Jenna is in love with Hanukkah candles. She kept telling me to leave them alone so she could play with them, and it sounded cute so I tried to get it on camera. Instead I got this. Jenna mouthing off and not cooperating, while breaking all the Hanukkah candles in the house. At least she sings some cute songs, when she's not mumbling!
Jenna's "main" Hanukkah present this year was a moon bounce that can be used indoors and outdoors. To say she loved it is the understatement of the century... (the pictures got cut off, so you have to click to see the whole picture)
Of course... she wasn't a huge fan when it came to taking it down for the night...
So we gave in and put it back up for a few more minutes of fun!!
And just a cute picture of Jenna all dressed up for Mom Mom & Pop Pop's Latke dinner.
Jenna is crazy and adorable and fun as can be. She recently discovered bright blue ice cream, which was fun:
I'll try to post a real post this weekend with lots of pictures and updates!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Yes, I'm well aware that this blog has become completely irrelevant because I have stopped posting altogether. In my defense, we have spent the last month moving into a new house, going on vacation, trying to get Jenna adjusted to a new school, etc.
Anyway, I shouldn't bother explaining myself because I'm not going to get better about posting anytime soon, but I just had to post this one quick thing. Jenna has not slept in her crib since we moved to the new house. She loves her "big girl bed" and has never had a problem going to sleep in it. Until tonight.
Tonight, after an hour-long bed time battle, she insisted on going to sleep on her floor. I had no choice. She climbed up on her bed and back down again several times, methodically retrieving every single possession she could possibly want to sleep with. I finally kissed her goodnight and left, figuring she'd come to her senses and get back in bed.
An hour later, I just went in to check on her, and this is what I found. She's completely out cold.
(It's actually pitch black in her room, but the flash on my camera didn't bother her at all).
Here's my dilemma... leave here there and face the almost certain risk that she wakes up in the middle of the night, or try moving her to her bed and face the equally certain risk that she wakes up and won't go back to sleep (she's never been good at transferring from one place to another and staying asleep)... I'll try to update you with the results later (but let's face it, I probably wont). I promise to get better about blogging again once life settles down!
They can have this much fun just jumping around together.
More pictures and stories from Jenna's 2nd birthday party and much more coming soon... Most importantly, Jenna is a big cousin!!!! Welcome to the world Olivia Soleil, born August 30, 2009. We love you and can't wait to meet you!!
Wow... Jenna is two. How did that happen? Wasn't it only yesterday that the Doctor was handing me this VERY red faced little taco, all wrapped up in those delightful hospital blankets that you know have housed hundreds of naked babies before swaddling yours? In the blink of an eye my red faced little baby has turned into a beautiful, smart, caring, stubborn, independent, thoughtful, hysterical little girl. Josh and I feel like the luckiest people in the world because we get to come along for the ride.
I'll post more stories and pictures later, but for now... in the past two years, my little angel has gone from this...
To the crazy little girl who jumps up on my lap for a kiss (at Ocean City last weekend)
At 2 years old, Jenna is...
Conversational -- knows what everything is, when and how to use it, and talks in sentences. She knows things that I don't know she knows, and she never fails to surprise me.
Independent -- EVERYTHING is "Jenna helping" or "Jenna do it" and if mommy or daddy try to help, she gets very upset. Until she realizes she absolutely can't do something on her own, then she'll say "Mommy helping?" Her latest is the stroller... she won't ride in it, but she insists on pushing it. She can't reach high enough so she can't do a great job. Finally she'll bend over and push it from the basket on the bottom when she gets too frustrated trying to push from the handle.
Stubborn -- I can no longer decide what she wears in the morning. She wears what she wants, when she wants, and there is no accounting for matching. Obsessed with Elmo and Elmo clothing.
Loves to Sing/be sung to.
Can count to 10, but not very well. It's usually 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9. She knows all the numbers and will answer correctly if you ask her what comes next, but sometimes when she's left to do it herself from start to finish, she loses a few along the way. Same with the ABC's.
Loves to jump, especially on the bed. Any bed.
Loves "special treats."
LOVES her grandparents.
Loves talking on the phone. She picks it up and says, in a sing song voice, "Hell-ohh? How are you? I'm fine. How are you?" (all without waiting for a response. She can carry on a full conversation by herself)
Loves to sleep late. If I didn't wake her for daycare, she'd sleep in every morning.
Loves pasta and bread, not meat or chicken. To compel her to eat meat, we have to pretend it's "gum" (her favorite outlawed treat. She sees it in my purse and tries to steal it every chance she gets).
Loves the color pink. She loves popsicles and will frequently open the freezer to ask for them, but she will ONLY eat pink popsicles.
HATES not getting her way, and will not give in. Ever. She has become a big fan of the "throw herself on the floor and pound her fists on the ground" temper tantrum. I hear she gets that from me, but I refuse to believe it.
Loves Tali and Lennon. She loves all her friends, but these are her two closest friends with whom she has a very special relationship. It doesn't hurt that they have pretty cool parents, too.
Loves giving kisses.
Hates when Mommy is sad (and I use this to my advantage, if she doesn't want to cuddle, I give a pouty face and say "mommy sad!" and she runs over and climbs in my lap and gives hugs and kisses till mommy is happy. Josh has tried this. It doesn't work for Daddy).
Have I mentioned she loves elmo? Mr. Noodle, too. I think Josh and I just like hearing her say "Mister Noodle" cause it's really cute.
