Amelie is 13 months old

So where were we...oh, yes. We're at 13 months for my little bitty baby. Of course, she weighs more now, but in my heart, I'm holding on for dear life for her to remain her sweet baby-self. I still hold her in my arms  for her before-bed bottle every night. It's my favorite part of the day! Alia would have nothing to do with this feeding/cuddle session after about 6 months old...she was a big girl so fast.

Amelie has 9 teeth, including one big, bad molar that gives her endless pain. She "talks" constantly. When she's upset she will look you right in the face and cry and shout "baba-baba-baaaa! boka boga!" as if we're having a conversation.  Amelie loves to look at family photographs in frames. Every morning when I wake up and pick her up from her bed, we walk by a series of our framed wedding photos on the wall just outside her door. She insists we stop and she points to each and every face and I name the person. When we get to Daddy, she says Dha-Dha! and for Mommy, she says "Ma-Ma!". For everyone else, she just looks directly and intently at my mouth to get maximum understanding of what I'm saying and how to say it.

Amelie has a few new favorite things to do...the first is she zooms away after we get her dried off after her nightly bath. We have a happy streaker on our hands. And if you try to stop her? She goes completely limp and falls to the ground and cries. So best to leave her to streak for a few minutes and then basically work her into her clothes without disrupting whatever she's engaged with...which, after her bath, is usually the ball-popper in the hallway where the balls can't get to far away (we used to play with this in the play room but all the balls end up under the desk and result in head bumping and tears). Amelie also loves television. I know...I silently and unsilently judge myself for this fact. Alia wasn't even allowed TV until she was 15 months old when I decided to allow her to watch Baby Signing Time. But Amelie has been watching and signing for quite awhile. Amelie also loves my best home-made toy ever...I stuffed an old wallet with old and useless cards (grocery store club cards, etc.) and let her pull them all out. Every trip to the grocery store ended with her pining for my wallet, and once she had it she disassembled it....thus, the creation of her very own wallet. And the neat thing is? Once Amelie takes all the cards out? I can ask Alia to put them all back and it's just the right task to challenge her dexterity! A win win! And Mommy gets to keep her platinum card where it belongs!

Amelie is a lover. She hugs. She cuddles. She tilts her head to the side and rests it on the couch while looking up at me with her sweetest little Amelie smile.

And when she's tired? She likes to walk around and around and around while shouting aaaaaaaaaaah! aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! It's quite a sight.

Amelie transitioned away from formula last month and has a love of whole milk now. In fact, as of today, we're re-strategizing her feeding times and volumes because she would basically go without food entirely (except for her beloved Cheerios) in favor of milk. Which has had some issues, mainly of the tiny little constipated poop variety. But all in all, we're progressing. I know she's a toddler now. But not in my head. In my head she is Baby.

Alia is 28 months old!

Alia is busy. Alia sings her ABC's with certainty. Alia runs and hops and sings and shouts. All the time.

Alia is funny and quirky and lovely and silly. She says funny things like "Mommy got a haircut!" when I haven't changed my hair in, well, months! Alia tells me that she "loves Froggy soooo much. She loves Amelie soooo much! She's my little baby sister! Ahhhh, pooooor little baby Amelie! (pronounced Amony by Alia). Froggy loves his little baby sister too!" Froggy is her little diplomat to the world. He shares in all she does. When we're in the car, we point out the big orange auto-mall balloon to Alia, and she points it out to Froggy. We point out new Christmas lights on an evening drive? She points them out to Froggy. She catches a cold? Froggy sneezes. Really.

This week Alia got a new Froggy, which she promptly named Wee-Wee-Wa. She thinks the name is hilarious, but it is definitely a name that stuck from the moment she brought him home. I venture to say that he won't take the place of her original Froggy (of which there are currently 4 in rotation since they are washed twice a week), but he has added to her flock. Let's see...how many Froggies has my funny little girl collected in her 28 months? Well, there's Regular Froggy (this is what she calls him...also known as Gai Kai, her originally Froggy love). Then there's his invisible backups of which she knows nothing about. There's Baby Froggy (who's small), Easter Froggy (that came in from Aunty Carol in her Easter basket), Poo Poo Froggy (who's hands she holds when she has to go poo poo), Noni Froggy that her Grandma Noni bought her, and Pokey Dot Froggy (a gift from my Dad) who has a polka dot belly...a recent gift for Amelie which was taken over by Alia....my Dad had to buy a second one for Amelie.

I recently had Alia's very first parent-teacher conference at Montessori. Her teacher was very complimentary of the progress she has made since she began only a few months ago. She felt that Alia had transformed from a baby to a little girl before her eyes. Her social skills and awareness has also developed considerably...she is a good friend and sensitive to others. She has also recently began playing with other kids rather than around other kids. She's no longer on the periphery.

Alia has been very challenging for me from a discipline perspective. She can be very stubborn and it frustrates me beyond imagination at times. Sometimes I should be sending myself to time out but I tend to forget in the heat of the moment. As a parent, I am trying very hard. I guess we all are, huh? I have to remind myself that she challenges me (sometimes it seems constantly) because she is so bright and it's her job to try to manipulate her environment to her liking...but it's my job to steer her, keep her safe, and love her. But on those days? I'm doing good to get through the day.

This month, Alia has found a love of painting. Nearly every afternoon we paint together while Amelie naps. She also loves Play-Doh and recently discovered a love of Legos. In fact, a trip to Pottery Barn Kids is all it takes to take up a tough hour at the end of the day because they have a prominently displayed Lego Table right in the front of the store that captures her attention...she's even willing to share with the other kids!

So that's it in a nutshell. Alia is blowing us away all the time with what she's capable of doing, her newly found independence, and comfort of doing things "big girl self". She is transitioning before our eyes from a  toddler that was wobbly not too long ago to a little girl that loves to show off her morning fashion for the camera.

Amelie is 12 Months!

I have a new one year old! Amelie has left her infancy and babyhood and has now entered the world of toddler! So what's new with Amelie?

Amelie has a definite sense of humor. Among the funnier things she does (after refusing to lie down during diaper changes a couple of months back) is she demands that I sing to her while she has her bottle and gets her diaper changed...on my lap. Her little maestro finger bobs up and down while her little mouth forms a milky smile. Sing, Mommy, sing! And not that song!
Amelie plays keep away with whatever object she gets her hands on...be it Alia's beloved Froggy or a piece of fuzz off the floor.

Amelie signs for sleep, banana, stars, more, and says "Yeah, shoes, bow wow" of which bow wow is her first real word.

Amelie walks around like crazy...we have counted 50 little wobbley steps in a row. She enjoys being in the center of groups of people. She is truly a social little girl when surrounded by people she is comfortable with.

Amelie, too likes to be tossed in the air when daddy comes home, although is quickly and easily frightened when there is the slightest bit of air between her and daddy's hands...unlike her sister who isn't happy until she hits the rafters.

