Off to the Beach

We are off tomorrow to Cancun. I’ll be writing my blog entries on paper and will post when I get home.

Wish me luck - I don’t believe that anyone has ever actually died from missing their toddler, but you never know.

More Things That Piss Me Off

Granted I’m stressed but this is just annoying.

Why is that stores that are FOR CHILDREN are always the ones that make it hardest to go to WITH CHILDREN?

As an example, I have discovered an Osh Kosh store near us. And the stuff they sell is very different from the Osh Kosh line that Target carries, in that it actually fits Bridget. The Target stuff does not, and no matter how many times I get tricked into buying the Target stuff, I always regret it because it never fits her right. But I digress. The Osh Kosh store is a terribly fun place to go, and it’s cheap cheap cheap. Except that the racks of clothes are packed together so closely that there is absolutely no way to navigate through them if you are pushing a stroller. Which, and I know this sounds crazy, people with children often do.

Today we went to Babies R Us (a store I abhor by the way, and hope that this might be the last time I ever have to step foot inside one) because Bridget has thrown the receiver to her monitor one too many times and now it doesn’t work right. If you want to hear anything, you have to turn it up almost to maximum volume because the lower volumes only transmit static now. It was a good monitor - it was the Evenflo Whisper Connect, by the way, if you are in the market for a decent monitor that’s not too pricey - but it has lived its last days. And since Jake’s mom is coming, I really didn’t want to have to spend twenty minutes explaining how to wheedle the persnickety monitor into working and I surely didn’t want her to be jolted from sleep by it crapping out and alternating beeps and static, like it does to me fairly often. Damn, I can’t keep on topic today. Too much caffeine I suppose. Anyhow, I had already checked out Target’s selection and didn’t like any there, and I could have gone back to Amazon where I got this one but I didn’t have time to wait for shipping. That is the very long story of how I ended up at BRU today.

After selecting my new monitor from the three they carry that are not video monitors, I tried to look at the clothes because Bridget is outgrowing a lot of her pajamas, and I figured that since I was there, it might save me a trip to Old Navy, which carries great kids pajamas, but is another place I hate to go with a stroller. And damn if those racks were also not so packed together that I could not get the cart through without knocking off clothes from racks left and right. And you can’t leave the toddler in the cart out in the main aisle while you go in to look at anything because if she doesn’t fling herself out of the cart the minute my back is turned, then you run the risk of having some whacko grab her and run. Although I think with the mood she was in today, they probably would have turned around and brought her back before making it out of the store.

Other stores for kids that are horrible to get around in if you are actually dumb enough to bring your kid are Carter’s, Gymboree, The Children’s Place and some Baby Gap stores. Honestly you would think they’d think these things through whilst in the planning stages, wouldn’t you?

Hurricane Bridget

Today I went to get Bridget up from her nap, and saw this.

This is almost every single item she owns in her bed. That’s stuffed animals, books, clothes (clean and dirty) and shoes all in her bed.  I knew it was too quiet in there.

I think I want to put a video monitor in her room because I am dying to know what the hell she does up there. Like, I know she gets up after I put her to bed. Tonight for example, she wanted one more book but we had been down that path before and I said no. As I was laying her down, she was actually smirking at me, I shit you not. So I know she was up after I left the room. But does she head back to bed before she falls asleep? Or does she collapse on the floor in a heap and then wake up later? Is that why she usually wakes up crying around 10 or so? Maybe the floor gets uncomfortable and she wakes up to head to bed then. Without a video monitor, we’ll never know.

I’m still not wild about this big girl bed situation, but I have no choice but to accept it. But look how cute and excited she is about her bed! How can I resist this?

Cupcakes Like Crack

Ever since Sprinkles Beverly Hills came to Dallas, we’ve had it a few times. In my opinion, it’s ok. I don’t think it’s the end all be all of existence but if we happen to be around there, and there is time, there is no reason not to stop in. Some of the varieties that I’ve tried, I’ve flat out disliked. In general, I tend not to like most frosting, but I really don’t like most of their frosting. My normal favorite is cinnamon sugar, which has no frosting at all.

But today, after our trip to the lawyer to get our wills signed and notarized, we felt that lunch was warranted and since we were there, a stop at Sprinkles was in order. And they had a new flavor which I just HAD to try. Chocolate Marshmallow. It’s a chocolate cupcake with marshmallow cream in the center, and frosted with chocolate ganache. This might be one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. It’s like a Ding Dong only much much much better. The chocolate in it is dark chocolate which I don’t even like, and I like this cupcake. I’ll be back down there next Saturday for a pre-beach wax and I think I’ll be buying about sixty of those suckers. Forgive me Trainer Dave, for I have sinned.

