Nightmare
I was partly awake early this morning and I heard Miranda wake up (she may have been fretting in her sleep, which in turn brought me to the surface, I'm not sure). She woke with a start and saying, over and over, "No! Oh, no! No!"
I couldn't get her to settle back in her own bed, and she ended up in bed with us, and even then the only way I got her to calm down was by offering her a breastfeed (we're working on weaning; she's down to one or two feeds a day).
I think she must have had a nightmare, poor kid. I'm wondering what two-year-olds have nightmares about. If I had to have a guess, I'd say it's me leaving her, but who knows. It could have been a nightmare about Sister taking away Miranda's special dolly...
Child care
Miranda isn't enjoying her two hours a week in childcare. She used to enjoy visiting the centre, because there are toys and other children and such, but now that I've been leaving her there (horrors!) while I go with Zoë to the early intervention playgroup, Miranda's not happy about it one little bit.
Today, she started to cry when she saw where we were, and then she settled down a little when I put her in the stroller. I dropped Zoë off at playgroup and went to take Miranda to the childcare centre and she was okay until she realized where we were actually going. As I went to leave, she looked up at me and just about broke my heart with her terribly pitiful expression...
The attendants told me that she calmed down somewhat once I left. They kept her in the stroller and took her outside. Apparently, she played in the sandbox a little bit and settled down reasonably well.
When I arrived, she was sitting in a high chair during story time with all the other kids around. She saw me through the window, she made eye contact, and I couldn't hear her, but I saw the little face screw up and the mouth opened up and she started to yell.
I got in right away and got her out of the high chair and she just fell into my arms and sobbed. It was so pathetic. She wouldn't let go of me long enough to let me sign her out. I had to hold her the entire time, poor baby.
Once we got back out on the porch area, she consented to be in the stroller, mostly, I think, because she knows we go home after that.
Well, I can't say I blame her. She's been with me every day of her life since before she was born. It must be pretty scary for me to go off and leave her. Unfortunately for her, she does have to learn how to be apart from me. Next year she'll be going to preschool, and by that time I would hope she's used to being apart from me for a couple of hours (otherwise, it won't be much fun for her or the teachers, and we all know that when you're little, stuff should be fun).
Poor little girl....
Miranda's hair was getting quite long and a bit difficult to manage, particularly since she hates having it combed, so I thought I'd just trim a little off the length.
Unfortunately, she wiggled and wiggled, and I was silly enough to hand the scissors to Andrew, who doesn't seem to really grasp the concept of "a little trim".
Now my poor baby looks like someone put a bowl on her head and cut around it. Bleah. It's not horrible or anything, but it's not very feminine and it's not very flattering, in my opinion.
Oh, well. At least she's only two and doesn't know she looks kinda silly, and in a couple of weeks it'll be grown out enough that it won't look quite as weird.
Note to self: Never let Daddy near little girls' hair with scissors, especially when said little girl is wiggling and fussing and complaning.
Pants off!
Well, I just had an interesting experience. I had to clean up toddler poo from the floor. Ugh!
She quietly took her nappy off and then, apparently, needed to do a poo, so she just squatted down and did it on the floor.
Now I'm wondering if maybe it might be time to start thinking about toilet training. I'm sure she's not ready for the entire process, but maybe sitting on the potty now and then might not be a bad thing. She certainly does love to do anything her sister does, and she often keeps Zoë company while Zoë's on the potty.
I'll have to think about this. Hopefully, I can at least get her to keep her pants on (she always has had a tendency to take them off at the least provocation).
Lots to catch up on
As noted in Zoë's journal, our server was down for a little more than a week. It's back now, and being repaired and backed up and all that sort of thing. Whew.
Miranda had her first day in child care on Wednesday. When I go with Zoë to the early intervention playgroup, Miranda stays in the onsite childcare centre. Miranda reportedly only cried twice the whole time, and that was once when playing in the sandbox and an older child flicked sand in a way that hurt or otherwise upset her, and one other time when she was being held by an attendant and didn't want to be put down. When I arrived to pick her up, she was sitting in a high chair happily eating grapes while some of the other children were gathered to listen to a story.
She's starting to talk more and more. She'll repeat things we say to her and sometimes uses words spontaneously. It's pretty clear that she doesn't have any major speech problems.
I'm working on weaning her (finally). I'm trying to keep her feeds to two a day, once in the morning and once at bedtime. A couple of days I've cut out the morning feed, as well (although I admit I was pretty uncomfortable by evening). I didn't really have a plan or schedule, other than wanting to breastfeed her for at least a year. Now that she's walking, talking, going to childcare, feeding herself with a spoon, and drinking from a cup, I just feel that it's time to cut back on the breastfeeding. She's not taking it all that well, at least not when I tell her no when she wants a feed, but she's not that difficult to distract with a cup or other item, and she's learning ways to self-comfort (a very necessary skill).
Now I'm going to do a backup of this journal. Given the recent difficulties on the server, it seems prudent to get a recent one....
|