Outdoor Toy, Finally!

Today is just one of those "feel productive days".  I've been checking Craigslist (an electronic place you can buy/sell used items) for some outdoor play equipment for Elena.  I've been looking since before Christmas.  There was a lot of cute stuff around Christmas but priced way too high.  Finally today I scored a little play climber for Elena.

 Elena's first reaction "Nice!" 

 She loves climbing up to the slide, through the "windows", jumping through the door and hanging from the big purple window...

 And then she decided she would try to walk up the slide.  Ah, my little climber...

Lemons

 After breakfast, Carl and Elena picked a few lemons off our tree.  Elena loves picking the fruit off the trees.  A couple weeks ago, she picked mandarins off our tree with Grandma, Grandpa Pat and Carl.  They also ate a few while picking...so naturally Elena figured it was okay to bite into the lemon:

 She really loves her citrus!

In the next picture she is checking out the "baby lemons".  We have new blooms and a few itty bitty lemon buds beginning to grow.  It's very intriguing.

 Of course when we came in she demanded lemon!  Here she is eating fresh lemon from the tree:

 Trying to get every last drop!!  Silly girl!

 Yummy!!

Breakfast with Pop and Lorraine

This morning we met Pop and Lorraine for a yummy breakfast at a place near our house.  Elena did much better during this meal than she has during the past few.  She was interested in coloring with Lorraine and Daddy and ate some of every one's breakfast. 

 Elena is starting to voice her preference.  She mostly picks out her outfits including socks and in the picture below she is picking out the crayon color she wants to use.  She isn't into tantrums (generally) but has an easy going yet persistent personality right now.

 Breakfast was the start of a wonderful morning--we had perfect weather today!

LA Galaxy in San Diego

The LA Galaxy played a Mexico team right here in San Diego.  Due to an unfortunate injury, Carl's "date" was unable to go to the 7pm game.  Elena and I substituted in, though 7 is her bed time so she was a little sleepy but she went along with the plan and fell asleep on our way home.

We had extremely close seats, 2nd row from the field on David Beckham's side of the field.  Every time he would kick from the corner, the people in the stands would swoon and scurry down to our seats to get the best picture they could--which translates to: it was difficult for us to get a picture.  I'm okay with that, I'm more of a Landon Donovan fan.  It was a good game, we left a little early and it ended in a 2-2 tie.

22 Month Update

Last week Elena turned 22 months--so hard to believe she'll be two in the very near future.  Where does the time go?!!  I haven't done a monthly update in quite awhile, so here is a snap shot of Elena at 22 months.

 Meals: Elena is a foodie, she loves food (except egg) and will eat it all including her veggies though sometimes not her protein (especially chicken, not so much a fan of chicken or eggs--but I still want 2 chickens in a coupe in the backyard).  Overall she eats balanced meals and isn't finicky.  It is really nice to sit down to dinner and we are all eating the same food.  She also eats with a fork and spoon and loves dip--which could be anything like sauce, pickle juice, milk, yogurt, humus, etc.  She has a funny term for 'meatballs' she calls them 'meat bombs' even though she can say ball.  She loves grapes and it is so cute to watch her say it...it sounds more like "brapes".

Sleep: She sleeps 11-12 hours at night and about a 2 hour after lunch nap.  We have been enjoying the long nights of sleep, sometimes I feel like I'm still catching up myself.

Language: Quite a vocabulary.  She uses please and thank you frequently and correctly.  Now we are working on you're welcome.  It seems like she can say almost anything and can be a parrot at any moment.  She also understands what we are saying, she responds appropriately with yes or no...I do miss "ah-huh" with the head nod.  Recently, Carl had friends over playing poker.  It was time for Elena to go to bed, so I asked her "do you want to say good night to the guys?" and she responded, "uh-huh, night guys".  She seems so young to be able to understand so completely what we are saying.  Needless to say she continues to amaze us every day.

Temperament: Generally always happy, seldom cries and if she is hurt she only cries for a couple of minutes--tough cookie.  Cranky when she is tired, hungry or has been sitting too long.

