Okay, okay..some text!

As promised. So, let's see....

Ah, I had my first parent/ teacher conference with Alana's teacher 2 weeks ago. In spite of her stifling a giggle and saying "Alana...she's a piece of work!" (as her teachers typically do) she tells me Alana's doing amazingly well.... always well-behaved, happy and cooperative (so, um, a whole different kid at school!), playing nice with the other kids and coming along impressively well across the board. I filled her in a bit about her background, and (pregnant herself and terrified of delivering prematurely) she was now triply impressed with Alana's progress. Hey, what more can a proud mama ask??

Moving along to the NEXT week (last week, as of now), we've got a so-called comedy of errors. Monkey'd picked up a nasty cough. I pick her up at school on Tuesday to go to her eyedoctor appt, and her teacher and the nurse tell me her cough's gotten worse throughout the day. Poor little thing is hacking away, and off to the eyedoc we go. Being Alana, though, the cough hasn't stifled her clownish impulses. Halfway thru her eye exam she decides to jump out of her chair, giggling, and take off down the hall. The assistant chases after her while I talk with the doc, only to return with a screaming, bleeding little Monkey. Seems the assistant had caught up, Alana tripped over the assistant's shoe, and hit her forehead on the corner of the waiting room table. Yikes. We wipe it down as best we can, put a band-aid on her head, and say sayonara. Now I'm outside with a hacking, still-bleeding Monkey, who's also scheduled to get her H1N1 shot at a clinic the next day. I'm feeling a bit iffy about all this, so call her ped's office to see if we can get in, and apparently they can get us in to see our regular doc's fill-in.

The Monkey, clearly none too traumatized by the head injury from the eyedoc's office an hour before, pulls the same stunt while waiting at the ped's office, fortunately without injury. We see the doc, she tells us the cough seems like a garden variety cold/viral bug, just use the inhaler to prevent further problems. She says as long as there's no fever, she's ok to get her flu shot, so that's good. Then she asks if we'd like the shot right then, and I ask, a little surprised, if they have it. She says yes, so I say yes. Great...but then it turns out that we'd miscommunicated...I was thinking H1N1, she was thinking seasonal flu...and she'd already given Alana the shot. Sh*t! It takes weeks to get an appt for the H1N1 shots, and now my poor kid who's already hacking just got a regular flu shot. (Seriously, was it a day like this that originally prompted the term "comedy of errors"??). Anyhoo, long story that I'm putting you thru in real time, we were told it was still okay to go ahead with the H1N1 shot (since neither was a mist), we did, and the Monkey's head wound and cough are slowly on the mend.

Today her class went to the Big Apple Circus (yeah, I'm jealous!), and when she came home I asked if she saw animals at the circus. "Yes!". What kinds of animals? "Boys. Boys and dogs." From the mouths of babes, kids.

Oooh, post-placement visit tomorrow. 2 year mark, sort of. Should be fun!

Tricks n' Treats

I'll actually write stuff here when I get a minute, but ain't Halloween all about the pics anyway?

Kid-wise...

Okay, okay, it's been a few weeks since I've posted...and even in that time, Alana's had the audacity to be growing up right in front of me.

The kid who could never be trusted with a crayon - more than 10 seconds in her possession and the entire apt was her canvas - will now often sit and draw with crayons, markers, whatever, with only a few stray marks off the paper. She'll also show her work to me very proudly, hunt down magnets, and post it on the fridge "by aself". (She does many things "by aself").

She used to grab and fling books from my hand, and wouldn't sit for me to read her even the shortest books. Then she sometimes would. Suddenly, now "I reada to you, mommy. Sit", and she either repeats the words of books she knows, or tells me her own version based on the pictures.

Because she couldn't talk (so who knew how much she could even remember?) I never knew anything about what went on in her school. Now I realized I know the names of all 12 kids in her class only because she's mentioned them (along with her teacher, 2 assistants, speech therapist, PT, and OT!). She tells me who's out sick each day, and geez...I can only hope there's some lapse in accuracy. She also remembers short shopping lists for me (way better than I can, yikes!), and calls me out on it later if I forget something.

She loves counting things and can count to 20, if you don't mind a little cheating (she usually skips 14 and 15). She does up to about 5 or so in Spanish - maybe higher and I just don't know? And suddenly...Princesses! I have a Princesses Sing-a-Long dvd, which she'll totally zone out to, and she's been asking me for the names of all the Princesses, most of which she knows by now. Sometimes I hear her singing the songs later. (Singing is still pretty new, btw...and there's lots of it!)

She's still very much the happy little lunatic and champion of all things silly and funny, and now just has these added tools at her disposal. I actually get notes from her teacher saying how much fun she is in class.

Potty training, btw, is still a work in progress. She's batting nearly 1000 at school, which is awesome, but tends to have lapses at home. On the upside, after she pees in her "little potty", she sometimes goes on to disassemble her potty, dump the little bowl out in the big potty, rinse the little bowl in the sink, and then ask me to help her put it back together. Not too shabby. Or she might just run off. Whichever.

We still have daredevil stunts that freak me out, moments of admitted "not listening", some pissy moods, and some mutually frustrating experiences of her wanting to "do it aself" when it's something she can't yet, or shouldn't be, doing herself - usually as the school bus is about to arrive. There are times I give myself a time-out and explain that mommy needs to calm down (a better example than downing a Stoli, right?), and times I tell her she needs to behave before mommy's brain explodes out her ears. (A chirpy "Mommy happy?" right after a bout of defiance usually means she's ready to oblige).

Oh, if you're familiar with Shark Tales, Alana does a mean Will Smith-doing-Oscar the Fish "old schoooool!". And my "I love you's" are often echoed with a loud and clear "I love you too, mommy!", so that's kinda priceless.

