A Side Effect of Taking Away the Paci

So, like I said in the last post Melanie is completely paci free. Things have gone quite well and she even sees other kids with one out in public and will comment on them. Melanie is continuing to get herself to sleep but like I mentioned she is waking up earlier and easier. All in all she is getting at least 2 hours less sleep than she was which is pitiful b/c by then end of the night she is so exhausted she doesn't even know what she wants (out to eat has been less than pleasant the last 2 weeks b/c of this factor). She will sometimes take an afternoon nap (which helps) but they are not long enough or a guarantee that she will take them. So, today at around 10:00 (after she got up at 6:000) I could tell she was tired so I put her down. After 15 minutes of whining around I went back into her room and she said "eat" so I took her down for an early lunch. I was sitting at the table reading the paper as she ate and she got really quiet...as you can see in the picture she was ASLEEP!!! The child who loves eating more than life fell asleep in her highchair. Poor thing- she is sooooo exhausted. Hopefully she will start to sleep longer soon.

A Few More Vacation Pics

I was not the photographer b/c I couldn't chase her and keep up with the camera (as I quickly learned). So here are the few meager pics I took with my camera.

Ahhh, peace again

Well the week got dramatically better from the last post. Melanie, surprisingly enough, has coped quite well without the pacifier. Monday was super hard but that night she seemed to understand and since then she might cry for a couple of minutes but then falls asleep. The only standing problem is that when she wakes up she doesn't pick up a paci and go right back to sleep so she has been waking up between 6:00 and 7:00 for the day- yuck! Also, her naps are shorter b/c she is waking up so she added the afternoon nap back in after we got rid of it...oh well- the paci is gone WAHOOOOOO!!!! What is so funny is in the car she has become a music critic. I guess she use to just zone out with her paci and now a song will come on and she will say, "no, no" until I change the station and she approves- DRAMA!

Her teeth are still working their way in- they are not as fast as her other baby teeth. Melanie is drooling and can't keep her fingers out of her mouth. It looks like this might be a long process. They have only seemed to bother her twice though and each time we gave her some Tylenol and she seemed normal again. So, no complaints.

Yesterday was Father's Day. Unfortunately I was not around 1st thing in the morning b/c Ruth's bachelorette party was in Athens the night before and I was in charge so I got home around 10:00 am. Melanie and I got Clint a DVD made from some old home video reels of his dad playing ball (Clint has never seen him play) and when Clint first starting walking. Then we went to Clint's parents for the day- his dad just happened to be in town. My dad went to Chattanooga to visit his parents but with the busy day I couldn't make it.

Today my dad and I went to lunch but before that Melanie had her 2nd gymnastics class. It was such an improvement from last week! Melanie only cried 2 times (when we put up the bells and when we put up the balls) and each time was only for about 10 seconds- WAHOO! She loves gymnastics and just claps and says "yah" over and over. She did 400 forward rolls- her new favorite trick. This week we worked on beam skills which Melanie hates but she was a good sport and stayed on for a couple of minutes. Pops came with us before his Father's day lunch and she was sweet for Pops also.

So, all in all last week took an upswing (thank goodness). Let's hope it continues. Oh, one last funny thing- Melanie started going through this phase when she wanted me to read a book to her she would say "read" and then throw the book at me. So, I would say "gentle, give it to me gentle" so now Melanie will give a book to me in slow motion and try to say "gentle." So silly!

