margaretyagan

Today was a really good day.  The prunes I’ve been eating have clearly had their clearing effect!

Bottle with Mom was great; breakfast was great.  Nana and I played and read in the morning.  The only part of the day that didn’t go so well was my morning nap, when it took me about 45 minutes to fall asleep — and then I only slept for about half an hour.

I got to eat one of my favorite dishes for lunch: chicken curry.  Everything else was finger food: succotash, peas, carrots, and peaches.  I drank about half of my 3:00 bottle  and then took a good 1:45 nap.

When I got up — Grandpa Yagan was here!  He hasn’t been over to see me since his surgery (but I’ve been trying to go visit him every week).  It was so good to have him back!  He played with me and then started my dinner, which Mom eventually finished.

I wasn’t too interested in reading Goodnight Moon before bed…maybe Dad’s arguments against the book are sinking in!

I hate spinach.  It’s that simple.  Why do people keep trying to feed it me?!  Apparently no one told poor Nana about this!

After a very good morning — I drank most of my bottle with Mom and devoured my breakfast — lunch was a complete nightmare.  I actually ate half of the spinach as a courtesy, but the second half “ended up everywhere” according to Mom.  Correction:  it was everywhere except in my tummy!

My afternoon nap wasn’t very good, either.  It took me a while to get to sleep and then I only slept for about 30 minutes before waking up.  Oh, and while Mom and Dad are busy teaching me to identify blocks, Nana is also adding on other things.  Today I correctly identified various jewelry (key to being a girl, apparently!): necklace, ring, and watch!

I got up at 6:05 and got ready with Mom (Dad had already left).  I only drank about 5 ounces of my bottle – which left me plenty hungry for a filling breakfast with Nana.  I really like my hard boiled egg and I’m starting to like the polenta, too.

I went to sleep for my morning nap pretty easily (I can tell that Nana thinks I can fall out of my crib!) and slept for a little over an hour.  The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.  I really love carrots!  Nana kept getting me to sip prune juice throughout the day — I probably got in about 4 ounces throughout the day.

I’ve started spitting out food I don’t like…Mom had a really hard time getting me to eat my ground beef and quinoa!

Mom got me out of bed this morning just before she had to leave for work.  Dad was working from home today, so he took over and gave me my bottle.  We played downstairs, especially with the blocks.  Today I’m supposed to learn “P is for Penguin.”

Breakfast was good (prune-filled!) and then Dad actually read me a few books (he usually wants to horse around or play a learning game).  Nana got here and took over so Dad could go downstairs and work.  We had a really good time together, including a walk outside — in the cold!  Where did last week’s good weather go?

Breaking news!  Here’s a video from the weekend:

Dad came up to get me started on lunch and give Nana a little break.  Then Nana gave me the rest of my lunch, including several slices of peaches for dessert.  Then a strange thing happened.  Nana and I were playing a knocking game (which at one point even got Dad to scurry up the stairs to see what was going on), when all of a sudden we heard a knock on the door.  We have a gate that’s supposed to prevent people from being able to knock on our door!  And, what are the odds someone would knock back at us?

Another video??  Happy Presidents’ Day!

Turns out it was the electrician here to (finally!) fix our doorbell/buzzer.  Nana took me down to the office while he worked in the kitchen.  After he left, we played with the blocks again and finally Nana put me down for my afternoon nap.  It only took me about 20 minutes to fall sleep and I slept for just over 90 minutes.  When I got up, Dad took me for a quick walk over to the post office…not realizing that today’s a holiday!

Mom got home and I got some good playtime in with her before Dad took me upstairs to give me a bath and put me to bed!

I got up with Dad, as usual, but was shocked that we didn’t make our weekly pilgrimage to the grocery store.   I was much louder than usual, unfortunately, and Mom was awake and downstairs within an hour.

Mom and Jess told Dad that I could identify the “M is for Monkey” block (thanks cousin Stephen & Stephanie for the awesome blocks!).  Dad didn’t believe it…until he saw it with his own eyes.  And then, he went crazy.  He spent most of the rest of the day teaching me more and more of the blocks!  By the end of the day I knew Monkey, Car, and Ducks.

I ate lunch twice.  Once was actually eating lunch the other was a social lunch — I got in my high chair and ate O’s while Mom, Dad, and Jess ate their lunch.  I took a nap in the afternoon (while Dad went out to do some work at Starbucks) and then when I got up, Dad and I ran errands together for a couple hours.  First we went to Brookstone at the Old Orchard Mall where Dad bought Mom a Valentine’s Day gift (a little late, Dad!).  (Yes, Mom likes to check the weather — all the time!) Then we headed to  Wal-Mart and Babies R Us.

We got home late and I didn’t get to bed until 7:45.  Amid all this chaos, not a single picture of me was taken today!  I don’t think that’s ever happened with Mom and Dad both around.

Fortunately for Dad, I slept in until 7:30 on Sunday morning, which sent my entire schedule out of whack.  I ate late and napped late, and eventually had lunch (late) at Nana’s and Grandpa’s apartment.  Since they don’t have a high chair, I ate picnic-style on the floor.  It was really great to see Grandpa, especially, since he hasn’t been able to come visit me since his surgery.  Hopefully in a couple weeks I’ll see a lot more of him!
We picked up Mom and Jess on our way home and then met a very nice person named Rachel, who might be my very first babysitter!

But the biggest news of the day is that I took three steps, from the couch to Dad.  He was in such shock that he screamed “Oh My God!” and scared Mom & Jess!

