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There She Grows

Here Lilah takes a bow after going peepee and poopoo on the potty. Thank you, thank you very much folks.

Yes, this has been one of the greatest developments of recent times.

The potty isn’t new in our lives, at all. She’s been using it on occasion for a whole year now. But full-on potty training has been a very gradual process for us, obviously. Partly because of my lack of insistence and consistency on the matter for far too long, and in huge part due to her flat-out stubbornness. For quite some time L had a full understanding of using the potty but because she likes to be in control of things, she would go when SHE wanted to, and strongly fight the idea when others (particularly myself) suggested it. It was often a frustrating struggle.

Here’s more detail about the long road leading to this wonderful achievement, if anyone is interested. Read the rest of this entry »

Vocab is reaching new heights. Her pretend-play is hilarious and has been for so long. This stuff isn’t necessarily new, its just me blogging about what’s been going on lately.

This morning she’s running around yelling, “The volcano is erupting! The hot lava could leave burns but I’ll protect you!”

Sometimes she walks around blurting out, “Met-a-morph-a-sis! That means a big change!!!”

She’s trying out new big words that she isn’t 100% sure how to pronounce, just to see what kind of reaction she gets, and to be corrected so she gets them right. She looked at me the other day, while we were trying to fit some of her toys into bins, and says, “That was suspessful?” She said it a little bit off, and knew it, hence the question. I said, “did you mean, successful?” and she nods. Now she’s got that one under belt.

Same thing with words like annoying, frustrated, exclamation (we’ve been talking about punctuation marks when reading together, because she’s been asking about them). Yummy foods are occasionally announced as “scrumptious!”

She knows the evil queen’s name in Sleeping Beauty is Malificent, and will readily correct anyone who gets it wrong (such as me). Something we discuss often is photosynthesis. Ever since she was first read this small vintage book about how plants make their own food from water, sunlight and air, Lil has been absolutely fascinated by the concept. She doesn’t remember the term yet on her own but asks about it to be reminded.

Pretty big words for a kid who is still months away from turning 3, no? Of course, its not like multi-syllable words are a huge deal; she’s been able to say some for ages now. I think it was a year ago when she first began to marvel waiters by demanding “guacamole”. But it is still a thing of excitement for me, how many new big words are added to her vocab all the time. Its all happening so quickly.

A relatively new one, that isn’t necessarily huge but has us laughing, is “whatever.” She tried it out on me the other day in the form of a question, to make sure she was using it right. She couldn’t figure out which tee shirt she preferred so I said, well lets just put this one… then and she asks me, “whatever?” yeah, whatever. i say. and so now she’s been using that one a lot. Whatever, mommy. Yep she is 2.5 going on 14.

Really though, I wish she would adopt the “whatever” attitude a bit more often when it comes to stuff like that. Because mostly, Lil still can get extremely upset and frustrated over little decisions like that, or when things don’t work out perfectly on the very first try. But when she is able to take it with a grain of salt, what used to be “no biggie” seems to have been replaced with “whatever”. lol…

Lil always speaks positively about her pre-school teachers and friends; she absolutely loves it. So I don’t believe she is actively involved yet in too much exclusionary play while interacting with the other kids there. However, its apparently common and expected behavior for the 4-5 yr old set, in general as well as at her school. Lil is already keen on watching and learning from everything the older girls do, so its something to think about.

This article on BecomingtheParent.com, sent out by her pre-school, is a good quick read on the subject. It highlights a few different causes of this behavior and ways to handle it from each of those perspectives.

Checking out the stark beauty of La Quinta, where Aunt Jen lives.

Quite a few in our friends & family have recently had a baby or are pregnant, some of them with twins. So L has been talking about babies in her body for some time now. When she plays pretend, if its not teacher or doctor (or monsters or animals), its being mommy. She is forever wrapping various objects in blankets and putting them down for naps. And last week we visited the California Science Center with our playgroup, where L stared wide-eyed at an exhibit of fetuses at various stages. Needless to say, she is now more fascinated than ever. Here is one example.

