19 Months

I am 19 months old! This month was a pretty rough month for me.

• Sleep regression: We thought we got away with not having an 18 month sleep regression, but I was just a little late. My sleep habits have become pretty inconsistent lately. I usually sleep well through the night, but there were a few times this month when I woke up in the middle of the night screaming for someone to get me. A few times Mommy caved and came to rescue me, but then all I wanted to do was stay up and play! So now they make me cry it out for up to 30 minutes before I give up and go back to sleep.
• Sickness: This month brought a continuous cough and perpetual runny nose, and I seemed especially clingy. I spent one weekend with a high fever and another with a stomach virus of some sort. It was my first time actually being very sick, and I spent one epic evening throwing up on Mommy three times. Then I had to spend two whole days with no milk(!) and eating nothing but bagels and Saltine crackers. At least our couch covers finally got a long overdue deep cleaning.
• Time to lower the crib: Unfortunately Mommy and Daddy found out the hard way. I was having one of those nights where I just didn't want to go to sleep. After putting me down and closing the bedroom door, they heard me continue to cry, and then a loud thud, followed by more crying. You can guess what happened. I was okay though, probably more upset about the fact that I still had to go to sleep than that I fell out of the crib.
• Teeth: My lower first molars came in so that may explain why I was a bit fussier than usual. All four canines look like they're about to poke through too. At least I almost have all my teeth! All that's left are the four back molars.

Poor me. In other news, I don't have many new words to add to my vocabulary. I've been repeating a lot of sounds that I hear from Mommy and Daddy, even though I don't know what they mean. Their favorites are "dee-yah" (the end, after we finish reading a book) and "Ah luh you" (I love you). I also like to imitate what I see on TV. The other day we were watching pairs figure skating on TV, and I randomly started kicking my legs up in the air. Then I grabbed Mommy's hand. She thought I was going to show her something, but instead I took her hand and held it above my head while I spun!

This past weekend I started swimming lessons again! It's been almost a year since my last swim class, and I was definitely scared this time around. I clutched so tightly to Daddy and cried whenever he made me let go. Although I was enrolled in the toddler class (18+ months), it still seemed a little advanced for me. Some of the kids were already swimming with their heads in the water! So we decided to move back to the baby class until I get more comfortable.

We also took advantage of the nice weather and went shopping at Stanford Mall. I am currently in this phase where I refuse to sit in my stroller. I arch my back and cry anytime someone tries to put me in it, so wherever we go I either have to walk or be carried. It's not the most efficient way of getting around, but I insist on it. 

Looks like I'm back to my healthy, happy self again!

Doggies!

Since I'm so obsessed with doggies, Mommy and Daddy took me to the annual dog show at Cow Palace yesterday.

We took a peek at the show ring, but preferred walking through the booths and seeing all the doggies up close. There were doggies of every breed, shape, and size, and they were all so clean and well-trained. I was super excited, waving at every doggy as we passed and calling out "woof woof."

Since Mommy loves big dogs, we spent most of our time looking for the biggest, fluffiest dogs we could find.

Mommy's favorite and our future family pet, the Bernese Mountain Dog!

A Great Pyrenees

I think we found our winner, a 175 lb Newfoundland named Finn. His giant head was bigger than my body! Newfies are gentle giants and are known to be great with small children.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the dog show and would love to have a real pet doggy at home. Now we just have to convince Daddy...

Rainy Day Outings

Last weekend was a very rainy weekend, and although rainy days are a good excuse to stay home and snuggle, it's not so easy when we have to entertain an active toddler. Kaitlyn always enjoys a good outing, so when it's too cold and rainy to play outside, here are some fun indoor places that we like to take her.

Barnes and Noble: Clean, not overly crowded, and the kids section is usually pretty large. The two stores by our house also have train tables that she likes to play with. Also, lots of books to read!

Library: Same reason as above - lots of books (and some toys). If I didn't have to work during the week I would love to take her to weekly story time at our local library as well.

Children's Discovery Museum (San Jose): Lots of stuff to do here! Kaitlyn spent most of her first visit in the infant/toddler room, but now she's old enough for other activities, including the art room.

Talbot's Toyland (San Mateo): Huge toy store, and it's fun to visit because they keep most of their larger toys out for demo, including play houses, cars, train tables, slides, and play kitchen.

