ChinChing Farm

Gemma had a great vacation at ChinChing farm. She loved the animals, calling the sheep her friends and naming them all. She loved following them around and patting them, and trying to boss them around: "Come HERE sheep-y!" COME HERE!" She was quite the little shepherd and spent about 20 minutes unafraid and on her own following the sheep and feeding them, etc. Of course the show interested her little, even the horse show with these huge horses zooming around a rind and girls doing flips and standing on their heads on the horse's back. She was waiting for the kids merry-go-round and train that was set up at the entrance/exit. We had fun walking around, looking at rocks, climbing rocks, smashing rocks. I remember having lots of fun doing that, too, when my dad used to fly model airplanes and would take us out to the gravel pits to play as he flew his toys. Gemma loved the little playground/yard at our hotel, calling it her barn. There were some of those animals with seats on giant springs for riding and she called them her animals: goats, sheep, a seal, and her motorcycle. The gap in the hedge was her door, which she carefully locked each time she exited to protect her animals from robbers. Her attitude toward the constant attention from strangers throughout the trip was apparent as she toured me though the barn: "my animals do NOT like Chinese people." Sigh. Of course she doesn't really get what she is saying; when you ask her 'but what about Uncle Andy?' she will say that he is not Chinese, same with Auntie Audrey. To her Chinese is a language thing, not a racial thing. And it is annoying rude strangers she doesn't like, not Chinese people. We're working on it :)

Oh Gemma. She has been whiny since I've been on break which is so hard to take, and I even lost my temper with her twice today. On Christmas Eve, too, sigh... Lord, I need more patience and mercy as a mother.

It has been a fun Christmas eve day though, I hope for her too. Looking forward to our trip to Taichung tomorrow to see Andy and Audrey and Elias and then the mountains. I will make it a point to remember something cute she says or does rather than how frustrated I was with her.

Paper Storage

Any good ideas on how to store paper? Gemma got that huge Costco pack of construction paper for her birthday, but how and where do you keep it? Leave it on its end and it bends. Leave it on its side and to hard to grab out one sheet.

Accident

We had a cookie party this morning with a dozen people, and Gemma missed her nap. She had an ENORMOUS benny before church (a benny is a tantrum, my UK word of the day) making us late for church and anyway..she walked up to Auntie Adrienne at the beginning of the music and said, "I'm grouchy. I didn't take a nap." So Auntie asks if she wants to sit with her, so Gemma crawls on her lap and falls asleep fairly promptly. I was in the back with Guinness. In the middle of the service Adrienne all of a sudden jumps up, and rushes to the back. Gemma was so passed out tired that her bladder had let go and she peed all over Adrienne's lap. Adrienne ran to the back, Gemma bouncing on her shoulder; she was still completely out, and so they laid her down in the kid's room, and Auntie tried to clean herself up the best she could.

Oh, auntie! We're sorry! Thank you for all you do for us!!

And Gemma, so cute, when she woke up at church she said, "I'm all wet!" Hahaha.

3 years old

If I had any energy I would look through our external hard drives of pictures and get a good one of Gemma when she was born... They are all on the flicker if you want to see (check the our links section). Just look at Guinness' blog and you'll remember what she looks like!

The party was a huge success! Thankfully we got everything done in time, people came, and everyone had a blast. (Almost wasn't done in time; the party was to start at 3:30 and at 3:40 Chris leaned his head out the balcony to call out to me running around the yard setting stuff up, "Are you done? There are a dozen people here and I don't know what to do!" Bless his heart, he did a tonne to get ready but being the social director for a room full of toddlers is not up his alley.

If you look online you will find the plans for hundreds of Dora birthdays. I though I was being pretty original choosing Dora over the Princess Tea Party theme, but I guess not. :) Here is our Dora party outline:

Decor; we had an old Dora book that was ripped so we cut the good pictures out of it and hung them from long ribbons in the middle of the room, and put some pictures on the windows. Hung up multi coloured streamers and balloons. Taped Dora tissue paper on the table as a table cloth.

When the kids got there we had snacks (because it was right after school) and put on Dora tattoos. As the kids came Chris put the presents into a big box. After snacks we went open the presents, but OH NO! They had mysteriously vanished! There was a picture of Swiper there, and a note. So off we went to find the swiped presents. Map was there to help us. Our adventure took us to the parking garage looking for the purple planet, over seashell bridge (paper seashells taped to the sidewalk), to the singing gate (paper eyes, mouth, and eyebrows taped to the big gate at the front of our yard), through crocodile swamp (water bottles with paper crocodile heads taped on). The kids had lots of fun. We found the presents after jumping over the corcodiles, went upstairs and opened them, cut the cake (wahh!) and ate it up. Audrey, Adrienne, and I make Dora backpacks out of purple felt for treat bags, and everyone went home around 5ish.

Present highlights:a hello kitty coffee pot that sings and actually pours water!! It is so awesome. You add the water in the back, just like a real coffee machine, put the pot on the burner and push the button...TA DA! Out comes a single serving of 'coffee'. It is really adorable. Gemma also got a doll house, tea set, watch, Dora playdough set, arts and crafts stuff. We got her that huge pack of construction paper from Costco, the Wizard of OZ book, and a Dora doll with tonnes of clothes. (I found that on Kijiji this summer when home for 20$)

Gemma used her yellow playdough on a 'project' yesterday, mixing it up with glitter glue and sticking it to a piece of paper, and Chris and I scolded her. I told her, You won't have any playdough left if you do that with it, and she said, "that's ok. I'll get some for my birthday!" Ha ha, not for a while now Gems!

New Passports

Going for new passports this week, the kids and I. I thought the newborn photo was hard, well the 3 year old photo was not much better.

Sit up. Not so up. Put your head down. Lift your chin up. Look at me. Look at me. Don't look over there. Don't turn your head. Move your hair off your ears. Don't turn your head. Sit up. Don't smile. Don't show your teeth. No, you can't do that either. Almost done, Gemma. Almost done. Look at me...

Guinness was equally brutal. Pray they get accepted!

Survivor, anyone?

