Santa

Over the holiday season we have gone to the mall 3 times to have Maggie's picture taken with Santa only to stand there for 20 minutes staring at him then leaving when she decides she doesn't want to see him up close. Today was different and might have been the funniest thing I have ever seen her do.

Santa came to daycare today and I assumed it would be another similar adventure so I was not hopeful, almost didn't even bring the camera. We're standing there in our typical fashion staring at Santa while child after child happily sits on his lap and goes on their way. I casually said to Maggie "you just sit on his lap, tell him what you want for Christmas and then you get a cookie". Before I could finish the word cookie, she marched to the front of the line, cutting off every child waiting, sat right on his lap, said "Mickey Mouse", sat for her picture (no smile), got down, grabbed her cookie and was on her way.

That's my girl...all business and not taking the chance that I might have been bluffing with my cookie bribe. Who knew it was that easy?

Funny and Random - part 2

More funny things said by Maggie Rose Crawford, still age 2 1/2:

While Aunt Jen is holding her on her lap, Maggie spots a binky, grabs it and puts it in her mouth. She looks at Aunt Jen, puts her finger over her lips and says "ssshhhhh"
me: Maggie, where'd you get that binky?
Maggie: Aunt Jen


Walking down the stairs before school yesterday, she asked me to carry her like a baby.
me: Maggie, you're so crazy
Maggie: Mommy, I'm not crazy, I'm so cute!

Driving to the park her window mysteriously goes down
Maggie: My window went down all by itself...what happened?
me: That's strange, I don't know what happened
Maggie: it's kinda funny huh?
Erik tells me later that Maggie learned how to put the window down herself and was doing it all morning

Divorced Parents Olympics

Last Sunday we pretended to be divorced parents competing over who could have the most fun individually with Maggie.

I had to go somewhere in the morning so Erik had Maggie and took her to Algonkian park where they played in the leaves, watched a softball game and took tons of great pictures. I could just picture them skipping hand in hand in a field. Ok, maybe not. Erase that visual from your mind.

Erik went to watch the football games in the afternoon so I took her to an art show at Glen Echo Park where she ate cupcakes, played at the playground and danced along to the square dance music heard throughout the park.

The next day as I was driving her to school I told her how much fun I had with her over the weekend and how my favorite part was going to the park. She responded "the park with Daddy? That was FUN! I like my Dad!". Really Maggie? Did I mention you had cupcakes with me?

Daddy wins. I can accept defeat gracefully.

Random and Funny

Funny things recently said by Maggie Rose Crawford, age 2 1/2:

me: (coming home from work) Hi Maggie!
Maggie: mommy, you came, you came!
me: how was your day?
Maggie: good, how was YOUR day?
me: good
Maggie: Daddy's Monday was very busy


me: Maggie, will you draw with me?
Maggie: no, I'm busy
(really? too busy at 2 1/2 to color?)


Driving to Gramma and Pap's house...
Maggie: I want see my grandfather
me: I thought he was your Pap
Maggie: YOU call him Pap


On Halloween night when she was in heaven staying up late, watching TV and eating a lollipop (excuse me "LADYPOP")...
me: maggie, don't bite the lollipop, just lick it
Maggie: go mommy, go outside with Daddy, Aunt Jen and Uncle Bruce
(I leave for a minute and come back to see the lollipop is suspiciously smaller)
Maggie: I licked it

More to come...

Dream?

I woke up this morning with a fuzzy recollection of seeing Maggie in the middle of the night - and not the midnight sheet change when she coughed so hard she threw up. I just chalked it up to a dream. Until Erik asked me later - did Maggie come into our room last night? YES, she did!

She had her tennis shoes on (she did not go to sleep with them on) and was asking for her slippers. I walked her back to her room, gave her her slippers and she held out her hands for me to put them on. She crawled back into bed with her tennis shoes on her feet and slippers on her hands.

I'd like to say that it was all part of a dream and she forgot about it in the morning but first thing she asked for when she woke up this morning was for her slippers for her hands.

There's a fine line between unique and weird...is she crossing it?

So much to say...

So much...but where to begin. Life with a 2 1/2 year old is infinitely different than life with a 2 year old. That short span of time might as well be a lifetime. They get it now...they get that they can make you laugh, cry, angry, etc. And they push everyone of those buttons whenever the mood strikes.

