I just realized I posted the same post but on different days. Classmate parties is a repeat. Durrrrr aliza!
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Ania at 2.5+ years
A lot of growth happens between 2 and 2.5 years old. Ania amazes me, makes me laugh, wonder where she gets things, makes me angry, and proud all at the same time. Sometimes I think it’s impossible but she somehow succeeds in this emotional roller coaster of raising her.
- She’s starting to express herself more. She gets really frustrated when Tom or I don’t understand her, but when we do, it’s so much easier of tending to her needs.
- Bossy. It begins. She’s becoming bossy and speaks in 3rd person. I even think one morning when she was in our bed she said ‘Mommy, lay down. Pronto!’ Oh boy. But we have to keep remembering to remind her of her please and thank you’s. She would say ‘Mommy, eat now!’ and I have to remind her that it doesn’t work that way.
- Tattle Telling, well with her baby sister. “mommy, baby kicked me!” Ania really? Your sister can’t even sit up. But Tom and I remind her that Cameron didn’t mean it (for now).
- Tastes food. At least I’ve been blessed with a kid that tastes food (for now). Ania will taste food and tell me if she doesn’t like it or if she does. If she doesn’t like it she’ll say “no like it”. I can’t fault her because at least she tried it…
- Good memory. It amazes me how a 2 year old has a really good memory. When we were at beepa and mema’s (Ania’s version of grandma and grandpa) house, she immediately says “ice cream cone”. Well, the last time she was there, that’s what she was given as a treat. Or if she can’t find something, we’re ask her where did she put it. She’ll run to wherever her toy is and say ‘found it’
- Potty training. Sorta. It’s not consistent but she’s made potty twice back to back. She says she goes at school and her teacher tells me that they do take her but she doesn’t go all the time. I’ve tried to put underwear on her…we’ll see…
- Princess phase. She’s getting into the princess / dress phase. She loves wearing dresses and she’ll curtsy and say she’s a princess.
With the good, there comes the challenging points:
- NO! her favorite word. It’s funny how her teachers all tell me that she’s an angel and always so good and can’t imagine her having a tantrum whenever I tell them stories. Well it’s true. We hear this word when it comes to bath time and bed time. Ania was in a phase when she loved showers, so she got showers. Now, that we’re back to baths, we have to bribe her with washing a toy or performing an experiment of ‘let’s see if it floats’ in the bubbles. We pick our battles. With bedtime, oh. My. Gosh. For the past week, it takes almost 2 hours! We’re training her to fall asleep on her own, but how can you scold a child when they’re in bed, staying in their room but singing and talking at the top of their lungs! I have to record this soon, because Tom tells Ania to count sheep, we’re in the living room and we hear: 1 sheep, 2 sheep, etc. then the ABC’s, then days of the week, then months of the year, then linkle linkle little star, then repeat. Then she’ll count chickens. It’s funny but then it’s not when we want to sleep and I know I’m waking up in a couple hours because Miss Always eating (aka Cameron) will be waking up for her late night snack and Ania will wake back up for something else.
- Enforcing time out. Time out in a corner doesn’t work, but putting her in her room and closing the door does. When I’m beyond frustrated, I put Ania in her room and close the door. She screams beyond no other, I count to ten and we both know there’s a little progress to getting what we need achieved when I open the door back up. All I have to say is THANK GOODNESS Cameron sleeps through it and vice versa. Ania sleeps through Cameron’s crying.
This emotional roller coaster is hard, but definitely worth it!
Cameron at 6 months
Cameron turned 6 months yesterday. Geez, where is the time going? Really? She’s still not sleeping through the night but in return I don’t have to rock her. The routine is feed, change and put her back in the crib. I’m OK with that! She’s a very happy baby and been in daycare for about a month and a half. She’s adjusted well.
Cameron mile-stones:
- Eating baby food. So far she’s tried: sweet potatoes, peas, broccoli, and acorn squash. I haven’t started her on fruit yet and I’m only feeding her veggies once a day. I’ve gotten into the habit of making her food again, same as I did for Ania and she’s eating it right up!
- Almost rolling over. We had our few moments where she’s rolled over, but it’s not consistent yet.
- Putting things in her mouth. She’s constantly putting her bib or anything she can get ahold of and putting in her mouth. I have to watch this one!
- Cooing and giggling. Every so often we’ll make her laugh.
- Intrigued by everything. Getting her ready after bath is hard because she’s trying to roll over, and grab anything she can. She’s a wiggly one.
- Smiles a lot. Cameron smiles at almost anyone and everything.
- Drinking 4-6oz of formula.
- Wearing size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothes (although 6month clothes are very snug!)
Cameron loves her sister! She’s constantly watching Ania. I have to feed her away from Ania because if Ania is playing she watches her every move and I can hardly keep her attention from eating. Ania doesn’t help because she’ll scream, run back and forth and scream some more.
Easter Weekend
Even though Easter was later than last year, it still came fast! Ania has an Easter egg hunt at school but I wanted to find one for her that we could take her too. And I think we were too late on a church one so, I looked one up online. We went to Blessington Farms, which is about 40 mins west of us and it was great. We’re definitely going to be coming back and they have strawberry, blueberry and blackberry picking. Very cool. We just went to the play area which was really cool and for different ages. They had these buggies where the kids ride in the back while mommy/daddy push, slides for little ones and big kids (the bigger kids climb a ‘mountain’ by rope and go down via slide), a choo choo train pulled by a tractor, section where kiddos can hold chickens and the egg hunt. I loved the set up for the egg hunt. We paid $3 bucks for 10 eggs. Ania handed the man the ticket and in she went. The plastic eggs were empty so she kept picking them up and putting them in her bucket. When she was done, we counted 10 eggs. Then when you exit, Ania was able to trade in her eggs for prizes / snacks. Like 3 eggs = bag of chips, etc. I loved that concept. Cameron enjoyed the weather and took the occasional photo of her in the stroller. She loves being outside too.
