East River Baby

Kid Update

2011-10-09T19:40:00.000-07:00

It is now officially fall at the Janssen household. We went apple picking last weekend, and drove upstate to see the leaves and fantasize about buying a "country home" this weekend. Things have been pretty great lately. I'm loving my new job, Ryan's startup is going well, and the kids are a joy 75% of the time (if we took more car trips this number would go down substantially).

Today we went upstate for a pretty great day of looking at houses, watching an air show and having lunch at a great little kid-friendly cafe. Two out of three of those things were enjoyable. If I threw in the car ride, we'd be about at 50/50 enjoyment. Just when you think getting out of the house is a relief, you realize you are stuck in traffic on a Sunday evening with screaming kids and you are out of water and milk. "Please, I will never leave the house again, if I can just get home without my brain exploding" I'll spare you the details.

Rexie is increasingly easy on the eyes and very charming. He is soooo social. He wants to meet everyone and play with them, and wave to them. Adorable. This is a good thing because he is increasingly a pain in the butt as well. I say that in a completely loving way. He is absolutely stubborn, and LOUD about it. Part of this I attribute to be being a little brother (fighting for what he wants) and part is being a boy. He also has found out that he can communicate what he wants pretty effectively and if he doesn't' get what he wants after communicating it, he gets frustrated and angry.

For example, If he looks up at me with his little arms outstretched (pick me up!), and I do not cooperate, he will immediately cry. Even more dramatic......if we are in a restaurant and he does not want to sit in the high chair he will scream at the top of his lungs until he is removed. (That happened today).

Rex seems to be maturing way too fast. Yesterday morning when I came to get him out of the crib in the morning, he looked so incredibly tall to me. I don't know how much longer a crib will keep him. That same morning, I caught him successfully feeding himself with a spoon.....

And, as I said above, he is communicating so much. None of his words are super articulate, but he has a way of saying the following:

*blanket
*bottle
*water
*mama
*dada
*fay ("day")
*dog
*ball
*bubbles ("buba")
*thank you (this one is hilarious -- he repeats is if you say it to him)
*Oh Ohhhh (for dropping something)

Amazing. And one of the cutest things is when I showed him a picture of a lion a couple weeks ago and did a "roar" sound, he IMMEDIATELY starting roaring. He also does an elephant sound while putting his arm up for the trunk (this is what mommy did for elephant). it is the cutest thing and now every animal he sees on the street is a "rawr".

Fay is also maturing into a beautiful smart little girl. She can be really funny. Sometimes she knows why she is funny and sometimes it is an accident. But if she makes you laugh, she is soooo proud of herself and then will dorkify herself by trying to repeat the trick over and over.

Fay is sponging up words and information every day. I no longer have to tiptoe around anything with her. We talk about what it means to die. And she wants to share her dreams every morning. It seems she has mostly sad or scary dreams. She will dream that her blanket has been taken, or that one of her toys has been accidentally broken by daddy. So neat to see what is stressing her out.

A cute moment with Fay recently involved her upcoming birthday. We are planning to have a slumber party with her friends in nyc a week before her birthday and then fly to FL to visit Ryan's family for her actual birthday weekend. We've talked about both of these events a lot and then one day she mentioned something about Granny being at her birthday party. I clarified to her that Granny would be in FL, but not at her NYC slumber party. She stopped me and said "no, my birthday party is in FL". I explained that we were going there for her birthday but that the slumber party was here. She got really disappointed and said she thought ALL of her friends were flying to FL to have a slumber party with her. I felt like such a downer! No, her friends could not come with us to FL, that would be too hard and they couldn't' come without all the parents, etc. So then she asked if JUST ONE of her friends could come to FL, PLEASE. So sweet.

For Rex's grandparents...

2011-07-18T19:48:00.000-07:00

I have no words....

Summer is 1/2 over

2011-07-15T03:49:00.000-07:00

Summer is half over and I haven't posted nearly enough. Rex is walking up a storm. He doesn't even really crawl anymore. And more importantly, he turned ONE! The year definitely went fast. We had a small birthday party for Rex in the East River park. We invited about 7 families with 1-2 kids -- mostly Fay's little friends who also have new babies Rex's age. It was a hot day so we positioned ourselves by the "Seal Park" which has water fountains and Seal statues coming out of the ground as if they are swimming. I didn't bring Fay's swimsuit so she got stripped down to her pants. It was a great summer scene...

We had lots of dinosaur themed items around for the party....best of all, I found a cake mold in the form of a T-Rex....

My mom and niece Natalie came in for the weekend to help celebrate Rex's birthday and to enjoy NYC. They helped with the party, and even better....they babysat Fay and Rex for a full day while Ryan and I went sailing on the Hudson with friends. I think it was an exhausting day for them. But, I know it wasn't sooo bad because at the end of the day Natalie said "I want a baby". :)

Other big news....Fay got her first bike. We put training wheels on it, and she did pretty well. As long as she wasn't going uphill even the slightest bit. That bike is heavy!

Rexie walking more....

Rex walks and mingles

2011-06-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

Its official, Rex is walking....not all the time and not without falling. But I think its safe to say that Rex started walking at 11 months. I've been trying to capture a good video of this, but its hard because he usually only takes 3-4 steps before sinking to the ground. He is much faster at crawling, so he still favors that for getting around.

Wipeout for toddlers

2011-05-17T17:57:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Fay and I were walking back from swimming class when we noticed there was to be a little street fair right by our apartment. The local school was holding a fundraiser...with bouncy houses, face painting, and crafts among other distractions. I thought the bouncy houses looked a little advanced for Fay because sometimes she is shy about trying new things -- especially if there are a lot of kids already crowding up the place. But she LOVED the one that was an obstacle course. It reminds me of a TV show called Wipeout where they make adults run through various obstacles with the intention of knocking them on their butts.

Cruising

2011-04-18T17:53:00.001-07:00

Yes its been waaaay too long since I've posted anything. I have a ton of photos and videos that I should have posted. But I'll try to be somewhat current. Ryan and I went away for a kids-free vacation at the end of March. We left Fay and Rex with their two grandmas. When we left, Rex was trying to crawl, but mostly just spinning around on his belly. When we returned, he was a crawler! I believe I told my mom "some babies just don't crawl" and she may have taken this to be a challenge. From what I hear, she worked baby Rex the entire time we were gone....taunting him with a stuffed bunny..."Rexie..don't you want the bunny". Moving the bunny just as it came within his reach.

A couple weeks later he was pulling himself up, and now he is full on cruising. It won't be long before we have a walker. Here is one of his first pull-up moments:

Rex's first tooth!

2011-01-31T06:16:00.000-08:00

I though Rex was teething starting at 4 months because he's been putting everything into his mouth since then. I'm not sure if he really started that early, but the final results are in. Rex has his first tooth. It has broken through on the bottom right side of his mouth (his right). And now it actually hurts when he grabs my finger and gnaws on it. He also turned 7 months yesterday.

Time is definitely going faster with Rex than it did with Fay when she was a baby. And now that I'm back to work, it will go by even faster. I must remember to take plenty of pictures and videos.

Here's a good one. Rex was being super chatty and noisy, so I decided to make a video. Then it turned into a completely different video....He's been a little stopped up from the new formula.

Back to Work

2011-01-23T17:07:00.001-08:00

Next week I will return to work, part-time. I was freelancing before Rex was born, so I'm not returning to the same company. The job search took me about a month and the nanny search took me about 2 weeks. And now, it seems a little surreal that I will be working next week and leaving my little baby boy with a nanny for three entire days! When I returned to work after Fay was born it was earlier than I would've liked. Fay was only 4 1/2 months old. This time I had the luxury of getting to the point where I want to return to work. I crave the stimulation and I am itching to leave the house. Rex is almost 7 months old. But that doesn't mean I'm not sad about the decision. I've been breast feeding Rex since he was born so we've been attached at the hip. Of course I've had my moments away, but never longer than one feeding. So it will feel very strange to be away for 8 hours that first day.

We've been weening this weekend -- yesterday and today I missed one feeding. Tomorrow I will skip two feedings and Tuesday I will go to work. I had some anxiety about him accepting formula instead of my milk. But he is a hungry guy who likes to eat and he had NO PROBLEM with the formula. Pretty funny.

I don't feel all that stressed really. However this morning I woke up with the most painful jaw. I think I must've been grinding my teeth in the night -- no doubt related to this big change. I could barely eat my breakfast this morning it hurt so bad to chew.

I'm really happy with the nanny choice. I think I've gotten really good at this interviewing thing. I used two websites that specialize in child care. I talked with maybe 6 girls and brought three into my home. And one was the clear choice. The qualifications are the easy part -- does she have experience and good references. The hard part is finding someone that I like and can invite into my home every morning. The new nanny, Stephanie, and I ended up talking for two hours during her interview because we were waiting for Rex to wake up from an unusually long nap. So I got to know her really well. We had surprisingly few awkward silences for strangers.

I'm also really excited with my job choice. I will be working for http://playphilo.com They make an iPhone app -- but I will be doing Java on the back end. And since I am part time they have said that I will be doing little independent projects. Which sounds perfect. Autonomy, seniority, part-time. Hopefully its as ideal as it sounds!

Rex wants to be three and Fay wants to read!

2011-01-10T03:37:00.000-08:00

Its hard to be a second child. I should know. :) Rex seems be to suffering from a case of the want-to-be-three-s. He has never been fond of tummy time. He cries almost immediately, and from about 4 months on, I've given up on forcing him to have tummy time. Instead, I have propped him in a sitting position. Now he can pretty much sit on his own, so he can play contently for spells at a time. But lately, he has become unsatisfied with just sitting and playing. He will whine and complain until I come over and when I reach for him, he arches his back and stiffens his legs and desperately tries to stand up. So if you support him and help him stand, THEN he wants to walk. He doesn't have much leg control, so he sorta twitches his little feet forward. And at this point you should see the smile on his face. He is just so tickled to be "walking". He is a big boy, and just like his sister.

I was happy to help Rex walk for a while because it was so cute and seemed so ambitious. In little time, it became back-breaking and tiring. But now that he has experienced the thrill of walking he is totally unsatisfied just sitting.

Luckily, my mom came to visit last weekend and she was not happy with the idea of a baby that wouldn't crawl and hasn't rolled over. (I told her I'd read that some babies go straight to walking without crawling). So she looked up some exercises and started rolling Rex around on the floor with his blanket. He got a lot more tummy time this weekend, and I think he is starting to be ok with it again. So, I will try to keep it up.

Fay may have read her first word last week! I know her teacher works on identifying letters and teaching their sounds. But I'm not sure they have really worked on linking letters together to sound out words. So I may be reaching a bit on thinking Fay "read" a word. But I have to write down what I saw because it was just so exciting!

Fay and I were standing at the bus stop waiting for the bus after school. She looked up at the store behind us and said "O"..."Ooop"..."OopN". I just about fell down. I said "Fay are you reading?!" She said "Mommy what is that word?". I said "Open!" She said "No, it says closed!". Always a smart aleck. She gets that from her dad. Then I gave her a huge hug and told her how proud I was that she is reading.

I told Fay's teacher about it the next day and she was cautious to believe Fay was reading....saying that perhaps she remembered the word from class...more of a memorization than sounding out. Seems possible. But I don't really care. It was really fun to be there at the moment of her first read word!

State of Rex

2010-12-17T19:11:00.000-08:00

I don't write nearly as much on this blog as I did pre-Rex. I was thinking of blaming this on 2nd kid syndrome. In other words, the second kid never gets as much coverage as the first kid because as a mom....I've been there, done that. Perhaps taking photos this time around is just not as interesting. BUT, this is not the case. If fact, I take a ton of photos and videos of Rex....because he'd so cute and because he changes so quickly as babies tend to do. The problem is that I have no time to actually get these photos up on the blog. Not because its not a priority -- just because I have even less time than before, caring for two kids instead of one.

HOWEVER! This week, Rex hit a major milestone. He is sitting up for loooong periods of time without falling over. I wouldn't call him a professional sitter just yet, but he definitely has his amateur status and is improving daily.

The really cool thing is that Fay hit this milestone at almost exactly the same time. So I'm going to show some videos and photos side by side to show you just how crazy similar they look as babies.

[If you are reading this on Facebook, you will have to jump to the blog o see the videos.]

http://eastriverbaby.blogspot.com/2010/12/state-of-rex.html

sweet fay memory

2010-10-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

This is a brief post of a moment that I want to be sure to remember. Tonight we returned home from 5 days in Florida. Both kids had a long travel day and they were both troopers. Especially considering that they both picked up colds during our vacation.

Rex was extremely tired when we walked in our door at 6:30. He had been crying for the last 10 minutes of the cab ride because he was sooooo tired. I nursed him to sleep right away. He seemed to fall asleep, but was up again at 7pm and then at 7:15.

Rex and Fay started sleeping in the same room about one week ago. But we've been putting Rex to bed at 6pm. For Fay, we switched to reading our bedtime books in our room and then sneaking into her room around 7:30pm so as not to awaken Rex. Tonight, because of the travel circumstances, we got our first experience of putting both kids to bed at the same time.

When I left the room after putting both in their beds, Rex was pretty noisy. I expected Fay to get mad or frustrated at not being able to fall asleep because of the noisy baby! But instead, I heard her trying to soothe him to sleep "It's ok baby, you're ok..."

I was so touched. She really does love Rex so much; she constantly surprises me. What a sweet sweet sister she is.

sleep

2010-09-28T09:34:00.000-07:00

I think sleep deprivation is starting to take its toll on me. Its been about three months now of no more than 2-3 hours of continuous sleep. I suppose moms have done this for ages, so I guess it won't kill me in the end. But I think its making me a sad and crabby person.

I'm normally quite the morning person. Ryan jokes about how annoying it is to see me upbeat and smiling in the mornings when it takes him a couple hours to crack a smile.

Now, on about 5 hours of cumulative sleep, I wake up and get Fay breakfast, play with her, tend to Rex, and some days, get Fay off to school. I feel like a zombie in the morning. With a baby in one hand and a doll in the other, I feel like I'm just going through the motions. I am not enjoying the playing and the cute moments with Fay. I'm just getting through the morning or the day.

On the days when Fay is not in school, I watch the clock, hoping for 1pm to come soon so I can hopefully get a nap when Fay sleeps. If Rex is not interested in sleeping, I'll convince him by putting him on the boob next to me while I sleep.

Of course all that is not as bad as when I get irritated by my little Fay asking the same question 10 times over. Or when I snap at her for not listening to me when I'm trying to get her clothes on. The minute it happens, I want to take it back. I want to be the patient and calm mom that I think I am.

And all this makes me terribly sad. I remember having an identity crisis when Fay was born and I was trying to understand my new role as a mom. Now I am trying to maintain my identity as a good mom. One that listens to her child and plays with her and enjoys her.

Rex's first shots

2010-09-13T18:07:00.000-07:00

Rex is 10 weeks and we had his 2 month checkup today. That means he got his first shots. :(

But first the happy stuff. Rex weighed in at a whopping 14 lbs! He was born 7 lbs 11 ounces, so that is a heafty increase. A baby is supposed to triple his weight in the first year. If Rex continues to gain at this rate he will definitely surpass that goal.

He is now 23.5 inches long (compared to 21 inches at birth) and his head circumference is is 41.5 cm (35.1 at birth). So he is a growing boy.

The shots were heart wrenching. Rex did not like them at all. He took two shots to the thigh and immediately let out an angry and sad cry. His face was bright red and he wailed like I haven't heard since he was born. Rex was naked from all the weighing and measurements. And after a couple minutes of crying, he peed, all over me. (I'm not sure why the pediatrician didn't think to tell me to put on his diaper..I'm sure this happens a lot).

As soon as I got Rex's diaper on, I was able to nurse him and calm him down. Then he conked out and I took him home. He slept for a while, but then about 4 hours after the shot he became inconsolable. He didn't want to nurse, he couldn't fall asleep, he did not care if I held him or laid him down. He just cried and cried and cried. I couldn't soothe him at all. It made me think of colicky babies. I can't imagine how hard that is on the mother to not be able to soothe her baby. I remember Fay being a little irritable after her first shots, but not this bad.

Finally I took Rex outside for a walk and he calmed a little and fell asleep for about a 1/2 hour. Then he was up again and crying. Finally at about 6pm tonight he broke his first smile since this morning....and I knew it was over (at least I hoped I knew). The inconsolable period really only lasted for 2.5 hours, but it seemed to last forever.

Labor Day lake house

2010-09-09T10:52:00.000-07:00

Our friends, Adam and Natasha invited us to their upstate house for Labor Day weekend. I took to calling it the lake house as an easy title for Fay to grab onto. There was a lake nearby, and the house had stunning views of it, but the house was not on the lake.

Let me just say right off, we had SUCH a fantastic weekend. Ever since Rex was born (10 weeks ago), its been difficult for Ryan and I to feel like we have any down time. Even when we've gone out on a weekend night, I'm thinking about breastfeeding and whether we can get back in time to only miss one feeding. And its hard for us to stay out very late since Rex wakes us up throughout the night and we do not get much sleep these days. That being said, this weekend away really felt like a vacation. Adam and Tash made us feel so comfortable in their home. They were laid back enough to let us feel like we could be at home, and yet planned tons of meals for us and fun kid outings. I hope the weekend wasn't too much work for them, because they made it seem pretty effortless (beyond the obvious work of caring for two kids).

