Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a THREE YEAR OLD in the HOOUUSSEEE!!!!!
Yes, indeedy ~ our little munchkin is THREE!!!
Three has got to be one of my absolute favorite ages.
They are little people who are capable of big conversations and start grasping big concepts, but they still have a little bit of baby pudge left in their faces and hands and you can still see your baby when you look at them.
I remember when I was a youth minister, I ran a Vacation Bible School with my teens for 3-5 year olds. I would say, "Five year olds: line up behind ME!" And they did.
Then I'd say, "Four year olds: line up behind ME!" And they quickly fell into line.
Then I'd get to the littlest ones, "Three year olds: line up behind ME!"
And without fail, their little eyes would widen with excitement and like popcorn, their responses shot out, "I'm FREE!" "I'm FREE" "Hey, I'm free, TOOO!!!"
Of course, they never made it into a line, but it was just so fun to watch them celebrate themselves.
Even at the last day, when they performed their little songs for the parents, the three year olds would run up to me and hug me after each song. SO cute.
I am so excited for this fun age with Gianna.
We've all heard the war stories of the 'terrible twos' from those that have gone before us, but more and more often I'm hearing, "Two was a breeze! Watch out for THREE!" or "Three is the new two."
Within a few weeks of her third birthday, we have witnessed one change in her personality, that we weren't prepared for. D R A M A!!!!!!
Holy Cannoli. When it's not exasperating, it's quite comical. And it was like someone just flipped a switch in her.
Example: After a Time-Out episode the other day, I went to get her and told her that I wanted to be sure she understoood that she would no longer be able to play with her new guitar that evening.
She gasped, threw her forehead into her open hands and with as much dramatic expression as she could muster, cried,
"OHHH NOOOO!!!!! That is just HYSTERICAL!"
Obviously, she misused the word, but it was as a dramatic a word as she could come up with on the spot.
Gianna CRAVES company. Friends. People that will play with her. We are blessed to have so many sweet little friends that we enjoy so well....but most of them are boys. We've finally gotten to the age, where having little girlfriends to do girly things with is becoming more desirable than it used to be.
One of her little friends, Sophia, has the very same issue - many little friends who happen to be boys. No complaints - just ready to explore some feminine fun.
So today, we had a little tea party for these two little girls.
I was so happy to have the chance to show Gianna a special gift she received when she was only a few weeks old. It's the sweetest little miniature tea set that I've been patiently saving for just the right age.
I was equally as excited to pull out on of my favorite gifts ~ a tea posy, which is a clear tea pot that brews these fabulous teas which actually bloom in the pot. It starts off as a round, over sized 'seed' and once boiling water is added, it begins to bloom in front of your eyes.
Their anticipation was precious...
As I added the boiling water and warned them how hot it was, their little faces were so cute with concern...
This is what it looks like when it blooms....
And this is what they looked like when it bloomed...
Sips...
Tastes...
I hope their little friendship grow as they do...
Oh...and we did invite one little boy...
...Sophia's little brother, Joseph.
Is he not the cutest little Squish you've ever seen? Laid back, smiley, low maintenance....dream baby.
Since Gianna was a baby, she has favored her left hand. She's always eaten with her left hand, drawn and colored with it and reached with it.....until recently.
Interestingly, her pediatrician noticed early on she favored her left hand and I made some comment about her being a lefty. She told me, "Don't call it until she's three." She went on to say that both her girls used their left hands exclusively and then when they approached three years old, they both switched to the right hands.
As fascinating as that was, I figured it was a family trait and really didn't think it would apply to my child. But guess what????????? Just a couple of months before her third birthday, she's using her right hand.......A LOT. She's using both still, but it will be interesting to know which hand will be dominant. As it stands, it looks like she'll be southpaw no more.
When we were experiencing that horrible sleep strike last month, I realized that G was using 'rocking' to try and manipulate us. It worked fairly well because we don't often have the opportunity to hold her and rock her because she's so darn independent and busy.
