Shanah Tovah!

 Wishing everyone and sweet and happy New Year.

What I wish all of my pictures looked like.

What the majority of my pictures look like.

Twenty Years From Now

I have a good feeling that 20 years from now, Eli's college friends will witness this exact same thing. Except there will probably be a different substance in his bottle.

15 Month Check-up

In the waiting room.

Yesterday Eli had his 15-month check-up. Tali came along because she LOVES going to the doctor, even if it's for her.

For the most part, things went well. He's still in the 1% for weight but has moved up to the 3% (was 1% last time) for height. The doctor is pleased with his progress from the physical therapy. She saw him stand on his own and take a few steps. His vitals checked out fine.

But, she did notice that his fine motor skills are behind. If he doesn't improve by the next visit, then she'd like to see him evaluated for occupational therapy as well. And he's still not talking (except for the occasional "mama" and "dada" - we think) so we should plan for a speech evaluation at 18 months unless the words start flowing soon.

At the end of the check-up, Eli needed two shots. The nurse came back in to administer them. I had Eli on my lap and Tali was sitting right across from him. I asked her to sing Eli a song to help keep him happy (one of her favorite things to do) but she was too distracted by the needles. As soon as the first needle went in, Eli started wailing. Somewhere between the first and second shot, she burst into tears as well. Sympathy crying. I wish I could have held both of them on my lap.

They both calmed down, eventually, got their stickers and left. Twice the kids, twice the drama.

First Day (Ever) of Ballet Class

  
I doubt I'm alone in this one, but forgive me if I am. Often, I have it all planned out. I know exactly how a particular day or event is going to go. And then, it happens. And I have no control over it. Everything I had planned for goes completely differently. My ideal vision of what would happen turns into the nightmare I wouldn't dare think of. And I am stuck trying to figure out how to make it work. If I'm lucky, I'll do it with just a tiny bit of grace.

So went Tali's first day of ballet. Class begins at 4:00 and Tali doesn't normally wake up from her nap until at least 4:30. Knowing this, I was prepared. I got Tali in her tights and leotard before her nap. We laid out her skirt and packed up her ballet and tap shoes. Before I woke her, I set her snack out on the table. The plan was to give her a snack while I put the mandatory bun in her hair (lots of rules at this school - specific outfit and hair style). As soon as I woke her up, everything went to hell.

My first-ever bun. Not bad, huh?

Tali: Mommy, I don't want to wear the tights.
Me: Tali, everyone has to wear the tights. All the little girls will be in the same outfit as you.
Tali: But Mommy, I want to see my feet. I want to wear socks!
Me: You can put on socks after class is over.
Tali: (Begins crying) But Mommy....

Somehow, we made it downstairs. She got into her chair and I began making my first-ever bun. (Thanks to the Internet, I learned how to last night.) The child with the super-high pain threshold began crying that the bun hurt her. And then, my nightmare began. It was no longer about the bun. She was crying hysterically and had a million demands. She wanted to put her skirt on. She didn't want to go to ballet. She wanted a different snack. She wanted to go to ballet. She wanted to wear socks over her tights. She didn't want to go to ballet. She didn't want the tights. She wanted water. No, in a different cup. She wanted her friends in her ballet class. She didn't want the bun. She wants to wear the skirt up to her arms. She wanted to go to ballet. And on it went, for FIFTEEN minutes! In the middle of all of this, Eli started crying. No real reason, other than she was crying and it made him cry. So two screaming kids, a dog begging for their snack and we're going to be late.

I took a deep breath, got on my knees, looked Tali in the eye and calmly explained to her, again, that all the little girls must do these things to go to ballet. Once she gets there, she'll see that everyone else looks just like her. I asked her to let me finish her bun and then we would go. She calmed down a bit and we finished up. (Tiny bit of grace, thank you.)

Of course, we were late. I had planned to be there early and take a picture of her standing outside the dance studio. Instead, I got a picture of her petting Jackson in our mudroom. She refused to look at me. Probably because she had red puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

The one picture I was able to sneak of her face. See those eyes?

At the end of class, she was happy. She told me she wanted to go back again next Tuesday. She's been doing "shuffle-step" around the house all evening.
 

Walking out of door after class. Smile on her face, thankfully.

I didn't get the "before" picture so I settled for the "after" picture.

First Day of School And An Impromptu Picnic

Today was Tali's first day of school in the 3's. She picked out her favorite dress to wear for the occasion and insisted on a bow instead of her typical plastic barrette. There were no tears this year (a first!) and she would've stayed all day if she could have.

Tali's teachers this year are really into food and healthy eating (hooray!). They encourage parents to bring in "unusual" foods such as kiwi (not sure how that is unusual, but whatever) for the class to try. Their goal is to teach the kids how to try new things and hopefully expand their pallets. Each time a child tries a new food, he/she gets a "super try-er" sticker. These poor teachers are going to run out of stickers in just one month if they give one to Tali every time she "tries" a food. I warned them. Not sure they believe me, though.

So I told Tali about bringing in snacks and she decided that she wanted to bring in some Kabocha squash that I made on Saturday evening. I tried to talk her into carrots, but no such luck. She wanted the squash. So, today we brought some for her classmates. Only two kids tried it, Tali and her friend Lyla, and they both got stickers. No one else even touched it.

When I went to pick Tali up, they handed me back the squash and Eli saw it (it was in a bag before). So he pointed to the squash and then signed "help", indicating he wanted some. As we were walking to the parking lot, Tali and some of her friends stopped to play on the little bridge, around the stream and in the grass. Since Eli kept asking for the squash, I sat him on the ground for an impromptu picnic. While Tali played, he ate two big slices! Then Tali saw us eating the squash and came down to have another piece herself and feed one to Eli. As usual, all the other kids played and my kids ate. Someone should study them, really.  

I Finally Bit the Bullet

For the past 15 months, I have insisted that we did not need a double stroller. In the beginning, Tali wanted to walk. And if she didn't, I could easily put Eli in the baby carrier and her in the stroller. As Eli got older, I would usually carry him and hold Tali's hand. I just couldn't justify spending the money on yet another stroller (we had three) that would fill up almost my entire trunk.

But, then last Wednesday came. Neither kid took an afternoon nap (Eli cried in his crib so Tali, from the next room, sang at the top of her lungs to try and calm him) and I had errands to run. When we got to our first stop, they were both asleep. And since it's against the law to leave your napping kids in the car, I had to take them out. I put Eli in the stroller and held Tali's hand. Both were crying that I woke them up. Once inside the store, Eli calmed down but Tali escalated. She was screaming and insisting that SHE get in the stroller. I told her Eli was in it and she needed to walk. She was not okay with that. She started kicking him and trying to pull him out of the stroller. Of course, he started crying again. At two separate times during my 10 minutes in this store, two adults came up to her to try and distract/calm her. Didn't work. She was so upset that she couldn't sit down in the stroller. So I e-mailed H the following: "I give up. Time for a double stroller."

Today we went to the baby store to buy one. We had pretty much picked out what we wanted but I wanted to see it in person first. As soon as we got to the strollers, Tali pointed to the one we wanted and said "I want that one." She read our minds! We ended up getting it. This afternoon we took them for a spin down the block and all went well. Next time they refuse to nap, I'll be prepared.