The morning routine is more and more challenging everyday, Maggie is the queen of stalling and will find a hundred things she needs to do before her shoes can be put on. This morning it was putting her play hammer inside her teacup and letting it fall over. Apparently that was a very important thing to accomplish at 7:19 AM when we are supposed to be out the door by 7:15 AM (I tell myself...breathe...no stress...does it really matter if I'm at work at 8:07 versus 8:16? These moments matter...right?). So we do our usual routine of dillying and dallying and finally get out the door when of course the school bus arrives for the older kids (my goal is to get in the car before the bus comes because that just adds another 5 minutes to the morning).

When we do leave late enough to see the bus (i.e., everyday), our routine is that we both have to crouch down on the sidewalk and watch all the kids board and then we can leave. So we do that and then she takes off for a walk "BY MY-SELF!" Because apparently she's allowed to just walk the neighborhood now. As she's running back she trips a little and cries so I just pick her up and put her in the car. AHA...gotcha! Well, not really because she yells at me halfway to school that she wanted to do it "BY MY-SELF!" and "STOP MOMMY STOP!!". Then all of a sudden she stops and says "Daddy's wearing jeans today, so is Maggie, Mommy's not wearing jeans".

And all is good...

OCD...reprise

I believe I have already posted about Maggie's OCD, but I felt the need to document the progression (or digression depending on how you look at it). She seems to have inherited YET ANOTHER trait from her Dad and it thrills me to know end (she says sarcastically).

Our daycare drop off ritual:
There is a ramp on one side of the entrance and steps on the other...I have to walk up the steps while Maggie walks up the ramp. In order to enter the building I have to enter a code and have my finger print scanned - while I am doing this, Maggie must turn the water faucet knob located directly below it back and forth a few times, then push this button-like thing on top, then I open the door and she goes in. We get inside and she must position the footstool in the lobby under the water fountain and get a drink.

Bedtime ritual:
She sits in her little rocking chair while I sit in the bigger one and we have to sing the following songs in this order: Chicken Dance, Rock a Bye Baby, Oh Canada, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, ABCs. A new addition to this routine is that I must have my feet on each leg of the rocking chair while she has her feet on the legs of her rocking chair...and we rock.

And all I can think is...really? Where did this come from? Oh yeah, I remember now.

She is in a funny stage right now where she can be mean as anything to me (mommy, go away!) to the sweetest little angel in the world (mommy, I want to give you a kiss and a hug, then thanks me for it) I only seem to remember the details of the sweet moments - tonight she asked for some juice and when I got up to get it for her she says in her sweetest voice "thank you mommy*".

*See heart melting...

My Little Helper

Lately Erik and I have been noticing that Maggie is actually VERY helpful. And not in the sense where you placate a child and say "thank you dear" meanwhile thinking in your head "I'm so glad you put the mustard in the tupperware cabinet - now I need to remember to take it out when you're not looking".

No, she is seriously helpful.

Yesterday she decided she needed a band-aid. She might not have needed the band-aid but she is officially obsessed with them right now so we let her have this luxury of plastering herself in plastic adhesive with Dora designs. So she walks over to the drawer, gets the band-aids out, opens the box, opens the band-aid wrapper (which, I have to add, her father just figured out how to do this less than a year ago. He didn't realize they peeled open...but that's another story) puts it on her knee and then throws the trash away.

When I went in to check on her this morning, she was awake in her bed. She immediately jumped out of bed and I did my usual routine of sitting in the rocking chair in her room so I could hold her for a few minutes before we had to get ready. She stood there and said "no, I have to put a different shirt on and change my diaper". She opened her drawer, found a shirt and a skirt that matched, threw them on the floor and layed down for me to change her. But not before she cleaned up all of the clothes on her floor and put them in the correct drawers (while singing "clean up, clean up, everybody do your share...")

When we were leaving she noticed my lunch was on the counter, she picked it up, carried it all the way to the car and put it on the passenger seat.

What does she need us for again? I'm starting to wonder. Her maternal instinct is stronger than mine!

Three is a Magic Number

Maggie's crib is on Craig's List. This makes me a little emotional for many reasons, not the least of which what it indirectly means.

I struggle daily with the prospect of Maggie being an only child. Not only am I 37 and just tired, tired, tired at the end of the day but I'm not sure I want more children. Until I was 26, I wasn't even really sure I wanted 1. I know a lot of only children and they are just fine...but is it selfish to not give Maggie a sibling because I am tired? Is it really all about me?

Not that I feel the need to explain myself, but I will. Erik, Amy and Maggie, family of 3. I like it. I like that our entire life is about her, focused on her, making her a good person and happy. I never was a girl who had to be a mother, just happy. Having 2 kids gives me that mother title and everything in your life is about caring for kids - plural. Having 1 makes me happy. And it makes us..."us". We take a flight on a plane and we're in a row together, we all fit nicely on the bed together when we watch tv, we fit at our kitchen table that is against the wall and only has 3 sides perfectly, she sits in between us and can touch both of us. We have a thing...the 3 of us...inside jokes that no one else needs to understand and a closeness that I never want to dilute.