Usually we watch Dora before bed. So you can imagine my surprise when Gemma said,"Can we watch Survivor?" Adrienne was here and said, who do you want to watch on survivor? And Gemma replies, "Shambo!" (I guess you need to be following survivor to get it...)

She got some awesome new winter hand me downs, including some beautiful shoes. She insists they fit, even though they are 3 sizes too big. "Look," she says, "My feet are this big and they are this big! So they fit!". She was traispsing around ins some lovely pink dress shoes with pointy open toes and a small heel. Other treasures? A pair of white cowboy boots! She showed Chris and he said, No way. I don't like them. So she told Adrienne later that, "Daddy don't like them!" with her very serious face.

Gemma's baby

The imagination of toddlers...

Something Gemma loves to play with in the bathtub is hand towels and face clothes. She needs like 6 of them and then drapes them over the tap making a tower, or whatever. The last few months she's been pretending they are a baby.

She balls them all up and then cuddles it. And announces it is her baby. And she wants to bring her baby out. One time I got her a pan to put her baby in (you know those times you think it will be only one time and turns out to be the beginning of a very long tradition?) So now she always asks for a pan for her baby. (Usually it is a loaf pan, but sometimes it is an 8inch circle pan). She gently places her soaking, saggy, dripping baby into the pan, and refuses to let you dump it out. Weird, right? (I am reminded of Kaitlyn and her sleeping with the spatula days...)

turning the corner?

She slept completely through the night the last two nights. My toes are crossed, my fingers are crossed and every piece of wood in this house has been knocked on. Could it be we are rounding this corner?

Birthday

We are starting to get ready for the birthday party. Decisions to made on:
date
time
snacks? supper?
cake? There are about a million Dora cakes to choose from
decorations
guest list

Have some stuff organized, but not much. This weekend I'll get to it.

What does Gemma want? Hmmm, pretty much anything. She loves to say when we go out shopping, Can I get this for my birthday? It could be a pen, a drink, a book... On the real gift list is sand for her mini sandbox, construction paper, new paints, a dora doll with clothes I bought from Kijiji this summer, and some barrettes and hair things. A late birthday is good because any extra presents she gets can be saved until Christmas. She loves princesses, she needs some new coloring books.

We'll keep you in the loop.

Let's have a meeting

You can tell that Chris and I do a lot of church work; Gemma is all about meetings. She sits down with either one of us and says, "Let's have a meeting." So we pick a topic and ask eachother questions about it. We've had lots of meetings about Gemma's upcoming birthday, we talk about what we are going to do that day, or about Gemma's bedroom. Whatever. Today at Starbucks Chris and Gemma had a meeting about coffee. Chris asks her, What kind of coffee do you like? She says, "Strawberry." They go through some dialogue about cream or sugar, room for milk, ice or hot. Then Gemma takes on the role of interviewer and asks Chris what kind of coffee he likes. Black is his reply. Well, the little wheels in her brain start turning... She thinks about this for a moment and then retorts, "'I like pink coffee" (get it? Because she liked strawberry coffee but learned you should use a color when describing coffee, so she thought back to her answer and what color it was.)

papier mache

Had a great night of fun with Gemma. Took a nice walk, did some window shopping, then came home to finish up a papier mach project the nursery is working on for our church's 5th anniversary party this weekend. (Cinco de Pearlo). Gemma and I had to o the second layer because our friends are coming to help paint/decorate on Wednesday.

Her medicine makes her groggy and go to sleep really fast. Is it wrong of me to love that ;)

And today's lesson is...

Don't put sticks in your mouth. Especially if you found them outside. And used them to make nature stew with every rock, leaf, berry, flower, etc, you found while playing outside.

This is what happened at our house today. Gemma came in from outside, with her stick. I caught her with the end in her mouth and said, Gemma, that is so gross! Take that out of your mouth. Well 5 minutes later she starts bawling her head off that her mouth is hurting and burning. I look at it and it is all red around her lips and chin, and on her palm where she was holding the stick. Of course I assume the stick has been in poison or something and I run Guinness to the neighbour and we head to the doctor.

No official diagnosis (sigh, Taiwan) but got some medicine and a recommendation from the dr. not to eat sticks anymore. Thanks, buddy. The red is gone, but then at church she started crying because she said her hands hurt, but that seems to be ok now.

Such is life.

That's what she said...

Gemma was explaining to me how she wanted to do her America puzzle, and Chris and I were trying to tell her that, No, she couldn't do it because she needs help, Guinness was going to get it, etc... And so she said to Chris, "Ok, here's the deal..." and started explaining her situation. Heehee.

Also said today, "I love you so much so much so much so much..in the whole wide world." Adding in the whole wide world to anything makes it very very big in her mind.

We went out for a long walk after school today (oh wait, I stayed home from school because Guin was sick, I had a sore throat, and Chris wrecked his ankle playing ball) so anyway, this afternoon we went out for a walk and looked at the Sanrio store (makers of Hello Kitty, a pet store, and a few other places. It was a lovely afternoon walk with my kids.

Hurray!

She's potty trained!!!

I'm being played!!!

Wow! And unreal conversation took place tonight as Gemma was falling asleep...

Gemma was awake in bed, I was working in my bedroom, and Chris had just gotten home so he was in saying goodnight to her. She said, "Mommy's working, so Daddy, you lay down with me," And then Chris said, "No, I think you can go to bed by yourself," and she said, "Then I will just go like this: 'Mommy?'" Unaware of the conversation taking place in her bed, I replied (as I always do,) "Yes Gemma?", and she turned to Chris and said, "See?" with a look of mischief on her face, knowing that she is the puppet master of bedtime.

I am a sucker!!!!

Staff Retreat

It was our annual staff retreat at Green Bay this weekend (thursday friday) and it was awesome!!

Got to the hotel at about 4, jumped into our swim gear and hit the beach. Gemma LOVES the waves and the sand, and it was so perfect weather wise. She jumped the waves and slid down the sand hills, getting completely covered. Friday we spent the whole day at the pool (the ocean was a bit rough, and the sand super hot). Good thing we had one of those wetsuit style bathing suits, because Gemma got a super tan on her lower legs and forearms. Such a wonderful time.

