Our Little Hiker

We were a little slow to make use of an REI gift card we got for our baby shower almost two years ago from Ann, Garth, Kyle, and Marisa. Until now we've carried her in the sling, which we still like, but she's getting a bit heavy, which makes hiking difficult. So we FINALLY found a backpack carrier we really liked. We lucked out at REI that day as the Kelty rep was there and could really work with us to get the right one (for Frederic, really, since he's going to do most of the carrying!).



Clearly, she was quite comfortable in it :)


Thanks Tormeons and Peebles families!

Hard at work

Or maybe it's play.

This is Angelina's favourite 'toy.' She has some fake computer toys, but she prefers the real thing. She found Nanny's computer pretty cool.

Water Baby

Though she loved the beach and was tempted by the water, she hesitated a bit at first.



Not for long.


By evening we had to drag her kicking and screaming out of the pool. She loves the water!

Bouncing, and bouncing, and sliding....

More from California. We celebrated Camille's birthday at a place filled with Bouncy Castles. Angelina was in heaven!


The best part was sharing it with her cousins!

She wants to clean so much

she has to create her own mess. She managed to dump an entire box of cereal on the floor. Then couldn't wait to clean it up.

Mud and Water and She's Happy!

Every day we come home and start pulling weeds in the lawn.

She was a bit cranky at first today:



And then I turned the water on. She immediately ran to the sprinkler and soaked herself. Then she played in the mud.
She's hiding behind the meter because I was chasing her with a towel. I managed to wipe off her face. I should have taken a picture first. It was covered with mud and she was as happy as can be.

Small Spaces

I am convinced Chakapu and Angelina are one and the same. Whenever we pack, Chakapu sits inside the suitcase. Just like this.

A Day at the Beach

And a weekend full of cousins!

During our visit to CA, we took cousin Camille to Little Corona del Mar tide pools to explore all the sea life.


Angelina was at first a little hesitant about the sand.

Soon she was making (or rather destroying) sand castles Papa and Camille were so carefully building.

She also wasn't so excited about the water at first....

That didn't last long either.... (That's water flowing she's playing in)



I did have a bathing suit for her, but as she was so hesitant about the water, I hadn't put it on. By this point she loved the water so much we had to drag her away.

Bouncing, Boat rides and Birthdays

(Thanks to Angela for these 2 pictures)

A few weeks ago we joined our neighbor, Felice, for her 3rd birthday party at the Kiddie Park. What fun! Besides the party being fun, we got to check out a San Antonio icon. The Kiddie Park is a small amusement park that's been there since the 1930s (and looks it). At first Angelina was hesitant about the rides, but then I couldn't get her off. I lost track of how many times she went around in the boats. I finally had to pull her off kicking and screaming.




The day before we had a similar experience at our friend Katarina's 2nd birthday party. They had a bouncy castle which at first, Angelina was afraid to approach. By the end of the party we had to pull her kicking and screaming from the thing.

Songkran

No pictures to post, because I stupidly forgot my camera, but what a day! Today we celebrated Songkran at the Thai Temple in San Antonio. I didn't even know there was a Thai Temple. It's tucked away in a beautiful area, quite hidden by suburbia. The folks who run Bubblehead in Southtown invited us to join them for Thai New Year and the water festival, and of course, Thai Food. Oh my GOD was there incredible Thai food! I've been craving it so much lately I've been having Thai lunches at local restaurants more than my wallet should let me, all ok, but never quite like 'home' (or, what was my home for some time). Oh wow the food was amazing, all made by the local Thai ladies. Quite a few of the folks from area restaurants too, oddly enough. I kept eating and eating and eating. Angelina did too. She didn't quite take to the Som Tom (too spicy even for Fredo), but she loved the soups and noodles.

She was dancing to the Thai music and was entertaining everyone, as usual.

Part of the day included a prayer session and offerings to the monks. During this ~45 min offering, Angelina fell asleep. I knew she was super tired, but this kid never falls asleep in 'odd' places. She's weird like that. We all thought it was the chanting. So now I've got to get some monks' chant music on CD. She stayed asleep as everyone left the room, so we decided to let her lay there until she woke on her own. I wish I had a camera, the image of her sleeping on this big carpet in front of a huge gold Buddha was just too precious.

We escaped before the water cannons came out in full force, but were there long enough to see it get started.

All in all, an amazing day. I felt like I was back in Thailand for a few hours at least.

Never say this kid doesn't know how to have fun!

She makes us laugh all day....

