Ellowyn is weaned! :-(((

Well I guess I have to officially call it.  Ellowyn has completely weaned herself at 13 months.  It all goes back to when she was so sick for so long over the Christmas holidays.  She went on a two week long nursing strike and then after that we just never got back to normal.  She went back to nursing again, but it was never like before and she has been gradually weaning herself ever since.  Now if I try to nurse her, she will refuse to latch about 90% of the time and on the few occasions that she does latch it is only for a few seconds.  So... that's it, I guess.  She's done so I have to be done, too.

I'm pretty bummed about this.  I really wanted to nurse her longer, (1) because of the health benefits of breast milk but also (2) because she is my last and I love the breastfeeding relationship and I don't want to already be at that point where I will never be able to experience it ever again.  So I guess I'm grieving just a little bit.

But on the bright side, I can finally go out and buy some bras that fit!  (They don't manufacture nursing bras in my size.  Literally.  I guess they think that women who are my size around couldn't possibly need a cup size that large.  I had to buy bras that were too big and then alter them myself.  That is one problem I won't miss.)  So at least there's that.

Mira started preschool!

Last week, Mira started preschool!  She goes on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, 9am to 1:30pm.  Before she started, we had taken her to see her school and meet her teacher a couple of times, telling her that some day soon, after she turned 3, she would go to preschool there.  The week leading up to her first day, she would ask every morning, first thing when she woke up, "Is it school today?!!?!?!"  And I would say, "Not today, 3 days left." Then "two days left." Then "one day left."  When she woke up on her first day and she asked again and I said, "Yes, today you are going to school," she jumped around in a circle, screaming "YAY!" at the top of her lungs.

When we arrived at her school, I opened the door to get her out of the car, and she said, "YAY, school! I'm so exciting!"

"YAY! I'M SO EXCITING!"

She's still exciting.  

She picked out her backpack herself. In case you hadn't noticed, she has a thing for owls.

I could not be happier with the preschool we've chosen.  It's called Spicewood Country School.  They own 9 acres of wooded land with a creek running through.  They have all kinds of animals: horses, donkeys, peacocks, rabbits, goats, etc.  So in addition to crafts, music, and brief lessons on letters and numbers, the kids also get loads of outdoor time to interact with the animals and explore nature on little hikes.

And Mira has been so happy there.  The first day at drop off, I was anticipating a few tears, but I was pleasantly surprised.  I dropped her off and her teacher immediately took her over to the craft table and got her involved in what the other kids were working on.  I said, "Ok Mira, I'm leaving.  I'll pick you up after lunch."  No response.  Her teacher said, "Do you want to say goodbye to your mommy?"  And Mira turned around for half a second, gave the briefest of waves and said, "Bye Mommy" barely looking over her shoulder at me.  I was so proud of her!

At pickup on the first day, I went in to get her (her teacher said she did GREAT) and as we were walking out, we walked past the full-day students preparing for their nap.  Mira told me, "I need a nap Mommy." I was not tuned in and I responded with, "Yep, we are going home right now to get a nice nap."  But Mira looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, "No I need a nap NOW."  And finally my brain caught up and I realized that she was trying to tell me that she wanted to stay at her school longer; she loved it so much that she wasn't ready to go home yet!  I had to reassure her that she would come back another day.

She has shown nothing but enthusiasm for this school.  She is positively in love.

After her first day at preschool, she was a complete mess at home: whining, refusing to nap, "NO!" to everything, hitting, tantrums... you name it.  Luckily, I had been warned to expect this from other moms in my same position.  And it was really just the first day that she was a mess.  By her third day, she seemed to have adjusted well to the new routine and napped fine and behaved... let's just say as well as any other day.  ;-P

Ellowyn says "all done"

I finally got a good video of Ellowyn saying "all done".

Here's the sign we use.

And here's Ellowyn's way more adorable version:

Stuff about Ellowyn

Big sis shows Ellowyn that chalk is for more than just eating.

Ellowyn is really getting to be a pretty cool little person.  She can clap her hands, and she does sign language for "more", "water", and "all done".  And when she signs "all done" she also verbally says "aahh daahhh".  I'm calling this her first word.  (She says a lot of other things too, but I don't call it an official word until she will say it in the correct context without prompting on multiple occasions.) Which I guess means her first word is actually a phrase, but we can't all be perfect now can we.  I've been trying to get a good video of her doing it, but have yet to be successful.  I'll keep trying.

Anyway, she's also got really great manual dexterity and fine motor skills.  In addition to signing and clapping, she can stack things (and knock them down), put two duplo blocks together (and take them apart), work simple peg puzzles, take pop tops off of cups and put them back on again... I don't remember Mira's fine motor skills being this advanced at this age.



She's still not quite walking yet.  She will cruise (walk down the length of a table or couch while holding onto it) like a champ and she'll often stand and let go of whatever she was holding onto and just stand freely.  She even walks while holding my hand (one hand or two).  And yesterday, she took that single step that it takes to cross the gap from my coffee table to my couch.  So I think she's close, she just needs to build confidence.

Her one-year checkup was delayed a bit (due to being sick... AGAIN), but we finally went last week.  She is 25th percentile for height and up to 8th percentile for weight.  Which is up from 3rd percentile, so great.  The doctor showed me her growth pattern in relation to the official growth charts, and it's clear that she is growing at an appropriate rate, she is just down at the very bottom of the chart.  And, as he put it, the rate of growth is what's important.  So she's doing great on that.  Oh and head circumference: 90th percentile.  GIGANTIC noggin... itty bitty body.  There's a reason I say she looks like a tadpole when naked.  She's still wearing 6-9 month clothes, but she wears hats sized for two year olds.  She's like Betty Boop.  Without the tits and heels.

We also got the 1yr vaccinations, which included chicken pox.  The doctor told me that 5% of patients develop red bumps (like chicken pox) from the vaccine.  And sure enough... Ellowyn is a five percenter.  On the bright side, the doctor said that if that happened it was a good sign because it meant that she got a good immune system response to the vaccine.  It seems like, if there is any kind of sensitivity or complication or reaction, no matter how remote the possibility, Ellowyn will be that one-kid-in-a-thousand.  Well, at least she seems to have outgrown her skin sensitivity so I can now wash all our clothes using the same (less expensive) detergent.  So yay for that.

See the red dots under her chin?  Thank you chicken pox vaccine.

But I shouldn't complain because in so many ways she is such a wonderful easy baby.  She is generally happy, is able to play alone and entertain herself for long stretches of time, is bright and inquisitive, sleeps well, eats well... I have a lot to be thankful for when it comes to her.

Weigh in - 4 months

I haven't been terribly focused this month.  I've only been getting to the gym 2-3 times a week.  And so my weight has been holding steady.  I guess my body is telling me that 2 workouts a week is enough for maintenance, but not enough for weight loss.  Which is good to know... I won't have to keep up this intensity forever, just until I make my goal.

Despite the fact that I haven't lost any weight, I feel like I am looking better.  I am noticing changes in my body shape and my "problem spots" seem to be a little smaller.  Brian has also told me that he is seeing visible changes.  I think the most telling thing is that I had to tighten up the waistband on my Becco baby carrier.

So anyway, I'm going to keep at it, try and get back to 4-5 workouts per week, and hope that I can find my way past this plateau that I seem to be stuck on.

I lost 0 pounds this month. Since I started 4 months ago, I've lost 7 pounds, putting me 23 pounds away from my goal of losing 30 pounds.