It finally happened...

The conversation that was made famous by the movie Kindergarten Cop:

"Mommy, Guinness has a pokey thing and I have (pause) bumps."

And I say Hmm, 'uh huh...' and then a little dog walked by and Gemma added, "And dogs have...THAT!"


Yep, it was funny.

My body says...

Our new babysitter is very sweet and always brings Gemma a treat; microwave popcorn or goldfish crackers or whatever. So last night she brought over one of those lunch sized bags of fritos. Well Gemma talked about them all night; I want my chips. Even I have my standards and said, no, not before bed, we'll eat them tomorrow. First thing in the morning she is after Chris,"I want my chips." And Chris says, no. And she says,

"My body says, 'I want some chips! I want some chips!'" And she lifts up her shirt and wiggles her body, like its really her body 'talking' to us.

She tried it again with me tonight. So funny!

We started the whole listen to your body thing early in potty training. I told her that her body would tell her when she has to pee, she just needs to listen. So she often says, "My body says, 'I have to pee!'"

She loves pretending lately. She loves to talk to her toothbrush, her toys, Mr. Finger (mommy's walking fingers). "Make it talk, mommy." Or this one, talking about why she doesn't poop in the potty, and she says, "My poopy says, 'I don't want to come out.'" Oh great.

REALLY glad she was speaking English...

Preface: the first time Gemma saw me nurse Guinness she called them 'bottles'. And in the moment I just said, 'Uh yah. Those are mommy's bottles." Now I can begin the story.

We were waiting in line at the bathroom yesterday at the MRT. I was holding Gemma, and she pointed at the lady behind us who was wearing a pretty tank top with a lacy ruffle around the neck. "She bottles are so pretty-ful." OK, the English is bad too, by 'she' she meant her, by 'pretty-ful' she meant beautiful. It was funny.

Heart melter!

Gemma has this princess CD that she is obsessed with, and it talks at one point about it being her birthday, so anyway she is on a huge birthday kick. She already knows she is having a Dora party, and she talks about it all the time. Well tonight she was telling me about it again and after some undecipherable blabber she said something about a sleepover. I said, who are going to have a sleepover with? And she looked at me and said, "You, mommy! I want to have a sleepover with you!" Talk about melt your heart.

Glad she's speaking English

We were riding in a taxi yesterday with a female driver yesterday (not so common). This woman had a deep voice, and a short haircut, and Gemma scooted up to look around the front seat at her. As we pulled her back onto the seat she said, "I just want to see if it is a man or a woman."

Pheww, so glad the driver didn't hear/understand.

Truly Taiwanese

We were at the Greenstore today and Gemma grabs her crotch and exclaims, "I have to go PEE!!" I leap into action. Out of the store we run, and (will anyone believe me) and turn to the side of a quiet lane and take care of it. By me holding her over a gutter. Yes, my little girl pees on the street.

On the way home she said she had to go again, so I asked the clerk in my newly learned Chinese pharse Ce suo dzi na-li? (Sorry if my pinyon is a bit off, but it means where is the toilet?) and he said No! So we rushed out into the street to a place with a potty and crisis averted.

In charge

You know you are risking disaster when you leave the 2 1/2 year old alone with the 4 month old while you shower...

So Gemma comes to the shower curtain. "Let me in!!" So I peek out. She starts her story: "I I I I I I I" (she has that sort of stutter where she has so many words she can't get them all out.) "I I I Guinness has a poopy diaper so I take he's diaper off, and I can't put it back on!"

Oh boy. I brace myself.

FORTUNATELY she just checked to see if he had a poopy diaper, he didn't actually have one, so the diaper was put back on and everything was ok.

Potty Training...the saga continues

We are doing good with the potty training. 2 accident free days! Well, she pooped in her diaper tonight when she was in bed, but as she says, "That's OK!" She is still wearing a diaper to bed. I told her that she needs to listen to her body and when her body says she has to pee, she needs to listen so now our days are filled with listening. It's really cute, she'll say "My body says it needs to pee pee!!"

Funny things

We have one hard and fast bathtime rule: No pooping in the bathtub. No peeing goes along with this, but sometimes it happens and I just say, "Just DON"T poop!". So we go through the pre bath routine of Do you have go pee? "Noooo, mommy." And kast night as soon as she stood in the water she said, "I'm starting to pee!" And as she looked down the the stream that followed, she said, "It's like a fountain!"

I am loving watching Gemma spend time with family. Watching her and Ty play with our old Princess of Power toys brought back so many memories of us playing at our grandparents house. Gemma and Baba had a nice date tonight while Chris and I were celebrating our anniversary. They went to McDonalds, and then shopping, and Baba said she was so good. We all got home at the same time and as she walked around her side of the van clutching a McDonalds bag, she said, "Where's Baba?" I pointed to Baba at the back of the van and she walked over there, and asked if she could feed Anna. Baba said OK, and so we started toward the house. Gemma very confidently told me, "Anna doesn't like ketchup. She eats milk. And french fries." She then prceeeded to feed Anna the french fries in the bag. It just amazes me how her thinking skills are progressing. Baba probably told her that in the car, and she remembered it, conveyed it to me... I just love watching the little wheels in her brain work.

Gemma summer

Gemma loves Canada. She loves her Grandpa and Grandma and Baba. She loves bossing Anna and Petri around. She loves the wide variety of snacks being presented to her. She loves the water park. She loves her friends. She loves her princess bed.

She doesn't like the car seat. 'Not too tight, mommy!'. I wish kid, sorry!

Canada

Gemma hasn't misssed a beat with this trip to Canada. She travelled well, didn't whine or tantrum too much. Ty was here, and also was up all night the night before so Mikala and I had a great time playing with the kids and visiting until 2am. Gemma loved walking upstairs and downstairs checking out all the toys and sights, and her and Ty are getting along great. It's so fun watching her play with my old toys :)

Poop Update

We had poop today. Not very fun for Gemma to pass, but hopefully this is the final hard one. She is on stool softener now and so hopefully all the hard stuff is gone and things will get easier for her.

Keep praying!

