Thursday, September 6, 2012

Slugger- 2 years old



Slugger

Age:  2 years old (and a month)
Weight: 25 lbs.
Height: ~34" tall
She is in the 25% for her age for weight and height.

Schedule:
~8 am Wake up
     She asks for milk right away which she drinks while watching "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse"
    Breakfast time
Noon- 1.5-2 hr nap 
2 pm  Lunch
5 pm Snack or early dinner
7 pm Snack or second dinner
10 pm Bedtime

Foods
Favorite: 
She loves scrambled eggs (fresh from our two egg-laying chickens, no salt or pepper), turkey bacon.  She takes after daddy in that she loves meat, sausage, bacon, kalua pig.  You have to give her the turkey bacon at the end of breakfast or she'll only eat that and nothing else.  She has started to eat cereal and milk out of a bowl with a spoon.

She loves apples and grapes but I think apples are her favorite.  Still true to her first loves of broccoli and zucchini.  And sadly, she recognizes the drive-thru of McDonalds and we hear "ies....ies....ies" from the backseat as she asks sweetly for french fries.

She's a horribly picky eater (just like her mom).  We struggle to find things...she'll try most things but she just won't eat most of it.  She'll eat a few bites and then proclaim she's done. Whereas if you give her something you know she'll like, she'll eat four times as much.  She's an avid snacker on goldfish crackers and veggie fries.  We hope between that and broccoli, she gets enough nutrition in the day.  She also seems to alternate meals.  She'll eat well at one meal and then hardly anything at the next meal.  She is going through a milk phase and asks for it throughout the day multiple times.  Just water and milk for this girl.

Language
It's awesome to reach a point where her comprehension is advancing.  All we have to do is ask and she'll help us find the remote, or throw something away, or bring something to us.  Her vocabulary is growing but it is still limited.  However, that doesn't stop her from having full conversations with everyone and herself.  Her favorite thing to to do is to call us by name

"Mommy?"

"Yes, Slugger."

"...baby babble"

pause

"Mommy"

"Yes, Slugger"

"...baby babble."

And this might continue on for a while or so.  Words she knows well
Mommy     Daddy    Nana    Papa (Grandpa Pat)     Stanton (uncle)     John-John
Baaaa (Brad)    cow    moo   hor-hee (horse)   minnie ( for both mickey and minnie mouse)
il (milk)   peash (please)    moa (more)    wawa (water)    eeyore and elmo (bedtime stuffed animals)
Scah (Scott, which she likes to yell out)

She went through a phase where she sang "Old McDonald" constantly and thus that became the theme of her 2nd bday party.  Now, I never hear her sing it...her new song is Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.  She can't talk  yet but she does the melody and sounds out the words and it's shockingly dead-on.

She also counts.  You can tell by the intonation and the fact that she's pointing to things as she does it...but it doesn't become intelligible until she hits "eight...nine...ten."  She can't count one...two...three.  But she knows 8-9-10.  Scott is trying to teach her 7...and we figure we'll work backwards from there.

She loves to sing.  She sings to herself (all babble and self-composed melodies) in the bathtub or when she's playing by herself.  We have a napkin holder at the table and it has a metal rod with a bulbous end...it becomes her meal-time microphone that she likes to use.

Milestones

-walks great
-runs
-can finally jump and get both feet to momentarily lose contact with the ground
-walks down the two stairs in our house without using a railing (scares us sometimes)
-climbs on everything
-can do a front roll (Uncle Ted helped teach her that)
-can draw amazingly well, loves to make circles and swirls
-just started putting two words together "moa peash" (more please)
-knows the parts of her body
-has fallen in love with pretending to cry or pretending to sleep

At 18 months, she was all about toys that made noise, music, or talked.  Now, she's obsessed with puzzles and books.  She has two books that she has to find things and those are her favorites.  "Where is this _______?"  She loves to draw.  We allow her to draw on herself.  Paper and her legs...okay.  Walls and furniture, not okay.

And she discovered the act of pretending.  At the end of every car ride, as soon as the car stops, she pretends to sleep.  She's actually got quite convincing that sometimes I think she's actually asleep.  She won't break character either as she helps you get her out of the carseat all with her eyes close.  She loves when we make a big fuss

"Oh, shhhhh, everyone, Slugger is asleep."

