Queen

Queen of Ikea with her baton.

swimming

As you may remember Cecilia and I were in a parent-tot swimming class. Well she has outgrown it. It has been time to move her to private lessons for a while but I've been enjoying our time together. I finally decided to move her when she starting singing the songs with us in the pool and the other kids in the class are less than half her age. We have had a couple of private lessons so far. Last week she had her first male instructor and screamed the entire lesson. It was a complete waste of time and money. I was quite surprised because I've never seen her react to men like that but it was apparent that was the problem. But this week she had the owner of Swim Kids sub in. Of course she is the best teacher and Cecilia would be swimming on her own in no time if this lady taught every lesson. There was just something about her that exuded confidence and Cecilia did what ever she asked. Cecilia has come close to floating on her own before, but watch this. I'm so proud of her!

1 year mark

One year ago this week Cecilia got her cast off. There have been three days in my life that I will never forget, our wedding day, the day Cecilia was born, and the day she got her cast off. I joke that I looked forward to it more than Cecilia's birth. Her cast was more difficult than being 9 months pregnant. Because it was so monumental I think we will celebrate it every year. This week we went swimming (her favorite activity) and played and ran lots. We went to grandma and grandpa Hadley's and played with cousins who kept her running and giggling the whole time. Cecilia had so much fun with them it was worth the rearranging I had to do to get up there and a great way to celebrate being able to move.

She has come so far in the last year! I am so grateful I noticed the problem when I did and we got the cast on then. I can't imagine how challenging it would be if we were going through that right now. I'm so grateful I've had a year to forget :)

I caught this video on the year mark and wanted to share with you what a happy toddler she is. Yeah for a healthy kid!

On the move

This little girl has people to see and places to be.

Hair!

Now this is some serious bed head! What to do with that curly hair?!

Cute video

Here is the cutest video I caught of Cecilia way back in November. She is pretending to read a book to herself in her rocking chair. Sometimes that kid is so adorable!

Swimming

Some may recall that I signed Cecilia and I up for swimming as a reward after she got the cast off. She of course loved it (as she would if she had any Hadley blood in her at all). Well we stopped over the summer because it is so busy and easy to find things to do. As fall came and we couldn't play outside as much I decided to start it up again. It is usually during the week in the morning so I've never had anyone to take pictures or video of it. But we missed a class recently and had a makeup day on a Saturday. This meant Shaun could come and document it for us. Cecilia truly loves it and after every activity she says "mooRREEH" (which is her way of saying more). Here are two of the best videos from the day. Be ware, not all of the kids love it as much as she does and you will hear them screaming in the background.

Favorite Things

Cecilia's favorite things right now are toothbrush and toothpaste. Our favorite thing is how she says them. Notice how she gets frustrated when asked to repeat it, like "Duh, dad."

Early Christmas Present

This year we got two early Christmas presents. One from the sky and the other from Grandpa and Grandma Ritchie. Cecilia loves both, as you can see.

Helping daddy "shovel."


Snow Angel, I know it is hard to see. But look closely.


Here I Cecilia opening her Christmas present and riding it around. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

A Parenting First

Cecilia has been going to Nursery for a few weeks now. For whatever reason Shaun has always been the one to take her and usually beats me to pick her up (since I have to wait for all the parents to come pick up their kids from my class). But I hear rave reviews of how well she did and how she never cries and always helps pick up the toys. Well yesterday I told Shaun that I would take her since the primary room is right across the hall. I think there was a little voice in both of our heads that said that wasn't a good idea but neither of us listened. So I pick her up and away we go. I thought she was an old pro now with nursery and when I got there all the kids were sitting in chairs in a circle listening to the teacher. I go to plop her in the empty chair and her legs do the splits in that way only spica kids can do, which means I DON'T WANT TO BE PUT DOWN!, screams "NO!" and starts wailing. I was shocked! This kids loves nursery, what is wrong? Then I remembered the warning bell in my head and pick her up to go find Shaun. I have heard several parents say they have to have the dads take the kids to nursery because they are less attached to them and won't cry when they leave. So I take her in the hall bawling and Shaun "happens" to be there and I look at him like "what is wrong?" He looks at me and says "you did it all wrong!" This is where the title of the post comes in. This is the first time I can remember where Shaun had a handle on some parenting skill that I obviously didn't. Not only that but I thought I did. I felt like a complete outsider even though my daughter was clinging to me with both hands and feet and crying on my shoulder. Shaun said "First you don't carry her in there, she needs to walk in on her own. Then you shove her in and close the door behind you." I was surprised! What do you mean you walk out and close the door behind you? I've only heard about how well she did and how she loves nursery. I assumed that meant she didn't have problems from the beginning. I thought I knew Cecilia well enough that if all the other kids are sitting in chairs, then she would want to sit in a chair too. How wrong I am! Shaun knows her better than I do because he had this figured out from the first try. What an odd feeling it is to think you understand the situation and then all of a sudden realize you are completely in the dark and someone else actually knows what is going on and is taking care of it.
After my mess up it was a feat to get her to go with Shaun and then as I'm sitting in primary I hear a distinct "NO!" and crying in the hall that only a parent knows. Shaun is trying to get her to go to nursery but I ruined it and he is having a harder time. I felt both guilty and confused at the same time. But at least I had the good sense to know that if I went to help I would just make it worse. After church I ask Shaun how it went and he said she was fine after I got her in there. I guess this is a job for daddy from now on since he does it right and mommy doesn't.

