Wordless Wednesday: First Day of School

High-five

Piper had two encounters with babies yesterday. The first one was at Morgan's preschool class. One of the other Moms brings her newborn with her and this is the first time Piper noticed him. He's probably about 3 months old now. She first saw him sleeping in his car seat. I had images in my mind of her smacking him on the head or trying to pull him out of the seat like she does with her baby dolls and their strollers. At one point the Mom took the baby out of his car seat. Then Piper noticed the empty seat and decided she wanted to play in it. Once the Mom said this was OK, she climbed in and out and rocked in it all while giving me these sneaky, silly looks. Finally she saw the baby with his Mom, pointed at him and said "Baby!" Then she reached up and patted him on the head, a little harder than I would have liked, but not too hard. She did this a few more times before we left.

Then the same evening we had our Life Group meeting at our house. One of the couples in our group is serving as a temporary foster family for a three year-old boy and 4 month old girl. We were amazed at how well the kids played while we discussed our topic of the week. Morgan even had some positive interaction with the little boy before the night was over.

As for the baby, Piper didn't pay too much attention to her until the end of the evening. She found the baby's bottle and decided she was going to feed her. This resulted in the bottle being knocked into the baby's head and face a few times. Ouch! Poor baby! It was a sweet gesture, but we managed to redirect that behavior pretty quickly. Piper even go to hold her (with support) and she was pretty gentle about it. It sure made me realize that's Piper's not a little baby anymore! I still will call her a baby until she's two, but she's definitely my big baby!

When they were about to leave and the baby was in her car seat, Piper sweetly patted her on the head like she did with the baby boy earlier in the day. Then she moved over to the side of the seat and started sort of hitting the baby's blanket on the side of her body. I say "sort of" because it wasn't really hard and she really was only touching the blanket, or so I thought. The last time she slapped at the blanket I noticed the baby's hand was open and peeking out the blanket. I then realized Piper was trying to give her a high-five! We all cracked up, but unfortunately the little one did not like it and let out a baby-sized yell. That was enough of the high-fives for that night. Hopefully Piper will learn that some babies are not quite ready for big girl high-fives!

She Knows

Last night I was rocking Piper for a little while before bed. She's always super cuddly at night and likes to be held for as long as possible before I put her in bed. I sang her a few songs and said prayers. She was quiet for a bit as we rocked a little longer. As I stood up to put her in her crib she said, "Mama... Mama," very clearly. I asked her "Where's Mama?" and she tapped her little finger on my chest. Ah, sweet sweet words.

The Pumpkin Piper

My "changes" post was supposed to post TODAY, not yesterday... so my Wordless Wednesday became Wordy Wednesday. Oh well.

On to more updates. Our little Piper is now 17 months old and is turning into quite a character, at least around us. Our neighbor watched her yesterday while I had a dentist appointment and said she didn't talk at all. Hmmm. Maybe she's got the shyness gene I have. We'll see.

Here are some words Piper has added to her vocabulary lately:

Dance - "Da... da" (usually while swaying back and forth or turning in circles)
Stomp - "tomp" (If you're happy and you know it, stomp you're feet!)
Open - "op"
Ball - "ba"
Beep Beep - "bee-bee" (like honking a car horn, or pushing the "buttons" to the microwave in her play kitchen)
Apple - "a-puh"
Button (Belly button) - "dubba dubba"

Pretty cute. I still worry that she doesn't say "Daddy" or "Mama" really. Some times she'll say it when you tell her too, but not voluntarily. If you ask her "Where's Daddy?" she'll look right at him, so she knows who we are, she just doesn't use our "names." It just seems so strange that she's adding other words, but not our "names." I'm going to ask the Dr. about this at her 18 month appointment, if she doesn't start saying it by then. She definitely has way more words and overall better "functional communication" (pointing and body language) than Morgan did at this age. This gives me hope, but I still have a lot of worries.

