Entertainment

E amused herself for a good 20 minutes tonight putting on and off scarves, hats, and gloves. We aren't having a typical Wisconsin winter, so this is the most bundled up she's been! She also got to have her friend A over tonight, it was the first play date since A went on a trip for Christmas. The entire time A was gone, E asked for her constantly, she kept saying "A come house" and we couldn't get her to understand that A was far away.

Aside from her baby, the Etch a Sketch has been her favorite toy. She asks for "ABCs" which means she wants dada or I to sing the alphabet song and write out the letters.

Gramma bars and milk braclets

E has a big vocabulary, and often uses words we don't expect her to know. She has reported that something "tumbled down," her orange was "juicy," or that an item of food has "crumbled." So its always interesting to us when she uses words or phrases in a certain way when there is clearly a better expression.

She's fond of saying "momma go away" when she wants to sit in your chair and she requests "pan cookies" rather then pancakes. When you are shopping and she's ready to leave the store she requests "next shopping."

When you ask E if she wants to go shopping, she always says yes. When you ask what she'd like to shop for, she always says "gramma bars." She means granola bars, which have become a favorite snack.

I've known about gramma bars for some time. But she's got a new one, it took me a little while to figure it out. Over the weekend E had mentioned "milk bracelets" once or twice and I didn't think anything of it. She occasionally likes to wear a "bracelet" made out of a hair tie. However, the other day at the mall we are walking along and she suddenly says "milk bracelet" and I figured out what milk bracelets are: bras.

E's only been weaned for a two months, and she still remembers nursing. She's constantly pointing at my chest and saying "milk coming" so its pretty clear where the idea came from. I was just surprised that she took two concepts and put them together for a name.

Hey, Andy

Last night, Andy was hanging a few pictures for me. All of a sudden, E says "Hey Andy, noisy."

We are careful not to use bad words around E, but his was a reminded that we need to be careful about all words we use with E. It seems that I say, "Hey Andy" quite a bit, and she thinks this is a good way to get dada's attention. While I don't really want to start calling Andy dada, and I don't really want him to call me momma, I guess we need to start thinking about EVERYTHING we say.

E has been very interested lately in the first names of people, and frequently calls us by our first names, she likes knowing the neighbor's names, and seems intrigued that they are also mommas and dadas. So, I'm sure she'll get back to calling us momma and dada, until she's a teenager, and will go back to calling us by our names.

Belly Watched

It’s been a year of our little E’s adventures. We like to joke that the only thing that’s grown on her is her hair, but we know that’s not true. She’s a little taller, a little heavier, and a whole lot more talkative. It’s been amazing to watch the course of the year as she’s changed from a baby to a little girl. When I started this blog, she could say “momma” and “dada.” But now, she can tell you “happy New Year” and the names of dinosaurs, “brachiosaurus” is a favorite. 

She asks to start each morning with “Os and milk time” but she still wants to be carried down the stairs to get them. She insists of feeding herself most of her meals, and currently prefers to eat them on “momma’s lap lap lap.” She’s a dada’s girl at bedtime and nap time, he’s the only one who can put her to bed. 

E has hit a lot of milestones this year, some good, some bad. She:

1.       Got her first pair of hard bottomed shoes

2.       Had her first public tantrum

3.       Broken the 20 pound mark

4.       Gotten her first timeout

5.       Eaten wheat

6.       Tried juice (and learned that there is no juice at her house)

7.       Gotten skinned knees (and face) from playing outside

8.       Made friends

9.       Been weaned

10.   Spent the summer with dada

11.   Learned how to open presents

12.   Spent the night away from momma and dada

13.   Slept through the night (sometimes, since October)

14.   Become a good helper

15.   Got hooked on two TV shows, Sesame street and Dinosaur Train

I started this blog a year ago largely because I felt like as a working mom, I missed so much and my time with E was so short that I needed to capture what we were doing. It gets hard to remember what’s happened, things move so quickly and she changes so rapidly. When you have a kid, people tell you the time flies and you don’t really believe them. But they are so right. Some of this blog was also born out of stress , when I was pumping at work and watching my milk supply decline, I started looking for supply increasing tips online, that’s where I came across the idea for a daily picture diary. I’m glad that my stress and worry turned me here. As a parent, most stress and worry doesn’t turn into something so productive, and with such a visible result. 

E has been the bright spot in what has been a difficult year for our family. The changes in Wisconsin have had a huge impact on us, and we struggle to comprehend what exactly they mean for us, and what they will mean for our future. Things feel a whole lot less secure then they did for us a year ago, and we’ve started to rethink the way we thought our life would turn out. We’ve made hard decisions about what we can cut, if and how we can put E in daycare, and even when we might be able to have another child.  We dream of moving to a house, with a yard for E, but that dream moved further away from us this year. Here’s hoping for next year. For E’s dada and I, If there was ever a year to chronicle, this was probably it. I’m sure that certain memories and events have gotten lost from our minds as we worried about other things. If E ended the year smarter, more active, and soaking in everything, I think dada and I ended the year more cynical, stressed, and with low workplace morale. We’ve done our best to leave such things are work, so that we are ready to play when we walk through the door.

