Subscribe to my Blog
There She Grows

Major back-posting here, but Happy Third Birthday to Lilah!!

She turned 3 on June 21, but her birthday celebration seemed to last for weeks.
Here’s a full rundown and a few photos. Read the rest of this entry »

Lilah is now 36 inches tall – which is apparently the official height required to ride carnie rides all by herself. And she sure is psyched about that fact! Here she is at some festival in Indio, during a visit to Aunt Jen’s.

I’m putting this in the milestones category for LOLs.

A few weeks after this photo was taken she even rode the Matterhorn with us at Disneyland. But that may have been too much for her at this juncture. Her complaint was “too windy!”

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 »

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 »

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.

Great news: I am pleased to report that as of a few weeks ago, Lilah is completely past wanting, needing, using a paci at any time!

This is major. Lil was extremely attached to the paci, especially in association with sleep. Here she is enjoying one as an infant. What a cutie! Back then it seemed like a godsend; from the start it easily calmed her and helped her relax. Great invention, as far as I was concerned. But then she wasn’t an infant anymore, and still quite paci-loving.

For some reason it really irks me to see toddlers (and, gasp, even older kids sometimes!) walking around with a pacifier in their mouth. Something just feels inappropriate when I see that. So when she was walking with greater skill and spending more time upright in public, we set the ground rule that the paci was only for sleep times. She used it for naps and at night in her crib, but had to relinquish it when she awoke.

Lil accepted the rule and lived by it for a long time. But the “waci” was such an integral part of her sleep, I was worried it would really be difficult to break her of the habit completely. If I tried to withhold it during naps or at night, she would have a desperate tantrum about it. Read the rest of this entry »

I suppose Lilah’s first poo-poo on the potty experience deserved a post.  This one comes after she has done it not once but twice.    Very exciting!

I guess I haven’t been keeping this blog up to date with some of the humorous experiences we’ve had since the initiation of the potty several weeks ago.  Many times since then, Lilah has expressed a desire to use the potty.  Each time I would excitedly usher her into the bathroom, peel off her pants and her diaper and allow her to sit while I showed her some books.  I was ever-hopeful to hear the sound of a deposit being made, but to no avail.  Clearly she relished this time of reading books on the special seat, but didn’t necessarily want or need to use the potty for its other intended purpose.

A few times, she came close.  She began to announce her need to use the potty when she actually had to go… but her timing still needed work.     Sometimes she would alert me either during or shortly after pooping in her diaper.  So by the time we made it to the potty, she simply needed a diaper change.    Other times, we experienced some very near-misses.    She asked to go potty (yay!) and would sit down patiently… then when she was about to, ahem, do the deed, she seemed to get a little freaked out.  Due perhaps to performance anxiety or just feeling unsure that it was, in fact, really okay to poop inside the thing, she would sort of jump up and step away right at the definitive moment.  resulting in poop on the floor.    This is where that ever-necessary parental sense of humor comes in.  I definitely got a laugh out of it.

Throughout all this, I felt that progress was being made and I wasn’t rushing it.    The potty was there for Lilah to experiment with when it occurred to her, but I wasn’t putting much stake in the whole thing yet.    But on Wednesday she was sitting in her high chair post dinner, looked right at me and said, “poo-poo, potty?”     As always, I eagerly brought her over there and allowed her to sit bare-bottomed,  assuming we’d just read a few books and be on our way.   To my surprise, she… went.    Afterwards she stood up, pointed to what she had left there and excitedly yelled poo poo over and over.    I was so proud of her and she was so proud of herself.     I transferred it to the big toilet and she waved bye bye as she watched it flush down.

Today she did it again, the exact same way.  She stopped what she was doing, looked at me and requested “poo poo, potty?”   I brought her to it and voila.   I am so psyched about the fact that she is letting me know beforehand, when she really has to go.    I understand it takes longer for kids to be able to do this with pee… but she seems to have it down now regarding #2.   Yay Lilah!   And for memory/documentation sake, Lilah is a little over 19 and a half months old as I write this.

Many children aren’t fully potty trained until age 3… and that’s ok.   But I figure, starting to introduce the concept earlier can’t hurt as long as I don’t push things.   Lilah has shown some signs of readiness for awhile.  She’s known the words  poopoo and peepee for months now and uses them accordingly.  More and more often, she lets me know when she has gone.   Over the holidays I found a book about potty in Nanny’s stash, and read it to Lilah.  She was immediately interested.      So I decided it was time to get her a potty chair.