She starts to smile with her eyes still closed.

But if you bring up the idea of actual sleep...

"Oh, she's so tired...maybe she should go nai-nai"

She'll emphatically shake her head or say clearly "no,"  still keeping her eyes closed and the pretense going strong.  Then she loves "waking up" and we make a big fuss out of greeting her.

She's gotten a lot more affectionate.  She also watches more shows so she's happy to climb up on the couch and cuddle with you while she watches her shows.  We didn't realize she had so many favorite TV shows but she does watch them at her grandparents and babysitter's house.  It's not until she excitedly yelled out "Digo" while we were flipping through Netflix that we learned that she loves "Diego" and "Dora." "Super Why" and "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" area also now permanently on our TiVo.  Still, her ultimate favorite and one that she starts going crazy as soon as it starts playing, Yo Gabba Gabba.  I can't stand that show so we rarely let her watch it at home...when she was sick, we let her have a marathon of YGG.

She hugs and kisses good-bye and has gotten really comfortable with the friends in our lives.  She wants to be anywhere but home.  She recognizes when one of us is putting on "outside clothes" and runs to the door.  She'll break down crying when someone leaves without her.  She's also become daddy's girl.  In my last trimester, I had a rough time so daddy and Slugger spent a lot of quality time together.  She still loves me but I do get jealous sometimes=)  I miss when she clearly favored me=)

We seriously love this age.  She's just adorable and fun.  She's quick to cry but quicker to laugh.  And now she's going to be a big sister.  Literally any day now.  Which is why I'm trying to quickly bang out this blog.  Part of my nesting routine was I put some serious headwork into her baby book and realized how valuable this blog was in looking up important milestones.

2 years and 1 month.  How amazing!!!

At the end of May, she visited her cousins on the Big Island and went
to her second rodeo.  I was nervous she would be terrified of cows and horses
up-close and personal but it was the opposite.  I had to run after her to keep her
from climbing into the pens with them.
She met her newest cousin, Anaiah, and got to play with her
favorite buddy, Zylin.  She's seen him just three times in her 
entire 2 year life but they have a closeness already.  She follows him around
and laughs at EVERYTHING he does.











Then a July trip in Maui to visit mommy's high school friends.  
We had a great visit to the lavendar farm.




And a small backyard party with family to celebrate her 2nd birthday party.
Theme: Old McDonald!









Her very first cupcake: Lemon cupcake no frosting...she LOVED IT!


Friday, March 30, 2012

March of Dimes 2012

It's that time of the year where we take the opportunity to  ask our amazing support team of friends and family to join us in supporting the March of Dimes.  2010 was a rough year but we've come so far since then and we don't want to forget the people and the medical efforts and tools that has helped Slugger get to be where she is at now.  We spent 81 hard days in the NICU, some of those days were and are still the worst days in my life, but I can't even express how much worse it would have been if Slugger wasn't here with us today.   March of Dimes sole purpose is to provide support and funding for research that has bettered the lives of premature babies and their families.

In 2011, Team Slugger was represented by members walking the March of Dimes Walk both here and in New York.   And we're doing it again this year!!! 

March of Dimes
April 22, 2012
Walk Distance: 5 miles
-starts at Kapiolani Park at 7:30 am

Please check out our fundraising pages and you can help us reach our goal.  But please don't feel pressured to give!!  Scott and I always talk about how there are just so many great causes, this is just one that hits home for us.  It's a way for us to show our gratitude and thanks just by showing up!  And we love the reminder of what a great group we have by our side.  If you want to show your support by joining us for the walk, you can choose to register or just show up to encourage us by walking 5 miles with us.

Keao's March of Dimes Page

Allison "Astro"
26 weeks 1 day gestation
Birth Weight: 1 lb 12 oz
Jul 28-Aug 16 (complications due to NEC, an infection common most amongst preemies)

Rory "Gizmo"
26 weeks 1 day gestation
Birth Weight: 2 lb 4 oz
Jul 28-Jul 28 (aortic atresia)

"Slugger"
26 weeks 1 day gestation
Birth Weight 2 lb 4 oz
Walking strong at 20 months old!!!


20 months No need to adjust anymore!




