She looks like my child... but...

Lately we’ve been wondering where our happy go lucky little girl has gone. We think one day when we dropped her off at daycare the gypsies came and stole our little girl and replaced her with one that looks the same, but not so much so.

The little girl they left in her place refuses to eat (in fact throws her food at me or deliberately tosses it off the side of the highchair) and doesn’t want to drink anything.

She also hits. But only Mommy. In the face. We don’t quite understand any of this. But I think it might have something to do with us taking her bottle away. After the pediatrician appointment we decided, per Dr H’s recommendation, to toss the bottle and go all sippy cup. I thought it would go much easier than it has. I mean, we didn’t even know when she was getting her first tooth! How hard could transition to a sippy cup be? Clearly, harder than we anticipated.

I’ll be honest, if I hadn’t packed up the bottles I would probably have digressed by now and given them back to her. Almost two weeks in – Now I’m considering it a challenge. And little girl, I’ll win!! I assure you. (She does give me moments of doubt but I get over them.)

I also didn’t realize that there could be a “preference” of sippy cups. Apparently the first 3 varieties I purchased were not to her liking. No no no. Our little girl prefers Playtex insulated cups. Non insulated cups are just… well… inferior!
Stephen’s first Father’s Day (last year really wasn’t really a let’s celebrate Daddy day because I was incapacitated and Katherine was about 5 days old) was nice. At least he said so. We went to Michael Dean’s for brunch. He thoroughly enjoyed the seafood bar. Katherine really enjoyed chocolate covered strawberries. A girl after my own heart. (Amazingly, yes, I did share!)

On the 6th of July Katherine will move up to the next classroom at daycare. She’ll officially join the world of Toddler-ville. AAAHHHH Already? Really? I mean, does she HAVE to? Apparently yes. I might be all for it if the daycare rate went down dramatically but for $10 a week surely we can keep her in the waddler room a little longer, right? Um. No. Busted. Moving to toddler-ville also means that Katherine will no longer get the opportunity to nap twice a day. This could present a problem. We’ll see. We’ve tried the single nap thing at home on the weekends and it’s been ugly.

Katherine has officially joined her first waiting list. A waiting list for a new daycare! Weezie’s not only going to move on up in classrooms but in style too! They claim the wait is about 6-8 months. I’m really hoping it’s more like 2-3 months. It’s going to be what it’s going to be I suppose. Now we wait. *twiddling thumbs*

Katherine’s also had two trips to the library the last couple of weekends. We go for story time on Saturday mornings. I think she digs it. Although I think she enjoys social time more than story time. She also likes taking all of the books out of the bookcase. Makes for great fun for Mommy to put them all back.
This weekend is a big visit from Aunt Jacki & Tio! They’re coming to spend the holiday with us. We’re hoping to take Katherine to her first fireworks display. Woohoo!! We’re planning on going someplace that we can quickly evacuate from should she have a melt-down.

Latest pictures...

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Katherine 3 - Parents 1

Today Katherine had her 12 month check up with Dr H. After our first visit with Dr H we wondered if there was ever going to be a time where Dr H said something like "You're right..." to us. We seemed to always hear, "let her (blah blah blah)". Today, Dr H drew the line on Katherine. A small victory for the parental units of 3408 Serendipity.

Her stats
Weight: 19lbs 14.5oz ~ 30th percentile
Length: 28.25 inches ~ 25th percentile
Head Circumference: 44cm ~ 20th percentile

These are all about the same percentiles as the last check up. She'd gained about 3lbs and a couple of inches since our last visit. Dr H said she's doing great. The noggin is still small but there's lots of brain power in there. At least that's what we're telling ourselves. :)

Katherine had three shots and her finger stuck today. She had some blood drawn to check her hemoglobin levels - which came back great. Her shots were for Prevnar, MMR #1, Vari Vax #1, IPV#3 and DTap #4. (You'd have to see the little sheets to know what most of them are for... )

We talked to Dr H about a few things: Katherine's eating habits, paci, sippy cup, sleeping and flipping the bird (aka pointing).


