I took the kids to San Diego on January 30, just because I wanted to see the family. Our last few trips felt so rushed, plus Dominic LOVES it and Christie needed to redeem herself after Crankfest November 2013. It was a fun and successful trip. We got a lot of family time, including seeing my grandparents twice, and Christie was her jovial self. We only stayed three nights, but it felt better than last time we went and stayed only 46 hours or so. I hope the next trip is longer! Also, the flights were not too bad. Dominic is easy (though much better if we have an empty seat so he can spread out and nap) and Christie is on the uphill to being a pleasant flying companion, I think.
Our trip in pictures:
The first leg of the trip was more challenging because we had a stranger in our row so Christie was a true lap child. They both finally fell asleep 5 minutes (no joke!) before the captain announced the final descent.
I can't remember the last time Christie slept on me. Her eye doctor appointment at 8 months comes to mind.
We only made it to "My Cousins' Playground" once. Dominic calls it this since he had popsicles with his cousins here in June 2012. It is two blocks from YiaYia's house and nowhere near his cousins.
I like this because it shows off how shrimpy she is.
We had some great airplane watching. We saw British Airways twice!
Waiting for Grandpa and Grandma to arrive for the pizza party.
I love the silhouette on this dress she got from Steffi!
They brought two sets of Mega Blocks for the kids!
We went to the Balboa Park merry-go-round and train (not pictured).
YiaYia joined Dominic after he kept letting go! His tiger was stationary. I was on a bench holding Christie.
He liked that this one looked like a military plane. He wanted to be a passenger, not the pilot.
We went to the clubhouse for root beer floats. The view there is so nice! You can see downtown and the ocean. Dominic was also watching golfers just below us.
I'm not sure why I only blog about the past and don't mention any upcoming events.
1. Dominic has a dentist appointment Friday morning. That means we I have been flossing his teeth for 6 months now - I hope they can tell. Positive feedback from the dentist would also allow him to enjoy the next item guilt-free, haha.
2. After the dentist, Dominic will be rushed to school where they will be having their Valentine's Day party. He picked out the EXACT SAME Disney Cars Valentines he took to school last year. So boring! He also helped his Dad buy juice boxes for the class party. He's pretty excited about sharing them with his friends.
3. Tony is visiting this weekend! Woohoo!
4. I am going to have a new nephew any day now!! Woohoo!! Dominic says Baby Evans already has a name, but Dominic won't tell us what it is. I found a cell phone in his bed, so I think he and Emmy have been talking.
I thought I would dedicate a post to giving you an update on Christina, who we affectionately call Godzilla. I'll start by saying that the whole baby #2 experience has been totally different from baby #1. I'm not sure if all parents feel something like the way I do, but I think it's been similar for Marcos. When Dominic arrived, I was totally engrossed, obsessed, awed, etc. I felt panicky when he was 5 days old, thinking it was going too fast. Every tiny little milestone was my first as a parent, and many became ingrained in my memory forever. Within no time at all, I couldn't imaging how I'd go on without my little Dominic. While expecting baby #2, it was hard to picture how the second baby could possibly equal what I felt for Dominic. Now that she is past her first year, I can say that my relationship with Christie seems to have blossomed over time, rather than exploding into full bloom at our first meeting.
I can't look at this without remembering how that IV butchered my poor hand - and they made me keep it in another day.
When I first laid eyes on her, I couldn't believe how beautiful she was. I thought Dominic looked good from day one, but as he got cuter later, I looked back at newborn pictures and realized he did go through an awkward newborn stage. Christie was one good-looking baby. I remember my Mom saying her face was so clearly that of a little girl. Maybe it was the eye lashes.
Ok, so she's a little puffy. But I maintain she looks darn good for 2 min old.
Overall, I think that having a toddler at home, with whom we had a 2-year history and a more mature, conversational, two-way relationship, made me aware that Christina was a little person who I didn't really know yet. I guess I understood how much more to her there would be (exponentially more, even though my experience at that point only covered the first two years of life) and it made me feel like I needed to get to know her in order to have the bond that I had come to share with Dominic.
