9/6/10: Sally:
Num = Gum

8/31/10: Sally: I hate, hate, hate leaving my scared and upset child at daycare every morning. Taking a week off has set us back to the beginning. It's aweful. I knew this would happen. It upsets me so to walk out of that room each morning.

8/29/10: Sally: Dots. Natalya has been making a lot of dot art. We have those bingo dot markers and she loves to remove the caps and put them on and dot all over the paper. I also let her paint some times on Alexa's easel. She's very clean about it. One day she dropped her brush on the floor and I could hear her saying "help" over and over. It was very cute. She also loves to use the squirt bottle and squirt people. She's still not talking much, but Alexa likes to get her to repeat words. She can say a lot of words, she just chooses not to talk much. She points a lot.

8/20/10: Sally: Talya is still crying on drop-offs and pick-ups. They tell me she's good and has a good time during the day, but then gets upset around 4pm as the parents start to show up and pick-up the kids. It still breaks my heart every day that I have to leave her in tears. But on a lighter note, she loves, loves, loves visiting my parents. She just screams in joy when she sees them. She yells "hi" about 100 times and runs up to them. She gets so excited some times that she starts to do summersaults ... it's hysterical. I still remember the first few times when she would cry when we'd leave her there (but not as bad as she does when we leave her at daycare).

8/6/10: Sally: Today's dropoff was very sad. Natalya started welling up before we even got out of the car. Went to Alexa's room first and she bursts in to tears. We go in to her room and she's just laying on my shoulder, crying. It was breakfast time and I asked her if I should sit with her while she eats, she nods yes. I put in her seat and I sit on the floor. She just sits there, looking impossibly small in the tiny chair. Her shoulders are rounded forward, her hands are in lap rubbing the silk of her blanket. Her head is tilted down with her eyes on her hands. She looks up a couple times, but doesn't raise her head. She sits there quietly. All the other kids eat and look at me. 20 minutes go by and my baby girl hasn't moved. Hasn't made a sound. Just sits there all sad and deflated. As I watch my baby girl contemplating her day, I have to hold back tears. I wonder what she's thinking. Where am I? Why am I here? Who are you? I want my mom. I want to go home. This is the true meaning of torture.

8/5/10: Sally: Natalya is still having a rough time adjusting to daycare. She starts crying as soon as I walk in to the building in the morning. She's either already crying when I pick her up or starts as soon as she sees me. I'm still not sure about the vibe of her room and the teachers. I knew that the first week or two would be hard on Natalya and us. She's also become much more clingy at home. If I leave the room, she starts to cry and will follow. She's still pretty tired. Getting up early is new for her. She is taking good naps. She's not sleeping well at night. Lots of crying throughout the night. She does not eat at daycare, so when I get her home in the evening, she's starving and will eat just about anything. All this stresses me out and depresses me and if it's doing that to me, an adult, I can't imagine how aweful it is for Natalya.

8/3/10: Sally: Yesterday at KinderCare went pretty well for it being Natalya's first time at daycare. When we got there, she started playing right away. When I said I was leaving, she screamed and came running over. I handed her off and she whined some, but didn't cry. They said she had a good day. She only napped for about 30 minutes, but did a good job of laying there when not asleep. She loved helping them clean. She would get upset when the other kids cried, which is normal. She would get upset when the teacher left the room. She did not eat lunch, which we figured she probably wouldn't eat. When picked her up, I walked in to the room to find a sobbing, upset baby. She's just standing there, sobbing. All the other kids are just starring at her ... it was a little "Children of the Corn". Then I walk over to her and I notice she's sobbing, but she's also pointing to the divider window. I look over and notice that Alexa is pressed up against the window, waving. Alexa was in the in-door play room. So, basically, Natalya was sobbing because Alexa was in the playroom and she wasn't. It was kind of funny, but broke my heart at the same time. Alexa was oblivious to the commotion she was causing, she just knew that Natalya was upset and she was trying to "help". I guess Natalya had been crying for 10 minutes. But other than that 10 minutes, they said she did a great job. Now, this morning, I knew that would be tough. We got in the room, she went to play on slide and I said "bye". She immediately broke out in tears and came running over. My heart just breaks when they're upset. I had to pry her off me and hand her over and walk out. I will never get used to that feeling of handing over my scared and upset child to a basic stranger. It's just heartbreaking.