Just call her Imelda Marcos

This child has a love affair with shoes. I can't count high enough to count the number of times per day she changes her shoes. Thanks to cousin Olivia (whom I think inherited many shoes from cousins Hannah and Caroline), Angelina has more shoes than she knows what to do with. They don't all fit her,but my attempts at hiding away the larger shoes failed. She found them and insists on wearing them.

And it doesn't just stop there. She tries to change our shoes all day too!

And of course she likes to wear our shoes too, and gets mad when she can't walk in them.

All this from the child who, until about 16 months, refused to have ANYTHING on her feet. She pulled off shoes the minute you put them on and would fight and fuss. Now she pulls them off, but only so she can put on another pait.

Bring on the Clowns!

A night of amazing sights for Angelina. Cirque du Soleil is in town and though we won't be able to see the performance, Angelina was treated to visit by some of the performers. On First Friday they came out and made their way around town. We found them at Beethoven's. Bad mommy that I am I forgot my camera, so this is the only one I have, passed along by a friend. She was enthralled! I don't think I've ever seen her eyes so big as she stared in amazement at them. And all were ever so kind, they stayed quite a long time, interacting with all the kids and adults. You'd think they'd get tired of it all, but they are true performers, always keeping up the show.

It was a cold(ish) night, but I'm so glad we made it out.

Little Miss Personality

Angelina is just too darn funny.

People are always coming up to her and saying how cute she is. She just bats her eyelashes or laughs. She is cute, but I've figured out what makes her so darn cute.

It's all in the personality. Yes, she has big beautiful blue eyes that stare up at you (especially after she is naughty). Yes, she has a stunning smile you can't resist. But it's something more. Whevever we go people will look and comment on her, they'll come up to her and kiss her and hold her and just go on and on and on. Ok, I know every kid gets that.

But she is special. She has this way of lighting up the room when she goes into it (except when she's shrieking). She is just So Full Of Life. Case in point: We were at a political rally recently, and there were a ton of parents with small kids there. It was in the evening, all the kids are quietly in their strollers or their parents' arms half asleep.

Angelina? No. As soon as the music started she was dancing, laughing, clapping to the music. She kept running in circles (and only circles because I prevented her from running too far away in one direction). There are many times this drives me bonkers, but I also finally realized it's what makes her so special. She was tired and rubbing her eyes (with hands full of dirt because she kept playing in the large planter) but she was laughing constantly. Every adult that walked by (and many kids too) smiled and talked about the "Cute little girl."

The Witching Hour

5:30PM

What is it about that time? When Angelina was smaller - about 6-8weeks or so, she hit this patch where my sweet little baby turned into a Screaming Demon. Every day at 5:30 PM or so. It lasted a couple of hours. We did everything, nurse, sing, change her, nurse some more, sleep... didn't help. Eventually that passed and though she still had her Screaming Demon moments, they weren't so consistent.


Fast forward a year and a half. She's almost 20 months old, and the 5:30PM Witching Hour has returned. Everyday about 5:30 she goes ballistic...our poor neighbors, the screaming they have to hear! We thought it was something about us, as that was when we got home from daycare, but no. Twice this week we picked her up at 2pm and she was just fine until 5:30, and then SHRIEK!

Is she hungry? I try feeding her and she doesn't want anything.
Does she need to be changed? I check and she's dry.
Does she need another nap? Maybe...but fat chance getting her to lay down
Does she want to nurse? Probably - I'm trying the 'don't offer, don't refuse' technique, but really trying to avoid it at that hour. She was fine without for many months, just nursing before bed and in the morning, but she seems to want more lately. I have given in occasionally, but it doesn't really seem to help. She just enters into her Screaming Demon phase after nursing.

What else could it possibly be?!

But she is the cutest, sweetest, loveliest kid ever! Really! Once she gets past the Witching Hour, she cuddles and laughs and kisses and laughs some more and you can't resist her.

UPDATE: The last few days she hasn't done this, as she's been having so much fun playing outside. Cross your fingers

Hat Girl

This, from the kid who last summer and the few cold days this winter refused to wear any hat. It wasn't even cold! It was about 80F (~27C), but she found this wooly hat and would not be happy if it wasn't on her head.

Good thing she's so dang cute!

"What's your parenting style?"

Um, it's called trial and error?

Seriously, what a weird question. Not that anyone actually asks this in real life. The internet has been a wonderful resource, especially as a new mom, but you also get silly questions like "What is your parenting style?" What the heck does that mean?