Oh, and in our non-Tech world...

Tech %&$@

My Facebook account has been down for "site maintenance" since Saturday morning. Followed all steps and submitted all doo-dads they suggest...and still no Facebook. I even set up a professional page, using a different email addy in attempt to bypass this, but guess what? You can't request friends unless you've got a personal page!

General internet access, which has nada to do with Facebook, has been...iffy. Since Monday.

A friend says techie glitches tend to happen when Mercury is in retrograde, and that is currently isn't, so there goes one explanation.

So, to ask the only question left...wtf???

Look Who's Talking

So now that she's talking, what does she say? A few recent convo's:

- At dinner w. friends:

Me: Did you burp?

Monkey: Like a piggy! (we say that a lot - and she giggles)

Me: So what do you say?

Monkey: Oink!


- When I agreed we could go buy 'doodleberries', a made-up word from Wow Wow Wubbzy:

Me: (helping her on with her shoes) You'll have to pick which kind of doodleberries...there are raspberry doodleberries and strawb....

Monkey: WOOKA me, mommy! (holds my face tightly in both hands and stares at me) DOODLEBEWWIES!


- And my personal fave, when I dared ask her a question while she was trying to figure out the air conditioner...

Monkey: No talka a me, mommy, I busy. I free and a half, and I busy.

Shana Tovah!

It means Happy New Year, folks, so whether you're Jewish or not, here's to ya!

In other news, I've been hearing "No Monkey...I Alana!". Oh noooooo!
And so far, the glasses have been (gasp!) staying on.

Bloggin' for Keeps

Funny, I was at a party on Sunday afternoon (good chance you were there, too!), where a few of us talked about how easy Facebook makes it to slack on blogging. We put our pithy two cents out there and get instant feedback and interaction, not much thought required. No question it's easy and addictive, and I have no intention of 12-stepping myself off it anytime soon... but it's not a keepsake for the Monkey about her early years, and it's not a diary for me to express myself or organize thoughts or tell any stories in detail. So, with that footnote as the header, on with the blog.

Okay, well, I have no thoughts to organize or stories to tell in detail. :-)

Howzabout a general Monkey update, since things are moving...

- First off, I just love that while she can still be very defiant, yadda yadda, there are now so many things we can resolve using words and brief discussions. And she's always been a clown, but now has words and singing added to her repertoire, which means she can be a total pisser to hang with.
- Potty training is coming along. We had our first fully dry day yesterday, which gets a big woo-hoo! (Nite time doesn't count...we're still in Pull-Ups for that). Pooping in the potty is still a messy little challenge.
- The crib-bed transition is getting smoother. She still likes to goof around, but for the most part is fine with going to sleep in her Dora bed. She was asking for her crib back for a while (which woulda' been easy, since this is just that with one side popped off), but now she likes that I can sit on the bed and cuddle with her.
- She "WUV's" school! And I love that now she can tell me bits about what she does during the day, and sing parts of songs she learns. It's ridiculously cute. I also love the 6 hours I get to myself M-F. I don't love her bus driver, but that's for another time.
- Gymnastics class started this past weekend. She's taking it with her BFF Ashley down at Chelsea Piers, and loved the first day. How could she NOT!
- The Blessing that is Lia had her fourth BDay party - first one with her new, wonderful forever family - and we conquered a zillion transportation obstacles to get there. The Monkey ignored my tantrums and behaved like a little lady. And it was worth it! (Monkey got her face painted like a "buddy-fwy!" and couldn't stop talking about it - see pic!)
- Glasses! I'll leave off with this because we just picked them up last nite, and today's her first day at school with them. Oy...we'll see how it goes!

Potty Talk

Yesterday, the Monkey sits on her potty, gets up and yells "Mommy, wook... a wittle tiny bit of poop!"...and yep, that's exactly what was in there. About 20 mins later I hear, from a naked Alana, "Mommy, mommy....wook, a BIG poop in the kitchen!" Oy.

5:30am this morning, her: "Mommy, mommm-my...I in the kitchen! I peed", looking sheepish. Me, scraping myself out of bed to go deal with it, "that's ok, sweetie, you have your Pull-Ups on!". Her, looking down: "Ohhh! Silly", giggling.

I'm sure there'll be more! Meanwhile, anyone have a clue why or HOW my hyper little munchkin hasn't been sleeping?? Won't nap, bounces around her room long after I've tucked her in, and these new delightful 5am wake-ups...help! She's active as ever during the day, even if she does look zombie-like half the time and frequently tells me she's tired...but then revs herself right up again. She starts school in 2 days and I've GOTTA have her rested! Shhhh...she's actually out cold on the couch right now.

Mouths of babes

While out walking the pup tonite:

Monkey: I'm Alana (our last name), you Mommy Susan, I free and a half
Me: Yes, that's right
Monkey: You free and a half too, mommy?
Me: No, I'm a little older than that, sweetie
Monkey: I sorry, mommy (stroking my arm)

Meanwhile, there's a reason I call her the Monkey. Oy!

Speaking of development

Wow, these last few days have been really pretty dramatic, in the good ways. (Something tells me more tantrums must be on the way??)

Potty:
We left off with that one full-fledged, but isolated potty pee several nites ago. Isolated until 2 nites ago, when the Monkey decided to pee in the potty again, and got VERY excited by the fanfare, fishy sticker and m&ms that we used to celebrate her accomplishment. I've used these same gimmicks before, mind you, and...nuthin'. It's been crystal clear for a long time that any attempts to potty train this defiant little person before she was damned good and ready was gonna be a very messy and probably fruitless process. In any case, she was so excited that we got a repeat performance again before bedtime, 3 more in the morning, a break for a full-day playdate with her boyfriend Dylan which she spent in Pull-Ups....and then innumerable successful pees in the potty once we got home. The roll continued this morning. Woo-hoo! A few mysteries remain about this. 1. The obvious, what made her decide to do it now? 2. How on earth did she manufacture ALL THAT PEE last nite for so many rapid repeat performances?? 3. She's been running around the apt naked these past 2 days with no accidents. Did her bladder suddenly learn a new trick? Has she been secretly practicing control in her Pull-Ups and decided she was ready to unveil this trick to the world? In any case, this is still very new, it doesn't yet include poops, and we'll see how it goes.....