What blankets are for...

We were getting ready for bed and Gemma declared she needed her baby's blankie. I asked her if she knew where it was, and she nodded; "In the living room," and off she walked to go get it. A few minutes later she came back with two blankies her baby's and Guinness'. I asked her, "Is that yours?" and she nodded but not so confidently. I told her that was Guinness' blankie but she could borrow it for her baby. She nodded and said, "For when my baby throws up." Cause that's what blankies are for.

Also funny tonight, we were washing her hair which she hates, and I as usual told her she would be a stinky girl of she didn't wash her hair. And she cried in her whiny voice, "I want to be a stinky girl!!"

In other news, she has been so constipated this week. (STOP READING NOW IF YOU DON"T WANT TO TALK POOP)




Like, SOOO bunged up she cries when she has to poop. I took her to the Dr., got some medicine, nothing happened, gave her a suppository which helped her pass one hard poop, but that was two days ago and today was again full of straining and pain. I've been giving her tonnes of water, fruit and veg, (as much as she will eat) cut out refined flour, but still today nothing. Finally after school, during a bad attack, I finally forced her to sit on the potty. (She usually poops standing up, but I knew this was making it harder for her to get it out). As I bent her body to get her sitting she totally cried out and I knew it was coming out and it was the most awful thing to witness as a parent. Yes, I know this is disgusting but I watched her poop come out. And I thought for sure she is going to have a colon relapse or tear something because it was so hard and round it looked like she was growing a tail as it tried to get out. But it passed with no (apparent) damage. She did another smaller one an hour later and I just praying that is the end. It was not very fun to watch her in so much pain. Pray for her, anyway that her body gets back to normal.

Funny things Gemma said...

I usually pray with Gemma in her bed at night before she goes to sleep, and tonight I asked her who we should pray for and then asked her to pray. This is what she said:

"Dear Jesus; GIVE ME CHOCOLATE!"

Uhh, amen?


Other funny things she's said lately:

chicken nubbets (instead of nuggets)
super dupey lots!
Put it on the plate and blow on it (giving me instructions about her lunch)
all my byself. (instead of all by myself)

Sleepover

Gemma went on a sleepover last night to her best friend (and our babysitter) Annabelle's house. She was so excited and packed her bag; her baby, a stick, an empty paper towel tube, and some books. (I then put the bag away until I could pack it on my own) I resisted every urge to call, and so I have no idea how it went. Just got a text saying they had breakfast and were on their way back. I DID sleep until 8am, wowsers!! It's been too long.

Dancing...

OK, I know I am way behind but will throw this quickie up there;

We were watching American Idol, Gemma in her diaper and shirt and she all of a sudden starts peeling off her shirt. "I want to dance naked!!" and giggles with delight. Naked is the best way to dance I guess :)

Fountain

We went to 101 today, me and the kids and Uncle Nate. Right outside the place is a huge fountain, one of those ones that just shoots out f the ground, no walls or catch pool, just jets of water squirting way up in the air in a variety of patterns. Well Gemma ran ahead of us to go see it, and we were wrapped up in picture taking. She was watching the water, getting closer than she should and just as we were walking to go get her, SPLOOSH! All the jets fired up and she got her one side totally soaked. Not to mention scared the pants off of her. What a way to start our trip. (I didn't have extra clothes. I packed extra for Guinness but not Gem.)

p.s. This is just a picture of it I found online so you see what I mean, and how easy it would be to get trapped in a sudden spray! Poor girl.

THEN, on the way home, she was talking to her reflection in the elevator door, and put her hands on it just as it opened...and got her little fingers sucked right into the crack. It was terrifying; Nate was trying to pull them out and get the door open and I was tryingto figure out what I should do. Grab her, push a button, which button? So pushed the door open button, duh wrong choice, her little hand was getting pulled IN, and Nate shouted DOOR CLOSE and when I did that the door came closed and released her hand. She was super freaked out; just clung to me and didn't talk for about 20 minutes. But they weren't bleeding and she could move all her fingers so I guess she is ok. It was so scary though, don't know what I would have done had I been alone.

potty training persistence

So the potty training continues. I didn't know it would take this long.

She does a great job as long as I am on my game. If I tell her every hour to go on the potty, she does. She will even hold it when we are out, but if I forget to put her on the potty when we get there, then she has an accident. So is she really being trained? She does announce, "I'm peeing!" and "I'm pooping". But by then it is too late. She especially can't poop on the potty. When we catch her in the act and then say, wait, go sit on the potty and do it, she loses her focus or whatever and can't go. So I don't like to interrupt her too many times lest she get bunged up. So anyway...

Do we keep going, hoping she eventually catches on? Or just give up for now, try again in a few weeks.

Logic

Gemma and I were channel surfing this morning and she says, "Let's watch this, mommy. 'Cause this is what's on."

Ahh, I see. Good idea.

Spaghetti!

We were the first at the restaurant for dinner yesterday, and as we were waiting for all our friends, Gemma kept trying to order. Anytime a waitress would get close to her she would look right at them and say "spaghetti!" She did this about 3 times, it was so funny.

She also phoned uncle Nate tonight as she was laying in bed. "Uncle Nate? You at my house? No, not yet. You get haircut like daddy?" (She for some reason thinks that Uncle Nate is going to shave his head like Chris, and that a shaved head is 'so silly')

Here is Gemma and her monster from McDonalds, and her monster face.

Precious

Tonight Gemma fell asleep with a stuffed dog in her arm, and clutching her Nemo bedtime book which she was listening and singing with moments before she fell asleep. Just one of those precious sights I hope and pray I never forget.

Easter

A little late coming, sorry. There were so many great pictures it is hard to pick. Gemma was really into it this year, and still talks about finding Easter eggs. She also loved her poofy slip, and didn't want to wear anything over it. Note the Easter tattoos; a present from the Easter Bunny:) And she wanted to put them right there on her leg, just like daddy. (Is tattoo a word common in a two year old vocabulary?)

