No, Stop It, Don’t Do That

I’ve thought so many times to sit and catch up on my blog and then stupid facebook gets in the way and sucks me in to it’s ridiculous mindless games and then it gets late and I’m tired and another day passes without me updating. Now that I’m finally putting this as a priority, sit back, and be prepared to catch up on our month of October, complete with pictures.

On October 3rd, I took Makenna by myself, to get a haircut. The last time we took her she was definitely not interested in sitting in any chair to get her hair cut so the girl had to do it while Makenna was sitting in daddy’s lap playing with his blackberry. I was hesitant in taking her myself but I figured it needed to be done and I don’t recall what Chris had going for the day but he was busy. We got to the place, and luckily, another child was sitting in the chair. This helped Makenna to see that it was not a scary thing to do and she was brave, if not braver to sit up in the chair and have her haircut. The faces she made were priceless. Just picture a look of disgust and frustration and you’ve got it down.

At one point, they needed her to put her head down so they could get the back of her hair and I said to her, “Makenna, look at your feet.” The stylist then repeated what I had said, and Makenna promptly lifted her foot to eye level thus defeating the purpose and had us all laughing. I thought, well, she definitely is clever! The stylist said that was the first time she ever had a child do that..

Earlier, before the haircut, we were at gymnastics and she happened to be laying down on a piece of equipment on her stomach. Another little girl came over and lay down on top of her. Makenna promptly and loudly replied, “No no Angela, don’t push my butt, my butt stinks!” Did I mention this was said very loudly? I was laughing and blushing at the same time.

Later in the afternoon, this same day, I was trying to get her down for a nap and she wasn’t in the mood. She was trying everything she could think of to get out of taking one. At one point she opened up her door, (which was at least the fourth time,) came out and told me that she heard a noise in her room and that she thought she had to come down on the couch. I promptly told her that it was time to go back to her room and take a nap. I eventually won but it took some doing.

Chris and I finally took a very nice vacation to Aruba, the place of our honeymoon, for our six year anniversary. It was great weather, and very relaxing. Most of our time was spent lying out in the sun either down on the beach or poolside. We did also do other activities like

snorkeling and taking a two-hour horse ride. That was fun but scary. I hadn’t ridden a horse in quite a long time. I was nervous that the poor horse’s legs would buckle underneath all the pressure as we were going down rocky slopes and up other rocky and cactus laden paths. I was wishing for some flat land, and then when we found it and the horse took off at quite a gallop, I was then wishing for the rocks and cactus hills to return. I actually got used to the galloping; it was the trotting I didn’t care much for. It was nice though when we got to ride along the ocean. Needless to say, we were a bit sore later.

I had to take a picture of this horse - it's not one that we rode but I imagined this is what our horse felt like after carrying us all that way.

On our anniversary day, we went to De Palm Island. We took a bus to a spot where they then put you on a boat over to the island. On the island you can snorkel, do Snuba (a cross between scuba and snorkeling,) lay out, play volleyball, swim, eat, get massages, etc. We did the laying-out, snorkeling, and eating. We got quite red from being out all day. Not to say we weren’t already a bit burned from the previous days.

The day before we left we took a sailing/snorkeling trip. On this trip, they took you out to a couple of spots to snorkel. The first was a ship wreck, and then the next was a place with lots of coral and colorful fish. Then they took us to a place where you could use a rope swing off the ship and plunge into the water. Chris and I had more fun watching people do this and decided not to do it ourselves. We also went back to a few places that we had gone to for our honeymoon. Namely a restaurant called “El Goucho’s.” I highly recommend this place to anyone who loves steak! It absolutely melts in your mouth and they give you some things to go with the steak which make it absolutely delicious such as spicy onions, a garlic sauce and their famous steak sauce.

Our hotel room was nice as it gave us an ocean view and had a balcony. We were only supposed to have the room for the first couple of days but they said we could stay in it the whole week. We also had all inclusive for the first couple of days and I took full advantage of all the non-alcoholic pina coladas I could get my hands on – YUMMY!!!

Not even 24 hours after getting back from a very warm 90 degrees, we get hit with snow. That stunk. Makenna stayed with Chris’s parents and did quite well. We “Skyped” every night and she could only stand to talk to us for about five minutes and then she was off. She didn’t even seem to really miss us. She was well behaved and they are now even asking us to go on another trip even if it’s just overnight so that they can have her again. They miss the routine they got into with her. They loved how she would wake up in the morning and crawl into bed with them.

On October 19th, Makenna transitioned to a new pre-school class. They were going to let her just do an hour one day then two the next, etc. She did so well when they took her over the first day, that she just stayed the whole day and that was it. I was a bit more upset then she was but for purely selfish reasons. I really liked her teachers and they would give me updates daily on a sheet of paper which I have been laminating and saving in a book. Now with her new class, I don’t get any of those sheets. With those sheets I was able to ask Makenna specific questions about her day and here I have to ask the proverbial, “What did you do today Makenna?” Her reply usually starts out, “well…..” and then usually some intelligible stuff but I don’t know if that’s what she really did or not.

Her new teachers are nice and she’s getting more used to them and her class. For a couple of days after going, she kept saying how she wanted to see her old teachers and classmates. I told her new teacher this and they went to visit.

