Heard of it? It's running rampant -- and Ella has a bad case of it.
Symptoms include:
-waking up from nap and being generally disagreeable until bedtime
-swatting at and/or throwing things unnecessarily
-ridiculous fits that have no real purpose
-not using big-girl voice or words
Onset seems to have occurred a couple weeks ago, and she now seems to be in the throes of the infection.
A serious side effect of whiny-itis, which is not often mentioned, is the impact it has on the sanity of the caregivers. It can take a serious toll on one's patience, and make you feel like jumping out the window due to the unending, relentless whining.
Starting tomorrow, a new treatment procedure will be implemented. This involves telling the afflicted, "Mommy will not respond to whining, and when you are able to use your big-girl voice, I will help you," along with a follow-up regimen of ignoring the whines. Expectations are that the treatment will not be received favorably, but hopefully, it will be quick-acting.
February 28, 2010
February 25, 2010
Slacker.
I forgot to do Ella's 19-month pictures. Blah. She's halfway to 20 months now, but I guess I should take some for posterity's sake.
I don't think I'd posted about it, but she can climb up on the sofa now. For awhile, her tactic was to pull the pillows off the sofa to kind of make a little hillock, and she'd use that to climb up. (How I found this out, if you're interested, was by leaving her in the living room one evening while I stepped into the kitchen for a minute or two. I stuck my head around the corner to check on her, and there she was on the sofa, pleased as punch, grinning and me and waving "Heeeeeeey!") I'm pretty certain she can get up there now without the assistance of Pillow Hill, although I've yet to see her actually do it. Luckily for me, she's *really* good about turning around onto her tummy to slide down, so we've not had any spills yet (knock on wood).
She's also really good all of a sudden at using a spoon! I hadn't really been pursuing it, since almost everything she eats is finger food-y, but a few weeks ago, I decided to give her a spoon with her yogurt at breakfast, and she went to it like a champ! It was crazy. She does great with foods that stick to the spoon -- yogurt, apple sauce, things like that. I've introduced a fork to her as well, and while she's not quite as successful with that yet (I mean, it does have HOLES in it), she definitely gives it the ol' college try and knows what she's *supposed* to do with it. She even used a big-person fork at the Mexican place today! (I should mention here also that we went to lunch completely unprepared today in terms of baby gear -- no bib and no placemat. It was just her, the plate, and the food. We were a little worried about how she'd do, but she was great! No more of a mess than usual, which for her, isn't much at all. No plates went flying or black bean hair treatments. Jon and I were both very impressed.)
She's getting more words now, including cute names for a couple of her books ("Hop on Pop" is "Pat Pat" and "Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?" is "Boom boom boom".) She suddenly knows who Mickey Mouse is ("Mah-nah"), and blanket is "bah-et".
Yesterday, I had my blog up on the laptop, and Ella spied the pictures of Alex. She started saying "cat cat cat" and trying to pet the screen. Oh man, my heart broke, but it was so sweet at the same time. For a grumpy old cuss, he was always gentle with her.
I don't think I'd posted about it, but she can climb up on the sofa now. For awhile, her tactic was to pull the pillows off the sofa to kind of make a little hillock, and she'd use that to climb up. (How I found this out, if you're interested, was by leaving her in the living room one evening while I stepped into the kitchen for a minute or two. I stuck my head around the corner to check on her, and there she was on the sofa, pleased as punch, grinning and me and waving "Heeeeeeey!") I'm pretty certain she can get up there now without the assistance of Pillow Hill, although I've yet to see her actually do it. Luckily for me, she's *really* good about turning around onto her tummy to slide down, so we've not had any spills yet (knock on wood).
She's also really good all of a sudden at using a spoon! I hadn't really been pursuing it, since almost everything she eats is finger food-y, but a few weeks ago, I decided to give her a spoon with her yogurt at breakfast, and she went to it like a champ! It was crazy. She does great with foods that stick to the spoon -- yogurt, apple sauce, things like that. I've introduced a fork to her as well, and while she's not quite as successful with that yet (I mean, it does have HOLES in it), she definitely gives it the ol' college try and knows what she's *supposed* to do with it. She even used a big-person fork at the Mexican place today! (I should mention here also that we went to lunch completely unprepared today in terms of baby gear -- no bib and no placemat. It was just her, the plate, and the food. We were a little worried about how she'd do, but she was great! No more of a mess than usual, which for her, isn't much at all. No plates went flying or black bean hair treatments. Jon and I were both very impressed.)
She's getting more words now, including cute names for a couple of her books ("Hop on Pop" is "Pat Pat" and "Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?" is "Boom boom boom".) She suddenly knows who Mickey Mouse is ("Mah-nah"), and blanket is "bah-et".
