A few little videos

Here is a little video of Elizabeth walking along a fountain wall with dada.




Here we are on the way to a restaurant that Elizabeth goes to with her grandparents quite often..they weren't there this time, but she thought she saw their car and screamed "Umpa" at a silver sedan.



And here she is on another day having lunch with Uma and umpa and showing off her dancing skills.

Elizabeth the Photographer

An Unquiet Girl

Here she is showing her less than demure side. I joke with her sometimes and tell her that Asian girls are known to be quiet and sweet. She hasn't quite gotten that part. It reminds me of when one of the nannies at the playground asked why all the other Asian girls at the park was so quiet and she was so noisy. I had to laugh. It is amazing how stereotypes abound.

Although I do remember hearing about a study of infant babies where they would pass a light cloth over the infants faces and the non-Asians babies would scream and fuss and the Asian infants would just coo and move slightly. Elizabeth missed that study it seems.

Then again, I'm Irish and I hate beer--so much for sterotypes!

There is a Buddhist saying, "You never step in the same river twice," which essentially means that all situations are fluid and that it is a mistake to approach life and people with a lot of preconcieved notions and expectations.

And boy is that ever true when you are dealing with a two and half year old.

Elizabeth officially entered what one might call "the terrible two's" when she was about 2.2 years old. And she seems to be picking up steam as she moves along. A lot of her "bordering on tyrannical" behavior seemed to coincide with potty training and of course out-growing the crib.

I went through the first year with Elizabeth under the grand illusion that she was just a mild mannered, sweet as pie and absolutely agreeable child. Well, she was that way for the most part--and then came the much talked about "terrible twos". I truly believed the terrible twos happened to other people and that my perfect (cough cough) mothering would subvert any such tendencies. Guess again, MaryBeth.

Yes, for the most part she is still the sweet faced lovely child that we have all come to know and love...but, she can also be whining, demanding, mischevious and stubborn. And, it is anyone's guess how Miss Elizabeth might decide to feel on a particular morning. Today she was her lovely self. Yesterday she put Sybil to shame.

A lot of this erratic behavior I do blame on sleep deprivation. She still has not caught up on her sleep that was lost those two weeks she "never slept". I have a feeling that she will go through life never maknig up for those weeks and I will probably blame any future bad behavior on those weeks. And, she is still a problem sleeper--we haven't yet done the intense sleep training that the doctor promised would yield results-but we are close to being desperate enough.

She is quite a character sometimes and she is definitely developing her little (or not so little) personality. We call her The Supreme Leader, if that gives you any idea.

But ultimately she is a darling kid and we thank our lucky stars every day that she came into our lives.

Here are a few random photos that were taken over the last month. I hope to have things stabilize soon and I can post more info and pictures. Have I said that before?









Here she is lounging at the pool at The pelican Hill Resort with Dada.







Here she is making one of her "goofball" faces. I am not sure where she picked this one up, but I do try to discourage it--which of course causes her to do it more.


Elizabeth tried on my white jacket one day and I decided she looked pretty darn good in it. Marty didn't realize it was mine and said, "don't you think that is a little big on her?" Hey, at least he noticed.


Elizabeth always has fun with Sandra and looks for her on the days she is not here. As you can see in this photo, Elizabeth has graduated to big girl underwear.





And here she is trying to head into the dog grooming shop. She loves watching all the dogs getting groomed. She insists we head in there whenever we are in that particular shopping center. She is also a dog lover--maybe too much so. She will run up to any and all dogs and immediately start hugging them. So far we have been lucky, but we need to teach her a little more of healthy fear before she runs into a nasty pit bull.

MJ

So in case you miss tomorrow's "all network" tributes to Michael Jackson you can console yourself with Elizabeth's version of a tribute.

She has a new little music player which you can download any music onto--so Marty loaded Thriller and a few other songs on it for her. She loves it. I guess she is the among the youngest of the pop star's fans.

With a little better direction, she might just be able to do her own music video.

Sleep is NOT overrated

It has been another long week, but not as long as the two that went before it. As you know, we have all been suffering under Elizabeth's new found fondness for waking at all hours of the night and refusing to go to sleep.

The good news is that after a lot of research we have made some progress. How did we accomplish this mean feat? Well it has been a hodgepodge of all the advice we have been given.

One thing I have learned is that when it comes to getting toddlers to sleep through the night, "everyone has got their own opinions". One side says NEVER GIVE IN, NEVER GO IN" lest you set yourself up for a lifetime of catering to a whining brat's wishes...she is just trying to control you. The solution from that camp is to gate the room and let her basically "cry it out". Even the pediatric sleep specialist we consulted recommended a modified version of the famous "cry it out" Ferber method.

And then there are the softer sided folks who wince at the thought of "caging" their child and abandoning them throughout the night. They recommend giving the child the comfort and support at night as long as they need it--everything from letting the child fall asleep with the parent in the room, to letting the child sleep with them.

It seems that beliefs in child rearing run pretty much along the lines of how people feel about their religions. Everyone thinks theirs is the best.

So, what have we done thus far? Well, firstly I will say that we have no idea if this is the best way to proceed and we admit that we may have to change course it this method fails us-but currently Marty is sleeping on the floor (on a mattress I might add) next to Elizabeth until the Supreme Leader (her new nickname) is asleep. Then he safely exits and returns either to have some time to himself or to go to bed. She usually sleeps till about 3 or so and then comes in looking for Marty. He repeats the process and she heads back to sleep.


Marty has taken the helm on the night time waking for now since he has a marvelous ability to be fully awakened--even startled and then go back to sleep. Once I am woken up in the middle of the night--that's it--there is no going back to sleep.


Is it ideal. Heck, no. But until we are rested enough to attempt some other solutions, we'll take it. She is getting about 10 hours of sleep this way and we are averaging 7 or so.

I haven't had much time to take many photos or update on too much that is going on around here but will fill you in more hopefully in the next few days.

Here is a video I took well over a month ago. I walked in the room and Elizabeth was playing her guitar. If I didn't mention it before--the girl loves music. Hey, her hair does look a little the Beatles, doesn't it?