Dominic owned that hospital.
It has been amazing getting to know her over the past 14.5 months. I feel excited to be her Mom because she's a little firecracker and she brings a totally different dynamic into our family. When she was almost ten months, I blogged about how she was suddenly starting to make her wants/needs known and stand up for herself. That has certainly held true. While Dominic is very concerned about the rules and how things are supposed to be (totally me), I think Christie is a bit more bold and carefree (totally Marcos?).
Probably roaring.
So what is she up to these days? I was reflecting recently that while I feel we can still get away with calling her a baby, the days are numbered. Some sure signs of aging are her recent advancements in walking, talking, and hair growth.
Walking
Christie has been capable of taking 10+ consecutive unsupported steps for well over a month now. She would do so every now and then, but clearly preferred her lopsided (right leg sticking out) monkey crawl (she looked like a really cute little ape). If I know my daughter, she considered it faster and more reliable. Last Sunday she was walking around the living room quite a bit, carrying the Madeline book she got for Christmas from Aunt Emmy, and happily hissing like a snake. Throughout the day she seemed to go back to holding that book as she wandered around. She won't tolerate reading it yet, but she clearly has the good sense to know she will enjoy it very much one day soon, just like her Mama did in the distant past. I went to Albuquerque on Monday morning and returned Friday to a full-fledged walker. (It's hard to use that term these days with the popularity of The Walking Dead). She only crawls if she's already sitting and needs to reach something a very short distance away. I'm still getting used to the sight of her toddling around the house.
Talking
At her one year appointment, the nurse asked if she had at least two words other than Mama and Dada. I answered yes, considering them to be "book" and "more." "More" was a bit questionable at the time, but she had also been meowing like a cat for months, so I didn't feel dishonest. (Do animal sounds count)? Since that time, she has added "cacka" (cracker) and sometimes I think she is saying "brubba" for brother, but I haven't confirmed it yet. She seems to be doing really well with a lot of animal sounds too. See for yourself:
Hair Growth
Of course this one varies a lot by kid, but Christie went through quite the bald phase last Spring (appox 5 mos?) and has completely recovered from it. Her hair is looking pretty shaggy and hangs down quite low on her face. She will only wear a hair clip when she doesn't know it's there, which is hard to achieve. What do you think, should we cut bangs? I'm not very keen on the idea.
I could definitely do tiny pig tails in the back if she'd sit still for 2 seconds.
In other news, she loves to read books even if her attention span stinks. She gets very excited about switching to a new book half way through the previous one. She is obsessed with Dominic's room. Their nap times have not been coordinated lately, and it nearly kills her to be shut out of his room while he's sleeping. It's a lot of trouble just keeping her away from his door during his nap. She is still sleeping in the crib, with no signs of climbing out. I think her small stature will keep us safe there for awhile. She eats well if offered something she loves, like cottage cheese, string cheese, yogurt (notice a pattern?). She is absolutely crazy about pizza and grunts/points upon seeing it, then proceeds to flip out until it's in her mouth. She and Dominic were recently served fruit and pizza at a birthday party. She went for the pizza immediately and never made it to the fruit; he polished off the fruit before touching the pizza. She loves her kitty and Baby Robin. When feeling affectionate towards her brother, she pets his hair like he's a cat. He can usually make her smile by making a loud, silly sound. They like to imitate each other. She still loves climbing on his bed and Dominic practically begs her to climb on him. He's ready to roll around and wrestle, which I noticed the boys at school doing starting around age 3. Lastly, Christie is much more friendly to acquaintances and strangers than her brother ever was. She waves to almost anyone. Probably 90% of the time they are walking by and she gets no notice or response. Dominic was known for his mad dog stare-downs. This is another way he's like me and she's like Marcos. Not that I stare people down, but I'm a confirmed introvert.
This post got a lot longer than I intended. I mostly wanted to share the video. I hope you've enjoyed reading about my girl. If you saw her in San Diego last November, you probably got a terrible impression of her. She was so cranky that trip! She was bad that whole month, I think from not feeling well. She's been so much better lately. I want a re-do!