Amelie now eats on her own and hates to be fed; if we put something on a fork, she gets it in her mouth. Amelie loves eating anything from pouches...you know, the Ella's Kitchen pouches? We take the top off and she sucks away happily. Amelie also drinks from sippy cup now, and has transitioned off formula for most part; in the interest of using up the last bit of formula, she still has an a.m. and p.m. bottle. She loves to eat smoked turkey breast, cheese, avacado, goldfish crackers, and as said before, anything in a pouch.

Amelie is outgrowing clothes left and right and is in the 97th percentile of height and 80th percentile of weight, which is what she has always measured.

Amelie is still much more of a baby at one year than Alia was. She still loves to be held during her early morning bottle, and cuddles in to my chest and drifts back to sleep when she's done. I have to say, the second time around, I'm not in such a hurry for Amelie to hit milestones and grow out of this phase....although she is hitting all of her milestones ahead of time. I treasure her little body going heavy on my lap after her bottle. I drink in the way her little pudgy hands grasp things. I know our time in this little wonderful part of her life is going to be gone before I know it so I'm focused on filling my heart with her sweet baby-self.

Twins...not Froggies

Yesterday while waiting to get Alia's immunizations up to date, there was a tandom stroller in the pediatrician's office with two tiny new babies in it. It captured Alia's attentnion that there were two babies. 


I told her, "when people get two babies instead of one, they are called twins". She pondered that for a minute. 


Then she looked at me and said "they're twins....not froggies". 


It was all I could do to keep it together. I always try not to laugh when she says things like that because I remember feeling like people were laughing at me as a kid and I hated it. But anyway, I replied, "you're right Alia. Those are twins. Not froggies." And she said "Yeaaaah" while nodding knowingly.

This morning, I was putting Amelie down for her nap, so Kori took Alia to her room to play quietly. When I walked in, Alia (who has been refusing potty training) was on the potty with no pants, and Kori was painting her little toes. Pink. How cute is that?

Thoughts from a stay at home Mom (ages 1 and 2)

I recently received an email from a long time friend that expressed concern that my life has become out of balance. Now to be fair, I do mention being tired a lot, and it's true that up until last month, I rarely had so much as 5 minutes in the car by myself because we have a 1 year old and a 2 year old. That's just the way it is. 

Now, my concerned friend very cautiously presented a few ideas. She stated that, "you need to build more time into your day for you.  I mean, even me, a single, working mom gets a pedicure when I want one - I have to!  It's what keeps me balanced." She went on to assure me that ,"I'm totally expressing my opinions here and don't intend to be pushy or shove my ideas of motherhood on you.  Just some ideas.  I'm wondering if maybe you feel like, because you're stay at home, you're supposed to be "on" and in Mommy mode all day long every day.  Well, in my opinion, that just doesn't have to be the case."

She suggested putting my eldest daughter in school more days/times. She suggested using my nanny in different ways to free up my time (which, let me tell you, 1-2 hours alone with these little ones is a lot for me, and I'm their Mom!!) She suggested that I "go to a coffee shop nearby and getting a coffee and reading a book. One hour or two hours won't hurt anything." She went on to mention that she takes 3 hours on a Saturday once a month or so for herself. 

After reading her email, I thought I should do stuff for myself every day! And then I was thinking back to when I was working outside the home...and I realized, I didn't take pedicure breaks then. I didn't go to a coffee shop and read a book during my business day. Can you imagine telling your peers, "guys, I'm outta here for awhile...I need some me-time".  And then it occurred to me that no matter how far women have come at being liberated and being able to have a choice in their careers, no one, even my progressive contemporaries consider staying at home to be a job. 

For the decade-plus I was in the paid workforce, I chatted endlessly with my peers about the challenges of our industry, the limitations of the company I worked for, the shortcomings of certain products, and the general stresses of the day. But now I realize that  Mom's that stay at home aren't allowed to bitch about their days or stresses to their friends without being labeled as "out of balance". Perhaps it's because somewhere in there, we all have held the opinion that being a stay at home Mom is the "after working my career, I'll slow down a little and stay at home with the kids." God knows I thought that and I had a very rude awakening.

Now this is all being said as an intellectual assessment, a comment on perspectives (including my own!). This is an awakening in my own mind because for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why when I had a hard time at work, it was considered the norm and accepted. But when I talk about a lack of sleep and being busier than ever in the home setting, it must be that I'm over-doing it because home shouldn't be that hard...especially with all the help I have. But isn't it funny that we never think that and Executive shouldn't be busy because he has a secretary?  

Alia is 27 months old!

Where is the time going? Amelie just had her 1st birthday and I still haven't written about Alia's past month!

Well for starters, Montessori is going amazingly well. We decided to move Alia from 3 mornings a week to 5 because the structure suits her and the days she doesn't go, she asks to go. She gets along with her teacher very well, and loves to tell us about her day's activities when she gets home. She is still indifferent about the other kids there, but that's a HUGE step forward from where we started when Alia was openly frightened of the other kids and refused to enter the classroom.

Alia's language development is blowing us away monthly! She has gone from referring to herself in the third person to "I" this month. She counts to 20, and has a real grasp of the alphabet. She identifies "D-like Daddy!" and "M- like Mommy" and "O-like Dr. O" (her pediatrician).

Alia's terrible 2's have prompted me to reach out and talk to other Moms about how to steer kids at this age. I bought a parenting book that gives me a lot of hope called 1-2-3 Magic, and although I've only read 21 pages, the tools I've already picked up work well.

Alia's favorite thing is still Froggy, Daddy, her Olivia books, or anything her sister is playing with. She loves Elmo, talking about her day, hearing stories of things we've done together, and waiting for Daddy to come home.

Alia began eating turkey this month after about 10 months of refusing meat. We can thank Costco samples for that...you just never know what she'll eat while out and about.

As a Mom I'm focusing on following the guidelines of 1-2-3 Magic by consciously showering her in love and affection and praise for the good things she does. I try to start out our day positive by playing peek a boo with her with a stuffed animal when I get her up in the morning. I find if she starts the day laughing, her Diva alter ego is more likely to stay repressed, and my Angry Mom persona can have a break too!

Alia makes us laugh. Her smile melts our hearts. She has that affect on a lot of the people in her life, from family to teachers to Moms of her classmates. We are so fortunate to have this wonderful albeit boundary-pushing little person in our lives.

Amelie is 11 months old!

This month, Amelie turned 11 months old. Another cold came and went (and oddly, we found Benedryl hinders her sleep, unlike her drug addict sister, who wants nothing than to be sick so she can have "meh-cine"). She has 7 teeth...two more teeth came in and another is approaching. She is growing like crazy. Her hair is thickening, and she's started to scoot along the couch like a pro. Oh, and did I mention? At just 10.5 months old, she began signing for milk, thanks to Baby Signing Time. Yes, the same program that taught Alia to sign at 15 months? Has proven to be totally effective with much younger babies! And now she can say "more" and "ball" in sign language. Pretty impressive!

