Mama needs a vacation

This week Isa had to stay home from day care because she had a mild case of diarrhea. Thankfully it is not a severe case but she is still not up to the right standards to return to day care which means we get to hang out together until Tuesday. Yay.

But I have to be honest and say that I am exhausted, I don't have to tell anyone who has a 21 month old that they are busy people who require constant and varying entertainment, who always criticize your cooking (at least mine does) and who must be exercised at least twice a day. Thankfully we were able to go and visit friends for a pool party and today we are off to the park to hang out in the splash pool. You can imagine my excitement.

Right now I am able to bring you this update thanks to Sesame Street and it's power to captivate. Every time I have to do something that I don't want her to join me in I pop in the trusted DVD and like magic she sits down and quietly watches it. Hey I take the help were I can get it, cause if not the girl would be hanging from my leg all day long.

Well it looks like it is over now and she is probably going to require feeding and hopefully a nap. I wanted to share our interesting time at the pool party but it will have to wait until she is down or maybe even for a later date.

Have a Happy Canada Day weekend!

The SavvyMom 'Mompreneur of Year Award'

Baby Thoughts.ca is nominated for the SavvyMom 'Mompreneur of Year Award'.

Help us to continue make a difference in the lives of Canadian parents by providing them with exceptional developmental toys, valuable information through our online resources and supporting social networking among moms through our mom groups.

Your support is greatly appreciated, please stop by and vote for BabyThoughts.ca

Are You On Facebook?

Well, like probably everyone in Toronto, I have signed up on Facebook. Not only do I have my profile but I have also created a Baby Thoughts Group The group is a place were parents can share their favourite or not so favourite resources, websites, products, companies and anything else that they may want to. Please stop by and check it out and if you are interested sign up and start a conversation.

I also wanted to send out a reminder that our June Sale at Baby Thoughts will soon come to an end. If you are searching for a great gift or for something for your little one stop by and take a look at the great selection of 0-6 month toys on sale. Remember that if you register you get an additional 10% off which you can put towards your purchase at any time.

Cheers everyone and enjoy the heat:)

This and That, That and This

This post is about some of the special things that Isa has been doing lately. I want to write them down so as not to forget, cause we all know that it happens.

- She has finally started calling me mama. When I was teaching her to call me mama, I would touch my chest and say 'mama' then touch her and say 'Isa'. But instead of calling me mama she would touch her chest and say 'mama'. Then she started to think that the shirt was called mama so she would touch my shirt and say mama and then touch her own shirt. But now she knows that I'm mama. She never had a problem with papa because I would always call out 'here is papa' and so on. Needless to say I was so happy when she finally made the connection.

- She gives people hugs and puts out her cheek to be kissed when someone asks her. Its funny because she will give you a kiss if you ask for a 'beso' which means kiss in Spanish but if you ask for a 'kiss' she will give you her cheek for you to kiss her.

- Every morning when she leaves for day care she says 'bye mama, I yo you' and reaches up to me for a kiss. This just makes me not want to let her go.

- When she goes off to day care she must have her purse, this cute little bunny thing that her aunt got her for Easter with her sippy cup in it. She must also carry her favourite stuffed toy 'bear' on her other arm.

- At school, we have been told that she loves her sensory activities, like painting and playing with goop. She loves it so much that they have to change her out of her clothes and put her into day care clothes because she bathes herself with the paint. I never know in what state I am going to find her in when I pick her up. Its just too funny.

- She has been responsible for teaching her class mates Spanish. Her favourite teacher Carrie speaks Spanish and ever since Isa joined the toddler room she likes to speak Spanish to Isa as much as possible. So the other children have learned as well and actually ask Carrie for certain things in Spanish such as 'leche' which means milk, and 'agua' which means water. The day care people just laugh at how the other children can pronounce the words so well, probably better than Isa.

- Isa's speaking and vocabulary is improving, though she still does not pronounce things correctly she is consistent with her words and many times knows both the English and Spanish word for something.