We spent Easter dinner with Tom’s parents. It was nice, just had the traditional Polish dinner: fresh sausage and periogi’s (other stuff: ham, potato salad and apple pie). The next day we went to church and boy was it an event. We stayed in the back and both kiddos were really good, then we just spent the rest of the day resting.
We're starting a new tradition. New for me, old to Tom. Easter baskets. The easter bunny hides them and the kids look for them the morning of. Very fun!
Cake Tasting
With wedding planning, there comes cake tasting. Alma invited me and Ania to come with her to go cake tasting. It was a really fun experience. We went to two different places and Ania was not shy on digging in. Before the chef could talk, Ania was already eating. I thought we could finish such small slices, but I couldn’t even do it. Afterward, we grabbed a bit to eat at Coppa. It’s a very good Italian restaurant and the weather was so awesome we enjoyed the meal outside. Here’s to cake tasting!
Classmate Birthday Parties
It’s beginning. Classmate birthday parties. It seems awhile ago, but Ania was invited to two birthday parties on back to back weekends.
The first was her friend Sameera, who was turning 2. It was at the park and the kids were able to play. It was at the perfect time, 10-12. I was excited because I wanted to meet some of the other parents from the school. It’s hard to because of the way the school pick up/ drop off works. I never see parents or when I do, my only concern is to get the kids and go home, not have a 15 min meet and greet. Back to the party. Not many parents from the school showed up but I clicked with Sameera’s mom, Luby. We’ve kept in touch and we’re planning a playdate, we just need to sink up our calendars. To put in perspective, the birthday party was in March…and we’re still trying to sink up a playdate hopefully sometime mid-May. Where does the time go?? I also, met Ania’s best friend. I call her that because Ania always says her name and talks about that the friend she played at school with. Her name is Natalia. The cutest thing is when she arrived, Ania was like “Talia” and Talia saw Ania and was like “Ania!” Ania got up from the table, walked to Talia and they greeted each other and went to the playground to play. I finally met her mom. I think they’re Russian (or eastern European), but the mother was a bit shy and telling me that Talia talks about Ania a lot at home. Too cute!
And there’s Victor. He’s turned 3 and his party was the next weekend. The difference from this party was that it was an entirely different set of kids. We met three sets of parents and all were very nice! One mom was actually from the same area Tom grew up in Syracuse. She went to the other high school. And another mom I met was in the same industry as me so I was nice talking to her about the challenges and what not. She also had just had a baby same age as Cameron. I loved the play area where the party was because it was age appropriate for Ania (like bounce houses, but not really for her age yet)…and it was an open area parents can mingle and kids ages 2+ can play and we can watch on. Definitely having the kids birthday here this year!!
Tom and I joke about how Ania is the ‘cool’ kid. I was talking to one of the mom’s and apparently the director puts the invites in the kids that play with each other to these birthday parties. I guess Ania is cool or we’re the parents that were desperately trying to go to meet people. Lol. Next on my agenda is to attend the neighborhood Mom’s club. I’ve been meaning to but a 7pm meeting is hard to do on a Thursday (it’s only once a month)…but I see them on the playground with their kids, then they crack open some mommy drinks. I think to myself, this could be my kind of crowd! And the Dad’s are around the BBQ grilling up hotdogs. It was probably a special occasion because it was Easter weekend, but still.
Whenever they call the kids to sing happy birthday. Ania ran yelling happy birthday cake and would sit next to the birthday kid. Lol
Alma's Bachelorette
The last one to get married, and she’s going about it the right way! I kid! It was Alma’s bachelorette weekend in Vegas and it was a great time! I literally lounged by the pool all day. Ordered breakfast and lunch from the pool waitress, went back to the hotel in the afternoon and took a nap. I have not done that in YEARS. It was great! Then at night we went to dinner and out like I haven’t done in a long time either. Alma, for sure, had a great time. Pols, Margarita, a few other girls and myself literally went from the club to the airport. We all had flights at 6am. You Only Live Once.
Happy Hour Fridays
When we had Ania and were given the clear to bring her out of the house, Tom and I had a mindset of “we’re going to keep doing what we want to do”. Well, since then it’s changed a bit. Anyway, we always took Ania with us to eat out in Jersey. Well because I didn’t really cook then and we didn’t have anyone to watch her all the time. Even when we moved to Houston, we would go out every Friday to happy hour with Ania. We took some time off when we had Cameron, but this month we’re trying to start it up again. I think it’s the only thing we’re holding on to because the kids have taken over our lives!!! In a good way of course, but we still need a happy hour!
For first Friday of April we went to Ruggles Green. Very kid friendly, outdoor area Ania can walk/run around in but it’s a little hectic with the bigger kids. OK food but most importantly wine and beer. It’s also nice to be surrounded by tables where there is a child eating and parents are balancing food on a fork trying to feed them while trying to take a baby wipe out as the just in case, or telling the child to sit down or come back here. A place where we’re not judged but rather sympathized with. LOL but I love the area and there’s different places to try!
Saturday, April 5, 2014
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