but it is pointless to cry now. No amount of crying could bring him back. And, D is still here so we'd still be in the same predicament. Boulder waiting to be tended to after D...
Yes, the babies did have a great life as they were always first in my life. But in the end they weren't. I really should've waited to have a child. But on the other hand, I really wished that both babies could've stayed alive long enough for D to really get to know them and love on them.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Full time mom?

I just met a mom today that was so cool. Don't know what made her cool, she just had a great energy about her. We were both at this playground. She was with her daughter who is 17 months old and about the same walking "level" as D.
As we got to talking she tells me this is her FOURTH child! Whaaaat??! Well, she looked so young I had to ask, "Did you start having kids when you were 17??!" Actually, she started when she was 24 and had one, then had the other 18 months later and then maybe a couple years later and then the last one a year after that?
This woman had such great energy that I immediately knew I liked her. She made having four kids sound exciting. I even said to her, "Wow, it must be so fun in your household..." to which she responded in her calm way, "Yeaahh..it gets pretty crazy."
And, to top it all off, when I left her and was walking D home in her stroller I even thought to myself, "Wow, she makes having four kids look so easy...hmm, maybe I should forgo my thoughts of career and just become a full time mommy and push out a few more! If I didn't have to worry about work and could just focus on the kids, I could get good at this mommy thing...Could be fun!"
But then I came to my senses. Hey, I ain't no spring chicken. I am NOT pushing out three more puppies with the delusion that our household could be so fun with little kids running around. I am having a hard enough time with my one child and she's not even difficult.
And if I feel like I want some excitement at the house with more kids running around, I'll just invite my new friend and her kids over for the day! Voila! Then I will send her off on her merry way and thank the LORD I kept to my senses after I've closed the door behind her. :oD

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Supah spazz

D woke up at 5am this morning. Interestingly enough, I was wide awake and rarin' to go with her. So, I was totally fine to go pick her up. Of course, I was definitely hoping she'd go back to sleep for another hour with some rocking, but that didn't happen.
Anyhoo, I'm on a new program now and I figure that if she's going to just be taking one nap a day, I might as well put her in the jogger and take her out for a jog in the mornings and include a stop at a playground so she can play around too.
That was my thought this morning so I packed her up and was out the door by a little before 8am. Wouldn't you know it, she fell right asleep not 10 minutes into the run. And she slept all the way to 9:30am! Guess she was tired.
But surely, we thought she'd need another nap by mid-afternoon. I know I sure did. Just a little catnap would've been nice.
And as luck would have it, No. There was no nap to be had by D. She powered through the day. We did try to put her down around 2pm (did we miss the magic window?) and she just jabbered and cried. Finally, G went to pick her up and took her outside to play. I did get my little snoozer.
But seriously. I can't believe she was up from 9:30am - 6:30pm! Whaat?! Who is this silly camper?

Little Kisses

As I was rocking Dillon for her nap yesterday, she kept putting up her head for little kisses! It was so cuuuute! Of course, I should've known that because she was so cute, she wasn't going to take a nap. Oh well, no nappie yesterday.

Friday, April 2, 2010

To ignore...or not?

Okaaay...so D and I had an interesting morning that looking back in retrospect is really quite funny (but not in the bigger scheme of things) :o{
I fixed her a bowl of cut up mango and put her in her high chair. Next thing I know, I am hearing, "pppt" "pppt"...."ppt" I look over and what do I see? Dillon throwing her mango pieces onto the floor! I saw red. How do I deal?
I say "Bao Bae, no!" and pick her right up and put her on the floor. She knows she's done something wrong and starts to cry but then stops as she sees me cleaning up her mess. I then finish cooking her egg and sit her back down with the egg AND the mango and feed her.
Yesterday, she kind of mastered drinking from a regular cup! Plastic, baby cup but I was so impressed! So today, after feeding her I thought why not give her the rest of her milk in a cup? The only thing is, she doesn't quite understand drinking the milk slowly...so I am helping her with her cup.
And because she often hates when we help her, she lost her temper and tossed the cup! Spilling milk all over her table and the floor. Oh boy! So, I picked her right up and put her on the floor!
This time, she didn't cry. She sat for one moment, then walked over by the milk minding her own business. And then after I was done cleaning up the milk, I'm over at the sink doing dishes and I hear HER talking sharply like she's reprimanding someone and then she walks over to the refrigerator where she has some magnets and starts pulling them off and tossing them over by the dog's water bowl, knowing she's not supposed to play around there.
I mean...what's a mother to do?? I don't want to scream at her since she really doesn't quite understand yet, does she?? And now that I've decided to show her when she is doing something wrong by putting her on the floor, she now has incorporated the "reprimanding" part into her personality?? I can never win.

