Блог обо всем и ни о чем…

Cameron had her 12 month well appointment this morning. Her stats:
Length: 29 inches (50%)
Weight: 19 lbs 15.4 ozs (35%)
Head: 45 cms (65%) Read the rest of this entry »

Despite only turning 1 yesterday, Cameron has been in full on toddler mode for the past 2 weeks. She has been constantly doing the following things: Read the rest of this entry »

Dear Cameron,

Today you are one year old. Exactly 365 days ago your daddy and I were thrilled to meet you. And in those past twelve months you have grown and learned and filled our hearts more than we ever thought possible. Read the rest of this entry »

As you may have noticed I’ve been a bit remiss in posting lately. That’s because of the craziness of my work schedule and visits from family. Read the rest of this entry »

When I dropped off Cameron at school this morning she started whining and crying and didn’t want me to plop her on the floor per usual. Normally I put her down and she immediately starts playing and is happy as a clam. She doesn’t wave good-bye to me but I also don’t push the leaving process. A quick kiss, drop off of bag and a wave good-bye. Cameron hardly ever notices I’m gone. Apparently this is not going to be the case going forward.

I shouldn’t be surprised at the start of this mommy phase and/or separation anxiety. It’s about the right time frame (12-15 months) and for the past week she has been very, very clingy. And only with me. If DH tries to wake her up or spend some alone time with her she does nothing but cry. I am attempting to be good and stay away. But it’s hard! Equally hard is that Cameron is attached to me from the moment she wakes up until she goes to sleep. I don’t think that I do anything differently than DH in changing her diaper or getting her ready for school or bed. But she is fairly mellow (aside from some thrashing) for me and constantly whining and squirming with him.

DH picked her up from school yesterday and Cameron cried her head off all the way home. True, she is tired and not napping well. But poor DH is getting tired of being the «bad guy» in Cameron’s eyes. It’s frustrating for him, me and probably Cameron. Perhaps I should go on a business trip and leave the two of them to work it out? Not that I have any business traveling coming up…

Suggestions from other parents who have had to deal with this?

DH and I took yesterday off from work because his sister is in town to help us with some landscaping work/garden clean up. I managed to negotiate him dropping Cameron off in the morning so I could sleep in. We have these new curtains in our room and roller shades (instead of those crappy white blinds) and the room is pitch black even in the sunniest of mornings. Boy, is it hard to get up when the entire room is shrouded in darkness!

Because we hung out at a neighbor’s house the evening before normal chores, like putting together and labeling Cameron’s daycare bottles, didn’t get done. DH packed Cameron off and whisked her to daycare, only to find that no bottles were in her bag. I had actually thought about that but didn’t mention it to DH when he got up. Rolling over and snuggling into my pillow was a much better idea. Plus, he’s a pro so he wouldn’t forget, right? Obviously wrong….

I have been toying with the idea of phasing out bottles for Cameron. My plan was to eliminate the 11 AM this week and the 3 PM one next week. Guess what? We went cold turkey instead. I took it as a sign from above and didn’t bother to zip over with the bottles. Instead her teachers would feed her from a sippy cup and my hope is that eventually we can just phase the 50/50 formula/milk split to 100% milk and then just have sippy cups for snacks and meals.

Cameron will be 12 months next week (I know!) so the timing seemed good. I have a feeling I’ll leave the AM/PM bottles for a while longer until she is completely comfortable with all types of finger foods. How about the rest of you? How have you or do you plan to phase out bottles?

The weather has been beautiful this weekend so we took advantage of it with a trip to the park. Cameron loved it as you can see below.

We really are in a wonderful stage so don’t let the title of this post fool you! But like all parents, nothing is ever perfect. First of all, diarrhea was the name of the game with the antibiotic she has been on for the double ear infection. What did that result in? A truly terrible case of diaper rash. Cameron has had very slight cases over the last 10 months but this….this defies words. It it everywhere. And it’s not just red, it is truly a rash with the bumps and the swelling. Poor thing. She has been tolerating it well but aside from putting diaper rash cream on every day, is there something else you would recommend?

