alphabet and spanish

ok, so i am a proud momma when it comes to caitlin. what can i say. she is one smart cookie to say the least. she knows most of her colors. her vocabulary is amazing. she knows her right and left. she knows many songs. she knows her numbers by sight as well as counting to 12. she knows her alphabet, not just the song. and she knows some spanish words and can count to 10 in spanish. all good things.

i am now trying to work on the sounds that go with the letters.

below is an alphabet puzzle i have that caitlin likes to play with. under each letter is a picture representing something starting with the letter. she will pull out the letter from the bag, say the name of it, and place it where it needs to go. no problem with that. except.... remember how i said she knows some spanish? well, under the letter M there is a picture of the moon. caitlin knows the letter M. she knows the moon. but she is too smart for her own good sometimes: she will pick up the letter M, place it in the correct spot, and say "luna" ever so proudly. um...while she is correct (luna being the spanish word for moon) i am hoping that she doesnt grow up thinking the letter M sounds like the letter L! actually i find this situation rather amusing and try not to laugh too loud when she does it :)

i can only imagine what will come next out of that smarty pants!

its been awhile

havent posted in awhile. glad to say that the sleeping issue has gotten better. i guess she just needed to adjust to the changes that went on in a short amount of time. i am daily amazed by the growth in caitlin, and not just physical. for instance, she can now count to 14, sing her ABC's, recognize a few letters when she 'reads'. she loves to sing-Itsy Bitsy Spider, Mary had a little lamb, Old McDonald, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to name a few. its just a fun time :)

gosh, she looks so grown up like she is ready for school or something. aah!

Please?

her ladybug backpack is almost as big as she is!

sleep

something just isnt right. something has changed. and that something is caitlin's sleep schedule. i wish i knew what the deal was, cause its frustrating me to no end. before i left on my trip to virginia caitlin had a pretty good schedule going. she would normally wake up around 730-8am. she would take a nap during the day, usually noon-ish. then she would go to sleep around 8pm. it was pretty consistant.

however, since i've been home things are very different. she is waking up around 630am. her naps are not till late afternoon and that usually comes with a tantrum which may or may not result in sleep. and the past couple nights she isnt going to bed till 9-ish, and even then its with a MAJOR crying meltdown.

and it doesnt matter what time she goes to bed, she is still up bright and early. this morning she woke up and stood in her door and i could tell she was still very sleepy. she ended up throwing another fit and crying spell. it was obvious she really didnt want to be up. and yet she was.

so what is causing this change??? i wish i knew. i wish i knew how to make it be alot smoother. cause i am on a losing battle here. i feel like she is an infant again and i'm up all night with her and not getting enough sleep myelf. which is clearly causing my frustration to rise. and that isnt fun at all.

2 year dr. visit

so Caitlin had her 2year doctor visit while i was gone. this is what the doctor told chris

height: 35 inches, 75%
wt: 33 1/2 #, 97%
head: 48.8 cm, 80%

i was kinda shocked at the 97 percentile on weight, but the doctor didnt seem to have a problem with it, so i'm not gonna concern myself too much. at her last appointment at 18months she was in the 95th percentile weight so its gone up while her height stayed the same in the 75th percentile. she is a solid little girl though. so many people tell me she looks way older than 2years old!

a week with family

this past week and a half i was in Virginia. while i was gone Caitlin got to spend lots of time with daddy, Grandma Kinion, Aunt Kathleen, Great Uncle Mark, and Great Aunt Evelyn. they did lots of fun stuff together:







I know Caitlin had a blast, because when they came to pick me up at the airport upon my return she gave me a weird look like 'i know you, but i'm not so sure whats going on'. it wasnt until we pulled into the driveway that it dawned on her that i was home. she then exclaimed "MOMMY!" like it was the first time she saw me (mind you, the drive from the airport to our house is about 15 minutes). since i've been back she has smothered me with hugs and cuddles. :)

it was great having everyone here though. not only cause she got to see them, but all the interaction impacted Caitlin greatly. her communication and smarts has increased dramatically in 10 days. i am soo impressed. i was like 'what happened to my little girl?? she's been replaced by a teenager!' (well, not exactly...but you get the idea). i can only imagine the leaps and bounds she will make quickly when she does the mothers day out in the fall!!

but anyway, thanks to everyone for coming to visit, and we hope to see you again soon!!

Official birthday

today at 5:28pm Caitlin will officially be 2 years old. Happy Birthday, I love you!

chris and caitlin

my friend took these pics on saturday, i love them!

2nd birthday party!