Read the rest of this entry »

6:30 is early, but its worlds better than 5ish.  worlds.

i knew that lilah’s ability to sleep till 8 could not last forever. but when she started waking up around 5, something had to be done. a couple weeks ago, one of the moms in our playgroup suggested that lilah might be ready to take one nap a day instead of two. and that  this transition may have an impact on her night’s sleep. it was worth a try.

at the time, such a thing had not occurred to me.   lilah was taking her 11ish and 4ish naps every single day and really seemed to need them.    i thought it would be a huge ordeal to try and change this. it took about a week, but i gradually encouraged her to take her morning nap a bit later, and kept her up in the afternoons. almost instantly this change brought the result i so sorely needed: no longer did she wake up like a firecracker in the too-wee hours.

now, lilah starts calling for mommy at 6:30 pretty much on the dot.    when i greet her she is standing up in her crib waiting to be grabbed.    she always requests wally and some other animal, usually puppy but sometimes panda, bear or ducky. then we hang out in the den snuggling while she drinks a bottle and watches sesame street. eventually daddy emerges and we get to spend a bit of time together before work. i no longer dread my mornings.  i now enjoy our predictable and comfy ritual. huge life fix.

lilah has officially outgrown her infant car seat. she’s 15 months old and over 22 lbs. today we purchased her front-facing seat, which is extremely exciting! i’m about to assemble and install it. this marks the dawn of a new era for lilah, and i think she will love her nifty new graco nautilus, with her forward view and her very own cup holder. but we will definitely miss being able to do this when she is asleep:

update: lilah is obviously quite comfortable riding in her new big-kid seat. loved it from the start (aka the moment i buckled her into the show model on the shelf at target, lol)

its been 2 months since i reported on lilah’s milk drinking habits, and much has changed. here’s some updated news.

since the initial unpleasantness, lilah began drinking soy milk.   then i began hearing more and more about the estrogen content, and that some children experienced hormonal issues from drinking too much soy.  concerned, i talked to our nurses, who basically confirmed this as a possibility.   they still didn’t seem to think it was a big deal as long as i limited her to 20 oz a day.  but hearing this freaked me out, and i wanted to gradually move her toward cow’s milk. unfortunately, lilah again threw up after a few ounces.

i then discovered kefir.  its basically yogurt in liquid form, with all those good antibodies and bacteria cultures.  thick, serious stuff.  i started giving lilah one bottle a day of watered-down kefir and she loved it. almost immediately after introducing this small amount, lilah had a huge growth spurt.   i began to realize, she really needed more calories than she was getting from the soy.   i felt angry that initially the nurses had assured me soy milk was sufficient for weaning. even though lilah was getting plenty of calcium and nutrients from the variety of healthy foods she ate, the soy milk was not gonna cut it.

after about 2 weeks i decided the kefir was not enough; i want this kid to have milk and have it now.   so i gave whole milk lactaid a try – and i have no idea why it took me so long. lilah took to it immediately and has grown leaps and bounds since.  almost overnight she grew out of her size 3 diapers and a ton of her clothes.  she needed a new wardrobe, stat!  i felt so happy that she was finally getting the nutrition she had been lacking.  and right around that time was when she started to walk!  hooray for lilah.

for the past month, lactaid has been wonderful for us. sooner or later i wanted to re-introduce regular cow’s milk again but was afraid. no one wants to make their baby sick, so i kept putting it off. but the last time i ran out i found the store was out of lactaid – and that quarter gallon of vitamin D was staring me in the face. i figured, what the heck, lets give it a monthly try. yesterday i tentatively gave her 4 oz.  she downed it quickly and demanded more. whats this 4 oz bs, mom?! there were no signs of shaking or sickness to speak of.  after a few minutes of her seeming fine and hungry, i gave her more.  i am pleased to announce there were no problems whatsoever.   so now lilah is finally drinking her whole milk!  and is aparently not (or no longer) lactose intolerant. hooray!

This is a frame from a video. Watch her first steps!

Lilah was an extremely early talker but not an early walker. For ages she’s been getting up and standing strongly, but by 13 months she had still not taken her first steps.

These last two days she started to be more daring with 1 or 2 steps. Then yesterday out of the blue she started walking across the living room. well ok then! We are fortunate to have been recording her when this happened. And, to have both been there. A result of Mike’s new job situation, which I may or may not delve into in another post.

