4 Months already!

Kayden is 4 months old. Where has the time gone?!?! She no longer qualifies as a newborn but just a baby. She is doing wonderfully. She sleeps 12-13 hours at night and wakes up happy. Naps are inconsistent in length but she is easy to put down and stays pleasant even if she is up too long. She is still in love with Keeley and starting to get a little more shy with other people. Rolling from back to tummy, grabbing onto things, talking up a storm, and playing with her feet have been the highlights of this month.

When we went to the doctor, everything checked out great. She's a big girl weighing in at 15 lb 6 oz (82%) and 25.25 inches long (81%). She was a trooper with her 4 shots. Unfortuntately, she cried more when the doctor talked to her or tried to hold her than she did with the shots. She was completely unbothered by the bandaids (although their presence bothered Keeley quite a bit). We left with information about starting solid foods. I cannot believe my baby is about to be starting solids.

Daddy and his girls at the park. Keeley insisted Dad slide even though he had the baby.

Propping herself up when I sit her up. She no longer falls straight down.

Talking. She is always talking.

Holding onto her foot for dear life!

Evidence of a few of the rolls...

Unimpressed with Keeley's reading. Keeley is clearly not pleased with her student.

18 months!

We are into full fledged toddler mode. Keeley is into her world and loving it. We had her appointment today and she got her flu shot and one vaccine. I was pleased to find out that she has no more shots until 4. She hates being examined but the doctor said she is "appropriately" afraid so I shouldn't worry. She also HATES her shots. Everything about them is bad - having lay down, having to be held still, being poked and, horror of all horrors, having bandaids placed on her. Apparently bandaids do not agree with her fashion sense! The doctor said everything about Keeley was great and that we should expect her to have a vocabulary explosion in the next 6 months. She weighed in at 23 pounds (26%) and is 33.5 inches tall (89%). I suppose everyone that has referred to her as a "peanut" lately must be referring to her weight because she is certainly tall for her age. The doctor is unconcerned with how skinny she is because it is staying the same. The doctor said she only wished her proportions were similar!

Her hair is finally getting long enough to do something with. She rarely leaves any of the clips and bows alone for more than a few minutes so I have to snap my pictures quickly.

Reading to an unwilling listener.

Reading with Daddy.

Playing at the park. This has been a big hit over the past few weeks because she has finally learned to climb onto the equipment herself and slide down the slides alone.

I'm not sure two napkins is sufficient! She's eating baby food because she wanted it and it seemed perfect for her "soft food" restrictions. I had no idea what a mess it would make! Fortunately, she's totally into cleaning right now.

She though this was hilarious. By the time she had finished, she had stacked about 20 books this way. It is so funny to watch their little minds work.

Dental Update

I called the Keeley's dentist yesterday (since she had to see the on-call pedi dentist on Friday) to schedule a follow up appointment. They told me that as long as everything seemed okay at the moment, we would need to schedule the appointment about 2 weeks out so that we could see how the teeth were firming up. This was fine by me as I thought the less she had people in her mouth for a while the better. We continued to keep her on her soft food diet and have been monitoring her climbing escapades even more closely than usual.

Well, at 7:40 this morning I noticed that she was bleeding again. I have no idea what prompted it. She was simply running around the living room and I noticed that her drool had suddenly turned bloody. Of course I was nursing Kayden so I couldn't jump up right away but I thought that was okay since Keeley seemed completely unphased by the blood.

As soon as I could, I got up and inspected her mouth. The blood was coming from around those teeth so I let Kelly know and then waited until her dentist opened at 8 to call. They wanted to see her.

We went in and the assistant looked at her teeth and explained that the bleeding didn't seem to be too big of an issue because the gums were still injured the teeth were loose. She said we would probably just need to watch it and follow up in a month or so. Then she asked if Keeley still took a paci and I said yes. I didn't like her facial expression. She told me that using the paci probably wasn't in the best interest of those teeth but that we could talk to the doctor about it. In my head I'm thinking "No way. There is no way we are going cold turkey on the paci three weeks into Mother's Day out and 4 days after her traumatic fall."

