Latta Park Splashgrounds

We scored big today on discovering a fun new activity for the Monkey. The Latta Park Splashgrounds in Dilworth. There was a neighborhood playdate there recently but we couldn't go so I slotted the idea away in the back of my mind. Then today, we all seemed to be feeling better so I thought that would be a fun afternoon adventure and it ended up being even more fun than I expected. The Monkey went crazy. I never thought of her as being brave or a dare devil but after maybe 2 minutes of figuring this place out she took off. Literally. She was all over the place. In and out of the spraying water, through the water troughs, cruising by other kids, grabbing at balls and squirt guns. She went nuts in there. After diligently following her around like a mad woman, I said to one of the other moms, "I need a Xanax." And I meant it. The Monkey was scared of nothing and therefore went into each spray with a playtime determination I've never seen before. I thought for sure she'd be more reserved. Apparently not at the splashgrounds. She even took a header into the trough of water because she was crawling too fast and her arm got caught underneath her. Did it stop her? No. Not even the fact that she took in a good amount of water from the incident and was choking. (Xanax PLEASE!) We hugged it out and helped her get through the coughing and then she pointed down and so back down she went.

It also was perfect timing for our splashground debut. There was a birthday party going on so there were tons of blow up zoo animals (yes she liked the monkey, but she also liked the elephant, lion and zebra as well) and balls all over the place. We also made some fun new friends with Charlie (Charlese - Charlie for short), who was born on 6/10/2009 (at Presby otherwise we literally would have been sharing a maternity ward:) and her brother Cole, who was 6. Oh and Raphael, the 15 month old who was taking on the splashgrounds and his new skill of walking with a vengeance. He was hilarious. And Asian and Spanish. What a cute little boy. I loved him. Diversity makes my heart melt. Pics coming in one second on today's fun activity.

But first, I need to make a note on today's awesome run. It surprised me really. I'm not 100% health-wise but woke up feeling better so a run today was definitely in the cards. After the Monkey's morning nap I strapped her into the Bob and off we went. And I felt really good from the beginning so I took off a little faster than usual. I don't wear a watch much anymore. I ditched this habit a while back. I just run for fun and however long or far I go, I go. But today I actually wish I could have timed it. It would have been interesting to see because I felt great the entire time and so I kept picking up the pace. I discovered a new route (Actually created it as I went based on the Monkey's status. If she fusses, I head towards roads with more traffic. For some reason, cars keep her entertained. And then when she's relaxed, we can go on some of the quieter streets.) Anyway, 7.75 miles mapped out later, and we were home. And I could have gone further. But by that point, the Monkey was ready to stop and we were back here at the house so that was it. So much for still not being able to hear, taste or smell and having a cough and a nose drain. It makes for good running, I guess:)

Ok, back to our regularly scheduled program - the splashgrounds!

First off - here it is....(we're over on the far right hand side)

The 120 seconds it took her to size the place up...(And check out my tan lines. Lord. Some people get farmer's tans. Some get golf tans. Mowing the lawn tans. I get a running sports bra tan. Excellent.)

 

Game on!

Friday's update

Ok, I fell off the wagon a little. I'm still feeling crummy. Sigh. I missed running today which means I'm just not myself yet. Serious bummer. And I was on such a roll this month with running. But then I got sick and it's ruining everything. Hopefully tomorrow the Monkey and I will be back out there. The Quanrantine has still been lifted - we even had a fun visit with Grammie judy today - but my pounding head needs to subside before I can hit the pavement again. Oh and if I'm to trust a mother (my mother) vs. the Monkey's thermometer, which is supposed to be all fancy and the thermometer to have, than I had a fever today. My mom felt my cheeks and forehead and I was hot. The Monkey thankfully was not. So I dashed upstairs and got her fancy thing and used it on myself and it said 98.6. For my sake and the Monkey's sake I hope the thermometer was correct. But mother's always know best. Anyway, I've been relying on that for months so I'd hate for it to be telling me something inaccurate. I need to just get an old school mercury filled bulb thermometer and call it a day. Why does everything these days need to be so high-tech? Anyway, that's my sick tangent. Enough with being sick!

