Where, oh where has my ponytail holder gone?

Because Rebecca refuses to keep a bow in her hair, and because I insist that she wear a bow, I have found that a small little ponytail holder does the trick.  It's just this little clear, plastic piece of magic that keeps Rebecca's hair out of her face and an adorable bow in her hair.

She does from time to time pull the bow then ponytail holder out, but not often.  

Today was one of the days she decided to free her hair of all accessories.  

When I went to get her from her nap, her bow was no where to be found.  Then, as I was changing her diaper, she pulled out the ponytail holder.

I usually take it from her right away, but because I was changing her diaper and she was content to play with it, I let her.  It is not often that Rebecca is still for a diaper change.

I went ahead with the task at hand, but after a couple of seconds, I noticed that the ponytail holder was missing.  

I also noticed Rebecca rubbing her right nostril.

OH MY GOSH!  She stuck the ponytail holder up her nose.

I could not get it out.  I sat her up and tried to shake it out.  I told her to blow, but she has not mastered that yet.

Finally after rubbing downwards on the outside of her nose, it came into view.

I was able to use tweezers and get it out.

Please tell me that she is not going to be the kid to stick everything up her nose. 

Please tell me that she will not be the first grader that has to go to the hospital to have a crayon removed from her nostril.  (Yep, I still remember Barry Beard and the crayon incident.)

Please tell me this is the last time I have to blog about foreign objects up my daughter's nose.

Not Me Monday

One of my favorite blogs, My Charming Kids, is written my a mom named MckMama.  She came up with No Me Mondays.  It is a way for one to confess their "sins"  and free up any guilt one might have from doing such things.  

It is very funny to read and lots of other bloggers have caught on.  I have never participated, but I love to read others confessions (Especially yours Hailey!).

Well since I decided to make this blog all about Rebecca and not me, I decided to do a Rebecca's Not Me Monday.

Rebecca did not eat an entire bowl of turkey and rice stew, a piece of string cheese, a whole clementine, two handfuls of raisins, and yogurt in one sitting.  

Rebecca did not throw a temper tantrum in the middle of the street the other day because I would not let her go in a neighbors yard and play with their blow up Santa, Frosty, Mickey Mouse, Tigger, and others.  You should see this yard, very festive.

Rebecca did not/does not tee tee in the bathtub every time I put her in before she sits down and she does not say tee tee as she is doing so.  (I asked the doctor about this, and he said tee tee is fine in the tub, its the poop you got to worry about.)

Rebecca did not pull out all of my tampons, pads, etc.. out of my bathroom drawer and then pretend a panty liner was a telephone.  

Rebecca did not pitch a fit in Wal-Mart when I did not let her pull all the candy off the shelf in the check out line.  

Rebecca did not unroll an entire roll of toilet paper.

Rebecca is not the cutest, funnest baby in the world.

Who am I kidding, she really is!

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Thank you for all the advice on our sleep issues.  We tried them all, but the winning advice goes to Michelle.  I don't know if it is a fluke or what, but putting Rebecca down earlier than normal has worked.  She slept to 6:00 yesterday and 6:37 today.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  I feel like a new mommy!

Toyland

Before I tell you about the Toyland that was once our home,  I want to make a list of a few things that I want to remember about Rebecca and this stage in her development.

1.  She loves to put her mouth/tongue on my nose.  I try to discourage this behavior, but she can be very persistent.

2.  Sometimes out of nowhere she calls out "Da, Da, DA, DA!"  Sometimes this is accompanied by her searching the house for her Daddy.  She normally refers to John as Daddy, so I am not sure where "Da"  comes from.

3.  She tries to push back her bed time by not drinking her milk.  She will bite on the edge of the milk cup, pretending to be drinking.  As soon as I catch on and say, "okay, bedtime"  she will say, "milk, milk, milk".   But you give her the milk back, and she continues to pretend to drink it.  The only way to get her to drink her milk is too put her in her bed and walk out of the room for a minute or two.  As soon as I go back in, she slurps the milk down.

4.  When she does drink her milk at night and in the morning, she likes to sit in my lap and rub my face.  She holds the sippy cup with one hand and rubs my check with the other.

