Week 3: January 12-18

January 12

The Story: Friends came over for play time which is always a good thing. One of the friends had skeleton shirt where you can see the "bones." We started pointing out bones in our body parts. Friend showed us we have bones in our elbows, which we agreed we also had.


Then we decided we had them in our wrists and our knees.


Where else do we have bones?

The Story: My two favorite men....

January 13
A Photo Story.....written from my daughter's point of view:
My mama and I have been going for short walks. When we take the dogs, I like to walk them holding the leash.

From far away I saw a puddle. "Look, mama! A puddle!" She thought I meant the pond and said so. "No, a puddle! A little puddle!" I explained. She said she didn't understand but that I could show her when we got there. After a while, we came to it. I happily splashed with my rain boots in the (very) little puddle.

When we got to the fishies' house we heard a beautiful sound. It was a tremendously gusty day. We heard a tinkling sound.

"What is it, mama?" I asked. She said she didn't know but maybe we could investigate and find out by following the sound. I directed her up the stairs to the fish, who ended up still being asleep deep under the surface of the water.

Another gust reminded me that there was a sound we were investigating. I ran over to the rocks and played with them for a while before I heard the tinkling sound again.

I ran towards the sound.

I found it! There were beautiful bells hanging from a branch. My mama called them chimes. She loves chimes....



After a bit, I went to play with the rocks, doing a bit of raking, and we heard a different chime.

Even though the wind blew them more than once, I had a hard time seeing that one, and we were cold.


So, off home we went. I felt like walking backwards.

We needed to cross the street.

And I know to look both ways. So I did....


...Twice.


And then we crossed to our side of the street.

I found a treasure (a leaf!) on the way home.


What an adventure!


January 14
The Story: I wanted something yum, so I had to make myself some chocolate chip cookies. I tried out the coconut palm sugar for baking because it worked so well in chai. I thought the results were good. However, I really wanted to make them myself, without toddler help, so I gave my daughter some measuring bowls with some dried black-eyed peas. She played with these for over an hour and then for a few hours on and off the next day. Wow. Talk about cheap toys.

January 15
The Story: Silly, but completely normal, dancing antics from my best ever daughter. 

The Story: An important day in my journey as a mother. My daughter is nursing again. I am a tandem nursing mama!

January 16
The Story: My daughter is now into taking pictures. It's still difficult for her to hold it. Here are some pictures daddy took after she got frustrated. My girl....

The Story: One of my former students shared a book with me called It's a Book. She got a "baby" version for me where the characters are in diapers--It's a Little Book. My daughter likes this book, and know our version of it well. (It's an easy book to do ASL signs with.)

January 17
The Story: I'm trying to get outside at least 15 minutes a day with my daughter. It was raining today, but I still wanted us to get out. She was thrilled to get to wear her rainboots to go puddle jumping. Another awesome walk together.......

January 18
The Story: Post wakeup/ponytail hair......

The Story: As any mama knows, the day is filled with cleanup moments. Strangely, toddlers love to clean up.....and make a mess. I got this crumb brush set from an online Montessori store a while ago, but she only today started to use it for real.

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Week 2: January 5-11

 






JANUARY 5
The Story: These photos are supposed to reflect my day. Well, I spend much of my day overseeing my daughter's exuberant love for the baby. My daughter loves her "baby brudder" sooo much. Just. Can't. Stop. Touching. Him. We have tried many things, including kissy spots which are everywhere but his face, and still she has to touch and kiss his face--the nose specifically. Recently, she has been making an effort by obsessing over his feet. Sometimes she grabs or touches his tiny two week-old body too roughly. Sometimes, though, she just does the sweetest, most loving things.......

The Story: Some of the rest of my day is spent watching my daughter run around and play. She sings little songs and hippety-hops around. Before, I would have been able to get up more often and play with her....

JANUARY 6
The Story: My husband took my daughter to play with a friend (time she thoroughly enjoyed). Meanwhile, after I finally got him to sleep I took a bajillion pictures of my beautiful boy. I loved having some quiet time to ourselves. Now I just need the same (maybe not so quiet) time with my daughter....



JANUARY 7
The Story: Couple of things today....
Took a bath with the baby with baking soda for the yeasty diaper area, armpits and elbow pits. Turns out his hair curls when it's wet like mine!

The Story: My daughter saw a bug on the curtain, had a little conversation with it, and then went around the corner to play peekaboo bug. I thought it was the funniest, and so did she! "There she is!"

The Story: My big girl was extra gentle and loving with baby today. I was so grateful. I even let her give kissies on the face. We also let her hold baby for the first time.

JANUARY 8

The Story: Having friends over makes all of us happy. We like to talk and play and have fun. Plus we all like eating together. This is one of my daughter's first friends (since the womb!), and we met this family through our homebirth class. Been friends ever since!

JANUARY 9
The Story: A friend made my daughter a homemade "baking set" for her second birthday with homemade playdough and shape cutters and a rolling pin. She loves to "make pies." She also likes when daddy makes balls for her. Today she was happily counting them over and over as he added one more at a time. She cheered and clapped for herself. 

The Story: After I got out the camera to take pictures of her counting and getting excited, my daughter wanted to take pictures, too. Normally, I would direct her to her own camera or explain that this camera is for mama and daddy and breaks easily. However,I am trying to shift back to being more of a "Yes" parent except for really important things (like treating baby brother gently). I gave her the camera after explaining that she couldn't touch the lens (which was difficult -- where to put her left hand?). She was so intent and focused and careful taking pictures. I asked her what she wanted to take a picture of, and she said the balls. She looked at the screen to see what she was taking a picture of and carefully pushed the button. Here are the two of the pictures she took. (Notice the little butter knife she is using to learn to cut things.) 

JANUARY 10
The Story: I feel like my son just had a growth spurt, even though he's still so little! He started being more awake and alert and looking around more. I love when he looks at his big sister. She adores him...

The Story: I got out of the house for a short walk today, first one postpartum. On the way back my daughter found a "treasure" that made music, she said. It did make a delightful ringing sound when she scraped it across the ground. She happily sang and played the music rhythmically with the landscape of the sidewalk. Then she decided it was a belt. Hilarious. Then she found two sticks and wanted me to talk a picture of her with them. We (I) also found a rock. I thought the shape was significant, and so smooth.....

 

JANUARY 11 
My daughter was playing with daddy in the playroom. I couldn't hear what they were doing. Then she came in and said she had a surprise for me, a present. She "read" it to me.....

.....and then showed me

I was touched. I love my big girl....