She was able to go to the pumpkin farm with her pre-school on October 22nd. I again was jealous as this was something I wanted to do with her first, but time and weather prevented this from happening. She seemed to really enjoy it and was able to bring home a small pumpkin.
Later that same day after I picked her up I took her grocery shopping at Wegmans with me. That was truly a treat (as I say that sarcastically). She felt the need to yell at me quite often as I was trying to help her push the cart. In her bid for independence, she felt it was her turn to push the cart. As I was filling it and it was getting heavier and harder to steer, I would just use my finger every so slightly to pull it along and guide it so that it didn’t take out any unsuspecting people in front of her (or to the sides of her,) and so as to not knock down any things on the shelves from her steering into them.

When she felt or saw me helping she would peer out from behind the cart and promptly yell at me saying, “No mommy, don’t touch it! That’s naughty, you’ll go on the naughty step…got it?” I was laughing; there was no holding back my smile on that one. Not only that, but she repeatedly yelled at me. I was looking around like, “I can’t be the only mother being yelled at by their child…can I?”

We got through that and got home where the scolding continued. This time, it was on some stuffed bears. She was yelling at a bear telling it, it was naughty and that it had to sit on the step for hitting. “No hitting, that’s naughty, sit on the step.” She came and told me that the bear had to sit on the naughty step for hitting and I told her to make sure the bear said it was sorry and gave her a hug after it’s time was up. She went over to the bear and told it to say it was sorry and then she gave it a hug and kiss. But, as this bear must’ve learned from Makenna, it hit again, and had to sit yet again on the naughty step per Makenna. Again, the laughter from me was flowing but this time I was alone in the kitchen and could compose myself when she came back in with her serious face.

Then on October 27th she turned THREE! I can hardly believe it. She actually woke up that day saying that she wanted to “Watch Makenna on TV.” I’m not sure what brought that about. Chris put in a DVD of her first year that he had put together. I was tearing up watching such cuteness and how small she was (not to mention how compliant). She actually started crying because she’d see her Uncle Rich or Grandpa Jones, or daddy or you name it…someone that wasn’t present in the house with us and this sent her into a crying jag. I finally had to turn it off for the both of us.

Since her birthday was on a Tuesday, we didn’t do any major celebration…yet. She did get cupcakes from pre-school and after her Bee-Bop Tots class, we went to Grandma & Grandpa Jones and had an ice cream cake. She got a couple of presents from them that she really likes. One is a book about bees and another is this foam golf set and she calls it “Pooh Kicks” game from one of her Winnie the Pooh movies.

We plan on having a combined celebration with her cousin Katie who turns two this week. This way we can have her Great Aunt Lori and Uncle Rich come to celebrate both birthdays. She’ll get her presents then along with more cake.

People failed to mention that as soon as she turned three that she would morph into this mouthy little girl! All of a sudden she’s telling us “Shush, be quiet, my friends are sleeping.” This I have to say she picked up from pre-school. I’m just not sure if it’s from her old class or her new class. I’d almost have to say the latter as she didn’t say it previously. She doesn’t just state it, she yells it. After the first few times thinking it was cute and funny, we’re now realizing that it’s verging on disrespectful and that she needs to learn it’s not appropriate. Especially when no one is talking and she’s yelling it.

She also had picked up the saying, “No, I don’t like that.” She was saying it more a couple of weeks before her birthday and saying “I don’t like…” insert whatever. It was certain foods that she does like, or her new teachers, or anything that we tried to offer her. That seems to have subsided a bit now. It also went along with other sayings of, “I can’t,” “No Mom, Don’t do that,” and “Stop It.” All of which didn’t come out sweetly but very loud and rudely. Now she has also added “No thank you.” This again, comes out loud and rude, not calm and quiet. So we have some work ahead of us for the year of our three year old.

We did get a chance on Friday, (the day before Halloween) to take her to a pumpkin farm. Daddy did a great job of carving a pumpkin and Makenna helped scoop out a bit of the guts. She mostly colored her little pumpkin that she had gotten with her class, with markers. She enjoyed trying to blow out the candle inside the pumpkin.

Then the next day, on Halloween, we did take herTrick-Or-Treating. She actually did quite well. She dressed as a “Snow princess” as we called it, just because she had her winter coat on. Although the weather was quite nice and she didn’t really need such a heavy coat. She did actually go up to the doors and say Trick or Treat and she was really good about saying thank you. I was quite impressed. There was one house that had a scary display and she just looked at it and later stated what we had said to her which was, “it’s just pretend, it’s not scary, and it won’t hurt you.”
Well, I know November isn’t going to be any less hectic as this week alone Monday through Thursday we have things planned every night. This Thursday she starts another level of swim class (one where I don’t have to be in the pool with her,) and I’m excited to see how she does. I just hope that she doesn’t take her new vocabulary of “No,” “Stop It,” and “Don’t Do That,” with her. Plus I hope she doesn’t put her teachers on the naughty step!

Just A Minute, I'm Eating

A few weeks have passed and Makenna has grown more verbally and definitely has more of an opinion on things - whether we like it or not.

Tonight during family dinner (I mention family dinner as it seems so rare that the three of us get to actually sit down together to eat,) we were telling Makenna about how Daddy and Mommy are going on a trip and that she will be staying with Grandma & Grandpa Jones. We were telling her that she has to be good and listen to them as she will be with them, overnight, for seven nights. Her reply, "why?" Not why does she have to be with them, but why does she have to be good. Chris told her that he was asking her to be good and would like for her to listen to what they ask. Her reply? "Just a minute, I'm eating dinner."

