Our Toddler Turns 2

Claudia turned 2 on April 15th. She moved up a classroom at daycare shortly before her birthday, so her talking has really taken off now that she's with the older kids. She is stringing words together and her first full sentence was "I need my daddy." She has several phrases now that she says often and one annoying one was saying "hurry up" to Glen or I as we were preparing her dinner. It was really starting to irk me, and then we figured out she was actually saying "really hot." So we still have some work to do on pronunciation, but overall we're able to communicate with her better so that she can order us around (haha). She is also doing more potty training in her new classroom and she has been going sometimes at daycare and went in the potty for the first time at home!

Lately she is really into playing with her Glo-Doodle (either drawing herself or telling us to draw things for her), puzzles, and Duplo Legos. Also, she got a tea set and a play vet clinic for her birthday that are becoming favorites. She has figured out the concept of counting, but gets stuck on the number 2, so it's "one, two, two, two." She is not very interested in TV, but she can spot certain characters like Elmo, Hello Kitty, Dora, and Mickey Mouse. In fact, "Elmo's World" on Sesame Street is about the only thing she gets excited about and even then, her attention span is only a couple minutes. A couple of her new tricks are rolling her tongue and sticking it out and also pushing her belly out and saying "big belly".

The week after Claudia's birthday she had to two year check-up and she was 26 1/2 pounds and 34 inches, which puts her in the 50 percentile like usual. It's a rough estimate, but if you double a child's height at age two, it will give you their expected adult height, so Claudia will be 5'8". We also took her for her first haircut, although they just trimmed a little off the back to try and even it up. She sports pigtails most days to keep her hair out of her eyes. She has a big callick like her grandpa, so we don't need to worry about cutting bangs (fringe).

Off to her first day of "school" in her new classroom, Sunshine Bears


Heading to daycare in her Birthday Girl T-shirt. She was very excited to show it to everyone.


Having a cupcake for her birthday.


Opening presents at her birthday party.


And coloring with her friend.


Showing off her Easter Dress.

Vegas Baby!

Glen had a MDA conference in Las Vegas, so we decided to make a vacation out of it. Neely & Emilio joined us for a fun-filled long weekend. Claudia got to stay with Grandpa & Grandma. We booked our rooms at the Hard Rock Hotel, but we didn't realize it was the start of March Madness, so our hotel was a bit overrun by male sports fans, but thankfully our team (UW) made it in the tournament so we could participate in some of the excitement and watch a little basketball. Our first day (Glen's 5th), we took a helicopter trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, which was amazing. We spent the next couple of days doing some light gambling, drinking, heavy eating, and just wandering around seeing all the neat hotels. We topped off the trip by seeing Cirque du Soleil "O" at the Bellagio. I was fighting a bit of a cold during the trip, so I wasn't as wild & crazy as I wanted to be, but maybe that's just my excuse for being old. :-)

Claudia's talking has really taken off these past couple of weeks. I think several days with her talkative grandparents helped. I called a few times during our trip and it was so cute to hear her little munchkin voice say "hi mommy." She is doing really well at stringing two or three words together and she is getting more brave about trying new sounds and repeating back most things we say to her. She has learned the word "mine" and really enjoys "no" so she can be challenging at times, but we've tried the technique of giving her two options and that seems to work. For example, if I just tell her "time to brush your teeth" she will quickly say no, but if I say "do you want mommy or daddy to brush your teeth?" she will pick one. It's a good trick. She is also really particular about her accessories these days. She has a list of things she wants to take with her to bed and a list of things she needs in order to leave the house. She hasn't latched onto one specific item like many kids do, but she definitely needs a binkie, blanket, sunglasses, hat, baby doll, etc. for different occasions.

Now that it's spring, we're finally having some sunny days, so here we are at the park.


Notice, she's holding her baby doll while on the swing.


Claudia gets shy when you put her on the spot, but here is my attempt at getting her to talk on camera.


Emilio jogged out to the Las Vegas sign one morning while the rest of us were still sleeping.


In the helicopter.


Flying over Hover Dam.


Inside the Grand Canyon.

Burr

We had a cold snap in Seattle for the last week and we even got a dusting of snow a few days, but thankfully not enough to disrupt traffic in the city. My company moved locations this week and even though we had a moving company to do the heavy lifting, we still had a ton of packing and coordination to move an entire lab. It all came together quite nicely and we're now on the west side of Queen Anne looking out to the waterfront. Not bad!

I got my biennial colonoscopy and the results were good. It just showed minor colitis and the rest of me is healthy. I don't always feel 100%, but I'm a lot better than last summer. I also saw an IBD specialist at the UW and he ordered some more testing on suspicion that I might have Crohns instead of UC, but everything has been inconclusive. It's not easy dealing with a chronic disease, but I'm very thankful that I'm able to live a normal life most of the time.

