Tea at two

One thing I've learned in my adventures as a mommy of a toddler is that you almost never reveal a fun and exciting plan until you simply can't keep it quiet anymore, since almost anything, from a too-runny nose to a sign on the door can cause a devastating cancellation.

This means that occasionally Kalina is bombarded with something like, "Guess what, Kalina! Today we're going to a puppet show birthday party! You'll get to see a puppet show, and there will be cake! Come on, get your shoes!" And just think--two minutes prior, the girl was expecting to spend a quiet morning at home. As the gears in her head change abruptly and clunk together, I get to watch a smile spread across her face and see her do a little dance as she gets ready. It's quite fun.

One recent afternoon, the air was warm-ish, the sun was shining and Kalina had done such a good job of being a "big girl" (more about that later) lately that I couldn't wait to go share some ice cream or a balloon with her has a special "big girl" treat. Fortunately, I had not let on that this was going to occur.

Because then the baby, who hadn't slept more than 30 minutes undisturbed all day, decided that the afternoon would be a lovely one for a long snooze that I didn't have the heart to wake her from. Kalina and I were officially trapped indoors (or at least limited to our doorstep, which wasn't much help).

What to do? I realized I didn't have to do anything special, but having gotten about 7 hours of sleep last night, I was feeling ambitious. And besides, I had an idea: earlier that day we'd somehow gotten on the subject of teaparties. Although Kalina has a teaset, I'd never been adventurous enough to allow her real water in her teapot. I decided that now would be a good time: after all, what could be more "big girl" than that?

I pictured myself and Kalina bonding over lukewarm water poured into slightly dusty plastic cups, while passing stale Goldfish crackers back and forth. I couldn't wait.

Having already lugged all of Kalina's "friends" (her stuffed animals) down the stairs to play on her indoor slide, compiling the guest list for Kalina's party was easy. As I gathered her pretend teaset, as well as some extra cups and plates, Kalina gave Lamby, Mountain Lion, Puff the Duck, the other Puff the Duck and herself special places of honor on the picnic table. Four animals, Kalina, and me: perfect, we had exactly six plates and cups out.

I then held Kalina up to the kitchen faucet with her teapot to fill, and she slowly proceeded to the picnic table with it, holding it gently with both hands and only spilling a drop or two. She happily poured "tea" into each cup, startling when the lid fell off and needing one refill. I was impressed that she filled several cups to within about 1/2 inch of the rim, stopping just in time.

I was less impressed with her ability to fill a few other cups exactly to the top, overflowing just a little onto the plate. I was, however, quite grateful for the ancient tradition of including a saucer with each teacup. Perhaps whoever came up with that brilliant idea was also present at a few toddler teaparties.

And then I waited expectantly for Kalina to sample her "tea." Hesitant at first, testing the water with her finger ("it's cold!" she mentioned, to which I responded "is that okay? Would you like it warmed up?" to which she replied that she liked it cold), she soon drained her mini glass.

Thrilled at my success, I made a move to drink my "tea," too.

"No!" insisted the toddler.
"Oh, oops, was this Little Puff the Duck's cup?" I politely inquired of my hostess, trying to mentally sort out which animal was nearest to which place setting.
"No," Kalina admitted.
"Well then can I have it?" I asked, since we could both clearly see that me and Little Puff were the only two who could possibly be in competition for it.
"No." Kalina flatly refused again.

At this point, I realized that I wasn't actually invited to the teaparty. This was the first time I wasn't cool enough to be around Kalina's "friends." My little girl really is growing up!

But the whole scene was too cute to be depressed about, so instead I busied myself by essentially playing servant to Kalina and her honored guests, helping Kalina refill the teapot a million times and "helping" one or two of the animals drink their tea, since I was, in actuality, thirsty.

"See, Puff the Duck is drinking!" I'd insist after draining Puff's alleged glass with Puff's bill right next to my mouth. "Right?"
Kalina suspiciously nodded her assent, and we reached a dubious agreement on how much involvement was okay from me.

