Christmas Pics

Weekend before last we had our Christmas portraits taken by Crystal Pace http://www.pacephotography.jhpace.com/. We had planned to have Gracie's 2 year pics taken the same day, but it was really cold outside and Grace was REALLY uncooperative. We got a lot of "action" shots. But they turned out really good! Below is a sampling:

LOVE the color in this one!

This is my favorite!

Christmas ball

She had a mouthful of marshmallow in this one!

A nice family shot

The fun family shot

This past weekend we attended "A Night with Elves" at Marbles Kids Museum. I was SO excited about this event, which is a fundraiser for the museum. There was dinner, drinks, live music, crafts, free-play at the museum and real snow to play in! Unfortunately, the place was WAY overcrowded, and it kind of ruined it for us. G had a good time, but dinner wasn't that great, they ran out of cupcakes/cookies and it was just hard to maneuver around and keep a good eye on the kiddo while letting her explore. I don't know that we'll go again unless they sell half as many tickets.

We're looking quite forward to Christmas- most presents are bought and wrapped and Gracie is starting to understand some of the typical Christmas stuff. She knows and says:

-Christmas Tree (kis-kas tree)

-jingle bells

-snowflake (snowpake)

-snow

-fa-la-la-la-la

-sings O Christmas Tree

-lights (and house lights)

-Santa Claus

-presents

So, she's got all her bases covered. We've watched The Polar Express, Charlie Brown Christmas, Mickey's Christmas (several different ones), Handy Manny's Christmas, and of course, Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas. Good times.

Not much else to report. I am tracked out for 3 whole weeks! Then back at work for a week, then out again for another week for G's birthday and Grandmama's visit.

Also, I don't think I've blogged about becoming and Aunt! Our nephew Wyatt Michael was born on Nov. 30th. He's adorable, and tiny! Everyone is doing well. Congrats again to Kevin and Caitie!

First Haircut!

In the craziness of Gracie being sick, I totally forgot to blog about her first haircut! We had it done on Nov. 15, because she had these wispy little hairs around her forehead that kept getting in her eyes. We figured it couldn't hurt to shape up all the curls, either. We went to Snip-Its, and had a really good experience with them, despite a rather long wait. They don't take appointments, which I'm not crazy about, but the salon was really cute, with little kid-sized chairs and fun characters. Gracie did fantastic for her haircut. They had some bubbles for her to play with and that was all she needed to keep her distracted. Her hair doesn't look much different, but it curls up more on top of her head now (which is cute but frustrating when it won't lay down).
Here's a few pics of the experience:

Unfamiliar territory

Poor Gracie is sick! She started with mild coughing/stuffiness on Thursday, then by the time we put her in bed on Friday night she had a temp. of 102.4. By Saturday morning, my dear toddler had been replaced with a fireball- 104.3!!!! It was uncomfortable to touch her she was so hot! I called the doc and we took her in that morning. Her flu test was negative, and they drew blood to check her white cell count which was great. So they think she just has a nasty virus and there's not much we can do. I started cycling Tylenol and Motrin today which has helped keep her temp from spiking back up. I'm so hoping she wakes up tomorrow perfectly fine. She really hasn't been in a crappy mood or anything- a little more impatient and clingy, and not eating much, and she has her moments of whiny breakdown, but not too bad. Randy wasn't feeling so hot last night but seems to be ok today, and earlier today I was feeling crummy, but maybe I'm just worn out from worrying about Grace. I sure hope I don't get this crap. At least I'm tracked out this week to take care of her.
Also tonight we were shampooing our carpet in the living room (there were small colonies of nasties living in it!!) and we have a spot where the carpet meets the hardwood where the cats have clawed down to the carpet spikes (we usually keep the spot covered with a rug). Well, I came across the threshold and my feet were wet, and my right foot slipped back onto the carpet and RIGHT into a damn carpet spike! I didn't realize how bad it was cut until I saw I was leaving blood spots on the tile in the kitchen. It probably could've used a stitch or two, but it closed itself up pretty well and didn't bleed too much. It hurt like crazy!!
So, not doing too good around here. At least I got the kitchen cleaned up and the carpet done today. And I'm tracked out so I can't complain too much.