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I thought that once we took down the Christmas tree and put away the decorations, our house would seem a little less cluttered.  I was wrong.  There are toys everywhere.  They have taken over the house.  

But Rebecca is having so much fun playing with all her Christmas loot.

playing with her dolls

playing with Elmo and her xylophone in the kitchen

playing with her Little People "village" in the den

playing in the playroom

Merry Christmas

It is always hard when you are away from your mom and dad for the holidays.  There is nothing like spending Christmas in Cleveland, being with my parents and sisters.  

Lucky for me though, I have wonderful in-laws.  Spending Christmas with them makes being away from "home" a lot easier.  Rusty and Alice have always treated me like I was one of their 

own, and I adore how much they LOVE Rebecca.

We had a wonderful Christmas with the Kimballs.  John, Rebecca, and I spent the night at Rusty and Alice's house along with Amy, John's sister, her husband, Sid, and their two girls, Lucy and Caroline.  It was one big sleepover.  

Rebecca loves being at her Mimi and Papa's house, especially when her cousins are there, too.  

 

We all went to bed early, or at least tried to go to sleep early.  I think I had more trouble sleeping than any of the children.  I was so excited about Santa coming.  I could not wait to see what he would bring Rebecca and to see what her reaction would be.   I could not fall asleep, and when I finally did, I kept waking up to look at the clock.  

Fortunately,  Rebecca woke up at 5:30 (surprise, surprise).  Santa was very good to her.  She got everything she never knew she wanted.  Her favorite was the Cozy Coupe.  She loves the one at the park, so Santa must have know how much she would like her own.  He is so smart!

The girl loves to vacuum.

 

She wasn't too sure of her Elmo she got.  He talks a lot.    She really did not know what was going on, but she liked it.  She also wanted to see what the big girls got.  She was into everything .

 

Strolling with her baby, right before throwing her down on the concrete.

Cuddling up with her Aunt Amy

It was a wonderful Christmas, in spite of missing my family.  I hope they all had a wonderful holiday.  We sure did.  

Help Wanted

I need your help. I need your advice. I am about to go delirious from lack of sleep.

We finally got Rebecca to go down at night and for naps without having to rock her to sleep. It has been great! Just a story, a snuggle, a song, a big hug and she goes to bed. It's so easy! I LOVE it!

What's the problem then you ask? She is waking up on average at 5:30 am every morning. Today is was 4:45. I tried going in there, giving her a hug, and laying her back down. It did not work.

It was so cold out. Rebecca was in her flannel pjs with her blanket on top. I know she wasn't cold. She had water to drink, so I know she wasn't thirsty. She just wanted to get up.

I was cold, and I wanted to be in bed. So I went back to bed and put a pillow over my head. I could still hear her crying out for me. MOMMY! I ignored it until 5:30. Then I could not take it anymore.

Once we got up, you could tell she was still tired just by looking at her. She sat on the couch and did not move until her Daddy had fixed breakfast. After breakfast she did not want to play. She just sat on her rocking horse and rocked.

She was back asleep by 7:30 (I was too!).

If only she would sleep to 6:00, it would be better. 6:30 would be great! 7:00 or anything later, I would be in hog heaven!

Please give me ideas on what I can do to help her sleep late, so I can sleep!

It is great that she still naps twice a day, but I do not need to nap twice a day. I use those nap times to get things done.

You should see my laundry pile! It is out of control.

And I do not need to go to bed as soon as Rebecca has gone down for the night. I need to spend that time with my husband.

Please help!

Santa Baby

I wish I could report that Rebecca loved our trip to see Santa. She absolutely fell madly in love with him. She ran right to Santa, jumped on his lap, smiled for a picture and told him everything that she wanted for Christmas.

However, that would not be the truth.

She was excited about meeting the big man. I would ask her, "Do you want to see Santa?" Rebecca would reply, "I do!"

She was very antsy as we waited in line, and when she was next to go sit in Santa's lap, I had to hold her back.

Rebecca did walk up to Santa by herself, but as soon as I put her in his lap, it was all over. She did not like it. The photographer was able to get a picture, but it will show Santa smiling and Rebecca red faced and wailing. I can't wait to see it.