Physically: She is a big kid, wearing a 2t bottom and 3t top.  She is also very agile for her age.  She runs, jumps and gallops around the house.  She also like walking on and jumping on pillows.  She climbs everything regardless if it meant to be climbed on yet she seems to be aware of her own limits and doesn't usually get herself stuck or hurt.  She can climb out of her crib now but most days she content to stay in her crib.

School: What's not to love?  She can wash her hands when ever she wants, get as dirty as she wishes while playing outside, and colors with markers inside.  She is very loved at the school by the teachers, the other kids and their parents.  

Potty training: well this isn't going as well as I had hoped.  I hoped once she was with other kids using the potty she would want to do the same but she doesn't.  She will sometimes alert us that she needs to poop or already pooped but refuses to sit on a potty.  I bought her a small potty to put on the floor and she likes to take it apart and sit in it like it is a bucket fully clothed or in the case of the picture below with a diaper on.  I guess she's just not ready yet.  I'll keep trying every couple of weeks, hopefully she'll be interested soon!

Neighborhood Park

While Donna and Pat were here we walked the dogs over to our neighborhood park.  She loves going there, it's my favorite park too.  The park is set up for 2-5 year olds in one section and 5+ in another so you don't have to worry so much about the big kids running over the little ones.  And believe it or not, this does happen at other parks we visit.  Today it was just us at the park which was so nice.

 Elena didn't want to slow down and take a picture--she was much too busy!

After playing in the park we walked around around to the t-ball fields and saw squirrels basking in the sun.  Elena and Grandma saw a bunny jump into the bushes.  Elena wanted to show me, so she tried pushing the bushes aside as if they were curtains.  Of course the bunny was long gone by then.  We found a hole in the ground, some one's home but Elena didn't want to go near it.  She seems to have a good sense of when to look at critters and when to walk away.

Ocean Beach Dog Park and the Pier

It was probably one of the coldest weekends we have had in awhile, but we braved the chilliness to go down to Ocean Beach with Donna, Pat, and the dogs.  Rain was predicted for the entire weekend and although we had some rain it wasn't as much as anticipated.  The air at the coast was extra crisp, cool--and lovely.

 It's been a while since we've been down to the beach...last trip was some time before Christmas.  And between that time and now, Elena has become very interested in making sand castles, mountains, and caves.  And surprisingly very little was intentionally destroyed.

After a yummy lunch in Ocean Beach, we headed to the Ocean Beach Pier.  The pier is a great place to take a relaxing stroll and look back at the city.  A storm was brewing and the ocean waves were as big as I've ever seen them.  No novice surfers out there; you could feel the pull of the wave while standing on the pier.  Difficult pictures to take--so I've included a couple family shots :)

Zoo Time

We really love going to the zoo and enjoy our family pass.  We went to see the baby hippo recently born at the zoo.  So cute, so big.  A lot of people were standing around so I wasn't able to get a good picture but here are some pictures of us at the zoo:

 

Super Bowl!

We watched the super bowl game despite not being too interested in who won.  Pop came over for a bit of the game and Elena enjoyed reading with him.  Warning to anyone who comes over: Cooper will want your undivided attention and Elena will want you to read books to her.  She loves her books.

Rockin' the Pony

 Elena has begun to express her curiosity about hair and what we do with it.  She has been brushing her own hair for some time but now she also wants to brush my hair.  This morning while she brushed my hair I asked her if she wanted a pony tail like mama's.  Not only did she say yes but she stood still long enough for me to get a hair band in.

 Dancing and just being cute as she enjoys her new pony!

Have a great week!

Elena's First Sentence

Elena's vocabulary is always expanding and becoming more understandable.  Then last night Elena said her first sentence..."read a book".  This sentence has been in the making for many months now.  It started out as "buh, buh, buh", then went to "bookha, bookha, bookha", then "booK", then we finally had "book" and now "read a book".  It is amazing to watch her growing from a baby to a little girl, not just physically but cognitively too.

In other news around here, I finished my first month back to work.  Elena has done well at day care though she is sick again with another head cold, poor baby.  We are working through kinks of communication with daycare--it is hard not knowing how well your child napped or ate during the day.  It makes our evenings a little unpredictable, but we're starting to get into a rhythm.  Cooper has adapted well to being home by himself all day.  He even enjoys a morning snuggle with Elena.  That's about the only time he'll snuggle with her.