Speech/Language:
Yes, still behind age level, but very much rolling along.

Transparency:
This was the thing that blew me away. Naturally, as her speech has been picking up, I've been getting glimpses into how much she actually knows and understands that I had no way to know before. All standard learning stuff...numbers, memory of what happens on TV shows, people's names, yadda yadda. Last nite, after I tucked her in to her new big-girl bed (oh right, we'll get to that!), she came back out talking incessantly about how Dylan hit her and it's never ever okay and she got ouchie ouchie and it's not okay and I'm mad! She went on an on and it was totally freakin' cute so we called Dylan's mom and Alana read her the riot act over the phone (Alana and Dylan totally love each other but they each have their less than angelic moments!). I put her back to bed, and over and over she'd come back out still going on about this, but adding new bits about the day - including that she took Dylan's flower pot (watering can) and "broke it but I didn't mean to"...and something about getting in trouble and on and on and on.... OMG, what's going on in this tiny little person's head! She was so sweet, and so obsessive, re-living every little detail of the very full day, over and over again, and probably doubly excited that she has the ability to actually tell me about it. With all the information about sensory-seekers and how they have a hard time calming their bodies for sleep, here was the epiphany that, like lots of us grown-ups, she couldn't calm her mind down for sleep! Part of me wanted to just yell "stay in bed already!", and part of me was totally fascinated and couldn't stop watching and listening to her and wanting to just wrap her up in a giant hug and tell her she's way too young to stress so much! So I told her it was all ok and did a little o' both. :-)


Big-girl bed:
Converted her crib into a toddler bed, and put on the little guard rails. Then...the bright pink, large, bold (read: cheesy) Dora bedding! She loves it, but between the fun bedding and the obvious freedom she's had a hard time staying in it. No surprise there. If it were up to me I'd never have done a bed transition and potty training in the same week but it wasn't up to me. I transitioned the bed on Friday, and the potty thing's been all her idea.

Her BFF Ashley comes back from a 2 week vacation today, camp ends Friday which leaves us a about 10 totally unscheduled days til school starts (yikes!) and we'll see how it all goes...

Jumpin' (and dodgin') the Gun

Remember about a month back I cringed that the Monkey was re-entering a crazed-tantrum-producing 'developmental surge' phase? Ahhhh...false alarm. The tantrums didn't continue, and recently in fact, as in this past weekend, the Monkey and I spent 3 surprisingly fun, silly, agreeable days together - both sick, no less!

Of course, NOW.........!!!!!! 3rd spontaneous nuclear tantrum in a day and half. Ear-splitting screams, object-hurling, room-trashing, head-smashing, biting, hitting....rages on for a virtual eternity. Good times. On the flip side, rounding out this 'developmental' thing, we just celebrated her first real, full-fledged, pee-in-the-potty.

Oy. It's already dizzying around here.

Just 2 years?!

Yup, it's 2 years to the day since I first met that tiny, pale, friendly little girl in the funny blue dress. Easy to remember b/c it's also her half birthday. Feels like forever ago! That also means that 2 years ago yesterday I hadn't even met her yet, and that just seems crazy.

We've sure come a long, loooooong, way! Love you, Monkey. :-)

Doggie frustration

For an incredibly sweet, 14-yo beagle, you'd think Cassie would be a calm, mushy, and sedate lovable furry friend, right? Most of the time that's exactly what she is. Tolerant to the point of saintly with the mischievous and overzealous little Monkey! Of course, she also happens to have Cushings Disease, which, long and complicated story short, means she produces excess cortisol, that "stress hormone" you hear about on late-nite infomercials. Yep, the stuff that leads to excess belly fat, etc.

She's on meds for it, but lately the meds don't seem enough. As each twice-daily dose starts to wear off, she's a beagle on a wicked adrenaline rush... drinking and peeing like crazy, ravenously hungry, panting, twirling, jumping, and barking. The dog who used to love to sleep in now wakes me, and sometimes the Monkey, with this whole rigamarole at 6:30am daily. She gets her meds a short while later, with breakfast, and by 5:30 pm or so is back to the same, going especially nuts at dinnertime, which is when she gets her next dose.

Naturally, a call to the vet and some blood work was in order....let's up the meds and get those levels back to normal! Well, good news/bad news, all her blood work came back healthy and normal, which is great, and yes, in a perverse way that's also the bad news, because now we're reluctant to up her meds - too little cortisol could damage her kidneys.

Much as I love that my biggest problem with her at this age is getting her to stop jumping and calm down, this whole out o' control cranked-up business is making me nuts, and the barking that's part and parcel has to be making the neighbors nuts, too. (Remember, apartment living here!). I know it's not her fault, and I feel terrible yelling at her as much as I do. I'm trying to re-time when I give the meds, but there just doesn't seem to be a better way to do it.

HELP!!! Anyone else have a doggie w/Cushings, and any tips for management? Our vet is very empathetic but just seems out of ideas, too, other than trying to re-time the meds.

Mama's Nite Out

We did it. My li'l Monkey and I spent a whole nite in separate places, each partying it up in our own ways.

