Sleeping and New Schedule March 23, 2011

So Layla has a couple of new things going on.  First, I finally scrapped the “dream feed,” where I would go feed her before I went to sleep.  I would also change her diaper at that time, with the hopes that she wouldn’t wake up in the middle of the night due to a leak or hunger.  I bought her some overnight diapers so she could go longer between changes at night and gave not feeding her a go.  It worked instantly!  She woke up at the same time in the morning and didn’t wake up in the middle of the night.  I even wonder if she is sleeping a little bit better as a result of not being woken up after 3-4 hours of sleep, because every once in a while before she would wake up for a little bit in the middle of the night, and she’s not done that at all since I dropped the dream feed a week ago.

The other thing that has changed with her is she is going to day care a couple of days a week.  We tried putting her in for a couple of full days, and since she isn’t taking a bottle that didn’t go very well since she was adjusting to a new place, new people, not getting her milk, and couldn’t seem to settle for her naps.  So she is now going 2 days per week for about 3 hours.  Since the day care center is so close, I am able to take her in after her morning nap and pick her up before her afternoon nap, and she doesn’t need any milk during that time.  She still had a bit of trouble adjusting in the beginning, but every time I pick her up now it sounds as though she is doing better and better.  I’m so glad I’m able to ease her into this, because I know soon enough she is going to have to go the whole day and I really think this “trial time” we’ve concocted will make that transition easier (for both of us, really).

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Getting Outside March 6, 2011

It’s always this time of the year when we get a few days when we can finally get outside and it’s not -15C and covered in snow.  Those first few days are great for Hayden because all those outside toys have been out of reach for so long.  He wants to get every toy possible out in as short as possible time frame!  So last weekend was a good example of that.  We started with Cricket (his first time!) and he showed that he defiantly has some David Gower left hand elegance.  Then on to Baseball, a little bit of Football (“soccer”) mixed in, some “Stomp Rocket”, Monster Truck jumps, basketball, etc.  He was loving it!!

Last year for his birthday we bought him a bike.  He wasn’t quite into it at the time, he was still enjoying his tricycle too much and the shift to the bike was a step too far for him at the time.  Well already this year he is showing more interest in his bike (which is good because his tricycle is worn out and has big holes in the wheels!).  So I put him on it to see how he would get on.  At first he wouldn’t go anywhere if I wasn’t right behind him holding him.  He was also so busy watching his feet he gave up on steering and kept running into things.  Gradually he got some confidence and started to understand the idea of steering.   After about 10 minutes of going in circles I talked him into cycling over to the neighbors house out on the main pavement.  I wasn’t thinking he was going to be this bold already!  Then he wanted me to hold the saddle instead of him, getting braver…  then after we got back to the driveway and a few more circles he didn’t want me to hold him at all!!! I was really impressed and proud how quickly he advanced and how brave he was!!  The challenge we’ll probably have now is he’ll get quicker and quicker and I’m going to have to get fitter and fitter just to keep up with him on the walks!!  I’m sure the dogs will be happy though!!

Layla Boo March 5, 2011

Layla Boo (that’s what I like to call her) is my little princess.  Every time I see her I want to gobble her up.  She probably gets about 1000 kisses a day.  She always has a beautiful little smile for me every time I look at her.  Sometimes I’ll just hide behind Kara and just pop my head out either side of her and she is always looking for me and then as soon as she finds me she has the cutest little grin on her face!   

She is also just a well tempered baby.  She is content to just hang out and play for ages, and if she ever gets a little grizzly it’s rarely something a cuddle doesn’t cure.  She loves being held – but then what baby doesn’t!  She is pretty laid back, and sometimes serious but never too far from a smile or a giggle.  And she has the cutest baby giggle in the world (of course I would say that!).

It’s hard to believe she is nearly a year already!  Amazing!  Fun times ahead though as she starts to learn to crawl, walk and talk!

Layla Likes It!

I think this has been said a lot recently, but Hayden and Layla are getting on really well.  He’s being really patient with her (considering he is 3 and she doesn’t understand any of his orders (i.e. “don’t touch that Monster truck Layla it’s not for babies”)).  He often will just bring her toys if he comes across what he defines as a baby toy.  He loves giving her things and then he’ll tell us “Layla likes it” and it brings great satisfaction to him!  You never know how kids are going to develop and pay attention to their siblings so it’s fun to see how much he cares about her.  Hopefully gives us an insight into what a wonderful and caring man he will grow to be!!!

He does a similar thing regarding making her laugh.   There was a time when he played peek a boo with her in the car and she found it hilarious.  Since then it’s old news to her and she wants a new trick.  Well Hayden will still try peek a boo even though she is over it and then he’ll tell us “Layla’s laughing!”  ( even though she is just starting out the window!! – we just agree and encourage Hayden – we don’t want to hurt his feelings!

Imagination

Something that has really changed of late with Hayden is his use of his imagination. I came into his room the other morning when he woke up and sat on his bed. He told me I was sitting in the middle of a baseball field. (in fact I was “right where the man hits its”)  He went on to explain that I had to line up to buy a ticket, Big Bird was the ticket clerk, and then I had to cross the bridge (over the train tracks) to get the stadium.

Next up after I had watched the baseball I had to sit through the different Elmo show (Hayden went to an Elmo show last week with Kara and Grandma). He brought in Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, “Quilt” and “Owl Blanket” all in the show and they danced around and made a bunch of noise until the show was over! It’s fun watching him explore his imagination.

