june - aug 2011

june

WEANED!!!
Yes, after 27 months of nursing Mimi has finally given up the "Bobbies." It was a gradual thing, and the clincher was one day when she said "Bobbies are for babies" and I confirmed that indeed, they were. She never turned back.
Mimi started dance class this month and loves it. She spends much of her time running around in circles and staring at herself in the mirror. Can't blame her, she's dang cute in her tutu and leotard.


She had an issue with fear for about a week or so... "rocks have faces" is what she would say, then cry and need much soothing. We never did figure out what her comment referred to.

july
Lots of emotional tantrums, needs to hold the Bobbies and needs lots of Mommy. We began reading books about emotions and have tried to help her identify her emotional distress after the tantrum happens.


Pretend play has started! She has a pretend cat on the end of a purple shoelace named Simba and a baby named Baby July who is growing in her bellybutton. She also initiates pretend train rides to all sorts of places (especially restaurants that serve potatoes).
Mimi started to request to stay home all day. Often. And shes started to drop her afternoon naps. Yikes.
Oxnard beach trip! Mimi's first real beach experience. It was super fun... Overcast when we first arrived, so she played with Poppy on the pirate ship themed playground. The sun eventually broke thru the marine layer and we headed down to the beach. She plopped right down and started scooping sand - in her dress and socks! Eventually we got a swim suit on her and Poppy showed her how to play in the waves.



august
She has a new imaginary friend, Baby Bird. She dresses him/her (Baby Bird is a bit tricky). She also discovers Dora the Explorer via her Leap Pad. Dora also becomes a fun imaginary friend to play with and dress up. She dresses her friends by laying out her clothes in a neat stack on the floor - panties 1st, then leggings, shirt, socks, shoes.



More staying in all day. Which is kinda ok since it's a hot summer. Luckily I persuaded her to leave the house a few times, since our friends were visiting from New Orleans. We went to Disneyland with them and had a great time. Then Mimi fell ill on the way home. She had a cold that lingered for 2 weeks.



We went on a family vacation to San Diego. Our landlord had to do a termite treatment beneath the house and suggested we leave for a few days. So we put Luna and Captain Henry up at the cat hotel and headed south. San Diego was lovely, such perfect weather. We went to Sea World and Historic Point Loma for the touristy stuff and spent the rest of the time chilling out at the hotel and the pool (and hot tub - Mimi loved it). Mimi was super attached to Poppy the whole trip which was a wonderful thing for Mommy to watch. :) Unfortunately, we cut the trip a bit short due to a rattle in Mimi's chest and Mommy getting a nasty crink in her neck.
Mimi got tooth #18, bottom molar.



Breakthrough: Mimi asked to fall asleep with Poppy. For the first time since she could tell the difference between Mommy and Poppy! Must have been all the time they spent together during the week Greg had off.

jan - may, 2011

Better late than never.


January

• Bob Baker Marionette Theatre for friends b-day party
• Diagnosed with labial adhesion, used premarin for 3 weeks. Moody Mimi during that time! It was not what we really wanted to do, but the adhesion was so major that our doc. said we needed to. Luckily it was only for a short time. She had it when she was an infant, too, but not as severe.

• Night Wean (2nd time)

• Mimi 2nd birthday at Disneyland!!

February

• Auntie Danielle visit

• 2 teeth! #14 (lover left canine) & #15 (upper right canine)
• POTTY TRAIN! (3-day method, success!) Mimi uses her little potty all the time and we take one on the road.

• Mimi bobs her hair! (She hates getting her hair shampooed or brushed. This makes it easier for us to care for and looks darn cute.)

March

• After a few great potty training weeks we get pee strike and constipation. All remedied with some rewards (plastic bugs!).
• Night Wean (3rd and final time)
• Cranky Mimi from not enough rest...

• NanaSue visit
• Mimi sings all the time, usually songs from The Sound of Music and Jungle Book.

• She's starting to talk with/to her toys and is more independent in her playing.