Amelie likes nothing more than to watch her sister. She thinks she's terrific. Amelie also feeds herself like a champ (cheerios and organic puffs) and no longer wants to be fed like a baby. Amelie is fast...she crawls across the room making an "ahhahhahh" noise matching the beat of her crawl. Amelie is the warm spot in my heart that makes me almost want to cry when I think of her. I love her more every day....if that's possible.

Amelie is still gentle and delicate. She hates when anyone takes something from her. She gets her feelings hurt very easily. In fact, when she was gnawing away on her crib today, I said "no, no, Mimi" in the softest voice possible and she still burst into tears. She doesn't like to be told what to do, apparently.

Amelie has also laid claim on people, too. Daddy now belongs to her, too, and she's not afraid to compete for his attention. She does this by shaking her head back and forth, back and forth while smiling and giggling while sitting on the floor. It's the best trick she has and she isn't afraid to use it to detract from Alia's attention.

Amelie no longer lets things stand in the way of what she wants. She has decided she wants in the tub with Alia every night at bath time, and will stop at nothing...she practically launches herself over the tub wall and into the tub fully clothed. The only problem? Sometimes she refuses to sit down, which makes it quite a slippery and dangerous event!

Amelie is pure sweetness. She still likes to jump like crazy in the Jumperoo. She loves the Leap Frog music table as well as pressing the keys on the keyboard. Amelie likes to pull the board books from the shelf one by one and then scoot them across the floor. In fact, scooting things across the floor is one of her favorite pastimes.

Amelie still drinks her share of formula, although next month we'll be switching over to milk. She has taken to a red monkey stuffed animal as well as a tan bear that she now sleeps with every night. I suppose we should name them, huh?

So that's it in a nutshell. As we approach her first birthday, I am so sad to realize my baby will be done being a baby so soon. I'm just fortunate enough to be here to be her Mommy.

here, Amelie sits happily with her favorite flashcard....

...until Alia notices Amelie is so happy

...and decides she too would like the flashcard....

...and takes it from her sister

...and Amelie strikes back with her best weapon....

...the saddest little face in the world....and Amelie wins!

Who, me?

I'm sitting here reviewing and correcting a few blog posts, and that's when it hit me. I haven't been mentioned in my blog in a looooooong time! Which is very parallel to my life, too, since it does seem that my life is all about my girls, but still! Don't I exist?

So what's new with me? Well, let's see. I hired a new nanny. She's fantastic. She's young and energetic and is great with the girls. I also worked out for the first time in --count them-- three years yesterday and today! That's right...three years went by since my last workout. I miscarried Alia's twin and that was the last of exercise for me. Oh, sure, after I had Alia, I worked out for maybe 3 or 4 weeks when she was around four months old, but that cycle was interrupted by a trip to Florida to visit my Dad and I never returned to it. See, I'm an all-or-nothing girl. I'm in the zone, or I am not even on the same planet as the zone. So yesterday? When Amelie was asleep and Ajay took Alia out for a little air? I popped in a video and tried my best to keep up with those fit and happy people on my tv. And I sweated. And I hurt. And I made it through it. And today? When Alia went down for a nap and Ajay mentioned he'd like to take Amelie for a little outing? I popped in the video again and enjoyed another sweat-filled 45 minutes.

And now? I'm so sore that I simply must sit here. And thus, the update on me. Sitting at my desk. Writing about my soreness as Amelie sleeps and Alia swims with Daddy on a 98 degree September day.

Alia is 26 Months old!

Not a lot has changed this month, other than the fact that Alia chats away non-stop!
Her sentence development is really coming along...she strings 6 or 7 words together at a time very regularly, and has grasped concepts and come up with her own way of saying things very clearly, such as, "no poo poo on the potty right now...later". That's right...we had poo poo in the potty! Once. And since then? We get "no poo poo on the potty right now...later". And when she says "later" she scrunches up her nose. It's cute...very cute....but somewhat...well, frustrating!

Alia is definitely in transition with a lot of things. She is riding the line between baby and little girl. She participates in crafts at school, works puzzles like a maven on her own at school. She is becoming more independent every day much to my delight and also much to my sadness. I am so proud of her and her progress. She amazes me. But I also want to stop the clock and hold on to this lovely little toddler that greets me every morning with "Hi! Mommy! How! Are! You?!" with fuzzy hair and footy pajamas holding her frog between her big head and little shoulders.

Alia says "I love you, Mommy" and "I love you, Daddy". And just when we think we'll melt at all the sweetness going on? She says, "I love you, Elmo" and "I love you, Potty".

Alia got new shoes for school. She has reverence for them because they are her very special school shoes. She only gets to wear them at school (for the most part) and treats them very nicely.

Alia has come out of her shell even more this month. She greets all adults whether she knows them or not. At school she observes closely as other girls go potty in the big girl potty, as well as how boys shout and wrestle around with one another. Alia reports back things she does, things she likes, as well as things she does not like. For example....when I'm around and our nanny is here, Alia says "Alia no like . Alia like Mommy better". And when Daddy's around? Alia says, "Alia no like Mommy. Alia like Daddy better." We've got our work cut out for us in this area! She has such a hierarchy in her mind and feels the need to tell us very explicitly just what she's thinking!

So there you have it...another month flew by in a flash. And my little baby is one step closer to being a little girl!

Amelie is 10 months old!

Well, here I am typing because I have 14 minutes before picking Alia up from Montessori and Amelie is down for a nap. Let's talk about Amelie!

Amelie points. Amelie giggles. And Amelie crawls----fast. She feeds herself puffs and Cheerios with her little dimpled fingers. And given any opportunity, she pulls to a standing position. In fact, I've even helped her to balance and let go and watched in amazement while she stood for 2 seconds before realizing it.