For me, it meant an Amtrak ride to Philly and then a drive out to Phoenixville, for a party celebrating my friend Erin Riley's combo of (hard to believe!) 50th BDay, and the opening of her tres cool facility, Rock & Roll After School. (If you live in the Philly area and have a kid between 8-18, you've gotta check it out!). The place is amazing, the party was full of interesting peeps and impromptu musical performances, and I got to kick off the GAP clothes and Fit Flops that are practically stapled to me these days and slither into my impulse purchase from earlier in the day. Once back with the crew at Chez Riley, I couldn't quite hang with the big kids - I wussed out and called it a nite at 4am - so I still got a smidge of sleep and some yummy pancakes before heading back up to the Big Apple the next day.

For the Monkey, it was a slumber party with Ashley and her folks. In spite of expecting that I'd come back to find the kids trashing the place, and the grown-ups cowering over a bottle of vodka in the corner, trembling, it seems they went on fun little excursions, baked cookies, and all had a good ol' time. Oh, and when I showed up on Sunday and asked if she was ready to come home, the Monkey put on her thinking face, and said "ummmm....nope!". (Thanks, Shellie, thanks, Devin!)

Ugggh...THIS again?

Remember those crazy tantrums the Monkey was throwing several momths back? The insane ones with kicking, biting, screaming, head banging, etc? The ones that accompany "developmental surges" according to our dear author of "the Spirited Child?"

They're baa-aack. Right, apparently, on schedule.

There's GOTTA be a bottle of Pinot around here someplace....

Monkey n' Me (plus pics!)

Bad blogger, bad blogger! (ouch!) :-)

Yes, it's easy to get lazy, especially when there are lots of little day-to-day things going on, every one of which you plan to blog about, yet nothing particularly dramatic. It's just hard to get it together to compose something coherent. Case in point! But, the day-to-day is just as important, isn't it?

Since Monkey's started pre-school she's had to bid au dieu to her EI folks, which is a shame, but they're all local enough that we do expect to continue seeing their welcome faces from time to time. She's turned into a little speed demon on her scooter, really amazing me with her coordination and focus (yes, focus!) on the thing. She zips around the lobby, the playground, the neighborhood, and I often hear "wheee!" as she zips by me in the apartment, grinning and naked. She's mastered sliding down the pole in the playground - yes, even the one she has to lean into off a 6 ft. high platform - and I figure in this economy it's good to have a kid who can learn to pole-dance. She constantly asks to go swimming or to the beach, and while our access to both is limited, we've made it out to "Choe beach!" (Chloe's beach) a few times, as well as my cousin's fantabulous swimming pool. I'm told she's a happy little ball of energy at preschool, and naturally every couple of days she comes off the bus sporting a new Band-aid and packing a note from the nurse. In my proud mommy-coup, she'd been complaining "no bus!" a few mornings in a row, and not wanting to go to school. After her teacher and the principal assured me she's always happy and bouncy there, never asking for mommy or to go home, I had the eureka! - maybe she's just bored on the bus?? So I asked if she wanted to take a book on the bus with her, she said "Sure, mommy!" and now she's fine. (Bonus: "Potty book!"). She also likes to march around, clownishly, singing loudly and proudly. It's hilarious. The scary thing? She comes home after an 8:15am - 2:15pm school day, nap-free, cranked up something fierce and ready to rock the rest of the day. And she's not even 3 1/2. Yikes!

Meanwhile, having her in school is a beautiful thing for us both. I get some MUCH needed "me" time, can clean, shop (woo-hoo!) and also get myself back into the multiple grooves of coaching. I also have time to 'trol thru eHarmony, yadda yadda, although... ugggh. Hey, a girl's gotta try!

Check back later...I'll add kiddie pics! (Here ya go...as promised)

Big Kid School!

Yep, the Monkey's started pre-school summer session, and when asked if she likes it, excitedly responds, "I WUV it!!". That's awesome. Especially awesome since it's a long day, most of the kids in her class are boys, and most seem much bigger (some have turned 4). And she looks so darned cute boarding the little yellow school bus under her seemingly enormous ladybug backpack.

Now, does she come home exhausted? Yes. Really exhausted? Yes. So exhausted that she gets really obnoxious, throws things, and screams a lot? Yes. Will she nap? No.

Oy!

Okay, I"ll Start...

I've been thinking, since pretty much all parents discover their own tricks and tips along the way, why not get crazy and share some of them? Hell, pretty much anyone can occasionally use some help dealing with a munchkin.

Sooo...a few of my fave, if slightly lesser known, products and tips:

1. The coolest discovery, especially since I double as a gadget geek. Featured in the Duracell commercial...the Brickhouse Security Child Locator. If the munchkin in question is "a runner", is on the spectrum, or hell, pretty much any kid can disappear in a second at the beach, in a museum, amusement park, street fair, etc. Between its wander alert and its locate function, not to mention that the wristbands make the tags virtually waterproof, this thing rocks.

2. Bibsters! Pampers makes these cute little disposable bibs, great for restaurants, dinner w/friends, ice cream in the stroller...Bibsters. I'm tellin' ya.

3. Ahh, the crib tent. It certainly wasn't a surprise when the Monkey started hopping out of her crib - it was the moment I'd dreaded for months. I blogged about it, and tried following the advice of calmly, without eye contact, returning her to her crib until she gets bored and stops. It took about a day to realize that the only thing returning her to her crib accomplished was giving her more practice hopping out. No exaggeration, it got to where I'd put her in, turn around, and she'd literally follow me right out the room with a big ol' grin. Then there are those intermittent nuclear tantrums, the crazy ones where she'll trash the place if I just let her rage. Did I mention, the crib tent!

4. Empty yogurt and applesauce containers, or any containers in a variety of shapes and sizes. No added purchase required! Kid getting ansty? Cranky? Need a rainy day activity? Fill - or half fill - a couple of containers with water. Fill others with whatever ya got lying around...dry rice, shaving cream, dry beans, whatever. Put them in a big tray, even a high chair tray, and ...voila! A sensory activity table. (2's and 3's LOVE pouring water!)

