Early Morning Updates

For some reason I woke up at 6 am and I can't get back to sleep and Mike is away right now at a tournament down in the States, so I figured I might as well update the blog. :)

The end of this week was also the end of Brynn's first week in daycare. We've had to pick up some little outfits (ex. for the rain) and try them on her, so I'll throw some pictures in throughout here of that and other recent shots... like these helping us pack for Sundance...

Well, so far so good on the daycare front. It's funny because it is really a learning and communication process with the daycare, Brynn and Mike and I. Even though she was there for two days last week (which were supposed to be part days, but she had so much fun and got along so well that she stayed for full days) now that we are into a full week we are all discussing some of those things you don't necessarily thing about when you first start sharing raising your child with someone. I don't mean to be cryptic, here's some examples of what I mean...

Caregiver "So Brynn can open doors hey?" (with a curious smile)

Me "Oh yeah, sorry I didn't think to tell you. She can also open latches."

Caregiver "Good to know"

:)

Thinking about it now I probably should have mentioned that she can also move furniture / chairs to reach latches that are higher than she is, oh, and pile boxes on furniture to reach latches that are higher than the chair. I have to say I seriously underestimated the problem solving abilities of infants and toddlers... they are quick... and resourceful.

I guess the issue for this one is that during nap time Brynn keeps getting up and letting herself (and other kids) out. It's not that she's not tired, she's just much more interested in exploring the new place than sleeping.

She likes doing that... of course, I think we kind of encourage it... a few hide and go seek shots...

Some of the other things that have come up is the sippy cup. When we arrive to pick her up, they sort of give you a blurb on how the day went and if there were any issues that arose or questions that they have (this is before she sees you and you get tackled with hugs... which is a nice way to end your work day for sure). So the other day two things came up, they felt Brynn was using her sippy cup as a security blanket because she never wanted to give it up and that we needed to dress her more warmly because whenever they put a sweater on her she calmed down for "quiet playtime."

Usually what happens is they tell us these things, we go "oh" and then after we've left we figure out what's going on, so we tell them the next day. So for the sippy cup, it sounds a bit obvious once you think about it, but not everyone uses the same words, but we asked them to ask her if she is "all done." This is one of the phrases we have used with her since she was a few months old, because the sign was easy for her to use and then we knew we weren't overfeeding her (you know just because we made too much cereal or something).

In any case, basically the situation was she likes to get up and walk around with her sippy cup and they were thinking this meant she wasn't thirsty anymore and was ready to play so they would offer to take the cup, which would get a resounding no. However, if you ask her if she is all done, she will either say no and then you can just tell her that we sit down when we drink and she'll have a seat, or she will hand over the cup. After all, if you were thirsty and someone tried to take your drink you'd get a bit grumpy too.

I do really like this system though, they definitely take the time to get to know the child and work with the parents, and they have waaaaay more patience than I do. I'm not sure if I mentioned but we had to write a multi-page bio on her before she started including everything from how the pregnancy was to if they have any fears or habits. I forgot to include mischievous escapism and that she runs hot. Which brings me to issue two.

The issue here was they thought she was too cold and so was running around, but what Mike pointed out was that she's just very energetic and when they put a sweater on her (like all the other kids) she was overheating, which is why she would sit down and play quietly. We had also noticed that the last two days when we picked her up that she was really sweaty. So he told them that when he dropped her off yesterday morning, so by the time I picked her up, they mentioned to me how they really noticed she just runs warmer than the rest of the kids and how when all the windows were open and everyone else needed a sweater, Brynn was still perfectly warm, so they don't need to put on on her and will instead focus on trying to get her to slow down once in a while. So instead of dressing her warmer, we need to get her a lighter jacket / sweater and long sleeved shirts (for sun protection) so that they have more choices... we always have her in a t-shirt because she's usually warm, but I think they feel better with no sweater if she has long sleeves. Also, the daycare is right down by the beach so they get a decent amount of wind when they head out of the yard, so they like them to have some sort of jacket. All fair points, I'm just really happy with the amount of time they seem to be taking to get to know her. It helps reinforce that this was the right place.

Ok, more pics... as you can tell this is also from the rainy day I shot the two videos on the camera.

I think Mike was getting tired of me trying to get photos and video... but I love you honey. ;)

Oh, I was going to talk about H1N1 flu vaccine decisions, but I think I will have to pass, as I hear a waking baby. Oh maybe not.

So I've been trying to figure out if I should get Brynn inoculated for H1N1. Basically I don't like the idea of giving her a not fully tested flu-shot that can cause lifelong impairment. However, I don't like the idea of her getting a highly contagious and potentially lethal flu either. I think, for me, when the government acknowledges that it won't be fully tested and when the US sets up a formal program to compensate those who receive lifelong disabilities or serious side effects so they don't have to go through lawsuits, because they recognize that there will be side effects from a lack of testing, it makes me question.

Oh, now I hear a singing baby. It's so cute when she does that, she lays in her crib and sings. Sometimes its song we sing with her like ABC or twinkle twinkle (tink, tink) and sometimes it's just words or sounds all strung together. Oh yeah, so she can officially count to 3 and knows ABCD. Not that she knows what they mean, but she knows they follow each other. lol.

One more thing I just thought about, I know this shouldn't be a complete aside, on the me and Mike front. Work is going well for me and I finally made it climbing again for the first time in months. Mike has a job interview (well a job interview tour... as an on call kayak guide) on Tuesday and is currently having fun playing Ultimate down in the US. He actually took my mom and her sisters out for a tour this past week. He said it went really well until one of the boats broke (oops) so he had to do some towing, which he actually likes, and that he had a good time with them and it was fun to get to know my family more. I never really thought about that, but you don't necessarily spend a lot of "activity" time with extended family not your own age. I think that would be a lot of fun.

Well, we have an Oma visit today (yey!) so I'm going to see if I can make some tea before the singing is done and Brynn is fully awake. Hope all is well with everyone! Hugs!