Mommy Mondays: I Have A Toddler

i am very very tired this monday morning and this weekend was…hard.  work has been 24/7 (weekends included) and i have not been sleeping well.  Pair that with a cranky toddler and well.. you have the perfect storm of a weekend.  This Mommy Monday post is just a weekend recap and some of my confessions of being a tired toddler mom.  =P

one of the breakfast meals this weekend.  c eats a LOT and is communicating when she is upset that we aren’t feeding her enough.  she bangs on the high chair, bangs on the fridge, and will also start to put her bib on or point at cups/bottles around the kitchen to let us know “feed me!!!”

i need to do a post on this later but i’m OBSESSED with what we feed c.  i mean not all of it is perfect and i cheat in many ways~ but i am constantly thinking about her veggie, fruit, grain, protein intakes.  i try to not feed her a carb heavy diet and we are very strict about added sugar and salt.  she has a whole lifetime to eat bad things, i want to make sure her little body is only taking in super healthy, organic food that is good for her.  i feel like all of her organs/digestive system has fully formed and so there is no need to introduced processed, sugary, fatty, salty foods right now. =)

next… a hypocritical picture of mcdonalds ice cream below.  lol  c was sleeping in the car and i grabbed myself a treat for National Ice Cream Day on Sunday.

C is very into coloring and acting like one of the older toddlers in the preschool class.  in a desperate attempt to keep her happy and not cranky on Sunday, i gave her a notepad and two highlighters.  um… i literally turned away for a few seconds while i was putting toys away and she had already drawn on herself and the carpet.  sigh.  i was trying so hard not to get a little kid table/chairs but maybe i’ll have to… ugh.  more things for our apartment.

sunday funday pictures with our baby.  she is growing SO FAST.  this 14 month baby is already wearing 24 month clothing.  CRAY.  and her feet are a size 6-6.5 already.  she is going to be one big baby!

after church i took C to gymboree so she could get her wiggles out.  we started taking her so often that she got really tired of it, but after a week of not going, she was ALL ABOUT circle time and bubbles and the parachute!  

they did this ball activity just for C.  first of all, after bubble time this is her favorite thing and SECOND, she would not let go of one of the markers at the front so we did an exchange for the markers with this ball activity.  lol

note the marker??  she was insane about keeping it the whole time.  sigh.  c has VERY strong feelings about things and is very focused on what she wants.  as proud as i am and as much as i prayed for that… i kind of wish she would listen to me, the parent, more.  

note the marker again… lol

on saturday, i had a rare day to myself!!  i went to a friends house to work on some exciting, upcoming projects and also did a bunch of C’s laundry.  dude… i want my own washer and dryer SO BAD.  our life would be insanely different if we just had that… =(  went to california chicken cafe and got this bomb salad.  i forgot how much i love chinese chicken salads.  i made mike go to the store and buy ingredients so we could eat this all week.  puhaha BUTTTTT homeboy forgot the MOST IMPORTANT PART!!!  the mandarin oranges =((((((