I just love this stage, we have quite a lot of fun together, though there are times when all I want is for her to take a nap so that I can have some quiet time.

The Other Mama

I think I have shared with you all how as of lately Isa and I have been joined at the hip. The girl will not leave my side and wants me to do everything for her. Well, last week at the big bar-b-q party that her day care put together I discovered the other person whom Isa clings to, Carrie, her amazing day care teacher.

The party was a lot of fun, I guess as much fun as it can be with 20 toddlers running around, all fighting for the same toys or pushing each other to go on the slide or the bouncing castle in what felt like 40 degree weather. One big plus was that I got to meet many of the other parents of the children that share the Toddler Room with Isa. We were able to chat while our kids ran around. Well at least their kids, Isa was as expected right beside me holding onto 'her' ball.

At one point, one of the children had to go inside and Carrie had to take them in. So what does Isa do? She lets go of my hand, and walks towards Carrie and the little girl and goes with them. I was in shock. She never leaves my side, not even for her father. Carrie tells me as they are walking away that she always follows her in, in fact she follows her everywhere. Ha, so I'm not the only one.

Off she went, with Carrie and I had about 15 minutes all to my self, I was smart and used the time to get some food and something to drink. But what I really wanted to do was go on the bouncy castle. Oh well.

Here are a few of the pictures that I took of Isa at her day care.

Couch Potato...and Chicken

A couple of weeks ago I started something that may be coming back to bite me in the you-know-what. I have to blame it on being just a little frustrated, tired and hot due to another adventurous trip home on the transit system.

Usually after we get home from the day care, I prepare Isa's food and she eats it at her high chair watching the Treehouse channel. Try not to judge, because frankly I use the time to get our own meal prepared or to do something else. Well, needless to say she usually gets so distracted by the show that it takes her almost an hour to finish her dinner. That day I just could not wait for her to be finished and so I did something different. I sat her at the couch and fed her. I know, I know BAD idea. I don't have to tell you how much she enjoyed that. So now every time that I just want to get food into her and don't feel like fighting with her to eat, we sit at the couch and watch whatever show is on the Food Network. She is usually done eating within one show and she eats everything and anything I put in front of her mouth.

Well yesterday I wanted to see if you if she would have a preference for either eating in her chair or on the couch. I know that it is probably quite obvious, who would not like to eat in front of the tv while being fed by their mother. But I was curious to see if she would actually communicate her preference. Well, she did. She got up on the couch sat in her usual spot and patted the spot were I sit and said 'comima' which is her world for food. Smart little bugger, isn't she? But wait, there is more, it seams that she wanted to be an independent little one because she insisted on feeding herself. That's right, she wanted to sit on the couch and feed herself.

Needless to say, we will not be having a repeat eating session on the couch from now on. It will be dinners at the high chair with her feeding herself and probably tv . I will just have to deal with the constant reminding to eat and the hour long sessions but at least she will be eating by herself in her highchair. Two out of three is better than nothing.

Never Again in a Million Years. Ever.

Oh boy, did I make a HUGE mistake on Saturday.

Let me explain:

I was invited by a good friend of mine, Xime who has a daughter the exact same age as Isa with the same name (Bella) to go over to her place so that the girls could play and we could hang out and chat. She asked if I wanted to come by in the morning, say at around 9 am, so that we could take the girls to the park and be back for them to have a nap.

I was like, sure, I should be able to make it there for around that time. After all Isa wakes up at 7 am, which gives us more than enough time. Unfortunately I had a terrible night and was really really tired the next morning. I asked the Husband to get up with the girl and to wake me up with just enough time to get ready and go.

Well, being that we live in a condo, with the living room next to the bedroom and a verbally happy little girl, I did not get much sleep. I think that I got a good 20 extra mins. No worries I thought, I will take a nap when she naps in the afternoon.

