Friday, November 30, 2007

Letter to Santa

I helped Isabel write her letter to Santa tonight. I downloaded this template and then changed the words to fit her and she colored all over it.

She will leave out her list on December 5th and St.Nick (aka Santa) will come to retrieve her list & check to make sure she is being good and then will leave her a few little treats if she is being good.

Some Pictures (Finally!)

This is a picture from today as we were on our way out the door to playgroup. She has on her winter jacket, scarf, hat, & boots. No need for snow pants yet, but we have them. In pink too! Well, we also have a set of everything (except boots) in red. I bought stuff for her at the end of last winter figuring she would be in a 2T. The boots I got lucky on because they were in a "lot" of shoes I bought and they happen to fit her.


This was a picture from Monday actually. I just never got around to posting it. She brought daddy a couple pairs of his shoes to wear and since he can only wear one at a time he told her to wear a pair.

I do stand corrected when I say she isn't kicking the ball yet. Today when we were playing I asked her to kick the ball and she did it perfectly. She was so very proud of herself.

We went swimming today before supper. She just loves swimming so much. The past couple weeks she dunks her own head under water, well, she dunks under to her forehead, so almost all the way. She does this all on her own and thinks it's fun. It's good that she likes it because we won't struggle with her having to swim under water or jump into the water once she starts lessons again.

I am waiting to start lessons again until there is some skill being taught. Classes at this point are just to get them comfortable with the water, and she is certainly that. And since we go often there is no need to pay for lessons at this point. From what I can tell it will be good to start her next summer/fall.


Thursday, November 29, 2007

Updates

I haven't been taking pictures this week. Maybe I will tomorrow.

She is starting to say lots of words now. She loves to say ball and a few others she has recently been saying are bubbles, baba (banana), bear, bub-bye, girl, poopy butt (I taught her to say that today when I was changing her poopy diaper) and many others. She just started saying all sorts of words this week.

Our week review so far:
Monday -- we went to the Y in the morning & playgroup in the afternoon
Tuesday -- we went to the Y in the morning & delivered food to a new mommy from our playgroup & Isabel got to play with her first born who is just a couple months younger than Isabel
Wednesday -- We went to Betty Brinn's with playgroup in the morning
Thursday -- Relax at home day
Friday -- Play group in the morning, maybe swimming at the Y in the afternoon

I registered her for a class at the Y starting in January. It is called Giggle & Wiggle. Here is the class description:
"In this semi-structured class, parents and children will enjoy play equipment, balls, parachutes and creative enrichment activities in an atmosphere that encourages play, play and more play!"

I have not decided which classes I plan to take yet for the next session. I am still talking with some other moms to figure out classes to take together. I am thinking spinning for sure & make yogalaties (yoga & pilates together) rather than just yoga, and maybe group power (it's a weight lifting class.)

Isabel & I have done a computer learning program together a few times. It is called Starfall. It's different steps to learning to read. We are in step one - ABC's. It has worksheets as well, but we just print them off to color and it is good to repeat the images that start with that letter. She likes it. She is very interested in the computer and has started to really get the hang of the mouse on the desktop. We bought her a toy laptop on black Friday to distract her from ours periodically.

She likes sleeping with a pillow now. We still have her in her crib and are not quite sure when we'll convert the crib into a toddler bed. We did bring the attachments back with us.

We have not begun potty training yet. We are in the pre-training stages yet. The potty chair is out in the bathroom, She practices sitting on it and sitting dolly on it. She practices flushing the big toilet (& cleaning it too!) We read books about using the potty. And when mommy is on the toilet she comes & gives me a dolly & a book to read, which is something the characters in her books do when they are learning to use the potty. She's just now starting to get interested in removing her own clothes when it is bath time, so once she actually gets the hang of removing her pants I think she'll be ready to start trying.

She loves sitting in her booster seat at the table and eating with a plate, cup, & utensils. She hasn't even thought twice about her highchair, which sits directly behind her.

We practicing climbing stairs like a big girl (no climbing up the stairs). She can do it at the Y on the water slide because there is a railing at her height, but at home there isn't, so that needs more practice.

