Category Archives: Primrose

Motherhood / Primrose

Motherhood Update: Prim at 21 months

February 9, 2017

Saying: Make no mistake, Prim is a talker. KC recently asked me, “Do all kids talk this much?” and I had to inform him that no, Prim is really exceptionally chatty. In addition to her own made-up language which she still whips out on a daily basis, Prim has mastered a lot of two- and three-word phrases now. She’s exploring possession (“Prim’s water! Mama’s coffee!”) and has really embraced command phrases (“Close it! More books! Mama sit!”) I can already see the makings of the best and bossiest big sister forming.

Doing: Prim is still obsessed with books. She goes to bed with a stack of books and it’s grown to be a little absurd — she’s literally going to bed with around a dozen books these days, and the first thing she says to me upon waking up is, “More books.” But being someone who is a little book-obsessed myself, I can hardly blame Prim for her love of reading.

Reading: Since Prim is so into reading I thought it would be fun to list out a few of the books that are currently topping her favorites list. She’s currently enthralled by the Frog and Toad series, The Little Red Hen, Jessie Bear What Will You Wear?, Miss Rumphius, Goodnight Yogaand The Friendly Beasts which is a holdover from Christmas that we just can’t seem to let go of. (Also very funny and very sweet — Prim has discovered a printed photo book I made for KC for our first wedding anniversary which has a bunch of our wedding pictures. She’s obsessed with looking through it and naming everyone she knows in the pictures. We’re literally looking through it upwards of six times a day.)

Latest trick: Prim is rapidly approaching age 2, and the big two-year-old behavior is starting to rear its head. Since our day is full of Prim making commands, she inevitably hears the word “no” in one form or another fairly often. This is now sometimes met with her standing stick-straight and screaming as loud as she can. I have to admit that it’s half terrifying and half totally hilarious.

Favorite toys: Prim is entering the world of pretend play which is really sweet. She still loves to “cook” in her kitchen and play with her baby doll, but she’s recently starting pretending to be a kitty and a baby without any props or toys necessary (just lots of sound effects and belly pets). Prim is also starting to play dress up (as evidenced by the photo at the top of the post). I don’t have a dress up box for her yet, so this exercise is her pulling out the basket containing all her winter gear and putting as much of it on herself as she can manage (often after removing her pants, because those clearly just get in the way.)

Sweetest things: Prim is the sweetest and snuggliest child a lot of the time. Whenever KC or I leaves she insists on “kiss” and “snuggle” before we depart (and how could we ever resist that request?)

Favorite thing about this age: Prim seems to comprehend that she has a little sister on the way (though we’ll see how it is when the reality of bringing an actual baby home hits!) She regularly snuggles up to my belly and says, “Baby sister! Kiss. Snuggle.” She also loves going to the midwife with me. She happily climbs the stairs to the office and yells, “Check the baby!” She even knows the whole drill and immediately heads over to the exam table as soon as they start taking my blood pressure, insisting on being right next to me while they measure and feel my belly and listen to little sister’s heart.

Baby / Motherhood / Primrose

Monthly Motherhood Update: Prim at 18 months

November 9, 2016

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Saying: Prim talks all day long and is regularly copying our words and mimicking our actions now. This means that KC and I have to be a bit more careful about the words we throw around these days, which is a fun new parenting challenge.

Sleeping: I recently fully weaned Prim, which was quite bittersweet for both of us. She wasn’t nursing much and certainly didn’t need to nurse, but I will admit that I loved having the special time with her twice a day. KC and I made the decision to wean her because I did not want to tandem breastfeed two children once baby #2 came along, and breastfeeding while pregnant is painful (it’s like breastfeeding a piranha). I love that KC can now put Prim to bed on his own so they get to have some special one-on-one time together. It’s also a relief since KC and I are going on our first overnight vacation together since Prim’s birth in just a few weeks, so I don’t feel like I’m just pulling the rug out from under P and forcing her to wean while we’re away. But I will admit that it’s been a very emotional process for both Prim and me.

