Christmas!

Wow, Christmas has come and gone and now we are looking to the New Year! I looked back over some pictures from my work holiday party and compared from last year to this year. It is amazing to me how my little Bee has become a little girl! The changes in her are so apparent when I look at the photos side by side. (I felt I need to share what I was looking at so they are to the left!) While the face is not all that different, just a little less baby fat, the hair is really what stands out. She just looks like such a little girl now and it made me sad to think my little baby is gone! I know she is still my baby and still very young but it's somehow different. She's still gorgeous though!

It's been a great year with her! There have been some difficult times and some behavior problems but over the last couple of weeks she has been really good. I hate to say that ignoring something makes it go away, because usually that is not the case, but really when it came to not calling attention to the biting, hitting, tantrums and such that it seems to have really made a difference. I am so proud of her for being such a good little girl! So, because it's the end of the year I wanted to end on some good stuff!
Over the last few weeks we have had developments in:

Saying her ABC's - she can sing them, though she skips some letters and muddies the words at the end. She loves to sing them and is really trying. Every few days she gets one more distinctive letter in there. It's so cute and we caught it the other day on the camcorder. I can't wait to look back at that when she is older.

Saying her numbers - We have to get her started through three because she usually gets hung on saying "1, 2, 1" but once we help her get past it she can count to 10. She did it for everyone on Christmas Day and I felt so proud of her when they were all excited to hear her say them.

Saying "I Love You" - Now, this one we have been working on for a looonnggg time! I am proud to say that she now makes the words out, all three of them, instead of making it one long jumbled word.

Moving to her "big girl bed" - it is just a toddler day bed but she is doing very well. She does not get out and make a big deal out of not going to bed. I think this is because we changed the bed, said here is your big girl bed but we never made a big deal of her NOT getting out of it. So..my thinking is that it never really put the thought in her head that staying in her bed was a big deal drama thing. It has been working out well. She gets out of her bed in the morning and comes and gets us when she is up. She's doing good in it. (I hope I didn't just jinx us!)

With the new year comes.....potty training! This scares me to death! I bought her some training underwear. We are not going to keep going with the pull-ups because she refers to them as diapers and I think she needs to make the distinction between diapers and big girl underwear. I am sure there will be no shortage of things to blog about once we start this weekend. We decided that after the new year is when we would start since she just transitioned from her crib, to a new room at daycare and we were dealing with Christmas. So..wish us luck and I am sure you will be hearing about it soon!

Have a Happy New Year!!! Lots of love and well wishes to all of your families!

Bad Behavior, Tantrums and whining, Oh My!

Well, the last couple of weeks have been tough. Little Bee has developed split personalities! In one minute she is the sweetest, kindest, most loving little girl there is. She plays and strokes my hair, gives me hugs, tells me she loves me, all the little things that sugary sweet little girls do. The next minute, oh my, a little monster is standing in front of me telling me no, sassing while pointing her finger at me and hitting me! And a few times when I have asked her if she wanted to go to the naughty seat she said, "yes!!" Yesterday (and let me preface this by saying that a friend of mine, who has a little girl just a few weeks older than Bee, said her daughter did this and I thought in my head that there is no way MY child would ever do this, well boy was I wrong) little Bee was being a little monster and not picking up her toys. I told her she was going to go to the naughty seat, so what does she do? She said "okay" and walked over and sat herself in the naughty seat!!! I thought I was going to die! Everyone keeps saying "oh, she's only 2, she doesn't know what she's saying or doing" but I am sorry folks, that child is a lot smarter than you give her credit for! All of the parenting advice I read says to stay calm, don't react to it, don't engage. Don't engage? Don't engage while the child has thrown themselves on the ground screaming "No, mommy" while all of the windows are open! Or is screaming through the grocery store because I won't let her smash the bread! Yeah right! How am I supposed to remain sane and calm through all of that? And don't even get me started on the whining! She can not ask for anything with out whining! I do as all the reading says and say, "I can't understand whining, you need to use your big girl words" or "You need to ask mommy nicely and say please." When I try to talk to people about it I hear, yet again, "she's just a baby" or "she is still so young give her a break" Give ME a break! Sorry, but learning manners has no age limitation!!!! I just want this period to pass and to have back my sweet little helper who did anything I asked of her! Where did that child go???? I feel as though, since I have been venting, that I need to say that I love my child very much and she is frankly the reason for everything I do now! But, really, the two's is tough!! And please don't say, "You'll see, the three's are worse and so are the four's," blah, blah, blah, let me wallow in my own whining!!

Been a while...

