Daycare

I took Casey to visit daycare for an hour today. We went in and she went straight to the back to say hi to the dog dogs, not in sign language but by barking loudly at them. The kids were in the middle of snack time: two were at the big table and three were in the four high chairs lined up along the back wall. They put Casey in a high chair in the middle and the kids were all looking side to side at each other and smiling like in the intro to the Brady Bunch. There is one little girl, Katie, who smiled extra big at Casey. They were walking around holding hands! Casey played by herself and also ran in circles around the table with all the kids. This is definitely the right place. I wish I could hang out with them all day.

The kids went down for naps on little mats on the floor so it was time for us to go. She'd just gotten up from a nap right before we got there and I didn't think she'd go for a second nap less than two hours later. The kids were all so good. Casey actually lied down on the floor too. It wasn't clear if she was trying to swim, make a snow angel, or nap, but she was down there. The owner let her pick from two blankets and that will be hers when she's there. First she went for both of them (she goes by my motto, "why choose when you can have both?") but then she picked the stripes.

Instead of going straight home we walked across the street to the park. I met some other moms there and we were talking and they said they see the kids from the daycare at the park all the time. I asked if it looked like they were taking good care of the kids and they said yes and that the kids were really good too. Whew! We'll try to stop by again tomorrow.

I'm not looking forward to tomorrow though - doctor day - last three shots to get her all caught up.

Oh, and we both have colds again. She hasn't even started daycare yet! There were a couple of very wonderful days where I could breathe clearly. I still remember how it felt.

Fishies!

This afternoon we convinced Eric to play hooky and go to the aquarium with us since he's been working so much lately. It seems much smaller on a Tuesday than on the weekend because you can see all of the exhibits and walk without bumping into people. Casey's favorite part was the kid zone where there aren't even any animals or fish, but there are buttons to push that make seal sounds and other animal noises. At each exhibit she could just barely reach the lowest button.

Then when we were about to leave we realized that we'd missed the river otters and the jelly fish art exhibit, so after keeping her there for a bit longer than we should have we sprinted back to see those. We were glad we did because she loved the river otters. We could see them under water playing together and when we lifted her up she could see them above the water. She kept hitting her leg signing "dog dog" (even though she now says "dog dog") and she watched and laughed and seemed to like them almost as much as she enjoyed pushing the buttons.

The car ride was not fun, especially on the way home. We were buckling her into her car seat and she was already signing "all done". She would cry and Eric would sing the Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed song. It's her favorite book right now and one of our CDs has a song about it. She loves shaking her finger when we say "no more monkeys jumping on the bed". He couldn't get to three monkeys before she'd fall back to sleep for another five minutes.

This morning we visited three daycares and made a decision. Of course it's the most expensive one, but it's the best one, and she'll get lots of attention and have a good time there. This one has kids close to her age and three college students (and the owner) who were always playing and interacting with them and teaching them songs like "If You're Happy and You Know it" and "I'm a Little Teapot". It's a good thing Casey can't talk yet or she might sing our slightly modified version, "I'm a Little Stinkpot". There was one baby who was eight months old, and someone was always carrying him (her?) around everywhere. At one of the other places there were two babies inside in cradles while everyone else was playing outside. Sad.

At each of them, when I asked if she was ready to go she shook her head vigorously and gave me a look like I was the party pooper of the century.

Grandpa Larry (a.k.a. Papa Lala) wants to know what we've been up to

We didn't do anything too exciting last week -- we were consumed with the daycare search. I've really put it off until the last minute. It looks like there are a lot of options for when she is two, but in the meantime we'll need to find a home daycare. We visited one Montessori where the kids were all so happy and having a great time. We arrived during free play outside and three little girls came right over and introduced themselves. I introduced Casey and then they all ran off together. It was a little chaotic but the kids seemed SO happy. All of them. It's not very conveniently located though, and when I got home I thought maybe the teachers weren't paying close enough attention to the kids. But maybe they didn't need to because everyone was doing ok. Other places we visited were too rigid and school-like for her right now (or maybe ever). She really needs lots of activity. Right now the top contender is a bilingual Mandarin-English school (there are two teachers in each class) but I woke up in the middle of the night last night thinking that their playground was way too wimpy for her.

