Dear Self

This entire week I looked forward to being off of work today. I had visions of waking up, showering leisurely, taking Emma to school and coming home  to enjoy a delicious cup of Eggnog coffee before starting my chores. I planned to spend the morning putting away laundry and cleaning in preparation for my family's arrival. In the afternoon, I was going to visit a friend and her new baby and then go pick Emma up early from school.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That is present me laughing at that rainbow colored glasses wearing version of me. Instead, I spent most of last night listening to my sick husband snore in a Nyquil induced stupor and then just as I started to sleep around 2 am, Emma woke up with a 103 fever. The rest of the night was spent watching Nic Jr. with a boiling hot baby next to me. :(  Today, my husband proclaims he is dying and can't move off of the sofa. So, I pack up the baby in the car, drop off the ziti with my friend who had the baby and then come home and put my sweet girl down for a nap. While she naps, I run and pick up a prescription for Mike at Target and grocery shop at Martins. What the hell was I thinking to do either of these on the Friday before Christmas? I congratulate myself on not hurting anyone or losing my temper. I get a call while in the checkout line from Mike that says that Emma's temp is now 104. I get through the line, beg  her doctor to see her before her 3:30 appointment and rush her over to the doctor's office. In the examine room, I hold her down while the nurse swabs her throat for strep. Then I spend the next 45 minutes entertaining a cranky child with no props to help me. Finally, with a diagnosis of strep we head home...both of us exhausted. An early bath done, Emma is down for the count. I take a minute to write this blog entry and then there are dishes calling my name while my husband snores on the sofa.

Merry Christmas!

Life Changing

The other day I was looking at videos of Emma we have taken since she arrived on the scene. I can watch them over and over and over. Her little personality is evident the first day we brought her home. She has always been quick to laugh and to make us laugh. Watching her grow up before my eyes made me a little sad but it also filled my heart to bursting. I have always loved children but I had no idea  that your own child would fill you with the take my breath away kind of love. Other parents will know what I mean. One minute you can be so mad and your child will give you a hug or a smile and you forget whatever it was you were mad at her about in the first place. When she cries I just want to comfort her and  when she laughs,  which she does A LOT, I just want to bottle it up and take it with me everywhere I go. Someone the other day said that having a little one is like having a drug addiction (not really but follow me for a second), you are always trying to get your next fix of that laugh or hug or kiss or other adorable thing that she or he bestows upon you. It is truly glorious.

Everyone around me is having their second, third or fourth child and Mike and I are looking forward to the time when we have our second some day. However, I wonder how can I love another child as much as I love Emma. It must be possible because people go on to have more than one child all the time. Guess we'll have to wait our turn to see.

On another completely separate note, my favorite thing that Emma does now is play with our pets. She is completely obsessed with Ellie and the cats. Murphy will let her do whatever she wants to him including pulling his tail or laying on him. Ellie will play with her and let her hug her. Ellie has never let anyone hug her in the 8 years I've had her. Right this second she has found a cat toy and is playing with Mattie. It's quite funny. I think having a pet is so great for a kid. Ahh...I hear baby laughter! LOVE IT.

Disney World

Emma enjoyed the fountains in Savannah, GA.

Emma and Mommy at the foutain in Forsyth Park. One of many memories Emma slept through.

Emma's 1st Day of Disney outfit.

Emma running away from Phineas.

Emma and her Pop Pop watching the Mickey show at Magic Kingdom.

Emma loved the Aladdin Magic Carpet ride.

Big girl can ride the carousel all  by herself.

Emma's new friend Minnie is as big as she is.

Emma getting ready to pet Mickey.

Emma petting a goat.