Wow, sorry it has been so long since I have posted anything! It has been pretty busy around here. I had back surgery and that has set me back a bit. I am pretty good to go now though so that makes me very happy! Still can't pick Bee up which she does not like but we are working around it!

Things with Bee have been interesting. She is definitely becoming a little comedian! Once she finds out that you think something is funny she does it over and over!! We had her 2 year birthday party the weekend before Thanksgiving. Actually it was for both her and her sister. They share the same birthday, exactly ten years apart! Don't ask me how it happened, well, I know how it happened. Our little Bee needed to come early! So, here we are now with the girls sharing the same birthday. It has actually turned out to be really cool. They adore each other, which makes me happier than words can say, so I think it will always be great they share the birthday. 

It seems as though, ever since Bee turned two, that her vocabulary is on a fast track! Everyday she says new words and phrases! It's amazing! She now fumbles her way through the ABC's as well!! It is so cute to hear her sing the ABC's! The other day at the breakfast table at Nana and Papa's, she turned to her sister and said, "Hi sissy, how are you?" Clear as a bell! We were all so shocked no one said anything! Ha!! It was funny, she kind of looked around like, "what?" and just went back to eating like nothing even happened. 

She has been really good with the few exceptions of her acting out. It's all normal toddler stuff though and she does not throw tantrums as bad as I have seen other kids do. Although tonight she did pretty well in her tantrum throwing. Who knew that a saline spray bottle would be so enthralling?!? "No" still seems to be one of her favorite words but we are working on it. She started the "2's" room at school so as she spends more time with the older kids I am hoping for a more articulate way of communication. I do not hold any crazy notion that the whining and "no" won't still be the main form but I am hoping for it to be cute down at least. Here's to hoping!

Sorry, I don't have any funny anecdotes today. This is really a check in and a promise to get back into it more. It might be tough with the holidays coming but I will try! I would love to hear from you so if you have something funny to share or just want to say hi, please do! 

I love my girl - mushy alert!

The other night I was rocking my lil Bee and realized that I am not sure I could love another person as much as I love her. I mean, yeah, I love my husband but that is a different kind. She's so beautiful and so perfect to me. I always thought when people talked about loving their child, and how awesome it was, that they were exaggerating. I get it now. A friend of mine referred to it as a beacon the other day and I would say I would have to agree 100%. She's my beacon to move forward, to succeed, to be able to give her the best life possible. This is going to sound corny, and I told my friend this too, but I really do wish that the love I have for her could reach out like a little blanket and cover her up so she could feel it all day, every day and that it would protect her through out her whole life. I only want the absolute best for her. I am truly so in love with her and still very gaga over her. Now, I am not saying we don't have our moments where we are not clicking, I have posted about them, she is a toddler after all and I am only human! But it is so nice to have such an awesome connection with her! Makes my day better every day!

Miss Independent

Lately little Bee has been all about doing it herself and this morning was no different! Every Monday morning I fill a fabric grocery bag, we have tons because we try to use those at the grocery store but it seems I am always forgetting them so I end up buying one, anyway, I fill the bag with what she needs at daycare for the week. Her cot sheet, a blanket, change of clothes, diapers, wipes, etc. This morning she took it upon herself to carry the bag to the van all on her own. (Of course, she decides to do this when I need to get her moving because I am running late.) Now, the bag is as tall as she is and about two of her wide. She insisted on carrying it herself and I was okay with it, however, she was only holding it by one handle. She held the handle at the bottom where it meets the top of the bag. So, she did good there because that enabled her to hold it up off of the ground pretty well but only on the side of the handle she was holding! Husband is home on Mondays and we were trying to explain to her that she needed to hold BOTH handles and it would be easier. Well, you would think we were starting world war three! Every time we tried to show her she freaked out! Screaming! So we let her go out the door and walk down the sidewalk herself. She tripped once landing on the bag thankfully but also on my lunch, which was at the bottom, not thankfully! At least it broke her fall though! Finally she dropped it and flopped open to showed that her blankie was in there. She reached down to pick it up. I, luckily, at that point was able to barter with her! She would carry the blanket and I would carry the bag. A deal was made and we got to the van that much quicker! Phew! This is just another in a long line of instances where she has wanted to show off her independence! Ah, toddler independence, is there anything cuter or more frustrating!

Bee Speak!

I decided that I need to write down some of Bee's cuter vocabulary words at this point in her life. I mean, we all know she can say, "no" "Mommy" "mine" etc. But these are cuter and this way I have a record of them! I have tried to spell them phonetically, I hope it works! So here it goes:

"fruip" = fruit

"yellow" = means she wants to color or is used to describe any writing tool.

