Posted on December 15, 2007
We decided to celebrate Christmas at home today so that Chloe would have a chance to play with some of her presents before we leave for Denver on Wednesday.
We started by visiting Santa and the Longstreet Farm in Holmdel. The Longstreet Farm is an historically accurate farm where they make hot cider, ginger cookies, and let the kids help milk the cows. Chloe was, no surprise, not interested in seeing Santa. So, Mommy had to be a buffer.
Of course, after we left, it was Santa this and Santa that. She waved bye bye to Santa as we left, and she saw him walking across the farm and excitedly yelled, “SANTA!” Apparently, he is better at a distance.
Then we went home, and mommy and daddy had hot cocoa and we all opened our presents. Chloe really wasn’t as “in” to it as I thought she would be. She would open one, and then play with the contents, and then slowly open another. After three or four, we asked her if she wanted to open some more presents and she said, “no.” This makes me very nervous about Christmas at home. I suspect that Chloe will have a TON of presents there. We may need to spread it out over our trip.
One of her favorite gifts she got was tub crayons. Here she is, or budding artist:
Posted on December 14, 2007
Ok, I just have to brag, my baby is soooo smart! Yesterday, we were stuck in the house all day due to icy rain, so Chloe and I played “school.” Chloe was able to do two of her peg puzzles completely independently, (Several times, actually), and she told me all of the animal sounds from the pictures. She was also able to put all of her shapes into her shape sorter box completely independently. And, it should come as no surprise that her favorite shape is a “star.” She picks out stars EVERYWHERE. I am sure that it helps that there are several stars on our Christmas tree.
We’ve been working on having her clean up her own toys now that she is older. So, every time she decides to switch an activity, I sing the clean up song and she helps me clean up her toys. (song: “clean up, clean up, everybody every where, clean up, clean up, everybody do their share.”) Now, when she is done with what she is playing with, or when she is bored with something, she starts singing the clean up song. Of course, is sounds more like, “ceen up, ceen up.” Today, I went out to lunch with Ellen and Seth, and Chloe decided she was done and started to sing the clean up song. I just HAD to laugh, it was too cute. It even made me less annoyed that I didn’t get to finish my lunch.
in closing, I have to share one more picture of Chloe in the nose glasses, in this one, she’s checking her self out in the mirror, it was really hilarious to watch!
Posted on December 13, 2007
Posted on December 12, 2007
Posted on December 12, 2007
I worked at Best Buy in the customer service department for almost five years. I was cussed at, threatened, and even had a phone thrown at me once. I worked at a Day Treatment center with kids with serious mental illness where, I was cussed at, threatened, and even had a math book thrown at me once. None of this could prepare me for what I am dealing with now…my sweet, innocent, loving baby has turned into a possessed TODDLER!
Yesterday, it was approaching dinner time, and Chloe (who had been an angel all day) was starting to get hungry. Daddy was a little late getting home, so I figured I would just go ahead and feed her. She stood at the fridge saying, “open this, open this.” So, I did. She said, “cheese, cheese.” So, I got her out some cheese. Apparently, that wasn’t the cheese she wanted, because she literally melted on the floor in a fit of pure rage. Screaming, crying, saying over and over, “noooo, noooo.” I have to admit, I panicked! I started pulling out all the different types of cheese in the fridge asking, “do you want this cheese? do you want that cheese? Chloe, honey, baby, sweety, tell mommy what you want.” She just cried, and screamed, and cried some more, all the time saying, “noooo, noooo.” I picked her up to show her the cheese drawer in case she wanted some cheese we didn’t have in the hopes she would see we didn’t have it a move on. It sort of worked because she noticed the bananas on the counter. Now, I had just gone shopping earlier in the day, so the bananas were still very green. And here I am, an educated woman with a Masters degree, trying desperately to explain to a 19 month old in the midst of a fit that she won’t like a banana that is that green. I finally gave up, (mostly because the screaming and the crying reached that ear drum shattering volume and I was afraid the neighbors would be breaking the door down and accusing me of child abuse.) I opened the banana and tried to give her some…she took one look at it and the fit started all over again.
Ellen told me that it helps if you remove them from that environment, so I took her into the family room and tried to sit with her on the couch. More screaming. So, I took her into the play room and tried to rock with her in our reading chair, more screaming. Then she stiffened up and slid right through my arms (nobody warned me toddlers were made of this strange stuff where they can become limp and stiff all at the same time). Finally, she saw something across the room and ran over to it. Then, very calmly as if nothing had even happened, she started to play. I just sat there, in the chair, wondering, “what just happened?”
Posted on December 6, 2007
Its finally here, winter. We got our first dusting of snow, and so of course we had to send our little Eskimo out to check out this crazy white stuff. She lasted about 20 minutes. I think it took us longer to get her into the snow suit!
With it being so cold outside, Mommy needs to get a little creative. So, yesterday, we made goop. Now, those of you who know my child, know that she hates to get her hands dirty. I decided we needed to fix that…hence, goop. Goop is made from cornstarch and water, and it is a truly amazing tactile experience.
We even added an artistic element by adding a few drops of food coloring and manipulating the colors.
Chloe got such a kick out of it, and I think she was even ok with getting a little messy. Ok, a lot messy. All right, all right, it was out of control messy. Next time I get the idea to do something messy with my child in the kitchen, someone needs to remind me to put down a tarp or something. We now have goop in the cracks of our hard wood floor. Oh well.
Chloe even had fun helping me mop up after words.
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