Like a good mommy, I decided to sweeten my child's first teaparty a little more, by breaking out the colored marshmallows left over from Christmas. I put 2 or 3 in each of 4 bowls, and allowed Kalina to pass them out to her friends.

Kalina immediately assigned the blue bowl (her favorite) to herself, and gobbled up her 3 marshmallows before I could even watch. I expected her to do the same with the rest. But as much as she loves marshmallows, Kalina must love her friends more: she simply allowed the treats to stay in their bowls, and held each of her animals up for a taste.

Then she decided to float the marshmallows in the tea. And play in the water. And eat a couple soggy marshmallows. And pour water onto the plates. And then we were done, and the girl did a rather nice job of helping me clean up.

When Daddy got home, we told him all about the teaparty. "Did you drink the water?" Daddy asked.

"It was tea," chided Kalina.

We will be doing this again soon. Maybe one of these times, I'll actually be allowed to attend.

Photo: The green bowl should've been mine. Am I right???

Grabby

A while back, Elise discovered her hands: "What are these pink things that are constantly floating in front of my eyes? I'll call them....hands!"

Then she discovered that hands are cheap entertainment. She happily gummed them all day long.

And in the past week or two, Elise has been turning her hands into tools, and grabbing anything within reach.

It's been fun to watch the progression from batting to holding to maneuvering. [Thinking back, Kalina could care less about toys at this age, so this is somewhat new to me.] I imagine it's been somewhat frustrating at times for Elise, but she perseveres like a true honor student.

Her first attempts could best be described as wild stabs. "Maybe if I try hard enough, the toy will jump into my hand!" Success was limited, although at times if we positioned her just right in her playgym, calculating the angle and force of her next arm thrust (like true honors students ourselves), we could set her up to land a toy directly into her mouth. Maybe this helped her keep going.

As Elise gained further control of her arms and hands, she could use them like giant paddles, scooping goodies into them and funneling the object toward her mouth (the ultimate goal, as she realized after weeks of sucking on fingers).

And once Elise became better with her aim and grip, she gave up sleep entirely for a few nights in her excitement, stifled only by her swaddle. I imagine she'll be the type to pull all-nighters in college. When placed in her playgym, she'd relentlessy grab and mouth anything that came into her path.

This has included my hair and glasses. In fact, Elise took me by surprise today with her vehemence in wanting to play with her mommy's hair. I could see the headline now: "Mommy devoured by smiling 12-pound infant." If it hadn't been so ridiculous, I would've been scared, and indeed became a bit unsettled as Elise grabbed my glasses away and mustered all the strength she could to pull me closer, for sampling. I rescued myself well enough by prying off her sweet little fingers, but it took more strength than I'm generally comfortable using with a small child. Good thing Kalina wasn't in on the stunt, too or I would've been in over my head. Literally.

Elise seems to prefer toys that jingle or rattle, as well as soft things, but is generally not picky. Her favorite so far seems to be a stuffed whale toy that was a Christmas present from Aunt Nancy. The baby dreams big, trying to drag the whole thing into her mouth at once with her little paws. Is she bound for grad school, perhaps?

This new development has, by the way, just about trained Elise completely out of a pacifier. She's happy to chew on one if we hold it in for her, but rarely sucks it, even when tired. Sometimes it'd be nice if she still used it (an easy fix to lots of baby problems), but we're mostly relieved we won't have to wrest it away from her in weeks/months/years to come when it would start to cause more problems than it solved.

Currently, Elise is working on perfecting her grip (on larger objects than a handful of Mommy's hair) and timing it so that her fingers contract just as they're coming into contact with a toy, just like those "claw" games you find at restaurants and arcades. I suppose if college doesn't work out, she can earn a living winning stuffed animals.

Next up: rolling. Today I finally answered the question: "Why is my baby arching backwards in an almost perfect semicircle on her playmat?" Turns out, Elise is in the beginning stages of rolling onto her tummy. And today for the first time since the wobbly newborn days when she coudln't keep her balance no matter how she was positioned, she managed to roll to her back on her own. With a little practice, I bet we'll have the baby rolling across the room in no time.

