Yesterday was my day to do Christmas baking. I enjoy baking, but usually by the time I make 3 or 4 different types of cookies, I'm pretty much done. It was late in the evening, and I was working on making snowman cookies. Very labor intensive, as the dough had to be made, then tinted different colors, rolled into balls and flattened, and then shaped into various scarves, hats, pompoms for the hats, noses, etc. Into the midst of this process comes Savannah. She of course was too short to see what I was doing but she wanted to be involved, and so I had a sudden epiphany. What could be better than baking Christmas cookies with my daughter? What memories we could make together! Apparently I forgot that she is not yet two and is not overly prone to following instruction. So I brought a chair over to the counter and hoisted her up. She went wild when she saw the snowmen taking shape.
"Snow! Snow!" she said as she fingered several of the cookies.
"Yes! It's so cool! Now, don't touch," I instructed. "Just look at the pretty snowmen but don't touch!"
I turned my back to begin forming more miniature snowmen hats. I heard her say, "Wow, mmmmm", and turned back in time to see that a snowman nose and some buttons had disappeared. Did I mention that I was already running low on the red-tinted dough that I was using to make the noses, among other snowmen parts? So, to keep her from eating any more noses, I positioned the pan away from her and instead gave her a few mini M&M's to eat. She gobbled these up in no time and demanded more. When I felt she had more than her fill, I told her no more. Here's where my vision of a Christmas-cookie-baking-with-my-daughter experience turned and headed south. She proceeded to have a complete meltdown, complete with racking sobs, cries of "No!" and "More", and just pretty much an inconsolable tantrum. Ricardo's solution was to put her in her crib for about 5 minutes, which actually worked well.....she calmed herself down and then called out for him. When he went to get her, she wasn't crying anymore, but had those little baby "shaky sobs" that they get when they cry so hard. So sweet. I put my cookies in the oven and held her for awhile, and then when the timer rang for my cookies, I passed her to Ricardo. She promptly fell asleep, so I know that she was exhausted, which probably added to the reasons for her tantrum. Ah well. We'll try again next year.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
OCD???
Is it possible for one so young as a two-year-old to have a touch of OCD? I'm beginning to wonder. Let me just share a few things that lead me to suspect this...
1. If I stop the microwave before the full cooking time is done, the display will flash with the remaining seconds. Heaven forbid! Savannah cannot stand letting it flash and will make sure that I push "clear" in order to make it stop. She points and grunts her little baby grunts until it's taken care of, and once it has stopped, she becomes her happy little self again.
2. She picks up minute pieces of "stuff" off of the floor. And when I say minute, I mean virtually microscopic. Yet she becomes so concerned with it, and what's more, she brings me every little piece. I thank her and promptly throw it back on the floor.
3. We recently got professional family pictures taken. The photographer that was shooting our session had her hair done up with a pen stuck through the back. While she was trying to get Savannah to sit still and smile, the pen fell out of her hair and onto the floor. I was watching Savannah's face, and immediately saw the look of concern came over her. I knew then and there that the session would come to a screeching halt until the pen was picked up and returned to its rightful place in the hair. Sure enough. She said, "Uh-oh," and stared with undisguised alarm at the offending pen. The lady had no idea what was going on, which made it funnier. When she did finally realize it, and picked the pen up, Savannah settled back into her chair and was ready for more pictures.
These are just a few examples. Every single day I have to reassure her when things happen that she gets concerned over. "Uh-oh!" she says, and I will reply, "It's ok!" Now it's gotten to the point where she will answer herself....if something happens, or she falls down etc., she will say "Oh no!" and then in the next breath, "O-tay!" Yes, it's very cute, but after a few dozen episodes a day, it can be a wee bit tiring. So, maybe this is very normal toddler behavior. I really have nothing to base it on. Maybe it's normal to have to have your chair lined up EXACTLY right in order for you to eat breakfast. Maybe it's normal to have all of your stuffed animals positioned just so on the chair next to you. She is definitely going to be a creature of habit, so I guess my job is to instill good habits in her.
