Grand Rapids Public Schools

I can't believe I taught here for 4 years!

http://www.foxnews.com/video-search/m/21601132/illegal_letter.htm?q=Bernard%20Taylor

Whining about Weaning

On Wednesday night, I decided that it was time for Hannah to give up her bottles. She's almost 15 months and now drinks great from a sippy cup so there's really no reason she needs one other than comfort.

The first two nights were great! It took an hour or so for her to finally zonk out, but she did it. She slept like a champ through the night both times and we were relieved it was soooo easy. Then there was the third night. She cried for a couple of hours before bed and didn't fall asleep until 9 or 10. It was so hard to let her cry when I knew just what she needed, but I really felt like it was time for her to be done with the "ba-ba". She proceeded to wake up just about every hour on the dot crying and I knew what for, but I didn't give in!

Then there was last night. Seems to me that the more nights you go without sleep the more willing you are to give in and give your kid what he/she needs/wants no matter what. I didn't feel like battling anymore and at 4am and she got a bottle. That lasted about 5 min and then the crying started again.

So, now I'm confused. Hannah does have a little cold, but maybe her ear infection's back? The bottle didn't seem to do the trick last night. Oh, who knows?! I'm going to give it a whirl without the bottle again tonight and see what happens.

When in doubt...ask the pediatrician. And that's what I'm going to do tomorrow at her 15 month check up. :) Experienced moms, any advice?

Santa Visit

Hannah got all dressed up to see Santa again this year. Last year she just slept in his arms, but this year she freaked out. I felt like I had a baby monkey squeezing me around my neck and hips. Unfortunately, Hannah would not sit with Santa this year...but she wasn't the only one. Notice all the mommies with smiles on our faces and all the kids look absolutely terrified. I think we've started a tradition here :)

sooooooo BIG

Hannah's vocabulary has been exploding over the last few weeks. It is so much fun (and a lot easier) to communicate with her. I think she's also having a blast being able to express what she wants and needs. Here are the words that I can think of that she says:

cup
Daisy (my mom's dog)
Ga-ca (grandma and grandpa)
hello (sounds more like hewo)
cheese
binky (sounds like key-key)
uppy
daddy
uh-oh
baby
doggie
kitty cat

She's also started doing a lot of the baby sign that I tried teaching her months ago. All of a sudden she can't get enough of it. She does "more", "down", "all done", and "all gone".

This is definitely my favorite stage so far. Hannah is so much fun and I just love her to pieces!

Thankful

Caleb, Hannah, and I were blessed to spend a week in St. Louis with my family for Thanksgiving. We enjoyed quality time catching up, playing games, and stuffing ourselves with food.


Hannah loved the dogs and cats. They actually let her pet them, which resulted in squeals of delight. She quickly learned how to say "Daisy" (the name of one of my mom's golden retrievers) and now calls all dogs "Daisy" instead of "doggie". It's pretty cute.


Aunt Lauren and Hannah played the piano together. When Aunt Lauren wasn't around, Hannah would sneak up to the piano and push the keys. She LOVED it! Hannah also loved giving the phone to Aunt Lauren and saying "Hewo" for hello. She called both grandma and grandpa "Ga-ca". It's so fun to see her learning new words and so cute to hear how she pronounces them.

In St. Louis, Hannah loved playing chase with Aunt Lauren, dancing with Grandpa, and reading books with grandma. She also got on the perrrrfect schedule! Every day she woke up between 7 and 8, took an afternoon nap from 1-4, and then went night-night around 8pm. It was amazing! Let's hope she keeps this up in Michigan!

Sniffles

Turns out Hannah's eternal cold turned into an ear infection. Thankfully, we have never experienced one before, and I hope we never have to experience one again. For 3 nights I couldn't figure out what was wrong with Hannah. She would wake up at about 1 or 2 am and scream her head off. She was completely inconsolable. Hannah's never been like that before and it scared me quite a bit. She would scream for a couple of hours straight and finally go back to sleep around 4 or 5. Monday night I almost decided to take her to the emergency room it was so bad.

Sometimes I thought that it must be her molars coming in since she's gotten a few already. And the resistance of laying down on the changing table had to be behavioral. Surely, the arching of the back was constipation, too. But, I was wrong. Poor little baby had an earache.

Tuesday night she started on Amoxicillin. I haven't seen much improvement yet, especially at night, but the doctor said it might take a few days to kick in. Hopefully she's all better to go see grandma, grandpa, and Aunt Lauren in a couple of days!

New Word!

Hannah says "baby" now and actually carries her doll around with her sometimes. Yesterday she pointed to the baby on her yogurt container and hasn't stopped saying "baby" ever since. Unfortunately, I couldn't capture a real clear one on video.



I thought Hannah was going to be 100% Tom Boy considering her love for climbing and things that "go". But, hopefully mommy will be able to play dollies with her every once in a while. Someone has to teach her to be gentle, though. :)