A Pet Peeve

I'm feeling bugged at the moment by a few comments that someone recently made to me, and I feel it is high time to share my #1 parenting-related pet peeve: People who constantly compare kids! I'm sure I have been guilty of this once or twice, but it's become one of those things that other people do and it really gets on my nerves. (And no, it's not anyone who reads this blog... So don't think that it's you!)

It all starts with the "Is Nikos doing (x, y, z) yet?" comments. The questions are usually harmless conversation starters, but they quickly lead to comparisons. For example, walking. Nikos is just now taking his first steps at 14 months. As I've mentioned before, Gus didn't walk until 15 months-- and he is certainly no dummy. But for months and months now, I have been barraged with "Is he walking yet?" only to be followed with something like, "Oh, I just thought he'd be walking by now, my kid walked at 6 months-- he's always been such a quick learner" or something crazy like that. It drives me insane! My son will walk when he's ready, and just because he is doing it later than some is not a sign that he is mentally slower than they are. Sheesh! Frankly, if you look at the world from Nikos' perspective, what incentive does he really have to walk, anyway? He is surrounded by people who love him and want to carry him everywhere. Plus, he's a very efficient little crawling machine. Why mess with a good thing, you know?

The thing that really set me off recently, though, was a comment that an acquaintance made to me. Without going into too much detail, she basically said that her daughter (same age as Nikos) was so curious and inquisitive and into breaking everything at their house-- and she implied that Nikos was sort of a wimp for not being that way. Gotta love those gender stereotypes. Nikos is definitely a curious, but gentle, kid. This is the little boy who very carefully inspected every ornament on our Christmas tree-- and only broke one (a complete accident-- he bumped it out of my hand as I was putting it back on the tree after Charlie messed it up). This same kid will very gently pet Charlie as he sleeps on the couch. I think he is a wonderfully sweet little boy, and I'm glad he's not as wild as some other kids. But to insinuate that he's a wimp, just because he's different from your own kid? Nice.

I guess it just boils down to the fact that yes, every child really is different. And there is such a huge range of "normal" for all those developmental milestones, that it doesn't even make sense to compare (or to draw conclusions from those comparisons). It is such a wasted effort, and just makes people upset/worried. I think everyone should just focus on loving and nurturing their own kids, instead of looking around at what everyone else is doing, you know?

Vent over.

First Steps!

That's right, folks... Our non-walker (up 'til now) took his first steps on Christmas Eve!! He let go of the coffee table and took about 4 steps over to where I was sitting on the floor! And then, on Christmas Day, he was on a roll, regularly taking 4-5 steps to walk between Grandma and Grandpa. And then, of course, he did it again yesterday afternoon, taking just a few steps toward Pappou's outstretched arms. Gus walked at 15 months (Nikos is 14 months), so we figured he'd be doing it pretty soon... but it looks like it may be even sooner than we thought! Full mobility, here we come! :)

All in all, Christmas was fabulous (click here to see a million pictures!)... We spent Christmas Eve and morning at our own house, then drove to my parents' house for the afternoon and evening. Christmas night, we bundled up our sleeping baby and drove to Gus' parents' house, where we spent the 26th. Nikos made out like a bandit, of course, and was the center of attention. He wasn't really into opening the presents, but he did like to examine the bows and then play with the toys. His favorite gift that we bought him was the Little People school bus, which he instantly wanted to play with (ignoring all the other presents waiting to be opened). I will never fully understand his obsession with all things Little People, but he really does love them. Silly guy!

In other news... I am now the proud owner of that crib sheet I've been going on and on about! I met the woman at Starbucks this morning, and we made the trade. She was really friendly, and we talked for a bit (she has to be right around my age, and has two little girls that are 21 months apart). Thanks you, CraigsList! I also got the crib skirt in the mail, so we're well on our way! This little girl even has clothes already, thanks to my parents and my grandma (and myself, hehe!)! I've even got her "coming-home-from-the-hospital" outfit all picked out and ordered (see picture). I'm so excited to have a baby girl!

P.S. Nikos would like to say "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, UNCLE GRANT!" hehe!

Merry Christmas!

But wait-- it gets better!

Yes, I am still focused on the crib sheet, but oh well! :) The lady wrote back to me today and told me she bought the sheet on sale for $13, but would sell it to me for $10 since she used it for a week. I still can't believe my good luck! As it turns out, she also has a few other gently used items that I might be interested in (a pink chamois changing table cover and matching Boppy pillow slipcover... they retail for $44 together). Anyway, I'm meeting her at a local coffee shop on Saturday morning. I am so excited! CraigsList actually works!