We are back from vacation. It was incredible. When we started planning our trip I thought there would be very little that Emma would be able to do. So not true. She enjoyed the Dumbo ride, It's a Small World, Aladdin's Magic Carpet, countless shows and other rides along with the petting zoo at Animal Kingdom and the safari ride. But the things she loved the most were the simple things. While waiting in line to meet Phineas and Ferb she grew restless- go figure. Fortunately the quick thinking folks at Disney World know how to handle restless kids- give them sidewalk chalk and let them draw. Emma had a blast doing this and threw a fit when she had to meet P and F. (More on characters in a minute) Then we went to a few shows where bubbles were released. HUGE HIT. She loves bubbles. Finally, on Epcot day I knew we were going to letter her play in the fountains like they have at Stony Point. The kid became the show with countless families (mostly European oddly enough) stopping to watch her and a few even took pictures. When the water disappeared she'd look up and hold her hands out and say "Where water go?" It was adorable. Mike has video of this so I'll try to get that from him tonight. Now on to the characters. Our girl was all about meeting some characters and kept telling us she was ready that is right up until it was time to say hello to Mickey or Minnie or Goofy or Daisy or one of the others. Even her favorite Pooh was not enough to overcome her shyness. Of course after we left she cried POOOOOOHHHHHH and HUUUGGGGG. But it was too late. Perhaps next time she'll be excited but at least she didn't cry or scream and just generally stood there and petted them. I'll take that.

Let me tell you what wasn't fun about our trip to Disney. The car ride. Yes in the interest of saving money we decided to drive. Now mind you we drove the Dodge Ram and spent $400 in gas. In retrospect it would have been cheaper to fly and probably less stressful. But we like our stuff and I insisted on taking the jogging stroller so there you go. Fortunately, we brought along our old school portable DVD player and Curious George on DVD. Between that and Toy Story our sweet girl did great. She did not like being in a car seat for 11 hours but with frequent stops and lunch somewhere she could play for a bit she did just fine. Me not so much...that's 10 hours too many for me in a car. LOL.

Blessings

Normally when I blog I write about Emma's antics and the trials and tribulations of being a parent. Today, I want to write about the blessing of having a child. Before I was married I never really thought about fertility and just assumed that when the time came that I'd get pregnant and all would be well. Well when the time came, nothing happened. For a year and a half I peed on a stick to check ovulation and did all the other tricks like taking Mucinex to thin mucus and many others that I don't care to share here. (Your welcome) Then I got pregnant. I was late and though the pee on the stick tests did not indiciate I was pregnant, I was convinced so I went to Patient First and had a blood test. Sure enough I was pregnant. We were excited! But the excitement wouldn't last long. The next day I started bleeding and ended up in the ER, I had miscarried at 6 weeks. Something was not right. So, my OB did a biopsy of my uterus. Shortly there after I was diagnosed with a Luteal Phase Defect which is a fancy way to say that the time between when I ovulate and when Aunt Flow comes is too short to give the embryo time to get good and snuggly in my uterus. At the same time, Mike was diagnosed with less than straight little swimmers. We're quite the pair. My doctor prescribed Clomid and by the Grace of God we were pregnant with our little Emma. We had hoped that my LPD would have corrected itself after Emma was born but it has not and so when we start trying again I will be on Clomid with the hopes that it works again.

I say all of this to say this- I am so incredibly grateful to have my precious angel no matter how much she may drive me crazy at times. Each day with her is a blessing because in truth we were lucky to have her and who knows if we will be blessed again. I also share this because there are so many people out there who abuse their children, neglect their children or harm their children or just don't realize how lucky they are to get pregnant on the first try. Children are a blessing from God and should be nurtured and loved and sheltered from all the bad in the world for as long as possible. On my mind a lot lately is my high school friend Deanna's little girl Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn has a rare fatal genetic disease. She is 2 years and 4 months old and her life is coming to an end. Deanna does not see Kaitlyn as a burden nor her disease as a prevention from treating Kaitlyn like the precious child that she is. Kaitlyn lives life and Deanna and her family treat her as the blessing that she is.

So Moms and Dads and those that someday will be parents, love your children through the tantrums, crazy antics and teenage years for they really are God's gift to us.