Today was our last music class. I have mixed feelings about it. I actually got a little teary when Eloise was starring at the teacher playing the guitar and danced along to the beat but then again, I get a little teary every time she does something that's really cute.  The class was 15 weeks long. Frankly, that's too long. Eloise loved it each and every time we went but I got tired of the drive - not a good location whatsoever - and even though each class was different, I don't think it was different enough each week to fill 15 of them. Anyway, I'm glad it's over. We need a new activity. Let's try something new or maybe even do another swimming class. I haven't decided. Of course I'm getting pressure to sign right back up again for the music class but I just don't know. For the sake of the kids that she could continue on with, that's cute. She loves the other kiddos in there. And the teacher has shortened the classes. Smart. Now they are only 8 weeks instead of 15.  The next class starts a week from Monday and it'd be at 4:30pm, which is a good time for us. I just don't know. I'm going to think about it. It doesn't help that Mason (born 6/9/2010) really wants Eloise to do the 4:30pm Monday Summer class. The two have been flirting big time for weeks now. And today they met over in the corner and discussed each other's upcoming birthday parties. Come to find out, he's going to be a cowboy on his birthday.  And Eloise said, "no way, I'm going to be a cowgirl!" I'm telling you, it's nearly 1 year old love. Anyway, like I said, I'll think about it.

Ok, so I would be remiss if I didn't catch you up on pics and a video regarding some of things I've blogged about but haven't shown examples.

Here is the video of the Monkey stacking her cups. Quick 43 seconds on this one.

Here is the Monkey standing with my running shoe.

This is just hilarious and something babies must be in to at this age. I see kids doing this at the library and at music class. Cracks me up.

Big girl tub pics....

And her favorite bath time activity - standing up and throwing toys out of the tub.

And last, our new bath time ritual, we wave goodbye to the bath toys. "Bye bye toys. We'll see you tomorrow." And she waves. Hilarious.

Oh wait, I lied. One more. Look at that hair. My word.

I'm back on the wagon

I'm back. I'm not 100% but with the meds I get a good enough false positive to be productive and feel somewhat alive again.  The Monkey is not 100% either but she's been fairing better than I have this entire time so I'm hopeful we'll both be healthy again come the holiday weekend.

So with that update, the Vail Household Quarantine has officially been lifted. We are now leaving the house once again and feel confident neither of us can contaminate those we encounter. I'm in major scrub down mode on this house. I've bleached, washed and Lysol-ed everything I can get my hands on. I figure it has to help. If anything it should smell clean around here. I wouldn't know because I still can't smell, taste (or hear) but with bleach comes clean. And when Mike gets back tomorrow he can be my judge and tell me whether or not the place smells and looks as clean as an operating room.  That's what I'm after. Speaking of Mike, we think he may have dodged the bullet on this one. It seems he has a cold but not nearly what wiped me and the Monkey out so let's hope his pre-cold remedies did the trick and he gets over this one also by the holiday weekend.

I actually mistakenly lifted the Quarantine for about 40 minutes yesterday while the Monkey and I went running. Another false positive feeling from the meds and I just had to get us out of here.  We didn't go far and by the sounds of my hacking and nose blowing about 2 miles into the trek, I was reminded of what a stupid move this was. I even noticed another fellow runner near us actually took a detour as soon as she heard me. I don't blame her. Aren't you supposed to officially report a crime if you see one? Ok, I'm not sure taking a sick baby out into public when you are also sick is necessarily a crime but it can certainly be thrown into the "Unfit" category. Whatever. Don't judge. Well, actually you can judge. It was stupid. At that very moment in time, it seemed like a good idea. I was wrong.

On to Monkey updates. I've been off the blog for what seems like forever (Tuesday) so yes, I have a list.  Here we go:

1) Operation Cow's Milk is officially underway. And the Monkey seems fine with it.  She must not be able to taste anything either.  Good timing, Mommy.  I've mixed 1-2oz of cow's milk in with her breastmilk bottles three times now and also, this morning I filled a sippy cup with cow's milk, warmed it up and handed it over. She sipped at it about 5 times so she didn't flat out reject it but she didn't guzzle it down either. Honestly, I was pleased with the 5 sips she took. I thought the sippy cup was going to get slung across the room, per usual. Perfect.  I'm going to continue mixing it with breastmilk until her 1st birthday and by that point, will hope the breastmilk "fade out" will be a non-issue. I'm sending positive vibes into the breastfeeding universe on this one.

