This weekend has been AMAZING! The temperatures were in the 60's yesterday and hit 71 degrees today. It allowed for me to have a fabulous 16 mile run early yesterday morning. My run was then followed by delicious homemade French Toast and applewood smoked bacon... I LOVE having a husband who can cook and enjoys cooking. This late brunch didn't allow for Carly to get outside much in the morning, except to wave to me when I ran by. However, she made up for it after nap time. We spent the afternoon playing outside. Carly walked, rode in her wagon, played on her slide, explored the garage, and overall just enjoyed being outside. She even played right through snack time. This allowed for us to meet Carly's BFF and her parents for an early dinner at a local eater near Bank of America Stadium. It was very cute to see the two girls interact and eat their different "table" foods.
Today Carly had another playful morning with Dave while I helped with the 4th and 5th grader at Church. After lunch and Carly's nap we all ventured back outside. Dave went out to run 6 miles, while Carly and I enjoyed the sunshine. She played with her toys, visited with different neighbors, and walked down to visit and pet a family's 3 dogs. After Dave's run we took Jake for a stroll around the neighborhood and decided to change our dinner plans. Instead of shrimp on top of a salad, Dave ran up to the store and picked up steak, asparagus, and an onion for a grilled dinner. I LOVE meals like this one.
We know this weather is just a tease and the cold weather will return soon enough, but we enjoyed as much of it as we could.
I just finished putting Carly to bed and watching her copy her daddy. Carly's bedtime routine involves a nightly bath, putting on her pajamas, goodnight hugs and kisses by both parents, then one parent stays behind to give her a little milk during a calm and quiet time before placing her in her crib. When it is my night to stay behind Dave says goodnight to Carly and then kisses her on the cheek. He then says goodnight to me and gives me a kiss, too. Tonight after Dave kissed me Carly kissed me too. Dave and I chuckled and tried this portion of our routine again. She again copied Dave and grinned at the end.
This is the type of "mommy" moment that other mommies try to explain to you when you are expecting; however, you just don't understand them until they are happening to you.
Carly had her first dentist visit today, per her pediatrician's request. She was her happy go lucky self walking into the office, and immediately wanted to check everyone and everything out. After exploring the waiting room and trying to explore behind the receptionist counter it was our turn to go back. The X-ray room was nothing special, and Carly did NOT enjoy being in it. After our first attempt Carly threw her arms up towards one of the hygienist helping and allowed her to walk her all through the exam area. Finally, she was willing to come back to me - until she realized I was putting her back in my lap for another x-ray attempt. After this attempt, we had 2 successful x-rays - one of her upper jaw and one of her lower jaw. Originally, I wasn't thrilled with the idea of Carly getting dental x-rays this early in life just to "see." However, it was explained to me that what her dentist really wanted to see were the roots of the teeth and how they were developing/growing.
The exam area had various cartoon characters painted on the walls, a lot of large windows, 4 brightly colored exam chairs, and two private rooms off to the side. In this area Carly was very comfortable and sat in my lap very patiently (except when she wanted to be entertaining) while we talked to two of dental hygienists. Her exam by the dentist was referred to as a lap exam. Carly sat in my lap facing me before laying back and placing her head in the dentist's lap. Before we got Carly in position, the dentist did explain to me that it would be easier for her to examine Carly's mouth if she did scream. Screaming would open her mouth up wide and allow a very clear view. The first moment Carly flipped back she did open her mouth in protests; however, as soon as the dentist began the exam Carly fell silent and let her finish. We were able to feel 7 teeth on top and 8 on the bottom.
Following the exam and the doctor's reviewing of Carly's x-rays, she said she wasn't worried at all. Carly has baby teeth and will have adult teeth. At the moment we are waiting for the baby teeth's roots to continue forming; however, at the moment her two bottom teeth are right at the gum line and 6 of her top teeth are fairly close.
We will head back in 6 months for another visit, hopefully Carly will enjoy her 2nd visit as much as her 1st (minus the x-rays).
After a normal breakfast, she and I ventured out to "Wally World." The last thing I placed in our shopping cart, before heading to the checkout line, were bananas. Carly started to gesture for one, and even was using her sign language to say "please." I picked out a ripe one and gave it to her still peeled. She held onto it while she rode over to the register (I was doubtful this would actual happen, I figured it would hit the ground 1/2 way there) and was even willing to hand it to the cashier without a fuss. Thankfully the lady was very friendly and could tell Carly wanted it right back. Once I had paid and loaded the cart up, I peeled the banana and Carly began chowing down. By the time we got to the car and I loaded the three bags into it, Carly was finished with her banana and ready to get in the car.
