Last weekend when my doe-eyed child looked up, held her arms out and said, “My Mommy,” I unsuspectingly swooped her up in my arms and said “Of course I’m your Mommy, and I love you very much.” That was the beginning of the end for my independence this vacation. Every two seconds, we were dealing with “My Mommy” or “My Daddy,” which was used as a demand to be picked up immediately.
This became increasingly troublesome any time Hailey approached a sandy area (which was the entire island!). If our little angel had shoes on, the sand made her freeze immediately in place. Then, she would cry, “rocks in my shoes” because apparently when you’re almost 2, fine sand particles have the same effect as having shards of glass in your shoes. God forbid she take even one step on the sand. Nope, better to cry “My Mommy” and hope that your easily manipulated Mommy will save you from the torture.
Hailey, Luke and I are off to
| Time | Hailey Behavior | Mommy Thoughts |
| :10 | Stubbornly refuses to do something she’s been asked to do | What is the problem? You do this every day. Why is it an issue all of a sudden? |
| :30 | Continues to refuse with a pouty face now | Ok. Let’s lighten the mood. Perhaps a distraction or two will be enough. |
| :45 | Head down on the floor and/or commence with the crying | Are you kidding me? Do we really have to do this right now? |
| 1:00 | Screaming persists and/or elevates | Fine. We have two choices now: 1) I will ignore you or 2) You will sit in timeout. Maybe we need both! |
| 1:15 | Possible flailing about or just a continuation of screaming | I feel like screaming now to. This is not the end of the world. Why are you making this so difficult?!?!? |
| 1:30 | Possible shrieking interspersed with some calls for Mommy | You brought this on yourself, and I will not be bullied by your bad attitude. I guarantee that I’m more stubborn than you are. |
| 2:00 | Keeps it coming | All you have to do is what I asked you to do and life would be much easier. AHHHH…My ears hurt! |
| 2:30 | Some more | Will this ever end? Ok. I’m not going to lie, my stubbornness is waning. I feel the call of the Mommy to console you. |
| 3:00 | Hasn’t tired yet | Don’t do it! It can’t be much longer, right? |
| 3:30 | Starting to cooperate with some whimpering | What? Are you actually learning your lesson. You mean it worked? I win. I win. I win. |
| 4:00 | Cooperating | Excuse me. I meant to think, “see the important lesson that you learned here.” Also, Mommy wins. |
There’s nothing like sitting with your child while she watches fireworks for the first time. Hailey was fortunate enough to watch the fireworks with her friend Corbin at a park in
All in all, she had a wonderful weekend in
Oh Boy! Hailey’s first night in her big girl bed (which is just her converted crib) was fairly uneventful. In fact, she got up only once when I put her to bed, but she waited right at the door of her room. She also woke up at 2:30am, but I just stuck her binky back in her mouth. Not too bad! Tonight we are taking her to see the new animated movie Wall-E. Luke has been showing her little clips on the computer for weeks. It will be her first movie in a theater. I can’t wait to see how she does. I bet she says “again” when it’s all over…just like at home.
On Monday night, Hailey made a startling revelation at bedtime – she wanted to sleep in Mommy’s bed. After much confused and garbled conversation, I discovered that she didn’t want to sleep in Mommy’s bed, she wanted to sleep in a big girl bed. Where is this coming from? I blame Luke because he let her lay all over the big girl beds at IKEA a few weekends ago. Still, she didn’t demand one at that point. Now, all of a sudden, she wants a big girl bed.
This comes at a particularly bad time for me because I had just won an argument with Luke that she should NOT have a big girl bed yet. I won on the premise of three key points: 1) She loves her crib; 2) I don’t think she’s ready; 3) we haven’t completely kid proofed her room yet; and 4) he’s not the one who will have to get up with her in the middle of the night. Do you see how Hailey’s sudden change of heart kind of negates my first two points?
Here’s what I was thinking last night… Ok, let’s not panic here. Maybe by tonight she will have forgotten that she wants a big girl bed. Guess what? She didn’t! She asked for it again! Eventually, she gave up and reluctantly climbed into her crib, but those days are numbered. Within the next few nights, we will have to do the conversion.