Fall fun

I see commercials on television for Christmas and I just can't believe that we are into the month of November all ready. I still feel like it was just July! The Toscanos have been having a ball this fall though and here are just a few pictures to enjoy. Little Emma, though mischeavous as ever, sure is cute!

Emma loves music class at school.

Mom, can I pick up this pumpkin?

Emma and her daddy strolling through the Ashland Berry Farm.

Emma and her BFF Morgan had fun trick or treating together.

Emma was the cutest witch on the block for Halloween.

Terrible Twos

Last Friday, Emma got sent home with a note. Apparently after coming in from the playground, she got mad at one of her friends, "hulked up" as we call it and put her hands around her friends throat. When the teacher told her to keep her hands to herself, she lost her little baby mind and had to be removed from the room to "deescalate." When I got there and tried to talk to her about it, she started to scream and cry all over again. This continued until we were on the sidewalk when she got mad at me for something (I can't remember what) and threw herself on the sidewalk and cried for five minutes while I stood there. Eventually she calmed down and we drove home, her crying off and on the entire way. We got home and she got mad again, threw her cup of milk at me and actually kicked the dog! After I fed her dinner, she was like an entirely different child-sweet, accomodating and happy.

On Tuesday, she tried to bite the same friend at school. Once again, after coming in from the playground Emma went to sit on the blue rug and as usually happens the kids began tripping and falling all over each other. Emma apparently had had enough and bit down on her friends shoe.

Yesterday (Wednesday) we got a happy gram. Normally happy grams say something like "Emma was a great helper today or Emma peed in the potty." Something really good like that. This happy gram said that Emma did a great job today keeping her hands to herself and we are working on teaching her to use her words instead of hitting or biting when she is angry. I'm serious. Our child's behavior has been so bad that a happy gram is earned just by not trying to harm another child. Awesome.

According to the school's director, this is very common at Emma's age because the kids don't know how to express anger or tell someone to leave them alone so they react the only way they know how. This still doesn't make me feel better and it certainly doesn't make this phase any easier.

I really shouldn't be surprised. I was a biter and a bit of a slugger myself. Perhaps it comes with being the oldest child and being a girl. Perhaps it's the Coleman/Toscano temper?  Whatever it is, I sure hope that we see the end of this phase sooner than later. If Emma started the terrible twos at one, don't you think we should be nearing the end soon? I sure hope so.

What to do when parents disagree?

When baby Emma was born Mike and I generally agreed on what to do. We had taken all of the same classes and because I had experience with babies frequently it was my call on what to do. Now, we both have very specific ideas on things. Emma has sensed this I think and knows that if she goes to Daddy she can get her way 99% of the time. I'm sure this is true of most little girls and their daddies. I'm pretty sure it was true of me and my dad. (I'm not sure because he died when I was 4.) It seems like I am the one who always has to say no and be the voice of reason. Frequently I find myself saying things like:
"No, Emma doesn't need another toy (while we are at Target)."
"Emma cant' stay up to watch XYZ she has to go to bed."
"Emma can't learn to ice skate until she is at least 3."

I am certain that this is a common issue in everyone's house. Perhaps I should feel very blessed that my husband is so involved with raising our child but to be honest sometimes I just want him to butt out and let me do things my own way. I'm sure that he would say the same thing about me.  LOL!

Vacation and Schedules

We are one month away from our Thanksgiving vacation to Disney World. I am filled with excitement and a little bit of terror about how Emma will do. We are still struggling with the sleep thing though it has gotten better recently. Napping is still a problem. So much so that the school has even started to comment on how hard it is to get Emma to nap. They literally walked the halls with her on Friday until she was too tired to walk anymore and was ready for sleep. All that being said, Mike and I have discussed "the plan" for Disney and we are going to try letting her nap in her stroller and getting her home at a reasonable hour and put to bed. I rented a crib so that we won't have the pack and play battle. If plan A fails, plan B is to go in the morning for a few hours, leave and come back to the house so Emma can nap, then go back to the park and stay for as long as she holds up. I am guessing that we will be doing a little from plan A and a little from plan B resulting in Plan C. Still with me?