Caitlin turns 2 on wednesday, but i am leaving to go to a wedding in VA then, so we decided to have her birthday party today. I invited some friends and family over to play, eat, and hang out. we had a really nice time. Caitlin got to play with her friends and was very happy to do that! I just can't get over how much she has changed in a year. i mean, just look at that picture. wow! i posted all the pics on Facebook since most everyone is a part of that these days. But it was a great day to celebrate. Time is going way too fast though!!

not consistant

well, an update to the potty situation. there really is none. things were going pretty good for a few days. then our schedule got all crazy and it hasn't been the same since. i know for potty training to be successful you need to be consistant. and i'm just not there. so no wonder caitlin isn't either! we have this coming week, then the weekend is caitlin's b'day party, then the following week Grandma Kinion and Aunt Kathleen will be coming and I will be leaving for a trip to Virginia for my brother's wedding. so i'm guessing the whole potty thing will remain inconsistant till July-ish. unless by some miracle caitlin decides totally on her own that she will train herself. that would be cool.

potty training 2

i'd like to say we have overcome potty training, but the reality is that we are nowhere close. yes, she will sometimes go pee when i put her on the potty but she is not yet coming to me when she has to go. in fact, i think she is coming to me right after she wets her diaper. so i guess its all trial and error. at least she's not scared of the potty!

potty training

we have entered the land of potty training. i figured since she kept taking off all her clothes we might as well use the diaper free time to good use,right? :) so off i went to buy a kiddy potty and i'm happy to say that yesterday she went in it 3 times!! i was soo happy!! and then first thing this morning too. yesterday her reward was mommy jumping around, clapping, and cheering when she went. today i realized the power of "ookie" (aka cookie).

but the problem i'm having is getting her to TELL me when she needs to go potty. yesterday i knew she was ready to go because she either took her diaper off (after she went in it) and ran around or i was lucky enough to catch her as she was in the process of removing said diaper. i then sat her on the potty and she went.

but now i need her to be proactive and let me know ahead of time. i'm sure it will come eventually and for now i am just excited that she's going in the potty at all. because that means the end of buying diapers is coming. yay!!!!

First Haircut

today Caitlin had her first real haircut. (Mamaw had trimmed her bangs once before) we went to Cool Cuts cause i had heard it was the place to take kids, and thats so true! they have toys, games, videos, neat seats, tons of stuff to keep kids occupied so they wont get scared getting their hair cut. granted, the price was a bit much for my tastes but i guess you pay for the atmosphere! anyway, Caitlin did real well.she got to watch Dora. the stylist said that she will have thick curly hair (yay! so glad she wont have fine hair like me!) and that the cowlick will just have to grow out. the lady was so nice to caitlin too. and then she collected some of the hair and put it in a keepsake (free!) which i thought was really cool. of course, i took tons of pics like any good momma :) (ack, for some reason they loaded back to front so i guess we'll start with the finished product and work backwards)

Dora bed

i was at Goodwill this weekend and saw this Dora toddler bed frame. it was at an amazing price that i couldn't refuse. and since caitlin has been doing well sleeping on her mattress on the floor, i figured it was about time for a bed. and let me just say, she LOVES it! this morning i found her just lying on it having a conversation with Dora and Boots. too cute. and she has not fallen out of it. yay :)

that phase

caitlin has entered that phase. not the terrible two's. not the 'mine' phase. no, much worse.

the 'i will take my clothes off and run around the house naked' phase. oh joy.

at least its not being done in public...yet.

AMAZING photos

my friends Kelly and Kim surprised me with a beautiful mothers day/birthday gift. unbeknowst to me, when i thought Kelly was just babysitting Caitlin one day, they were actually out on a photo shoot capturing Caitlin in all her beauty. Kim is such a gifted photographer, if you need some professional pics done let me know and i'll hook ya'll up :) anyway, here are a few to give you an idea of the wonderful job these ladies did. and trust me, these do not do justice to the original prints. i got about 75 pics total:

they put together a collage

picture of one of the pics

picture of another one of the pics

out of all the photos, i think this one is my favorite. caitlin looks so grown up though! this is a picture of the original pic, so thats why the flash mark shows up. the original pic doesnt have it

another pic of a pic

her expression is priceless...so caitlin

loving this outfit!

