Chatty Girl

If you have been around Laura lately, you would have noticed that she has been a chatty girl. It is quite clear that she is trying really hard to say new words but all that comes out are random sounds. Sure, she can say "mama, daddy, baba, papa, eye, bye, and nigh, nigh" to name a few, but she is trying new words that I have no idea what they are. When I tell her that I have no idea what she is saying, she gives me an evil stare.

We have been practicing saying people's names and she has done a pretty good job repeating them back. When I say "good job" I actually mean "good attempt." Oh yes, today, Laura strung together multiple words. Unfortunately those words were, "Daddy, no, no, no, no." That's what I get when I trapped her underneath a table.

Laura is working on spinning and walking backwards. When a song is playing, she gets that excited face where her eyes get really big and she makes an "ooooohhhhh" sound. Every once in a while she will spin and of course, she will want you to spin with her. As for the walking backward trick, I don't see this often, unless I catch her when she thinks I am not looking. Sneaky!

Yard Transformation

Laura,
We haven't lived in our new home for more than 3 months and our yard is changing by the day. My goal is to give you ample room to play in the backyard, a garden to eat nummy veggies, and nice grass to run on (if you forget to wear your shoes).

You probably won't remember this, so I will have to take a picture. When we moved in, our back yard had 11 trees, weedy and thorny grass, and a large plot of sand.














With the advice from Mom's cousin, Pat, we have taken down 2 trees, a pine tree, and 2 shrub-looking things. We have three more trees to go. [On a side note, Laura tries to says his name, "Puh, Puh." Super cute!]

We are also filling in the plot of sand with 1/2 grass and 1/2 garden. By this time next year, you will be eating fresh veggies out of the garden. Can't wait!

Sick, Sad, Little Girl

It is that time of year again. Fall. Cool temps. Daycare. Germs. Sick.

Yes, Laura is sick. This is by far the worst one in her short 17 months. She hasn't slept a full night or has had a good nap since Friday. Laura's temperature today is 102.6 (taken under the armpit). She hasn't eaten a good meal for a couple of days. She has sobbed and cried while saying "ma ma" for long periods of time. In fact, she allowed me to lay with her in our bed. Unheard of!

We've given her Tylenol and that has perked her up a bit but after awhile the medicine wears off and crying begins.

We finally went to Urgent Care tonight. The doc said that she has a right inner ear infection, a temp of 103, and a virus. She was prescribed a bottle of Amoxicillin, and we hope that works ASAP!

Get well, Peanut!

Laura is 1 Year + 5 Months! (and went to the State Fair)

Height: ? Haven't measured

Weight: 19 lbs., I think?!

Likes: Life cereal, ice cream, cookies, throwing things down stairs, Sesame Street (in particular, "Melmo"), Bucky Badger, playing with her stacking cups, puppies, games - anything that involves scaring her a little or running her around fast, pushing buttons, moving things into piles - rocks, mulch, pens/markers, playing outside with the neighbor girls, watching daddy do outside jobs like mowing or turning on the sprinkler

Dislikes: Separation from her "summer buddy" mom, kids invading her turf (shouts "No!" when other kids come to the playground), retrieving balls when she throws them ("Mama? Mama?")

Any new tricks?: Mostly the new tricks are naughty ones - standing on chairs, trying to climb the stairs walking using the railing instead of climbing up on all fours. She did a somersault the other day inadvertently! I feel like she is constantly doing things where we have to tell her "No." She knows more body parts now like arms, legs, cheeks, feet, and toes.

MN State Fair: We took Laura last Saturday...in hindsight, maybe this could have waited a year or two? She did well but I don't think there was enough there that appealed to her yet. We did a lot of walking around in the stroller. We did see a "puppy" that could jump and catch frisbees, and Laura ran around throwing mulch as we listened to singers on the kid stage in Baldwin Park. She ate a ham & cheese stromboli with mom, and checked out the animal barns. For the record - horses were scary, loved the cows, wasn't sure what to make of the pigs. Laura's and her dad's favorite thing were probably the same: ice cream from the dairy building. She showed good judgment by preferring mom's chocolate ice cream cone to dad's vanilla malt. (She has excellent taste in dessert...hmmm, I wonder why?)

Como Zoo!

We are in the middle of a concentrated effort to jam in as much fun as possible in mom's last few days of summer (sigh). Today, Laura and I headed to the Como Zoo with uncles Mike, Matt, and Matt's girlfriend Steph. (It was also on their summer "to-zoo list"...ahahaha thanks Michael).