5. Hand puppets, minus the puppets. Yep, your very own mitts. They can be all sorts of characters, they can talk to your kid, to each other, they can kiss, yell, run away...and they're always, um, handy. Seriously, think your kid's too smart to go for it? Try!

Most of my other faves are specific to sensory junkies like the Monkey, and I'd be happy to talk to anyone about ideas there. Now....I need more tips, too!!!! So how 'bout, if you've read this, consider yourself tagged! If you have a blog, you can certainly post your tips there, and/or, post 'em right here as a comment. We're waiting!

Call me crazy...

I get a kick out of the fact that my Russian-American daughter - speech-delayed, no less - loves to thank me in Chinese. It's all about Kai-Lan these days!

Pre-School's a Go!

Yep, got approval just in time for the Monkey to start pre-school with the summer session, right after July 4th Weekend. Yay! Of course we'll have to see how the reality matches up with my current impression, but it seems like a great place for her. They boast an active program, she'll get her speech therapy there, she was happy as a clam ricocheting around the place during our tour, and they adored her. They're also located right near the park, and I'm told they do lots of little trips there during the summer. So last nite I went on Amazon.com, Monkey on my lap, and picked out a backpack and lunch bag.
If you must know, Monkey opted for the ladybug motiff.

"I Woke Last Nite to the Sound of Thunder..."

It was kind of a big deal in the tri-state area overnite. Insanely loud, crashing, hi-rise rattling thunderstorms that hinted none too subtly at the apocolypse. And yet, I find out that the Monkey was not the only child to have, well, slept like a baby. Amazing.

And after my spending half the night wide awake, periodically blinded by flashes of lightning and clinging to the ceiling fixture (kind of a fun visual, since I had my ceiling fan on), the Monkey woke me up entirely too early and ready to rock. Zzzzzz....

Anyway, pre-school plans are now taking center stage here. Wish us luck, the principal of the school I most wanted for Alana has a meeting with our school district administrator next Tuesday, to try and get approval for Alana to start this July, in their summer session. It's considered special ed, due to her speech delay, so paperwork is currently being gathered and copied, and fingers are crossed. It would probably mean an end to our E.I. services, which is a big shame to say goodbye to, but the pluses are too big to ignore. Mon -Fri, 8:30am - 2pm, in the neighborhood, with door-to-door bussing. This means a whole new opp for Mommy here to focus on her own thing, her coaching career, and to actually have time slots available to new clients. Oh, and there's a really nifty rooftop playground.

Otherwise, things are always nutty and interesting but nothing distinctly blog-worthy. "Monkey Island!", "puddle-jumping", and "aww. SOME!" are commonly heard around here.

Last but not least, hugest congratulations to my friend who has seriously put her heart and soul into an amazingly long and arduous adoption journey (an over-used phrase, but it truly applies here!), and is at this very moment canoodling on the other side of the world with her - officially signed-and-stamped - beautiful, delicious daughter. In what appears to be a coincidence, Alana is now absolutely obsessed with Noggin's "Ni Hao Kai-Lan", so when this new little munchkin arrives in the States, there'll be a three-year-old Chinese-speaking Russia-American Monkey waiting to greet her.

For Kate....

...and everyone else who was getting icked out by the hand shots.

It's all in eye of the beholder, but sure, let's post some new stuff!

Not for the Squeamish

I'm just happy to note the dramatic improvement in the Monkey's hand from last Saturday - 2 full days after the elevator incident - to this Saturday. She seems to have full use - coloring, climbing, using a spoon, tossing toys indescriminately, etc. She's also been a bit clingier, and mentions the accident every time we wait for the elevator, which may be a good thing. It's just hard to see the poor, tough little thing actually tramautized. Again, though, can't say I blame her...I sure was!

Fingers and Elevator Doors Don't Mix Well

So, this past Thursday I was about to meet up with Alana's BFF Ashley's mom, to head off to a taping of The View. I left my apt and was waiting for the elevator with the li'l Monkey, when she happened to put her hand on the elevator door...just as it started to slide open, behind the stationary door. There's not much of a gap between the two - much less than an inch - but apparently just enough for a little hand to get wedged in and sucked in further as the door slides open. Turns out, not enough to get out quite as easily. I had to pull my poor, screaming little one's hand out as it was getting wedged in, and in additon to some scraped-up knuckles, the skin of her palm was pretty much ripped clear off. (Well, not fully off...it was still hanging on by one side!). It took a minute to figure out exactly what the injury was and wasn't, and ugggh, it looked every bit as nasty as it sounds (and yes...I was freaking until it occured to me that my looking terrified probably wasn't helping her very much, and that maybe calm and reassuring was a better way to go!). The pain had to be absolutely excruciating. Alana's got a freakishly high pain threshold, and the poor thing was screaming for about an hour...back into our apt, while I tended to the injury (ran under cold water, iced, Neosporin-ed, wrapped in gauze...and called the doctor!), on the way to the doctor, and in the waiting room. Screaming. A lot. Sure as heck couldn't blame her.

Anyway, the good news is it seems to be healing, and once she'd had her first dose of Motrin, followed by a BIG cup of chocolate ice cream from Shake Shak, the pain and screaming let up dramatically. I skipped The View that day, but we kept our intended playdate with Ashley, and the Monkey's been quite the sport. Of course, while she has yet to put together a full sentence about the event, the usually uber-bubbly Alana will still hold up her bandaged hand and, with a forlorn look, say "doors"... "hurt"... "I scared"... "I sorry". I've spoken with my building's managment company, and supposedly they're looking into putting safety guards on the doors to protect the oodles of other little kiddies in the building from this sort of thing.

