February 22, 2012

Today was a great day. Maggie woke up early (for her) and we did our usual morning routine. After breakfast we took a walk. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and perfect for being out and about. We walked to a park that is further away than our usual park. As luck would have it, there were 3 little kids playing there already. Maggie and I practiced introducing and asking to play while we walked up. And when we got close enough she took off yelling, "Hi, I'm Maggie, what's your name?" Wow.

She played with the older two kids (the little one was not quite 2 and she pretty much did her own thing) for a long time. It was so cute. She and the little girl (5) decided they would be best friends and then that they were a prince and princess (I think Maggie was the prince). At one point Maggie ran across the playground yelling to the girl, "I want to marry you." When it was finally time to go home, Maggie was hot and tired. As we started walking she was falling and crying to be held. At one point she sat down on the sidewalk with her back to me. At first I was going to insist she walk but she was so obviously tired and out of it that I carried her for a little while. She just laid on me like a rag doll for most of the walk home. As we got closer, I put her down and made her walk. I feel pretty strongly about older kids not being held constantly or pushed in strollers, so I wanted to establish that if she wants to take a walk, she has to walk.

When we got home we drank lots of water and went straight up to nap. She insisted she was hungry though, so we came back downstairs, where she didn't eat. So we headed back upstairs and she passed out. When we got up, she insisted we go to the restaurant. I have never heard her ask to go to a restaurant, it was quite funny. Nana and Gran took her to get Mexican food and said she ate a ton.

When she got home, we started out on another walk just as her Daddy showed up. We walked to the closer park where she ran around and played. Because Mom had taken her outside first to show her stars, I had just followed out after putting my shoes on. I never even thought to take her potty (we ALWAYS go potty last thing before we head out on a walk). So imagine my surprise when she announces, we need to go home so she can tee tee. Oh Lord, Richard jumped the fence to the pool area but the bathrooms were padlocked. So I just pulled down her pants, held her hands and had her go right there. Hey, at least it wasn't poop.

She is so interested in hearing stories about when she was a baby or in my tummy or born. She hasn't been too interested before but she loves hearing them now and requests these stories instead of Little Red Riding Hood which has been our nightly staple for a long time. I tell her stories at night and when we walk and she really listens. She'll repeat the stories to her grandparents or her Daddy.

She's really connecting things to real life. We read Lady and the Tramp tonight and at the end, it reads, Lady and Tramp have puppies and 3 look like their Mom and 1 looks like his Dad. At first Maggie didn't understand they were all siblings; she thought the 3 were Lady's and the 1 was Tramp's. So first I explained, no they are all siblings and have the same parents but these look like their mommy and this one like his daddy. So then she started asking who she looks like. And we talked about how most features (her build, her hair and eyes) are like Daddy but she has curly hair like Mommy and how she looks like Mommy, even though she has different coloring. It was interesting to see her have that connection to the story.

February 20, 2012

I started the behavior system today. Maggie seems to understand it and actually did pretty well today. She only lost one crayon (I'm using an old butter container and 10 crayons) today because when I took her upstairs to take her nap, she called me stupid. But considering it's the first day I thought that was pretty awesome.

We took a long walk tonight to the park and then we played there for quite a while. She was so good and we had so much fun. She's climbing up all the ladders they have on the playground with no help from me at all. It's amazing how big she's getting. After we'd been playing for a while, she mumbled something to me but all I heard was the word poop. So I immediately asked do you need to poop? And she said, no but probably later. I kept asking her but she seemed alright and then she said, yeah I need to poop. We left for home but it's not a short walk and I'm sure it feels very long to her. I was so worried I was going to have to let her poop in someone's yard. Oh good Lord, can you imagine???

She's been really interested in hearing stories about when she was a baby. I've told her about my pregnancy and her birth a million times but she just loves the story. So I've been telling her tons of little stories that I can think of. It's sad how hard it is to think of something. It feels like it's gone by so fast.

I remembered one story that I wanted to put on here before I forget it. When we first were teaching Maggie her colors, she always answered that everything was red. Well, obviously, sometimes she was right but more often she was wrong. So after a while, when we asked her, what color is this, she would always answer "not red."

February 18, 2012

Well, today was very blah. We got up and cuddled while we watched movies this morning. After breakfast and cuddles and Mommy's coffee, we got all ready to go running (well I run, she sits in her stroller) and it turns out it was raining. Boo!

So instead we took a very long nap, which was nice. But Maggie was very grumpy after such a long sleep. She actually cried really hard because Gran got on to her for jumping on the arm of the couch. I almost felt bad minus the fact she could have hurt herself.

Later we went to dinner with Grandpa and Grandmo. We had a very nice time. Maggie even went over and introduced herself to a group of girls, two of which wore glasses. She was very excited about that.

Well, that's about it. It was actually a nice lazy day.

February 17, 2012

Today was Maggie's eye follow-up appointment. It went really well. She was awesome for the whole thing. Basically they had her look at pictures on a TV from across the room. She would cover one eye and look with the other, etc. She was so cute, answering, "puppy" or "birdie." Then they put in eye drops (which she was super brave about) and we went back out to the waiting room.

The waiting room had a little play kitchen with various doors to "appliances," like a microwave, oven and I guess what was supposed to be a washing machine. It had a little round door but the inside wasn't contained so you could open it and put stuff in and it just kinda fell into this larger area. So they call Maggie's name and I turn to gather her stuff and I realize her "purse" is empty. I look over at where she has been stuffing things into the washing machine and realize, uh oh. So I open it and there are tons of little trinkets, some hers, some not. So I'm pulling everything out and trying to figure out which is which. She is so funny about all the things she has to carry around.

Anyway, after she had the second part of the exam the doctor told us that she has slight astigmatism and slight far-sightedness in one eye and slightly more far-sightedness in the other. If the eyes had had the same level of far-sightedness it wouldn't have mattered but because they varied, eventually her brain would completely depend on the stronger eye and she would have a lazy eye. So, Maggie is going to start wearing glasses. She's excited, in theory. I told her she'll have glasses like Ann Estelle from her Mary books.

This evening, she, Gran and I took a walk. She was pretty tuckered out but she did good, considering how far we went. She likes to yell freeze and have everyone freeze. She also likes to tell Mommy to be in charge of the freeze. She's so funny. She, of course, brought baby on the walk.

I am planning on starting a new behavior system for Maggie. Basically, I'll have a jar filled with 10 balls (or other trinkets) and every time she breaks a rule, she loses a ball. To earn a ball back she'll have to do some sort of chore or something. If she has all 10 balls at bedtime, the next morning she gets to stop at the park during our morning run (she's in the stroller). The rules are no hurtful words (stupid, idiot, moron--her Grandpa was kind enough to teach her those), no hitting and no messing with the cats after being told to leave them alone. I figure those are the main issues and I'd like to go for extinction with those. And then if there's anything left over, we'll deal with that. I'm quite excited. The only issue now is that I have to actually go to Target and buy the balls. Oh shopping, how I hate you.

I love our nighttime routine. Sometimes when I'm tired it seems daunting but it's so wonderful. We say goodnight to Nana and Gran and go upstairs and brush teeth. Then we go in the room and she picks out 2 books while I get her jammies and pull-up out. Then we change her clothes. Then I read her the books while we snuggle in the bed. Then I turn on the noise maker and turn off the light and tell her our version of Little Red Riding Hood. Then I sing her "You are my Sunshine" twice and rub her feet or tummy or back. Then we just cuddle for about 5-10 minutes, before I come back downstairs. It's one of the many, many times a day I remember how immensely lucky I am to have Maggie as my daughter. She is loved beyond words.