Category Archives: coraline

And Bajingo Was Its Name-O

Song Lyric of the Day:

You want me to change, change, change / You want me to change

Churchill / “Change

Several months ago, Coraline started expressing interest in and naming body parts: “Mommy’s nose! Poppa’s eye! Coraline’s bell butt!” (In case you need a translation for that last one, “bell butt” is her way of saying belly button.) Her unrelenting interest in learning the names for various body parts led to an interesting discussion between Rich and I. We decided easily enough that her butt was to be called either — you guessed it — “butt” or “tush.” As for her girl parts, well, that was a different story.

Calling her girl parts “vagina” seemed awfully formal for such a small child. So me being me, I suggested “bajingo.” For you non-Scrubs fans, that’s the term the uptight female doctor, Elliot, used for lady parts.

Everything was hunky-dory for a long time. Then we started potty training and lo and behold, our preliminary research taught us that in addition to not giving your child a complex about bodily functions (no “Oh dear God, what just came out of you?! So gross!”), you’re supposed to use the proper (formal-sounding *cough*) terminology for private parts. This is where I should mention that Coraline pronounces “bajingo” as “bingo,” leading to my recurring nightmare in which I get a call from her daycare about Coraline grabbing her crotch when the class sang “B-I-N-G-O.” So, on a subconscious level, I guess I already knew that it was time to teach her the proper word.

Coraline now knows that the correct name for her bajingo is vagina, although she will occasionally use the wrong term for it. We gently correct her when she does. God help me, though, because last Wednesday when I was getting her dressed for the day, she placed her hands over her chest and said, “These are my boobs.” I won’t even get into how she thinks her nipples are boo-boos.

At least we never used the term “whizzy winkles” with regard to potty training.

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Cousins!

Song Lyric of the Day:

Ev’ryone can see we’re together / As we walk on by / (FLY!) and we fly just like birds of a feather / I won’t tell no lie / (ALL!) all of the people around us they say / Can they be that close / Just let me state for the record / We’re giving love in a family dose

Sister Sledge / “We Are Family

On Saturday we celebrated my niece Miranda’s first birthday party. We met at Build-a-Bear, where Coraline surprised everyone by not choosing Hello Kitty but instead choosing a pink snowflake-covered bear Rich and I, in a stroke of genius, named Snowflake since Coraline wouldn’t commit to a name for the birth certificate (and yes, I took the opportunity to remind Mom about this again). After Build-a-Bear, the kids hitched a ride on the train that runs around the mall, making Coraline’s day because she LOVES riding that train.

We then adjourned to Chili’s for lunch to be followed by birthday cake, which Coraline and her big cousins Elliott and Stephen all wanted as their main course. Like that was going to happen. And then, by the grace of God and my family — who helped do the wrangling — I got a picture of all five cousins together. Sure, they weren’t all looking right at the camera at the same time, but I got a shot of all five of them. Together. In one photo with five takes. Finally.

The kids had a blast spending time together this weekend, and I love seeing my baby girl having so much fun with my other babies. For all intents and purposes, these kids are each other’s best friends. I hope they know how lucky they are to be close enough to get to see their cousins as often as they do, something my sisters and I were not as fortunate to enjoy growing up. They’re lucky, lucky kids.

***

Here are a few shots from Saturday’s festivities. You can see all the photos here.

Coraline's bear gets stuffed

 

Coraline squeezes her eyes shut tight while holding her bear's heart in her hands and wishing good wishes for her. I love that she looks like she's praying.

Sleeping Miranda

Birthday girl Miranda, who has a little cold, fell asleep waiting for lunch. It looks like she's saying grace.

Frosting muzzle

Miranda gets her sugar rush on

Cousins!

Clockwise: Coraline, Stephen, Elliott, Sabrina, Miranda. This was the fifth shot I got of all of them. They were so over it by then.

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Photoblogging: Princess Coraline

A couple weeks ago on my day working from home, my schedule opened up enough that I told Coraline we could go visit her poppa at work over lunch. She surprised — and thrilled — me when she said, “I want to dress like a princess for Poppa.” We chose the beautiful black-and-white polka-dot dress (and matching sunglasses) her Titi K gave her for Christmas, white tights, and Coraline’s black sequined slip-on shoes. I styled her hair (as best I could) in a top-knot, which Coraline deemed worthy of calling “princess hair.” She couldn’t wait to grab one of her tiaras out of her toy bin, reminding me that princesses wear crowns. She had to look extra special for her dad, of course. She then melted my heart when I finished putting the tiara on her hair and looked at me and said, “I’m beautiful!” Yes you are, sweetie. Yes you are.