As I was having a good laugh he said to her, "I'm sorry, I just thought it was a good time to let you know since we're all together." I again laughed as he was trying to calmly explain to her why he was so rudely interrupting her meal. This just goes to show you, that family meals together can be entertaining and should be done. When she's actually the age of a teenager instead of just acting/replying like one, I'll have to bring this blog back out and read it to her to stress the importance of eating together as a family.

Hopefully by then, I'll also be able to not hide her vegetables in the food she eats. I actually went out and bought squash (frozen kind,) and made it to go along with our dinner last night. Chris was ecstatic as he loves squash. We thought we'd try it on Makenna again as she used to love it as a baby. So much so that she actually had a yellowish/orangish tint to her - no kidding! The doctor said it was from the squash and sweet potato baby food.

After much coaxing, she ate it and liked it. We had leftovers and I brought it out again for tonight's dinner. She was hesitant about eating it again, but agreed once I said I'd put A1 sauce on it. Then I started to put her chuck roast meat on top of a spoonful of squash and that went down real well and she was much more agreeable to eat it again. I also had her eat some cooked carrots (again with a bit of A1 sauce,) and even snuck in a bit of potato and celery. She did notice one bit of celery once though and pointed and grunted. I quickly took it off and then re-hid it under some squash.

Success!~ (for now).

Don't Bother Me!

Okay, well I know I just blogged yesterday but there were a few good comments from my little one today:

In the store trying to buy her shoes - she was trying on shoes that were way too big for her and walking off down the isle. I was trying to be calm and was patiently asking her to return and try on other shoes. Her reply, "Don't bother me!" After picking my mouth up off the floor I calmly let her know that we were going to leave the store without any shoes if she didn't comply to trying on what I had picked out. She did return and we agreed on a pair of shoes.

Tonight at dinner as she was blessing the food with our "ritual blessing" she stated, "God is good, God is Great, let us spank him for our food...." I smiled and held back a big chuckle and let her continue.

While getting her ready for bed after bath, I was trying to again get her to comply with getting dressed, and she said, "Don't push me!"

Okay, well we had a bit of an attitude issue from my pseudo teenager today. I don't know if I'd rather deal with this attitude now where I still have some sort of control (so I think) or wait until she's an actual teenager...unfortunately, I'm sure I won't have a choice in the matter...but if I did, I'd choose now as it has a hint of cuteness to it...when she's in her teen years...not so much.

I Sing Too Much

Makenna, as usual, is keeping me entertained with her daily quips or comments. Just this morning after pooping in the potty, she asked for a "high-five" for accomplishing the "deed." I heartily complied.

I look at her sometimes and wonder how she has gotten so big so fast. It amazes me to see how much language she grasps and then uses back on me. Just last night, Chris and I were looking at some pictures from our trip in Europe, and stay in England and I was just amazed how much hair she has now compared to six months ago and how much older she looks.

Well what really got me laughing today happened on the way to my exercise class. I may have mentioned in another post that Makenna has a "thing" for church music as she calls it. She insists all the time while we are in the car that it be on. It can't be any church music, it has to be the Children's Songbook music that I bought on CD (5 CD's to be exact). I tried putting an adult church cd in and it was a no-go with her.

The only time it's acceptable to turn it off is if she wants to sing her own song. Anything from the ABC's, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Bingo was his name-o, etc. Well tonight on the way to exercise class, she actually made up her own song. Something about the TV being broke and eating noodles and playing with toys. This gave me a big smirk and I told her that I loved her song. She said, "No, I Sing Too Much." I was like, "no you don't!"

Then on the way home, she wanted to sing some more. I forgot to mention that she usually wants to sing alone, she'll say, "No My Turn!" Well, she started singing the Mockingbird song. You know the one where daddy will buy you a mockingbird....Anyways, she kept saying something about "if that......(uninteligible)...Daddy will buy you a diamond ring. She kept repeating that line about daddy buying her a diamond ring. I guess that's the one that stuck with her. I found that quite amusing and warned Chris he better start saving up.

She also wants to be the one to say the blessing on the food - by herself. She'll push the food as far away from her as she can, fold her arms, put her head down on her arms and whisper some words, and say "Amen." I sometimes hear various words like something about swim and pre-school and maybe some names of people. Occasionally I'll hear something about food being nourishing for our bodies. I wish we could get her to be as reverent when we say our prayers at night. It's a free-for-all then it seems. She jumps around, talks, reads, anything but be quiet. Well, we're working on it.

Well, she's talking on the calculator, as she thinks it's her Blackberry, telling someone that she threw something down the cellar, and it's time to get her to bed. Here's to hoping that I'll hear her sing a lot more songs...it would just be nice if it was a modern Top 40 song once in a while.

My Turn

This has been the phrase I hear the most now days. My little 2.5 year old teenager is moving on in her bid for independence by voicing the fact that everything is "my turn." It's her turn to open up doors, close those same said doors, turning on and off faucets, buckling her self into her car seat, and a myriad of other tasks.

What is nice about this is that we've channeled some of this want of independence into helping around the house such as doing dishes. Since she has always loved playing in the water and wants to be the one getting the soap for her hands and cleaning the table with the sponge after dinner, I figured why not put the three together and get my dishes washed. I admit I still help to get all the gunk off the dishes but I get her to rinse and dump (repeatedly by her standards) and then it goes in the dishwasher.

She also likes to put clothes down the laundry chute and this is quite helpful until all the clean clothes start going down the chute along with shoes and other miscellaneous objects such as books, toys, and other toiletry items. If you're missing something...ask us...it might be down our laundry chute.