On the other hand, she is impressing me by what she is picking up from us. Just this morning we were in the car at Morgan's school and I put some lotion on my hands. She watched me rub the lotion in and started making the same movements, rubbing her hands together. She seemed very pleased with herself for doing this. I think little things like this do show that she is socially aware of what other people are doing around her. Also, she was doing it totally on her own, without any prompting from me.

Piper is also doing a lot of pointing at things she sees, like pictures on a wall or something bright colored. She's been saying "ba-da!" while she does this. I'm not sure what this means, but she's calling our attention to it. This is something Morgan only does once in a while.

I hate to compare the two of them, but I really can't get around it. They both have their strengths and challenges. We still call Piper "hyper Piper" sometimes. I don't really think she's hyper, but she reacts very quickly and intensely when she wants something or if something is taken from her. We joke that the little ponytail on the top of her head is a fuse because she's a firecracker about to go off. David says someday she's just going to spontaneously combust.

We have two girls who are very strong willed. Challenging, yet I'm glad they know what they want. The other day I had a basket of clean laundry on the floor while I got Piper dressed for the day. She went and grabbed a shirt out of the basket and put it around her shoulders. This is how she "puts her clothes on." I grabbed a different outfit from the basket and tried to put it on her. She screeched and pushed the shirt away and went and got the first shirt and brought it to me. I guess that's what she wanted to wear that day because I was able to put it on her without a fight. She also seems awfully fascinated with shoes. Uh-oh.

She's getting better at using a spoon. She won't let me feed her anymore, so I have to put up with the mess if I'm going to let her learn. I'm behind on working on the open cup because I'm dreading more mess. Gotta get on that one.

What else? She's still pretty wobbly on her feet sometimes, but she still moves pretty fast. I've also got this on my list for the Dr (the wobbly part). She doesn't crawl anymore, so I know this will get better, but she falls down an awful lot. It doesn't seem to bother her though. She climbs on everything. She can even climb into her car seat all by herself which is especially impressive in David's bigger car. She really wants to climb up onto the stools in our kitchen... but I won't let her. She gets pretty mad, but sorry kid, you're not ready for that (or I'm not).

This kid's got some pretty good fine motor skills. Her Dr. mentioned this at her 2 month appointment as she tore apart the paper on the exam table as he was giving her the exam. She stacks blocks pretty well and puts the Little People in their various vehicles. She scribbles in coloring books (when she's not trying to eat the crayons) and she works well with the magnets on her doodle board. Pretty good.

Piper is even starting to display some pretend play. She turns any rectagular or oblong object into a phone and says "hi, hi." She puts play food in the pots in the play kitchen and stirs them with a spoon. As mentioned above, she pretends to push the buttons on the microwave. She pours us "tea" from her teapot and "drinks" from her own teacup. She brings us play cookies to eat. A good start, I think.

Oh and I almost forgot. The other day we went to Jump and Bounce again and Piper climbed all the way up the "ladder" on the biggest slide and slid down all by herself. She took her time getting up and didn't mind when the bigger, faster kids went around her. She just chugged her way up. She slides down any slide feet first on on her belly. So funny to watch. Go Piper!

Spirit Lake

Our area has a ton of beautiful lakes. That's something I did not appreciate so much growing up, since I was so used to the bay and ocean being the closest bodies of water. Many people here have second homes on lakes and rivers and spend much of the summer there. It is great fun for the kids.

Our spontaneous friends Amy and Trevor asked us Saturday morning if we wanted to head up to Spirit Lake, about 40 minutes Northeast of us in Idaho. After a bit of contemplation we decided to ditch our regimented selves (the ones who adhere to toddlers and baby's nap times) and go for it!

We found a small strip of sand next to a "resort" (in quotes because this resort was neither large, nor luxurious), slathered the girls with sunscreen and waded in.

