Growing up so quickly!

Who would have thought our wee baby girl would grow so quickly!!! She is using a cup and utensils...awe...its adorable and a daily reminder of her growth and development!

Cailyn is flourishing in her new toddler class.  She has also learned the dreaded word "MINE"!  We are stopping that usage at home explaining that things are not just hers.  She seems to get the concept and is starting to say "mine" alot less. 
Now that spring is in the air, Cailyn craves outdoor time.  She continually asks for "outside" and most of the time we oblige her request.
Cailyn has learned the fine art of cleaning up her toys when she is finished.  We encourage her to clean up and put her toys away and so far she is doing very well.  After a bath she puts all her toys in the bucket so we can store them until the next bath time adventure.
After a week of vomiting Cailyn has again recovered and is back to her normal self.  She is too cute - after she vomits we ask her if she is ok and she says "ya" in a tiny little shaky voice.  She recovers quickly from each episode it is just the frequency that kills her. 
Cailyn enjoys every day, even school..she looks forward to going and loves all the activities every day.  It is a real blessing to know she is cared for by teachers that really invest in her development and enjoy her.  They are fascinated with her language skills - knowing each child's name and who they are after a week really started the ball rolling in her new class!  She calls her teachers by name and it is adorable to hear her do it.
We have Cailyn registered for swim classes in April, she will be in the Tot 2 programs - should be fun!
Have a wonderful Easter!

Graduated..

Cailyn graduated from the infant program into the toddler program! It was sad for me to see her leave her teachers and most importantly her comfort zone.  Sadly, this is life and she must move forward!  The last couple of days have seen a regression into an anxiey filled morning drop off.  The change of teachers and classroom has our little terror feeling anxious.  Fortunately, she has great new teachers who quickly turn her anxiety into fun filled days with lots of arts and crafts, songs, learnings and a good nap. Cailyn will stay in this level of the program for one year then graduate onward from there.   In the web cam pics below she is the one of the only girls not wearing her "mandatory" Friday school t-shirt! Looks like I was feeling out of sorts last Friday on her day 1 as well! (she has on a dark pink sweater and skinny blue jeans).

 

Words continue to come out of her mouth that amaze us! She tells us about the "pictures" on the walls, the "glasses" that daddy wears  and sings the first verse of Row Row Row Your Boat - in tune!

 

We intoduced stickers to her and boy oh boy do I regret that!! We have stickers everywhere!! The bottoms of our socks, on the back of our sweaters, on the cat bowl etc.  She loves stickers, loves them! She peels even the tiniest ones off the sheet of stickers and sticks them where ever she feels like it.  This is not an ideal craft for two parents trying to get the house ready to sell!

 

Cailyn sleeps in a bed and has finally discovered that she can actually get out by herself in the morning.  She used to wait for us but as of the last few days she does it solo, and surprises us with her arrival from her bedroom!  We are so fortunate that she sleeps in her bed for 11 hours every night, by herself and through the night.

 

Cailyn has discovered how much fun brushing her teeth is and demands to do it often throughout the day.  She will walk to the bathroom and yell "brush teeth!" - very cute and yet oh so demanding!

 

Thank goodness for washable markers...

 

 



 

Cailyn got my curls...

 

Graduation art from school...

First day in her new class....

 

 

17 months and a busy busy girl!

Curly cue being all cute!

Cailyn's hair after a bath - super curly!

Holy blueberries! if we let her she would eat the entire bowl.

Yum - chocolate icing for cake!

Daycare pics are taken from web cam access and are not very good quality....



Finally awake - getting sleeves rolled up for snack time



Bibbed..where is my snack!

Sitting to eat with yellow bowl

A day in the life of Cailyn at daycare lately revolves around food, as does her time at home.  She must be going through a growth spurt as she cannot stop eating!!!  She would eat a whole container of blueberries if we let her.  She is really cute saying "blueberry" and tapping her hands in sign language for more.

Her vocabulary has also taken a HUGE growth spurt and she now asks for things and actually answers questions when we ask her.  Cailyn says names of all her teachers and friends at school and amazingly she knows who's name is who!  She has started telling us when she has a dirty diaper so we are thinking it is time to start potty training. 

Oh, speaking of starting something new, Cailyn had her report card from school and she is doing extremely well in all fields noted on the 5 page report card.  As a result, Cailyn will graduate on February 25th to the next grade.  We are excited for her to graduate and start learning new things like science and math.  She is such a sponge and will take to her new learning's with great enthusiasm.

