G’n'R Out West

Adelle woke up with yet another swollen eye.  The other eye this time.  So we took her to the doctor and this time the doctor said she was sure it was allergies and not an infection…the eye looked identical to me…and the diagnosis was the opposite.  Tiring!!

However, this doctor spent a lot more time with us and actually looked at her eye, unlike the other doctor, so I do feel much better.  She gave us a prescription for some eye drops and gave us lots of advice on how to help her with the allergies.  She also gave us information on signs to look for in case this is another infection.  I really liked this doctor way better than the one we saw before!  A good doctor makes everything so much better.

Anyway, we gave her the drops tonight at bedtime, the doctor thought it might take a while to clear the allergies, so we shall see how she does tonight.

On Monday we had fabulous weather and had the opportunity to meet some friends at the zoo.  Adelle’s little friend Corra was there, and as usual they had a ridiculous time together.   I am pretty sure we looked at the animals for a total of 10 minutes that day and spent the rest of the time goofing around looking for pine cones or playing at the playground.   She was passed out in the car before we left the parking lot.  I just love to see her have that much fun, it is so awesome.

Adelle and Corra spent at least an hour collecting, inspecting and organizing pine cones.

They have a great park at the zoo and she is really old enough to get around it all by herself.  It is so great to just let her explore.

On a slightly less cute note, Adelle has now learned the word ‘don’t’ - typically she says no to us about 400x a day, she has now supplemented that and will also toss in don’t as often as she can think too. sigh…

Adelle and I just got back from a wonderful trip to visit my sister, her family and my dad.  It is so nice when the cousins get to be together.  Adelle had a hilarious time with her cousins, she followed their every move and it seems like she grew up 10x faster in their presence.

She learned lots of new tricks….Lily proclaimed to me at one meal ‘look Auntie Rachelle, I taught Adelle how to make a moustache out of yogurt’.  Sigh….  Has their been a prouder moment in my life?  I do wish I had gotten a picture of the two girls sitting their with their faces full of yogurt.

Adelle also learned my name…well, my name according to her cousins.  She proudly pointed to me one afternoon and said ‘Autie Chelle’, she was very impressed with her discovery.  She has known Greg’s name for quite some time, but she never figured mine out until this weekend. 

Last time we were with her cousins, she drove Noam insane, always up in his business at a time he wanted space.  This time it was reversed.  He was always coming over to give her a kiss, and she was constantly pushing him away.  Unless he left the room, in which case she was devastated and wanted nothing more than to be in his presence.  Isn’t that always the case?  Everything he had she wanted, and watching him do things, made her brave, because certainly she wasn’t going to allow him to be able to do anything she couldn’t.  It was pretty funny.

She also had some great bonding time with my dad.  She can still be very shy around him, but she did come out of her shell and got caught off guard a number of times having a great time with him.  Of course, no matter how shy she was in his presence she was always very upset when he left the room without her.  The nerve of some people!

Adelle had juice for the first time in front of me this weekend.  I know she gets it at daycare, but we’ve never given it to her at home, and she’s never asked.  She was given one in a loot bag from a birthday party we attended this weekend.  She promptly pointed out to me what it was, and then proceeded to ask me for it for the rest of the weekend.  Figuring now that she had taught me about juice she could get it as often as she wanted.  She hasn’t asked about it since we got home…but maybe she doesn’t realize we have it here yet.  I’m not in a hurry to tell her.  I am so evil.

We tagged along with my sister and her family to this totally cool birthday party at a farm.  They had a pony for the kids to ride, a lesson on maple syrop, tons of animals to pet and touch, and the kids even got the chance to sit on this huge work horse.  It was pretty neat.  Of course all that cool stuff paled in comparison to the fact that there was a dog on the farm…and not just any dog, a dog that LOVED to play catch.  Adelle would have played catch with that dog all day (and I think the dog would have obliged her that request).  She laughed non stop this ridiculously infectious laugh the entire time they played.  It was totally awesome.  Second only to the dog were the puddles on the farm.  We don’t get good puddles out here like they get in Ontario and Adelle took full advantage of that.  It was great to see her out exploring and having so much fun. 

Adelle didn’t sleep all that much in Ontario, she was in bed by 11 or so each night and up just before 7 am in the mornings.  She did have a few snoozes in the car, but didn’t really have any decent naps to compensate for the lack of sleep at night.  She was in a remarkably good mood despite the lack of sleep.  I got a bit tired of her antics…and could have done with her having an earlier bedtime, but I was impressed by her non the less. 