Photo: Yes, those are forest animals all over Elise's soft, fuzzy sleeper!

Pediatrician visit!

Elise had her 4-month doctor appointment today! Where has the time gone?

My first order of business this morning was to determine whether or not we should actually attend the appointment. Everyone in our house but Matt has been sick for at least a couple of days and I was leery about taking my coughing, congested baby out on a mini road trip, despite the unseasonably nice weather.

"I should cancel," I decided. "After all, the baby is sick."

"But what's a better place for a sick baby than at the doctor?" I then reasoned. I'll keep the appointment.

"But Elise really isn't sick enough to go to the doctor--it's just a cold," I reminded myself. I decided it'd be silly to take her.

"So since she's not sick enough to go to the doctor for a sick-baby visit, she must be well enough for a well-baby visit, right?" said my sleep-deprived brain.

I figured I'd better keep the appointment.

And then Elise coughed through her morning nap, and I almost canceled, but couldn't quite justify calling off a doctor appointment because "my baby didn't take a good nap."

So I bundled my over-tired, sick baby into her carseat and drove her to the doctor so he could make sure she's doing okay. Poor baby.

I did, by the way, take into account the fact that if Elise happened to have something worse than a cold, the doctor would probably catch it, and I'd save myself an extra trip to the pediatrician.

(Not really wanting to drag Kalina to another of Elise's appointments and completely traumatize her when it comes to shots, by the way, I'd already lined up Grandpa to watch her. This turned out to be a particularly good call since Kalina spiked a 102.7 armpit temperature this morning.)

And that's how Elise and I ended up chatting with the friendly receptionist about the perils of identity theft. I was glad of the conversation, having been shut in for days. While I was in the waiting room, a mom called in and cancelled because she was "too tired" (she, too, has a young baby, as well as a couple teenagers, and isn't used to waking up so much in the middle of the night, as the receptionist informed me). I rethought my flimsy "my baby didn't nap" excuse.

Elise, by the way, was a trooper through this experience. The girl desperately, desperately wanted to take another stab at napping, but managed a smile and a healthy interest in her blue bunny toy up until her shots.

The pediatrician's office was, as expected, a bit busy this morning. I was informed that Elise would be able to get her shots despite her cold, which admittedly came as a relief to me. A good nap and a dose of Tylenol when we got home could cure all of her ailments at once, instead of dragging them out an extra day. Not to mention the fact that it's Rotavirus season, I believe.

We weighed the baby and found she's grown about 3 pounds since her last visit--to 12 lbs. 8 oz. She's 24 3/4 inches long. Her weight is just over the 30th percentile, and her height is in the 60th. Her head circumference is in the 10th this time, which is just fine.

The doctor mentioned that 4-6 months is a really fun time with babies--they're happy and exploring their world. So true! And yet, I can't help but also equate this stretch with some of the worst sleep ever. None of the adrenaline, and we're still not sleeping. But the baby sure is cute, as the doctor confirmed for us.

Then, the doctor verified that Elise is laughing and starting to work on rolling over, both of which she's doing. Elise just has the cutest little screamy laugh, and can roll to her side with the proper motivation (usually in the form of a particularly juicy toy). He also mentioned she has very good torso control. That's my girl.

I asked about Elise's reflux, which rears its ugly head one day a week or so. The doctor recommended against medicating it, which is also the direction I was leaning. It's nice having a doctor whose opinion I trust because now I can quit my worrying.

Next, the doctor listened to Elise's heart for quite a while, but could not hear the murmur. It might be gone! But it also could be that the doctor just didn't hear it.

We also discussed the fact that it's okay to keep swaddling Elise, to let her fuss a little bit if she needed to to settle down to sleep, and start solid food, just for practice. I think I'm going to hold off on solids for another month, though, since at that point cloth diapering gets a bit trickier.