Well on some other good news, potty training has been going pretty darn well. If you would've asked me this almost three months ago, you would've found me in tears saying this was impossible and that I hope before she goes to college that she would've figured the whole peeing in the toilet thing out. Well, I truly believe what I read in a book which was, when they're ready, they're ready and not before.

If you read our old Blog (chrisandterijo.blogspot.com) from when we were in England, we somewhat started the potty training journey back then but it didn't really take off per se as we had first thought and hoped. Granted we were not consistent in our attempts either. We've always talked about it, encouraged it, and tried to get her to move towards this goal since she was just a little over two. It wasn't until we started her in pre-school here, that they really encouraged it and in all honesty, I figured, since she was going to be with them the majority of the day, they could be the ones to deal with the frustration I felt back at the end of May.

I also agree with the many mom's who've written on various mom blogs and posts that pull-ups are just another diaper. Now we try to just use them at night and for long trips and stick to underwear otherwise. Yes, we've had a few accidents as expected and we're still expecting more but hoping for none. She's usually dry in the mornings and we get her to come down and use the potty.

In fact, she's doing really well at asking us to use the potty. We do still ask her every 20 minutes or so and after every hour or so, making her sit. The problem with this is that I forget to ask assuming that she's going to ask me and that's where one of our accidents came in this week and our poor couch got drenched. She has also discovered that using the "I have to go potty tactic" works in getting her out of things such as taking naps at such appointed times. She even tried using it last week to get out of sitting on the naughty step and I refused to listen. Unfortunately, that back-fired as she really did have to go and then I had to clean up the naughty step along with Makenna.

One thing you DO NOT DO is say, "would you like to go on the potty?" I'm trying to instill this into Chris as it gives Makenna the option of saying "No." Instead say, "let's go sit on the potty." She can still say no and she does, but it's more of a statement than a question.

Yesterday she actually even asked to go poopy on the potty. We were so excited and elated. This was technically the fifth time we got her to go on the potty - the first being by accident months ago when she sat to pee. Then we caught her twice as she was about to go in her underwear and got her on and they got her once at pre-school. Well yesterday was the first day she actually asked to use the potty for this purpose so we felt as though we were really gaining ground and then today.....she made a complete mess in her pants. When this happened to Chris a few weeks back I scolded him for throwing out her underwear instead of just dumping it in the toilet and rinsing it out. When it happened today to me....I could see why he did that and I followed suit...underwear and all went in the garbage.

So as happy as we are that she's gaining all this independence and learning to use the potty it's still very hard to see her grow up and get bigger. I miss the little cooing baby who was learning how to reach and grab for things while on her tummy and how to roll over and crawl. I'm glad for video cameras which can remind me how far she's come and gives me a chance to re-live the moments when she was small.

Summer - Where Art Thou Going?

I am truly conscious of the fact that the Summer is quickly escaping. So much I want to do and so little time to accomplish it in. We were able to enjoy a weekend up in RI last weekend to celebrate my aunts Lth birthday (Roman numeral used as she doesn't want people to know).

It was nice to see the surprise on her face and the enjoyment she had seeing that we made the trip up. Makenna really enjoyed it, minus the long trip in the car without a DVD player. Plus, we had to stop a few times as we are still in the midst of potty training her. We brought along her potty and I would open up the back of the car and sit her down - for all to see. This girl better not grow up to be an exhibitionist due to my lack of securing privacy for her. It made me remember all the different places I changed her diaper in Europe - out in the open for all to see. I did try and find a little corner of sorts but her butt has seen more of the world, or rather more of the world has seen her butt.

I haven't been really good about keeping track of all the little things Makenna does, cute or otherwise like I had hoped. I can tell you that we are progressing on potty training and we seem to be getting her to pee more on the potty than off. She's even starting to do a little better at pre-school.

Yes...she started pre-school. She started on my birthday (July 27th) and she did really well. We leave her there almost all day. I was going to pick her up shortly after I get out of work but she's napping at that time so I tend to pick her up later. They were/are concerned as she doesn't eat much there. She's seeming to get a little better but she still has her days. They are the ones that really encouraged me/her about the potty training so I figured, yup...it's time to be more consistent. They also take her swimming twice a week and she's in her glory. They told me that they are shocked and amazed about her swimming abilities for her age.

Speaking of which, I am now taking her to swim lessons again. Unfortunately, the class is a little beneath her in my opinion. It's more of a "get used to the water" class with a few things geared to moving their arms. I asked if they would let her go into the older class but they first said she had to be in pre-school (which I said she was,) then they said she had to be three. So we'll suffer through and let Makenna swim circles and jump over the kids as she's doing.

Also on my birthday, I had to give a eulogy for my uncle Jim (my mom's brother) who died unexpectedly the Thursday before. Everyone else close to him were too upset so that kind of left it to me and my brother. I didn't know my uncle all that well, but my brother Jared knew him even less. I appreciate the church and those who helped to pull the funeral together pretty quickly.

There are a couple of cute things that Makenna has said recently. One was after she went pee in her little potty she wanted to "show Jeff & Tara" (her teachers at pre-school) and I told her that we could tell them that she went, but we were not bringing the potty full of pee to them. Then just yesterday she was being "punished" as I told her for not listening. When she got to pre-school she told her teachers, "she's being punished."