We went to Gymboree on Friday for open gym and there was a different teacher there. Casey kept looking at her because she looks similar to our teacher. This teacher was so great. There were kids of all different ages and she had activities that everyone could do. And it wasn't even a class so she didn't need to be doing anything at all (some of the teachers just hang out at the front desk or even in the back room during open gym). The kids got to take turns getting spun and shaken by the teacher on the bottom half of a sphere. She started with an older boy, and then another little boy went, and she said who's next? Casey walked right up there. She was pretty serious, but then when her turn was over she went right back up there for more. (She had to let some other kids try it first.) There was another activity where the teacher and the parent would each hold a hand, and the kid would run up a ramp and then fly off the end (still holding hands of course). Each time when she reached the ground, Casey would squeal and laugh and pump her arms in the air. I couldn't help but laugh. Every time. She got so hyped up that she was diving into tunnels and running around crazier than usual. After over an hour and a half she was saying she was hungry and Eric was going to be home soon, so we walked over to pick up a take and bake pizza and she ran back and forth across the store. What do I have to do to tire this kid out??

Thursday night my friend Audra talked me into going to a class about sleep for babies. Casey sleeps pretty well once she's asleep but it's a lot of work to get her to sleep so I figured maybe I could learn something. That day I'd spent the hour between 4:00 and 5:00 trying to get her to sleep. I lost. Then we got in the car at 6:00 and she fell right to sleep. Do you wake a kid up to go to a sleep class? Luckily I didn't have to decide, because she woke up at 6:25 and the class was at 6:30. I don't think anyone can tell you how to do it. They can give you suggestions of things to try, but every kid is different. It's all trial and error. Some of the things she suggested just don't work for Casey, like don't wait until they show signs of being tired. I challenge anyone to get her to bed when she's not already pretty tired.

I never thought I'd see the day...

Last night Casey told us she wanted to go night night. We were shocked. At first we thought she must be asking for the phone (hand on the ear) but she wanted to go to sleep at 7:50. Usually Eric puts her to bed at 8. She still gave him a hard time, that's her job I guess, but she fell asleep pretty quickly.

She did have a big day with two short naps. First we went to Pump It Up, where they have poofy slides and bounce houses. She LOVED it. She went down the slide by herself (and it was FAST). What she really loved though was sitting in the little plastic cars. The girl likes to have a steering wheel in front of her. She has one in her Jeep stroller and it also has a horn and a button that plays music, not to mention a side mirror and cupholders for Cheerios.

Then she had a short nap in the car while we drove to Happy Hollow Farm for a picnic with Veronica, Ted, Kyle, and Cami. She couldn't sit still for lunch so Eric chased her around in the grass until she told him she was hungry and he brought her back to eat a little more. I guess the big field and all of the kids were more appealing than sitting still to eat food, even though we had a great lunch. Then we went on some kid rides and ran around in miniature houses before going to the zoo. That place has everything! We bought a membership and plan to go back as much as we can.

No wonder she was tired.

Reinforcements

Eric is in Geneva. He did invite us to come along, but we laughed at him. (Casey laughs when I laugh.) So I had to bring in reinforcements. My mom and Ron came out and I have to say it's been sort of a vacation for Casey and me. Mom immediately started cooking and cleaning, so we have chicken soup, pumpkin muffins, zucchini carrot muffins, chicken, and a surprise for Eric when he gets home. You can see the floors and you can even eat off of them (not that we weren't already). Ron fixed the baby gate that fell off the wall.

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Yesterday we met some friends at the Children's Discovery Museum. There were a LOT fewer people there and I didn't hit my head once. Casey had a blast. It's nice to be able to let her loose and for her to have so many things to play with.

Today we went to Gymboree. Grandma brought Valentines Day presents for Casey to pass out in her class. The kids were a little confused and wondering when their moms were going to make them give the little pink, red, and white monkeys back and were excited to get to keep them. I bet Casey is the most popular girl in class next week.

A Seat With A View

Poor kid does have a fairly "obstructed" view in this seat. If I can manage to make a habit of getting on the bike, maybe I can shrink the obstruction.

(She does like kicking me when we ride. "Mush, Dada, Mush!")

No-wheeled bike

My friend Kathy's son Jack calls his bike seat his "bike with no wheels". You can see from the pictures that Casey was skeptical at first (or maybe she was questioning Dada's fashion choices) and she was not a big fan of the giant "hat", but then she loved the ride. My role was sweeper. I rode behind and picked up sunglasses, shoes, and whatever else came my way. Sometimes a friendly rollerblader or walker would pick it up and hand it to me as I circled around. Afterwards Casey ran around on the playground (action shot).

