Two big beds, one small Pookie

Since Kaia has been sick and teething on and off since starting daycare, it’s been even more challenging to keep her in her (open) crib bed throughout the night. We finally replaced our twin-sized air mattress that got a hole in it in the last week and got a queen-sized air mattress, which we covered with a fitted sheet and added a pillow to. Kaia loves her bed space; she also still has her separation anxiety, as when she sees us lying on the bed beside the crib mattress, she refuses to stay on the crib and insists on rolling over onto the air mattress where we are. Somehow, miraculously, she slept the entire night last night on the crib mattress and the air mattress. Chris found her asleep this morning — just past the crib bumper and on the air mattress, sleeping comfortably head down, with her butt high in the air — her usual comfortable, happy sleeping position. She is likely one of the only almost 18-month olds who has THIS much bed space all to herself. My silly Kaia Pookie.

Relatable memes about parenthood

Ever since I became pregnant, I have been served endless child/parenting related memes and posts on social media. One of the most recent ones that I remembered and chuckled out loud at went something along the lines of:

“My child is the most precious thing in the world to me.

I can’t wait until 7pm (their bedtime).”

It reminded me of one of our friends who has twin girls who recently turned 4 years old. Ever since we can remember, he’s constantly made comments about how he wishes he could be a stay-at-home dad, that it would truly be the best job for him, in an ideal world. His full-time work schedule is Sunday through Thursday, so he’s off on Fridays and Saturdays. His wife works Monday through Friday. From Monday through Thursday, his in-laws care for the twins full time. So on Friday, that’s his full-time dad duty day. Keeping this in mind, he’s also made this comment given they will be starting preschool this fall, “I cannot fucking wait until the girls start preschool because it means I will have Friday ALL TO MYSELF – sleep in, play video games, and do whatever the fuck I want and be free of them!”

So, I think the above meme sums up exactly how he feels. And how a lot of us parents of young children likely feel.

No more bathtub seat for Pookster

When I was setting up Kaia’s bath this evening, I realized that given her size and length now, she really doesn’t even need her seat anymore. First, we started her as a tiny newborn in the newborn sling; then we detached it and had her sit up in the bathtub seat at around 4 months. And now, at almost 18 months, she’s graduated and no longer needs the seat. We probably could have nixed the seat earlier, but I just got used to the habit of having it, really. So we bid farewell to the seat today and I detached it from her baby bathtub. Soon, she will no longer even need the baby bath tub and will be able to bathe comfortably and slip free in the regular bath tub. Recently, she’s also gotten frustrated with having water dunked over her head, so lots of interesting developments as she gets older.

The worst teething case now thus far

Kaia has not been happy. She has some side front teeth coming out, and surprise surprise: the pain seems to be the worst, even worse than her molars. With her molars, I was actually quite surprised that four popped out in her mouth with very little fussing or noticeable pain from her. With these two side front teeth, she’s so upset that she’s barely eaten anything over the last day, even her usual favorites. Even bread hurts her; she took a few bites and screamed.

Chris didn’t think it would be fun or productive to go out and about with her today, so we decided to stay home and let her rest. We walked around the building and in the common areas. I made some apple sauce, banana, and chia seed (ABC) cookies for her, which she ate four of in one go, so at least that was a hit. But we ended up not really leaving the building at all today, which is strange for us on a Saturday. Hopefully, she will be better tomorrow to go out.

Baby comes home in a diaper two sizes too small

Earlier this week when we brought Kaia home from daycare, she was wearing a diaper we did not recognize — with an Elmo design on it. I didn’t think much of it; I figured the teachers got the diapers mixed up once, and I let it go. But then today, she came home with a Target brand diaper (which we buy), but it was a size 3; that’s two sizes smaller than the diaper she typically wears. Plus, it was super tight on her. After changing, I realized she had a bit of a rash on her butt, and I started applying some diaper rash cream. All rashes are inevitably going to be uncomfortable, but a diaper rash is worse because given the fact that this area is always covered with a diaper other than during diaper changes and baths, it has no time or “air” to breathe and be free, which makes it even more susceptible to getting worse over time.

I was willing to let it go with the first diaper, but with the second diaper, I was definitely annoyed… not just because it was someone else’s diaper, but because the diaper was just too small. And who knows – maybe that small diaper is what ultimately caused Kaia’s rash? It would be hard to prove, but she has never before had any type of diaper rash, not even a small one. Also, this would mean that Kaia’s diapers are likely being used on someone else! So I sent a note to the teachers to address the problem. Whatever their response will be, I know for sure it will not just simply be a scowl or death stare that assumes zero accountability the way I used to get for even the most benign feedback from our ex-nanny.

Eating dinner out: how it’s different with a baby/toddler

My friend suggested going out to eat next Friday night, but I told her that I wouldn’t be able to go out (or, at least, not that far) because Chris already had tentative plans to go out to eat with his friends, and so I’d need to be with Pookster. She responded that she could still come over, and suggested we could still eat out and just take Kaia with us.

While that sounds like an easy solution… it’s not as easy as a non-parent would think. Kaia really shouldn’t stay out too late given her age, and to keep her on schedule (and away from crankiness), we need to keep her bedtime at around 7-7:30. So that means we would need to eat early, closer to 5-5:30pm when she typically eats, and ease her into her sleepy time before then. A lot of people think parents are just being inflexible with schedules, but schedules are what babies and toddlers need to thrive. They need a schedule and a level of predictability in a world of chaos. It keeps them grounded, and it prevents things like tantrums, hunger, and over-tiredness, which then results in baby mood swings.