8/2/10: Sally: Dropped the girls off at KinderCare today. At first, Natalya was very happy. She ran right over to the slide and started going up and down. Then I said "bye". She screamed, came running over and whinned a little. I handed her over and left. Mommy was very sad. I peeked in a minute or so later and she was hanging out next to her teacher. I'll get a call around 1pm with an update on both girls. With Jason going back to for on contract for the next few months, we needed to have someone watch the girls. We thought about going back to Jayne's, but even though we LOVED her and thought she did a fantastic job with the girl, it just wasn't all that convienent anymore with my work being in Saint Paul and not Eagan. Also, having something closer to home allows Jason to help with dropo-offs and pick-up since he'll be riding the bus every day.

7/22/10: Sally: Natalya loves to play the "I can't hear you" game. She will put her fingers in her ears and then talk without saying anything. It's so cute. Alexa and I will play that in the bath and Natalya picked it up. She also has picked up how to spit out water. She's pretty good. Some times she gets it super far.

At 18 months:
Whoa
Ouch or Owie
Hi
Bye
Out
Up
Ball
Book
Hat
Eye
Na: Dancing Video
Baba: Bottle
Wawa: Water
Bi: Bird
Bah: Bath
Te: Which we think is thank you
dada
mama
rara
pop: icee pop
-Does the cutest little point with her finger
-She lays down when you say you have to change her diaper
-Animal sounds she can do: cow, dog, cat, bird, monkey, dinosaur, tiger or lion, sheep, pig, elephant, bee, fish, spit for camel, snake, horse, frog - sound and will lick you, owl, bee, hello for phone
-Pats with her hand the location she wants you to sit
-Will pinch her nose if you say the word stinky
-Tell her to dance and she'll spin and/or sway
-When watching her dancing video, she says the "ahh" and "hop" part in "The Hop" song.
-Knows where her hands, feet, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, tongue, hair, belly button and butt are.
... more to come.

6/28/10: Sally: Night terrors. I don't know why she gets them, but they're just terrible. We have gone a few weeks without Natalya having one so I almost forgot about them. Sunday morning she woke up screaming. Then she refused to take her afternoon nap in her crib. She screamed and screamed and then I gave up trying. That evening, same thing, more screaming. I tried to calm her, Jason tried to calm her, but every time we tried to put her back in her crib, she would cling to us and scream. She finally went down and then around 11am she was screaming again while standing in her crib facing the wall. I feel so bad for her. I wish I could make them go away.

6/27/10: Sally: Taly lollipop just loves the kids dance DVD we have. She basically asks for it. When she sees the title start-up, she claps. When they're done dancing, she claps. If there is a song she doesn't like, she'll come over and touch the remote as if telling you to fast forward. She still spins when dancing. I sure hope she's musical when she's older for how much she likes listening to music and people singing now. The kid is also loving the pool. Now she just walks right in the pool. She tries to jump, but hasn't figure out how to leave the ground yet, but she has the whole motion down. One time she walked in and I wasn't close enough and down she went. It's funny, you always expect them to bounce right up, but they sink like a rock. Surprisingly once I grabbed her, she didn't cry nor was she choking on water.

6/24/10: Sally: Natalya started gymnastics today at the same place Alexa took it as a toddler. She did ok. She didn't seem as excited about it as Alexa was at that age. She did good for the first 30 minutes, but then started to peter out the last 15. She did not like doing summersaults or headstands. When they played the music, she just danced (did circles). She was calling for her baba and wouldn't stop until I gave it to her. A few more weeks and hopefully she'll be jumping.