Doing: Prim is obsessed with books and reading. We read alllll day long and she has even recently started bringing a book into her crib with her when she goes down for her nap and at bedtime. KC and I watch her on the monitor as she casually flips through the book before settling down (in complete darkness, mind you) and then she often falls asleep on top of her latest read. Some kids have a special blanket or stuffed animal, but of course my child falls asleep on top of a hard-backed storybook.

Latest trick: Prim recently started whining and fake crying as a means of trying to get attention or something she wants. It can be really challenging to not get annoyed when she does it (it’s quite effective!), but I’m trying to see it as a new challenge and keep my cool while telling her, “I can’t understand you when you whine, can you please tell me what you want without whining?”

Favorite toys: Prim has recently started “making coffee” with an IKEA coffee press we don’t use. She recently caught onto mine and KC’s love of coffee and now regularly totes around her coffee press announcing “Cahhh!” (coffee) and taking a big fake swig.

Sweetest things: Prim has learned to say “I love you” (which sounds more like “owee-yoo”) which just makes my heart melt. She’s even started saying it unsolicited (meaning KC or I don’t say it first) — she recently came up and gave me a huge hug and said “owee-yoo” and I basically called KC immediately and was like, “100 more babies!”

Favorite thing about this age: Prim is turning into such a little human these days. I love how quickly she’s grasping new words and concepts. It does make for more challenges as well, as with greater understanding comes more opinions (where does she get that from??), but overall I’m loving this stage full of personality and willfullness.

Baby / Primrose

Monthly Motherhood Update: Prim at 17 months

October 10, 2016

img_9942Saying: everything! Or it sure feels like it. She’s even started saying a couple of two-word phrases (and in true Prim fashion, the very first one was “big kid.” Of course.) She still has a crazy language of her own made up of nonsense words; as a result, Alexis started calling her “Nell” while we were in California (and all I could picture was this scene from Parks and Rec every time she would call her that).

Eating: Prim is still obsessed with fruit — especially bananas. Every meal is a constant back and forth of her yelling “BA-NA-NUH!” and me telling her what fruit she’s having instead because she eats an entire banana pretty much every day as part of her breakfast.

Doing: Prim is just starting to get into pretend play, which is really cute. She loves to “cook” while I cook dinner, which consists of her taking out a bunch of bowls and random odds and ends from the kitchen and lining them up on the bench near the dining room table. Usually the scene consists of measuring cups and spoons, tea, and a few random onions — what a feast. We also purchased a doll for her this past weekend since she’s baby-obsessed. She has been so sweet with her new “baby” — she carries it up near her shoulder and makes sounds like it’s crying.

Latest milestone: Prim picked up the word “no” while we were in California, thanks to her older cousin who is very two. She’s just starting to experiment with defiance, which most of the time is still sort of funny, since it usually consists of her looking you straight in the eye with a little smirk and saying, “no…” without much conviction — like she’s just trying it out. I know we’re going to be in for a whole roller coaster with that word shortly, though — I suspect even more so after this little sister arrives.

Favorite toys: Prim is still loving her wooden baby carriage, which is especially adorable since she now will put her baby in it and announce “walk!” like she’s taking her dolly out for an adventure.

Sweetest things: Prim has just started answering “baby” when KC or I ask her what’s inside my belly. I’m not sure how well she really grasps the concept that her little sister is in there, but the way she squeals it with the biggest smile just makes my heart melt.

Favorite thing about this age: Prim’s grasp of language has really grown by leaps and bounds the past couple of months. The size of her vocabulary is pretty amazing, but even more impressive is how well she understands what we say now. It has made challenging parenting moments a little bit easier because I can explain things to her calmly and know that she’s most likely understanding me. This was especially helpful for our trip to California, as I spent a lot of time explaining to her that we were going to take “two planes to see Nonna, Pop Pop, Auntie Alexis” and her cousins (some of her most favorite people). When the day of our trip finally arrived I would ask her over and over on the plane who we were going to see and she would excitedly answer, “Ah-tee! Baby Eece!” (which are Prim’s versions of her cousin’s names).

