Teething Has Begun!

Eli started teething today. He's sucking on his gums and drooling. Tali started a little bit older than this and didn't get her first tooth until after she turned one. Let's hope, for my sake, that Eli also waits that long to cut a tooth.

Taking One (or Four) For the Team

Our new house has a very old swing set out back. Tali loves it and I make sure she has time to play on it every time we go to the house. Unfortunately, our back yard is currently full of mosquitoes. Every time we are out there, we all get bitten (except for Tali, strangely). Today Eli is sporting four new bites (one is on the other side of his wrist) from this weekend's visits. Poor baby. Luckily, they don't seem to bother him.

Just Kidding!

Tali saying goodbye to the cherry tree she never got to climb.

In my last post, I mentioned that I was going to begin chronicling our house renovation in a new blog. Well, I've changed my mind. Instead of writing for all the world to see, I am going to simply send out regular e-mails, with pictures.  If you'd like to be included in those e-mails, please let me know. You can either respond to this post or send me an e-mail.

We've Been Busy

We've been very busy with our new house. Between the kids waking at night and all of the details H has been working on, neither of us are getting much sleep. The good news is that we've finally selected a contractor! Work will start next week. I plan to write about our renovation process here:

http://ourrenoproject.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

First Day of School (Parts I and II)

Tali's first day in the 3's.

Tali's first day in the 2's.

Last year when H and I were looking for a new school closer to our new home, we toured two different schools. Neither would take Tali in their 2's program as she was too verbal and they were worried she'd be frustrated and bored with younger 2's who didn't speak much at all. So we settled on a school and agreed to put her in a 3's class and simply repeat the 3's or 4's.

After Tali's first day in the 3's (a Friday), the teachers approached the principal with concern. Tali was so young (there was a girl almost an entire year older than her!) and she seemed a bit uncomfortable. Perhaps she'd be better off in the 2's. On Monday morning, I spoke with the principal. H and I both agreed that we'd like to put Tali back in the 2's as that is where she belongs. So, we made the switch. (Of course, after her second day in the 3's the teachers said she did great and they'd like to keep her.) I'm so happy we did. The 2's class started a week later so she didn't walk into a situation where everyone was comfortable but her. There are 10 kids in her class and two are actually older than her by just a week and two. Another two are younger by only a month and two. The kids in her class are very verbal and the moms I've met so far are very nice.

The only downside to all this change is that Tali has cried a lot. This makes her fourth new classroom in a year (last year's 2's, camp, the 3's and now back to the 2's). Poor thing is very confused. She quickly made friends with another girl in class so I'm sure things will calm down soon.

Finally Out of the High Chair

Tali's first meal in her new booster seat.

Yum!

This past weekend, Tali hit a very big milestone - she moved to a booster seat! While most kids make this move well before age two, Tali was perfectly happy in her high chair. And we were perfectly happy to have her in it. The only reason we moved her is because Eli will need the chair in 2-3 months and we wanted to make sure there was enough time between the two of them that Tali wouldn't consider it "her chair" anymore. It actually took a bit of convincing to get Tali into her new booster seat. Now that she's there, I wonder why we didn't do this sooner. It's nice having her at the table with us and it's so much easier to clean.

Tali's first meal in her new booster seat? A bagel with veggie cream cheese. Her sixth? A pizza with guanciale, black truffles and sunny side egg (note: she loved the truffles but didn't care for the guanciale). She'll happily eat anywhere!

It's Raining, It's Pouring

Last Tuesday it was raining. I decided we would stay inside all day. Tali insisted on going out. She really wanted to wear her rain boots, rain coat and carry her umbrella. So I let her play out back. She had a blast!

My (Failed) Attempt at Sleep Training

Eli after his second night of sleep training.

Two weekends ago, I decided to start sleep training Eli. He was still waking up twice a night and not taking a good feeding at either time. When he slept an hour past his morning wake time, I thought it was time to teach him how to sleep through the night. I started right at three months, even though most say that you shouldn't start until four. I knew it would be rough in the beginning but I figured it would be worth it if I could get a full night's sleep when Tali started school (30 minute drive each way!). 