In other news... Our little Romeo is discovering the art of giving lip kisses, and it is beyond cute! Yesterday afternoon, I was lying on my side on the living room floor while Nikos played. Next thing I knew, he crawled over and planted one right on my lips! A few minutes later, he did it again! He thought it was very funny. Today, he thinks it's funny to kiss his toys, and then make me kiss them, too (his little Corduroy teddy bear has gotten lots of love). Such a little loverboy! I'm just going to enjoy this time where he doesn't find the idea of kissing his mommy to be completely repulsive (I know that'll come soon enough). I love this kid!!

Oh, and P.S.-- he's also discovered bellybuttons. Ladies and gentlemen, hang on to your shirts! Because he likes to lift them up and examine bellies, hahaha!!

The Elusive Crib Sheet

So now that the big furniture is gone from the new baby's room and I've begun the process of cleaning it out, I've started thinking a lot more about the fun part: decorating! Previously, I mentioned that we (okay, I) had chosen bedding for her room. Honestly, I have had that bedding chosen for ages-- since I found out I was pregnant with Nikos (obviously I didn't know he was a boy at the time). I really just love that bedding! And I've searched high and low, but nothing else really does it for me. I can visualize that particular bedding set in our baby girl's little yellow room-- and nothing else!

But as it turns out, it's not as easy as just ordering the bedding and being done with it. It turns out that several parts of the set have been discontinued. Actually, it's really odd. In the picture of the bedding, the dust ruffle and the sheet are actually called "Garden Party," while the quilt, bumper, and valance are called "Daisy Garden." The Daisy Garden stuff is still readily available, but the Garden Party stuff is not. How dumb is that?!? I was able to still get the dust ruffle online, but the sheet is completely sold out everywhere! I called the store, and they said that there was not a single Garden Party sheet left in any of their retail stores or outlets. Nooooo!!!

Naturally, my next course of action was to scour online auction sites and classifieds. No luck... although I did find one auction that had ended already-- and the $16 sheet had sold for $60!!!! No thanks! On a whim, I decided to post in the "items wanted" section of CraigsList. I mean, what are the odds that a) anyone will even read that, and b) that they will have the sheet I want.

I logged onto my junk email account tonight-- the one I use for mailing lists, etc.-- and I had this email waiting for me:

Hi,
I was just in craigslist and saw you wanted this crib sheet. I wanted to let you know I have 1 crib sheet. It's very gently used. I bought it with the Olivia butterfly collection and ended up using the chamois sheet. So literally I opened it, washed it, and set up the, my baby slept on it for 1 week and then I bought the chamois sheets that I love.

She goes on to mention that she lives in our town, a whopping five minutes away. Is this too good to be true????? What are the odds??? I emailed her back right away, telling her I would gladly pay her whatever she paid (retail), assuming it's the correct sheet (I did post a picture of it, so she could compare). I am beyond psyched right now. Yes, I know-- it's a SHEET, for heaven's sake. But it's THE sheet I have been hunting for! Hooray!!!!! :)

Halfway There!

Twenty weeks!?!? I feel like I just found out I was pregnant yesterday, and here I am, halfway through. Actually, MORE than halfway through, since I will most likely have a scheduled C-section the week before my due date. Can you believe it? I think that when I was pregnant with Nikos, I was so constantly focused on my pregnancy that the time went by really slowly. But here I am, completely distracted by teaching my fifth-graders and being mom to an active toddler (my two full-time jobs). The time has FLOWN by! And I have a feeling May will be here before we know it... Yikes!

In honor of the occasion, I have decided to take my first belly shot of this pregnancy. I have been meaning to take them all along, like I did with Nikos, but I simply haven't had the time. Anyway, here I am with our half-cooked baby girl (who is currently kicking up a storm in there-- she's definitely awake!)! :)
(and if you feel like comparing, links to all my belly pics with Nikos are over there in the right-hand column)

And, spurred on by the sudden realization that the weeks are slipping by faster than I thought, I made good progress in emptying out her room this weekend! I moved my computer, Gus' laptop, and one computer desk out to our dining room and set it all up. It's actually pretty unobtrusive-looking, though this is not the ultimate plan. We're going to give the other computer desk to Florian, who basically has nothing to furnish his new apartment with. And once we get Gus' music files off of his old desktop computer, we'll yank the hard drive out and donate the rest. I also began the tedious process of emptying out the closet which, despite its small size, is overflowing with various things (file cabinet, tons of office supplies/paper, gift wrapping materials, ironing board, and lots of miscellaneous stuff that just doesn't have a home). It's been sort of our catch-all closet, and now we're losing it. It's slow-going because it requires so much reorganization of OTHER parts of the house in order to provide new homes for the various things. But it's progress nonetheless! I am thinking that the room will be totally emptied out by the end of the week. Fingers crossed!!