And sleep? weeeeell....let's just say we're hopeful. At this moment, Amelie has pushed 6 little teeth through some very agitated little gums, and for the moment (i.e., the last two nights), we've had an honest night's sleep. But the nights before that? We were up at 11, 1, 3, 4, 6. You get the idea. These have been some very tired days. And the funny thing is that every day I'm becoming more experienced as a Mommy of two babies, and yet I don't feel too much more confident that I know the real reasons why we're having sleep problems. Could be teeth? yep. Could be a phase? yep. Could be hungry because her teeth hurt and she doesn't like eating on those days? yep. Could be a disruption in sleep pattern and overall sleep confusion? yep. So my answer to all this is to treat it like jet lag and try to retrain her on when she should be sleeping and for how long. I started this two days ago and knock wood, it's working. See, since she wasn't sleeping well at night, she'd want to take a two hour morning nap. So I'd let her seeing that she was exhausted. But then she refused to take any meaningful afternoon nap at all. Thirty minutes was a gift. And you know what? Reflecting back to Alia at the same age, she wanted to do the exact same thing. Which is not what you want when it means that they're so exhausted by 6PM that they're spinning and then basically too tired to sleep by the time it's bedtime. So. I limit Amelie's a.m. nap to an hour and fifteen minutes. She goes down at 10:15 and we wake her up at 11:30. Then she's good until she goes down again at 3. This time I let her sleep as long as she wants to, which is usually and hour and a half or two hours. And something amazing happened. By shortening that morning nap by a simple fifteen minutes, she sleeps in the afternoon! She sleeps at night! Her sleep is better distributed over the 24 hour day. So that's where we are. At the moment anyway. Who knows, maybe the 3rd day is a charm or maybe the 3rd day isn't.

Amelie's favorite things are watching Alia, her Noisy Farm book, Alia's Froggy,  the Moo, Baaaa, La La La book, going Costco and any other store where people admire her, and riding in the shopping cart. Amelie loves her new big girl car seat that allows her to see out---who knew that there were rear-facing car seats that convert to a toddler seat?! Okay, well, I knew this, but I never really understood the benefit before...but that's a whole different blog for another day. Amelie also loves to go to toddler soccer on Sundays and watch all those silly big kids chasing the soccer ball. And last night had to be the best thing ever for Amelie....getting in tub with Alia. Oh, and I almost forgot the most important favorite....Amelie is craaaaaazy about her new nanny!

Alia is 25 Months old!

Okay, so here we are in the middle of Alia's 25th month on the planet. In addition to beginning pre-school with two weeks of orientation, Alia has had other big developments. Like sentences! Alia regularly points to the big 76 ball at the gas station and says "Lilo, peez get big ball down! Aya! bounce! Mommy!"meaning (for those of you that don't speak Alia) "Leonel, could you please get that big ball down? Alia and Mommy are going to bounce it." Yes we are talking about the big round sign at the 76 station, but those are details.

Alia has made very little progress with potty training simply because we haven't driven it home. We dropped the ball. We went from putting her on the potty every day throughout the day to basically....not. But I swear we'll get around to it this weekend....when we get time. See? Not her fault!

Alia loves Elmo. A while back I bought Elmo in Grouchland, which is a full length movie starring Elmo.  Alia can now explain whatever is going on....such as "all fell down! Slipped banana!"

In an effort to continue socializing Alia, we have begun playing toddler soccer on Sunday mornings which is just awesome. The main focus is to kick the ball. That's it. So everyone brings a ball or two and watches the chaos as a dozen or so toddlers run after balls, collect them, point to them, cry at them, and yes, sometimes even kicking happens!

Alia is also really socially develping too. She says hi to everyone! Going down the street, she'll wave to neighbors, flowers (she says hiiiiii, flower!), and also waves bye-bye and will even offer kisses to her favorite people. Her language skills have really taken of. Her ability to communicate her needs and wants have improved dramatically. When upset, Alia cries and says "Daddy hug Aya" or "Mommy hug Aya"

Alia's favorite things are still Froggy, macaroni and cheese, avacado, nectarines, Daddy, looking cute in special outfits, and ribbons in her hair. At mealtime, she has created a game called "hide Daddy Monkey" on her favorite plate which is full of-you guessed it-a family of monkeys. She likes to uncover each monkey and shout "Mommy monkey out! Hide Mommy monkey" which is her way of saying, more, please!"

Alia's latest favorite phrase is big-girl-self. Meaning, I can do it, I'm a big girl, by my self! Alia loves her two Olivia the Pig books. She reads along with them with her finger following the words and really loves the parts that refer to having a baby sibling.

Alia still loves music and sings several songs....loud, proud and almost accurate with the words. Twinkle, Twinkle goes a little something like this...."twinkle TWINKLE LIT-TO STAW,  how iwundoupu-are. UP UP UP world sohigh, dimonsky. TWINKLE TWINKLE LIT-TO STAW, how wonda-u-are.

And finally this month, Alia has proclaimed her love for Ajay once again by letting us all know she is a boy....like Daddy.

Preschool orientation...week 2

Last week Alia completed an entire week of orientation at the Montessori. A couple of weeks back, she  attended Monday through Thursday. During that week she did really well on Day 1 and Day 2. But by Wednesday she realized that she wasn't at home, she wasn't with Mommy, she wasn't in familiar surroundings, and who the hell are all these people, anyway!? So Wednesday the tears came. The entire morning. At 10:30 the teacher called to say I should come to get Alia because she couldn't seem to calm her down. And day 4 I bargained that I would just come with her and stay with her as long as she was comfortable. And I ended up staying the entire day with her. Not good. Oh, and did I mention on Friday she didn't go at all because her uncle was visiting from New York?

Flash forward to this week. This week I tried to stay on message and consistent. School is fun. Miss Cindy is nice and kind and takes good care of Alia. They have fun playhouses at school. I kept the drop-off loving and warm and reassuring but brief. I reassured Alia that Mommy will come right back to get her. And the week went something like this.... Monday, Alia was a trooper about getting ready for school, but as we drove up the whimpering began. I had to force her out of my arms and into Miss Cindy's. Tuesday was much the same, only more tears and more awareness of the situation. Wednesday? Forget about it...the crying began fastening her into her carseat. Thursday and Friday? Well, on those two days the crying began while changing her out of her night time diaper and through breakfast.

But the good news? Once we got passed those tears, she became more and more capable of coping with the situation on her own. Early in the week, the teachers told Alia that it was okay to stop crying and it was okay to be happy there. They next taught her to count to 3 and then stop crying. And later that day? They overheard Alia begin to whimper (which happens at the end of an activity in which she was engaged when the realization that she's not with me at home occurs to her), then cry, and then told herself "1,2, free, stop cwying, Aya. Happy!" (She calls herself Aya as she can't pronounce ah-lee-uh yet.)

Monday through Wednesday, Alia would only play outside with direct adult supervision (one to one) and would not join the others in the classroom. My guess is she is overwhelmed when surrounded by so much. Alia has also shown a fear of other kids from a very young age, so I'm sure that contributes to her lack of desire to join the others in the classroom. Once the headmaster realized Alia's fear, she suggested we try something new on Thursday...rather than showing up at the same time as all the others, let's bring her in an hour later after all the commotion. We'll hand her off to a teacher's aid who can play with her outside until it's time for snack and recess. Well...let me just say I was really relieved to see such a caring and attentive understanding of my daughter and her particular needs. So I was on board! Only what is it they say...something about the best laid plans...? Yeah...on Thursday I showed up when I was supposed to but the aid? She was heading out the door to go home sick. So instead of following through on the promises I had told her all the way to school (don't worry Alia, no classroom today...just playing outside with Mrs. Sam), she was handed directly to Miss Cindy, who was now solo, and kicked and cried as she was torn from my arms and dragged into the classroom with all the other kids. Who had already been there an hour and looked at Alia like a social pariah! Exhale. So a few minutes later I got the call from the headmaster who apologized profusely that our plan didn't go as planned. She understood my frustration and assured me she would monitor Alia and keep me posted over the next hour. And to my surprise, she called with good news that Alia was doing well in the classroom. Not great, but not better than expected. She ended up staying an hour and I picked her up.

