Tinier than a turkey, and cuter, too

Elise's first Thanksgiving has come and gone. I think she enjoyed it (it's hard to tell, though, she actually slept through most of it). Here's the rundown of our family's day:

The day began, as most of our days do, with a night. It was a pretty good one--Elise made it to 4:30 before needing to eat, and with only two briefs wakeups prior to that.

Matt and Elise were both still sleeping when Kalina first started chanting "Mama, Mama" for the day, around 6:15. She often chants it (and never Daddy, Daddy), with more and more vehemence, until one of us opens her door, so I rushed out of bed (no small feat on a cold morning) and to her cribside hoping to keep at least half the family asleep. Of course she didn't want out of her crib, just to have an audience while she played. I didn't mind--I get so little quality time with her nowadays and she's so cute playing with her "friends, the animals" that I soaked it all in.

Soon, I informed the girl that it was, in fact, Thanksgiving Day--a day we'd been looking forward to with much anticipation thanks to several turkey crafts, a flurry of cooking the day before and some rather awkward explanations on my part ("well, the pilgrims and the Native Americans were friends at the time, although that ended eventually, but at this point they still wanted to share a meal together. They ate turkey. Now, what are you thankful for?"). Kalina, by the way, has expressed thankfulness for the fall leaves, which we'd been talking a lot about.

Elise soon woke up and Matt and I divied up the kids. We were out the door to Aunt Nancy's house by 11:00, Elise having taken a giant nap, and Kalina having goodnaturedly looked for parade footage online with me since we don't get a TV signal. We managed to find some of a panda balloon and were both somewhat satisfied.

I think Kalina was starting to wonder what the big deal was about Thanksgiving (after all, she had to get a bit dressed up and didn't like the cinnamon roll as much as if Daddy had put frosting on it for her), but then we arrived at Aunt Nancy's and saw her favorite people, and dog, there. As we finished preparations, Grandpa managed to rock Elise to sleep.

We were thrilled to welcome Angela to our table. She's been a staple at various family holidays for years now--so much so that we demanded she bake some rolls for us. Thank goodness she's goodnatured, but I suppose that's what it takes to put up with some of the more challenging members of our little family.

However, Elise did not make it to dinner, as she was again taking a giant nap. And poor Daddy was only an observer for the first 10 minutes as he was still finalizing pacifier negotiations with Elise regarding the nap (Elise is clearly a pacifist, hahaha). Thank you, Matt, for letting me eat a hot Thanksgiving dinner!

After dinner and dishes, we inducted Kalina into a Hanks family tradition: takeaway bingo. Of course, no one was allowed to take the gift we'd specifically picked out for Kalina away from her: a Play-Doh fun factory that she probably loves more than Elise at this point, and has sent many a Play-Doh critter through (much to Matt's delight). Kalina was done playing the game as soon as she unwrapped it--she now had Play-Doh to smash instead.

Then everyone but Elise had some pie, and we all headed up to Grandpa's house for a change of scenery.

By this time it was dark, and the toddler, who has been skipping lots of naps lately including, of course, Thanksgiving Day's (we didn't even try), needed some downtime. Much to our surprise when we opened the cardoors at Grandpa's, only one of our girls was bright-eyed--and not the one you'd expect! Elise may have dozed during the 25-minute trip, but Kalina definitely slept. She initially did not want to wake up, but fortunately was back to being her happy self once she was safely inside and surrounded by toys.

We enjoyed some leftovers, a quick game and some conversation before turning around and heading back home again so we could get both girls to bed at a decent time. We crossed our fingers that the night wouldn't punish us for a really fun day. It didn't!

The next day, the girls and I made it out for some really low-key, child-friendly 10:00 a.m. Black Friday shopping since Matt was working (yes, I was up in the 4:00 hour and I'm sure I could've scored some great deals, but chose to stay mostly in bed). It was almost a disaster--I didn't exactly run the girls into the ground, but the day before had taken care of that for me. Both girls melted down at once, and I was the talk of the bookstore as strangers either wondered aloud whether Elise was hungry or held doors for me to pave my way out (hint hint?). Kalina was asking for naptime on our way home.

I was glad I went, though--not only did I run into the mom that I've become friends with only by running into each other randomly (true story!), but I managed to find a nice Christmas book that actually told the real story of Christmas in words a toddler can at least follow (with Jesus and everything!). Kalina snapped up a Veggie Tales Christmas DVD that was on a great doorbuster sale. What a little shopper! Even Elise was too wowed to sleep in her stroller. No matter--in a few years they'll be the ones dragging me out the door.

