Birthday party circuit

In the last week Emma has received two birthday party invitations from kids in her class. I guess we are officially on the party circuit. Not only are we receiving invites, but some moms are sending home favors from in class parties I guess. Crap. The reason that my child goes to daycare is because I work. When do these moms find the time? I know that I will when the time comes but this just sort of snuck up on me now that we are in the toddler room. And let me tell you about the parties- both are at Romp and Roll. The kids are turning 2! Holy cow. Fancy parties sure start early. I was still thinking Emma's 2 year old party would be pretty much the same as her 1 year old party except maybe more kids. LOL. Guess we better step it up!

And here's something I don't know the etiquette for. Do you invite the entire class? In one case, I'm pretty sure the mom did and in the other I'm pretty sure she did not. This is tricky when your next door neighbor has a kid in the same class.

On another subject, I'm off to a consignment sale tonight to purchase the majority of Emma's fall and winter wardrobe. I absolutely love consignment sales because you can get a pile of stuff for the price of one outfit at Gymboree! I used to take Emma with me when she was less mobile but now she gets to have quality time with Daddy tonight. So it's a win-win. Currently she is in an 18 months wardrobe for the most part though some of her 18 mo pants are too big in the waste. The question is should I get her 18 mo stuff for the winter or 24 mo? She only weighs 22 lbs. Any advice?

Surviving A Hurricane With a Toddler

So Hurricane Irene arrived on Saturday morning. Let me just say that I did not really believe that it would impact my life so much. I never for a second believed we'd lose power so when we did it was a horrible surprise to me! Keeping a toddler entertained through a day of rain, no power and in the heat was a challenge. On Saturday we actually let her go out on the front porch before the worst of the storm hit. Emma thought it was great fun to be outside but not getting wet. She literally ran the length of the porch for 20 minutes. Saturday night the power went out just as we were eating dinner. No problem, we opened the windows and gave Emma a bath by lantern light. Fortunately we have gas hotwater so no problem there. I left Emma's blinds open so she'd have some moonlight coming in her room and that was that. Sunday it was hot, Emma woke up at sunrise thanks to her blinds being open and was going stir crazy. We were outside at 7:30 am playing in the cul-de-sac. Emma's friend Morgan came over and the girls played in the driveway for a few hours. I tried to put Emma down for a nap at her usual time but that wasn't happening. Too hot. So we gave up and visited friends with A/C and Emma took a nap in their pack and play. Back to our house where it was just as hot as before, Emma played and played until bath time pretty much uneffected by the power outage. I tried to put her down at her usual bedtime but she screamed bloody murder for the max 5 minutes that we allow before we rescue her. So, back downstairs where it was cooler. She would not go to sleep. I ended up playing Toy Story 3 on the iPad until 11 pm when finally I convinced her to go to sleep. Yesterday she was back up at sunrise. Needing a change in scenary we went to Crump Park yesterday morning and Emma played and had a grand time. We came home at lunch time and just as we were trying to convince Emma to take a nap in her hot room, the power came back on! I literally burst into tears of joy. So with CD player on, fan going and blinds now closed, our sweet baby girl went to sleep for 3 hours in her room! Thank you Dominion!

Typical Toddler

A person I work with asked me to do a favor for her. She diagnoses kids with autism and was teaching some new staff how to make the diagnosis after observing kids playing. She needed a typical toddler around Emma's age for the staff to interact with and observe. So I volunteered Emma. On Thursday I took Emma to work with me and she got to play with lots of toys and bubbles and even have a snack. It was interesting to watch the doctors interact with her and get her to do make believe and to copy them. I was so proud when she did her signs and used her words. She's growing up so fast and it was neat to see all of the things she has learned all at one time. Of course there was a tiny part of me thinking "what if they find something wrong with her."  Fortunately all was well and Emma had a great time. She passed out in the car on the way back to school.  So we have a typical toddler...where did baby Emma go?

Cuteness

Perhaps this happens to every Mom or Dad out with their baby but Mike and I think it is hilarious sort of. Since the day Emma came home from the hospital and went out in public, people (especially old ladies) stop us to tell us how cute or beautiful she is. Now I sort of expected to have cursory glances at her when she was a baby because she was well...a baby and small and new. But, I am not kidding when I say that I cannot make it down one single aisle of the grocery store without at least one person stopping me to tell Emma how cute she is. Sometimes the conversation is only a few seconds but often it's at least a minute or two. It really makes getting through the grocery store with a toddler quickly a challenge. Of course, Mike and I think that Emma is gorgeous and hilarious but I find it surprising that others stop to converse about her. I don't normally do that with other people's kids unless they are doing something really funny. Emma could be eating a cracker with crud all over her and people still stop us. Frankly I think it is really nice that not everyone you see out in public is so caught up in themselves I guess. To everyone who has ever stopped us, thanks, it makes us and Emma feel great! Now we just have to remember her cuteness when she is screaming her head off and throwing herself on the floor, throwing an entire roll of toilet paper in the toilet or climbing on the kitchen table!

We need sleep!

So I don't know about other families with 17 months old children but our sweet Emma still wakes up almost every night and has a cup of milk. We may have won the battle over the bottle but we are still fighting the war. Mike and I take turns getting up with her each night but it still stinks. I've read that she drinks the cup of milk either out of habit or because she isn't eating enough during the day. So do we take the middle of the night drink away? Do we just go in and comfort her and put her back down? Do we let her cry it out on her own? I can't imagine doing this last one. How horrible for a baby to wake up in the middle of the night and no one comes to her! Maybe this issue just goes away over time? How do other families address this problem? All I know is I need a good night's sleep before I can even think about bringing another baby into this house!

What do you do?

So today was one of those days where it would have been a good idea to let Emma stay home from school. She had a rough night, is a little snotty and was just out of sorts. No fever  and nothing aside from a cough and some snot. But, she needed some TLC. Unfortunately, Mike had a major project at work that he had to be there for and I have a major project as well so there was no one to keep her. We don't have family in town that could watch Emma at the last minute and all of our friends work. I'm sure we aren't the only ones in the world with this sort of situation. What do you do? It occurred to me as I was driving into work that I could have asked our occassional babysitter to come stay with her but she goes back to school in a few weeks. What then? Anyone have suggestions? I'm all ears. What do you do when you have to work but your child needs to stay home from school?