She's four and fabulous

Our Rosie turned four last week, and since I haven't been blogging since she turned one, I thought I'd do an all about Rosie post because she's one of my favorite daughters. 

Rosie is full of energy and spunk! One of her nicknames is Spunky Brewster, and she EARNS it. She has perfected the art of saying "No" over the past few weeks (pre-gaming for actually being 4, I think), but she also makes me laugh, so we're keeping her for now. She is stubborn but sweet, has an amazing memory, gets reeaaally loud when she's excited, forgives easily, and often refuses to things except on her terms. Luckily, her terms usually means once we've stopped asking her to do it - she just has to decide for herself. There are other days that she is helpful and eager to please, though they are fewer now that she's really asserting her independent four-year-old-ness. 

She loves to play with dolls, ponies, her "stuffies" (stuffed animals), and her sister's toys. She doesn't usually have an extended attention span for coloring/drawing/painting, but she loves puzzles and will happily work on them for an hour or more. She loves to read stories but is in the phase where she tends to interrupt every page to tell me what she sees, and sometimes that's find and sometimes I can't handle it. She loves to snuggle and be held - another nickname is my little "snuggle-buggle." She is soooo silly and playful, and she makes us laugh every day. She still plays silly games with me that Georgie has grown out of and still loves being tickled. 

She is incredibly articulate, clever, thoughtful, and insightful. She remembers things and brings them up (in the correct context) days or weeks later, but she also makes up words and hears works/phrases wrong and it's adorable. I love hearing her sing and we are frequently treated to spontaneous performances. She has seemingly endless energy, and still sometimes just runs around in circles to get it out. Literally. Runs in circles. 

She also is firmly and forever attached her to special blanket, called Wah-Wah or Wah-Wee. Like, if it's out of sight and she can't find it, she goes full-on screaming/crying/hysterical meltdown as if one of her limbs had just gone missing. We are working on detaching a little (like, say, enough to not bring it to school) but that thing is just part of who she is. She still sleeps with it at night and wraps one corner around her index finger, puts it up to her face, and makes a sucking noise when she falls asleep, just like when she was a baby.

When I was pregnant with her and after she was born, I had several distinct impressions that she was a gift to our family - she came when we needed her, and she chose to come when she did, even knowing that it would be hard. She was born four months after my dad passed away and we needed her joy and light to help us move forward. She has a gift for creating joy and I am grateful for it and her. 

18 months of Rosie

I failed to do an extensive "Rosie at 1 year old" post, so I'm making up for it with an 18 months post. Get ready, because at 18 months, Rosie is basically a person already. When did that happen?? (Mostly I can't believe that this is how old Georgie was when Rosie was born. I can't imagine adding a brand new baby to the mix.)

At 18 months, Rosie likes:
- Reading
- Playing
- Doing whatever her sister does
- Climbing up and down (the stairs, the couch, chairs)
- Throwing things on the floor (the bigger the crash, the better)
- Doing things by herself
- Saying "Nnnnnoo!" and then smiling like it's a game
- Getting tickled and chased
- Rubbing food in her hair
- Bath time
- Birds (I can't even attempt to type how she says "birdie" but it's always said with extreme enthusiasm)
- Watching "Umi Zoomi"
- Eating cereal, strawberries, bananas, chicken, ranch dressing, yogurt, and crackers
- Going outside ("go" was one of her first words, followed closely by "out")
- Snuggling, especially when she wakes up at night

Rosie does NOT like:
- Having things (toys, markers, pens, open cups about to spill) taken away from her
- Getting sat upon by Georgie
- Being ignored
- New people (she warms up relatively quickly but has definitely perfected her distrustful scowl)
- Having her hair washed or brushed

Rosie LOVES with all of her heart:
- Her blanket ("wah-wah" as she calls it)
- Her adored and idolized older sister
- Her parents
- Her baby doll (mostly because Georgie has a baby doll)
- Her two mini board books she picked out at the book store recently. She literally slept with them the day we got them.
- Her kitty, which she initially called "Bunny" and is now referred to as "Me-ooo" (instead of "meow")