Eating Habits
Katherine has started to manipulate me at meal times. In the last few weeks we go through 3-4 things before we finally have something that she *might* put in the pie hole. Yesterday I'd had enough and at lunch. I'd lovingly prepared grilled cheese and had some yogurt for her to eat. The yogurt went down fine. It was berry and rarely do we have a problem with that. The grilled cheese on the other hand - she tossed off the high chair and onto the floor - or better swiped her arm across the tray back and forth in a tantrum. I say - NO MA'AM!!! Clearly she wasn't hungry enough. I took the food away and let her out of the high chair. This isn't a buffet. She waited till dinner for her next meal. Don't call child services just yet. Dr H said I did exactly the right thing. *Proud Moment* He said it's at this age that Katherine will start to develop her eating habits and we could be creating a picky eater if we give her 3-4 choices at meal times or keep going through a list till we get to something she'll eat. (BTW - Dr H isn't a fan of Goldfish we learned... As he said if you were offered goldfish or some little snack that's filled with yummy goodness would you not forgo the green beans?) I'll admit I've gotten to that breaking point thinking... well, at least she's eating *something*, even if it is Goldfish. (In our house Goldfish are really organic cheddar bunnies.) Ok. So going forward, one choice. If she won't eat it - take her out of the highchair and be done. No making multiple meals for the picky one. (We can't have TWO picky eaters in this house... One is enough and I own that throne.) Oh, and she's supposed to have 3 meals. No snacks. "snacks are contributing to the obesity in children..." I think I literally saw the soap box come out for the little rant from Dr H.

Paci
Dr H said we should have this gone by 18 months. Here's where I'm a tad mean. It's gone. Now. I'm terrified of having to break it later and it seems WAY easier to break now than it will be later.

Bottle vs Sippy Cup
Apparently the bottle should start to go away now. Who knew? I knew we should be working on crossing over to the sippy cup, but I didn't know we should ditch the bottle completely. Katherine only needs 16-18oz of milk/formula a day and the sippy is the preferred method of delivery. This one we'll need to work on... I think it's a task to begin next week starting with removing the two bottles she currently gets at daycare. She'll get a sippy cup filled with her milk for the day. I'm saying this now but I might break by next week. We'll see. I'm going to give it a go.

Sleeping
No shock here... He's proud of her sleeping habits. Gold star.

The "bird"
He said this actually demonstrates pretty impressive dexterity. Lucky us. He said most kids can't do it because it takes a sort of control that at 12 months babies/toddlers usually don't have. And this is what we excel at? Parents of the year. Again I tell you - I PROMISE this isn't a "sign" we use in our house. In any event he said to ignore it. Don't laugh, don't gasp, don't acknowledge that it's any different than using the pointer finger. If we do it will only encourage her to do it more. Argh.

Overall - great appointment. I heart Dr H. And today he told me "you're doing exactly the right thing" which made me heart him even more. So yes, I did leave the Drs office a little proud today that finally I left with a small victory over my 1 year old. As a parent, I have to take them where I can get them.

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Florida Ladybug

Our little Nugget turned a year old last week. As a friend said “it’s kind of great and bittersweet day”. Great, because you just can’t help but smile when you think or look at Katherine and bittersweet because it all seems to have gone too fast. Yes, I’m a bit emotional about the whole thing.

We’ve had lots of firsts from first breath outside of Mommy’s tummy, to first time holding her head up, sitting up, rolling over, crawling, standing... As it was happening I remember thinking “when is she going to X”… and then she did and I’d think, “next up will be Y”… All along enjoying the moments, but not realizing how quickly they were passing by. I keep looking for her “pause” button or a “rewind” and alas I can’t find it. It seems the only buttons there are, are fast & faster. Year two will be slower, right?

This week we had another first. Stephen and I thought for sure we’d be buying dentures on Katherine’s 5th birthday because we didn’t believe she’d ever get a tooth. Well, she did! On her first birthday!! How cool is THAT? We were playing on the floor and I happened to see a little bump on her bottom gums. I grabbed her up and started rubbing her gums with my fingers… Jackpot!!! We have a tooth! It was around 7:45 am and we’d taken the day off from work so we were still in our PJs. Stephen was outside mowing the lawn (since we weren’t going to be home for 5 days). PJs and all Katherine and I RAN outside to show Daddy. Okay, maybe Katherine didn’t run but she did hold on for dear life in a manner that said something like “oh my goodness my mother’s lost her mind”. Daddy was just as excited as we were. We think. He was covered in dirt and was sweaty so we didn’t get too close.

For breakfast, (well, breakfast #2) she had a munchkin. Chocolate. She liked it. A lot. Only one though! After the sugar high from the weekend before I didn’t want her to go too crazy since we weren’t home. For Katherine’s birthday dinner we had her favorite. Pizza. Girl after my own heart. She chowed down on a whole slice. While Katherine was napping Stephen prepped the car and I packed our things to go to Florida. Another first for the week included Katherine getting a new “toddler” carseat that she can sit facing forward in. She’s a mere two pounds away from the maximum weight for her infant seat so we decided to switch it out for the long drive. We wanted her to be able to stretch out. She’s got a lot of room to grow into this one!! We look at her in this carseat and remember how she looked this little in her infant carseat a year ago… Another bittersweet moment.