She is just such a sweet, smart, fun little girl, and I am so excited to watch her continue to grow. It's hard to believe she starts pre-school in a few days. But I know it won't be long until I'm sending her off to big-kid school, so I try to cherish every single second. At the beach this weekend, the waves were really rough from a far-away hurricane, and Jenna was terrified of the water. She would come down to the Ocean with us, and then cling to my legs for dear life... venture out a few feet, then run back and grab on to mommy for safety. Eventually she let us take her in a little bit. BUT while we were down at the water playing with her, I noticed this older guy looking at us -- paying more attention that I thought was normal. When he caught me noticing he shook his head and said "enjoy it now... that's my 17 year old up there, and I would have sworn it was just yesterday that I was showing him the ocean for the first time. It goes by faster than you can imagine." He sounded wistful, and it made me realize that, as fast as life goes, I don't want to take a single second of it for granted. Here are a few pictures of Jenna enjoying (or not enjoying) the beach. One thing she does love? the Pool. This kid would have spent the entire 4 days at the pool, without interruption!!
clinging to mommy, afraid to go near the scary hurricane-strength waves.
Breaking out and trying to get to the pool...
Doing the same thing, in the same place, last year. Just 2 days before her 1st birthday....
OK, I'm off to the pool, I'll see you later, everyone!!
Jenna decided to get up to date on her current events.
Unfortunately she won't sing with the camera on, but she really does know the whole "ABC" song, even if she doesn't know what the letters are in real life.
I can say "pineapple" like a big girl, now... Which is why my mommy is so glad she caught me on tape the way I used to say it when I was just a little girl... you know, 3 weeks ago!
Here I am last month, hanging out with grandpa before school... Sorry if I seem a little out of it, I was still tired, it was really early!!
I swear, if Jenna could only go in the swimming pool and on the swing set for the rest of her life, I'm pretty sure she'd be the happiest girl around.
Today we went to the pool with Casey and Parker (and their parents). We started in the baby pool, but eventually the grown ups gave in and took us into the big pool. We had a blast!! I LOVED jumping off the edge into mommy and daddy's arms!!!
Mommy kept throwing me up in the air, I was having a ball!!
Guys and their dolls... walking back to the Dowling's house on our daddy's shoulders!
After my bath, mommy came in to find me and daddy enjoying some laughs. (I totally just realized that I put the title in the middle of this video clip by accident. Sorry 'bout that!!)
Just before Jenna went to bed tonight (yes, I know, she doesn't look at all tired, but she was!) we went outside to let the doggy out and run around. Jenna found a shovel belonging to our neighbors grandson, and was having a ball. She had zero desire to sit and listen to me bark orders at her, which of course is exactly what I tried to do.
Maybe one day I'll catch her on camera when SHE'S in the mood to sing, and then you'll actually be able to hear and understand her. But for now, here she is half-obliging me and half-ignoring me while playing with the shovel. Unfortunately you can't really hear her say anything too clearly, but I'm not posting this to show off her skills, just how cute she is while doing them :-)
(ignore the talking in the background, my dad was talking on his cell phone outside. Oh, also ignore my obnoxious singing in the first video!)
By the way, in case you were curious what Jenna was playing with, just ask her!
(If you don't like reading boring family updates, scroll down to a few photos!)
I hope you had a nice Fathers' Day Weekend!! We definitely had a very relaxing weekend... well, I should say I had a very relaxing weekend, because I basically slept. The entire weekend. If you know me, you know that's not typical of me, however I hadn't slept at all during the previous 96 hours, so sleep was definitely on the agenda. In a bit of a reverse mothers/fathers day, Josh surprised me by booking the massage he had given me a gift certificate for on mother's day, so I spent a wonderful hour at the spa on Saturday morning while he stayed home with a still-recovering Jenna. How's that for a wonderful father!?!
Speaking of "still-recovering..." that's another story. Jenna survived her first (and hopefully last) bout of the "hand foot and mouth" virus. I suppose it gets that name because it can lead to a rash on the hands and feet, neither of which Jenna had, but she did have a very high fever, and blisters in the back of her throat (so says the doctors office, they were never visible to us). Basically, she could not/would not eat OR drink anything from Tuesday morning through Friday night. Saturday was a bit better, and by Sunday she was fine. We are very fortunate to have wonderful parents in town who could watch her during the day, but the poor little boo was completely miserable that it was tough to think about anything else all week. She would try to drink something, then grab her mouth screaming and crying, clearly in pain from having ANY liquid in her throat. She stayed up all night long just screaming and wanting to be with us in our bed (and if you know Jenna, you know how miserable she really must have been, because in her 22 months, she has never slept a single night in our bed, by her own choice, until last week). She also developed a particular affinity for "mommy!!" everything had to be "mommy!!!" but that seems to have passed now that she's feeling better. It is definitely heartbreaking to see your little baby in so much pain... I suppose this is true no matter how big they get!
Jenna did have one upside from her illness, however... on Friday afternoon I stopped at the grocery store to pick up ANY liquid I thought she might possibly drink, because we were so worried about dehydration. This included chocolate milk, and fruit juice by some manufacturer that brilliantly licensed the rights to elmo... I'm sure whatever it cost in licensing fees has been more than made up in sales, because I can't imagine there is a single toddler who will walk down the juice aisle and not demand "Elmo juice!!!" If there is such a toddler, it certainly isn't mine!! She wasn't very interested when she was still sick, but on saturday she took a liking, and by Sunday all I heard was "chocolate milk!!!" this morning, she would not eat breakfast, she would not drink milk, nothing... all she wanted was "Elmo juice!!!" Oh well, at least she's healthy and hydrated! I'll worry about sugar dependency later!