 Some other things about Rosie:
- She talks, almost in sentences. We've got a couple of phrases put together but stringing more than two words together has not quite clicked. She's really close though. Her favorite words: "Do-dgeee" for Georgie, Mama, Dada, "peeease" for please, wah-wah (her blanket), baby, "juuuuuuice," "yyyyyyah! and "nnnnnoo! (with the first sound dragged out), cracker, cereal, "nilk" for milk, "meooo" for cat, house, "goooo," and "out!" She newest phrase is "Help meee" which I find very helpful. I love this stage when I can actually communicate with my child!
- She generally sleeps through the night, though she frequently cries at least once. Most of the time I let her cry (I think she's usually still asleep) but lately I've been getting up with her. I've found the best way to get her to go back to sleep is to snuggle her in my bed, which seems like a slippery slope but I'm usually too tired to care.
- She love to be helpful, especially when it comes to wiping off the table or floor.
- She finally has eight teeth in front, plus her first four molars. That eighth tooth took literally months to cut through - literally. months. Ughhh.
- She is super observant and picks up on things incredibly quickly. Words, actions, processes, everything she sees, she will (at least try to) do after just one time - especially if it's Georgie doing or saying it. She knows a lot of body parts and even recognizes some numbers already.
- She loves loves loves music, singing, and dancing. I even think she's already got a good sense of pitch. Favorite songs are "Happy Birthday" and whatever little song she decides to make up and sing to herself.
- She is one tough cookie. Must be part of the 2nd child package, but Rosie takes in stride getting pushed and pulled and kicked, and even recovers really quickly from bigger things like falling down the stairs or falling off the couch. With just a few quick loves, she's pushing away and back into the fray.
- We had some concerns in the last six months about her eyesight and walking but everything seems to have worked itself out and she's totally healthy.
- She is great at following directions. I love this so much. I can ask her to put things away, take things to another room, go find something, and she will do it right away. It's still a game, thank goodness!
- She is becoming her own, independent person, which is exciting and exhausting. When I tell her to get down from the back of the couch or stop eating the crayons or to quit throwing food, she loves to shout, "Nnnnoo!" and then smile at me because she knows she's making her own decisions. It's cute and even funny sometimes, at least for now.

Rosie is such a happy girl. That isn't to say that she doesn't cry and scream and wail when she's frustrated or doesn't get what she wants or has something ripped out of her hands by her sister, and there were probably four solid weeks of extreme crankiness while she cut five teeth at the same time (all four molars plus that last dang tooth in front), but in general, she is so happy and easygoing. She smiles easily, is quick to laugh, and is just generally playful. What's the word? Mischievous. She's very affectionate and gives me kisses every time I ask. Even though she likes to glare at strangers and can be very clingy and shy in new situations, she really loves people and would rather stay up and play than sleep, no question. No one is more adored than her big sister, and they get along pretty well most of the time. I can't imagine our lives without our happy Rosie girl and I truly can't wait for her to keep growing so we can get to know her even better!

Returning to our Happy Place: A Vacation(!)

In the midst of Life Happening in the last month, Tim and I both had the thought (separately, but at the same time) that we should take a trip to Torrey. Torrey is in southern Utah just outside of Capitol Reef National Park, and it's been a special getaway for my family and for Tim and I. We really needed some family time and the thought of being in Torrey again literally brought tears to my eyes, so we took advantage of Tim's week off between school semesters to head down.

The last time we went down to Torrey was two years ago when Georgie was only 7 months old, so this trip was way overdue. We've done very little traveling since having kids, which sometimes makes me feel like a wimp, but the price of not sleeping is usually just too high. But for Torrey, we decided it was time to brave it. It was literally this huge, freeing epiphany when I realized that we could take extra measures to make it work and we could, in fact, have a vacation. (As a side note and for posterity's sake, we put Rosie in the tiny bedroom in the pack-n-play and set up our baby gates in the loft to create a pen for Georgie so she couldn't wander during the night. We also let Georgie stay up super late so she was tired enough to sleep through both nights. Whatever works, right?)