Another challenge with Cameron is her lack of napping at daycare. Yes, I know I sound like a broken record but it is starting to really impact our evening time. Cameron has usually been napping just once a day and an hour isn’t enough. On the weekends she sleeps 2 hours in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. 1/5 of her normal time is miserable for her, me and DH. DH whisks her home and put her right to bed, usually around 4:30 PM. Cameron sleeps for an hour and I go wake her up. Wake a sleeping baby? Damn right. I refuse to impact her 7 PM bedtime. I need downtime too! Cameron is clingy and whiny and doesn’t want to eat anything other than her bottle, fruit and goldfish. If I leave the room for a minute she starts full on bawling. It’s distressing. Any advice?

Cameron is also going through a big mommy phase. I am trying to mitigate it as much as possible by passing her off to DH but it’s harder in the evenings because of how tired and cranky she is. Has anyone successfully managed the mommy phases? I at least don’t want her to cry when passing her off!

Lastly we are starting to see the refusal and throwing of food off the highchair tray. I put some pasta down in front of Cameron the other day and she picked up the entire clump and threw it right down. I’ll also see her sneak her hand down next to her side to drop other pieces of food onto the chair itself. Smart, crafty little girl. I read Child of Mine and want to adhere to its recommendations that I as the parent provide the food and it is up to Cameron to eat. But I totally cave because I hate to see her eat nothing for dinner which is oftentimes what would happen if I didn’t put out more Cameron friendly food. How have other parents handled this? Keep in mind she’s only 11 months….is it really time to start those food battles?

DH is traveling this week. It’s the first time in many, many months where he has hopped on a plane and I am left to juggle work and Cameron solo. Usually it is the opposite as I have been the one with more business travel. When DH is home alone he tells me how easy it is to manage the juggle. I am not quite so sanguine.

This morning was a bit of a blur and I felt rushed every step of the way. Granted, I probably slept a bit longer than I should have but hey, I’m sick so I cut myself some slack. A quick shower, throw on some clothes and off to wake up Cameron to start her morning routine. It was already 7 AM so I was running about 15 minutes behind schedule. 15 minutes became 20 when I realized the outfit I had picked out was too small and also had to administer a dose of antibiotics.

I whisked Cameron off to the car and strapped her in, Cameron protesting the entire time. For some reason Cameron has not wanted to go in her car seat lately. Called the dog back inside, dumped some food in his bowl and started our commute to daycare. Even though I am working from home and didn’t have to doll myself up per usual I felt rushed through the whole morning process.

Coming home since I was later than normal I ran into a lot more traffic. Via cell phone I commiserated with Mommy, Esq. on her crappy work schedule, parked, got myself some caffeine and settled into email. And it was only 8 AM. Thank goodness DH is home tomorrow afternoon! I am extremely impressed with his ability to juggle the morning routine while I’m away.

We had a wonderful weekend aside from me catching whatever felled Cameron last week. Aches, the sniffles and a slight soar throat are not a good accompaniment to a beautiful Spring weekend. Cameron decided to nap really, really well so I got to nap in the afternoons while DH toiled away doing yard clean up and a myriad of other tasks.

Cameron discovers the Tupperware cabinet. Mommy and Daddy discover that Cameron now screeches if she doesn’t get her way. We quickly learned when we packed up the cabinet and tried to make Cameron move on to other games. Epic fail.

One of the tasks this weekend was to get rid of these ants that have invaded our pantry. They have come and gone for the last year and we’ve tried spraying and ant traps with little success. DH picked up some liquid bait that attracted the ants like, well, like ants to food. After a day of them congregating in our pantry they disappeared. Upon inspection DH decided to caulk every interior edge of the pantry to eliminate future migrations. Smart man!

Cameron dries off after a swim lesson. She is up to 4 seconds under the water!
Cameron plays before we head into swim lessons.

Yes, Mimi…I’m looking at you! I have been somewhat remiss in posting photos regularly so here are some to get your day started.