I know I'm really behind

But I have a good excuse. I've had this monstrous cold for the last week that has wiped me out. I've gone back to the old you nap when the baby naps routine. I'm surprised at how tired this cold has made me. Although I think that is partly because I keep waking up coughing up a lung. But on the bright side my stomach muscles are in good shape.

So much has happened this month it is amazing! First let me update you on Cecilia and then I'll get to Shaun and I. Which for the first time have had more to say than C has :)

Cecilia has gone potty several times since that first time a few weeks ago. She goes about every other day and I'm sure we could do a better job at listening to her when she tells us she needs to go and run her in there. It is just hard to tell when she really needs to go and when she just says she does because it is a good distraction during dinner. Regardless, I don't think she will be potty trained anytime soon (maybe partly because mommy isn't ready to be consistent and partly because she still goes so much when she is asleep) and this will probably just drag out the process for a year. But I'm trying to be a relaxed parent and go with the flow. She has also started putting two words together. This child is a gabber! All day long she walks around talking to herself (and me). The other day she was on my bed and I told her be careful I don't want you to fall down and she looked at me "fall down." I said "yes don't fall down." Next day she is on the bed and looks over the edge and goes "fall down." I was impressed she remembered and was able to put the two words together. There are other examples, but I can't remember any right now.

I took her to the doctor last week for a checkup. She mentioned that Cecilia is the average height of a 22 month old. Yeah, she is tall for her age. She did really well during the shots. She of course looked at me like, "why did she just hurt me? And why did you let her?" I tried to warn her that she would get poked and after it was over she could have a binky. We never give them to her so this was a real treat. She cried and after the nurse was done I asked her if she wanted the binky and she stopped crying and said "Binky!" I was surprised that she stopped crying so fast, but I guess she is getting older and they are less traumatic. Anyway after I got the binky for her I laid her back on the table so I could get her dressed. She found the caps of the needles and looked at them for a minute and then jabbed her thigh with it like the nurse did. I thought it both smart and a little morbid at the same time.

Last update about Cecilia. She was able to go to nursery for the first time last week. I wasn't there, but Shaun told me she did great and didn't cry at all. She looked around at everything and all the toys and then they sat her down for a treat, which I was notified was fruit loops and she was happy as a clam. Shaun said he "hovered" outside the door several times to check up on her and other kids were crying and she would look at them like "why are you crying? this place is great!" All in all she had a good time and was a good helper at the end cleaning up. We both thought she would love nursery because she loves kids. I didn't realize the snack would be something like fruit loops, but I have to tell myself that it is ok to have a treat every once in a while and I'm sure that she will always love nursery if they give her special treats for showing up. On a side note, can I say I can't believe my baby is 18 months old and is going to nursery! She seems so young to be dropped off with a ton of other kids and three leaders. I wish I didn't have to teach my own class and could "hover" and watch what they do and how well the kids listen. I know they have some kind of a lesson, and the kids actually sit and listen to it. Pretty amazing! I can see Cecilia doing this, but some of the other kids might have a hard time sitting for more than about 2 seconds. I remember when Cecilia was in the cast and the primary president was saying it wouldn't be long before she was in nursery and I just couldn't fathom it. She has progressed so much since then! Shaun and I were worried about her not being able to get up and walk around with the other kids and here she is, Running everywhere! Talking! Time flies!

