Thursday, September 25, 2008

Fun with dinner

A new video. Hope you enjoy!

Monday, September 15, 2008

IKE, the aftermath

Well, as many of you know, we have a lot of family in the vicinity of where IKE struck. Luckily, everyone made it through fine. Some chose to stay where they were (crazy as it may seem) and some went north to find safety. After numerous phone calls were received yesterday, we count ourselves among the lucky ones. The worst damage was loss of power to my sister's place so she had to empty out her deep freezer. The loss of a few hundred dollars in food, while economically challenging, is not nearly as bad as it could have been. That sister's neighbors weren't as fortunate. Those who chose to stay lost their vehicles as any vehicle in that parking lot sustained significant flood damage. Some also lost their roofs so their valuables were drenched and some were flooded out. We count our lucky stars that everyone made it through OK and keep our fingers crossed that our friends fared as well. Our thoughts remain with our friends and family in Texas.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Miss C is 15 months old today!

Holy cow! 15 months, already?!!

Besides the standard statistics update that you already got (see last entry), Miss C is doing great.Let's see:

1. Gross motor skill development: Miss C is running and now trying to jump! She twirls when she dances (DH showed her how and boy does she love it!). It is also very cute to watch her walking backwards (she does this with an audience, of course!) and dancing while holding on to her Fisher Price Kitchen or the handle to the freezer drawer (and, no, I have no idea where she came up with that one!). She can also climb onto virtually any couch or chair she sees, something we really have to pay attention to since she forgets that she can also fall. We have avoided having her fall off but the chance is always there.

2. Fine motor skill development: Miss C brushes her teeth as well as those of her dolly, frog and us, given the opportunity. She is also very adept at getting her pants on (really surprised me on that one, but she figured that one out and showed us last night). She has almost mastered getting two of her pairs of shoes on (they are simple velcro shoes, the pair we put on her for school most days have a tongue that gets threaded through a holder so they are more of a challenge). She can also put on and take off her bib (another trick I would prefer she hold off on most days!:)).

3. Vocabulary: Talk about expansion! Miss C is putting together coherent thoughts and vocalizing them regularly. For example, when we take her into school, we usually try to carry her in from the car (avoiding the normal am rush of people and cars and all that). Sometimes she is fine with that but more often than not, she tells us "mama, down, walk" and signs it, just in case I missed it. Too cool. She does the same with DH. She can also tell you what practically any animal says (yep, she still uses her cute rbbbt for frogs!) and points out the birds on the lights in both words and signs on the way into school. DH and Miss C have been working on "who lives where?" For example, if you ask her "who lives in the trees?" she will reply "birds" and sign it too. I love that! I am eternally grateful for Alphagal's encouragement about baby sign. We were all for it from the beginning but never truly realized how much Miss C had absorbed until her teachers commented on it!

4. Fun. Miss C loves to go "out" and "play." She collects "flowers" and "walks" in the yard (the quotes represent the words and signs we see all the time!). When she wants to be cute, Miss C will try to trick you by bringing you something only to give it to the other person (when DH and I are sitting next to each other, for example). We went to a friends house for a get together recently and Miss C played that "trick" on countless folks.

Ok, so the only real concerns I have at this stage:

1. Miss C has not taken a bottle at school in about 4 months but still takes an am and pm bottle here. We are working on getting her to take all of her milk from a cup but she tends to drink about 1/2 of what we give her that way and will only drink more if we put it in a bottle. Thoughts? Suggestions?

2. Very recently (read: just the past few days), Miss C has gotten incredibly clingy with me. I mean, DH is home and if I go to the bathroom, Miss C follows me. If she looks up and I am not in her line of sight, she cries and absolutely has to find me. Is this normal? Thoughts? Suggestions?

Ok, so that's the most recent stuff. Sorry I haven't posted as many pictures as before. We are still taking them, I just have recently forgotten to charge my camera battery so I can't upload! Drr!

Hope you all enjoy these updates!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

She is how tall????


So we had an early check up this month. You all know that there is a normal 15 month check up and that actual date doesn't happen for a few more days. Due to the schedule at the Dr's office, we got Miss C in to see the doctor today.

Whenever we have a Dr's visit, we try to make it a fun day. We usually go to breakfast (or lunch, time dependent of course) after the appointment so Miss C doesn't associate these trips with just getting poked an prodded.

Ok, so here's what you all have been waiting for:

Height: 33 inches (yep, still >97%)

Weight: 26 lb 4 oz (yep, still 90-95%)

I don't actually keep track of head circumference since she has consistently been around 50% and the only use that number has for me is buying hats she will refuse to wear (;))! Besides, I am not exactly sure how accurate this reading was today because she is apparently very anti-head measuring. She started to flip out when the nurse went to measure her and even disliked it when I gave it a shot. Not sure what that's about. Has anyone else had that happen? I mean, have your kid just take a severe dislike to something like that?

Other than this, Miss C is just a wonderful little girl. She is really enjoying her new class and while she is the youngest, she teaches as much as she learns. We have discovered a new"game" as a result of her new class. Apparently some of the kids get their backs patted when they go down for a nap (thankfully, Miss C puts herself to sleep so we haven't had to adjust to the change in school) so when she plays with her dolls and animals, she lays them on the floor, covers them with a blanket and pats their backs. What cracks me up is that Miss C can do this for an hour, I swear! She goes back and forth between "dolly" and whatever animal she has on hand at the time (lately that has been either her frog or her sheep) and pats their backs or readjusts them. I will have to try to catch all of this on video one of these days so you all can see what we are talking about.

Otherwise, we're doing just fine. I finished my last class and found out I made the promotion list (I won't actually put it on or see the $ until next August but those are the breaks of finding out early) so I am really trying to relax a bit. I have a stack of books I would like to read sometime but as you all know, that is only possible when Miss C is asleep. On the plus side, she is reading more of her books to me so I am getting an interesting education in the world of board and lift-a-flap books!

So, how have you all been doing? Anything new on your end?