This banana snack pushed her lunch time back slightly; however, she was eager to help feed me my lunch.
Surprisingly enough, her dinner tonight was HUGE (for her standards). She wasn't adventurous, but she ate a lot... ham, cheese, 2 slices of apple, some fruit cocktail, and a 6oz of pureed squash and zucchini.
For Christmas Santa brought Carly a set of cardboard boxes. These extra-large blocks are a lot of fun to stack, but even more to knock down when built up into a tower or other structure. Last night Dave started building a wall across our family room floor while I made dinner. He was on one side and Carly & I were on the other side of this wall. Carly then figured out (with a little assistance from her dad) to kick the wall to get on his side.
Dave's wall.
Kicking down daddy's wall.
Reading with daddy once I broke through.
Helping to rebuild the wall after "getting" daddy.
This continued tonight; however, this time on a larger scale. Last night not all of Carly's cardboard boxes were assembled; however, when Dave returned home tonight he began putting together the remaining blocks. So tonight, Dave built a wall using all 40 blocks... which Carly immediately kicked through.
Brrrr, it's cold outside!!! However, this did not stop Carly from wanting to spend A LOT of time outside. She went outside and pushed her lawn mower, ran up and down the driveway, walked to both corners near our house, played in our yard and a neighbors, climbed and slid down her slide, and then requested to go for a wagon ride. Altogether we were probably outside for just over 30 minutes, which isn't long - except it was COLD! The weather didn't seem to faze her though.
Carly enjoys eating bananas. Today I gave Carly the whole banana just to see what happened. I have given her long sections of banana's cut in half, and within the past 2 weeks I have given her 1 inch sections of whole bananas, but never the whole thing. Well, she acted like she had been holding an entire banana for months.
I imagined this video to have "I Like to Eat Apples and Bananas," but we don't seem to have it on i-Tunes at the moment. Off to the library we go on Tuesday in search.
Today Carly is 15 months old!! It is unbelievable how time is flying by. This evening we took a family trip to the grocery store and ran into the older brother and a father of a former student. The older brother made a point to call out my name, then walk over and tell me how he now has his learner's permit and drove to the grocery store. Not only did this make me feel old, but as his dad pointed out... we would be in this same spot in a flash. And reality is, we will be. I know that 13 years and 9 months is a long ways off, but eventually (as in some time in elementary school) Carly will be counting down to this day. SCARY!! I have decided to push such thoughts out of my mind at the moment by focusing on the things that Carly can do at the moment, and driving a car is NOT one of those things.
~ Carly is feeding herself "successfully" with a spoon, and I am becoming an expert at using various stain remover products.
~ She is walking very well, and working on speeding up her stiff run. Unfortunately, it is leading to bumps, scrapes, and bruises.
~ She is continuing to eat all types of fruit and bread products. She loves deli ham, cheese slices and small cubes, baby cereals, yogurt, and pureed vegetables. She is currently not interested in whole peas or any other table food vegetables, pasta, or meat.
~ She LOVES to read books and can go and pick up her favorites from her book table if you begin telling the story from memory. At the moment Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Froggy Boots Go with Everything, Where is Baby's Belly Button?, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and Little Drummer Boy are her favorite!
~ She enjoys looking at photographs, especially the photo baby announcements and cards we have displayed on our refrigerator.
~ She can crawl up the stairs and walk up holding the rail if it is low enough for her. She can also crawl down backwards and side step down if the rail is low enough for her to hold on to. (However, she doesn't always want to travel in the same direction that Dave and I want to travel.)
~ She is following one step verbal directions and using a nod for "yes" and "no" to answer simple questions - "Are you hungry?" "Did you go poopie? Do you need a new diaper?"
~ Daily play time involves cooking in her kitchen, going "shopping" for plastic fruits and vegetables with her shopping cart, pushing her stroller around, and mimicking me in daily chores (sweeping, dusting, using the swifter). She also finds plenty of time to build and tear down a tower of blocks, push cars and trucks around various surfaces, and use her wooden puzzles.
~ Art time as evolved to include colored pencils, (She demonstrated she was ready for these 2 weeks ago by coloring in the front cover of a book on my bedside table.) although she is uninterested in using crayons.