Spaghetti and meatballs!

Casey likes to feed herself. She can't seem to understand why she's only allowed to do it at home though. Notice that she has a fork for each hand.

HAT

Casey has a couple of new words. She says "hi" and "hot". Once she figured out how to say "hi" she started saying it all the time. Sometimes it sounds like "I".

Today we went to the farm with Karen & Ashley, and Jeanine & Brynn, and Jeanine's sister Joan who is in town from the east coast. Joan was interested in babies learning sign language so I told Casey to show Joan how she says "hat" and Casey yelled "HAT!" I was pretty surprised because she's never said it before and was expecting her to tap her head. I can't get her to do it again to show Eric.

The girls had a great time looking at the animals and playing together. The pigs were resting inside the off-limits area but Joan talked a ranger into letting us go in to see them. It was like getting backstage passes. The girls are really starting to interact more lately, not just swiping food and toys from each other. Brynn was playing in the dirt and made it look so fun that Casey and Ashley joined in. We had a picnic of empanadas and Ashley passed out Teddy Grahams for dessert. It was a gorgeous day.

Baby loves disco

I forgot to mention our big night on Saturday! It was Ava's 1st birthday so we all went dancing at a local nightclub! From 2-5pm we went to a babyproofed nightclub (although no place can be entirely Caseyproof) where we danced, played in tents, and played with toys that were sprinkled all over the place. There was a lineup of drinkboxes at the bar, and a table of kid snacks like goldfish crackers, animal crackers, and fruit. Check out http://www.babylovesdisco.com/, they have them all over the country. Casey showed off some of her best dance moves, including what we call the car. To make the sign for car you steer an imaginary steering wheel, but when she does it her arms go side to side and she shakes her booty. She also likes to dance with one or both fists in the air. Girl's got the moves.

Then everyone came over for lasagne and cake.

Little big girl bed

For the past three months, Casey has been sleeping in our bed. In China she clung to us so hard that there was no way she was going in the crib. She fell asleep in our arms every night and for every nap. It was so sweet, though, waking up in the morning to her smiling at us. She'd smile at me, roll over to Eric and smile at him, and then roll back and forth smiling at both of us. It's still fun to wake up to her smiling face. Usually she asks for a book when we've just barely opened our eyes so we start laughing and then she starts laughing.

Last night she slept in her own room in her new toddler bed. She stayed there from 8pm to 6am! It wasn't as hard as we had expected, based on past experiences of trying to put her in the crib. We weren't sure if it was the crib or being in a different room, but after last night, it looks like she just hates cribs. She would cry so hard when we put her in there, harder than when she gets hurt. Usually when she cries we can distract her fairly easily, so when she cried that hard, I just couldn't take it. She would stand with her arms across the top of the bars and her head buried in her arms sobbing. Twice I tried it for 20 minutes, and both times when I took her out she fell asleep in my arms in less than a minute she was so tired.

I'm going to miss waking up with her in the mornings, assuming Eric can replicate last night's success.

Flying home

The airport in Palm Springs is mostly outside. We hardly even knew we were waiting for a flight. Casey charmed everyone with her winning smile and enjoyed hanging out with all of Eric's coworkers. It was easier than any of our other flights. The key is to have a very short flight (just over an hour) and four seats for the three of us. It wasn't a full flight so Eric and I each had our own row of two seats and she could climb over whenever she felt like it.

Palm Springs Art Museum

Casey and I were looking for things to do in Palm Springs while it was pouring out so we went to the art musuem. Right as we got in, I paid my 13 bucks and she started yelling. AH! pause. AH! pause. AH! Like an alarm going off. I was thinking I might have to ask for my money back but I just started pushing the stroller fast and swerving back and forth and then she started looking at the pictures and sculptures and only yelled AH! (and pointed) when she saw something she liked. There was a lot of great stuff there actually.

On the way home she made the sign for milk right as we were passing Starbuck's. Coincidence? Maybe. Sometimes when we go there she gets a box of vanilla milk, and she does prefer that to plain old milk.

Back in the hotel, she spent time spinning around in the desk chair, and hanging out in the little shelf under the TV.