Sorry

I apologize to my few readers that I haven't been posting very often. My computer drives me crazy with its insanely slooooooowww upload times for my large pics, and I'm too lazy to resize them on the OTHER computer that has my resizing program because it takes forever to start up. And I COULD just post a bunch of text, but I know nobody cares what I have to say- you want cute pics, right??
But, I do like to document the goings-on of dear Gracie's life, for posterity's sake. So here goes.
-Singing. This is her newest "thing". She sings the Hot Dog Dance song (hot dog, hot dog, hot diggy dog, and the last 3 words: mouse, club, house!), she sings this funny thing I think she made up, which is more of a rhythm (boopy boopy bap-bap-bap), and today she made up a song about mama-dada. Those were the only words, over and over, but she was definitely singing them. lol!
-I sorry. She likes to apologize to things. If she falls over a toy, she apologizes to the toy (I sorry blocks). If she runs into one of the cats, or the sofa, or the potty, etc., she apologizes to it. Sometimes she apologizes when SHE gets hurt, and sometimes to us. She also says I sorry when one of us sneezes.
-Please. She won't say please. Won't. Makes me mad.
-Eating. She still doesn't eat much half the time. I've just given up. I offer her some food, and she either eats it or doesn't. She never turns down fruit or juice, so she's getting nutrients that way at least.
-ID. She can identify TONS of items in her books. You can ask her to find things, or ask her what something is and have her tell you. Just about any word she knows she can identify.
-Speaking of words... she must know well over a hundred words. At least. She talks NONSTOP, and is staring to link things together. You can see the little schemas in her head expanding as she assimilates and accomodates (thank you, Piaget!). Yesterday she was telling me, in multiple sentences, that she was going to play hockey, with dada, at Jojo's house (our house- she thinks Jonah owns it evidently) on the TV. Too bad there wasn't any hockey on that night.


In other news, I am excited about 2 upcoming events. Marbles Kids Museum is having "A Night with the Elves" in December, and it is dinner, drinks, dessert, REAL SNOW to play in!!!, cookie decorating, pics, and tons of other things for families. It's a fund raiser, and I'm really hoping we can get tickets. A shout-out to Sherry for the info! Also coming in December is Raleigh Winterfest, featuring a natural ice outdoor skating rink on Fayetteville St in downtown Raleigh. So cool! The smallest size skates they have are 9's, but just watch me try to get G into a pair of skates to try out the ice... =)
I have several events to blog and post pics of, Halloween included. I'll do it soon, I promise.

Zoo

I have been slack in uploading pics here in the past couple weeks. We went to the NC Zoo several weekends ago and here are some pics:

Willy the Polar Bear

Riding the carousel

Oh CRAP! There's a mountain lion chasing me!!

Heh.

Who's the monkey on whose back??

Just looking.

This may have been her favorite part: riding the big bus back to our parking lot!!

Adios, Wubbies!

Last Thursday I noticed that Gracie had bitten a hole into the paci part of her dog wubby. Lately she's taken the chewing on them, and the doggie had suffered the consequences. So, I figured, it was time to break our child's heart and put an end to the wubby addiction. When Randy got home, we cut the broken part off the dog, and cut the tip off the duck wubby. We wanted her to still have the animal part as her lovies. We left the frog wubby intact, in case of emergency. We put her to bed with just the "broken" wubby that night, and she fell asleep without incident. However... she woke up around 1:00 whimpering, then whining, the full-out broken heart crying. I was going to let her cry and see how long it took, but Randy went upstairs and after a while ended up giving her the intact wubby. Of course she went right back to sleep.
Friday night, same story, except she woke up shortly after midnight and merely whimpered for a few minutes before falling back asleep withOUT the real wubby! Yeah! Last night she spent with Grandma, so I'm not sure how it went. And tonight, she's gone to sleep just fine, so we just have to hope that she makes it through the night and we'll be well on our way to wubby-freedom!
I also recently started rewarding her for going potty with a piece of candy corn. She's finally to the point that she understands rewards, and now all I have to to is ask if she needs to go potty and remind her of the candy and she runs right for it! Twice on Saturday she pottied on public toilets and I didn't even have candy with me. So, improving there, too!
We've been working on manners, too- getting her to say "please". She'll do it sometimes. Still needs some work.
We had our second Little Gym class yesterday- what fun! I really enjoy it and I think she does too.
Not much else going on. We had Caitie's baby shower for soon-to-arrive cousin Wyatt- I made the cake and diaper cake, which both turned out pretty well! I don't feel like I've had a weekend, so I am hating that I have to go back to work tomorrow. =(