Hailey Reading a Book at Barnes & NobleHailey is so easily influenced by what she sees these days. As an adult, I rarely see someone doing something that makes me think, “Oh, I gotta try that.” Hailey, on the other hand, wants to do everything that other kids or adults are doing. Sometimes that works to our advantage and sometimes it’s, well, a disaster. Take two examples from the past week.
First, Hailey watches a little boy learning to float on his back in the pool. She decides that she wants to try it too. When you put Hailey on her back in the pool, it’s kind of like trying to knock over a weeble wobble toy. She always bounce back the front, and she floats about as well. Still, it was good to practice because they say learning to float is the best way to keep kids safe around water.
Episode number two involved Hailey watching an older boy hang from this strange playground apparatus at our park. She decides that she absolutely must hang like that, and she cannot possibly receive any help climbing up the 6 ft high equipment. When Mommy would not let her do such things by herself, I was left with a tantrumy (but safe) little girl.
Oh, as a bonus monkey see episode, I should share with you Hailey’s first gymnastics experience. We had the gymnastics Olympic trials on TV over the weekend. Completely unprompted, Hailey got down on the floor and started to do forward rolls, only she can’t quite do the roll part. So, she basically stands there with her head on the ground until she falls over sideways. If we try to help her flip, she gets angry…Little Miss Independence!
Yesterday, Hailey was diagnosed with Roseola which is a fairly common viral infection characterized by a high fever for a day followed by a rash that lasts a few days. Thus, we were home all day together where she learned how to put on her own clothes (kinda…see picture).
In the evening we decided to take a ride up to a local shopping plaza where we went to Barnes and Noble. While Mommy was looking for coloring books, Hailey had a little altercation with an older boy who proceeded to rip book after book out of her hands while his father looked on and did nothing. Luke managed this situation quite well, but it still resulted in Hailey laying face down on the floor screaming bloody murder. Ok, clearly it’s past her bedtime at this point. Meltdown #1.
This morning she woke up as usual in a good mood, but things quickly soured when I put her in her seat for breakfast. For no reason at all, she just started scrying (that’s a combination of screaming and crying. You know it well if you’ve had a toddler). The scrying just went on and on all morning. She wouldn’t eat, didn’t want to get dressed, didn’t want to get in the car…you get the picture. It was rough. I pretty much let her carry on, but Daddy was the weak one this time (usually those roles are reversed). It was just so clear that she was in high manipulation mode. Either manipulation or she’s sick with something else now, but I can’t stand the thought of that possibility.
Anyway, I really just wanted to share this funny picture with you. Notice the shorts on the head and the two legs through one leg hole of the other shorts. Hysterical. Almost makes up for the multiple breakdown morning...ALMOST!
Hailey’s hair has been long enough for pig tails for some time now. She comes home from school with elaborate pig tail arrangements, such as the one in this picture. Apparently, she lets her teacher do whatever she wants to her hair, but she screams bloody murder when I come anywhere near her head. It’s ridiculous! Even when it’s time to take out the rubber bands, she insists on ripping them out herself, which looks like it hurts terribly. I try to use the more humane method of untwisting them, but that just doesn’t suit her. Nope. She wants to pull them out herself, taking about half of her hair with it. I remember when I was little that I never wanted my Mom to do it either. What is with that???
Please see the Flickr link for new pictures.
Sorry for the lag in the blogosphere. I’ve been running a bit behind after being out all last week. I’m back now with all new stories and Hailey adventures. My favorite occurred last Sunday when we were visiting Grandma and Papa Harry in
Once we were a good distance from shore, Hailey decided that she wanted to paddle with the oar all by herself. So, Luke let her play with it for a while. When it was time to head back, he took the oar away from her. She, however, decided that she could still paddle by leaning over the side of the boat to paddle with her hand. Do you see where this is going? Yup, Josie shifts, Hailey slips, and she goes head first into the water. Luckily, Luke, with his lightening fast reflexes, grabbed one of her legs on her way down. So, there he is plucking her out of the water by one leg. She was about half way in for maybe a second. She was pissed!!!!! Oh, there was screaming. I watched the whole thing from the front of the boat and found it absolutely hysterical. Oh wait, I mean, I was completely distraught and concerned for the safety of my child. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to say?