"ass" = grass

"titty" = can mean either pretty or cookie

wa wa= water

inamean = (said with an "I" pronunciation) = vitamin

"side" = can be her slide, outside or inside

"pay" = play

"hmmm" = means she is thinking

Those are the words I can think of right now. I will probably be adding to it as I think of them or hear her say more!

Three little words...

Well, Bee has perfected the art of the three little words. It's absolutely adorable! However, it is also frustrating! These three little words are not of the lovey dovey sort. These little words are: no, mine and stop (with the hand up)! I think over the weekend we heard "no" about 10 times an hour while she was awake. And we even heard it a couple of times during the night while she was talking in her sleep! We went through something similar about 6 months ago with but then it was a small grunt and a light slap on our arm. Back then, we first made it a huge deal telling her no, not do that, it was not nice, be nice, etc. It seemed to only fuel it so we decided to ignore it and not call attention to it. That way we could sort of defuse the power of it. Well, that worked! It took a couple weeks but eventually she realized that getting that sort of attention wasn't going to happen. This time we started out the same with the "no's" and "be nice's" but we are quickly realizing that maybe, again, ignoring it and not giving it power is what is needed. The problem is that with her being a little older it's a little harder to ignore such down right rebellion! It is is so cute sometimes but other times it is so frustration! Especially when we are around other people. It can get a little embarrassing! I think people must be staring at us and thinking, geeze, that kid is a brat, her parents need to get her under control. Worst of all, I think, that they must think, we are bad parents! It's a terrible feeling! Especially since I know that is not really the case but it's hard. I really want her to be good in a group of people and out in public. I want people to see how sweet she really can be! This weekend we were at a baby shower and I got a lot of compliments on how good she was. I thought, really? They were just being polite. So she didn't have any meltdowns or outburtst, but she told me no about 50 times and wrote on the person's wall! I felt like she could have done better! Like, oh, I don't know, not talk back to me! She did redeem herself in the end when, as we were leaving, she went around and gave everyone left a hug and kiss. While doing that she was the sweet little girl we know at home! Certainly she was not herself earlier when I told her she couldn't draw on me and she smacked me on the arm and said "no, mine!" "You, stop!" I suppose at this point, thought, she is a mixture of both! I really, really want this to be the worst of it! Please, really, I want this to be the worst! Really!! I do!! Please?!

Sick kid!

Well, this past Labor Day weekend was a labor of love! Love of my child and wanting to make her better!! We had the whole weekend planned and it all went to crap on Sunday morning when Bee woke up at 5 AM with a 102.7 degree fever. I have dealt with Bee being sick before but never like this. The fevers were very scary for me. Mainly because when we as adults get a fever that high that means we are really sick. For a kid, however, I found out that I shouldn't get too scared until it goes over 104 even possibly 105! Is that crazy or what! Then I also found out that you should not take the temperature of a child, as young as Bee, right after they wake up! Because the fever can be higher as a result of them being all cuddled up and sleeping, they call it a "bundling fever." Crazy huh!? Anyway, we dealt with high fevers all weekend, one even reached 104.2! Like I said, she has been sick before but never like this! I felt so helpless and was kind of fumbling my way through how to take care of her. It seemed as though when I followed my instincts it went well. It was when I second guessed myself that I fell a little short. It was awful seeing her that way with her red little eyes, runny nose, tearing eyes and paleness! All she wanted was to be held by me or hubby. She was so cute and sweet though she did have an occasional outburst of snottiness but who doesn't when they don't feel good. She would ask for me, come to me and then ask for him. While we didn't get a lot of sleep for those few days I do have to say it was a good bonding experience for all three of us. Hubby and I know we can handle it and take care of our girl and she knows we are there and she can count on us to try our best to make it all better! I will leave it at that and not even go into the fact that I realized just how important we are to her! I found some perspective on that this weekend as well but I will leave that for another time! I am still trying to catch up on my sleep!! Just wanted to post a little something, ya know, to keep the habit up!

Goes with some of my blogs

A friend of mine sent me this today and I wanted to share it! It mirrors some of the things I have been trying to self-realize!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63PO-OFDYvw

Please take a minute to watch!

Top 5 Things

There are many friends, or friends of friends, that seem to be pregnant right now. The other day I was asked what were some of the things I use daily that I feel I can't live with out. So, I thought about it for a while and since I have nothing to blog about today I decided to share. And since usually everyone knows what they need for a newborn, thanks to the zillion "what you need for a newborn" lists and nana's and great aunts (in my case), not many people think about what they will need when that child gets a little older! So, here it goes!

1.) Books! - Bee loves books. She will walk right past her toys and play with her books. We read 4 books every night before bed. If we read less than 4 we are in trouble. That equates to about 20-30 minutes of reading depending on the length of the books she wants. I have read that reading to your child for 20 minutes a day and I quote, "inspires a life long love of learning." That is what I intend on doing!