Morgan and Taylor getting their sunscreen on

The resort manager gave Morgan a "Dum Dum" lollipop...it was coconut flavored

Piper patiently waiting her turn

Spirit Lake

Amy and Piper

Morgan, David and Taylor in her tube

Morgan LOVED the water! She had to be held back to get her sunscreen on. She waded right in, not bothered by the cold at all. Long after the rest of us were done, she would keep going back in saying "Mama water too!" over and over until I went in with her. Piper cried for a while when her chubby toes hit the cold water, but with some gradual dipping and swishing she adjusted and did a little kicking and splashing.

Trevor wading in (it was cold at first dip, but warmed up)

Morgan and me

Piper sitting pretty

Heart Melted

We were going about our normal bedtime routine tonight. I took a little longer than usual getting Piper's bottle ready so when I got back upstairs David was combing Morgan's hair. This is usually my job. When Morgan saw me she grabbed my hands, pulled me toward her and put her arms out for a hug. Usually her "hugs" are kind of one sided. She puts her arms up, but I'm the one that really squeezes her tight. This time she actually hugged ME!! I said "ahhh, I love you," and she say "I-yuv-oo" right back!! It just melted my heart. Then she did it again!!

It sure makes up for a day full of toddler whining and refusing to sit on the potty.

One more time...

We have used this tactic with Morgan a lot recently. As many two year olds do (maybe mine more than others), Morgan likes to do things over and over...and over again. Lately after a healthy number of repeats we say "one more time." Then when she finishes that time, we say "all done." This has worked pretty well. It cuts down on the number of times we read a particular book, sing songs or play a tickle game. She seems fine with it when we say "all done" and moves on to another activity.

Today I was helping her jump on a pillow (she usually tries to jump on me, but we've managed to redirect that to a pillow now). After the second jumping session she said all by herself "one (more) time," then jumped for a little while, stopped, said "all done." Then she got down off the pillow and walked away. I didn't mind her jumping a little more and sat there a little puzzled when she went off to play with her kitchen. I just shrugged my shoulders and thought to myself, "OK, I guess she's done." Then I just had to giggle a little.

Switcheroo

We had a BIG event last night! It was Morgan's first night in her "big girl" bed and Piper was transitioned to the crib. It was time. Here are some "before" photos before they went to bed.

Morgan's new bed all made up.

Trying it out for the first time

Piper's checking out the mobile. See Morgan's head behind the crib? She likes the music the mobile plays too and now goes in the room and says "more!"

I thought I'd throw in a random pic of Piper in the Jumperoo. She's gotten the hang of jumping this week because more of her feet touch the floor now.

Soo...our first night in the "new beds" was a little rough. We got them to bed late as it took us a while to switch the rooms/furniture around when they got up from their afternoon naps. After some stalling and a little crying everyone was asleep by about 10:30 pm. This process included a few Piper soothing sessions and one "standing in the bed" incident for Morgan. Whew! Piper woke up earlier than usual in the night, but that was better then expected. Morgan woke us all up at 5:00 am with some yells. A look in the video monitor showed that she was not in the bed at all. Yikes! We're not sure if this included falling out or if she climbed down on her own, but when David opened the door she was standing right there. There was no going back to sleep after that though. We hope she will sleep in later tomorrow. One night down, it can only get better from here!

Diaper Bug

We were getting ready to go out on an errand and I left Morgan downstairs for a few minutes by herself. When I came back down she ran up to me and said "diaper, diaper!" At first I thought she was telling me she needed her diaper changed (which could have been the case, because when I did it was pretty wet). Then I looked at the area we change diapers downstairs and saw this...

Hee hee!! She just cracks me up! She's been obsessed with this changing pad for a while, now she's putting her toys on it like they need their diaper changed. Too funny!

First Haircut

Morgan got her first haircut on Saturday! It was a long time coming. This first picture of Morgan in her kitchen is somewhat of a "before" picture. Her hair has gotten rather mullet-like and scraggly. She did really great, no crying. Towards the end she wanted to get "down," but timing was perfect and the haircut was done.