Makenna talks about herself in the third person all the time, "she" this or that. Well when we were at her doctor's for an annual check-up, the doctor walked into the office and Makenna goes, "she wants to leave now, she wants to go outside." I could tell the doctor thought that Makenna was talking about me so I clarified that she was talking about herself. He found that quite amusing as she kept saying things like that during the exam. He never heard a child her age talk about themselves in the third person. We still have to go back to get another blood test in a week or so to make sure she's over whatever it was that caused her to have a low blood count a month ago. But thankfully, she's doing much better.

Well I thought I'd end with a few pictures:

This one was taken on June 13th - Makenna's first pony ride:


Here, on the same day, she got to play in a Firetruck and an ambulance

This was later the same day up at the zoo in Syracuse

This was on July 23rd, the Mace family from England came for a visit

These last pictures were taken on August 7th - it was costume day at pre-school so we borrowed the mermaid costume and we found the sun-glasses at a store and Makenna loved them:

My Teenager

Didn't I tell you...I have a teenager....or so it seems! She's a complete grouch if you wake her up instead of letting her get up on her own naturally. Then she constantly wants to drive the car and wants keys to do it. She requires "different keys" as she puts it. Then she is always talking on the phone. She'll take my cell phone or a house phone or daddy's blackberry and constantly be "talking" to someone. You can usually tell who she's talking to, or trying to have a pretend conversation with as she starts the conversation, "hi, this is grandma," or "hi this is steffie," etc. I try to tell her that she's supposed to say "Hi, this is Makenna," but she doesn't get it...yet.

Today was really funny as she got my cell phone and I hear her saying, "Oh My gosh!" and then a hearty laugh would follow as if someone told her something unbelievable. Then she'd also say, "we'll talk about this later." I realize that she got that from me but I think it's funny that she's applying it to her phone conversation as if she doesn't want her "uncool mom" to hear her plans.

Plus, she takes my wallet any time she gets her hands on it. Off she goes taking out any money and credit cards....yup I'd say I have a teenager. Did I also mention that on occasion I catch her rolling her eyes at me!~

She can also repeat many lines from different movies that we watch. She's also into singing lately. I bought a CD of Primary Songs and every time we're in the car it's "church music?" So I have to put on one of the CD's and even if I think she's asleep I can change it for a break to regular FM, I hear in the back a weary voice say, "Church music?" I love hearing her sing the songs though. It's a good motivator too. I tell her that if she's doing something naughty that church music will not be heard in the car and she straightens right up...most times.

I guess as she ages physically to meet up with her "acting" age I'll have to come up with new things to "motivate" her with to fall into line.

One last thing I wanted to add that she did today (and once or twice in the past,) was to sing Old McDonald had a Farm....and on his farm he had an "Eli"....with a "wah, wah here and a wah, wah there, etc." I thought it was pretty funny and inventive.

I Know

Well Makenna is definitely on the mend. She's getting to be her usual 2.5 year old self - into everything, a pain in the butt (to which she'll attest to by saying, "you're a pain in the butt!~") but still cute as ever.

Today while getting ready for church I said to her, "Makenna, you're so pretty." She replied, "I know." I'm glad she knows. I hope that she grows with this confidence and self-assurance that never leaves her. Ever since she was a baby I've always told her that she was a smart, beautiful girl so that she gets it into her head. I always try to put "smart" first so that she recognizes that's a quality above others that she should be proud of. Lately, it's been a smart-alec.

She's into this whole, "It's mine not yours" phase which is a real treat. She'll take something that's not hers and repeat this phrase to get her way. Today she wanted grandma's (my mom) wallet. She likes to get into bags and purses, as most kids do, and she especially likes the wallet as that's where all the "pennies" are. When she starts flinging it around with it unzipped is when the restraints go on and then the fighting begins with, "it's mine not yours."

After the traumatic past week she's had, she also remembers about giving blood and going to the doctor's so most days she'll say, "Go to the doctor's to give blood?" When I tell her, "nope, we have a break for a while," she'll reply, "other kids turn." "Yes, other kids turn," I reply.

Yesterday we went to get her haircut again for a second time. She was NOT up for it in any shape or form. I was getting mine done at the same time and she relaxed enough to see that it didn't hurt me so while daddy was holding her in a chair (not the barber chair,) the beautician went over and just cut away. I'm grateful that Chris's blackberry kept her interested enough in sitting still so that it could be done. This was only her second haircut, the first being back around the holidays before we went back to England. Since she didn't sit still for that one either, there were wispy pieces always hanging in her face that bothered me, and her. This looks more evenly cut so I'm happier. Plus the back of her hair was getting so ratty.

Well, my goal this week is to try and at least write down if not blog daily some little thing that Makenna does/says. We'll see how I do...although some days may be combined but I definitely don't want to forget all the special moments that she creates for us whether good or bad.

Doing Much Better

Makenna thankfully is feeling much better. I love seeing a happy-go-lucky child who laughs and makes me laugh at her little quirky things. Plus, we know for a surety that she does NOT have leukemia which is such a massive weight off us.

Makenna had to give more blood on Monday and again yesterday (Wednesday). Her platelet numbers were up on Monday, but only slightly. Then on Wednesday, they were up from 64,000 to 84,000. They are still below average, as average is 125,000 to 200,000. They still feel that she had some sort of viral infection - a "mono cousin" as the doctor called it. He explained that it wasn't mono "exactly" but there are other infections that present like mono but are a variation, thus "mono cousin."