I have so much updating to do about what a character little Jenna has become... for now, it's late, so I'll leave you with a few quick pictures from this weekend. Not the most flattering of her, but I just had to include this picture to show what a hysterical, amazing time she had swimming with her daddy on Fathers' Day. Is this a daddy's girl, or what!?!?
(must click on this picture to see the sheer joy in Jenna's face!!)
I also have a video of them swimming together... basically Josh would push the raft away, and Jenna would yell "bye bye!" then Josh would rush towards her, and she would crack up hysterically, and demand "more," so this continued over and over again until Jenna was literally turning blue and shaking from the cold (it's not easy to be out of the water on a raft unless it's super hot out, which it wasnt). Even despite her obvious chill, Jenna was FURIOUS when we took her out of the pool. When we got home from daycare tonight, she immediately found her yellow floaties, put them on each arm, and demanded "swimming pool!!" Someone likes the water!!
Here is a pathetic attempt at a family picture from Fathers' day... unfortunately I look pale and zombie-like (I really thought I had caught up on sleep by then!) and Jenna is eating and not looking at the camera. BUT, it's father's day, and Josh looks good, so that's all that matters.
Here is a random picture of Jenna and flurry on Saturday, that I'm posting because Josh got a kick out of it. Jenna is obsessed with flurry, as I've mentioned before. Here, flurry had jumped into my chair after dinner, hoping to score some leftovers. As soon as she got up there, Jenna immediately jumped into the chair to join her, and proceeded to hug her until Flurry gave up and jumped down. Ignoring Flurry's scary eyes, and the chocolate all over Jenna's face, it's hard not to look at this picture and see a little girl playing with her dog... where did my baby go, and who is this child that took her place?! she's so grown up!!
On that note... Jenna is increasingly hysterical lately. She has a full vocabulary and randomly busts out with the most amusing words/sentences/requests. I guess a lot of the kids in her daycare class are starting to turn 2, because out of nowhere, Jenna has come home lately saying "happy birthday to you!" it's really cute and totally stunted... if I can make it come across in a blog, it sounds like "HAPP-y BIR-day... to you" (emphasis on the happy birthday, with the "to you" as an afterthought). She says it over and over, like she's trying to sing it.
She can also sing "No more monkey's jumping on the bed." Well, just that line of the song, but it's still the longest sentence we've heard her say. What's even funnier though, is when that song comes on, even if she's not really listening or paying attention... it's completely instinctual... when the lyrics get to "one fell off and bumped his head" she immediately starts hitting her hand to her head. Then when it goes "Momma called the doctor and the doctor said..." she starts wagging her finger like she's saying "no no no." If she's paying attention, thats' where she'll also say "no more monkeys jumping on the bed!" She also knows the beginning of "twinkle twinkle little star" and the ABC's. I think she watches too many nursery rhyme shows at home.
Among her other random habits lately... I think I must work from home too much, because any time Jenna sees a stack of papers, or books (even if it's my law school books on my book shelf) she points to them and says "Mommy work!" What else? let's see... she's fond of demanding "piggy back" rides (which sound like "pibby back", and its' too cute not to give in whenever she asks... and with 55 stairs separating our rooms from the bottom floor of my dad's house, I can't say I blame her for wanting a ride!). She's also gotten very demanding lately... if she sees a book, it's "book! mommy read it!" and if daddy's tries to read it... temper tantrum (or vice versa). Basically, because she can now identify what she wants, and how she wants it to happen, she completely flips out if she does not get her way, 100%
Oh, I suppose because for the last 22 months of her life, we've been pointing to pictures of things and saying "what's that?" "whose that?" she now likes to run to the line of pictures in my dad's stairwell and point to a particular family picture of me, my brother, and my parents from my dad's 50th birthday, and point to everyone... while pointing, she yells at you, "whose that?" she doesn't actually want you to answer, she wants to answer herself, but she has to do the asking... once she asks, you then ask "who is that?" and she'll tell you... Unca Geg, Gandpa, Mommy... she recently learned who Grandma is, although half the time she says "Gandma" and half the time she says "Di-yann" Then if you ask her her middle name, she'll say "Di-yann" again. No idea if she knows it's really her middle name, but we're getting closer to an understanding. It's still cool to see her recognize and acknowledge my mom!
Oh, one last thing thats' really amusing, and I'll have to figure out how to upload from Josh's iphone... Josh does these workouts at home, and the other day, Jenna and I came upstairs as he was finishing up his push ups. Jenna had never seen push ups before, and was clearly quite amused by them. When he finished, she got down on the ground and started doing her own push ups. Then she went downstairs and demanded grandpa do some push ups. Now, when you ask, she'll literally drop and give you 20!! Josh's dad got her on video briefly last night... I'm trying to pull this from the iphone, but I don't know if it'll work. If it does, this doesn't even show how she normally does it, because she was outside on a deck, and in a dress, etc, but she normally gets down on the ground and does her "push ups." It's still pretty cute!
Just a little clip of Jenna being silly a month or so ago, right after we moved into my dad's, and the novelty of being in a new place, with new light switches, hadn't worn off yet. Sorry she seems a bit distorted, I filmed the clip with the camera held vertically, but when it uploads to the computer it only uploads sideways, so I had to flip it digitally and it doesn't convert very well. Even distorted, she's still cute :-)
I feel like this picture (click to truly see her expression) goes a long way in explaining the "terrible twos."