Tomorrow we meet with an attorney to get some legal advice on the startup of the business. This whole thing is really taking a lot of time, just like we knew it would, and I am doing my best to stay calm and focused. I cannot wait for February when everything will be completely done, when the corporation is fully in place, when we have all of the required insurances, and when we have figured out a little more what we are actually doing. It's going to be an interesting ride.
Ricardo put in his notice at work on Friday. To say that his boss was shocked is a slight understatement. I was on pins and needles the entire day, wondering how it all was going to go, wondering if Bill would become angry and tell him to leave then and there. Fortunately that did not happen, and they had a good talk. Of course Bill did not want to lose him, and it was nice to hear him say that he knows that he won't be able to replace him. Not that we want Bill to be in a bind, but Ricardo is such a hard worker and I think he doesn't always get the respect he deserves. I know he felt more appreciated after seeing Bill's response. But, it's time that Ricardo gets out on his own. Starting his own business is all he has talked about from the time I have known him, so I am happy for him. I'm happy for us. He has a lot of passion and drive, and you can hear the excitement in his voice when he talks about it. So......even though it's a little scary, it's going to be good.
1. If I stop the microwave before the full cooking time is done, the display will flash with the remaining seconds. Heaven forbid! Savannah cannot stand letting it flash and will make sure that I push "clear" in order to make it stop. She points and grunts her little baby grunts until it's taken care of, and once it has stopped, she becomes her happy little self again.
2. She picks up minute pieces of "stuff" off of the floor. And when I say minute, I mean virtually microscopic. Yet she becomes so concerned with it, and what's more, she brings me every little piece. I thank her and promptly throw it back on the floor.
3. We recently got professional family pictures taken. The photographer that was shooting our session had her hair done up with a pen stuck through the back. While she was trying to get Savannah to sit still and smile, the pen fell out of her hair and onto the floor. I was watching Savannah's face, and immediately saw the look of concern came over her. I knew then and there that the session would come to a screeching halt until the pen was picked up and returned to its rightful place in the hair. Sure enough. She said, "Uh-oh," and stared with undisguised alarm at the offending pen. The lady had no idea what was going on, which made it funnier. When she did finally realize it, and picked the pen up, Savannah settled back into her chair and was ready for more pictures.
These are just a few examples. Every single day I have to reassure her when things happen that she gets concerned over. "Uh-oh!" she says, and I will reply, "It's ok!" Now it's gotten to the point where she will answer herself....if something happens, or she falls down etc., she will say "Oh no!" and then in the next breath, "O-tay!" Yes, it's very cute, but after a few dozen episodes a day, it can be a wee bit tiring. So, maybe this is very normal toddler behavior. I really have nothing to base it on. Maybe it's normal to have to have your chair lined up EXACTLY right in order for you to eat breakfast. Maybe it's normal to have all of your stuffed animals positioned just so on the chair next to you. She is definitely going to be a creature of habit, so I guess my job is to instill good habits in her.
Tomorrow we meet with an attorney to get some legal advice on the startup of the business. This whole thing is really taking a lot of time, just like we knew it would, and I am doing my best to stay calm and focused. I cannot wait for February when everything will be completely done, when the corporation is fully in place, when we have all of the required insurances, and when we have figured out a little more what we are actually doing. It's going to be an interesting ride.
Ricardo put in his notice at work on Friday. To say that his boss was shocked is a slight understatement. I was on pins and needles the entire day, wondering how it all was going to go, wondering if Bill would become angry and tell him to leave then and there. Fortunately that did not happen, and they had a good talk. Of course Bill did not want to lose him, and it was nice to hear him say that he knows that he won't be able to replace him. Not that we want Bill to be in a bind, but Ricardo is such a hard worker and I think he doesn't always get the respect he deserves. I know he felt more appreciated after seeing Bill's response. But, it's time that Ricardo gets out on his own. Starting his own business is all he has talked about from the time I have known him, so I am happy for him. I'm happy for us. He has a lot of passion and drive, and you can hear the excitement in his voice when he talks about it. So......even though it's a little scary, it's going to be good.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
This isn't supposed to happen anymore!