The title is kind of a joke. We had a very nice Christmas this year. It was fun to expand our Christmas traditions now that Dominic understands more. For example, we put a plate of cookies and carrots out for Santa and the reindeer on Christmas Eve (we gave them some apple slices too) and we made Pillsbury cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning (Gerow tradition), though Dominic was too sick to eat.
The boy felt warm when he came home from school on Monday and had a temp of 101. It got into the 103's on Tuesday, and we probably would have gone to the doctor if they had been open. He hit 104.3 on Christmas day. We were giving him acetaminophen about every 5 hours and his temp would come down to about 101 before climbing back up. I did wonder if we should go to the ER, but I read online that as long as it was under 105 and responding to medicine, we were ok.
Since Dominic is usually pretty good about not emerging from his room until his Ok-to-Wake Clock turns green at 6am, it was easy enough to set my alarm so I could get up and capture his reaction to the gifts under the tree. Sure enough, he came out at 6am on the dot and I was waiting with the camera behind one of the dining room chairs. Having observed his searching skills during games of Hide and Seek, I knew he wouldn't notice me. This video cracks me up - not exactly the footage I was looking for.
Not too long after this, he came back to the living room and acknowledged the tricycle, saying, "Christie's going to have to hold on tight when she rides that." LOL. Then he wanted to go lie down in his bed for awhile. Soon I convinced him to come sit on the couch with a blanket and he mustered up enough energy to look through his stocking and even eat a chocolate coin.
I was pretty excited about these little tikes pillow racers but my visions of Dominic racing around on Christmas morning did not come to fruition.
His cheeks were so rosy!
Christie had a great morning. She was happy to crawl/scoot/walk around and check out toys, boxes, and wrapping paper.
It's basically a pillow on four office chair wheels. It rolls and spins around crazy-fast on our laminate floors. Advertised for ages 18-36 months but plenty of reviews talk of 4-year-olds loving it.
She loves the cinammon roll tradition.
I put some presents on Dominic's couch bed and he couldn't resist them long. We got him the boxed set of transportation books that he wanted since receiving Roaring Rockets on his birthday. They were a big hit. He's been reading them a lot.
Christie got an HEB shopping cart and Dominic helped her fill it up. He's been helping her play with it a lot too. "Thank you, Brother."
He checked out his tricycle between trips to lie in bed.
He basically had no prior pedaling experience and he's getting around the house pretty well now. He has not taken it outside because he refuses to wear a jacket.
Matching pjs. I've been waiting a long time for these to fit them.
She has since lost her privileges to touch these books due to some very wrinkled pages in Flashing Fire Engines.
This is new to Christie but not new.
These tracks from YiaYia fit with his birthday train set!
Tony got Dominic TWO light sabers!
We finally met Emmy, visiting from Brazil!
If you ever want to make Christie really mad (could come in handy if she gets into acting), chew some gum and blow/pop a bubble. She gets furious and sobs immediately. I think she's mad she can't play with your gum and touch the bubble. This first happened a few weeks ago and I realized we hadn't really exposed her to bubbles much. She got a bubble whistle in her stocking and it works really well. She does not get mad when the bubbles pop, though you can tell she wants to pick them up and eat them.
Ride-on doggy from Tio Tony! It's also a walker when you put the seat up. She likes to dance to its music.
I finally got some pictures of them together on their pillow racers a few days after Christmas.
Another great thing about this Christmas was our visitors! As I mentioned, Emmy is here from Brazil. She was best buds with the kids in about 10 seconds and she and Migs have been coming over to hang out with us regularly. Tito also came in town and enjoyed hanging out and watching the kids run around and play. And Tony is here from Seattle until later this week. We have all really enjoyed having him here, and he and Dominic already have several new little games and silly sayings. As always, we missed all the absent family. With YOU here, it would have been perfect!
(I almost forgot an update on the sick boy. He went to the doctor on the 26th and she believed he had flu but it was winding down and not in need of treatment. His temp was in the low 100s that day and has since declined to normal.)
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