The Little Gym

Before we committed to the little soccer class with Gracie, we wanted to give another structured activity a try. Sherry and Olivia had been encouraging us to try the Little Gym, as a little girl at Olivia's daycare has been going and loves it. They offer a free trial class, so that's what we did this morning. Gracie is technically supposed to be in the "beasts" class (over 19 months), but because we wanted her and Olivia together, because G has never done a class of any kind before, and because the Saturday class combines the "beasts" with the "super beasts (up to 3 years old)", we asked if we could do the "birds" class, and they said that was fine. So, Gracie was the little oddball this morning, but we really enjoyed the class and are probably going to commit to this semester (it goes until mid-January).
The instructor told us that it is normal for the kids to want to explore the gym, and that it is fine for them to do so, as it encourages their independence, and that we should let them wander off (with supervision) if they desired. Which, of course, is EXACTLY what G had in mind for much of the class. But, a big part of the class was free exploration, so it was cool. She also told us that kids at Gracie's age are the big ones for wandering, and it is fine. The class focuses on following directions, exploration, music, play and basic tumbling skills. This morning was "backward day", so many the skills we were shown involved going backward (back handsprings on the octagon and backward rolls on the wedge).
Below are some of the pics from today:

Gracie didn't NEED to hold on to the support bars, but it sure was fun!

Olivia practicing her backward roll (with spot).

Gracie's turn


Check out Olivia on the big balance beam!

Little G

On the air track

Air track (inflated)

Waiting for the air track to inflate

Both girls (and us adults) had a good time- I think this will be a good activity to get Gracie exposed to more kids and have a semi-structured activity to do each weekend!

Teacher

I am thrilled to report that I have FINALLY officially obtained the position of TEACHER for Wake County Schools! It's about time, I know. I get to stay in the science lab, so this is pretty much my dream job. The only downside is that I am being booted out of the main building into a "modular unit" (trailer)- they need my room for a new PreK or something. I'm not thrilled about it, but at least I get control over my own heat/AC, so I won't be freezing anymore. I've been working this week to get my room packed up, and I guess I get to go through to process of re-setting up a new room, which is always fun. I will miss all of my shelves and especially my sink/countertop area. I will have my own bathroom, which is nice, but the sink is lacking in function. I'll have to post some pics when I get all set up. Just wanted to share my good news!

Great Wolf Lodge

At the last minute last week we decided to try to go out of town for the weekend. We weren't sure where to go, but the Outer Banks and Great Wolf Lodge were possibilities. We didn't figure we could get a decent place at the beach, so we looked into the Lodge, talked Grant, Sherry and Olivia into going with us, and made the reservations. We didn't get much of a deal, because of the holiday and it being last minute, but we think it was definitely worth the money! We had a great time. We got a room with 2 queen beds and a small sitting area that had a wall to separate the 2 areas. Sherry made a little fort to separate the pack-n-plays so the kids couldn't see each other:

Here's Olivia playing Peek-a-boo in the curtains (a favorite activity):

The girls hanging out (Gracie is helping Olivia with her shoe):

Hiding behind the curtain was another favorite activity:

Whoa.

We arrived around dinnertime on Saturday, and just kind of hung around in the room then went to eat at the buffet. It was pricey, but the food was good. The service sucked, however. By the end of dinner we had 2 nap-deprived kiddos, and I headed upstairs to put G to be first. The others were soon to follow and Gracie was already asleep. She sleeps like a log, so we got Olivia to bed pretty easily, too. The rest of us stayed up to play Spades until all hours. We only had once incident where G woke up hollering and I thought for SURE she'd never go back to sleep, but she did pretty quickly. She must've been worn out.