Fortunately, the dentist agreed with my internal monologue. He said that it might do more damage psychologically to take it away from her after such a big incident and with her still being so young. THANK GOODNESS! He said we could just limit it as much as possible and watch to see if she quit taking it. Voluntarily stopping her paci use now would indicate that her teeth were probably hurting her.

Then we talked through all the scenarios. Best case scenario - the teeth firm up just like they should and she gets to keep both of them. Worst case scenario - one or both abcesses and we have to get them removed. He said he does that with or with out anesthesia depending on parent preference. What parent chooses without anesthesia?!?!? He also said that if he ends up having to take one out that he will probably just take them both out since they are both at risk for needing it. He says that instead of having to possibly go in twice, it made more sense to take them both at one time.

While he is going through all this, I am internally freaking out. Keeley is 18 months old. 18 months. She isn't going to get grown up teeth for a long time. I don't want her teased mercilesslily for being gap toothed. My face, I hope, simply shows my concern for Keeley's physical well being. I'm doubtful that is all it showed, however, because I have a very expressive face. I'm also quite certain there was a dramatic change in my face as soon as he said "If we have to take them both, we can do a pedi partial so she isn't missing those teeth" He then said that even if the tooth abcesses but doesn't have to be removed it might discolor and they can fix that cosmetically too.

Woo hoo! I certainly never would have imagined cosmetic dentistry for a preschooler but I'm glad that it is here to help us if we need it!

Dental Emergency

What is a dental emergency? I've often wondered this same thing. When you call the dentist and get the recording they always say "if this is a true dental emergency, please call....." This always makes me laugh a little and wonder why on earth you would need to call the dentist after hours. I mean really. Even if you chip your tooth, can you not wait until the morning?

Friday night we discovered what a "true dental emergency" is. It started out like every evening we've had since the weather started cooling off. We ate dinner and then went to the park in our neighborhood. This particular Friday, some friends drove over to meet us. Just as we were about to leave, Keeley scooted off the bench and fell onto her glass of water. She cried (but she cries a lot) and wanted to be held so I picked her up. Then I noticed the blood. Lots and lots of blood. Keeley has fallen and cut her mouth before but there was never this much blood. I didn't know what to do outside of cuddle Keeley to get her calmed down and get back to the house. My friend told me that I went into a zone but I didn't feel particularly panicked - more a need to stay calm so I could figure out what to do. She gave me some wipes and I carried Keeley home while Kelly got Kayden in the car to drive home. The walk wasn't far and I just couldn't bear the thought of Keeley being hurt and scared strapped into her car seat.

She quickly calmed down and we talked the whole way home while I tried to get her face and hands cleaned off. We are in the "yuuuuck" phase right now and I didn't want her bothered by the site of all the blood. As we walked up to the house, Kelly walked out with a popsicle for her and we continued to cuddle while she enjoyed her popsicle. Once the she was smiling again, I plopped her on the counter to assess the damage.

Her poor bottom lip was split and the top lip was really swollen. When I lifted her lips to assess the teeth, I came pretty close to freaking out. Her front center tooth looked like it had been broken in half and the one next to it was pointing back toward her tongue. I decided that if a tooth is pointing the wrong direction, that merits a 7pm call to the dentist.

We made the after hours page to the dentist on call and tried to get the girls cleaned up while we waited for the call. When the dentist called back, he said we needed to see him that night. Awesome. We decided to leave Kelly at home with Kayden so at least one of the kiddos was on schedule and Keeley and I headed out to the dentist. Our dentist wasn't on call so we had to drive about 40 minutes away to the on call pediatric dentist.