2) The Monkey has really improved her balancing skills. She's even taken a step here or there. It's only ever one step so clearly she is not walking but she's trying her hardest to get her strength and balance in gear so that she can. It's very cool to watch this process go down. It's nothing for her to squat down, pick up something that seems awkward or heavy (to a little girl her size) and she lifts it up, swings it around, drops it, goes back and picks it up again, etc. This is particularly fun for her with my running shoes. Bulky, awkward and maybe a little heavy for her, I don't know. She LOVES them. Like the love-fest fills 20 minute increments with this one and filling 20 minutes with any one activity at her age seems like a miracle. But she's up, she's down, she squats, she stands, she flings them around, and then.....she'll try to take a step. She'll take one and be fine. The second one catches her off balance and down on her bottom she goes. Then she gets up and starts all over again. It's an amazing fete that I enjoy watching it come together. She's a determined little bugger that's for sure. For all of her practice when she finally does start walking I hope I'm there to make sure she sees how proud I am of her. And I know she'll be proud of herself. She's certainly put in her due diligence on this project.

3) This is another for the "I'm fascinated watching my daughter" bucket - this morning she was bound and determined to join me in the bathroom. But she wasn't coming in without the empty Gatorade bottle. Fair enough.  At this point, she was clear across our bedroom and had a ways to go.  She put it in her mouth and bit down and started crawling. She'd get 4 or 5 crawls and it'd fall out. So she tried sliding it while crawling. This didn't prove efficient enough for her so back into her mouth it went. Again, she'd get 4 or 5 crawls and it fall. Dang if that little girl didn't try several different means of carting that Gatorade bottle to the bathroom with her and sure enough, she made it.  Once she arrived, she wanted nothing to do with the empty bottle but her determination and reasoning skills were quite impressive.

4) Yesterday morning she was in the bathroom with me while I was pumping. This is typical and what she'll do is either play with her Old McDonald Farm or play under the sink. I have plastic shampoo bottles and what not under there and she loves nothing more than to pull every last item out from under the sink and then put it back (note: she also does this now with toys. my repeated attempts at getting her to clean up are paying off!). While this was all going on, like I said, I'm pumping. At one point she looks up at me and starts signing "milk". Now I guess TMI so I'm sorry for those of you who don't want to hear this but the bottles were filling up with milk while I was pumping. She was directly below me watching them fill up and she signed "milk." And she didn't just do it once. She kept doing it and doing it and doing it. And for those who don't know the sign for "milk", it's when you squeeze your hand like you are squeezing an udder. Yup. The Monkey is watching Mommy who is literally a cow with udders filling bottles with milk and she's watching and signing it. Are you freaking kidding me?  That is hilarious! This is another sign that we've been doing over and over and over and just yesterday it clicked. Amazing. And what an excellent time to use it. This is my first experience with my "no-filter" child. I love that about kids and am excited for many more with Eloise!

5) As of yesterday, the Monkey now has an "Easy Teether" on her crib. Yes, she's a Beaver as well as a little Monkey in case anyone was curious. She has crushed her crib with constant chewing that it got so bad she literally was creating splinters. Nice.  So as soon as we saw a piece of wood come off, she and I literally dashed off to Buy Buy Baby (to also return the 2nd baby gate that I've purchased that also does not fit the bottom of our stairs - seriously, kill me. at this rate, the 2 dining room chairs will serve as our baby gate.) and purchased the "Easy Teether".  And what kind of reaction do I get out of the Beaver?  She moves from chewing on the front rail of her crib to the side rails. Ah, but she can't do this for long because "Easy Teether" makes guards for side rails as well. I'm getting them asap.

Last update, not Monkey related....I finally got my flowers planted. We purchased them on Saturday but this is when I spiraled down into the dark depths of sick-oblivion and therefore my poor flowers sat in their containers until I put the Monkey to bed last night. Likely running on another med induced false positive, it was enough to get my mini impatient garden in the backyard planted and 6 pots planted. That's all I'm doing this year but it was a much needed improvement to this god-awful yard. (pics below)

For pictures today - during our down and out sick days I was looking for any kind of diversion for both me and the Monkey. Anything that kept us occupied for even a moment in time so I'd forget my head was pounding and my nose was draining and would stop the Monkey whining.  This one day's distraction was the perfect kind of distraction - a birthday present! Much too early for the Monkey's birthday and I've also put the word out that we want no presents for this little one for her first birthday. She has plenty around here and so Mommy and Daddy will buy her a few new things and that's it. Nonetheless, Aunt Caren and Uncle John sent down a present and so on Tuesday I used it as a fun activity for the Monkey to open it. Here she goes....