Adam and Tash have two kids, Paul who is 3.5 and Juliette who is 1.5 . Fay and Paul were fast fast friends. We never know if Fay will be extremely shy (and a little ornery) in a new situation, but I think Paul's sweetness and welcoming attitude just won her over instantly. They were playing human train within minutes -- meaning Paul was all but dragging Fay along by her hand throughout the wrap around porch.

Some highlights:

We went to the Farmer's Museum on Sat where they have an entire little village set up and actors re-enacting jobs from the period (blacksmith, pharmacist, woman baking bread). They also had a carousel!

On Sunday we went to the Apple Cider Mill where the kids could feed the ducks, take a tour of the cider press, and low and behold they had a bouncy house! Along side the bouncy house they had a game where a person (me!) can wear a harness and try desperately to dunk a small ball into a basketball hoop. We have excellent photos of this feat, but they are on Adam's camera, so I'll have to add them later. Ryan and I both teared up when we saw the photos because I look so ridiculously determined to sink that ball.

Both Sat and Sunday nights Adam lit a fire in their fire pit and we roasted marshmellows and sat around the fire with the kids. There is something truly wonderful about getting to stay up late and sit around a fire in a little chair that is just your size. And you could see it all over Fay's face. I think that is the part she will remember the best. I wish I had photos of it. When you picture it in your head, remember to give each kid (Paul and Fay) a bag of marshmallows of their own to hold in their hands as they stared into the flames.

Rex continued to sleep, eat and poop a lot. Also enjoying his weekend.

No sleep and marbles

2010-08-18T11:49:00.001-07:00

Rex is 7 weeks today. This is the period where my baby book says he is supposed to start to lengthen his sleep periods. Rex is not a big reader yet, so he's not sticking to the book's schedule. Rex's longest sleep period is for only 3.5 hours when he goes to sleep at night around 8:30pm or so. After that the sleep periods get progressively shorter until morning breaks.

Also, Rex is like his sister, he has tummy issues after a feeding, so sometimes its hard for him to get back to sleep. I've started to drive myself crazy thinking its something I ate that has made him gassy. Last night he was up and down between 3 and 8am. He wouldn't sleep for longer than 1/2 an hour. So you can imagine my desire to find a reason for his gassiness and try to fix it. But I'm starting to think its not me, its him. And I have to admit I have no control over this one.

And speaking of gassiness, the other area, I have little control over is Fay's potty training. She has successfully gone number one in her little potty, but refuses to go number two. So I took an idea from a mom friend of mine....and I'm using marbles. After Fay did so well with a Dora potty sticker chart (she got a sticker after each pee-pee on the potty), I'm trying something similar for number two.

The Potty chart only gave us about 7 stickers and then there was no motivation to go on the potty anymore. I need a much longer period of motivation. So I have three cups of marbles. There are three different colors. One for pee-pee, one for poo, and one for dressing herself (hey, might as well throw that in there). When she gets all the marbles from their starting cups to the finish bin, she gets a present. And she already knows the present is some kind of Little People Toy. She loves all things Little People.

So far today, one day one, she has earned one marble for going number one. But she also had an accident on the playground when we tried to go out without a diaper. So...we will see if this has any effect.

Nana visits

2010-08-07T14:10:00.000-07:00

My mom came to visit last week and to meet Rex for the first time. Her visit fell mostly over the weekend, so she was able to spend a lot of time with both kids. Its nice for me to have the grandmas help with several things....playing with Fay while I nurse Rex, holding Rex while I play with Fay, or household stuff like laundry.

Fay tried to rule out the first option by using a new phrase I've not heard from her before...."I want to play by myself". She said this on the last day Nana was in town when Nana tried to play with her and Fay wanted mommy instead. Ryan is no stranger to this attitude. Fay has always displayed her preference for mommy harshly, or candidly. Its difficult for me to see her do it to my mom, since Nana doesn't get to see Fay everyday. But we all know its not personal, so I assume my mom took it in stride. In fact, my mom may be tickled to know that I received the phrase from Fay just yesterday. She wanted to play with me at first, but then when I colored in her coloring book the "wrong" way, she told me she wanted to play by herself. I guess everyone gets attitude these days.

We spent time playing at home, going to playgrounds and going to the "Water Taxi Beach" with friends. The Water Taxi Beach is an area near South Street Seaport that has a sandy play area with picnic tables. They serve kid friendly food like hot dogs and fries...and parent friendly drinks with alcohol. The best of both worlds. Fay had a good time playing in the sand with her friends. Rex had a good time sleeping in the Baby Bjorn. And the adults attempted to have a conversation.

On the day before my mom left, Fay was in school, so she took Rex and me out for a day of brunch, pedicures and shopping. The outing was in honor of my birthday which occurred a couple weeks ago. It was really nice to be pampered since the actual birthday was filled with mostly kid activities. I do have to point out that each stop we made involved nursing Rex. Nurse while eating brunch, check. Nurse while getting a pedicure, check. Nurse in the dressing room of a clothing store, check. My boy Rex loves to eat.

Before leaving, we all had drinks on the balcony, with Rex as the centerpiece.

Granny visits and Fay's first amusement park

2010-07-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

Ryan's mom, Sandy, came into town last week to meet Rex and help out the exhausted parents. When planning the trip, Sandy asked if it would be ok to come over a weekend or if we'd rather she come during the week. I said "come on the weekend!!!" because contrary to our life before kids, weekends are more exhausting than week days.

Needless to say, Sandy fell in love with Rex. I wonder if boys are her first love since she had two of her own. We think Rex looks a lot like Ryan's brother Andy. So, perhaps she was reminded of holding her own newborn. But, I didn't have to wonder about her fondness for Fay. Even though Fay can be cold and stand-off-ish for anyone who is not her mommy, Sandy had her warmed up in no time. And by the time Sandy had to go home, Fay was proclaiming that she wanted to go home WITH Grandma. She even got on her shoes to get ready for the plane. This was a funny sight since we've been potty training and Fay had only a shirt and her shoes on. (Not so funny later when Fay had an accident that poured right into her sneakers)

Grandma was a huge help. She cooked for us, and helped clean up the house and do laundry. But the best part was having an extra set of hands around to help hold Rex when I was playing with Fay, or to play with Fay when I was nursing Rex. And she helped me get more sleep by soothing Rex to sleep after I was done nursing on the nights he didn't want to go right back to sleep.

One highlight of the weekend was taking Fay to the amusement park in Central Park. During the summer, they turn Wollman Rink (ice skating) into Victoria Gardens. It is an amusement park for little kids -- perfect for Fay's age. Fay LOVED the rides. She went on about 4 with daddy. And she hasn't stopped talking about it. The very next day we asked her if she wanted to go to the playground, and which one. She said "the one with the rides".

And, I had a birthday. Fay was really cute...helping daddy frost cupcakes...and singing happy birthday to me. The grandma visit was great timing for a nice birthday outing sans kids too.

Baby Rex Arrives

2010-07-03T12:06:00.000-07:00

Its been three days since Rex entered our world, and I've been remiss in writing the birth story on the East River Baby blog. Which should now be named East River Babies blog. But, as you can imagine, I've been a little overwhelmed. :)

With two weeks left to go before Rex's due date, I started feeling contractions on Wed morning. Fay was such a fast birth (2 hours from wake up to birth), that Ryan and I were a little anxious about making it to the hospital on time for Rex's birth. We talked about running out the door as soon as the first labor pains arrived. Our hospital was on the other side of town, and we had to drop off Fay at the neighbors. So we knew we needed all the time we could get.

Of course, when I started feeling labor pains on Wed morning, I wasn't convinced that I was in labor, since the due date was two weeks away. I woke up at 5am feeling really uncomfortable. I rolled over to switch sides, but still could not get comfortable. So I got up to take a shower. Fay was already up....early even for her. After the shower, I got Fay some breakfast and played with her a little. By 5:30 I started feeling contractions, so I woke Ryan up and told him that I thought I was in labor, but I wasn't sure because the pain was manageable. Total denial!

At 6am, the contractions were PAINFUL, and they were coming so frequently I couldn't really time them. Probably about every 5 minutes or less. I woke Ryan up again and told him I was taking Fay to the neighbor's. I told Fay the baby was coming today and that she was going to play with her friends. Fay was great. She was completely cooperative and I got her dressed at to the neighbor's in no time.

We left for the hospital at about 6:30 I think. We got a call back from our midwife while we were in the car, and they scolded us for not calling sooner. (They didn't really know at this point how fast it was all happening). Luckily, one of the midwives lives blocks from the hospital, so she was able to meet us with a wheelchair at the entrance.

I was *really* impressed by our midwife. She took charge of the situation immediately and was shouting out orders to me and to Ryan. She told me to "sit still!" while in the wheelchair, lest I hurt myself. And she commanded Ryan to "hurry up!" and open all the doors in front of us so she could wheel me through.

I expected her to be all rainbows and flowers during the labor in the Birthing Center. But she continued to be very stern and all business. I think this is because we were at the point of delivery, not simply "laboring" while we wait for the endgame.

Rex was born at 7:22am. We had plenty of time once we reached the hospital. I didn't feel as if I almost had him in the car, as I felt with Fay.

Rex has been a champion sleeper and eater from the first day. All seems well, and he is healthy.

We thought we would be discharged from the birthing center on the first day, as is their policy to do early dismissal 12 hours after birth. But as it turned out, I tested positive for Strep B on my last midwife visit (common bacteria for preggers), so they had to test Rex for the same and keep us over night. Normally they can give the mom a shot of antibiotics before the birth is she is positive, but there was no time with my 2 hour labor.

So we came home Thursday night, after Rex tested negative for Strep B. And we have just completed our first day home with the 4 of us.

Fay is doing really well. Better than I expected in fact. She has been very patient when I have to nurse the baby and cannot play with her. And she keeps saying "I love baby". She also wants to help every time he has a dirty diaper, by handing me a new diaper and diaper cream.

Ryan and I first thought that having Rex on the long holiday weekend would be a great thing so we could have a lot of family time before going back to work/school on Tuesday. But after our first day we are somewhat dreaming of school for Fay and work for Ryan so that I can concentrate on one kid for a while and catch up on sleep. I'm sure we will be pros at this whole "two kid" thing shortly. But right now, we are feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. And, of course, very very happy.

Can I tell you, that I actually thought I wouldn't fall in love with Rex the same way I did with Fay? I thought there may be no substitute for that first baby feeling. I was wrong. I am completely head over heels for Rex.

VA Beach!

2010-06-20T11:14:00.001-07:00

We've just returned from an awesome vacation in VA Beach. We rented a house with one other family. We are friends with Marci and John through having kids the same age and through living in the same building. They have twin girls who are good friends of Fay. The three of them play and fight like sisters. So they were all very excited to be taking a vacation together and doing a week of "sleep-overs".

The house we rented was across the street from the beach, so we had a short walk to get to the ocean. And the house had a pool in the backyard which the girls loved. The adults loved it too -- especially when the girls were napping and we didn't have to feel sequestered to the house to watch over the girls. We felt like we were doing exactly what we wanted -- reading and cocktailing by the pool.

Some highlights of the trip were....A day on the boardwalk...We drove to a nearby boardwalk which was a bit of a disappointment in terms of entertainment value. We thought there would be more attractions for the kids, but all we saw were closed down amusement rides and a small playground. So we ended up rending a 4 seated bicycle with a basket up front for the kids. John taught the girls to yell "yo! yo!" every time we passed an oncoming bike. We were laughing everytime it happened and the passing bicyclers weren't always sure what to make of the exclamations. Some ignored, some laughed, some smiled. In other words, we thought our girls were the cutest thing since baby kittens (is there an expression, I'm forgetting?), and the oncoming bikers, were slightly amused.

We also had mild success flying a kite on the beach. John ran and ran but couldn't keep the kite up for longer than a minute. Ryan had similar success. We chocked it up to the quality of the kite because we saw plenty of other kits sailing through the air.

None of the girls loved the ocean. It was still a bit scary. But they all had fun with their buckets and shovels and watering cans. It was a huge change from last summer when Fay didn't really know what to do with a bucket, and this year she happily scooped sand and water.

One thing I have to rave about was the house. We rented this particular house because it seemed to be very kid-friendly. They mentioned there were cribs and child gates we could use along with some movies and books. There was so much more. There was a full closet of toys for all ages, and a foosball and air hockey table. We used the baby gates and many of the toys...Fay loved having a new book each night, and we watched a couple of the kid movies and one of the adult movies. The house was just so stocked and well managed we felt so lucky. I would stay there again and again. Not to mention, the owners left us a welcome basket with a full bottle of Margarita mix and booze. What an owner!

Now we are back to reality and the girls keep referring to the beach house as the other family's house. The twins want to return to "Fay's house" and Fay wants to go to "Lyla and Jilly's house"

I've got 4 weeks to go before baby number 2 arrives and this blog picks up a new train of thought....life with two kids. I'm looking forward to having my body back as little Rex is pushing the limits of capacity at this point. I don't think I can spare too much more room.

Mom and Fay take separate vacations

2010-05-20T17:05:00.000-07:00

My sister and I enjoyed a vacation together last weekend to Captiva Island, FL. She and her team won the trip as a bonus for exceeding her goals at work. She was able to invite a lucky guest to accompany her on the trip. It couldn't have come at a better time. For one thing, I'm 32 weeks pregnant, so I only have about two months left before my world is turned upside down. Also, my sister and I went through a rough patch last year -- we argued -- we stressed and we were not the sisters that either of us want to be. We really needed this trip away to catch up with each other and just enjoy each other away from the stresses of daily life and family. And I think that goal was accomplished. We both had a great time. The resort could not have been more relaxing...scratch that. The resort could have been more relaxing had we rented a car or golf car to take us the mile between our bungalow and the pool! But everything else was perfect!

Meanwhile, Ryan was going to stay home with Fay for the weekend, but at the last minute they were invited to Nebraska to spend the weekend with his mom and dad. Personally, I think Ryan's mom jumped at the chance to have Fay all to herself without that troublesome mommy always trying to keep her on schedule and feed her vegetables! And from the stories I've heard (I'm sure I haven't heard 1/2 of them) her goal was accomplished as well.

Ryan told me that all my mommy packing went to waste as Fay wore ONE outfit the entire time she was there (3 days). The outfit was a zip up hoodie with no undershirt and a pair of leggings. Ane her hair was never tied back (she has long bangs that always fall in her face). Strangely, he said they *did* change her into pajamas at night. I can only imagine they just picked up the clothes from the floor the next day and threw them back on. ;)

Also, Grannny admitted to keeping Fay up until TEN O'CLOCK most nights but assured me that she slept in late and took long naps.

I think that sounds like a true vacation. If I could've, I woiuld've been drinking every night, so why shouldn't Fay party like a rock star?

Sadly there are no photos of Fay's trip. I'm not sure whether I should be more disappointed in Daddy or Granny for that!

Fay's alone time

2010-04-19T18:22:00.001-07:00

Fay moved to her big girl bed a couple months ago, but it took her a while to realize she can and should get out of bed by herself in the morning. For the first couple months, she delighted us by waking up and reading quietly in bed by herself until we came to get her.

Then, she started opening her door, walking across the hall and coming into our room to wake us up.

Now, she doesn't bother waking mommy and daddy up. She just goes out to the living room and plays by herself.

When I first realized this, I was lying in bed with the door open trying to wake up and motivate myself to get out of bed. I saw Fay run by our room, dashing into her own room to get her water bottle from her bed. Then she ran back out past our room to the living room to continue playing. It was just so cute and independent. She didn't care at all that mommy and daddy were still sleeping.

Whenever I sleep much past Fay I have this guilty pang that I should be up doing my mommy duties. So, even when she was reading quietly in her bed, I would try to get up at 7am to see if she was awake yet.

Now that Fay has found her new freedom time, I am apparently wasting my guilt......

Last weekend, I woke up before Fay and was puttering in the living room, making coffee, reading the paper. When she woke up and came out to the living room, she saw me, was a little surprised, and then......pissed off! She threw herself to the ground midway to the living room and gave a little tantrum. I had no idea how much she loved her alone time in the morning. Good news is I don't have to spring out of bed on weekends anymore. At least not until the new baby comes.

easter

2010-04-07T17:12:00.000-07:00

Not much to tell on this blog post, as the photos kind of speak for themselves. Last Sunday Fay received her first Easter basket from the E. Bunny. And we spent the morning looking for eggs with neighborhood friends. We tied it all up with a massive brunch with around 7 toddlers and 10 adults at a local restaurant. It was a blast. I love our neighborhood and our neighborhood friends!

Bad rain mommy and the joy of new boots

2010-03-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

We bought Fay some new rain boots since spring is here and it will be raining a lot. She is a size 7 in shoes but she has been in that size for almost a year, so I feel like she will be growing out of 7s soon. So we bought the boots in a size 8.

This morning we left for school and started walking to the bus, Fay with her umbrella and rain boots. Shortly out of the door Fay wanted to be picked up because it was just too windy and horrible.

So I put down Fay's Dora umbrella (recent gift from grandma), and shove it under my arm. I pick up Fay and hold my umbrella over both of us. We are walking towards the bus.

Fay says "boot fall off!". And I reach down to grab one of her boots just as it is almost off her foot. Phew. We make it to the bus stop and I set Fay down. She already looks like a wet rat. I discover that I do not have the Dora umbrella.

I tell Fay and the entire bus stop that we dropped the umbrella. I pick Fay back up and trudge all the way back down near our building entrance where I have dropped the umbrella.

On our way back to the bus stop Fay's boot falls off. I pick it up and hold it, and Fay, and the Dora umbrella.