On another note, we had a terrific time on a beautiful Mother's Day out at Mickel's family's place, where the Monkey was up to her usual gymnastics, gardening, and flirtin' with the boys. A belated very Happy Mother's Day to all, and I'll post more pics here soon!!!

"..and MORE!"

Saying mutual "I love you's" strikes me as a sweet if pretty typical part of most kids' bedtime routines. When you're a mom by adoption, though (hey, I kinda like that - "mom by adoption!"), and your little one has a speech delay, well...you're much more likely to blog about it.

During tuck-in, I've always told the Monkey I love her, and then launch into a whole deal starting with a teeny hand gesture, "Do I love you this much? Nooo...", then move my hands further apart, "This much? Noo..."... and we continue til my arms are wide open and I answer my own question with "yes...and more!". Lately, she's happily taken to answering the questions herself, which is great. Tonite, after we finished, she added, "mommy, mommy, mommy... I love YOU!". Awww! (She may or may not have said it before, but it was never clear enough to be sure!). I started the gesture game, tweaking the questions appropriately, finishing with, "Do you love me thiiiiiiiiiis much?", and the little Monkey excitedly answering, "Yes...and MORE!!!"

So I forgave a ton of crap from during the day. :-)

Speaking of during the day, we dropped by at a block party where the Monkey totally rocked one of those jumbo, inflated obstacle course thingies...a HUGE one, that included an at-least-8-foot-high climbing wall...yikes!!!

Congratulations!

Just a shout-out to someone who got some very, very good news after a very, very long time!!! :-D

Nite, Nite Moon

As I think I've mentioned, the Monkey's speech has really been rolling along recently - yep, floodgates time! - after a very long stretch with only minimal progress. So while it's still behind age level, now we're not just labelling a few objects, but starting to express more ideas. Such as....

The other nite, after we got in from walking Cassie, the Monkey headed straight to her backpack. Why? To get a ladder, silly. Why did she want a ladder? To get the moon down from the sky, so she could give it a hug!

This was a convo that started mid-dogwalk when she noticed the moon, got very excited, and decided she wanted to take it down. Resourceful little Monkey that she is, the strategy was immediately clear - climb up on a ladder, that she can get from her backpack. And the ladder idea comes from no lack of spatial sense....on her fave show, Wow Wow Wubbzy, there's an episode where someone takes a tiny ladder, waters it, and it shoots way up to become oodles more functional. Anyhoo, our very lively and somewhat repetitive conversation entertained lots of outdoor diners en route, and when we came in, though I feared things could turn pretty darned ugly if I refused to let her go back outside onto the busy streets with our utility ladder, she was actually intrigued with the moon photos I instantly accessed online.

Can't wait to see what happens tonite.

Ah, Share the Moment With Me

So there I was, watching the Monkey and her BFF Ashley for a few hours tonite.
2 mins after her folks leave, Ashley (naturally) announces "poopie!". So we head to my room, and as we're all walking - Alana's a rabid spectator of diaper-changing events - Alana, who tends to conceal her own accomplishments, announces "poop", too. I check, there's our favorite trio of zip, zilch, nada, so we all partake in changing Ash. Mission now accomplished, Alana's persistent with her "poop" claim, so what the heck, I begin changing her, too. Mid-Alana-change, I hear Ashley saying "ouchie, ouchie!", and look over to see she's getting her hair sucked into the propeller of a battery-op airplane. Yikes...I did that plenty as a kid, and ya gotta act fast! I turn it off, and try to twist out as much of the poor strand as possible, but realize we're gonna have to surgically remove the plane. Of course, her mom's gonna LOVE the hair snip. (Oopsie 'bout that, Shell!). Anyhoo, I walk Ashley out of the room, holding onto both her and the airplane that's still attached by a strand of long, shiny dark hair, and we find a scissor to do the dirty deed. Whew...it's done. "Poop!" I hear the Monkey say - and I largely ignore - till I see a big ol' chunk o' poopie on the floor, right in front of my foot! I look to the dog, but then notice from a glance towards the bottom of her T-shirt that Alana's running around bare-a$$ed, and there's the Pull-Up still laying on the bed, looking clean and freshly removed....Ugggggggggh!!! Now...(tune out here if you're squeamish, kids!), I've gotta block the dog with my leg, because she's headed straight towards what she'd consider a tasty little morsel...I'm still holding the airplane...trying to avoid stepping in kiddie poop, and also trying to get a look at Alana's butt to see if anything's still, umm, 'going on'! Oh, and I'm trying to hold BFF Ashley back, because clearly there's a hullabaloo, and who'd wanna miss out?? Anyhoo, I twisted, juggled, and did what I had to do...and as is typical of the insane, virtually laughed my a$$ off.

Seriously, though...isn't it written somewhere that Thursday nites are for canoodling with inappropriate boys, and 2-for-1 Stoli-O's?

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's off to Pre-Schools We Go

The li'l Monkey's speech has really been picking up these past 2-3 days, but nonetheless we're off to audit pre-school classes for September thru the CPSE program so she can best play speech/ languague catch-up. So, we're off to one school today, then a couple more in the next few weeks. Should be interesting!

Riddle me this

So, about the Madonna thing...

