Sunday, January 24, 2010

The Yin and Yang of MZ


Happy, laughing MZ.

MZ looking tough, with her hoodie and don't-mess-with-me face.

Molly recently discovered that she could put her hands in her pockets, so I thought I'd share a couple of pictures. She's really quite the fashionista, huh?

Friday, January 22, 2010

ready for anything


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Originally uploaded by billstron
Here is MZ with her safety goggles and the mask from her nebulizer. She looks ready for some sort of attack, doesn't she? She really likes to put on both things, then take them off, then put them back on, then take them off. Get the picture?

She woke up today, for about the fourth or fifth straight day, between 5:00 and 5:30. I'm not sure what is going on. She was sleeping fine, and now she isn't. It could be the weather (which has been terrible and loud and a bit scary), which leads to no playing outside. I guess it could also be that her finger was hurting, but that seems unlikely to me. Her appetite has also decreased a bit over the past few days. This happens periodically--maybe it's the opposite of a growth spurt, maybe a growth plateau or something. Anyway, I hope she gets to sleeping more very soon.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

cut finger


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Originally uploaded by billstron
Molly reached into the recycling bin and pulled out a can that I had just thrown in there. She was playing with it and cut her finger, all while I was turned around from her for about 20 seconds. There was blood everywhere! It bled for over an HOUR!!! She looks terrible. There are blood stains all over her shirt and on her hands. She fell asleep while I was putting pressure on it--it was about 45 minutes after her usual nap time--so, because I could not change her shirt, she now looks like she had a rough night at the bar, sleeping it off. Here is a picture of her passed out on the couch. Sweet little girl. See the blood all over her shirt?

She is a tough girl, though. Bill and I say she is way tougher than nails, even tougher than a hammer that pounds nails. What is there, then? An ax! She's tough as an ax. She did not cry, only whimpered twice. She whimpered again in her sleep when I painted on the liquid bandage, which I suppose stings a bit.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

statistics!


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Originally uploaded by billstron
Here is Molly looking at my Statistics for Social Workers book! She went right to the shelf, pulled it off, sat on the floor, and started flipping through it.

Tonight at dinner Molly was so eager for her "bah" (bath) that she started pulling off her shirt and socks at the table, saying "bah! bah! bah! bah!" When she was finally in her favorite state (i.e., sans any clothes or diaper) she ran into the bathroom yelling "bah! bah! bah! bah!"

We have decided to start the potty training process. This weekend we bought a toddler toilet at Target (for some reason a used one from Craigslist just wasn't appealing to us), and we have begun letting her explore it with her clothes and diaper on, per Dr. Spock's instructions. She seems to be quite fond of her new piece of furniture. So far, her favorite position has been to pull the lid up and put both feet in the bucket part and try to stand up, thinking herself quite hilarious. Yesterday her chubby legs got wedged in there, which she also thought was hilarious.

Monday, January 18, 2010

curry


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Originally uploaded by billstron
Today and yesterday we have had pretty rainy weather so some nice comforting, warm Indian food sounded good. Molly and I picked Bill up from campus and went to House of Curries for lunch. Here are Bill and Molly outside the restaurant, which looks very Indian indeed, doesn't it? With that white front porch reminiscent of pre-Civil War Georgia? Anyway, the food was really good. Molly ate some naan and chicken tikka masala, and she drank almost my whole mango lassi.

Friday, January 15, 2010

new words, growth, etc.

Holy cow! It's been August since I posted. Needless to say, Molly has been keeping me extremely busy. We just got back from Louisville on Saturday. Molly was there since the Monday before Thanksgiving. Bill and I went at that time, too, but I came back to CA for three days, to teach my last class of the semester, and Bill needed to come back to work. We left her in Louisville with all the grandparents and Aunt Kelly for three days. It was hard, but we figured overall it would be easier than having her fly back across the country twice and adjust to the time change so much. It went pretty smoothly, but Molly was a bit confused about the whole thing. She was extremely clingy to me when I returned.That lasted about three weeks before she got back to her old self. It coincided with the time Bill returned to Louisville, three weeks after I returned.

It was a great, long visit, and we got to see lots of family and friends. Molly got completely spoiled, of course. While she was there, her vocabulary increased tremendously. Here are a sampling of her new words. If I left any out, please feel free to remind me.
"booda," which evolved to "maNANa" and eventually to "baNANa" = banana
"I luh luh" = I love you (just about the sweetest thing I've ever heard, by the way)
"ma-MA" = momma, of course
"pa-PA" = poppa, of course
"orsch" = orange
"muh" = milk or more
"appa" = apple
"puh" = pear
"uh" = up, as in pick me up
"duh" = down, as in get me down
"cat" = cat
"potato" = potato
"ebbo" = elbow

She also learned some new dance moves and how to play the harmonica, a gift from Bill for Christmas.

Molly's growth is fantastic. We went to the pediatrician when we got back from Louisville, and she is now a whopping 2'9" (or 33") and weighs 27 pounds, 10 ounces. She is in about the 75th percentile for height and weight, but her head, measuring in at 50 cm, is in about the 98th percentile. The pediatrician said she's not worried because maybe big heads run in our family???? I don't know. Bill CLAIMS his head is normal size. Maybe I have a big head. I don't know. Regardless, she is not concerned about the bulge atop Molly's shoulders.

In other big news, come June (fingers crossed on that one) Molly is going to be a big sister! As of today, I am 19 weeks pregnant. We go for our ultrasound in three weeks, and we will hopefully find out the sex of the baby. Bill thinks he is destined to have only girls. I have been pretty sure this whole pregnancy I am carrying a boy this time, but in the last few weeks I am not sure. Hopefully the mystery will be solved in a few weeks. Only one heartbeat has been detected so all the "joking" we have been hearing from our moms can be put to rest. Whew--that would be REALLY hard. I'm a little anxious about how I will juggle two of them, but I'm sure it will be fine. Also, Molly and I have been essentially attached at the hip for the last year and a half so it will be hard for both of us to create more space for another little person. I know that parents always say that your heart somehow creates room for more love. I feel already as though my heart is about to burst with love. I'm getting a little too sentimental now.

We have a bunch of pictures on Bill's flickr page (http://www.flickr.com/photos/billstron/) so you can see how big Molly is getting (2'9", remember).