All too soon, it was time for Elise's shots. I brought her blue bunny out to distract her, and distract her it did--up until the time when a needle was plunged into her thigh. I think she blames Blue Bunny for the incident, because the next time I showed her the toy, after it was all over, she screamed louder.

"YOU! It was YOU I was reaching out toward when that thing stuck me in the leg! YOU must be behind this, Blue Bunny! Waaaaaahhhhh!" said Elise in some confine of her mind.

Poor girl.

I then rushed Elise home to put her down for the nap she was a couple hours overdue for. She slept a nice long time and woke up unhappy, but soon calmed down with the Tylenol I'd promised her.

The rest of the day, Elise was either sleeping or letting me know she wasn't thrilled about the dull ache in her legs. I couldn't blame her.

Hopefully tomorrow Elise will be back to her happy, 4-month-old self.

Photos:

1. Elise's one post-shot smile today! :)

2. We were bored and decided to pose together (with the farm animals and Beancat) for a photo.

A big sister is born

When I was pregnant with Elise, Kalina was excited about the new baby. When Elise was born, Kalina happily, and oh-so-gently, touched Elise's head and hands and feet, and kissed her, too. We talked a lot about Elise, and about baby Kalina, too.

After about a month of that, Kalina became bored with the whole baby thing and pretty much ignored her little sister except for reminding us in her most pitiful voice that "Elise cries" and including Elise in her list of family: "and Kalina, and Mommy, and Daddy, and Elise, and Kalina will go to the park," for instance.

And then a couple of days ago, after weeks of propganda from Mommy ("someday, you and Elise will play together and have So Much Fun, and you'll have to teach her things!"), Kalina of her own free will and independent thought sat down by Elise's playmat and started showing Elise her collection of small plastic animals.

"A cow," said Kalina, carefully placing a little brown cow on its side in front of Elise.

"MOOOOO!" she vehemently added (Kalina just does the best moo.).

"A horse," said Kalina, lining a little horse up next to the cow. And then, a very realistic "Neeeiiiiggghhhh!"

Then on to the pig, and the rest. Pretty soon, Elise had a nice little collection of farm animals in front of her, not to mention a master's degree in animal sounds.

And this may have been the highlight of my week. May this be the beginning of two girsl nicely playing together and not fighting over things like little farm animals at all. It was, indeed, So Much Fun.

We think Elise is warming up to Kalina, too. At first, Big Sister most represented a threat to Elise's physical safety and her ability to get any kind of good-quality attention from Mommy or Daddy. Now, Big Sister is a pleasant diversion from the mundane routine of naps, diaper changes and playmat stints, not to mention feedings.

Elise, with her blossoming ability to laugh, has decided things that Kalina does, such as squats in her crib holding onto the rail, are just hilarious. We all have a good laugh, me and Matt more out of relief that the girls are getting along than anything else.

We've been working on sharing already, among other things. Like most 2-year-olds, Kalina is a strong supporter of sharing--as long as her own toys aren't up for grabs. So far, sharing is going okay: At playtime, Elise can play with one of her toys at a time, and any toy she's not playing with Kalina hoards in a pile. If Elise so much as lets go of her toy for a second, Kalina pounces on it and adds it to her stack. Then I make Kalina give Elise another toy. Other times, Kalina mounds Elise's toys all around her so the poor baby is rather surrounded and probably quite overstimulated. Fortunately, I have months to get the sharing situation evened out before Elise is likely to notice.

It helps, too, that Kalina doesn't know that most of Elise's toys, clothes and baby equipment once belonged to her. I would imagine that as Elise graduates from rattles and teethers to small farm animals, sharing will become more difficult. I'm hoping that the girls will be too busy playing happily together to notice.

Of course, Kalina helps out with my baby-related tasks as well (Kalina is a great helper). Beyond alerting me to the fact that I left the baby monitor on even after getting Elise up from her nap (which really annoys Kalina), she can be quite useful, too. For instance, the other day I informed Kalina I needed to wake Elise up from her nap. Kalina followed me into Elise's room and promptly turned on the lamp. Poor Elise was rather startled out of her cozy sleep, but I have to give Kalina credit: her idea worked more quickly and effectively than my plan of gently rubbing Elise's tummy would've.