And Friday? The same routine in the morning. Crying. Bargaining, or at least her 2-year-old version of it. But when the headmaster called with the mid-morning update? I got the news that Alia had been in the classroom all morning. She played alongside other kids without getting freaked out. Alia helped to pass out the napkins at snack. And that my friends, wrapped up week two of pre-school orientation.

No boo boos!

Today, standing before me in her diaper, Alia pointed to her teeny tiny little boobies.

Alia: No boo boos!

Me: What Alia, do you want Mommy to take them off?

Alia: Yes!

Me: Alia, everyone has boobies!

Alia: Yeah?

Me: Mommy has them. Daddy has them. Amelie has them. (at which time we all show Alia our boobies, one by one.)

Alia: NO BOOBIES!!!!!!

Until tomorrow's bathtime...

Amelie Crawls!

That's my girl!

Montessori, here we come!

Today is among the hardest days I've had...my baby started preschool!

I had all the emotion of a first-time-Mommy dropping off her beloved 2 year old at the Montessori. I cried in the parking lot like everyone said I would. Okay, that's not entirely true. While I did cry in the parking lot, the tears actually began in the classroom. That's right.

You know the whole "be strong for her"? I tried. Believe me I tried. But as soon as the teacher came over and asked how we were doing, meaning how was Alia doing, I burst into tears.

Yep. I am a big mushy loser.

But the good news? Alia did great!

Alia is 24 months old! That's right, 2!!!

Alia turned 2 this week, and as her Mommy, I couldn't be prouder. Alia continues to grow and develop before our eyes. Her verbal skills simply amaze us. Last month, Alia became a real pro at our iPhone...in fact, she played with it all the way to and from Turkey. And this month? Alia's skills of asking for the iPhone went from, "iBod!" to "Peez, Daddy iBod" meaning she wanted Daddy's iPhone. And when we give it to her? She replies with "Peez, Mommy iBod, one, two iBod" which means, "I would like Mommy's iPod too, you know, both of them!". So any time Alia wants both of anything, both toys, both spoons, etc., she says "one two toy" or "one, two spoons". She is a counting maven. The only problem is she gets excited and moves ahead of herself sometimes...."one, two, FIVE!" is a common expression in our house.

Along with Alia's counting, she says "whassup, Mommy!", "whassup, Daddy!", and of course, "whasup, iBod!"Alia also has learned to say "sorry" in addition to signing it when she's done something wrong. Only it comes out "sozzzzzy", which is about the cutest thing ever when coupled with her big round brown eyes looking up at you like a pathetic puppy while signing "sorry".

Last month, Alia surprised us with her first string of 3 words, being "ice, ice, baby!". And this month? We hear Ice, Ice, Daddy! Ice, Ice, Mommy, Ice, Ice Amonie!, Ice, Ice, iBod! ....Alia definitely has a great sense of humor!

Alia has begun potty training, although I'll be the first to admit, I'm somewhat feeling my way through this and could be a whole lot more diligent. Basically, first thing in the morning, I put her on her potty. Then later in the day we go to sit on the potty. The first time we did it? We got pee pee in the potty!!!! and out of all the times since? We've had success two more times. We did find that she will sit on the potty indefinitely if we keep her company and offer her very special new "potty toys" which Ajay was wise enough to shop for. These are toys that are only played with while on the potty and not allowed anywhere else. However, today? I noticed her interest in the toys was much greater than interest in making pee pee in the potty. Finally, I asked Alia, "Alia, where is the pee pee?" and she responded with her big smile and pointed to her little hoo-hoo and said "pee pee hide!"

Which is the perfect segue to Alia's other new favorite pass-time...hide and seek! Only in our game? Mommy sits in a dining room chair and feeds Amelie and Alia runs and hides under the table and yells, "HIDE! TABLE!" and I respond with "Oh, no! Where has my Alia gone? I can't find her anywhere!" and then she dashes out and waits for me to say "There she iiiiiiis!" and she comes and hugs my legs. Oh, and hugs? Alia now gives them freely and asks for them when she's sad. Only she pronounces it "ug!, Mommy!"

We celebrated Alia's birthday on a boat with the people she requested to be invited...being, my friend Z, her husband Barry, their baby son Sirous, as well as our friends/neighbors Jim and Carol. We did a two hour harbor cruise and had cake. Only Alia didn't want cake (fine by Amelie...more for her!). She wanted MINT! Ice cream that is. Her favorite favorite food in the world. Plain mint. No chips. Like the ice cream she ate in Turkey every day.

So there you have it. I have a two year old. Sweet? Oh, yes! And naughty? You tell me....(that's my cream couch with purple crayon if you couldn't tell...)

Amelie is 9 months...and we're busy!

With Alia beginning Montessori and Amelie getting active, oh, yeah, and transitioning from one nanny and finding another one to replace her, we are busy.

But Amelie?

Oh, she is sweet. She is ready to crawl. Only her current crawl looks more like a downward dog pose and then collapses to her bottom. She repeats this over and over and moves across the floor in a random direction at a very slow pace.

Amelie is pointing. Her favorite thing to do is explore the inside of my mouth with her cute little pointer.

Amelie also likes *gulp* Elmo in Grouchland. Yes, remember my strict rules for Alia that she should have no TV until the age of 2? Well, now Alia's 2 and the TV is on from time to time, and guess who loves it!? That's right.

Amelie is 8 months old!

This summer has been wonderful. First there were 3 weeks in Turkey, and then a week after returning, we headed out for another week in Napa. With all this together time, Amelie has really thrived!

Amelie sits up. Amelie has two teeth. Amelie says MAMAMA! She loves her sister. I mean, she has always loved Alia, but all it takes to perk up a cranky Amelie is to put Alia in front of her and the world's biggest baby smile spreads across Amelies round Charlie Brown face!

Amelie is now a bona-fide member of our family. She has her likes and dislikes, and has begun to express them, albeit in a much more subtle way than her sister Alia!

This month Amelie has changed to four 8 oz. bottles per day and three solid meals. Unfortunately, she's not eating them together, so she actually has be be fed something or another ---count them---7 times a day. She's a grazer! Her stomach isn't quite big enough to handle the big bottle plus food, but when I look back at Alia's 8-month blog, she was exactly in the same spot!