Now we have a full house of people going on this trip, Nana and Pop-pop, Uncle Bill and Aunt Jen and cousin Kara as well as Uncle Nick. And there is another family of four staying with us that I haven't met. So, I asked for the room upstairs as far away from the noise and excitement as possible. Hopefully this will help. I think there are a few people who think I'm completely insane to even expect Emma to stay on some semblance of a schedule. I am not crazy. I know that the schedule will be very loose and probably won't look anything like her regular schedule but I also know that my child doesn't do well when she is tired. I have no interest in suffering through some show or fireworks or what have you with a child that is overly tired and grouchy. That doesn't make for a fun vacation for mommy, daddy or baby Emma. So I'm going to try my best and know that that is good enough and really try to ignore the neysayers and have a great vacation. I'd love tips though from parents who have travelled to Disney with young toddlers!

Frustrated

We are in week 3 or 4 of Emma not sleeping. It's like having a newborn again. We have worked out how to get her to fall asleep initially and even managed to get her to sleep in her crib. BUT, a few hours later she wakes up, starts crying, gets so worked up when we won't pick her up that she throws up. So, we pick her up. Last night I went back to giving her a cup of milk to try to get her to go back to sleep like the old days. It worked until I put her in her crib. Still, I convinced her to lay down as long as I was laying beside her crib. She even turned her head away from me! So, I got up and took two steps to the door. Her head whipped around so fast that I am sure she has whip lash. Giving up, I put her in bed with us. Again.

This may make me a bad mother but I do not like having a toddler sleeping in my bed. She takes up most of the bed, sleeps snuggled up next to me making me hot and nervous to move. She doesn't like to be covered up so therefore I cannot be covered up. I am becoming deeply resentful. I hate to even admit it but a lack of sleep, frustration and being sick have left me with no patience or tolerance for these nightly tantrums.

We have tried cry it out to no success. Admittedly we gave up after 3 days but she just seems to cry off and on for hours until she throws up. No one is getting sleep. So then I tried Dr. Sears method of a family bed but that is just not happening. I'm at my wits end. Something has to give soon.

Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

It's that time of year again. The first cold of the season may be upon us. Emma woke up coughing and sneezing this morning. Seems like the fall when the kids change classrooms at daycare, all the kids get sick. There's just no way to stop it. So let's hope it's quick at least.

I know it's super difficult for the teachers to keep the kids from putting stuff in their mouthes or touching each other. Emma is especially prone to getting sick because she is a thumb sucker. So literally every germ she comes in contact with goes right into her mouth. At this stage of the game, getting her to stop sucking her thumb is not an option so fingers crossed for the upcoming cold and flu season!

Little Mommy

Emma is really into being a little mommy lately. She has discovered baby dolls and loves to put them to sleep which essentially means putting them on their tummies and patting their backs until they go to sleep. She also has really enjoyed giving them their milk in a bottle. She's also a big helper lately. In the last month or so she's had at least 3 or 4 happy grams sent home from school telling us about how she cleaned up all the balls before the kids went in from the playground, helped a friend clean up their mess, pushed in the chairs or done some other helpful thing at school.

Emma helping Mommy unload the dishwasher.

At home she loves to put things in the trash and so I give her individual  items to throw away. She likes it and it teaches her to clean up. She also LOVES to put the silverware away in the drawer. Now she generally just throws it in there regardless of where it should go but she has fun and I don't really care where it goes (I'm totally lying because it drives me crazy but I'm letting it go). We have also given her an Emma size broom to push around which she likes. Her newest and most favorite thing though is giving Ellie and Murphy their dog biscuits in the morning before we leave the house. She will come from wherever she is in the house to do this. It's so cute. Now if only I could teach her to put away laundry...