We know by now that the judge denied her adoption petition due to residency laws, and fear of "opening doors to child trafficking" if they're violated. But my question is, residency laws aside, does anyone know why this little girl is even eligible for adoption? I haven't seen any article yet which makes this clear. Apparently the girl's mom had died after giving birth, and the girl is currently living in the orphanage. But protesters, who early on included the girl's uncle, say the girl will be better off raised by her own family. So if this is an option, and she's in the orphanage temporarily because her family can't provide for her at the moment, why on Earth would she be available for adoption in the first place? I don't want to rush to judgement here, because I admittedly don't know what the deal is, but if that's it, then isn't that kind of like taking someone's wallet because they put it down for a second?? And haven't we already seen this same country allow Madonna to skip out, carrying a small child as his father screams, "Hey, I didn't mean she could KEEP him!" ?? I'm not familiar with the adoption laws of that many countries, but anyone who's dealt with Russia or China knows that there's no internat'l adoption situation in the first place unless the birth family's rights have been legally terminated or they've signed off every step of the way, as in the case of Russia; or they've completely and usually anonymously abandoned the child, in the case of China. So I'm wondering what the story is on that end, since - color me silly! - but taking kids from families who want them kinda seems way more relevant than residency laws.

Moving right along...

Okay, okay....I've been a lame blogger!

I've been sidelined the past couple of days with a nasty strep throat, so head's still a little fuzzy and throat's still a bit scratchy. Thank goodness the Monkey, who threw a few more seriously disturbing tantrums after my last post about it, went tantrum-free and made these days far easier than she might have. Of course, I can't say she didn't test and milk mom's inability to yell, but what kid wouldn't?

In a total non-sequiter (hey, it's my blog), two things that just leave me dumbfounded these days: Men, and Madonna. Men, because in my limited current experiences one would hope that I'd be dodging the creepy and bizarre, but nooooo; and Madonna because this crazy woman is somehow essentially kidnapping kids from Mulawi, and calling it adoption. And they're letting her do it because she's a big contributor. Sooo....blackmail? Wtf??? C'mon, you know you're thinkng it, too.

Anyway, right now it's 10:15pm and the little one's still awake in her crib, after cleverly creating multiple crises that only mommy could resolve, but in the morning it'll be her first day back at school after a 2 week vacay, and I'm quite delighted. It's only two hours, but it's time I have for me, and besides, that's my time to clean. Trust me, the 2 week vacay has taken its toll on this poor place.

Here's a pic of the Monkey this weekend. Sure, I know lots of kids love trying on Mommy's high heels, but actually being comfy in them struck me as distinctly Russian.

Trifecta of Justice

Bernie Madoff (finally!) sent straight to the slammer.
Howard Stern (Anna Nicole's creep) (finally!) arrested. Ok, he's out on bail, but still...
Casey Anthony's wild post-Caylee-disappearance party pics released...and they're pretty damning. Redundant, with the already overwhelming evidence, but damning.

Lots more could be said about each, but at the very least...yes...yes...yes!

Tantrums, Tantrums

Holy cow, I've been a delinquent little blogger. No real reason, just a lot of nuttiness going on, and yet nothing really to blog about.

About myself, I'm once again making an effort to get my A-S-S out and into grown-up social scenes, such as they may be. The guy scene is, ooh, let's say less-than-inspiring out there, but I went out with the girls to see a friend's band play on Saturday nite, and that's always a fun nite out. Gotta do more!

Now, back to...oh yes, tantrums. Lots. L-L-L-loud. Long. Looney-freakin'-tunes. Sunday alone had this mama teetering on the edge, guzzling 2 Mike's Hard ones back-to-back just for a smidge of sanity. (Why DO I let myself run out of wine? Note to self: buy some). Sure....just ignore 'em. Easier said than done, though, when they're a) in public and she'll run into the street in a rage if I let her, and/or b) involve her new little head-banging trick, not to mention hurling hard objects at the dog.

Flip side, of course, her speech/language is coming along at a nice clip, and she's had a growth spurt...all her old pants are suddenly flood-length. She also switches out of tantrum mode in a nano-second, right back into funny, silly, huggy-kissy cute little Monkey mode - and she's positively awesome when she's there. I'm trying - TRYING - to do a better job of anticipating tantrum triggers and launching preemptive strikes. Some of these strikes involve chocolate pudding.

I've picked up both Raising Your Spirited Child, and Raising the Sensory Smart Child, and I highly recommend both. The Spirited Child totally validated my theory about what's going on with the Monkey. In its section on "developmental surges", it says to expect trouble around kiddies' birthdays and half-birthdays, when their old way of thinking and processing essentially breaks down and rebuilds in a more complex way... and that during this process all sorts of behavioral havoc is wreaked. I think that's nail on the head here.

Anyhoo, between rages we had an awesome time at a big blowout kiddie birthday party on Sunday, and so far (did I mention, "so far") we've been having an entertaining, tantrum-free day and a half. Whew!~.

'Funnest' BDay Celebration Ever?

Thanks to the awesome crew at NY Kids Club and a rockin' bunch of kiddies, the Monkey's "Jump 'n Jive" party was a hit. And in fact, the festivities pretty much went on all day - a lot of it mimosa and vino-fueled for the grown-ups - and didn't truly end til early this morning, since Chloe and her mama Laurie stayed over for a slumber party, including a late-nite ice cream outing. Lots of pics to go thru - mostly sucky shots, of course, thanks to the dang digital delay - but thought I'd start with these, and a video from the impromptu after-party. (Crap, I wish I had this many cute boys at MY parties!!).

Meanwhile, she's suddenly talking in short sentences, I'm more 'mommy' instead of 'mama', and thank goodness, at least for now, her 3-day head-spinning manic streak of last week is gone. Yep... at least for now....

Guess Who's Turning 3!

Happy Birthday, little Monkey!!! (Okay, it's really tomorrow, the 12th, but whatever)

It's so bizarre that the 'baby' I've had for less than 14 months can be turning 3, but so it goes. I've been telling her the past few days that this is her last chance to act like a 2-year-old with impunity (how do you tell a 2-year-old to stop acting like one, right?), so to go for it! And she has. Oy. Mostly it's the stunts. The manic tears she goes on, all cranked up and creating crazy safety hazards where none exist to your average nutty kid.