6/6/10: Sally: Natalya is now saying or starting to say:
Hi
Bye
No
Daddy
Baby
Ball
Pop-Pop (icee-pop)
She can say mommy, but not for me.
She shakes her head for yes
Wa (water)
Ba-ba (bottle)
She will moo for a cow
She will roar for a bear
She will ah-ah for a monkey

6/5/10: Sally: Blood count is back up to 1100 ... whew! Don't have to go back to the doctor for 10 days. By then hopefully it will be around 1500, which is normal.

6/3/10: Sally: Yesterday her blood work came back with a count of 500, still critical, but up from 300. Saw the pediatrician this morning and since Natalya is eating and sleeping and happy, we're going to wait until Saturday to draw more blood. If she spikes a fever, then we have to go to the hospital, but we don't expect that to happen. She said it's still presenting as a virus. Like I said, she seems back to normal and the other blood tests from yesterday didn't show any other problems.

6/1/10: Sally: So Natalya has been kind of sick for the last few days. She spiked a fever Friday night of 102.3 and was fussier than usual and didn't eat. She's been very cranky and very emotional ... everything upsets her. Her fever came down on Sunday. Then Monday she started eating more. She's been up a lot at night. Jason took her in today to see if she had an ear infection. No ear infection. The doctor noticed a rash on her torso. They did some blood tests and found out that her platlet count and neutrophils are very low. The pediatrician feels it looks like it's a virus, but to be sure, so we need to come back on Thursday to see how her blood count is in two days. Then tonight at 9pm, Natalya's pediatrician called to say that they read the blood count wrong and it's actually lower than previously stated, so now we need to come in tomorrow for more extensive blood tests. There is some white blood cell count that should be above 1000. If it's below 1000, it's abnormal. If it's below 500, it's critical. They thought it was 700 this morning. After re-reading it, it's actually 300. So we'll be going in tomorrow afternoon to do more tests and hopefully it's still just a virus she picked up and is fighting it. I want my happy, fussy, cute little kid back.

5/2/10: Sally: If you sing, Natalya will try to sing with you. She also sways back and forth. I think she'll be a singer ... only based on the fact that she instantly stops doing what she's doing when she hears music and she also has this very high pitched squeel/scream ... she'll be a soprano.

5/1/10: Sally: "Hi." Hi is Natalya's first word that we know what she's saying and she says it at the right times. She's been saying it for a few weeks. She usually adds a wave too.

4/14/10: Sally: Natalya has nightmares. Every couple of days, she wakes up screaming, almost terrorized. Every time I go in to her room, she's standing there, facing the wall just screaming loud and fast. When I pick her up she keeps looking around the room sort of like "I know it's still here in the room". I have always said that this kid has nightmares. She has never slept as well as her sister ... Alexa slept through the night at four months and almost never has nightmares. Hopefully some day she grows out them. It's just so aweful to go in to your childs room and see them scared out of their mind and not be able make them (nightmares) go away. Terrible feeling. I pick her up, whipe her tears away, rock her for a minute or two, put her back in bed and she's fine, goes back to sleep without a word.

4/11/10: Sally: Natalya has the head shake down for "no" and mouths "yes" over and over when you say "yes" (yes, you want this?). She's been doing pretty good on her weightlifter's diet. She's been loving this wonderful weather. She plays so well outside. She knows where every bump is and how to get over it. She looks for your hand when going down steps.

4/7/10: Sally: 15 month check-up today. Still has two ear infections. Trying a better drug this time for two weeks. Pediatrician was still concerned that she was too skinny and hasn't gained much weight since her one-year check-up. She has lost some weight due to being sick. So now she needs to drink 8 oz. of Pediasure twice a day to gain some weight. Otherwise she looks good and is progressing nicely. We're waiting on doing her 15-month shots until she's better. Back in two weeks to check the ears again and then back for her 18 month appointment.

3/31/10: Sally: Took Natalya to the doctor this morning ... two ear infections. Poor thing. Again, she was so pissed when she woke up. She looks so defeated and tired. Her eyes are so droppy. Her nose is all red from us wiping it every 2 minutes. She just looks so unhappy and verbally tells us how unhappy she is by screaming and crying. If you barely bump her, she starts screaming and crying. She hasn't eaten much in a day or so and hasn't done well with her water either. She's miserable. Hopefully the drugs will help.

