This is getting GOOOOD

You can't do the Lasso with Psy and that makes you super frustrated and mad.

BUT

You learned how to fist bump and you love it.

Thanks for being boss.

You have lost your right to m&m's

Well, not totally.

You will now only be given m&m's one at a time. Even the minis. You may regain the right to m's on the willy nilly eventually, but it's going to be a while.

Tonight you put more than 3 minis up your nose.

Never.again.

I was that awesome toddler mom calling the peds at 7:00P with the RIDICULOUS question: Whay do I do if there is something stuck in my toddler's nose? The nurse did have a good laugh after I told her that you had blue snot, I did not laugh.


In closing, stop that.

You only live once right?

Just 3 weeks shy of your second birthday and you've already had pop. Flat gingerale to be specific. You've had a pretty terrible tummy ache for the past 4-5 days, I probably could have given it to you sooner. I was just trying to aviod putting anything else in your tum that might upset it.

You also ate sand today. So there's that too.

Meeeee-ow

For the FIRST TIME EVER you responded with the correct animal noise when I showed you an animal and asked "What's this?"

: D

Busy, busy!

Things are going to be a little crazy this week and I'm terribly sorry about that.

Monday is your first day of Speech Therapy. Ms Mary is going to come with some toys and a lot of questions. I'm hoping that you two get along and we can start understnading each other. I'm not sure what exactly to call all of these things I'm feeling.

I'm so excited to finally be able to hear what you have to say.
I'm nervous that all of the work is going to tire both of us out.
I'm worried that you won't like the therapist.
I'm terrified that it's not going to work.

I'm trying to keep my head clear of the later two for the time being. There's no way for me to know and there's nothing I can do to prevent either of those things right now- or possibly ever.

If you promise not to go crazy, I promise I won't go crazy either. : )

Bubble, bubble, POP!

This was not an unfortunate first for either of us, thankfully.

You snagged daddy's Bubblicious.

Thanks for not getting it in your hair.

^5

I cannot even begin to know how many times in your short life that I have asked you for a high five.

Any time I would ask for one, you would either just stare at me or go in for a hug. I won't lie, the hugs were pretty awesomely sweet.

I asked you for a high five not even 10 minutes ago- AND YOU DID IT! With your sly little stinker smile. You even did it another 6 times. I think it's safe to say that you now know what it means to high five.

You just got awesomer.

Early Intervention

I've been avoiding this. I don't want you to think that there's something wrong with you. I don't like the social stigmas that come with that kind of statement. You and I were both getting frustrated, I couldn't understand what you were trying to tell me and I could tell that you had something you felt you needed to tell me.

This morning Ms Jackie and Ms Julie brought two fantastic bags of tricks and toys. You got right down to business playing with them and exploring everything they had in their bags. We found out that you have done very nicely developing your motor skills- you're 10mos ahead of where you should be! We also learned that some of what I had suspected was right, your speech and communication is about 10mos behind.

At 19mos old your vocabulary sounds more like a 9-12mos old. Hearing that crushed me. I didn't know that most of what I was counting as part of your word base were what are referred to as declaratives or exclamations. Things like "uh oh," "no," "what's that," don't count as words on the evaluation. I was pretty sure that I was going to cry when I heard where they placed your speech.

I keep reminding myself that now:
1. You're going to get the help you need.
2. You're young enough that the delay shouldn't be apparent by the time you're in kindergarten.
3. I did what I was supposed to.

I'm having a really hard time not feeling guilty or upset about this. Logically, I know that your hearing was affected because you had ear infections which kept fluid in your ears. You had a hearing screening and birth but you didn't have another hearing test for the next 15mos. There is no way for anyone to accurately gauge when your hearing was affected, all we can do now is help you.

So that's what we're doing.

A few fantastic firsts

Today should have been your first East Egg Hunt; you had other plans. There were about 50 eggs all over the back yard for you. I figured that you'd run around picking them up and squealing since plastic eggs are one of your most favorite things to play with. You didn't. Instead you ran around the yard dodging the inferior eggs and picking up the 5 or so that you thought were best.

Aunt Rose opened one to show you what was inside. We both thought that if you saw that there were things INSIDE the eggs for once that you'd want to snatch them all up. Instead you ran off with your foil bunny to eat him out of sight.

So we got to hunt eggs instead.

You loved everything in your basket- which made me super happy. There were a set of Fisher Price Little People, a whole bunch of Silly Bands, Bubbles, a Book and a Playskool Poppin Pal. You seem to love the bubbles and popper best.

After your bath you SUPER surprised me. You picked out a nail polish color and then sat perfectly still while I painted your fingers and toes. When I was done you signed again, so I painted my toes. That resulted in some pretty awesome squeals of delight.

ELMO!