Post-bath it’s easy to see the curls and the massive amount of hair that Cameron has.

Mimi, now I get it! You always told me to get my hair off my face. And as you can see, Cameron looks much better with her hair corralled.
Because she is too cute.

Daycare put Cameron’s hair up in a ponytail. As you can see, it left quite an impression. Also impressive? Those blueberry eyes!

Cameron has her first case of pink eye. I’m sure I’m not alone in hoping we could have avoided this milestone for many more years. DH is bringing her to the doctor this morning and he’ll be on baby duty until I get home tonight. I think this is the first time he’s had her alone for an entire day (vs. in the mornings and evenings when I’m traveling) so please wish him luck. I’m more concerned about having to put drops in Cameron’s eyes. This is a baby who refused to take sugary sweet Tylenol or Motrin. I can’t imagine how bad it will be to keep her eye pried open while squeezing drops into it. Fun times, I’m sure.

Probably the worst part? I didn’t know Cameron had pink eye so we went to Holden’s birthday party and interact with 3 other babies. Sorry, moms! I did the responsible thing and emailed them and I hope that there wasn’t too much cross-contamination of germs. Update: Cameron looked fine this morning except for a scratch underneath her eye. So we dropped her off at daycare per usual with the hope that we don’t get the dreaded pick up call.

We’re slowly introducing milk in Cameron’s bottles. 2 ounces milk, 4 of formula. After a week I’ll go to 50%, and so on. She should be close to 100% whole milk by the time we go for her 12 month well appointment. In other fun eating news, Cameron is now refusing to eat anything that is jarred food related (yogurt is out, for example). It looks like the 8-10 jars we have left are going to get donated. We’ll also probably end up with at least 1/2 of a tub of formula too. I hate throwing out that stuff…it’s so expensive.

Standing…always standing. That is Cameron’s new mantra. Cuddling with mommy? No way. And let’s not forget – she can do it by herself. No help necessary or wanted. It has resulted in quite a few head bumps and bruises but that’s why they make skulls so hard, right? Last night was the first where Cameron decided she wanted to stand in the tub while taking a bath. Aside from some initial nervousness about slipping and whacking her head I actually kind of preferred it. It was so much easier to soap her up in all the right spots. Bath toys have become a must and the little squirters are the best.

Finger nail clipping has become a pain in the ass. Cameron has a couple of scratches on her face because it’s a battle for me to clip even one nail at a time. I miss those days of clipping away while she was breastfeeding. Does anyone have any advice on how to make the nail clipping process a little easier?

Another challenge for us is hair. Cameron has the mullet going but because her back hair is curly you can’t tell. But I’m more concerned about the hair falling down into her eyes. Daycare sent her home with a Pebbles ponytail (with a rubber band!) and I took it as a message. The only problem is that I can’t find good hair fasteners that will stay put and not interfere with napping or be a choking hazard for the other kids when it eventually falls out. I’m adamant about not cutting her hair. Not because I want to be like Celine Dion or Kate Hudson but more because once you start cutting bangs you either need to keep doing it or deal with the pain of growing it out later. Goddess In Progress wrote about this in January and I’m hoping once Cameron’s hair gets longer things will be easier. Anyone else have advice?

Dear Cameron,

Your Daddy and I can’t believe how awesome you are. This month has been a big turning point for you and you’ve handled it with grace and pizazz…keep that in mind when you enter the dreaded puberty years!

In your tenth month you moved from the Infant room to the Waddler room in school. And you have had a ball. It has also forced Mommy and Daddy to finally tackle baby proofing the house. Now you can pull yourself into a sitting position. And onto your knees. And finally up to your feet. You like to hold on to the furniture rather than Mommy or Daddy to walk around the room.

Your vocabulary has expanded although it is much more your listening vocabulary than your talking one. Although I distinctly heard a «Daddy!» while you were looking at him out the window. Lucky guy.