With all that said, she will probably hate me one day for this decision but I hope she understands it really was all about her.

Sing a Song...

Our life has become a musical. If Maggie's not bossing us around she is singing her little heart out.

Check out her rendition of the ABCs...pay close attention to the L-M-N-O-P part...I think she is subliminally telling us to stop trying to potty train her:

And the ever popular "Tankle Tankle Little Stars":

And you can't miss her encore and all-time favorite, "Oh Canada":

Enjoy!

Sweetness

We seem to have cruised past Blue's Clues, flew right by Elmo's World, veered off of Mickey Mouse and have landed on Yo Gabba Gabba. And if you've never watched Yo Gabba Gabba you are seriously missing out. With non-stop hits like "Don't Bite Your Friends", "Let's Get the Silly's Out", "I Like Bugs" and everyone's favorite "There's a Party in my Tummy", you can't afford NOT to watch!

But you really need to watch this with a 2 year old because there is a part where they all take turns dancing and they sing “It’s Your Turn…” and when it’s your turn you go crazy dancing.

And. Maggie. goes. CRAZY.

She dances her little heart out around the ottoman until it's the next character's turn. Meanwhile screaming "MY TURN!" through their whole dance. Being the only child that she is, it would be easy for it to always be Maggie's turn but we have to be strict about that. Don’t want her to be one of THOSE kids that no one wants to hang around. So she waits for all of the characters to dance until we tell her it’s her turn. It is quite a sight...I just hate when she says “mommy’s turn?”

This morning I was getting Maggie dressed and she was holding onto my head while she lifted each leg putting her skirt on. When we were done she fixed my hair for me (pretty well I might add) and said "Fix your hair mommy?" when I thanked her she replied "you're welcome mommy". I can't help but just melt when we have little interactions like that (as opposed to the other morning when I went to get her out of bed and she said "I want daddy, go away"). Or like the other day when she had a mosquito bite that I didn't want her to scratch so I told her we would put a band aid on it and she replied "Ok, thank you mommy" (as opposed to the day before when I was walking upstairs with her and she pointed her finger angrily at me saying "NO YOU MOMMY!").

Yes, she is a mixture of emotions, hot and cold in all of her two-year-oldness...but that's ok. I'll only remember the sweet things when it's all said and done. Those are the only ones that matter.

Happy Mother's Day

My Mother's Day Gift this year...does it get any better than this?

It's My Potty, Cybil

Our child has two personalities...the daycare one and the home one.

Apparently Maggie is almost potty trained at school. The other day I got an email from Erik that, according to Miss Olga (Maggie's teacher), Maggie peed in the potty that morning. He followed up with "Maggie has both confirmed and denied it". And then today, Miss Olga told me that Maggie used the potty three times yesterday. Three times! And yes, she peed each time. Apparently when Ryiah dances around and says she has to go potty, so does Maggie and each time she actually did have to go. I asked her this morning when I was dropping her off if she used the potty at school and she casually responded "yeah, with Miss Olga". As if to say, don't even try at home.

At home Maggie talks a lot about the potty but when I ask her if she wants to use it she immediately responds NO. She will sit on the potty, in her diaper (with book in hand I must add), and say she's peeing, which she probably is but she is not interested in actually peeing IN the potty. She'll sit in the bathtub and warn me she has to pee before she does so in the tub, and almost always does on the rug in her room just before I get the diaper on her. But she hasn't quite gotten to the point where she uses the potty from start to finish. And I have to admit, I'm not pushing it. I like the convenience of diapers. I hate public restrooms. The thought of holding her while she hovers is not an appealing one to me. Can't we just have her potty trained for when it's convenient?

At school Maggie eats all of her vegetables, fruit, chicken, hamburger, whatever the meal du jour is, Maggie eats it. "She's one of our best eaters" her teacher says. Um, excuse me, who are you talking about?

At home Maggie eats hot dogs, mac and cheese, french fries, the occasional chicken nugget, maybe sweet potato fries and sometimes applesauce. Oh and she's a BIG fan of hamburger helper. She is definitely her father's daughter.

At school she's playful, funny, cute, sarcastic, silly.

At home, oh yeah, she's all those things too :)

Toddlerhood

Let's see...what has happened since my last post? Not much...oh just that Maggie had surgery and has a 3 inch scar on her neck. That's all. Not much.