Doctor Appointment

So my last post about Cecilia going poopy on the potty reminded me that I haven't posted about our doctor's appointment. We had a follow up about her hip last week. Everyone always asks me if her hip is healed. Essentially the cast put it in the right place and kept it there hopefully long enough that the muscles and tendons would keep it there while the hip grows over it. Because it wasn't in the right place for those 8 months the growth of the hip socket is behind the right hip. So what they look at at these follow ups is to see that the left hip is still making progress and eventually over time it will catch up with the right hip. They take X-rays each time to see how things are coming. If they don't see progress then they will watch closer for a time and that is when she may have to have another cast. Let's all pray this never happens! This X-ray looked really good. Her socket continues to form over the ball, the ball is developing properly as well. The placement still looks good too. I asked the doctor what chance we would have of her having to have another cast at this point and he thought it pretty small (but of course there is still a chance). So just yearly checkups from this point to make sure it continues to progress and someday it will catch up to the right hip.

You'll never guess what C did today

She went poopy on the potty! Yes she is only 17.5 months old, but she is pretty much amazing. She has been telling us that she had to go poopy before she did it for about two weeks now. Actually the first time was in the doctors office and Shaun and I looked at each other like, "uh what do we do?!" After about the 4th time I decided I would go buy a potty for her and see what happened. I honestly didn't think she would go on it but I figured we needed one someday anyway. So we got one earlier this week and this morning she comes to me and says "poopy" and grabs her diaper. I asked her if she wanted to go on the potty and she nodded yes (which reminds me I need to get a video of this because it is the cutest thing ever). So I took her in there and sat her down. I figured we'll see what happens. She sat there for a while and so I got a book for her to read. I think this is why people like to read on the toilet. Their moms give them books to look at when they are young to keep them on the toilet until they go. Anyway a little while later I looked and Voila! I looked at Shaun and he looked at me and we said WOW! Then the praise began and of course a treat to the little genius. She got 4 M&M's. Which if you know me and sweets that is a real treat! Who knows what will happen next time, but for now I count this as one less poopy diaper I had to change.

Quick Bragging Session

So I just have to tell you the cutest thing Cecilia did this morning. Well let me "back" up (you'll get it it a minute). A couple of days ago she was looking at a book (she loves books by the way) and there was a page with different baby body parts, eyes, nose, ears etc. Well one new one we haven't taught her was "back." She pointed to it and I said "back" and rubbed her back. She put her hand on her back and said "back." I was a little surprised because she has never said that word. But she has been saying similar words like "book" and "stuck" so it wasn't that surprising. She has really gotten the "K" sound down which seems to me like a hard sound to make. Anyway I haven't practiced "back" with her since then. Well this morning she was looking at a book, "We're going on a bear hunt" to be exact and for those of you parents who are familiar with this book you will remember the last page has a picture of a bear walking away. You can see it's back. Cecilia looks at that page and goes "back!" and I of course praise her for the smart girl she is, which reinforced her and she repeated "back!" "back!" "back!" for about 10 minutes just to reinforce to me that she is so smart. She is only 17 months by the way. You can be duly impressed now.

Irony

There are times in your life when you do something you swore you would never do. And sometimes you are so happy about it. Today was one of those times. While we were in Oregon Cecilia decided she was done eating baby food. We would be fine with that, if she would only eat meat that isn't in baby food. I worry about her protein intake because she doesn't drink milk very well either. So I've been trying to get her to eat protein in other ways. Of course I give her what we eat, but she won't eat it, unless it is in a soup and is really distracted and I feed it to her, and not always even then. She also won't eat potatoes or pasta either so it is really hard to find different things to feed her for three meals plus snacks everyday. Well it came to a head the other day when I tried a million things for dinner and she didn't want any of them. I finally put her to bed, probably hungry. The next morning Shaun didn't have any better luck. He finally turned to me and said, "just go to the store and get some chicken nuggets." We swore we wouldn't feed our children chicken nuggets. Oh the preservatives and junk in those things. They can't be good for you, except they do have protein. Shaun has always said "if you don't feed your children chicken nuggets (and french fries) then they won't get addicted to them and request them for every meal." So it is a testament to how frustrated we are that he would say go buy them and I would run out and get tater tots, dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets, and fish sticks. That day for lunch I tried the thing I thought her most likely to eat, tater tots. Well she scarfed them down. I was really excited. Fried potatoes, yippee! So for dinner I tried the chicken nuggets. She took two bits, which I was pretty happy with because that means she will probably do more next time. I waited a few days to get the fried food out of her system before trying again. Today it was the fish sticks and she ate about 1 and a half sticks. I never thought I would be so excited to see my daughter eat fish sticks. Oh the lengths we go to feed our kids, and the things we will do. If you told either Shaun or I five years ago we would celebrate this we would have refused to believe you and given you a lecture on how bad that food is for you. In my defense, I read this nutrition book which talks about making connections between the food your kids will eat and the foods you ultimately want them to eat. For example you give them tater tots, then roasted potatoes that are similar enough that they are willing to try them, then once they eat them well you move on to baked potatoes and then mashed. My goal is to make a connection between fish sticks and real fish like a nice baked salmon. And dino bites towards other types of chicken Wish us good luck, and don't tease us too much if we are still feeding her fish sticks and dino bites in a year from now. Someday she will eat good like us, hopefully!

