Do you have an Emergency?

Are the words I heard when my phone rang at 6:45am this morning. Addison had been playing with my phone that was 'locked' and she somehow managed to place the emergency call from the 'locked' screen and hung up. The dispatch lady asked me 3 times if I had an emergency and I explained to her my one year old daughter was playing with my phone. I had to confirm my name and address and state once again that there was no emergency before she would allow me to get off the phone. Needless to say, Addison will not be playing with my phone anymore.

15 Months Old

Has 8 teeth (4 on top, 4 on bottom)

Wearing Clothes size 18-24 months and 2T

Weight ? Will find out at her Dr appt next week

Can say 15-20 words. A couple of her new words this last month are Nana and Papa

Only takes one 2 hour nap a day

She loves to be chased around the house and loves to play hide and seek.

She knows how to walk backwards.

She has started to wink...but it involves both eyes. She hasn't mastered winking with one eye yet.

She had both of her Papa's visit her in July

She spent 3 days with Nana while I traveled for work

If you ask her how old she is she will sometimes put up one finger

She knows how to "roll it" with her arms when you sing Patty Cake to her

She LOVES the radio and will stand in front of it at the house and wait for you to turn it on for her then she starts dancing.

She is learning so much so fast! She's at such a fun age now and we are loving every minute of it!

Live and Learn

When we took Addison to the beach this weekend I learned the hard way that Swim Diapers are non-absorbent. Of course I knew that they couldn't be as absorbent as a regular diaper because of the fact that your child wears them for the purpose of being IN the water but I thought that maybe they would have just a hint of absorbency in case your child pees in them...NOPE! Basically they are only meant to catch poo. I put a swim diaper on Addison when we left the condo and by the time we stopped to have a picnic lunch then head to the beach as I was getting her out of her car seat the back of her swimsuit and the car seat was soaked in pee. Next time I won't put the swim diaper on her until we arrive at our destination. Live and Learn...

Tasty Tuesday

CHEESE FRENCHEE

I believe cheese frenchee's originated in my home state of Nebraska. We always had them as kids and we usually ordered them from a drive in like Kings or Don & Millie's. As we got older I remember my Mom and Grandma used to make them. They are basically a deep fried cheese sandwich. Gooey deliciousness (is that even a word??)

Ingredients:
6 slices white bread
6 slices American Cheese
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
Kellogg's Corn Flake Crumbs (or saltines)
Mayonnaise (or Miracle Whip)
Oil for deep fat frying


Directions:
Make 3 sandwiches, using 2 slices of American Cheese per sandwich. Spread mayonnaise on bread slices. Cut sandwiches into triangles.

Combine egg, milk, flour and salt. Dip the triangle sandwiches into egg mixture, and coat with corn flake crumbs. Fry in deep fat at 375 degrees until golden.

* American Cheese is a must. Do not use any other kind, as it melts too easily.

My Mom also used to freeze them overnight before deep fat frying them.

Weekend Pics

We spent the weekend at the condo and at the beach. Mom came along this weekend and we also went to the photographers on Friday afternoon to finally pick out what proofs we wanted to order from Addison's One Year Photoshoot. On Friday Tropical Storm Bonnie only brought a few showers off and on and luckily it was nothing near as bad as they predicted.

Saturday we went to the Sebastian Inlet State Park. Brian and I had been there several years ago and my Mom mentioned that she wanted to go so we spent the afternoon at the inlet. On our way we picked up some sandwiches and decided to stop and have a picnic lunch on the intercoastal waterway. The day was beautiful and not a cloud in the sky...perfect beach weather!!

Addison was born to be by the beach. I say this in almost every post relating to the pool or the beach but seriously she.is.a.fish. We have to keep our hands on her at all times because otherwise she does a mad dash to the waves. She has absolutely NO FEAR of water or waves. Brian would dip her down into the waves and she was screeching with joy. The side of the inlet we were on was packed with beachgoers so after an hour we went to the opposite side of the inlet and Brian spent some time fishing. He caught a whiting and catfish that were both pretty big. We also saw a pod of manatees and my Mom was SO excited because she loves manatees. After passing up Addison's nap time by 3 hours we decided it was time to head home. Addison was snoring in the vehicle before we even got out of the parking lot.