So off we went to our play date. We make it there for 9:30 am and head out in a wagon with the two girls sitting facing each other. By mistake we decide to bring a ball, needless to say they both want the ball, so I go and get Isa her ball. But she does not only wants her ball but she wants the other ball. Finally we get them to settle down with the balls, each one is carrying one ball. This happy period lasts for a total of 5 mins and just as we were just too far from the house to go back they start going at it again. Solution, take both balls away. Which means that we have to carry the annoying things four blocks to the park.

On the way to the park, Xime suggests that we get a nice coffee (I was in serious need of one as I had not had time for one before I left). We stop at the coffee place and she goes in to order for the both of us as we could not bring in the big ass wagon. So I stand outside with the girls, and the crying begins. Bella begins to fuss and whine because she wants to get out of the wagon and go with her mom. Isa begins to whine because she wants the balls back. And there I am on a busy sidewalk standing in front of a fancy coffee shop with two screaming little girls in a wagon holding onto two balls trying to figure out what to do. So I give them the freaking balls and start moving the wagon around in circles near the store window.

Xime comes out with the coffees and tells me that I should go in to put the sugar and milk in mine while she watches the girls. I knew before I went that Isa was going to throw a big fit as soon as I was not right beside her. So I warn her and tell her not to worry that I will be as fast as possible.

I go and Isa freaks. I can hear her wailing outside, I quickly put sugar and milk in my coffee and go back. All is well in the world now.

So now we have two restless little girls, two scalding hot coffees, two balls and one cumbersome wagon. Before we go to the park Xime would like to stop at this specialty train store that Bella likes to go into. To be honest I was a little worried at this point because I have no idea how Isa was going to react to it. Also, I felt a little embarrassed walking into this store with a huge red wagon, food, and two screaming little girls. But Xime reassured me that it was always busy with kids and that the owners did not say anything. So off went.

Thankfully the stop at the train shop went relatively well, there was only one little episode which was dealt with quickly and with food. Xime and I were able to finish our coffees while the girls played with the train sets and get caught up on gossip.

Once we finished our coffees and the girls were played out we headed out to the park. Needless to say that they did not want to get back into the wagon being as they had already been let out. Thankfully I was able to get Isa back into the thing with food as a bribe. This never fails me.

At the park the girls go nuts, they actually have a great time and really enjoy themselves. Xime and I spend the entire time chasing after them and making sure they don't kill themselves. I always find the parks extremely dangerous for little kids and so it really stresses me out, but that folks is for another post.

Well, before I know it it's 11:30 and Isa usually has her afternoon nap at this time. Oh no. I don't panic right away, after all, I figure that she can hold off until 12:30 or so. I tell Xime that we have to get going as Isa needs to get home to sleep. We start to head back but Bella refuses to go into the wagon. She wants to walk. By herself. Her mom is not happy about this and tries hard to hold her hand but she wont have it.

In the end I got home at 1:00, Isa fell asleep in the car, which was expected. I quickly get her out of the car seat hoping that she will not freak out and startle herself. No luck. I rush home and as soon as I am through the door, start taking off shoes and hat, as we head straight to the crib. I am hoping that she will just pick up where she left off. No such luck.

In the end she did not go back to sleep, the only sleep that she got that day were the 20 mins in the car. Needless to say we were both a wreck the entire day, I was tired and she was exhausted and we both could not go to sleep. I even tried to take a nap with the Husband taking care of Isa but she spent the entire time crying over one thing or another. It was just awful.

So that was a very big lesson learned. Respect the girl's nap time. I think that if I go back to visit Xime in the morning I will have Isa take her nap at her place or make sure that we are home by 11:30. Because I am never doing that again. Ever.

No.No.No.No

That ladies and gentlemen is Isa's new favourite word. 'NO'. In fact it is probably one of two words that she can clearly pronounce, the other one is 'bear'.