I had a feeling that she was getting better as a lot of the spots (patikieye - have no idea how you spell it) were disappearing. She still has some spots but they are faded. Plus, being a little "stinker" is a good indication that she's starting to feel better. We are just so grateful for friends and family who sent prayers and blessings our way to help us through this very scary time.

Later, the doctor called us at home to say that the specialist in Syracuse was glad to see the numbers improved but because they are still low, that she wants Makenna tested again in 4 - 6 weeks. At least this gives her fingers a chance to heal before they get more blood from them.

What was funny was Makenna still didn't like it but she cried a lot less, more of a whimper, yesterday. But each time she would say, "other kids turn?" her way of trying to say that she's trying to "share" the experience with other kids. She'd also add, "time to go" and "I want to go outside." Again, her ways of trying to get out of it. We would just be driving down the street of the hospital and she'd see it and start whimpering, "no, no, no." But like I said, she was a trouper yesterday.

Someone reminded me yesterday that I need to be more disciplined and write down all the quirky things Makenna does or says on a daily basis to remind myself and as a way to "torture" her when she's older.

So here are a few things from yesterday and today:

- She picks up her Iggle-Piggle doll (from "In the Night Garden" - a show in England) and looks at him and says, "Are you poopy?" "Are you stinky?" "You need your nappy changed?" "No you're not stinky, just wet."

- Stating, "God is good, God is great, ...." as we bless our food, in an English accent - love it!!

- Locking herself in my car today as she was "driving" and me trying to explain to her how to try and unlock it. She was trying to press buttons and then she told me, "hold on, just a minute," and she went over towards the passenger door and tried using that button. After five minutes, I relented and went inside and got the extra set of keys to get her out - now I remember why I don't give her the keys. Plus, she almost stuck the correct key into the ignition...I can only imagine if she learned to turn it on!

- Telling her cousin Elijah today as we were leaving, "I need a kiss Eli, I Love you."

- Yesterday in the doctor's office, riding in the boat and yelling, "come on stupid!" really loud as she's turning the wheel to the boat.

I'm sure there's more and now I will try and be more disciplined, because the person that reminded me is right...I don't want to forget these cute moments and as I look back at our other blog (chrisandterijo.blogspot.com) I realize that if it wasn't for writing every day, there would've been things I would've definitely forgotten. Plus, I need to get some pictures up!

Help Daddy, Help

Okay these two words when spoken by a toddler who needs a hand getting off the floor or walking across some balance beam is cute and puts a smile in your heart. But when spoken by a toddler who is screaming for true help to stop a painful thing happening to her just makes you cry. Especially when it's something you have to let her experience.

For over a week or so I've noticed a strange rash on Makenna's left arm in the crook of it. Then all of a sudden I've noticed it on her left leg. At first I thought it was a heat rash of sorts. When it started to get darker I got concerned. I took her to the doctor's on Monday who said that it may be some sort of allergy or it may be some sort of viral infection that is manifesting in this rash.

I kept an eye on it all week and bought and used the Hydrocortisone cream as recommended. She had a fever a few times through the week and then today we woke up and she had the rash all up her back. I called the doctor again and after a stressful visit he asked us to go to the hospital to have blood drawn for a CBC count along with a few other tests.

It was very hard to get Makenna calm enough to get through the exam with the doctor (as it was on Monday,) but now at the hospital and having them trying to get her to calm down enough to get blood drawn was down right horrific.

It seems that they could not get a vein to draw blood from and it didn't help that she was squirming all over the place even with a few people holding her down. They tried on both arms and eventually after 15 minutes or so were able to get some blood drawn. I was already in tears by that point.

She had been screaming, "Help daddy, help daddy," repeatedly. It just tore me up as it did Chris, who was one of the people trying to hold her down. Then she'd say, "outside," and "I think we're done." We tried talking to her about different things and even said we'd go to get ice cream after. She didn't care and she just wanted to be done.

When we finally got her home, she went straight to a nap, not surprisingly. We both said how we sincerely hoped that we wouldn't have to go through that again for many years to come--until she could understand. Well, that hope was short lived. The hospital called about a half hour after we were home to say that we'd have to come down and have her give some more as the blood for the CBC clotted and they couldn't get an accurate reading. We both cringed but said we'd be down after she woke up from her nap. At least this time they pin-pricked her finger and got what they needed. She still screamed and put up a fuss but it wasn't as bad. They also gave her a $10 Target gift card for having to do this again which I thought was nice and will go towards some toy.

After, we headed off to Sam's Club as Makenna kept asking for "Steak and sauce" for dinner. We realized once we got home and she was whining incessantly for food, that she hadn't eaten all day. She had been offered food various times but always refused so it was no surprise that she literally wolfed down steak. She still said no to ice cream though...she must be sick!

Well, the bad news continues as we have to go back yet again tomorrow to repeat the test as her CBC was low - something like 64,000 and I thought the doctor said it should be over 124,000. Chris heard over 200,000. Not to mention that the rash seemed to spread up to her scalp and her face a bit. That could be because of the straining and crying she was doing. The doctor said it was like little blood vessels are bursting and that's the spotting we're seeing. So it wouldn't be surprising if we saw more of it with all she'd been through today.

All I know is that we have said some prayers, had a blessing for her and will hope that whatever this viral infection is, goes away and that it's not anything more serious than that. I do find it a bit coincidental that this time last year in England, we were going through an illness with her. Of course, she was sick a lot in England but it seems like July may be a bad month for Makenna if this trend continues.

