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.