I finally walked over to Santa and Rebecca and sat down, but the crying did not stop. Santa tried to give Rebecca a candy cane, but Rebecca gave her usual "NO!"

I apologized to Santa and took my screaming baby. I handed her off to her Daddy so I could order the picture. She continued to cry for a good 10 minutes. John thinks we scarred her for life.

John was in charge of taking pictures when Rebecca was on Santa's lap. They turned out a little blurry. He has no idea why.

Waiting to see Santa

Chick-fil-A makes everything better.

Playing with her new Manger Scene. We are trying to keep Jesus the reason for the season. Rebecca says Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus!

Perfect minus the sleeping

Yesterday we had Rebecca's 15 month check-up with the doctor. We saw Rosalyn, Dr. Knox's nurse practitioner. She was very impress with Rebecca and actually said she was perfect. Duh! I could have told her that. She could not believe Rebecca's walking/running and her vocabulary. She said she was talking above a 18 month old level. I always knew she was a talker. She weighs 21.5 pounds and is 31.25 inches tall. That puts her in the 25% for weight and 75% for height.

While Rebecca might be perfect health wise, her night time sleeping is less than stellar. After a few nights of crying it out, we finally got her to go to sleep on her own without being rocked to sleep. Now we need to work on the not waking up in the middle of the night.

When we were in Mississippi for Thanksgiving, we got in the habit of putting her in bed with us when she would wake in the night. This has now become a habit for Rebecca. While snuggling with Rebecca in bed is super sweet, it makes for a super tired Mommy in the morning.

Rebecca is a kicker. I have no idea where she got this from! (I know my Mammaw is up in heaven laughing at me. She use to say I was the worse bed kicker on the planet. Karma!) So when Rebecca is snuggled next to me, she is constantly kicking. Rebecca gets all the sleep, I get none.

Rosalyn said we have to put a stop to it. So now, when Rebecca wakes up in the middle of the night and calls out "Momma, Momma, Mommy, Mommy, MOMMY" I am to go to her, lay her back down, and walk out without talking.

I was dreading this last night. I was prepared for her to cry and cry and cry for hours. But I knew I had to be strong.

So last night when she woke up and called out for me, I went in her room, hugged her without picking her up, laid her down, and never said a word. To my amazement, she just rolled over, grabbed Bubba, and stuck her bum in the air. That was it. Not a peep until 5:50.

On my agenda next, to get Rebecca to sleep past 6:00.

Blah, blah, blah!

Rebecca is talking more and more these days, which really amazes me. She understands so much of what we say to her and is talking back to us. Her favorite word continues to be no, but she has added a few more to her vocabulary. She does know how to say yes, but does not use it very much. Instead she says, "I do!" For example:

Me: Rebecca do you want some grapes?

Rebecca: No!

M: Do you want some raisins?

R: No!

M: Do you want some yogurt?

R: I do!

It is very, very cute!

She also talks a lot about her good friends Joshua and Ari, or as Rebecca says, Joshie and Ara. She will say, "Blah blah blah blah Joshie Ara blah blah blah!"

I would love to have a translator.

She still will not say Rebecca, but Joshua calls her Rebubba. I hope that nickname does not stick.

She also says bubbles, watch (This is accompanied by handing us the TV remote control.), eat, go, bless you (after someone sneezes), mercy, and gees. I do not know where she got mercy from, but I say gees a lot in the car when talking to the people who do not know how to drive. I could say worse, but then she would repeat it. That would not be good.

When I Grow Up

I think that if you asked Rebecca what she wanted to be when she grows up, she would say a maid. She has turned into a cleaner. I have already told you about her love of the vacuum cleaner. Now she loves to sweep. I get the big broom, and she gets a small feather duster and uses it as a broom. She is always picking things up off the floor and bringing them to me. She loves to get a damp paper towel and scrub the counters, the table, the cabinets, the floor. You name it, it needs a good scrub.

If only I could get her to do the bathrooms.