We went to see Sesame Street Live tonight. We were supposed to go on Leap Day, which I thought would be awesome- but the schedule changed. So we had to go tonight.
You thought it was pretty boss. As soon as the music started you sat up suuuuper tall trying to see what was going on. You spent most of the show on daddy's lap. You bounced and wiggled, clapped and waved. I was way more excited than you and daddy were put together, but I'm used to it. : )

You loved going up the stairs all by yourself but you loved running down the aisle even more. You clearly couldn't sit still any more so we decided to go, there were only 10-15min left in the show so it wasn't really a big deal. After we made it downstairs you heard the music again and ran through one of the sets of open doors back in to the auditorium. There were a whole mess of kids dancing down there and you thought that was awesome- you started dancing right along with them. Which I thought was awesome.

We almost lost your precious Elmo at Shea's but Miss Sue found it and I made a mad dash back inside to get him.

I'm so glad we took you.

I hope that's the only time we have to do that.

You and I learned just what a pain in the butt tubes can be.

Your ears started leaking fluid on friday night. They can do that with tubes- in fact, they should. The fuild coming out of your left ear went from clear to this awesomely gross green-brown color by last night. They shouldn't keep leaking fluid and go unchecked and they really should be checked if the fluid isn't clear.

We went to the ENT office where they had to suction both of your ears out. That might be your least favorite thing this week, or even this month. I'll let you know.

Your left tube was totally plugged- which totally sucks. But Lucy fixed it.

Now let's keep those suckers clear so we don't have to do that again, k?

I'm pretty sure you just made Miss Tanya's day...

As we were leaving Day Care today you started leaing towards your old room so we stopped in to see Miss Tanya for a little bit. You ran around playing with the toys and watching the little babes.

When I picked you up to leave I asked if you could say bye bye to Miss Tanya- instead you blew her a kiss. Every time after that I said the words "blow a kiss" you;d blow her another one.

We both thought it was super cute.
I'm glad you FINALLY learned that trick!

Today, has been terrible for me.

It hasn't been so great for you either. You had your adenoids out, tubes put in and an endoscopy.

I woke you up early so that you could have some water or juice before we went to the hospital. You couldn't have any milk or food after midnight, which wasn't so bad because you slept through most of that. But after 7:00A this morning you couldn't have anything, before that you could have clear liquids. You weren't interested in anything to drink at 6:00A, you just wanted to go back to sleep, I should have expected that.

We sat in the living room watching Sesame Street while we were waiting for daddy to get home, the rest of the morning seemed to drag on for-ever. You and I headed to admissions while daddy parked the car. Miss Michelle put a hospital bracelet on your ankle which DID NOT amuse you. Putting your socks back on over it fixed it all- thank heavens.

We were on the 9^th floor for more than two hours just... waiting. We didn't know it then, but there was a problem with the first patient of the day so everyone else ended up being pushed back more than 1.5H. You could have cared less. There were plenty of toys and crayons to keep you happy. I on the other hand, wanted nothing more than to wiggle and whine in my chair.

Eventually we went down to the 2^nd floor where we sat for another hour or so, again it seemed much longer to me. We still had to talk to the anesthesiologist and ENT before you actually went in to the operating room- everyone told me the day would drag on but I had no idea that it was going to feel so painfully slow. I didn't know that when they told us we were going "down stairs" that it meant in to the OR, so I didn't bring your Elmo. That meant daddy had to ride the terrible, slow, TINY elevator back up to 9, ask the nurse to open your locker and then make it back down to 2. Pretty sure he wasn't a fan of me at that point. I said I was sorry though. When he went on that trek you started the meltdown that I'd been waiting for all morning. You were tired and hungry- and just generally very sad. I asked if I could go with you in to the operating room- I didn't want you to go in upset and just get worse when you weren't with us anymore. Thankfully you fell asleep after I talked to the anaesthesiologist and before the ENT came to talk to us.

You were in the operating room for about 45min. That time seemed to fly, I was grateful for that. There was a tube helping you breathe while they were operating on you, when they took it out you started crying and wouldn't stop. You were still asleep which made everything that much more complicated. Parents aren't allowed in the recovery area until their child is awake. Your doctor had the nurses come to get me because she didn't want you ripping any of the stitches open in your throat while you were crying.

I am so glad she had them come get me.

You were sad and confused. You wanted someone's ears to hold and someone to hold you. I was more than willing to hold you and let you grab my ears. You were trying to rip off every wire they had attached to you. There was one for oxygen, 2 for your heart rate, a blood pressure cuff and your IV's. You wanted every one, OFF. I took disconnected what I could and turned you around so I could hold you and you could hold my ears. After I got you up on my shoulder the nurse got them back on so she could check your vitals so that we could leave the recovery area.

When we finally made it home you slept for 6 hours straight. You managed to eat four fruit and veg pouches when you woke up. It still seems like a lot of food- but you hadn't eaten in 24h. That's a long time for a little person with the kind of appetite you normally have.

