Samantha: 16 Months, Week 3

Well, to continue from my last post, Samantha's diaper rash got much better after the weekend of putting Maalox and Vaseline on it.  She was feeling much better, and we were glad to finally find a solution that was working.

We are very lucky to have clothes donated to us from various people.  We have hardly had to buy anything for Samantha.  This week I finally got the chance to sort through and hang up some of these clothes that were given to us.  It's like she has a whole new wardrobe!

I am writing this several weeks late because I can't seem to catch up with life lately, so this post will probably be rather short because I don't really remember any details from that week.  However, on the weekend, on Friday night we went on a shopping errand after dinner so that Mommy and Daddy could find some new clothes.  (We very rarely go shopping for ourselves.)  At the store, while we were taking turns trying on clothes, Samantha made a friend with a little boy.  He was running around the store without shoes on and his mom said he was the seventh child.  Samantha is so sociable and friendly, she'll make friends wherever she is.  She is definitely an extrovert and loves to be around people.  It was a very rainy evening that night, so when we got back home, we decided to take a picture with Samantha's Hello Kitty umbrella from Chuck Lofton, the meteorologist on channel 13 in Indianapolis, and the father of Ben's college friend.  She didn't know quite how to hold it, but it still made a cute picture anyways.

Later that night, after Samantha was in bed, Matt and Christy got to our house.  We hung out for a while until Ben and I were too tired to keep our eyes open anymore.  We are so busy during the week that we tend to just crash on Friday nights.  Saturday morning we went to the farmer's market and then Matt and Christy gave Samantha lunch and laid her down for her nap so that Ben and I could go to the IU football game and enjoy our time together without having to wrangle a toddler.  After Samantha's nap that day, Matt, Christy, Samantha, and I went out to Brown County State Park to enjoy the fall colors, cook out, and spend time together while Ben stayed home to study for his exams.  Samantha had a great time playing around in the grass, playing with leaves and sticks, discovering mushrooms, and having a good dinner of hot dogs, tomatoes, and chips.  Once the sun started to set, it got a bit chilly outside, but we still had a good time together.

Here she is squealing with sheer delight!  This picture encapsulates our daughter's personality perfectly.

On Sunday , Matt and Christy went with us to church, we had lunch, played games, played with Samantha once she woke up from her nap, and then ate dinner with us as well.  We had a good visit, and Samantha loves having company, having more people to play with.  After Matt and Christy left, we got some pictures of Samantha in her Colts outfit again.  (It seems like whenever she wears it they end up doing really well.  Maybe she brings them good luck!)

You can definitely tell Samantha is a girl.  She loves playing with her dollies and loves hugging them and loving on them.  She likes to hug a lot of things, Mommy and Daddy, Roscoe, babies, pictures of babies, anything she really likes gets a hug. :)

Samantha and her Daddy, both dressed up in Colts gear.  She's a pretty big fan of her Daddy.

Samantha: 16 Months, Week 2

You know how the smallest things can majorly affect a toddler?  Well, that happened with Samantha this past week.  She has THE WORST diaper rash she's ever had before.  It was very red and very sore, and almost had two blister-like spots.  We could tell it was very painful for her.  Diaper changes were not pleasant experiences, for Samantha and for us.  We tried all the various creams and ointments that we had and nothing seemed to be providing her any relief.  We even tried to give her a bath on Tuesday night, thinking that maybe the warm water and lack of diaper would be a welcome change for her. Oh how we were wrong about that!  She just winced in pain when the water touched her diaper rash, and Mommy and Daddy made this the quickest bath on record.  Because of her rash, she had trouble walking and sleeping comfortably because it hurt for her butt cheeks to rub together.  When she walked around the house, she almost looked like a cowboy, walking so that her legs are as spread apart as possible.  At night when I would lay her down, she would just cry from the pain.  After a few days of trying whatever we could to clear it up, we finally called the doctor and asked for some advice.  The nurse that Ben talked to suggested to put Lotrimin and Maalox on her.  We tried that from Thursday into Friday, and then Friday night when we were changing her diaper at the outdoor picnic, her sores started bleeding.  We knew this was not normal, and her rash seemed even worse and redder than it was previously.  So on Saturday morning I called to schedule her a doctor's appointment.  However, later in the day, we realized that she would still be napping during her scheduled appointment time, and we do not like to wake a sleeping baby.  I called the office again and spoke to a nurse about our situation, wondering if it was worth it to wake her up and bring her in.  We told her what we had been doing, and she said our first problem was that we are using the Lotrimin.  (What?  Your office just told Ben the other day to USE Lotrimin!  Why are there different stories?)  She said that is probably why her sores started bleeding because Lotrimin is too abrasive and should only be used for yeast infections, which Samantha definitely does not have.  She said that we should just be using Maalox to help with the acidity of her bowel movements and then cover that with Vaseline to help keep the moisture out.  The nurse said it wouldn't be worth it to bring Samantha in because that is the same advice we would get if we came to the office.  So, Ben and I decided to try that and said that if it wasn't looking any better on Monday, we would actually take her into the doctor.  We felt so sorry for our poor little girl.  I can only imagine what that must feel like and how uncomfortable it would be.  We were trying so hard to find some kind of solution that would help her out!