We were all too tired to set up a Christmas tree this weekend, but that's probably for the best. Next week we will start celebrating Christmas in earnest. This weekend, we will content ourselves with being thankful for what we have.

Photos:
1: Elise sleeping!

2: Thanksgiving dinner.

3: Instead of naptime, we had storytime. At least it was downtime.
4: Kalina playing in the leaves a few days ago.

Pediatrician visit!

Today, all three of us ventured to the pediatrician. Elise needed her 2-month checkup and Kalina needed a flu shot.

Yesterday, I let Kalina know that she'd be getting a shot. We practiced with her doctor kit and I assured her she'd get a treat afterward. Possibly thanks to this preparation, Kalina was surprisingly calm heading out the door this morning. I thought I'd have to drag her kicking and screaming, but she was actually more cooperative than usual.

We made it there on time and were called back, much to Kalina's aggravation, as we were in the middle of the first waiting-room book she'd picked up. Elise, for her part, was wide-eyed--not taking the nap I'd hoped she'd get before her appointment.

In the exam room, I chatted with the nurse, and then got Elise out of her carseat. As I was preparing to undress Elise for the weighing, I heard quiet sobbing coming from the chair behind me. The reality of an impending shot had finally sunken in for the poor 2-year-old. Fortunately, the nurse agreed we could take pity on her and do Kalina's vaccination first. She headed out to get the shot ready as I tried my hardest to pull Kalina's jacket off and roll up her sleeve. Not easy, least of all on Kalina's nerves and my protective instinct.

I was finally able to relax her a bit by convincing her to sing "Sing a Song of Sixpence" with me--her favorite song.

And then it was over. The nurse obliged my request to not put on a band-aid, and instead let Kalina play with it like a sticker. Kalina proudly wore it on the back of her hand. The tears were soon over, and she played contentedly and quietly with Lamby for the rest of the appointment (I think I even saw her poke her finger into Lamby's stomach like she was giving the poor animal a shot). Maybe she thought she'd get another shot if she misbehaved.

And finally, onto Elise! My littlest girl weight 9 lbs., 12 1/2 oz.--I believe just half an ounce mor than what Kalina weighed at this age. She's in the 25th percentile for weight, and 40th for height, at 22 inches long. Her head is a nice, normal 36 1/2 inches around--the 50th percentile.

I brought up my concerns about sleep: is it okay if Elise still sleeps on Daddy in the recliner at night? How about if for naps she only sleeps in 5-minute increments a few times a day, occasionally? How hard should I work at getting her to nap? Which of the sleep books is best? Really, I was asking "when am I going to be able to carry on a conversation without mixing up all the words again?"

I like our doctor. His philosophy is: the sleep books each work for different kids. If you want to prioritize sleep now (like having your child sleep on your husband at night), that's completely fine, just realize you'll have to undo it somehow later. All you can do is all you can do--you can't force a kid to sleep. And balance and perspective are important. These are all things I knew, but was glad to hear from a professional.

We then moved on to other matters such as Elise's heart murmur. It's still there, very localized and very small. Nobody's worried.

Kalina watched as the doctor checked Elise's eyes, hips and everything else--all is well. We also chatted about grad school and such. It was a very laid-back visit.

And finally it was time for poor Elise's shots. I wished I could bribe Elise with a treat, as I had Kalina. I also wished she only had to get a tiny flu shot. But no, she needed three shots and there wasn't much I could do to make her feel better.

It's clear that Elise is tuned into pain--the poor baby did not calm down well, and really was only quiet after the experience overwhelmed her with sleep. I was admittedly glad she was getting the nap that she needed, and also that she'd probably sleep for a while, and that she can now have Tylenol.

After finishing the half-read waiting-room book, we returned home via Dunkin' Donuts, where Kalina persuaded me to get her a donut hole for in the car and a chocolate sprinkle donut for at home (where it was soon lunchtime). In my defense, I only gave her half of the sprinkle donut and ate the rest myself just now.

Elise has slept for most of the day, and I've used the time to get her used to crib-sleeping, catch up on quality playtime with Kalina and do some light housework (including cooking dinner!). I was really, really, really hoping to use the time to get a nap in myself (my day having started at 4:53), but Kalina threw a wrench into that plan by utterly refusing hers.