I've been described as "All Earth Momma" or "La Leche Woman" by friends - childless friends. Yes we:
1. Breastfeed (still,at 19 months)
2. Co-sleep
3. Made our own baby food (no jarred stuff, Angelina was already a food snob and wouldn't eat it anyway)
4. Homebirth (or at least try to)
5. Didn't do Scream-It-Out (ahem, "self-soothe") - well, at least in the early days.... Ok so I did in desperation and it didn't work.
6. Cloth diaper (at least at home, we use 7th Generation disposables for daycare and travel)
7. Carry her in a sling (don't you dare call it 'babywearing' - she's not an accessory like earings! I figured the Karen women did it, I could too.)

Some would take all that and give us a label. No thank you. I don't do labels, and I'm pretty sure Angelina has made it clear she does not fit neatly into a box. We've done all that because it's what worked (or at least tried to) and felt right, not because it was part of some parenting checklist.

Does it make me a better mom? No. Just a mom trying to figure out what's best for my daughter (and the environment).

Her first "grounding"

At home and at daycare. Do the Terrible Twos start at 19 months?!


Last weekend we were working outside - me in the garden and hanging laundry, Fredo in the garage re-doing wiring (i.e. dangerous!). Angelina would not stop going into the garage standing right under Papa, no matter how many times I shouted "Danger!" and told her to get out. She understands from our voices if not the actual words that she's to stop what she's doing, because she looks at us with her sly smile, but then she goes back to it....

I had no choice but to bring her inside (absolute torture for my daughter, the way she stood at the back screen you'd think she was in jail) for her own safety. Fredo said "Her first grounding!" I finally managed to distract her and she was ok.

On Monday (a holiday) she wouldn't stop trying to push buttons on the TV , despite all my best efforts, so I made her sit in the chair. Lord you would have though I made her sit on fire....she last 30 secs, max. I realize there's only so much a 19-month old can understand.

Today Fredo said she got in trouble at the babysitter's. She had to sit in a chair (which is blocked in like a high chair but lower) for throwing a toy across the room, despite being warned not to. Her daycare provider (DCP) was very apologetic, but Fredo wisely said "No, that's ok. Give us tips!" I confess when he told me I laughed...I should not. I am glad our DCP uses positive discipline as much as possible, and at the same time is not happy about having to use it at all. I know she loves Angelina almost as much as we do (because really, no one can love her as much as we do, it's not humanly possible!). But I can also picture her doing it, and then looking at you with this grin in her eyes that melts your heart at the same time drives you bonkers.

What's the most annoying? That whenever I share this character of hers with friends or family, they just laugh and say "hmmm, I wonder where she gets that from? Surely you're not surprised?!" And they don't mean Frederic!

The Bottle Diaries

In the US, the powers that be (other mothers, pediatricians, dentists, grandmothers, busy-bodies...) all make a big fuss about how a child should be "Off the bottle by 12 months" because it's bad for tooth development and cavities.

In Switzerland, kids have bottles (with milk, with juice, with tea, with sirop) until 4 or 5 at least. No one seems to think twice.

Who's right? Does it matter? The dental theory does have some scientific basis, but it doesn't seem like all Swiss kids have mouths full of bad teeth and cavities (and those that do, I'd blame it more on the chocolate which often starts at 6 months!).



As you can see, Angelina has a bottle. The funny thing is this is the kid who absolutely refused a bottle at first, so much so I was in a panic starting daycare that she'd starve. She eventually learned to take one, but took the bare minimum - no more than 8oz/day on a good day. Somewhere around 12-13 months she flat out refused any more bottles, which is just as well as I was keen to stop pumping (she also refused cow's milk - and goat's milk, rice milk, soy milk...she wanted mommy's milk or nothing). Lack of cow's milk wasn't a big deal since she ate tons of yoghurt and cheese. Fast forward to 16.5 months, she gets croup, stops eating/drinking anything and only nurses. As she was finally recovering, for some reason I gave her a bottle with cow's milk. She took it, and wanted more. I figured if it was a way to get milk into her (and maybe nurse a bit less) I wasn't going to complain.

Now, at 19.5 months, Papa will give her a bottle of cow's milk in the middle of the night if she refuses to go back to sleep, and occasionally I've give her one in the morning if she hasn't nursed all night. Probably averages out to about 2-3x per week. She's not particularly attached to it, but the way some people talk you'd think I was destroying her development.

As you can also see, she likes her sippy cup just fine and drinking from a regular cup or with a straw she can do very well. I've no worried about her development in that regard. It's just another container to drink liquid, one she prefers on occasion.

Ready to work!

Just give her a hammer and she's ready...



It was yucky out today so we didn't do any work on the house, but Angelina sure wanted to. She found my hat and gloves, put them on and proceeded to strut around the house looking for projects to do. Alas, with the big gloves she couldn't pick anything up and got rather furious about that...