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?

sign language

When we signed unborn Emma up for daycare, the school told us all about the curriculum for the infants and toddlers. I'm not sure about Mike but most of that went in one ear and out the other for me. I didn't know how to take care of a baby much less that they were actually supposed to be taught anything. I seriously wasn't thinking beyond having the baby and learning how to take care of her. So when she started picking up on sign language around 9 months to a year with the sign for "all done" I thought -cool. Then she signed "milk." Convenient I thought. Now all of a sudden the kid is a sign language machine. She signs "please," "thank you," "more," "milk," "eat," and this morning I caught her doing the sign for "yes." She is also trying to say the words when she is signing them too. Now I'm sure there are plenty of others that she is doing that I just haven't learned myself yet. But it is fantastic. Babies are so much easier to understand when they sign that they want to eat or that they want more than just figuring out why the kid is screaming. And it is teaching her manners at such a young age. It really does make me glad that we sprang for child care with a curriculum!

Where did my baby go?

In the blink of an eye it seems that my precious little infant is gone. In her place is an equally precious and silly little girl. I was putting away Emma's laundry last night and like I do every time I was double checking that all of her clothes in rotation still fit etc. I ended up cleaning out most of her 12 month clothes (she's 16 months so this isn't a surprise) but I also ran across some of her teething bibs and a stack of burp clothes that I leave in her closet because I dont' want to have to search for them when we have another one. It is so amazing and a little sad how fast time goes. People always say enjoy every minute etc etc. but it is really true. Emma is at such a fun age now and we love it but I do miss the helpless little baby who needed us for everything. Now, except to reach things that are too high, pour milk into her cup and provide her nourishment and diaper changes, she is fine on her own and prefers to do things herself. Oh where did the time go?

Still, we are so fortunate to have a toddler that is healthy, happy and mostly well-behaved. Now, if only we could get her to stop eating food after she lets the dog lick it!

NO! Swimming and Organizing

Ahh it's finally happened and practically overnight too! Emma's words have come in, specifically No and NoNo which are the words she probably hears most often these days. She has also begun calling me Mummy on a fairly frequent basis with somewhat of a British accent. No idea where that came from but it is adorable I must say. She is also working on many other words like ball, bubbles, book, cat, stuck, thank you and many more I can't remember at the moment. She just gets cuter every day.

There have been two particularly funny instances this week. The first was Tuesday night. Mike and I were outside with Emma so she could play with her Powerwheels. She drove it down the drive way and into the cul-de-sac. Then, she got off and went back to the garage and Daddy pushed her in her Cozy Coupe out into the cul-de-sac where she got out, went back to the garage and came out with her no-peddle tricycle. She pushed this into the cul-de-sac. Next she went back and got her little push walker toy and pushed that into the cul-de-sac. All of her mobile toys now out in the cul-de-sac, she commenced moving them one at a time up the street. First the Cozy Coupe to the mail box, then the tricycle, then the walker toy. Then she repeated this process moving them a little further each time. At one point, she had moved maybe 10 steps away from her tricycle when she looked back and then walked back and readjusted the trike to a better position. This continued for at least 15 minutes. Then came the Powerwheels. Instead of riding the thing up to the other toys which were now 2 houses away, she tries to push it and gets frustrated. So, I put her on it and hold down the button to make it go and we get it with the other toys. At this stage, she's exhausted having just moved her toys one at a time at least 2 houses away! So we had a break down and she started crying and searching for a place to throw herself down on the ground to throw a tantrum. Unfortunately, we weren't even close to our house but you could totally see her looking for somewhere to have a tantrum.

The second thing that is new and fun is swimming in the bath tub. She loves it. She flips over onto her belly and holds herself up with her elbows and kicks and kicks and sometimes she even sticks her face in the water- usually to get a drink but still adorable. Those swimming lessons at the Y were worth every single penny!