After one frustrating episode when she was begging me to rock her at naptime - I dragged the rocker to our bedroom and told her that was it -- the rocker was in time out.
I guess I disarmed her and all of a sudden bedtime started getting easier.
Coincidentally, one of my friends who is a new mom had just posted on FB that she was looking for a good deal on a glider rocker. I thought about it, talked to Iain and called her to tell her we wanted to offer our rocker to them. We told Gianna that baby Joseph needed it more than we did and she was totally fine with it.
So just like that...
The rocking chair disappeared from Lewis Land.
And we all lived to tell about it.
Oh, there's a tiny little part of me that was sad that this chapter is over.
And there's another tiny part of me that is a little sad to think that it's possible that there may never be another baby in Lewis Land to rock and cuddle.
Don't worry we're not giving up hope - but that's just part of the uncertainty that is very real in our adoption journey. And my sweet husband assured me that if we're blessed with another baby, then we'll get another rocker.
* * * * * * * * *
And in related news, night-time and nap-time sleep is the best it's ever been! (Knock on wood.)
We even said bye-bye to the bed rail on her new twin bed.
She pushed the rail one day during nap time and fell over it.
I figure it was more of a hazard than falling out of bed, so I removed it.
We've had tremendous success.
I keep a memory foam topper under her bed and pull it out when she's napping or sleeping. She's fallen out twice - but doesn't seem to be bothered by it.
Our little girl is growing up.
* * * * * * * * *
Oh, and if you've read about her challenging behavior as of late - you'll be happy to know Gianna has be DELIGHTFUL these last few days. It's been so nice to have her back - we missed our sweet natured Gianna desperately during that rough patch. (And magically - the word poo poo has disappeared with that crummy little disposition! Hallelujah!!!)
Just as we came out of the other side of the January sleep stand-off - the brilliant mommy decided to graduate G from a toddler bed to a twin. I was going to wait til we moved, but I wanted to sell the toddler bed in our next garage sale. (Thrifty usually trumps reasonable.) We had the twin bed anyway....it was my childhood bed.
I'm happy to report that a few weeks into our new transition, there were no bumps in the road and she is happy as a clam to be in her BIG big girl bed.
I do these things....all at the amusement of God who must not be
quite so impressed with all my thinking and planning.
Either that or He finds it very entertaining to watch me scurry as
wrenches get thrown into all my plans.
Case in point:
Gianna unexpectedly 'graduated' from her crib to a bed last night.
I planned on keeping Gianna in her crib until she was 2 1/2 or closer to 3.
I felt good about that decision.
Until yesterday during nap time.
Gianna was performing her usual pre-sleep shenanigans which eventually turned into
panicked cries.
I ran to check on her and as I got closer I heard,
"I stuck, Mommy. I so sad."
She was stuck.
Horribly stuck.
This wasn't the first time.
But today was the scariest.
Her elbow was stuck between the slats
really close to the mattress.
I couldn't get it out.
I slathered lotion on her arm and
after an excruciatingly long time ~ freed her.
My heart was beating out of my chest and I was seconds of calling 911.
Later in the evening, she was in her crib for some "thinking time"
and wouldn't you know, she got her arm caught again.
She did it on purpose.
That was it.
No more.
Iain took apart the crib then and there
and we got the toddler bed down from the attic.
I re-arranged her big girl room an hour before bedtime.
There was no thinking involved.
I had no idea how I was going to prepare Gianna
(or myself!) for these 'on the fly' changes, but there was
no turning back.
I figured it would take at least an extra hour or two to get her down.
It didn't.
I thought I'd end up sleeping on the floor in her room.
I didn't.
I thought she'd wake up during the night and become disoriented.
She didn't.
I thought she's get to jumping and bump her head on the wooden headboard or foot board.
She didn't.
She did splendidly well.
She was tickled about her big girl bed and kept thanking us.