Thinking about it

Gemma hardly ever uses real cups because she won't stop sticking her fingers in them and playing. But today she did, and as she was reaching her little fingers in there I said, "Don't even think about it!" So a few minutes later, she looks at me with this mischeivious grin, fingers 'pretending' to go in the cup, and she says,"I'm thinking about it!!"

Sicko

So the sicko has coughed on everybody and I think her cold is going to make its rounds through our family. Guinness its hard to tell, but he is snorting and coughing a bit too, so hopefully he can fight it off.

We made banana muffins tonight and she had to stick her finger in every ingredient to try it. Flour, baking soda, whatever. (to the best of my knowledge she didn't try any raw egg, but she did poke it). Then when we were sampling the muffins after, she kept digging the chocolate chips out. I told her, No Gemma, you can't do that, and she said very solemly, "I HAVE to mommy! I HAVE to." I replied, no you don't, and she grabbed my face with her hands and looked deep into my eyes; "I HAVE to, mommy!"

In other Gemma communication: the first time she saw me nurse she called it a bottle. So instead of correcting her, we've just been going along with it: "Yes, Gemma; those are mommy's bottles for Guinness." So today her dragon was the mommy to her baby, and she wanted the dragon mommy to give the baby a bottle. Have you ever seen a dolly breastfeed from a dragon? So cute.

Need new books

OK, so I did all the reading for the 0-2 stuff but now that she is 2 and a bit, I am so at a loss at what to do sometimes!! Specifically this week is naps. All of a sudden she won't nap. She will lay in the bed for an hour before falling asleep, and I just get more and more annoyed and tired myself (if I don't fall asleep!) And then nap time doesn't end until way late; it takes the whole afternoon because it doesn't actually start until late. So what do I do? Let her miss it? Except then she is a wreck by supper time. Let her sit in bed for an hour and then get up? It is so weird. Seriously though, any good parenting titles would be appreciated.

Also, she has been a terrible sleeper the last week; up so many times crying and carrying on... Last night was the first night she slept through since Guinness was born. Uggg! And she was up till 11pm before finally conking out.

Anyway, I can feel my blood pressure rising just thinking about it, so lets change to cute things Gemma said this week:

Last night, as she was sitting on my lap WAY past her bedtime after coming out of bed, and Adrienne and Chris and I were getting ready to play a game. I said, "OK, who wants to play a game?" And she chimes in instantly "ME!!". Ha ha, yah right!

Reading her book to her baby this morning every page begins with Once upon a time.... Every time she turned the page she would start again, Once upon a time...

Chris was putting her to sleep and sitting with her for a minute and Baba and I were visiting in the living room, and Gemma told Chris, "Baba is too noisy!": So Chris called Baba in and Gemma told her, "Baba, you are too noisy! You need to speak more gentle!" So Baba came back out and we kept visiting, more quietly but only for a minute and then our volume got up again and Gemma told Chris again, "Now Baba is LOUDER!" So sassy; what am I going to do?


It's been a hard week; she's sick again and whiny like crazy and we can't really go out cause its cold and windy, and our playmates our sick too so we're a little bit cabin fever here.

New McKenzie Website

New website address: http://web.me.com/chrismckenzie/themckenzies

With the arrival of Guinness (our new son) I realized that we would need a new blog for the little guy. I also started thinking of you the readers (potential readers) and how bothersome it would be to jump back and forth between 4 blogs and a Flickr site. So what I've done is created a website that hosts all four of our McKenzie blogs and that gives us an opportunity to share so much more....like photos and videos. I'm using a hosting service that tends to be a bit slow loading, so I apologize for that, but I hope you'll enjoy the new look. Please remember to "bookmark" this page or save it in your "favorites".

From now on rather than going to our individual blogs just head to our one main website and everything you need is there.

Funny things Gemma said...

Like I said before, she says so many things now its hard to remember all her conversations. Also, I'm not sure if they are as funny to read as they are first hand, but I will try.

Tonight in the nursery at church, after asking several times for me (which she never does; so weird) she finally just put her hand on the volunteers face, and said in the most sincere, serious tone, "Ping, I want my mommy!"

Yesterday was marked with some impatient moments, which were reflected in how she put her babies to sleep last night. In a very stern voice, eyebrows raised and looking down she told them, 'You close your eyes right now and listen to Gemma.'

And her newest response to food she likes: "It's not too bad!"

Mostly she has been very good. She is getting used to the new baby, and always helps change his 'mustard poops'. She says nice things about him and kisses him. Tonight she said, 'He's so beautiful!'. She can be a bit unfriendly at times, and says NO! but we are working on it.

Going to Kaohsiung tomorrow. Be home Wednesday.

It's a Sunny Day!

Nothing that exciting in Gemma land; every day we play and have fun and she says amazing things. It's so hard to remember because she says so many new things every day, and its not like her baby talk where she would learn one new thing and say it all the time; she has so much variety in her vocabulary now.

Something fun has been Gemma's wake up call to us in the morning. Instead of crying in her bed or calling out Mommy? Daddy? She has started coming into our room. With this HUGE smile on her face she leans in and says "Wake up! Its a sunny day!" Her eyebrows are lifted in expectation, waiting for me to get up. We then rush to the living room (she rushes, I waddle) and she shows me outside the sunny day. (which is sometimes cloudy but more sunny than night time ;) Today I almost broke her heart when I told her 'Today Daddy is going to get out of bed with you, Mommy is going to sleep a bit longer'. Total puppy dog face.

We took the MRT out to the end of the line by our house because a friend told me there was a park there, so we went and did some exploring. It was a lot like Meewasin trail, a beautiful path along the river for biking, and we could see paddle boats (or pedal boats? I've never known the right word) We walked a lot, so much she fell asleep on the MRT ride home, and I carried her from the station back to our house. Oivay! And of course she woke up within 30 seconds of getting home.

Brenda has gone through all Gemma's clothes, putting away winter and taking out summer. This is our last big box of hand me downs; after 2 1/2 years we may become responsible for clothing her! She has tonnes for the summer and still half a box for next winter so we'll be ok for a while.

Having fun...