We started our drive to FL on Friday at around 3:50am. We arrive around 2:45-ish. The first 5 hours or so went great. The next 5… sloooooow! Katherine wasn’t such a fan of napping we stopped a few times to give her a break, change her diaper, etc. Needless to say getting her back into the carseat involved a bit of a melt down each time.

We stopped at the hotel to unload some of the “stuff” and then headed to Tootsie & Pop’s house. Aunt Jacki was waiting at the front door. I don’t think she’d been waiting there all day, but then again, I didn’t ask.

Katherine wasted no time in wrapping Tootsie & Pop around her wee fingers. I think it happened within nano seconds of the arrival. All she had to do was look and smile or giggle and it was all over. I’d try to act tough here, but really, you all know better. Although I do occasionally use the word “No” – I’ve learned that’s not a word that need be a part of a Grandparent’s vocabulary.

Katherine spent Friday and Saturday night with Tootsie & Pop in their bedroom. Yes, Mommy left Katherine both nights. And I didn’t even arrive on the doorstep at 6am waiting for her to wake up. It was Grandparent/Auntie time until after her morning nap. Katherine I’m sure was digging it. Aunt Jacki lovingly prepared Katherine’s favorite breakfast food (french toast) and gave her baths; Tootsie made her a bagel with some butter (I’m told it was just a little… but I’m not sure we define “little” in the same manner. Hehe) and some sausage. I’m sure Katherine loved her breakfasts… I’m not sure about bathtime. I only witnessed one bath (post cake) and the scene involved some crying. Aunt Jacki swears she did no physical harm. I’m sure the other baths were different, right Jacki? :P

I did make Katherine’s ladybug cake for her party. I think it turned out cute! I was pretty pleased with it – for it only being the 2nd time I worked with fondant. I don’t really know how it tasted because after messing with it so much I didn’t really care to eat any of it. I know the fondant wasn’t so much so good, but I’m told the cake was okay. And if it wasn’t, everyone fibbed and took one for the team quite nicely!! Even Katherine ate some cake – via a cupcake. She destroyed the cupcake. Two fistfuls that she’d shove into her mouth – in some cases at the same time. She didn’t wear nearly as much icing this time around (since there wasn’t as much to wear), but that didn’t seem to minimize the volume of mess!

Katherine got some pool time in this weekend too. She does love the water! In fact, this weekend she even put her face in the water – on her own. And believe or not, she didn’t attempt to drink the pool. She was trying, we think, to blow bubbles. Good sign!! Maybe we do need to go back to Mommy & Me. I didn’t think she was getting much out of it, but perhaps she did!!

We decided that we were going to leave by 6am on Monday so Katherine came back to the hotel with us on Sunday night. She went right down to bed – thank goodness – but she was up and chatting at 5:30am. Stephen and I were tip-toeing in the dark of the room when we hear a little shuffling. Next thing we know Katherine’s standing up in the crib, smiling and chatting away. Ma ma ma ma Da da da da ayayayayaya. She was clearly ready for playtime. When we carried her out to the car and started driving I thought for sure she’d fall back to sleep. Nope. She just stared at me. Big blue eyes… watching me, as if to say – Mommy, you’re still sleepy???

We arrived home by around 6pm and it was at that point that I learned a VERY valuable lesson. One that I will share with you in the hope that you too do not make the same mistake. You see… we were running low on diapers. We had 3 diaper s and 3 lil swimmers to make it through the day. We had a case of diapers at home so the thought of buying more diapers in a border line size, didn’t really appeal to us. So we thought… We’ll use the 3 regular diapers first and then use the lil swimmers. Here’s where it gets bad. Really bad. APPARENTLY, lil swimmers diapers don’t hold anything in EXCEPT, poop. Which I’ll be the first to say – in a pool – very important to hold that in should there be any. HOWEVER, I had NO idea that it didn’t hold in pee. Katherine wore a lil swimmers diaper for 2.5 – 3hrs. In that time I think she peed more than she ever has in her life. Cumulative. When we got home and I picked her up out of the carseat I initially thought – Oh my goodness!! You’re so sweaty!!! Then as I felt/smelled I realized, no ma’am. That’s not sweat. What you say was in the lil swimmers diaper? Nothing. Every last pee filled drop was either on her or in her carseat. The new one. Down to the foam. She was quite a happy little girl for being covered in pee. You never would have known it (and clearly I didn’t) as we were coming home. We played, she giggled, we sang songs, etc… never even suspected that the diaper was holding nothing.

This does of course enlighten me to another event that took place last week at the pool. Katherine was sitting on my lap with a towel wrapped around her. I felt something warm. I said “little girl did you just tinkle”? She giggled. Apparently she had. On my leg.

Note to Tootsie & Pop: Might want to increase the chlorine in the pool today. Katherine surely “left her mark” in there.