I make it to the bus stop, throw the umbrellas to the ground and put Fay's boot back on before setting Fay down. Fay says "up up!". The bus arrives right then (thank God) and we struggle onto the bus. I get Fay in her seat and go pay the fare.

We make it to the school bus stop. I have secured the Dora umbrella in the plastic bag I'm carrying and I set out to carry Fay to school. She wants to walk.

So we walk with her umbrella up, and 30 feet before the school entrance she stumbles in her boots (which I now know are way too big) and falls flat on her face. Her pants are soaking wet and she is crying.

I get inside the school and Fay's teacher is right there at the entrance to witness the mess of Fay and mommy.

We go to the classroom and the teacher pulls out a new pair of pants and offers to put Fay's shoes on.

Mommy exits.

a hint of things to come

2010-03-18T17:38:00.000-07:00

Earlier that day

Yesterday Fay got some kind of 24 hour flu. We were having a toddler dinner at my friends' house with about 6 toddlers all eating turkey, strawberries and green beans. After eating for 15 minutes, Fay declared that she had a boo-boo and pointed to her tummy. She was standing on the floor in front of me while I asked her if her tummy hurt, and then she threw up all over me and my friend's rug.

One point of interest. Regurgitated strawberries are like red wine; they stain. I brought Fay to the bathroom in case she vomited again and I heard all the moms in the other room talking about how to remove the stain from the rug. By the time I came out, it looked like the rug had a permanent red circle on one end.

Fay and I went home and about 1/2 hour later, she threw up the other 1/2 of her dinner. I got her in a bath and quickly to bed because it was obvious she was very tired as well. About 90 minutes later, she threw up even more strawberries, all over her bed. Man! How many did she eat?

Ryan and I ran around cleaning bedding and towels and getting Fay's bed set up for a vomit filled night (sheet/towel bedding combo). We finally got her settled in again at about 10:30. And this is where I loose track of time.

Poor Fay was up every 90 minutes with the same sequence of events. She cried out for water, drank a healthy portion of water, laid back down, and 10 minutes later, threw up the water. After the first one of these, Fay needed some serious comforting, so I decided to sleep with her in her twin bed. Not the most comfortable decision of my life. I'm 5 months pregnant so I'm already into the phase where I have to shift positions 2-3 times a night. And Fay has not mastered the technique of sharing a bed. She pretty much passes out using as much of the bed as possible. Or, worse! She tries to snuggle up to me so that my nose is buried in the back of her head.

Anyway, she stopped waking up around 3am I think, and we both slept until 7am. For some reason, Fay was perky and awake and ready for mommy to be awake at 7am.

She managed to keep her breakfast down, so I knew we were pretty much in the clear. But, man, was I tired. She finally wanted to nap around 11am, and I got a nap in. But until then I was just a zombie mom. I thought, "oh no! this is how I'm going to feel every day when the new baby arrives". Fay will be in school some of those days. But on the days when I have two, it will be zombie-ville for sure.

Sigh of relief

2010-03-01T18:21:00.000-08:00

Our genetic counselor called today. She called with some results to the Amniocentesis we took about 3 weeks ago. We did the Amnio for two reasons: 1) because of my "advanced maternal age" which puts my new baby at a higher risk for down syndrome, and 2) we found out I am a carrier for the SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy) gene. I've kinda been holding my breath ever since I found out I was a carrier. Its a recessive gene, so Ryan would have to be a carrier as well, but we didn't have him tested before the Amnio because we knew we were going to do the Amnio anyway. Then, it turned out, we needed Ryan's blood for the SMA test, so we had to draw his blood regardless.

The genetic counselor called to say that our new baby does not have Down Syndrome, Trisomy, or any of the other common genetic disorders that an Amniocentesis tests for. And she said that they tested Ryan's blood to see if he is a carrier of SMA, and he is not. The test for carriers is 99% accurate, so they will still call us with the results of the Amnio to confirm the health of the baby. But I am very very relieved. As I received the news I all but started crying on the phone. And I profusely thanked the genetic counselor, as if she had something to do with the results. I imagine she has fantastic calls to make, like this one, and horrible calls to make. That would be a tough job.

So, now, as my mom reminded me, I am more prepared to start blogging about the new baby. I think some belly shots may be forthcoming as well as a potential baby name. Ryan and I have narrowed it down to one boy name that we both like. And I think we may just run with it. But I'll leave that for another post.

Potty training attempt number one

2010-02-26T14:02:00.000-08:00

Fay is 2 years and 4 months, and the new baby is about 5 months away, AND Fay has been showing signs of not liking her droopy diaper. So we decided it was time to attempt some potty training. From what I've read, the fastest approach (train your kid in 2 days!) is based on letting your kid run around naked for two days and getting them on the potty when they have to go (and for occasional sit downs just to see if they have to go).

I love all the articles and forums I've read where people say "pull-up" diapers are evil. Not exactly sure what that means, but the implication is that they do not help in potty training. I can see the point -- the kid will not feel the pee or will not be as uncomfortable by the pee if it is safely deposited in a pull-up diaper rather than running down his/her leg. But I don't think a kid will be fully potty trained so quickly, and accidents are bound to happen. I've decided that whenever we are home, Fay can wear regular underwear, or go naked. This will help her know when she goes pee so she can begin to associate it with the "before I go pee feeling". And when we are out, we'll wear pull-ups or diapers. Once she has convinced me that she really gets it and is really happy about going pee in the potty, I'll put her in underpants while out of the house. I'm really not overly concerned with speed.

I may eat my words as the new baby due date approaches. But we'll take that as it comes.

On another note, we *finally* got Fay to accept sleeping in her big girl bed. We got it over 2 months ago and Fay has wanted to sleep in her crib instead. Last week one of the bars on the crib came out (needs to be glued back in). So we declared the crib broken and told her she had to sleep in the big girl bed. She had one night of protest crying, and has been happy ever since. Phew.

It's a.....

2010-02-09T11:35:00.000-08:00

We had an amnio today and everything went smoothly. Besides being a little nervous about the procedure, Ryan and I were excited to possibly find out the gender of baby number two via the sonogram. We are using a midwife this time around who is not keen on a lot of sonagrams, so we've only seen the baby once at 10 weeks.

See if you can guess the sex!

first snowman

2010-02-08T06:58:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we got a nice amount of snow on Saturday morning. It wasn't a TON of snow by my standards (I grew up in MN). But, it was the perfect kind of snow for snow balls and snowmen. I wasn't really sure if Fay and I were up to the challenge. I can't remember the last time I made a snowman. Perhaps never.

We went to our "backyard".....wait this deserves a little explanation. Our co-op consists of 4 buildings -- 2 sets of 2 buildings separated by a street. Each set of 2 is separated by a couryard with grassy circles and winding sidewalks. The grassy areas are mostly fenced off so as not to let little feet mess up the lawn or the flowers. But last summer my co-op decided to to a "trial run" of de-fencing ONE of the grassy circles. This is where we decided to make our snowman.

Fay helped find the sticks for the arms and helped stick them in. She also helped push the balls of snow a bit.

Real Life Swiper

2010-01-12T08:29:00.000-08:00

One of Fay's favorite TV shows is Dora the Explorer. Each episode follows the same pattern. Dora and her friends have a mission: to find something that's lost, or deliver something to someone. Whatever the mission, Dora has to travel to 3 different locations to get to her final destination. Along the way there are puzzles to figure out, problems to solve, colors to identify, etc. ALSO, Dora has a nemesis who may attempt to thwart her plans....Swiper. Swiper is a fox who shows up each episode and tries to "swipe" something from Dora. Then she has to find it again.

Over xmas break while Ryan, Fay and I were waiting in multiple airports for our planes, we started playing the Swiper game. Ryan would talk about how he just saw Swiper and then WHOOSH! something that fay was holding would disappear behind Ryan's back. Fay would have to say Dora's signature line "Swiper, no swiping!" in order to get it back. Fay really loves this game.

Last week I was at home with Fay and we were getting ready to go to our co-op's playroom. I was looking for her sippy cup ( A Dora cup! She calls it Dora Water), which was no where to be found. But I had just seen Fay carrying it 30 minutes earlier. So I asked Fay where it was. She didn't know. I looked for it EVERYWHERE. We don't have a large apt, so I was really surprised when I couldn't find it. I asked Fay again...."Fay, do you know where the Dora Water is?"

Fay said "Swiper!"

Pretty good answer. I'm not sure which is scarier... The fact that she may have an excuse for anything that goes missing, or the fact that she may live in a world where Swiper actually exists."

Little Ryan

2010-01-07T18:23:00.000-08:00

One of the things Ryan and I really like about our apartment is the view. We can see the downtown skyline and the East River down to the Brooklyn/Manhattan bridges from our living room.

Many times I'll see Ryan ending his week (Sunday blues), by turning off the lights in the living room and staring out the window thinking of the week to come. (I don't really know what he is thinking about, but thats my guess). After a while, he'll finally turn in.

Tonight, Fay did the strangest thing. After returning from school, and eating a little dinner, Fay asked me to turn off each light in the living room, kitchen, and hallway that were illuminating the living room. Then she grabbed my hand and brought me to the window and asked "up, up". We stood looking out the window together for several minutes before going to her bedroom for some bedtime reading.

She's never seen Ryan do his ritual -- it is much too late for her. So I can only gather that she is a chip off her father's block.

It was especially charming to have that happen tonight since Ryan is out of town for the weekend and it was nice to be reminded of him through his daughter.

big girl bed and big tree

2009-12-14T06:39:00.000-08:00

This weekend we hit a major milestone for Fay. We had her sleep in her new big girl bed for the first time. When we first outfitted Fay's room we chose a smaller than regular size crib, so that it would take up less room. Now that she is two, and tall for her age, it seems time to give her a little more room to sleep.

I'm happy to report (knock on wood), that everything has gone smoothly so far. Fay was pretty excited about the new bed, so that was an encouraging sign. And when we put her in it on Saturday night, she laid right down and didn't make a peep. I was shocked.

For Sunday nap she asked to sleep in her crib again, but for Sunday night, she slept in the big bed. I haven't gotten her under the covers yet, or using the pillow. I figure we'll take it in steps.

On another note, we had a great little family weekend. Ryan suggested going to see the NYC Xmas sights -- like the tree and the Xmas display at Saks, so we headed up on Saturday morning. I forget how infrequently Fay really gets out of the neighborhood. She was delighted with all the Xmas things, but also with the bustle of the city and all the amazing 5th Ave stores. We topped it off with a stop at FAO Schwartz.

Friends' Thanksgiving

2009-11-23T11:13:00.000-08:00

We went away for our annual Friends' Thanksgiving last weekend. And we had a really good time. We shared a house in Bridgehampton with 8 friends and 6 kids. Ryan may have summed it up last night when we were talking about our weekend. He said -- I don't think I had very many adult conversations. The weekend seemed to revolve around enjoying our kids and entertaining our kids while we tried to enjoy ourselves. One of the families was from the west coast, and were trying to keep their kids on west coast time...so we had east coast kids up at 6am and west coast kids up until midnight. There wasn't much time left for drunken poker games that we might have had in past years.

Best partier award goes to Fay. After a late Friday night up with her pals, and a short nap on Saturday, Fay literally passed out on the kitchen floor. Plenty of noise was being made around her while she slumbered for 2 hours in the middle of the action.

MAS!

2009-11-04T11:18:00.001-08:00

So we made it though Halloween. You can check out all the photos on Flickr. Ryan, Fay and I want as a family of ladybugs. We mostly spent our time in the playroom with our neighborhood friends, and went trick or treating in the building....

More interesting though, is the arrival of Fay's new favorite word: "Mas!" At first I had no idea what she was saying. Then I couldn't help but think she was saying the Spanish word for more = mas ("more" is one of her favorite words after all). But finally, after much gesturing and context, I got the meaning. She is saying "MINE!!!" [Those exclamation points are Fay's not mine]

When she started nursery school 2 months ago, her teacher warned me that she would begin to say "mine" if she wasn't already. It took a lot longer than I thought, and I'm a little surprised that she has such a funny pronunciation. I can't help but wonder if the Mandarin word for "mine" sounds like "mas". Total long shot right?

birthday weekend

2009-10-26T03:46:00.000-07:00

I'm a little overwhelmed to write this post because there is just so much to tell from last weekend. Fay turned 2 on Thursday and her two grandmas came into town on Thursday night to celebrate.

We had a whirlwind event filled weekend for the adults and kids. On Friday, Fay opened her brand new dollhouse from her Grandma Sandy and proceeded to play with it anytime she could. The dollhouse has furniture that you can buy separately. And along with the baby room and parents room, we were fortunate that Target sent not one grandma and stroller, but TWO. It was as if they knew that Fay had two grandmas visiting.

On Friday night, Ryan, Jess, Grandma Sandy and Nana Jan went to Dizzy's Club (Lincoln Center Jazz club) for dinner and music. The music was amazing. We really didn't know what to expect from a high profile jazz venue in nyc (rather than a small jazz club), and we were happily surprised.

Saturday morning was the big party day. We spent the morning preparing for the party and waiting for the bagel delivery. When you live in Jewish neighborhood, its hard to get delivery of bagels on Saturday morning because the bakerys are observing Shabbat. So we had to call out to another neighborhood. And I think the bike delivery man didn't know he had such a hike. The bagels were 45 minutes late, but they still arrived in time for the party, so we were all good.

The party was so much fun. We had about 15 toddlers and their parents in our newly renovated playroom. I don't think I have a photo that captures the toddler chaos at its high point. I just remember how loud it got at one point and thinking, this could drive anyone crazy! It may have been at that point that people started to leave and the room started to calm. Perhaps toddler parties have a built in size control based on noise tolerance.

Fay took about 2 hours to really warm up to the idea of the party. I think she was either overwhelmed, or just being a 2 year old. Before the party she refused to wear her new *adorable* party outfit that her Nana Jan had brought. She kicked and wriggled and refused to wear it. Finally we dressed her in all her pink sparkles and convinced her she looked a bit like a princess. that seemed to help a little. I'm sure I'll think back on this moment as she enters her princess years.

On Saturday night, the grandmas had an opportunity to babysit Fay. And Ryan and I had an early night out with dinner and a CMJ show. We saw Mum, an Icelandic band which we really liked. We were at Le Poisson Rouge, a club in the West Village I've never been to. It was a great venue with a separate bar area and a large music area. There really wasn't a bad place to stand to see the band.

On Sunday, the grandmas flew home and that was the end of our birthday weekend. However! we still managed to pack in one more fun toddler activity. We went to the Queens County Farm with our neighborhood friends. I would highly recommend this outing. They had sooo many activities to choose from. We fed the chickens, rode the hayride, picked out a pumpkin, attempted to ride a pony (crying). We didn't have a chance to go through the corn maze or watch the pig races. Maybe next time. http://www.queensfarm.org/

1 year 364 days

2009-10-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

Fay turns two tomorrow. Wow. Its hard to believe I've been a mom for two full years. And we've all survived pretty well. Fay is thriving, I am working part-time and Ryan is starting a business. Ryan and I had a long talk the other night. A kind of state of the union, with the union being our marriage and lives. We talked about how we will probably look back on these days as some of the best. Even though the entrepreneurial experience is a tough one, and raising a 2 year old is exhausting, they both bring pretty extreme highs.

Today I was at the playground with Fay and her neighborhood friends and she was exhibiting the most cranky, antagonistic behavior I've ever seen on her. After it lasted for a hour or so, and there was no making her happy, I had a horrible thought: "Oh no, is this it? Is this the terrible twos?!" It would be a little convienient, being that she is turning two tomorrow. But, man, I would hate to loose my little sweetheart. So far she only gets ruffled when I am not letting her be independent, or when I am feeding her something she does not want to eat.

But today, she was just plain cranky. Her best girl friend came up to her to play and she reached ot and gave a little push instead, as if to say "stay away from me". And when I tried to get near to play or comfort her, she said "No" and lead me away from her.

I guess we'll see what the coming weeks bring. If I'm right, and she's transforming before my eyes, Ryan and my prediction about these times being the best of our lives may already have come true and passed. (wink)

This generation's parenting

2009-10-19T06:55:00.000-07:00

I found this New Yorker article really interesting. It caught my attention because within the first couple paragraphs it has managed to eerily describe many of the phrases I and my mommy friends use to deal with difficult toddler moments.

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2009/10/19/091019crat_atlarge_zalewski?currentPage=1

I took this to heart. I think it is funny that each generation tries to improve upon the last by changing the words they use, or the punishment, or the psychology. And yet, we still have terrible twos and kids that won't eat, and tears and fights. So I found myself examining my own choices and laughing at myself a bit.

One of the things I have found extremely useful, as you may have noticed by my posts, is teaching Fay sign language to augment her verbal skills. She loves the accomplishment she feels when she signs a new word. And I love being able to understand her because the gesture clarifies the mispronounced word.

I haven't turned to picture books to help me teach Fay certain lessons, though I know some of my friends have. I've seen books mostly on tantrums and bad behavior (throwing, hitting, yelling), where the main character exhibits these behaviors and is then taught a lesson or given a time-out.

This article criticises a TON of children's books for depicting bad behavior, and then not punishing the child enough. The writer seems to think these books are condoning bad behavior, or simply writing about the current state of the child-parent relationship: one in which the parent looses all control.

I found myself becoming increasingly irritated with the criticism of these books for a couple of reasons.

