American Gladiator Junkie

Who would have thought? My 2-year-old daughter is an American Gladiator Junkie! When we saw that they were remaking the old classic we decided to watch it, just to see how it compares with the old version. (We like it, by the way). Gabby was totally enthralled with it from the get-go. She saw the gladiators and just thought they were the coolest and something about all the events just makes her mezmerised to the T.V. Gladiators and Mickey Mouse just do it for her, I guess. :) So here we are, watching a bit before bed. Maybe that's why she doesn't want to go to bed alone! ha ha

As a side note, we are trying a new technique of just putting her in the bed and leaving and then going back in and doing it again for as many times as it takes. Last night was only about 3 times, so I think we are making improvements. Jay has taken the reigns on this one too, I think it has helped, in some way that I can't really describe or comprehend. Hopefully we can figure this one out! :)

Gabby has something that she wants to say: pofllll knk (I guess it says "GO TITAN and TOA!!") from Gladiators.....I think she just likes the sound the keys make when you type since she was running her fingers on the keys but not really typing.

Laguna Beach vacation

So we took a little jaunt down to Laguna Beach to visit Roger for Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend (I know it's called Human Rights Day now, but come on! It seems so wrong to have changed the name). It was so relaxing, fun, warm (not that we're terribly cold here, but the 40s can get to you after a while). We went down Friday Jan 18th after Jay got off work and came home on Monday Jan 21st. We mainly just hung out at this posh pad where Roger is staying, played with the dogs who live there. Gabby didn't really like playing with the dogs so much. They are bigger than she is so I can understand some of her hesitation. But they were the nicest dogs around, so gentle. I should have taken a picture of them, but I didn't think about it until after we left. Anyway, Gabby just couldn't get used to them. She finally relaxed a little on Sunday night and was able to play with Dali a little; Salvador is a lick-monster so she was more wary of him.

Gabby has taken to wearing my sunglasses every time we are outside. They are of course too big for her, but she cannot resist, and it's so cute that I cannot resist either. :O) I took a picture of her wearing them in the car, it turned out a bit blurry, but I'll post it anyway. She is a jem. :)

So we went down to the beach, which Gabby was also complaining about, but it wasn't really her fault since we decided to go before lunch and she was really hungry. She doesn't do well on an empty stomach. Anyway, so we didn't get any good pictures at the beach but we did take one by a fish mural. We went over to the Newport Beach Temple on Sunday and walked around a bit there and ate at a yummy New York style deli. That's about it as far as activities go, but it was nice to be able to sit around and not have to be anywhere or have any activities that we had to be doing. Just chill and spend time together, that's a great vacation! :) Next up...Phoenix, or Disneyland, or St. George. Any votes?

Sleepy-time headaches

Ok, so what's going on with my daughter? We moved her from her crib to a twin bed the Monday after Thanksgiving. I was mentally preparing for the worst, and it actually went very smoothly. She went to bed just fine, stayed in bed until she fell asleep, didn't make a fuss. We didn't have to stay in there with her for any amount of time, and the bedtime routine was fairly short: put her in bed, pull up the covers, sometimes put on a CD of quiet music, made sure she had her binky (yes, we are still dealing with that at 27 months, stay tuned for bloggin woes...) and her snuggly (a birp cloth with a special tag, she has adopted this as her 'lovey'), and said "Good night! Love you!" She would stay in bed and go right to sleep. Then we went to Utah for Christmas. Eight nights of sleeping in the same room as either Mom and Dad or Grandma. We get home and she won't go to sleep in her bed without someone right there. At first I just thought that she needed a couple nights to transition back. That and she was totally sleep deprived. But we are working on almost 2 weeks and she will not stay in bed unless Jay or I are right next to her bed until she falls asleep. This goes for naps too. She was not doing this at naptime either. When will this stop? What am I doing wrong? I don't know what else to do besides stay in there with her because she will not stay in bed. Usually she comes out of her room within the first 5 minutes of getting into bed. One night I stayed right outside the door and when she came to the door and saw me there she just started playing with her toys. She won't get back in bed when I tell her to, just stands there looking at me. I feel like I'm indulging her too much, but how do you make a 2-year-old understand 'Stay in bed'.