Cecilia Update

I haven't written about Cecilia for a while and it is time for an update. First I should mention that she has been walking since we caught the video of her about a month ago. She seems a little happier now because she just walks all over the house. Back and forth, back and forth. She loves a little interaction as she walks by you and it keeps her going for longer than any toy has. It has been great! I will have to get a video to show you. She still loves to see what you are doing and still wants lots of attention. But I can do something for about 10 minutes now while she runs around. She still prefers a hand on uneven surfaces like grass and when strangers are around. But it has been so great for her to walk on her own.

She is signing like crazy right now. It has been so fun to teach her and has helped with communication. We recently went to the park and she was able to tell me "all done" when she was finished with the swings and playing in the wood chips. It was great! No waiting until she is fussy to figure out she is done. She just signed it and we stopped and moved on. The signs she knows are, "more", "all done", "baby", "cracker", "milk", "juice", "dog" (her favorite), "bird", "fish" (which was fun at the aquarium we went to the other day), "apple", "grapes", "blueberries" (her favorite food), "thank you", "cereal", "fan", and I'm sure there are more but that is about all I can think of. We recently got her more signing videos because she loved the one we had so much. From those she has learned "shoes", "hurt", and "hat." Not that we let her watch much TV, but there are times when you just need to get something done. I can't wait until she can really talk though and tell me all that is on her mind. She jabbers so much, I just know she wants to tell me more than she can sign. She does say a few words too "dada" is her favorite, "mama" is no longer her favorite person so I have to push her to say it, she says "cheese" (really well I might add), "shoes","book", "ball", "bubbles", "balloon", and "stuck" which is really cute. I'm sure there are others but I've reached my thinking capacity and can't remember. The point is, she signs and talks and is picking it all up really fast.

catch up

I know it has been a long time since I've posted. I have two excuses. The first is our internet has had some real problems lately and it drives me crazy when I'm in the middle of something and it crashes. So I would rather not get on at all. Work has suffered too :) The other reason is audio books. A few weeks ago I was at the library and found the audio books for a trilogy called His Dark Materials. I saw the film for the first book a few years ago and was excited to finish the series with audio books. So I ran home and put them on my ipod. They were really fun to listen to and each day I found myself looking for things to do that didn't require brain power so I could listen to them while Cecilia slept. Let's just say my house and yard benefited from my addiction as cleaning is a good thing to do with your hands while your mind is elsewhere. But as I said work and blogging suffered. Well they are finished now.

So what have we been up to lately? Well Shaun mentioned the park where he and Cecilia had so much fun kicking a ball. We also were able to see family from out of town of the holiday weekend. My brother and his family came for a visit and we were able to see them for a bit. Cecilia had so much fun playing with her cousins and their dog. She quickly learned the sign for dog and does it every time I say the word. She is learning so quickly right now! She knows the sign for baby too. It is in the signing video we have and I didn't even know she knew it until I was pointing out things to her in a book and pointed to a baby and she stops and does the sign. I was shocked and amazed. She is so smart! We also caught this video yesterday and were so proud of her. It came about because we left her standing up holding on to the gate above our stairs and walked into the front room. A few minutes later she came walking into the room. We were so surprised that she just decided to let go and walk to us without any prompt. So we decided to get out the camera and caught this. I think we can officially say she can walk because she will actually let go of things on her own. She still can't stand up without props, but will figure it out soon enough.



My mom said "it is amazing that she picked up the sippy cup and kept walking, but it was really amazing she picked up a sippy cup!" knowing how difficult it can sometimes be to get her to take a drink. Maybe that will change?