These books are not school curriculum, they are not primary tools that parents use to rear their children. They are books. Some are meant to help create empathy in children, some are used for entertainment. Some are subtle, some are not. We cannot expect them to be more than they are -- entertainment with some teaching mixed in.
I found myself asking in my head "Does this person have kids?" Every child is different. And every day brings a different challenge for parents. If you ever see a parent give their kid a cupcake after the kid has had enough, or too soon after bad behavior, you may not know the full story. Just yesterday, my husband was questioning the fact that I gave Fay a second meal after she refused to eat her delectable pizza dinner. I told him that I thought it was justified because she had had pizza the day before and was perhaps bored with the choice.

Every parenting decision is based on many inputs and circumstances. When there are quite a few books out there about how to behave correctly and how to give time outs and say your sorry, I think it is perfectly acceptable to see a couple books tell children that it can be fun to misbehave and show some spirit. How a parent chooses to interpret those books and explain them to their children is up to them.

Fay wants to wear a dress

2009-10-12T05:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning, Fay and I were getting ready to go to the zoo with our friends Dia and Maurice. I was getting myself ready in the bathroom mirror and Fay was impatiently waiting for me at the bathroom door. I decided to keep her busy with some conversation. I asked her "What do you want to wear today?" I really was not expecting an answer because if Fay had her way, she would wear nothing but her birthday suit. But Fay blurted out "dess!", and along with it did the sign for dress (both hands following the line of a dress from the waist down). It was the first time she has done that sign. It was also the first time she has told me what she wants to wear. Many firsts in one moment. Made me want to tear up.

And then I thought. Oh, no, do we have a 2 yr old sized Fall/Winter dress that would be warm enough for today?!! Luckily, we had a brilliant hand me down from, I think, our friend Jen.

Later in the afternoon, we took a bike ride with Daddy and capture the beautiful photo above.

crazy pooping baby

2009-10-08T19:14:00.000-07:00

I don't treat my readers very often with the poop related updates of my baby. But I think this week deserves a post. Fay has been having diarrhea for a week now. I think it is due to her teething, but now that its lasted so long, I'm going to have a chat with her doctor to make sure everything is ok.

The high point of the week was Tuesday morning. Fay got down from her highchair after breakfast and hid behind it for a while, presumably pooping. She likes to find a little private spot sometimes to do the deed. I noticed this and let her be, but when she was done I asked her if she wanted to change her diaper. She was pretty adamant that she did not want a diaper change, so instead of fighting her, I thought I'd let her be for a few minutes. Big mistake.

I went to do something in the bathroom or back in her bedroom while Fay was hanging out in the living room and all of a sudden I heard "OH OHHHH".

This usually means that something has spilled or broken, or the TV program has ended. I came out to see what the problem was and Fay was standing above a brown little puddle, saying "Oh Ohhhh".

Poor thing. Her whole left leg was soaked. I whisked her into the bathtub and removed her clothing. I won't go into detail, but suffice to say, Fay was completely disgusted by her environment within a matter of seconds. I tried my best to not be disgusted, as I didn't want her to feel bad. And it wasn't that hard, because I was too busy cleaning things up.

It was BY FAR, the most disgusting, difficult to clean up mess I've ever dealt with.

On the up side. Fay doesn't appear sick, or in poor spirits. She just doesn't particularly like diaper changes these days.

crazy talking baby!

2009-10-02T12:14:00.000-07:00

I'm having so much fun with Fay's new spurt of talking. A new word or 5 seem to come every day. Of course, she mimics A LOT of words when she hears me say them. But its really fun when a new word just shoots out of her mouth because she wants to identify something, or she is thinking of something.

Over the past week she has volunteered these words, to name a few:

Pizza
Stroller
Coffee
Kitty
Store
TV
Dora
Choo-Choo

Also, she pretty much thinks anything that resembles an apple is an apple, including (all from pictures in a book) pumpkins, a read heart and a pear.

She is also practicing sounds with her mouth. For example, she will get her little lips into the form of a "shhh" sound, and just leave them like that for a while, practicing "shh" or "shoes".

Baby jackpot

2009-09-29T03:54:00.000-07:00

When we decided to send Fay to nursery school, I searched and searched online to see if I could find a back up blanket for Fay. She likes to sleep with her blanket, so I wanted an extra one to send to school for naps. One that I would not have to take home each evening for nighttime sleep.

I couldn't find a new one, so I luckily found a used one on ebay, which was in better condition than Fay's well loved blanket.

Yesterday I brought the blanket to school and at the end of the day Fay was very concerned that I was not taking the blanket home with us. And by concerned I mean she was crying and had a look on her face like her best friend had died (or was taken prisoner by an evil school).

So we brought it home and I forgot that blanket number 1 was already at home, lying around in plain site.

Once Fay discovered there are two blankets, she ran to show me and had a look on her face like "Can you believe my luck?" or "Can you believe it multiplied?" It was total excitement and disbelief. I don't think I've even seen disbelief on a toddler, certainly not on Fay.

This morning, she woke with both blankets in her arms and was just as tickled.

to be a two year old

2009-09-27T10:52:00.000-07:00

This morning I gave fay a little tupperware bowl of yogurt. There wasn't very much left and she'd had breakfast earlier, so I just let her hold on to it while she wandered around. She was eating it with one of her toddler sporks. The next thing I knew, she was in her bedroom sitting on the floor with an almost empty bowl of yogurt. She had her toes digging around in the bowl and then proceeded to suck her toes of the remaining yogurt. She was a little monkey, eating with her toes.

Second week of school....sick!

2009-09-22T05:45:00.001-07:00

As I expected and dreaded, as soon as Fay entered school she got sick. I don't even blame the kids as school for giving her the cold. I think she got it from the neighborhood kids. What I was dreading was changing our whole child care routine and then not being able to send Fay to school because they don't want your sick kid infecting others. Not to mention, that Fay will get well much quicker if she is at home sleeping it off.

Luckily, our ex-babysitter Deb was available to come yesterday in a pinch. So I was able to go to work as normal. But I don't know who I will call in future months when Deb is working on her new job. My guess is that I will have to take a day off work.

I guess I will deal with that when the day comes. For now, I was really happy I was able to keep Fay at home and still go to work. She ended up sleeping almost 4 hours for her nap. And today she is looking much better.

Second day of school

2009-09-15T18:09:00.000-07:00

I feel small sense of relief about Fay's continuing school adventure. Today was her 2nd day of school and I think it went *much* better than the first.

I was afraid Fay would protest leaving the house to go to school this morning, or that she would get upset when we entered school. She was fine the whole way, and I told her where we were going. I am trying to emphasize the word school, so she knows what is going on.

Once we got to the classroom, Fay wanted me to come in with her; she didn't want to be dropped at the door like a UPS package. I coaxed her inside and left rather quickly, and Fay cried in protest.

I picked her up 4 hours later at 12:30, and she seemed to be in good spirits. She looked a little confused when I peeked a look at her before she noticed me. So I think she is definitely still figuring out what this new school thing is all about. There are so many things to watch and learn from, not the least of which are her 11 classmates.

Her teacher said that she didn't eat the school food. She took a couple bites of rice, but not much. She ate a 1/4 of the sandwich I left for her at school.

I asked the teacher if she had enjoyed any part of her day. Her teacher said "oh yes! she enjoyed circle time and in fact she participated a lot. She was the one who liked to jump around when we were jumping". The teacher told me that she was really good during each segment of the day. She liked library time. But, she is still a little off during "transitions". I think she gets a little nervous and disoriented as they move from one activity to the next. Thankfully, I think that will be fixed with time and repetition.

The nice thing is that I *think* Fay is enjoying school. I've asked her if she likes school and she always says yes. But she answers "yeah" to many questions, so I'm not sure when she is really listening or understanding. When I picked her up today, she wanted mommy to come into the classroom instead of asking for Fay to come out. So that tells me that she enjoys it but she just wishes her mommy could be there with her. I hope I'm reading that right.

First day of school

2009-09-15T06:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Fay's first day of nursery school. She went for a 1/2 day, from 8:30 to 12:30 so that she can begin to get used to the new environment and teachers.

It was a pretty emotional day. And it was about as difficult as I expected. I think. I'm not really sure what I expected, but I was dreading the day.

I was able to spend about 15 minutes in the classroom with Fay when I dropped her off so she could get used to the room and feel comfortable. She really did seem comfortable almost immediately. She was checking out the toys and books, and she found a nice little chair to sit in. But when it was time for me to leave, she didn't want me to. She cried, and asked to get picked up. And when I finally headed for the door she moved so quickly and silently behind me...I didn't even know she was there when she tried to step out of the gate directly behind me. I think she thought she may go unnoticed if she was quiet enough. It was pretty cute.

I was ok, with the crying when I left. I expected that. The hard part was when I picked her up, I saw her before she saw me. She had a look of confusion and maybe unhappiness, and when she saw me she burst out with "mommy!". As in...."Mommy, thank God you're here!"

The teacher said that she only cried when I left and at lunch. She did not like the food they served her and threw a little tantrum. She went over to the bookshelf and started throwing books off. The teacher asked me "Does she do this at home?". "NO!, she might throw down a toy she has in her hands if she's mad, but she doesn't seek out things to destroy". I told the teacher I thought she must have been *really* *really* mad.

And I asked the teacher if Fay played with the other kids. She said no, mostly she was clinging to the teacher.

It was the first day, so I'm not going to put too much emphasis on it as far as evaluating if Fay likes the school. The reason we have her there is because we really think she would like being in a stimulating, playful environment all day with other kids. So I hope she starts to interact with the other kids, but I know it will take a little time.

And I brought a lunch for her today, so that if she was starving and mad yesterday, at least we can eliminate the starving part.

A post about Fay's words

2009-09-08T11:39:00.000-07:00

New words....

Elmo (clear as day)
eece (Maurice)
ry ry (Orion)
Deeee-ah (Dia)
bee (bumble bee)
[rotating arms] (I want to watch signing time)
[Put hands together and push out and in] (I want to go on swing)
Ah mee (Mommy)
Daddy (Daddy) -- She switched from Mama and Dada

This past weekend I asked if she wanted Blueberries or Raspberries, she answered "as berry"

My fav ABCs

2009-09-08T09:39:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite sketches on Sesame Street. And definitely my favorite version of the ABC song....

Tilly and the Wall sing ABCs

pre-school

2009-09-07T03:50:00.001-07:00

We have decided to change our child care arrangements for Fay. For 2 years now she has had either a nanny at her home or her mommy to take care of her. But as of Sept 14, Fay will be going to pre-school for 3 days a week.

I hadn't anticipated doing this quite so soon, but we found a fantastic school/day care, and the timing is right for a lot of reasons.

Last winter a lot of my neighborhood friends were touring and applying for various pre-school programs. I was a little late to the party because Fay doesn't turn 2 until mid-Fall, and many of these programs have Sept 1 cutoffs. Some of them allow you to start late, on the birthday, but still charge you for the entire season. But, about one month after applications were due, I started noticing changes in Fay and really wanted her to attend one of these programs. She seems ready for that social environment. Since I was so late in applying, Fay was put on several waiting lists.

I think this turned out to be a good thing, because it would have been easy for me to send Fay to one of these pre-schools with all of her neighborhood friends. Instead we started looking at other options.

There is a school in our neighborhood, but further into Chinatown, that is bilingual. They do 2/3 of the day in English and an afternoon segment in Mandarin. They have two teachers in each classroom: one that speaks English and one that speaks Mandarin. They have a high percentage of Chinese children. I'd guess its about 80%.

I spoke to a woman in my neighborhood who sends both of her kids to the bilingual school, and she *loves* it. She couldn't say enough good things about it. So, last week, Ryan and I took a tour of the school and were very impressed. The classrooms were very large -- much larger than the other schools I'd seen. The teachers were all excited to talk to Fay. They paid more attention to her than to her parents which I always see as a good sign. There were a couple of specific concerns I had which were laid to rest:

Q) Would Fay receive one on one attention when she was upset or scared, or just transitioning into this new environment?
A) I saw a 2 year old girl crying her eyes out at two points during the tour (same girl!). The administrator told me that this girl has probably only ever been with her parents at home, and is having a tough time with the transition. Then, one of the classroom teachers scooped her up and cuddled her and removed her from the group for a few minutes. I was so happy to see how gently they were dealing with this girl's crisis.

Q) Can we start off slowly so Fay can adjust to the new school?
A) During the first week we will do 1/2 days, progressively moving up to a full day at school. So, I will pick up Fay after 4 hours, then after 6 (after nap), then after a full day.

A couple other facts that convinced us this was the school for Fay have to do with more adult concerns. They are much less expensive than the other options. And they serve 3 meals a day (the other schools have you send food with your child). We are actually paying for 5 days a week but will only be sending Fay for 3. This is nice for flexibility. If for some reason I need to work different days, I can change Fay's pre-school schedule easily.

Before taking the tour, I thought we might wait until January to enroll Fay in a program. But we realized that many of the children are meeting each other for the first time and going through the separation process together, and it would be best to get Fay in to meet her new friends as soon as possible.

So, we gave notice to our nanny last week. And now I'm freaking out because my baby is growing up. I'm anxious that she is becoming more independent and will go through a major life change without me. And I'm anxious that this is the end of my baby years with Fay. I hope she still will still want some mama cuddles, even after she is a big girl at pre-school.

The August babies turn two

2009-08-30T18:41:00.000-07:00

Fay likes to hang with the older crowd. So this weekend we celebrated many of her neighborhood friends' 2nd birthdays with a group birthday party in the park.

At one point, we wrangled all the kids into the toy boat and began to snap photos. I think the photos mostly memorialize our feat of wrangling with no crying or injuries. Sooo many kids!

If you go to this link you can see many photos of the same moment, plus a video at the end. These are Orion's mom's photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36335244@N00/sets/72157622190058972/

the twos

2009-08-25T18:34:00.000-07:00

I've been reading a lot lately about what to do with a whiney kid. For some reason I had expected and planned for a two year old's tantrums, as Fay approaches the pivotal age. But I have been taken a back by the onset of frequent and persistent whining. Its as if sound is just draining out of her mouth with no real purpose or direction. Just a constant moaning. At first I thought something might be wrong that I could fix for her. I don't think that is the case. More words Fay! More words!

Unprompted new word from Fay!

2009-08-20T17:58:00.001-07:00

Tonight, Fay and I were heading back to her room to read some books before bed when Fay turned into the bathroom instead.

She asked to get into the tub. So, I lifted her in. Then she motioned for mommy to get into the tub. So I did. We were sitting there together, fully dressed in a dry tub. And Fay blurted out "Bubbles!"

I was so tickled! Up until now, there has been a lot of prompting for Fay to talk. I point to something and say the word and she repeats. Or, we work on the same word, over and over again, until she says it by herself (up!) But this! To make a request about something that is not even an object in her sight. And to use a word that I have not drilled into her head! She can simply call up a word and make her wants known! What a big girl.

Needless to say, I immediately gave Fay her bubble bath.

word list -->

2009-08-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

I added a list to the right hand side of the blog to show off Fay's latest words. I'll be updating it as the new words come in. I'm told they should increase rapidly now that she's got the jist of it.

Whats that sound?

2009-08-12T06:02:00.000-07:00

I don't think I have ever written about one of Fay's cutest little quirks and I want to remember this, so I'm making a blog post about it.

For a number of weeks now, when Fay hears a sound she brings her hand up to cover one of her ears and looks at me with a questioning look. Sometimes she gives a little "eh?"

I don't know how, but I immediately knew that she wanted to know what the sound is. Usually its a loud sound like an ambulance or a car beeping as it goes in reverse. It didn't even really phase me until one day Fay's babysitter brought it to my attention.

Babysitter: I think Fay may have an ear infection or cold because she keeps reaching for her ear.
Me: Oh, no, I just think she is asking what the sound is that she hears.
Babysitter: Really, well, I don't know, she is always touching the same ear.
Me: Well, I'll keep an eye on it, but I really do think she is just asking about a noise.

After watching more closely, she does in fact use both ears for the question, but I think she favors her left ear. Its the cutest thing because I would have never guessed that at this age she correlates hearing a noise with the use of her ears. I'm guessing that at some point I started using that sign when I was talking about noises to her. As in....Fay [cupping ear]...do you hear that sound? That's an ambulance.

talker

2009-08-03T15:01:00.000-07:00

Fay has made some significant progress on her verbal skills over the past couple of weeks. I noticed a big improvement in her communication attempts and number of "words" she was using while we were in Wisconsin. I wonder if having so many people and new things around stimulated her to want to talk more.

We've also been showing Fay a sign language (ASL) video almost every day for about two weeks now. I hadn't intended to bombard her with ASL, but she loves the video so much and requests it every day. I think there are two reasons she loves it so. One, there are little kids throughout the video doing signs. And, two, there are most of her favorite objects being used as examples for the ASL words taught. For example, we learn how to say: eat, more, ball, baby, car, dog, cat, mom, dad, shoes. These are all of her favorites. If only they had a sign for "yogurt" we'd be set.

She immediately took to the "eat" sign and has been using it whenever I say the word eat. Even better, she has these new words:

"Mo" -- More
"Ba" -- Ball
"Mama" -- Mama (says it a lot more now)
"Bye Bye" -- Bye Bye or good night
"ooo-dy" -- Brody (her grandma's dog)
"Meow" -- Cat sound
"Moo" --- Cow sound
"Baa" -- Sheep Sound

Her babysitter, Deb has also taught her to say "Nana" and "Lyla" for her grandma and friend. But she only does those while singing a little made up song.

Also I've been trying to get her to do the "F" sound, so she can say her name. But it comes out as a tongue blow.