We've had a nice two weeks together playing and having fun. I am trying really hard to be appreciative of all these last moments of only childness, although it is pretty distracting to have the other one hanging in front not knowing when he is coming. So as excited as I am for number 2 to make his appearance, just trying to relax and enjoy my Gemma time. We've made cookies, muffins, crafts, gone to the park numerous times a day, blown bubbles, painted... I am finally off biking, more for other people's sake than my own, but when I am not working we have more time so can walk places.

Gemma is having lots of fun with Baba, showing her how to get places and impressing her with all her skills. She has grown up a lot in the last few weeks, getting taller and talking talking talking. I need to focus and remember something she says because she comes up with the wittiest stuff and I forget. We were riding the bus home last week and I was holding my MRT card (like a prepay card for the buses and MRT and she said, "This you MRT card Mommy?" Last night about 1am Chris and I were just fighting with the laptop and she came out of bed, "Peekaboo!" Totally a huge grin and happy to see us. And then she fell asleep again with this huge smile on her face. It was precious.

Spaghetti!

We went to a new pasta place on Friday night and it was so awesome. Cool atmosphere, great menu, and reasonable prices. It was the first time we ordered Gemma her own dish. Her favorite things to eat when we go out are french fries and spaghetti, so when I told her we were going to have spaghetti she talked about the spaghetti the whole bike ride there, and so patiently in the restaurant for about 25 minutes while we were seated, ordered, and waited. Then she gobbled it right up, as the attached pictures will attest to.

So Courteous

I was carrying Gemma out of the bath this morning, holding her up against my shoulder and out of the blue she offered up this really sweet apology: "I'm sorry mommy!" And I said, 'What are you sorry about?' And she answered, "I got a booger on you." Sure enough, on my shoulder was a nice, fresh snot mark. Hee hee...

Rain Walk

I love these pictures Chris took today out and about with our girl...

The mind at work...

So Gemma likes to lay in bed sometimes with her feet on the wall, like she is climbing up it. Tonight she took it to a new level. She walked up to the wall and said, "Look at me, mommy!" And then she tried to climb up it. Of course she couldn't but she really thought she could. After realizing that this wasn't going to work she said, "I need a rope." :) So she went and got a rope from her toys and with one hand held it up as high as she could reach and then put the other hand on the wall as though to climb. It was a good idea, but it didn't take her long to realize that this also was not going to work. So cute!

Bedtime Commentary

So I was starting to get pretty discouraged about the whole bedtime thing because as of the beginning of the week she was still crying for about 45 minutes before falling asleep, but then we had a few days in a row of nothing, so that was good. Last night was pretty funny as she was obviously not ready to go to sleep and tried a few new techniques to get our attention.

(When I was laying down with her for cuddle time before I left the room) "I go pee on the potty by myself. No, you don't get up out of bed." and off she went to the potty by herself. Sort of. She went to the potty but didn't do anything.

She came out to use the potty one more time after I had left, so Chris and were sitting on the couch, our movie paused, watching her pretend she had to go pee. At one point she even stood up, grabbed a handful of popcorn off the table and sat back down again, like she was a part of the movie night. Ha!

Then there was the yelling: "Mommy?" MOMMY!" MOMMY!!!" Mommy?" Mommy". "I'm getting up out of bed now!" I'M GETTING UP OUT OF BED NOW!!!

But she didn't; she really hates having the door closed (ok, she hates having the door closed with me holding it shut) so she doesn't get out of bed anymore. And finally she went to sleep.

Watching the lap top

What to do when there is a Laker game on AND parenting to do? Put a movie in the lap top, of course! This is Gemma watching daddy's computer.

Gemma and Elias

This is Gemma and Elias, our good friend Andy and Audrey's baby. Gemma really likes Elias and always asks Andy and Audrey where he is if they are not with him. When he comes to our house she wants to hold him and play with him. It's fun when we babysit because she wants to show him everything; dinosaurs, books, cards, TV... Elias just gets really wide eyed and excited. He is a good practice dee dee (little brother).

Chores I've been putting off...

..but had to do in the last week because of Gemma.

1) Clean all the bathtub toys. Yep, all you experienced moms out there already know what I am going to say; she pooped in the tub. This was her first time ever doing that. Thankfully, I was already out of the tub, getting my own jammies on and when I came back there were these floaties and she was sort of looking at them nervously...Ewww ewwww ewwww. But anyway, all teh toys got nice and clean that night.

2) Her body pillow and sheets got washed. The sheets I try to do sort of regularly, but the body pillow had all kinds of toothpaste and drool spots on it I've been meaning to wash off but didn't have time to. Until today, and I was forced to make time because she had DRAWN ON THEM WITH MARKER!! Ahh! We have no idea when this happened, but tonight after supper there were some large orange scribbles on both, and so mommy got the Shout and a toothbrush out and set to work. The sheets came clean no problem in the washing machine, and I got it all out of the pillow, too, thankfully. This is why nothing but Crayola shall come past these doors; so washable just like they say! Crayola marker has so far come out of everything, so I was relieved.

Park

Just some park pics with our good friends. Gemma blowing bubbles and letting her friends try it, too, playing in the dirt under the fort, and really excited about some flyer... Must have been a good sale!

No More Tears

Last night she went down with no tears. I left the room, she called me back a minute later to help with the blanket and she was out. And didn't wake up once in the night.

:)

We will now resume our regular programming of stories and funny things Gemma says, and pictures too.

Plan C continued...

So the plan is working, I guess. Still 10-20 minutes of crying and begging. "I need daddy/water/mommy/potty", but I just sit in the hallway for 10 minutes until she resigns herself to bed and let her cry it out. It usually ends with a "Mommy? I need blankie" so I tuck her in and that's it. Not helping our progress at all is the cold she has: "I got a booger!" every 3 minutes, and "I got a bad cough" every 10 minutes. She has tissue by her bed so I don't go in for that, but it is sucky for her. The other hurdle is we lost her sucky (soother). She has two, and one got lost in the daytime last week, and the other one I put in bed with her on Friday night and it was gone in the morning. She REALLY likes her sucky, especially at sleep time, so it has been hard for her.(She is not allowed to take it out of the house, and we try to put it away unless it is nap time/bed time). SO not only does she have to go to sleep without mommy, she has to do it without her second favorites comfort object. Chris and I did a thorough search of our main room, landing, our bedroom, and the office and nothing, so they have to be in her bedroom somewhere. Sigh! Poor thing. It is a good time to wean her from it I guess, which is how I approached it the first night it was gone, but after a few nights and days of her asking after it I just wish we had it for her. It would help her sleep on her own better, that's for sure.