Cooking in the kitchen

Just arrived at the Hair Zoo. Sitting on her rhinoceros.

First snip!

She likes it! She also had a video of Elmo to watch.

The first lock of hair. They gave us a cute certificate for her first haircut with a bit of her hair attached.

Getting to hold the combs

Smiling at Mama and Grandma

Helping comb her hair

Mama's checking out the final product

Making the bangs a little shorter

We don't have a great "after" shot. I'm trying to retrieve one from my Mom's phone. Will post soon!!

ABCs Revisited

Morgan is currently winding down in her crib by reciting the ABCs to herself...we think she got almost all the letters, too!!

It has begun

We have been able to avoid it until now, the one and only...

...the worshipped...

...the obsession...

... that is known only as...

ELMO.

Need I say more?!

ABCs

Morgan has been very diligently learning her ABCs. When we say each letter she'll repeat it back to us. Here's how it goes:

Parent: "A" Morgan: " A"
"B" "B"
"C" "C"
"D" "D"
"E" "E"
"F" "F"
"G" "G (followed by rolling tongue)
"H" "Aesh"
"I" "I"
"J" "ppbbbttt"
"K" "Kkkkkkk" (one long k sound)
"L" "L"
"M" "M"
"N" "N"
"O" "Ohhhh"
"P" "P"
"Q" "Coo"
"R" "S" (yes, she jumps ahead to S)
"S" "S"
"T" "T"
"U" "UUUUUUUUU!"
"V" "V"
"W" "byoo"
"X" "Xssssss"
"Y" "Y"
"Z" "Z"

So, she's pretty adept except for a few letters she puts her own spin on. We think it's pretty cute.

Piper is One Month Old!

Piper is one month old today! Somehow it seems like it has flown by, but sometimes it seems to have really crawled along...I think that's what waking several times a night does to you. At least we know that this is the hardest part and soon we will all be sleeping longer and better.

I took these pictures this morning and she just looks HUGE to me! She has grown a lot in a short period of time. She looks smaller when you see Morgan next to her, but she's still a chunky monkey. I suspect she'll be like Morgan, always at the top of the percentile charts.

Check out those cheeks...and the crazy hair! You can't tell from these pics, but I think her eyes may stay blue.

Tried to get some pictures with big sis Morgan, but neither were very cooperative.

Big Sister Fun

Morgan is enjoying being a big sister to Piper. Every chance she gets she'll "help" rock Piper in her swing, car seat or give her lots of hugs and kisses. About once a day she goes into "bad girl" mode and hits Piper (mostly if I'm trying to feed her under a nursing cover) or she'll slap at Mama a little. She knows when she is in trouble because she puts herself in "time out." I think we might have to change our "time out" strategy, it doesn't work as well as we would like at this point.

We came home from a few of Piper's appointments today (all went well!) and kept her in her car seat because she was sleeping so nicely. Morgan rocked Piper...a little too vigorously, so I kept saying "be gentle." Then she was just so cute that I got out the camera. Here's what happened next...

Oh, Mama's got the camera on me!

Now I'll run down the hallway and "roll over"...maybe Mama will come and tickle me

OK, she's still got the camera. I'll run towards her and smile real big!!

Such a little goof!!! We love our big girl!

Snuggle Puppy

We have a favorite book in our house. It is a Sandra Boynton book called "Snuggle Puppy." Morgan especially loves it before bedtime because the way the book is written you have to sing it instead of just read it. It has always made her smile and laugh. This week she started singing it with us!! A few months ago she started saying the word "this" when we got to that line in the book ("...it goes something like THIS...") So cute. Now we've graduated to singing too! There are a lot of drawn-out "OOOOs" and she sings the "OOOO" right along with us, or on her own if we prompt her to do it. She also either says the word "kiss" or offers us her cheek at the part where we give her a kiss. She also seems to have good pitch when she sings too. She'll imitate just the tone and note you sing to her. She does this when she says "choo choo" for a train sound too. For some reason I would always say "choo choo" in a sing-song voice when we were learning what sounds things make. Now she says it in the same voice I do, kind of higher pitched and drawn-out a bit. I love hearing it every time.