So there you have it...my little baby is actually getting quite big. We are 2/3 of the way through her baby-year. It's gone by so quickly, and to be honest sometimes I feel guilty that I haven't been able to celebrate each and every morsel of it because now there are two little ones to watch.

Alia is 23 Months old!

We celebrated Alia's 23rd month birthday (okay, actually it went unacknowledged in favor of a pre-2-year-old birthday celebration) here in Turkey. As I sit here in the living room looking at the royal blue Agean listening to music pumping, I reflect on the last three weeks we've spent here and how Alia has blossomed.

During our stay here in Turkey, I've watched Alia grow beyond belief. Physically speaking, Alia has actually put on a little bit of weight. She has come out of her shell and has been eating very well. She loves the fruit here fresh from the neighborhood fruit stand. She's eaten unfamiliar things, different cheeses, and even branched out into mint ice cream. She is brown, thanks to her dad's genes. She also seems taller. All in all, the time away from home with non-stop Daddy time and non-stop Grandma time has done amazing things for her.

Socially, Turkish people have really helped her to come out of her shell. Before the trip, Alia was very shy. Although she did begin to show signs of improvement before our arrival, the Turks are lovers of babies and kids, and every evening when we strolled through the village, men and women alike would approach to admire her, offer her flowers, kiss her feet, pinch her cheeks. I'm not kidding...the Turks love children, and not in the "if I were in the U.S., I'd feel creeped out" way. The affection is genuine, and as a result, Alia now greets people with "Hi" and her version of "Marhaba"(hello in Turkish) which sound  little like "AAbba".

Alia's verbal skills have also made tremendous strides this month. She counts. She strings two and three words together. Her first string of words was "Ice, Ice, baby!"...which may make us bad parents, but we really enjoy our little trained monkey! She also free-styles nursery rhymes....one, two, buckly my Froggy! three, four, shut the Goka! (Alia speak for yogurt), etc.

Alia went swimming nearly every day we were here with her new water wings. In the beginning she was a little concerned about them, but once she realized their value, she happily complied.

It has been a wonderful month for me as well. I feel that this holiday has done both of us good. Our relationship is no longer one filled with daily battles. I have been able to let go of the every-day stress and really enjoy Alia again. She is a bright, funny little girl, and no longer a baby.

Amelie is 7 Months Old

Well. I have to say. Amelie is coming into her own. This past month has been an amazing month of progress. Amelie is happy. She is healthy. She has taken to eating solids. She has consolidated to two solid naps per day and sleeps through the night roughly all the time now. Exhaaaaale. Amelie now sits proudly in a highchair. She models designer scarves...there's nothing she can't do....well, except sitting up unassisted, which we work on daily!

Amelie rolls back and forth, and has become a tummy sleeper. She loves watching her sister above all else. Amelie is nuzzling her way right in to the center of things in our family.

Amelie typically goes to bed at 7 and wakes up anywhere from 5am to 7AM. If she wakes early, I feed her and put her back down. Sometimes she'll go back to bed, sometimes not. She is typically up before Alia, so every morning when Alia awakes, Amelie and I go to greet her. I put her in her crib, and she enjoys playing with toys there. She still does not sleep in their bedroom as we just have too many wake ups between the girls and don't want to risk the girls waking each other up. As it is now, we don't go to either girls in the night unless they don't settle themselves within 10 or 15 minutes.

So there we are...another month has come and gone and Amelie just keeps becoming more of herself. She is happy, sweet, and loves to be apart of things.

thoughts on international travel with baby and toddler

Okay, here I sit in Turkbuku, Turkey. That's an hour flight from Istanbul if you're one of my non-family readers. We made the journey last Friday with Alia and Amelie. This is the second international trip I've taken with baby, and as a relatively seasoned traveler pre-baby, let me just say that it's a different world once your mini-me is along for the ride.

So what have I learned? It's probably not a good idea to try out new hip boutique hotels in the center of the hip up and coming area of a given city. Although that would have been right up our alley 2 years ago, this year, we arrived Istanbul at midnight on a Saturday night. After 20 hours of travel, we found that the 20 minute ride to the hotel took more like an hour due to pedestrian traffic in our little party zone. Now, I could go on but I'm sure you get the picture of two crying, exhausted babies stuffed in yet another mode of transportation and arriving at the hotel with boom boom boom music going full blast. Sure, it looked like fun for anyone who enjoys nightlife, enjoys catching the scenery, but that was not us at that moment. So what did I take away from this? Maybe next time we leave L.A. on Wednesday night rather than Friday night so that we arrive on Thursday night rather than Saturday night. And instead of trying to grab a new Istanbul experience where there really isn't time for one (we were just over-nighting for one night and heading to Turkbuku the following day), maybe our tried and true spot is a better bet...or perhaps even the airport hotel at Attaturk airport would be even better and more streamlined. Oh, and with two babies? Confirm and double confirm that they will in fact have two cribs waiting for you after your long journey. Trust me...you don't want to wait yet another hour for a single crib to be delivered and then learn that there isn't a second one. It's not a good time to begin your toddler sleeping on an impromptu floor pallet.

Staying at the airport hotel would alleviate any issues with Istanbul nightlife and traffic jams, but another thought on leaving mid-week (and thus returning mid-week from our typical 3 weeks away) is that it might be nice for Ajay to return to a two day work week rather than a five day work week. Just a thought.

What else....if you have a baby that is just learning to eat solids? Bring lots of bibs. No telling when you'll get to a laundry facility, and let's just say Amelie still has a way to go with dining and etiquette! Oh, and it is not a mistake to bring your video monitor if you're used to having one at home. This year I brought ours and am so glad I did. Yes, they do require plug converters, and make sure they are the ones that convert current as well as plugs), but it's really helped my piece of mind while they nap as well as the mid-night wake-ups from jet lag.

This time I really packed quite a lot of baby accouterments. I brought formula, bottles, baby food, baby spoons, sippy cups, toys, books, bibs, baby shampoo, baby sunscreen, baby sun hats, and even the spring-open tent that the girls play in at home. And while we have somewhat taken over the house with all of our baby paraphernalia, I am happy I though ahead enough to get all this stuff together. The girls are comforted and entertained by having their familiar things here, in addition to new toys that we packed for the journey. Oh, and I really thought I over-packed the girls clothes? But in fact, I really didn't. Considering Alia's level of activity and propensity for covering herself in water from the hose and dirt from baby-jesus-knows-where, as well as Amelie's general baby-messiness, and Europe/Asia's lack of electric dryers, laundry takes longer to get done. Everything dries in the sun. So I'm glad I packed so many pjs, onesies, outfits, socks, etc. for the girls. Otherwise they'd be wearing either damp or dirty clothes.