On the not so plus side you have also taken into ignoring us. True, the word «no» is becoming one of the more frequently used ones but so is «love». So I think it balances out. The head shake is back stronger than ever, particularly as it relates to food. You seem to have this aversion to eating for Mommy and Daddy but gobble everything up in school. I would be less insulted if you didn’t consistently refuse pasta. Pasta! It’s the lynch pin of the dining world so you will learn to love it.

Now that you have made great strides in mobility you would prefer to ignore your dozens of toys in favor of snatching at anything that is not yours. Sigh. I have a feeling that phase is going to last a very long time. You still screech with delight as you commando crawl across the floor. But now you also reward yourself with a scream when you have successfully pulled yourself up. All by yourself.

It has been just over two weeks since Cameron was moved out of the little infant room into the Waddler room. I love that name because it is so apt. Ironic that pregnant women waddle too, isn’t it? The plan is for Cameron to stay there until sometime after she hits the two mark. So I had better really like the teachers and the curriculum.

And guess what? I do! I know, I will pause here where you all gasp in shock that I am comfortable and happy with our daycare situation.

I really like the main teacher, Miss Melba. She is extremely engaged with the kids and always on the floor playing or singing to them. There is also a more defined curriculum than the eating, sleeping and pooping that we experienced in the Infant room. They teach them how to eat on their own, sitting in little chairs at a long table with their own bowls and plates and utensils. How freaking cute is that? Cameron is in the high chair but she’ll be down there as soon as she starts walking. So basically any day.

Another adorable thing they have the the waddlers do is wash their hands after having their diapers changed. I actually got to witness this and I almost cried it was so cute. Miss Melba flipped Cameron over to her belly and had her move up to the attached sink. A dab of soap, splashes of water and a quick dry with a paper towel. I must try to take a video so I can post it here.

Cameron plays really, really hard all day long. Sometimes that means she only takes one nap. And guess what? I don’t stress about it! I know, another shocking revelation from the sleep queen. We still leverage the third nap as a tool to keep Cameron from being overly tired. DH loves that he can just pick her up, she almost conks out in the car and he puts her down for a 45 minute or hour nap.

I’m also convinced that the physical development Cameron has shown over the past week is due in no small part to watching and learning from the other waddlers. She absolutely loves to watch the «older» kids and emulate them. My little munchkin is growing up far too quickly!

Annoyance at having her picture taken. AGAIN.
I knew that Cameron would love playing with this enormous packages of toilet paper. Isn’t it funny how kids get enthralled with odd things?

A rare Cameron and Mommy shot.

Um, think it is time for us to baby proof? So far we’ve installed the interior latches for key (aka low) cabinets and drawers and also installed baby gates at the top and bottom of the stairs. That’s it for now. But I’m sure we’ll need to do more as Cameron starts really walking.

Cameron has made huge strides in her physical development over the past week. I can’t believe it’s only been a week, that’s how far she has come. While Cameron insists on continuing her commando crawling she has now figured out how to bring herself into a sitting position. And pull herself up on just about everything. And perhaps the scariest development of all? Well, check out the video and you’ll see!

I haven’t been very good about taking videos lately. It seems like Cameron does something amazingly cute or funny and once DH or I pick up the camera she stops. Take her picture? No problem, Cameron will totally ham it up. But use the same exact device to take a video? No way. It’s like she has a sixth sense that I’ve scrolled away from picture mode to video mode. Read the rest of this entry »

I have a winter hat. It’s probably four or more years old. I think I got it marked down from Old Navy one spring. It’s gotten kind of dingy over the years but it’s simple and it keeps my head warm. What more to ask for?

I’m always cold. It’s a running joke between me and DH. So during the two week cold snap in Charlotte I found myself wearing it indoors. After all, everyone knows you lose 85% of your body heat through your head. Right? Well, maybe not.

So I was keeping myself warm through my cozy hat and my thick woolen socks. But Cameron saw my hat as something more than just a utlitarian piece of clothing. She saw something hysterical. I picked Cameron up while wearing the hat and she immediately screeched in happiness and started tugging at the brim. Now all I have to do to get her in a good mood is put the hat on, pick her up and let her pull the hat down over my eyes.