Samantha loves playing outside and loves her slide.  Here are some pictures of her playing on a nice, fall afternoon.

For some reason, this week she wasn't napping very well during the day with her babysitter.  She normally sleeps about 2 hours and 15 minutes to 2 hours and 30 minutes, occasionally even 3 hours in the afternoon.  However, some days this week she was hardly even sleeping an hour.  We weren't quite sure what was going on, and even though her demeanor is still pleasant, she gets a lot more whiney and more irritable when she doesn't get a good nap in the afternoon.  We will have to see if this is just a phase and if it gets better in the coming weeks.

Toddlers are funny sometimes with how they eat.  Samantha definitely has her favorite foods, like Annie's mac and cheese, blueberries, strawberries, yogurt, peas, goldfish, and bananas.  Some days she will do really well eating whatever we put in front of her, and some days it seems like she will hardly eat anything we give her.  When she doesn't like something, she will just spit it out of her mouth, so at least we know what her preferences are!  Vegetables are the hardest thing to get her to eat.  She likes peas the best, especially Grandma Toll's fresh garden peas, but other vegetables, she could pass those up.  Oftentimes we have to sneak them into her food, like mixing it up with her mac and cheese, sneaking in a bite of vegetables in between other bites, whatever it takes.  Does anyone else have this problem with their toddler?  Do you have any suggestions on good vegetables for toddlers, or how to incorporate vegetables into other dishes?  I would appreciate any feedback you have for me!

For some reason this year we have been really busy.  Our weekends have been full and busy, from us traveling somewhere or others coming to visit us.  This weekend was completely empty on the calendar, and Ben and I were looking forward to a weekend at home, where we could rest and get caught up on our work that just seems to keep bogging us down.  However, in the middle of the week, things just kept popping up on our calendar and soon, we had something every day of the weekend.  How do things like this happen!  It's not like we are really exciting people or anything!

Our weekend started with an outdoor picnic on Friday evening with the Christians in Political Science group at IU.  It was good to meet some other of Ben's friends, and a couple families from our old small group were there as well, so our kids got to play with each other that evening while the grown-ups socialized.  Samantha had a great time wandering around, carrying around the bean bags from the corn hole game, and watching the older kids play.  One time during dinner I looked over to check on Samantha and saw that the older boys were holding Samantha's hands, one on either side, being very gentle and kind with her, walking around the yard together.  It was adorable.  I took a pictures on Ben's cell phone because it was the only camera we had available.  These kids have grown to be pretty good friends with each other.  It's great to watch their interactions with each other change and develop as they grow older.

Samantha likes to sit and eat a snack at her little table in the afternoon when we get home.  She thinks she's pretty special being able to get in and out of her little chair.

The weather this weekend was great, the perfect fall, crisp, sunny day.  On Saturday we had a Lighthouse all-school picnic to attend, and Samantha got to play on the playground for awhile, which is always a big hit in her book.  Then, on Sunday, after Ben came back from working on campus, we all went on a family bike ride, probably our last one of the season.  Even though the weekend was busier than we imagined or would have liked, we had some really great family time.  Family time is very important to me, and it's what I look forward to at the end of every busy week of school.