2.) Floppy Seat - I am a huge germaphobe! This thing is the greatest and we get stopped all of the time in the grocery stores and restaurants by people asking where we got it! It is awesome! It covers up nasty grocery store carts and gross restaurant high chairs. If you have a kid like mine, who likes to put everything in her mouth, than this is for you! I keep it right in the van so I always have it.

3.) Fisher Price Healthy Care Booster Seat - This thing is the bomb! As with the Floppy, I keep this seat in my van at all times! That way if we go to someone's house she always has a seat to sit on. It has different levels for height and it has a detachable, dish washer safe tray. It's very portable and easy to carry. Bee loves it!

4.) Baby wash cloths - I never seem to have enough but I love these things! They work for everything! Washing her face, for bath time, for clean up after dinner but the best is when she has a stuffy, dry bugger nose! I run the hot water and get the wash cloth nice and wet with hot water. I let it sit for a couple seconds to cool and then use it to get all the dry buggers off! Works like a charm and because they are soo soft it doesn't hurt her nose. They are very useful!

5.) Music - Bee has had a CD player in her room since she was born. Everynight since then we have played classical music, lately it's been Disney Princess Lullaby CD, for her to help soothe her and help her fall asleep. Now, we have a very impressive children's music CD collection because Bee is a music lover, just like her mama. We have CD's in the car and CD's in her room. So, whether we are riding in the van, she is playing in her room or she is falling asleep we always have music if she wants it! I even made CD's for Nana's car as well! And trust me, we keep the less annoying stuff in the van! Currently favorites include the Disney Princess CD, the Curious George Soundtrack, Baby Einstein: Sing and Play (mostly for Row, Row, Row Your Boat) and the newest is "B is for Bob," which is a children's Bob Marley CD. She loves them and even asks for them by name! It's very cute!

So, these are my 5... for right now anyway. They will probably change next week. I will alert if anything new pops up that I love! I would like to ask that if you have a top 5 please leave a comment with them. I think it's good to share! There are always some things I forget about or honestly don't even think of!

Is she growing up?

The other day husband and I went to a department store with Bee. We were looking around for some new clothes for him. Bee and I branched off to go to the toddler section to look around. Once we got over there I was just browsing through the sale racks when her breath literally caught in her throat and she said "prea!" "Prea" is her word for princess because she can't say princess yet. Anyway, I look over and she is looking up at this wall of Disney Princess jammas like it was the golden grail! (is that the right analogy? Anyway, just imagine angelic music playing in the back ground and soft golden light on her face and you are there!) Then she held her little hands out and said, "mine." I thought to myself, crap! How am I going to get out of this? Then I saw the 50% off tag and realized that I didn't really have to get out of anything, we could afford it and she did need new princess jammas. (hear me still justifying it?) We wheeled over there and I let her pick out, for the first time, her own new jammas. She held onto those things through out the entire store until we left. I was afraid she wasn't going to let go of them to let me pay but she did. We got them home, washed them and got her dressed in them for night night. They came with slippers and a head band so we put it all on and took some pictures and even some video. I sent the picture out and later Nana called me and told me that Bee was looking more like a little girl and less like a baby. At first I was like, that's okay, she's not an infant or newborn anymore, she's a toddler. Well, I have been thinking about it since then and last night it really hit me. Every night I rock her a little before she gets into bed and some nights I get a little impatient with her because I am ready to relax and that means she needs to get to bed! Last night was different! I realized that, while she is still really young and basically still a baby, she is going to grow up. She won't always want me to rock her, she won't always want me to hold her and read her stories. Sad, right? So, I have decided that I will start being more.. in the moment with her at night night time. Or really anytime. I will start spending as much time as needed rocking her just so I have that much more time to hold her. Everyone keeps saying (which, by the way, is such a pet peeve, I will have to blog one day on all the unwelcomed, cliche, advice a new mom gets!) anyway, they say that the time flies by so I am going to try my hardest to enjoy every moment of it!

I'm a bad mommy!

