Tuesday, July 13, 2010

22 Months Old


Remember the "C is for Cookie" song that Cookie Monster would sing on Sesame Street? Mena loves it when I sing "M is for Mena" while she plays with her felt letter.

Mena weighs about 30 pounds. She wears size 2 tops and bottoms. She's in size 6 shoes. Potty training has stayed about the same over the last couple of months. She'll usually potty in the potty chair when she wakes up in the morning and when she wakes up from nap. If I catch the "pooping face" I can usually get her to the potty chair in time for her to go there which she seems to prefer over the dirty diaper. Mena's got a new tooth on the bottom right that fills in the gap between her front teeth and her 1 year molar.

My story of the month is when Mena woke up with a swollen hand. I always thought my mom told me not to scratch my bug bites because I'd make them bleed. I didn't realize you could get a skin infection and your entire hand would swell up! That's what the doctor says happened to Mena. She was on meds for 10 days and the infection is gone. The swelling went down within 48 hours.

Another story of the month is that we took Mena to my OB appointment on July 6th. Mena doesn't quite understand that there is a baby in Mommy's tummy, but she got to watch the ultrasound with us. We found out we are having another girl! We're excited! Mena will be a great big sister!
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Play Time




Mena, Traven, and Jake are enjoying their days together. We're settling into a nice routine. In the second picture, Mena has put her baby to sleep in the drawer on her play table. I know in the old days people used to use dresser drawers for infants, but I don't think they probably closed the drawer like Mena did on her baby! The third picture is Mena practicing stacking. The fourth picture is Mena in her toddler swing. She is very happy since we got a swing set for the backyard. We happened to find someone in Lincoln who said if we came to take it apart we could have it for free. Gene is such an awesome Daddy that on Father's Day he went and took apart the swing set while I stayed home with Mena who was napping!
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July 3rd at Rick and Lynn's




Mena enjoyed the party at my Uncle Rick and Aunt Lynn's on July 3rd. In the first picture she is sitting with Michaela in the wagon hooked up to the riding lawn mower that one of the older kids is driving. In the second picture she is sitting in a little play car. Then when it got dark Mena enjoyed the fireworks. She thought they were pretty but lost interest before they were finished.
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Ice Cream


Up until this point Mena has always spit back out any ice cream we gave her. We figured she just didn't like how cold it was. May have been because of the flavor. Here Mena took my mint chocolate chip ice cream cone and was very happy to eat it. She's also eaten some of our homemade butterfinger ice cream and loved it, too. No more eating ice cream in front of her without sharing!
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Big Girl Bed


On June 12th we transitioned Mena to a twin bed. I tried sitting in the room with her while she went to sleep the first night, but she kept getting out of bed. Finally after nearly an hour and a half of sitting beside her and putting her back in bed, I left the room and latched the door completely closed. She got out of bed, rattled the door (she can't turn a knob and open the door yet), gave up and climbed back into the twin bed and went to sleep. Three nights in a row we had to latch the door closed and she would put herself to sleep in her bed within the usual 15 minutes that it always takes her to fall asleep. After the three days we could leave the door open a crack again and she goes to sleep in her bed just fine. Surprisingly she has never gotten out of bed to play with her toys. In fact in the mornings if she wakes up before we go in to get her she lays in bed until we shut off her heartbeat cd. A very easy transition compared to other stories I've heard!
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Good-bye Emmy Lou


Mena and the daycare kids all have loved playing with Emmy Lou, but I was getting too stressed out. Emmy Lou needed more training to be around so many kids and I just didn't have the energy or desire to give her that training. Emmy Lou also needed regular exercise which Gene and I weren't giving her. It was getting too difficult for me to try and push a stroller and control Emmy Lou. Gene's back in school again and that doesn't leave much time to be exercising the dog. So after months of discussing it we finally decided to find Emmy Lou a new home. Donna, a co-worker of someone we used to work with, has adopted Emmy Lou. Mena was here the night Donna picked her up. Mena gave Emmy Lou a treat and watched as Gene and Donna loaded everything into Donna's vehicle. Mena stood on the couch and waved good-bye as Donna pulled out of the driveway.

For the most part it's been an easy transition to not having Emmy Lou in the house. Gene has missed her the most but is glad that I'm less stressed. Mena saw a picture of a dog looked at me with her hands up as if to say where's our dog. I said, "Emmy Lou went to Donna's house, remember?" Then Mena went to look out the window, didn't see Donna's car (of course), and went back to playing. I thought I would miss Emmy Lou or regret the decision, but I've felt only relief at no longer having the responsiblity so I take that to mean we made the right decision.
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