Sunday, May 4, 2008
Undressing herself
Yesterday was a glorious day when my daughter figured out she could take off her own pants. I went in to get her from her nap and she was sitting naked from the waist down in her crib, pants thrown out onto the floor diaper sitting next to her in the crib. Needless to say there was a little puddle in the crib as well, but I am just ever so grateful that only #1 was involved. I have heard many a horror story from friends where their children paint the walls with poo when they figure out they can take off their own diaper. We will be a little more cautious with what she wears to bed from now on, though.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Recent Going-Ons in Our House
Not too much has been happening lately. We've all been really sick. Matt was in extreme pain due to a tooth that may need a root canal. He goes to the dentist tomorrow to find out for sure. The sinus infection didn't help him feel any better either. I finally went to the doctor after two weeks of not being able to sleep through the night because of my cough. Antibiotics are a wonderful thing.
We have continually been trying to expand Ally's vocabulary, as well as attempt to get her to follow small directions. Today she was "reading" her books and I asked her where her head was. Lo and behold, she touched her head! So I asked where her nose was and she touched her nose! This continued with her ears and eyes and mouth. I wanted to reward this behavior, so I went and got a cookie to give her small pieces when she did what I asked. But as soon as she saw the cookie, it was a no-go. She just whined and held out her hand/opened her mouth and refused to cooperate. In fact, when I dared to take her hands and place them on her head to show her what to do, she burst into tears and ran off into the other room. Every now and then she'd come back to the kitchen and look at me. "Ahhh," she would say. And I would respond with "touch your head/eyes/ears/nose" to which she would actually roll her eyes at me and walk off. What a stinker.
Now Ally has always been a very good baby. From the get go, she didn't even hardly cry. Everyone we've ever had watch her has commented on how good she was. When she was born she didn't even cry, just cooed. But as we get closer to the "2" mark, we have definately seen a spunky streak emerging. She rolls her eyes and once this week she actually laid down on the ground kicking her feet in a fit. I had to leave the room to laugh. But she is still my little cuddle-bug and I love her more and more everyday! I do find myself saying "NO!" alot lately. Either directed toward my daughter who likes to throw everything into the tub/play in the toilet/open doors/hit the dog and/or cat OR at the new dog who wouldn't go to the bathroom when I let her out but promptly took a crap on our new area rug the second I let her in.
Oh yeah, and I fell down the stairs yesterday. While holding Ally. All those years of ballet training and I'm still a clutz. Good thing I have a fat butt to cushion my fall, but my tailbone still hurts today. Reminds me of when I was pregnant and Matt FORBADE me from using the stairs at work, fearing I'd fall and crush our unborn child.
So that's it from Wisconsin for now. I'd love to hear other's funny "terrible twos" stories and I'll be sure to keep you posted on Ally's.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Momma!
Finally! Ally has been saying Momma this weekend. In fact, when I gave her a picture of me she would look at it and say "momma." She even kissed it. How cute. Then she crumpled it up and threw it down the stairs.
Monday, April 14, 2008
The beginning and end of daycare
THE BEGINNING: (1st day of school)
THE END:
Well friends, little Ally didn't fare so well in daycare. Not socially. She loved it actually. Every time I would call, the director would say that she was the happiest kid in there. All the other kids would be crying, but not Ally. Unfortunately her good spirits weren't enough to keep the germs away and Miss Ally contracted a "cold" last week. It began relatively benign, a mild fever and a snotty nose. I was working from home anyway on Wednesday because our cable guy was supposed to come install a phone and internet.