This morning she was playing alone and I could hear her getting upset. I found her struggling to fit a baby in its crib (L becomes exceedingly frustrated about things like this not working out instantly as she envisions they should, an intensity I should talk more about some time). In this case, the baby was her camera case wrapped in a pair of her tights and they were not staying on properly, which infuriated her. As did the fact that the whole thing didn’t lay comfortably in the plastic bowl that was its crib. The horror!

Once we managed to tuck baby camera case into a shoe box with a proper blankie, everyone was much happier. She kept it nearby all morning, and later she put the camera case under her tee-shirt and was pregnant. Saying he was going to come out in a few minutes.

She talks a lot about having a baby brother. She wants a baby in general but definitely leans toward having a brother. She’s been discussing this with me for quite some time now. I only hope she is still this interested in the idea of a sibling if and when it does happen. Lil is changing and maturing leaps and bounds all the time; she acts well beyond her age and is extremely opinionated. I sort of figured spawn2 would be on the horizon by now but things don’t always go as planned. I just hope we haven’t missed a great window, so to speak, of two little ones being close friends. On the other hand, with a little more space between them, L might feel less like her turf is being infringed upon, and could be a great help in caring for and teaching a new little one.

When I tell her that a new baby might be a sister and that its not something we can choose, she just says, BROTHER.

No pressure though!

My cousin-in-law Lori Kaplan has written and published a memoir that chronicles her experience raising her daughter, Jaclyn, who was born with Congenital Heart Disease. We’re so proud of her for accomplishing this, and excited to read it. Here’s an excerpt that describes the book:

Written by her mother, this memoir describes Jaclyn’s personality, her ability to find humor in frightening medical ordeals, and her perseverance in the face of serious illness. It is about being “normal” and doing what other children and families do, in spite of health issues. It is also a story about adapting to circumstances as they arise, and how a family can cope with chronic illness, without having it define their lives.

This book is an inspirational tale for parents and families, especially those who may have a terminally ill child in their lives.

Jaclyn’s Journey will ultimately be available for purchase at online bookstores but for now, you can buy a signed copy from her website.

Click the book cover (designed by our cousin Danny Kaplan) to visit the website (made by yours truly).

Almost two years ago, I posted about Nicolas Fransisco, an e-aquaintance who vanished unexpectedly one night. Leaving his two kids, pregnant wife, countless concerned friends and an entire community desperately searching for him to no avail.

Everyone was convinced of foul play. Friends and strangers country-wide took interest in the search; the unprecedented public outcry and internet buzz pushed the investigation far further than a typical missing person case. Even I received a phone call at home from a Sea-Tac detective with questions, and I had never even met the guy! I told them the same thing everyone else did: I felt fairly certain he hadn’t simply left on his own accord, but I didn’t have any helpful info.

Well, weren’t we all a bunch of chumps. After 2 years he has been found, living under an alias right here in LA, with seemingly no regard whatsoever for the three children he left behind. Read the rest of this entry »

Kid is very much enjoying the clay candlestick holders she made in pre-school. They are bejeweled with treasures. (sequins of all kinds are ‘treasure’ defined). Shown here in use with the lovely hand-dipped hannukah candles we got post-holidays for a buck. Ah the simple pleasures in life.

There’s lots I’ve neglected to discuss over the last few months… somewhere our little toddler has bloomed into a bona fide Big Kid and there’s evidence all over the place.

For one thing, Lil hasn’t been in a crib for months now, and I suppose this is worth mentioning! We finally removed the front panel of her crib at the end of November, just as Lilah was nearing the 2 and a half mark. And its been great! She took to it immediately. I was worried at first that with this freedom, Lil would never stay in bed on her own volition. I think that’s why we waited as long as we did. But I had under-estimated her readiness! Read the rest of this entry »

Read the rest of this entry »

During our walks, Lil will often pick up one of the big pinecone-shaped seeds that fall from the trees lining our block. The other day she held it up and announced, “this and the tree match.”