April

• Start Sleep Log, focus on bedtime routine. Learn a lot, back on track with sleep! Whew. Mimi is a 9 or 10 hr, a night sleeper... and wakes up between 5:30 + 7.

• Pony rides! Yeehaw, finally our little cowgirl gets up the gumption to ride the ponies. And loves it. Of course.

• Tooth #16 (top left canine)
• Transition from little blue bathtub to grown up big tub.
• Mimi uses big toilet! She divides her time between the little potty and the big toilet, but luckily we don't have to lug that potty around with us in public anymore.
• Cutting back on daytime nursing in hopes of weaning in the next few months.
• Lots of spinning and dancing!

May

• Daytime nursing cut WAY back. Started with only 3 times a day, by the end of the month it was down to 1 or 2 a day and sometimes 0!
• Mimi asks to sleep in her Own Room!! We moved her in that very nite and she's been happy ever since.
  
• Mimi starts swim lessons at the lovely Rose Bowl Aquatic Center in Pasadena. Heated saline pool. Very nice. For never having been in or seen a swimming pool she did rather well. No tears, no major fear... but she did cling to Mommy rather tightly.

• Mimi is starting to say some not-very-nice things. Usually about babies, and how she doesn't like them. Or how she doesn't want to play with certain people (usually at a playground). It's not really noticeable to anyone other than us, but it's not a good habit and we're addressing it.
• Uncle Billy was in town for work, so we went to meet him for dinner at Border Grill downtown. Mina had a blast running around the patio and dancing with the twinkle lights.

Nov, Dec 2010

Bullet points ok? I hope so, because I'm behind on this post and wanna get it done with already!

November

• counts to 10
• calls herself 'Mina' not Mimi, and wants to do stuff on her own "Big Girl Mina do"
• starts singing songs, usually the kukuburra song
• can identify the letters in her name and sings the ABC's
• still nursing, but not as often. start weaning at night.
• celebrate Thankgiving in La Jolla at The Lodge at Torrey Pines
• visit San Diego Wild Animal Park

December

• Gram visit!
• lots of singing, adds Jungle Book songs to her repertoire
• more adventurous at playgrounds, masters walking up slides
• after 1 month of night wean, a few bad nights and it's all over :(
• speech continues to explode! asks "what this is?" and "what's his/her name?" and "where is this from?" all the time. she loves long multi-syllable words, such as: mismatched (missymatch) combination, comfortable, restaurant (reserant).
  
• Christmas day she used her potty - pee and poop!
• Uncle Billy visit

Sept, Oct 2010

September
Tooth #12, bottom left molar arrived the first week of September.

Making huge strides in potty training. (sarcasm) Mina sat on the potty for the first time without a diaper and farts. No pee, no poo. Just toot.

Mina discovers peacocks at the Los Angeles Arboretum. She falls instantly in love and calls them pea-ca-cocks.

Grandpoppy came for a visit. Mina had lots of fun with him. Uncle Billy came in town for work so we got to see him as well. Mina impressed Uncle Billy by eating most of his hot link sausage when we were all out to dinner at Zekes BBQ. Mina loves to eat meat.

The following week NanaSue came to visit. Mina was temperamental the whole time, maybe because she was fighting off a cold. Although she was cranky she impressed us all by saying "I love you" on a very tough no-nap day. NanaSue babysat while Mommy + Poppy went to a wedding celebration (post-elopement party). We were gone 3 1/2 hours. Mina cried 1/2 of that time. :( Poor Mina, poor NanaSue.

Mina now has an indoor slide. She really likes slides. Yes, our house looks like a playground now.


October
Coloring is something Mina enjoys quite a bit. She moved from making scratchy lines to loopy circles. On a coloring page of 2 cats she scribbled/colored inside the lines of each cat. I was kinda amazed, she really did color the cats!!

Mina's favorite animals (other than Captain Henry) are birds. She pretends to fly, begs to look at pictures of birds on the computer. Mostly peacocks, of course, but she also likes to look at ducks and geese.