You can obviously see the whining and crying and frustration we deal with on a daily basis, but looking closer you can also see the underlying reason for it. This is clearly the age where their understanding, discovery and independence just explode. With that newfound appreciation for their surroundings, however, comes a stubborn desire to do EVERYTHING for themselves... on their own terms. Jenna must utter the phrase "Jenna do it!" 1000 times a day. Here, I was probably cooking something for her in the microwave... but obviously I wasn't doing it fast enough. She understands where her food is, and that it's cooking, but SHE wants to be responsible for deciding when and where it cooks, when it should be ready, and how it should be administered (i.e. if I give her something on a plate, she demands a bowl... if she's sitting down to eat blueberries, I can't just take out a few berries and put them in front of her, she'd throw them on the floor. Instead, I have to give her the container and let her choose the ones she wants). It's a phase, and hopefully (from what I've heard) they grow out of it eventually... but for now, I just look at this picture and realize that she's not whining and crying to torture me, but she's clearly trying to assert her independence, and I can't imagine how frustrating it must be to understand and desire to do certain things for yourself, but not be able to.
Then, once she finally gives up, I get this face... accompanied by, "Mommy do it?" and it just melts my heart.
ignore the green on the side of her mouth. I'm sure we had just come from "coloring" (i.e. drawing on the paper with one marker, while chewing on the remaining markers).
Dont get me started. I know I haven't posted much lately, but things have been crazy!!! I don't have time to write much now, but here's a quick explanation of our lives in a nutshell, living with a toddler who is experiencing the VERY defiant side of the terrible twos... (clicking on pics makes them more visible).
Jenna wanted to go outside and play after daycare tonight. As we were walking out, she saw "buddy" (her pink blankey, we have them pretty much in every room of the house). She wanted to take it outside, but I didnt' want buddy to get dirty, so I took it away and said she could have it when we came back, but buddy needed to stay inside. This was the reaction (you have to click on the photo to truly see the anger in her face)
And then... here we are under 2 minutes later, enjoying the sunshine...
Why the sudden change of heart, you ask??
I'll give you one guess....
wait for it... wait for it...
Jenna, did Daddy give in and let you bring buddy outside!??!
Silly girl... were you supposed to have buddy out here???
no no no!!
(this is one of Jenna's favorite sayings... all the girls in her daycare class, Jenna included, are going through a bit of the terrible toddler years, and they are getting more possessive and exerting a bit more force when they want/don't want something. I got two calls last week that Jenna had been bit by another girl in her class, so now, when I ask her if biting is ok, she hold out her finger, wags it back and forth, and says "no biting! no hitting! no no no!" -- hitting is another problem, they are constantly pushing and shoving each other. It's not malicious, it's just their way of expressing their new found opinions)
Jenna has a complete love affair with flurry... she chases her around the house, screaming doggy, doggy!! she likes to just lay down on the floor and cuddle with her, or really do anything she can to be with her. Flurry... not so much. She's pretty indifferent to Jenna, unless it's dinner time and Jenna is tossing food her way. Here's Jenna trying to give flurry a kiss...
One of the perks of having buddy outside with her... getting some good exercise. You'll note buddy sitting in the front seat of the car. Jenna placed it there gently and then said "jenna push buddy! buddy ride!!" as she proceeded to take her all over the backyard.
And finally... after a long night, Jenna is fond of doing her pageant-wave to say good night to all of her adoring fans...
Good news!! we FINALLY have a good internet connection at home!! When we moved into my dad's house, we tried to set up our desktop computer to access his wireless comcast network. The only problem - our computer didn't have a wifi card, and his wireless access point/router was about 10 years old... that's a BIG deal in the life of any technology, especially this kind. I went out and bought a really nice wifi card, got it properly installed in my computer, and viola! I had pathetic marginal internet access that sputtered to life when I first turned it on, and then died a very quick painful death as it immediately ceased to work. Realizing that I could access the internet, however, I immediately ran out, returned the first wifi card, and bought the most expensive one they had... Surely that would do the trick!! Nope... that one never got off the ground.
Now, I am certainly not an IT whiz, I think I have several (ok at least two) friends who I contact with urgent computer questions on a regular basis who would attest to that fact. I am, however, more computer savvy than the average 30 year old (I have to add that disclaimer, because the average 12 year old these days is much more computer savvy than the average 30 year old!) I fancy myself the "Expert" in the house, and when something is broken, tech wise, I can *usually* figure out the answer. So what's a girl to do? I called the "24 hour help-line" on the wifi card(s) (the first one was made by Linksys, the second by NetGear. I called both of their help lines on separate occasions before giving up on their products).
I learned an important lesson. When a company advertises "24 hour live customer service!" that customer service rep is not being paid $15.00 an hour to sit in a cubicle in Kentucky and answer phones if the off customer happens to have a question. Noooo.... instead, companies pay nice Phillipino workers what I'm sure amounts to far less money. Now, don't get me wrong, both gentleman were perfectly nice. I can say that comfortably, having spent over an hour on the phone with each of them. Of course, I had to laugh when the first gentleman told me his name was Eric, and it was only a half hour into the conversation, during some down time while we were waiting for the computer to reboot after one of his many (failed) suggestions, that he confessed and told me his real name (which I could never spell correctly, much less pronounce, so I won't bother trying). He also read off from a list of canned questions which the company clearly gave him to pass the inevitable down time. I didn't have the heart to ask him to be quiet while I watched TV, or read a book, so I engaged in some mindless chatter. The problem was, the network was showing that it was connected, and it was showing a signal.... but it wouldn't actually connect to the internet. Silly me, I thought that would be a quick fix. It wasn't. After an hour of failed suggestions, most of which Jenna probably could have come up with, and executed, quicker than the moronic "customer service" rep, I finally told him I was throwing in the towel, and planned to return the product.