The plane ride to my sister’s was great.  Adelle was actually quite scared during take off but had a great time once we were up in the air.  Since we live pretty close to the aiport we get to see lots of planes, Adelle LOVES airplanes.  She totally got that she was on a plane and was very impressed.  When the plane landed I said to her ‘you did it!’.  As soon as we deplaned she announced to everybody in earshot ‘I DID IT!!!’.  It was hilarious.  The plane ride home was less fun, but I think it was mostly becuase we were both overtired.  All in all I really can’t complain.

When we got home she had a great reunion with her dad.  I was a bit worried she’d be mad at him becuase she’d missed him when we were gone.  But she just ran right over to him and loved him to bits, it was great. 

Adelle had one little mishap on our trip, on the second day we were there she woke up with her eye swollen shut.  It was so cute and sad.  She didn’t appear fazed by the situation, although initially she was little confused.  Once she spotted her cousins, she was too busy to worry about being down an eye.  We took her to a doctor I didn’t really like and he gave her lots of anitbiotics.  I am still not convinced she needed them all, or that he did a thourough exam…but since we were going on a plane the next day, I felt like I had no choice but to give them to her.  The good news is that the problem cleared up very quickly, which was just great. 

In one last little peice of Adelle growing up news she figured out how to say ‘water’.  Since she started saying it she has always said ‘wawa’.  This weekend she figured it out, she now very carefully announciates the ’t’ in water.  I am so proud of her.

That little girl is still sick.  We are having some fun days finally, but she is still having a hard time.  She hates a snotty nose and seems totally grossed out by it at times. 

I don’t have any exciting stories to share this week, but just wanted to give a bit of an update.

Adelle is learning to talk so fast.  She doesn’t tend to say multiple word sentences unless they are common ones we use around the house.  If she wants to eat she will just say eat, then you have to ask what she wants and she will say something.  If she sees something she will just say the one word.  However, she has an endless supply of canned sentances most of which I am drawing a blank on but some of them I have listed below:

- There you go. (this was her first)
- I want that.
- Where did it go?
- I need mine! (this one is funny, as she is desperate to get the ‘mine’, so desperate that she can’t tell you what thing that is hers she wants)
- What is he doing?

We bought her a tricycle the other day (one with a push handle, since the pedals are still a little out of reach).  She is obsessed with biking.  She enjoys wearing her helmet as long as she doesn’t have to do it up.  She will wear it (done up) for a good 20 min to go on a bike ride.  We haven’t taken a picture of her on her bike…but needless to say she is pretty proud of herself.  Today, she and Greg were going outside and we were insisting she wear a sunhat.  She refused to wear a sunhat, but we were able to compromise on her wearing her bike helmet.  I think she wore it for about an hour, before they actually went on a bike ride.  Here is a shot of her having her snack outside, protected from the sun by her beloved bike helmet.

Adelle, is slowly showing signs of toilette training.  For a while she has been interested in sitting on the toilette, but has never shown any awareness of what goes on in her diaper!  The last week or so she has started to ask for a diaper change after she goes pooh.  I think the video below shows many of her talents, and hobbies.  She is shown practicing jumping, she pretends to sleep momentarily (you can vaguely hear her say ‘night-night’ when she is lying down), and then she informs us that she has gone pooh (in fact we are pretty sure she is actually saying ‘I went pooh’).  What a clever bean.  I appologize in advance for the soundtrack…I am not exactly sure why exactly we are listening to ‘Hot Stuff’…but anyway, Adelle seems to be enjoying it.

Each day Adelle wows us with her knowledge and understanding. I can’t even believe how fast she is changing right before our eyes. At the same time, I am equally amazed at how much her changes make her exactly the same.  She has been feeling pretty crumby lately, and so between the regular toddler frustrations, and the life of a sick girl, she has been a bit of a mess. Last night everything in the world was against her and she was just a total ridiculous ball of tantrum. The only thing that could make her feel better, and instantly relieved the pain of being Adelle was the old standby: ‘BABY! - BLANKET! - WALK!’. Last night I was given remarkably clear instructions to pick her up like a baby (on her side in the crook of my arm), wrap her in her blanket (a particular blanket which needed to be tucked in just so), and then get off my butt and walk around with her.  Hmmmm….I was thinking, is this child 1 1/2 years old or 3 days old? I seem to recall getting very similar instructions from her at a much earlier age.When she was a baby we used to call it the sleeper hold, because usually it would calm her to the point of sleeping. Last night she went from agonizing tantrum to Zen like inner-calm in less than 3 seconds after securing her in ‘the position’. This is similar transition time to that of her baby days. And like in her baby days, after spending 30 minutes in ‘the position’ I got tired, and tried to sit down. I was quickly  reminded that sitting was not an option. In her earlier days, the cue was a scream, now a command ‘WALK’. Only now, I can remind her to say ‘walk please’ which just seems so much easier to agree to then the screaming. 