Well this is it – my little girl is now a one-year old! All Party Pics here.

We had a party for Lilah at our house, and invited about 30 people. Lilah had a really great time! it was from 2-4, but people ended up staying till around 6, and Lilah stayed up and happy throughout it all. I had originally planned that we’d mostly be out in the yard, but then it ended up being like 105 degrees so everyone stayed inside. We moved all the decorations into the house, and it was no problem. I made Lilah a special photo frame with her birthday invitation in it, as a centerpiece for the table. And a special birthday crown to wear, out of construction paper, ribbon and silk flowers. She actually enjoyed wearing it, because we showed her what she looked like in the mirror. She felt special, and so she kept it on for most of the party.

Some of Lilah’s little baby buddies were here, and they had fun playing in Lilah’s room. Then we presented her with her cake, and she dove into it face-first. Ultimately she was covered in chocolate; it was a proper good baby-caking. Here is a video of Lilah with her cake. And here is the aftermath!

I had made Lilah her own little cake that was solely for her to devour and destroy. It was sugar-free banana cake with a sugar-free chocolate icing (made using chocolate pudding mix). Recipes are here. We had a large sheet cake for everyone else, along with way too much food (not surprisingly). I think we will be eating and drinking the leftovers for many days to come.

A bunch of her family came to town for the occasion. Aunties Jen and Traci and Uncle Jimmy stayed here, while Nanny, Papa and Grandma were at a nearby hotel. She had such a good time being the center of everything! My little girl is indeed quite a ham. We had put ‘no gifts’ on the invite so people would not feel obligated. But of course, she still got some super awesome stuff – especially from family. She got a super cool water table to splash at, and a fancy new baby pool, and a really decked out radio flyer with a roof over it and two seats (wagons have come a long way from when we were kids!), her own little car, and tons of awesome educational toys and puzzles. she seems to love all of it.

Seeing my baby turn one was a wonderful and happy experience but i did have some bittersweet moments. Up till her party I was very busy trying to get everything ready, while Lilah was occupied playing with her family. I didn’t have much of a chance to stop and think about what was happening. At one point Lilah was crawling away and I scooped her up and suddenly it hit me. I got a bit teary eyed, realizing that this is a once-in-a-lifetime affair and she will never be an infant again.. time marches forward and she will only get older and older… and go through so many different phases as she reaches adulthood. Its wonderful and exciting but being the overly nostalgic person I am, there is an element of sadness to it. Right now, she is at a great age. She loves mommy and daddy so much, has so much fun with the little things in life, and things are good. Someday she will be much older, and she won’t want to share so much with mommy, she will be off doing her own thing. And thats important, thats what its all about, Lilah growing up into her own woman. One chapter of this book has come to an end… but we still have a long long LONG way to go. So I got over it and finished icing the cake.

is this early for a baby to be knowing words so well? all of a sudden, lilah is proving that she understands a lot more words than i even realized. b words are her favorite and she knows a great deal of them. she made it clear she knows “bear” ages ago (2 days). and yesterday morning when lilah saw a bird in our backyard, she matter-of-factly said, “bird.” she knows what a bird is.

today she proved her bird’ prowess again at amber’s house. but then a few minutes afterwards, she did something that i really wasn’t expecting. there was a toy shopping cart of maggie’s, with a babydoll inside. lilah struggled for awhile to pull herself up using the cart. when she finally reached the upright position and saw the doll inside, she distinctly said “baby” !! i swear.

and that wasn’t her only new b word for the day. we were in our backyard this afternoon and marley was playing around with a ball. and guess who said “ball” when she saw it? i am pretty sure she learned this one at swim class (we play with a ball in the pool) but this was the first time i heard her say it. she picks up b words all over the place. i am even able to convince myself she says “bee” once in awhile when she holds her breakfast bee in the mornings. really.

the other letter lilah is most comfortable with is M. mama, more, a sort of meow, and mar for marley. yes, if she is in a words-using mood, marley is typically mwar or mamar. but today in one otherwise quiet moment she blurted out “marley” perfectly. it was crazy… i haven’t heard do that again yet.

from the milestone chart at babycenter.com:

12 months: Advanced Skills (a few kids can do): Says two words besides “mama” and “dada”

so this is considered an advanced skill at 12 months. and my kid is 10 and a half months. cool.