Last night was rough. To begin with I didn't go to bed when I should have. I really need to stop staying up so late. I finally fell asleep around 2:00 or so, only to be awakened by sobbing at 4:30. Savannah was crying hysterically. Usually if she is just crying a bit or making noise, I leave her alone and she goes right back to sleep. But she was having a full-on cry. She sounded so upset and sort of scared, so I got her and brought her into bed with us. Well. That doesn't work so good anymore. She laid there for over an hour without sleeping. She wasn't being bad or noisy necessarily, just awake, which kept us awake. Then after Ricardo got up at 5:30, we finally drifted off to sleep. I had visions of sleeping in until 10:00 or so, but no, she was wide awake by 8:00. I tried to ignore her, which is quite hard when she says "Hi", then digs her feet in to my ribs, then talks to her animals, then throws herself on top of me. By the time she started asking for a banana over and over, I knew I couldn't stretch it out any longer and had to get up. Oh well, there will always be time to sleep later. Now I have to choose between taking a nap or doing treadmill today while she is napping. What a choice!
Monday, December 10, 2007
Just a few things
I haven't been very inspired to write as of late, but I'll give it a shot tonight. Lots going on with the new business, we signed the official contract tonight and will be mailing it out in the morning. So...no turning back now! :) We need to also complete the application for Guidant (the financial company helping us roll over our 401K). There is a slight hang-up with the company name, and so we need to get that ironed out before we can proceed with Guidant. Ah well. I knew there would be lots and lots to think about and do with this whole process and we've barely just begun, so we better get used to it!
Savannah has really been amazing me lately. It's as if someone flipped a little switch in her and suddenly she knows how to say things! Instead of just pointing and grunting all the time, and ultimately getting frustrated when I don't know what she wants, she is actually attempting to say what she wants. I am so pleased! This has cut down on the little fits she throws when I don't understand her. When she says a new word, I jump around like a crazy woman and make a huge deal out of it, and make her say it over and over, with which she is happy to oblige. New word for today....avocado. I was fixing her lunch, and I opened the fridge. She has a knack of sneaking in front of me when the door is opened and then perusing the contents of the fridge expectantly. There happened to be an avocado sitting at her eye level, and she pointed. I didn't think she could say "avocado" so I figured she was pointing to the blueberries next to it. "Do you want blueberries?"
"No, no, a-cow-cow," she said.
"Avocado? AVOCADO? Say it again! Say it again!"
"A-cow-cow!" (all proud of herself).
"Yay! You can say avocado!" I said as I jumped around and cheered and clapped. Then throughout the day, I would randomly have her say it again, just to hear it and also to reinforce the new word. It's a lot of fun. Other words of interest that she says now.....push, tush (these both sound so funny when she says it, I wish I could put an audio clip of her on here), peacock, NFL, splash, fall down, why, how, mess. Just a little sample. :)
I received in the mail the other day the Go-Go topper for her cake, otherwise known as Go Diego Go. I have a great vision for this cake, so we'll see how close to that vision the reality comes. I will have Jamie's help that day so that will be huge. I have not decided what to serve....I really think I will have my hands full with the cake and so am thinking that the easiest thing will be to pick up something and bring it in. If anyone has suggestions let me know. Ricardo took this picture of Savannah the other day and I think her expression is just so funny. Her eyes are always very expressive.
This one was taken a few weeks ago right after church.
Savannah has really been amazing me lately. It's as if someone flipped a little switch in her and suddenly she knows how to say things! Instead of just pointing and grunting all the time, and ultimately getting frustrated when I don't know what she wants, she is actually attempting to say what she wants. I am so pleased! This has cut down on the little fits she throws when I don't understand her. When she says a new word, I jump around like a crazy woman and make a huge deal out of it, and make her say it over and over, with which she is happy to oblige. New word for today....avocado. I was fixing her lunch, and I opened the fridge. She has a knack of sneaking in front of me when the door is opened and then perusing the contents of the fridge expectantly. There happened to be an avocado sitting at her eye level, and she pointed. I didn't think she could say "avocado" so I figured she was pointing to the blueberries next to it. "Do you want blueberries?"