And then there were four

Piper Rylee is here! She was born at 3:57 pm on Thursday, August 27th, the day before her due date. She weighed in at 8 lbs 5 oz and is 19 1/2 inches long.

After one night in the hospital we arrived home this afternoon around 4 pm. I will post some pictures as soon as I can do some downloading. I will also be putting together a more detailed "birth story" in the next few days. Everything went so well, I still can't believe it. There is only so much you can do to "plan" a birth and we were so fortunate to have most everything go very smoothly this time around.

Big Sister Morgan is curious about the new "visitor" in her home. I think she doesn't yet realize that she is staying...in fact I've had my moments that I've felt the same way. So, we embark on the quest to be a family of four now. Thanks for joining us on the journey!

A Week in Pictures

It's been a busy week since Grandma and Grandpa B arrived!! It's been great having them here helping us out before (and after) the Biscuit arrives. Morgan's had lots of loving attention from everyone...though I think she's pretty suspicious about what's going on around here. Here's a few pics from the last week.

Grandpa found this cute little tricycle at a garage sale for $2! What a deal!!

Not quite big enough to really ride it, but Daddy helps her out

Pretty Grandma on her birthday. We went to a great Chinese restaurant that we'd been hearing about.

Grandpa filling up Morgan's new sandbox. She likes to "hug" the turtle (put her cheek on it's face).

Jumping in for the first time with Grandma

Snuggle Bunny

I had a really rough recovery after Morgan was born. When we were still at the hospital at one point I had the nurses take Morgan to the nursery so I could try to sleep. A few hours later a nurse returned with Morgan and said she might be hungry or just want to snuggle..."she's such a little Snuggle Bunny," the nurse said. From then on from time to time I will call her my Snuggle Bunny. The funny thing is, as she's gotten older, she's not really a "snuggle" girl at all. Up until she was about 6 months old I could sometimes get her to take a nap with me, but mostly she just wants to play or jump around on the bed.

Then as my belly grew bigger, Morgan would put her head on it in the same way she does her teddy bears and doll. Not really a snuggle, but kind of a sweet hug. She does this to other kids and babies too. When she was about 15 months old, occasionally she would wake up in the night and have a meltdown. Either David and I would go in her room and give her a "cuddle." We'll sit down in her glider and sit her on our laps facing us. She'll lay her head on our chests as we sign her a song. That's all she needs, just a song or two and she'll fall back asleep in her bed. That was the extent of the snuggling.

Here's the thing, the last week or so she's suddenly become much more of that Snuggle Bunny again. Sometimes when I give her kisses and hugs before bed she'll cling to me. Also, when I take her upstairs from lunch to her nap she'll often lay her head on my shoulder. Awwww. Now I've taken to snuggling with her a little more when she wakes up from her nap to let her wake up before I change her diaper and let her play.

I think she knows changes are coming and she's getting as much snuggle time in now before her sister arrives. Smart girl. It reminds me though of how I'm going to need to be very aware of her needs when this baby comes home and that we maximize our one on one time together so she knows she's just as loved and cherished.

Backyard Water Baby

We've pulled out the colorful water toy that we bought last year. If you remember my post from the first (and only) time we used it last year see here. This was when Morgan was about 7 months old. We had not landscaped the backyard yet, so we set it up in the front yard. The water was COLD and Morgan mostly sat there and cried. This time the water was a bit warmer, but not too much. She still prefers to sit and play instead of running around on it, but she seems content so we gave her some bath toys and she was happy as a "clam."

I still think this is the cutest thing

Happy girl!

The water looked pretty tasty on a hot day

Her own personal water fountain

Drying off with Daddy