IKEA: I never noticed before how many families with small children are there on weekends, but it all makes sense now. The cafeteria is super kid-friendly and there's plenty of different rooms to explore. It's like hanging out in someone else's home (which to Kaitlyn is more fun than our own home). We can spend hours here, although we usually can't stand it for that long.

Safeway: Not necessarily a rainy day outing, but it's worth mentioning. Kaitlyn loves riding around in the buggy-carts, so a visit here is always a treat. She has fun, and we get our grocery shopping done, making for a pretty productive outing.

The mall is also an option, but there really isn't anywhere to run around there without getting in the shoppers' paths, so we usually avoid it.

I'm sure there are a lot more ideas for rainy day outings, and I look forward to discovering them.

Daddy's Italian Wedding Stew

Despite the pristine reports from daycare regarding her appetite, Kaitlyn is an extremely picky eater anytime she eats at home with us. We've tried all kinds of tasty delicious options but to no avail. Recently I finally struck gold with something that she's a huge fan of - my own version of Italian Wedding soup. It's one of the few meals we've ever seen Kaitlyn eat with so much enthusiasm, and she consistently finishes every last bite of it, even the meatballs (we break them up for her). Not only is it delicious, but it's healthy for us too.

The core of this recipe is the Harvest Grains Blend from Trader Joe's, which includes pearl couscous, orzo, quinoa, and baby garbanzo beans. With a few more additions, this stew is loaded with veggies, legumes, protein, and wholesome grains, so it's got all the food groups covered in one bowl.

The recipe below is for one huge pot and you'll be eating leftovers for days. Since the couscous soaks up most of the liquid, it has more of a stew-like consistency than a soup, hence the name.

Daddy's Italian Wedding Stew

1 bag Harvest Grains Blend from Trader Joe's
5 sweet chicken italian sausages
1 can red kidney beans
1 can white pinto beans

1 cup green or black lentils (optional)

4-6 carrots

4-6 celery stalks

2 onions

1 large can diced tomatoes

2-3 boxes of chicken stock

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Italian seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

Italian parsley

Dice the carrots, celery and onions into tiny pieces and put in a large pot. Add the tomatoes, harvest grain blend, beans, lentils (optional), and chicken stock. Make sure to add enough chicken stock so that the ingredients are sufficiently submerged. Season with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and italian seasoning. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 1.5 hrs, stirring occasionally.

Pull the sausage out of the casings and make small meatballs, roughly 5 per sausage link or 25 total. Throw into the pot and continue to simmer for 30 min until the meatballs are cooked thoroughly.

Garnish with chopped italian parsley. I like to add crushed red peppers and a squeeze of lemon juice to brighten the flavors just a bit more, but to each his own.

The leftover stew will thicken even more in the fridge, so you may want to add more broth to subsequent servings to thin it out a little.

Hope you enjoy it as much as Kaitlyn does!

Happy Hollow

This weekend, we went to Happy Hollow Park and Zoo in San Jose. They have a little bit of everything there - play areas, farm animals, petting zoo, amusement park rides, and a small animal zoo.

I'm finally big enough to go on rides. I had so much fun on this car ride that I did it twice.

It was also my first time on a carousel. I wasn't sure what to think of it, so of course we rode it again (and I still don't know what to think of it).

I got lost in a giant maze.

Pet some goats and played by the barn.

The zoo consisted of small animals, including a giant tortoise, monkeys, and meerkats.

For a small park there was lots to see and do there. Since we had so much fun, Mommy and Daddy bought annual memberships. Now we can go all the time!

18 Months

I can't believe my baby is 18 months old!  2011 was an amazing year filled with many milestones.  It's hard to believe that just a year ago, Kaitlyn could barely sit on her own, couldn't say any words, took three to four naps a day, and was just starting her first tastes of solid foods. She's come a long way since then.

• She is 20 lbs, 5 oz. and 31 inches: I plotted her growth charts using this iPhone App Baby Connect that I recently discovered. She's in the 5th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for height.

I probably say this every month, but I am absolutely loving this age right now. Kaitlyn had a developmental explosion this month and seems to do something cute everyday, whether it's saying something unexpected or doing something she learned from watching us. She is old enough to play independently, understands basic commands and questions, and can (somewhat) communicate what she wants. She is learning so quickly each day and absorbing things like a sponge!