Catch-chew

The bad thing now that I'm home is that I'm not keeping up with this blog as I did in England. So I end up missing out on writing about all of Makenna's advances in growing.

I realized the other day that she's really understanding concepts and we have two way conversations. Not always the way I want it to go but she's quick to pick up and figure things out. The other day we were eating at a restaurant and she took a napkin and was wiping the table saying, "I sweep up daddy's mess." I told her that was a good idea as daddy makes lots of messes.

She's also still on her chicken nugget kick so I've resorted to buying some healthier ones from Morning Star or any veggie type ones. She doesn't seem to know the difference. She does seem to also think she lives in a jail as she has been asking for bread and catch-chew (Ketchup). I figure, well it's simple and easy and if she will eat it (and it's whole wheat bread) why not?

I've taken her to a gymnastics class the last 3 Saturdays. It's really just at a gymnastics place and she can play and run around on the different equipment. It's just to get them used to the equipment so that when they're around 3.5 - 4 they can be taught and not be afraid of the equipment or be tempted to run off to see all the equipment as they know what's there. Two Saturday's ago, (only her second class) she received a medal and certificate. Chris didn't feel it was "deserved" but Makenna seemed to really enjoy her medal. In fact, I think she was expecting one this past Saturday. We hope to start this again in the Fall as it's done for the Summer.

I'm hoping to hear about swim classes for her for the Summer so that will take up some of her time. Plus I signed her up for a Bee-Boppin-Tots class on Tuesday nights where she can dance and sing and play with different toys. Whatever we can do to keep her active as if we're not going outside or going "bye-bye" she's leaving on her own accord. She can reach the front door lock and turn it and then open the door and leave. She has also now figured out how to open the back sliding glass door. So we're in BIG trouble. She also has now figured out that she can get herself out of bed without our help and even this morning, we woke up to someone poking Chris in the back, saying "Daddy."

She's starting to get more possessive "that's mine!, not yours!" That's a lot of fun. How do you explain that yes the shoe is "hers" but mommy & daddy paid for it, so it's not "fully yours?" She wants to still drive all the time. She actually wore Chris's battery down in his car as we didn't realize a light was on for over 24 hours. We had to go buy a new battery.

She's also unfortunately quite a klutz. I hope this is normal?! She has a bump on her head from tripping and falling into our deck railing. She has a scrape on her elbow from falling off a chair and scrapping it on the way down to the floor on the desk. She has a scrape, make that two scrapes on her one leg from falling in Jessica & Jared's driveway and then we went over to Josh & Autumn's and she fell there! Then today she tripped and fell again on that same leg and cut it open again on a rug. That doesn't even count all the falls and trips she's had without obvious cuts and bruises. I hope she grows out of this soon or she's going to look like a bruise from head to toe. What's worse is that she's mimicking me when she points them out as she says, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." I usually tell her that I'm sorry she got hurt. I start to feel guilty with the intonation she uses.

Well, now that I catch-chew up on Makenna, a brief update on us. I'm back to work part-time at Catholic Charities again and Chris is back at his job. Our stuff from England arrived this past Thursday (June 25th) which was just over a month from when we shipped it. It arrived at a good time as we were able to open the boxes and then give them Jess & Jared so that they could use them to pack and move out the next day to their new home.

We still have to organize things and put things back to order from when they moved in and we moved things around but that can happen in time. We're also preparing to have our bathroom remodeled so that will be a lot of noise and mess coming up.

I'll have to get some pictures up soon. I should take some before and after pictures of our bathroom now that i think of it.

Let's Say Hello to Jesus

Tonight we went to the Vestal Parkway where their is a "Reflections of Christ" portrait and movie happening. When you first go in there is a picture of the Christos statue and someone gives a little blurb and then plays a short CD. Well, while we were sitting there, Makenna was saying, "See the picture of Jesus?" I said, "Yes, I see the picture of Jesus." She then said, "Let's go say hello!" I replied, "Let's!" She went up to the picture and was again how it was a picture of Jesus and then we said hello. I though tit was so cute.

We walked around and looked at the pictures that were hanging, of which two, I really wanted for our house. Well, then we went in and watched the DVD which was on how the photographer took the pictures and his inspiration for some of the shots. While we were in this room watching the movie, Makenna saw the part where Christ was on a rock in Gethsemane. When she saw it, she said, "Jesus is sleeping." How do you reply to that? I just said, "well, not quite."

The only downside is that she ended up having a really stinky diaper and with about 10 minutes left to the movie, I didn't want to leave. It stunk up the room and she kept saying, "You stinky? You need nappy changed?" Luckily the only other people in the room were two other girls from my church so they laughed at Makenna's antics.

A Great Safety Message

This link (as I don't know how to embed the video itself from YouTube) is a great safety message - and it happens to be of my Aunt Phyllis and her son Daniel, my cousin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u09HRDNf6M

Houston - We've Pooped in the Potty!

Yes I'm sharing the first poop in the potty story. It's better than taking a picture and posting it too so be grateful I'm not Kate (from John & Kate Plus 8).

I was cleaning the bathroom and figured I'd put Makenna on the potty watching Baby Da Vinci. As I was cleaning our toilet, I heard her say, "Oh, did you go poopy?" I repeated it back to her as this is not a new comment from her so I wasn't expecting much.

I was elated (and a bit grossed out) when I saw that she did actually poop in the potty! I think she was just as surprised. This netted her a monster sticker (which she so very badly wants all the time) and two pieces of candy. The nice thing - the clean up was a lot less than if she had gone in her diaper.