3/30/10: Sally: Guess who now likes the jumper ... that's right, Taly-lollipop. It was rolled up in the living room and she kept pointing at it and going "Ooooo, Oooo" (which seems to be her way of saying this is very important, look at it). So, put it back out and Alexa and Peyton were playing on it and diving head first down the slide. After a few minutes, Natalya was in it and copying them. She would run to the far side, then turn around and run to the slide and attempt to dive head first down the slide. It was fabulous.

3/29/10: Sally: Natalya still does not like the inflatable jumper. Broke it out yesterday in the backyard and she would not go near it. She was also running hot yesterday and had diaper rash ... must be the teeth (she's getting 4 of them). Poor thing. Now that we're outside more, I notice how much of a better walker Natalya is that Alexa ever was. Natalya can almost run (well, as much as a one year old can run). She has it down pretty good. Alexa on the other hand, when she was one, she fell all the time ... that's why I put Alexa in gymnastics, to help with her balance. I also love how much Natalya loves music. If she hears music, she starts swaying back and forth. Even if Alexa is signing some totally random, made-up song, Natalya will sway.

3/29/10: Jason: Following on Sally's post above about Natalya's temperature, it was 101.4 this morning. I'll be monitoring her. Her spirits seem good, she is just a little out of it. You can follow by daily progress of it on the Daddy Daycare blog.

I again added some more videos to the girls' Video page. I have added mostly January now, including Natalya's first birthday and Alexa's ice skating progression (both of those clips are about 5 minutes long). I have some more to add yet for February and March. I hope to have that up soon!

3/22/10: Jason: I added some more videos to the girls' Video page. I have added through December and into January. In the coming days I'll be getting the stuff up I have from January and February. Some of the clips are a bit on the long side (X-mas and X-mas snow). You have been forewarned. =) You're also forewarned that the girls are just too cute, so be prepared for the onslaught of cuteness.

3/19/10: Jason: Natalya's been in a weird funk all week (no, not talking about her being sick, as she seems to be over that). She's been very fussy at times. When she is unhappy, she will "run" to the other side of the room, or to another room, and cry, pout, stomp and be mad in general. You try to find out what is bothering her and then try to comfort her. Usually, after some loving and holding and direct attention she will be happy and go back to playing.

3/14/10: Sally: Natalya is getting 3 teeth, maybe 4. She was not very happy the other night and had a slight fever. Kept waking up. I ended up sleeping with her in Alexa's bed (Alexa was sleeping in our bed). After a few times of getting up with her, I figured she might just want to sleep near someone. She slept through the rest of the night.

3/6/10: Sally: When Natalya wants to have a temper tantrum, she sits on her but, then lays down on her side and rolls on to her back. It's all very slow so that she doesn't bonk her head. When Alexa was the same age, she would just throw herself back and smash her head on the wood floor. Jason and I got pretty good at expecting it and would get a hand or foot under her head so she didn't whack it. Another big difference between my took little monsters.

3/3/10: Sally: When you give Natalya a snack that she can eat anywhere, she always takes it to the bottom of the stairs. It's so cute, she just toddles over, sits down and eats. She is still saying "eeee's" when you tell to say "cheese" for photos. She says something after you hand her food ... my mother swear's she's trying to say "thank you". If you say the word "bath" around her, you must then give her a bath as she knows exactly what that word means and she loves, loves, loves taking a bath. She does throw a bit of a shit-fit when you bring her inside after playing outside ... the kid loves playing outside. She's big on pointing to the things she wants. If she wants more snacks, she will bring the little bowl that they were in over to you so you can give her more.

2/20/10: Sally: Natalya has a bunch of grunts and chest poundings down for different things ... now it's up to Jason and I to figure out what each of them mean. When she wants something to eat, she will make an Indian call. When she wants something or is mad at you about something, she pounds her chest with her open hand or hands. She also stomps her feet, loudly, when mad and, softly, when happy. Still no real words or sounds for real words yet. She still loves taking a bath or being outside (spring can't get here quick enough). If Lulu is outside and she isn't, she'll grunt and point.