We are very proud of her and all her accomplishments at such a young age!  One of her accomplishments is knowing when and how to use please and thank you.  For example, Mark was eating a bowl of ice cream one night in front of the TV and Cailyn sat in her designated eating chair in the living room and continued to say "Please daddy" over and over until Mark gave her a taste!   She almost always says thank you when given something, and will request "Dorothy please" when she needs a fix of The Wiggles.

The vomiting has stopped which we are super grateful for.  We will keep the appointment with the specialist in May 2013 and in the meantime hope she stays healthy! Cailyn is feeling really great these days and as previously mentioned eating alot.  She lost 20% of her body weight during the month of vomit and last night we weighed her and she gained it back plus another 20% making her a solid 25.8lbs!  We can really see the weight gain in her face - she has gone from sunken cheeks to round and full - just how we love it!

Since Cailyn is nice and healthy again we are dealing with leaking diapers overnight.  Poor little lamb lets us know she is wet - her legs and back are soaked...awful.  So, I decided to try the Pull Up style night time diapers and we are on night two of the trial.  Night one went really well so I am hoping night two does as well.

Another great accomplishment of Cailyn's is taking direction.  We can ask her to put garbage in the pail and she will do it perfectly, we can ask her to clean up and she does it.  She also has started handing us her bowl or plate when finished eating and says "thank you" when we take the dish away from her.  She quite often finds real garbage and puts it in the pail - like her cookie wrapper or small box from the raisin. 

This weekend we have a play date with a little boy about 5 months older than Cailyn and we are really looking forward to it. Cailyn still takes 5-10 minutes to get used to new people so we are trying to put her in this situation more often so that she learns to be OK with new faces.

The joy this girl has brought us is unmeasurable!  Every day I wake up thinking how lucky we are and how grateful we are to be in a day and age that this was possible. 

We will try for baby number two as soon as possible..would LOVE to give this little munchkin a sibling as soon as possible!





Having a granola bar in her designated eating seat in the living room



All the kids lined up for a pre outside play picture and Cailyn decides to stand!



Finally - Blogger lets me post pics.

Finally blogger is letting me put up some pictures.  I like to put pics up here for our memories, for Cailyn and to share with friends and family.

 

 

Here are a few from our trip to Emergency....

Zoe wears Cailyn's hospital ID band to help out a distressed little girl

 

Daddy and Cailyn killing time while we wait for radiology to open...

 

Mommy and Cailyn killing time while we wait for radiology to open...

 

Checking Cailyn's blood pressure..poor little lamb

 

A very tired girl after almost 24 hours with no sleep :(

Some "everyday" photos of our little miracle! 

Stop taking pictures!

Dancing to the Wiggles

Either bored or tired..

A little bit more hair...little is the operative word here.

 Cailyn has become a good little helper around the house.  She independently puts trash in the garbage pail and also cleans up her toys by her own volition!

 

Two years ago I was obsessed with a particular video CLICK HERE TO SEE IT - as a result, our unborn baby was then referred to as Alan.  For fun, we showed Cailyn the video the other day and she equally enjoyed it!! It's kind of a dimly lit video, but you will get the point!

 

 

 



 

Cheerio!

Vomit

Vomit, barf, puke...whatever you call it, we have it!! Cailyn has been vomiting since Christmas day and it has been a rough go for her and us.  We have had trips to emergency and the doctor and now are waiting on an appointment with a paediatric GI.  The last few days have shown improvement which is great but we think we still need to investigate this further.  Poor kiddo has lost a few pounds (10% of her body weight) but through the last month has remained her perky little self.  It was only Thursday of this week that she returned to daycare and it was a difficult transition back.  Friday was a much better day for her thank god!
Our visit to emerg came with more surprises from our vocal little girl who clearly noted she was at the hospital to see a doctor and her room had a sink in it!  These are all very unusual words for a 16 month old to say!!  Her vocabulary is ridiculous and we love it!! She says inside, outside, upstairs, downstairs, chair, bed, pillow and on an on.  It is impossible to keep track of the number of words she has.  Last week she looked at me and said "Momma...poop".  WOW! I was shocked that she told me she had pooped, and sure enough she had done so.  Crazy!  Despite the sickness and a limited appetite, Cailyn has discovered the joys of eating a whole apple! She demands an apple so we peel the small ones whole and she will sit on the couch eating her apple and reading a book. Her newest visual favourite is elephants. She has a difficult time to say elephant but she sure loves them!  Our elephant statues bought on previous trips to India have taken a beating over the last week or so..some now have broken pieces but who cares as we can always get another one. 
This is such a fun age - watching Cailyn learn new things, mimic what we do and ask for things she wants.  Daycare has taught her the sign for "more" and this has actually been a cute addition to her personality as she signs to us when she is requesting more.  Cailyn also has discovered that she can take her clothes off by herself so this is a fun addition to any day!!