Here's to hoping that we have more success as the days roll along!

Work, Facebook, and "People in England"

Well it was my first week back at work and it wasn't too bad. I loved the feeling of getting things accomplished. Not that I wasn't getting things accomplished in England - but it's noticed and appreciated and I think that's a big difference. It was just like falling of a bike and getting back on as so many told me. Although, I forgot a few things like how to put on the brakes and to turn the pedals but it's coming back. It'll be nice when the agency picnic happens in a few weeks (as long as it's a nice day,) and to be able to see more of my co-workers and show them how big Makenna has grown.

Okay, well, I've finally broke down and joined facebook. I held out as long as possible but I did it so I could stay in better touch with people from England. I was able to show Makenna some pictures of Hannah from facebook and she didn't want to stop looking. At this point, I'm still stumbling around trying to figure it out and I've wasted wayyyyyy to much time on it trying to see pictures on others' pages and finding friends/family. Plus, trying to find other people I may have not thought of by looking at other people's friends. I hope that once I get the hang of this huge time waster that I won't be wasting as much time.

Speaking of England, I do find myself really missing my routine there and missing the time we were able to spend together as a family. Chris is now back into the swing of things at work and I'm back into the swing of complaining that he doesn't come home at a decent hour.

Makenna and I went to visit my grandmother at the nursing home yesterday and she kept saying to people, "Do you want to meet some people from England?" I felt awkward when I didn't come out with an English accent. In fact, I tried to say very minimal so that they didn't think it weird. I finally broke down by the third person and explained that we were just living there for a year, not that we immigrated here from there.

I have to add one cute thing that Makenna said tonight when I woke her up from her nap. I told her that we were having chicken and noodles in the hopes that, that information would persuade her not to be miserable. It worked as she said, "mmm, I like that." Worked until she came down and realized that I wasn't done cooking. Then the "teenager" come out in her and she whined and complained until dinner was ready.

Well, back to facebook to try and see what pictures I can add and who has considered me good enough to call "friend."

I Quit!

Well, here it is our new blog. We enjoyed our time in the UK and I truly am missing it at times. Mostly when I can’t find things for Makenna to do and I’m tired of watching Christmas Shrek. We were in such a routine and schedule that it was nice. Plus, she keeps asking for Hannah or saying, “Hannah’s not here.” I hope to keep in touch with Hannah’s family and have to send them an e-mail to see if they have a web cam so we can do Skype sessions.

You may be wondering how the potty training has gone. Well, it’s gone…out the window. I tried Tuesday through Thursday and I was ready to quit after Tuesday. I kept repeating to her every time I put her on the potty, “Makenna, where do we go potty?” She would look around and say, “light,” or “garbage,” or whatever else caught her attention at that moment. After repeatedly trying to get her attention I finally succeeded in getting her to say “in the toilet.” That’s about all we got down. I kept asking her if we go pee-pee in our underwear and she would just repeat what I was saying.

I bought her two packages of Dora underwear (five in each pack,) figuring that I could tell her, “We don’t pee on Dora.” Plus I did buy some pull-ups to go over them to keep any accidents contained. Good thing because we went through those underwear one right after the other. We did have a bit of success getting her to the potty on time but she just doesn’t seem to be able to tell when she has to go. I would repeatedly remind her that she needs to tell me or asking her if she had to go along with physically taking her. I couldn’t get her to sit still for very long.

Then I had another “missguided” idea that we would play “Elmo Potty” while she was going. Now I can’t get her off the potty. She’ll sit there practically through the whole movie which is around an hour or so. She get’s up and hasn’t peed and then get her underwear and pull-ups on, then she goes. I was frustrated! This kept happening. So by Thursday afternoon and our umpteenth time seeing Elmo, we did away with it. She wasn’t too happy about that. I also at that point did away with trying. I realize she just can’t read her body signals yet.

I still put her on the potty this morning and had success so I won’t give up completely but otherwise, it’s back to diapers for now. Plus, I’d hate to inflict any babysitter with training her right now too. Maybe they’d have more success than I would though. Not only that, but I bought underwear size 2T-3T – too small! They just fit her but are really tight and don’t cover her butt completely. I went out and bought 4T’s thinking they’ll swallow her up – nope. They just fit her and are almost too tight! What is going on?!~ She’s tall but holy cow, I have a hard time believing how quickly she’s growing.

One last thing I have to add that happened on Tuesday. I went to visit my grandmother (who is 99,) and at a nursing home. I took Makenna and when we got there we found her in the large dining room area. We sat and were talking for about five minutes and then this religion class started. Let me just say, it was the strangest thing I’ve encountered in a long time.

It was about devils and demons and sex. All I could think about was how strange this was to be talking about sex to this group of people. Not that they don’t have sex anymore but I bet a good lot of them don’t.

Anyways, it went on to state how devils and demons used to come down to the earth to have sex with the female species and when they procreated, the children came out as Giants. Then after the flood and Noah, God no longer let the devils and demons come down.

Then it went on to say how the male organ (and he named it) meets up with the female organ (again naming it,) and they have sex. At that point I was like, “alright – this is ridiculous – you don’t think they already know this?!?!” It continued with how sex between a married couple is good but sex before marriage is instigated by the devil.

Shortly after this, I took Makenna and left with apologies to my grandmother stating we’d have to come back another time. I think some administrator should really look into and approve this kind of stuff before hand, and if they did, than that administrator needs to be let go…in my “missguided” opinion.