We had no plans for the day so we hopped the LIRR To Penn station. And came home. Yeah that’s all we did this morning. Teagan wanted to ride the train and it was freezing out so we went to Penn got some coffee and got a train home. We grabbed bagels for lunch and the kids were super happy!
Kids
T Started Collecting Microsoft OS Install Disks
T has always liked sorting through the CD’s that we have in the play room. MC likes having a CD player. She says it is easier for our baby sitter to use it vs our bluetooth speakers. She also likes it. I try to explain to her that our baby sitter with an Android phone who uses Pandora to listen to kids music is perfectly fine without a CD player. That is another story altogether. Since we have a CD player we have a ton of CD’s to go with it. Most of them are from my sister but we did buy a few kids music CD’s. Yes I know I am admitting that within the past 2 years I am one of the 5 people out there still buying CD’s. In my defense the first thing I do when we get one is to rip it so we can play it on iTunes.
T likes to sort through the CD’s. Until a few weeks ago these sorting sessions were few and far between. More recently she likes to take an entire pile of them and play with them on her table. We are rebels and don’t use jewel cases. Over the past few days she has been generally more physical with the CD’s. MC finally got concerned that T will damage some of the disks so told her she can’t play with them anymore. That didn’t go over well at all. This morning after she was told she can’t have the CD’s Teagan kept asking for them. My solution was to goto my storage and pull out some old CD’s and DVD’s I had. I found a bunch of old mostly Microsoft OS install disks. I have the ISO’s for everything and I don’t really intend on using any of these OS”s again anyway. If i did it would be in a Virtual Machine that i can use the ISO’s for anyway. Teagan was very happy with the new disks she can do whatever she wants with and the case for them. Now instead of messing up Music for Aardvarks she can beat up on Microsoft Windows 2003 Small Biz Server, or Windows Vista. She sat for about 30 minutes this morning at the dinning room table playing with them. She figured out that sitting up there is a safe place to get away from Amelia trying to get at the disks. Teagan’s most popular phrase recently is “No Amelia” when Amelia tries to take whatever it is Teagan is doing.
If anyone is thinking it, no I am not trying to start her early into Technology. If I was it wouldn’t be with Windows disks!
The Story of T’s First Bed
T has been able to climb into Amelia’s crib for a while now. For whatever reason she doesn’t do it often and she hasn’t been able to get out on her own. We caught her on video doing it one day with our baby sitter who was supposed to find her playing in the crib after going to look for her. When that happened we knew our days of having a crib for T were numbered. Over the summer we were at my in laws and T climbed out of the pack and play and it was very challenging to get her to sleep now that she knew how to get free. When that happened we knew she would get out of her crib soon. Surprisingly more months went by and T was happy in her crib. She would climb into Amelia’s crib sometimes but typically would just say “uppie” her word for up please when she wanted to go into the crib. Oddly I would see her trying to climb into her crib every now and again but I don’t recall her ever getting in on her own. MC and I didn’t complain because having her in a crib was much easier than the alternative of a free range toddler once she got a toddler bed.
Flash forward to last Saturday (24-January) I walked into the girls room to let T out after a time out. Her room is typically her time out location since we can close the door and let her get some alone time. I opened the door and to my surprise I see T horozontal holding on to the top of her crib. Her leg was caught between the bars of the crib and she was about to fall. I grabbed her and got her down. At that moment I thought ok, she has outgrown her crib. I went to the video to see what she was doing prior to me walking in. I saw that she had actually climbed into the crib and was playing around and then got stuck as she was climbing out. That sealed the decision that T needed a bed and not a crib. My sister told me once the story of how my oldest niece got out of her crib and the recounted how she did it. At that moment my sister knew it was time for a bed and got one that day. I had a feeling for a while I would have the same revolution one day and that day was yesterday. Luckily the cribs that my mom bought for us are convertible into toddler beds. Before nap time we got some allen wrenches and took off the front crib bars. It was surprisingly easy to do. We then rolled up a towel and put it under the bed sheets by the open end of the bed. We read that this should help prevent T from rolling out of the bed. We then got her a pillow. T was excited for her new bed.
Excitement didn’t get her to nap in the bed though. As expected she ran around a bit but didn’t nap. We took her out after an hour. At bedtime she didn’t wander around that much and eventually went to bed. It wasn’t too bad but i think she was tired from not napping.
This week she did nap most days. There were a few nights where she would be calling us at the door before she went down to sleep but so far not any outrageous drama. We are thankful for that but T is generally good. A on the other hand I don’t know what to expect but we have hopefully a year to go with her before we find out.
Raffi vs Rafi
I can no longer listen to the children’s musician Raffi. Every time I or hear a song of his I think of Rafi from the League and get the shivers thinking of him singing to my kids.
Homemade Bread
Gouged myself on homemade bread with dinner tonight. It was totally worth the hour of Amelia screaming while MC was making it and not able to hold her. Because that is how Amelia rolls, no mommy no quiet.
T and Our Coffee Ritual
When T was about 4 or 5 months old she was big enough to fit into the Exosaucer and bob around. She loved it. On the weekends MC and I would (and still do) rotation who would get up with T and later both girls. Some days it was great bonding time. When T was that little there was little to do with her after her bottle. We would put her in the Exosaucer so she wasn’t lying down right after her bottle. After doing that I would make myself some coffee. I like Cappuccino so I would make a cup with our Nespresso machine and then sit with T. She would follow my coffee no matter were it was in my hand. I thought it was just any beverage but when I moved a glass of water around the same way i would move the coffee she was less interested. It was very funny.