 

 Cooper has also decided it is okay for him to play with Elena...something she has been trying to do for months.  She loves to play tug-of-war and throw Cooper's toys down the hallway.  Elena does not try to take Cooper's toys away from him--she leaves that to us.

No need to adjust your screens, these pictures are blurry.  We went out to eat, something we don't do very often but we were out to celebrate my first full-time week of work.  We also don't usually order desserts either but I was in the mood :)  Elena loved eating the whipped cream and chocolate from the sundae we shared.  Our phones don't take good pictures but I'm sure you can imagine her glee.  I know it's been awhile since I posted so I'm letting you know we're doing good though exhausted and sleeping a ton.  Work has come back to me like riding a bike and Elena is doing great at school.  She either gives me a kiss or hug and waves bye-bye to me in the morning and doesn't want to go home when Carl picks her up.  She even has friends that get excited to see her in the morning.

School Update

Well, today marks 1-1/2 weeks of school for Elena and she has transitioned beautifully (I hope by writing this I'm not jinxing everything).  Last week, Elena was attending school until nap time but she refused to eat while at school so her naps at home were short because she was hungry.  

On Monday, Elena began eating at school, even served herself!  She has surprised her teachers by how much she can eat.  And anyone who has witnessed this girl really eat can also attest to her ability to chow!  Today she had 5 servings of lunch, needless to say she out eats all the other kids.  

Tuesday was Elena's first full day of school.  She had the option to sleep with the big kids on mats or sleep in a crib and she chose the mat.  She was up once but told if she wanted to stay with the kids, she had to lay down and go to sleep--and that is exactly what she did.  Today, she went down with the kids, stayed on her mat and slept for 2-1/2 hours.  I am so thankful this transition has gone well, and so far she is not too much crankier in the evenings.

Elena's teacher loves her and frequently comments that she fits in with the older kids as if she is one yet she is great with the baby and likes to play with him too.  Today, her teacher said Elena acts as if she has always attended the school.  She has fallen into the routine quite well and enjoys all the activities available to her at school.  Once her teacher forwards pictures, I'll post them.

On my job front, all is going well.  I'm working half days this week but I'm starting to get the itch to stay all day :O 

Reorganized

Returning from our trip to Illinois, I came back with the itch to reorganize the house.  We were home for about a week before Elena started day care and I started work.  In that time, I put the kitchen back together, cleared out the dining room so we could eat in there again, rearranged the living room and spent a couple days redoing Elena's room.  Until now, Elena's room was only used for sleeping; all of her toys were kept in our living room which was getting cramped.

 Now most of Elena's toys and books fit in this new bookcase.  I also picked up a few bins so we could easily pick up toys.  They have mesh on one side and solid fabric on the other--so you can see inside the bin or not.

 Everything is completely toddler proofed so now Elena can hang out in her room and play.  We also bring toys out in the living room to play there too.

 Now, you will notice on the bookcase, the changing station is on the right and nothing on the left.  The bare area is within Elena's reach in the crib as I found out the hard way.  I had left a permanent marker (used to mark Elena's clothes for day care) on the bookcase.  Elena grabbed it and graffiti-ed her crib sheet, jammies and hands...and here is what her sheet now looks like:

 In the past couple of weeks, Elena has also learned how to climb her crib.  She is really into climbing right now and will scale anything she can.

 Now that we have made room in the living room, we were able to put Elena's kitchen in there without feeling overwhelmed with toys.

 The kitchen came with legs but I just haven't been able to get them on.  Regardless, this is one cute little kitchen.  There are 5 working doors, the oven/stove knobs click and the microwave has a piece that turns the plate in the microwave.  Elena improvises noises for the sink, the water dispenser in the fridge and the microwave buttons.

First (1/2) Day of Day Care, aka School

Well, this is the week that Elena starts attending the Little School.  Yesterday Elena and I spent the morning at school.  She did good despite teething complications-congested, red raccoon watery eyes, runny nose, sneezy-she looked sickly but this is what generally happens when a tooth is breaking through.  Anyway, getting back on topic.  Today was a dry run of what will happen tomorrow and every other day of the week, until it doesn't.  I know it's surprising but I didn't take any photos, didn't want to make it a big deal.  I dropped Elena off to school and  I was so proud that she asked for a hug but didn't throw a fit.  I called after a couple of hours and she was doing well and enjoying the new friends and activities.