She hums along with the Alphabet song. And she is *really* singing along with old MacDonald. She says the animal sounds right after I mention the animal and she does the "E-I-E-I-O" in the right spot. Its so much fun to sing with her!!

Wisconsin!!!

2009-07-27T18:20:00.001-07:00

You should only detect a mild amount of sarcasm by the exclamation points in the title. I'm from MN, and live in NYC, so I have to make fun of the midwest a little, or I wouldn't get by with my day to day nyc encounters.

Ryan and I attended a wedding last weekend in Milkwaukee, and then stayed on in Neenah/Oshkosh Wisconsin for a week, renting a lake house with Ryan's family. My family also drove from Mpls to Neenah for the weekend so fay Got to see ALL of her grandparents during our midwest vacation along with her Uncle Andy.

We were a little unfortunate to have overcast and rainy weather during the first 1/2 of the week. That stumped us at first because we were thinking of spending much of the week swimming and boating on the lake.

BUT we were happily surprised to find tons of fun little activities for Fay to do around neighboring towns. Fay's favorite activity by far (besides playing with Brody, the Yorkie) was picking fresh raspberries! She couldn't manage to get more than one or two past her mouth into the collection basket. I think she thought she had died and gone to raspberry heaven, and she told us so with some whining/crying when we finally had to leave.

Grandma Sandy also found just about the best city park for toddlers I've ever seen. This park had a petting zoo, a merry go-round, a mini-train for toddlers and paddle boats (not to mention some really strange looking paddle-tricycle things). The zoo was free, and the rides were $1 or less per ride. So it was not only a find, but a bargain too!

[Insert joke here about feeding toddler to the cow]

Fay loved the train, but she wasn't entirely sold on the merry-go-round. She held tight to mommy and looked around skeptically the entire time. Of course when she returned to nyc at the end of the week and saw another merry-go-round at the park, she instantly wanted on it.

By the end of the week, we were swimming in the lake, canoeing in the lake, and had a relaxing 4 hour pontoon boat ride. Fay LOVED the boat because she was able to run around from end to end. She was also introduced to chex mix for the first time on the pontoon and that put her in a pretty good mood as well.

[Fay having "fun" on raft with daddy]

All in all, a pretty good vacation. It was fun to have everyone together and see Fay get so much attention. As we all know, Fay can be a little slow to warm up, and she was clingy towards her mommy for the first couple of days while all her grandparents were vying for her hugs and playtime. But it was amazing how quickly she fell into a comfortable family rhythm.

I'll leave you with this.....

Another Fire Island weekend

2009-07-14T04:28:00.000-07:00

We spend another weekend in Fire Island last weekend, this time with our friends Dia, Josh and their toddler Maurice.

We were extremely lucky with the weather. Thunderstorms were predicted, but we only got showers while we slept on Saturday night. The daytime hours were sunny and beautiful.

Fay continues to like the beach more and more. She had fun walking with daddy down to the ocean edge and then handing him her bucket to fill with water. She also had fun scooping sand into the bucket, and throwing stones and seashells into the bucket.

Maurice and Fay had a blast. Each morning it was as if they'd received a gift of each other's presence. They were very very excited to have the other there to play with at 6 in the morning. The house is a 3 bedroom, so it was our hope that the kids could sleep in the same room together and each set of parents could have their own room. Fay and Maurice are 20 and 22 months respectively, so they sleep through the night, but they do have occasional shout outs and sometimes they wake up early. We were concerned that one kid might wake up the other kid, but we were willing to give it a try.

Well, I have to say, the antics of the kids trying to sleep together may have been the best part of the weekend. On Friday night, we put Fay in the kid room about 10 minutes before Maurice. When Maurice got in there and we closed the door we started hearing "Faaaaaay....Faaaaaay.....Faaaaay". Maurice could not see Fay because we had a sheet blocking his view of her crib, but he knew she was there and he was very excited to have a bunk mate. Fay answered with some "Da!"s and some little screams of recognition. Although we put them in there at 7:30, I don't think it was quiet until 9pm or so. The following night was a bit shorter, but they still chatted before falling off to sleep.

The other highlight of the weekend was some live band toddler dancing. Unfortunately Ryan was not there on Sunday night because Ryan returned to the city Sunday afternoon. I switched my work days this week so I could stay on through Monday. On Sunday Fay and I went to dinner with Maurice's family and the kids had the best time. After some yummy food (burger and sweet potato fries!) we went to the open air back yard of the restaurant where there was a band playing. Fay and Maurice ran in circles around their parents and danced like crazy. We were told by several tipsy onlookers that our kids were quite cute.

Summer Fridays

2009-06-26T11:11:00.001-07:00

Fay and I really enjoy my days off from work when we can hang out together. But there is something especially fantastic about Fridays. We usually see our neighborhood friends either in a park, or class, or in an apt on rainy days.

Fay continues to come out of her shell...she is especially fun to watch when we go to Hillman park (one of our co-op's parks) in the morning when there is no one around but her close friends. She is obviously extremely comfortable in this environment and she runs around without a care in the world. Most noticeably, she doesn't need her mommy by her side constantly.

Today she had fun holding hands and running around with Maurice and Orion -- so cute I had to capture it on the camera phone.

punk rock festival for Fay

2009-06-24T09:50:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday we decided to go on a bike ride with Fay. Sunday gave us our tiny window of sunshine for the week so we tried to make the most of it. Its been raining in NYC for about a month now almost non-stop. It is either raining or threatening rain 24 hours a day. I always carry an umbrella with me now and I have not problem going to the playground in light sprinkles. You may even hear me exclaim "what fantastic playground weather!"

So on Sunday we took Fay and the bikes to Governor's island off the southern tip of Manhattan. It is a free Ferry ride that lasts all of 8 minutes. There are lots of fun things about Governor's island. It used to house military or at least coast guard families, but is now basically vacant. So there are a bunch of old 70's style cookie cutter townhouses sprinkled around the island. The island is now devoted to housing outdoor events and encouraging bike riding (you can rent bikes on the island). So you are pretty much guaranteed to run into a festival of some sort when you arrive on the island during a summer weekend.

The first time we went to G's island last year, we stumbled upon a 1910's/1920's music and dance event. They had free dance lessons for the peabody and tons of people were dressed in period outfits (or at least hats).

This past weekend we were lucky enough to find a punk rock festival in progress. Its seemed an odd venue choice to me at first -- seeing all these urban dressed-in-black kids hanging out in such a grassy picnic-y idyllic setting. But as we cruised around the island I could see the vision of the organizer. There were a handful of locations where a rather intimate gathering of fans would watch a band perform. The "stages" ranged from the parking lot of an old housing complex, to a small archway with a mosh-pit in progress, to a small grassy hill with the fans at the top and the band at the bottom. It really was perfect for small gatherings, and the old, abandoned buildings added a nice edge to the grassy perfection surrounding them.

We also found a patch of hammocks provided for the public and Fay enjoyed "pushing" her daddy in the hammock.

We managed to depart the island and arrive in Manhattan just as it was starting to sprinkle. Good timing. We had a nice shower on the way home on our bikes. But again, after the weather we've had, none of us mind getting a little wet anymore.

fire island (1st weekend)

2009-06-10T09:35:00.000-07:00

Ryan and I have rented 3 weekends in Fire Island this summer -- one in each month. We just spent our first weekend there and it was a fantastic weekend. The house we rent has 3 small bedrooms, so we are sharing it with one other couple -- our friends Joe and Vanessa. They have a 3 year old boy.

We spent the first day traveling and hiding from the rain because it was pretty miserable. The rain was light and constant. They dads decided to have a couple (several?...many?) drinks in the nearby bar, while the moms entertained the toddlers in the house. We didn't bring that many toys, so we pretty much tore apart the kitchen trying to have some creative fun.

Saturday and Sunday turned out to be beautiful hot summer days though. We didn't expect such great weather for an early summer weekend in June. We spent both Sat and Sun on the beach. At first Fay was very much against walking on the sand. She seemed afraid that she might fall while walking over a sand mound. I'm sure the texture and terrain was very foreign to her. But after a day, she was quite used to it, and she was enjoying sitting by the ocean on the harder, flat sand, drawing and looking at shells. She also enjoyed the many friendly dogs on the beach and looking at a kite flying overhead.

Friday and Saturday nights were fun. One couple cooked each night, so the other couple could have the night off. On Friday, Ryan cooked and then we all played Cranium. On Saturday, Ryan and I got to got on a long walk alone while Joe and Vanessa cooked. I can't rave enough about the benefits of sharing a house with another couple when you have kids. Its like having another set of hands/eyes around all weekend long. And you can be more loose with your time -- like being able to just go on a brief walk without calling in a babysitter.

Joe loves to take photos and he is very good at it, so I roped him into a mini-photo shoot with Fay when I saw how cute she looked in her swimsuit. Its nice to have a couple photos of mommy for once.

One of the highlights of the weekend is seeing Joseph (3) and Fay (19 mo) play together. They didn't do it much, but there was a moment on Friday night when Joseph and Fay decided to make a game of chasing one another. Fay would chase Joseph and scream, then Joseph would turn around an chase Fay. It lasted for about 10 min and we all wished we had our video camera because it was so cute. Most of the time Joseph points at Fay and says "baby". So this was a surprising turn.

We go again in about 4 weeks and will share the house with our neighborhood friends Josh and Dia who have a boy around Fay's age.

petting zoo and ketchup

2009-06-01T03:49:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Ryan and I decided to take Fay to the petting zoo in Central Park. Fay was just getting over a cold which makes her really tired. So she went down for a 2+ hour nap at 9:30 in the morning. This left a huge portion of the day after her nap to get out and do something fun.

Fay LOVES to feed the animals. She didn't even have to be shown what to do, she just took to it naturally. Could be her nurturing nature. :)

We managed to capture a video of it. I think we've discovered the fun of video. We have video right on our camera, so its really easy to decided to film something without having to remember to lug out the specialized video camera.

After the zoo, we took the bus home, landing a good 20 min walk before our apt. We took a stroll along St. Marks and stopped at our favorite hipster hot dog joing -- Crif Dogs. Fay has really liked tater tots since she first tried them (about a month ago). But today was different. She noticed mommy and daddy dipping their tots in to ketchup and decided to try it for herself. V. cute.

(Wow, do I dress Fay in the pigeon shirt a lot or what? Mommy likes her shirt creations)

summer is here

2009-05-21T10:38:00.000-07:00

How time flies. I haven't posted in over a week, and now it seems as if summer is HERE. Today we are having 80 degree weather. And it is supposed to continue tomorrow.

I had to make an emergency show run to Target in Brooklyn last Sunday because Fay had grown out of almost all of her shoes! Now she is set for summer. She has her pink crocs, her pink "flip flops", her new pink sneakers, and her white dressier sandals.

I personally think that toddler shoes may be the cutest part of the itsy bitsy wardrobe. But then, all the sweaters and dresses are pretty cute too. And we mustn't forget swimsuit cuteness.

We had a surprise hand-me-down gift from a neighbor yesterday. Her 4 year old has long grown out of her trike, so she offered it to us. I don't think Fay will be ready to ride it until she's a few months older. But it is definitely the right size. Fay had fun pushing it around the house by the mommy handle as if it were a toy. She loves to push her toy dragon, so I think this seemed the same to her. She was pretty reluctant to get on the seat of the trike, so we'll have to try again at a later time.

I have some great videos that I've been taking lately with the regular camera. Its so much easier than getting out the big video camera, and somehow easier to upload. Its fun to let the computer go through a slideshow of all our recent photos now because the videos are integrated so you get the stills, and then moving pictures all in the same slideshow. Fay loooooooves to watch herself on camera. Everytime the computer is taken out she points and grunts at it, essentially asking to watch a video of herself. Definitely tops even TV watching.

Baby biker (happy mother's day)

2009-05-10T18:26:00.000-07:00

Today was mother's day. Ryan treated me to a long morning sleep and a wonderful brunch. I was able to sleep in until 8am while Ryan took Fay outside for a little morning exploration.

The highlight of the day though was the after nap activity. Ryan installed our new baby bike seat on his bike last week and we acquired a little baby helmet on Saturday so today was family bike day! We actually took Fay on her first bike ride a couple weekends ago, but we were on a borrowed bike with a baby seat. And let me tell you...the traditional baby bike seats which ride in the rear of the bike DO NOT COMPARE to the front riding baby seats.

Fay had so much fun riding up front with daddy that she instantly got over her annoyance of having to wear the helmet (cry!) and never fussed again. Well, she only fussed when she thought mommy was being left behind. She insisted that I ride along side her, or in front of her, so she could see where I was. I guess she is afraid daddy might leave me in the dust if she were not there to look out for me.

Mommy made sweater (finished!)

2009-05-06T10:59:00.000-07:00

I finally finished Fay's sweater this week. I had to buy and sew on the buttons. I had a lot of fun picking out the buttons. There were so many to choose from and I had no idea what I wanted until I saw the perfect buttons! I just love them, I think they give the sweater a necessary whimsy -- perfect for a little girl.

All in all, the sweater took a lot longer than I'd anticipated. I think I've been working on it for 4 to 6 weeks. The fact that it was done in pieces added a lot of time. Now I know why some patterns shout "Knit in ONE-PIECE". Not only does it take time to construct a sweater done in multiple pieces, but I think it allows more time for procrastination. You are constantly putting it down once you complete a sleeve, a back piece....etc. But, I don't think this sweater could be done exactly as it is in one piece, so the design called for it. Its a bit big, so Fay will definitely not be wearing it until the fall. (Unless I get really antsy and roll up the sleeves...maybe she could wear it as a dress ;)

video chat with gma and gpa (aka, grandmazilla)

2009-04-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

This morning we did a video phone call with Fay's Grandma and Grandpa from Kearney, NE. We've done this in the past, but Fay has mostly banged on the keyboard and not paid much attention to the people on the screen.

Today she seemed to realize that these folks were talking to her and she was a little freaked out at first. She kinda hid behind mommy's knee and looked suspiciously at the camera.

But after a while, she sort of ignored the camera and played in front of it which was a treat for gma and gpa who could watch her play while we chatted about our weekend.

When we said our goodbyes we shut the computer lid on our side so that Fay would see that the conversation was over. But when we opened the lid to see if Gma and Gpa were still on the video chat, we were left with this brilliant image of Gma waiving good-bye. We a planning on using it to remind Fay what her Gma looks like right before she visits. Good idea?

18 months old today!

2009-04-22T17:18:00.000-07:00

Happy 1/2 birthday to Fay. 18 months is a pretty big milestone date I believe. From what I've read its a big talking milestone. Toddlers on average have 5 words by their 18th month, and after that begin to acquire words at a much faster rate. I've read they can acquire 10 words a day!

Fay is not a big talker. But then she was slow to walk as well. For the walking I called her "cautious". For the talking, I'm calling her "observent" and "pensive". She really does seem to stop to take things in and really try to understand them. We go to a music class every Wed. Her behavior has changed recently from running around a little, so pretty much staying on mommy's lap the whole time and staring at the teacher. She stares and stares. Today the teacher imitated Fay to me because she said I don't have the vantage point to really see what she looked like. It was an expression of curiosity and bewilderment. Pretty cute.

I wanted to document those "words" that Fay has by her 18 birthday so I can remember them always. My friend Marci, who has the twin girls and lives in my building spends quite a bit of time with Fay. Today she reminded me that words for toddlers don't have to be articulate, full words. If they sound somewhat like the intended word and they have the correct object meaning to the toddler, then they ARE words. Here are Fay's:

Meh (Milk, or now that she isn't drinking milk, it means water. Or, I'm thirsty)
Uh-pa (Pick me up)
Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma (Mommy, you are not doing what I want you to do (whiney voice))
Eggo (Eggo (ONE time only))
Da (Sometimes means dog, sometimes for all animals)

PHEW! did I get to Five? I wouldn't want to represent my child as being below average!

I have to write another post about our AMAZING weekend last weekend. Ryan and I took Fay on her first bike ride! Wheeeeee!

first word: nothing to write home about

2009-04-21T06:27:00.000-07:00

Um, well, I'm not sure if we've had a "first word" moment this morning, but I will document it nonetheless. When Fay woke up this morning, I brought her out to the living room and soon thereafter she was ready for breakfast. So I brought her over to the freezer, opened the door and asked her "Eggo?". To which she replied "Eggo!"

That about knocked me off my feet. Some people get "nana" (banana), some get ball, car, mama. We got Eggo!

Pretty cute.

no bottle = no milk

2009-04-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

So I decided to go cold turkey on getting rid of the bottle for Fay. Up until this week she's been getting two bottles of milk a day. One in the morning (usually 12 oz or so!) and one in the evening (around 4-6 oz). In the middle of the day I usually offered her water, though if she really wanted milk I'd give her the bottle.

Over the past couple weeks I've been offering her milk during mid-day in the sippy cup, and she never really took to it -- holding out for her evening bottle. I was also having her babysitter withhold the bottle and strangely, she usually reported Fay asking for it each day. When I'm with her, she hardly asks for it, but perhaps that is because we are out of the house more and she knows its not with us.

It seemed to be getting a little confusing (why can't I have it during the day Mommy?) So I decided to just get rid of them all together. On Wed, I didn't offer Fay the bottle in the morning, I offered her a sippy cup filled with milk, and she was a little annoyed. Though I distracted her with breakfast before she got really upset. And that has been the general tactic. Fill her up with yogurt and other things if she will not drink the milk.