Adelle, is doing ok, but clearly not herself.  Well, she is herself but more cuddly and more of a grazer than her typical stuffing food into her face faster than you can imagine self.

However, all that aside we went to our mom and baby exercise class today.  She has a little buddy there, Corra, who is just a few months older than she is.  They usually have a pretty good time together, but today was ridiculous.  They were giggling and running and copying each other and we were all just in stitches watching them together.  After that we went for lunch and they continued to just love each other.  It was so hilarious.  After lunch they held hands as we walked back to the cars.  It was very hard to convince them to let go of hands so we could part ways.  Seemed wrong to separate them.  It is so beautiful to watch you little one have a totally great time with somebody.

Sometimes being a mum is just so much more amazing than I thought it would be.

Our little bean isn’t quite herself.  She woke up a little warm on Saturday, but otherwise seemed fine.  So we went out to spend some time in the mountains with our friend Gen.  We had a great hike and Adelle seemed fine.  Then at a restaurant that night she ate about 3 noodles and not even taste of chicken.  Instead of sitting at the table she opted for some serious cuddle time with her dad.  Given that pasta and meat (or meek as she calls it) are pretty much at the top of her list, it was a bit shocking.

When we got home we offered her a few of her favorites and she VERY clearly told us no.  She went to bed without dinner, and slept silently through the night.  In the morning she had a face full of nose bleed, and was a bit more cuddly than normal, but otherwise ok.  She had a good day with a very long nap and apart from being very sensitive she did well. 

At dinner again tonight, she hardly ate a thing.  Poor little bean.  I hope she gets better before daycare on Tuesday.

Greg and I have found Adelle particularly and ridiculously cute these last few days.  She is just growing up so fast and learning so many new words.  Today it was outside - ‘yide’.  She was really into being outside today.  I love to see my girl spend time outside.  Funny how active she can be on a day that she is cearly not feeling great.  Kids are so interesting.

We had a fun filled Easter Sunday.  For the record…yes…Adelle did get candy!  I thought about not giving her any, but Greg felt very strongly about the Easter candy, so she got some.

I got up early this morning to bake a lemon meringue pie (for us to have for dessert tonight).  Then after Adelle had had a few unwholesome treats we headed off for church.  We came back (Adelle consumed some more candy) and then we took off for a hike in the mountains.  The terrain is fairly well packed so we opted to walk (not snowshoe).  We bought these neat do-hickey’s that you can slip onto the bottom of your shoes that are super grippy so it was very safe for walking on the ice and snow. 

We had a fabulous hike and then went into town for some traditional Easter Sunday pizza.  It is this great little restaurant with wood fired flatbread that has a really fun kids play area.  Adelle had a real blast there.  And now we are all home and all tired and eating pie.

Here is a shot of us in our alpine meadow just before the lake.  You can tell the depth of the snow from this shot, since I am guessing that ’no camping’ sign post is normally about shoulder high.

Adelle and Greg are all ready for the sring and biking season. I think we are going to go check out what bike options there are for Adelle, not sure if she is a bit too young or not.  All we know is she is facinated by them, so it might be fun to get her one.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYBODY

So I was thinking I would stop with the monthly updates.  The changes are a bit slower these days so it seemed to make sense.  Of course, as soon as I made that decision I feel like the last few days have been full of changes:

There have been huge changes in the language department.  We’ve finally hit that ’sponge’ stage that everybody talks about.  She copies a lot of what we say now and uses more than one word in a sentence pretty consistently as of about yesterday.  For example, when we go down the slide at the park she nows says ‘ two, go’.  I always say ‘one, two, three, go’.  Two days ago was the first time I ever heard her say two or go…and suddenly she says them together.