Plan C, day 3

We did it! At least, a huge improvement from the last two nights. Your encouragement meant so much to me and inspired me to keep going, so thanks for taking time to comment.

Last night when I left the room she knew it was coming and what was going to happen. We did the come out, pick up, put her back in bed, "good night!" repeat routine for about 15 minutes, but it was much more calm. She knew what was up and didn't have the same fight. No running away, no tears, no needs. Half the time she would just walk out to where I was and stand there watching me, waiting for me to come and get her.

She did keep wanting the door open, so to avoid the panic hysteria of the last two nights I told her I would leave the door open as long as she stayed in her bed. She tested it a few times, but I was right there, and said, "OK, Gemma's not in bed, I'm closing the door" and she would leap right back in. She knew from the last two nights that I meant it. (She did creep out once to go to her doll bed and get a different baby, but she crept over and right back to bed so I didn't do anything.) This testing stage took about 5 minutes then for the next 20 minutes she lay in her bed; talking to her babies ('Hush, Hushhhhh, shhh', 'Don't worry baby'), trying to look at books beside her bed, and lots of tossing and turning. She drank some water, too: she gets now that she can reach her water by herself from her bed and can do it by herself. I sat on a stool by the door reading a book - ready to close the door if she got up. After 20 minutes of quiet laying in bed with me outside the door she did call out, "Mommy? Gemma freezing cold! I need blanket!" so I did go in and pull her duvet up, and left again and she was asleep in minutes.

So the length of time was the same, but there was a peace and calm there. I had 20 minutes of free time reading. No tears, no hysterics. Thank you Jesus!

So hopefully it continues. Have a great weekend all.

Plan C Report

Well, Plan C was is about the most awful thing I've had to do as a parent. Even worse than giving her her yucky medicine, because unlike that Plan C drags on and on and on. To be honest, smacking her hand when she disobeys does not bother me at all; it's immediate, it's necessary, it works, and then life moves on with a lesson learned. Tonight went on for about 50 minutes again, with a continuous crescendo of tears and sweat and begging. Finally, when she was so exhausted and my heart was completely broken, I got her a treat from her potty prize bag and said, 'If you lay down and go to sleep now Mommy will give this you,' and she was out in 3 seconds. Then I went and bawled my eyes out.

Of course the whole thing is my fault to begin with; I should have taught her to sleep on her own from the get go. I didn't and I paid the price. We will continue with a modified Plan C tomorrow.

Plan C

So Plan C is in effect, following the advice of Allison and Trina. Pick her up, put her back. Pick her up, put her back. I didn't count the number of times I did this (pregnancy has destroyed my ability to count) but it took an hour. She was so exhausted by the end, and I felt so bad; she was standing so desperately looking at me and crying, saying, "Look at my eyes! I so tired!" meaning, 'come lay down with me and put me to sleep' and as heartbreaking as that was it re-affirmed how much we needed to do this because at 2 years old she doesn't know how to go to sleep by herself.

Our whole night time used to be so sweet and tender, and now it is a struggle from the get go. Jammies are now a fight. Teeth brushing is now a fight. She won't lay down and let me read her a story. She needs a drink. She needs to potty. She needs daddy. So it was a LONG evening. I am hoping it gets better soon, and happier.

Sigh.

Funny!

Gemma said the funniest thing as we were laying in bed tonight (yes, we... since plan A and B have both failed and I haven't thought of a plan C yet) We were laying close with our heads together, and she whispers in a very dramatic voice, "What's going to happen to us?" I was like, 'What are you talking about?' I can't think of where she heard that one, but anyway she whispered it again, and then said, "Monsters are coming'. She has this new Scooby Doo magnet set that she likes with monsters in it, but they are very friendly monsters of course, anyway that's where the monsters have come from. So I suggested we make a cake for the monsters, with sprinkles, etc, so we could be friends with the monsters and she seemed to think that was a good idea and then fell asleep.

3 pee pees on the potty today. I up-ed my prize to toys, and it seems to be working well. (not new toys, but a bag full of little trinkety stuff given to us by an older neighbor ho must have been forced to clean out her room; perfect potty bribes)

Bought Gemma the Dora is a Big Sister book...BIG disappointment. Bad writing (I thought), and nothing to do with actually caring for siblings. Dora just has to do an adventure home because her mom is having a baby. They go through the spooky forest, nut farm, and then home. What does that have to with emotional preparation for big sisterhood? Nothing!

Progress Report

Well, not much to report in the potty or sleeping category. No potty action in two days; she lets me know AFTER she is done, and then usually wants to try but of course has nothing left. Sleeping is going not so great. Not only know has she given up on kitties, but when I sit on the floor beside her bed that's where she wants to sit, too. Sigh. So we tried something new tonight: Sty i your bed for 5 minutes then mommy will give you a kitty AND come lay down with you. It didn't work, but maybe she will get the idea. I did come back and lay down with her, so maybe once she gets that I am not leaving and I will come back after the 5 minutes she'll be ok.

We're having lots of fun on our break. Playing at the park, cooking and baking... Gem's my BFF. Here's a picture she made Chris take a few weeks ago; she grabbed my head and held it close like that and said 'Daddy, take picture us!'.

Our progress

Potty progress: Today was a good day; we had a poop and a pee on the potty (two different potty times.) One was really good; we were at school and she said mommy poop! and so I said ok just wait we'll go to the potty, and we rushed over there...Usually she makes this announcement AFTER she has pooped but I thought I'd be a good sport and give her the benefit of the doubt. Good thing, because as soon as she was on the pot she did her business! Big celebration and of course a treat. And tonight she announced she needed the potty and sure enough did a pee. So I think she is starting to get it a bit. She REALLY likes treats, and so wants to sit on the potty and try to make things happen. She'll sit for a minute, push a bit, then look and see if anything happened. Then she'll sit and try again, then look and see:) I have to tell her not to push so hard; just be gentle and it will come but she is so eager to get something out so she can have a candy.

