fight or flight?

Soooooo, this isn't a very fun topic and I don't particularly want to write about it, but I do want to record it, so here it goes. Makayla's teacher (who Makayla follows around like a shadow) said she has gotten into a little fight the past two days at daycare.

Two days ago a little girl tried to steal her paci and she was not very happy about it. So much so, that MMC walked over and grabbed a little tambourine and started hitting said girl over the head with it.

Not cool!

Then yesterday, a different little girl took the toy she was playing with and apparently Makayla

 starting hitting her in the head with her fists.

What in the world!

Street fighter?

Where is this coming from!

We don't even have TV for goodness sake?!?

Her teacher kindly suggeted that maybe she was showing aggression because she was cutting some big teeth and they were hurting her...also, said she was only responding when provoked.

So kind of her to offer an excuse for inexcusable actions...

Oh man...what to do?
Kids just hit sometimes, right?

Sheesh

This morning when I dropped her off I asked her to please not hit any of the other kids, even if they took her paci or her toys. We aren't allowed to hit. Uh, yeah, she is just shy of 14 months so I'm not sure if that was sinking in, but I had to at least try right?

Here's praying for a better report when I pick her up today.

snack attack

Photo 1: Makayla bolts to the open fridge door and squeezes in

Photo 2: Makayla literally climbs onto the bottom ledge of the fridge

Photo 3: Her sneaky little grin as she reaches for a yogurt cup...

notice she is completely inside the fridge.

Ha!

The other night she scampered over, hopped in the fridge,

grabbed a two-pack of baby yogurt and ran away with them.

Only to stop, break them apart and hand one back to me.

Can we say smart cookie, much?

baby proofing

Look who's into everything...

Yep, you guessed it...

our little Rascal Rabbit.

This photo was actually

taken about a month ago,

and since then we have installed

an ultra hi-tech

system of baby proofage,

also known as

rubber banding the cabinet pulls

together so she/we can't open them.

Ha...ingenious, we know.

She also has a new favorite

hobby of racing

to the fridge everytime

one of us opens the door.

Pics on that to come...

spoiler alert:

she likes to hop in and snag a snack,

not kidding!



smile

miss priss smiling for the camera

poised in high chair

mid-banana snack

13.5 months old

love her!

in appreciation

motherhood is not easy
as much as I love it and love my sweet daugher
i would say being a mommy is harder than most will admit

sometimes i blame it upon my want to do everything well and right
or the fact that i work full time and have to do errands and lots of "things"
but those really don't deal with the fact that your life truly just changes when you have a child.

there is very little time for you anytime, or at all.
sure, you start gaining that back when your baby is sleeping better at night

but there sure are a lot of chores that can't wait
and laundry
and food preparing
and hugging to calm crying
and walking/running/playing when you'd prefer sitting/sleeping/reading

basically, it is huge, and all encompassing a lot of the time
and i agree that lots of love and fulfillment comes from that,
but other times it is just A LOT...
and, so, i am full of thanks
for my mom

thank you for having me
and giving up so much for me
for not sleeping because i didn't want to
for feeding me and making me countless meals
for being selfless and giving up many things you probably wanted to do and playing with/loving me instead!

not knowing, until this year, what motherhood really takes
a new appreciation has been birthed inside me.
thank you for all the times it should have been said and went unnoticed
each day i am being reminded in a new way and each day i appreciate

this & that

-my punkin is sleeping on a cot now at daycare!

what in the world?!?

when her teacher told me they were going to try it,

I sort of laughed and said "good luck!"

thinking she would just crawl right off

and play instead of nap...

her teacher said she

did great the first day and just

lies down and goes to sleep.

hmmm?

I think ms. angela is the toddler whisperer...seriously...

she also got Makayla to wear shoes.

for me she would scream if I tried

to put her shoes on, but

at school she put them right on

and played in them all day, and

has loved them ever since. she will

carry them around the house when she isn't wearing them.

usually when I pick her up at school she

speeds over to me, then points

straight to her shoes (first thing) and says "gooks"

............................