Eventful Week taming the "Baby Dragon" AKA Melanie

Boy has the week since vacation been eventful! We started Monday with her first day of gymnastics at Little Gym. It was quite different from our trial class. I really like our teacher, Ms. Melissa. She is great with the kiddos. However, Melanie's class is for 10-18 month old children. So, needless to say at 17 months Melanie is the oldest and most mobile by far. About 1/2 of the class are still crawlers and there are about 5 or 6 other kids that can walk and one little boy is about as good as Melanie. So, let me start from the beginning...I get there early to schedule our makeup class from vacation. There is a basket of toys in front and Melanie goes right to playing with the them. The other kids start to trickle in and I begin to realize how young they all are. Melanie proceeds to start stealing toys from the other kids and they cry so I give the toy back and Melanie lays on her back and pitches an all out fit. Parents are asking me, "So how old is she?" I'm sure they are thinking..."isn't she needing to be in the next class up b/c my angle doesn't need to be around this dragon." Finally we get to go in. The class begins with sticks and bells playing the instruments to songs- Melanie loved it and caught right on. She was being a star until it was time to put the instruments up in which she threw another fit- lovely! Then we got to play on all of the equipment. Melanie was in heaven! The teacher uses which ever kid is closest to her for an example and Melanie would run over so she could be the 2nd example each time- drama! She still hated the balance beam and wouldn't even put her feet on it. She is gettting really good at forward rolls. SHe will reach up high and then touch the ground, put her head down and I help her roll. Then the teacher brings out balls- Melanie is having a field day....until time to put them up- a fit yet again. MElanie HATES being told that something is finished. I was sweating by the time we left- I high tailed it out of there- just grabbed her shoes and stuck her in the carseat to begin drama Part II....
Monday was our first day without the pacifier. Nap was AWFUL!!!!!! She asked for it the whole way home from gymnastics and I would tell her "no" and we listened to the cult of the wiggles yet again. It took her 2 1/2 hours of throwing fit to go down for a nap...AAAAHHHHH!!!! She had red marks all under her eyes- I probably did to. But, I have to say by bed time she figured it out. She cried for about 5 minutes and then went to sleep. She woke up around 3:45 and cried for a few more minutes and went back to sleep. Yesterday was even better. She went down for nap well and when she woke up she looked at me and said "pa" (her word for paci) and then said "no, no" Silly girl!! SHe isn't sleeping as long but it is working out much better than I thought it would. SHe even saw Drew's paci yesterday and didn't care- WAHOO!
So, drama Part III....
After I took her paci away Monday she started chewing on her fingers and I was thinking great- now she is sucking her thumb. She continued chewing all day yesterday so I opened her mouth and looked in...sure enough 2 more teeth are coming in. She has 4 on the bottom with a space and then a molar on each side and the teeth in between the front four and the molars are coming in. One side is really about to break through- there is a sharp white tip and the other side is almost there. The top 2 do not look ready yet. She will not keep her fingers out of her mouth right now.
So , who knew that so much fun could happen in 3 short days!

Vacation Pics

One of the many coverups

Melanie and Mamaw playing in the sand

Vacation

We just returned from vacation and we all had a great (not entirely relaxing) but great vacation none the less. Melanie was quite funny. She LOVES the beach we learned (like mother like daughter). She had no fear. She would run straight into the ocean, get knocked over by a wave, stand up and go in for more. It was very funny. She also loved the sand but had it EVERYWHERE expect her eyes. It was a constant battle trying to keep the sand out of her mouth and eyes and keep her under our cabanna. She would run off to other people's tents or into the ocean or after whoever was fishing. There was not much sitting calmly and reading. We would take turns every 1 1/2 minutes to chase her into the ocean, etc. She did not get sunburned at all which I am very proud of. I was vigilant about sunscreen, shade and coverups. If you are taking a little one to the beach any time soon my recommendations are as follows: Stock up (I mean multiple bottles!!!) of the spray clear/ no rub sunscreen in SPF 50- we used it constantly and it is so much easiery, dries faster and the sand doesn't stick to it, Stock up on coverups (we like the one with hoods) b/c your child will not stay in the shade and besides the sun it a little bit helps with the sand getting in the 8 million crevices of a child, Stock up on Swim Diapers and Regular diapers b/c you go through them faster than normal (I didn't want her to sit around in wet clothes when we came inside so we were always switching back and forth between the Swimn Diaper and Regular diaper and throwing away regular diapers before they were even used), Bring many bathing suits b/c they get so coated in sands in all of the crevices you have to wash them out and let them dry between outings, Bring multiple sand toys b/c they get lost/burried in the sand and you NEVER find them (literally!). We went out to eat quite a few times. Melanie was pretty exhausted by that time of the day. (She took super naps at the beach- no questions asked 2-3 hours at a time). So, many of the dinners were rushed and just alot of entertaining by the adults and not so much enjoying our food. Clint and I had a date night for our aniversary and it was wonderful. We savored every minute not coming in until after midnight. Thank goodness for the Wiggles. They saved our booty on the ride down and back. We have a car DVD player for trips and that DVD was on repeat and the CD was on when the DVD wasn't. I think Clint and I were in a Wiggles trance by the time we got home. The funny things Melanie said:
Every time she saw the ocean she would say "oooo, pool" Every time we went to the beach she would say "Pops" for the men she saw fishing, she would cry when my dad or Clint threw back the fish they caught, and we talked about people being crazy and she will say "loo loo, loo loo" Silly Girl! We have lots of cute pics I still am having issues with captions I will do my best.