Let me preface this by saying thank you to all the supportive comments written after I posted a note on FB about this issue. The kind words really did make me feel better but I still feel the need to write about it in case others feel the same way! Yesterday evening I was an exhausted mommy, doesn't make it better, and I was dealing with an exhausted Bee. Still, it doesn't make it better to me. Anyway, it was about 2 minutes to 7:00 pm when Bee brought out her container of puzzle pieces. I promptly told her that she wouldn't be able to play long with them because it would be time for a bath. Her words to me were, "No!" and she wagged (this is a new thing) her finger at me. I sighed and let it go, still slightly annoyed, and told her not to tell me "no." I let her play and some time passed and realized it was past 7:00 and time for her bath. Now, I was being so strict on bedtime not only because if we get off schedule she is a bear to be around but frankly, I was tired and ready for bed! And even though we may start bedtime at 7:00 I know it won't be over until close to 8:00! So, I told her it was time to pick up her puzzle pieces and she again wagged her finger at me and told me "no!" I told her I would help her and she said "no!" Being the mommy I stood up and started to pick them up and asked her to hand them to me so that I could help her. Well, that is when she threw a puzzle piece at me! I said, "do you need to go have quiet time and sit in time out?" Not really knowing what I was asking, this sort of behavior punishment has just started in our house given she is so young but I wanted to start at least letting her know there are consequences to her actions, anyway, I asked her that and she said in the cutest voice, "'tay." I said to her again, "you want to sit in time out?" And she said sweetly again, "'tay." I really don't know why it made me so mad but I pulled one of her little chairs out and set it near the wall. Then, I walked over and snatched her by the arm, ooo twinge of guilt enters here, took her over and sat her in the chair. At this point she was crying, not the fake little cry but she was crying truly with the big fat tears streaming down her precious little cheeks. I walked over finished picking up the puzzle pieces, all the while she stayed right where I say her, and took the puzzle to her room. While on the way to her room I had to fight back the tears from feeling terrible! I would never hurt her in anyway and I know in the long run I didn't really but I still felt guilty. And I refused to go over and get her right away because I don't want her to think, in the future, that all she has to do is cry and she can get out of it. So, I put the puzzle away and then walked back and told her it was time for a bath. I picked her up and gave her a hug, told her I loved her and that I was sorry if I hurt her arm. I must have told her that a dozen more times while giving her a bath and getting her ready for bed. Which by the time the bath started she was totally fine but I was NOT! What I realize now is that this may be a long line of times I feel terrible because she will have to understand that when she does something wrong there are consequences. I also realize I may end up being a stricter parent than I would have originally thought! Hopefully cool but also a little more strict than what I always imagined. I do think I will need to work on my patience so that I am not a hovering, maniac, suffocating mother! Here's to working on my patience!

As many other mommys told me when they commented on the post I made: not bad mommy, just human mommy!! I just need to keep reminding myself of that!!

To Take Her or Not to Take Her!

Tomorrow my husband and I are off to the gulf coast to spend a few days together, alone! The last time we were away together was our honeymoon two years ago. So, it's been a while but that is the norm, or so I hear, for parents of little ones! We are very excited but also a little sad to be leaving our Bee. This will be the longest we will have been away from her since she was born! Usually, if she goes to stay at Nana and Papa's it only for a couple days. This time we will be away from her for FOUR days! Because of this we hedged back and forth trying to decide if we should bring her or not. It was very close! Taking her with us would be so fun! Just spending the day at the beach, taking her swimming and to Fort De Soto park for walks on the trails and out on the sand bars! Watching her discover new things! Hearing her laugh and have fun! Hugs, kisses, lots of love!! Plus, she looks sooo cute in her bathing suits! It would be a great time! Then, we remembered, we would have to rush back to the room for naps, we would have to turn in on the early side so she wouldn't get too crabby, we would be up early every day so no sleeping in! Trust me that child has an internal alarm clock that rarely lets her sleep past 7:15! Most importantly we would have to deal with meltdowns and temper tantrums and the terrible two's get closer everyday!!! Not exactly relaxation friendly! So, our decision started to sway! If she did not go we could stay out late and have some cocktails. We could sleep in for four days straight! Heck, we could sleep all day if we wanted! No getting up in the middle of the night to have to check on her, which repeatedly still do even though she is older! We could literally walk out of the room to the beach and plop down with out having to plan out everything and make sure we had everything we needed for her. We could read!!! Uninterrupted reading! And not kid's books either! Our decision was soon made after that. We decided NOT to take her. We have told ourselves, she's so young she won't feel left out or be mad at us for not taking her. She won't even remember it later in life! We are hoping these things will help us get through the guilt of not taking her and of course the sadness of missing her while we are gone!! We are going to miss her terribly but know Nana, Papa and even Uncle D will be taking care of her! It will like a mini vacation for her as well! She loves going over there so now I feel no guilt! Mom and Dad deserve some time away and we are grasping on to it for dear life! (Sigh, but we will still think about her contantly and wish she was with us!)

Yeah, I bribe my kid with TV and food, so?