So, the training began on the Saturday night of a long weekend. It went exactly as I thought it would the first two nights (awful then a bit better). And then I really threw a wrench in the plans. A few people had been trying to convince me that it was time to drop the swaddle because Eli was three months old. I thought he still needed it but after a bit more thought, I figured maybe they were right. He was a terrible napper and since I already doing the sleep training, I might as well do this at the same time. WRONG! We went 1 1/2 nights without the swaddle and it was awful! He woke up every hour crying. In the middle of the second night, I swaddled him and fed him (yes, I caved) and he happily went back to sleep for a few hours. At that point, I decided that maybe it was too early to train.

Eli had his three month visit the next day so I spoke to the doctor about it. Yes, it is too early to train. And, yes, some babies need the swaddle past three months (even in to the fourth or fifth month). So now we're back to feeding at night. But we're down to one feeding instead of two. My fingers are crossed that he'll sleep through the night on his own soon. I could really use a full night's rest!

Random Cuteness

We live next door to a family who has a son about 5 months older than Tali. They like to play together because, as you know, Tali plays like a boy. She can run, climb and get dirty just as easily as the boys (sometimes even better than them). Here is a picture of them from last week. He was on his way home and we were on our way out so it was just a quick little hug to say hello.

Some Pictures of Tali

In her rocking chair.

Reading one of her favorite books (Brown Bear).

This one is my favorite.

She loves that horse!

I know you cannot see her face in this picture. But I'm obsessed with her hair and thought I'd show you how beautiful it is. Wish mine looked like this!

Tali starts school soon and they've asked for two recent pictures of her for her cubby and their board. So yesterday morning I snapped a few. Here are my favorites. (And yes, I switched up her outfit a bit so it looked like I actually take pictures of my daughter on more than one occasion. )

A Whole New View at the Grocery Store

Tali and Eli in the cart a day after this post was written.

For Tali, there's been a monumental change in the way we go shopping at the grocery store. Now, instead of riding in the cart, she gets to walk! Lucky girl. This all started because having Eli in the baby carrier is not as easy as it was with Tali. He's just not as happy there. So I decided to keep him in the car seat (which conveniently clicks into the front of the cart) and let Tali walk. We've done it three times now and she loves it.

The first time we did this, Tali was so excited that she did EVERYTHING. I decide that instead of asking her to name the piece of produce I had grabbed, I would ask her to help me find it. She loved this game. She also loved that most of the produce is reachable. So first she reached into the green beans bin and grabbed a green bean. Then she saw the nectarines and happily bit into one before I could stop her (I saved the sticker so we could pay for it). Nearby customers thought it was cute. She did, however, slightly abused her freedom and ran away from me twice.

The second time we went to the grocery store I was prepared. I had wet paper towels to wipe down any fruit she might grab (she ate a nectarine and green apple) and we had a conversation about running away before we got inside. This time, she was very well behaved. She stayed near the cart the entire time! Her reward was a number of customers telling her how cute she was. (I'm not sure if she understands this yet, but she will soon.)

Tuesday was the third trip to the grocery store out of the cart. Since the newness has worn off, Tali only wanted to be out of the cart for a little bit. Then she asked to go in the cart with Eli. So I put her in the large basket, told her she wasn't allowed to stand up and grabbed a small second cart to put all of my produce (grocery items went in with her as I wasn't afraid she'd eat those). Aside from the whole two cart thing, this was actually a great way to shop with both kids. They were contained and happy. Until checkout. Then Tali wanted out of the cart so she could build a tower out of the chocolate boxes at the checkout counter and Eli started crying. At least I made it that far!

I am convinced that one day soon I will leave the grocery store with a smile on my face and just as calm as when I walked in.

Picture

It's sad, but up until yesterday I didn't have any pictures of me and Eli and he's almost three months! Yesterday, I asked Savta to take some. Thought I'd share one of the better ones. (Note: The photographer did a good job. I just don't look so great right now.)