Once T got a little older I would hold T in one hand and make the coffee in the other. She was always facinated. Once she was crawling or walking and saw that I was going to make some coffee she would come over and in he own way demand to be picked up.
Sometime after T was a year old (the exact time eludes me and I wish I kept track better) after she would keep trying to drink my coffee I had the idea to take an espresso spoon and give her a little of the frothed milk from the Cappuccino. It was the stuff right on top that was not touched by coffee so it was just foamed milk. It was an instant hit for T. I didn’t do it all the time but she often wanted spoons of milk. A few times I just made T a cup of frothy milk for her to spoon up. That could get messy so I didn’t do it often.
Over the past several months T has gotten old enough to be good enough to help with our ritual. When I go to make Epsresso or Cappuccino she runs over to the kitchen and demands to be picked up (uppie). T puts the cartredge into the machine. She has trouble closing the door but does most of the work. She then presses the button to make the coffee. Afterward if I do a Cappuccino she will expect some or go get heself a spoon.
A few weeks ago I was working at my computer with a Cappuccino in hand. I heard T demand a spoon to MC but didn’t think anything of it until she shows up at my desk with it. It was clearly implied that I was to provide her some milk.
Amelia on the otherhand has not been as interested in the same ritual. I am wondering what she will get into when she gets a little bit older.
The Purple Coat
Teagan has been favoring anything purple in recent months. She doesn’t know what a favorate is but it is clear that purple is her favorate. Most of our family knows this so when we needed a very cold weather coat for the girls my mom decided we needed to purple up her wardrobe. She went out and got both girls purple coats. I beleive she consulted with MC prior to getting them. We now have two very purple coats. Amelia’s wont fit her till next season but next year we will have matching girls. For now it is very cute to hear Teagan “purple coat”, “purple coat”. What is funny is sometimes it is a statement and other times its a question.
MC also just got purple socks. That is a big request in our house and Teagan had only has one pair. Now she has more.
Amelia the Destroyer
Since Amelia has been a few months old and learned to grasp at stuff she has been battling me. She has been attacking my watch, Jawbone UP, eye glasses, chain, hair, nose, chin. She goes after pretty much anything she can grasp at. After loosing weight and getting rid of any double chin I had i was surprised when she grabbed a bunch of skin on my chin and yanked. Not fun. I seriously need to watch out for her to ensure i don’t get my eyes gouged out. She is happy about the whole thing, so i am glad she is enjoying herself.
Last week she added to her head count of fatalities and destroyed my chain. I got the simple gold chain from my parents for my Bar Mitzvah and have been wearing it every day since i was maybe 17. Amelia has been attacking it for some time but finally was successful at pulling it off my neck. It was the 2nd time she did this. The first time the chain came off at the clasp so after i found the coin that goes on the chain i was able to start wearing the chain again. This time Amelia just yanked the chain and broke one of the links. This time i was able to find the coin and chain before it got lost. Last time I was panicking for a day till i found the coin in the girls room.
Today I dropped the chain off at a jewelry store to get fixed. They said it wasn’t a big deal to fix so i am happy by that. I am pondering looking for something a bit stronger until Amelia is a bit older and won’t destroy this one again.
This whole event reminded me why I wear an old pair of glasses when i get home after work or during the weekends. They are not as comfortable as the ones i normally wear but much more resistance to child attacks.
Amelia’s Photo Shoot
Today we took Amelia to a photographer for her 1 year birthday photo shoot and cake smash. We did the same thing for Teagan last year and we loved the photos. For Amelia we went to the same photographer (Amanda Saldarelli Photography) we used for Teagan. We also used Amanda for our holiday cards. We have been very happy with her photos so we were excited to see what she could do with Amelia.
Going into the photo shoot we had a feeling Amelia would be more challanging. She has a “slightly” more demanding personality than Teagan. I didn’t stay for much of the shoot. We first took some family shots with both girls and then I took Teagan away so Amelia could get some personal time to get her photos.
Teagan and I ended up at a Starbucks nearby. She was happy since she got a snowman cookie. I was happy since i got a cappuchino since i hadn’t had coffee at all that day till then. After a little one on one time with Teagan we headed back to see how Amelia and MC were fairing. I got back in time to see the cake smash. Amelia at first was super excited to see cake. That was until she touched it. Then it was like we poured nasty goo on her hands because she got very upset. Teagan on the other hand had a blast at her smash. So much so that we can proudly say Teagan’s smash photo (one of our personal favorate photo of the shoot) is hanging on Amanda’s studeo wall.
All is not lost however since the first teaser photos of Amelia from the shoot looked fantastic. We are patiently waiting for more.
The rest of the day was a nice day at home. The girls slept in the car on the ride home but then wouldn’t take regular naps afterward. They were tired by the time it was bedtime. MC & I were also pretty tired too. I am a huge fan of nap time and I think MC is too.
Frozen Avoidance
I feel like someone who dodged the zombie plague for so long only to catch it in the end. MC and I introduced Teagan to Frozen for the first time today. She didn’t watch the whole thing. Wondering if that means she is immune?