2/8/10: Sally: Natalya ... she just loves to dance and sing and laugh. She laughs so much you wouldn't think she was a fussy baby. She giggles so much and it's just fantastic. When she hears music, any music, she's bopping up and down. Last night when The Who played at halftime of the Superbowl, she danced. She also loves trying to sing. If you give her a microphone, she talks in it. It's so cute. Natalya is also very different when Alexa is and isn't around. If Alexa is around, Natalya is very needy. She needs to be held and with you. But if Alexa isn't around, Natalya will tottle off and play by herself. She'll just be content to play with her toys. Cute story ... the other day we were taking photos at my mother's house and telling everyone to say "cheese". We repeated this over and over. Before we know it, Natalya is saying "eeeee's" over and over while playing with her toys. Could it be her first word (we have rules as to what constitutes a first word) ... maybe ... but it was soo cute.

2/2/10: Sally: It's every parents job to scar their children for life about something. Jason managed to do to Natalya at 1 year old. He put the jumper up in the living room and Natalya hated it ... it was probably too loud. By the time I got home, she wouldn't go near it without crying and grabbing on to me. It was sort of funny, but we're also very sorry for upsetting her so. Even when it was all folded up in the corner, she wouldn't go near it. We were playing a game with Alexa and her where we'd throw a ball and they'd chase it (...good puppy...) and if the ball went by the folded up jumper, Natalya would look at it and then go in the other direction ... haha. Natalya is also now starting to point at things, so that's cute. She also getting her 3rd moler, so that makes for 11 teeth.

1/22/10: Sally/Jason: Natalya - one year snapshot:
-Loves to laugh
-Likes to clap for herself
-Can give high-fives
-Will give you a kiss
-She loves to dance
-Will "sing" in to a microphone when music is played
-Doesn't say any words yet
-When protesting, sits down and then falls to the side
-Likes to open and shut doors
-Likes to put the toothbrush under water and then into mouth, over and over
-Loves (wants) to be held
-Doesn't always go to bed very well (wakes up after a short time asleep)
-Usually sleeps in until 10am
-Walks full time
-Loves to take things apart or take things out of buckets
-Loves being in her sisters room
-Loves taking baths
-Knows how to go down the stairs without any prompting to turn around
-Loves chocolate
-Loves her blanket
-Likes getting into the electronics cabinet below the TV
-Likes being outside, although not as easy when it's cold
-Likes playing with her big sister, when her sister is "nice"
-Loves getting into the cabinets in the kitchen
-Eats with a spork some. although still learning
-Typically poops once per day
-Takes a 2-2:30 hour nap, usually four hours after waking in the am
-Sometimes likes to play on her own, but prefers you to be near or in sight
-Likes to sit next to you on the couch, not on your lap.
-Loves to bang-bang on the computer
-Loves to play with Mommy or Daddy's cell phones
-Can scribble on paper
... more coming.

1/21/10: Sally: Our kids are as different as Sarah and me. Not sure why I was thinking they would be close to the same. One example, we have a wine fridge that is low to the ground. Alexa never opened it. I'm not even sure she has ever opened it. But Natalya, open, close, open, close. They are just very different. They like different toys, they like different games, they laugh at different things. They're amazing wonders these children of mine.

1/13/10: Sally: One year appointment went great. She's tall and as always, her pediatrician thinks she's too skinny. She's at 75%, but based off her height, she move like 40%. Oh well. She eats and has stayed steady at gaining weight over the year, so we're not worried. Our kids are just tall and in 7th grade when they stop getting taller, they will fill out then. It just annoys me that our pediatrician says they're too skinny ... I mean with the fat kid epidemic in this country, she shouldn't say anything unless they're at like 10%. She did have to get 3 shots and a blood draw. Since daddy was scarred for life after going through this with Alexa, it was my turn. It went as good as expected. She screamed, she cried, but surprisingly she didn't squirm about when getting the blood drawn. She was ready for a nap after that.

Archive