Highlights of the day included playing outside where Elena enjoyed digging in the dirt, no surprise there.  Some kids dug up some worms and with the teacher's assistance created a worm habitat.  Elena climbed on the play structure-no surprise there, and then fell off it-no surprise there either.  She has a nice little red welt but no bleeding or broken bones.  I'm sure it will happen a couple more times, she loves to climb up--down, not so much.  Elena is fitting in well, however, she isn't eating much.  Today included 3 small bites of turkey sandwich and a look at the apple slices.  When she was a baby and with a caregiver she hardly took any milk from the bottle.  I hope she just needs to settle into the routine and doesn't start giving up food again.

The teachers commented that it was interesting that Elena chose colored pencils, well the regular writing pencil specifically over markers.  I guess usually when given something that isn't at home, like markers, kids pick the markers.  We usually use colored pencils--I found she can't eat them like she does crayons and I don't have to worry she'll put marker where it doesn't belong.  Another comment was that "Elena is very independent".  I think this is great, however, reflecting on the comment--she doesn't follow other kids so it could be challenging for the teachers to corral her to reading, singing or meal time.  Once she learns the routine, I think she'll be a great little student.  She enjoys routine and this is just a new one to learn, though generally a speedy learner. 

Tomorrow I start back to work; here's hoping she doesn't cry or throw a fit when I drop her off in the morning.  I need a good morning tomorrow!  As Elena would say "nigh-nighT".

Christmas Finale (#6)

Pop and Lorraine came over to watch the Chargers' game and exchange gifts.  By now, Elena has become a pro at opening gifts--and helped everyone.  She was very excited by Pop's peanut brittle...

 ...and Lorraine's wine.  Yes, there was a little tug of war.

 Ultimately, Lorraine left with her wine (Elena is after all a wee bit young for the stuff.)

Happy New Year!

We hope the New Year brings you good health and happiness!

(Our first orange crop)

It dawned on me that I haven't been posting too much about Elena's development and milestones and that's because she is growing and developing like a weed, I can't keep up!  Some that come to mind include requesting to eat cereal in a bowl, with a spoon and milk at 19 months and at 20 months she started lifting the bowl of cereal to drink the left over milk.  She has been saying her name is "nea-na" for some time but at 20 months (as in a couple of days ago) she started saying her name correctly.  Just last night she changed her word for book from "booh" to booK, really emphasizing the k.  Right now she is very interested in climbing and figuring out how things work, she seems to know who she is, has self confidence, and is independent.  Generally she gentle and plays well with other kids unless she is tired and then she turns mean.  She has amazed us in 2010 and we're looking forward to watching her grown in 2011.

This year, I am giving up my stay at home title and will be back to work.  The decision to go back to work was a difficult one.  Even after making the decision, I had serious doubts I would return because I struggled to find a suitable day care.  Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of options out there: Center, Small In-home, Large In-home.  Some things may seem trivial but I'm a mom with an idea of how I want my child to grow up.  I don't want Elena in shoes all day even at nap time and this was a big reason we didn't go with a center.  Finding a good in-home day care was nerve wracking.  I found a few good homes with openings but as I reflected on the visit/interview, there was too much tv, too little outside time, too many kids when you consider their own kids, and then the jaw dropping--take the day care kids with while taking her own kids to after school activities.  Finally as I was getting ready to throw the towel in, I found the Little School.  Elena has enjoyed her visits and I am hopeful that she will transition easily.  The school is near our home and their philosophy is to build critical thinking skills and learning through child led play.  The philosophy is the same as the SDSU Children's Center--our first choice for day care (of course it's full and we've been in the waiting pool), both are unlike anything else I've seen out there--natural day lighting, no harsh indoor lighting but still well lit, no shoes inside, plus child lead learning, and healthy balanced meals with low sugar and low sodium.  Here's to hoping the Little School works out great and Elena transitions easily!