I hope Elise feels better tomorrow--I can tell she's still hurting a bit and needing to sleep it off.

I am incredibly proud of both of my girls, by the way. Kalina for being such a trooper, even though she was so scared, and Elise for smiling a few times today despite everything. They both deserve far more donuts than I can provide.

*This post is thanks to Aunt Nancy for letting me borrow her computer. My laptop got milk spit on it. Yes, spit, not spilt. Only half of the keyboard works.

A world of play

Elise isn't the only one growing and changing lately. Not only is Kalina now too tall for some of her intended winter/spring pants, but she's developed a new skill that I've been waiting a good two years for.

The girl can play on her own. Even with Mommy around.

Has the addition of Elise rocketed her toward this independence? Was there a switch that flipped in her brain? All I know is that Kalina is now dragging out old toys I was practically ready to donate to Goodwill to play for an hour or two at a time, dwarfing the previous record of about 12 minutes of independent play that was probably induced only by a new toy.

She's even been known to play downstairs while Mommy casually heads upstairs, or vice versa. So it turns out that if Elise happens to be napping, and Kalina is in the mood to play, I temporarily end up with more free time than I did with only one child. (This has probably only happened once or twice, though.)

Kalina has always had a dubious history with toys. After all, from the very first time we dangled a bright object from her carseat or stuck her under a playgym, she's seemed to see through them as an attempt to divert her attention away from Mommy for just a few seconds, please, for heaven's sake. Smart girl.

Toys would entertain momentarily, but pretty soon she's demanding Mommy (or, in desperate times, Daddy) to play with her. Which Mommy doesn't do nearly enough to her liking, so the situation results in a child sticking to me like glue as I perform such fascinating tasks as loading the dishwasher or folding laundry.

"You're welcome to go play," I'd remind Kalina every so often up until about a week ago.

"No," she'd reply.

And then one day, everything changed. Although Kalina's been a bit more independent since Elise came along, her 2-hour-playfests that include complicated "plots" and constant running dialogue ("Kalina's Friend, The Turtle [as her wheeled turtle is now referred to] wants to get a suitcase and a ticket and fly on an airplane to Grandma's house and come back home and take a bath and Kalina will feed Kalina's Friend, The Turtle, eggs, and break the eggs into a bowl and mix them up and bake them. And I need some pretend flour.) came on all of a sudden.

At first I just stood and watched, open mouthed, as my child entertained herself (and me, really), purely with her imagination and a happy spirit (and about 8 dozen toys ranging in size from tiny to ride-able, each of which I was thrilled we'd hung on to). Soon I jumped into action to make the best use of the time and probably cleaned something, being careful not to be too loud, or two quiet, and in so doing, distract her.

The next day, it happened again. I rearranged my schedule and didn't make Kalina change out of her pajamas until close to lunchtime just so that she could continue to play uninterrupted.

The day after that was rainy and nasty and I needed to get out of the house, but Elise had a cold so I didn't want to really go anywhere. I proposed the Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru and a short drive past some of Kalina's favorite landmarks. The poor conflicted girl, albeit enthusiastic about the prospect of a donut hole,was drawn more powerfully toward her favorite new hobby, playing. When she looked up 45 minutes later and still wanted donuts (but it was now too close to lunch), she happily took the yogurt raisins I offered her and went back to playing.

And the next few days I happily ignored my 2-year-old as she happily played, all by herself, with the occasional request for a story or a snack thrown in (okay, sometimes more than occasional). It became a sort of experiment to see how much Kalina actually could, and would, play on her own. After all, we'd hardly seen it happen before, and were curious as to what it'd be like to have a child that played.

And then I realized that I missed my girl and didn't actually want to ignore her. Although at times I feel like a bit of a third wheel around Kalina's Friend, The Turtle, I try to join in occasionally, slicing pretend cheese onto pretend bread to make a pretend sandwich, or simply untangling Doggie's leash. As it turns out, play can be fun!

Truth be told, we love Kalina's playtime not only because it's really, really convenient for us, but also because it's just plain adorable. You can't make this stuff up: "and then, Kalina's Friend, The Turtle, wants to go to the grocery store and buy ice cream and mail it to the pig to eat..." and so forth. For an hour or more sometimes.