She did get up once to "adjust" her music....but once I re-directed her back to back, she was fine.
We heard her wake up this morning saying,
"Big girl bed!"
I am SO proud of my very big girl. (And kinda proud of her Mommy too.)
All that success and ease with no over-thinking or planning on my part.
Yeah....I'm pretty sure there's a lesson in there.
I'm also pretty sure if God smirks, He's doing so right now.
;)
So, Gianna has been a little more 'subdued' that normal these last few days. Clingy, quiet, loss of appetite. sleep interruptions, a THREE hour nap due to said sleep interruption.
Yesterday she said, "I sick."
This morning she proved it - all over the kitchen floor.
Blech...
It freaked her out a little bit - because she's really never gotten sick like that before.
(God must really love me if He's guarded me from the 'ick sick' for over two years!)
I must admit, I don't do 'ick sick' well.
I have never handled it well, whether I was the victim, or someone else was.
My mom said she was the same way.
When she was teaching, SHE used to go and get the janitor when someone got sick - leaving the poor kids by themselves.
I'd have done the same thing.
The janitor asked her, "Ms. Zullo, what are you going to do when you have kids?"
She told him she'd worry about that when the time came.
And then she told me, "And when I got married and had kids, I could all-of-a-sudden handle it."
Poof. Just like that.
She told me it would be like that for me.
"When it's your kids, it won't bother you."
I believed her.
Hey Mom, guess what?
YOU
WERE WRONG!!!!!
Blech!
Ugh!
Gross!
Gag!!
I should've known I wouldn't have been exempt from this curse.
You could just ask my husband.
I've hidden in the house before when my husband was sick.
I mean hidden, crouched down, with my ears covered.
Pathetic excuse for a wife, I know.
And then when his pale, pitiful self hobbled to come find me and tell me the coast was clear....
I'd yell at him for being sick too loudly.
Yeah. I should've known then.
I didn't yell this morning.
I was a good mommy.
A good gagging mommy, who washed the cleanup towels three times.
Frankly, I'm surpised I didn't throw them out.
I fear my frugality will be compromised in the future as I'm tempted to throw soiled bedsheets, towels and clothing out - so as not to 'deal' with them. We'll see how it all plays out.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
On the cuter side of ick, Gianna woke up from her 2nd three hour nap in two days by saying,
"Gianna choke on floor. Mommy get towels."
Choke is her best description.
Sounds better than the alternative terms I've managed to avoid throughout this post.
Blech.
You should see my living room.
I've got blankets covering every surface and a great big pink Snuggie laid out on the floor...just in case. (Couldn't think of a better use for that Snuggie!)
And every time I give her something to eat I say,
"Hey, let's go play outside!"
She thinks I'm the coolest mom.
But this is serious business.
I'm on the defensive now....wuss that I am.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
She fell asleep in her high chair at noon as she was nibbling on the cracker.
So pitiful....and sweet.
(We're going to the doctor in the morning - just to check her out.)
Several months ago, I was talking to a mom who had potty-trained her daughter at 16 months old. Holy cannoli!!! SIXTEEN MONTHS. She told me she did the 3 day method. I guess it's like a Potty Boot Camp. Gianna was probably 20 months then, so I got excited of the possibility and thought Gianna would be a perfect candidate to train before she was two. And I thought of the money I'd be saving by not buying diapers. I was pumped.
And then I got home. And reality (and a tad bit of selfishness) set in. Potty training is a big commitment of time, energy, patience and perseverance. Plus, I'd have to kiss goodbye care-free errands, car-trips, shopping, and be on the constant look-out for clean, or at least decent, restrooms at a moments notice. Frankly, for me, the expense of the diapers is totally worth the convenience. Changing diapers doesn't bother me....maybe because I only have one child.
Well, one day we were enjoying a sweet little play date with Gianna's friend Annie, and her mom asked me if Gianna was potty-trained. With a lowered head and apologetic tone, I shook my head no. "Not yet. I know I should, but...."