What little girls are made of

Well, if you ask me, the whole "sugar and spice and everything nice" thing is pretty accurate, given the number of frosted sugar cookies and chocolates that I have consumed in the past 24 hours! This kiddo is going to be made out of sugar! It doesn't help, either, that more than half of the gifts my students gave me yesterday were edible (sadly, they know I am a certifiable chocoholic). sigh. I am fairly certain that I am doomed to gain more weight with this pregnancy than I did with Nikos. Of course, I am a lot more active (chasing Nikos around), so maybe it
will all balance out in the end???

Anyway... I still can't believe our good luck: a baby girl! I've been daydreaming about it all week, since we found out. She pretty much has a name already, but don't bother asking-- we're not telling! :) Since Nikos' name was pretty much a done deal from the moment we knew he was a boy, and everyone knew it, we think it would be more fun to keep this one a surprise. So that's the plan, at least for now!

In the meantime, I've already picked out bedding for her room, and preparations are underway to start whipping it into shape! Her room is currently our office/guestroom, home to two desks, two desktop computers, and a twin bed. The twin bed will be going to its new home on Monday, so that'll be out of the way! Florian, the French guy who lived with us before Nikos was born, was finally able to get his own apartment, so he'll gladly take the bed he already slept on for several months. The computers are going to be a far trickier matter. I'm thinking that laptops are probably the way to go, with wireless networking. We already have one laptop, which we hardly use (it needs more RAM), but I'm thinking that it could become Gus' "at home" computer. As for myself, I would need something much more powerful to do all the stuff I do (photo/video editing, etc.). My brother told me last week that he happens to have a spare wireless router sitting around, which he said he'd give to us. So really, we'd just need a new laptop for me. I'd still keep one monitor, mouse, and keyboard to hook the laptop up to when editing pictures, but I think that makes a lot more sense than trying to find a new home in our already-crowded house for the two bulky desktops.

Once the computer situation is resolved and the bed is gone, the room should be pretty easy! We won't need to paint, aside from a few touch-ups, because we like the color (buttery yellow) that's in there already. And the crown moulding pieces are already cut to length and just sitting in the garage, waiting to be painted and installed. Furniture will be easy... Nikos' crib and changing table will move into his sister's room (in a few months) and he will get a toddler bed and some low bookcases. The hardest part will be fixing up her closet, which isn't much more than a coat closet right now (yes, it's that small). Gus is going to make a custom closet, with drawers down below, hanging space in the middle, and lots of shelves up above. I'll take down the yucky vertical blinds in the room and replace them with a blackout shade and some cute curtains. And the rest is just decoration! That's the fun part! :)

Anyway... here is the bedding we'll be getting for our baby girl. I think it will look great with the yellow walls and white furniture we already have. Hooray!! :) :)


In other news: We are all sick!! :( I am so plugged up that I can't hear out of my left ear (and this is day #3 of that loveliness), Nikos is cutting two molars, has a cold, AND has an ear infection, and Gus is still hanging on to a cold that has nagged him for a few weeks now. What a pathetic sight we must be!

Drumroll Please!

Well we had our big ultrasound appointment today, and it went smoothly! This baby was VERY wiggly, very fast, and didn't want to cooperate... but after 45 minutes of looking, the techs were able to see and get pictures of everything they needed. And we very definitely know the sex (which I'll get to in a sec!). In the meantime, look at this little cutie!


Such a cute baby GIRL, don't you think????? :) :) :) She is very definitely a girl, and we are over-the-moon happy right now. It just seems so perfect! A little girl! Nikos is going to have a little sister! I really don't think I could ask for anything more. Life Is Good.

Rainbow at Night

Well, I am definitely pregnant! Not that I ever doubted it, but I have been feeling the baby move so much more lately. It hardly ever happens during the day-- it's just at night, when I can feel it moving around a bit and pressing outward. I'm starting to really comprehend that it's a different baby in there this time, not Nikos! The movement I'm feeling is very different from last time. Nikos would kick and punch and make sudden, jerky movements... so far, this baby writhes around in a much more fluid fashion. But little "Rainbow" is definitely making his or her presence known now! Without fail, he or she begins wriggling around at about 2am every night. And despite the fact that it wakes me up (I'm a light sleeper), I enjoy having this little solo time with baby #2 when the rest of the world is sleeping. :)

But, to be honest, I am getting very tired of referring to this baby as "he or she" or "it." So how about we start calling it a little boy or a little girl already?? One more day to go... We should find out the sex tomorrow at my big ultrasound appointment. I can't WAIT!!!!

P.S. According to my weekly emails, the baby is currently about 6 inches long from head to rump, and weighs just over half a pound.

Generalizing

I don't think I will ever understand the inner workings of the human mind, especially that which belongs to Nikos. He constantly amazes me-- and lately has been no exception!