At that point, "Eric" got very defensive, and started reading off what was obviously a prepared statement about how the problem wasn't with the product, and how the problem must have been my fault, or my environment's fault, for any of 100 reasons. As though that should somehow convince me to keep this $60 wifi adapter, even though it does not work and my computer cannot connect to the internet. But because it's not the adapter's fault, I guess I shouldn't hold it against the adapter. Sure. Maybe I'll just keep it and use it as... a thick bookmark? Ooh, I know. I have a table that's a bit off balance. The adapter is the perfect thickness to stick under the table leg and straighten things out. What a great use of $60.
Obviously I just cut "Eric" (and his NetGear counterpart, when it was time to call NetGear) off, thanked him kindly for all of his assistance, and immediately returned the product. Fortunately Staples has less of a vested interest in forcing me to use Linksys/NetGear products, and actually focuses its efforts on the "serving the customer" aspect of "customer service" -- they took back both adapters without batting an eye (for some reason I always gear myself up for a fight, or at least a hearty defensive explanation, when I'm returning things, especially electronics, so I'm always pleasantly surprised when the experience goes well). Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think for one second that the problem was with either of the wireless adapters I purchased. I'm sure they work beautifully in conjunction with wirless routers from this decade. But because they didn't fit my needs, they were useless to me.
Just as we were grasping at straws to figure out a decent internet connection (aside from the enjoyment of spending our downtime on facebook -- me, or espn.com -- josh, I actually do need the internet to be able to work from home, which I do most nights after Jenna goes to sleep) the heavens opened up and Verizon had a change of heart.
You see, my dad is a "snowbird." He lives in Florida in the winter. So for 6 months out of the year, he needs cable (he's gotta have HBO to watch Bill Maher) and internet. For the other 6 months, he doesn't need to rack up $150-200/month bills just so the dust mites and squatters can check their email (hey, Elijah is super busy one night out of the year... I figure the remainder of the year he hangs out in the houses of all those Jewish grandparents who winter in Florida!) Comcast was willing to put my dad's service to "sleep" while he was in Florida, charging him a minimal amount per month. When he looked into switching to FIOS, no dice, they wouldn't put his service to sleep. Even though it would save a few bucks per month for the regular monthly service, it certainly wasn't worth the switch if it meant paying full price for the months when he wasn't in Maryland. So, alas, we have spent the last few weeks floundering on a decades-old computer that couldn't access my work system and would have taken forever to upload a single Jenna picture.
So back to that change of heart. Verizon suddenly decided, after months of refusing, that they would agree to put my dad's service to sleep for a minimal cost when he leaves town. The cards fell into place, and Verizon showed up yesterday to save the world. Ok, ok, so I'm a bit over dramatic. But when you live in the internet-driven world, you get used to it, and you take it for granted. What time is that movie playing? Not sure, I'll check! Hmm, I know I recognize that actor from somewhere, what has he been in? Not sure, I'll check! what's that? ESPN is showing bowling re-runs and you can't determine who won the O's game and what the box score looked like? Hang on, I'll check! Need to send that work email at 1am, but need to attach a document that you can't attach from your blackberry? No problem! Less important, but more relevant... Need to know what all of your friends (and people you marginally know, have known tangentially at some point in your life, or don't know but know that your friends know, etc) are doing at this exact moment, with details bordering on invasive? Need to share with all of the above that you had steak for dinner and plan to watch some TV tonight? No problem! Facebook!! Need to take 1000 pictures of your kid doing absolutely nothing that absolutely no one other than you will find cute, and then post those pictures online for all of the above to see, subtly guilting them into telling you how adorable your kid is? No problem! Facebook!! Blogs!!
It's easy to make fun of, but we definitely take it for granted!! No one noticed the missing internet more than Jenna, who frequently climbed into the desk chair, grabbed the mouse, banged the keyboard, and demanded Elmo. Unfortunately my dad's computer was a bit too slow for streaming videos on sesamestreet.com, and even more unfortunately, Sesame Street (available on demand) is not the "elmo show" that I wish it would be. Thus, without a computer, I was unable to cater to Jenna's unquenchable desire for all-elmo, all the time.
Anyway, I never thought I would have an entire post devoted to the internet, but here I am wrapping it up (and almost too embarrased to post!) This was my long-story-short way of saying that we're back online as of last night, and I have lots to share (and I promise my next post will be infinitely more interesting!!)
Hi. I'm Liz. Nice to meet you. I feel like a stranger because I haven't blogged in such a long time!
So much has been going on lately that there hasn't been any time to write. The obvious, which most people already know, is that we sold our house in April, and the buyer wanted a very quick settlement, so we had a very short time to pack and move. The house was on the market for 3 months, and it seemed like it was never going to sell, so I never thought too much about how I'd fell once it did. In the very beginning, Josh asked me if I would be emotional when we moved. I brushed it off like he was ridiculous. Who gets emotional about leaving a little townhouse and moving to a nicer house!? Then we got the contract on our house. Still no sadness, just excitement, rushing out to buy a house, rushing to pack everything we had jammed into our house over the last 5 years, etc. Then, the packing was completed, and reality set in.