And then, my wonderful friend looked at me and said, "Girl, I didn't potty train Annie til she was 3 1/2 and that's ONLY because she was starting school. I just loved the convenience of diapers and wasn't ready to give it up."
I breathed a sigh of relief - completely relating to her philosophy. Well, that was it for me. I decided I wasn't going to push the issue at all. I decided Gianna would train when she was good and ready.
And wouldn't you know? The flippin' next week she started asking if she could sit on the potty. So much for postponing for mom's convenience. So a couple of times every day, she sat on the potty with her books. TONS of books. And she'd stay on the potty for a long time....with absolutely no action.
She's occasionally interrupt her sitting time, to scurry to her room to find even more books...
We even read books about numbers....
...focusing primarily on Number 1 and Number 2 (ha!).
Sitting. Reading. Singing. Talking. Sitting.
Still no action.
After about the fifth day, I said a little prayer,
"Lord, if we're going to spend this much time on the potty, could you please intervene and bless us with a tiny bit of success in order to motivate her."
Maybe it was the Lord's prompting that inspired me to 'fill her up' with lots of "special water" (spike with some juice) and vanilla-flavored milk. I also had a little bit of Show and Tell including the presentation of cool panties that she will wear and the big Potty Prize of the special pony (a unicorn stick horse that I found for a buck at Dollar Tree.) And then, of course, their was the promise of candy.
Well, not 15 minutes later....
Divine Intervention or just the perfect combination of motivation and luck.....
we hit the jackpot!
There was dancing, singing, jubilant yells, ponies, candy!
Good times!
That was a week ago....and we've yet to fill the potty again.
But we still have the memory....and the motivation. Who could ask for more. At least Mommy's a more willing participant in the process now.
* * * * * * * * * * *
I'm not quite sure how I got suckered into the next adventure, but the day following the potty party Gianna convinced me to haul her potty outside so she could be further motivated. What was I thinking? Didd I really want to start that tradition? Maybe because it was the day she was recovering from her little "eye incident" and I was bending over backward to appease her.
It didn't do a thing for the potty training effort....which is probably a good thing.
I'm happy to report that she's yet to request another outdoor "visit."
So it is that we are embarking on another adventure. (But I'm not saying good-bye to diapers any time soon.)
Today Gianna is two years, two months, two weeks and two days old.
(Gotta love those little birthday tickers!)
I remember reading one particular blogger's thoughts about her growing children. She keeps closing her eyes and remembering exactly how each of her children were at two years old. That was her magical age in her heart's memory. I think of that often - especially during those LONG days of parenting a two year old - that this is the good stuff. Many of these moments is what I'll sit in my rocker and remember when I'm old and gray older and grayer.
So here's my effort to record some of what Gianna is doing at TWO. This post is really for me, but read along if you'd like. I'm just going to jot things as the come to me.....
"Good Mawning, Mommy!" is the first thing I hear when I enter her room each day. "How you?"
Not such a shabby way to begin a day!
SLEEP
She still sleeps in her crib....and frankly, I'm in no rush to move her into a toddler or regular bed. She seems to love being in there. She's not yet tried to climb out (that I'm aware of.) I'm sure somewhere between 2 1/2 and 3 -- we'll be transitioning to a bigger bed. We still put her down at 7pm, but there is usually a 30-60 minute variety show that happens in the confines of her crib. And it doesn't matter what time we put her down, there's still a show. There are nights when we have special things going on when bedtime ends up being 8:30 or 9ish. Still a show. Some nights are hysterically funny. She often recounts conversations and events of the day, but mostly it's song and dance (and a little jumping thrown in for good measure.)
No matter what time she actually goes to sleep she almost always wakes up within minutes of 7am. Every now and then she sleeps later....and that's usually on weekends when Iain's home to get up with her. Go figure. We think it's because there's far less traffic that she hears on weekends.