Princess Coraline & Caleb

Caleb inspects Coraline, who he thinks looks like a princess every day.

Princess Coraline & stroller

Princess Coraline races down the hall after getting all gussied up.

Princess Coraline closeup

Coraline beams at the thought of her poppa seeing her all dressed up.

Princess Coraline smiling

Coraline hooks her stroller over her arm, ready to go at last. Because of course Baby Miranda went with us.

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Photoblogging: Tiger Baby

My cute, cuddly tiger spent most of last night vomiting, so I thought I'd post a pic of her that will cheer her up when she sees it today (taken 9/9/12).

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Baby Miranda’s Day at the Office

Song Lyric of the Day:

I’m taking what they giving ’cause I’m working for a livin’

Huey Lewis and the News / “Workin’ for a Living’

Coraline’s #1 toy is her favorite baby doll, Baby Miranda (named after her little cousin). She never goes anywhere without her and even falls asleep with her in her arms. When we drop Coraline off at daycare, she always leaves Baby Miranda in the car so she doesn’t have to let her friends and classmates play with her (apparently the thought of sharing Baby Miranda is appalling). Yesterday, however, she wouldn’t let her go, which resulted in me taking Baby Miranda from her and leaving Coraline in tears. Thankfully, her teachers are great at calming her and distracting her. They don’t, however, appease my guilt at making my baby cry, so I promised Coraline I’d take Baby Miranda to work with me. So without further ado, here is Baby Miranda’s first-hand account of her day at the office with me.

I started my day by logging on and putting on my headphones. Gotta listen to some tunes while I work!

Hamming it up with a cubemate's Snoopy phone

Getting comfy in Coraline's mommy's office chair

Coraline's mommy's friends helped me play a joke on her by sitting me next to the kitty statues on her cabinet.

Time for a coffee break! It felt like it took forever for that cup to fill up.

I enjoyed a yummy lunch with Coraline's mommy and her friend Mary at Chuy's.

Snuck over to Coraline's daddy's cube and checked out his desk -- and coffee mug. Coffee rocks!

Had to drink lots of water to dilute some of that strong coffee I enjoyed earlier.

Checking voicemail messages at the end of a long, productive day

Back home with the bestest little mommy in the whole world. I love her so much!

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Melatonin Down Bedtime

Song Lyric of the Day:

Soft the drowsy hours are creeping / Hill and vale in slumber sleeping / I my loving vigil keeping / All through the night

Harold Boulton / “All Through the Night

The last few weeks, Coraline has experienced a drastic personality change at bedtime. She went from this:

Video uploaded by thebrushborder

To this:

Video uploaded by babylonsfalling

We have no idea what caused the change. She used to be so easygoing and ready to go to sleep for the night after reading some books (oh, how I rue the day I introduced her to my old Disney reader of Three Little Pigs). Then bam! — she’d start screaming like she was dying the second you closed her bedroom door. Seemingly overnight what used to be a pleasant half-hour of quality bonding time turned into up to two-and-a-half hours of Rich and I tag-teaming each other, taking turns trying to calm Coraline into going back to sleep. (Thankfully, she has not been having night terrors.)

A couple of weeks ago I got desperate and called our pediatrician for advice. His nurse promptly called me back and explained that at this age toddlers develop “bedtime resistance.” She suggested giving Coraline two milligrams of melatonin drops about a half hour before we wanted her to go to sleep. Since our bodies naturally produce melatonin, she said you could, in theory, take melatonin drops indefinitely (which we aren’t going to do). Desperate for a return to normal evenings and uninterrupted sleep, Rich and I went straight to a vitamin store after work to buy some. We were giddy at the thought that something might finally help Coraline go back to her old non-screaming, non-head-spinning-and-pea-soup-spewing sweet, sleepy self. I very well may have skipped into the vitamin store.

That night we were only able to get one milligram of melatonin into Coraline, but it did the trick. It was Rich’s turn to put her to bed that night (OK, so I chickened out and traded nights with him. She was THAT bad at bedtime), and he said that she got drowsy right on schedule. He put her to bed without incident, and we didn’t hear a peep from her until it was time to get up the next day. It was glorious.