• New words: más (more), "wassat" (what's that?), fish, uh oh, aiyah, "peez" (please), book, box, shoes, socks, Elmo, Abby, Dora, baby, share. I'm really going to miss it when she replaces her gibberish with actual words and sentences. I love hearing her babble in Kaitlynese.
• Communicating: Kaitlyn can tell us if she wants agua, fish (goldfish crackers), cheese,  más, or tay-tay (her pacifier). She understands a lot more words than she actually speaks and her best form of communication is answering simple yes/no questions. Usually I just have to show her or say the name of something and she will respond with a nod or shake of her head (or just run away, when I say "change diaper").
• New tricks: The list is getting longer and longer. Here are a few things that she does most frequently.

• Look for specific items and bring them back (ie. "where's doggy?"), give things to specific people, put things away when I say "clean up." She can also point to her nose, chin, eyes, mouth, ears, hair, and belly button.
• Make the sounds of a doggy, cat, sheep, cow, horse, elephant (while waving her arm like a trunk), shark (the two-note melody from Jaws), monkey, chicken, and duck. One time while we were eating I asked Kaitlyn if she wanted some chicken and she responded by flapping her elbows and clucking.   
• Identify and point out her favorite characters in pictures including Dora, Elmo, Abby, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Ernie. She can also flip through the pages of a photo album and point out specific family members. 
• Open her favorite books and recite lines from them. 
• She does all the hand movements that accompany The Itsy Bitsy Spider. 
• Imaginative Play: It's fun to watch Kaitlyn play on her own and see how she entertains herself. A lot of her play is based on what she sees us and the kids at daycare do, so it's interesting to see what she's picked up. She loves putting away pots and pans, washing her hands, and pretending to cook in her play kitchen. She also has a play tea set and likes to pour tea into the cups, hand the cups out, make us all toast, and then drink from them. She never cared much for stuffed animals before but now she involves them with her play. She'll wrap her favorite doggy up in a blanket, pretend to feed it, hold her pacifier to its mouth, and push it around in her toy stroller. One time she took two stuffed doggies and put their noses together with a "muah" to make them kiss.
• Dancing: She likes to stand in the kitchen and press the buttons on her fridge farm repeatedly and dance to the music. She also gets excited and dances to the "hot dog dance" at the end of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. A few weeks ago I gave her a toothbrush and not only did she know how to use it, but she also did a little toothbrush dance at the same time (I used to dance while getting ready in the mornings to entertain her. I didn't think she'd actually copy me).

• Furry Friends: Kaitlyn is still obsessed with dogs and points them out every time she sees one, whether it's on TV or while we're out. She gets super excited and repeatedly shouts "doggy!" while waving to them. She also loves cats and recently started getting excited over birds ("deeees!"). 

Kaitlyn loves it when the neighbor's cat comes to our backyard for a visit.

• Eating: Meals with Kaitlyn are so frustrating. She eats perfectly fine at daycare, most likely because she sees the other kids around her eating. However on weekends with us she is the pickiest eater. Unless it's fruit or cheese, we never know if she is going to eat a particular food, and it's always a guessing game. Even if she seemed to like something before, she could very well refuse it the next time. It's even harder now because she insists on feeding herself, so I never know if she is just going to take the food and drop it on the floor (which she takes great pleasure in doing). Because of this it is such a struggle to feed her every weekend and we usually resort to giving her a squeeze pouch and lots of snacks throughout the day to make sure she gets enough to eat. 
• Tantrums: We haven't seen a full-blown tantrum yet, but the mini tantrums are becoming a lot more frequent. They usually occur when: a) I don't let her do something she wants; b) I take something out of her hands; or c) she wants me to pick her up and I don't.  Her tantrums usually involve collapsing to the floor and lying flat on her back, eyes shut tight and bawling, but they end shortly after I pick her up and hug her. They could be a lot worse, and it makes me not look forward to the terrible twos.

Tantrums? Who, me?

What a month! Kaitlyn, please stop growing up so fast! Love, Mommy.

Winter Fun in San Diego

Happy New Year! We're back from a fun-filled week in San Diego. I wish we could have stayed longer, or as Alex wished, stayed forever. Here is a recap of our week.

Carlsbad Outlets:

San Diego Zoo:

Balboa Park / Fleet Science Museum:

Just hanging out:

I loved hanging out in this empty cabinet and being silly.

Other highlights from the trip included hanging out with friends Bailey, Valerie and Barry on New Years Day, and celebrating Alex's 8th birthday.

We had so much fun with the Tans. Thank you for having us and we can't wait to see you again!