Such an Angel

In the last week we have changed Cecilia's bedtime routine, beginning last Wednesday. After her bath we had been getting her pjs on and then reading her two books in her bed and then laying down with her in her bed until she fell asleep. Now, after her bath, we get her pjs on, read her two books in our bed, and then take her to her bed, say goodnight, and leave the room. The first night we tried this, she cried for 13 minutes while knocking on her bedroom door before climbing into her bed and falling asleep. By last night, after her stories, she grabbed her stuffed lamb, ran to her bedroom, climbed into her bed, pointed at her lamp for me to turn it off and waved goodnight to me. Such a difference. She learned so quickly and has been so good. It was simply heart-wrenching that first night listening to her cry and bang on her door like a helpless child trapped. And then last night to have her get into bed by herself and wave goodnight to me was simply adorable.

The first 3 nights, she slept all the way through the night as well - all 11-12 hours! The last two night have not been so blissful. We are still trying to discern what the difficulty is but we are betting the fact her nose has been running a marathon has something to do with it - whether it is a cold or teething or both. Here's hoping we only improve though.

We certainly think it would have been preferable to start this process with her before now, esp. with a new baby coming, but between illnesses, changing beds, and moving, I'm not sure how feasible it would have been to consider it within the last 3 months anyway.

New Photo Gallery

Lately both Katherine and I been pretty frustrated with Flickr. So I have been experimenting with a new photo gallery at .Mac. You can find the gallery by going to .Mac Web Gallery. The site has photos from the last two months or so. So feel free to check it out.

Update

Well, Cecilia had a good but difficult past month. The week prior to and half-week following the move she was ill with some sort of stomach virus. It was a very wierd virus in my book. She began getting diarhea one Sunday and that lasted non-stop for 2 weeks and she was vomiting on three different occassions but the occassions were not seperated by hours but days - 2 days and then 4 days. Fortunately the miserable virus left and she was her usual happy self again although her recovery became a bit complicated: in order to catch up on her fluids, she began drinking 8 8oz cups of water/apple juice per day until she was going through 10 diapers a day and I could not keep up. We cut the juice out of her beverages and she cut back pretty quickly. Three days after cutting back how much she was drinking, a most unpleasant cold hit and her nose has been running since, though it is improving. Needless to say, Cecilia has had better months.

However, we could not have wished for a better transition for her to the new place. She isn't afraid of anything and enjoys exploring every corner (we have had to put a lock on the lazy susan to be able to use it). Unfortunately for us she has figured out how to open all those child restraint devices on cabinets, but fortunately she leaves them alone most of the time.

Baby "Bean" in the mean time continues to kick up a storm. She has been kicking Cecilia and Cecilia has tried to draw with a marker on my belly. They are already playmates! We have purchased a small baby doll we are going to give Cecilia around the time the baby comes. She might not care for it. But it might give her her own baby when mommy has one in her arms as well.

Cecilia Update

Well, Cecilia had her "18 month" Checkup, even though she is 19 months now. She was so good; I was so proud of her. She weighed in at 22 lbs. 6 oz. and measured up to 31 1/2 inches. Whenever we were just speaking with the doctor she proceeded to simply play around the room and bring us books to show her. She hated having her ears checked but was given a clean bill of health and held perfectly still while she got her vaccination shot. She cried only a minute and then grabbed her Teddy and became our happy little Cecilia again. Throughout the entire thing she only managed to shed 2 tears! She was a great trooper. Now if we could just figure out how to get the bandaid off without her knowing...

Smile Cecilia

Cecilia loves this video. She points out the ball everytime with a loud "Ba..ba...ba.." Although she could also simply love that I sing it to her with "Cecilia Smiles" instead of "Savannah Smiles"...