Slugger:


Real Age: 20 months (a little over a year and half)
Weight: 23 lbs
Height:  darn, I have to find her stats from her 18 month checkup

Schedule:
7:30-8:30 Wake up (she squeals when we walk in the room and rolls around in her crib with her Eeyore)
Breakfast then playtime
11:30-12:30  Naptime (1.5-2 hrs long)
Playtime, meals, bathtime
9-10 pm Bedtime

Notice what is missing? That beloved second nap.  She gave that up around 18 months...we tried with no success.  We finally had to accept it is not coming back=(

Diet and Nutrition:
Favorite foods: scrambled eggs, bread and toast, rice, noodles, broccoli, zuchinni, freeze-dried yogurt and fruit snacks, apples, canteloupe, oh, and french fries

Won't eat:  still won't eat pureed or mushy things.  Tried applesauce again last week and she spit it out.  Other than that, she'll eat most things, just not as much when compared to her favorite foods

Milestones:
 All her teeth finally seem to be growing in...at one time.  She had two teeth and only two teeth for almost a year and then her two top teeth finally came in.  I kid you not, two weeks later, Uncle Ted was playing monster with her and she lunged on to a stair and hit her brand-new top tooth.  We had to take her the ER, she was gushing so much blood and her tooth actually was pushed back into her gums. It was pushed back ninety degrees and impacted her gums.   I was sure they were going to have to pull it...ah, she just got it!!   It was disgusting...but by the time we were admitted, she had calmed down and they just sent us to a dentist.  A dentist who did nothing...said that until they're two, baby teeth don't even have real roots and just held in by tendons so they move easily.  He predicted the tooth will just straighten out on it's own.  And it has been incredible how it started to descend and is straightening out. Now she's got teeth all over, molars and all.

She's a walking, running, and climbing machine.  She loves to climb on the couches and chairs and sit like an adult.  She gets this smug little smile on her face when she's sitting on the couch.  Last night, she pulled out a dining table chair and climbed up.  Uh-oh, how do people stop kids from climbing on tables?

Physically, she's a little athlete.  She has one ball that she used to play with a long time ago.  One day, she just started throwing it at us...good throws.  Scott and I were surprised since we never really taught her how to throw.  Maybe her babysitter holds softbal practice with the kids.

Verbally, she's a little behind some kids but ahead of some other kids.  We've stopped adjusting her age since she's really just like any other year and half toddlers out there, just on the smaller end (25th percentile for weight and height).  She's caught up.  And her verbal is picking up.  Some of the words she can say...

-dadddy        -mama, mommy, mom         -dampa (grandpa)       -nana
-jaja (johnjohn)        -baba    -bahl (ball)    -Charlie     -doggie     -duckie
-zylin            -andy (auntie)

Most of these words, she says umprompted, some of them she knows what they are...but does better when she repeats it right after you say it.  She also loves to sing her own compositions to herself...they sound like "do di do di."  Last night, I swear she was singing the "oy yoy oy" part in the reggae hit "Buffalo Soldiers."

Big Events:
-a fever (102) that did NOT result in a febrile seizure or trip to the ER!!
- a visit from her Big Island cousin, Zylin

My brother and his family were able to come up to Oahu for a weekend.  My nephew Zylin is just 3 weeks older than Slugger but a head taller and 6 lb heavier.  He's also super verbal...he can ask questions and talk your ear off.  They loved each other.   They would just sit next to each other and babble baby talk to each other.  Zylin loved to bear hug her..unfortunately, because of their height difference...his bear hug looked very similar to a choke-hold.  But Slugger just stood very still and let herself be hugged.  One morning, Slugger was at Scott's parents and Zylin just kept wandering the house in search for her asking everyone "Where's shasey?"

Zylin had an amazing effect on Slugger's talking.  Before that, we would try to say words to her but she would just stare at us in silence.  She knew we wanted her to repeat the word but she took pleasure in NOT saying anything.  Suddenly, she was trying to form words, she even learned to say Zylin.  It was so completely sad when my brother guys had to go back to the Big Island.  Slugger just cried and cried in the car (the video is so sad).

We are so excited to take her to the BI in May where she can see Zylin and her newest cousin, Anaiah!









Happy Valentines!!!
Here she is in her sweet Valentine's Dress (a Christmas gift from Aunty Joy)!