She really hasn't had a drop of milk now for 2 days going on three. I don't know if she is pissed, and protesting, or if she was never interested in milk, just the bottle. She's got quite an appetite these days since she is not filling up with milk. So I'm not terribly concerned, but it is a little stressful, wondering what is going on.

Fay has been more cranky since the bottle disappeared and she also has been waking up earlier. Not sure if she is just getting back at me, or if she is waking and longing for the bottle that she will not get.

I've read that some babies don't drink milk again after being weened from the bottle. I hope that is not the case because it will make it seem as if her whole baby stage is done. It would be a pretty big deal if we no longer had milk time in the morning. I have come to enjoy sitting with Fay on the couch and looking out the big window while she drinks her milk.

playng with friends

2009-04-11T03:35:00.001-07:00

While I've been working, my babysitter Deb has been having a good number of playdates with my friend Marci (and Fay's friends Lyla and Jillian). Marci is a good friend of mine that lives in the same building and has twins girls. We met last August when I quit work to stay home with Fay. She stays home with her girls. We saw each other a lot over the winter and became good friends. Its soooo nice to have a place to go in the winter with your toddler when you don't want to go outside, but you also don't want to stay in the same old apartment all day.

While I was working last week, Marci took some great video footage of Fay playing with her girls in a little tent. Its pretty cute to see the three girls interact and "talk" to each other. Its so nice to be able to see videos of my baby that were taken by someone else and its great to see what shes doing while I'm at work! Marci uploaded it to youtube. So I can link to that here:

(I should note! During the video one of the twins keeps saying "OUT" to Fay. At first I thought she wanted her out of the tent but then I realized she wanted her to take off her sweater. Their word "OUT" doubles for "take off".)

spring clothes

2009-04-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm obviously finding it hard to find the time to write on Fay's blog. I could blame this on work. But I think it can be attributed to something else. Fay's new spring wardrobe. Ok, wardrobe may be an elaborate term. I have started knitting Fay a spring sweater and as you can imagine this take a little time. So instead of coming home from work and writing on Fay's blog, I come home and knit in front of the TV. The sweater is coming along rather well, and I *hope* to have it done by the end of this weekend.

Fay is rapidly growing out of her winter clothes while winter is trying its hardest to stick around. We had 60 degree weather yesterday, but we are back to 40s today. Fay may have to start using the layered approach so that she can wear her new, larger, short-sleeved t-shirts and still keep warm under a sweater. This is why I must get the sweater done soon, or break down and buy one (or two).

Ryan went out last weekend and got several new items for Fay's spring attire. It makes me smile to think of him holding up a miniature dress in a clothing store and wondering if it will look good on his daughter. He came home with some real cute things.

Fay and I went to the doctor last week for a checkup. She weighed in at just about 25lbs and [?? I'll have to check her height] inches. She has shot back to the 50th percentile in both weight and height. She used to be long: in the 75th percentile. I guess shes just average now!

back to work, and grandmas visit

2009-03-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

Its been so long since I posted. I had a half written entry saved as a draft, but its so out of date I can't really post it. I was writing about how mature I thought Fay had gotten since she started walking. I think she gained a lot of confidence from walking on her own and being independent. I was going to write a post about this because I was seeing how different she was reacting when we would go to familiar places outside our home. At friends' houses, at classes we take, and at the community kid's center, she is a changed baby. She used to cling to me a little, for about 20 minutes while she got used to her new surroundings. Now, she takes very little time before she is trekking around on her own to explore, still keeping an eye on mommy, or coming to get me. But she no longer clings for security to me and my leg.

However, since that time, I have also now gone back to work.

I've been working 2 to 3 days a week now for about 3 weeks. And it is a tough transition on both Mommy and Fay. Fay either cries when I leave, or she runs (walks swiftly) towards the door in hopes of catching me before the door...slams right in her little face. It is so heartbreaking. The best scenario possible is putting on a video to distract her and then not saying goodbye to her at all. Essentially tricking her into not seeing that I'm leaving.

When Deb comes to the apartment in the morning Fay looks at her as if to say "oh my, not you again!" She knows instantly what is in store for her. Mommy is leaving. So she basically won't leave my side once Deb comes. Thinking perhaps I won't slip away if she stays close. I'm hoping she will eventually like Deb so much that she will smile when she arrives in the morning! I'm not sure how long that might take though.

So far 3 days of work is a pretty good deal. My days are staggered -- I'm working M,T,Th. So I get to see Fay for all of Wed and Friday. If feels like just enough time that I can be a legitimate presence at work and can sink myself into the project. But its not so much time that I feel overwhelmed by it. I was overwhelmed by my job after I returned from maternity leave last year. I think the amount of days makes a difference but I also think the flexibility of contracting makes a huge difference. When I have to be home by 6pm to relieve the nanny, I can feel so constrained by my work day. I feel like I have exactly 8.5 hours to get done what I need to get done. So its all business and no coffee breaks. But now that I'm contracting I feel like, if I really need to I can take a break and just not bill for it. I don't feel like I would be cheating anyone by taking extra time to have a sane day. Also, I know its not forever. The current job I have is for a set period of time -- 3 months. I'm hoping it will last longer because I do really like the place and the people. But it also gives me peace to know that I'm not saddled to one employer for an indefinite amount of time and I'd have to make a major life choice if I wanted to leave. Alright, perhaps I just take it all a little too seriously. But I am a little type A, and I admit it. I gotta deal with what my head gives me, and turns out a 3 day work week, 4 day mom week is a pretty good deal right now.

The grandmas visited last weekend. They came in just to visit us and Fay. We had a great weekend centered around Fay. We went to Toys R Us in Times Square and rode on the Ferris Wheel. I also took the grandmas to our Gym class that we attend on Friday mornings. I'll tell you more about that in another post. And we went to the Brooklyn Children's museum for a FREE Saturday visit. Fay has never had so much fun packed into 3 days. Even the long bus commute home from the museum was pretty fun for Fay.

My mom brought a toddler sized rocking chair for Fay. It was originally crafted by my great grandfather and has been used by all generations along the way. The last to use it were my sister's three girls. We all thought Fay would get a kick out of sitting in a chair her size, but she surprised us by wanting to put her favorite friend in the chair and rock it. The friend? Her blankey. So adorable.

leaving is hard to do

2009-03-05T06:36:00.000-08:00

Its so hard to leave little crying, protesting Fay in the morning. Today was my second morning leaving her with Deb and it was harder than the first. I think she didn't know what was happening the first day, but today she knew. She clung to me and wouldn't let me put her down or hand her to Deb. Then Deb got the blanky and Fay eagerly walked over to her to get it, but then turned and started crying as I made my quick escape. As the door shut, I could hear her cry out in agony. My heart aches.

Babysitter found

2009-03-04T09:32:00.000-08:00

I have found a daytime babysitter for Fay for 3 days a week. I used the care.com site and did some power interviewing at the end of last week. I saw about 9 woman in 3 days. I was getting pretty discouraged by Thursday afternoon when I hadn't met anyone I liked. It amazes me that most of the women I interviewed would hardly interact with Fay. They would mostly talk to me about themselves and their skills, but I don't think they knew that they were in the spotlight for me to evaluate how they play and talk to Fay. Fay's opinion is just as important as mine!

Finally on Friday, I met a woman from Australia who I instantly liked. She is warm, kind, smart and resourceful. She also seems like she is eager to do the job and do it well. She has spent some years caring for children in third world countries when they've been traumatized and/or when they've lost their parents. I told her I was going to feel somewhat silly calling her references to ask if she was qualified to take care of ONE child in Manhattan, after caring for so many distraught children in Africa and Pakistan.

Of course her references had nothing but amazing things to say about her, as well as her new roommate in NY. She is new to NY, having been here only 3 months. So she will get to learn the city partially through a kid's eyes.

We worked together on Monday of this week, so Fay could get used to her and I could show her the neighborhood as well as Fay's routine. Then on Tuesday I went to work and left Fay with Deb for a full 10 hours. Things seemed to have gone well. There was some crying as I left and as Ryan left in the morning. And she was holding her blanky quite close all day for comfort. But Deb said by the afternoon, they had become better friends.

I didn't even really get the welcome I wanted at the end of the day. No running for the door as I pushed it open! Perhaps mommy was not missed as much as I had imagined. But I know she was a bit tuckered out because through this she is also transitioning to one nap. She is not getting as much sleep as she needs.

All in all, this return to work is going well. I like Deb a lot. As soon as I see Fay smile with glee when she comes in the morning, I will be fully relieved. She used to do that for Mandy. I know Fay has a lot of love in her heart for people other than me. She is such a sweet sweet girl.

walking video!

2009-03-01T04:50:00.001-08:00

We haven't posted a video in a long time. And this one is a good one! Mostly because it is the much awaited walking footage. Fay spent many months holding my hand to help her walk and just in the past week or two she has begun to walk on her own. This past week she stopped reaching for my hand much at all. And I was able to take her to the playground for the first time in a while last week. My heart almost skipped a beat when I saw her walking around on her own. We'd spent so much time last fall attached by the hands as she explored on foot. Now she can explore on her own. Of course she still stays pretty close to mom. I think its safe to say caution is part of Fay's personality. I'm happy for that!

Enjoy the video. )

back to work again

2009-02-23T18:32:00.000-08:00

So I've decided to seek some part-time work. I've had so much fun staying home with Fay, but I've been feeling its time to go back to work for several reasons. The best reason is that I've started craving having a personal life away from Fay. Funny I should call that a personal life. Perhaps individual life would be a better phrase. Regardless, sometimes I feel like it would do both of us some good if I had some interests outside of the home. Secondly, Fay has definitely matured since I quit my job and decided to stay home and her play has changed to be more independent. So I find myself with more time during the day to check my email or bake a new pastry. And I think it might be interesting to me to spend some of that time actually building something or learning something. Thirdly, it would *definitely* be nice to get some more cash in the bank. Living on one salary hasn't been a hardship, but it has required us to budget more strictly. I've got my eye on a small summer vacation/long weekend to Fire Island this coming summer and that is not going to happen if I don't add a little income to the family pot.

I was a little concerned that in the current economic climate it might be hard to find a job and even harder to find a part-time job. But I have managed to find something, through a friend. And I think it will be interesting work. I am going into the office tomorrow to learn all the details. But I've already specified that I would like to work 3 days a week. I am hoping, 3 days working, 4 days with Fay a week will be ideal.

I'm a little nervous for the "back-to-work" transition. The first time I had to do it, after maternity leave, it was difficult and quite emotional. Granted, I was pumping milk from day one back on the job. So there were a lot of uncomfortable, unfamiliar, hormonal issues with that. One thing that calms my nerves this time is the fact that it is contract work. I imagine this project will probably last about 6 months. So, if after 6 months, I am missing Fay terribly again, perhaps I can take another leave of absence. Also, I believe there may be a chance that I can do some work from home. I'm not sure that will be ideal, since its hard to work with Fay around, but it is a nice option in case I need it.

Now I just have to find some child care....again!

advanced communication

2009-02-22T05:38:00.000-08:00

Fay added a sign to her communication wallet yesterday. I haven't really tried to teach her many signs. Sometimes its just inconvenient (I don't have my hands free to sign) and sometimes its just laziness. It really takes results for you to want to teach more signs, but by then it may be time for her to talk anyway! But about 2-3 months ago, I noticed one of Fay's friends doing the "more" sign and I thought that was a pretty useful sign. Its a somewhat abstract concept, so its not as easy for Fay to express by her usual means "uh, and point". So I've been signing it on and off, usually while we are eating. If she wants more milk I'll do the more sign (pinching your fingers and thumbs together and tapping them together again and again) before fetching the milk.

SO! Yesterday I was giving Fay a kind of airplane ride by lying on my back and perching her on my knees above me. After I did it once I asked her if she wanted more (just verbally -- I didn't do the sign). She looked at her hands and started clapping them. But then she looked at them more intently and changed the open palm clap into a pinched finger clap. So amazing to see her figure it out!!

So we did airplane rides and more signs for a long time because we were both having a lot of fun with that. :)

The coolest thing is that I've mostly, if not exclusively, used the sign during mealtimes. So for her to transfer that concept into another activity is really cool. Sometimes I don't know if she understands the meaning of a word or sign the same way I mean it. Like when she uses the "all done" sign to mean pick me up. I think she has misunderstood the meaning. But this was a clear case of, not only understanding the meaning of "more", but knowing that it applies to more than just food.

Crossing feet

2009-02-17T06:10:00.000-08:00

One of the cutest little quirks that I love about Fay is she likes to cross her feet when she is eating in her high chair. So I wanted to post a photo of this for all to see. I could probably start a photo collage with daily examples of this. She does it almost every time.

Also, lest my readers think it is all daisies and sunshine over here at Fay's house, I have a story that may tarnish Fay's angelic image.

She was quite cranky last night after only have 1.5 hour nap in the afternoon (so much for smooth transition). So I was giving her a bath during which she became quite cranky and insisted on being pulled out. I won't name names, but someone decided to come into the bathroom and start pouring water on Fay's head which she did not like one bit.

So I pulled Fay out and stood her next to me on the bathroom floor. She immediately decided to start peeing on my leg. I felt something wet and thought she was dripping on me, but no it was a nice strong stream of pee. Why she couldn't do this in the nice warm bath, I don't know.

--> one nap

2009-02-16T10:07:00.000-08:00

The books I've read about sleep training and what to expect on napping have said that the transition from two naps to one can be quite difficult. It outlines tons of tactics (make the morning nap later...skip the second nap all together....earlier bedtime...). And it says that each baby is different and will handle this transition differently. But the overall message I got is that the baby will be out of sorts and tired until she gets on the correct new schedule, which takes some trial and error and just takes time to adjust.

So far (knock on wood) Fay's transition has been pretty smooth. The most difficult thing about it is that I don't know from day to day what time she will nap. Sometimes she wants two naps, sometimes she doesn't want her morning nap, and sometimes she'll nap for 3 hours in the morning and not want an afternoon nap. The reason I say this is smooth is because Fay hasn't been terribly cranky and she still averages 2-3 hours of naps a day. I don't have many activities that we MUST attend at a specific time, so its ok if her naps are all over the time. All I desire is SOME nap time, so I can get a little time to myself for house chores and for sanity time (re: computer time!)

Yesterday Fay napped from 8am - 11am and then was up till 7pm bedtime. Today she played in her crib from 8:30-9:15 (did not want to sleep), so I got her out and we played until noon. So today is a one nap day for sure. When I went to get her at 9:15 she had done some investigative work in her crib. She had pulled up her sheet and her mattress pad underneath. She's never done that before. I guess she wanted to figure out what they were.

She's been soooo curious lately. Its really fun to watch. She occupies her self for much longer now when playing with the same things she has always played with. I think she is seeing them in a new light.

Oh, Oh, I hear Fay waking up and its only ben 1.5 hours. I would love her to get at least 2 hrs.....

Today I am baking zuchinni bread for the first time. I thought it would be a nice change from the banana bread I usually make, and I read a recipe that was raved about. So far it smells divine in the oven. Must be all that cinnamon it called for.

I'm also making a new shirt for Fay. This one is a totally originally design, so it could be terribly cute or just terrible. I'll post pictures at some point. It is a green t-shirt with knitted sleeves.

Better get ready to go get Fay....

toddler

2009-02-12T05:20:00.000-08:00

I guess we can officially say Fay is walking. She takes many steps on her own, especially at home where she feels safe and can walk short distances between furniture and parents.

I wanted to write a post about Fay's current interests and play. I feel like I haven't documented any in a while and since I'm not exactly keeping up with the baby book, I need to write some down here.

Fay loves to play peek-a-boo. She mostly likes to put her blankey in front of her face and then pull it down to reveal! Fay also loves to play peek-a-boo using the living room coffee table. There are two levels to the table with a space in between, so she will get down on her knees and peek through the middle space until you notice.

Fay's other favorite past time is to put things in and out of containers. This has been happening for a while, but it has advanced. She likes to fit things through spaces and put lids on and off. She also likes to open and close doors. So she is really fascinated with how things operate and fit. She is getting a little better at her shape sorter toy, though she certainly hasn't mastered that yet. Recently she was amazed by how the butter compartment in the fridge opens up and closes down -- rather then the regular open by pulling and close by pushing. We had some good morning time working the butter compartment.

Each night now when Fay goes to sleep we close the blinds, turn on the fan, and then she points towards to bedroom door because she wants to help close the door. Then we will drink a little milk and walk toward the crib. Fay will drop her blankey in the crib and get ready to be lowered in herself. It is such a short "bedtime routine" from what I've read, I think we really got off lucky. I imagine books will eventually be incorporated in bedtime. But for now, she wants to get down to the sleeping business.

I *think* Fay has been saying "mama". She mostly says it in desperation -- when I am attempting to set her down and she still wants to be carried she will say "mamamama". The grandmas thought this was definitely "mama". I was skeptical, but I'm going with it. I also had a discussion with Fay about saying the word "up" and she seems to be responsive. :) One day, I offered her my hand to help her walk and she go so mad instantly, she was beside herself. What she wanted was to be picked up. I told her that she needed to tell me this by saying "up" because otherwise I didn't understand. Now it does seem as if she is trying to say that word when she wants up.

Although! Speaking of "up". Fay seems to have changed the sign language I taught her for "all done" into meaning "pick me up". She waves her little hand when she is done eating in the high chair and I lift her out. Now she also waves her little hand when she is on the floor. So I can only guess it means pick me up, or remove me from this situation. Not quite sure.

Fay still loves squirrels and birds. I swear I caught her saying birdie yesterday as she screamed to the birds from our balcony. But I can't be sure.