My schedule was still off and I ended up skipping my afternoon nap entirely.  Dad kept after me to learn more blocks, and by the end of the day “Zebra” was added to my vocabulary.

I started babbling around 4:55 today but didn’t actually get out of my crib until about 5:30.  I had a half-bottle at 5:45 and was surprised to see that Mom wasn’t heading off to work — she took the day off of work!  I was even more excited to find out that Mom’s friend Jess was in town for the weekend and was going to spend the day playing with us!

I had breakfast at 7:30 and really stuffed my mouth full of O’s.  Jess was even afraid that I wouldn’t be able to chew it all!  Mom tried to “prune-infuse” my polenta, but I was having none of that (literally).After breakfast, I played with Jess a lot and had a really fun time with her!
After I lunched & pooped, the three of us walked to park.  It was cold, but that didn’t stop me from swinging!  I was wearing shoes (thanks Aunt Sarah!), so I could actually walk around in the park!  At first I just stood there, but once I realized the freedom of the shoes, I wanted to go everywhere!  First I tried to join the other kids who were drawing on the sidewalk and sliding down the slides.  Then I tried to run around picking up every piece of trash I could find on the ground!

Finally we left and went to…shockingly…Starbucks!  On our way home we stopped by a card shop (where I was very patient) and then spent the rest of the day playing together.

I got up at 6:00 and had five ounces of my bottle with Mom.  I wasn’t hungry until about 8:00, when I ate a really good breakfast, including my new food for the day — polenta with apples.  Dad’s also trying to get me to like one of his favorite foods (mushrooms), as I had them for finger foods again today.

My day was pretty uneventful.  I had a great time doing the usual playing, reading, and napping.  I said “mama” several times today, making it my second word — sorry Dad.

Oh, and since I know you’re all sitting on the edge of your seats: my pooping seems finally under control.  Nana is on a mission to infuse with my prune juice which is having terrific results.

I got up with Mom and had my bottle before going downstairs to see Nana.  As usual, she was so excited to see me!  Nana mixed together my oatmeal and blackberry parfait and I really liked it.  I took a short nap from 9:45 to 10:30 and then played with my toys and read a bunch of books.

My lunch was great and even had a pretty good poop to celebrate.  I was in an especially good mood all afternoon and drank my entire bottle at 3.  (Nana is really patient with me; she’s the best at getting me to drink it all!)

I took a long nap (almost two hours) in the afternoon and when I got up, Nana taught me how to touch my head on command.  Mom got home and fed me dinner.  Thank goodness it’s my last day of spinach.  Eww!

I got to talk to Grandma and Grandpa Droste and Aunt Sarah on the phone.  I pooped again (4th time today!) and then went to bed.

I got up at 6:20 — just in time to say good morning to Mom before she took  off for work.  Dad got me dressed and gave me my bottle around 6:40.  Nana came over around 7:30 and finished up the breakfast which Dad had just started.  I took a really short nap  (45 minutes) and then had lunch: turkey w/apricots & some finger foods (mushrooms and carrots).  For the second meal in a row, I totally rejected the pureed carrots!

Dad went out to  pick up some lunch and took me with him in my stroller.  We made a quick pit stop at Dominick’s to pick up some prune juice, since the avocado didn’t really work as advertised yesterday.  I drank about 5 ounces of prune juice and played with Nana until my bottle at 3:00 and my nap at 3:45.  I took a really good nap (until 5:45).  Dad came up to get me and we spent a few minutes hanging out in my room before coming downstairs.

At 6:15 I started dinner, which really didn’t go very well!  The only Dad could get me to eat any spinach was to promise me a bite of pineapple.  The prune juice hadn’t really had its desired effect yet, so I was pretty uncomfortable.  Mom got home and took over, but she didn’t have that much more luck (though she got me to eat my peaches, at least).  She and I played on the floor until 7:00, when we put my toys away, went upstairs for a bath, and then I went to sleep.

I woke up a bit later than usual today (perhaps because I slept a bit late last night) which was good for Dad (more sleep!), but sad because I didn’t get to see Mom before she left for work.  I hung out with Dad and he gave me my bottle before Nana took over around 7:15.  She made sure to give me the last of my bottle at around 7:40.

I still had a rough time with my digestive system, which is definitely frustrating Nana — I think it’s really hard for to see me crying!  I had a cube of apricot with my oatmeal and had a slightly more comfortable diaper after breakfast.

Dad went to a doctor’s appointment and then to a meeting most of the morning.  I spent most of my morning playing with my Brainy Baby Logic Box and  building a tower of blocks only to knock it right down.

I took a really good nap and then Dad fed me lunch while he ate his own, giving Nana a pretty nice break in the middle of the day.  He read on the internet that avocado was good for constipation — so he gave me half an avocado as my finger food!

Dad went back down to work and Nana and I went for a nice long walk to Wicker Park, reminding me of last fall when we used to go almost every day!  It took me a little longer to fall asleep in the afternoon, but I got a good hour of sleep.

I woke up in a terrible mood — one of the worst I can remember.  I cried and cried until Dad put me in my high chair and tried to feed me into a good mood.  We started with the other half of the avocado, which was great, but dinner went downhill from there.  My new food for today was spinach, which I didn’t like at all!  I kept  trying to spit it out, but Dad tricked me into eating it all.  To get back at him, I refused to eat the pureed carrots that I used to like.  I didn’t eat a single bite of it despite his trying every trick in the book.

By the time I finished eating it was just about 7:00 and Dad didn’t even put me down to play with my toys.  Instead, we went straight upstairs, put on my pajamas, read my book, and went to bed.