The tree truly was the exact shape as the seed. I told her that was a very good observation to make, and that’s a connection that can be found time and again throughout nature. Miraculously, she left it at that. For now. But sometimes when we tread on subjects of such potential depth, she wants to know much more. It amazes me, the discussions we get into nowadays. Most always initiated by Lil, her curiosity and alarming understanding about certain things.

Read the rest of this entry »

Its noon on Sunday and she just fell asleep. That means, after this procrastination post, work time for me until she wakes up. Much like… every other day.

I do sometimes fantasize about working on location somewhere, having a set schedule and some structure. It doesn’t have to be full time, just out of this house. So that whenever I have the rare moment of freedom at home I wouldn’t feel like I have to be working. I’d love to be using this naptime to do art projects in the garage, or watch a movie, although I’d first need to use it to finish up our xmas thank yous or tackling mount laundry… the kind of things I never seem able to finish during her waking hours. And then maybe once in awhile I could just go the eff back to bed. Which is at times my ultimate fantasy, lol. 2 and a half years into this parenting thing, waking up at 6:30 is still a huge struggle for me. Dont’ worry I’ll save that for my next self-pity post.

Yeah this is one of those moments I am feeling rather bleh about my current routine. Why should I, when things are so great I thank my lucky stars its worked out the way it has. But when I’m feeling particularly sleep deprived and ineffective, my darker pessimistic side comes out easily. I think this year is going to see some changes. Could go in one of two directions. I’m going to have to figure some stuff out.

oh wait, she’s not even asleep yet. Still just playing in her room. I can hear her reading to herself in there. Heh.

Well, more like a very blurry iphone shot taken of her first class photo as it hangs on our fridge. I should really scan it one day. Its adorable, and a bit of a milestone as the very first of a whole childhood full of class photos she’ll collect over the years. I still have an old folder full of mine someplace at my mom’s house and its a trip to look back at them.

Her pre-school peers currently range in age from about 2 to almost 5. I remember how small she was compared to the others when she first started at 18 months. And how brazen she was despite that, fitting herself right in immediately. Now she’s an old pro and has welcomed new students as older ones have departed. Can you spot our little sweetie’s big smile?

Oh, how she loves school. It fills me with so much joy. We had an extended break over the holidays, since we took off for Chicago in mid December. With so much going on, it was awhile before she started missing her school routine. Once the whirlwind of family fun began to subside, she started pretending she and I were having circle time in the green room, like they do in school. She wanted to sing together her morning school song… and sometimes when she was playing on her own I overheard her mention her school friends names as if she was playing with them. It was really sweet, and we were both happy about her return to school this Tuesday.

To be honest, I was ready to return to the preschool routine as well. It gave me 1 day of non-mom-time during my sister’s fun visit here. There is SO much I need to catch up posting about. Lots of Big Kid achievements, a new playhouse down the street and new friends, Lil’s first trip to the dentist… and all our travel and family visits throughout the holidaze. I’ll get to some of it eventually.

note to self: Hello do a day, sir.

This was part of the holiday card we sent out this yr. Miss two-and-a-half smothering Marley with her joy. FEEL IT. lol, its so them.

And here is Lil’s very first Santa experience. Taken at the SL moms club holiday party. She wasn’t afraid in the least; the moment he walked in the front door she ran right to him for a hug. Then started in with the hard questions: “Santa, where’s your sleigh?!” he pretended not to hear, lol.

She also put both hands on his stomach and said, “bowl full of jelly, mama?” I’ve read The Night Before Christmas a few times, and she really seems to love that part.

OK. So much. Hannukah, two christmases in two cities. So much family and friends and fun. This post shall serve as a placeholder until I return to elaborate on the holidaze. In the meantime – Happy Celebratory December Holiday of your choice, and Happy New Decade!