Freedom

Several new and exciting developments here in Casa B.

I finally decided to stop being lazy about baby-proofing by simply gating Isa off to just living room. I did some major cleaning and organizing in the kitchen. I was able to put anything that should stay out of Isa's reach either up high or in baskets where she couldn't reach them. When she woke up from her nap on Saturday, she had the great joy of no baby gate between the living room and the kitchen! She's done a great job of not opening cabinets and drawers. The best part is that I can now cook without her freaking out because she can come and go as she pleases. Hopefully this will also mean healthier food in our house instead of the uber-quick stuff we've been eating. (The lovely, organized kitchen definitely makes me want to cook!)

The next goal will be removing the large play yard "fence" that blocks the living room shelves and a glass front cabinet that Isa used to love to bang on. Very good motivation to get that area cleaned up and organized just like the kitchen. I'm pretty confident that we'll be down to a single baby gate (to block off the hallway to the bathroom where the litter box is) in the very near future.

In other news about freedom, tomorrow is our last post-placement visit with our social worker. I imagine Ann will be very surprised to see her now, since she was last here in July when Isa was just starting to pull to standing. So much has changed in the last 6 months!

And finally, in what I hope will lead to more freedom for me..... I finally let Isa cry it out this evening. She usually goes down in the evening without a fuss. Tonight was no different but about 1/2 an hour after going to sleep, she woke up crying. When she does that in the middle of the night, I'm rarely ever able to get her back to sleep in her crib. She'll fall asleep easily in my arms, but as soon as I try to put her down, her eyes pop open and she starts wailing. I usually just put her in bed with me because she will (almost always) fall right back to sleep. Well, that wasn't really an option at 7:45 tonight.... I knew she was exhausted and after I got her to sleep in my arms without too much trouble, I put her in the crib. Not surprisingly she woke up, started crying, and put her arms up to be picked up. I simply said "It's night-night time", covered her with her blankets as best I could and walked out. She cried steadily for about 5-10 minutes and then off and on, with increasingly longer pauses and shorter crying jags, for another 30 minutes or so. It was tough. Obviously, I have very little stamina when it comes to listening to Isa cry. :) Fingers crossed that this will finally lead to full-on sleeping through the night.

Jabber Jabber

As February and our 1 year family anniversary nears, I've been reviewing the old pictures and videos from when she first came home. I thought I should do some "Isa through the last year" posts. By now you should all know that Isa is incredibly vocal and has been from the time she came home. So I thought I'd start there.

Exhibit A: 6 months- Definitely a morning person

Exhibit B: 7 months- Talking to imaginary friends on the ceiling phase

Exhibit C: 8 months- Politician or preacher (you decide)

Exhibit D: 15 months- Dub-a-dub

Exhibit E: 16 months- Mamamamamamamama

And finally, just this morning Isa started putting words together. She has a pretty good vocabulary but it was all single words until now. On the way out the door this morning she said "bye bye kitty" instead of just "bye bye".

In the not so distant future all this jabbering is going to be intelligible. Isa certainly has an opinion on everything and I can't wait to actually know what she's been ranting about all this time!

To train or not to train...

Warning- topic ahead that most likely will be of interest only to other parents of toddlers. A preemptive apology to the rest of you.....

A few weeks ago Isa started telling me when she'd had a poo. Granted, she has some pretty obvious signs when she's doing her business so I usually already knew that she'd done it. Still, it was cute to watch her walk over the baby gate that goes to the hallway with her bedroom (and thus changing table) and tell me "poo poo" indicating she wanted her diaper changed. Well, last week she started telling me BEFORE she had the poo. This is certainly not happening 100% of the time but it makes me wonder if it means we're ready to at least experiment with potty training. If nothing else, I could try putting her on the toilet when she gives me the warning and maybe avoid changing a few poopy diapers. That's not a bad thing, right?