Our house now looks like even more of a disaster area, as Kalina stocks my empty canisters with toy silverware and fish, and decides to bring every single item from her toy kitchen into the living room to feed Kalina's Friend, The Turtle, but I care not.

We do, however, clean up every so often because Kalina needs a new canvas to create from.

Photo: At the EPA lake.

7 Weeks

According to the experts, lots of things are supposed to happen in your newborn's life at around 6-7 weeks. Let's take stock:

1. At 6-8 weeks, the baby's immune system should finish developing.
At the potential expense of being rude, Matt and I closed our house to toddlers for the first 6-ish weeks of Elise's life. We also disallowed Kalina from playing at her friends' houses or in close quarters with other kids (and frankly, our little introvert seemed glad of the excuse). We wanted to give Elise the best start in life possible.

Instead, between the 4 of us we've managed 5 bouts of illness in the past couple weeks, including a cold that Elise came down with a full week after the rest of us were mostly recovered. Oops. Poor Elise is currently congested and coughing, but is weathering the inconvenience in stride. I have plugged in a humidifier to help, but she seems to be doing okay on her own.

2. At 6 weeks, the baby will go through a growth spurt.
Yup. Not only did Elise eat all the time, but she tried hard to stay awake during all daytime hours so that she'd know the exact instant she became hungry. Fortunately, she only added one feeding to her night sleep, so we all survived. It's officially over, I believe. For at least a few weeks.

3. Around 6 weeks, or 7 weeks if the baby was born a week early, the baby should begin to have a long stretch of sleep at night.
Yes, she does, as of late. Except when she was growth-spurting (so, all of 4 times already), Elise has slept from 9:00-ish to 2:00 or 2:30-ish. Which means that Matt and I both try to be asleep as close to 9:01 as possible. Then we hope that after her middle-of-the-night feed, Elise can make it until at least 6:00 a.m., which she sometimes can.

I'll note that Kalina did this too, by the way--and then regressed into her newborn-esque patterns around 3 1/2 or 4 months. So my hopes are not up yet.

We all feel mostly human in the mornings (once we've showered, anyway), although this could change once Elise starts actually sleeping in her crib (or, more likely, not sleeping).

4. Crying peaks at 6 weeks.
Here's a rundown of Elise's crying:
"Waaa!" Translation: Something's not right here.
*silence* Translation: Oooh, cool, a stripe pattern!
"Waaa!" Translation: Hmmm, somethings still not right.
*silence* Translation: Well, I guess it's not that bad.
"Waaa!" Translation: Although maybe it needs some attention.
And so forth.

Suffice it to say, the peak of Elise's crying is quite manageable. Yes, she has her moments, but they're predictable and easy to remedy. Did you hear that? We have an easy baby!

The rest of the time, she simply grunts to let us know if she needs something. We much prefer grunting, not only because it's more easily ignored, but because it hurts our ears less. We do, by the way, jump to her rescue in the event of panicked grunts.

5. By 6 weeks, your baby will most likely be honoring you with grins.
Matt and I have both been smiled at, and I believe Kalina was once, too. Elise is more likely to light up at Kalina's egg shaker toys, though, or a crinkly plastic Gap bag.

Elise has also managed to roll over several times from front to back, and she's become very aware of the world around her as she stares at her sister's brightly colored toys. She's also already getting used to being a second child, as Kalina loves to pile stuff on top of her (sharing her toys!), bring her all the pacifiers in the vicinity whether she wants them or not, and pet her like she pets the cat.

And although I'm already missing the teeny tiny newborn days, I'm remembering that each stage seems to be more fun than the last. Looking forward to each one of them.

Photo: An attempt to get Elise to smile for the camera.

Tricks and treats!

Yesterday Elise celebrated two firsts: her first trip to church and her first Halloween. We'll discuss the weekend chronologically:

On Saturday, we carved pumpkins. Although this project can constitute a lot of work, it was entirely worth it just to hear Kalina say "goop," emphasis on the "oo." Precious.

The goop, of course, came from the inside of the pumpkin. Kalina delicately helped scoop some of it with a spoon, and then declined to have anything to do with it the rest of the time. Just like her Mommy! Good thing Daddy was around or the project would've come to an abrupt halt: "No you scoop the goop," "No you scoop the goop!" Kalina and I would've fired back and forth at each other.