~ She really enjoys going to the library for story time and to find new board books.
~ Recently she has added going outside to her regular routine. During the summer and fall I made a point to take her outside at least once if we hadn't been to a park or had an outside playdate. This winter we have gone outside after her nap time to play with a few of the neighborhood kids as they walk home from the bus stop each afternoon, assuming the weather at the time was above 35 or so. However, as of this week she has begun going into our mudroom and pointing to her jacket and hat and saying her version of outside - "aw". She LOVES to go on wagon rides, play with her pink lawnmower, ride her little scooter, and play on a slide that is currently being stored in the garage during the winter months. (I can't wait until the spring when I can let her loose in our fenced in backyard!)
~ Music and dancing are becoming bigger and bigger aspects of her daily routine. She likes to turn on Violet and dance around, play with the musical instruments she got for Christmas, and dance to cd's we get from the library.
~ She is also working on her vocabulary. She has added the word "please" to her sign language vocabulary (or at least her own version of the sign) and is starting to say a lot of D words. Daddy is "daDEE," doggy is "dauDE," and ducky is "DAUde". Also, in Carly's world a doggy says, "mumm, mumm" not "ruff, ruff"
~ Tonight she also figured out how to get small objects out of a bottle.
~ We are still patiently waiting on teeth; however, today's actions and behavior are looking promising. She may actually be teething. OH BOY!!!!
It blows me away how much Carly changes from day to day, week to week, and month to month. I don't notice the physical change as much until I look at pictures, but its hard not to miss the developmental changes. I thought she was such the little person/toddler when she turned one, but now this little person is answering my questions with gestures and nods and expressing her wants and needs through a few "Carly" words, pointing, and gestures.
So everyone says that moms never get a day off and there is no such thing as a sick day. Well my friends (and family), these people LIE! Below is the recipe for a sick day.
1) Align babysitting help well in advance for your scheduled sick day. Scheduling a dentist appointment and other mommy type errands during this time will help ensure you babysitter is at your home and ready to help out.
2) Twenty-four hours before your babysitter (or mom in my case) arrives come in contact with some nasty stomach virus germs. (It is very important that your husband and baby DO NOT come in contact with said germs.)
3) On the day your babysitter arrives run all of your errands, and have a fun relaxing day schedule for the 2nd and final day of your babysitter's visit.
4) After your baby is in bed and your babysitter is sleeping peacefully, and right as your husband is getting ready for bed begin getting sick. (You want him to be awake and in the room for your first round... so he realizes just how badly you feel. And make sure to chuckle at his joke when he asks if you will be running your scheduled 4 miles in the AM, as he is turning off your alarm for you.)
5) Continue to get up 3 more times through out the night, making sure you are loud enough to wake him up. (This is not the time to close bathroom doors, he needs to hear it all...)
6) When your husband is up and moving about to leave for work start playing your sympathy card. Ask if he can stay at home for the day. When he says he can't work from home due to work meeting commitments ask him for some Pedialyte when he is able to return home. Then take the monitor to your babysitter, tell her about your night, and ask if she can watch your baby for at least an hour or so.
7) Then go back to bed and sleep until your husband comes home at lunch time with your Pedialyte and holds it over your head until you shower.
8) After your shower and Pedialyte, go back to bed until your baby is crying outside of her daddy's office because she wants to "help" him with his business call.
9) Help your babysitter for a few moments calm your baby down, then head back to bed.
10) Wake up again at dinner time (which you will NOT be eating) to thank your babysitter 100+ times for staying an extended amount of time and for helping get dinner on the table and cleaned up.
11) Then say your good-byes and head back to bed, while your husband puts your baby to bed, you go back to sleep, and your babysitter drives home.
12) Sleep all night and get ready to face the new day... there is no more babysitter. (But at least babies nap, and you can nap during that time.)
While I would not wish the above recipe on any person in the world, this is what our life was like all day yesterday. I am finally functioning enough to want to be on my computer, but not enough to really eat yet. (On a positive note though, I am down 5+ pounds from Wednesday morning.)
