Counting Down the Days

 

Well, Troy, Kerala and I are counting down the days until baby #2 arrives. We are about a week and a half from my due date. We have been trying to prepare Kerala for the big adjustment as best as we can and Ellen and her have checked out a lot of books from the library on new babies. Kerala's favorite so far is "Hello Baby". It is a bit advanced, but we are working through it - every time we get to the part about the baby in the amniotic fluid, she talks about how the baby is taking a bath. She still doesn't like the prospect of me holding other children - yesterday, when I asked if I could hold our friends' son, she just said "Mommy hold Kerala." So we will see.

Lately, we have been having some discipline issues with Kerala - I think it's just the onset of the terrible twos but it seems to be so much worse since Troy has been working a lot lately, so I have to be the disciplinarian (something I am not the best at). We have been trying to do a combination of incentives (i.e., sticker chart) and time outs. A lot of times Kerala will do something wrong and will simply say "time out." So she definitely gets that she is not suppose to do certain things, but the prospect of a time out isn't really a deterrent. Yesterday morning was an unusually tough morning when she threw her cereal bowl (cereal and milk included) from the table.

Also, Kerala did something today that I really hope we can nip in the bud. I put her down for her nap and about 20 minutes later I went it because she was making quite a ruckus. She had taken off her sleep sack and diaper and was running around her crib naked having a ball. I redressed put her back to bed. About 30 minutes later I went in again because I was afraid she was up to no good and she had taken off her sleep sack and diaper, but this time she also left me a little present in her crib. I changed her and the bedding and she finally went to sleep (although an hour later than normal, so we will see how she is this evening).

To end on a positive note, Kerala is doing really well otherwise. She loves her books and singing. A lot of times she likes to sit on her stool and read her books. If it's a book she really likes, she will often know a few words on each page from us reading it so often. One thing that I am always astonished at is her memory - the other day we were reading Olivia and she kept saying "it's a Degas" pointing to a picture of a painting in the book. Turns out it was a picture of a Degas painting - her and Ellen had been reading Olivia the day before and they were talking about how it was the same picture as from a book Kerala and her had checked out from the library called "Degas' Ballerinas."