Poppy went out of town for a almost an entire week. We missed him. He went to Austin, TX. Mina learned to say that, too. If I asked her where Poppy was that week, she would answer "austintexas." Toddler-speak is so much fun!!!!!! By now she's actually speaking in complete sentences. Pretty cool. She's also been very loving, hugs and kisses and I love you happens often. So often we've had to teach her to ask her friends if they want a hug or kiss first otherwise she'll almost attack them with one! Hugs are sweet, but an unexpected one can knock ya over if you're little.

Another huge stride in potty-training: Mina peed in her potty... 1 droplet of pee.

We started "outside school" at the end of October. It's a mommy-led pre pre-school that we do outdoors. Crafts and books and stuff. Mina enjoys it and so do I. It's something we organized ourselves (the other Mom's and I). Oh, and Mina can now count to 5.

Halloween was fun, of course. Mina had 3 costumes. Yes, 3. The weekend before Halloween she was a Pixie/Fairie at Descanso Gardens. The Tuesday before Halloween she was a flamingo for a little celebration at the local outdoor mall. The Friday before Halloween she was a peacock. We went to Poppy's work to trick-or-treat. Mina had a great time collecting candy and Poppy taught her to say trick-or-treat. She's not a shy as she used to be and had no problem asking strangers for treats (as long as Mommy or Poppy was right next to her). She was a peacock again on Halloween. We went to our friends house for a little party. 3 toddler girls and their parents.

Big big news!! Mina slept through the entire night in her own bed without waking up. 9pm to 6am. It was like a gift. We're still nursing to sleep and back to sleep when she wakes in the night. She sleeps in her own bed, coming into our bed sometimes in the early morning...

July, August

SO MUCH, SO FAST!! and so damn cute
Yikes... Starting with a few words here and there, then up to a few new words a day, Mina has begun to really talk. We tried to track them as they came tumbling out...



July

Mina announces when she makes a peepee. Can identify the colors red, purple, green and blue. Asks for yogurt by requesting "baby" because there is a baby on the organic plain yogurt for babies. Begins to call us by pet names: Poppy Titi and Mommy Nini. Calls herself Mimi. She starts to really play with her toy dolls/animals by wiping their butts and putting them to sleep.



The big move into The Big Girl Bed (right next to Mommy + Poppy's bed).



Words: henry, ice, happy, poppy, baby, bowl, spoon, eat, oatmeal, mommy, meow, moon (and pointed to it), who (points to owl), moo (points to cow), cold, flag, animal, pet, tea, bean, book, goat, car, cut, crow, food, shoes, socks, blueberry, popsicle, hop, cup, dirt,

Teeth #'s 8, 9 and 10. Molars - ouch. Tooth #11, front left bottom.

We went to a wedding. Mina was super cute.



August


The first week of the month Mina has a high fever for a few days followed by a rash... she got roseola. :( At the end of the month she has a tummy bug, vomit and diarrhea.



Words: cold, hot, cracker, box, teeth, cheese, "abcd", toes, water, faucet, have its.... At this point we can't seem to catch them and journal them fast enough. She's talking. A lot. :)




Now she strings words together... the first being "happy bowl strawberry". The following week she recounts her day for Poppy "eat Esme house. apple. cookie." Mina-speak is adorable. "Purple ducks" could mean either polka dots or porcupine.

Mina is also becoming more independent and adventuresome... She slid down the slide by herself this month while playing with Poppy at her favorite park, Big Turtle Park. She has started to ask to go to this park in a combo sign language/word sort of way. Big slurp park. (slurp = sign for turtle)



She can identify and say most of the colors now as well as the letters A, B and C.

May, June 2010

May

May began with a visit to the pediatrician for Mina's 15 month well-baby visit. She is still in the 85th - 90th percentiles for her height, weight and head circumference. She had a DTaP vaccine and was feverish for about 5 days afterwards. Not sure if it was related to the vax since she had a slight fever of 100 when we were at the office. In retrospect we probably should have waited to do the vaccine, but we thought the fever was just teething-related and very minor.