Thank you Caren and John!

Also, here are some pics of my 2010 flowers...

Interesting USA Today article on parenting

"Why do mothers judge one another and their parenting" posted today on USAToday.com. Interesting read.

Sick Update: The Vail household is falling a part at the hinges. Mike's symptoms have started (scratchy, itchy throat, sore neck and shoulders, cough) and so he's is popping cold preventative products like they are going out of style. I'm now taking (pharmacist approved) meds right after I pump (not sure if this matters but it seems to me to be safer). The person who's doing the best, and we should all be most concerned with, is the Monkey. She's not 100% but she's in much better shape than the rest of us. I'm working this morning and then going to bed while the Baby Whisperer is here. (Who I had to call yesterday to come and help me. I couldn't take on the Monkey with this cold all by myself. Reinforcements were necessary.) I have some cute pics to post later if I'm up to it. That's iffy at this point. 

Sick Monkey, Sick Mommy

Is there anything more torturous than a sick breastfeeding mommy taking care of a sick Monkey?  Seriously, this is worse than waterboarding.

Sick Monkey

I'm glad our dinner plans for tonight fell through after all. As soon as our babysitter reads this, she'll be glad as well. (i.e. grammy Judy) The Monkey has been sick, courtesy or moi and so after I put her down for the night, I knew we'd be seeing each other again. She didn't get up at all last night but she and I both have been getting worse daily. I'm still stuck in head cold haze but I'm wondering now if hers isn't progressing into something worse. I heard her on the baby monitor around 7:30pm, went upstairs to check on her and found her completely covered in vomit. At this age, it's not spit-up. It's full on vomit. My poor, poor baby. I stripped her down and put her back into the tub - she just took a bath before she went to bed - so that I could try my best at getting her cleaned up. She literally had vomit on her from head to toe and was not at all pleased that she was back in the tub. I changed her bed, found the back-up Monkey woobie (thank god for the back-up), gave her some water and rocked her back to sleep. I'm thinking she's down for the night but there is certainly a chance we'll be seeing each other again. Oh, and no fever. It's a miracle.

Laundry list

I have a laundry list of items to jot down but first off - I've taught the Monkey how to do laundry. It's been extremely helpful. Really better told, if I delegate a job while cleaning, then she'll enjoy herself and I'll get some things done around here. It's a good match. So as of now, she'll stand in front of the dryer and hand me clothes to fold. And she's actually quite good at it. Only every once in awhile will she play a game with me where she won't hand over the shirt, sock, et. al. for me to fold. Instead she'll tug back and forth, which is still cute. With her assistance, laundry is a much better task. (sorry the example pics below happen to be underware shots. they were the last item in the dryer.)

Also on the list....the Monkey is now getting the hang of stacking cups, blocks and her rings. I'll get a video of this asap. Oh yeah, before I get too deep in the milestones, the Monkey and I officially have head colds. The teething symptoms for her evolved into a head cold courtesy of me. I freaking gave her a cold. Lord. She had classic teething symptoms all week then I developed a sore throat and a cough and then she has a cough too. We're hanging in there but it's a bummer.  Just more tired than usual.

Ok, back to the list....we have a parrot on our hands here. If I say da da da da da, then Eloise says da da da da da. Then I say ge ge ge ge ge and she says ge ge ge ge ge. Then choo choo choo and she says choo choo choo. And on and on. It's cute and impressive all at the same time.

I've officially switched the Monkey over to taking baths in the big girl tub. The pink blow up ducky tub had a slow leak in it somehow so rather than blow it up each and every time, I just put it away and am now bathing her in the tub with a few inches of water. She's actually been totally fine. A little slipping and sliding initially but she's gotten used to it and has been enjoying herself. Splashing is her favorite bath time activity, which I've been joining in on. She's obviously soaked. And then I get soaked as well:)

Yesterday while driving to music class I was singing to Eloise, of course - driving meltdown diversion - and at this point I was on "The Itsy Bitsy Spder" and I peeked in the rear view mirror and saw her doing her hands in the itsy bitsy spider way. Of course it wasn't as good as if you or I were doing it but it was her best attempt and I was shocked to see it. I love when these things click in her little mind.