For instance... I can understand seeing a dog, being told that this thing is called a "dog," and learning it. But then how is it that he can recognize different things as dogs??? I started to think about this as we were leaving daycare the other day, when he pointed to Bonnie's cast-iron Scottish Terrier doorstop and said "doggy!" Now I know he's seen dogs before, but never a Scottie-- how did he know to call it a dog? Then we passed a black lab, and again he said "doggy!" He points to the picture of a cartoon dog on his pajamas and knows that that's a dog, too! Same with a stuffed bulldog, the picture of a Sharpei on his highchair, and, of course, his stuffed Golden Retriever toy. Somehow, he has created a definition in his mind of what a dog is, and it must be a good one. Because he's always right about dogs (that's the crazy part!!).

Then, this afternoon, we were playing on the floor in his bedroom. Mostly he was handing me his books and scattering them all over the place. I started reading one of the books aloud to him. We came to a picture of a Myna bird, which he pointed at and said "cack-cack?" in a questioning tone. "Cack-cack" is what he calls ducks! He saw the picture of the bird, with its semi-large, slightly duck-like beak, and wasn't sure if it was a duck or not! I could seriously see the wheels spinning in his head as I told him it was a bird, not a duck (even if a duck IS a bird). I'm sure he was taking in that information and refining his definition of "duck," right there on the spot. And that is incredible, if you ask me!

On a totally different note... Here's a picture I took this afternoon! Now that he's standing on his own for longer and longer periods (sometimes a minute or two), I wanted to attempt a Christmas tree photo. So here is Nikos with the "chee":

"Ook, dey Dardee!"

Maybe I am reading more into this than I should, but my child is a genius! haha! :) A few times lately, he has surprised me by stringing several words together! It started a few days ago, when he was noticeably upset about something, and I had no idea what it was. I knew his diaper was probably wet, so I picked him up to go change him. That clearly wasn't what he wanted, because he got even MORE agitated. Finally, he looked right at me, pointed at the Christmas tree, and said, "Mama, CHEE!!!!" I took him over to see the tree (which is in an area he can't get to) and, lo and behold, he was a happy little camper again!

Then, last night, he was standing by the tree (all by himself, I might add). Charlie happened to be under the tree on the opposite side. Nikos suddenly noticed him, crouched down, pointed at him, and said something that sounded an awful lot like "Look, there's Charlie!" ("Ook, dey Dardee!") I couldn't believe it! He's also started saying "Ah duh" ("All done") when he's done eating or drinking something (he used to just say "duh!"). He says it with such force, too, and he pushes everything away! I just can't get over the fact that he is really starting to communicate with us!!

One other thing I've noticed is that he is getting better at copying what we say. If I point to the Santa Claus on our entry hall table and say "Santa," he'll almost instantly say, "da-ta." It is so cool! I am shocked at how much this little sponge is soaking up!

Guilt

This is going to seem a little strange, but I feel guilty for not writing about baby #2 as often as I write about Nikos. In fact, I sometimes even forget that I am pregnant, despite my ever-increasing belly! Gus and I are both first-borns, but I think I've started to understand some of the issues that younger siblings have. And I don't want to be "that parent" who plays favorites, or who never buys anything new for the younger child because baby #1 already has everything. You know? I am definitely rambling here, but it's something that bothers me lately.

In a way, this is sort of a testament to how easy my pregnancy has been so far (*knock on wood!*). I certainly wouldn't be able to forget about it if I were having difficulties! Instead, it's been smooth sailing. I had very, very mild "afternoon sickness" for only a short while, and it hardly affected my appetite at all. I haven't had any instances of spotting or cramping-- nothing that would make me panic and call the doctor (unlike last time). In fact, I just have a gut feeling that this baby is very strong and resilient... both excellent qualities! So instead of focusing on what's happening in my belly, I've been kept distracted by the constant changes Nikos has been going through, right before my eyes. It doesn't mean that I care about baby #2 any less... it just means that I have less to worry about than last time, and more to worry about with Nikos (who gets into EVERYTHING). I trust that he or she is cooking along in there, right on schedule, and I just go about my daily life!

That being said, though, I cannot WAIT to see his or her little face in 10 more days. I think that will help make things more "real." And I can't wait to decorate the other bedroom. I hope these next 10 days pass quickly!

Chee!!!

Nikos has added a new word to his vocabulary: "Chee!" (tree!) That's right, he has become obsessed with the Christmas tree! Whenever he catches sight of it, he points directly at it and says "chee" repeatedly until he gets to see it up close. He is endlessly fascinated by the ornaments, the lights, and, well, just about everything involving the "chee." Last night, I was holding his hands as he stood on the floor in front of it, examining the ornaments on the lower branches. He felt pretty stable, so I let go... and he stood there, completely on his own, for about 30 seconds! He was so absorbed that he forgot to freak out, haha! (normally, he sort of panics when he realizes that he's not holding on to anything-- which causes him to collapse). He did it over and over again in front of the tree. This tree may be the thing that gets him to start thinking about walking... hooray! :)