Cailyn loves the cat and the cat has taken to sleeping with her.  It is really cute to see her kiss the cat and name the cats body parts...nose, toes, ears, belly and tail. 

Somehow blogger will not let me add photos to this post so I will have to try later. 

Christmas, gastro and so spolied!

Christmas came and went with one over excited little girl who's sleeping pattern went to hell in a hand basket!  Since Christmas day Cailyn has had a viral gastro issue.  We have been busy cleaning up random vomits, messy diapers and cuddling up with a sick little lamb.  Overall she has been feeling ok, just the randomness of it makes it difficult.  We were supposed to go to a friends house for New Year's eve celebrations tonight but have opted out due to Cailyn not feeling well and also - the possible cleaning bill of said friends white carpets!   Today we opted to buy some Pedialite and gripe water to see if this helps at all.  Cailyn was of course spoiled, mainly by her Aunt Christine who gave her loads of clothes, an alphabet abacus and a whole pile of books!  Grandma and Grandpa gave her a Leapfrog lap top and light up shoes! Uncle Stan and Elena gave her Rosita - a Sesame Street doll, some washable markers and a puzzle.  Needless to say, we had to rearrange our house to accommodate all the new toys!

Tearing open a gift!

And another...

Thank you momma for the gift!

Old school - Teletubbies bought off eBay were a hit!

Mark and Cailyn open a gift from Australia....

OMG it is soooo soft! She loved it!   Pretty sure it is a kookaburra???

Taking all 4 Teletubbies to her room

Oops - see what I have- I dropped two but that's ok!

Mid December we celebrated my 40 something birthday. Cailyn and Mark gave me some beautiful meaningful charms for my bracelet - one was Cailyn's birthstone! Cailyn enjoyed blowing out the candle with me on my cake.

Scary looking mommy!

 

Scary mommy again but a HAPPY girl!

Hanging out in the toy box

 

 

We got a load of snow on December 27th and Cailyn mostly enjoyed the experience - I say mostly as when she toppled over face first into the cold white fluffy stuff she hated it and cried, and tried to wipe it off with her mittens, also covered in snow which just made the whole situation worse.



 

Fear the big guy

For someone who yells "SANTA" in the middle of the night, meeting the big guy did not go as planned.  Neither Mark nor I planned to be in the pictures, but, drama and tears insisted that we were.
Despite the tears and arching back, the car ride home was full of Cailyn saying Santa and ho ho ho.  No long term damage!

Cailyn counts to 2

December??

Wow, where does the time go! The days are busy, the nights are busy and forget the weekends!
Things are great here, no complaints!  Cailyn continues to amaze us with her development and vocabulary.  She was looking at a book the other day and pointed out using her words a "lemon" and "noodles". 
She is OBSESSED with Santa.  Santa Santa Santa!  We will see if the obsession is quickly squashed when she gets to actually meet him this weekend in person.
We put up a Christmas tree for her and she loves it!  Surprisingly she leaves is alone and stands a foot back to admire it.  Now if only she took that approach with the cat!
Cailyn has discovered colouring..she loves it and is very proud of her drawings!  She really enjoys art time at daycare as well and this is quite often highlighted on her baby bulletin.
Cailyn is a joy and as this holiday time of year comes we are very thankful for our little miracle.  The aches and horrible pains of the past do seem further away this year! Having her in my life has help to mend my heart. 
For those of you still struggling and working on your family dreams: I am with you in thoughts this year as I know how tremendously difficult it is.  It took us 15 years to finally achieve the dream so please please please do not let yourselves give up!!

Having a cookie by the tree! Cookie Monster and Elmo both look like they have had strokes..awe..

Colouring...an all time new favourite hobby!

Stop taking pictures of my messy face!



                                                    

                                       How Cailyn makes my mornings feel just a tad bit more rushed than normal



 











Cailyn's favourite playtime friends!



Another gorgeous shot from Little Rosebuds!



Cheeky smile!