The next day we got breakfast at the buffet (we had pre-paid for it, and they ended up giving us 2 days of breakfast accidentally- score!), and Olivia took her morning nap while Randy, G and I hit the arcade. They had a great little arcade and even Gracie enjoyed the little ride-on cars and hitting buttons on some of the games to win tickets.

Once Olivia was up it was time to hit the waterpark. We got the girls suited up with life jackets and they totally enjoyed the water! They had a little toddler area with a couple of slides and sprayers in about a foot or 2 of water. Olivia LOVED the waterslides, and Gracie did at first, then got a little spooked about sitting down at the top. I have a video, but the computer is taking forever to upload, so I'll try again soon. Sherry and I took turns switching off with the Dads to go ride the big rides. The Howling Tornado was great! We also took the girls into the Lazy River and on the big fort.

We ended up with hungry girls about mid-afternoon, so we changed and did a late lunch at a little place next to the Lodge called "Jungle Jim's". The girls took a nice nap then we suited back up for the waterpark again. This time we took the girls on one of the big rides! A family raft ride down a huge tube. We didn't realize that they turned the lights off at night, so it was pretty dark in there. I think they liked it, though.

We finally headed back to the room, stopping for pizza on the way (which took FOREVER!!). We had a nice junk-food dinner and put both girls down to sleep at the same time- and they actually went right to sleep!!! Another evening of Spades (the guys are now even with us girls) ensued.

Monday morning Sherry and I had appointments for a pedicure at the spa, which we thoroughly enjoyed. The guys took the girls for breakfast and then we packed and hit the arcade one more time. Gracie won 25 tickets herself! We ended up with a bunch of tickets and got G a little GWL stuffed wolf as a souveneir, then we finally headed home.

It was a great trip- I would highly recommend the place for families with kids of all ages, and I'm sure we'll go back in a couple years when the girls can do more stuff. They had a great time together, too (you can't beat running up and down the halls, riding on luggage trolleys and the elevator!). Keep an eye for an update to Sherry's blog for more pics.

Kickin' It!

On Saturday, we took Gracie to The Factory to do a trial lesson of the Turf Tikes soccer program. The program is an 8 week session for kids 18-24 months and focuses on following directions (yeah, right!), and basic soccer stuff. It is for parents and kids. Gracie loves to kick a ball around, so we thought she might enjoy it.
She was the only little girl there, and it was evidently the last class of the previous session. Most of the other kids were older (closer to 2) and they seemed to kind of have an idea about what to do. Gracie? Not so much. She was having no part of sitting in the circle, following directions, playing redlight, greenlight or anything else that involved her being told what to do. Now, she wasn't the ONLY kid not doing what everyone else was, but it was obvious that she wanted to do her own thing. She loved kicking around all the soccers balls, and playing in the goal. We did an activity where we built a tower of cones and the ball and she had to kick the ball to knock down the tower- she LOVED that! And was good at it! She also liked the parachute.
We're not sure we're going to enroll her in the class at this point- she's just not ready. But it was fun to see her around other kids and doing something new!

Giggles

Just wanted to share this video of Gracie being attacked by the Tickle Monster. Talk about torture!

Mommy-daughter weekend

Last weekend I was out of town with my girls, having a relaxing weekend of scrapbooking, tubing and gem mining in the mountains. Randy was on his own with G, and I think they had a pretty good weekend.
This weekend it was MY turn to stay home, as Randy had his Fantasy Football draft in the mountains with his buddies. Gracie and I had a lovely time! We went to eat at Chick-fil-A on Friday for dinner, and G got to play in their playground. She had a blast, and had no fear climbing up all the tubes to find the slide. Saturday we did some shopping, and ate at Panera (which was a bit of a fiasco, but we lived), took a long nap, and ate dinner at Champa. She was SO good at Champa, and ate some Tom Kha soup, some cucumber from my Kanisu roll and some crab rangoon. Today we chilled out at home this morning, took a nap (see the pattern?), ate lunch at Applebee's and did some Target shopping. Randy got home late this afternoon, and we're glad he's home. All in all a nice weekend!
I'm happy to report that G is eating even better now. She'll eat some of the Gerber toddler meals, peas, tomatoes (sometimes), corn, and now even loves broccoli! We call them "baby trees" and she gobbles them right up! Weird.
I am SO ready for this heat to be gone. Fall- hurry up! That's all I have for now.