And so, from "sharing" to "helping," we clearly have a big sister on our hands. I'm pretty sure that, one way or another, Kalina will be a great one.

A baby around the house

When I was pregnant with Elise, I wondered how I could possibly love another child as much as Kalina. (I'm told this feeling is common, which is why I can admit it publicly for poor Elise to read decades from now.)

The minute Elise was born, I knew. And yet, sometimes with babies there's the tough love of "Oh look, I haven't set you down once the entire day, I must really love you!" and sometimes there's the more enjoyable (admittedly) love of "Oh, cute, you were somewhat upset and now you're smiling simply because I'm singing 'You are my sunshine!'" Elise is the second type, and it's so nice.

[Okay, so, yes, Kalina was sometimes more the first type, but she's just a lovely toddler!]

And what a little sunshine Elise is! She prefers smiling to crying and has even been getting in some good laughs--most recently at any of her sister's antics (more on that in another post). None, however, have been caught on video, true to typcial baby form.

On her playmat, Elise has been known to bat at her toys over and over, so for the span of a couple minutes we'll hear the bell on her star toy ring or the jostling of her rattle.

Not only has Elise found her hands, but she's learning about them with gusto--and possibly even starting to suck her thumb. Once last week she seemed to have noticed her feet, maybe because they were clad in just the cutest little soft pink socks.

Elise is also beginning to learn to sit up--I'd noticed her straining a lot and, with my tired mommy brain, finally realized a few days later that she'd prefer an upright position, please. No problem.

And Elise occasionally graces all of us with squeals and coos. She's just a happy little girl, not to mention adorable.

In fact (and without mentioning any prior baby, who was sweet and precious and wonderful despite her sometimes overwhelming baby neediness), I'm a bit surprised to see how much I'm enjoying having a baby around the house. Especially one who loves nothing more than big, loud mommy kisses on her soft, squishy cheeks--a guaranteed smile.

Yes, Elise does have a few distinct preferences, though. She seems to be taking issue with her carseat. Is it uncomfortable? We're not sure, but I became almost panicked the other day when she was crying in it with her new "loud cry then quiet then loud cry again" routine. You'd think I'd be a veteren with baby crying, but I actually freaked a little, thinking something must actually be wrong. After a thorough search, we both decided that a pacifier would solve the problem.

And there's the fact that Elise doesn't like going down stairs quickly. No, she's not walking--but if we go down them too quickly while holding her she tenses up and strains. Weird.

But in general, Elise isn't really all that much work, most days, anyway. Yes, we have the occasional day when all I do is run up and down the stairs trying to wield a pacifier in such a way that the baby will take a decent nap. But other than that, Elise is actually more of what Matt and I had wistfully called a "houseplant baby" during a prior child's most challenging/loud months. With Elise, as long as she's fed, changed, not tired, burped and comfortable, with an occasional change of view, she's good. We could almost forget about her for five minutes at a time (not that anyone possibly could forget anyone so cute!). Just like a houseplant.

Unlike a houseplant, however, the girl is already remarkable smart. A few weeks ago, I noticed that Elise stopped grunting (yes, grunting--she doesn't cry much) whenever I approached the door to her room on my way to settle her during naptime.

"She hears your footsteps and knows you're coming," Matt postulized.

"You're crazy, she's just a baby," I replied, mostly because I hated to think that our horridly squeaky stairs and hallways will come into play for yet another child.

But now I'm pretty sure he's right. She's uncanny in knowing when I'm on my way. Squeak. Squeak. Squeak. Just like our older child. We now have a loud sound machine in the hallway, and Kalina hasn't skipped a nap since (nor has Elise).

Clearly, we'll have a challenge on our hands again as Elise grows: brains plus adorableness will get this girl far in our household (already has for Kalina).

That's okay. It's still really nice to have a baby around the house.