When Bee was a newborn/infant the house was hardly ever clean, to my satisfaction anyway. Hubby tried but I have a certain way of doing things. I took his help and was okay with it because everyone said, "sleep when the baby sleeps," "don't worry about the housework, it can wait, spend time with your baby," "we don't care what the house looks like, we come to see you guys." So, I reluctantly learned to "let go" knowing that when Bee got a little older I would be able to go back to having a clean house, the way I like it. That, my friends, was a major misconception on my part! It is harder now, more than ever, to get those things done! She clings to my every movement! She will literally cling to my leg and beg for me to pick her up! If I leave the room, she leaves the room. For pete's sake she follows me into the bathroom! But! I have found two things that are sure to give me 20 to 30 minutes of uninterrupted cleaning and cooking time! Food and TV! Now, I know what you are thinking, that is terrible! I used to think the same thing! I always told myself; I will let Bee only have a certain amount of TV time a day. That still happens, unintentionally, but it does happen! My stepdaughter has had a TV in her room as long as I have known her, since she was 4! I vowed that my child would never have a TV in her room that young and I stick to that firmly but what does it hurt to use the TV in the living room for some solace? I say it doesn't hurt at all!!! I am selective about what she is aloud to see and what she is aloud to put in her belly. Snacks usually consist of grapes (a Bee favorite), goldfish or cheerios and the TV shows are one of three things. The first one is Yo Gabba Gabba which is her absolute favorite and she asks for it by name. Well, her name for it which is "dabba dabba." The second is Curious George. She loves George but mostly reading about him instead of watching. The third is anything playing at the time on Noggin! Those shows are all geared to toward preschoolers and there are no crazy commercials or sponges using the words dumb, stupid, idiot etc. The shows she watches teach manners, shapes, math, science, interaction with others, and improve kinetestic skills. (Do we watch a lot of Noggin and PBS or what?) All things that working in an educational industry has taught me are important. The most important thing that has come from this is that I get short windows of time, with out a toddler clinging to my leg, to get my house in order! So, slective TV - YES! Selective snacks - YES! Happy toddler - YES! Happy Momma - YES!! Happy momma = happy house - YES! So, yeah, I bribe my kid with food and TV, don't judge me!

Is my kid becoming a snot??

Yikes! Yesterday we spent the day at Nana and Papa's because my aunt and uncle were down for a quick visit. They haven't seen Bee for a few months so we were excited for them to get to see how much she has changed and how much she has learned! Plus, of course, to see how more and more beautiful she is getting! ;) When my aunt and uncle got the house she was sleeping so we all visited for a bit. After a while Nana said she thought she heard Bee and went to check on her. Daddy went in there as well. After a few minutes they emerged with what looked like my child but actions to come over the afternoon would prove that there was some sort of baby switch there for a few hours. She was immediately whiny and clingy to me. This may be caused by the fact that Nana couldn't help herself and got her up too soon. Sorry Nana, but true! I thought, okay, this is okay, give her some time and let her wake up, warm up to the new people in the room and everything will be okay. I'm okay, you're okay, she's okay, we'll all be okay! That did not happen! She refused to go to them. Some how my child forgot how to say please and thank you! Those are some of the first words she learned! She always says them automatically and with our prodding! Not this day though! I couldn't get her to say them, at all, to anyone! My aunt and uncle would talk with her and try to tickle her and she would ignore them or cry out if they touched or even went near her! It was awful! Then, it got a little worse. She finally warmed up to my uncle but for some reason not to my aunt. At dinner we put on some music and she started to dance. Which is so fun and she is too cute dancing. Well, every time my aunt tried to watch or clap along, like all the rest of us were doing, she would look at my aunt, point her little finger at her and say "No!" This killed me!! Any time my aunt tried to watch her dance she specifically told her "no!" So, we got through dinner and it was time for a bath. I got her in the tub and washed up and she was playing. My aunt came in to see her and Bee let her watch for a bit but then looked up and said "Bye, Bye" to her! My aunt asked Bee if she wanted her to go and Bee said.."Yes!" I was so sad! Why was my little, sweet girl acting like this to some one I adore and love!! All I can come up with still is that she was tired and well, she's turning two in a few months and they say the terribleness starts early! She finally started to warm up a little right before we were about to leave, of course! And snippets of the baby girl we all know started to shine through. I am still sad by the way Bee was acting and wonder, have we done something wrong? Do we give in to her too much? Am I a bad mommy and not teaching her well enough? I tried desperately to let her know her behavior was not acceptable but it seemed to go in one ear and come out the other! I read all about how the threes are worse and after this long day I am left wondering.... is the worst is yet to come? Don't answer that!

Bedtime tantrums and biting....sheesh!