Keeley was so very, very brave. She cried a lot but she was so cooperative. She even knew when she had to take her pacifier out and did so before we asked. He looked in her mouth and decided we needed x-rays so Keeley has now had her first set of x-rays. Upon looking at the x-rays, the dentist determined that she hadn't broken the front tooth but pushed it way up back in the gum. He also said he was going to need to reposition the other tooth. Poor thing.

We moved back to the exam area and Keeley and I sat tummy to tummy and then I leaned her back in the dentist's lap. He opened her mouth and then moved her tooth forward and massaged the tissue around to get it to stay. He didn't use any medicine because he said it didn't usually help and once the tooth was back in place it stopped hurting. Keeley cried hard and there was lots more blood but she recovered quickly. We got home and rocked for a long time and then she slept just fine and woke up right on schedule today. She seems totally fine. We have to keep her on a soft diet since that tooth will be loose for a couple of days and follow up with her dentist on Monday. The dentist also said that the tooth that was going the wrong direction doesn't have a great survival chance so our little monkey may be gap toothed for a while soon!

Here is a picture of her this morning. You can see the split and the swollen upper lip.

Random little one updates

How do toddlers always know what the most dangerous item in the dishwasher is? Without fail, Keeley will remove kitchen scissors, knives, and forks from the utensil basket (in that order). If there are only spoons, she always seems to try to unload something glass.

Keeley is taking a nap and she woke up for a moment and said "dada dada dada" and then went back to sleep. I love listening to her practice her words. School is already changing her vocabulary and I am encouraged to hear more and more of her words. They are studying red right now and she can say it - so cute.

Kayden has finally learned to roll from tummy to back. Now, not only will she stop being frustrated when she rolls onto her tummy, she can start to move places more intentionally. We'll see how this developing skill plays out with Keeley. Keeley is starting to get a little bit uneasy when Kayden's feet kick her or if a finger/elbow/arm ends up in teething Kayden's mouth. It is a bit reminiscent of "Mom, he's looking at me..." days.

Day of firsts!

Well, Keeley did AWESOME at school. I stood outside and watched her for a little bit to see if she was happy. She was eating her snack and having a great time. She got a little sad when she saw me, but just a little. As soon as I picked her up, she kissed Kayden's head and was smiling again. And, I know you aren't going to believe this, but she NAPPED at school!!! My child, the non-napper. The one that refuses to nap at my mom's actually laid down and took a nap with no fight. Now, it was only a 35 minute nap for the day but I was amazed. I just about fell down with shock when they told me. As we were leaving, I put Keeley down to buckle Kayden into the car and Keeley actually tried to go back to school. Amazing.

I was a little nervous about how the afternoon would go when we got home since she woke up at 6:30 and only took a 35 minute nap. We got home and she was in such a great mood. She ate a lot of food (not her normal 6 grapes for the day) and was so into playing by herself! Kayden took a long afternoon nap and Keeley and I went outside to play and she only checked back in with me occasionally.Gathering all her water bottles for her snack.

Her ensemble when I told her she needed a hat to go outside.

It was such a great day. When Kelly got home, we ate dinner with Kayden in her high chair for the first time. Then we walked to the park and Keeley had so much fun climbing up the playground equipment and sliding down the slide by herself. She was like a different kid.

Such a happy baby.

Big girls at the table.

Kayden's not sure of the kisses from Keeley.
Keeley had to find a step stool to get high enough to kiss her.

I think I am going to really enjoy having some special Kayden time on Mondays.

Day 2 - Progress?

Well, today was the second day of Mother's Day out. Yesterday I put Keeley in the church nursery for the very first time. I've been wanting to do that for a while but have been fearing the inevitable crying. One of her MDO teachers is also a teacher on Sunday morning so I thought it would be good practice for her and a shorter time frame to get used to. She did okay in the nursery but still wasn't terribly happy when I dropped her off or picked her up.