This was "our" house, and I loved it! It may only have been a small townhouse, but if you measure the size of a house not by its square footage, but by the happiness of the people inside, and by the memories created, than it may as well have been a castle! It was the first major thing Josh and I did as Husband and Wife, it was the first place we ever moved into together (he rented his apartment literally days after I met him, and moved in just after I met him, but even though we lived there together for a while, it was still always "his" place in my mind). This was the house where I stayed up all night watching Grey's Anatomy DVD's because pregnancy heartburn left me unable to sleep for the last 4 months of my pregnancy. This was the house where we brought Jenna home from the hospital, stopping in the parking lot and again on the front steps to take pictures of our little angel at her new house. We were so excited to have her at home that we went from room to room taking pictures of her!
This is the only picture I have of her, as a newborn, at work. The rest are all saved at home... this was less than a week after we brought her home from the hospital.
This was the house where she had all of her "firsts."
The very first time she ever ate solid foods... in that house on January 5, 2008...
That's the house where she developed her love of crawling into bed and taking naps with her daddy...
Where she first learned she could move all by herself, even though she looked a bit like a wounded soldier when she first tried to crawl...
Where she first learned to walk... http://greenwalds.blogspot.com/2008/07/baby-steps.html (can't access just the video)
and a million more firsts. Jenna LOVED that house. She knew it like the back of her hand, and would race from room to room. Unsafe parents that we were, we never baby-proofed. Yet Jenna learned how to climb up and down stairs at a very early age, and by the time she was a year old, she would get to the edge of a staircase, stop, and go down on her tush. Of course, now she insists on walking down the stairs one at a time, but we never had to worry about her falling. She loved to run into the kitchen pantry, close the door on herself, and play "where's Jenna", forcing you to open the door and find her over and over and over again!
For weeks I tried to explain to her that we were moving, I taught her to say "bye bye, house" and I thought she would be ok. Then a day or two before we moved, she was up on her changing table, and I said "Jenna, we're going to go to grandpa's house tomorrow, and we're not going to come back to this house again, is that ok?" She got the saddest look on her face, looked up at me, and said "no!" More than anything, I just started worrying about how she would adjust to the change -- would she notice, would she be confused? would she miss her old house?
Sometimes I think she does, but most of the time, I have to give her credit, she has made a fabulous transition!! the first few days living at grandpa's house, she was like a kid in a candy store. Everything was new and exciting, and there were so many new things to see and new places to hide. Then she went to daycare the following Monday, and when we came home, it was sort of like... "ok, I was at grandpa's for vacation, but I'm back at daycare, doing my usual thing now, so why am I not at home?" she didn't sleep well that first night. She has been doing great since that first night, though. She has her ups and downs with sleep, she definitely isn't sleeping AS consistently as she was, I think she wakes up during the night and still gets a bit confused about where she is, and she has a much harder time going to sleep now than she ever did in her room, but I think part of that is also the age. Over the weekend, she went up to my dad's kitchen cabinets (he doesn't have an actual pantry, just a solid wall of cabinets, but there's no room to go inside of them and close a door), opened the cabinets, and tried to hide inside, saying "where's jenna?" It made me sad, because that was a game she loved to play in our kitchen pantry, and that's clearly something she was looking for/trying to recreate, and I just felt bad wondering if she was missing her house!!
The day or two before we moved, I got very emotional, just thinking about leaving the house where we brought Jenna home from the hospital, her first house, and never coming back. Josh and my dad both tried to convince me that I was being ridiculous ("it's not like we're moving away, we can still drive by it anytime" -- Josh's explanation; or, "you and josh are going with her, it's not like you're leaving her behind, she'll still have the most important parts of her life," -- my dad's explanation). We settled on the house on Friday, May 8. At the very end of the settlement, I almost got a bit teary, just turning over the keys for the last time, but I kept it together. Having driven to work separately that day, Josh and I met at the realtors office, and then drove home separately afterwards. As I got on the beltway, my cell phone rings, it's Josh, saying "I think I'm having seller's remorse!" he was kidding, but he, too, was expressing that it was emotional to leave behind Jenna's first house. Of course, hearing that he was sad about it was all I needed to set me off, and I immediately started crying. BUT, like I said, we're mostly settled into my dad's, where we'll be for the next 5 months or so (probably more), and she seems to be doing fine.
On that note, we decided that there wasn't anything on the market that we really loved, so we're building a house in a great new local community. We've been looking at this house for over a year, and almost put in an offer in Jan/Feb. 2008, but it wasn't the right time. I'm so glad we waited, because everything fell into place perfectly. We love the area where we'll be living, and literally every single neighbor is right around our age, with kids right around Jenna's age. I know a bunch of people either living there already, or building there now, and everyone just loves it. I'm excited that Jenna will grow up surrounded by tons of kids her age. Our offer was accepted about a month ago, but the process is moving very very slowly. Supposedly they are going to start preparing our lot and getting the process underway on May 27. I was told that date was tentative, so I'll be shocked if it happens before June. Once they break ground, it supposedly only takes 4 months to build the house, but I'm just very skeptical about the process because of the lack of efficiency I've seen thus far! We go to the design center this week for a preliminary look, and then again on June 4 to pick out all of our options (floors, cabinets, counters, appliances, lighting, etc). There's a lot of work involved with building a house from scratch, but I love that we will be the first people to ever live in it. I try not to think about the house Jenna left behind, but of the house she'll be moving into, and how happy she'll be there!!