Side note about TDS cable: We have been waiting a month (that's right a month) to have our phone/internet installed. Meanwhile, we have been graciously "borrowing" from our kind neighbors, unbeknown to them. We got a phone call on Monday from TDS, but no message. Matt tried calling them back three times and got no answer. Finally, he got a hold of the main office that night, who informed him that the technicians had been out at our house, but left since we weren't there. He was furious that they didn't call ahead after waiting a month, but they rescheduled for Wednesday between eight and noon. I worked from home, presumably for that morning, and waited. I didn't want to miss them, so I got up at 8:00 am and sat by the front door until 10:30 when Ally woke up. At this point, we ate and played and whatnot, but all upstairs so we could listen for the door. At 12:15 I called TDS. The customer service rep said that they had no record of anyone scheduled to come out that morning. "Well you better get someone out today because I can't take another day off work." He assured me that he would find out more information and call me back. Two hours later, I still hadn't heard anything, so I called again. This time the rep informed me that someone came to our house at 9:00, but no one answered the door. I told him that this was a blatant lie because I was sitting by the front door from 8 until 10:30 and that I couldn't stay home another day because although their technicians may have the luxury of documenting work they don't actually do, most of us don't have that luxury. When I told Matt what had happened, he called TDS and then all of a sudden "they had no record of anyone coming out today." They can't get their story straight. So Matt politely informed them that if he so much as caught anyone from TDS on his property he would "shoot them" and we decided to go with Charter, who managed to come out the next day and even came out on a Saturday to finish installing the phone.
Back to Ally: it began as a cold on that Wednesday. Matt stayed home from work on Thursday and took her to the doctor who told us that it was just a cold and there wasn't anything we could do, she would just get over it. Well, she didn't. Come Friday, Saturday and Sunday, she still wasn't doing any better. Not to mention Sunday morning she woke up with a red spot in her eye. It looked like she scratched herself or burst a blood vessel coughing. She wasn't sleeping and wouldn't eat. So Matt stayed home again today to take her to the doctor's and here was the diagnosis: a cold, a sore throat (swollen glands), pink eye in both eyes, an ear infection in her left ear and inflamed ear on the right. She's a wreck. Matt felt so bad about exposing her to all this that he told the daycare we would NOT be bringing her back and then called to quit his job. The company offered to have Matt do some computer work from home while Ally recovered, but Matt feels like it would be better for the time being to stay at home. So we are back to where we were before, and Matt will resume school in the fall. I guess you live and you learn, too bad we had to do it at poor Ally's expense.
THE END:
Well friends, little Ally didn't fare so well in daycare. Not socially. She loved it actually. Every time I would call, the director would say that she was the happiest kid in there. All the other kids would be crying, but not Ally. Unfortunately her good spirits weren't enough to keep the germs away and Miss Ally contracted a "cold" last week. It began relatively benign, a mild fever and a snotty nose. I was working from home anyway on Wednesday because our cable guy was supposed to come install a phone and internet.
Side note about TDS cable: We have been waiting a month (that's right a month) to have our phone/internet installed. Meanwhile, we have been graciously "borrowing" from our kind neighbors, unbeknown to them. We got a phone call on Monday from TDS, but no message. Matt tried calling them back three times and got no answer. Finally, he got a hold of the main office that night, who informed him that the technicians had been out at our house, but left since we weren't there. He was furious that they didn't call ahead after waiting a month, but they rescheduled for Wednesday between eight and noon. I worked from home, presumably for that morning, and waited. I didn't want to miss them, so I got up at 8:00 am and sat by the front door until 10:30 when Ally woke up. At this point, we ate and played and whatnot, but all upstairs so we could listen for the door. At 12:15 I called TDS. The customer service rep said that they had no record of anyone scheduled to come out that morning. "Well you better get someone out today because I can't take another day off work." He assured me that he would find out more information and call me back. Two hours later, I still hadn't heard anything, so I called again. This time the rep informed me that someone came to our house at 9:00, but no one answered the door. I told him that this was a blatant lie because I was sitting by the front door from 8 until 10:30 and that I couldn't stay home another day because although their technicians may have the luxury of documenting work they don't actually do, most of us don't have that luxury. When I told Matt what had happened, he called TDS and then all of a sudden "they had no record of anyone coming out today." They can't get their story straight. So Matt politely informed them that if he so much as caught anyone from TDS on his property he would "shoot them" and we decided to go with Charter, who managed to come out the next day and even came out on a Saturday to finish installing the phone.