We're still reading A LOT. In fact I just went to buy more books because after you read the same books 100 times (seriously, I probably have read each books that many times) you get bored.

One of these next 2 weekends we'll take her to visit Santa. We're not sure how she will react. Last year she was only 6-7 months old the 3 times she met Santa and she didn't care. This year I think she may get upset that a stranger is holding her. We've been reading her xmas books with pictures of Santa in it, so hopefully that will ease any anxiety, but maybe it won't.

She is down to one nap in the afternoon now, usually fom 1-3pm.

We've been practicing kicking, but she doesn't quite get it yet. She thinks it's fun when I help her do it, but can't quite do it on her own yet.

If you want to see a picture of us, look in the back right of this picture from the Erock Concert. We're planning on going to another Erock concert on Friday, December 7th.

Anything anyone wondering about regarding things she is doing/ not doing?

Sunday, November 25, 2007

End of Thanksgiving Weekend

I Eat Like a Big Girl

We just started her in the booster seat. She still fits fine in the high chair, but we needed to change things up because she was very insistant that I sing to her out of this nursery rhyme book every time she eats and didn't have the patience to let mom eat first. The book sits on the shelf under her highchair seat. So, we thought if we tried her booster seat she might not ask for the book. She tried, but I told her it wasn't by us. We have music playing the background, hoping that would help too. And now that she is at the table she gets to eat with a plate. She's been eating with a fork for quite a while. She has been drinking with a cup now & again, but I have never given her a full cup for the entire meal. Normally I would just put little bits in. She did great with it.
Just another picture from today. It is a very poofy skirt. We went to check out a church today and then went for a quick lunch afterward. Daddy is not too sure about whether or not he likes it. I liked it and Isabel seemed to do fine in the Nursery.

You can check out a couple of the blogs some of our friends in M&T have:

Brigger Family

Slife Family

As we look ahead to next week, things get back to normal. Mommy is meeting another mommy to go to Spinning Class while the kids go to Kidcare (hopefully she does better, as she has to go Tuesday when mommy has yoga class). Tomorrow afternoon we are going to M&T playgroup. I already mentioned our highlights for Tuesday. Wednesday we are going to Betty Brinn's with M&T playgroup. Thursday we have a playdate with Leah & Ryan. Friday we have M&T playgroup in the morning. Saturday afternoon is the Christmas parade in town. So, back to business as usual.


Saturday, November 24, 2007

79 Weeks

Well, decorating the cookies did prove to be very messy indeed. She started stirring the frosting to mix in the green coloring, but then decided to taste it and consequently deided that tasting was better than stirring. And the sprinkles & colored sugars really need smaller holes on top. She got stuff everywhere, but she had fun.

I do hope I can get the green out of her poncho. She got the poncho from mom's dear friend Linda (she made it!). She also has lots of colors on her white onesie as well. I think mom will make the cookies for the cookie exchange all on her own (w/o help from baby.)

Making Gingerbread Cookies


We did gingerbread cookies right before lunch today. We did gingerbread boys & girls & bells (those are the molds I had.) I made sugar cookies this morning and later we will frost & decorate those. That should be messy fun.

Decorating Our Living Tree

This year we went with a Living Christmas Tree. The tree itself is about 4.5 feet tall (well, shorter after we trimmed the top so that the star didn't lean over.) I had brought back some beads and unbreables xmas balls & a star I used on the xmas tree when I lived in my first apartment with Jeni. The tree sits on it's big root ball filled with dirt (burlap covered) and in a pot. We put a black pastic bag around the the pot so that any water wouldn't leak out onto the floor. Then in the spring we can plant this (whereever our permanent house will be) or donate it to a park or give it to someone we know to plant.) It's out little thing we are doing to have a greener Christmas.


Isabel was playing with the beads just like she does with her scarves. She had fun.

Another nice thing about the living tree is that we will have the pine smell, but since it stays living, we won't be cleaning up pine needles. And the fact that it sits up higher on a root ball means that it's harder for Isabel (or the cats) to take ornaments off the tree.