Carrot gratin

I am trying to get more creative again with D's food. Have been scouring the internet for a good carrot gratin recipe. No such thing. But I did find a root vegetable gratin and then I just made up a little recipe.
I shredded a carrot and then boiled it. Then stir fried some chopped onion in butter, added some thyme. When that was done, I mixed some flour in milk and then poured that into the pan with the onion...no reason just cuz (the heat was already turned off on the pan).
Then I took a little ramekin, buttered the sides, put a layer of carrots in, then poured some of the milk mixture, added cheese. Added another layer of carrots, covered with shredded cheese and breadcrumbs and stuck it in the toaster oven at 325 for about 35 minutes.
I don't know if she liked it...G fed her tonight. But I will taste it tomorrow when I feed it to her for lunch again. :o)

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Grand delusions

Clearly I had grand delusions that when D awoke from her nap, she would be so excited to see me and smile and jump up and down. I was sadly mistaken. I mean, who was I kidding? This is the girl who remains quite serious in front of strangers and contemplates them very carefully before ever eliciting a smirk or a smile.
So, of course, when I walked in after her nap, she kind of looked at me like, Wait, who are you?...she was kind of sizing me up. Then G followed in right after me and she was looking from him to me. And then she proceeded to motion to him to pick her up. And when he asked, "Do you want mama to pick you up?" She shook her head.
I was so heartbroken. I nearly cried...
But then I got over it. What a fleeting memory this girl has! Just kidding. I should be thankful for that since otherwise, she might hold a lasting grudge over me...letting her cry it out..staring at her blankly while she cries at times...oh, and of course there was that one day when I screamed at her. Yes, I should be very thankful she has a short memory.
Still...it kind of stung. I'm not gonna lie.

Home sweet home

Woke up this morning SO EXCITED to get home to see Bao Bae! Of course was sifting through the pics I have of her in my iPhone last night before going to bed.
It's such a wonderful feeling to have the anticipation of going on vacation, spending it completely relaxed and then being excited and anxious to get home already after being away.
D is currently napping and has been napping ever since I got home so I am super excited to go pick her up once she wakes up! Yeay!
We are going to our favorite soupy noodle spot - Vinh Long, a vietnamese noodle joint - for lunch. It's so nice to be home with my favorite person, G and my next favorite person, D and my absolute favorite poochie, B! B, who has been sick this entire weekend and moping was so excited to see me. He ran out to greet me! That was nice because this is the dog who doesn't bat an eyelash for anyone. And he has a stump for tail so it never wags. We can't tell if he's ever happy. :oD
I had a wonderful time in NYC, not just because NYC is hands down, maybe the best place on earth (save for the average weather, oh and the dirty subways....AND the disgusting smokers in the doorways of every building), but because most of my friends are now either pregs or trying and it's really kind of fun to watch it all unfold!
I feel very fortunate to have my friends in LA who have far surpassed me in the kids department except for my very best friend who just gave birth, then I have my NY friends who are all getting or thinking about getting pregs and then I have my Nash friends who, because they are in my mommy group sit in the same spot as I do as far as our kids' ages or at least close in age. So comparing notes is awesome. I feel like I get to see what I can aspire to be based on my friends in LA and their kids, I get to learn with my friends in Nash and then I get to share all my experiences and my friends experiences with my NY friends as they start seeking mommy advice. I get the best of all worlds.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Vacation

