Baby Techie

Not to be confused with Baby TREKKIE because Madeline does not watch Star Trek.  Eric, on the other hand.....does.

I marvel at the amount of information Madeline will have at her fingertips growing up.

Here she is, just one year old, and she's already figuring out how to use ye ole Ipad.

 She loves to look at pictures of us on it.  She points and giggles at our faces.

Eric was showing her how to scroll through the photographs, and she just about has it.  Turning the Ipad on and off is a well-mastered skill, which she continuously practices...especially when her Mumma is trying to read something on it.

From time to time we play games with Madeline on the Ipad.  There are a bazillion apps geared toward toddlers.  She hasn't really been interested in the games in the past, but tonight she became pretty mesmerized with a memory game.  The cartoon animals would jump or make noise when she touched them.

We also use it to watch old Sesame Street episodes with her.  She loves it because, obviously, it's Sesame Street, people!  And we love it because we get a kick out of watching clips we haven't seen since we were only little tykes ourselves.

It's OK, Katie Perry, we don't mind that
you got kicked off Sesame Street.

Remember, "Here, fishy, fishy, FISHY!" ?  Remember "Squeal of Fortune"?  Remember those Yupper guys who were amazed by the radio?  It's all there on YouTube.  Faaaaan-tastic!

A world without the Internet?!?  How would
I have a blog???  Also, my hair looks dumb, Mumma!

Sometimes I amaze my students by announcing that when I grew up, YouTube did not exist.  Gasp!  Then I really blow their minds when I remind them that the Internet in general wasn't around when I grew up either.  Cellphones too.  "How did you live?!"  they shriek aghast.

"I don't know, children.  I don't know.  It was a dark era in history."

(Actually, I'm making that up.  Usually they just roll their eyes at me and think, "What-ever old lady, when can we watch a movie?")

It makes me wonder if someday Madeline will be telling younger generations that when she was a kid, all they had to play with were Ipads.  Gasp!  How did you live?!

P.S.  Here's one our favorite videos to watch with Madeline because it's silly, and it gets stuck in our heads for days on end.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

Back to Us

Eric and I left Madeline alone overnight for the first time on Saturday.
(And when I say alone, I mean my parents were with her...she wasn't chillin' at the house by herself Macaulay Culkin style.)

This was a big deal for us for several reasons.

First, OMG, I left my baby for an entire night!!!

She did great, obviously...she always does.  I think she enjoyed all the extra attention, cuddling, and snacks she gets with Grammy and Bob.  She even went to bed easily and slept straight through the night.
You go get em', Maddie Bear! (Thanks, Mom and Bob!)

Secondly, Eric and I attended the wedding of an old friend of mine from college.  They are the kind of couple that makes me believe that some people truly are a perfect match.  I felt really honored to be there.

It was like a mini college reunion.  A lot of old, familiar faces were there.  At one point in my life, I spent nearly every waking minute with these people.  We worked at our college newspaper together, we had all our classes together, we hung out after class and over the weekends.

But, as life tends to go, I've grown apart from them over the years.  I don't see them very often anymore.  Facebook's a really great invention, but in some ways it makes it almost easier to fall out of touch.  I don't need to talk to people all the time anymore to keep tabs on what they're doing, yeah know?

Therefore, it was extra fun seeing old friends.  It made me kind of nostalgic, but mostly happy that, in spite of the fact that my life has changed in so many ways since college, I still really like these people and enjoy their company.

Thirdly, and most importantly, I think it made Eric and I realize that we need to get. out. more. man!!!  As far as our social life goes these days, we're covered in lame sauce with a side of stale potatoes.

Even before Madeline was born, we were becoming homebodies.  I got lazy.  It just felt so much nicer to curl up in my sweats and order take-out with my honey on a Friday night than to get dressed and do something.

Now that Madeline's in our lives, it's getting harder and harder to be us instead of being just parents.

At the wedding, I danced, I drank till I was silly, I had a complete uninterrupted meal.  It's been a long time since we've lived that life.

So, hopefully from here on out, Eric and I can remember to get out more...with or without the baby.

Although, I must say, both of us were feeling the twinges of guilt this morning when we dropped her off for school for not spending as much time with her over the weekend as we usually do.

We do miss our Madeline when she's not around.

Check it Out!

Jordan Marie over at Holding on to the Little Things featured my blog on her Saturday Spotlights.

Swing by and check it out!

Thanks, Jordan!

Lazy Sunday

Eric and I had a pretty eventful weekend...which is really, really, really, really?  REALLY rare for us.  More on this later...but needless to say, we were all tuckered out today.

We spent the afternoon on the couch watching football, cuddling baby, eating pizza, and correcting papers.  A perfect lazy Sunday.

 Madeline spent a good half an hour trying to figure out how to get into the pizza box....

All that hard work for nothing....we had already eaten every last mother-loving slice.  Bwahahahah.

Also?  Madeline bit me today.  Right on the cheek.  Hard.  I could tell she felt really guilty afterwards though.  She even pouted out her bottom lip to show how sad she was.  I think it's the first time she's ever realized that she's done something wrong.  Sigh.  Bad karma from all the baby swinging I was threatening earlier this week.

I spent the rest of the afternoon saying to myself, "Maddie bit me" in a phony British accent and giggling to myself because I am the female version of Michael Scott.

Also?  There's this old gem.

Saturday Night Live - Chronicles of Narnia (Lazy Sunday) - Video - http://www.nbc.com

The Chronic-what?!-cles of Narnia!