Decorating the tree was a new experience for Isabel, as she was too young last year. Daddy strung on the LED lights (we only need 1 strand of 50 lights on our tree) and the beads and placed the star on top, but Isabel helped hang the xmas balls & candy canes.

We are going to be turning out xmas cards into ornaments to hang on the tree as we get them. I thought that would be a neat way to display them and decorate the tree.


The top picture I took in the dark using the night function on my camera. You can see the lights better in that picture. Christmas trees always looks better in person than in pictures. I will try taking one during the daylight, which makes a tree look better in photos too. Anyways, I used a little glittery Christmas scarf (batting) that I already had to cover the root ball. It is easy enough to pull that up to water the tree. One could just as easily use fabric or some tree skirt they have too.

Isabel hand painted several ornaments. This one is for us on our tree. She did others that will be given as gifts. I bought these wooden cutouts at Michaels and then she handpainted them and I put on a layer of clear fingernail polish to make it so her finger paint wouldn't smudge off, drilled holes in the top & ran a tring through. It was hard to pick which one we wanted for ourselves. They all turned out so nice and have a stained glass look to them. They all look different.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving

Today we are having Thanksgiving dinner with another family from M&T group. So, it's a nice low-key day with very minimal travel.

Here she is pictures with her favorite things she is thanksful for (except mommy & daddy aren't in the picture). I didn't stage this picture, they really are her favorite things.

She loves those little pink Princess slippers. She is always bringing them to us to have us put them on her. And she has on her little hot pink Oshkosh b'Gosh vest that she loves so much. She will being it to us and have us put it on her and she will wear it all day. She is also holding dolly and has a pacifier in her mouth. She doesn't have a favorite pacifier, they are just a favorite in general. Now if I could have her sitting there eating shrimp & black olives, I think we would have all her very best favorites (plus mommy & daddy!)

I just wonder how she decided that she loved that vest or those slippers so much. But she sure does like to put them on and wear them all the time. It's hard to tell just what a kid (or even a grown-up for that matter) is going to find as a favorite treasure.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

When It's All Said & Done


You get to see the final masterpieces - My Little Van Gogh & Her Work of Art.

Finger Painting Video

Click the Play arrow to begin. Don't forget the sound.

Don't Eat Paint

Sometimes you just need to try, even though you know you shouldn't.

BTW - there is very little sound to this video, but the sluide shows do have audio.

The Block Show

You build them up, just so you can knock them down. All the fun is in the knocking down.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Happy Half Birthday



She is 18 Month Old Today.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Mamacita

78 Weeks Old


Here is my little mamacita at 78 weeks. I'll stop with the weeks thing after 2 years. She has a photo album that has enough slots of pictures as there are weeks in about 2 years. So, I wanted to fill that up. Ironicaly, the baby chart program online I use is monthly for 2 years. So, I will have lots of documentation for the first 2 years, and then it will stop. If I got pregnant again (not saying we're planning on it) when she was around 2 years, she might think I stopped doing stuff for her because of the new baby (when she got older and realized the connection.)


No real plans today, just to hang around the house probably. Tomorrow, we are busy. We have Thanksgiving Brunch with Newcomer's Club. Mom is making her Creme Brule French Toast. And then in the late afternoon/early evening we are gtoing to mom's cousin's house for dinner & to hang out with him, his girlfriend and her little girl.

Friday, November 16, 2007

18 Month Well-Check

Length
This morning we had Isabel's 18-month well-check. She will actually be 18 month on Tuesday. Anyways, she had a little growth spurt this last month and grew a half inch and still keeping her in the 95th percentile. Her head circumference is 18.75 inches, which is in the 75th percentile.

Weight

Her weight is 26 pounds 4 ounces. She dropped a little from last month, but the doctor said that is normal when they start getting really active, just as long as she doesn't keep dropping. Plus, they just wanted to see that she gained since her last well-check visit, which was 15 months. Her weight is now in the 75th percentile.

They do an autism screener at the 18-month visit and she does not have any of the signs of autism. As someone who has worked with autistic kids and has a degree in the field, there was no doubt that she was not autistic, but they do the screener regardless.

