Thursday, April 09, 2009

Toddlerhood

The one year mark comes with many changes. Lyla is surely a toddler (even though I insist that she will be forever my baby) . She is very active, opinionated, knows what she wants and when she wants it. Her vocabulary is expanding, but she can comprehend much more that she can speak and that generates lots of frustration (for both of us). She is exposed to 3 languages on the regular basis that adds on to the confusion and frustration. Her new favorite word is “up”. As soon as she wakes up she says UP, as soon as she is done eating she says “up”, when she needs to be picked up she says “up” … it is so cute. She also decided that is much easier to say momma than grandma, so she calls my mom and I momma! I must confess that I am not too happy about it. This is probably due also to the fact that she hears me calling my mom: mamma. It has been amazing having my mom here. I miss my family, and it is just fantastic to see Lyla and her interacting. They will miss each other so much when she goes back to Brazil in 3 weeks. I will miss her so much. Having an extra set of hands, specially during this transition time has been just priceless. After she leaves, it will be just us again, I know it will he hard. I will enjoy it while it last!
Lyla is very curious and has no notion of danger; as a result, in the past week she has acquired many bruises and bumps… I’ve made peace with the fact no matter how much I child proof the house and keep my eyes on her, accidents will happen both at home and at child care. She is walking, but still falls a lot. She can take many steps at a time all by her self, and sometimes even run1 I am so proud
We have been saying bye to many of the things that were so dear to us during her first year of life. Yesterday I took out the infant car seat. We put her big girl car seat on. I cried, I remember the day we installed the infant car seat. I remembered her first ride home, she was so tiny and now she can’t even fit on it anymore. She loved her infant seat. For many night she slept on it because was the only way she could get comfortable because of her reflux. I cried mainly because I don’t know if I will have another child that will use it again. Yesterday, for her one year check up , she rode on the new big girl car seat. She was so excited, she looked so grown up! OMG, where did the time go? I could not stop looking at the mirror while driving… seeing her so happy, so excited, so adorable, just filled my heart with joy. I am not alone, I have her! I have her!

I also bought my last can of formula. I am so happy about that one. Formula is so expensive!!!! She loves the whole milk, but she is not too happy about having to say bye bye to her bottle. She likes the sip cup during the day, but at night she wants her bottle. We will work on it

She outgrew all her 12 month clothes. That means that I can rarely find something for her on the baby clothes aisle but also means that there is a whole new world for us to explore. I love dressing her up!


She now loves her books more than her toys. Before she liked some of them, but now she has her favorites . She goes to the shelf picks one and brings it to me and I have to read it over and over again. It gets to a point that I have to hide the book to see if she chooses another one. It is adorable as well.

She eats mostly table food, but some days she still wants Gerber baby food. I am finding it hard to plan a menu for her, any suggestions? The baby food thing is so much easier LOL. Doc said she is free to eat anything. I will try some fish this weekend and also chocolate. I am so excited! I will let her ‘eat” and “play” with her chocolate bunny.
Sleep is still a struggle in our household. After my mom goes back to Brazil I will implement some serious changes. I need to sleep, I am so tired. She needs to stop taking a bottle in the middle of the night. She needs to sleep on her won crib. I need to buy overnight diapers…

The one year appointment went well. She is 24 lbs and 8 oz (80 percentile) and almost 32 “ (50 percentile). I also took her for the check up for the ear tubes. The right ear looked great , but she has lots of fluid at the left ear due to a minor cold she has. He suctioned the fluid and prescribed antibiotic drops for her left ear. He said he could not see the tube , but he thinks is because of the wax and fluid. I hope it did not get ‘lost’ or something. We will be back in 2 weeks.


Sorry about the long post I just felt the need to document this new phase of lyla’s life, form a baby to a toddler, it is both fascinating and challenging

4 comments:

Somewhat Ordinary said...

They are challenging and so much fun at the same time! Enjoy the next few weeks with you mom and daughter!

Delenn said...

So many changes--so wonderful! What a wonderful little girl she is growing up to be!

For meals, I pretty much would have her eat what you eat. If you worry about spices or whatever, just cook it without spice and then add to your portion. For example, when I make a chicken dish, I cut away a part of it before I put any spices/herbs on it that I worry are too much for her. The most important thing is to make sure she gets a variety of the food groups -- fruits, vegetables, etc.

Sarah said...

So many changes, so much excitement! I was also teary when we moved Claire into a big girl carset...not knowing if you'll ever have to install it again made me sad too ):

Claire eats only table food, no babyfood anymore. She eats whatever we eat for dinner, we just cut or tear it up small for her to pick up and eat. She has never been put off by the flavors or textures of the things I make. Some easy stuff that we always have on hand for Claire are: turkey from the deli, mild cheddar cheese that I cube up small, canned peas and carrots, whole wheat bread, Gerber "Pasta Pick-Ups", turkey hot dogs cut up very small, frozen blueberry pancakes--with syrup of course, bagels & creme cheese--all easy, and easy to pack for the sitters house too. Good luck--you're doing such a good job with her...it will all come in time my friend ( :

Bea said...

Oh my goodness, recipe suggestions? How many do you want! I have a hankering to start up a food blog just for babies.

Usually, though, I just cook an extra portion for PB and then chop/mash/process to the right consistency. He eats lumps of things now, but I still need to puree things he isn't too keen on (eg brocoli) in order to hide it! And some lumps are too tough to chew, so I process them to the consistency of crunchy peanut butter.

At lunch today, for eg, he had fish baked in lemon, garlic and dill sauce with baked potatoes and steamed brocoli - leftovers from last night. I pureed it and rolled the mixture into fish balls so he can eat it easily off a fork.

He eats all herbs and spices except those that are hot (pepper/chilli) but of course every baby will have favourite flavours.

Bea