Calleigh at 21.5 Months

I've been wanting to do one of these posts for awhile and since we haven't had too much going on the last few days, this seems like a good time. This may be kind of boring to most but I want to write it down to have on record.



Calleigh's Routine:

• Wake up between 7:00 and 7:30


• Eats breakfast around 8:00. Breakfast consists of a (1) Smoothie (I make one for Duncan every morning and give her a little) with a straw (very important), (2) Frosted mini wheats (I really need to get rid of the "frosted" part of that), (3) Cheerios, and sometimes (4) Whole wheat toast. She has a very hearty breakfast appetite and sometimes seems to out eat me.


• After breakfast, I usually try to check my email and the latest news but usually she's clamoring for my attention so that doesn't last long. We read a few books, etc. and then we head upstairs so I can take a shower while she goes in her pack and play.


• Once she's dressed with her teeth brushed and hair combed, it's around 10:00 and that's when we go do something whether it be story time, grocery shopping, going to the playground, visiting the mall, or whatever else strikes our fancy. But I always try to go somewhere so we aren't sitting in the house all morning.


• We arrive back home some time after 12:00 typically. Then it's a quick clean up from any mess we made in the morning and then it's time for lunch around 12:30. Lunch is usually either (1) Quesadilla on whole wheat (2) Grilled Cheese on wheat (3) PB&J on wheat, or sometimes an (4) English muffin pizza. These options are always accompanied with a veggie which could be (1) Carrots, (2) Corn, (3) Peas, (4) Lima Beans, or (5) Tomatoes. And we always end with fruit. More on that later.


• At 1:15, it's nap time. Yay! I tell her it's time to get tiny babies (her binkies) and off we go upstairs. She had yet to complain or say no. At this point I'm always jealous because I would love to have a nap too (minus the tiny babies, of course) but this is when I "go" to work. I change into my sweats, put on my cozy socks, and settle in on the couch with a cup of tea. Ahhh, the beauty of the Internet! It would be very difficult to go back to working in an office after this!


• She usually sleeps until around 4:15. If she's not up by 4:30, I go wake her up but that rarely happens. The reason I wake her up is because I don't want any interference with her going to sleep in the evening.


• After I get her up, we hang out in her room for a while playing and reading books. Then it's outside in her stroller to take Dewey and Marlee for a walk and to get the mail.


• Lately, after we do this, she clamors to take her baby stroller out. So we do a second walk with her pushing her stroller through the neighborhood and me chasing after her as she tries to push it into the street.


• At 6:00, it's time for supper. This is either (1) Pasta with tomato sauce (2) Black bean burger (3) Veggie chicken patty (4) Veggie sausage links or (5) Leftovers that I have from the previous night's supper for Duncan and me. A veggie is included and of course, fruit!


• By the time she finishes eating, Duncan is usually home from work and they spend some time together going over Calleigh's day, reading, roughhousing, or whatever.


• Every other evening, Calleigh gets a "tubbie" with bubbles.


• Following the tub, it's naked baby for a few minutes (this is how she asks for it now, "naked baby for a few minutes??") and then hair combed and jammies on. We read a couple of stories and then pray to Jesus. At 7:45, into her crib she goes and that's the last we see of her until it all begins again the next morning. (well, except for when I check on her before I go to bed and when I stare at her through the monitor.)

Now some people may be a little critical or annoyed by my sticking to a schedule but I stand by it. It works! From what I have read (and I don't claim to be a child raising expert by any means) toddlers like having a schedule, they like to know when to expect things and what's going to happen next. And clearly, she's a great eater, terrific sleeper, and is in a pleasant mood 95% of the time. I don't know if that's attributable to being on a schedule but I think some of it must be. So I'm sticking with what I'm doing no matter what anyone else says. Now, I realize this schedule may be blown to smithereens in about 11 weeks or so...

Calleigh's Favorites

• Fruit - She likes it all. Apples, oranges, pears, grapes, watermelon, cantaloupe, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, pineapple.


