Alia is 19 months old!

It just so happens that Alia is 19 months today, on my 38th birthday. Well, more on that later, but this month can be synthesized into one simple thing that happened...one event that just personifies Alia's personality, confidence, sense of self, sense of humor, and outlook on the world.

Here, Alia demonstrates the Incey Wincey Spider

This past week, we were at Main Beach park downtown Laguna. Alia was her normal active self, going up and down the stairs to the toddler slide, climbing through the peek-a-boo tunnels, and demanding to be pushed on the swing. Then I noticed two TWO big bright shiny firetrucks...gleamingly clean, sparkling red...big BEAUTIFUL firetrucks. And yes, Alia wanted to go see them.

So we ran over to them...her at full speed ahead, and me briskly walking beside her. Alia approached the trucks, the firemen, and the small crowd surrounding them with wide eyes and her most brilliant Alia smile.  She was so happy that she pulled out all her best tricks....she twirled in circles. She did pop-ups which is where she bends down into a squat and pops up with all her might, in an attempt to jump up (but her feet sadly never leave the ground). And then her little maestro finger came out....directed at the firemen. When the fireman asked what it meant, I told him that she wanted them to sing her a song. Then she did the hand movements for the Incey Wincey Spider. So I passed along that information. And before we knew it, the Laguna Beach Fire Department's entire posse of firemen were serenading Alia with multiple renditions of her favorite song. And that's the way the world works in Alia's little slice of heaven right now.

This month, Alia thrilled both Grandmothers by learning to say their granny names....Noni for my Mom and Amma for Ajay's Mom. What's wrong with Grandma, you may ask? Well, we don't know...we just go along with it. So anyway, when Alia says Noni, she claps her feet together because she remembers that Noni loves to play pat-a-cake with her, (only from a young age I taught her that you play pat-a-cake with your feet because her hip sockets allowed and I thought it was cute) and when Alia says Amma, she wiggles her index finger like a worm, because when Ajay's Mom visited last, they went on lots of long walks together and looked for worms in the irrigation run-off.

This month we got out the training potty....but something tells me she is NOT taking it seriously....at all...

Alia is tall....35 inches. She weighs 28 pounds. Alia's previous outlook on food has changed from "put it in front of me and I'll eat it" to "guess what I'll eat today....no, not that". So the pride I took in her openness to wholesome and nutritious foods? Yeah, I've suddenly realized that most kids start out that way and then learn to exercise their control where they can.

Alia is coming to terms with her sister...she does not like to hear her cry, but she also does not want her near her most of the time.  Alia's favorite person is still Daddy, second is Mommy, and third? Probably Auntie Carol...our neighbor across the street. NOT the nanny...she will not, under any circumstances, be pawned off on the hired help...that's for her sister.

Most days Alia is the sweetest of the sweetie pies. There are some days that she is showing me exactly how challenging the terrible twos are going to be. Happy 19 months, Alia, my love!

The seven day pedicure

So, I closed the bathroom door on my 4th toe in the middle of the night last week. I hit that poor little toe so hard, it knocked the polish off completely. The 3 month old polish, that is. See, I got a pedicure the day before Amelie was born. So, yeah, I know for a fact the polish was over 3 months old.

That's not the bad part. The bad part is that I was bummed because it drew my attention to my feet, and made me realize it was time to remove the polish. I had to remove the polish with one toe completely devoid of polish, I mean, for gosh sakes, I have standards! Forget that the other nine toes were half grown out of polish and therefore I really only had polish on four complete toes when you really think about it.

So, two days later, I managed to pull out the ol' polish remover. I successfully removed the polish from one foot when the baby woke up. The following day, I was able to remove the polish from the other foot. And the following day? I pumiced one foot after the shower. And the day after that? I pumiced the other foot. And the following night? Filed my nails. And here we are, six days after the very painful catalyst occurred. And my toes? Nails still not buffed. Still no polish.

There's only so much one woman can do in a day!

Because the environment isn't screwed up enough...