It was rainy and cold for 2/3 of our trip, which meant no stars, and we never did get to take the girls hiking (we had a low tire that we wanted to take care of before it went flat and ended up missing our hiking window), but we got our family time and we got to be in Torrey - the only two things that really mattered. The best part, for me, was when we went to the park for lunch on our second day and had a blast flying a kite, swinging, and just playing all together. The sun came out on our last day and we had another wonderful picnic before setting out for home (and as a bonus, the girls slept for most of the car ride home). It was a great first vacation as a family of four and we will most definitely go back!

Rosie's first looks-like-a-selfie-but-wasn't

We're in Torrey! We prepped her on how exciting it would be and she reacted appropriately when we got there. Granted, she may have just been happy to get out of the car.

Dinner at Slacker's!

Tim got the girls to look at the camera by blowing raspberries, which of course, they copied. Love those lips.

Let's go fly a kite!

She insisted on going higher and higher...

Rosie asked to get back in the swing at least three times while we were there. I'd say she loved it.

It was super-duper windy. Can you tell?

The view from the back porch. I take this same photograph every single time (usually, multiple times) we're down there. I can't help it, it's so beautiful!

Awkwardly laughing selfie, but we had to document that we were there.

Just drinking some juice on the floor while Mama tried to do dishes, no biggie.

Eventually they ended up on the back porch so I could finish packing us up. They loved it for about twenty minutes and I love this picture of my littles soaking up our view.

Our one "hike" to Panorama Point - again, super duper windy!

Sometimes Rosie poses for the camera; other times, she specifically and pointedly will not look at me. This is as good as we got.

This one is getting printed. I just love everything about it - my girls, they're holding hands, the gorgeous cliffs in the back, the blue blue sky and green trees - seriously. It does not get better.

Happy 1st Birthday to Rosie

Happy happy birthday to our happy happy Rosie girl. You were and are such a gift to us, and we cherish each and every day of your smiles. I can't believe you are already one! Thank you for choosing to come to us when we needed you, and not when it was easy. You have grown so much in the last year, and I cannot wait to see how you grow in the next one. We love you, darling girl!

Miss Rosalind is 8, 9, and 10 months old

Time to catch up, starting with Miss Rosalind.

The highlights of Rosie at 8 months (end of November):

Waving! And saying "Haaa" ("Hi" in Rosie-speak)!
Teeth! And more coming!
Army crawling!
Really good at eating solid foods!
Plus getting into everything; not sleeping because of the teething thing; routinely choking on things that do not belong in her mouth (mostly paper); making progress with physical therapy but still fighting me on her stretches every day; and finding new ear-shattering ways to shriek her approval, annoyance, and excitement.

`

The highlights of Rosie at 9 months(end of December):

Crawling!
Sitting up by herself (from her back, she can get up to a sitting position)!
Pulling herself up to standing!
Babbling that's starting to sound like real words!
Still teething, still not sleeping through the night, still waving all the time, ery close to being done with PT, gagging on anything that isn't baby food, drinking from a sippy cup, and growing too fast. Still on the tall side (60% for length) but the skinny side (20% for weight), despite her kissable cheeks. We started putting her in some 12 month clothes - where did my baby go???

And finally, Rosie at 10 months (today!):

Oh the personality. She's got it in spades already. Smiling, happy, persistent, and demanding when she really wants something. 
Rosie uses laughing as a social interaction, not as a reaction. She'll giggle if you tickle her, but what she really loves is when you laugh, and then she laughs, and then you laugh, and so on.
If you asked Rosie, I think she'd say the best part of 10 months is the mobility. She crawls and pulls herself up (then flops back down and starts over) all the day long.
She had her last PT appointment this week! We are supposed to maintain the strengthening exercises but in essence, she is all the way better!
The babbling is taking shape and she most definitely says "Mama" and knows what it means. Makes my heart happy.
She loves loves loves her soft blanket.
She spends all day with a toy in each hand and alternates which one goes in her mouth.
She gets more awake time during the day, which sometimes means I miss her nap window and then we're all sad.
She "sings" along with me, especially when we sing like Ariel (ah-ah-ahhhh) to brush Georgie's teeth.
She smacks her lips and says "Mah!" to blow kisses.
And last but not least...for her 10 month birthday, she celebrated by SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! I had to let her cry it out for three nights and I just about done lost my mind, but we did it. (The first night she worked herself up into hysterical crying that she couldn't stop, even when I finally went in and picked her up. Heartbreaking.) The most amazing part of all is that Georgie slept too, so I got an uninterrupted 7+ hours of sleep! I can count on one hand the number of times that has happened since Rosie was born, so this is momentous.  