Hailey is learning how to go up and down the steps without holding on to the railing. She’s very careful and deliberate about it, but it makes me exceedingly nervous. She especially likes to do it at the park where she going up and down concrete steps without a railing. Of course, she doesn’t even want me to go near her while she is making these attempts. So, I’m relegated to the bottom while she goes up and down about 20 times. I guess we’re just lucky that she’s so cautious about it.
On another note, isn’t this the cutest picture you’ve seen of this child? Oh my goodness! I hate to brag, but she’s pretty damn cute…wouldn’t you say???
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When we got home from work, we went straight to the park, then picked up dinner at a nearby restaurant, ate quickly at home, and then headed to our new garden plot. Since this is our first year in the community garden, we decided to purchase some worms like many of our neighbors. The garden ordered 1,000 worms, and I got 100. So, how do you pick out 100 worms? Well, that’s where Hailey and a shovel come in. I first just scooped up what looked like 50 with a shovel and dumped them into my plot, but that wasn’t very fun for Hailey. So, I picked one up with my hand to introduce her to the concept. She touched it reluctantly and said “slimy” and “soft.” I decided to give her the important job of picking up the worms one by one and carrying them to our garden plot. Now, she didn’t do all 50, but she did really enjoy it. Then she decided that the worms needed to be dug into the garden with a trowel AND a hammer. It is clear to me that I better build her a garden of her own, lest she dig up my plants all summer long! Here are some shots of her escapades with the worms.
I have a problem. It’s a major discipline problem. It could potentially make me a bad parent. Here it is – I cannot discipline my child without eventually laughing at her. If you could see the ridiculous and adorable faces she makes, you would understand. It’s like disciplining Cindy Lou Who with those big, expressive eyes. I’m not trying to make excuses for my bad parenting; I’m just trying to give you a sense of the situation on the front lines. The problem is that she knows that I’m weak. That is why she listens to Luke and not to me. That is why she will sit in timeout for him but not for me. Ugh…it’s so frustrating.
I must put an end to this Mommy abuse. I must be stern and strong and firm when I am disciplining her. Why am I contemplating my incompetence at this point? Because Luke is going away for 4 days and leaving me at home alone with our angel-faced demon-child. The test begins on Wednesday. Will I fail miserably or step up to the challenge? Only time will tell.
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While Hailey’s parrot-like behavior is still a constant, she’s now coming up with her own sentences. For example, at breakfast on Sunday she said “Josie is funny.” This morning she said “Go upstairs. Wake Daddy up.” That was my favorite so far. It’s really strange to know what she’s saying without having to translate it in my head.
It’s been pretty rainy here lately. Due to the drought, we try to be grateful, but it is difficult to have a pent-up toddler. On Sunday, we took a little trip to the Children’s Museum. Here’s a shot of Hailey painting. She loves to paint and what better place to do it than someplace where I don’t have to clean up the mess!
I remember when I was so excited to feed Hailey solid foods, so excited that she could eat on her own. Ha…what was I thinking???? Meal times are becoming a struggle between what I am serving and what Hailey wants, which is almost always one of three foods – grapes, yogurt, and quesadillas. Since when does she know what she wants to eat?
She’s also enthralled with anything that is a dip – mustard, ketchup, salad dressing. This morning I was making sandwiches while Hailey ate her oatmeal. Not a minute later, she was demanding mustard on her oatmeal. So, she had mustard oatmeal for breakfast. Sure, I could have not given her the mustard, but what fun would that be?
Eating ketchup with a fork...mmmm.
The extent of our damage. Our downspout is now a horizontal spout.
This is the house diagonal to ours. I took this from my porch.
Damage to a business near our house.
Lots of windows smashed out all around us.
We're already losing them by this point, but you get the idea.
She likes eating dry tortillas, don't ask me why!
Hailey and Josie snoozing on the way back from Nashville
Hailey "washing dishes" at the Children's Museum
Trip to TargetWe do not hit Hailey – no spankings, no swatting her hand, no light swats on the butt, nothing. We do not hit each other. We do not hit the dog or the cat. So, where in the world is my child learning to hit????
For Hailey, it’s becoming a natural way to emphasize her disapproval; for me, it’s becoming a painful reminder of my failures as a parent. Ok, maybe it’s not that bad, but she is starting to hit whenever she disagrees with a current Mommy policy. She clearly thinks that it’s a game. I put her in timeout whenever she does it, but she doesn’t really understand the whole timeout concept yet. Any advice on how to stem this hitting before we get too violent?