Samantha: 16 Months, Week 1

The first day of this week (September 17-23) was my day to spend mommy-daughter time with Samantha.  However, we had our first time out this day.  We were playing before dinner, and Samantha went out into the kitchen and noticed Roscoe's water bowl.  Back several months ago, we would just keep his bowl off the floor so as to prevent having to tell her no all the time.  But recently, she seems to remember that his bowl is off limits to her and has largely left it alone.  This night, however, she stuck her hand in it and played in the water.  I told her no, that it was Roscoe's water bowl, and she went on playing with her toy.  Then, a couple minutes later, she stuck her hand in the water again, so I said no and removed her from the kitchen, hoping she would move on to something else.  A third time, she went out into the kitchen, looked straight at me, and stuck her hand back into his water bowl.  I told her that since she disobeyed Mommy, she was going to have a time out.  I took her upstairs and put her in her crib for one minute while I waited in our bedroom.  She cried, like most toddlers would.  Then, I went back into her room, explained to her why she was in time out (even though she doesn't really understand this part yet), hugged and kissed her, wiped off the alligator tears, and we went back downstairs to play.  It's just the first of many more time outs in the future for sure!  But we have decided to start doing them every once in a while for instances like this, where it is very clear what we want her to do, and she does it anyways.  If Samantha is anything like Ben and me, we will have a strong, stubborn will to wear down over her growing years.

We got Samantha a new Fisher Price farm toy because she has been loving animals and animal sounds lately.  She really enjoyed playing with this toy, mimicking the sounds, and knocking the animals off the hay loft.  Also, at dinner on our night together, we had just a hilarious time.  She was laughing hysterically at practically anything, and I made grilled cheese and ham, which Samantha was a big fan of.  It's great having a 16 month old for your dinner date!

I know I have mentioned previously how much Samantha loves to play outside.  Every day, either before or after dinner, sometimes both, she will ask to play outside.  She will go stand by the patio door, point out, and say something that sounds like "ide" meaning she wants to go outside.  We love that she likes to be active and that she doesn't really even enjoy or know what to do when the TV is on.  She would much rather be exploring and discovering the world around her.

However, I have to admit that the best event of my Monday with Samantha was when I put her to bed.  I still nurse her twice a day, in the morning and before bed, and she normally falls asleep holding her blankie, rubbing the tags between her fingers.  Tonight though, I had that honor of Samantha holding my finger while nursing.  Back when she was a teeny-tiny baby, she would always hold my finger while nursing, but she hasn't done that in a long time.  I savored every sweet moment of our time tonight.  I have mixed feelings about continuting to nurse.  My goal was always to nurse until at least one year, and as you can tell, we are well past that.  Some days I am ready to be done with nursing, and some days, I still cling to this precious time I get to spend with my little girl, time that I will never be able to have with her again.  Nursing her is a great way to start and end my day.

During the week when we go to work, Samantha is watched by a friend who has a two year old girl named Ainsley and a 2 month old boy named Elias.  Ever since Samantha has been going over to their house, she has been crazy about babies.  Every time she sees a baby she wants to go up to them and hug them.  She is very gentle, which is good, but her interest in baby swings and floor gyms has increased lately.  She has taken to pulling out her floor gym (which we still have downstairs in our living room, don't ask me why!), laying down on it, and playing with the hanging toys.  She will say "baby, baby" over and over again while she is playing on the floor gym.  We think her interest in babies is pretty cute.  Maybe it's her way of hinting to us that she would make a good big sister!

Samantha loves being read to.  She will pick out books, bring them to you, and sit on your lap while you read them to her.  

Look at that beautiful smile! 

We read the Bible every night before bed, and for several weeks now she says "Bible" in her own way.  We have a little cat that my grandma got for her a long time ago that sings "Jesus loves me," and Samantha just rediscovered this the other night.  She kept asking us to have it sing over and over again, and when she would hear it say "the Bible tells me so" she would say "Bible".  Here is a little video of her playing with the cat:

A couple weeks ago maybe, Ben taught Samantha how to slide down the stairs.  She did it a lot right away, but then went through a phase where she always wanted us to carry her down the stairs.  Well, this week we got a video of her sliding down the stairs before we were getting ready to go on our evening walk.