She also actually says thank you ‘de do’ (she used to only do the sign), she still signs please, although she can say it as well.  She loves buses and trucks and will always point them out.  She will also point out ‘big trucks’.  She loves to watch people bike and will ask for ‘more bike’ when she has seen a bunch and wishes she was seeing more.  She has been known to call out ‘Hey Greg’…I have no clue where she could have picked that one up!

Some funny ones:  She loves fire and consistently calls it water, no matter how many times we say fire.  The one that really pulls at my heart strings is that today for the very first time she said ‘burrr’ when she saw a bird.  Bird was one of her very first words (although, she called them ‘ga’).  That word was just such a first that it is sad to see it go.  Another funny bird thing is that when she sees them she makes this very loud pretty ridiculous noise, not unlike what you would expect to hear if you saw about 89 hungry crows all calling out at once.  We will see the tiniest little sparrow and she will storm towards it with this big grin yelling ‘caw, caw, caw’.  It is pretty funny for us, and likely terrifying for the sparrow.

 In other news, she decided quite recently that she LOVES the shower and is more than happy to spend as much time in there as possible as long as nobody washes her hair.  FINALLY…bathing is fun. 

And last but not least I made an appointment at the dentist a few weeks back as she was still missing one of her four front bottom teeth.  They were supposed to be all in months ago.  I never thought much of it until we saw a dentist friend that said we must get it x-rayed and then the health nurse said the same thing.  Well, her appointment is Tuesday, and yesterday morning that tooth, along with her 2 first I-teeth poked through!  Too funny, I guess it just needed the threat of a dentist visit to kick it into high gear.  I am VERY glad to report that we don’t have to go to the dentist.

I think that is about it.

Something I have been meaning to get a picture of for a while is Adelle shhhing.  We don’t do it much around the house (until lately, since it is really fun to shhhh with her).  I think she gets it a lot at daycare as I notice from the logs that most kids sleep at least 1 hour more than her every day.

Anyway, I first noticed it when her baby was sleeping and she shhhhed me.  She makes the normal shhing noise, but what is particularly funny about Adelle’s shhhing technique is the placement of her hand.  She has made an ever so slightly small misunderstanding in the technique.  Instead of putting her finger up to her lips to shhhh, she touches her nose with her finger.  It isn’t super evident in this picture, as her hand orientation is still as you would expect, but often she’ll point her her nose at a weird angle and shhhh.  It just cracks me up and I basically shhh with her as often as possible because it is just too cute.
 

Also, here is a picture of our girl last week enjoying the hot sun in our backyard.  I love it when she scrunches up her nose when she laughs, I don’t know what it is about the scrunched nose, but I find it totally irresistible.

So, for a while now I have been wondering when Adelle will start to say more than one word at a time as it seems like many of the other kids her age have already started doing this.  Last week we noticed she was saying ‘thereyougo’ all one word.  Then she told Greg ‘open door’ yesterday.  And today ‘I need water’…well more like, ‘I knee wawa’.  I did a double take at first but she was happy when I got her water, and then later ‘I need ball’, then ‘I need more (corn)’ and finally ‘I need cake’.  The part that makes me laugh the most is her choice of words.  She doesn’t say ‘I want water’, but ‘I need water’.  The expression in her voice clearly indicates that she does need it, and that the request should be considered an emergency.  It always amazes me how much she changes, and how much she stays the same.  It seems she has always known what she ‘needs’ and has always been really good at getting the message across to us one way or the other.  So it was just so fitting to hear her talk today.

Adelle and I had a really fun day today.  We met some friends at the zoo.  We got their bright and early and even got to see a number of animals have their breakfast.  I found it interesting, Adelle, however, was rather taken with the little birds flying around the grounds, and all the workers there that were spraying water and cleaning the enclosures.  Why watch a 3000 lbs hippo eat and then jump into a pool, when some dude is spraying water on the ground…truly there is no comparison.  I am fascinated by what fascinates her.

Tonight we had the same friends over for dinner and all the kids got along so well.  It was a great surprise as we’ve had them all together in the past and their personalities did not appear to be complimentary.  It was wonderfully relaxing and heart warming  to see them all play together.

Adelle is very particular about what she wears. Sometimes she has a whole outfit picked out, sometimes she is determined to wear very little. Lately she has been confusing shirts and pants and gets very upset when she can’t wear her shirts on her legs. Yesterday she put on her jacket all by herself, it was backwards and upside down, but darn she sure was proud.  Regardless of the fasion statement she is trying to make, she is quite certain about what she wants to wear or not wear.