Naps have gotten shorter --- and I'm not thrilled about that little change. For a while is was down to 45 minutes which was wearing me out, but now we're between 60 and 90 minutes with an occasional two hour jackpot. She typically wakes up singing, so I usually let her have karaoke time in her crib for a good 20 minutes after she wakes. I usually know just when to get her once I hear, "Oh, MOOOOOMMMMMMY, WHERE AAAAAAAAAAAAAARE YOOOOOOUUUUU?"
SONG and DANCE
She sings ALL the time. Loves music. Loves instruments. Loves dancing. But there's rarely an hour that goes by that she's not singing. She is one of those people that hears a song once or twice - and knows it - or most of it. She, like her mommy, makes up the words that she doesn't remember. And she just recently started making up songs on her own. So funny. When we're at church and the choir stops singing, she shouts out requests, "Trading my Sorrows!" "We are Dinosaurs!" "I'm gonna Catch you!" The people in the pews nearby get frequent chuckles from watching our munchkin.
CHURCH
I wish I could say I look forward to church each week....but apparently this is just one of those seasons in parenting where is just a lot of work. Honestly, anyone who goes to church with us would say that Gianna is an angel during Mass. And she really is good for the most part...it's just that it takes effort every minute of the hour (plus) we're there in order to keep her quiet and pleasant. We managed to give up the 'cry room' about a year ago. We still get up occasionally with her, but is to stand up in the back of the church with her. On a couple of occasions, we've had to remove her from the church completely. One time, Iain took her to the car and they waited for me. That was a bad day....but she remembers it and it hasn't happened again since. (Knock on wood.)
MEALS
She says grace by herself and has gotten into the habit of dragging it out very slowly....and it interrupting herself by saying, "Hi Mommy!" "See Gianna's painting." "Where'd Max go?" Little turkey!
As a baby, she had the best appetite and ate anything. These days, she loves a food one day and is not at all interested the next. I'm just rolling with the punches. I promised myself I wouldn't get into battles over food...and for the most part, I haven't. I just get creative with food choices and meal times. Some days her appetite is small and other days she's ravenous. Overall she has a really healthy diet. She loves fruit and most vegetables...although every now and then she has 'texture issues.'
I'm kinda surprised we've made it this far avoiding fast food and drinking only water and milk (with the exception of occasionally spiking her water with a little bit of juice.) It hasn't been easy, but I'm really glad we've made the effort.
What's is really interesting and surprising is that Gianna is not proficient at feeding herself. It boggles me. She still asks, "Mommy do it?" I guess part of the reason might be that she recently decided she doesn't like being messy or dirty. I'm not making a big deal about it. She's gotten better over the last few weeks, and I'm fairly certainly that she'll have self-feeding master by the time she starts school. :)
Not potty trained yet....but they're have been big developments in that department. Post coming soon! She's in a size 5 diaper still and my goal is to end diaper-wearing with that size...without duct tape! We'll see. That's another area that I'm not pushing in.
SIZE
Gianna weight almost 30 pounds and is almost 34 inches tall. People think she's so big, but she's really more on the average size. Her clothes are 2T, but can also wear some 24months and some 3T's. Her waist is tiny and even her 24m jeans are too big. She's come a long way from Princess Puff-a-lump!
MISCELLANEOUS
Since hitting two - she's definitely amped up the DRAMA. Forced crying is her latest skill - and if I manage to ignore it (it drives me nuts) she'll stop mid-cry and say in the most matter-of-fact tone, "Mommy! I crying!" AND, she works on her crying and her drama faces in the mirror! Heaven help us! Gotta love those girls.
Memory. Holy cow, this child's memory is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!! (I actually have a really good memory too. I have very vivid memories at her age and before.) She remembers who gave her things, she great with names, and never forgets a place. She can even remember conversations that she had six months ago. If floors us.
