Category: monkey antics

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the sleep-a-thon

Baby M taking care of her newest cousin on our family trip last weekend.

So sniffly monkey is still asleep from the last time I posted–nearly 16 hours ago. Thankfully she’s breathing loudly enough that I know she’s breathing or I’d be worried. My guess is that her little body is taking a much needed time out.

So this has been a bizarre day off for me. I was raised with the thought that if you weren’t well enough to go to school, you weren’t well enough to do anything else, at least until the school day was over. Which is why I feel like I’m breaking some unwritten rule if I leave the house before 1pm today (which is when my workday is typically over). Weird, I know.

I’ve been passing the time today looking at and selecting pictures to print for M’s baby scrapbook as well as looking at pictures for one of those cool books you can get printed at Snapfish and the like. I’ve been having a blast–I can’t believe that she’s grown and changed SO much in such little time. (I know, it’s a recurring theme here–I have a hard time wrapping my arms around time and making it standstill or accepting that it moves)

I’m wading through files and files of fantastic photos, some of which I don’t think that I’ve ever looked at, some photo shoots I completely forgot about, some moments I wasn’t interested in capturing forever. Now with a little time, a little sleep and a huge yearning for the infant who’s been replaced by a toddler, I am in LOVE with these pictures. Here are a few gems, in no particular order:

The cousins three, posing in the NYC shirts from Grandpa

My parents “measuring” baby around her 1st month birthday
playing with her new puppet over Christmas dinner with cousin Scotty

Getting ready to try cereal for the first time! (12/11/05)

Cuddling with Oma and cousin Noah on Christmas Eve
Three months old!
That’s probably enough for one post. And she’s STILL asleep. I’m hoping she’ll be feeling MUCH better when she wakes up!

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Can you tell prime time doesn’t start for another 30 minutes?

Sniffly monkey has been put to bed. I’m tired of housework. So here I sit. I’ve been reading a lot of blogs lately about Montessori at home–either home-learning families or just applying principles to your every day family life. Since I’ve been the one giving the enrollment tours at school lately, I’ve been trying to get that point across–that it’s not just a learning method, but a lifestyle. A lifestyle that embraces respect for all members of a family, big and small, as well as a respect for everyone’s place in society. (among other things)

M has definitely taken a turn in the expressive/receptive communication arena this week, and she’s showing me that she knows SO MUCH. So how else am I going to pass the next 30 minutes?? Bragging on my kid, of course. What else would any self-respecting MommyBlogger do??

The Top 10 Best Things about Baby Kahuna (this week)

1) Playing Mama. M’s dolly now has time in the booster seat, and the tray must be fastened on! Dolly also goes “na na” on a pillow, and gets covered with a blanket. She gets a bottle, and honest to goodness, she was trying to change her today with some junk mail I had around the house. (Putting her down on a piece of paper, covering the diaper area with anothe piece of paper) She also goes for stroller rides around the house, as well as on shopping trips in the shopping cart.

2)Going Bye bye. She takes me keys to the front door, tries to reach the lock and waves to me. Seriously.

3) Answering questions with the shake of her head. Walking over to her seat when she’s hungry. Going to the fridge for milk. Closing the fridge door and car doors every chance she gets.

4) Brushing her teeth and her hair. Helping to dress herself–moving her arms and legs to actually aid the dressing and undressing process. Taking off her velcro shoes. Untying her tie shoes.

5) Using a spoon and a fork. She gets quite irritated if I give her a bowl of food without a utensil. She’s also started handing me things when she’s done (rather than dumping the leftovers on the floor).

6) Using a few signs!! She can sign “please” when I ask her to (before food), she does the potty sign when I go, and does “all done” after she hands me her dishes. And she points to the sky for airplane.

7)The talking. We’ve got the new “na na” for night-night, “bu-bu” for butterfly, the two sounds for duck (one for duck, the other for quack quack), “ba ba” is universal for drink….it’s amazing how much she gets her point across with just a few words!!! She’s also a fan of ba-boo, and pi-doo….which can mean anything from shoes to pizza, depending on what’s in her line of sight.

8) The repetition. And the repetition. And the repetition. Open the drawer. Take out one playing card. Close the drawer. Bring it to me across the room. Go back to the drawer. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat until I have 10 playing cards. Then take back a card and do the whole thing in reverse. Seriously.

9) The fridge magnets. She LOVES our acrylic frames with pictures of her friends and cousins. LOVES THEM. Will look at them, move them around, talk to them…..

10) Her smile and hug in the mornings when I open her door. How can that not be the best moment of my day?

I’ll shut up now. But know there are probably 5 more top ten lists where this one came from.

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Sniffly Monkey

Baby girl has come down with a nasty cold. The cough, the watery eyes, runny nose, sneezing and a low grade fever–it’s so pathetic. You know when you’re normal bundle of energy lays and looks at books with you for an HOUR that she’s under the weather. When she plays “na na” (night-night) admist her toys–just lays down on the pillow and tries to cover herself up with a blanket, that she’s not 100%.

So we’ve started the cough med, the humidifier, the constant cup of water/juice, the vapor baths…you know the drill. And as an experiment, I gave her some soy milk today. I want her to get the vitamins of milk, but not all the mucus-producing properties of such. She sucked it down like it was the best thing ever. The weird part? There’s less sugar in vanilla soy milk than in regular whole milk. Granted, it’s added in the soy milk and occurs naturally in the whole milk, but still.

We stayed home today, and I’m planning on staying home tomorrow too. It’s weird to be home and not be sick myself–like I’m playing hooky or something. I know I’m not–I know I wouldn’t want M around any child as sick as she is, so therefore, she’s home with me.

To complicate matters, L’s out of town for work this week. So it’s all me, all the time. Let’s hope whatever she’s got isn’t too contagious, or that at least my 33 yr old immune system can at least keep it at bay.

This does mean that I got to see Meredith on the Today show today, and I got to see the Doodlebops in action. They are kinda of wacky. M liked them though–when they were done playing, she clapped (always a sign of approval). I think a CD of theirs would be tolerable–then you wouldn’t have to look at all the freaky colors all the time, and the music isn’t awful.

Since there’s NOTHING on TV, I’m out of library books to read, and it’s naptime, I’ve been cruising around the internet quite a bit. I found the complete series of articles on the horrific story about the pregnant mom and her 3 kids who were murdered by their family friend. Actually, I read the headline in the paper this morning and started crying. Of course detectives wouldn’t have looked in the washer or dryer for the children….what kind os sickness does this woman have?? Seriously, it reads like a very bad episode of CSI. And sounds more like something someone would do to an estranged lover/spouse rather than a childhood friend, doesn’t it? It seems like it’s been just an awful few weeks for children in the news which just makes me really, really sad.