Motherhood / Primrose

Monthly Motherhood Update: Prim at 15 months

August 9, 2016

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Saying: Prim is picking up new words almost daily now. Having conversations with her is so funny. Yesterday we had this little exchange:

Prim: “Daddy?”
Me: “Daddy’s at work.”
Prim: “Burp.”
Me: “Work.”
Prim: “Burp.”

Eating: Prim is still a pretty adventurous eater, especially if KC or I are eating with her (since she wants to eat whatever we have.) She definitely is getting some opinions around dinnertime about what she does and does not want to eat, and since she’s learned the word “fruit” (“oot”) it’s a constant back and forth of Prim asking for “oot” and me telling her she cannot have any more fruit (because seriously this girl is going to turn into a banana or a peach or a mandarin with the amount of fruit she eats everyday.)

Doing: Prim is walking all over the place and attempting to climb everything. The other day I turned around and she had climbed up onto a kitchen chair and was attempting to steal the bowl of chicken tikka masala I had on the table.

Latest milestone: Prim is walking and talking and turning into more of a kid everyday. She has started mimicking a lot of our mannerisms recently (mostly mine…) This weekend when KC was strapping her into her bike seat she put her arms out with her palms up and raised her shoulders like, “What is this?” KC just started laughing and turned to me going, “Oh my god, you do that!”

Favorite toys: Prim has been pushing the wooden baby carriage we got her for her birthday around a lot, which is so adorable. She often fills it full of treasures like stuffed animals and clean dish towels, which makes her look like a tiny hobo pushing her cart full of wares around the house.

Sweetest things: Prim is currently obsessed with babies. We have been FaceTiming Alexis just about every day and the entire conversation basically consists of Prim saying “Baby!” until Alexis pans the video over to show the baby. And yes, we spend the entire day with Prim pointing to my phone going, “Baby!” and me explaining that we can’t call the baby yet because he’s sleeping (which, y’know, is mostly true).

Favorite thing about this age: Prim is so outgoing and having her walk everywhere has just highlighted her social personality. We regularly walk down the street to drop the recycling off at the bins on the corner and Prim talks to every person she sees. The best is if she sees someone walking a dog though, because she’ll scream out “DOG!” like it’s the most exciting thing she’s ever seen.

Motherhood / Primrose

Monthly Motherhood Update: Prim at 14 months

July 11, 2016

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Saying: Prim’s vocabulary is rapidly expanding these days, and while she might not have the perfect pronunciation just yet, she has a pretty impressive list of “real” words right now, including: mama, dada/daddy, Pop Pop (my dad), hi, bye, airplane, book, hot (which is a long, drawn-out, whispery “hhhhhhhot!”), P (herself), fan, dog, and bird.

Eating: Prim is still game to try most foods, but getting her to transition to whole milk has been quite a challenge. I continue to introduce it to her at most meals, but getting her to drink more than an ounce is kind of an uphill battle.

Doing: Prim talks all day long (if she’s ever quiet you can bet she’s gotten into something she’s not supposed to), and she’s recently learned how to climb up onto the couch. I have to admit that it’s a little unnerving to look over into the living room and see her just sitting by herself on the couch like a regular person.

Latest milestone: Prim is now walking, though she still crawls much of the time because it tends to be faster and more efficient (and this girl is all about speed!)

Favorite toys: Prim is currently obsessed with her Duplo Legos and Uncle Goose wooden blocks. The fact that both toys make quite a racket when dumped on the floor is just an added bonus.

Sweetest things: Prim has always been very busy and has never been a super clingy baby, but she has recently started wanting to cuddle together on the couch in the mornings. It’s a bit like trying to cuddle with a wriggly water balloon, but I know these moments are fleeting so I’m trying to enjoy it while it lasts.

Favorite thing about this age: Prim is kind of insanely social and is obsessed with other kids. We had a little friend over the other day for her to play with and Prim just about lost her mind she was so excited. She kept crawling up to the other girl, getting up onto her knees and reaching for her while yelling, “Hiiii!!!”