a sad first and a happy first

Some more firsts...

Xaris got her first timeout today. I have no clue if she's too young or too old (maybe I should have been doing this awhile ago?) She's had a few spankings, but I'm not sure that's the best discipline for her age because I'm not totally sure she understands it...but I didn't know if she'd understand timeout either. She did. She was pretty upset. And even more upset when she got out of timeout, did the same thing again, and landed herself right back in timeout.

She was probably only in timeout for about 20 seconds, and I sat down 3 feet away from her, waited for her to focus and then discussed briefly what her behavior should be. We'll see if it works :) I'm open for stories and suggestions from other mothers-of-toddlers...what do you do and what is appropriate for their age?

Funnily enough--tonight (hours after her timeout experience) she was helping me put things away, carrying them from the living room to her bedroom, and she grabbed her babydoll. I was following her with the rest of her stuff, and upon entering her room, the first thing she did was go to the same wall/corner and put her babydoll face first towards the wall. She put her baby in timeout too! Not a clue what her baby did...so maybe X really doesn't get that timeout is a behavioral consequence yet... but it was pretty cute.

And the happy first: She prayed for the first time tonight! She'll pray with us all the time, holding hands, bowing her head and saying amen when we are done. But tonight as she was falling asleep, and we said our prayers together she kept saying "mas, mas" (more) after I had said Amen. So finally, I told her to do it. So she repeated after me "Gracias" and then said "Jesus....Amo....Gracias....Amen"

So sweet.

I'm crazy about this girl.

Xaris is a little sad that she's not popular anymore.

rawr.

a picture is worth 1000 words?

Ricardo took this while playing at the park with X.

Our little monstrita :)

pumpkin cupcakes

Another cooking adventure took place...this one just as successful but quite a bit messier!

Ricardo was around to take pictures, and Xaris was up for doing EVERYTHING by herself.

And they were HER cupcakes. We've not continued the tradition of cupcakes every month (I prefer not to use the oven for about 6 months out of the year here. We just don't need it. Stuff cooks on it's on when you just take it out of the fridge). But 18 months seemed like a special one, plus it was a lot cooler, so we went for it.

She tried a few tastes...not quite as yummy as the cinnamon sugar apples she got to mix the first time she made dessert.

Eyeballing what mama's got in hand

No, I can do it!

She didn't even want me standing really close...

See? I know what I'm doing here....

Then she got to enjoy one. She was pretty excited to see them all baked and ready. And they weren't half bad for being an experiment (the experiment was to see how they'd bake up when it's unclear how much of any given ingredient ended up on the floor rather than in the bowl).

Boo

A little delayed, but here are some attempts at getting X's picture in her halloween costume. She was very much on the go, needless to say, photos were difficult.

If you don't recognize it--she was Boo from Monsters, Inc.

18 months old!

18 month well-check went fine, despite the fact that she had multiple "owies" to show her pediatrician...she found fire ants on the weekend and had blisters on her hand, and she also did a nasty face plant into the dishwasher (she was trying to climb on the open door) and had some bruises on her cheek and forehead.

She's still petite...height is 30.5 inches, which is 20th percentile, (head circumference was 30th percentile, she's still top heavy :), and weight: 18.2 lbs, which is still under--there's no percentile for it.

No worries though, since she is healthy and still obviously meeting her developmental markers plenty early. And Dr. also said she has been surprisingly strong since her first month, and that she is strong enough to turn her car seat around. Yay! We'll see if she stops fussing so much.

No vaccinations, but she did get a flu shot, because she'll be starting pre-school in a couple weeks. She now knows how to say the word "piccy" (shot) and points to her leg where she got her shot.

Her face seems to say "really, mom? you're still taking these pictures?"

Putting her sock on, and taking them off...repeat....

Let's play some catch up...

I only download pictures from my phone occasionally. But now that I can take video on my phone, it seems I've got even more "someday-I'll-post-this-on-my-blog-so-everyone-can-see-it-and-be-delighted" moments to catch up on. So, here goes...

The latest trend...climbing.

She's loved climbing into cupboards, closets, shutting herself in places (dark places in particular....??) repeatedly. She gets a kick out of it. She is also quite a confident climber and loves to climb on things she's not supposed to climb.

BUSTED!

She's also still a good eater. Pediatrician asked at her last appointment how she was eating and when I said "fine--she eats anything" he said great, but then proceeded to tell me that she's at the age where appetite will drop and pickiness can begin...if it hadn't already. I hope not, because we've been wanting her to keep gaining weight so we can turn around her car seat!!

Peas remain a favorite...(yep, she ate 'em all)

And blueberries, of course!

We went to the Arboretum one Tuesday when they had some kids activities, including a petting zoo. Since she hadn't ever been near any of these animals before (only my parent's puppies), I did the wise momma thing and held her outside to look at the animals first. But no, she wiggled right on down, and headed inside without even waiting for me to park her stroller. She touched every animal, and then walked right back around and petted every animal again. She moved so fast, it was hard to take pictures!

Have I mentioned she loves to climb??

It's finally starting to cool down here, so there will likely be less half-nakey baby pictures. Although she really loves to roam around the house in a t-shirt and diaper. Especially if it's one of mine or Ricardo's t-shirts...I have to put a rubber band around part of the neckband, but other than that, it's a great fit!

And now onto the videos. Remember when I said X eats anything? Here she is eating chips and salsa with her papa. She first tried Jalapeño queso at about 11 months old...she ate a BUNCH of my dad's ají last month when we went down to Houston. Apparently she likes spicy.

She also (rarely) falls asleep while eating....

And, she loves to color. And listen to music while she colors. When the music fades, she has to touch the remote to bring it back. If you listen hard, you can hear her singing along with the song :)

Cooking with Mama

Our friends Keren and Charlie posted about how they cook together...and it made me curious as to whether or not Xaris was ready for some serious adventures in the kitchen with me.

We decided to find out!

I only had my iPhone handy, and we don't have great kitchen lighting so the pictures aren't the best. But they serve their purpose in documenting the event, so we'll keep 'em!

We pulled up a chair to the butcher block and began the experiment.

Starting out...putting pears in the bowl...and then tasting them. I started to wonder if we'd have enough for the dessert! And then I started wondering what affect this would have in her diaper later if she continued to eat so many! We had to switch jobs for a little while :)

Next job: Emptying raisins into the bowl! She was so exuberant in her shaking the boxes that they also fell (flew?) into the bowl. No problem, we just pick them back up and begin again.

Next up: Smashing. Possibly the favorite of all the steps to this dessert! It was easier to just give her a baggie and the pestle, instead of dealing with the mortar (and keeping stuff inside). She's smashing granola, which I use instead of a nut mixture.

Stirring...maybe tied for favorite, or a close runner-up!

Finished product, ready for the oven! I've been experimenting with phyllo dough, making different pastries and baklavas :) This one was honey-pear. Yum.

We like cooking together! Plus, we are really really cute in our aprons. The one she is wearing was my grandma's--my mom made it for her, and it has outlines of my hands from when I was 21 months old.