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.

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...

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.

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.

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.