We’ve made giving her that milligram of melatonin part of her bedtime routine. It has an orange flavor, and since she loves taking medicine, it’s not a problem to get her to take it. We’ll probably stop giving it to her after a month, like her nurse suggested, and see if she’s been “retrained” to sleep by then. If she hasn’t, back on the sauce she shall go.

Now if only I could figure out a way to get her to sleep in on weekends …

Coraline with Red Panda and Nemo. Not pictured: the 72 other stuffed animals and dolls she sleeps with. (10/15/12)

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Photoblogging: Warmer Days

Coraline swinging

Now that bona-fide cold weather has moved in, I will cling to the memory of warm days spent in the park with my two favorite people (photo taken 9/16/12).

 

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Photoblogging: My Birthday, My Little Girl

Even though I took today off from work for my birthday, the best part of my day was the time I spent with my sweet little girl. (The time spent with my special guy wasn't too shabby, either.)

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Wild Toddlers Can’t Be Broken

Song Lyric of the Day:

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed / One fell off and bumped his head /So Momma called the doctor and the doctor said /No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed” (book by Eileen Christelow)

Last weekend Rich, Coraline, and I were enjoying the wilds of Asheville, N.C. — particularly the wilds of Biltmore. We enjoyed a stay at the historic Firestone house, which Rich found on Airbnb, which was great. Not only was the house in a terrific location with a wonderful host, but the fact that we were in a home environment versus a cramped, impersonal hotel room was really helpful for Coraline. Unlike our trip to Iowa last summer, she didn’t have to sleep in a hotel’s metal prison-on-wheels crib or her pack ‘n’ play. This trip she got to sleep in a big bed like a big girl.

The first night she slept by herself in the twin bed. Of course, I had to lay down with her until she fell asleep, which ended up taking over an hour. She’d only ever slept in a bassinet, pack ‘n’ play, or crib until this trip, so she needed some reassurance. (So did Rich and I — we placed every extra pillow on the floor next to her, just in case.) Our second night there, Rich took the twin bed while Coraline slept in the full-sized bed with me; she fell asleep in under an hour, passed out with her head on my shoulder. The last night, Rich and I switched and Coraline fell asleep even quicker than the night before.

Turns out Coraline is quite the little bed hog (7/6/12)

Once we got home last Sunday and Coraline went from a vacation non-routine and 24/7 mommy and poppa time (that included all of us sleeping in the same room together) back to her normal schedule and sleeping alone in her crib in her room, well, it didn’t go over so well. No sooner had I placed her in her crib than she was standing up and screaming “mommmmeeeee” over and over, something she never does at bedtime. She normally flips over onto her stomach, pops her thumb in her mouth, and goes right to sleep. I went downstairs where I told Rich how upset she was and turned on the video monitor, which showed Coraline still standing and screaming. Within a couple of minutes we heard a loud bang, Coraline scream, and Caleb bark. I looked at the video monitor and didn’t see Coraline in her crib; I was pretty sure she wasn’t in one of the corners we can’t see. I told Rich I thought she’d fallen out of her crib.

Where's Coraline?

Where's Coraline? (I took this pic back in March when Coraline started squirreling books in her crib.)

We raced upstairs to her room, and no sooner had I opened her door than I spotted her standing on the floor next to her chair. She held out her arms and screamed “MOMMA!” as I snatched her up. Rich and I checked her over to make sure she hadn’t hurt herself; she fell directly onto the hardwood floor, so we were worried about broken limbs and a possible head injury. Thankfully, she was OK. No physical injuries, just scared out of her wits — proof that toddlers are made of rubber and Adamantium. After Rich helped calm her down, I read a few more books to her. While we were reading, Rich brought a mattress pad in and laid it on the floor in front of her crib, just in case. A little while later, I turned off the light and put Coraline back in her crib. This time she rolled over onto her stomach, popped her thumb in her mouth, and went right to sleep.

That was the first — and so far only — time Coraline has ever gotten out of her crib. We think she scared herself so badly that she doesn’t want to try it again. She also scared us so badly that we now have her crib toddler-bed conversion kit in the hallway on standby.

Coraline's room

It's a long way down from that crib.

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Photoblogging: Coraline at Biltmore

Coraline makes herself at home at Biltmore, like any princess worth her salt would (7/6/12).

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