Here is my hat…keeping me warm and Cameron happy the winter of 2009/2010.

Tomorrow will be Cameron’s last day in the infant room. Sniff. My little baby at ten months old is moving up to the older infant room. Fortunately she already knows the teachers because she’s spent some time there. Plus, we will still drop her off in the same room as the older and younger infants are together until critical mass is reached and they separate off into different rooms.

This past weekend DH and I chatted about the timing for moving her to the next room and when I dropped Cameron off on Monday I spoke with her main teacher about it. Coincidentally, Miss Tanya told me she had been thinking the same thing…I guess great minds really do think alike! I wasn’t quite prepared for how quickly it would happen but Cameron is by far the oldest in the young infant room, by a few months.

I’m hopeful that it will help Cameron developmentally. She has plateaued a bit with her crawling and pulling up skills. All of the older infants are walking so I have a feeling it will serve as an inspiration to her. Not that we’ve even baby proofed yet! In speaking with one of her «new» teachers I learned that all of the kids go down for naps right after breakfast and a little bit after lunch. That meshes nicely with Cameron’s nap schedule so an added benefit could be longer naps. Of course the correlated effect would be dropping her third nap but I don’t know of many other 10 month olds who still regularly take a third nap, do you?

I know that every daycare is set up differently but for those of you who experienced the younger/older infant split, how did your kid(s) handle the transition? Anything I should be aware of or ask about before Monday rolls around?

Bit by bit Cameron is becoming more mobile. She still does commando crawling so she hasn’t figured out how to sit up from a horizontal position. But I’m sure she’s close.

DH and I have been trapped inside with Cameron all weekend because of the 2 or so inches of wintery mix that hit Charlotte on Friday night. All of my appointments for the weekend were cancelled and most stores are still closed as of writing this on Sunday afternoon. It’s very annoying and makes me feel like I might have to play catch up this week.

But why should my pain be your pain? Instead, enjoy these photos from the last week.

Cameron is suspicious.
This look does not bode well for future adolescence!

Think it’s time we got our act together and really baby proof?

Cameron now enjoys pulling herself up and looking out the window.

When DH and I took Cameron in for her 9 month well appointment her doctor told us that we should start pushing the sippy cup more because starting at around 11 months we should begin phasing out bottles.

I mentioned at the time that the thought of removing bottles made me very nervous. I’ve already blogged about my stress and control issues when it comes to Cameron eating and I’m not sure if being unable to monitor the exact consumption of ounces is a good thing or a bad thing for my peace of mind. Regardless, the idea of dropping bottles has been percolating in my head since that appointment and I have spent time thinking about which bottles and how I will drop them. Unfortunately I have made no progress in coming up with any decisions or plans.

Last week Cameron was sick and since she felled me with the same illness I completely understood (retroactively of course) why she didn’t want to drink any more than 10 ounces a day. Our new challenge this week is that Cameron has refused to drink more than 1-2 ounces for her first bottle of the day. It’s possible that it could be due to teething…soon our little munchkin will have 6 (!) teeth or she could be voicing her preference to drop the first bottle of the day from her feeding schedule.

As a first time mom I have no idea. 10 months is a little early to start dropping bottles (right?) but I need to start my planning process if this refusal of bottles continues. How have you handled dropping bottles from your baby’s eating routine? Cameron still isn’t eating enough to cover her nutritional needs via the finger foods so I assume I need to be significantly supplementing through baby food. Or is that a bad assumption? Somehow this struggle with changing eating patterns is doing nothing for my resolution to stress less about what/how much Cameron eats. Help!

Edited: Mommy, Esq. wanted me to tell everyone that Cameron gets breakfast at daycare around 8 AM and is usually awake around 6:30 or 6:45 AM. In case that influences your responses!

Dear Cameron,

Today you are ten months old. You love nothing better than to have Mommy or Daddy sitting on the floor with you while you play.