On an unrelated note, Bridget fell out of her toddler bed twice last night. The first time, we heard “Thump…. WAAAAH!” (deja vu all over again) and went up to find her sitting on the floor bawling her little eyes out. She was not hurt, just scared. It took me a while to get her calmed enough to go back to sleep but she did. Then about 1 a.m. I heard the THUMP again. But no crying. When I went in to her, she was standing up with the most pissed off look on her face. It was not pretty after that, she cried for at least half an hour. I tried to explain to her that if she kept her head on the pillow, she would not fall out of bed. Must have worked because she has not fallen out since. Who knew she was so practical?

Day Two of the Big Girl Bed

Today seems to be better with Bridget’s Big Girl Bed. She seems to understand now that she’s supposed to stay in the bed. I know she does get out but she eventually makes her way back in before she falls asleep. I’m pretty proud of her.

Although she did bust herself today. She was supposed to be down for her nap, and we were out in the front yard talking with the roofer, when whose little face appeared in her window? It was pretty funny but one of those moments that you can’t show how funny and cute you think it is. Jake went up and busted her behind the blinds and then she went down for her nap for real.

When we went in to get her, she was so stinkin’ cute, lying there in her big girl bed with her head on her pillow. Just three days ago, we could count on her to throw her pillow out of the bed immediately. Now she keeps it in bed and uses it correctly. So big. So smart. This is going so fast.

WAH! I Want My Baby Back!

Today has been a tough day for me. Jake got home from his trip this afternoon and very soon, the crib was gone and a toddler bed stood in its place. We took the glider out of her room (although I think it will go back in, in a few weeks when I trust her not to get out of bed so much) and we moved her room around to accommodate it all better. Her bookshelf was already bolted to the wall so that was one task we did not have to deal with. Her changing table is sturdy and wide-legged enough to not be much of a falling danger. The worst she would really do there is pull out all of her clothes from the drawers. Plus there is no way to bolt that to the wall. We took out all the toys from her room and all that is left is books. Oh and we put those annoying door knob things on her closet door and the inside knob so she can’t get out and wander at night.

Bedtime was different but not awful. With the glider gone, we had to sit together on her new big girl bed and read books. She has been very excited about the bed, in fact climbing up on it the minute the front crib side came down, before we had the bed rail completely attached. So as I read to her, she was bouncing around on her bed. I warned her several times not to stand on her new big girl bed and she seemed to listen. I put her back in bed a couple times before I left the room, and we heard her crying in her room through the monitor once I got downstairs. At one point, it was obvious that she was out of bed because I heard her wailing REALLY loudly which told me she was standing next to the monitor in her room. I went up about an hour after she quieted down, expecting to find her asleep on the floor but she was in fact in her bed. She was crumpled up near the end of the bed and I picked her up and moved her so her head was on her pillow and she didn’t make a peep. I have a feeling though, that I’ll be in there more than once tonight.

I was so sad tonight at dinner. I was just thinking about all the work and planning we did on the room before she was born. It’s not like I thought she’d have her nursery full of bees her whole life. But wow, I just thought that we’d have more than 20 months of nursery before it started looking like a big girl room. I’m still not going to redecorate until she’s old enough to tell me what she wants so the bees will be with us for a while yet. Just the way of things, I suppose, when your baby starts to really grow up.

Oh, and just so you know, as a point of reference…. the book What to Expect The Toddler Years puts this stage of moving to a toddler bed at 24 months. Bridget will be 20 months on Saturday. Now I know that all kids develop differently but this really does seem early to me. But except for teething, Bridget has hit all of her milestones early. I know that I was in a crib until I was almost four but I also know that I could get out of it. I have clear memories of climbing out of it and I think my move to a bed was delayed by a move from St. Louis to southern California - my parents just didn’t want to buy furniture in St. Louis to just move it a few weeks later. Practicality runs in my family I guess.

Part of me wonders if we did this too soon. I mean, just because she climbed out once doesn’t mean she’ll do it every time she goes to bed. She didn’t do it at nap time today. Maybe it was just a fluke. But then I slap myself in the face and realize that she took her first step one day and then didn’t do it again for a few days, but it was only a matter of time before she was a dedicated walker. So no, even if she didn’t do it again for a month, we would never know when it was going to start happening again, and next time she might hurt herself.

I think that this is how life with Bridget is going to be - her dragging me kicking and screaming to the next stage of her life. I might as well get used to it.

That Was Fast

So remember a while back I begged and pleaded for mom advice about Bridget seemingly being about to climb out of her crib? Well, today she did it.