Fascinating, and a rant

I watched Gracie this evening as she was playing. I was simply AMAZED at how I could see her learning right in front of me. She was opening the sliding door on our bookshelf (she's really not supposed to be in there, but it was the one I don't have a lock on yet that only has stuff in it that she can't destroy) and putting different toys in there, then shutting the door to see if it fit. She started with her big Tigger, and she had to rearrange him several times before she could shut the door. She then tried Wubby- no problem. Then the fluffy poodle- she shut his foot in the door a couple times and wasn't satisfied until she could shut the door completely. Then a football (don't ask)- she had to slide the door all the way back so it would fit into the deepest space. Then I could just see the wheels turning in her little head as she looked around the room for more. She found her spinning top toy, and she sure had to heave that thing up there (the shelf is above her head), but it fit after several tries. I ended up distracting her from the task because she was running out of reasonable things to try. I just kept saying to Randy "Look at this! This is education! She's learning!". Not that I didn't know kids learned best by experimentation (I'm a science teacher for crying out loud), but I'd never seen her concentrate so incredibly hard on one task and figure it out as she went along. It was such a weird task, too. I mean, what in the world inspired her to try stuffing items into the bookshelf?! Anyway, just a cool little activity I wanted to remember.
On another note, I had to take her for her first "sick" doctor visit today. I know, right? First sick visit in 19 months. It must be all the dirt we let her eat that has built up her immunity (kidding- kind of). She had a rash behind her ear that I couldn't figure out. Evidently she is having a reaction to something (one of 7000 things, the doc said). I'm thinking it might have been some ear-drying drops I put in her ears a couple days ago after playing in the fountains. They're mostly alcohol, but the only thing I could think of. She's on Benadryl which seems to be shrinking the rash already.
Speaking of doctors and germs- I usually don't post controversial stuff on here, mostly because I don't think I have many readers, so really what's the point? But, I do have to say that I am so SICK of the germophobia in this country, and am actually worried that all the antibacterial stuff is going to end up hurting us all as a society more than it helps. I mean, we didn't HAVE Purell and antibacterial cleaning EVERYTHING when I was a kid. Hell, I rarely washed my HANDS as a kid. I ate dirt. I probably licked shopping carts. I faithfully practiced the 10 second (or 15, or hey, just blow the dirt off it) rule. These days, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting somebody who is obsessed with the idea that their child shall NEVER encounter a germ. Bullhockey. The only reason our immune system works to fend off germs is by exposure to said germs. When you are constantly protected from minor germs, your body doesn't learn to defend itself, and when one FINALLY sneaks by, BAM, you're sick.
I mean, I work with snotty kids, so I really can't be germophobic. I know G isn't in daycare, but I'm sure I bring all kinds of stuff home to her. We keep her clean, and wipe hands, but I've only ever sanitized her hands once (by requirement). She eats stuff that falls on the floor (not in public) and pets the cats and surely eats catfur, among other germy sins that we commit in this house. I never boiled her bottles, she ate *GASP* formula. Yet somehow, she thrives.
What brought on this rant, you ask? Well, we've been working hard at the potty training, and I googled the other day about public bathrooms. Well, let me tell you, that moms across the country exist that have NO intention of ever letting their child PEE in a public bathroom. Or insist that their child "hover", or cover the toilet seat with 3 inches thick of TP. Really? REALLY?! Some people were saying that they hated even taking their child IN to a public bathroom. How do these people function in the real world?
OK, end of rant. BTW, we had a breakthrough this week in the potty world. She had been on strike with using public toilets. A couple months ago when we started, she would more readily pee on a public toilet than the potty. Then she wouldn't go at all. I kept trying, using the seat inserts and not, sitting behind her, balancing her on my knees... but nothing. She would sit there for a few seconds, then freak out. And it isn't the noise of the bathroom or the flush, and many internet moms suggest, because she LOVES to flush. But finally, on Monday, she went with me sitting behind her at a restaurant bathroom. Then again yesterday, and today at the doctor's office. So, whew. Back on track. Now, if I can just get her to use her ever increasing communication skills to TELL me before she has to go, we'll be doing great.
(boy this is a long post- this is what happens when I have time off work)
Speaking of communication, she was so cute last night. At about midnight, I heard her whimpering and rustling around in her bed, and I flipped on the monitor and realized she must be looking for her Wubby. She never started crying, but sat up in the corner of the bed, surveying the situation. I went upstairs to help her out, and when I walked in the room she quietly asked, "Where'd it go?". Squee! So sweet. I found Wubby, and she was so relieved, then she looked at her bed where she had destroyed her pillow and covers in her frantic search, looked at me and said, "Help." This communication thing is a miracle, I tell you! Except that she now knows how to ask for "Manny" (Handy Manny) and "George" (Curious George). She of course loves the TV shows, and I have the Handy Manny theme song on my phone, and let me tell you that there is for sure a threshold for how many times a parent can listen to that song before totally losing it... "More Manny! More Manny! More Manny!"