The really funny thing is that she knows very well how to use it. If I ask her to do something or eat something that she does not like, she says 'no'. Firmly and with conviction. If she thinks that you may not head her she repeats it and says it again and again each time with a little more desperation and fear that she will not be understood.

There are times when being the caring mother that I am, I play a little bit with her head. I will illustrate:

BWM: 'Isa, would you like to have a bath?'

Isa: 'no'

BWM: 'Would you like to go to bed?'

Isa: 'no'

BWM: 'Are you sure you don't want to go and have a bath and play with your bath toys?'

Isa: 'nooooooooo, nooooooo, nooooooo'

BWM: 'would you like some cheese?'

Isa: 'no,no,no...????'

By this point she is processing the fact that I just offered her some cheese(her favourite) and is backtracking. Now her new favourite word is 'mas' which means more.

BSM: 'Isa would you like some cheese?'

Isa: 'mas,mas,mas eese'

I do hope that I don't cause too much damage, but at least it gets her to understand even further how each word is used and what her preferences are.

Even if, in the end I will be the one to suffer from this greater understanding when she is saying 'no' to everything. At least there will be no doubt when she truly wants something.

Hello Who Is This? Who?

I got a very interesting call yesterday morning on the Baby Thoughts phone...a reporter from CBC.

You read correctly...The Canadian Broadcasting Channel. Needless to say I was really really surprised and a little exited to be receiving a call from a reporter on the company phone.

It turns out that the CBC was doing a story on crib sleeping vs. co-sleeping. I was informed that they needed to find a mother with a young baby to shoot putting them to sleep in their crib and she was wondering if I could suggest someone. My mind goes blank. Panic sets in because being the kind of person that I am I really really want to help this women. But I can't think of anyone who has recently given birth.

Then eureka, I do have a friend who has a 5 month old, I ask reporter-lady whether this is too old or not. Not. So I call, she is not answering. Fudge. Then it hits me, one of my really good friends has a friend who lives in the neighbourhood who just had a baby girl. Perfect.

I give her a call and thankfully she tells me that she will ask her friend, it turns out she would be happy to do it. I call reporter-lady back and give her the info and we say our goodbyes.

Unfortunately I missed the segment, it was ran during the National yesterday at 10pm but I called my good friend to see how the filming had gone and whether she had been able to catch it.

It turns out that they were doing a story on the statistics around SIDS and co-sleeping. I did co-sleeping, does this make me an irresponsible mother? It turns out that I was playing with fire and putting Isa at risk. To be honest at the time all I wanted to do was sleep and THE only way that that child would sleep was by hearing my freaking heart beat all night long.

I felt a little defensive, my friend said that though they did not come out and explicitly say that co-sleeping is BAD it was quite obvious what side of the fence they where on. I think that I just took things a tad too personal. I wont go any further with this topic in this post because I just don't have the time to do it justice. Maybe, I will post about my adventures with sleep and Isa at a later date. Lets just say there were not all rosy.

But all is good, the important thing is that I was able to help this CBC reporter and hopefully (keeping fingers and toes crossed) she may remember me and who knows she may one day come calling.

You've Gotta Read This!!

I was going around visiting my favourite bloggers on Friday and came upon Metro Mama's post on May's ROFL Awards which stands for Roll On the Floor Laughing. The award is bestowed on deserving bloggers who make us laugh so hard that our stomach muscles hurt the next day.

So being the good lurker that I am I went and took a look at what all the fuss was about. And let me tell you that there are some seriously funny ones, in fact I am going to share the ones that I found incredibly funny and so clever.

My absolute favourite is Mad Hatter's Blog called Under The Mad Hat and her post titled The Local Chapter.

The post is on the annual general meeting of the Storybook Character's Union. All I can say is that it was brilliantly writen. Mad Hatter was able to capture the many characters that we read to our little ones on a nightly basis so well. You can totally picture the meeting with the characters all present and each bring forth their concerns and complaints from Job Security due to the child growing up and no longer reading the baby books, to Extended Health Care for the Pop-Up books due to enthusiasm of the child. Hysterical.

