Your January highlights were starting from the beginning..
Since I stopped breastfeeding altogether starting the second week in December and since you decided to start skipping nap times around July to December, you finally started sleeping through the night. I stopped Breastfeeding because it was time. It took a bit of adjustment for you but, before you went to bed, Papá would give you milk or water and he would rub your back so you could sleep.
A little after November I started getting up way earlier than you and Papa, walking the dog and started doing things for work or just myself. In January we established a bedtime routine for you and that meant that I had to establish a routine for myself. You see all this time I was so jealous of other mom’s who had their kids on a routine since they were born and we decided that early on, we were not going to force you to go to bed at a certain time. We decided to follow your rhythym and it actually has turned out better than we planned.
Our routine in January started with me shutting things down computer phone etc early about five. That is the time would walk the dog, you would go with Papa or myself or we would all go. I would come back and cook, you would bathe or eat first then bathe, I would clean up, bathe, read you a book and you would go to sleep. I also told Papa I didn’t want the phone or computer or you on the iPad while I was bathing.
Even though the iPad was being used during the day, I wanted to stop using it after a certain time at night. That meant me shutting things down. Because if you saw mom and pop in the office in front of the computer, you wanted to be infront of the iPad.
So reading several books such as Alice in Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty, Snow white, A contar con Babar, a variety of books in English and Spanish settled you down. And that usually meant that as soon as you were sleeping, I was ready for bed too. Papa would stay up working and then go to bed. Because I was getting up so early like 5 or 6 it meant I was ready to sleep with you.
Abuela Maggie and Abuelo Hector came to visit in January and we went down to sing Happy Birthday to Abuela Sylevette who was around. Then your Papá decided to go to Boston, New York and Connecticut at the end of January which meant we were going to be by ourselves.
Your speaking Enlgish lots more and tantrums get thrown and I get angry and I try to control myself because sometimes you just didn’t want to listen to me or Papa. Spanish is something we need to work on and reading and speaking more is going to help you with that.
February came along and we did some heart crafts for the board downstairs in the building. It was also a stressful time because we started looking for a place to live again. But thankfully we did not have to move but that meant working harder to stay at the beach.
Your favorite phrase is “Like a Butt Butt” Yeah we don’t know how you came up with that one but it’s your favorite one.
You started learning how to cut with scissors and you love glueing anything. We also bought you more lego sets because for Christmas Papa saw how much you enjoyed having them. We bought you a Back to the Future Delorean andyou and Papa built it together. I helped separate the pieces.
You played with play-dough and clay and you covered all sorts of things with the clay; your lego guys named Nabil, Alice, Nabil’s Cat, Melvin and Doc.
You still love dresses and we made you a tutu but you preferred the one Tio Tito gave you as we danced to music to it on several Saturdays.
February Highlights Routine Routine Routine
You are into your routines. If we break a routine it is world war five!
Breakfast: You have to have the blue pot and orange pan along with utensils to make your own raw oatmeal with soy milk.
Lunch If it’s not potatoes, sweet potatoes, or lentils, you won’t eat.
Dinner: If it’s not potatoes sweet potatoes or lentils you won’t eat. Yes I repeated this several times because it was the truth.
You hate anything green or orange like carrots. And unless we are out at Peace N Loaf for cheesy pieces, PF Changs for Tofo or any Sushi Restaurant for Tofu and Rice, you won’t eat anything else.
Because we don’t have cable, Youtube and movie videos are your source of entertainment. You find all sorts of things and lately you are into watching playdough videos, these little Japanese girls who do product reviews, Peppa, Dora, and Doc McStuffins.
You saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and you love the song Chuchi Face. You ask us if we are your Chuchi Faces.
Other movies like the The Croods, and the Smurfs Two were a hit.
Speaking of Dora, Abuela Maggie bought you lots of books for Christmas. One book was about Dora called I love my Mami. You memorized 99.9% of the book. You have a great memory for lots of things.
We also saw Frozen a Disney movie and the Lego Movie two Movies that you loved the music and were awake for. You were also obsessed with snowmen. Everytime we saw Olaf in pictures and especially the seven foot tall Olaf at Sears, you wanted to touch and see it. Recently we went to Sears where Olaf stands and he was on the ground. You got upset and Papa and I tried to stand him up. But he kept falling over and you did not want to move away from him until he was upright.
We did our best but it wasn’t until he was upright that you moved. You eat a muffin at Starbucks if we get coffee and are still playing with your litte Restaurant toys.
Potty Training Stopped
In January I also tried potty training but you were not ready and neither was I. It was more about my reaction to your accidents that stopped you from using the potty. As much as I tried to not get too excited when you had an accident, it came out all wrong. I was trying to get you to the potty before you did anything and it looked more like me getting upset because you went on the floor. So aft much thought and trying to bribe you with a Playdough Shop, or toys that we had hidden from Christmas, I decided to just go back to pampers. Thing is that you would tell me or mention to me the Doc Mcstuffins or Ice Cream shop and say that you will get those things if you go to the potty. So you knew what you had to do, you just decided that you were not going to do be forced or bribed into doing it.
I read any article that a parent’s reaction sets the tone for anything and my reactions to you not eating or going to the potty have a negative tone. So Papa is there to try and calm me down so you can do things. He does find a way to solve things in a fun way with you than I do. It is something I try to practice but it just doesn’t come out right.
Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t
Anyway that is it for now.