No More Rash

Emma has been diaper rash free for over a week! We eliminated citrus fruit from her diet and the diaper rash went away. Poor kid loves manadrin oranges and pineapple and even peaches are off limit now. But, we are substituting applesauce, dried fruit and melon so that seems to be an okay swap. I'm just happy the kid can sit in the bathtub again!

Daycare

In the Toscano household lately we have been struggling with daycare issues. Emma recently transitioned up to the Toddler room and the transition has not been a smooth one. It took a full week for me to figure out the teachers' names because they never talked to me. And Emma's normal routine is unknown to them and I never knew how her day had been. I was on the brink of looking at Goddard across the street but decided to talk to the leadership at Primrose about my concerns. They were very receptive and things have improved. Still though if Emma's favorite teacher Ms. B isn't in the room in the morning, Emma's preference to be held while daddy makes his exit is not honored. I know the world doesn't revolve around my kid but it breaks my heart. There is enough guilt associated with putting her in daycare anyway without making it worse by a bad transition. Hopefully this is just a bump in the road for us.

Time Flies

Things have been crazy busy lately and I haven't had a chance to update my blog. Why is it every weekend is filled to the gills with events? I love it but I hate it at the same time. Anyway, on to Miss Emma. She has truly turned into a toddler. Today is her last day in the Young Toddler's room at Primrose. On Monday, we will drop her off in the Toddler room. It's time. The other day she climbed on top of her kitchen set and when I told her to get down she gave me a look that said I'm going to do what I want. She has no fear except when she is completely afraid. This week she was very clingy because daddy was away and she knew something was amiss at home. We went for a walk and to the playground and she was afraid of the swing and the slide! Turns out Miss E was coming down with the stomach flu so this too could explain her odd behavior. I bought her some new Stride Rites and they are almost too small at a size 4. It was just a month or so ago that they would have been too big. Where does the time go? Where is my little baby peanut?

15 month old check up

It's hard to believe but peanut is 15 months old! She had her check up yesterday. She weighed 20 lbs 1 ounce and was 28.5 inches tall and her head was 18 1/4 inches. She is in the 5th percentile for height and weight and 60th percentile for head. Baby big head indeed! She has consistently been sliding lower on the charts for a while going from 25% to now 5% but the doctor says she is just going to be petite. But even Dr. T said she is a pistol and that she is about 3 months ahead developmentally for her age! Yay Emma.

Of course, sometimes she is too smart for her own good but the mischief is contained for the most part. Last night she thought it would be fun to splash an entire bowl of dog water all over the floor. I was watching her do this mind you but she was so cute and laughing and so I couldn't stop her. This is what is going to get us in trouble- she is just too cute to punish!!

Beach Babe

Our trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa at the beach was a huge success. Emma loves the water and is completely fearless. And she would have sat there sorting sand all day if we let her. I'd say the swim lessons are paying off.

No nap today

So Emma took a 20 minute cat nap in the car on the way from the doctor to daycare yesterday morning. She considered that her nap for the day. The teacher could not get her to take a nap at naptime no matter what. As soon as I got her in the car she passed out. I took her in the house and deposited her into the bouncy seat where she slept for another 30 minutes until the dogs barked indicating the arrival of Mike. When she woke up I picked her up and gave her a bottle because she was incredibly fussy. Don't judge me! I tried to give her dinner but she was having no parts of it so off to take a bath we went. Poor kid laid her head on the side of the tub she was so tired. She ended up crashing at 6 PM and slept until 12:30 when she woke up and had yet another bottle. (How's that bottle weaning going you ask- Great, thanks for asking) She slept the rest of the night until 6:30 AM. Do you think that taught her to take a nap? Probably not. But it taught us what happens when she doesn't.

Our little family

The Rash From Hell

So my sweet little Emma seems to constantly have a diaper rash. Sometimes it is a plain old run of the mill rash and sometimes it is a yeast infection. She has had one of these angry red rashes on and off for the last month or so and we have been through 6 tubes of Nystatin trying to combat it to no avail. I emailed her doc last night and took some photos of the rash (yikes please don't arrest me child porn cops) and sent them to her doctor. She said bring her in because she might have anal strep. Huh? I don't think I like the world anal being used in conjunction with my daughter at any time.