Now lets talk about the flight. Last year traveling, Amelie was still on the inside. We flew coach, and Alia had her own seat. She still just barely fit in her infant car seat so she flew in that, slept in that, and when she got antsy, we put it on the ground in front of her seat and let her stand and bounce on the airplane seat. That flight for me was pure hell. Six months pregnant, stuffed in a seat with no way to alleviate my swollen ankles, leg cramps, and general discomfort, I was pretty unhappy for the entire trip. This time we flew business class. We got 3 seats for the four of us and since Alia is still under two, we brought Amelie's car seat on board and gave her the third seat, and Alia was our lap child for take off and landing. Once we were in the air and Alia was ready for sleep, we made a pallet on the floor for Alia in front of Amelie's seat and she slept rather happily for 6 hours which is more than most of us slept. Amelie on the other hand had a hard time sleeping in her car seat and awoke from time to time trying to twist and turn onto her belly. All in all, the flight was a thousand million times better this year. Maybe it was me not being pregnant. Maybe it was that they treat you like a human being in business class rather than cattle in coach. But if you've got miles, I think using them up on business class tickets is miles well spent.

So that's where we're at. Turkey. Enjoying a good change of scenery, time with family, new adventures for Alia, and new sights and smells and sounds for Amelie.

Alia is 22 months old

It finally happened. Here I sit at my computer on the 27th of the month and I just realized that I forgot Alia's monthly birthday for the first time ever.  It blew past without so much as a realization.

That should clue you in to how busy and how at times overwhelming things have been around here. We're getting ready to take off for our annual visit to Turkey and I suppose the preparations for the trip in addition to all the activity of the household, the month passed unnoticed. So there you go...nobody's perfect.

This month I have felt a lot less than perfect when it comes to parenting Alia. It was a huge relief to me when my Mom came for a visit. I swear up until the day she arrived, I could bet that Alia's goal in life was to defy me and test me for all the waking hours. That said, it's getting better. Although there were days that I felt like crying from the moment I got up, that is just one side of Alia. The other side? The one that uses her smarts for good versus evil? Well, she is a delight.

First of all, the words just keep coming. Mango, knees, wine, nuts, bus, eyes, nose, ears, duck, quack, doggie were all learned within a couple of days...some within minutes of the others! She is getting a little more comfortable around other kids and often will wave hello when she sees another child. Unfortunately, she waves endlessly and sometimes the other child will walk away without acknowledging her or will swat at her ever-waving hands. It's tough being a baby/toddler!

Alia is tall. Most people think she's 3 instead of not-yet-2. She wears a 3T in most clothes, and a size 8 shoe! Ajay jokes that she should just share my shoes, but I tell him it's not the same 8.

If there is one theme for my life with Alia, it would be complicated at the moment. She tests me. She resents my attention on Amelie. She still slaps and kicks. She is given time-outs. But she is also a prankster, a jokester, a little girl with a punchline at the ready. She is beautiful. She is quirky. She is very bright. Alia is healthy. Alia likes healthy foods, but not NOT meat. No way! Avacados, yogurt, cheese, and milk are staples. She also likes oranges and bananas, raisins, and nuts (cashews and almonds specifically). Alia likes more than anything her Daddy. Her world begins and ends with him. And that makes him a very lucky man!

Turning the corner

I realize I don't write much these days. Call it writer's block. Call it having the blahs. Call it shear exhaustion from having two under two! I'm tired. I lack creativity. The quippy thoughts that once filled my head have been replaced with wondering about if I'll get a nap in the next days.

I feel like I've just exited a rough patch with Alia. Little Miss Sassypants has really been testing me and questioning her boundaries...almost to the point of me dreading days to come. Seriously, I never thought that I would be the Mom saying I haven't been enjoying my child, but there are those days.  Some days I wake up knowing that Alia is going to fight me all day every minute, and I'd rather be spending that time cooing with Amelie.

What's been going on that's so bad? Well, first, I'm tired...really tired. Although both girls technically sleep all night long now, we can count on 1 to 4 crying outbursts through the night on any given night that may or may not require our intervention. Yes. That's right...Alia, my best little sleeper began waking up at 12, 3, 5 a.m. crying for Daddy. Amelie, who can sleep from 7 to 6 am no problem sometimes awakes at 3 and can't go back to sleep, so finally at 4 I'll get up and feed her and put her back down.  So that said, regardless of how involved we are with a given wakeup, it's interrupted sleep nonetheless.

That said, I feel like we're turning a corner. After my Mom's visit last week, I felt that there had been a much needed buffer and distraction between Alia and me. And while having my Mom here was like caring for 3 instead of 2 (sorry, but it's true), there were benefits from the visit.

Amelie is 6 months old!

I sit here thinking about Amelie...reflecting on where she is and how far she has come. My heart fills with love thinking about this sweet little human being. Amelie weighs in at 17.15 pounds and is 27.5" long. That's right...another girl in the greater-than-95th percentile!

Okay, seriously, she's the sweetest little thing in my life right now. Of course Alia is sweet too, don't get me wrong...when Alia is sweet, she's sweet. But Amelie? She is sweetness....see?!

So what's new this month...well, for starters, Amelie is engaging a million times more. With everything! I have to feed her in an isolated spot because she gets too distracted to eat if she's not!  She loves to watch the palms sway in our yard. She loves to watch the grasses blow in the yard. She love love loves to watch her sister! 

This month marks a HUGE advance in Amelie's sleep. I finally got around to fully sleep-training her...even for naps. Yep, that's right. I put her down, and she now miraculously goes off to sleep on her own...every time. It is amazing to me how quickly she can learn.

Amelie also continued on solid foods, adding squash and sweet potatoes to her old repertoire of rice cereal. She's doing well...I offer her food twice a day (mid morning and mid afternoon) and she typically is interested in eating once, sometimes twice.

Amelie giggles with the best of them...her laugh is infectious. She enjoys being tickled. In fact, when she's really tired and cranky, a good old game of "tickle baby" does the trick every time.

Amelie began resembling Ajay this month...sure the nose is mine, but the eyes and brows are definitely Ajay. Oh, and did I mention this month she'll travel to Turkey for the first time? Here she is trying on her bathing suit....and can I just say how much I love that little body???? 

Who's afraid of their babies?

As I sit here typing this, I have just completed my first day solo with the girls. My nanny had a death in the family and Ajay is on 24 hours at the hospital. Yes, my baby is 6 months old, and Alia is 21 months old, and today is the first time I fended for myself entirely. Except for the day when my Dad was visiting and Ajay had to work and my Dad was put on "hold the baby" duty while I wrangled Alia. Anyway...today? Whew!!!!