This month has also seen you starting to assert your independence. The head shake is back and used primarily for food related requests. Vegetables? Head shake. Cheerios? Hand reaching forward to grab. You have also made your preference for Cheerios known by screeching when Daddy or I walk over to the cabinets to get some food for you. I give in a lot more often than Daddy does. You better be careful…Daddy will definitely be the disciplinarian!

Another new trick is arching your back and trying to scoot off the changing table pad. I can usually distract you with a bottle or shoe to play with while changing you.

I am officially declaring in this blog post that you have said your first word, «Charlie.» DH and I knew it would be your first word because it is probably the word we say the most often besides Cameron. While you still lack the language control to say the «ch» Daddy and I can definitely make out what you are saying. Up next? Hopefully Mommy!

You have learned how to fairly gracefully tip yourself over from a sitting position and start crawling. After a lap or two around the room you scoot under the coffee table and poke your head up right next to Mommy’s feet. I can’t resist scooping you up and giving you a kiss before you squirm away and insist on being stood up on your own two feet. You are already growing up far too quickly.

We can’t wait to see what you will do next!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Cameron has been sick all week. She’s been fever free since Monday but as I wrote in my last post she has a wicked bad sore throat. I’m allowed to say «wicked» as I hail from Massachusetts. DH and I have been layering her pain medications – Motrin and Tylenol. But still she will eat maybe 3 ounces in a sitting if we’re lucky.

I thought ahead and got a doctor’s note outlining the dosage of the two medicines. Go me, I thought, patting myself on my back. This way the day care will have to give Cameron her medicine. After all, I had a doctor’s note.

Nope. No deal. Apparently the day care will not give medicine unless it’s a life threatening situation. Not to put my crass hat on or anything but WTF? I totally get that they are trying to avoid liability but what if Cameron had an ear infection and needed antibiotics while in school? Is DH supposed to interrupt his day and make a round trip to the day care to give her the medicine? I say DH because he is much closer than me and would have to be the one to do it.

Has anyone else experienced this with your day care? Do I have any recourse here? Cameron still has a sore throat and I’m worried she will drink even less than she has been for us.

Yesterday after her second (brief) nap, Cameron woke up crying with a 102 temperature. DH and I coddled her and gave her some Tylenol and put her down for a longer third nap. The biggest problem? She wouldn’t eat.

I should have known something was off when she woke up and ate only 3 ounces instead of her normal 6. She did it again eating only two ounces after her morning nap. For some reason Cameron refusing her bottles frustrates me more than any other thing she does. I have no idea why that is. Whine for an hour? Fine, my ears might hurt but my frustration level stays moderately low. Take a short nap? Roll my eyes and tell her that she’s going to get a fourth nap that day. But refuse to eat? It immediately increases my blood pressure.

I wonder if ultimately it all hearkens back to breastfeeding. It was a struggle to get Cameron to nurse consistently for many weeks. So all I could do was obsess about how much she was eating. Dropping over a pound off her birth weight didn’t help either. So somehow eating became that trigger that would result in me passing her off to DH and walking out of the room if she refused to eat.

Up until we went to the doctor’s earlier this afternoon I was convinced that it was teething. True, DH was sick last week and 102 is high for a teething fever but Cameron was still a happy baby in general. Plus there was a lot more drool than normal. Then I thought it might be her ears although she wasn’t tugging at them too much. Regardless I took a day off from work and we went to the doctor’s after a nice long morning nap. Turns out Miss Cameron has a very bad sore throat. Not strep but blisters are involved.

All we can do is give her Tylenol and Motrin. The doctor recommended Cameron stay out of school tomorrow. DH will be the taking the lead on that one while I head back to work. I thought ahead and even had the doctor write a note for daycare so if she was still a bit out of sorts we could have them give her pain relievers when she returns on Thursday.

Once I had a diagnosis I felt much better. My patience level has increased dramatically and I didn’t try to fight Cameron when she refused another bottle. I am beating myself up a bit over being so stressed about her not eating. How about the rest of you? What are the things that really increase your stress level with your kids?