Speaking of Jenna... man is she growing up quickly!! I swear, she's 20 months going on 20 years!! she is speaking in sentences, telling us what she wants and when she wants it, and stubborn and independent cannot begin to describe her attitude if she does not get what she wants. Everything is "Jenna do it!" She has certain routines... she cannot go downstairs without stopping at this little alcolve where my dad has some artwork, including these two mini chinese dragons. She stops, points, and says "dragon." I say yes, then she says "TWO dragons!" EVERYTHING these days is the number 2. It reminds me of sesame street. 2 is the number of the day. She loves the # 2!!
She is also finally starting to understand the concept of bargaining, something I've been waiting for for a while. She definitely holds you to your end of the bargain, though!! this kid has some memory!! usually it's something little. She doesn't want to eat something, or doesn't want to do something, so I'll ask her to take one more bite of something she doesn't want, and then I'll give her something she does want. That never used to work before, but she finally understands, and she'll (sometimes) do what you want. Even funnier though, is when her end of the bargain isn't immediate. For example, Jenna HATES getting in her carseat. She loves playing in the car, and sitting like a big girl, so as soon as you put her in the carseat, she immediately flips out of it (too quick to be buckled in), and sits in the regular seat. Trying to force her in the carseat is impossible. She goes rigid, screams, claws at the seat, but will NOT sit down. Finally, exasperated trying to leave daycare one day, Josh promised that if she got in the carseat, he would give her raisins. He didn't have raisins in his pocket, he just meant that he would give them to her when they got home. She relented, and they got in the car. The drive back to our old house isn't far, but in traffic it can take a good ten minutes. So they got home that night, Josh unloads her and her stuff, gets her inside, and Jenna immediately marched into the kitchen and demanded the raisins Josh had promised! Quite the memory for a then-18 month old!
She is also becoming VERY "potty" oriented, even though she's not quite ready to actually be potty trained. She hates diapers, and as soon as she has the opportunity, she takes them off. She's a big fan of telling us when she has to go, or when she did go, and she's a big fan of sitting on the potty... she's even used it properly a few times. Of course, now she asks to go potty, goes and sits on it, and immediately asks for a treat, because she knows she gets a treat if she goes on the potty. I think the biggest hurdle to potty training is that I'm not home with her during the day. If I had a solid week to work with her, put her on the potty throughout the day, etc, I think she would be potty trained by now without question. Unfortunately I only have the weekends, and then she goes to daycare where she's in diapers and they don't have a bathroom handy. I'm not sure how potty training works with daycare, so I'll have to check it out. I love the thought of Jenna being out of diapers, but we're not quite there yet!!
Anyway, I have a bunch of recent pictures, but I haven't had a chance to upload them (getting the kinks worked out with the computer situation at my dads. Internet doesnt seem to want to work in our room). Now that things have settled down, I'll try to update more often!! I don't even know if anyone checks this thing anymore, cause it's been so long since I've updated, but if nothing else, it'll still be something Jenna can look back on one day!!
We are starting to notice some OCD type behavior in Jenna... we're hoping it's just a phase, but perhaps she got more of Uncle Greg's DNA than we realized :-) First, she has long had an obsession with the bathroom door on the main floor. The bathroom is in the hallway, right off the kitchen, and she has to walk by it to go from the kitchen to the rest of the house. often, the door will be open just a crack. Jenna CANNOT walk by the door without closing it. She just pushes it closed, and moves on. Doesn't do this with any other door.
Her latest obsession is washing her hands. At home, when her hands are dirty, or it's time to eat, etc, we pull a kitchen chair up to the sink, she stands on it, asks for soap, and washes and dries her hands like a big girl. Apparently, at daycare, she has taken this obsession to a new level. I recently learned that she basically spends all day dragging a little blue chair across the room, standing on it to reach the sink, and washing her hands. Repeatedly. All day. Every day.
When I got to daycare last night, it was really late, right at 6pm when they close. I saw Jenna dragging the blue chair, and I thought maybe she was just helping her teacher clean up. No, she was sneaking the chair when she thought her teacher wasn't looking, and dragging it back across the room to wash her hands. From the teacher's reaction, I surmised that this is a constant battle. I got Jenna to put the chair back, but as soon as I turned around to get her things together, she ran off, got the chair, and had it at the sink before I knew it.
Jenna's wonderful teachers always take lots of pictures of the students during the day. Usually they are playing, reading, eating, etc. The most recent round of pictures is mainly of Jenna washing her hands. I'm guessing she didn't leave them much choice, it was either photograph what she does all day, or not photograph at all!!
In more exciting news... We recently learned that my brother is going to experience his own "daddy/daughter" bond soon... Greg and Jessica are having a GIRL!!!
I'm so excited for Jenna to have a baby cousin to play with. We already made a pact that, if Greg and Jess move back to the east coast, we will both commit to finding a neutral location halfway between us (i.e. Delaware) to get together at least once (preferably twice) a month so the kids (and adults) can play. I think we all recognize the importance of remaining a close knit family -- Greg and I were raised with a close group of first cousins nearby, and while Jessica is an only child, she grew up with a huge, very close extended family. Personally, I can't help but see Greg being surrounded by women as penance for how mean he was to his little sister growing up, but I know that he and Jessica are both over the moon about their new addition, and I was surprised to learn that my macho (formerly slightly male chauvinist, at least from the perspective of his little sister), soccer playing, football watching older brother wanted a girl all along...
