7.18.2009
*el champú
7.16.2009
*
I think we're getting close...? Lately she'll get out of the bathtub to go pee and yesterday she went twice of her own accord - tearing off her diaper and running to the bathroom yelling "POOOOOTTYYYYYYY!" I think when we get home from our 2 summer trips I'll attempt to implement - to steal Jenny's words - a potty-training boot camp. Any advice?
7.14.2009
*a day
One nice advantage to Ben being a student is that he is around during the day to help out with Vera. He's actually taken most of the summer off from serious studying and I've been a bit spoiled. So today, during her 2 hour nap, I went to the mall and found some cute shorts + a top [thank you you know who!] and a cute on-sale bathroom rug at Anthropologie. When I got home, Ben and Vera went on a nice long bike ride out for ice cream and the park:
Meanwhile I got to be home alone. I made popsicles [more coconut ones... I think this batch will be gooood] as well as an attempt to copy a dish from work. It tasted good but didn't look very pretty :) Either way, I really enjoyed the time by myself. I haven't had much time to cook lately and it was so nice - thank you Ben!!
Before Vera went off to bed we hung out over at our neighbors' for a bit. She truly loves these 2 and it makes us so happy to see. It also makes us realize how great it would be to live near more family!!!! [I say more because we do live near my brother, who also stopped by today. Vera showed him every possible toy and activity she loves, from Bunny to making a train with chairs to drinking tea :)]
She was a bit too wound up perhaps and didn't go to bed well, unfortunately. I guess it couldn't be all perfect :)
7.13.2009
*los ríos chiquitos
7.12.2009
*
a "train" she made out of noodles at the restaurant:
posing by her "boat" made of blocks:
...and I couldn't find the picture of her "caterpillar" made of My Little Pony shoes :)
7.05.2009
*cuatro de julio
7.04.2009
*descanso
[I have to be honest and tell you that she suffered a little fat lip just moments after this. She felt much better after we exclaimed that her cartwheels were just too big :)]
7.01.2009
*notas del trabajo 2
*I really really like my one coworker, and I'm not saying that because she knows about this blog :) You know the kind of person you can just talk and talk and talk with? And is happy and so interesting and kind and fun?
*One of my favorite things is getting to garnish the chocolate truffle plates with a curlicue of dulce de leche. It makes my night and makes me miss T's creations at Old Venice and D's at Scotty's.
*So we have these huge wall-sized doors that are open to the patio. Tonight there was some cra---zy lighting and thunder. We've had some huge storms since like May, but tonight I think the lightning was extra close. At one point I was talking to a table [who happens to own one of the best restaurants in town] and there was an enormous crack of lightning - I yelped and grabbed my customer's arm! oops. He was very cute and nice about it :)
*Ben's text to me about Vera was "asleep without a peep" !!
*
Last Sunday boating with my brother's family.. she liked the 'floating', but was terrified for anyone getting pulled on the inner tube - I think she thought they were getting hurt :( She finally fell asleep murmering "no to, no to" which either meant "I don't want a turn!" or "don't turn!"
6.29.2009
*vera pizza
*really almost 2
First let me say this is not the most cheery post. I hate to complain, but this has consumed our lives for the last month, causing quite a bit of stress. I want to write it down both to just get it out and to hopefully later see how much things have improved! So I can't believe how things can change in a month. I think when I gave a little update last month the only frustrating thing was that she was being a picky eater. . oh if I had known! This has been one of the most trying times we've had. For at least 3 weeks she would cry anywhere from 1-3+ hours at bedtime [with us going in periodically to lay her back down and tell her we love her], usually then waking in the wee hours of the morning to sleep in our bed. The last week has been better, and last night she only whimpered "mommy sleep mommy sleep" for a minute or two, and then was out until 7:15! YAY, praise GOD! [also in the midst of writing this, I THINK SHE IS NAPPING! I'm probably wrong, but just maybe...]
It's been so stressful and heartbreaking and helpless feeling as we just didn't know what to do. If we let her fall asleep once in our arms or bed, it made the next night that much worse, and though we want to make things easy for her, the last thing I want to do at TWO years old is start a new habit of needing to sleep with us! Naptimes have been nonexistent - at least in a bed. She'll usually take a nap in the car or stroller.. though it's double-frustrating on the days we miss the sleepy window of opportunity and go for a long ride and walk and are still left with a sleepless, hyper-cranky toddler [a few times I've been caught having walked a mile away from home with a screaming/writhing child, not fun]. Because probably tied into all this lack of sleep is this surgence of craaazy tantrums. Seriously, I thought we had her little fits under control, but these are a whole new animal. I don't quite know what to do because no amount of discipline or time-outs works. They come out of nowhere it seems and I have to just try as best I can to keep patient and calm, waiting it out. We miss our old happy go-lucky fun little girl! There are definitely long stretches in the day where she's happy and fun, but man these fits are wearing us all down. I do wonder if it's all because of the crazy sleep thing or is this our intro to the inafmous twos? I just wish someone could tell us the answer.
Other random thoughts on this 23 month old:
She's constantly comparing any and everything to baby/mommy/daddy. Coins, trees, plants, rocks, animals, you name it [this one isn't new, I just keep forgetting to remember it]. She also loves to talk about small, bigger and BIGGEST!
If you ask her what we did this morning [any morning], she'll say "BIG ANIMALS!" remembering our trip to the zoo a couple weeks ago. If you ask what she did with Daddy yesterday she'll tell you "Doggies!" [that they hiked through the dog park, which they usually didn't] or that they had "soup" which they might or might not have. She's really having a word-combining, phrase-making explosion lately and it's really fun :)
She just recently started saying "Bunny" instead of "Ubba ubba" - makes me kind of sad. Also today she's saying "Nana" instead of her funny bladdledaddle sound for banana ... we don't like to hear that one go either :(
Here's our fun little girl in-between melt-downs. She thought it was a big amazing feat to climb up and over this chair, and then Bunny tried too. I had put on her little bikini bottoms sans diaper, which I though was pretty stinkin' cute:
6.24.2009
*
*digital
6.23.2009
6.22.2009
*dia del padre
We spent Sunday afternoon up in the mountains again. It was a nice, quiet break after a few days of a new level of tantrums around here [I spoke too soon with our "great day"]. You probably don't need me to tell you that Ben is an amazing dad - so devoted and so in love with our little Vera. They have tons of fun on their little ice cream dates and hikes with Boone, fiddling around the backyard and lately lots of bike rides. She knows his arms are safe and will fall asleep there so easily. I wish you could hear the way she says, Daaaaaaddy.
..and added later this evening: wish you could have heard her say "loveyou daddy" :) melts one's heart.
6.18.2009
*buen día
No pictures but worth remembering!
*las montañas
::afternoon thunderstorms on our way out::
6.14.2009
*el mercado
*a good update too - Ben texted me at work that the night went "really well!" Yay :) She fell asleep on his lap reading stories and stayed asleep as he laid her down. Big sigh of relief for a cry-free night - thank you LORD.