But, back to E, she just shines for us. We are reminded daily how lucky we are to have her, and how special she is. We hope she doesn’t mind being smothered with kisses, and having her belly rubbed. She’s grown from our Belly-boo to our Bean, or Beanie Girl, and has even called herself Bean on occasion. She remains our Adventure Girl, as she proved today by jumping off a recliner. As much as I’d love her to stay this age forever, I’m excited to see what the next year brings for her and what she learns.  

New Years Eve

December 31- It was a busy end of the year for us. The day started with dada making waffles, E feeling unhappy they weren't "pan cookies" but once she tried them, she liked them. E and I tried to go outside and play in the snow, and E threw a fit, I was worried the crying would wake up the neighborhood. She didn't like her boots, so we'll try again tomorrow. She and dada then went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for some visiting and playtime. We then headed over to Ama and Grandpa Ada's house for a Christmas celebration with Ama's family. E was very interested in what the big boys (my teenage cousins) were doing, and even followed them (with Grandpa Ada) to the park to play baseball.

At home we had and early New Years celebration. E tried, and didn't like, sparkling juice so she got a chocolate cookie to celebrate with. After a little Elmo and Dinosaur Train, and bathtime, she was down for the last time in 2011!

December 30- Tonight we had a great time around the house. E came home from day care in a great mood. I think she misses day care when she's not there, and she misses interacting with other kids and doing art projects and things. When she got home today, she was in a goofy mood and spent some time being chased around the house. Then, she chose her own outfit, as you can see, it was her football shirt and a turtle neck, which she wore as a skirt. It didn't last too long, because dada had a pomegranate for E to try out. She helped pick the fruit out and rinse it off. She loved eating handfuls of the seeds out of the colander. But, when we put some on her dinner plate, she wouldn't touch it. At bath time tonight she surprised me by saying "happy new year" we also said "happy birthday" to several of the neighbors, I can't wait to see what she thinks when its her birthday, and everyone sings for her.

December 29- The baby remains one of E's favorite Christmas gifts, today she was trying to push in the stroller with both the diaper bag and her purse. The purse was too heavy to keep on her shoulders, and kept slipping down. It reminded me of myself at times when I've been out with E and trying to carry too much. She did finally solve the problem by setting her purse on top of the stroller. Tonight was the second night of a new bedtime routine, it seems to be working so far, she's gone to sleep without fussing.

December 28- We took E to the Chazen Museum of Art today, the Chazen was clearly not as fun as the Children's Museum, E really liked the entry way and the stairs, but the art wasn't really her thing. She was good at pointing out the pictures of naked people, and was pretty loud about it. Other people at the museum though it was pretty funny. She didn't really like that she had to be carried, so that she didn't touch anything. E's final straw at the Museum was when she was leaving, she slid around her dada and I and headed toward what she thought was a door, instead, she walked straight into a window. It made her really mad, although her parents thought it was funny. To make up for it, she got a big cookie for the car ride home. Overall, she must have had a good time at the museum, she talked about it for the rest of the day.

Aside from the Museum in the afternoon, E got to go to her friend L's house today. She talks about L all the time, and now she's saying "L come house" so we'll have to host the next playdate. L had his own toy doctor bag, and E liked giving stuffed animals medicine. She also liked playing with L's dried beans, which she could scoop and pour.

Tonight, she and dada started reading a new book, Olivia its about a little girl who likes to keep busy, dada says it reminds him of E a little. But, in the book, Olivia goes to a museum, and E loved reading about a place like the one she had been to.

Family time

We've always used the week between Christmas and New Years as family time. The tradition started before E was born, and with daycare closures, there is no reason for it not to continue.

 December 27- We finally made it to the Children's Museum today, E loved every minute of it. Whenever we try to do things like this we run into trouble with E's 11:30 nap, its hard to get anywhere before nap, and she often sleeps until 3 making it hard to get anywhere after nap. So, we headed out this morning, and knew we'd have a tired little girl on our hands when we left. E's favorite part was the little kids room, she loved the water area and running on the dinosaur walkway. She also liked the building areas, but they were a little too old for her. We didn't even make it to the rooftop, log cabin, and the shadow room, so there will be lots to do next time. We had lunch out at the Museum, since E threw a tantrum when we tried to leave without lunch (it was past her lunch time, so she was tired and hungry).  After nap, we played around the house with new Christmas toys, she's having a blast with play-doh, and went out to dinner. E has been asking to go to a restaurant for a while now, she did pretty well eating out, but I'm not sure she actually liked eating out.

December 26- Here is E and her new baby. E is moving fast, which is why the baby is all blurry. She loves, loves, loves pushing the baby around the house, and taking care of it. I'm always a little leery of such gender specific toys, but I know I have to give in sometimes, and this was clearly the right time. We said goodbye to Teddy this morning, since he's heading home early. We tried to go to the park in the afternoon, since the weather has been so nice, but it was windy and she only lasted for two trips down the slide.

Bedtime is back to being a nightmare, although she's tired when we put her down, she just can't settle. She cries and cries and asks for "rock a babies" and "momma bed" and "head on chest" and "lay down." I'm the pushover, who gives into her requests, but even that doesn't work, she just asks for more!