Upcoming trips include a boating trip with my family next week, Great-grandparent wedding anniversary next weekend, and then a trip to Oregon. We are really excited about this trip. We will get to visit more family which we don't see often and we will be able to go pick blueberries. I think Cecilia will have so much fun doing this!!! I can't wait to see what she does. My little blueberry fiend! Today we are going to go see grandparents Hadley and extended family who are camping. No camping for us as we have a wedding reception tonight, but it will be fun to visit anyway. So nice they are camping close. Better go...

So close

Sunday's are a time when both Shaun and I are here and focused on Cecilia. She is usually in a good mood after church and we have a little bit of time to play before dinner and bed. Lately we have been working on her pulling herself up from a siting to standing position, or "cruising" along the couch which works her coordination of putting her weight from one foot to the other. She has done so well and became a pro after one or two sessions. Also last week she let go of one hand and will hold onto just one finger to walk. Even that isn't the death grip it used to be. So Sunday we decided to try to get her to walk between us. We have tried it before and she just sits down and cries, but we thought she might be ready for it this time. She took right to it and smiled huge and giggled the whole time. We had to hop on skype and show the grandparents, who were thrilled to see it. She isn't walking on her own yet, but I honestly think it isn't far away. Just needs a little more confidence, and to figure out how to get up there on her own better. Sorry for the poor placement of the video camera, it is more difficult with a tripod to get the right angle. But you get the idea.

End of an Era

Tomorrow Cecilia will be 14 months old. Whew! Today marks a landmark, we stopped nursing. Done, no more, the end. On one hand it is a little sad, the end of an era. On the other, it is really exciting! I can leave her for a whole day and not have to be close to run home. Woman's weekend this fall? No problem! Plus I don't have to worry about how much I'm eating or drinking. I get more done in the day because I'm not stuck in a chair for 20-40 minutes 4 times a day. That is a lot of time if you think about it!

The whole weaning process took much less time than I thought. I think Cecilia could tell it was time and I was certainly ready for it. I had a goal of August. But it was only about a month from start to finish. Let's just hope she continues to go down easily for naps as that was the last feeding to be dropped and I really worried she wouldn't take one without falling asleep before putting her in the crib. But today she went down just fine. Keep your fingers crossed it continues :)

I can't keep up

Cecilia is changing so fast I can't keep the blog updated! Everyday or every other day she makes strides towards walking. Shaun keeps working with her to get her to crawl because we know it is important. He takes her downstairs to the cushy carpet and works with her. But poor thing still doesn't have enough strength to pull her knees together to be able to get up on them and crawl. She can move forward though. She pulls with her arms and drags her body. It makes me so sad to see it, but she can get around. Here is a video of it.



I also got a video of her scooting on her bum. Shaun says she looks like a spider, which is a good description for it. But again, she can get around.



This leads me to a story about a "first". I was in bed this morning and Shaun was playing with her, well he was supposed to be playing with her. All of a sudden the door to the bedroom flew open and this little girl came scooting in all by herself. Daddy didn't even know she was there. It was the first time she has come in our bedroom and woke me up all by herself. I'm sure it will happen so many more times :) The second first that happened today was after my shower. Cecilia started out in the bathroom with me and when I got out I had to go find her somewhere in the house. That was pretty fun. I'll probably hate it someday, but the first is exciting.

Two more "firsts" and I'll quit for the day. The third "first" of the day was Cecilia pushed, all by herself, a toy walking. I got another video of it.



Look at her, you'd think she has been doing this for weeks, not the first time! Shaun couldn't believe his eyes when I showed him the video. I was shocked too. I set her on her feet, she grabbed on, and off she went! She pushed that thing all around the house, several times. Oh and I got her to walk with holding only one of my fingers last weekend too. She doesn't like it, but she will do it. She can also stand by herself for about 10 seconds (also fusses the whole time). Like I said she is just developing faster than I can track! The last week and a half she has just... well I'm at a loss for words... just learned!

Last thing, she finally, after months of work, signed "more". To be honest I'm not very good at remembering to sign it to her all the time. When she wants more of something she points and grunts and I get the point and give it to her. She would have learned it much earlier if I could remember to sign "more" and then give it to her. But we got there eventually. I am much better at signing "all done" and she just puts her arms out for me to pick her up. She knows what I'm saying, just won't say it back. Oh well, she has learned enough for two weeks I'd say.