We are THAT family

So our daughter has started throwing tantrums about a month ago. And I mean, throw-herself-to-the-ground-and-scream-her-head-off tantrums.

So today, when we were in Target, she was unhappy for some reason or other. And there she lay, in the middle of the aisle, demonstrating the above described behavior.

Nice.

Can I have a refund? Exchange? Where did my sweet-natured baby go? I wish I can shield her from learning all this awful behavior from other kids, cause you can bet your last dollar that she learned it from a kid. But since that's not possible, the question becomes, how do I correct it?

Blast From The Past

Recently, my MIL shipped some stuff to us - they contained some of my hubby's old stuff. Included were some artsy work that he did as a kid

 

Like this Christmas card

"Mary Xmas, mom and dad"

How stinkin' cute is that?

Tuesday Randomness: Inside, Looking Out

Full glass doors are fun...

And the dog thinks so too

Does anyone else's dog do this? I thought only cats bask in the sunlight

Happy Monday

An oxymoron, if I ever knew one, unless the Monday is a holiday or something.

But here's some light-hearted cheer that will (hopefully) brighten up even your dreariest of Mondays

Perhaps a closer look will make it an even better day?

She's a ham, this one is! Always provides a barrel of laughs

Nursery Re-do: Curtains

See the window treatment at the top left corner?

I like that.

It's from Restoration Hardware, and it would cost me $119 for the size of the nursery's window.

That's waaaay over my budget.

So I made my own.

My version probably cost about $20?

I also bought enough material to make full-length curtains for the other window, that's inspired by this one from the Little Green Notebook

I was too lazy to look for striped fabric that I'll like (and that will match the roman shade on the other window), so I just made the stripes myself, one piece at a time.

I need to buy a thicker curtain rod and I can cross this out of January's to-do list

13 Month "Milestones"

I'm still getting over the fact that my baby is no longer a baby...*sniff*




Some new development for her:


She now has 2 3/4 teeth....the two top ones are poking through in various stages

She's interested in books now -- probably because there's story time in her new class.

She'll be perfectly content to sit in her book corner and go through the books that are there and babbling to herself. The books are sometimes upside down.

And sometimes on her head.

Note: Book corner is a highly affectionate description. A more realistic one would be "stack of books dumped into the corner". See for youself (but don't judge)

I've been feverishly buying books from yard sales, library sales and Amazon.com to stock up her library. I hope that she'll grow up to have a love of reading and to experience all the wonderful worlds and far-reaching places that exist in books

She's getting into closets and cupboards now.

  

2 seconds later

Why are kids blessed with the ability to create a full-fledged in the blink of an eye?

She got introduced to the toothbrush at the dawn of the new year. She LOVES it. Daddy showed her how to brush at first

She's definitely gotten the hang of it. The effectiveness of the brushing is yet to be determined though.

She finds great pleasure in "cleaning up".



Putting things "away" (not necessarily the right place for that item, but it's all nicely contained), stacking things. Still afraid of the vacumm cleaner though.

She's getting into the "pretend" play, I think. I showed her how to pretend to cook using a plastic bowl and her spoon, occasionally shaking a spice container to "season", and she got right into it.

We'll be playing masak-masak before you know it!

She also likes to pretend-eat my camera lens cover

She still points at what she can't reach. Again, her aiming is still all over the place, but she's started to vehemently shake her head "no" if I pick the wrong thing.

She loves the big ball that we just bought her. Apparently that was the only item she pointed at in the store. And when we worked at getting it out of the pit, she started chanting "ball-ball".

I did not teach her that word. Maybe she picked it up at daycare? Although the tendency to repeat a word to describe an object was something I thought only the Chinese did.

She still loves her chairs...This is her rocking chair. And she seems to be part monkey.

  

Phew...that was a lot of work!

She recently started to bawl when I leave her at daycare.

She likes to be all grown-up like us and drink out of a glass

She still loves her fridge toys

They act like her on-demand radio

And she looks all toddler-y now. *sigh*

Silver Linings...

My daughter is sick. Double ear infections, crusted up nose, and she wheezes like an old man. So she's been sleeping with me at night. She's a kicker. And a pillow hogger.

Silver lining: she woke up this morning, sat up, scooted over to me, lifted the hair off my face, and gave me a kiss. Awwwww....

I've had the stomach bug on Monday, along with all the fun stuff that comes along with it

Silver lining: This morning, I fitted into my skinny jeans without having to call the fire department. Seems like throwing your guts out and not eating a real meal for days can do wonders in that department.

Glad 'ol Times

I came across these pictures while attempting to clean out my work computer

My husband have the uncanny ability to get my relatives to do "extraordinary" things

Or make the most mundane task the most fascinating/entertaining activity

These pictures were taken almost 3 years ago, when we were back in my homeland. My husband wanted to prepare a meal for my extended family, and on the menu was the Gladstone cake - a moist chocolate cake with whipped topping and crushed up bits of Heath bars, to go along with the dinner of chilli (my husband has a very....defined...reportoire - it's usually either chilli, pizza or lasagna)

As you can see, he's managed to coerce some to act as sous chefs. And managed to garner a huge audience as well. 

I really have no idea why it was so interesting to my family. Perhaps food really is the way to the heart?

12 Month Stats

I never did mention Isabel's 12 months stats, now did I?

Weight: 23.7 lbs (90th percentile)

Height: 30 inches (between 75-90th percentile)

Interesting "milestones":

She added some new words to her repoirtoire, including occasional "thank yous" (sounds like "tank goo") and a rare "there you go" (sounds more like "dat doh"). "Da Diiie" is definitely a favorite word.

She's VERY vocal about wanting stuff now. And she even points to make it easier for you to figure out what she's wanting, although her aiming still needs much tweaking

She loves her bike - It's her birthday "present" (garage sale find, bought it long before she was even born and finally pulled it out for her to play with - $15. Yes. We are cheap).

She can get on and off herself...wanna see?

  

She loves her chairs, or furniture her size

She has two teeth, both on the bottom

She loves her Etch-a-Sketch

Looks like she's going to be a righty.

Pity. Lefties are smarter.

Hahahahah...can you tell I'm a lefty? She uses her left hand to eat though.

Her masterpiece

She loves her "Dog-Dog", given to her by a very generous distant grand-aunt who met her for the first time

She LOVES her Uggs. I finally caved when MY feet were freezing in normal boots.

When she's not wearing it at her feet, she's taken to wearing them on her hands and will walk around the house for hours like that. Perhaps it's time to introduce mittens to her.

Or maybe she just wants to be a boxer when she grows up?

She loves to put stuff on her head. Hats. paperbags, towels, plastic bowls from the kitchen...The Chinese hat finally fits.

She's VERY nosy. Like, you can't pick your nose without her noticing (ok, that was gross...) Even worse, she's persistant nosy - meaning, if you try to turn around to discreetly pick your nose, she'll walk around so she can see exactly what you're doing. (why am I fixated on nose-picking??!)

Oh, my darling, where has time flown?