The only thing the doc was first concerned with is that she is not saying 15-20 words on a regular basis, but when I told her she does other signs that are not parts of the words she uses, then the doc was fine. She didn't care if they were words or signs, but that Isabel was communicating 15-20 words in some way and that she was imitating our words.

Isabel has really been imitating our speech a lot lately. Now we really have to watch what we say. By continuing to imitate us she will learn the actual words and have a larger vocabulary. I am not worried about her vocabulary. She is going to have a huge vocabulary due to all the reading we do. Each day we read a minimum of 15-20 books. Yes, we really do read that many. She always gets 5-6 books before nap & bed time and then there are other times through the days she will bring books to me to read. I usually have to read her a couple books while I am getting her dressed in the morning and it's not uncommon for daddy to have to read her a couple when he gets her jammies on. We read a lot in this house.

She does get certain sounds stuck in her head that she keeps practicing over & over again. At one point she was saying "O-sha" a lot. Now it sounds like she is saying "gabba gabba".....sounds like gobble, gobble, as if she was practicing for Thanksgiving.

Well, it's naptime now and we have some reading to do. She should take a nice long nap (hopefully) since we went swimming at the Y for an hour after our appt.


Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Middle of the Week Again

We skipped storytime because mommy was cleaning today, but we did meet Noah & Michelle at playroom at the Y and had fun. It is probably the last time we'll play with them until the baby comes.

This afternoon we just hung out at home. Tomorrow we'll have Jamie, Jack & Will over to play.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Today


Daddy taught her how to use the mouse the other day. So, she likes to move it around and watch the cursor on the screen. She got the hang of it really quickly. She has figured out that clicking it makes things happen, but doesn't know how to put the two together yet.

The Weekend & Beyond




Ok - well, Friday I took her into the doctor again because the eczema seemed to be getting worse and was on other parts of her. Well, turns out she is getting over an upper respiratory virus (guess she gave it to grandma - sorry!) and the noncontagious rash was a result of that. And the rash exacerbated her eczema. Although it is all starting to clear up now. She gave me the same virus and I had gotten a rash as well. Weird. Anyways, on Friday the doc said she had fluid in one of her ears, but it was clear which signaled the end of the infection.
Then Friday we left for MN. It was nice to go back. We hung out with our neighbors Cindy & John. Daddy got to hang out with uncle Chris and Mommy & Isabel got to hang out with godmother Jessi. We met her at the Y in Burnsville and played in their play area and went swimming and got to see a bunch of pictures from Jessi's recent trip to Africa. On Sunday we headed back to WI.
Now, today mommy tried out a spinning class at the Y first thing in the morning and then we went to playgroup afterwards. Playgroup was a lot of fun. Isabel seems very comfortable around all the kids in playgroup. Today she was right in there playing with the kids and didn't have to be by mommy so much.
Tomorrow I'll probably take her swimming in the morning and in the afternoon we have a playdate with Carrie, Leah & Ryan. On Wednesday, we will go to storytime. On Friday she has her 18 month wellness check and afterwards we will meet playgroup at the Y for open swim. And on Sunday we plan to do a Thanksgiving Brunch with Newcomer's and then in the afternoon we will meet for an early dinner with mommy's cousin Jeff & his girfriend and her little girl. We might have to re-think the brunch though as there might not be enough time for adequate nap(s) for Isabel. We'll see.

Friday, November 09, 2007

End of the Week

I made her some squishy bags from a recipe in the book Toddler's Busy Book. I also did another thing out of there below, where I traced our feet and then she colored them & everything else. :)


We won't have pictures on here again until Sunday. We're all heading back to MN because we have some thigs to take care of. It is a last minute thing.