Another funny funny post is The New Girl's Memo to My Immune System. You have to stop by and read because it is just too funny, in fact I found most, if not all of her posts hilarious. I think that this blog will have to be added to my list of daily reads because if she is this funny before the baby, she will be freaking gut-busting once she has the baby. She reminds me very much of Martinis For Milk, Scarbi Doll's post when she was preggers with her son would have you pissing your pants every time. If you have the time and inclination or would like a pick-me-up you should take a look at her archive of posts, they will certainly bring a tear to your eyes.

Something wonderful for me that came out of these ROFL awards was the inclusion of a blogger called Kgirl and her blog The Kids Are Alright. She used to write under another name but for personal reasons had to abandon her blog, I guess that she has re-surfaced again as Kgirl and is back to posting. This is great, as I loved her style of writing and found her blog extremely entertaining. She too will be another addition to my daily reads for sure. Don't ask me when I will find the time to read all these people, I guess that Isa will just have to learn how to get her own food and put herself to bed.

There you have it folks...my top three. I highly recommend that you take a look at all the nominees and pick your own favourites.

Laughter on Monday morning is a must, specially on a rainy Monday morning. Cheers.

Isa's Top 10 'Dislikes'

I was going to call this post the top things that Isa HATES but hate is such a strong word that I decided to go with dislikes.

The list has gotten longer, though some things have not gone away, I guess that it is only expected as she gets older and she is exposed to more things. So without further delay here is the list:

1. Cold Milk. Isa will not have her milk if it has not been warmed up. She could be starving but she will refuse it and sometimes throw it back at me if the temperature is not right.

2. No socks. She has to have socks on all the time. It can be disgustingly hot outside but she still needs to wear socks. I am able to persuade her to not wear socks with her sandals thank goodness.

3. Eating without a bib. I know this is a funny one, but Isa must have a bib on her before she eats.

4. Mommy holding other baby. She freaks out if I hold another child, be it a baby or toddler. It does not matter that I tell her that it is not my baby but right now she cannot comprehend this and so she starts crying and trying to climb on me so that I pick her up.

5. The stroller coming to a stop with her in it. Now if she is in the stroller, it must be moving. If it comes to a stop then it is time for her to get out. This means that when I have to wait for the bus after I pick her up from daycare, I actually have to walk back and forth at the bus stop. Can you believe the things you will do.

6. Her Hat. When the weather started getting warmer and it was necessary for her to wear her hat she would REFUSE. She would cry and take it off and would not let us put it on her. Thankfully daycare has helped us with this little problem, there she has no choice but to wear her hat to be able to go outside. Also all her little friends have one so she will wear one. Ah, peer-pressure. Such a wonderful thing with a toddler.

7. Empty hands. The girl needs to have at least 5 things in each hand in order to be happy. She prefers pens and other long and sharp things but she will settle for purses, bracelets, cards (like mom's credit card or driver's licence) and her favourite, markers. In order for you to take something from her you must offer something in exchange and it had better be good or she will not take you up on it.

8. Her hair washed. She screams every time I wash her hair, you would think that she was in extreme pain by her screams when I wash her hair. I don't understand it, because it is a baby shampoo and the water is at a good temperature. She is okay with me putting on the shampoo but not taking it off.

9. Waiting. Isa like probably many toddlers hates to wait for things. If she wants something, she must have it NOW. Understandably she has no sense of 'in a minute', if she does not get want she wants when she wants it she breaks down and we have to calm her down before she gets the object.

10. Mommy at the computer. Isa really hates it when I am at the computer desk, she comes up to me and begs, whines, or cries to be picked up and to sit on my lap. It does not matter that her father was playing nicely with her, if she sees me at the computer she drops everything and runs towards me. What's up with that?

There you have it, Isa's top 10 list.