If you were a fly on the wall in my house, you would have overheard me utter the following to my nanny while she was helping to gather up the household trash:

"I put a couple of empty Target bags in the bathroom to line the trash can with...you know, just doing my part on recycling...maybe that will offset the 27 disposable diapers we use per day in this house....that one Target bag....nevermind."

Help from fellow Moms?

Hey...any of you Moms out there know of a good Mommy & Toddler exercise video? Now that Alia is addicted to Baby Signing Time, I need something else to pop in for her. Since she's so active and loves interactive-type videos, I thought a toddler exercise video might be a good idea. When I searched on Amazon, I came up with mixed reviews on several of them. So if you know of one that's decent, please let me know.
Thanks!

Groundhog's Day?

It's busy around here. If I haven't said that before, I'll say it again: having two babies 15 months apart is a lot. A LOT. All caps, bold print.
Now, that said, there are people out there with more kids, kids closer in age, multiples, you name it. All I'm sayin' is that for me? Right now? Two babies is a lot.
A typical day goes something like this:
Wake up at 12AM, feed Amelie. Wake up at 3AM, feed Amelie. Wake up and get up with Amelie at 5AM. Put her in the bouncy chair while I shower. Get dressed, dry hair, apply minimal amount of socially acceptable make up. And by that, I mean the amount of make up it takes to not scare people in public with the bags under my eyes.
I feed Amelie around 6 or 6:30, depending on when she's ready to eat. I play with her as much as possible before she's ready to go back to sleep at 7AM....which, surprisingly lucky me, is when Alia has been waking up. So after jiggling Amelie off to sleep for her signature micro-nap (read: the girl does not sleep....my nanny with 20 years of experience claims that she's never seen anything like it), I go in and greet Alia. She likes to enjoy a little milk in bed before facing her day, and typically we'll play for 15 or 20 minutes in her crib and/or room before getting her up. At 7:30, my nanny arrives. She throws the laundry in. She tidies up the kitchen. And then Amelie is awake....about 30-45 minutes after she is put down for her first nap. So my nanny and I begin the juggling act. I make Alia's breakfast and put her in the highchair. My nanny will hold Amelie or feed Alia, whichever I ask her to do. I do whatever she's not doing. After she eats, I get Alia dressed, washed up, and ready for the world, and we head out. A typical day is either a trip to the beach, down to town for a stroll, the mall, the grocery store, the bookstore, the library...basically we choose the activity based on what she hasn't done in awhile, what weather permits, and how tired I am from night duty with Amelie.
Our morning activity concludes around 10:30 when Alia is ready for her morning nap. Yes, she is 18 months old and still naps two times a day. I know that makes her a rarity, but my pediatrician says not only should I not be concerned, but I should be celebrating and enjoying the time it gives me. Once Alia is down, I use the time in one of several ways...on nights that Amelie kept me up all night, I too will nap. On days in which the nighttime rest is adequate, I'll make dinner during Alia's morning nap if Amelie is asleep as well, but if Amelie is awake, I snag whatever time I can with her. As noon approaches, or if Alia wakes up and begins her signature hooting and hollering from her crib, I make her lunch.
Alia eats well...she loves whole foods....from avocados, fresh fruit and whole yogurt to peanut butter sandwiches or last night's leftovers, she enjoys lunch on most days.
After lunch, we clean up, change shirts if necessary, and head out again...down to town, to the store, to the park, to the mall, the beach to the bookstore, to the library....whatever we haven't done in awhile and whatever we're both up for. We sing in the car. We talk about what we see....Alia shows me her sign language for tree every time we see one. She exclaims "TUH-TUH-TUH" for every truck we pass, and the bigger the truck, the greater the reverence.
When our afternoon activity ends, we head back home. If Ajay is getting home around this time, we wait for him in the driveway, where Alia gets to slide in through the window and "park" the car in the garage from the safety of Daddy's lap. If he's working later than 4, Alia goes down for her nap and will see Daddy when she gets up. My nanny leaves between 3:30 and 4:00. Oh, and the afternoon nap at this time is usually just quiet time...maybe 1 day in 4 will she actually fall asleep in her crib, but it's time that she needs to regroup and reflect, and it's time that I use to once again connect with little Amelie.
At 5PM, Alia gets up from her nap, and this last part of her day is pretty much exclusively Daddy's time. Which means more time with Amelie for me! Every other day, I use this time to bathe Amelie, or put the finishing touches on dinner if Amelie happens to also be napping. Ajay will play with Alia, or perhaps take her to a neighbors, or for a final stroll in town. I get Alia's dinner ready while they're occupied, as well as set up for her bath. I gather her pjs, nighttime diapers, toothbrush, hair brush, etc. and make sure they are all handy for when it's time to bathe the tornado Alia. From here, the day-end becomes a blur...Alia gets overly stimulated and can sometimes be quite a handful through dinner and bath time. After these are finished, Alia likes to watch her sign language DVD for a bit, and then reads with Daddy in her bedroom until it's lights-out at 7PM.  Amelie may or may not be napping or down for the night by now...we have yet to establish a true sleep routine for her, but for the most part she also goes to bed around 7PM, which allows Ajay and me to have dinner together, typically in front of the TV and whatever TIVO caught for us. However, sometimes Amelie holds on until the very end, which makes it more of a baby-pass-around-take-turns-eating event followed by an immediate surrender to bed for all of us when we finally do manage to make the baby sleep. Lights-out for us is pathetically around 9, or even before! Because guess what? Amelie is going to be up in an hour or two or three or four, and you never know which it's going to be!
So there you have it...that's what life looks like for us right now with an 18 month old and a 3 month old. I am busier than ever, and barely get half the things done in a day that I'd like to, but all in all, I think we're doing pretty well.