I typically do minimal house work during Carly's waking hours. I will put dishes away, dust, or work on laundry during her spurts of independent play. I have tried to sweep, especially when Jake brings in a coat full of leaves from our backyard; however, Carly always takes the broom away from me and starts to sweep herself. Unfortunately, she is too short to use the broom successfully. So, today I got the idea to use a swifter for a few moments instead. Why I thought this would be different, I don't know. Immediately, she came and took it away from me. That was when I realized - the swifter pole consists of 5 pieces, three of which are the exact same size to give the pole its height. I removed two of those pieces and VOLA, Carly was able to use the Swifter successfully. She dusted the floor in our kitchen and breakfast room at many different points throughout her day. She also dusted the coffee table, sofa, and rugs. Hopefully she will continue to want to help me more and more, especially since her naps are gradually getting shorter and shorter (and to think eventually there will be NO nap time).
Carly and I finally made it out today!! The roads were clear except for a few shady spots. Carly seemed in awe as we travelled around. Even though the roads are clear, almost everything else is still covered with a nice white layer of ice.
While out and about traveled to a friend's home to see her new baby and for Carly to play with her older "baby." We also headed to the grocery store and to return a library book that was technically due yesterday.
It was very enjoyable to get out today and have a short change of scenery.
Well Dave made it out today and went off to work. Carly and I were still stuck at home with a large sheet of ice and ice chunks positioned behind my car. So what else was there to do...
...climb onto the love seat for the first time.
(She used the throw pillows as a step stool to help her out.)
...play with Jake's tag, while they both wished they were outside playing.
...eat a yummy cheese sandwich at lunch time.
...play with the band in a box.
...paint with a paint brush (for the first time), and brush her hair with the paint brush when I asked, "Are you going to use your brush some more?".
...give Jake a BIG hug!
Carly and I had a great 2nd Ice Day; however, I am very glad that the driveway is clear and we will be able to venture out some tomorrow.
Today was an ice day, not a snow day. Last night we began to get freezing rain, which left a nice thick layer of ice over our beautiful soft, powered snow. Cabin fever began to set in this morning. Dave attempted to head into the office, but turned around to come home before getting there. He locked himself in the office and Carly colored, played in her kitchen, and ran around the house.
During Carly's nap time I attempted to walk to the nearby grocery store, but didn't have a lot of success. Carly awoke early, and ready to play. There was more coloring, more kitchen play, a lot of book reading, and running around. Hopefully she was able to wear herself out enough to sleep long and hard tonight.
I'm not sure what Carly and I are going to do tomorrow since it is sure to be another icy day. However, Dave is heading into the office and Carly and I will find something to do to express all of her extra and pinned up energy.
Cornelius celebrated its first Snow Day of 2011. The snow began to fall sometime after midnight and by the time we woke up there was about 3.5 to 4 inches of snow on the ground.
We ventured out twice to play in the snow this morning. At first Carly wasn't sure what to think of the snow or how to walk in it exactly, but after a few awkward steps she got the hang of it.
As the day progressed we continued to get more snow, and unfortunately is now turning to ice. I guess tomorrow will be our "Ice Day."
There are more pictures for our Snow Day 2011 on SumgMug.
Carly received a My Pal Violet which is a purple interactive dog. It plays music, sings and has some simple word games to play with if you push one of its paws. Carly has taken a liking to the song paw, but not just any of the 8 songs on Violet, just the song "If You're Happy and You Know It." She will cycle through the songs listening to only the first couple notes to determine if it is "If You're Happy and You Know It." It has three versions of the song and Carly doesn't really follow along to the clapping or the barking version, but she does follow along the last version.
Instead of telling you the version she dances to, I think it is better to watch it for yourself...
After my run this morning I came home to a busy house. Dave and Carly had already had a wonderful pancake breakfast and were busy playing. After I got cleaned up and ate some yummy pancakes too this is what I glanced over and saw...
What a day Carly has had, but in a GOOD way. She woke up again at 8:00 to tell Dave bye-bye; however, he was just rolling out of bed. As a result she was able to see him for a little bit longer (and he was still out the door before 8:30...).
Our day continued after a quick breakfast with a trip to Discovery Place Kids. During our visit she really began stating her opinion. Typically if Dave or I asks her a question she will nod "yes" or be still, with the occasional non-committal "no". As I asked about moving to another exhibit or playing with a particular piece of an exhibit I started getting an very defined "no" head nod. She wasn't being the typical "no" child, just plainly showing that she wasn't ready to move on or that she was ready. It made for a zero melt-down visit, always a PLUS! After she nodded that she was ready to go home, we calmly walked out. When I asked her to wave bye-bye to Discovery Place Kids she began to blow the building kisses.