I'm on vacation...whoohoo!! After 13 months of being a full time mommy I am so glad to be on vacation!! Sure, I've left her before but only for 2 days and really always begrudgingly.
This time, I couldn't get away faster. It's so nice to get a break.
It was not really a planned vacation with friends or anything, but I am out in NYC for a friend's baby shower and then a work event on Monday night. We really didn't see any need for the entire family to come out and lugging a baby around NYC is really not that much fun. So I was really glad to get away - get a little bit of freedom and some peace and quiet and getting to spend some quality time with my friends without having to cut my visit short because my child needs tending to.
What I really enjoy is the freedom from responsibility. Knowing that I can be awake right now at 11:30pm, typing on my blog and not have to wake up tomorrow morning at 6am or sooner.
It's refreshing. G should take a weekend away. He really should. While he has been away quite a few times, it's always been for work and that is stressful and he is always on the go. He needs to get away to somewhere where he can relax and recharge. However, as I think about it now, I don't think he's really that type. He doesn't need alone time. He loves his daughter too much to just sit and be away from her for no good reason at all.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

A curious incident

Last night, was really weird. D woke up in the middle of the night crying. Sometimes she will do that and then put herself back to sleep. Which she did last night too.
In the morning, when I went to go pick her up, she is sitting in the middle of the crib, looking at her hands like, "What's this?" And when she saw me walk in she had a look on her face like, "What's this on my hands?" Uhh...that would be puke!
Yes! Apparently, she had vomited in the middle of the night last night! Awww..poor babe. I did feel as if she was running a bit warm last night, or rather all day we (G and I) had commented that she seemed a bit warm. But we weren't alarmed as she seemed to be acting pretty normal.
And I think this may have just been an isolated incident. She was fine today. Just seems a bit serious lately. She laughs sometimes but not as smiley as she normally is. But healthwise, she seems fine. Let's hope we don't have a repeat performance tonight!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Bananas

Ooh, we traveled to Boston this weekend to visit our friends E and C and their 2 year old son, Aidan. Usually, she has always been a great traveler but not this time. She was tired but could not get to sleep so was crying and fussing. Awww...G finally got her to sleep. Phew.
Anyhow, it was a verrrry long day and add on top, when we got to their house, D was in heaven. They have all the cool toys. She just could not get enough and loved to playing with A.
Needless to say, she was super overstimulated and when it was time to go to bed, we tried to go through the normal bed routine (which, I might add, she's not really into yet...) yeah, bad idea. Too many people, too many toys, new environment.
Oh, she went bananas. I mean B-A-N-A-N-A-S and not in a good way. Like, hysterical. I finally had to get more milk in a bottle and feed her some more in the dark by the crib to calm her. She finally fell asleep.
Tonight, I threw brushing her teeth right out the window. Wind down was with me only (usually G and I read to her together as she drinks her milk), in the room. After I read her a quick book, I turned out the light and let her finish her bottle and rocked her to sleep. Success. Phew!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Leftovers

Am I crazy? I feel particularly proud of myself today for being able to get rid of some leftovers for D's meals today. Yeay!

Lunch today was a bowlful of cauliflower, carrots and butternut squash. And then I fed her a grilled cheese sammy for calcium.

Dinner consisted of quinoa and spinach with some beets and made some steamed sweet potato.

Easy enough!

I'm a terrible mommy

I seriously am...I yelled at Dillon today. :o(
I mean, NO ONE should ever scream at a 1 year old child. Well, no one should really be screaming at anyone really, but alas, I am only human and I do scream at adults sometimes and don't apologize.
But I am terrible because D was sitting in her bumbo on the counter and she dropped her sippy cup AGAIN and it landed on my toe and it HURT so I guess I blew a fuse. Shame on me. I yelled, "Ow!! Don't drop your bottle!!" And then I looked at her and she looked at me with this really confused expression - a) because she has never been screamed at before and b) because she didn't have a clue what I was saying. But then I regained my composure and I gave her smiles and kisses. Good thing they have short memories...don't they? I feel awful. Shame on me.
See, this is why I am only suited to be a mother (maybe) to a child who is 4 years old or older. Someone who understands when she does something wrong (of course, in this case, D didn't do anything wrong) but let's say, someone who has the dexterity to hold a darn bottle and not drop it!!! Is that asking too much? Yes...I did this all wrong. I should've just stuck to my original plan of getting divorced and then marrying an older man who already had kids. Insta-fam! Who doesn't love the insta-fam?? Oh well...too late. Better just learn how to chill.