But, in reading through my various baby books, this sort of half training is never mentioned. The books deal primarily with what to do when children are ready for the whole deal which I knew we aren't at this point. Isa definitely can't undress herself, isn't waking up from naps dry, or for that matter, giving me any sort of indication that she even notices that she pees. This will really be as much Mama-training as anything else.

So, fellow mamas (and others), what do you think? Get her a potty and give it a try? Just wait until she's actually ready for full-on potty training? Is it worth the hassle? Would it even work?

And just to make up for this whole topic, here's a video of Isa being her usual wacky self:

Christmas in photos

Final snow accumulation- unheard of here in moderate Seattle....

Ready to decorate the gingerbread house

How she actually "helped" with the house

Ooh- snow AND Auntie Mollie. What's not to love?!?

See, even when you tip over, sledding is fun.

Our Ethiopian feast for Isa Day.

Think she likes cupcakes a little?

Hanging her stocking (and totally ready for bed!).

Christmas morning- Auntie Mollie aka Rudolph.

Her new rocking giraffe, George.

A large bag on the floor- WAAAAYYY more fun than any of those silly presents

Back off- this is MY bag!!!!

And finally, this is the best video I was able to shoot of her saying "Ho Ho Ho." She walked around saying it constantly and would clam up as soon as I pulled out the camera. We were in Lowes yesterday and the man in line behind us was large, with a big full beard. Isa waved and said "Ho Ho Ho" until she got his attention. Happily, he played along and Isa was thrilled.

Christmas (the short version)

I haven't loaded my pics from the last couple weeks yet, so this will be the quick synopsis, with photos to follow...

Thanks to Uncle Taylor, Isa and I made it down to Olympia the Monday before Christmas. The roads in my neighborhood were pretty dicey and I doubt my car would have done it (if I'd been able to get it up the hill, that is).

Christmas was wonderful! Isa fell madly in love with Santa. Every time she'd see Santa on an ornament, card, etc, she'd yell "Nanta" and start waving. She even learned to say "Ho Ho Ho" which is incredibly amusing. Other favorites of the season were Rudolph ("Ru-rolf") and snowmen ("Noma"). She and Auntie Mollie had a blast playing in the snow. Being pulled around in the sled is thrilling, even when you topple over.

Apparently Isa was a very good girl this year because she made out like a bandit. My parents got her an adorable red kitchen and the play food to go with it. I got her a shopping cart and the dishes for her new kitchen. Auntie Mollie and Uncle Taylor got her George, a rocking giraffe. The family we do a childcare swap with got her a baby doll and stroller.

I was surprised at just how "well" Isa actually plays with the kitchen. I knew she'd like it because she loves playing with the kitchen at a friend's house but I thought she'd just have fun opening doors and shutting them. Instead, she put pots on the stove and stirred them. She would pretend to eat with one of the little forks and even pretend to chew! She also loved to feed both her doll and George. She learned to say "Wawa" during the Christmas break and would go up to the kitchen's faucet, fill her glass, and then drink it. I guess I really need to be careful what I do and say because I have an incredible little mimic on my hands!

My dad and I came back up to Seattle on Saturday and were able to move my car (finally). However, when I walked into the house, it was a whopping 45 degrees. I couldn't get the furnace to kick on and since the planned oil delivery had been missed due to the snow, I thought I was out of oil. They made the delivery on Monday but when we all came up on Tuesday, the house was still frigid and the furnace a no-go. So, back to Olympia we went. Dad came up early on Wednesday to meet the repairman and we eventually had heat.

Now we're home and I'm doing my best to reorganize after the holidays. It used to be tough to get the few new things I got for Christmas into my overstuffed house but now I need to contend with rocking giraffes and kitchen sets! Any excellent excuse to do some long overdue sorting and culling. We'll see how that goes.....

Hopefully photos will be up tomorrow. I'll try to load them tonight.