And Fay definitely understands many words. She knows what "music" means. When I say music she looks at the stereo and starts to crawl towards it (affirmative, play some music!). She knows the word "blankey". Which we try not to mention if she is not currently obsessing over it. She seems to know water, milk, cracker, raisin, breakfast, lunch, dinner, nap, walk (as in, lets try walking Fay!)

Fay has so many teeth I almost can't count them all. On the bottom she has 7-8 teeth. She has all four in front, two molars, and one eye tooth coming in (possibly two). I tried to get a photo of them, while she was crying but clearly that upset Fay even more. Bad mommy.

Baby free weekend

2009-02-09T05:55:00.000-08:00

Fay's grandmas were kind enough to come in for a weekend an babysit so Ryan and I could get away. I planned this weekend last December as a birthday present to Ryan. We had the grandmas come in on Thursday and Ryan and I left on Friday for a 6 hour drive to Vermont. I planned a snowboarding trip to Jay Peak which is 10 miles from the Canadian border. We have snowboarded at other VT spots and been consistently disappointed in the lack of snow and abundance of icy trails. From what I read, Jay Peak was supposed to have better conditions. The only drawback is it is a 6.5 hour drive. But seeing as how we were going to be alone as a couple (sans Fay) in a car for 6 hours with some music, it seemed like a pretty good deal.

The trip was fantastic. The drive was beautiful and relaxing. We listened to tons of music and chatted and slept. The only bump in the road trip was Ryan receiving a speeding ticken ONE MILE away from our VT exit off the highway. He was going well over 80 mph for the last couple hours of the trip and we literally had 5 minutes left before exiting the highway to the more rural roads. The VT police officer seemed very apologetic as he handed us our $200+ speeding ticket. Unbelievable.

Our lodging proved to be quaint but comfortable. Our room was the tiniest I've seen. There was just enough room for a queen bed, tv and upright chair. There was no closet, no desk....we did have a bathroom though, fortunately. The lodge chose to allocate more room to the common areas of the building, which I'd say was the right decision. They had a beautiful bar/restaurant with a fireplace and and cozy atmosphere. Ryan and I spent both evenings drinking and eating near the fire.

The snowboarding on Saturday was pretty good. I don't know if it was really worth the extra 2-3 hour drive, but it was perfectly fine for our first trip boarding in 3 years. The weather was fantastic (warm 30s!) and there was more snow than ice. The trail was pretty small, so there wouldn't be much variety after a day or so. But again, it was fine for our one day boarding vacation.

Fay seemed to have a fantastic time at home with the grandmas. The reports included that she did not want to eat her (favorite) egg quiche that her mom had left for her. Rather, she wanted to fill up on blueberries and banana bread. I think there may have been a tad bit of grandmotherly spoiling going on, which was nice to hear. Fay has such a hard life with the likes of me, that she deserves a little pampering. ;)

And the grandmas seemed to enjoy NYC with Fay. They went out to brunch and walked around the neighborhood. And there were tails of an attempted bath with a crying Fay. I guess she missed me after all.

Ryan and I got big smiles from Fay once we returned. It was really fun to get away, I definitely missed my little girl. But I think we should do that more often. It really helps the sanity to have moments of adulthood that last longer then a 3 hour evening.

Fully weened

2009-02-03T08:08:00.000-08:00

Before the Jamaica vacation I was still nursing Fay mornings and nights with cow's milk during the day. I really didn't think there was much milk coming from my body anymore as the udders had returned to their pre-pregnancy size. But both Fay and I really enjoyed the close time together.

Sometime during the Jamaica vacation I started giving her the bottle in the morning. I think it was because she was not eating hardly any solid food (prefering a milk only diet). So I started pumping her full of formula in the morning to make sure she was getting some nutrients.

When we got home, I was still nursing Fay in the evenings, but I decided to stop that as well because it seems like the right time, and Ryan and I also have a weekend away coming up.

Ryan helped out by putting Fay down for almost two weeks in a row, so that she might forget about the mommy milk. At about day 4 Ryan said Fay started looking to his chest for a little love, but was sadly turned away. He said he could understand why it was necessary for him to put her to sleep during this transition. The look she gave him when asking for a little boobie love was hard to turn down.

Last Thursday I put Fay down for the first time with a bottle in the evening. It went really well and has been fine since. She had officially gotten over the mommy milk. Though she doesn't show a tremendous amount of interest in her evening bottle. She is generally so tired that she wants to quickly go to bed after a couple tastes.

A girlfriend asked me how *I* was doing after the weening. I believe I am supposed to feel a bit depressed because of the loss of an important experience as well as some hormonal changes due to no more breast feeding. I have generally felt fine. Thought today for the first time I feel as if I could cry at the drop of a hat. Not sure if that is from the weening or if its just things that are going on around me (various stresses, or tensions). Guess we will never know.

Feeling better

2009-02-02T05:04:00.000-08:00

Well, we are all feeling a little better now. I think Fay is totally healthy again. She is eating like a starved animal, so I think she has her appetite back.

I managed to catch the stomach bug on Friday night. I thought it was food poisoning at first because it came on right after dinner out. But I was tired all weekend and had the big D. I'm still not through the woods, but its easier for me to just limit my food and I feel better. A little tired, but at least not nausiated.

Fay was a little stir crazy this weekend so we took her to the Central Park Zoo. It was freezing! on Saturday but they have a Rain Forest area of the zoo that is steamy warm. There are tons of amazing tropical birds to hear and see along with a handful of critters like snakes, frogs and bats.

As you can imagine Fay just loved the birds. She kept pointing them out to us and grunting and had a very concerned look on her face. I think it was actually a look of amazement.

On Sunday we had beautiful weather, so we actually got to go to the playground for the first time in a long time. Fay can walk pretty well, but doesn't choose to most of the time, so the park was a lot of up and down and whining for mom to pick her up. Lately I've been *encouraging* Fay to walk on her own and Fay's been crying for me to pick her up. Then we usually end up in the middle, with me holding her hand which is really where we started in the first place. I think she's got my number.

Through the woods?

2009-01-29T05:02:00.000-08:00

Fay seems to be on the mend. There has been no throw up for 48 hours. Although she is still sick on the back end. She doesn't want to eat much. So far the only foods acceptable to Fay have been blueberries, pears, applesauce and a few crackers. She really wants milk which I'm trying to limit because it is supposed to be bad for the diarrhea.

Her spirits are pretty well though. She is more tired than normal, but I'm trying to get her back into her regular routine. Yesterday we went to her music class which she enjoyed somewhat.

One silver lining -- I've had to do a lot less cooking for Fay over the past couple days.

still sick

2009-01-27T06:36:00.000-08:00

Well, of course 24 hours have not even passed since the first vomit, so I probably should have expected some more. Fay threw up again this morning. She woke up at 4am, ravenous -- so I gave her some milk and put her back to bed. The crib was clean when she woke up at 7am and had some more milk. She promptly vomited by 7:30am and had her first of perhaps many baths today. This time she was pretty content to be in the bath.

I decided to stay away from milk because its probably hard to digest and it stinks something awful when it comes up. So when she was begging for more food and milk, I gave her some toast with peanut butter and some water. That was at 8am. So far so good. She went down for a nap at 9am and all seems well.

UPDATE:

Its 12:30 and no more throw up so far. The toast stayed down, along with some banana and applesauce. She cries for milk but will finally take water after some protesting. I've mixed up a rehydration solution for when she wakes up from her current nap. 4 cups water, 8 teaspoons sugar, 1 teaspoon salt. I read that this solution combined with some potassium (banana) is good to use if you don't have a store bought rehydration solution.

UPDATE:

Nap number three started at 3pm. Still no throw up since 7:30 this morning! She's not really interested in eating anymore, which I was expecting. But she did manage to finish a single size applesauce. Which makes me happy because she is refusing to drink water! I had to force feed her a little before her nap started. That was fun. Almost as fun as taking the butt temp with her crying over my knee. She has a temp of 100.3

UPDATE:
Yay! No more throw up. She has mostly been eating blueberries and pears all afternoon. Which again was great because the pears were really juicy. Finally around 5pm I gave her a little milk even though all the advice for vomiting/diarrhea say not to. I limited it and watched her for an hour, and she was fine. Guess I made the right mommy decision for Fay because she seemed to have better energy and was in great spirits. She could barely keep her eyes open past 6:30, so she is now slumbering. Hopefully tomorrow will be another day.

silkwood baby

2009-01-26T18:49:00.000-08:00

No photos on this post since the tale it tells involves much vomit.....

Fay is sick. And mommy is very tired of cleaning up smelly, disgusting clothing and blankets. yuck.

It all seemed a bit sudden. Fay did have a little runny nose yesterday, but it turned into something else today. This morning she was playing fine and eating fine. She had a hearty lunch of mac/cheese/peas. She went down for her afternoon nap really easily. Then after about 2 hours of napping, I thought I'd check on her because it had been quite a long nap. At the same moment that I thought of checking on her I noticed this awful vomit smell consuming the apartment. I opened her door and the smell was stronger. Then I saw my baby girl lying in a large pool of curdled milk, cheese and peas. There was a lot of it. Pretty disgusting.

She was still sleeping fairly blissfully. So I removed her blanket from her grasp and washed it in the tub. By the time I was done, she was rustling awake. But she wasn't cranky or bothered by the stinky, stinky state of her crib.

I sprang into action....picked her up and rushed her to the bathroom where I immediately removed all her dirty clothes and tried to get the milk out of her hair. But the milk was too strong for me and a puny washcloth so I had to run a bath for Fay. And this is where Silkwood comes in. Poor little Fay started crying and shaking her head "no". She didn't want a bath. If I had to guess, she probably wanted to be hugged and gently walked out to the living room for her after nap snack. But no, she was sitting in water being scrubbed by her mom. I was completely reminded of the scene in Silkwood where Cher is being scrubbed for radiation in a shower with uber-hot water.

And the fun didn't stop there. After bathing Fay and putting on fresh clothes (both of us). I brought Fay and her washed, wet blanky down the the laundry room so we could dry the blanket. Oh, AND, I gave Fay a healthy dose of milk before heading down to the laundry room (oops).

Fay lost her milk all over the laundry room floor. After creating quite a mess, I rushed her over to the laundry tub/sink and desperately asked this old woman to move aside and let me use the sink because my baby was vomiting. She either didn't hear well, or couldn't understand me because she mentioned something about hurrying up and just continued to tidy up the lid of her liquid laundry detergent! Finally, I got to the tub, and washed Fay down a bit.

She up-chucked two more times before finally heading to bed. She tossed it on her blanky again, so I had to run that through the laundry again. And we attempted to put Fay to sleep with an imposter blanky, but she was not happy with that. She just sat and cried in her crib (so SAD!). Finally, her blanket was dry and I brought it in to her. She immediately snuggled into it and fell asleep. Ahhh, finally some much deserved rest.

ok, how cute is she?

2009-01-24T14:14:00.000-08:00

How cute is she in her little boots and tights? We had a balmy 44 degree day on Friday so we went to a nearby park to frolic. Fay "walked" around and was intrigued by the snow on the ground under her feet. She also let out some blood chilling screams of excitement at two separate flocks of birds. Birds are so exciting.

music class and snowday

2009-01-23T08:17:00.000-08:00

Well I've been having so much fun with Fay lately that I haven't put in any time posting to the blog! We signed up for a music class during winter which occurs once a week and has proven to be really fun. A couple of mom friends of mine that live in the area are putting it on. One of them has been teaching toddler music classes professionally but wants to break out on her own.

We play with instruments, and dance around and sing songs. Fay seems to be enjoying it. I can't wait for her to walk a little more so she can really get her groove on.

We've had major progress in the walking area. I've been offering my hand a little less and I've been setting Fay on her feet and then walking away. And she is taking about 5-6 steps on her own before falling down or gracefully descending to the ground. She has also chosen to take steps from a table supported stand to something else...like a couch or a mommy. So she is well on her way.

I can't wait to start dressing her in dresses more often. I've put her in pants mostly because its hard to crawl in a dress. Today I put her in the shortest dress possible. Her tushy was hanging out (luckily it was covered by a diaper and onsie). But she could crawl and the tights were adorable.

Last weekend we had a beautiful snow day and decided to take a little trip to central park. Kids were sledding and making snowmen all over the place. We visited the skating pond and all our favorite sights. Fay mostly liked the squirrels. Ryan fed a squirrel a Ritz cracker right from his hand. As we walked away, Fay screamed for more! She wanted to go back and feed the squirrel some more. She LUVED that squirrel.

How Fay must torment her babysitters

2009-01-15T18:35:00.000-08:00

Our Friday night babysitter put in her notice last week. That's babysitter number two that's left little Fay. I wonder if Fay is somehow tormenting her babysitters while Ryan and I are out on the town. She is a perfect angel for us. Well that's not the complete truth; her horns come out when she finds a vegetable where she was expecting a cracker. And we've recently gotten over the hump of wanting the blanky with her EVERYWHERE. A new off-limits list has been started....

1) No blanky on the changing table!
2) No blanky at the high chair.

...more to be added.

Babysitting interviewing is well under way. Its a lot easier to interview for Friday night babysitters than for full time nannies. Not only is the job easier, but the post brings in a wider pool of candidates because you have students and professionals that want a little extra cash in their pocket and might want a quite night in to read or study. I'm actually confronted with the opposite problem than I've had in the past. I have two girls that I really like and I'm trying to decide how to pick between them -- looking for faults that are not immediately evident! Maybe they'd like a job-share.

still no walkie, still no talkie

2009-01-12T05:42:00.000-08:00

Hmm, I'm a little lacking in milestones lately. Maybe its because I feel like I've been saying "she'll be walking any day now" for about 4 months. Maybe its because the 14th month bday has passed, and Fay's walking skills have not changed. I shouldn't say skills...she continues to get more stable and capable, but she simply refuses to let go of mommy's hand. When I let go of her hand mid-stride, she gently descends to her hands and knees to continue on her way. Well, and, sometimes she screams at me to let me know her displeasure at the situation. But I think mommy may have to start being almost as stubborn as her little one year old. I'm going to have to make the walking hand less available. I remember when we went from two hands to one, Fay had the same apprehension, but it only took a handful of days. I don't know if I can go cold turkey, but I'm going to make strides to restrict Fay's dependence on my hand. Perhaps I'll regret this once she is off and running and doesn't need me quite as much anymore.

Oh, and to be fair to the blog post title, Fay's word count is still at one. She says 'da-da'. She sometimes says it for more than daddy. But mostly it means daddy. :)

Jamaica!

2009-01-03T10:21:00.000-08:00

We have just returned from our Jamaica xmas vacation. We left on xmas day and returned on new years day. I have to say it is one of the best vacations I have ever taken. I think Ryan and Fay would say the same.

We went to an all inclusive resort in Jamaica about 1.5 hours from Montego Bay airport. The resort is called FDR and as I mentioned in the previous post, the cost of the hotel room includes all the food and booze you can consume as well as your personal vacation nanny.

The resort far exceeded our expectations. They really know how to run resort focused on family enjoyment. I felt there was equal attention paid towards ensuring that the parents, teens, little kids and babies all had fun. For the kids, it was like a camp -- there are young staff that bring the kids on excursions like horse back riding or biking or snorkeling. There is a playroom, playground and beach area dedicated to the little kids and babies. There's even a disco for the teenagers to enjoy late at night.

Each day, Fay's nanny would show up around 9:15 and encourage Ryan and me to go off and have fun. Ryan and I mostly sat by the pool or swam in the ocean. We also went for a run on the beach together and took a brief "bike-tour" around the neighborhood. We would pop in and visit Fay with her nanny, and take her during the one hour lunch break. Also we took her on the glass bottom boat and in a soft kayak, which she LOVED!

I had so much time to relax, that by day 3 I had finished the ONE book I brought to read and had to scrounge around and borrow another book to last for the rest of the trip.

The resort had fantastic rooms and a great layout for the grounds. Every room was a suite of rooms. Ours was a one bedroom suite consisting of a master bedroom, bath, kitchen and living room that could sleep three kids. The two bedroom suites were divided into two floors for an even better layout. And all the rooms had balconies. Ours directly overlooked the beach and ocean. On the one day that it rained in the morning I was perfectly content with the prospect of reading on my balcony all day.

The resort had 3 restaurants to choose from: the main restaurant which served much of the food buffet style, an Italian restaurant and a Jamaican restaurant. Also there was a "grill" that served hamburgers and phillies all day long and a kids section that served kiddie food (pasta, pb&j, pizza, chicken, etc...). And of course the bar was open all day long.

They also provided free glass-bottom boat rides, snorkeling trips, bike tours, lead running/jogging trip and I'm sure a lot more. There was always this feeling of excitemetn by the pool as someone was always leading some sort of event such as bingo, swim aerobics, Jamaican trivia...whatnot.

Fay's favorite part of the trip was going down the Big Blue slide with Daddy and Mommy. She loved the sliding part, but wasn't so keen on the splashing part at the end.

It was really easy to meet people because everyone seemed to be in the same stage of life -- surviving and enjoying raising kids. During the day you could chit-chat by the pool with a couple and then see them later at the kiddie buffet with their kids, attempting to get the kid to just stay in the high-chair for once. We met a ton of folks from the NY and NJ area. I'm not sure why.

And it seems lot of people made little couple dates for dinner to socialize more. We never did this, but would do it if we thought ahead enough to plan it. Also there were a lot of returning guests who maintained friendships with other families from year to year. Many people we met had been coming to FDR for 10-15 yrs. We were the "newbies".