I had high hopes for today. Every time we talked to her about school, she was excited about it. This morning as I gathered all her things together, she insisted on carrying them to the car.

Look how big the bags are compared to my tiny girl!

When we got to school, she saw some other kids with their things going inside and wanted to go too. I tried to help her but she wanted none of that.

So cute! She's so determined to do it all by herself.

She insisted on doing it all by herself the entire way into the school and all the way down the hall. As we got a little closer to the nursery, she wanted to hold my hand. Seeing the bye bye buggy made her want to get in my arms. Looking into her classroom made her cry. Handing her to the teacher made her scream. However, I went around the corner and the frantic crying ended in less than a minute. MUCH better progress than I anticipated for the second day. It appears to me as though she really wants to go to school and knows she will have fun but is still not sure she's ready to be that independent yet. Something tells me that this is just the stage we are in...

Mother's Day Out

Keeley started Mother's Day Out on Monday. She is only going 1 day a week and it is from 9:15-2:15. They get to do all sorts of fun things. The day begins with a ride outside in the "bye bye buggy" and movement class in the gym. After movement class, they have some free play, art, and the "lesson of the day". Lunch with music follows their lesson and then they are supposed to take naps. When they wake up from nap time, they eat a snack and come home. It sounded like fun to me. There are 7 kiddos in Keeley's class and 2 teachers. Here's an update on how things are going so far....

Meet the teacher was last week. We attended and Keeley had so much fun. This is exceptionally impressive considering we left the house at 6:20 for a meeting at work and went straight to meet the teacher at 10. She was a little unsure as we walked in the room but very quickly wanted down to go explore by herself. I took this as a very good sign.

Looking at me in the slide as if to ask why I'm bothering to stop her play for a picture.

Hoarding her toys just like at home.

We talked a lot about what was going to happen and her teachers. They had given us a schedule so I started prepping Keeley right away. She's always been slow to warm up to change and I wanted the best possible situation. All weekend we talked about it. Monday morning we talked about it a lot before we left.

Here she is with her tiny backpack and lunch box. Her lunch box is too big for the tiny backpack!

When we arrived at the school, lots of other kids were arriving as well. I got out of the car and put Kayden in the wrap. Then I went and grabbed Keeley and all her gear. We talked about all the kids and how excited they were and how they all had backpacks and lunch boxes too. We talked about how she was going to stay all by herself today.

When we got to the room, the lead teacher informed me that the other teacher's daughter was sick and the substitute for the day would be the movement teacher. I internally panicked a bit because Keeley didn't know her. However, the movement teacher came in and immediately sat on the floor with the kids so I thought we'd be okay.

Keeley wanted down right away. Here she is checking out a new arrival to the class.

Saying hi to Ms. Lisa

Everything was great and I was very encouraged. I moved toward the door and said "bye Keeley, I'll be back later. Have fun. I love you." INSTANT tears, panic to get to the door and "mama mama mama". Fortunately for me, she has this reaction when I leave all the time so it didn't phase me too badly. I went around the corner and the teacher said they'd call me if she didn't settle down but they thought she'd be fine.

I was able to not call until 10:45. At 10:45 they told me that she'd cried for 15 minutes or so but had calmed down a bit. She still looked sad however. They said that I could call as much as I wanted but that they would call if she got really upset again. Kayden and I enjoyed the day as much as we could while I jumped every time the phone rang.

I never got a call. We arrived to pick Keeley up and she was sitting at the table eating a snack after her non-nap time (who are we kidding, she's not going to nap there). She looked very sad. She started crying and trying to get out instantly. It took about 5 minutes for me to calm her down. The whole rest of the day was not good. Lots and lots of crying. I'm not even sure she let Kelly hold her at all.

So, I figured we should try to visit a lot this week and talk about it a lot. We went up there today and she was mad I wouldn't let her in the bye bye buggy or go into her room. When we got home, she got her lunch box, back pack, and daily folder. When I asked her where she was going she said "bye bye". I asked if that meant she was going to school and she said yes.