Amelie is 3 Months Old

Amelie is three months old. It seems like every time I look in the mirror while holding Amelie, I'm shocked at how much she's grown. No longer a teeny tiny girl, Amelie is right on track, growing into and out of her three-month clothes. At her last pediatrician appointment, Amelie measured in the 50th percentile for height and weight, and in the 60th percentile in head-size. Could it be that she's grown by leaps and bounds due to the fact that she likes to eat every two hours and twenty minutes during the day? And if you don't have the bottle on standby, things might get really ugly really fast!

Amelie has come a long way in the last two weeks. In fact, sometimes I think she's an entirely different baby than the one of last month. Last month, it was all I could do to figure out how to soothe her and stop the crying. She was a newborn still. But now? Amelie is now making eye contact and tracking me all the time. She smiles endlessly when talked to. She does this full-body smile that includes an all-over wiggle that makes my heart melt. Amelie's personality is still very gentle, and she is still developmentally a little younger than Alia at the same age. That said, Amelie is showing us that she's her own girl. She's not to be confused with anyone other than herself.

Amelie is fascinated with Alia. She smiles when she sees her, which I have to give it to Amelie, I might not react the same way considering how Alia treats her! Alia is just as likely to smack Amelie's foot as she is to kiss the skin off her legs. It's very hard to tell which it's going to be, which means that from time to time, Alia makes contact of the non-friendly variety.

Amelie coos. Amelie smiles. Amelie wiggles. She is the cutest little kewpie doll. Seriously...just look at her....no really, look!

Okay, you got me, that isn't Amelie at all. Here she is, in all her round glory...

And here's Amelie looking like "What? Isn't this how people pass the time?"

Alia is 18 Months Old

This month Alia is a year and a half old. It's cliche, I know, but where has the time gone!? I feel this way with every month that passes, for both Alia and Amelie.

Well, first of all, this month, and more specifically, this week Alia learned to say "no". Before now she would only shake her head for no. Alia's little no sounds like "NNNu-yo". It's very cute. Not so cute when I'm trying to get out the door, but cute!

Along those lines, Alia also learned moo like a cow, and moon this week. Her verbal ability is really blowing my mind...just today from the back seat, I heard "Pepper!"I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw her pointing to her counting book on the page that features 7 peppers. Yesterday? She began spontaneously shouting HAP-PYYYY!