and some other fun tidbits of the weekend…

1. i was playing with charlotte yesterday and fell asleep on the ground.  i drooled all over myself and i was OUT.  i’m not even sure how long i was asleep for but she was still playing in the same area when i woke so that’s good right??  i only woke up bc she jumped on me a few times.  i’m sure she was not pleased that i was snoring and drooling in her play area.  oopsies.
2. i have tried 2x to show her cartoons while i do the dishes or vacuum the house.  no bueno.  she could care less.  i think she will watch for 30 seconds and then run around to see what i’m doing.  i’m both proud and annoyed at the same time.  haha  in all honesty i’m going to try my hardest not to let her see screens until she is 2, but it’s kiiiinda hard when i look at my phone all day.  blah.
3. when people offer me drinks or i think about drinking at restaurants, the first thing i have to think about it… “will i fall asleep if i drink that?”  sigh.  signs of an incredibly tired parents and an old woman… so sad.  i don’t think about the delicious cocktail or if i should drink red or white wine… instead i’m concerned about how sleepy it will make me and whether or not i can last the rest of the night.  boo.
4. when c is being a sassy-cranky toddler, i do one of two things (or often both…):  we have a “pool party” and/or i give her a yogurt popsicle.  yes… the popsicle bribing has already begun  o.O   the “pool party” consists of me throwing her into the tub with more water than a bath, cooler temp and interesting toys.  i gather random plastic items from all over the house that are unusual to keep her attention.  i let her splash around and do whatever the hell she wants for about 20 minutes or until the jig is up and she wants out.  the goal of this “pool party” is to cool her down (she gets CRANKY when it’s hot), give her a new environment of play, and introduce things in the water setting.  for instance i take funnel cups, measuring spoons, whisks, silicon cupcake cups and gloves, etc and then let her play with them in the water.  she thinks it’s the bees kneeeees.  the yogurt popsicle is literally plain greek yogurt + a flavored yogurt mixed together and frozen.  just one of those babies calms charlotte down and resets her mood.  (i may or may not be guilty of giving her two in a row this weekend just so i can get a little extra peace from her crankiness…#.#)
5. sunday was a FUNNNN day where everything made C cry and nothing clean or safe was interesting.  i took her out to the courtyard of our apartment building to blow bubbles and well.. she was not into it.  she wanted to touch EVERYTHING nasty, throw random things off the courtyard balcony (onto the bushes below), and then climb up and down the stairs.  and you know what?  i freaking let her.  i didn’t let her go on the stairs but i let her touch leaves, the floor, the balcony gates, the bushes… everything.  i puked in my mouth a few times and tried to hold in my disgust for something of the little flowers/seeds she kept crushing in her hands but i was trying to get her “wiggles” out for the afternoon.  I washed her hands in the laundry room like 3 times during her free time of play to placate my OCD soul but… she had the time of her life throwing random things through the gates.  i even took her and lucy for a walk and let her dump the bag of bubble stuff over and OVER and OVER and OVERRRR again.  she thought it was hilarious to dump the bag, fill the bag, dump the bag, fill the bag,…you get it.  people who passed by i’m sure wondered what we were doing but you know… sometimes you gotta just let a toddler do her.  once we were back home, i washed her hands about a hundred times with soap and water.  =DDDDD  to help rest my soul from all of the “fun” activity outdoors.
6. C is in a stage where she wants to do everything herself and well… i’m kinda letting her do it.  i have no idea if this is good parenting or bad parenting.. but if she wants to feed herself, fine.  if she wants to wash herself, fine.  brush her teeth?  fine.  i always tell her i’m going to do it first and then let her do it~ not sure if this is the right thing to do but man it just seems easier than putting up with one of her cranky pre-tantrums.  (so far they aren’t the throw-yourself-on-the-ground ones, but she does this great fake cry and looks around to see who will sympathize.  bless her heart, it’s the most adorable thing ever.  it takes all my self control not to smile.) there’s no point to this… just that i’m letting her do more on her own and it’s been an adorable journey.  she is SOOOO good at mimicking what we do and what she sees us do.  i wish i could capture all these little moments forever in memory!  for instance, she knows to “pump” the shampoo and “wash” her hair and her stomach.  ADORABLE!!!
7. um… so i am the worst mama everrrr and i found out last thursday!  C has been grabbing her diaper a lot lately and she’s been pointing “down there” in the bath a lot.  I keep swiping her hand away and saying “no no” or other short Korean words to indicate that ladies don’t do that.  the daycare recently told me that C is saying “hey i peed, change my diaper”.  SIIIIGH.  i felt SOOOO terrible when i heard that!!  she was trying to tell me something and i wasn’t listening or observing carefully enough.  so now when she points there, i’ll ask her if she wants to change her diaper.  she doesn’t know how to nod yet, so she just goes to the diaper basket, pulls one out and then lies down.  ADORABLE RIGHT???  sometimes i’m lazy and i don’t put her pants back on, but she holds them up to me and says “meh meh” until i put them on for her.  so cute and so tiring at the same time.  lol  the daycare thinks C is going to potty train herself soon.  they said it was really impressive that she knows she is peeing and asks for her diaper to be changed.  CRAZY.  my mind was seriously blown… i didn’t even know she could THINK like that!!  ugh… i am a bad mama…
8. C understands the word “outside” in korean and whenever you say it, she RUNS with a very serious face towards the front door baby gate and screams.  hahaha  she takes going outside very seriously and i love love love it.  it’s all business if you use that word and you can’t even say it in passing or she will FREAK THE FUCK OUT.  if you even try to put something near the front door, she’ll drop everything and scream b/c she wants to go outside.  as annoying as i think it is (b/c going outside from our apt isn’t easy), it’s the most ADORABLE thing ever.
9. i usually get home before mike, so when i’m at home playing with C, the door will open and she’ll scream “ahba” and run to the door.  now, whenever the front door opens she screams that word.  at home, daycare, anywhere.  it’s hilarious.  she also runs into our master room screaming for “ahba” and looks out the window screaming that word.  haha i love it.

ok..  sorry this ended up being really long.  i’m just tired and ready to go to bed already.  mike is traveling again this week so it is just me and the girls!  i’ve got lots of fun activities planned like “pool party” and long longggg walks outside to tire them both out.

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