I have to say I've worked up to it.  Many days I'll have the girls solo while Ajay is at the gym, or if my nanny is coming in later and planning to stay later, etc. But today? We made it through the entire day. Okay, even that's not true...my nanny showed up but was utterly useless to me (yeah, I know, realllllly nice, Andrea, right? sooo sensetive....so thoughtful) so she went home at 11. So she actually was here for 3 hours. But you know what? To be honest, she was a warm body but I handled everything....Amelie's sleep training style nap, Amelie's feedings, Alia's breakfast, lunch, bath, and dinner. Amelie's nighttime routine. I did it. And know what? The sky didn't fall. There were a few more tears than normal, but we didn't crumble.

And I realize, I am capable of this. If the girls were slightly older and slightly further apart in age, it would definitely be easier, but know what? I can do it. Now would I want to do this every day? All by myself? In addition to the house/laundry/etc.? Ummm, simply? No. Not if I had a choice. I appreciate the help I have and appreciate that I can spend so much time with both girls as a result of having help. I appreciate that on any given day I can grab a daytime nap to compensate for a sleepless night due to teething or whatever. And I appreciate that it allows me to be a little calmer, a little easier.

That's all. I'm the boss. My babies don't rule by fear any longer. Oh, and Amelie? Day 2 of sleep training completed. She put herself off to sleep like a champ for the third time today without a hitch.

Alia is 21 Months!

That's right...our little jokester has put another month to bed. This month, it's like Alia's sense of humor blossomed before our eyes. She enjoys punchlines...usually "GOKA" which is what she calls yogurt. Here's an example...
Me: Who loves Alia?
Alia: Daddy!?
Me: who else?
Alia: Mommy!
Me: Very good, Alia. Who else?
Alia: Noni! (My Mom) Amma!!! (Ajay's Mom)
Me: Very good...who else!?
Alia: GOKA!!!!!!!?

And Goka is said about 40 octaves higher than the other names for impact. Yep, that's our funny girl. Alia is also making lots of connections in her mind....for example...she knows how to sign "wind"...you put your hands in front of yourself with your palms facing each other and then sway your arms back and forth. Well, Ajay and I have always used "did you make a windy" to mean, well, you know...pass gas, and the other words I hate for the natural occurring event. Only now? When Alia makes a windy? She signs "wind" and smiles her biggest Alia smile. If it didn't smell so bad it would be adorable!

Alia is learning sometimes several words per day. All you have to do is get her to focus and she'll play along as long as her attention span allows.

Alia began going to many more social things this month. She goes to gymnastics on Monday and music class on Friday. On the days in between we go to the library for story time. She especially likes the songs...she looks up at me like she's in heaven as soon as the begin Twinkle Twinkle.

Alia has finally gone down to one nap per day. Moving her from a 10AM nap to an 11AM nap in order to accomodate her class schedule has been relatively easy. Now she sleeps a solid two hours and usually chugs all the way through the rest of the day with no need for her former 4PM quiet time. Although if she's cranky? A little quiet time never hurt anyone!

Alia's favorite things are Daddy, Froggy, Yogurt, Amelie, Mommy, Aunt Carol, books, puzzles, and somersaults. She likes to inject Noni and Amma into her stories....Noni rides skateboards and motorcycles, while Amma finds worms with Alia on her walks. By the way, Noni and Amma are Alia's grandmothers who refuse to be called Grandma.

Alia loves her bath. She will not sit in a filled tub, however. She prefers the spout to constantly produce a nice stream of warm water so she can back her bottom up to. She sticks it out for the perfect water/bottom contact. She loves to fill buckets and cups full of water and dump them on herself and all her toys.

Alia is transforming from a toddler to a little girl. She is more sure-footed. She is more tenacious. She is a confident little girl on the cusp of developing more independence. And until then? There's Daddy!

Sleep training...in earnest...

So Amelie turned 6 months old today. And yesterday? I realized I hadn't really been doing the greatest job of sleep training her for her naps. Sure, at night we have our routine....bath, pjs, bottle, and bed. She puts herself off to sleep without fail every night. But naps? Another story.

See, during the day, I have my nanny do the majority of naps, and she is a user of crutches...the bouncy ball instead of rocking chair, and she also will use a pacifier if Amelie is particularly difficult to put off to sleep. Nap time usually involves tears and feeling of forcing her to sleep. With crutches. And when she finally goes to sleep? It's usually for 30-45 minutes. Yeah, not good. Then the process might even repeat itself if my nanny deems her still tired....she'll bounce her back to sleep for however long it takes. Until this weekend.

With our annual trip to Turkey just a month away, I realized I need to get serious about getting this girl trained. I can't be taking bouncy ball on the trip with me! And the last thing I want is to fight the time zone change in addition to an already difficult nap situation.

So this weekend I dusted off my Ferber book and reviewed. I know that he is highly criticized for being the cry it out guy, but if you really familiarize yourself with his theory, you'll find he is much gentler than Dr. Spock of the 70's that all our parents used. Anyway, yesterday we bit the bullet.

And today? Amelie is 2 for 2 on getting herself off to sleep at naptime. There are complaints. There is squawking. But she's already caught on to the routine after 3 naps yesterday following the same pattern. Sleep sack, put it bed, white noise machine on, and "It's sleepy time, Amelie". That's all. No bouncing. No pacifier. No crutches. Oh, and did I mention that this morning's nap was an hour and a half long with no need for intervention?

Let's see how tomorrow goes!

When did I become this....grown up?

Yesterday it hit me. I've lost my spunk.


When Ajay got home, Alia greeted him looking like this....

Her double layer of t-shirts, jeans, a coordinating bindi on her forehead, and also by then her hair was in 3 pigtails. Oh yeah, and matching bunny slippers. You just can't complete a look without matching bunny slippers!

Amelie, too, was dolled up in her Jumperoo, complete with hot pink bindi....

I, on the other hand, have my frumpy in-between stage hair in desperate need of cut and color, makeup I applied at 6 a.m., and the worst clothes you can imagine...a regular Mom uniform of jeans and God knows what shirt (how can I remember yesterday?). Ajay laughed when he saw Alia and said, "do you know who she looks like?" I waited for the answer. He then said, "you! before babies! ...you know, spunky and cute!"

Well, that got me thinking. I felt equally unspunky when my sister visited last month. She had newish clothes, accessories, a fresh cut, good color, and took the time to do her makeup...even touch ups! So I asked myself...what happened?

I remember when my sister was here, we took Alia to one of the carousels that Alia loves to visit. To my delight, as I was getting Alia strapped in, my sister mounted the horse next to her. I mean, why wouldn't you ride a horse on a carousel? I thought about this...I guess since I'm so busy being the Mom and being responsible for the 1.5 year old on the horse that it's no longer an option to default to whimsy. I default to Mom....tired....doing my best...getting through the days with two babies who are totally reliant on me.

But today? It was me in the cute coordinating double t-shirts...one long sleeve, one short sleeve on top. It's me with short cute pigtails, with the sides being held back with Alia's barrettes. Yes, the make up is old, the hair still shows bright strands of gray, but at least I resemble my former self....or at least I think I do.