I was trying to teach her to put on her socks. She doesn't actually try to take off her clothes much. Every once in a whileshe might take her arm out of a big sweater (just because it's so easy) or she might pull off a sock while in her crib, but that is really about it. She seems content staying in her clothes.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Funny & Sweet

Funny
This picture was taken this morning. We comb hair & brush teeth after breakfast, so that is why the funky hair. Anyways, we had waffles & split a banana for breakfast. I cut hers up in to little chucks and left a whole half on my plate. She indiciated she wanted mine (as she wasn't eating her chunks) and I gave mine to her and she proceeded to eat it. All of it! What you see here is her having crammed the last part into her mouth and her clapping because she is proud of herself for eating all of mom's half of banana. I got the chunks.
Sweet
This is daddy & Isabel at the kids concert last night. It was 45 minutes long, which is perfect for a kids concert. The first half hour she just watched and we weren't sure what she thought of it, but by the last 15 minutes she was tapping her hands on her lap ad moving her feet to the beat. She jus takes a while to warm up to things. So, she had fun. I thought it was nice. The group is playing again next month in our town, so we'll go see them again then.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Middle of the Week


We're just having some afternoon snacks in this picture. The snack is some Clifford Crunch cereal and dried fruits (mangos & pineapple) and some water. She now knows how to flush the toilet & clean the toilet with the toilet brush. We have to shut the bathroom door now or she might be in there either pulling off toilet paper to put in the toilet to flush or cleaning the toilet with the brush. Why couldn't she have learned to clean the toilet when I had 5 toilets to clean?
No plans tomorrow and Friday we plan to go to Chuck-e-Cheese with our playgroup and on Sunday Auntie Phanie & Uncle J are coming over to watch the Packer vs. Vikings game. Tonight we may go to the Hartland Music Conservatory for the Erock Kids Music Concert.

700th Post

700 posts....That is sure a lot! Well, anways. I took just this one picture on Sunday of her when we were playing dress up or as we like to call it, "Playing Scarves"

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Saturday, November 3rd (76 Weeks)

I got this packet of little advertisement cards and I gave them to her and she thought they were so fun to play with.

Grandma & Grandpa are visiting. They arrive yesterday and are here until Tuesday. Today we all went to "It's a Beautiful Day" Cafe in Pewaukee. It was just ok. Then daddy took his parents to tour around some other suburbs. This evening they babysay while daddy & mommy went to the O-Spa and enjoyed ourselves there and then we went to the Irish Pub on Main Street that is smoke-free (gotta like that!) It has been quite a while since we have gotten out without her, so this was good.
This evening she was hilarious. She got all sorts of hyper and was squealing (although I could do without some of the high pitch squeals) with enjoyment. She kept rolling around on the ballon and I kept pryaing it wouldn't pop, because then I would have a kid who hit her head on the floor and was scared by the noise. It never did end up popping. She didn't got to bed very early for grandma & grandpa, so maybe she will sleep in for daylight savings.

Friday, November 02, 2007

Out of Focus


Sorry for the extremely out of focus picture. I was trying to take a couple pictures too quick and this was the better of the two. She has taken to going into the cupboards and playing with pots & pans. Apparently the other cupboards she would dig in got boring and she needed to mix things up.
Yesterday I took her to the doctor to have this rash on her wrist checked out to make sure it was nothing contagious and they believe it is just eczema. Last winter she had a bought of it, but we used some Aveeno baby lotion and it all went away. So, now we have to lather her up again. At least her eczema is mild and is taken care of with just some lotion. Does anyone know if kids can outgrow this or not or will she have it for the rest of her life?
I did find this on Eczema.org: "There are no guarantees that a child will grow out of eczema. However, research has shown that 60-70% of children are virtually clear of the condition by the time they reach their mid-teens. "
The doctor says it is a hereditary thing. I know of one aunt that has it, but other than that I don't know if any other family members have it. And daddy certainly has no idea if anyone in his family has it. He doesn't even know what vegetables his parents like/don't like, so why should he know who has
WAIT! Apparently I have Eczema.....as I type this and am researching it, I have a form called Allergic contact dermatitis. I am allergic to nickel (which I suspect she is too because I have seen her tummy get red after wearing button pants.) My mom has this allergy as well.
She never did have thing kind: Infantile seborrhoeic eczema, which we know as cradle cap. She got dad's greasy head, so that was never an issue. She will probably never have dandruff (which is called Adult seborrhoeic eczema) either, which is a good thing.
What she has is Atopic eczema, which is related to asthma & hayfever allergies. Daddy has hayfever allergies.
Poor girl....she almost had no choice but to get some allergies.