Ok, my last update - I believe that Eloise is in the midst of weening herself from the bottle. She's very uninterested in the bottle as of late unless she's starving. I always fill her up with solids first and then offer the bottle 3 times a day after a meal in case she's still hungry so with this plan in place, she's been drinking anywhere from 20-25 oz of breastmilk/day. But lately, she's only been drinking maybe 15-20. I still push it because I think she needs the nutrients, anitbodies, etc. that it offers but it's interesting to watch how this is all coming together at just the perfect time. My plan is to transition her to whole milk starting at one year and since we're only a few weeks away, my hope is this is all going to happening perfectly.  Then after we transition in whole milk, I need to transition out the bottle. I'm a little nervous about this all happening at once so I'm going to stagger it. Whole milk first, bottle shortly there after. With what appears to be a little assistance from the Monkey, this may all go much smoother than I expected. Fingers crossed.

Friday's update

A few updates for you this week. First off, the Monkey is obsessed (where does she get this obsessive nature from?) with trucks, cars and trains.  She's now finding them in books and pointing them out and making her "choo choo choo" noise. I'll need to correct this some day but to her, trucks, cars and trains are all the same and come with the same "choo choo choo" noise. That's sort of the case - they do all carry things around and make a noise. Especially trucks and trains. They are very similar. And really, that's too complicated to get into at this age. Regardless, she is finding them in stories and pointing them out, which I find insanely cute.

She got on the train kick at a very young age because our neighborhood is adjacent to a pretty active train track. Thankfully for us, we're tucked in a little being 4 streets away so the train isn't on top of us but of course, we still hear it.  Everytime a train would go by (and still goes by) I say, "that's a choo choo train. Do you hear it??" And so she quickly perfected recognizing when it goes by and then developed her own "choo choo" noise to accompany her discovery.  The other day we went to the Matthews library so I could pick up a book I had on hold and their children's room has a nearly life size train in it.  With my help of making it a super big deal, Eloise could not stop making choo choo train noises and was so distracted by it she'd leave the other kids and toys and crawl to the front of the train and rock back and forth belting out "choo choo". That's my girl!

Speaking of the rocking back and forth - this girl has definitley found her groove and it's hilarious. She's now a full blown dancer and will dance when I ask her too. It's often while she's sitting and she rocks back and forth on her knees but just this week she's added dancing to her standing routine. Perfect 10 in my book. I can't wait until she dances with Ellen. I'm working on it since this is the only TV I allow all day long (and often times it's when I need a break.) By 5pm TV goes on and it's time for Mommy and Eloise to have a little Ellen playing in the background.

This weekend will be filled with cleaning, cleaning, grocery and Target shopping, planting and hopefully some relaxing. I'll be honest, I'm tired. And I'm feeling a pinch overwhelmed. I'm the type of person who cleans as she goes and this week, that hasn't happened. Consequently, the house looks like a bomb went off, coupled with the fact that my vacuum cleaner broke and my floors are a disaster area. Agh! Add to this all sheets are in the wash, the bathrooms need to be cleaned and I'd like to get some flowers in pots (I can't complain that pots can't be planted because a landscaper won't call me back.) Again, I typically clean as I go so the fact that I stupidly let things pile up this week, I'm pretty annoyed with myself. And I'm not even unpacked from Raleigh last weekend. Agh! Once Mike gets back from Cinci together we can bang out the to-do list. (I'm pretty sure he doesn't read this blog from the road. And really, that's better. Who wants to knowingly come home to a dirty house? Lol.) If he could do the grocery shopping and Target, maybe even take the Monkey with him, I could whip through this house no problem. Ahhhh....a plan is forming. It's making me feel better already.

Have a great weekend all!

These are pics that I took on Eloise's 11 month birthday. I posted others that day but since these are also cute, I'll post them today.

Always trying to get the cat. Always.

Here are the other 2 pictures I took of her in the orange chair on her birthday. It's like I could hear her say, "What are these ridiculous animals doing next to me? Get me out of here!" Thus the photo shoot lasted 3 seconds. 12 months should be even more interesting:)