Maggie just turned 2 and she is unbelievable these days. I'm not sure at what age some of this stuff is supposed to happen, but everyday she amazes me at what she has learned since the day before. Singing her ABC's, doing the chicken dance, counting up to 14 (after 14 it's just 14, 14, 14). But along with all this fun "toddlerness" comes the "fun" parts too. For example:

1) Going to restaurants is officially out of the question. Erik texted me today while I was working to tell me he and Maggie were going out to dinner and all I could think was -- really? are you insane? ?

2) The attitude has started...already. Yesterday she was throwing all of her puzzle pieces on the floor and when I told her not to do that her response was (picture her with hands on hips) "WHY?" All I could think was -- really? we're starting this already??

3) 3 words - emotional roller coaster. Today she was looking for her green blanket and I told her daddy brought it upstairs to which she responded with total meltdown voice/cry "NO!!! Daddy no touch green blanket!!!" All I could think was -- really? hormones already??

I am not in any way complaining. I find it all to be so fun and interesting when I can just sit back and observe it all happening. From the "HOLD YOU?" that she says when she wants you to pick her up, to the "Maggie kiss?" when she sees Erik give me a kiss to the "Mommy? Hold your hand?" when she wants to go play - I could just drink it up.

Funny story - so her new thing is she must wear her shoes to bed. Mainly she likes to practice taking them off and putting them on while she's falling asleep. So at 1 AM the other morning she calls "daddy? daddy? daddy?", Erik goes in there and she can see her shoes on her dresser "SHOEESSSS???". He gives them to her and goes back to bed. 15 minutes later - cries...I go in there and one shoe is on the wrong foot and she's struggling with the other. I whisper that they are on the wrong feet and it's bedtime. She hurries up, puts them on the right feet and immediately flips over like a pancake and falls sound asleep.

The beginning of a shoe fetish...

Sing a Song

I came home to the best sound ever today...Maggie singing along with Daddy to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I particularly like her rendition "...like a diaper in the sky...". All of a sudden one day she started singing whole songs and it amazes me. Yesterday I heard her in her playroom putting toys away and singing "Clean up,clean up, everybody clean up". Apparently this is a daycare song that I need to learn.

I realized last week how much she is learning at daycare that I have no idea about when I was scrambling for a bedtime lullaby and starting humming the chicken dance. She looked at me puzzled, as if she couldn't believe I knew that song. When I was done she said "more chicken dance?" And since there is only so many consecutive chicken dances one can possibly hum before wanting to shoot oneself in the head, I had to do a little Rock a Bye Baby mash up.

So now our bedtime routine is a little unconventional. It starts with "chicken dance?", then "baby?", followed by "more chicken dance?", then "baby"...and on and on it goes for about 5 rounds when she finally gives me the glazed over stare, I ask if she's ready for bed and she nods her head and says "binky kiss?".

And I kiss her binky as if she's the Goddaughter.

Hi Gramma

So Gramma threatened us that if we did not send daily updates of Maggie while she was on a business trip this week who knows what would happen to us.

Behold...Maggie's message to Gramma:

Have a safe and happy trip Gramma!

SNOW DAY!!

Aren't Monday snow days the best? Although, I'd much rather have the day start out by hearing on the radio when the alarm goes off "EVERYTHING'S CLOSED TODAY (go back to bed)"...but our morning started off with actually going to daycare to find it closed and then going to my work to find out it also was closed. So Maggie and I got to do a round trip drive to school/work and back home again. Oh well...

The good news is, we are home today and on the agenda is PLAY, PLAY and more PLAY. The first hour of the morning consisted of me sitting on the step ("mommy, SIT DOWN") with Maggie's stickers while she went back and forth from the bathroom to me asking for one more sticker and each time in between she would point at me saying "be right back". After about 20 stickers I asked her to show me what she was doing. She unveiled her masterpiece - an entire Dora potty adorned with stickers. And she did it so neatly, you have to pick up the seat of the potty to see it. I have to admit I was a little nervous to see what my bathroom was going to look like when she was done but figured it was harmless no matter what.

Next...3 slices of cheese for a snack. Seems like a lot huh? Not until you add in the mac n cheese for lunch. The way she has been teething lately though I'm just happy she's eating so don't judge me!

Next...an episode of Lazytown. And miraculously Maggie let me hold her ("hold you?") for the whole show, it doesn't get much better than that. Until she got down, looked at me and said "no more hold you"...and rubbed my leg apparently to console me.

