Monday, December 5, 2011

My 16.5ish Month Old and other stuff.

Oh, Hi. How are you? How are things with you?

We're all fine here. Really. Thanks for asking.

So I thought I'd drop by, take out the dust rag and broom, and let you know how things are going.

Little One is a weed. By our measurements, 31", and floating between 25 and 27 pounds. You know, depending on the status of her diaper. Comfortably in 18 months but also some 24 months, mostly in shirts since her buddha belly is still in full effect.

She's a pretty good eater and doesn't refuse too much except green beans. But that's not really different from when she was starting out on solids, so no big surprise there. Favorites though are dairy products, green veggies (other than green beans) but especially peas, lima beans, and broccoli and fruit (fresh, freeze dried or regular dried). Like I said, the girl will eat most anything. I find it amusing when she tries to refuse something new, I convince her to taste it and then, YUM.

We're working on utensils so most food still goes in with finger power, and I have to admit complete laziness in not working harder with her on drinking from a cup instead of a straw. It will happen, and straw-drinking keeps the juice further away from her teeth when she drinks it, right?

Her favorite word is - no. Big surprise there, right? The favorite word I say? "Video" I found this YouTube channel: KidsTV123 which has a lot of original music and videos which are entertaining, yet also instructional (phonics, letters, numbers, etc.) and most importantly, don't drive me insane to listen to/watch. In fact, I find myself humming the songs sometimes. I put those on and she'll let me clip her nails (hands and feet) without complaining, and brush her hair, though putting clips and other things in her hair is a crapshoot since 9 times out of 10 she pulls them out within the minute.

Other words, right now? Ball - pronounced "bawl" in a southern drawl she doesn't get from anyone she hears on a regular basis. Cats are meow, dogs are woof, sheep are baa, cows are moo. And then the basics: mama, dada, papa, (ba)nana. Oh and besides, ball, her other obsession: ice. (eye-sch)

I blame that last one on the stupid canine teeth taking their sweet time to come in. But she has finally learned a baby sign language, or made it up on her own, for please since I almost always insist on it before she gets a piece of ice. (She takes both pointer fingers and points at her chest.)

I'm not sure when it happened, but Little One follows simple directions on a regular basis. And it is awesome. Except when she deliberately tunes me out. That's not so awesome. She loves to help put things away, especially her dirty diaper once I've wrapped it up. She also cleans up after the dog - picking up ever scattered piece of kibble from the floor. Yuck. Something which both pisses me off and cracks me up? When she gets the cutting boards out of their drawer, places them on the kitchen floor, and then carefully stands on them. They will be moving soon since I'm tired of washing them thanks to her and not other use.

LinkShe points to her nose, my nose, dada's nose, the cat's nose, the dog's nose... you get the picture. Will also identify eyes, ears, and mouths. And her toes. And in the tub when it's time to wash her shins and feet will sit down and lift one than the other when I ask her for the other leg. This makes me irrationally happy.

We made it through the transition to one nap which runs anywhere from 40 minutes to 2 hours (if there was anything I could get a guarantee on it would be the minimum nap being ideally longer than 40 minutes). Once through I finally figured out the reason that no one has written anything on the topic: It sucks. And there's no good way to do it except go through it. And, from my own informal poll, there's not enough similarity between kids to make any sweeping generalizations ala Pantly, Ferber or any of the other sleep experts. So, typically Little One goes to bed between 7 and 8 and then is up somewhere between 6 and 8. No rhyme or reason to how long she sleeps - earlier or later at night does not correspond to the same in the morning, and generally unless she has a cold or a bad dream once she's down, she's down.

So that's Little One - I take no credit for her sleeping or eating or anything good or bad, it's just the way she is.

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As for me, apart from the flukey long cycle which totally screwed up my annual visit, forcing me to reschedule and take whomever I could get before the end of October thanks to my husband's company changing insurance the 1st of November, I have been 28 days like clockwork, and in the world of TMI the CM some days makes me worry that there's enough to not only soak my underwear but my jeans as well.

Maybe I'm fooling myself, but it really feels to me like my cycles are back to "normal" and that gut-deep it was being on the Depo-Provera for too long that caused all of our problems. I guess if we try for #2 and have no luck that my views may change, but ... I've really found that since heading down the IF road, I really know when my body is doing what it should and when it isn't. And right now it feels like it's doing what it should.

This week I'll be making 12 dozen (14 including those for DH) gingerbread cookies (men, women & stars) for a cookie exchange. Whee! And I still have a ton and a half of Christmas shopping to do. Wait, make that a ton and a half of gift ideas to come up with before I can even start shopping.

My idea for my grandmother's present for Little One got hijacked, but in the best of ways. I had thought a creche/nativity that she could use for years (sturdy enough for now, but not childish for later), would be a good thing. This got passed to my grandmother who happened to mention it to her similarly-aged neighbors in the retirement community, who were generous enough to pass along the set she had bought as a child with her allowance and didn't know what to do with without a grandchild or great grandchild they are particularly close with. So I'll be gracious and accept it on LO's behalf with great effusions of gratitude, but, it's a little frustrating to have to start from square one again on trying to figure out some kind of meaningful present. Not to be morbid or anything, but how many years will they have together? I'd like the gifts to be lasting and not passing.

Well, DH has got the lights on the tree and is patiently waiting on the couch for me to attend to his baking yak (aching back) on the professional grade folding massage table he presented me with on my birthday. It's an equal opportunity use thing, but I have to admit, more often than not, our massages have a "happy ending." Hurray for relaxation!

Oh, and in exciting relaxation news, we have booked our 10 year wedding anniversary trip to Sandals Grande Antigua in April for 9 nights. A real treat for us to get away for that long and at the level of room we booked! I am a little worried about being away from LO for that long, but not enough to not look forward to getting away with DH without any other worries.

Okay, I'm really finishing up now. Everything has been cleaned up and is ready for my next visit. Hopefully it will be sooner than later.

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like LO is doing just fine. The canine teething though is scary. Please tell me she got her molars half an year ago and you enjoyed that break... Otherwise, I am ready to go bang my head against any wall of anyone's choosing, after having endured the coming of all four molars with George during the last two months.
    And Antigua - I am a becoming shade of green, my dear. Happy for you and very envious at the same time. :-)

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  2. I still can't believe how many cookies you've baked this week. Your oven must be exhausted!

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