We carved Kalina's pumpkin first. Kalina chose circle eyes, a circle nose and a happy mouth. And then onto Elise's pumpkin, which Kalina also chose circle eyes, a circle nose and a happy mouth for, except then Daddy persuaded her that what she really wanted was a cat pumpkin. Elise, by the way, watched from her carseat and Mommy's arms, as it was one of her myriad naptimes of the day.

Later, we took a nighttime walk and lit candles inside our pumpkins. Kalina thought it was all pretty magical, especially since she got to carry a flashlight.


Today, the whole house was up by 6:30, and yet we still barely had enough time to make it to 9:30 church. In our defense, we all managed to take our requisite baths/showers, and everyone had at least 1 breakfast (Elise had several).

Last weekend, I'd had the good fortune to find matching dresses for my girls. I was elated, and was quoted as saying, "Matching dresses is why you even have two girls!" Matt declined to comment on that.

I knew I'd have my work cut out of me to get both girls in their dresses at the same time, and also get a picture (which is why the picture in this post of the girls isn't really all that great). Elise was the easy one--Kalina needed more convincing.

Problem being that Kalina hates dresses and hates tights (she also has hated jeans and any pants that aren't cotton knit lately). I sometimes indulge her sensitivities, having hated tights, too, in my day, but this time I wasn't backing down. I tried everything, from a weak "Don't you want to match your sister?" to "When you're in your dress you can have a marshmallow." Guess which one she finally responded to.

With a bit more "convincing" (me cornering the girl and pulling the dress over her head), we finally managed. One marshmallow down the hatch.

Somehow Daddy managed to get tights on Kalina (a few more marshmallows to the rescue), as well as a new pair of shoes, and we were finally off to church!

Forty-five minutes later I discovered Elise's horrid disposable diaper had leaked onto her outfit. As I changed her out of her dress, that no one had even seen her in yet, to put on her ugly bottom-of-the-diaper-bag sleeper, anger welled up within me. What's the point of even going to church if the girls aren't going to be adorably matched in their dresses? We might as well go home now!

Okay, I wasn't quite that shallow, but we all have our dark moments. I got over it. Back at home, Kalina indulged me by posing by the pumpkins so I could immortalize her cute outfit, which I probably will never have the energy to convince her to wear again. *sigh*

Speaking of convincing my daughter to wear an outfit, the time soon came for Kalina to don her cow costume. Acquiring a costume for a toddler is tricky business--you want to do it soon enough that ebay will still have plenty of options (plus time enough for a redo if need be), but not so soon that she'll change her mind before Halloween.

Kalina decided in early October that she wanted to be a cow for Halloween. And I have to admit, she does a pretty amazing "moo." So I ordered the costume, carefully told Kalina that it was on its way, and helped her open the package when it arrived. She was ecstatic, and would occasionally come pet her cow costume, which was biding its time in Mommy and Daddy's room.

I did not offer to let her try it on early: either she'd get tired of it before Halloween, or become afraid of it before Halloween, and would not wear it on the big day, no matter how much candy we bribed her with.

One preliminary "are you ready to put on your cow costume?" yielded poor results ("No."), but when the final moment of truth arrived the girl was willing. Even more amazing: she allowed me to put up the cow-head hood for pictures!

Yes, by the way, I would've taken her trick-or-treating even without a costume.

And then we were off, along with Cousin Poky in her squirrel costume, Aunt Nancy, Uncle Tom and Grandpa. Elise and Daddy were taking a giant, much-needed nap at home.

We'd practiced trick-or-treating at home, so Kalina was ready. Out of habit, I found myself saying trick-or-treat before Kalina did a little too often, but she'd usually chime in eventually in a microscopic shy voice. I had to assure our neighbors that she had, in fact, said the words.

We proceeded around the neighborhood, Kalina wide-eyed with awe at the fact that people would hand her candy (a word she just learned a few days ago), simply at the turn of a phrase. She was so wide-eyed, in fact, that we wondered if she were having a good time:

"Kalina, are you having fun, or would you like to go back home?" I asked her.
"Fun," she replied with a smile. "More treats." The girl caught on remarkably fast.
And so we kept going, with samples for everyone along the way.

Eventually, we woke Daddy up and hauled him out as well. We all had a lovely time and I'm pretty sure she'll be asking to do it again sometime. Will our neighbors oblige the girl?

I'm also happy to say that Kalina seems to have forgotten her plastic pumpkin full of treats as of this morning. I will not remind her.