We put our Christmas tree up on Sunday. I was sure that Rebecca was going to try and climb it, being that she is part monkey. She hasn't done that yet, but she loves taking off the ornaments and bringing them to me. Then she wants them back so she can put them back on.

I tried to put all the fragile ornaments at the top of the tree, but a few were in her reach, and are now in the trash can in a million pieces.

Oh well.

Laid out after a hard day at Mother's Morning Out and playgroup.

More! More! More!

Rebecca know a few signs of sign language. We taught her eat, all done, and more. Now, she is able to sign all done and more while saying the words.

She is also very good at filling in the blanks. For example,

Old McDonald had a farm, e-i-e-i-o.

A cow says moo. A sheep says baa. Three singing pigs say la, la, la!

Lenny, Tuck, and Ming Ming too, we're Wonder Pets and we'll help you!

The itsy, bitsy spider crawled up the water spout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out.

Now I only wish she would fill in the blank after More _____!

More what? Last night at 2:30 she said MORE, MORE, MORE, MORE.......!

I never figured out what she wanted more of.

We had a great trip to Cleveland for Thanksgiving. All I can say is "Thank God for portable DVD players!" It was a life saver in the car and on the plane ride back.

Rebecca loved playing with her cousins, John, Carrie, and Mae. She loved being with her Nannie and Pop Pop. She loved Kato the cat. The loved going to the hunting camp. The loved seeing the ducks. She hated sleeping in the crib. She loved sleeping in the bed with Mommy and Daddy.

On the floor meowing at Kato. She would get in his face and say " Maow, maow, maow! Oh, Kato!"

Taking a bath with the girls.

Daddy holding Rebecca back. She really wanted to get the ducks. She would run after them and say, "Oh ducks! Oh ducks!"

John, the super star basketball player. I got to go and watch him play. He was awesome. He scored at least half of his teams points. The final score was 23-10. The Bulldogs beat the Rebels in this Egg Bowl.

A few of my favorite things...

I love to swing.

I love to drive cars.

I love my cousins.

I love baths.

I love buttons, especially buttons on keyboards.

I love to talk on the phone.

I love tea parties.

I love to hide under the bed.

I love to feed myself.


I love to play in the pantry.

Geaux Tigers and Flowers

Last weekend we went to Baton Rouge to stay with my good friend, Neila, her husband, Calvert, and their two adorable children, Camille and Andrew. We got to go trick-or-treating with them, and John and I were able to go the the LSU/Tulane game with Neila and Calvert. We had a wonderful time.

Rebecca's first house to visit for Trick-or Treating. She was a pro, and not scared at all. She walked right in that house and took her candy. Doesn't she look adorable in her flower costume that Nannie made for her?

Rebecca and Andrew fighting over what bag is theirs. Notice Rebecca's mean look.

Rebecca's first bath with a boy!

Neila and I trying to relive our Glory Days. We even traipsed back into the KD House like we never left.

Ready for the football game. (Notice Rebecca's other adorable outfit that Nannie made for her.)

Visiting Mike VI. Rebecca loved him, and she can even growl like a Tiger!

Oops, Oops!

I am still trying to catch up on the things that have been going on in Rebecca's world. Scroll down a few entries to read about our trip to the pumpkin patch and the farm.

Amen

Every night when I give Rebecca to bed, as she is taking her bottle, I say a the prayer "Now I lay me down to sleep ...".

I am hoping that if I say it enough, she will memorize the prayer and learn to say it or any prayer herself.

She usually just watches me as I pray and continues to drink her bottle.

Tonight, I finished off the prayer with the usually "amen."

Then Rebecca pulled her bottle out of her mouth and responded with an "amen."

How sweet is that?

What an angel!

Pumpkin Patch

Rebecca and I took a trip today to the Berry Pumpkin Patch in Woodstock, Georgia with Joshua, Ari, and their moms. It was super cold, and since it was so close to Halloween, there were not many pumpkins.

But Rebecca had fun being outside and being with her friends.

The tractor pulling the hay ride cranked up just as I was taking this picture. It gave Rebecca a big scare.

Using what her Pop Pop taught her, and driving a tractor.

Rebecca and Joshua

Rebecca and a scarecrow