Dirty Little Secrets...

So at dixie's 12 month appointment my doctor asked me if Dixie was still taking a bottle, to which i replied "yes". Then she asked me if I put her to bed with a bottle, to which i Lied and said "No". My doctor. informed me that at 12 months she should no longer be on the bottle, and you should never ever put the baby to bed with the bottle for fear of cavities and the association of milk=bed time.

So anyways, since then I have been living in shame, as we regularily put dixie down for both naps and bedtime with a bottle. She just loved it so much and it soothed her little soul into a nice sound sleep without a single tear shed.

Sean took Dixie to her 15 month appointment, and when asked these same questions, he lied again and said, no shes not on the bottle , and no we definatly do not put her to bed with it! Sheesh, what kind of parents do you take us for?? Hee hee.....

Well, we can finally quit lying to our doctor about our dirty little secret, because Dixie is officially OFF the bottle! No bottle at naps, no bottle at bedtime, and no bottles in between! She pretty much took herself off the bottle though, so I cannot claim any Parental awards for this. For 2 days in a row her bedtime bottles were left untouched in her crib. So we decided to see what would happen if we didn't give her a bottle. There were tears shed for 10 minutes the first night, then 5 minutes the second night and tonight I had a victory, no bottle and No tears! Yippeee! Im so glad she got off before baby Lucy is born.. because I know i wouldnt have the mental strength for a bottle war while tending to a newborn, counting points and not sleeping.

Go Dixie!

Funniest Story Ever…

Ok, so you might want to cross your legs now if you’re preggers, because if you proceed reading without doing so, you might just pee your pants a little bit like I did. Sean and I made a trip to Costco last night (family date night). I was carrying Dixie through the parking lot as Sean yelled “crap, my flip flop just broke”. He then attempted to shuffle along through the busy parking lot, and he looked a little how do you say… “Challenged” while doing so. I made it to a safe place off to the side and I just stood there laughing hysterically with Dixie in my arms. I was laughing so hard that I was crying. I;m sure it looked like quite the sight. Big Fat Pregnant lady holding toddler in parking lot crying her eyes out! So, I finally calmed down a little when I looked over at Sean and he shouted “my other one just broke too!” I completely lost it at this point, the tears (of laughter) were streaming down my face, my pressurized bladder was how do I say “leaking”, and even little Dixie was laughing! (She will often start to laugh when Sean and I laugh… it’s the most darling thing ever). There was another couple who witnessed the whole event, and the lady was laughing out loud as well! It was seriously the funniest thing. So, Sean continued to shuffle through the parking lot on his busted flip flops. In-between breaths, I told him he should just toss them and go barefoot, to which he refused. I guess he’d rather look a little “challenged” then like a bum! So we finally make it into Costco and we headed straight for the footwear sections. Sean then asked me, “Does Costco even sell flipflops?”. I told him that beggars can't be choosers and to just pick out a pair of shoes from their limited selection! Well, that’s the end of the story. I hope you found it at least a little bit funny…I mean who breaks 2 flip flops at the exact same time??

Dixie relaxing on the couch with the remote after an exhausting day

Cute story #2

So I’ve mentioned before that Dixie no longer hates having shoes on, because now she associates shoes with outside, meaning the park, which she loves. This afternoon after she woke up from her nap and had played for a while inside, she grabbed her little shoes and brought them over to Sean demanding that he put them on her. After he did so, she grabbed his shoes (yes, his giant manly shoes), and brought them back to Sean for him to put on. She then walked to the door and started banging her little hands on it, signaling that it was time to go to the park! My baby girl is getting so smart! I love how she communicates with us even without words.

16 Months

My “Baby” girl is now 16 months old. This past month has been huge for emotional development. Our little Dixie Mae is officially a TODDLER! According to babycenter.com, this happened at 12 months, however, at 16 months I see a real difference in her thought and behavior. Dixie has displayed the following Toddler behaviors this past month;

Mini Tantrums

Yes… they’ve already started. Not to a huge degree, but I think they are forecasting the future. When walking with Dixie and forcing her to hold my hand, if she doesn’t want to go in the particular direction we are headed, she will use all of her might to pull her hand away from mine, she stopped walking and sits down on the sidewalk. Yes… I know, its probably pay back for my toddler years, as my dear mommy has so lovingly reminded me.

Memory

Dixie is like a little elephant! She has an amazing sense of direction (which she gets from her daddy, that’s for sure). We were at my work having lunch, and outside on the patio there are lovely water fountains surrounded by café tables. It was a particularly sunny day, so we headed to the fountains to start our lunch time walk. Well folks, this was a terrible place to “start” the walk. We should have finished the walk there, as Dixie did not want to leave the lovely water fountains. She was dipping her entire arm in, and taking drinks of the stagnant water. Luckily I have not seen any signs of diphtheria (yet). Anyways, we carried her away from the fountain (again, throwing a mini tantrum in the process), and walked at least 100 yards away before we set her down, and immediately she turned around and found her own way back to the fountain (which was not in sight). She did this 3 times in a row from different starting points! The girl can find her way back to the water fountains blindfolded.

Sense of Humor

Dixie loves to laugh, and has the cutest little giggle I’ve ever heard (although, I’m biased of course). After she’s done eating, she gives me the quick hand sign for “All done”, and then immediately starts to throw any leftovers onto the ground, and she giggles hysterically while doing so with a mischievous look in her eyes. I usually can’t help but laugh at this… which Sean scolds me for, since laughing only reinforces this type of behavior. I can’t help it though… she’s so darn cute! In this way, I am just like my mom, who has a very hard time keeping a stern (or even straight) face when witnessing misbehaving kiddos. Dixie also giggles when her daddy plays the “monster” game, in which he chases her around “roaring” like a monster. She always comes running straight to mommy. I try to play the monster sometimes, but it just doesn’t have the same effect as when daddy is the monster. She never runs away from me! We finally found a way to brush Dixie’s teeth (which she is fiercely protective of). We had to turn it into a game, otherwise there was just no getting in her mouth and with 2 new molars on the top, I was getting worried about cavities! So, I hold her upside down, she giggles, thus unveiling her pearly whites and I have about 5 seconds of access to her mouth. I know… 5 seconds probably doesn’t cut it…. But it’s the best I can get out of her for now! Any tricks or insights you might have for toddler teeth brushing would be greatly appreciated. Dixie might just end up with a gold grill by by her 3rd birthday.

Books

Dixie loves to flip through books. She brings a variety of books to us all day long, and sometimes she goes through the pile of books to find her favorite book. Her favorite is a counting book. She likes the number nine the best… this is the page with “9 big trucks”. I don’t know why she Loves trucks so much, but she does. Sean thinks that she gets to play with them at her babysitter’s place (who has 2 boys, and thus lots of toy trucks). I should probably get her some trucks to play with too, especially since she’s been stealing trucks away from other kids at the neighborhood park! Anyways, back to books, sometimes I catch her all on her own flipping through the books and just looking at the pictures for a few minutes at a time. A few minutes in toddler time equals an episode in adult time.

Attachment

Dixie is all about her mommy these days. When I am home, I cannot be in another room.. Dixie will find me. She follows me around from room to room, and is usually at my feet asking to be held. This means no sleeping in, no solo showers, gosh I can’t even eat a meal without Dixie tugging at my legs begging to be held! This melts my heart that my little girl loves her mommy so much. Daddy is ok too…. But is always second choice to me J. I wonder if she’ll still love (prefer) me this much when I am home full time while on maternity leave??

We sure do love our little toddler girl. She’s got such a nice little spirit in her, and our lives have been truly blessed since her arrival, 16 months ago.