Note to self: Never use lil swimmers as a “sub” for a regular diaper. Bad call. Very bad, wet, call.

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Mac & Cheese Please!!!

Some other pictures from this week! These were pictures of Katherine's first experience with the "cheesiest" Mac & Cheese. (You know the "V" brand.) She loves shells, just like Mommy!! This was one of those instances where I, as a mother, exercised extreme self control and refrained from sitting down at the table with my own bowl of mac & cheese. It was tough... but I did it. I didn't want to do it. But I did.

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Bulls & Pooh (x2)!!!!

What a great week!!

Last Saturday Katherine went to her 2nd Durham Bulls game. Who won? No idea. What happened? 3 bats were cracked, there were a couple home runs (I only know this because Katherine and I danced for each one) and we found that Katherine loves funnel cake as much as I do. :) A proud moment for sure... although we both struggled a wee bit with the "sharing" part of the deal. Shockingly, I handled sharing better. You see Katherine was strapped to my lap in her Bjorn carrier (helped decrease the fidgeting and overall squirmyness) and the funnel cake was in front of both of us. When I went to put a piece into my mouth I had to go past her face and over her head to get it to my mouth... So the scene went something like this - Katherine would see me tearing off a piece and she'd start kicking the yeah yeah yeah, and I'd lift it up she'd follow with her head (mouth WIDE open) and watch me put it right in my mouth - then she'd say something akin to HEY!!! Her turn... My turn... HEY... (Repeat for 3/4 of the funnel cake... we didn't want to be pigs.) hehe

We don't know who won because we really didn't care. Okay, that and the fact that we left during the 3rd quarter or whatever it was. In any case we had to get going. It was past Katherine's bedtime and feeding her funnel cake was already jeopardizing my Mom of the Year nomination.

To be honest, I don't really know what happened on Sunday. I know we did something.. but what?? Can't recall.... Perhaps because the next 5 days were a Pooh filled blur... and I'm not referring to "winnie the" either. *sigh* On Monday I received a phone call (well 5) from daycare that I needed to go get Katherine. I was in meetings from 2-5 and didn't have any of my phones with me. Needless to say at 4:55pm when I arrived back in my office my phone was ringing and the director was saying - "Katherine has a fever of 101.7 and has had..." I'll spare you. (Thank me.. really... ) The next 3 days I worked from home with little Nugget. We had a routine going. Katherine would wake up at 7, we'd eat, play a bit, I'd start working at 8:30 and at 9 she'd go up for a nap. She'd sleep until 12:30 or so (thas my girl!!); we'd have lunch; we'd play for a bit - then she'd play for a bit and by 3-ish she was back down for another nap until generally around 5:30-ish. Fortunately Katherine's disposition through her days of "clearance" was unaffected. She was happy, laughing, playing, etc. Her fever was gone by Tuesday morning. The diaper rash however... Yikes. I did learn this week that you use Lotrimin on diaper rashes & put diaper cream on top of that. Who knew foot fungus cream could be used on baby bottoms? Not I!

Katherine was a-okay by Saturday for her (first) 1st Birthday Party! (For those counting here's where the 2nd Pooh story comes in!) Katherine's Birthday Party theme was Winnie the Pooh. My sister Nicole, who's currently in Taji, Iraq picked the birthday party themes for Katherine's parties. She "dun" good!!! The Pooh theme was a big hit! To say that it was a kids party would really be a stretch. It was really more like a grown-up Winnie the Pooh party with some kids there. :P Katherine was the center of attention though - Afterall she is "the reason for the season!!" Katherine had two friends come to her party - Avery and Anja. Avery is 11mo old and Anja is 3. I think all three girls had a good time. Katherine really loved chasing Anja around the house and (thankfully) she shared her toys pretty well. We've been working on our sharing skills (see this week's photos). For both Katherine and Avery it was their first cake eating experiences. Oh. What. A. Mess. But fun!!! Even I the neat freak, thoroughly enjoyed Katherine becoming a blue mess with her cake. SO cute!!! I just didn't want to touch her! Mr Patrick however kept telling Katherine to "hug Mommy" for which she promptly obeyed. Thanks PW. Thanks.

This week is a short week for us all. We took off work on Thursday to spend the day with Katherine and get ready for our trip to Florida. We're thinking of leaving around 3am so we can be well on our way before Katherine wakes up at 7. Then we'll have a couple of hours of entertaining in the backseat before she takes her 9am nap. Birthday Party #2 will be on Saturday in Spring Hill... That theme? Ladybugs. And I'm going to make that cake. It's all family coming to that so if the cake's terrible -- well, I'll hear about it forever, but I can tell Katherine, when she's older, "mommy made your cake for you!" :)

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