just another day in the neighbourhood

2004-06-18 - 11:52 a.m.

Apparently, there's a problem with my comments.... I will add it to my To Do list and get to it when Dumpling graduates from high school.....

Thanks to all the great moms who sent their tips on toddler foods. We will be sticking to bland, colorless, finger foods until she is ready for more excitement. I am rinsing the sauce off the Spongebob pasta and serving it with Gefilte Fish. Yes, she actually likes Gefilte Fish, and not even the good stuff in the loaf, but that horrible ball-kind that floats in the jelly jars....

I worked a few hours 3 days in a row, just to get the store ready for our big sidewalk sale. It's a bit of a respite from clapping my hands and playing peekaboo, and my husband is actually managing to establish a good rapport with our daughter. I'm still the big cheese around here, but there are no longer tears involved in going into daddy's arms.

Actually, I am not the Big Cheese. Her favorite family member is her gao gao Mortimer. She likes Lucy, but she *LOVES* Mortimer. And Mortimer thinks Dumpling is the coolest dog toy we ever brought home. It's a mutual admiration society that hardly needs any supervision. If she even hints of a sniffle, Mortimer is on the case, letting me know she is unhappy. And when she eats her Cheerios, she eats one, feeds one to Lucy, two to Mortimer, and starts over again. We didn't do anything to start this, it's just the way it's working out.... (edited to add) turns out fixing the comments was as simple as renewing the proper memebership! When I renewed last month, I tried to save money and got the regular Gold memebership, but I needed Super Gold to have comments.... fixed, give in an hour or two and go at it!!!!

Anything to add? 5

Motherhood: what the heck do I know????

2004-06-16 - 3:28 p.m.

I'm at work this afternoon. This is both to test my husband's abilities to fend for himself as a dad for a 4 hour period and to give me a bit of a break. That's right, working is a break! Not that I'm doing much work.... catching up on email, writing this, and if I have some time left, catching up on your blogs to see what's been happening while I was away....

Here' the conclusion that I've come up with: the nice people along the way who saw fit to approve me as an adoptive mother were on crack. What the hell do I know about raising a 14 moth old?!?!?! My house is a death trap, having not gotten around to unpacking, let alone baby proofing. Also, I don't know the first thing about toddler food. The pediatrician was quite adamant about getting her off formula ASAP, and while he seemed a bit kooky and I will take his advice with a grain of salt considering this is an institutionalized baby we are dealing with, how do you transition a baby from formual to food? Whe doesn't like anything pureed, colored, or that requires me to use a spoon. She likes white or beige, odorless, finger food. She eats Cheerios by the bucket full, a few bites of string cheese, and the occasional noodles, when I withold formula to make her hungrier.

So my new strategy is going to be formula at bedtime and at night (she wakes up now, didn't do that the first week) and food during the day. I have no clue if this will work, please don't turn me in to child services!!!!

On the bonding front, all those books paid off. She definately likes me, likes playing with me and when something is wrong, she wants only me. She likes her dad, tolerates his arms if I'm not around and will play with him even when I'm the room, but I'm still top banana! She laughs a lot. Out loud. It's really funny. Unfortunately, she also bites. A lot. I've got bite marks all up and down my arms. At first, we thought it was the teething. But now I realise it's pure behaviour. Another thing I'm not fit to handle.... My solution is to wear thicker clothes and keep my arms at bay when she's pissed, but obviously, it's another section of the parenting book I'll have to read.... When I have a minute to myself, and I manage to remember what box it's packed in.....

Anything to add? 0

settling in

2004-06-14 - 5:06 p.m.

we're home. With the jet lag, it's been a bit rough. Plus she didn't want to have anything to do with her dad at first, but this morning, we had a bit of a breakthrough on that front and she will now play with him and even let him hold her, as long as I'm no where in sight. If she sees me, it's major meltdown.

The last few days in Beijing were hell. Between cabin fever from the hotel, a teething toddler and 24/7 of my mother, I wanted to scream! The flight home was predictably difficult, but Dumpling was pretty good most of the way. The Vancouver transit lasted only 90 minutes, but with Immigration and customs and trying to make our next flight, it was a marathon that I would not want to relive anytime soon.

Our first 24 hours home were hell. She was completely off the clock, sleepign during the day and being awake at night. Plus I got one of those airplane colds and all those sleepless nights caught up with me. So we devised a plan where I slept in bed curled up around her, with lots of toys, and hubby played with her from a reasonable distance taht she was comfortable with. I got rest, she was supervised, it worked out.

She loves tv. thinks Regis is the bomb! Well, she also thinks car commercials are the bomb. She's not eating anything, just formula and cheerios. The pediatrician, whom I will not be seing again and am currently seeking a new one, told me this: switch her to milk, a 14 month old shouldn't be having so much formula and should be eating solids. So shit sherlock! Any suggestions on how I can get and institutionlized toddler to give up her sippy cup and eat solids? Not his are of expertise! well, thanks a lot!

Mroe later, very tired, however, if you go to this page and follow the long french link at the top, you can find all the pictures my dad took. All 1000 of them!!! You asked for it!

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