Over the weekend, we took a trip to Upland to see Grandma and Grandpa Toll.  We hadn't seen them really since vacation at the end of July.  It was good to spend time with them, give them time to play with Samantha and see how much she's grown and changed, and also give us time to relax, too.  On Saturday morning, we tried a little finger painting activity with Samantha that I found in a weekly email I receive about Samantha's progress and development.  We just mixed flour, water, and food coloring, put it in a bowl, taped down a piece of waxed paper, and let her have at it.  At first she was very unsure, almost like she was surprised that we were wanting her to stick her fingers in the paint and get dirty.  Once I showed her what to do, she tried it out a bit, but still wasn't too crazy about having the paint all over her hands.  It was a flashback to when she was nine months old and we made a present for Daddy for Valentine's Day of her hand prints.  She did not exactly enjoy that experience either.  I think Samantha would enjoy painting more if she could use a paintbrush.  Maybe we'll try that next time.  :)

On Saturday night, Ben's parents had a church function with dinner at a couple's house.  Luckily, we had Samantha's farm toy in the car, so she at least had one toy to play with at their house, but she did really well the entire time.  All the adults were impressed with how well-mannered, easygoing, and happy she was.  Yep, that's pretty much Samantha in a nutshell.

On Sunday, after church and before lunch and nap time, we put Samantha in her Colts cheerleader outfit.  She was very, VERY cute in her little outfit.  We went outside and played for a little while until lunch.  It was a bit chilly, so we put her in her little white hooded sweater.  Wow, what a cutie!

Grandma and Grandpa Toll have several fun toys at their house.  Two of Samantha's favorite toys are the dancing/singing Menards bear and the dancing/singing Larry Boy.  A new development this weekend was Samantha dancing like Larry Boy, moving her body back and forth just like he did.  (Sorry about the sideways video again!)

Samantha: 15 Months, Week 5

Samantha enjoys spending time outside.  In fact, most nights she will ask to go out and play.  So when the weather is nice, we have been taking advantage of that.  She likes to get in and out of chairs and also to smell our butterfly bush.  Plus, we got a slide from our friends in Chicago when we were up for Christy's wedding last weekend.  She is still learning how to climb up the ladder, but really enjoys going up and down the slide.

Samantha and I get to spend Monday evenings together while Ben is in class. This Monday I received my new computer in the mail, and Samantha enjoyed playing with the box.  Who needs fancy, new toys when you can play with a box?

I had been nursing Samantha three times a day: morning before work, when I get home from work, and then before bedtime.  I had been thinking that I would go down to two times a day and using the wedding weekend as the beginning was a good time to start.  I have now dropped the nursing when I get home from work, and Samantha is doing just fine.  I already think it's amazing that she is still nursing at 16 months old, but I am wanting to start winding down our nursing time and wean her sometime in the next couple months.  She gets hungry in the afternoon and often needs a snack after she wakes up from her nap, but it doesn't seem to be bothering her at all to not be nursing at that time.

Friday night we had a games night with our friends.  It is the last one we will have before they have their baby, and hopefully we will have another chance to get together like this before they move out of the country.  Samantha always enjoys herself playing with the boys and does fine sleeping there in a pack and play while we play games after bedtime.

We had a very busy weekend as Saturday there was an IU football game at 8 p.m.  We decided to take Samantha with us as an experiment to see how she would do out that late.  We stayed in our seats up in the stands for maybe half of the first quarter, and then decided we were tired of wrangling a wiggly toddler.  They have an area for kids called "Knot Hole Park," so we went down there and let her walk around for awhile.  We tried putting her into the backpack carrier and walking around with her to see if she would fall asleep, but we should have known better.  There was just too much going on for her to fall asleep even though she was extremely tired.  We stayed until the beginning of the fourth quarter and then decided to leave and put our sleepy girl to bed.  Even though she was tired, she enjoyed herself and particularly enjoyed walking around the child football field for children under the age of six and watching and listening to the band play and march before the game.  The next day was sort of rough, so I'm not sure if we would take her to a game this late next time, but it was good to see how she would react when going out after her bedtime.  She is such a flexible, easygoing baby who loves experiencing life.  We are so blessed.

Sunday afternoon after her long nap recovering from staying out late at the football game, we took some cute pictures of Samantha playing with Daddy's Cubs hat.