Snow, part II

Well, our piddly little snow from last week melted off on Wednesday. A new storm was supposed to come through that afternoon but we didn't see a flake the entire day. I woke up on Thursday to about 3 inches of new snow and it was still snowing. It kept snowing.... and snowing.... and snowing... and finally stopped in the evening, leaving us with at least 8 inches!

Isa looking outside at all the new white stuff

Out front in the morning

The patio table by afternoon....

I put out our snow attire for yet another round of fun. But Isa took a 4 1/2 hour nap (!!!) and by the time she woke up, it was almost dark. So, we just spent the day cozied up inside.

On Friday we decided not to head down to Olympia as planned (weekend fun with Zoo Lights and the Nutcracker wasn't going to happen!). However, I heard from my manager in Everett that roads up there were in pretty good shape and the freeways seemed okay as well. I thought it might be my best chance to get up there to pick up work materials since it could only be done on a weekday and another big storm is scheduled to come in tonight with as much at 10 more inches of snow (yikes).

My wonderful neighbors stayed with Isa so I wouldn't have to take her in the car. Getting out to the freeway was a treat. I don't think I made it above 15 mph the entire way. The freeway was pretty much bare and dry, but just crawling through downtown Seattle. I finally saw a sign that said "accident ahead" which accounted for the uber-slow movement. Imagine my surprise when I got to the accident scene and found it wasn't a spin-out as I expected, but this:

Seriously, it looked like something out of a movie scene, not real life. No one was hurt, thankfully but it was quite a sight to see 2 buses hanging over the freeway!

I made it to Everett and back to Seattle without any major problems (although the trip ended up taking about 3 times as long as normal). Unfortunately, I only made it halfway up the final hill to my house. I know, I know- I'm kicking myself for even trying it. I was able to slide my car back into the curb, so I'm not in the middle of the street and I'm only partially blocking someone's driveway. She said she had enough room to get out around me if necessary. But, we've gotten another 3-4 inches as of tonight with no end in sight, so I doubt she's going anywhere soon....

My sister's fiancee will be in Seattle on Monday for work- with his 4 wheel drive vehicle. So even if my car remains stuck, we'll be able to make it down to Olympia for Christmas. :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

The house is finally decorated (or at least as decorated as it's going to get this year). Isa absolutely LOVES anything shiny or sparkly, so this is definitely her season. We got the tree Thursday night and I put it up after she went to bed. Friday morning I got up and turned the lights on before going to get her out of her crib. She was thrilled to see it- actually a bit too thrilled. I had to baracade it with a large trunk because she couldn't keep her hands off of it.

In addition to new, non-breakable Christmas ornaments on the tree (I used to do all cobalt glass, silver, crystal) there are several changes this year. I changed out the usual ornaments on the mantle swag. This year it has red, green, and gold ribbon (like the Ethiopian flag) and hanging in the middle is a fabulous ornament set my mom got last year. Based on her outfit, I think the figurine is probably west African, but she has little poofs just like Isa B and the house looks a lot like a toukoul.

(darn paparazzi never leave me alone!)

Instead of putting up my grandmother's white Lennox china nativity set, I have up the one I bought at Isa's orphanage.

We also have up the Advent calendar that my mom made back when my older brother was little. Since I'm the one who is always most excited about turning over the squares (always have to guess first what it is- you'd think I'd memorized it by now, but sadly I haven't), Mom had us take it this year. I have a kit to make one for our house but, obviously, it didn't happen this year.

And finally, the addition last night that made it feel extra Christmasy...... SNOW! That's right. Here is Seattle we actually got some of the white stuff last night. At a local children's used clothing store I bought Isa the most adorable snowsuit and boots that look as though they're made to match the suit. Purple boots that have silver sparkles in the fur lining- fabulous! After her nap today we geared up. Honestly, I think it takes as much time to get her dressed as we spent outside! She adored the snow and screamed her head off when I picked her up to come inside because it was getting too cold.

This was her under-the-snowsuit-attire (minus the Robeez). Stylish, no?!?!