Ah, to be 8, 9, and then 10 months old.

Love my Rosie Girl.

7 months old, or The One with Physical Therapy

This is for Lisa, because she reminded me that it's been a month since I published my last post (which is not to say that I haven't been composing new posts, they just don't make it up here!), and that means Rosie is 7 months old and it's time for an update.

Ah, 7 months. I forgot how much fun this age is. For weeks I've been worrying about not engaging Rosie enough, and then all of a sudden it got easier, not because I got better at it, but because Rosie is so much more interactive! Her personality is getting easier to see and experience and she's responding to us so much more. I love it!

The biggest change in the last month is that Rosie started physical therapy to strengthen her neck (she has torticollis). We go to see the pediatric physical therapist once a week for now, and then there are exercises I have to do with her everyday, multiple times a day. It's been just over a week and I think I've run almost the full gamut of emotions already: guilt (why didn't I do something sooner?), anxiety (what if there's already permanent damage?), reassurance (it's really minor compared to what it could be), determination (it'll take time but we'll fix this!), elation (we did it without anyone crying!), patience (I know you hate this, sweetie, but it'll be over soon), uncertainty (is this the way I'm supposed to hold her?), frustration (just. hold. still!), resignation (fine, we'll stop), back to guilt (I only did her stretches twice today and now she'll never get better), and exhaustion (we have to do this for how many more months?).

Really, her neck is not bad at all, and developmentally she's right on track. And I can see a difference in just a week, and we're finding ways to get through the stretches more easily. But my baby hates me three times a day, and that's hard. When she gets mad enough, she will literally push away from me and refuse to look at me. (Granted, that happens more when I try to clean out her nose, but she's not a fan of her stretches, either.) My biggest worry right now is that this is going to be a barrier to our bonding as she gets more responsive. I want to be sure I see her, not just the angle of her head, and I don't want her main association with me to be "Quick! Squirm! Get away!" So here's hoping I have something more positive to say about that in a month...

On happier notes:

Our shrieking, babbling girl has started mimicking our sounds. Tim is sick (boo) and this morning, he was coughing and Rosie coughed right back at him. I pretended to cough and she did it again with a huge grin on her face. New game! She'll even "sing" back to me sometimes - I love it!

We are having success with solid foods. Can I just exclaim for a minute how happy I am about that? Success! With solid foods! We've only tried cereals and vegetables so far, but even so, Rosie typically likes to take the spoon away from me as soon as it's in range, stick it right side up in her mouth, flip it over (so that most of the food ends up in her mouth), then take it out and chew on the bottom of it. And somewhere in the process, the food gets mostly swallowed. SUCCESS! 

Rolling-everywhere-Rosie is just starting to scoot (mostly backwards) and in her wild rolling-ness, she tends to get stuck under the couch. She also is catching onto the concept of coming and going, so if I start to "chase" her, she rolls away, and if Daddy beckons her over, she'll roll across the room to grab his toes.

Speaking of whom, this girl's got a sixth sense for her daddy. Anytime he walks in the room, she instinctively knows it and has to find him and grin like crazy at him. Daddy's girl? I think yes. She also continues to adore her sister, even though sister's new favorite game is Take Toys Away from Rosie.

Her first tooth has cut through on the bottom and I think the second is on its way. At least, let's hope so, because the minute that thing shows up, it's sleep training time. Rosie has, so far, resisted transitioning to a crib or pack 'n play and still insists on waking up 2x a night, so once she's healthy and not teething, I think we're just going to bite the bullet and let her cry it out in the crib until it takes.

And other than that, Rosie is still our ridiculously happy, bouncy girl. She gets SO EXCITED when I go in to get her from a nap, I just had to video it. 

Other than the physical therapy part, Rosie at 7 months is great so far! We just can't get enough of this beautiful, happy girl.

We tried on her Halloween costume a bit early to make sure it would fit. Too. Cute.