Wet and Wild!

We’re finally getting some much needed rain in the Bay Area and we’ve had a chance to really break in Lilia’s new rain boots. It turns out she is a big fan of stomping and splashing in puddles and she goes a lot faster on wet slides than dry ones.

Success!

Day Two of our share care was as successful as Day One. Lilia had a blast and while she seemed happy to see me, she was in no rush to leave her new playmate.

Mercedes took them out twice which I know thrilled Lilia to no end and she managed to sneak a teensy cat nap out of both of them, but they were both too excited to sleep. I warned Mercedes that my kid could eat, but she was still in shock about how much she put away when I picked her up. What can I say, I warned her!

Lilia was wiped out and crashed out just after 7pm, but not before a huge supper and a nice bath.

I am beyond ecstatic that I’ve not only found an amazing childcare solution but new friends as well! We have plans to get together for drinks next weekend and to check out Lennon’s daddy Des play football (soccer!) real soon.

And then there were two

Today I doubled my toddler quotient in our first day of share care. It went really well. As Lennon’s mommy left, the only kid crying was mine because she really wanted to go outside and play. Lennon did get a little sad here and there but he was pretty easily distracted by songs and Cheerios and by the time we went for our walk to the Cable Car Museum he was a happy camper.

Lilia was an amazing helper. She danced for Lennon as we sang songs and handed him toys and books to cheer him up when he was sad. I was so proud of her for letting me hold and snuggle him so much without getting jealous of my attention.

I pretty much felt like super mom when I managed to get both babies down for a nap at the same time. Of course that bubble has since been burst since we couldn’t get Lilia to bed til 9:30 pm tonight. What ma? Didn’t I just take a nap for you?! Guess she just really wanted to see who made it to Season 8 of American Idol.

Alpaca diaper or two, then we’ll head to the zoo!

Sarah took Lilia to the zoo for the first time today. She enjoyed the prairie dogs but she cried big round crocodile tears at the monkey cage because they were so noisy. Sarah ducked her down the path to the petting zoo where sheeplayed with lots of goats. Lilia fell down but Sarah pigged her up and luckily she didn’t get another goose egg. She got to chase some birds that weren’t pigeons for a change like roosters, coots and swans. She ponied up to the donkey and horse but they wouldn’t give her a ride. They waved goodbye to the giraffe they spotted on the way out. Our little lemur was so wiped out Sarah was able to transfer her from her carseat, to her stroller to her crib, all without her batting an eye.

This post co-created with Sarah, the keeper of the zoo, much to Adam’s dismay who thinks we octopus our minds to better use.

Battered, not broken

My little toughie keeps taking big hits. Yesterday we were playing chase and she crashed into a doorjam making the worst cracking sound I’ve heard as a mommy thus far. She got a pretty solid goose egg out of the deal, but she trooped through and recovered quickly, as is her way.

Speaking of head injuries, she’s taken to showing her frustration by hitting herself on the head or even worse, banging her head on the wall or floor. It’s really quite disturbing. Tonight we were reading The Way I Feel by Janan Cain. It’s a fantastic book all about different feelings, and when we read the page about being frustrated she started shaking her fist and banged her head looking really mad. Then a page or two later when I read about being excited she literally squealed and started “bouncing like a rubber ball” just as the book describes. Say what you will, but the kid seems pretty in touch with her emotions.

Another page in The Way I Feel is about feeling jealous which was a great way to talk about how Mommy’s time was going to be divided tomorrow when Lennon comes over for our first share care day. It will be interesting to see if she reacts to that page more after tomorrow. 

Knock on wood (without legs)

It’s been a busy week which is in part why I haven’t blogged, but truly, I think I was afraid to jinx any of our exciting news. Oh, and did you know that knocking on wood apparently does no good if the wood on which you knock has legs? Just found that out. No wonder it only seemed to work about half of the time for me.

Big News #1: Share care in the house

We’ve been looking into childcare solutions since Adam landed his full time gig 3 weeks ago and Sarah’s been watching Lilia while I went to work in the meantime. We checked out nannies and daycare’s but what I really wanted was to share care with another mom who had a part time gig and a child Lilia’s age. I figured that’d give Lilia a playmate and me and another mom free childcare so we weren’t spending nearly as much as we made at our part time gigs on a sitter. After posting all over the place and thinking I wanted the impossible, we found the perfect family to share care with! They live a mere 4.5 (hilly) blocks away and have a super cute and fun 12 month old son named Lennon. We’ve met for a couple playdates and the kids get along really well. We’ve dialed in logistics like going in on a double stroller and getting a second highchair for mealtimes and we’re excited to start this week.

Big News #2: Finding a schedule

It took over a year, but it looks as though we have finally found a semblance of a schedule for Miss Lilia that actually includes a substantial nap…daily! Turns out it was as simple as taking her out first thing in the morning. I had always saved our outings till after her morning nap (if there was one) and lunch. That worked best for me as I am not a morning person. Turns out Lilia is, at least for now. I’m sure the tables will turn in no time, but for now, running her ragged early is helping her crash for a big nap around 11 and then after a late lunch we go for another quick outting before commencing with our dinner, bath and bedtime routine. It’s bittersweet as not having a set schedule made it easy to make plans for whenever, but we’ll adjust and I know this is better for all of us in the long run as it helps Lilia get more sleep!

Big news #3: Throwing signs

Lilia created her first original baby sign. We have recently started seeing and talking about kitty’s a bit more. Before now it’s pretty much been all about doggie’s mostly becauase they are what we see on the street and in the park. Well the true sign for “kitty” is drawing whiskers on your face. The trouble is it’s not terribly different than “bird” which is forming a beak on your face. Lilia has that one down, and in fact we saw her sign “kitty” with the whisker technique but all of a sudden she switched it. Maybe we were missing some of her signs because it’s so similar to “bird” or we just saw her putting her hands to her mouth and made nothing of it, but now when she sees and tries to communicate “kitty” she sticks out her tongue. Adam noticed this but he wasn’t sure why and then it dawned on me. One of her favorite books is a touch and feel book and the last page has a kitty with its toungue sticking out that’s a bit bumpy and prickly to the touch. Guess she deciced that was a better sign for her feline friends.

Our visit with Aunt Jen

Aunt Jen is on leave celebrating her 21st birthday and came to stay with us for a whole weekend!

We headed to the aquarium at Fisherman’s Wharf on Friday, which was pleasantly void of the usual throngs of tourists and actually really nice because of it.  Oh yeah, and the weather was amazing all weekend, a nice treat for a girl vacationing from freezing D.C.

After our big adventure with the fishies we left Lilia with Daddy and headed to see “Rich and Famous” at A.C.T. We both enjoyed the show, and I loved having a night out, but we were both so wiped out we found ourselves taking some long blinks. I was feeling pretty old and lame but the fact that my 10 year junior was doing the same thing was redeeming! We pepped up and headed to Steps of Rome for a dose of cute waiters and the best Tiramisu in town.

After our giant Friday we had a super lazy Saturday and just hug around playing with Lilia. We also discovered that we are both pretty bad at math and as such,  fairly evenly matched at Dominoes. Jen had to keep score, but I did win 3 games to 4. Rematch sister?