sshhh

sshhh, please be quiet:
click on the play button and it will start

paty-cake

caitlin is a mega sponge right now. she is totally absorbing EVERYTHING. its so fun to teach her new stuff :)

so she knows 'Patty-cake" now. except i didnt remember the exact words, so this is our version-

patty cake, patty cake, bakers man.
bake me a cake as fast as you can.
roll it and roll it and mark it with a C
and put it in the oven for mommy and me

watch her sing it here: (yes the screen is black but i promise if you click the play arrow it will play)

crib recall saga (kinda long)

the past few days i have been on a mission. a mission of safety. a mission of purpose. a mission of principle :)

it started when i got an email saying some cribs made by a company called Simplicity were being recalled due to metal rods that are the mattress frame supports are breaking. turns out Simplicity has gone out of business, so the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) doesnt have full knowledge of all the cribs sold. but the recall notice states :This recall involves ALL Simplicity cribs with tubular metal mattress-support frames regardless of model number.

so off i go to Babies R Us where i got my crib to find out what to do next. the manager i spoke with said they had been given only a few models of the crib that they were allowed to accept back, and mine wasnt on the list. i explained that the notice said ALL were being recalled. he said if i brought in the paper i had showing that he would take care of it.

well then i decided to call a different BabiesRUs, closer to my home. the people there said the same thing-no can do.

quite frustrated at this point, i decided to call the CPSC hotline to find out what to do. they took my information and said a compliance officer would be contacting me and the stores to resolve the issue.

yesterday i decided to call the BabiesRUs company's 1-800 number. the person i spoke with there told me that the managers had been told to take ALL cribs and that i could bring it to a store.

so this morning i disassembled the crib and put the parts in our car to take to the store. i went to the one nearest to me. long story short, i will NEVER shop there again. the person i spoke with was rude, insisted that they could only take certain cribs, and not willing to work with me even after i showed him in black and white the recall notice and told him what BRU corporate told me on the phone yesterday. sorry, they said.

so i decided to call the first store i went to the other day and speak with that manager again. he is now my hero. his name is Jorge. he said i could come there, as long as i had the recall notice so he could put that with the return information, and he could give me store credit for the crib even though it was not on their list. Hooray :) we went, we dealt with Jorge, and we left happy customers. i will most certainly shop at that store again even though its a bit further from my home.

only goes to show what good customer service will do. i am gonna write a very nice Thank You card and personally deliver it to Jorge sometime this week. he deserves it.

so now i am without crib. that isnt a bad thing, since i was getting ready to try the whole toddler bed thing again. for now though i have just her mattress on the floor up against the wall. once she gets used to staying on that i may try an actual bed. but thats for another time.

Sandbox

i created a sandbox for caitlin, and she had a wonderful time playing in it today :)

mmm..good apple

the screen looks black, but just hit the play arrow and i promise the video will start. Caitlin is enjoying her daddy's apple :)

bird show

in the rare chance someone is reading this that isnt also on Facebook or reads my other blog (if there actually is someone who fits that description, please say so in the comments) i posted a note on my other blog that includes caitlin-

www.lani-lifesjourneys.blogspot.com

seasonal closet cleaning

today i rearranged caitln's spring/summer and fall/winter clothes. time to put the short sleeves,etc in a more accessable place. i even organized her shirts by color! definatly too much time on my hands :) anyway, while doing so, i got kinda sentimental. caitlin has some really cute winter stuff. there are even a few outfits i bought on clearance a few weeks ago as the stores were getting rid of the winter inventory that caitlin hasnt even worn yet. i got sentimental because next year she will prob be too big to wear most of this stuff. i had to put quite a bit of her spring/summer clothing in the donate box from last season. i tell ya, this is why i do most of my shopping at Goodwill--kids grow so fast!! the forecast says we might still have some cool days ahead, so the winter cuteness isn't all lost, yet.

easter videos

a few videos of the fun caitlin had today. just click on the play arrow.


opening up the easter basket


playing ball with Giesla


collecting eggs

Easter 2010

caitlin had a wonderful day today!!! we went to the 8am service at our church and while chris and i were enjoying that the kids got to have an easter egg hunt in the nursery. caitlin came back with a bag of plastic eggs :) when we got home it was naptime. then for lunch we had my parents over as well as some good family friends. my dad got caitlin an easter basket with a little bit of candy, some bubbles, and a big green plastic ball. oh how caitlin LOVES that ball. so much fun!!! we all had a good meal, conversation, and entertainment. the rest of the afternoon was spent watching Dragon Tales, playing at the playground, dinner and bath. she was pretty ready for night night after that. a busy day, but one filled with lots of love and laughter!!

chilling with Mamaw and Opa

chilling with Emil and Giesla

mmm, these plastic eggs taste good

beautiful tulips from Emil and Giesla

the easter basket