Back to Ally: it began as a cold on that Wednesday. Matt stayed home from work on Thursday and took her to the doctor who told us that it was just a cold and there wasn't anything we could do, she would just get over it. Well, she didn't. Come Friday, Saturday and Sunday, she still wasn't doing any better. Not to mention Sunday morning she woke up with a red spot in her eye. It looked like she scratched herself or burst a blood vessel coughing. She wasn't sleeping and wouldn't eat. So Matt stayed home again today to take her to the doctor's and here was the diagnosis: a cold, a sore throat (swollen glands), pink eye in both eyes, an ear infection in her left ear and inflamed ear on the right. She's a wreck. Matt felt so bad about exposing her to all this that he told the daycare we would NOT be bringing her back and then called to quit his job. The company offered to have Matt do some computer work from home while Ally recovered, but Matt feels like it would be better for the time being to stay at home. So we are back to where we were before, and Matt will resume school in the fall. I guess you live and you learn, too bad we had to do it at poor Ally's expense.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Words
We had to take Ally into the doctor's to get proof of her vaccinations for daycare, and the doctor said that Ally should be saying 10-20 words by now. So I decided to make a list of the words she does say:
1. Dada
2, 3. Set go!
4, 5. Thank you
6. Lola
7. Night night
8. Ohhh
9. No
10. yeah
11,12. What's that?
13. hi
14. bye
15. whoa (usually said while spinning in a circle)
16. Papa (she hasn't said this one in a while, but this is what she called my dad when we were home for Christmas).
See that's 16. Like I said before, mostly she still babbles, but she'll pick up more at daycare I'm sure. Note that mom still isn't on the list :(
1. Dada
2, 3. Set go!
4, 5. Thank you
6. Lola
7. Night night
8. Ohhh
9. No
10. yeah
11,12. What's that?
13. hi
14. bye
15. whoa (usually said while spinning in a circle)
16. Papa (she hasn't said this one in a while, but this is what she called my dad when we were home for Christmas).
See that's 16. Like I said before, mostly she still babbles, but she'll pick up more at daycare I'm sure. Note that mom still isn't on the list :(
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Musings of a bad mom
So I have been feeling a little guilty lately. Matt had a job interview on Monday that would be a great opportunity for him. I am fully supportive of him going back to work (as long as he doesn't quit his schooling at night), but there is one big issue in a little tiny package: Ally. Who is going to take care of my baby girl while we are both working? I wish the answer was me, but that doesn't seem to be feasible at this point in our lives. We found a daycare center, and to be honest, the program is great. They have a very active and structured day, which is probably better for her than watching SpongeBob all day long. I just feel bad that the majority of her day will be spent with people other than her family. So I have made a few resolutions to ensure that the time we spend together is quality time:
1. No TV watching until Ally goes to bed. We will spend our evenings playing games, reading books, etc.
2. Make dinner. Previously, I have been so busy with school that I never really got in a habit of making dinner. Everyone got fed, but it hasn't always been the sit- down-at-the-table-talk-about-your-day kind of meal. Not only that, but Ally usually sits in her high chair and colors or snacks while I make dinner and it is a good opportunity to talk to her and spend time with her.
3. I will work out before work or after Ally goes to bed, but not waste the time I have with her.
I hope these things (and I'm sure more will be added to the list) will help me feel better about what we are doing. If she winds up being a social delinquent, though, I'm sure I will blame it on the daycare.
1. No TV watching until Ally goes to bed. We will spend our evenings playing games, reading books, etc.
2. Make dinner. Previously, I have been so busy with school that I never really got in a habit of making dinner. Everyone got fed, but it hasn't always been the sit- down-at-the-table-talk-about-your-day kind of meal. Not only that, but Ally usually sits in her high chair and colors or snacks while I make dinner and it is a good opportunity to talk to her and spend time with her.
3. I will work out before work or after Ally goes to bed, but not waste the time I have with her.
I hope these things (and I'm sure more will be added to the list) will help me feel better about what we are doing. If she winds up being a social delinquent, though, I'm sure I will blame it on the daycare.
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