February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. We didn't even make it to the card shop for our annual pick-out-cards-and-show-each-other ritual. We're so romantic.

Our day with Kaylynn started at 7 when she woke up ready to go. Julian was going to sleep in, but thought I didn't know what "ba-ba" was when she said it 4 times. I was feeding the dogs and told her 'just a minute' but she was pretty insistent. So Julian got up. We had a breakfast of a variety of cereals and raisins. We brushed teeth & put on clothes. Then it was play time. She was all over the place with blocks and "pretties" (the necklaces) and putting stuff into & taking it out of various containers. She asked for more "nummies" so we gave her a go-gurt, which she fully enjoyed.

Then Julian left to go to the camper show with his parents (continuing to spend his inheritance I hear ;) ), Nicole & Nick and Tracey. Kaylynn and I played, danced, vacuumed the living room (she helped! which meant i held her and she pushed on the vacuum handle with me... she also had her own attachment) and did laundry (she handed me clothes out of the basket to fold). We played 'drums' on the balls. She was obsessed with "kee" - chasing Merlin from one hiding place to another. We had lunch - 1 1/2 hotdogs and some peas. The hotdogs went down separately from the ketchup ... some of which landed in her hair. Strawberry blonde now! We played a bit more before nap time. She went in for a nap without a fuss - clearly sleepy. Book & a song and i was on my way to pay bills and catch up with Shir Tikvah hiring committee work. (Still not done with that...)

She slept for about 1 1/2 hours or so. She wanted a fruit leather for snack. I couldn't quite impress upon her the importance of sitting somewhere to eat it - where the dogs couldn't get it. Eventually I held her & she held it and we swayed to Elmopalooza. I'm sure you can imagine. Soon, Julian came home and took over so I could continue on with my paperwork... we decided to load the dogs & Kaylynn into the Prius and head to the dog park. We debated 2 cars for quite some time, but it really is workable so we made it work. Everyone was very well-behaved.

Kaylynn was excited to see all the "puppies" at the park. A few of them tried to run her down but we got her onto the little playground thingy with a slide and she could watch in total safety without being held. Unfortunately for my 42-year-old back, she liked the slide and needed to be lifted up into the thingy over & over. I switched with Julian after a while. Why not share the back pain? There were not many dogs there and eventually it was Willy, Murphy and a little dog of Mexican descent that I can't spell (think Taco Bell). Kaylynn was running all over the warehouse (TIRED!) picking up balls and then exchanging them for another, etc.

We got home at 6:30. Julian went to work on dinner while I fed the dogs. We figured out that she won't really try what you put in front of her, but if you put it on your own plate she'll ask for a "bite" and eventually want it all. So she had some darn tasty good quality chicken nuggets with ketchup (at the same time). We tried green beans but we neglected butter & salt, so they were a dud. She had a few yogurt treats and then it was time for diaper, PJs, "teeth!" and bed. A book & 2 songs... zonk!

So - Julian finally fixed the squeaky door, and we can check on her whenever we want now. How often is too often to check in on a sleeping baby?

9:00 and we're ready to go to bed!

February 11 & 12, 2010

We had a short time together last night. I think Julian updated everyone about dinner at the buffet. When we put her to bed we read a book & put her in the pack-n-play before we sang a couple songs. she cried and we decided julian would stay in there with her to sing more and calm her down. i proceeded to clean up but was told that my walking near the bedroom wasn't helpful. she calmed down and slept through the night. julian got up early & checked in on her a few times. she was up around 6:45, ready to go. he tried hard to protect me and let me sleep but i was kind of excited to get up and hang out with her.

so we got up and had a little breakfast. she didn't love the banana-nut cheerios but was pretty happy with raisins and some of my brown rice (unsweetened) cereal and some yogurt. go figure. saber & saren came over and she had a cheerful "hi" for them - as she did for everyone we encountered throughout the day. she warmed up to them quickly and was playing with them enthusiastically, though julian is clearly her 'home base' safe person. tyler came over later with some food, which was really sweet. he got a 'hi' but didn't stay long.

lunch was hotdogs, cheezies & orange slices for dessert. she ate it all. she wasn't drinking too much but julian checked it out... turns out she likes 2% milk, not whole (which was what we tried) and apple juice, not grape. this girl knows her preferences!

she loves the dogs & says "wee" for "willy." i'm not sure she has anything for murphy yet, but i could have sworn she called her 'picnic' once. the dogs have been really good around her. she & murphy will be fast friends in no time. she would LOVE to spend some time with merlin - "kee" = kitty. he, however, is not enthused. they'll figure it out soon enough.

we have a good amount of clothing and books and enough toys to keep her busy. her favorite is the container of beaded necklaces (think mardi gras) which she took out and put back about 300 times and decorated the kitchen with. we realized we didn't have anything for entertaining videos and music, so kaylynn and I went to half price books. i got a few elmos, horton hears a who and bug's life or something like that. she was very helpful, carrying the videos to the counter and putting (tossing) them up there 1 by 1. she did the same with the CDs. i had forgotten to bring a diaper bag and some water (i don't go far without water) so we didn't make any other stops. we now have a diaper bag hanging by the front door.

her nap went similarly to nighttime, but this time i stayed with her until she fell asleep. it didn't take long. then i took a nap while julian went grocery shopping. it took me a little longer to fall asleep than kaylynn.

julian made a great dinner - turkey breast, carrots & potatoes and some asparagus. kaylynn wasn't too thrilled with it. she ate the potatoes but not much else. before we put her to bed, we figured we'd break out a favorite - peas. i pulled the can julian had bought out of the pantry but saw that it had sugar in it & opted for the frozen peas. she saw the can on the counter and jumped up and down, shrieking "peas!" when i opened the bag, a few dropped on the floor. kaylynn & murphy promptly went for them. murphy won. the look on kaylynn's face was priceless - she couldn't believe she lost out on the peas! she ate just about all we gave her. julian gave her some peach snacks of some sort and she had some milk. we wound down listening to instrumental re-makes of beatles' songs and dancing slowly. bedtime was pretty easy once we got her to agree to go. again, book and songs. this time, no crying.

i think that's a pretty good day & 1/2.