Glen & I had a wonderful Valentine's Day this year by going to The Melting Pot and having a delicious, fun, and romantic 4 course fondue dinner. We don't splurge like that often, so we're joking that we can afford to do it again in about five years.

Claudia is really thriving lately and is absorbing knowledge like a sponge. She is borderline obsessed with babies however she can get them -- real, on TV, in a book, a photo, and of course, baby dolls. She likes to push boundaries, so although we've tried it before, we put a good effort into some mini time-outs. She has to sit in this one spot without her binkie for 1 minute. We pretty much do what I learned from the TV show Super Nanny. Amazingly, it works like a charm. And I've saved the best for last, Claudia went pee pee on the potty for the first time! She went at daycare last week!

All bundled up playing at Magnuson Park.


Carrying around her baby doll and a little blanket.


She loves soap and insists on doing most of the washing herself.


She hasn't really taken to her "little potty" so we're going to try a toddler seat on the "big potty" like they do at daycare.

Maggie

Claudia started cutting her cuspids and it's the first time she experienced teething pain, so she had a rough week with a mild fever and some crying spells at daycare. It coincided with a bit of night waking and chants for a baba. We were "supposed" to cut out the bottle at age 1, but we continued doing a morning one so we could get her to drink her Miralax (for constipation) and also to bridge the time between waking up and having breakfast at school. She is almost 2, so maybe we will try then. She has already sort of moved up to the 2-3 year old classroom at daycare. She is splitting her time between classrooms now because she is one of the best kids at listening and behaving, so she is adaptable. I have nothing to compare to, but she doesn't seem as perfect at home, but maybe I'm just spoiled and she is easier than most. At home, she does normal toddler behavior like climbing on furniture, resisting going to bed, and throwing food. Overall though, she is a super enjoyable kid. We are always amazed at how clever she is. She has started putting two words together. It started simple: "hi daddy" and now she is saying phrases and working on adding colors to objects. She will repeat back about half of the nouns that I say to her. As she has added new sounds to her voice, certain words have become more garbled, which is strange. For example, Mommy is now Maggie. It's become a family joke that she says my name wrong! She is still very obsessed with the words Daddy and Nana. Nana has a double meaning. If she is holding a phone or pointing at the computer (hint:Skype), then it is her Nana in Australia, and if it is the cupboard in the kitchen, it is a banana. She has learned a good skill, understanding how to shut her eyes. This helps with soapy water in the bathtub.

Glen and I have been busy at work like usual, but we have a good handle on things and are able to enjoy our family and friend time too. I started doing Pilates again on Tuesday nights and this quarter my sister and friend are also in the class, so it's extra fun to get a little social time too. Glen has continued with his dart league on Wednesdays, so he has good excuse to go out with his friends once a week. We try our best to work in family time and date nights on the weekends.

Showing off her pigtails and holding one of her new favorite stuffed animals, bunny.

Start of 2011

We had a good start to 2011. We spent a few days over at Alta Lake with my family and went skiing on New Year's Eve. Glen & I tried out a new mountain called Loup Loup, which we loved. It's not very big, but it wasn't crowded, it was a short drive, and it was beautiful. I think this is our new favorite place for skiing! We got to experience zero degree Fahrenheit weather for the first time, but it warmed up to a balmy 14 degrees in the sun by the afternoon. Burr.

Claudia is now 21 months old and she is definitely a toddler! She has always been an easy baby and we hear she is an angel at daycare, but she is learning how to be quite naughty at home. She likes to climb up on things, throw things, hit us, and yell "no" a lot. She also has this mischievous look she gives with her eyes. Distraction seems to work, but it's exhausting to redirect her every minute or two. Claudia had her first big illness of the season -- she had walking pneumonia this week. We caught it early and the amoxicillin helped, so she only missed two days of daycare and she was quickly back to her energetic self. She has been so much healthier this winter than last. She loves to wash her hands and she is great at blowing her nose, so she doesn't seem as grimy and sticky as some toddlers. Although, her fine blond hair is getting scrappy looking. We need to do something with it.

Many people have asked me about the devastating floods in Queensland, Glen's home state. Thankfully none of our family had their homes flooded, but it is a tough situation for their community. Thank you everyone for your concern.

Claudia loves to walk around in big shoes. She understands possession now, so she will point to these slippers and say daddy.


Going for a walk in the snow.


Where's the baby?


Here she is!


Trying out pigtails for the first time.