-i'm lovin' these nail polishes by OPI.

the Pirates of the Caribbean collection:

i'm usually not into bright funky finger nail

colors, but love the teal and the purple...

reminders of high school much?

....................................

-we have weaned MMC off her formula

and she is drinking whole milk

like a big girl now.

about 5 ounces when

she wakes up,

around 11a, 3p, and before bed.

I'm going to give that a week or so

and then keep working on the bottle

to sippy cup transition.

She loves water from her sippy at meal times

but definitely prefers milk from a bottle.

She will take milk from a sippy

at one of the mid-day feedings at school,

but screams for it in a bottle in the morning and evening.

I'm thinking those two might just stay in a bottle for a while.

.............................

-Just found out my youngest sister got

a teaching job for this coming school year.

Second grade, here she comes!

Congrats Liz!!! Super proud of you!

board books & hand holding

Makayla is starting to get into "reading" her board books.

I pulled her onto the couch with me and a few books the other night,

and we have probably flipped through

Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?

about 50 times since then.

She is eager to flip to the next page

so we've been reading the abridged version...

that goes,

Brown Bear (flip)

Red Bird (flip)

Yellow Duck (flip)

you get the picture.

The last page is the best,

because it has all the animals lined up

and we point to each animal

and say the color and name.

Then we go back through

the list and do the animal noises.

I like to ask her to point out the animals,

but right now she is just pointing at them randomly.

I asked her to point to the purple cat last night,

and she picked the yellow duck,

so we are working on it.

I'm pretty sure she was saying duck

in the tub last night, though,

while playing with her graduation/scholar

rubber ducky (from her birthday party game).

Smarty smarty, going to a party.

___________________________

Makayla walks almost

all the time now.

Not so much crawling anymore.

Sometimes I will reach out my

hand and she will take it and we

will walk around together...

through the house,

around the condo courtyard,

through the grass,

around and about.

Makayla walked herself out of

daycare yesterday afternoon, holding my hand.

I usually carry her out to the car,

but set her down and she took off down the

hallway to the front desk.

When we got to the front door,

she turned around and tried to head back

to her classroom.

Funny girl,

rushes to me when I get there but immediately

wants to go back and start playing

with the toys and her classmates again.

peek-a-boo

grocery shopping with bumbee and granpa

playing peek-a-boo with the dinner rolls :)

uh oh

4th of July weekend

was the weekend of the phrase
 "Uh oh!"

Makayla's new favorite...

Mommy's shoes (gooks) are on the floor

uh oh!

Makayla's paci fell

uh oh!

Makayla tossing a napkin on the floor

uh oh!

It is pretty cute.
At first it was more like "uh uh oh"
But now it is mostly just a solid "uh oh"
Ha!

She likes to drop something,
then get a concerned look,
point to the dropped object
and say her phrase

We heard it a lot this weekend,
but it is too cute

the strategy of the young

Makayla's victorious stance

after dominating the

ziploc bag game she created!

{The following are MMC's game rules,

 interpreted by her mother}

Rules of game:

1. Speed crawl around grandparents' kitchen

surveying the potential target drawers.

(make sure to flash a smile at everyone

as you crawl so they don't pick up on your plot)

2. Choose target drawer

3. Open drawer and ransack!

4. Grab boxes of ziploc bags

(gallon, sandwich and snack size)

5. Empty contents of boxes by

individually pulling out every ziploc bag and

haphazardly tossing it on the kitchen floor.

6. Try and accomplish this task at warp speed.

7. You win the game once all 300+ ziploc bags

are resting on the kitchen floor and none remain

in the drawer.

Note to baby participants:

 Parents will try and thwart your plan!

You must complete your mission!

If they try and put the ziploc bags

bag in the drawer you must use tactics

of distraction to complete your task!

Options include
(but are not limited too, get creative)
1. smiling and looking cute and innocent

2. crying and/or throwing a tantrum
3. having a messy diaper the second the

last ziploc bag is out of the drawer and hits the floor...

they will be forced to change you and the game will be won!

Good luck fellow babies!