That's just with me, though. People who've watched her without me around have all been reporting a mellower, better-behaved, more focused Alana, so go figure. In any case, my beautiful, lovable, mushy-gushy little munchkin is turning 3, and that already makes me feel like she's growing up too fast.

Btw, bonus points to readers who can remember 2 little trivia tidbits about her birthdate, both mentioned previously in this blog. Tick...tock....tick....tock....

Okay then! 1. It was her birthdate (2/12) and birth weight (2lbs, 12 oz.) both read as "212", which convinced me she was destined to be a New York City girl during some of the adoption process glitches, and 2. she shares a birthday with her often-alleged look-alike, Christina Ricci. In any case, you can all relax. I ain't gonna sing.

Monkey bits (updated!)

I know, I know...I've been a lazy-ass blogger. No reason, just nothing much to post.

So... with her 3rd birthday around the corner, I'm thinking I should write down some of Alana's charming little quirks, and again...if I write 'em on paper, I'll never find it, so why not here? I'll just keep on adding 'em...

Recent stuff:
1. 1001 ways to say "no": matter-of-fact "no"; slow "noooo"; low growly "nuuuuu"; my personal faves, in a tie, "no WAY!" and "I NOT!"
2. Kissing goodnite thru her mesh crib tent
3. Kissing goodnite thru her mesh crib tent, working our way thru each slat in the crib
4. Cassie is the "Woo", because beagles say "ah-woooo!". Every nite the Monkey leans out of her crib and says "Nite nite, Woo!". And she always tells me when "mama, mama...Woo need help!"
5. She hugs and kisses me after time-outs...and pushes her time-out chair back to the table
6. She's surprisingly good about sharing toys with other kids, and giving things back.
7. She's surprisingly bad about taking MY things, and grinning, "no, no, no!" when I try to get them back.
8. The daredevil stunts. Oh, the hair-raising monkey-on-crack daredevil stunts....
9. Bouncy piggyback rides.
10. She loves running up to people she likes and planting a smooch on their leg. Umm...she's getting too tall to still do this.
11. She thinks it's funny to lick my face. She's like a little puppy.
12. She likes her friends, but she likes their daddies more.
13. Monsters, Inc. was running in our DVD player 24/7 for the past 10 days. She LOVES this movie. Any time it was off, or we did anything else, I'd hear "moo-ie, moo-ie!". She's been doing monster roars and shouting "boo!" a LOT.
14. Tonite I finally replaced it with Horton Hears a Who. Now a tiny, noisy elephant is running around the apartment.
*15. Kissy-crosses. Very continental, and then some. I have no idea where she got this from:

16. She likes when I sing her to sleep with Mockingbird, even though I'm tone deaf to the 'nth' degree. (I make up the last few verses, and start over again...and again)
17. If it kisses or eats, it's hilarious.

Wackadoodle Stunt #3427

Note to Ann Marie: No, silly, that didn't make me proud. THIS kinda did, though! (the top of the cubby case is about 6 ft high!)

A clock by any other name...

One day last week, I came in from walking the furry kid while Alana was in the apt with her EI therapist, Nicole. Nicole was trying to get Alana to show me which little picture she'd been working on matching on a little board they use. Apparently, the Monkey'd become fixated on the pic and excitedly repeating her new word, "Clock". Except, Alana can't really say her "L's" yet. (take a second...). Nicole had been busting a gut waiting for me to come back and hear this!

Anyway, that's the same day we ended up in the emergency room. Suffice it to say there was a clock on the waiting room wall.

Yikes. :-)~

Meanwhile, with all the snow we've been getting, sledding is our new fave activity. Sometimes just us, or, like yesterday, with boyfriend Dylan and BFF Ashley all in the same sled. Cool by me...I luvvvv sledding!

Deja vu, all over again!

So one night last year, right around this time, the Monkey and I found ourselves headed to the emergency room shortly after dinner because of an eye injury. (Yes the great spork incident of '08). Tonite....guess what! Yep. New York Presbyterian again (they have a cool kiddie waiting room), with cuts around her left eye, somehow sustained in a scuffle when she slipped and fell on the dog. There wasn't much bleeding, but enough screaming, some swelling, and eye proximity to make me bundle us both up and head out. The good news is the cuts seem largely superficial, and also that the consensus is it doesn't look like a bite...much more likely paw-inflicted. Anyway, there was an awful lot of screaming and thrashing when they had to clean out the cuts, a brief debate over 'to stitch or not to stitch' (we didn't), and they loaded her up w/antibiotics.

The first hour we were there I was all proud of both of us, me being better prepared with some cool occupy toys, and her handling the waiting room situation much better. Then....the rest was a replay of last year with her running off, every which way (okay, mostly to the fish tank, but once to the main exit, and several times into other patients cubes!) at every opportunity...which was virtually constant. Ugggggh! Pretty much everyone, including me, was pretty sure she'd need to be treated for more than just the one injury before we were done. The nurses thought she was adorable, some were convinced she's really a boy, and they all felt sorry for me by the end of nite, underneath their giggles. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna check for messages on the cell that I dropped in the cab on the way over and which was somehow - wonderfully! - returned to me by my friend Lil, the story of which I'll find out in the a.m. For now, my nerves are shot. Zzzzz.....

ADDENDUM: Did I mention that the rails on the sides of hospital beds can, in fact, be used as gymnastic equipment, as can the bars connecting the row of chairs in the waiting room? Or that blood pressure monitors are excellent tinker toys, especially if one has to fly down the hall and jump onto a swivel chair to get to it? The security guy was freaking that she was gonna lose a finger in the automatic doors, and the doc herself was "getting chest pains watching her!". I should rent her out to find the weak links in Monkey-proofing. I could make BIG $$$.