Sleep

I assumed the sleeping would get better as E got older. At first, it was pretty much as I expected. She ate ever three hours, and it took an hour each time. That meant, she and I were up most of the night. As she got a little older, we saw some progress. She’d sleep for a four hour stretch, and right about three months old, she went a week of sleeping through the night. At that point, I thought we had it figured out.

Little did I know. Soon, she started getting up two or three times a night. By her first birthday she was sleeping less then she’d slept as a newborn. It’s one thing to be totally sleep deprived when you have a newborn, it’s another thing to go a full year without a night of sleep.  We got tough, she cried it out, I read every sleep book the library owned, we googled sleep related topics relentlessly. Sometimes she’d sleep, sometimes she’d be up two or three times. Finally, we weaned her. E was completely not ready, she was miserable during the process. But, remarkably, she started sleeping. Mostly. Only now, we don’t have the magic milk to put her to sleep when she wakes up. But, about December 2011 we’d hit our stride. I finally thought she was sleeping through the night. Her dada and I felt human again, now that we too were sleeping through the night. 

Then the other shoe dropped. Suddenly E was two and asserting her independence. Now bedtime is absolutely a battle. Getting her to bed involves at least: three books in our bed, some “cuddle buggles,” laying on the “milks,” moving to E’s room, hearing two “once upon a time” stories, three songs (Rubber Tree Plant, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Twinkle Twinkle), putting her in bed, and two more once upon a time stories.  We usually have to get a new water cup (the one she chose at the outset of bedtime has become horrible. At this point, she usually asks “pass me to daddy” and I have no idea what they do. If she don’t ask to be passed, she goes into bed and hears the “E born day story” and I leave the room, usually to sobs and screams. We alternate comforting her until she sleeps.

Its 11:00pm and she’s still not asleep. The other night, she didn’t go to bed until 1:30 AM. This schedule may work for a two year old, but her parents are too old for this stuff!

Foolishly, I never thought that sleep would be as hard at 2 years old as it was with a newborn. But, when she was a newborn, everyone told me it would get better (and I believed them). But, no one tells us that about a two year old!

4th of July

We celebrated the 4th of July with a parade around our association. Its been unbearably hot lately (100+ degrees today) so the parade route was a little shorter then anticipated. E and R decorated their bikes, but by the time the parade started, E was tired of riding and ready to be carried.

After the parade, we headed over to dada's old neighborhood for a picnic, and some playtime at a park.

At home, E played with her baby. She has become very interested in taking care of babies lately, and today she created a carrier for her baby. The baby kept falling out, and she eventually stated that "the stroller is easier." 

She told us she and the baby were "going on vacation" they were headed "up north" to the "hospital where E was borned and got vernex."

By the end of the night, she was so tired of being inside, that she couldn't stay away when I was playing with the camera.

The end of June

The end of June was a busy one for us. We had lots going on.

 Of course, we celebrated dada's birthday, for some reason we didn't take any photos of the celebration part, just of E helping dada fix the door knob. But, E did go see her second movie in the theater (the first was when she was 3 months old). She, and dada, loved Madagascar 3 on the big screen.

 Uncle Jay came to visit, we went to the zoo and had a picnic, as well as some nice visiting time. E hasn't seen Jay in over a year, so it was nice for him to see the big girl she is now.

We also proved that momma lets stuff that happen that would never happen on dada's watch. Like, using a bag designed to cook a turkey to pack up a kitchen Cabinet and carry around. She was pretending it was trash.

E finally got an easel, although we haven't let her use what she calls "kid paint" on it yet, only chalk.

She also got goggles, I promised her some a long time ago if she did well using the potty, since she was making progress, she got Dora goggles.

Birdhouses

Today was E and dada's first summer day at home together. They wanted to build bird houses, but instead decorated a house for our yard and one for Grandpa N. Here they are with their houses. E wanted to make more houses so that all the birdies have houses and are safe.

Once Upon a Time...

I've been telling E "once upon a time" stories for a week or two now. These are stories about the things she and her friends (A and R) do. Her favorite is "Once upon a time, there were three girls E, R, and A and they went to a track meet" she also likes it when the three girls "do crafting a R's house."

Tonight, she told her dada her first once upon a time

"Once upon a time there were three girls, their names were E, A, and R. And they were the greatest girls in the world, the end.'

When two year olds dress themselves

When a two year old dresses herself, you end up with:

On a 90 degree day, that's a tee shirt with a fleece vest (with a hood), blue jeans, and rainboots. She also wanted to wear her baseball hat and sunglasses, but forgot.

When you let her lead with potty training, you end up playing with her pants down, and taking apart her changing table.

When you let her dress herself a second day, this is what happens to her room. All this work wore her out, she's napping it the corner of her crib. She had to change back into her PJs for nap time of course.

And, when you repeat the process the next day, you get a girl in a "pretty dress" tights, and purple crocs. So, it basically worked out how we wanted it to. We cleaned up the mess, and came out with her wearing a dress. She has flat out refused to wear a dress since her birthday party. Screaming and crying any time we tried. Today, she chose it herself, wore it all day, and wanted to sleep in it.

Minnesota

We finally made it to Minnesota to visit Titi, Titi, Abuela, Natie, and Annie. E and I set out with Ama and Grandpa Ada on Friday after work. E was an excellent car rider, she played with her new Minnie Mouse doll, read stories, and entertained herself with songs and imaginative play. I was so impressed with her. She impressed me all weekend, only having a few tantrums, sharing her toys, sleeping part of the night in her bed, falling asleep pretty easily (since I kept her up too late), and generally showing me that she is getting to be a big girl.

Saturday we swam at the hotel, had lunch with Ama, Ada, and Natie, and the headed to see Titi, Titi, and Abuela. In the past, E has been pretty clear who Titi is (Little A) but this trip she seemed a little confused.

At the hotel, E used the ice bucket and glasses to play kitchen, she made macaroni and cheese, we have stayed at this hotel before and she did the exact same thing then. Although this time, her imagination games lasted a lot longer then they have before.

The girls played in the yard and had tons of fun with a bucket of water, some bowls, and some sponges. They also loved the sandbox.

E ate her first meal of Abuela's cooking and loved it, she even told her dada about it when she got home. The girls played at the park, and then dressed up, E in Minnie Mouse Ears and slippers and A in fancy shoes to watch a movie.

 On Sunday, the girls got to go swimming with Natie and Annie which they loved, pouring water on Nate was a favorite activity. We headed back home, and E took a nice nap for the first part of the trip. Once she woke up, we had another picnic in the car.