Friday, July 25, 2008

The Big 02

Well, my baby turned two years old on the 18th. We didn't have any big celebration but we did have a picnic in the park and cupcakes and fun so I think that qualifies so that I am not a too neglectful mom.

She finally got her first haircut. I took a couple of inches off the bottom and "The Mullet" is now gone. Then this morning I took a couple inches off the comb-over that was on top. Now the whole thing looks much more even and very cute. And the tangles are seriously diminished. I have been trying to get a picture but she hasn't been real cooperative.

Summer. I can't believe how fast it is flying by. I had so many plans for fun things to do and so few of them have come into fruition. This depresses me. But I will try to relax and not make things worse by over-scheduling. Plus these last couple weekends have just gone by in the blink of an eye. I have quite a few errands that I keep meaning to get around to but...

Just a few days ago we finally caught on to how much signing Odessa was doing. Actually, Larry did when he recognized the sign for "more". Many many months ago I gave up even trying to remember to incorporate the signs into our daily lives. But she is learning it at school. Now I see that she is signing "all done" and "thank you". I should have realized the "all done" sign, now it is so obvious what she is doing when she says "Eye Dye!" (or "I die!" -- She is my baby and I am a bit of a pessimist but I am going with the former). I bet there are more but I need to take a refresher course in signing myself. She is also learning the signed alphabet at school and she will try to make the hand 'poses' but she does so really, really poorly. She is good at recognizing the ones that I make though, and will say the letter "A" etc. And I actually remember how to sign the alphabet from when I was a kid.

Last night Odessa was reading "The Giving Tree" to herself. I was reading my own book but had to stop and watch her. I am not totally clear on what her version of the book is about but I know that it contains a lot of hats. On almost every page, she would speak her little martian language and then say "hat" or "hair" and then touch the top of her head. There was also very clearly some content about apples (which are actually in the book).
Odessa now find nose-picking incredibly funny. I think it was because I reacted and said "ucky". For the next ten minutes, she would continuously stick her index finger inside of her nostril and stare at me, waiting for a reaction. I then spent ten minutes trying not to laugh. It didn't really work.

Just a few days ago Odessa had her two-year well-baby check-up with the pediatrician. All is good. And she is in the third percentile for weight! Yoo hoo at least she is on the curve. As with every visit, the doctor then asks me how she is eating. It is tough because I have never had another baby with which to compare. I told him that I feed her three meals and two snacks. She will eat a good portion of two of the meals and it is hiss and miss with the others. Lately she is also into choosing her own food and she will mostly choose yogurt, cheese, ovaltine, and berries. So now, not three days later, she is eating like a...what?...what eats a lot? Anyway, she will eat a whole carton of yogurt and then ask for "more". She used to just eat a third or so of it and then be done. So, go figure, maybe at our next visit she will have climbed all the way up to the fourth percentile :)

"Daddy's Bike Hat"


Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Almost Two

It is seriously crazy that in just four weeks*, I will have a two year-old! How did that happen? When did my "baby" get so big? The books don't even call you a baby after the age of eighteen-months. Then you are a toddler.

*I started this post a couple weeks ago so now we only have ten days till O is two.

Lot's of changes. I can't even think of all the words and phrases that you are using now. From "I don't know"? (complete with hands out and head tilt gestures) to "Wha's that"? It is fun to see you asking so many questions. It is like having a little Alien and introducing her to our world. What's that? -- a gardening hose...What's that? -- a lunchbox... I also enjoy when you correct me. "Apple". "No, that's an apricot. Both are fruit." "No, apple." you say.

And speaking of new phrases: everything is "mine". MY book, MY cup, MY keys. And a loud, dramatic "Miiiiinnnneeee" when we have a friend over and you don't want to share. On the flip side, Odessa is also really big on pointing out what belongs to other people. "Your shoe. Your shirt." She will often go find shoes in my closet and bring them to me saying "yourrrr shoe..." until I put the shoes on/let her put the shoes on me.

I didn't know what the "terrible twos" were about until recently. The DRAMA! Some days, it seems, there is a dramatic outburst about everything and nothing all at once. Many times it is about your wanting to do things independently, such as go down the stairs, get into the car, put on your shoes etc. When I try to help, you get upset. And when I let you do it yourself, you will often get frustrated at not being able to or not being able to quickly enough. I try to remember everything that I know about child development and not get frustrated myself but it proves challenging.

We have also decided stop taking you into restaurants as often. You just don't have the patience right now. It usually ends up either Larry or I is eating and the other is chasing you around trying to keep you in the restaurant but out of the kitchen. You just don't want to be still or stay near and so restaurants and stores etc are torturous. The other day we went to the library and you got to use one of the computers that is set up for kids. I spent the rest of our time there trying to convince you that we don't have access to EVERY computer in the library. You were just steps away from pushing a librarian out of the way so that you could claim that computer as "miiinnneee". That is probably why parents of toddlers spend so much time outdoors. It is harder to be too loud or too wild.

Nursing: We are almost exclusively nursing now only at nap and night-night time. If you are sick or have been away from me for a long time, I may concede to an extra time or two in between. Lately you have also been bringing me dolls to give "na-nas" and just today you wanted me to nurse your horse sticker. I am sure that would appeal to some fetishists as well.

Bedtime seems like it has gotten considerably easier lately. For awhile there it seemed to just take a REALLY long time. But now we started closing the bedroom door (duh, so you can't just leave the room -- I don't know why we didn't think of this earlier) and when you fuss, I pretty much just ignore you. I was spending a lot of time consoling but it just seemed to start the whole process over again.

It is pretty awesome seeing you grow from a tiny little newborn into this wild little child. I can't believe that it has already been two years since you were born and, at the same time, I can't believe that it has ONLY been two years that I have known you. Somebody said (and I think this is so true) "the days are long and the years are short".

Because we have too much time on our hands...

So, I am constantly getting Larry and I into extra jobs in order to make/save money. One year we spent two weeks selling fireworks at one of those little stands. In retrospect I think that we had fun. The latest is that I agreed that we would clean the apartment grounds for three hundred dollars off of rent. Last weekend was our first and it took SIXTEEN hours! We are hoping it goes faster in subsequent weeks.

Here is a pic of Odessa helping out: she needs to earn her keep too :) I brought her little broom, duster, and a rag -- she loved it! I just need a little bandanna to tie around her head.