Dancing and Mama March 4, 2011

A couple of more “latest developments” of Layla’s…

She has started saying Mama!  I have to admit she doesn’t really say it referring to me, but she loves to go “mamamamamammama” which is so cute.  First she was saying “mmbababababababa” for a couple of days, which was also achingly cute.  She was quite loud about it, too!  Then a few days ago she started with mamamama.

We were just at a playdate at our friend Deanna’s (and her twins Drew and Luke), and Layla was dancing as one of the baby toys Deanna had brought out played music!  I had run to grab some sandwiches for us, and when I came back Deanna was telling me how Layla had been dancing to this toy.  I couldn’t believe it, and then I saw her do it!  She was sitting there on the floor moving her torso up and down with the music!  Deanna didn’t even realize she’d been the first to witness it, she just thought it was something she’d been doing for a while!  Talk about a burst of development – in one week she’s stood, said mama, eaten finger foods, taken a big girl bath with Hayden, waved, and danced!

So, about the flower hat in the picture.  Isn’t that adorable?  I bough a few headbands with huge flowers and that hat with the huge flower on Etsy.com, and now I just can’t stop putting them on her!  I just think they are uber cute, but I have this vision of Layla looking through her baby pictures in 16 years and making fun of me for always putting big flowers on her head.  But even if that is the case then it’s so worth it! 😛

Recent developments March 3, 2011

I’m telling you, these kids are just changing too darn fast!  It seemed like Layla had a developmental burst in just a couple of days.  Sunday John gave her a cracker and she just gobbled that thing right up (feeding herself).  She had really only been eating baby food that we spoon-fed to her up to that point.  She also started waving last weekend, which is just about the cutest thing ever.  I’ve tried to get it on video, but she gets distracted when she seems me filming her.  It looks like she’s trying to use her fingers to get something off of her thumb, but it’s definitely a wave because she does it in response to us saying “hi!” and waving to her.  She also can stand now if she is holding onto something like the ottoman.  She doesn’t really LIKE it, but she can do it. 🙂

And Hayden is change as always, too.  Yesterday I was thinking how far he’s come because when he was a toddler he would cry when I would trim his fingernails.  I remember John sitting next to us feeding him little bites of dried apricot as a distraction while I trimmed his nails, to try to keep him from being too upset.  Then we got into a routine where he could watch Dora the Explorer while he got his nails trimmed, and that was a good incentive for him so he got to the point where he didn’t cry anymore because he was watching Dora.  Recently he’s fine just having his nails cut while there are no distractions.  But I was pretty gobsmacked yesterday when I mentioned that he needed to have his nails cut and he then proceeded to ask me no less than three times over the next hour if I could cut his nails.  THEN, when I finally got a chance to sit down and cut them, he – wait for it – asked me if I could also trim his toenails.  I mean, really.  This boy’s going to go off to college the next time I blink!

Weirdo Week – Water World

This has just been a crazy, water-filled week!  The water theme started with Hayden and Layla taking their first bath together on Sunday – that was just too cute.  Hayden was good about sharing bath toys with Layla and was really excited that the time is finally starting that they get to do things together that are verging on playing like that.

Overnight on Sunday we had a huge storm.  Hayden even woke up crying because of the lightning, and I can’t remember him ever doing that before.  He was fine once I went in there and talked to him about it, though.  We didn’t hear from him again, even though the thunder got much worse afterwards.

John got a rowing machine for Christmas, and most weekdays he starts his day by doing some rowing.  Monday morning he got up to go row in the basement, and as he stepped down the stairs in his sleepy state it took him a moment to realize he was standing in (very cold!) water that had worked its way into our basement.  What a way to start an early Monday morning!  We called insurance to make a claim, called the water restoration company, and called the plumber.  The plumber came after about 1 1/2 hours and we found that the sump pump AND the backup sump pump had to be replaced.  Once those were fixed the water quickly started draining away, but we still had to have the restoration people come even though we just have ceramic tile in the basement (luckily not carpet) to dry out the insulation in the walls so mold won’t grow.  That process involves them removing baseboards and drilling into the wall to get to the insulation, and then industrial fans going for 3 days. Thank goodness John happened to go to the basement when he did, otherwise we sometimes go days without going down there so who knows how long we might have had water down there and not realized!

Sunday I had noticed a little leak in our kitchen faucet, so while the plumber was working on the sump pump I asked him if he could take a look at the faucet.  While inspecting it, he moved the faucet neck around a bit and he must have knocked something loose because what had been a little leak became a big spray anytime that faucet is used.  I had to go pick out a new faucet last night so he can come install it sometime today.

I’ve also had some non-water related non-typical things happen this week.  The team leader on my account at work is being rolled off, so that made for a bit of drama yesterday and is a fairly big change in my world.  I found that out and then about 2 hours later went to pick up Hayden where I found out 2 teachers there had been let go due to some “incident,” which I haven’t been able to find out what that was even though I’ve (subtly) asked three people.  They were both people I would never expect to be involved in something that would get them fired!  And then another big thing this week was Layla went to day care 2 days this week.  I typically keep her home with me while I work (she sleeps about 1/2 the time and when she’s awake I sit on the floor next to her with my laptop while she plays – she’s not crawling or walking yet so she doesn’t need to be chased!) but this week I had 2 days of client meetings and I thought it would be better if she wasn’t home for those.  I’ve missed her while she’s been gone.  She had a hard time Monday.  I knew she wouldn’t drink much because she has never taken a bottle well, and that held true.  She also didn’t sleep much; I guess she got about 30 – 40 minutes all day.  I feel like it took her until when she woke up this morning to really recover from the missed sleep – of course, just in time for her to go back in today and mess up her sleep again!  She’ll be back home with me again next week.  I know she’ll need to go to day care regularly at some point, but I’m glad I have a little more time left with her before then!