What’s likely going to happen is that we’ll probably get takeout somewhere. I’ll pick Kaia up a bit early from daycare, and we’ll eat at home and hang out until she has to go to bed. It’s much easier to hang out with friends with baby in tow during the day as opposed to dinner time for this reason. It’s a temporary adjustment given the stage of life we’re currently in now. But as with all stages, it has its time and is temporary, so I’m happy with it because I know it will pass.

Kaia’s development: connecting words to objects, and saying her own name

Out of nowhere this week, Kaia has started yelling out her own name. She will just say “Kaia! Kaia!” over and over again, and so it’s clear she’s fully recognizing that this is her name. She would always look up for the most part if I called out her proper name, Kaia, or even Pookie or Pookster. I wonder if we are confusing her by calling her so many endless nicknames…?

The other cute thing she’s doing is that she’s recognizing animals and sounds, and words to objects. In different books we read, she recognizes the dog named Pal; when I ask her what this is when pointing at the dog, she responds, “woof woof!” and when I point at the cat, she responds, “Meow!” She also knows who Arthur is (one of her favorite books), Bluey, and she even has started pointing at pictures where there’s the beach and shouting out “watty! (her word for “water”). Sometimes, she will speed ahead to her favorite parts of books. It’s been really sweet and endearing to see this level of development.

During play, she’s also started stacking multiple blocks on top of each other, and she seems to understand more nuances of other toys I’ve been picking up for her through our Buy Nothing group. It really is like what Chris said: literally since our nanny quit, her development has truly exploded. I wonder if that’s a sign of something?

Sun exposure and sun protection – what you learn over time

It doesn’t seem to matter whether I put thick layers of SPF 50 or a wide brimmed hat onto my baby: she always seems to tan so easily. Chris insists that she has inherited his melanin (even though she’s nowhere as dark as he is), and so she doesn’t need as much sunblock application as I like to put on. The thing is: even when you put on SPF 50, you are never 100% protected from the sun. An SPF that high protects you from about 97% of UV rays on average, so the sun is still penetrating the other 3%. Plus, the only real way to be protected from the sun is to be covered up with clothes, sunglasses, a hat, or to stay out of the sun completely. Just because you aren’t getting sunburnt does not mean that you are not getting any sun damage.

I want to make sure Pookster understands and practices safe sun exposure as early as possible. I don’t want her to think that tanning is a healthy practice, and I especially do not want her to think that she’s invincible from getting sunburned just because of her skin color. Clouds are not a protection from the sun! People still get tanned and burned on cloudy days! Covering up and applying sunscreen liberally are your best bets to keep sun burns and premature wrinkles and skin damage (and eventually, sun spots and freckles) away! No one ever educated me on this when I was little. I learned all of this on my own — oddly, through magazines like Teen and Seventeen when I was 11.

I was lazy about wearing a wide-brimmed hat up until very, very recently. I’ve always hated wearing a hat in the summer because my head sweats, and I feel even more gross as a result. But then it suddenly hit me last December: why are there are these new freckles and sun spots on my face? Wearing sunscreen and big sunglasses just is not enough as I ignorantly used to think, and these stupid spots are only going to get worse as I approach middle age! So even though I’ve been borderline obsessive about applying and reapplying sunscreen, I’ve finally admitted to myself that this just isn’t enough. As I have gotten older, I have also changed my stances on certain practices… like wearing hats. But I guess this also means I can just start buying more hats to add to my wardrobe. I just hope I don’t lose them like I have lost two before (one in South Africa, and one in India. I mean, I just wasn’t used to looking after a hat!).

Walking progress one month later

It really is amazing to watch a tiny baby develop into an opinionated, assertive little toddler. In just the last month, Kaia has started walking. While she was initially quite robotic and would leave her arms in front of her like a little robot, she’s been getting the hang of balance and has been walking more with her arms at her side now. It’s especially gotten more conspicuous that she’s more at ease walking now during this trip: wandering around the hotel grounds and pool, you can tell that she’s more confident as a tiny human walking around. She’s even proactively tried to walk up the pool stairs several times. Initially, she seemed quite resistant and refused, insisting to crawl and climb up instead. But after some initial coaxing, she finally started walking up, one step at a time, as long as I held her hand. By the end of the trip, while she still needed to hold my hand going up, she was more than willing to do it.

My sweet baby is growing into a cheeky, assertive toddler. It’s still hard to believe that just one year ago, she was just starting to roll over and had these super chubby cheeks and just a little bit of hair on top. Every day, I look at her and think, even though she can be stubborn and difficult and not listen to what I say, she’s still my little miracle baby.

Swim diapers and their purpose

When you have a baby and you’d like to get her in the pool and ocean, you likely are debating what kind of swim diaper to have for her. There are two main types of swim diapers: single use, disposable, and reusable cloth ones that you just wash after each use. Contrary to what some may assume, swim diapers do NOT soak up or hold urine; if a baby pees while in a pool, the urine basically just gets into the water. A swim diaper’s main purpose is to hold poop. But, if you do recognize that your baby has pooped while in a swim diaper in the pool, it would be best practice for you to take your baby out IMMEDIATELY and get her cleaned up and changed. No one wants to know they are swimming in a pool with baby poop somewhere. Be nice to your fellow swimmers/pool attendees.

We’ve been getting Kaia acquainted with the pool and ocean water for about the last year. She’s mainly been in our building’s pool, but we’ve also had her go to the beach with us and pools at hotels where we’ve stayed during our trips. We thought we had been clear this whole time, never experiencing her pooping in a pool before… until I got her ready for her bath tonight after some pool time at the resort pool, and when I pulled down her diaper to put her into the bath, a big ball of brown poop plopped out.

Welp, I guess our streak of no poop in the pool has officially ended!