I'm not sure that Laura's old enough to fully appreciate the zoo; sometimes it seems like it's hard for her to see the animals, and although we read animal books and stuff, I don't think she always realizes what they are. She did have her moments of excitement though. We were close up to a baby orangutan and its mama as they wrestled and played around.

We were excited to see the new polar bear exhibit, but all we saw was the back side of one sleepy polar bear. Laura was more interested in the fake baby seal in its cave...just the right size for her!

We approached the sea lions (seals? are they the same thing?) right as the Sparky show was going to start, but decided the show looked a little full. Hence we ventured into the "aquatic building" to see some fish but instead stumbled on Sparky + buddy in a tank waiting to go onstage! They were all pumped up for the show and kept diving in and out of the water; they even came right up to the glass to see Laura! When the trainers came to get them for the show, Laura got to see them feed the seals some fish. Later on we saw Sparky's other buddies sunning themselves and barking, which Laura did enjoy and even tried to imitate.

After all this trekking around the zoo, we were hungry so Uncle Mike brought us to Porky's for lunch. Laura must have been hungry too because she ate some of mom's cheeseburger (unprecedented!), some fries, and most of our chocolate milkshake (a fave Laura treat).

Needless to say, she cashed out within five minutes of dropping off the rest of our group, slept the whole ride home plus another hour in her crib. Thanks Mike, Matt, and Steph! You were great zoo buddies, Laura holders, and stroller pusher/carriers. Laura loves you!

What a Puke!

Isn't it funny that on the very same day Brett "Purple #4" Favre's retirement/unretirement saga finally comes to an end (for the 8th year in a row), Laura pukes on the carpet.

Oh sure, the two really have no correlation with each other, but I thought it was kind of symbolic.

Here is what happened. Grandma Janelle came over to babysit while Mom cleaned up her stuff in Grandma/Grandpa M's basement. Grandma Janelle brought Dad a jar of pickled cucumbers (really, they are just pickles) that Grandpa George made from scratch. Let me tell you, those things are pretty good and I thought maybe Laura would like them as well...

I gave Laura a sample and she reacted with that bitter-look. I assumed she didn't like it so I continued to eat them. Thirty-seconds later, Laura came back and wanted another. I gave her a tiny piece and she put it in her mouth and walked away. Thirty seconds later, I hear a gag and see her puke yellow fish crackers all over herself and the carpet. Foy!

Oh, Laura.

Our New Home - Video

Laura,

Just thought I would show you what our house looked like one month after moving into it.

Nigh Nigh Time

Laura goes to bed...

Laura is 1 Year + 4 Months!

Height: 30.5"

Weight: 18 lbs.








Likes: watching daddy mow the lawn, repetitive viewing of favorite tv clips (opening sequence of "Thomas the Tank Engine," Sheryl Crow singing "'I' is Going to Soak Up the Sun" on Sesame Street, Elmo's World segments), pretending to sleep and covering up with a blanket on the big girl bed, yogurt and "num num" treats (cookies, ice cream), goofing around with dad in the basement playroom, throwing her sippy cups, brushing teeth and washing hands in the sink, asparagus and peas, puppies


Dislikes: being still for diaper changes, having mama leave her, long car rides





Any new tricks? At night we often repeat this sequence where she throws all of her plugs (pacifiers) out and cries. I go in and ask her "Where are your plugs?" and she points behind her crib where she threw them. When I say, "Where do the plugs go at bedtime?," she points on the mattress. Then I say, "What is it time for?" and she says "Nigh-nigh." Stinker, she knows exactly what she should be doing!

She also can identify and name the letter "i" (only lowercase) courtesy of said Sheryl Crow clip above, and knows the following body parts: ears, hair, eyes, nose, mouth, tummy, bellybutton, toes. Laura is working more and more to try and repeat the things she hears us say, and works harder on words that she is interested in - for example, "glasses" and "mow."

In search of...Daycare

New town, New home, New neighbors...New daycare.

I am starting to wonder, "Is too much NEW, a bad thing?" The word "new" should equate to fun, exciting, adventurous. Don't get me wrong, I am very happy we decided TO move and were ABLE to move! I really like our house and the neighborhood. I think the splash of change is too much to take in at one time. With that said, Laura doesn't mind, she is taking it all in with smiles.

This week, we're interviewing new daycare providers. We had such a great thing going at Kimms that we're using her as a measuring stick to the new people.

So far, we have visited two in-home providers and have one more this evening. The decision will be difficult as each person has their pluses and minuses. We're having a hard time deciding what are the things we need/expect/hope from our new provider and how do we weigh those pluses and minuses (location/cost/# kids/friendliness/discipline and teaching philosophies, and so on) to make the best decision.

This process seems to be more complicated than "what can we live with and what are deal breakers." Stay tuned...