Alia is also making serious progress with sign language this month. She picked up tree, grass, flower, car, rain, wind in addition to her old repertoire of shoes, socks, more, thank you, please, eat, drink, banana, apple, frog, dog, cat, milk, water and hurt. Yesterday when she woke up she signed for milk. I told her she'd have to say it to get it. So she started out moo like a cow. I told her to add a K sound and told her "K-K-K, Alia". So she says milk like mooooo and then she pauses and then a few seconds later says K-K-K and smiles her big Alia smile and claps for herself. Cutie pie! This month, Alia is fascinated by trucks, the bigger the better.  I told her "say TRUCK, Alia....T-T-T-TRUCK" and so now she calls trucks TUH-TUH-TUH. And smiles and claps for herself.

Lately I've been trying to socialize Alia more. She is shy around other kids. We typically go somewhere in the morning, and another outing after lunch. I try to make sure that she has some outdoor time, at the park or the beach, every day. I also try to do things that will put her around other kids and learning opportunities. Sometimes we just go to one of the malls and ride a carousel once or twice.

Currently, Alia's favorite things are her Froggie, her tent, spaghetti, and the song Da-Da-Da by Trio. She loves her Daddy more than anything. Alia loves Baby Signing Time DVDs, and waits anxiously every evening for her 10 minutes of watching time after dinner. Alia has begun to enjoy drawing and coloring. She loves telling stories with a mix of words, signs and gestures. Alia has taken a new interest in her toys, and happily runs to her play area every time we return home.

So that's where we're at. Happy. Tired. Amazed at this little girl's brightness, love of approval, and spongelike gathering of new information daily.

Warning for other Moms of 18 month olds....

If, by chance, your 18 month old has had and recovered from a cold?

And if, by chance, you're driving along and hear a soft "Mama?" from the back seat, and your beautiful little toddler extends her chunky little toddler hand to give you something?

I warn you....do not take it. Do not extend your ever-loving Mommy hand. Do not accept whatever blind gift you are about to receive.

It is a big, fat booger.

EEEK!

Okay, hang on?!

Did I not write Alia's 18 month update? Did I really only dream it! Okay, sorry friends, family and Alia...I'll get right on it. And if in fact I did write it and did publish it, well, gimme a minute, but I didn't see it when I looked through my postings.

I'm tired...did I mention that?

Books and Babies

Today it was predicted to rain all day, beginning around 11:00AM. For the third day in a row. In order to preserve my home and my sanity, I decided to make a run for it and attend the 9:30 Books and Babies at the Newport Central Library.

This is something new for Alia. Although we have tried to attend several of these, it's never happened. Even as recently as Monday, we showed up at 9:30 only to find the freaking library was closed for MLK Day. I mean, why wouldn't it be closed...I only battled a toddler, hail and rain, and my own lack of energy to make the journey there happen.

So today, we made it. We arrived to find a half dozen toddlers already there. Alia clung to me. She was a little nervous and shy around the other kids. About 10 minutes before the reading began, they opened the door to the reading room. Toddlers bolted in crisscross crooked lines with arms in the air for the room. Alia stayed back with me. I slowly coaxed her forward, and we found a spot against the wall. To my surprise, as I sat on the floor, legs crossed in front of me, Alia plopped right down on my lap and burrowed into me. This is not my normally spirited and confident little girl...so I took full advantage of the cuddles.

We began by all singing a song together...the Incey Wincey Spider. As we all did the hand motions, Alia sat quietly and took it in without participating. Next, the nice lady read us a story about animals on the farm and what they said...a cow says Moo...a chicken says Bok!...and a goat says...hang on...a goat grunts? Thats when I realized Alia had taken both of my hands and was bearing down. While sitting on my lap. In the middle of story time. Well, at least it was loud enough for her to get lost in the noise, right? Well, one would think.

However, that's when Alia did her signature move...she stood up, faced me, held one of my hands in each of her hands, and made her there's-no-mistaking-what's-going-on-below face of "I'm  pooping!" So much for discreet.