When Babies Bite

I picked Madeline up from daycare today to find that another baby had bitten her on the arm.  Poor Maddie Bear still has the red teeth marks and bruise to prove it!  Sad

When her teacher showed me the incident report, my first instinct as a Mumma Bear was to track down that razor-toothed baby and start whipping it around by its ankles while screeching, "We do NOT bite other people!! Biting is not for babies!!! ARRRRRGGGGGH!"

But I didn't for three main reasons:

One: They (wisely) do not disclose the name of the offender, so I didn't know which ankle biter was the culprit.  Two: I vaguely remember them telling us something at my Birthin' Babies class about how you should not whip a child around by his feet until the child is at least five.  And Three:  What are you going to do?  Life happens, and sometimes babies bite.

I'm sure this will not be the last time Madeline is bitten, pushed, or whacked by another toddler at school.  And as much as I want to seek revenge, I don't want to build up a bad reputation of swinging babies by their ankles.

In a few years, Madeline will be teased, or someone won't want to play with her at recess, or she won't get invited to a birthday party of a classmate.  A few years after that, she'll have to deal with the drama pre-teen girls can bring on.  Someday she'll have her heart broken.  

I wish I could put Madeline in a big, protective plastic bubble to help her avoid getting hurt, but sadly, that would probably only subject her to more biting(through the plastic of course), teasing, and heartbreak.

Hopefully, along the way I can teach Madeline to handle all the minefields of childhood well.  To stick up for herself. "You biting me, kid?!  What are you, some kind of psychopath?"

I'll keep telling her that she's the most wonderful and amazing person on the planet, and hopefully along the way she'll start to believe it.  (I also hope that next time she's not the one doing the biting.)

As for today, all I can do is kiss her boo-boo better and hope that the other baby learns that biting is not for babies.

I did it all for the bubba! Yea! The bubba!

It seems like just yesterday we were trying to get Madeline on the bottle, and yet, here we are taking it away.

So you can take that tubba...(imagine that sung to the tune of Nookie.  Sorry, I'm a nerd.)

Since Madeline is the big O-N-E, Numero Uno, now, we've quit the bottle cold turkey, and have switched to exclusive sippy-cup usage.  

And when I say cold turkey, I mean we've cut out every bottle...except for the bedtime bottle.

I thought she'd miss her daytime feedings, but she doesn't seem to mind one bit.  She happily drinks milk from her cup along with her breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  She's plied with plenty of water, and one cup of juice a day as well.  

As for the nighttime bottle?

Well, I haven't tried taking that one away just yet.  You see, I'm a total bedtime-bottle enabler.

I know "they" say you're not supposed to give your baby a bottle at bedtime because it aides in tooth decay, they don't learn to self-soothe, yadda-yadda-yadda...

Oops.

I really like giving Madeline her bedtime bottle.  It's part of our routine.  She gets all comfy and cozy and groggy in my arms, and it reminds me of all the other nights we spent that way when she was still a newborn.

She doesn't always fall asleep while drinking her bottle, but I'd say about half of the time, she does.  I don't wake her up when this happens like "they" say you're supposed to.  Maybe I'm just lazy.  I certainly don't like the idea of trying to get her to sleep all over again once she's in her crib.  But, if she's happy and I'm happy...I don't feel it's necessary to rock the apple cart.

Who knows?  Maybe if I stopped giving her a bedtime bottle tomorrow, she wouldn't even notice.  Or maybe she'd throw a great big fuss and not sleep a wink until the sun comes up.  I guess I'll have to try it out eventually.  (Giving a thirteen-year old a bedtime bubba is just plain weird.)

I'm just not quite ready to let this one go yet...

Happier, Bubba-filled times

Apples and Ba-NO-NOs

Madeline learned how to nod her head in agreement a long time ago.  She would nod in response to everything you said as long as you made it sound like you were asking a question.  

Do you want to wear this shirt today?
*Nod* *Nod*
Do you love Mumma best?
 *Nod* *Nod*
Is dinner yummy?
*Nod* *Nod*
Did you dream about unicorns last night?
*Nod**Nod*

It was grrrreat!

But now... epic sigh...now...all that has changed.

Madeline has learned to say "No-no."

It's not really a surprise.  She hears the words "No-no" about a bazillion times a day.

You see, pre-toddler-ish babies are hell bent on seriously injuring themselves about 13 hours a day.  The rest of the day is spent sleeping....and even then it's iffy.  (I just had to go check on Madeline after it sounded like a heard of elephants had stampeded through her crib.  Just her kicking it.)

So when Madeline decides it's a good idea to try crawling up the stairs when we're not with her, or she finds Mumma's phone charger and starts to use it as a necklace, or she dives head first off the couch...she hears "No-no."

Her giving us the "No-nos" has been coming on slowly.  I noticed it a few days ago when I told her "No-no, Madeline, stay away from the lamp!  Lamps are not for babies!"  She began to repeat"Nah, nah, nah, nah," as she persistently tried to get to that lamp come hell or high water.  (She has not learned to obey No-no yet, p.s.)

But last night "Nah-nah-nah" solidified to a crisp, concise "No-no" as I tried in vain to brush her teeth before bed.

And that's. all. I've. been. hearing. ever. since.

She said it after school today when I once again had to chase her away from my cellphone charger.  She said it when we put her in her car seat to do some errands.  She said it during dinner when she refused to eat anything but bread no matter how hard we tried to convince her that the rest of her meal was de-lis-cious!

I think the No-Nos are here to stay.  Till she's at least 18.  Sigh.

You trying to tell me No-no???? Also, isn't my hair fantastic?