Yesterday, I had my blog up on the laptop, and Ella spied the pictures of Alex. She started saying "cat cat cat" and trying to pet the screen. Oh man, my heart broke, but it was so sweet at the same time. For a grumpy old cuss, he was always gentle with her.
February 23, 2010
SO not what I was expecting.
Lately, there's been another neighbor dog that comes around outside our fence (we have woods on two sides of us) and Cosmo and Lukin will bark at him, but will come right in when I call them. Well, last night, I thought the other dog was out there again, since I heard a ruckus, but I couldn't get the dogs to come in, even when tempting them with a treat. Pretty unusual, and I thought maybe one or both of them had gotten on the other side of the fence somehow. They were behind the shed, so I couldn't see what was going on.
I got a flashlight, put on my flip flops, and traipsed back out across the yard, expecting just to see the neighbor dog -- instead, they had a nasty, hissing, yellow-toothed opossum cornered just on the other side of the fence!! Lukin was UNDER the shed, and Cosmo was about halfway under the fence, trying his damnedest to get in a rabies-filled tussle.
*shudder*
I got a flashlight, put on my flip flops, and traipsed back out across the yard, expecting just to see the neighbor dog -- instead, they had a nasty, hissing, yellow-toothed opossum cornered just on the other side of the fence!! Lukin was UNDER the shed, and Cosmo was about halfway under the fence, trying his damnedest to get in a rabies-filled tussle.
I finally managed to haul the dogs out of the way a bit, and the opossum ran off. I hope he learned his lesson and stays away from our yard.
*shudder*
February 19, 2010
It's been a sad day around here.
We had to say goodbye to our sweet (sometimes curmudgeonly) cat Alex, today.
Ella with her buddy:
February 16, 2010
I've decided I don't like exfoliating body wash.
It seems counterproductive to me to smear grit all over my body when I'm trying to get clean. Unfortunately for me, I have a whole bottle of this mess to go through :P
February 14, 2010
February 13, 2010
Generous to a fault.
We went out for Mexican tonight, and Ella was happily eating her rice and black bean burrito. Jon was teasing with her, and asked her if she wanted to share her dinner with him. She ate a bite, thought about it, and then took it back out of her mouth to give to Jon.
Oh, child.
Sometimes, it's okay not to share.
Oh, child.
Sometimes, it's okay not to share.
February 10, 2010
I'm in love.
Isn't it gorgeous?
I guess I have some kind of thing about having purple stuff in my kitchen -- after all, I painted the kitchen purple at our old house (and it looked great!).
Oh, it's so lovely. Don't you think?
Definitely going onto my wish list. Jon can deal with purple cookware, right?
February 9, 2010
So, I left the living room for a minute...
...and Ella was happily on the floor with her milk.
I came back, and she was even more happily sitting on the sofa. She smiled and waved, "Heeeeeey!", so pleased with herself.
Guess she's figured out how to climb.
Here's where things get interesting.
I came back, and she was even more happily sitting on the sofa. She smiled and waved, "Heeeeeey!", so pleased with herself.
Guess she's figured out how to climb.
Here's where things get interesting.
February 7, 2010
February 6, 2010
Now I have no doubt.
I'd never survive a winter up north. No chance. We're on our 3rd bout of snow so far this winter, and I am Sick.Of.It. And guess what? More is forecast for this coming week. (Do you hear the lack of excitement in my typing?) I don't ever remember having been more ready for spring. So much for Jon's dream of moving to the Great White North one day. Sorry, darlin'.
In Ella News, Kindermusik started back up a couple of weeks ago! We moved up to the next group, which is 18 months to 3 years. This is a longer session than the fall one -- 14 weeks. So we've got plenty of music, singing and dancing to get us through the spring :)
She's picking up new words all the time now. It's crazy. Some of the latest:
-foot
-eye
-head
-pants
-done
-hey
-silly
And we're working really hard on "Up, please" -- we get something that sounds like "Up, buh", but it's close enough for now, and it's better than her hitting because she's not getting her way.
She's really into dancing now, too -- she does most of her dancing with her arms, though (sort of like her mom does, ha). It's seriously the cutest thing ever. I'll have to get a video of it to post here.
In Ella News, Kindermusik started back up a couple of weeks ago! We moved up to the next group, which is 18 months to 3 years. This is a longer session than the fall one -- 14 weeks. So we've got plenty of music, singing and dancing to get us through the spring :)
She's picking up new words all the time now. It's crazy. Some of the latest:
-foot
-eye
-head
-pants
-done
-hey
-silly
And we're working really hard on "Up, please" -- we get something that sounds like "Up, buh", but it's close enough for now, and it's better than her hitting because she's not getting her way.
She's really into dancing now, too -- she does most of her dancing with her arms, though (sort of like her mom does, ha). It's seriously the cutest thing ever. I'll have to get a video of it to post here.
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