"No, no, a-cow-cow," she said.
"Avocado? AVOCADO? Say it again! Say it again!"
"A-cow-cow!" (all proud of herself).
"Yay! You can say avocado!" I said as I jumped around and cheered and clapped. Then throughout the day, I would randomly have her say it again, just to hear it and also to reinforce the new word. It's a lot of fun. Other words of interest that she says now.....push, tush (these both sound so funny when she says it, I wish I could put an audio clip of her on here), peacock, NFL, splash, fall down, why, how, mess. Just a little sample. :)
I received in the mail the other day the Go-Go topper for her cake, otherwise known as Go Diego Go. I have a great vision for this cake, so we'll see how close to that vision the reality comes. I will have Jamie's help that day so that will be huge. I have not decided what to serve....I really think I will have my hands full with the cake and so am thinking that the easiest thing will be to pick up something and bring it in. If anyone has suggestions let me know. Ricardo took this picture of Savannah the other day and I think her expression is just so funny. Her eyes are always very expressive.
This one was taken a few weeks ago right after church.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Watch me grow!
We took Savannah to the doctor for her 2 year checkup yesterday. Earlier in the day as I was getting her ready, I told her where she was going.
"Savannah, you're going to the Doctor! Do you want to go see the Doctor?"
"Yeah!! Dah-ter! Dah-ter!"
She had no idea what I was talking about but I wanted it to seem like a positive thing. So we arrived at 11:30, and after we checked in and waited a bit, the nurse (my favorite one, Maryanne), came and called, "Savannah?"
Savannah, who had been scribbling on a piece of paper, looked up with surprise and a bit of alarm that someone unknown was calling her name. Ricardo said, "Wow, they called your name, let's go!" She got excited then and started running and jabbering. The nurse commented on how big she was as she took us back into the office. Savannah was very friendly with her, saying, "Hi!" and smiling at her as Maryanne listened to her heartbeat and did her other nurse stuff. Then it was time for the big weigh-in.
"22 pounds, 3 ounces," Maryanne announced. I had been expecting somewhere in this neighborhood, so I wasn't worried. "And she's 32 1/2 inches tall!"
"She's a heavyweight, huh?" Ricardo said. Oh well. She's just petite!
Then Dr. Ramirez came in, greeted us and chatted a bit about her development. He seemed impressed with her vocabulary. She was saying things to him, I can't remember what all she said, but most of it was fairly coherent. We discussed her weight, and he was happy with it, as he said she is still following her own growth curve. She's still in the 5% for her weight, but to me that was a big relief, as I was afraid she might have dropped off the charts again. He did the exam, said she looked fantastic, and then picked her up and gave her a hug. He seemed so genuinely happy to see how well she was doing, and he commented that the time had gone so fast since we first brought her in. I did mention the fact that she seems really pigeon-toed. He was aware of it, and said he thinks she'll outgrow it. We'll just keep an eye on it, but he didn't seemed concerned.
So for the record I'm going to chronicle her various weight gains (and losses!) since birth, just so I can remember them. I do have them in her baby book, but sometimes it's not convenient to pull it out, so here we go:
Birth: 7 lbs 1 oz, 19 1/2 inches
1 month: 8 lbs 8 oz
2 months: 10 lbs 4 oz, 22 inches
3 months: 11 lbs 4 oz
4 months: 12 lbs 6 oz, 24 1/2 inches
5 months: 13 lbs
6 months: 14 lbs 6 oz, 25 1/4 inches
9 months: 15 lbs 14 oz, 26 3/4 inches
10 months: 16 lbs 8 oz
11 months: 16 lbs 13 oz
12 months: 16 lbs 10 oz, 28 1/2 inches
15 months: 17 lbs 11 oz
18 months: 20 lbs 4 oz, 31 1/2 inches
2 years: 22 lbs 2 oz, 32 1/2 inches
So there you have it. Heavyweight, indeed! This probably won't mean anything to anyone but me. :) But it's nice to see that she's actually growing, and she eats plenty so I know she's ok. She's taking her nap now, I can hear her breathing loudly and evenly in the monitor so I'm going to go jump on the treadmill while I can.
"Savannah, you're going to the Doctor! Do you want to go see the Doctor?"
"Yeah!! Dah-ter! Dah-ter!"
She had no idea what I was talking about but I wanted it to seem like a positive thing. So we arrived at 11:30, and after we checked in and waited a bit, the nurse (my favorite one, Maryanne), came and called, "Savannah?"
Savannah, who had been scribbling on a piece of paper, looked up with surprise and a bit of alarm that someone unknown was calling her name. Ricardo said, "Wow, they called your name, let's go!" She got excited then and started running and jabbering. The nurse commented on how big she was as she took us back into the office. Savannah was very friendly with her, saying, "Hi!" and smiling at her as Maryanne listened to her heartbeat and did her other nurse stuff. Then it was time for the big weigh-in.
"22 pounds, 3 ounces," Maryanne announced. I had been expecting somewhere in this neighborhood, so I wasn't worried. "And she's 32 1/2 inches tall!"
"She's a heavyweight, huh?" Ricardo said. Oh well. She's just petite!
Then Dr. Ramirez came in, greeted us and chatted a bit about her development. He seemed impressed with her vocabulary. She was saying things to him, I can't remember what all she said, but most of it was fairly coherent. We discussed her weight, and he was happy with it, as he said she is still following her own growth curve. She's still in the 5% for her weight, but to me that was a big relief, as I was afraid she might have dropped off the charts again. He did the exam, said she looked fantastic, and then picked her up and gave her a hug. He seemed so genuinely happy to see how well she was doing, and he commented that the time had gone so fast since we first brought her in. I did mention the fact that she seems really pigeon-toed. He was aware of it, and said he thinks she'll outgrow it. We'll just keep an eye on it, but he didn't seemed concerned.
So for the record I'm going to chronicle her various weight gains (and losses!) since birth, just so I can remember them. I do have them in her baby book, but sometimes it's not convenient to pull it out, so here we go:
Birth: 7 lbs 1 oz, 19 1/2 inches
1 month: 8 lbs 8 oz
2 months: 10 lbs 4 oz, 22 inches
3 months: 11 lbs 4 oz
4 months: 12 lbs 6 oz, 24 1/2 inches
5 months: 13 lbs
6 months: 14 lbs 6 oz, 25 1/4 inches
9 months: 15 lbs 14 oz, 26 3/4 inches
10 months: 16 lbs 8 oz
11 months: 16 lbs 13 oz
12 months: 16 lbs 10 oz, 28 1/2 inches
15 months: 17 lbs 11 oz
18 months: 20 lbs 4 oz, 31 1/2 inches
2 years: 22 lbs 2 oz, 32 1/2 inches
So there you have it. Heavyweight, indeed! This probably won't mean anything to anyone but me. :) But it's nice to see that she's actually growing, and she eats plenty so I know she's ok. She's taking her nap now, I can hear her breathing loudly and evenly in the monitor so I'm going to go jump on the treadmill while I can.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Christmas Tea and Cucumbers
Tonight was our annual Ladies Christmas Tea at church. This is an evening where we spend hours and hours preparing a table and treats to share with guests that we have invited. And although no one would actually admit it out loud, everyone there is secretly hoping to have the prettiest table, the most scrumptious dishes, the most over-the-top presentation, etce etc. They have what they call a "parade of tables" after everyone has set up. Bear in mind that the tables are all in extremely close proximity to each other, and there are 40 or so tables in all. So you have approximately 300-400 women squeezing themselves amongst all of the tables, causing traffic jams as they make polite comments to each other about the color scheme of this table or the special delicacy at that one. All the while, I'm sure they are secretly breathing a little sigh of relief when they see a table that doesn't come close to the grandeur of their own. Yes, the spirit of competition reigns free on this night as we all fight to out-do each other.