You're not really interested in going back to sleep just yet. You'd rather snuggle with me and daddy on the couch watching a movie and that is perfectly fine with us.

Ohdear

You can climb out of your crib. It's not terribly graceful and it sounds awfully painful.

Please stop?

You made it!

This past weekend was your first road trip, we went to Troy to visit Hunkle Mike and Miss Aunt Casey.

You spent most of the trip there asleep. However, you were less than pleasant once you woke up. You kept kicking your legs and yelling "all done." We still had about 45m left on our trip and we tried our best to distract you, but it didn't work. When we got to the hotel you ran around the parking lot in the rain with me. After daddy got us checked in you ran around the room and bounced from bed to bed.

You got to see horses up close and personal for the first time and you got to show them how to REEEALLY explore the CMOST. You didn't seem to hang on to any of the fantastic information about science and technology- but you did enjoy the fish in the river habitat. There were a LOT of buttons for you to push; they made things light up and move, some of them even made noise! We got you a lizard while we were at the CMOST, you kept coming back to the gift shop and taking him in to the different exhibits. I figured it was going to be an easier day for everyone if we let the fella come with us.

I wouldn't call the trip a complete success but I wouldn't quite call it a failure. I know that it'll be a bit before we try another road trip with you, but at least we got one under our belts for now- and we know that it can in fact be done.

Yes, you are a sillykins

Tonight marked a very important first: You got yourself dizzy, on purpose.
After your bath you just kept walking around your room. Eventually you ended up behind the door trying to look in to the mirror at yourself. At one point you tried to turn around quickly to run at daddy, but instead you made a small circle and turned all the way around. You didn't look surprised but you smiled and did it again.
You started to wobble a little, but you did it again. And again and again and again... you get the idea. You were stumbling every which way and giggling. You started to fall and daddy went to catch you, but that made you pretty upset. You seemed to think he was trying to stop you, which made you cry. But soon you were on your feet again making your lopsided circles.

Someone else's first!

Today we got to go to Genna and Josie's birthday party. You weren't too sure at first but after a while you were running all over the place talking to anyone in your way. You yelled at the boys for not playing with the balloons in the correct fashion, you ran circles around anyone who stood still and you crawled around under the candy buffet like a goof. We didn't stay for cake because you were getting sleepy and crabby- but we all expect those things from toddlers.

You also got your first jellybeans... I'm pretty sure that was the highlight of the party for you. You weren't too sure about them when I handed you the first one. But when you got your little mitt on the second you did a dance- I'm thinking you're going to like next easter.

Happy Birthday Bear

It's been awesome watching you for the last 365 days. Sometimes it's hard for me to believe just how long it's been. I keep thinking "..remember when she was little?" I have to remind myself that to the rest of the world you ARE little.

After just 365 days here you are 1/30 my age, 1/4 my weight and 1/2 my height. Pretty impressive in my opinion.

Today you got to share cupcakes and pudding with your friends at school- and I got a filling. : / After dinner we went out to Condrell's with Grandpa. Grandma was stuck at work- some day we're going to have to go rescue her and make her have some fun. We can worry about the when's and how's of that later though. For now let's worry about the fabulous, shall we?

Margaret can SAY:

• balloon [boo-n]
• this [dis]

Margaret can:

• get the correct end of a utensil IN to food and then her mouth
• carry objects while walking
• stand from a squat
• climb on to the couch
• climb a ladder

Margaret likes:

• ice cream!
• Star Wars
• pudding
• spinning in the yard
• going for walks
• pancakes
• hide and seek
• mud
• hot dogs
• mommy's sunglasses
• having her picture taken
• ketchup
• visiting the bigger kids at school
• Tangled
• reading books to people

Margaret does not like:

• raw broccoli
• hamburgers
• kiwi
• wearing her own sunglasses

I'm so excited we're starting year 2. This past year really has been an amazing adventure- I can't wait to see where you take us to next. Sooner rather than later you'll be the one calling the shots and we'll just be supporting players. Don't be afraid to remind us of that if we forget- it's all about you now.

So, where are we going?

You sly little fox you.

You signed all done, so I started to clean what was left of your lunch off of your hands. And once the tray was mostly clean and your hands were COMPLETELY clean you signed more. I was confused by what you did next, until I realized that it looked a lot like cookie.

I then showed you the cookies we got when we ordered your birthday cake- and you squealed.

Well played, well played.

You won this round, but the next one will go to me.

...it was only a matter of time

You ate M&M's. And you're in love. You will have to thank Amber properly on Friday. If she weren't moving to Rochester there wouldn't have been brownies with M&M's.

I don't even know how many of them you actually ate because you kept swiping them from the pan and people were giving you theirs. Either way, it was pretty commical. I'm sorry to say that you won't be getting them as often as you'd like. And it's going to be a while before you learn what kind of package they come in. I really don't need you trying to suck 'nems out of a bag in Wegmans.