Sunday we went to brunch at a local restaurant on the water and it was so good!! After brunch we headed south because we wanted to take Mom to the manatee observation center but once we arrived we found out that they are closed on Sundays and have limited summer hours...bummer! We did walk out to the observation deck and spent some time watching all the boats coming in and out of the marina. It was a wonderful weekend!

Picnic Lunch

Intercoastal waterway

Surfers at the Inlet

After getting dipped into the water

My two loves

Love her pudgy thighs

The Pier

Addison getting dipped...

and loving it

Manatee Observation Center...it was closed :-(

Baby Manatee Addison...lol

Sailboats in the marina

Our family. Yes, Addison and I are matching...no I didn't plan it.

Nana and Addison

My handsome hubbs

Just in case you were wondering...yep, we're cool like that :-)

Is it too early...

to start potty training? We've discussed this many times and decided that when Addison is between 20-24 months old we are going to attempt to potty train. The average age that most children begin potty training is at 24 months. Her BM's are very predictable so I think that portion will be easy...it's just figuring out when she has to go potty will be the hard part. Several books have stated that just by asking several times a day "Do you have to go potty" and having them sit on the potty starts to make your child think about it therefore becoming more aware.

We originally wanted to start trying at 18 months but after reading several articles and books by professionals we decided to wait. Since I'm a planner at heart I already have a potty chair for her and will introduce it to her when the time is right. Of course I had to get pink :-)






I also want to try the seat ring as well and see which one works best.



For example the article below by Gayle Peterson,PhD, who is a family therapist specializing in prenatal and family development. She is a clinical member of the Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and a diplomat with the National Association of Social Work. Dr. Peterson is the author of An Easier Childbirth, Birthing Normally and Making Healthy Families.:

Parenting cannot be learned in a vacuum and you are right to ask and wonder about these questions. One year (or sooner) is an average age for walking to begin. It is not considered developmentally sound to attempt potty training at this time for at least two important reasons.

First, your one year old is too young to consistently be aware of, much less control his or her bodily functions. She or he is too busy mastering the voluntary muscles involved in walking to even consider the nuances of controlling involuntary processes. It would be overloading your toddler's system to introduce an additional developmental challenge, especially one that he or she cannot be successful at achieving. This could cause delays in other areas of development that are primed for this time.

Secondly, an expectation to perform (even mildly) on the potty at this period in development could result in feelings of failure, inadequacy or general stress associated with toilet training. Early pressure could thwart the emotional sense of pride that coincides with successful toilet training later. Your child could miss out on the sense of mastery which is such a critical part of this developmental milestone when it occurs at the appropriate time.

Keep in mind that physical and emotional development are mutually occurring and influence each other. Natural stages of emotional and physical mastery build on each other and are best experienced sequentially in the naturally occurring readiness of the child. The natural period of time that consistent interest in toilet training occurs is usually between two and three years of age.

It is at this age that children have already mastered some sense of accomplishment from being able to successfully manipulate their environment in many ways. They can go get a toy for themselves, reach out to pet a cat, pull a book off a shelf, build a tower and use language to get what they want in the world. It is from this cumulative experience that the emergence of a separate, "confident" self emerges to master toilet training.

Self-regulation is a huge and prideful achievement because the child is aware of the accomplishment. Early toilet training often results in regression later on, which the child may experience as a sense of shame or failure, rather than pride and confidence.
Playing with the potty or observing others on the potty may prove interesting at one year of age. It may even serve as a kind of preparation for later toilet training, but it will not result in successful control of the release of complex sphincter muscles which are largely involuntary.

I am certain that your child will help you learn these things in a more concrete fashion than is explained here. Rest assured that parenting is not only instinctive, but learned from the feedback your child provides. No doubt the experience of motherhood itself will be your best teacher in helping you stay on track.

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Wordless Wednesday