Then last night she came into my room at 1:00 a.m. This is not an unusual thing, I just took her back to her room, put her in her bed. However, this routine went on for quite a while. I would stay in her room with her for 20 or 30 minutes, until I was freezing to death and longing for my own bed. Then I would sneak back to bed, only to find that 10 minutes later Gabby was next to my bed trying to get under my covers. By 4:00 I just let her in the bed, figured it was the only way to get her to go back to sleep. Where did we all wake up this morning? Jay on his side of the bed, Gabby on my side, me in Gabby's bed (not a very comfortable twin, mind you). I was so tired when she came in her room at 8 a.m., playing with toys and wide awake, happy as could be. I could barely open my eyes as she attempted to engage me in her play. Unfortunately I had to get up so that we could go to her Tiny Tots play group, so I hurried and showered and we were off. What is going on? Awake for 4 hours in the middle of the night? This is not like my daughter. I hope this doesn't become a life-long pattern (unfortunately it has already become a pattern). Am I missing something? Parenting experts of the world, advise!!

On a side note, Jay went to bed at 7:30 p.m. tonight. 7:30! What's going on?!? I guess all that kicking and poking that Gabby subjected him to last night didn't help him get any rest. (Me either, but at least I can take naps). Anyway, who goes to bed before their 2-year-old? I'm sure I had a look of total disbelief on my face. Even when I'm tired it just doesn't seem right to go to bed before 8:00 p.m. Oh well, when the sheets are calling......

Christmas Fun 2007

We are back home from a whirlwind trip to Utah for Christmas. It was great to see family and friends, it seems like there is never enough time to do everything. We were lucky to miss the Sunday snow storm yesterday and had dry roads all the way home. Gabby is a great little traveler, hardly complaining and loving her movies. She watched Cars twice in a row (among others). When we got home we found a pipe on the back of the house had burst and water was squirting all over the back yard. It was so foggy last night it was really hard to see how much water was out there. Jay was guessing that it was about an inch and a half or so. Anyway, we had to get it turned off and so we just turned off the water to the whole house. Yuck. It stressed me out. Well, still has me stressed a bit since it's not fixed yet. We called the landlord and she told us that the city would fix it, but of course they said no because the pipe is attached to the house so it is the owner's responsibility. So I call her at 8:30 this morning, but I woke her up. Whoops. Maybe she doesn't have kids. If that is the case then calling before 10 a.m. would really be a no-no, I suppose. I've forgotten what it's like to sleep past 8 a.m. (when I'm at home at least. I slept until 11 one day at my in-law's house this past week). She is trying to find someone to fix it. The pipe is attached to the sprinkling system in the back yard, which is attached to the main water line in the house. I hope someone can fix it today, otherwise we have to go without water until Wednesday. I really wanted to take a shower today. :( At least we can get the water fixed and it's not our responsibility to pay. One of the benefits of renting. :)

We spent the whole week with our family and I only took two pictures the whole week! What's wrong with me? Oh well, we got one picture documenting Gabby's third Christmas. That's something I suppose. Gabby was fun to watch this Christmas, really getting into the unwrapping action. Every present she unwrapped was accompanied with a set of OOOH!s; I think the removal of the paper was almost more exciting than the actual present. I am sure that each Christmas will be more and more fun as she discovers the excitement and wonder of the Christmas season.

Gabby opening presents. OOOOH!

Gabby, Nana, and Auntie Holly putting a puzzle together. A Cook family tradition.

Waiting for Daddy

Gabby loves it when her daddy comes home from work. Invariably, he has to make a pit stop as soon as he comes in. Last Wednesday, Nov 28th (I think, anyway) Gabby was especially excited to see him when he came home. As he was in the bathroom, Gabby came out to the kitchen where I was fixing dinner and asked me to come open the door for her. I told her that she would just have to wait. So she took off down the hall again. I didn't hear her for a minute, so I snuck down the hall to see what she was doing. I almost laughed out loud when I saw her here on the floor, just waiting for Daddy to finish. "What's taking so long!!", I could almost hear her saying. I crept in quietly to get this shot, what cute anticipation! This must be documented! Once she heard the camera go off she was distracted enough to get off the floor. She even took a picture with the camera all by herself. Am I stupid for showing her which button to push? Yes, probably. But what an accomplishment for a 2-year-old. Do I dare to post the picture, since it is of me looking crappy? Well, I guess so, since everyone should see Gabby's first attempt at photography. Maybe she'll be famous some day and everyone will want to pay money to see it! Ha!



Boy, what a looker! I must be crazy.

Here we go!

Ok, so I'm jumping on the blogger bandwagon. Maybe I will be more motivated to take pictures on a regualr basis of our little one. Gabby does and says so many cute things every day, but I see it as her mom, and don't always think about documenting it. Hopefully this will help me be motivated to take pictures for everyone to see. Maybe we can even upload some video. :)