Oh, here are some pictures from the past few weeks. I should have some from our weekend trip to
From time to time, our little angel baby gets car sick. It’s happened maybe four or five times, usually while driving on winding roads or with a coat on. Since Luke, Hailey, and I carpool every day, I knew that at some point, we’d have an incident. Surprise…today is the day!!!!
I’ve often thought that I should put some towels in the car so that I could be prepared, but I never did find the time. I paid for that today when the inevitable happened all over Hailey, the car seat, the car, etc. I guess that there was just a lot of starting and stopping this morning due to the rain and the ridiculous Atlanta traffic.
All things considered, it wasn’t that bad. She recovered very quickly, Luke and I changed her into her extra outfit at school, and life went on as usual. Well, except for the stench that is stuck in my nose, on my hands, and in my car. Oh well just one more adventure in parenthood. Thank goodness Luke and I were together or I might have had a little meltdown, but Daddy is great in these crises.
How stubborn can an 18 month old be? At least 20 minutes worth of stubborn! Here’s the story… We are slowly starting to experiment with the “time out” discipline philosophy in our household. Most of what I’ve read says that children can begin to understand the concept around 18 months although they won’t really sit still until closer to 2 years. So, we set up our pack ‘n’ play in the dining room to give Hailey a quiet place to take a time out when she needs one. Last night after throwing an entire bowl of ice on the floor (she was eating the ice…don’t ask me why), I decided that a timeout was in order. Usually, we just put her in the pack ‘n’ play for about a minute or two, she says she’s sorry and it’s over. Last night, however, we made saying “sorry” a prerequisite for getting out of the timeout. That was our first mistake. Hailey did everything but say she was sorry. She danced, she sang, she laid down, she babbled, she cried (a little), etc. We just went on about our business in the living room, but checked in with her ever five minutes or so to see if she was ready. She wasn’t. This went on for about 20 minutes. The child would not say that she was sorry. She knew that saying it would release her, but it didn’t matter. I couldn’t believe it. Finally, I decided that enough was enough. It was almost time for bed, and she had more than served her sentence. That’s the last time that we’ll be playing that little game. She’s clearly more stubborn than me (I’ll give Luke more credit). So, I think it’s best if I don’t put myself in a win/lost situation like that again. From now on timeouts will be for a designated time only!
Hailey learns many songs at school, but we usually aren’t briefed on her class’s latest musical endeavors. Therefore, we often find ourselves trying to figure out what she is singing from her off-rhythm, lyrically garbled mumblings (that’s not mean, just true). So far, we’ve figured out that she can sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus and Old McDonald (only the Ee, I, Ee, I Oh part). This weekend in
In potty training news, Hailey has gone “peepotty” (that’s what she calls it) about three more times. I’m not ready to throw away the diapers, but she clearly understands what she’s doing and that she needs to wipe afterwards. It’s pretty adorable! Oh, she also took all of her naps in a big girl bed while we were in Buffalo. What a big girl!
There are some new pictures from out
See grossness coming out of eyes and nose!Like me, you may have forgotten this venerable American holiday. Groundhog day, aside from being a funny movie, is the day when a groundhog predicts whether we will have 6 more weeks of winter. Well, good ole Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this year, which means 6 more weeks of winter.
As ridiculous as this forecasting may seem, I can completely see why someone made up this stupid holiday, aside from the fact that it’s the only way that
I’m getting that spring fever a bit myself lately. I think it has to do with the fact that the weather here has been fluctuating between 70 and 30 degrees daily. It’s a daily tease. Plus, I’m tired of someone always being sick. Between Luke, Hailey, and myself, our house is like an infirmary for the chronically cranky. Hailey’s most recent ailment was pink eye, and now she has a cough. I just feel crappy in general. So, you can see why I’m longing for spring.
I know that all of you people up North are cursing me now because it’s likely that you won’t see spring until May. We, on the other hand, will be enjoying warm weather soon enough. Good thing I finally broke down and bought Hailey that warm winter coat that you’ve been nagging me about. I guess she’ll wear it on our upcoming trip to