Merry Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year! Everyone was healthy and Claudia brought joy to a lot of people. We started off hosting Neely, Emilio, and Gina for Christmas Eve dinner, exchanging a few presents, Skype with the family in Australia, and then church service where Claudia tried to ham it up as much as we would let her including some dancing in the aisle. For Christmas morning, we decided to postpone Santa for another year because Claudia does not understand yet, although she was pretty excited and knew something good was happening. We had a relaxing morning as a family and then headed off to my parents' house in Kirkland for our annual Christmas day celebration. Claudia is on the only grandchild on my side of the family so there is a lot of attention on her. It is easy to joke that she is spoiled, but there is also a slight bit of pressure for her behave and to be excited about every present. Of course we would all love her just the same if she had a meltdown, but it was sure nice to see her so happy and appreciative of all her gifts. She was prancing around in her new clothes and seemed fascinated with every toy she received. She also got to stay over for the night like she did on Thanksgiving so that her great grandparents could spend some extra time with her.

Claudia has learned one important task since my last posted -- she can now jump! At first she just swung her arms up, but now she actually gets some air. She also discovered that she can get more air if she does it on the bed or the couch, so we now have some trouble on our hands. She is getting more bold and can now climb on the chairs and up on the table. She is slowly but surely adding words to her vocabulary, although she still has a way to go on a lot of letters and sounds. She mostly just chants daddy and meow when she is around me, but will try to repeat most words I ask her to, and then quickly goes back to making animal noises. Compared to other kids her age, she is less book smart (language, colors, letters) and more creative at this age (20 months). She really likes imaginative play with her dolls or stuffed animals, she likes to draw and can hold a crayon properly, she loves to copy hand and body motions to songs, and she's very clever about watching adults and mimicking their behavior. She also really likes to follow directions, which is good because they encourage the kids at daycare do many things themselves (clear their plates, put away their toys, etc.)

On a sad note, my parents' cat Pepper Face died unexpectedly last week. She was only 12 years old. She was acting lethargic and not herself so my dad took her to the vet and they found a tumor in her belly, as well as diabetes and kidney problems, so he decided to let her go because she was obviously in a lot of discomfort. We will miss you Pepper.

Check out her Christmas dress and cute shoes!




I've never seen a kid so excited about a new coat. She thought this was the best gift ever!


She was so cute getting excited over each present.


At home on Boxing Day playing with her new baby buggy...


... and her giant stuffed kangaroo.


Walking around in mommy's slippers.

Happy Thanksgiving

The week of Thanksgiving gave us our first snow of the year. We live on a hill that turns into a sheet of ice, but our Subaru (the winter wonderland car) can handle it and gets us down to the main road that gets plowed. We were only able to work half days because the daycare was on limited hours, but that was better than a lot of people who couldn't get out at all. I quite enjoyed the snow and I hope we get more this year! The snow thawed just in time for Thanksgiving dinner, which my mom and dad kindly hosted. Events like these can be pretty overwhelming for Claudia, but she did better than she has in the past and was a little more independent especially when playing with some of her favorite toys. The long weekend gave Glen time to do his project of painting the bathroom. The cabinets are now white and the walls are light blue, which really brightens it up in there. It was a learning experience for us so it's not perfect, but it looks pretty sharp and it's definitely better than the sickly green we had before.

Claudia is such a joy lately. She is really enjoying doing things herself and mimics our everyday behavior, so even though she's too young to do many tasks, that doesn't stop her from trying to put on her own diaper or dressing herself. She still loves cats and meows every chance she gets -- at pictures in books, at her stuffed animal, or if she's lucky, at my parents' real cats. Her other current fascination is babies. She has started playing with a small doll, we now sing "Rock-A-Bye Baby" at bedtime, and she is pointing at and saying "baby" every chance she gets. We watched the documentary movie "Babies" several times together over the long weekend. She now has a purse that she takes with her to and from home, which carries either kitty or baby. Again, this is purely mimicking of me because I did not encourage a purse. She just started grabbing any bag she could find and dragging it out of the house, so I thought a kid's purse was safer and cuter than a grocery bag.

It's been hard to take photos lately because I always seem to be holding Claudia, so I don't have any from Thanksgiving and only one of the snow. Shoot. But I added a couple more from Australia that Gina gave me, and a couple from Grandma & Grandpa's house.

Claudia and Glen in the snow.


Playing inside with mommy's winter hat.


Driving the "little car" at the U-Village shopping center.


Snuggling with Grandma.


Getting a bath from Grandma in the sink.


A few more from Australia:

Gina holding a koala.


Claudia's first ice cream cone.


Gina & I at Whitehaven Beach (it was windy).


Glen & I in our wet suits heading out snorkeling.


A short video of Claudia playing with a kangaroo.