Happy Passover

Me and Tali with her pre-Passover snack.

Me and Tali last Passover.

What a difference a year makes.

Feet

My side of the family is plagued with bad feet. I inherited both my mom's and my dad's foot problems and, as a bonus, I am flat-footed. I've spent over a year doing physical therapy and having surgery to correct these issues - except the flat feet, those require expensive orthotics. So I crossed my fingers that Tali would have nice, normal feet like her dad.

While it's yet to be seen if Tali inherited any of my foot problems, I have already discovered one of her own - narrow feet. Tali's feet are so narrow that she doesn't fit into most kid's shoes. Add to the fact that her feet are tiny and it's quite the (expensive) adventure to find shoes for her. Before I learned about this narrowness, I thought I could get away with ordering a pair of sandals online for the summer. They arrived last week and as soon as I put the shoes on her, she tripped! They were huge. So I sucked it up and went to the kid's shoe store.

The woman at the shoe store measured Tali's feet and then brought out the only four shoes in the store that could fit her. Out of the four, two actually fit and she only liked one of them (which was the pair I liked better and was also $10 cheaper). The saleswoman told me that she has very narrow and very expensive feet. She actually told me that Tali is a future Ferragamo wearer (good thing Tali didn't understand that!). Poor girl will always have a difficult time finding shoes. I feel bad for her. Hopefully this is the only foot problem she has.

Eat

I'm still working on sign language with Tali. I decided to teach her "eat" next - a good one for the girl who eats all day long. I haven't been doing it as regularly as I should so it took a while. But last night H was eating a rice cake and Tali wanted some. First, she asked for help and then she asked to eat! The sign for eat is actually making your fingers into a beak and then tapping them to your mouth. Tali got the basic idea and we knew what she meant.

Ouch!

Check out the bruise on the right side of Tali's forehead. How'd she get that? Well, she ran into two different chairs within five minutes. First, she ran into a dining chair while walking around with the blanket over her head. She didn't really cry, though. She just got up, put the blanket back over her head, and kept wandering. Then about five minutes later, after she'd finished playing with the blanket, she ran into one of the living room chairs for no reason. She just ran right into it. This time, she cried. I tried to ice her forehead but it's hard to keep ice on a busy toddler's forehead for very long. Looks like it hurts, doesn't it?

Happy Spring, Everyone!

Daylight Savings

We sprung ahead on Sunday but Tali stayed behind. Instead of switching her internal clock to sleep from 7:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m., we decided to not mess with a good thing and let her sleep from 8:00 p.m. until 8:00 a.m. It's taking me a bit of adjusting but it seems to be working. I now have an hour to myself in the morning (H's alarm goes off at 7:00 a.m. so I'm up) and I'm going to use it to exercise. The other bonus is that H gets to read to her before bed. But, now I have one less hour to cook and clean in the evening. So I'm working on getting those done while Tali is still awake. Tali's naps and meals are also an hour later so I have to constantly remind myself it's not meal or naptime just yet. I guess it's better for me to make the adjustments than for Tali to make them. Or, we could just get rid of this whole changing the clocks thing. It's a bit silly, if you ask me.

Sick Update

Wow. Tali's cold hit me hard. By Sunday I could barely move (again). I took Nyquil Saturday night so that I could sleep but it had the opposite effect. I was so parched that I woke up every hour to drink. So by morning I was groggy and still stuffy. Luckily, Tali spent the night at Savta's and Saba's so I had the morning to sit on the sofa. H went to pick her up that afternoon and so I only had a few hours of a high-energy toddler for the day. I got a bit better on Monday and today I'm mostly better - just a bit of a cough and blowing my nose (which Tali finds hysterical) every so often. So that's seven days of sickness for me. I've had enough, thank you very much.

Oh, and Tali still has a runny nose and occasional cough. She's mostly better, though.

Watching Daddy Leave for Work

Part of our morning ritual is saying goodbye to Daddy and then watching him walk to his car.

Typhoid Marys

This week illness has struck the females of our household.

On Tuesday, Tali came down with a cold. It wasn't as bad as last month's cold, but it's lasted longer. She's still not better. It has caused her to wake up multiple times a night and we're all suffering from lack of sleep.

On Wednesday, I developed some kind of 24-hour bug. I was in so much pain that I could barely move. I laid on the floor of Tali's room while she played. At one point, she took her blanket and pacifier and cuddled next to me. It only lasted about 30 seconds but it was so sweet. H had to come home early to help me with her.

Yesterday, I developed a bad reaction to the pneumonia shot I was given on Thursday. I couldn't lift my arm and it was very swollen. I had the chills and generally felt icky. (Due to my asthma and compromised immune system, I was told I needed the shot. Usually people don't get it until age 65. Pathetic, huh?)

Now, I seem to have gotten a milder case of Tali's cold. It's mostly just a cough and it could very well be from lack of sleep. Savta and Saba are taking Tali tonight and I hope that I will be able to get enough rest to function next week.

Steps

Up until about 20 minutes ago, Tali would only crawl up three steps on our stairs. Then, she'd turn around to "walk" down (meaning I had to be right behind her to help). But today, she climbed up four. Then a few minutes later, she climbed up five. Then she climbed up six. And then, she climbed all the way to the top, stood up and walked through the baby gate! She acted as though it was no big deal. I think I was more excited for her than she was.

Nursery Rhyme for Tali

There was a little girl who had a little curl

Right in the middle of her forehead

When she was good, she was very, very good

And when she was bad she was horrid

This is Tali. Except for the curl. And, lately, except for the good. Tali has been mostly horrid this past week. She's refusing her naps, waking up early and super cranky. No matter what I do, she's just a mess. She has HUGE bags under her eyes and yawns all day. But she won't sleep. It's stressing me out. Yesterday I had to convince myself that having a glass of wine at 10:30 in the morning was a bad idea. Today I took two hours off to go to yoga and the grocery store (of course, she slept the whole time) and I still needed a break by 4:00 p.m. Even though it's pretty cold outside (30s and 40s), we've been taking lots of long walks. I just cannot stay in the house with her. We've also run lots of errands. I think she's had breakdowns all over Greenwich: the car dealership, the Apple store, the grocery store, the pet store, the bank, etc.

Anyone want a baby? She's free. No returns, please.

The Blanket

Tali received a pink blanket (knitted by one of Granny's friends) as a baby gift. She's loved this blanket since she was an infant. It used to keep her warm when she napped in her swing. It was the first thing she played peek-a-boo with. It was dragged around the floor when she crawled. And now she uses it to cover her eyes when she's walking! Yes, it's strange. But it's also hysterical!

To Sum It Up

Want to know what we've been up to recently? This picture pretty much sums it up. Tali carries around random household objects (the bigger, the better) and shuts doors.