Off to the peditrician's office this morning where Emma behaved remarkably well even when the doc looked in her ears. The verdict-strep negative! Hooray. Doc said it isn't a yeast infection either so it is just a plain old diaper rash from hell. She recommended Neosporin and a thick coat of Desitin. She also asked if I had ever tried Greer's Goo.

Let me just say oh yes I have heard of it. When Emma was a newborn she developed a yucky rash and a different ped recommended Greer's Goo so being new parents and desparate to relieve our child we went to the pharmacy and $60 later we have a tub of this fancy desitin like stuff. It didn't work. Threw out the big tub a few months ago actually. So yeah I've heard of it. Not going back to that junk.

So we'll see how this Neosporin works out. Should be fun.

Bumps and Bruises and Bottles

Nothing wild and crazy over the last few days with Emma. Yesterday when I picked her up I had to sign an incident report because Emma bumped her head on the table. Today, she fell and bit her lip. Our little daredevil tends to get in a hurry and not watch where she is going. She also had her first time out yesterday in her time out chair. It worked.

The biggest thing that we have been working on is weaning Emma from the bottle. Our peditrician said she needed to be completely off the bottle by 15 months or else we just have to take the bottle away cold turkey. So I've been slowly replacing bottles with sippy cups over the last few months. We are down to one or two bottles a day- one at night night time and one sometimes in the middle of the night. I've been very stressed about these last two bottles and getting her completely weaned in the next 2 weeks.

A couple of days ago I was googling weaning etc and ran across a forum of moms giving advice etc on the subject. The consensus was that this is the last vestiges of babyhood for these toddlers and why rush it. It's sweet to sit with Emma and let her drink her bottle before bed while we get to snuggle. So, I've stopped stressing about it. She'll give it up when she is ready and until then we get a few more months of baby Emma.

Two entries in one day. It's been that kind of day. So as I am walking into Emma's classroom today I am greeted by the words "Emma bit someone today." Wonderful. Guess who she bit? The teacher. Miss R was holding her and all of a sudden Emma bit her on the arm. And when she got in trouble she sort of smirked. Not good. I don't think that she meant to bite. Sometimes she gives open mouth kisses and she is also cutting another molar so maybe that explains it. In any case, guess we are going to have to really starting disciplining her rather than thinking it's so cute when she does naughty things. Good thing we have a time out chair!

Our first throw down tantrum

Emma had her first all out, throw down couldn't get over it tantrum this morning. Now she has had many, many tantrums before but she usually cries and sits on the floor for a few seconds before getting over it and moving on. Today's was an all out tantrum. The trigger- her new toddler high chair. Before she was born, Mike found a deal on one of those restaurant style wooden high chairs. Yesterday he put it together and Emma got to sit at the table like a big girl. She loved it!

This morning I put her in it as I always do when finishing getting ready for work downstairs- packing lunch etc. I had my breakfast with her and noticed that she had managed to unbuckle the safety belt. Since she wasn't doing anything wrong, I left her unbuckled. She played and we chitchatted etc. Then I took her out of her chair. She had a minor meltdown so I put her back in, buckled her back up and gave her more breakfast (since she threw most on the floor the first time) and kept on getting ready. Well within a few seconds she had managed to turn herself completely around and stand up in the dang chair. The buckle was still buckled but now on the bottom of the chair. Ugh. So, I told her that since she couldn't sit down in her big girl chair she had to go back into the other highchair. She was MAD! She screamed and cried and howled. I took her out of the other highchair and sat her on the floor where she continued to scream and cry and demand to be picked up. Once I picked her up she pointed at the highchair and when I wouldn't put her in it, she screamed some more. This went on for at least 10 minutes.

If this is what happens at 14 months- dear God help us when she hits 2!