• Food - By far, her favorite one to say is Quesadilla. It may be her favorite to eat too. I think it's the cheese. She LOVES cheese!


• Book - This always changes but she got a new book from Aunt Sherrie and Uncle Kevin called "Good Night Vermont." It's the cutest book and they have a bunch more from all different parts of the world like "Good Night Boston," Goodnight Montreal," etc. We would love to get more of these books. Right now she's also into a pony book for Christmas but she calls it her "Tony book." I guess Aunt Toni is on her mind.


• Song - Oh boy. This is very difficult to pick because she loves SO many songs. If I had to pick one it would be "Behold...I stand at the door and knock, knock, knock." It's off one of her children's Christian CD's. I think she likes the knocking part. We always listen to it in the car and if one of us isn't knocking she'll say "Daddy do it." But really, there are numerous songs besides this one that she always is trying to sing. We're even still singing "O Come All Ye Faithful" - - the one song that stuck around from Christmas for some reason.


• TV show - That would be none. She doesn't watch TV and I hope to never start her on that path.


• Juice - That would also be none. She doesn't drink juice. The only time she ever had some was on Christmas day when Aunt Toni gave her some OJ (with our permission). She obviously gets enough fruit from eating the real stuff so why give her all those extra calories and sugar??


• Color - Red. I'm only guessing on this one because that's her answer when you ask her what color something is. It's always red. I swear I'm starting to think she's color blind. I don't know what age kids typically learn their colors but she's pretty much made zero progress on mastering it.


• Toy - It would be her baby. She has Baby Hailey and Baby Stella that she got for Christmas but her favorite remains her baby that she got from Aunt Lori when she was only a few weeks old. She has no name. She's just goes by "Baby."


• Sound - A siren. She loves listening to the sirens of fire trucks and ambulances. Clearly she doesn't realize that that sound means someone is in trouble. Whenever we hear the faint strains of a siren, she stops whatever she's doing and says to me, "Listen, listen" and points to her ear.


• Place - Outside. She loves being outside. This afternoon we took our walk with her pushing her stroller. At the end of our street, she sat on the curb and said "Mommy sit down." We must have sat there for a good 40 minutes. We were looking at birds and squirrels, people walking their dogs, cars driving by, and just talking about whatever was on her mind. I swear that's the longest she's ever sat in one place. I finally had to get her to leave because it was time to go home for supper.

A few other things...

• I weighed her tonight and she came in at 27.5 pounds.
• She wears size 24 months or 2T in shirts (thanks to her big belly)
• In pants or shorts, she still fits 18 months or 18 - 24 months.
• She wears size 5.5 shoe.
• She has 12 teeth and 3 more coming in.
• We only brush her teeth once a day because that's how I've always done it for myself. Is that really bad? I've only had one cavity my whole life so it seems to have worked...
• Her vocabulary is hundreds and hundreds of words. And she loves to talk!
• She's a very friendly person who says hi to pretty much everyone. This morning we were at the Nursery with Elaine and she saw a little girl about her age that she ran up to and started chattering away. The mother said to me "She should be in the butterfly section. She's a real social butterfly."
• She's good natured most of the time. Hopefully that keeps up.
• There have been a few times when she's hit or attempted to hit other kids. Fortunately it hasn't happened in a while. However, I've noticed a few times when she's struck out at me. Typically this is when she's playing with something and I have to take her upstairs to do something. She'll flail her arms around and inevitably, one of them will connect with my face. When I tell her "You don't hit Mommy, ever" she'll immediately say "Kiss" and start giving me kisses. So the last time or two that something like this has happened, I've noticed that she doesn't even wait for me to say that she shouldn't hit me. She'll just start saying "Kiss, kiss" or "Hug, hug." I just hope she doesn't think that she can hit but as long as she does a kiss right after, it's okay.
• She goes through about 5 diapers a day (size 3).

Well, I think that's about it. As I wrote all this down, it's just reminded me again of how special she is and how much I love her. I'm so excited to see what the next one is like. It's hard to imagine she could be as great as I think Calleigh is but I'm sure she will be!