Within a couple of weeks of turning two, her verbal skills hit warp speed. She's been really good at communicating from the early sign language days, but all of a sudden words, turned into sentences with turned into full on conversations. As wonderful as her ability to speak is, there are moments that we pray for silence. Can't seem to find the "off" switch on this child. I remember my mother telling me that she used to hide in her closet, because I wouldn't stop talking. I guess this is what you call payback.
Oh, and we deep in the throws of repeat a word, phrase or request ENDLESSLY! The other day we were all in the car and she repeated a phrase 37 times. THIRTY SEVEN times! I repeated, "Deliver me, O Lord." about 37 times after that.
As many times as I'm challenged, frustrated, and feeling completely overwhelmed in my parenting efforts - I am so grateful for this remarkable child who is really one of the most delightful, loving and precious kids I've ever known. Really. It's no secret I love this child "big, big like the moon" ---- but I have to say, I like her, too. I really, really, really like her.
This was taken yesterday morning just before Iain took Gianna to Sam Houston.
He told me when they returned that that the mosquitoes were bad, so they cut their trip short. We noticed several bites on her. They were red and swollen. We suspected that she's allergic to mosquito bites. She's only gotten a few over the last two years (which is pretty amazing in SW Louisiana) but they've all been red and swollen.
Amazing what a tiny little mosquito can do.
One tiny little mosquito, bit our tiny little girl on her tiny little face and left her with a not-so-tiny little bite. As yesterday went on, it seems to get more swollen. Last night at about 2:00am, I happened to go into Gianna's room to check on her (which I almost NEVER do because she is an extremely light sleeper.) Sure enough, she popped her little head up saying, "Hi Mommy!" I picked her up and rocked her for a minute before I got a glimpse of her left eye. I turned the light on and was surprised by how swollen it had become.
I brought her into our bedroom to show Iain. We gave her some Benadryl and after a hilarious little slumber party, put her back to bed in her room. I went it in to get her this morning at 7am...and her eye had complete swollen shut. UGH!
My poor little prize fighter.
We called Iain's brother who's a pediatrician in FL, but he wasn't available, so decided to just bring her to the E.R.
We may have well taken her to Disney Land.
Everything is an adventure for her.
She was an entertaining little patient for the staff...asking them to listen to her heart and look in her ears.
Checking her heart rate.
Playing with their equipment.
The doctor came in (same doc that saw Iain during his "episode" earlier in the year who told me, "Hmm....that's puzzling. I'm going to go ahead and release him but if you can't wake him up again...just bring him in.")
This time he said,
"Oh wow. Yeah....well I guess she's allergic to mosquito bites."
I can't wait to find out just how much we'll be paying for that diagnosis.
"Not much you can do about that, except avoid getting bit."
Oh, okay Doctor. That ought to be a real cinch in Louisiana.
He suggested Benadryl - which we'd been using with no success.
He gave her a steroid med. and a script so we're awaiting promising results, but so far, 3 hours later - it still looks pretty bad. She still looks cute though. The nurse said not many people could pull that look off - but she made it work for her. :)
Oh, and while we were waiting for the doctor to come in, Iain's phone alerted him to an email from our insurance company that a claim had been made for Gianna. The doctor hadn't even SEEN her yet. How funny is that? They're on the ball in the billing department!
I'm so glad that my sweet girl's first visit to the E.R. was minor, positive and drama-free. I just keep on thinking of parents who live in the E.R. and hospital for heart-wrenching illnesses and injuries. I'm am counting our blessings for our healthy child.
Does anyone have any good suggestions for bug repellent for kids that is deet-free and doesn't smell like they're wearing bug repellent? Does Avon's Skin So Soft still work in that regard?
It's getting more challenging to take pictures and videos of her. I've been using my phone to do both because it's easy, I have it with me all the time, I can record her discreetly, and I can upload directly to You.Tube.
She's been counting for a while now and singing her ABC's but I've yet to catch it on tape - until this week. I'm grateful for my handy little phone.