Carly's blowing of kisses continued this afternoon at nap time when she blew kisses to the pictures (mostly baby announcements) on our refrigerator. She also blew them kisses before going upstairs for her bath and bed time routine.
After this afternoon's nap, Carly and I bundled up and ventured outside. After playing with a few toys, going on a wagon ride, and really enjoying her slide for the first time she began to make her way towards the door to come in. As I began taking off my coat, she did too. Typically she tries but gets her hands and arms stuck in some awkward position and needs a little assistance loosening one of her arms. Today, she needed none. She took her coat off, then her hat and handed them to me to put away with mine.
Carly even showed off for Dave some today too. During bath time she began dunking her face. At first she put just her lips to the water, then the next time she got a little deeper. By the end she would pop her head out of the water, be wet from her eyes to her chin, and giggle the happiest giggle you can imagine. (A giggle very similar to this video from May.)
And to conclude her day she kissed me goodnight. Oh how I love those mouth wide open kisses she seems to only be sharing with me at the moment.
In my opinion every day isn't this exciting in the Orr household; however, it probably is to Carly.
I know that every mother thinks their child is wonderful, and they should. And as a result, in my world Carly is the the BEST. Today she seemed to know exactly what Dave and I needed at just the right moment. This morning Dave was getting ready to leave and mentioned that he REALLY wanted to kiss Carly good-bye this morning. Almost on cue she started to stir and awoke for him. It was great, Dave was able to get her from the crib, kiss her good-bye, and she got to give her daddy a few BIG smiles and hugs.
Carly's helpfulness continued during her day with me. This morning she would play with me for about 5 minutes, then walk off to play alone for 10 minutes, then bring me a book to read her before heading off to play alone again. These short bursts of independent time allowed me to get a lot of small things done around the house (menu's planned, meat wrapped up for the freezer, dishes put away, etc). But best of all, getting these small little tasks done during the day allowed me to relax during a portion of her nap. About 45 minutes into her nap I realized I had completed everything on today's "To Do List." I considered starting on tomorrow's list; however, brushed that aside quickly. Instead I decided to finish a book I was reading, which then led to a very much needed nap. Continuing on with Carly's helpfulness - she slept today for an extra 40 minutes, allowing my nap to be over an hour.
I know Dave will be VERY jealous when he reads of my nap, so I really hope that Carly's helpfulness will continue to at least Saturday morning so that he can sleep in while I go out for my run. But if it doesn't, I see him napping while Carly naps on Saturday. :-)
Carly was finally able to return to story time this week! Unfortunately we either had scheduling conflicts or illnesses prevent us from attending story time in November, and the library took the month of December off... which left Carly with no story time for 2 whole months. During this time she did continue to practice singing the song we start and end each story time with, "Open, Shut Them." She also enjoyed going to the library to get new books and playing with the same type of bubbles at home during these two months, but it still wasn't the same.
Carly was thrilled to be back today and even stayed for the older groups time. She walked around visiting other children and their moms. She smiled and chased the bubbles, but she didn't help sing our opening and closing song. This surprised me with how much she had wanted to sing it during her two month break, and since she wanted to sing it about 3 or 4 times this afternoon after she got up from her nap. Oh well, I guess girls will be girls!
Carly is still giving out those kisses. David put her to bed last night, so I'm not sure if he got one or not. However, I did get three yesterday when I was putting her down for a nap and then one today. I'm starting to think that these kisses are a cue that she is ready to be put in her crib. Yesterday, she would give me a kiss, place her head on my shoulder, wait about 15 seconds, and then give me another kiss - but each new kiss had a little bit more force. Finally after the third one I placed her in the crib with minimal fussing as she positioned herself and got comfortable. Today, I put her down after she gave me the first (and only) kiss - again with minimal fussing. We shall see what bedtime has in store tonight, but I'm enjoying the current goodnight/good nap kissing cue.
Ever since I can remember (so probably Carly's entire life) I have kissed Carly somewhere between her ear and forehead every time I have placed her in a crib, pack and play, or bassinet. Tonight Carly decided to beat me to it. I was rocking her beside the crib with her head nestled on my shoulder. All of a sudden her head popped up and she gave me a "Carly kiss." ("Carly kiss" = mouth wide open in the shape of an O making contact somewhere on your face.) Then, just as quickly her head went straight back onto my shoulder. Carly has begun giving out kisses more and more frequently; however, this was her first goodnight kiss.