Maggie is napping right now but the best part of the day is still yet to come. We are going to build our first snowman. I'm sure it will be one of those things that sounds so fun in the planning stages but turns into a tantrum towards the end (me that is).

Mini Me

I always hoped that if Maggie inherited anything from me it would be one of my best qualities but when someone told me the other day that Maggie looked just like me (apparently that person was hallucinating because no one else sees it), Erik's response was "well, she is the palest one in her class...". Thanks...

As Maggie gets older though I'm seeing proof of the nature vs. nurture debate everyday. I always imagined with her in daycare 5 days/week that would automatically make her a very social, outgoing child. Don't get me wrong, within her comfort zone she is both of those things but it takes her a while to acclimate to a situation and does the familiar clinging to our legs when she is uncomfortable. I imagine that I was very much like this as a child. My mother couldn't even put me in the bowling alley daycare while she bowled for a couple of hours I would scream so much. My poor mother had to set up a pack n play in the bowling alley so I could be with her. I should be thankful I can even leave her at daycare...I'm not so sure it would go over very well if I had her in a pack n play at my desk.

Point being, no matter how much influence you try to have on your child, nature always comes into play. She may look nothing like me, but the lucky girl did get my introverted qualities. But along with that she also seems to have her dad's sense of humor so not such a bad combination, right? I think it's just natural to want your child to be everything great that you never were and at the same time, everything good that you are. I guess at some point you have to let go and just let them be.

Proud

I had a conversation today that every parent wants to have. The "your child is advanced" one from her daycare teacher. And, no, I will never be that mom that writes Christmas letters about how wonderful and perfect my child is, but it is nice to hear that kind of praise from someone who sees kids her same age all day long. When you're only around your own child all day, of COURSE she's advanced!

Maggie's vocabulary has been amazing lately and to watch her put sentences together is fascinating. Tonight in particular was priceless...trying to say "Mommy, hotdog is hot" basically turned into "hot hot hot", but I got her point. Then after that we had to sit at the table for an extra half hour so she could buckle and un-buckle the straps on her high chair. It is fascinating how a toddler learns with practice, practice and more practice and sometimes I guess that has to mean you sit at the dinner table for an hour for them to master the task du jour.

But the best part of every evening is when she gives me a hug and pats my back as I'm taking her to bed, sort of like she's saying "it's ok that I'm going to bed mommy, you'll see me tomorrow".

How sweet!

Back to Life

If I were a real writer I would have been writing posts over the last weeks to help me process everything we have been through since Christmas. But I am not so here I am, 3 weeks later to summarize it all.


It all started with a late night at work and the call from Erik "Maggie has a lump on her throat and I'm taking her to urgent care". You never want that call. Text messages followed every 15 minutes giving me updates - they called a specialist, she may have to have a CT scan, not really sure what it is... They put her on antibiotics and sent them on their way. 2 days later, what should have been a quick follow up specialist appointment turned into "we have to admit her now and plan to be there 5 days". So many questions but no idea what they were.


So the next 5 days starts and it is all a blur right now - 1 week later. After all of the horrible things we experienced over those days there are 2 moments that will stick in my mind forever. The look in her eyes when she went through the CAT scan and the feeling of her limp body as the anesthesia took hold before her surgery. No one should ever have to see or feel either of those things and I would like to think I never will again.


So we are home and finally getting back to normal and in sort of a holding pattern until we find out what the real diagnosis is. We are pretty sure whatever it is is not serious, but could require follow up surgery in the next few weeks. At this point, I am just happy to have my happy, feisty, stubborn, funny little girl back - it has been way too long since I have seen the real Maggie. And just so this post isn't completely depressing, I will end with our 4:15 PM conversation tonight:


We are reading her book- "The First 100 Words" and she sees a picture of cheese
"Cheese?" as she walks to the fridge and tries opening the door
"You want cheese?"
"Cheese?"
"Maggie, we're eating dinner in 45 minutes, let's just have some milk"
"Cheese?"
"OK, 1 cheese slice" Let me mention though - she has never had an interest in cheese slices. But she inhales this slice.
"More? Cheese?" as she does her sign language motion for 'more' standing at the fridge
"really?"
"More? Cheese?"
"Ok, one more" and she inhales that one
"More? Cheese?"
"Maggie - do you just want dinner now?"
"OK" nodding her head "SIT DOWN" as she pull her high chair away from the table and starts to climb in
It's good to see she has her appetite back.

Oh and Maggie - just so you know, your dad watched the AFC Championship game, with the Steelers in it, by your bedside in the hospital room. If that doesn't tell you how loved you are, I don't know what does!