We have hit a spell, a bad spell, with bedtime. My beautiful little master manipulator has learned that all she needs to do is scream, at the top of her lungs, and we come running! Well, it seems that we have gotten hip to that! The last two nights instead of running back in there we have let her scream. I mean she really lets loose! She screams for us at the top of her lungs but oddly enough, no tears! Hmmm, so, we decided to let her scream it out. It literally took four minutes both nights before she was quiet and sleeping! Amazing! All we had to do was take our "feeling guilty" hats off and it seemed to be fine! We will see how it goes tomorrow night!! 

Today was interesting when I went to pick Bee up from daycare. I was told upon my arrival that she cried for me several times during the day, which of course made me sad but then I was told she bit another classmate. At this point the day is almost over so what do I about it? I know I can spend a little one on one time with her in the evening to let her know I am here, not leaving her, I love her and she's my girl. The biting though, how can I talk to her about it way after the fact? We are going to try though and see what happens! The screaming I can handle but the biting I seem to have a more difficult time with! Wish us luck!

First Haircut!

Well, Saturday August 8, 2009 was Bee's first haircut! I was nervous, excited and a little sad. My baby is growing up! I was nervous and bracing myself for an all out scream fest but...it was actually fine! We got there fairly early in the morning and when we walked in the stylist had balloons all over her station and a little present on the table for Bee. It was very sweet and over and beyond! Bee loved it and it made the experience really special! I decided I would go first to show her that there was nothing to be afraid of and it seems as though that worked! While I was getting my haircut Bee sat with Nana and watched, very intently. She studied everything from the shampooing to the drying! It was like she was taking notes! We kept asking her if she wanted to go next and she would say "tay." We got her in the chair and put the smock on her. She didn't like the smock and instead of fighting her about it and causing unnecessary tears we took it off. She did really well. The stylist gave her some hair clips to play with. While she played with those she got her hair cut and it was done. It was done in less than 10 minutes! She was so good and got her little present afterwards. Over all it was a very good and positive experience! Thank goodness!! Now she looks more like a little girl and less like a baby! That has been a little hard but I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. My reccomendation to anyone who has to go through this is to plan it out well and try to get your hair cut first! If mommy does it then it must be okay!!

Huh?

About a week ago Bee started answering questions with "huh?" Not only would she answer the questions with "huh" but anything you said to her would be followed by her saying, "huh?" I was appalled and determined to find out where in the world she learned such a word!! I was also determined to fix it, and I still am because it is still happening! My first thought was, ugh, daycare!! She picks up so many things from there! Biting, hitting, colds etc. Why wouldn't she pick up bad grammar as well, I thought. I quickly observed that the teachers there are actually pretty good at correcting the kids when they don't use "big people words." They are adamant in this age group that the kids use correct wording to convey what they are thinking and feeling. So, I crossed that off my list. Next using my Sherlock Holmes investigation skills was the T.V. Bee watches only two television programs. Mostly because that is all we want her to watch but it is her choice as well. She watches Yo Gabba Gabba and Curious George. I watch them both, A LOT, with her and never heard "huh" being used in "Dabba Dabba," as Bee lovingly refers to it. I did, however, hear George make a sound similar to "huh." I thought, no way, our George is teaching her talk like a monkey? Husband thought that that was the case too. So, unfortunately, we would blame it on the monkey. Poor George. Until.....we were walking down the sidewalk yesterday, Bee said something to me and I didn't quite hear her, so I said...wait for it...."huh?" ME!!! It was ME all along teaching my child to sound so...... uneducated! I caught myself doing it several times through out the evening! I would ask her a question, she wouldn't answer right away and I would say "huh?" I can not believe it! What is more noticeable and most important is that she has now started to pick up things I say! So, that made me realize I need to be way more careful with my words!! Especially driving in the care! I guess calling people F'ing litterbugs or other colorful phrases about their driving will, in deed, need to be monitored by me because right now it seems they are being monitored by my child!! (As a side note; since this is a blog on speaking and grammar, I did go back and try to fix all the mistakes I may have made! There could still be some lingering though! Ha!)

Is my child a master manipulater?

Last night I saw something pretty silly but interesting! Nana and Pop Pop made a spontaneous visit and while we were there Bee put on some of her best work! The first time she got a boo boo, while they were there, it was for real and we were all "Are you okay?" and giving her hugs and kisses. Well, the times that followed were not so serious. They were down right little shows! She did her fake little whine and crinkled her nose like she was crying. Immediately the hubby and I were like, "oh, please! you are fine." But...Nana, was well, a different story! She immediately put her arms out to Bee and Bee would go running to her, making that silly face and the fakest little cry you can imagine! Every time Bee would "hurt" herself she would instantly look over to her Nana, Nana would put her arms out and say "come here precious girl" in her most ridiculous baby talk! It was a little disgusting! These events have led me to question myself and how much do I personally give in to her? I think I must give in to her plenty and I probably don't even know it! So, this has put me on a little quest to find out.... is my little Bee a little master manipulater? Stay tuned! I will be giving updates! Ha!!