Trying to go to school...no pants.

So, we'll see how next week goes. Be thinking about us Monday morning! Oh, it is interesting to note that Kayden is just happy as can be through everything and everyone comments about how smiley she is. Also, Keeley loved on Kayden a lot on the way to the car after her traumatic first day. Sister love is so sweet.

Sharkarosa Ranch

Sunday, Keeley had a birthday party to attend at Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch for one of her friends. For the first part of the party, it was just me and the girls so I was a little nervous. Fortunately, Kayden slept the entire time in the wrap and Keeley was so entralled with everything that she was pretty happy. I was nervous when we first got there because Keeley fell in the grass parking lot and then started crying (actual tears people) because there was grass on her hands (she wasn't hurt, just dirty). Fortunately, that passed quickly.

The party started with some free time to explore the small animal area. They had lemurs, monkeys, camels, albino kangaroos, roaming dogs, donkeys, etc. ALL Keeley was interested in watching were the lemurs. She was in love with them. She especially liked the baby lemurs and watching them play. Whenever they would wander from the front to a place she couldn't see them as well, she would sign for more.

Watching the baby lemurs play.

Looking at the albino kangaroos

After a little while, they brought the animals out and let the kids touch some of them. Keeley did not participate. She wanted to look at them but was much more interested in following the Great Dane dog around.

Next was a ride on the train. It was one of those barrel ones pulled by a tractor. I thought for sure Keeley would be one of the kids that they had to stop the train for because she was trying to escape. I was even more nervous as she started crying when I walked away. She's a trooper though and was one of the few kids that didn't bail out mid ride (there were two) and was still happy when they got back to the parents.

Examining her seat. She refused to ride with her friend Cali and I had to convince her to sit down before they started moving.

She chose to ride backwards - the only kid that did this by the way.

Pulling away from Mom - in the second seat.

After that we went on the Safari tram and got to see lots of neat animals up close. Keeley especially liked it when the camels and horses came up to eat from the buckets on the tram.

A zorse (zebra/horse)

Hugs with Mom.

Watching the camels eat from the tram.

We had a great time and once we got back to the pavillion, Keeley enjoyed taking Kelly on the lemur tour! Thanks Mia for a great birthday party!!

Thumb sucking tummy sleeper

Keeley is going to be quite disappointed that she has not passed on the great pacifier love to Kayden. Little sister will take a pacifier if she's in the mood, but she much prefers her thumb. She's been working on her hand for quite some time and has finally figured out how to get the thumb in her mouth. Now, in all fairness, Kayden doesn't need the pacifier like Keeley did (and still does).

I have very mixed feelings about the thumb sucking. Pacifiers can be taken away, thumbs can't. I thought it would be better that she preferred her thumb because it would prevent the crying when the pacifier can't be found in the middle of the night (Keeley still has 3-5 pacifiers in her crib at all times because I am afraid of that....). However, as soon as she learned to roll to her tummy, she lost the ability to get her thumb into her mouth like she wants and she gets mad too. Fortunately, at least we get a solid stretch of sleep before it starts!

I can hear you now, "she shouldn't be sleeping on her tummy, she's too young." You are right but I can't stop it. I just have tummy sleepers. I always lay them down on their backs (still do with Keeley even), but they just flip right over. I can't stop them. I just keep thinking that they are strong enough to roll so it is probably okay if they flip over. It made me feel better though when Keeley mastered rolling from her tummy to her back. If Kayden can hurry up and do that, I'd sleep a little more peace of mind.

Eating habits of a toddler...

Keeley is a picky eater. She LOVES fruit - but goes through stages with each particular variety. She used to love cheese - and then she started spitting it out partially chewed up. She likes waffles - but mainly because she likes the syrup that goes with them. She will also eat yogurt, bread, and plain (she hates marinara) pasta occasionally. That about does it with the "go to" things that I have for her. Oh, and she drinks tons of milk (not too much though, I asked the doctor about it).