Mina has begun to experience frustration. She either has trouble doing things by herself, or she doesn't want to do something we want her to do. This frustration usually escalates into a tantrum. Luckily she is starting to speak up. Words are coming out... interesting ones, too. Soup, scissors and broccoli.
Gram came for a visit. Mina had a wonderful time with her. We think Gram had fun, too.



The petting zoo at our local farmers market is a favorite past time for Little Miss Mina. She was a bit nervous at first, but quickly became comfortable with all the little animals. Oh, it's a small animal petting zoo. So cute!


Lots of time socializing with friends at Descanso Gardens, Mothersong and random parks.

June
Lots of words! Butt, pee-pee, baby, down, apple, bye-bye, strawberry, sock, please, Poppy, purple, foot, up, octopus, cookie. Her sign language vocabulary has grown as well. So exciting!!
Mina has started to tell us when she has a wet diaper!
Tooth #7, bottom right in front.
Chest cold that lasted almost an entire week. :(

months 9 and 10

Sorry it's taken so long for us to update the family blog. We've been busy.

The boxes have been unpacked, closets have been organized (almost) and we've settled in nicely here at our new home on The Hill. Now that Mina is walking I'm so grateful for the extra space and open-ness of the house. I can't imagine her trying to walk and navigate the clutter of the apartment. We don't spend much time in the backyard, but that will change come Spring. I'm anxious to plant some herbs and maybe tomatoes or peppers.



Here's a recap:

Month 9 (November)

Mina had her 9 month well-baby visit. All went well & she got a DTaP vaccine (which left a little bruise on her thigh for at least 2 weeks).

weight: 20.14 lbs 85th%
height: 28.5" 75th%
head: 46.5 cm 95th%

On her 9 month birthday Mina started walking by herself with the push-toy, a lovely wooden thing that resembles a lawnmower with ducks on it. It's noisy and fun. Lots of mowing and pushing things around. She eventually started pushing my yarn basket around, too. Hand clapping is a fun trick she learned this month, it makes us all smile.



Aunt Danielle from San Francisco came for a visit. She was the first houseguest at the new place and we all had a nice time. Lots of shopping and eating! Mina will come to you when called or beckoned with a finger signal. Crawling, of course.



We celebrated Thanksgiving at Kenne & Kristen's loft downtown. Mina ate sweet potatoes, played with Magda & Lucius (bow wow) and took her first steps!!! She loves her stuffed animal friend "Kissy" the Kissasaurus green dinosaur. She gives it kisses. When you sign or say "book" Mina will bring a book to you. She will also find things if you ask where they are (Kissy, Captain Henry, etc).



10 months

Lots of walking, by the end of the month she's wandering around from room to room!
Mina said her first word - "PAPA" to her Poppy at the beginning of the month. She says MAMA when she's upset, but usually there is a bit of whine and fuss along with it. PAPA was said directly to Poppy with a smile and point. Speaking of pointing, Mina points at everything she finds interesting. It's fun to watch her direct Poppy while he is holding her... like she's driving him around.



Of course Mina loves all the holiday decor. Twinkle lights make her point and smile. We took her to the LA DWP light festival. It was cold and rainy, but she liked it. :) Mina started waving at stuff, waving Hello and Goodbye, waving at the cats, waving at pictures of cats in her books. The waving started off as a flapping motion, very large movement using her entire arm... it's gotten a bit more sedate now, just a wrist-flap now. So cute.



After 2 weeks of fuss Mina finally got a top tooth. Yay for teething biscuits. All she wants to eat this month are cheerios or teethers. She likes to share them and will even feed Poppy or Mommy a cheerio! She does practice eating with her own spoon and likes to practice feeding us with it, too. We did get her to taste a pickle and nibble on an apple slice...



Christmas was quiet and lovely. Mina enjoyed opening her gifts, of which there were plenty. She is a well-loved (read: spoiled) child! We are grateful for our generous and loving family and friends. Mina loves all the holiday cards we received... they are strewn all over the house, wrinkled and creased with a few drool marks. The photo cards are well kissed, although her favorite photos to handle and kiss are ones of herself. Of course - who could blame her? She's so damn cute. :)