The Hello Kitty bribe is not working so well. The last two nights she has just resigned herself, and offered up the kitty: "Mommy, take away kitty. Come lay down!" Nice to know my presence is worth more than a little plastic kitty, but what about my bribe? I am trying sitting up by her bed, instead of laying in her bed, so we'll see.

Some pictures: Here is Gemma at Din Tai Fung, a world famous dumpling place we went to for Tom's mom Judy's birthday (She is here visiting and fit us in her schedule! How awesome.) The wait staff was actually singing to Judy in the picture but looking at Gemma, show stealer! Sorry, Judy :)

Parenting Goals...

So here are the things Gemma will be working on in the immediate future, hopefully to be accomplished by March 23. (ha; Gemma working? I mean MOMMY working)

1) Going to sleep by herself. Yes, we lay down with her to go to sleep. She sleeps in her own bed, and when we first moved her into her own big girl bed she was doing ok but then we travelled and with jet lag, etc, it was just easier and more restful for us all to lay down with her till she went to sleep. Then after the summer when we got back and I was newly pregnant and so tired I couldn't stay awake longer than her anyway; I fall asleep reading stories half the time and so the habit of sleeping with Gemma was further entrenched. Usually I wake up about 10:30 or so and go to my own bed. Sorry New Baby, we won't be making THAT mistake again! So the plan? We got a whole bag of Hello Kitty figures from a friend, so at night when we are in bed she picks one. If she goes to sleep by herself she gets to keep it, if mommy lays down with her, then I take it away. MOnday was the firts night of this plan; not so good. She whined and cried and whined and cried: I want kitty! I want mommy! I want kitty! I want mommy until finally I laid down with her and took the kitty when she was sleeping. Tonight was better. She took the kitty, and I sat beside her bed with her for about 10 minutes as she got dozy, then she told me I could leave. So I did, and that was 10 minutes ago and no sound so far. I think its ok to take this in small steps; sitting beside her bed is different from laying in her bed so I will count tonight as a victory. This goal is a major one because when the baby comes and I can't sleep with her anymore I don't want her to blame the baby for the sudden change in routine.

2) Potty training. We haven't been super serious about this one, but we are talking about it a lot. We've had three pee pees on the potty in the last few days, so that's good. To be honest, I feel like diapers are more convenient than potties. We spend a lot of time out and about; diapers can be changed easily anytime anywhere but potties will not be so easy to come by. I am also not looking forward to the amount of time that will more than likely be necessary to clean up the inevitiable accidents. (I am truly the most selfish parent, terrible!!!) So we'll see how this one goes. We'll see if over Chinese New Year break next week we make some progress, but I am not really stressed about this one.

Wish us luck. Watch for potty reports and hopefully a growing Kitty collection.

Gemma's Dream

"Mommy?" "Mommy!"

This is how Gemma wakes up most mornings; patiently calling. This morning though she was also mumbling about her sucky (soother) and as as soon as I opened the door she went into this speech about her sucky:

"Mommy, sucky dirty! Gemma put sucky in dirt! Sucky dirty. Me put sucky in dirt" And then she laughed and laughed. She must have had a dream where she put her sucky in the dirt. She is dedinitely following in her mother's footsteps of being a sleep talker, too.

In Summary

Can't recap everything, but the picture is a good summary of the fun times we've been having. Gemma has been loads of fun; you know the Aerosmith song from Armageddon?

"I don't want to close my eyes, I don't want to fall asleep 'cause I'd miss you baby, and I don't want to miss a thing."

except I am so tired I usually fall asleep before her anyway. But you know what I mean:)

Gemma has been performing monologues from Sleeping Beauty and the Rescuers, playing 'animals', showed she can walk like a penguin, horse, and lion, invited the baby to watch wizard of oz with her, (how? By lifting my shirt up and then wrapping her arms around my belly as we sat on the couch), peed on the potty twice, danced to the Sleeping Beauty theme DOZENS of times, made cinnamon buns and biscuits, and came up entirely on her own a solution to the mommy has to go back to school problem we encounter every day after lunch: she will come and teach the kids, too! She's played nicely with two sort of new babysitters, was amazingly good for the doctor (who sucked her boogers out by shoving this little hose attached to a machine further up her nostrils than I thought was humanly possible,) and has even spent time reading by herself in her room. I love hearing her read (recite) parts of her favorite stories (Sandra Boyton board books; we have the Belly Button Book (thanks Allie) Hey!Wake Up! and the Barnyard Dance.)

It hasn't been a very exciting month, which is why there haven't been many updates/pictures. We haven't done anything :) But anyway, will try to write more.

One funny story; I was putting her down in our bed with Chris for her afternoon nap after lunch, and she was hugging me and massaging my face and shoulders and I said, "I'm lucky". She replied, "I'm Gemma." ha ha. (OK, I know every parent out there has a similar story but anyway, of course she is our angel and the sun rises and sets on her and her cuteness)

No Gemma!

So she was pointing to something on the bookshelf I thought she should have instead of the treat she wanted to have:

"I don't WANT it. I HATE that!"

Sort of points to how our day was today. Lots of No Gemma, stop it Gemma, No Gemma. NOOOO Gemma! We even had to take her movies away because she was playing with the Xbox which she is not allowed to touch. I could tell she had a long day because in the bath when she was playing by herself she kept telling her toys, "NO Boots! NO Dora! DON'T put that ball there. Don't touch it!"

And when the ball went into the hole (the drain) she went into a Rescuers monologue; "Ball go in hole FIND MY DIAMOND!" (You know the part where Medusa makes Penny go into the hole to find the big diamond?) That part has been stuck in her head lately. Except she calls Penny 'Peanut'.

To end on a sweet note, there are these stone doorway things at the park we pretend to sleep in, and today while I was 'sleeping' I was woken up with a kiss! Gemma was the prince and I was the princess. She was very pleased with herself.