Monday, March 15, 2010

A funny game

D was playing the funniest game today. Lately, she really likes to sit in our laps on the floor while we sit cross legged. She will grab a book and then crawl into our laps so we can read together. So today, she would take her toy (a pair of plastic chain links) and put it in the "hole" created by my crossed legs. Then she would sit herself down on my legs and then reach beneath her to get the toy.
It cracks me up even now just thinking about her doing it. I dunno...maybe you had to be there, but it surely was funny.
Funny just because why did she find that interesting? She would reach beneath her to try and get the chain pieces, but then would be confused if she couldn't feel them and then get up, pick them up, put them back down, then sit down and reach for them again. SOO FUNNYYYY!!!!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Groundhog's day...

Sometimes...I get this thought in my head...as I'm getting ready for bed..."Oh man, do I really have to get up and be a mom again tomorrow? When can I get a break??" I mean, I think I love my child, don't I? Or do I just feel a very strong sense of responsibility for her?
There are mothers that say, "I can't imagine my life without my child" Are they lying?? Because I CAN imagine my life without my daughter...I remember what that life was like and it was just so much simpler.
Sure, she brings joy to my life. But hanging out with my friends and drinking my face off also brought joy to my life. Working hard in the world of PR also brought joy to my life.
Sigh. Well, that is neither here nor there I guess.
Tomorrow is another day and I will wake up around 6..6:30am and do it all again. Play with Dillon, feed her breakfast, think about what nutritious, yummy thing I will make for her lunch and her dinner...take her out to play, do something that is stimulating..walk the dog, feed the dog...try to fit in some work...
Okay...enough of that. I made D a really scrumptious dinner tonight. :oD
I saw a recipe for pasta with butternut, tomato and cheese. But as I was preparing, I saw that it asks that the whole thing gets pureed and we are past that stage. So, I steamed the squash then stir fried the tomatoes in butter and made the pasta. I also made steamed kale and pureed that. Then mixed the kale the tomatoes, the cheese and the pasta together and gave her the squash for finger food. Oh, she looved this dish. Ate the entire thing WITH HER SPOON! And ate up the butternut squash too. Imagine that. Pretty cool. I was pretty stoked.
Off to bed to start my groundhog's day all over again tomorrow!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

tacos!

I boiled some chicken the other day to make chicken stock for D. Daddy then made the yummiest shredded chicken for chicken tacos for Dillon! Not sure how he made the chicken but I saw that he had cut up some fresh tomatoes and cooked the chicken with that and maybe some chicken stock and spices.
I then took it and sprinkled some cheese on top and warmed up a corn tortilla and sprinkled some cheese on that and just tore off pieces of it, wrapped some chicken in it and fed to D. Side of cut up tomatoes. She loved.

Mmmmm

We had a pretty good menu yesterday.

Breakfast: Toast with peanut butter and banana, pears, blueberries
Lunch: Curried lentils with brown rice and chicken, carrots and cauliflower for finger foods, pear and oranges
Dinner: lentils with collard greens. The collard greens were stir fried in 1/2 olive oil, 1/2 butter with some onions and a dash of apple cider vinegar. She liked it better prepared this way.

Lentils were prepared in chicken stock. Tasty!!
Curry - stir fried some chopped onions, added curry spice and let it simmer until onions were soft. Add cut up chicken and stewed a bit longer, then added just the smallest pinch of salt (celtic salt, of course. Because I think the curry spice needs that to bring out its flavor). Then added the lentils at the end. Voila!

Now about the lentils. Lentils are already a form of protein so I don't know why I added chicken to her curried lentils. Actually, I do know why. It's because I was reading from a recipe and at the bottom of it the recipe read, "Add some chicken or pork to make a complete meal in a bowl". Uh, duh. Didn't have to do that. Curses. I hate to give her too much protein.
Then in the evening I was reading up on lentils and their protein-ness and I discovered that lentils are best served with grains like brown rice and the iron is better absorbed when eaten with dark green leafy veggies, hence the collard greens. And of course I couldn't serve her lentils with brown rice for dinner because I didn't have enough time to make. Oh well. I did the best I could.