I can't say enough good things about the place. I would definitely go back. It would be really fun to bring my family down there. I know my sister and her girls would LOVE it. I overheard a family saying their kids like FDR better than Disney. :)

Go to the Flickr set to see all the photos: Jamaica Photo Set
Happy New Year!

xmas with the Lowes

2008-12-22T17:39:00.000-08:00

Grandma Lowe (Nana) and Ron (Gumpa) came to town this past weekend to celebrate Xmas with Fay (and Fay's parents). We had a really great time and the feeling of xmas was enhanced by an enormous dumping of snow on Friday and Saturday.

On Friday we ventured out into the early snow to take Fay up to the Toys R Us in Times Square. Fay was amazed by the falling snow all around her (either that or her eyes were frozen open). And she loved Times Square. She kept pointing and grunting at all the lights. She liked Toys R Us a bit too...mostly the lighting fixtures and shiny things.

On Friday night the adults went out to dinner at Cookshop which was AMAZING. We all had nothing but good things to say about the food and the atmosphere was really festive for xmas. Fay spent the night sleeping. (at least until 4-5 am)

Actually, we attempted to switch Fay from two naps to one nap this weekend. On Friday Fay did not want to take her afternoon nap so we were able to put her to bed early (6pm) and she slept through to almost 6am. Since she was well rested with 12 hours of sleep, we were able to keep her up to 10am (normally she would take the first nap at 8am). She took a 2 hour nap and then stayed up until 6pm on Saturday night.

Everything seemed successful on Saturday and Sunday with the one nap schedule, but then last night I put her down at 6:45, hoping to move her back to a 7pm-7am routine and instead she woke up at 4am briefly and then 5am. She was exhausted but wouldn't sleep any longer, so today was a two nap day. We'll either fall back to the two nap routine now or alternate between one nap and two on different days. I read that this is a difficult transition.

I really just fear she will be crying out in the night and waking up at 5am when we are on vacation next week. So anything I can do to figure out her ideal sleeping schedule, I will do. Tonight I moved her bedtime back to 6:30.

...back to the weekend -- On Saturday we had brunch and opened presents at our apt. We got the tiniest little xmas tree for the occasion. It fits in a pot on the coffee table.

On Saturday afternoon we took a dare and attended a local theater's "act-a-long". This is where a small group of friends get together to draw acting parts to Its a Wonderful Life. Then they spontaneously put on a show with minimal props and no practice. We don't know the group really well -- we are patrons and friends of the theater while the majority of the gatherers were actors of the theater. So we didn't choose to take a part, but it was pretty fun to watch. I've actually never seen the movie, so it was a little challenging to follow along, but I managed to get the gist of it. The plot wasn't terribly complicated.

And that was it. Ryan and I took advantage of our out-of-towner-babysitters and went out to a movie on Saturday night. And then we said our goodbyes.

Now Ryan and I are preparing for our xmas trip to Jamaica. We leave on Dec 25th. We have booked a reservation at an all inclusive family resort in Runaway Bay. And the clincher that made us choose this particular resort is the inclusion of a "vacation nanny". I can't wait to see how that pans out. If I can actually read a book during the week I am on vacation I will have to give a big tip to our vacation nanny.

I also can't wait to see if Fay has warmed up to the idea of swimming and running her toes through the sand. She wasn't too keen on either last summer.

5AM wake up

2008-12-18T10:51:00.000-08:00

Fay has been waking up at 5am now for a couple weeks. 5am is just a *little* too early for mommy. The sun is not up, the world is quiet as little babies should be. Anything after 6am is acceptable. She's done this before, but in the past she has been cranky and it was fairly easy to feed her some milk and put her back to sleep. This time she is bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to start her day.

So after a couple attempts to change her bedtime to encourage a later wake up (the books say to move her bedtime earlier as she may be getting overtired and not sleeping well), we have started thinking that she may be transitioning from two naps to one.

Its hard for me to believe because she takes her naps pretty well, one at 8am and one at 2pm. Yesterday and today I'm trying to move her afternoon nap to 1:30 to see if she will get more tired with a longer afternoon. I also want to move her early nap later to see if it will soon become just one afternoon nap.

I'm a little hesitent to try moving the morning nap for a couple of reasons. 1) When you get up at 5AM, you are DREAMING of a little extra sleep by 8am, or at least a little down time while Fay sleeps. 2) With the holidays upon us, it would be nice to have a consistent schedule and not be messing around and experimenting with naptimes. My mom and Ron are in town this weekend, so I don't want to mess up our time together.

Guess I'll keep you posted. She just woke up from a very brief nap which started at 1:30. So hopefully she will be tired enough to sleep a full night tonight and push past the 5 am wakeup.

I would've tried it today but we were out last night

crazy growth spurt

2008-12-17T05:50:00.001-08:00

Well, I can't imagine once Fay is a teenager and eating me out of house and home because I feel like thats what she is doing this week. Which is a bit of a surprise since last week I wrote a post called "hunger strike"

At first I thought it was the menu, but two days in a row Fay has left me scrounging for food in my to-go bag while eating lunch in the playroom.

She's had plenty of peanut butter before but never had a PB&J until this past Monday. Boy did she LOVE that sandwich. It was just adorable to see her taking bites off the sandwich. She didn't even mind the crust. And on Tuesday she ate an entire turkey/cream cheese sandwich along with other things.

She feels noticibly heavier and all of a sudden I'm noticing her clothes shrinking up. Luckily old navy is having a sale for the holidays and FREE shipping. Nice.

Santa!!

2008-12-15T05:36:00.001-08:00

Yesterday Fay and I and a couple other mom/babe pairs went to the annual "Santa Rescue" at the Firehouse museum in West Soho. The firemen pluck Santa off the roof of the firehouse and bring him down safely using the fire truck crane.

There was a big crowd of parents and kids watching the rescue and then we all headed inside the firehouse for some music and treats.

I had so much fun at this little event, mostly because Fay thouroughly enjoyed herself. She loved the music and all the kids running around. The only thing she didn't really like was Santa. I was hoping for a memorable photo of Fay's first encounter with Santa, and I think she really came through for me.

Food update

2008-12-14T04:40:00.000-08:00

Last week was a tough week as far as feeding Fay went. But we also managed to hit a fun milestone as well -- Fay feeding herself with a spoon.

This came about through another little mommy/Fay fight. We were over at our friend Marci's apt (Marci has twin girls and lives in our building so its SUPER easy to visit one another especially when its cold out). I brought one of Fay's favorites for dinner since she hadn't really eaten well for 2-3 days. I offered her black beans mixed with banana and steamed carrots. She used to love carrots but now she will have nothing to do with them.

We went back and forth three times between her screaming at me in refusal and getting down to play. I tried feeding her with a spoon, I tried putting the beans/banana on a plate so she could grab it, I tried using my hands to offer it. Each time she would scream at me, arch her back and make her gesture that she was done eating and wanted to get down ( She has two "signs" now. She shakes her head for NO, and shakes her arm a special way for "all done").

Finally, I fed myself from Fay's spoon and she became interested. Actually I think she was just hungry and finally giving in. But also, she grabbed the spoon from me and stuck it in her mouth. So we continued with me putting food on the spoon and handing it to her and she bringing the food on the spoon to her mouth. Cool!

And she's been eating pretty well since. I'm not sure if I had a breakthrough with mommy not giving in to Fay's toddler wants, or if it was a combination of a lot of things -- like wanting to use the spoon, changing tastes....AND perhaps teething. During one of her many screams last week I finally saw the molar we've been waiting for. There is a little molar peeking through her gums, way in the back.

hunger strike

2008-12-11T11:42:00.001-08:00

I guess I've been waiting for the moment when mealtime would get *really* difficult with Fay. In my mind I've gone back and forth between thinking she's a pretty good eater and thinking she's stubborn and fickle about what she eats. This week has been particularly hard. She has started to reject the food that she has liked in the past.

Some of her favorites since the beginning of solids and finger foods are steamed carrots, peas, turkey with cream cheese sandwich bites. Also she loves chicken with rice and veggies. This week she has not wanted ANY of those. I've gone back and forth between offering pureed versions of these foods and hand held, and she is still not interested.

Yesterday she didn't eat anything but breakfast (french toast) and milk all day. She refused chicken and apples and any veges.

I'm not all together sure if she is changing her tastes and digging her heals in or if she is just too distracted by all there is to learn that she doesn't really want to eat at all unless its just DIVINE food.

Also, I definitely think her appetite has decreased.

Today we had a *pretty* successful meal for lunch. I made her quiche with broccoli. She ate it, which made me VERY happy since it has eggs and cheese for protein along with veges. But she really only had about 6 bites before she was done. She wanted to stop eating and play, but then later she wanted one more bite and several more ounces of milk. Milk is to Fay as crack is to some people.

So I'm not wailing in desperation just yet. I still have an in with eggs and bananas I think. Two days ago she loved my spinach, banana, cheerio, milk mixture.

And I bet I could mix just about anything with yogurt and get it in her mouth ( and keep it in her mouth, more importantly).

But she is definitely changing her eating habits and I just feel I have to be careful not to let her slide down the chicken nugget, mac & cheese, apple juice hole.

sick babies

2008-12-06T19:59:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I think the neighborhood mommies (including myself) are in denial about the current health state of their babies. Its sorta an unwritten rule that if your baby is sick you should not bring him/her to a baby gathering for fear passing on the germs to other babies.

But sometimes the urge to get out of the house with the baby is so strong, that you just cannot bear to quarantine the baby along with your sanity. So you go out, and you minimize the belief that your child is sick.

A couple days ago a mom friend of mine told a group that her baby had thrown up over thanksgiving. It was a one time occurence and the doc did not find anything wrong, so she figured it was bad milk or bad food that brought it on.

Then, two days later another mom had stories of a vomiting kiddo. This baby threw up two nights in a row, but was fine and seemingly healthy all day long.

I spent time with both these kids, being careful not to let Fay suck on shared toys. But ALAS! Fay woke up last night vomiting, and then again this morning.

So we have a baby flu on our hands. Also one mom has fallen ill as well. (Cross my fingers that I don't get the flu a second time this season).

In hindsight its seems pretty clear that these babies are all passing the vomit bug to one another. But I find it so funny that even something as extreme as food spewing from the mouth of babes would not make us think that our babies were sick. As we sit together sharing parenting tips and lamenting loss of sleep, we tell each other..."it must be something he ate"

Kansas Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T05:36:00.000-08:00

We've just returned from our trip to Kansas for Thanksgiving. This trip was the end of an era because it will be the last thanksgiving we spend in Paola Kansas. Ryan and his family have been eating turkey dinner in Paola for over 36 years (Ryan's entire life) at his grandparents house. But now the house will be sold and Ryan's grandparents are living in a retirement home. So we will have to find another venue.

This of course was Fay's very first visit to Paola, so it seemed like the beginning of an era to us. Fay has such a WONDERFUL time playing with her best bud Sparky (I can't believe we don't have any photos of Spark!), and her favorite cousin Sam. It seems within minutes of arriving at the house, Sam was playing cards with Fay and it was her new favorite activity.

Grandma and Grandpa Janssen were kind enough to take Fay off mommy's hands (literally), several times throughout the weekend. This was no small feat as Fay has taken to being very opinionated about what she does or rather DOES NOT want. She seems to have learned her own form of baby sign language which is frantically shaking her head side to side when she DOES NOT want something. This works for feeding time, holding time, changing time, when someone tries to touch her...pretty much everything. And it seems the affirmative is just a blank stare. Perhaps we can get her to nod her head in the future.

Fay got to visit with her great grandma Jane and Grandpa Bud several times throughout the trip. We visited them at their new home and also Bud came for dinners at the house. Its pretty amazing to see 4 generations in one room.

And we looked through a ton of old photos of Jane's and Bud's. There were several of Ryan at the exact age of Fay (13 months). Boy if they aren't spitting images of one another. The stick straight hair is a match, as are the quizzical expressions.

We had what we are calling Fay's "first steps" at the Paola house. Granted Fay has stood on her own, and she has taken some wobbly steps between her mom and dad after much prompting and pushing. :) BUT, on Friday evening Fay stood at the coffee table and I asked her to walk to me. She turned her little body, let go of the table, stablized herself, AND took TWO steps towards me. The fact that she let go and did not immediately sink to crawling position was a big deal. There was much cheering and hand clapping and a proud look on Fay's face.

The flights overall, OK. The trip to Paola was difficult. The flight was at 11:20 in the morning which meant we left the house before Fay's 1st nap (she takes two). Fay was too excited to sleep in the airport or on the plane, so we didn't get any naps in all day except for about 20 min in the car when we arrived. So the flight was really taxing -- Fay was cranky and mom was out of ideas. But surpringly she was a good girl when we arrived in Kansas and had fun meeting everyone. The flight back was a bit better as Fay slept in her daddy's arms for at least an hour. I actually read a book on the flight home, which seemed like such a luxury.

burst of activity

2008-11-25T06:26:00.001-08:00

Fay's play activity seems to have changed a bunch recently. Its so fun to watch her play. I think she has mostly discovered *containers*. She likes to put things inside and take them out. She's been playing with her shape sorter by putting the shapes in (through the large opening, not through the matching slots) and taking them out.

And yesterday she played with the nesting cups that she has played with soooo many times. Only this time she was having fun putting the small ones inside the larger ones. She didn't always get it right; she tried to put the bigger one in the smaller one. But she worked it out eventually.

I caught a video of her playing with kleenex. She luuuuuves to pull the kleenex out of the kleenex box of course. But after pulling about about 15, she decided to play with the kleenex and her toybox. Its pretty darn cute.

Last weekend we took part in our annual "Friends Thanksgiving". Usually we go out of town and rent a house with 4 couple friends and their kids. But this year we stayed in town because one of our dear friends has been diagnosed with brain cancer. He's deteriorated pretty rapidly in the past couple months, so we decided a while a go that it would be best to stay in town so we could all enjoy his company as well as each others.

It was a great day full of kids and cooking. Fun yet stressful as usual. It was really fun to see the kids one year older and how they interact with one another. Fay was hanging a lot with mommy though she did hang with the kids for a few brief moments. She was having too much fun to take her afternoon nap, so that made the early evening a bit difficult. But overall she was a trooper and even went to sleep in another baby's crib (Beck's).

Tomorrow we leave for thanksgiving in Kansas. We are really looking forward to Fay meeting her great aunts and uncles, and her great grandma and grandpa. Fingers crossed that the plane travel will go well. With Fay's new found interest in containers, I think if I bring a box and some items to fill it, it may just keep Fay entertained on the plane.

telling first word?

2008-11-23T17:42:00.000-08:00

OK, I'm not going to certify today as Fay's "first word" day. But I SWEAR I heard her say a word this afternoon...

We walked to the changing table. I was telling Fay that I was going to take off her diaper so she could take a bath. As soon as I set her on the changing I was about to say something like "lets get this diaper off..." Fay interrupted me and said

"NO!"

Now, Fay has been babbling a lot. She does ma ma ma, and ba ba ba, and da da da. But I've never heard her use the N sound. And yet, it was as clear as day.

"NO!"

I'm afraid if that was really her first word, I've got trouble ahead.

one handed assisted walking

2008-11-20T07:11:00.000-08:00

Fay has been using my hands to help her walk for over 3 months now. When it started, I thought...."she'll we walking any day now!" I remember in August when we left her with Grandma Sandy for 4 days, I was afraid she would walk for the first time when I wasn't there to see it.

Fay, however, had a much different schedule in mind. This week I finally got her to walk with ONE of my hands. I've tried it several times in the past and she would either get mad and scream at me, or just let go and start crawling instead. She's gotten so good at practically running while holding my two hands that its quite a difference to walk with just one. She has to sloooooow down and be careful.

But she has now accepted the one handed walking challenge and she's quite good at it. It looks almost as difficult as walking on her own, so now I'm convinced she'll be walking within a couple weeks. I'm sure I'm right this time.

intrusive comments -- flashback

2008-11-18T17:35:00.000-08:00

ok, since I can see my readers like the couple of posts about the intrusive neighbor comments, I HAVE to tell you about the one from 2 weeks ago. And this one doesn't involve a baby or cold weather.

I am returning from the laundry room with a full bag of clean clothes. The bag is pretty big and heavy, but I am not having trouble carrying it nor am I grunting or making strained facial expressions. I approach the elevator to go back up just as a man come out of it.

Man: You know, the dry cleaners down the block does laundry.
Me: (cocking my head like a confused dog) Yes....?
Man: Well, I mean, I think it might be worth the time.
Me: (what the?...) ...I don't mind...doing the laundry.

OK, so here why I'm slightly perplexed. Did he really mean it was worth the time? Because in some ways it saves time to do the laundry myself. I don't have to wait 8 hours to get it back from the drop-off laundry. Perhaps he just assumes that everyone hates to do laundry and there is no benefit to doing it yourself. Its not *just* about saving money, though that is a big factor. Its also about control. I can separate the laundry as I choose. I can take some things out of the washer and NOT put them in the dryer. Not everyone wants to haphazardly throw their laundry into one big machine and one big dryer.

Also, does he think I am the only person living in NYC to NOT know about drop-off laundry services? They only have them on EVERY block because usually you don't have laundry in your building. I consider it a perk of owning my own apartment to have laundry machines that I can use 24 hours a day. Even if they are not in my apartment but on the ground floor or my building.

Jeez!. Who makes comments like that? He doesn't even know my name let alone my laundry situation.