I was up getting ready and I knew she was awake but I always get myself ready first or else I will never get to. I was brushing my teeth, when through the monitor I heard THUMP…… waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! I ran into her room and she greeted me at the door. She was fine, not hurt, just scared I think. I immediately picked her up and ran to the phone to call Jake. Hey, if I have to carry around this worry in my head, so does he!

So now I’m off to find the directions for her convertible crib so that when Jake gets home this afternoon, he can turn her crib into a toddler bed.

Seriously, isn’t 20 months just a wee bit early for this? She’s never going to stay in her bed. We’ll have to put those door knob things on so she can’t wander the house at night. But I know I’ll find her sleeping on her floor where she passed out from exhaustion after playing with all her toys for hours after we put her to bed. This is not going to be pretty for any of us.

Sunday Show and Tell #9

That’s right, it’s Sunday and time for Show and Tell again.

I don’t really have a show today, more of a tell.

Today, Bridget was in the bathroom with us as we were both preparing to go out for some errands. I was putting on makeup and Jake was in the shower. Bridget was being her usual raccoon self and pulling things out of drawers and cabinets.

Jake stepped out of the shower and Bridget looked up and Jake’s man bits, pointed and said, “Daddy junk!”

And if that wasn’t funny enough, she then pointed to her diaper area, as we call it around here, and said “Bridgie junk!”

She couldn’t figure out why we were both laughing so hard that we were crying.

But now I’m on the fence about whether to correct the use of this term. I mean, I can’t see how “junk” is any worse a term for it than “balls” or “nuts.” And honestly a toddler using the term “penis” is just creepy. However, I did also swear that we would not use silly words for genetalia, like “wee wee” or anything like that. So I don’t know what to do now except not let her see Jake naked so we can avoid the issue altogether. I can honestly say that I NEVER saw my dad naked as a child and I don’t think I was any worse for it.

Oh, and just so I don’t feel like I’m cheating you, here is a picture of Raccoon Girl

It’s a good thing she’s cute.

Count to Ten

I am severely lacking in patience today. Unfortunately a healthy warehouse store size portion of patience is required to parent a toddler. Or at least my toddler. I was not doing my best impression of a good mom today.

I slept like crap last night thanks to jackassery from my asshat neighbor. I don’t do well when I don’t get my sleep.

Bridget is just such a little raccoon lately. No matter what we do, she seems to have an uncanny knack for finding something she shouldn’t have, pausing just long enough to let you see that she has it, and then running off while laughing. Forget about packing the diaper bag - that’s best done when Raccoon Child is napping to avoid having the contents strewn across the house. We are having a big fight about keeping bottoms in chairs. Last night we found her standing on the kitchen table, doing her little Flashdance routine up there. We promptly put her in timeout but had to turn our backs to hide our laughter because, while horribly dangerous, it was stinkin’ cute. Today I found her crawling across the coffee table. That landed her another 90 seconds in timeout. I know she’s too young for timeout to have a lasting effect but she does seem to understand that she is being punished and it upsets her. Not that I want my child to be upset and cry but it is part of the disclipline process.

Sigh.

I hate that I spent so much time telling her no today. And it feels like I’m yelling at her, but if you don’t raise your voice with her and use a stern tone, she just laughs at you when try to discipline her. I’ve never seen a kid do that.

Sigh again.

I’m off to bed. Maybe a good night’s sleep, plus Mother’s Day Out tomorrow will restore my supply of patience.

I Need Mom Advice

Recently Bridget has started to act as though she’s going to vault herself out of her crib. She lifts one leg up, rests it on the side of her crib, and if she just pushed a little harder with her arms, would be over the side and on the ground pretty quickly. Thankfully she hasn’t quite realized that she could if she chose to.

So here’s where I need help. I always thought that we’d keep her in the crib until she could get out of it. I just never thought that she’d be this close to getting out of it. So do I just wait to see how long it takes her to get out? But I don’t want to find out she can get out of her crib by her landing on her head. On the other hand, I can’t imagine her in a toddler bed yet either. She would not stay in it. She’d get up the minute the door closed and end up falling asleep on the floor somewhere. But I don’t like the idea of a crib tent. We bought one a while back but I don’t think it would have attached to our crib so we got rid of it.

What would you do about this? Do I just wait to see how long it takes her? I mean, it could conceivably be months and months before she goes over. I kind of think that even if she does go over, she most likely will not be seriously hurt - how many kids have climbed out of their cribs over the years and lived to tell about it? And it might scare her enough to make her not do it again for a long time. Or not. I don’t know. I live in a constant state of fear over this. Every time I hear her cry in the middle of the night, I’m convinced that she’s on the floor of her room trying to get out.

Help!