Fountains

We took Gracie by the mall today to play in the jumping fountain. We were excited that it was actually working for once, and we weren't really prepared, so we stopped by Sears to buy a towel for her. She had a BLAST! As you can see in the video, the other kids were more interested in AVOIDING the water- Gracie had no intentions of staying dry. Even when she'd get caught off guard by a spray of water, it didn't faze her at all.

Growing up

Gracie is growing up WAY too fast! Below is a video of her eating ice cream (sherbert, actually) this evening. She sat in a regular chair and managed to eat most of it all by herself. She's getting so tall, too, and picking up new words and phrases at an alarming pace. I'm also thrilled to report that she is eating somewhat better. Tonight at dinner she enjoyed some miso soup, soba noodles, cucumber w/soy sauce and some chicken. At lunch today she even ate some lamb! (we went to a little Greek/middle eastern place), and drank a strawberry-banana smoothie so fast (out of a big girl cup/straw) that I'm surprised she didn't get a brain freeze! A big part of the eating is letting her do it by herself, and letting her use a real fork is best. She does ok spearing bites of food. So I'm feeling better about her appetite.
BTW- that is NOT her squealing- it was the kid behind us.

18 months

A sentence??

I think I may have heard Gracie intentionally use a sentence today. I *think* she said "I want more cherries". The cherries were actually Craisins (she calls them cherries) that she was eating in the car, and she had started whining. I asked her what she wanted, and that was what she told me! This is a breakthrough in several ways. First, she actually STOPPED whining to answer my question, and second, she strung several words together to make a coherent sentence! Unfortunately for her, I didn't HAVE any more cherries. =(
She's at the age where she picks up new words almost daily. Her new favorite is "bus" and we have to look really hard when we're driving to spot buses. Of course, the UPS truck, tractor-trailers and SUVs are all "buses", so it isn't too hard. I cut out a picture of a bus from a magazine for her today, and she toted that picture throughout the Target with her. lol
She also surprised me today in pitching a fit when I dropped her off at Grandma's. She usually pays me no attention when I leave, and her Papa was even there this morning, but she still clung to me and cried "Mama! Mama!" over and over as I walked out the door. BROKE my heart.

Sprinkler

Tonight, Randy had put the sprinkler in the yard and I have been wanting to let Gracie play it in, so I thought it would be a good night to try. It has been hotter than Hades around here, and the water that comes out of the faucets is actually WARM.

Anyhoo, she LOVED it! The first time the water hit her she flinched only momentarily, and then it was on! She would run right up to it and wait for the water to hit her, then squeal with delight. She ended up covered in grass and dirt, and I stripped her down and hosed her off before we came inside. Here's a few pics of the fun: