A Belated Easter Greeting

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! John 11:25-26 

Easter went by in kind of a blur this year. Jessica and I had just gotten back from spending spring break with our family in Kentucky and we were kind of worn out. Jessica was thrilled to be back home with all her toys in familiar surroundings while Mark was just thrilled to have us back. We'd missed the Stroller Strides group egg hunt and we decided that Jessa was probably still to young to get much out of a crazy crowded group egg hunt, so we just stayed home. (Not that I can actually ever picture us at a crowded group egg hunt, it's not really our thing. I have to say, the Dosmann's really knew what they were doing when they decided to have a family Easter on the beach. That might be a tradition I steal.) I wanted to hit a sunrise service somewhere in Raleigh but I really didn't know where to go. Sunrise service to me equals a beach and I just couldn't get my head around a service in a carpark... I shared a bit of the Easter Message with her, but it was probably more for me than her since I don't have a children's bible yet and she seemed unimpressed at the lack of pictures in mine.

So there were no plastic eggs or chocolate bunnies in ribbon in our house but I did manage to catch a brief glimpse of the rare Easter-BunnyBabyBear....

Dear Jessica,

Next year I promise we'll do it better. Church, a meal, egg hunting and sweets.

Love,

Mummy

She's kind of awesome

and I don't care that I could be considered biased.

The other night we were eating dinner on the sofa, because we're obviously super parents. Jessica was sitting in Mark's lap happily munching through some stirfry. She, of course, decided she was done long before we were so she got down to run around. However, she was still carrying her new sippy cup. It's one of those super handy non-spill ones that we're not allowed to get the benefit from. Jessica refuses to suck from a cup these days so I have to leave the valves out. She's not quite ready to be released into the wild with a proper cup though. She can pick one up, drink and put it down again but I'm not naive enough to believe it wouldn't be an instana mess the second I looked away. I head to the kitchen to refill our non-sippy cup drinks. I come back. hmmm... sippy cup is upside down on the footstool. Luckily it's titled at just such an angle that it's not seeping out. Where's the child and why has she abandoned it there?  She's fussing with the roll of paper towels I've left on the floor from some earlier toddler incident. I pause. She tears off a piece. I look over at Mark and wave for his attention. He pauses and stares at the child. She's taken her little torn off corner of towel and is headed to a small milk spot on the carpet. Am I really seeing what I think I'm seeing? She starts dabbing at it. OH MY GOSH! Mark and I are both gobsmacked. There's lots of cheering and baby praising. She looks thrilled. We are amazed. I pick up the roll of paper towels and let her pull off a full sized piece and then I dab at the carpet with her.

My 14 month old not only understands that she's spilled milk on the carpet, she knows that it needs to be cleaned up, she knows how to clean it up, and even more impressively, she decides to clean it up all by herself!

This could be completely normal behaviour for a 14 month old, but since I've not been around many other 14 months old I choose to believe that my child is a genius. :p

Mark's comment? "She's obviously seen you do that before."  (Don't let him fool you. He thinks she's even smarter than I do.)

A walk to the park

All in all, not my best idea. We didn't have Stroller Strides today. North Hills Kids on the Commons didn't have their play blocks out today and I didn't think things through so I let Mark take the car to work. So around 1pm, Jessica (who is now very used to getting out of the house everyday) starts acting a bit restless. She sees the stroller and climbs in. I push her around the kitchen a bit. No? Not satisfying? Okay. We'll go to the park. Sounds like a superb idea doesn't it? (if you said yes, you too would be wrong.)

The closest park is North Hills. Only a mile. That's 3 minutes by car! However... that's at least 30 minutes pushing a stroller on foot. But that's okay! We can do this! Jessica is strapped in. She has a sippy cup. She's thrilled to be leaving the house! It's a lovely afternoon, not too hot if you keep moving and stay out of direct sunlight. We're making good time. I start to notice something. Hills. Lots of hills. (Apparently they didn't choose the name out of a hat when they named the place.) Right now we're predominately going down hill. That's great for now. We still have to get back home.. that requires going UP. I shake my head and try to forget about it. That will be future me's problem.

We get to the park. Hello North Hills park.

A little bit of backstory:


Tuesday we went to Bailywick park. It was warm. I had Jessica in shorts. Jessica's newest favourite past time is running. Splat. Skinned knee. I felt bad (She barely noticed)

Wednesday after Stroller Strides we played on the commons. I let Jessica go barefoot. The mats were baked in the sun and she burned her tiny feet. I felt HORRIBLE (She noticed big time, but she got over it quickly.)

So today I was prepared. She was wearing long pants. She was wearing shoes. I get her out of the stroller. She's excited. She goes running. SPLAT. This time she hits the concrete forehead first. We both noticed and we both felt horrible. She was crying. I was trying to be strong and not cry. (There were some other moms at the park who didn't even turn to look at us...) I called Mark and told him that I might be calling back in a few minutes and asking him to come pick us up. I couldn't see how I was going to walk back uphill with an injured crying child and push a stroller.

She pulled through. I didn't have to call Mark back and have him rush us to a doctor. She shook it off and played in the sand. She played on the slide. She dug in some bark. Generally, I think she enjoyed herself. 

Now it's time to head home again. Up hill. *sigh* We pack up, I give her some freeze dried strawberries to amuse her (which by the way, make her face look like she's been in a cat fight) and we head off. So far so good. Then there's the first baby hill. 

I say baby because they get worse than this. We tough it out. Get to the top and she breaks down. There's tears, there's snot, there's the world is ending bawling. There's nothing I can do. I have to get her out. So into the sling she goes. I am now wearing a hot, cranky, sweaty, sandy baby who must have a doozy of a headache. I still have to push a stroller. One handed. (and as many of you have heard me bemoan... this particular stroller does NOT go in a straight line if you're only using one hand.) Fun. We continue on. Ahhchooo! AaaaahCHOO! What in the world? Yes. I'm sneezing my head off. My head suddently aches. My eyes itch. We took a slightly different route home than the one out (I was steering for flat land) and apparently I'm allergic to something a road over from the way we came down. I have no idea how that's possible. Now we both feel rotten.

Drag the stroller up some stairs (the main elevator is apparently on service- so we had to go around the long way) and we're finally home. But there's one last little treat. The air was off in the flat so it's a toasty 78 degrees inside. 

Everything can be fixed. I took an allergy pill. Jessica's taking a nap. The air is on and I just ate something like 20 mini-nila wafers... can't let there be a net calorie loss today. 

Happy Birthday Leeloo!!

well.. yesterday. Her birthday didn't pass unnoticed but there wasn't a spare second to write up a Happy Birthday post for her yesterday. Considering that she can't read and doesn't use the computer very often, I don't think the belated nature of this post will bother her greatly.

 

Happy 7th Birthday Leeloo Kitty! We love you and can't even imagine what the past 7 years would have been like without you! You're an amazing furbaby!

Milestones

I wrote this a few weeks ago while we were without internet and I entirely forgot to actually post it.

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My kitchen is completely clean for the first time since our things arrived and Jessa is still asleep. The internet isn’t getting connected until Wednesday, so there’s nothing to distract me. Time to write!

This is less of a – what’s going on in our world post and more of an information dump. J As a new parent meeting lots of other new parents I can say, with complete authority, that one thing we love to talk about are milestones. We know that we shouldn’t compare our child to another, the same way we know that children all develop at their own pace. Just because your little one isn’t walking by 15 months doesn’t mean they won’t grow up to be an Olympic athlete. However, this does not stop us from throwing dates around like hot commodities. Picture moms on the stock exchange floor… (I exaggerate. J) So far all the moms I’ve met seem to have their Mommy pride in good check!

That said… I love to know when other babies hit their milestones. I just want to know what the general curve is, where mine is on it and what those other moms whose babies play concert piano are doing! ;)

So here it is, in black and white: Jessica’s First Year

Born: 6:06pm GMT February 18^th, 2010 (11 hours and 17 minutes after the first twinge) Here’s the full birth story as recounted by Daddy for those that are interested. Construction Complete

Stats: Weight- 8lbs, Length- 49cm, Head- 35.5cm

First lifted her head: By 3 weeks

Started grabbing things: at 6 weeks

First smile: Between 4 and 5 weeks

First laugh: 18 weeks – chuckling, 19 weeks – proper laughter

First unassisted roll over: 14 weeks

First able to sit up alone: 5 ½ months

First tooth – almost 6 months

First crawled on her knees: 27 weeks (6 months 3 days)

First stood unaided: 7 ½ months

First pointed: 9 months 2 days

First clapped: 9 months 10 days

First waved: 9 months 10 days (it was a busy month for you!)

First steps unaided: 10 months 10 days
* Proper walking: 10 months 17 days
* Confidant walking: 11 months

Baby See - Baby Do #2

The manicurist.

This afternoon, Jessa and I were sitting on the sofa. Well, less sitting and more clambering (her, not me). After much stretching and climbing she managed to reach the nail clippers I'd stashed on the end table. I spend a lot of time taking them away from her. I'm honesty not sure how she keeps finding them. When I want them it seems to take me at least 15 minutes to find a pair. Before I can reach her, she's brought her foot up to her face (gotta love that baby flexibility) and she's tapping her toes with the nail clippers. Okay come on folks, time for a collective aaw. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWW!

Random ramblings

Oh bah. I hate it when that happens. Walking home from class today I knew there was something I wanted to write about. I get home, feed the bear, get the bear down for a nap, feed myself, open computer... draw complete blank. Delightful. It was interesting too. I'm sure of it.

In other, less interesting news. My brain is frazzled (nothing new there.) A few minutes ago I was in the kitchen making lunch. I got a glass out and filled it with tea. I reheated last night's dinner and then got a glass out and filled it with sparkling water. I let that sink in for a second... Yes. 2 glasses, 2 drinks. Either I was really thirsty or my subconscious knew I shouldn't be drinking tea after my free, post class, Starbucks indulgence.

*Starbucks tangent* mmmm free Starbucks... I filled in one of those on the recipet surveys the other day and was rewarded with a free tall drink, which the staff instore said was just silly and that I could have any size I wanted. Of course I went for a large.. or a venti as they call it. When it's free why wouldn't you?

Side note (or should that be side question)?: Do you actually call the drinks at Starbucks - Tall, Grande and Venti? I can't seem to make myself do it. Besides forgetting which each one corresponds to unless I'm staring at the menu, I feel like a complete gob saying it. Like it's some private Starbucks joke and that somewhere Baldwin, Siegl, and Bowker (the founders- look you learned something!) are giggling every time someone says it.

And since I haven't actually remembered what I signed in to write about like I'd hoped I would. I'll leave you at that.