Screaming toddler and dirty looks: A stop at the store!

Well, coincidentally, tonight marks a definite first in my mommyhood journey! I used to be one of those people who always wondered how a mother could stand a child screaming! I mean, really, how could they just completely ignore the fact that their child is yelling and crying at the top of their lungs. I always thought, geeze, shut that kid up! Pick it up, do something! Tonight I was, for the first time, on the other side of that!

We stopped, myself and Bee, at a super store on the way home to pick up a couple of things. We started in the produce section where I made a huge mistake and asked Bee if she wanted me to get grapes. Grapes! Who knew the little, round, pieces of sweet goodness would turn my child into a meltdown having toddler! Anyway, she said "yes please" very politely and I picked them up and put them in the cart. She did not like that at all, she wanted a grape and she wanted it now! I tried explaining to her in between her shrill shrieks that we needed to wait to get home and wash them before she had one. That explanation, however, did not seem to work! The harder I tried to explain it to her the louder she screamed! I took her over to the dairy section, all the while she is screaming and crying, and tried to give her a cheese stick, one of her fave things but that only quieted her just long enough for me to rush through the aisles and get to the register! I started to look around feeling eyes on me as she started to ramp up again! I wondered then if people thought I was stealing this little girl or beating her the way they were looking at me! Then, I saw him, he was there with what had to be his wife or girlfriend and he was giving me the look of, "shut that kid up!" I had to stop myself from asking what it was exactly he was looking at! I literally wanted to say, "hey, have you never seen a kid crying before?" Then I realized, that must be what I looked like to other poor mothers just trying to get their melting down children out of the store! I felt horrible for a minute until my loving, sweet, beautiful daughter slapped me on the arm while still screaming bringing me back to reality. At that instant I wanted to say to the guy, "hey, instead of just standing there why don't you help me out! It will benefit both of us!" I realized that was unrealistic, he left, I paid and we were out of the store! I have to say, that guy had to deal with my kid screaming, yes, but only for a short time! I had to deal with it all the way home, getting into the house, while getting the stupid grapes out and washing them, putting them into the bowl for her and physically putting them in front her so she could see she was going to have the grapes!! Dude in line in front of me with the dirty look, check yourself because I definitely got the worse end of that deal! But at the same time I feel bad for him if he doesn't have or appreciate kids because it was totally worth it when she and I were on the couch just minutes later; she was eating her grapes and she leaned over, gave me the biggest hug and told me she loved me! Sorry, so worth the screaming! I definitely got the BETTER end of that deal!

One More Thing...

I decided to allow ads to be on my blog, not sure if this was a wise decision or not. I suppose we will have to wait and see. I would appreciate any feedback on whether or not this is annoying!
Thanks!

First Blog Ever!

So, I am new to the whole blogging thing. I have read other blogs and have friends that enjoy doing it but I never thought to do it myself. Until a friend mentioned it to me that is. I am not one of those moms who records every step of my child's progress or spends time creating scrapbooks. I am lazy that way. I alway think that I can rely on my memory, which if you are a mom, you know I am clearly lying to myself! So, taking my friend's advice, I decided I would give this a try and use it sort of as my memory keeper. Now, we just need to see if I keep up with it!

Here is a little history on me and my family. My husband and I met about 9 years ago. The first two years we were friends. He was married to some one else and had a daughter with his then wife. Then, well, things changed and suddenly he wasn't married anymore and suddenly we realized that the friendship was more than just a friendship. We have been together since 2002. We were married in 2007 and concieved our beautiful baby girl on our honeymoon or so my husband thinks! I tend to think it was a couple weeks later but what do I know, it was only MY body! My daughter and step-daughter share the same birthday and are exactly 10 years apart. It's interesting really how close they are for being so far apart in age. It could have gone pretty badly with them sharing the same birthday but instead they have a great bond. Much to our relief!

I am sure in upcoming blogs you will see the struggles I have with being a wife, a new mom, learning with a 20 month old, learning to deal with a 20 month old and also dealing with the outside issues of a step-daughter and a husband's lunatic ex-wife. Mostly though I will spend time talking about my Bee. We call her Bee because when she was a newborn she would get herself all worked up and you would think you were going to hear a full blown crying fit but instead she would say "mmbbee." So, that is how her nickname got started and we love it! We love our little Bee!