On another note, we watched E for about an hour today. Savannah loves E, although she is still a bit young and doesn't realize that she has to be extra careful around him. They had a good time playing for about an hour. She loves it when he "chases" her. She will start in the living room and start giggling and running fast into the kitchen. He wonders what the commotion is all about and will start crawling at top speed after her. Well, she assumes he's chasing her and starts giggling and running even more. Then he gets excited and starts laughing as well, and it just escalates from there. She loves saying, "Oh no!" in a a dramatic fashion, as in, "Oh no, E is chasing me!" She loves having someone around to play with.
Random happening of the day: She ate about 15 slices of cucumber today for lunch. She had some other stuff as well, but she really went for the cucumbers. Oh! This is off the subject, but speaking of cucumbers reminded me. We occasionally go to Furrs to eat (Furrs is a cafeteria style restaurant similar to Gray's setup, but probably with lower quality food). Anyway....they had cucumber salad there once. I thought it was just fresh raw cucumbers, and so I asked for a portion for Savannah. When we got to our table, I tasted one and it had so much vinegary dressing on it that I didn't want to give it to Savannah. However, she had spotted them already and was demanding a piece. I did the only thing I could think of; I stuck it in my drinking water and rinsed it off. I think our waitress thought I was a little weird. In addition I chewed off the peeling all the way around the cucumber before handing it to her because I was afraid it might be a choking hazard. I think I embarrassed Ricardo a little bit. It is funny, but doing somewhat silly-looking things in public like this for Savannah doesn't bother me one bit. I guess it almost seems like having a child at your side gives you license to do things that would otherwise be considered as weird/unacceptable etc. I usually hate drawing attention to myself and will avoid doing anything abnormal at all costs, but when it comes to Savannah, it just doesn't matter anymore. I have no idea if what I just said makes sense, as it is after 1:00 a.m. and I need to go to bed. But it sounded good in my head! :)
On another note, we watched E for about an hour today. Savannah loves E, although she is still a bit young and doesn't realize that she has to be extra careful around him. They had a good time playing for about an hour. She loves it when he "chases" her. She will start in the living room and start giggling and running fast into the kitchen. He wonders what the commotion is all about and will start crawling at top speed after her. Well, she assumes he's chasing her and starts giggling and running even more. Then he gets excited and starts laughing as well, and it just escalates from there. She loves saying, "Oh no!" in a a dramatic fashion, as in, "Oh no, E is chasing me!" She loves having someone around to play with.
Random happening of the day: She ate about 15 slices of cucumber today for lunch. She had some other stuff as well, but she really went for the cucumbers. Oh! This is off the subject, but speaking of cucumbers reminded me. We occasionally go to Furrs to eat (Furrs is a cafeteria style restaurant similar to Gray's setup, but probably with lower quality food). Anyway....they had cucumber salad there once. I thought it was just fresh raw cucumbers, and so I asked for a portion for Savannah. When we got to our table, I tasted one and it had so much vinegary dressing on it that I didn't want to give it to Savannah. However, she had spotted them already and was demanding a piece. I did the only thing I could think of; I stuck it in my drinking water and rinsed it off. I think our waitress thought I was a little weird. In addition I chewed off the peeling all the way around the cucumber before handing it to her because I was afraid it might be a choking hazard. I think I embarrassed Ricardo a little bit. It is funny, but doing somewhat silly-looking things in public like this for Savannah doesn't bother me one bit. I guess it almost seems like having a child at your side gives you license to do things that would otherwise be considered as weird/unacceptable etc. I usually hate drawing attention to myself and will avoid doing anything abnormal at all costs, but when it comes to Savannah, it just doesn't matter anymore. I have no idea if what I just said makes sense, as it is after 1:00 a.m. and I need to go to bed. But it sounded good in my head! :)
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