Apparently when they found out they were pregnant, Greg immediately knew it would be a girl, despite everyone else (me included!) guessing "boy" all along. On Friday, when they received confirmation of their pink future, Jessica shared with me the sentiment Greg had shared with her... He knew he would have a girl as some cosmic way of compensating for all the important women he had recently lost in his life (our mom passed away just before he met Jess, and our grandma, truly the matriarch of my dad's side of the family, passed away shortly after they met). Greg was hoping for a girl, and to everyone's surprise but his, his wish came true.
I am just so excited for Greg and Jess, and for little baby girl Mandy; and I'm so proud of my big brother. I had a whole long story typed here about why I'm proud of Greg, and why I know my mom would be so proud of him, but that's a little too personal for the blogosphere, so I think I'm going to save it to write in a little note to future Ms. Mandy. For now, I'll leave you with Greg and the adorably pregnant Jessica (note to self, not fair that some people look this cute pregnant!) It's nice to see that Greg has already learned his place, bowing down to the women in his life!!
This was the only time in the last week or two that Jenna has taken a moment to be quiet and relax... normally she's always on the move. Out of nowhere, she just climbed in daddy's lap and snuggled in. I took a bunch of pictures, they got more adorable with each picture!.
(I know I've posted this one before, but I don't have the whole sequence from the above picture here at work, so I thought I'd use this one as a placeholder!)
All the sudden, over the weekend, Jenna has turned into a HUGE daddy's girl. She's obviously always loved Josh, but now it's "DADDY!!!" all the time. She wants Daddy to read her books, she wants Daddy to do things with her, she wants Daddy to come everywhere. She is a big fan of going up to Josh, grabbing his hand, and saying "pull" and pulling him up from where ever he is sitting, or pulling him away from whatever he is doing, and insisting that he come with us. Bedtime used to be a Jenna and Mommy event. I'd get her ready, we'd go "kiss daddy good night" and say "night night" then go upstairs, and I'd sing our special "mommy loves you" song (to the tune of Frere Jacques) and she'd go right to bed.
Now, when I try to take her upstairs, she screams "dadddyyyyyy" like a pained puppy, until daddy comes and we make it a joint event. Now, granted, that might just be Jenna trying to avoid going to bed. A lot of times, she just screams for the other parent, when the parent she is with is trying to get her to do something she doesn't want to do (as the "functional" parent, that's usually me). But still, there's no denying that this little girl loves her daddy.
We were in the den yesterday, and Josh was downstairs working out. Jenna went to the closed door leading down to the basement, and banged on it, screaming "daddyyyy!!" She even got down on the floor, looking through the little crack between the door and the floor, as though she could somehow squeeze herself through and make it down to daddy. When we're outside playing, she runs to him with open arms, and when we're inside, she wants to be on him, with him, next to him, etc.
Part of me is just the tiniest bit jealous... When she was little, she needed me for her needs and wanted me for her wants. Now, as she gets older, she wants daddy more and more, and I know she'll only continue that trend. BUT I think back to my own child hood, and my special "daddy daughter days" (which I still remember in detail, I remember seeing the huge white stair case with the gold railings at Owings Mills mall, and thinking I was in a castle. Ha, if only I could have seen what it would become one day!)
Despite my twinge of jealousy, I wouldn't want it any other way. I have the most wonderful husband, and Jenna is so lucky to have a dad who loves her so much, who is so involved and engaged with her, who never gets tired or frustrated when she exhibits her seemingly endless toddler temper these days, who always finds a way to make her light up and laugh.
Besides -- from the girly tendencies she's exhibiting lately, I don't think I have to worry too much... I have a feeling I'll always be able to engage Jenna in a special "mommy/daughter" day, where we go for mani/pedi's, etc. When daycare is closed, Josh's mom is kind enough to watch Jenna for us. Nancy has a big closet with a vanity full of make-up... Jenna's favorite place in the whole house. As soon as she gets to Josh's parents house, she goes right up to their bedroom, into their closet like she's lived there forever, turns on the light, and marches straight to the make-up. Now, whenever she sees make-up at home, she is obsessed... especially with my lipsticks. She finds them in my purse, demands that we open them, and insists on putting on lipstick, by herself... no one is allowed to help her... which is why she usually winds up with it all over her face... case in point...
Last but not least, since I don't update often... Jenna's other newfound love is the park...
The weather was so nice this weekend, so on Saturday we took her to Meadowood to play on the playground and run around. She loved it, but the only problem is... she's used to daycare, where all the toys and bikes and strollers, etc, are for communal use. She's not used to seeing something she wants and not being allowed to play with it. We didn't bring her stroller, since we just walked in from the parking lot, and knew she'd want to run around outside. Whenever we saw another child's stroller, or even worse, their bikes/tricycles/scooters/wagons, she went right up and tried to use/play with them. I had to tell her no... it didn't go over well, and when we left the park, we did so holding a kicking/screaming toddler. Her favorite part about the day, though, was the swings. She LOVED the swings. When I first started pushing her, she was cracking up. Then she would just sit there quietly, enjoying the nice weather. When we'd think she was bored, and we'd try to take her out, she'd go crazy... "swiiiiiing!!" until we put her back in. I think we're going to need a swingset in our backyard one day (although it doesn't look like we're going to have much of a backyard, depending on where we move!! Fortunately the park is never too far away!!)