I have tried so many other things and, occasionally, she will eat a few bites of other things. This, however, is the rare exception. Meat is the absolute worst. If a piece sneaks in her mouth after she asked for a bite of what we are eating, she will make a horrible face, spit it out, and wipe her tongue off with her fingers. If was particularly offensive, she wants the napkin to wipe it off.

The "typical" things you think of toddlers eating don't work with her - no pizza, sloppy joes, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, tuna salad, hot dogs, grilled cheese, mac and cheese, spagettios...

However, today I was making couscous and had added squash and carrot puree. She wanted some while I was cooking so I indulged her. And then, lo and behold, she kept signing for more. Unfortunately, couscous is a bit messy for a toddler that hasn't quite mastered the spoon yet!

(Oh, and she also loves mini nilla wafers...we have to hide them in the pantry!)

Nap resistance

Apparently this is genetic - and inherited from the mother. My mom has told me on numerous occasions that Kendall and I did not nap growing up. In some ways then, I am getting what I deserve with my children. We'll go case by case:

Keeley - REFUSED to nap for the first 2 months of her life. She would then nap for 45 minutes at a time sporadically and unpredictably for the next 10 months. Shortly after that, her naps developed to be about an hour and she would take one in the morning and one in the afternoon. However, this was still fairly unpredictable. On the days that she did not nap, she was exceptionally grumpy. Shortly after Kayden was born, she started being a great napper. She would go down at 9 and 1 and nap for 1 hour each time. Other kids nap longer, but at least she was predictable. Then, we started to drop the morning nap. Everyone I talked to said to do so gradually. This didn't work with Keeley. It doesn't matter what time you put her down, she will now only take 1 nap a day and it is only 50-60 minutes long. Other kids take 2 and 3 hours naps. Not my firstborn.

Kayden - Napped in the moby wrap for the first few weeks. We then tranistioned her to her crib swaddled. Her naps were short, but she would sleep with realtively little fuss. Then, at 8 weeks, I started putting her down unswaddled. I watched for sleepy signs, did the same routine, and put her down. She would fuss a little but usually would go to sleep pretty easily - and nap for a whopping 40 minutes at a time. This weekend, she decided she didn't want to nap. Nothing changed in our procedure, she just decided she was over it. Today she napped for a TOTAL of 1 hour and 10 minutes - and that was split over 4 naps. In fact, at one point, Keeley and I were both napping and Kelly took her in the living room and she passed out on the floor.

Now, I know many of you will have suggestions for me. Let me just tell you that she knows how to sleep on her own - we have always put her down awake. In fact, we put her to bed this evening and I listened to her happily talk to herself for 15 minutes before finally deciding to go to sleep. I'm also okay listening to her cry. Nap time is the only time she cries (unless big sister has dropped something on her or spilled something on her...) so I can handle it if she cries then. She just doesn't go to sleep. Apparently, both our kiddos are just too interested in their worlds to take naps.

3 Months!

Kayden is three months old now!!! So hard to believe. She is quite the chunky monkey and still loves her big sister. Last week she was having some tummy time on the bed and accidentally rolled over. The look on her face was priceless as she suddenly was staring at the ceiling. She has since tried to replicate that but been unsuccessful. However, she has been working VERY hard on rolling from her back to her tummy. That is the harder one to master, but she has succeeded. Much like her sister, she is intent on being different in the order of her milestones. She first accomplished this in the middle of the night (of course). I awoke to a muffled cry and when I went in there to feed her, I found her flat on her tummy trying to roll back over. So far, she's been more successful rolling over at night. However, she isn't always successful and that makes her very angry. I have been frequently beckoned to her room to see her flailing on her side trying to will herself over to her tummy.

They seem so close to the same size!

Trying to get her to practice rolling over during the day!