This Week in Mommyhood

What a week. It's bittersweet. For the past two months Alex was on a rotation where he worked nights. I was afraid of how it would work out but I got really lucky with Elina so it wasn't too bad. The perk of the rotation was getting to spend more daytime hours with Alex. He got to spend more time with Elina at this age than he ever did with Cati when she was that small. For what's will probably be the only time in his life (aside from vacation) he got to take Cati to school. Tomorrow things go back to normal with Alex working long days and hoping to get home in time to see the girls awake. So it's bittersweet; I'm happy this tantrum-filled week is over but I'm sad that we won't be seeing as much of Alex anymore. He's one rotation away from being done with this God-forsaken third year and then hopefully things will lighten up as he gets ready to apply for fellowship placement.

 

Here are the fun developments from this past week:

Like Daughter Like Mother. Cati gave me a scrunchy so I could have one to match hers. At one point I took it off my wrist and put it in my hair. Once she saw it wasn't on my wrist she asked where it was and was happy when she saw I still had it even though it was in my hair. She wanted to make sure mommy still matched her. I don't know why but I found this to be such a sweet thing. She actually wants us to wear the same things. It's as if she's saying "you belong to me mommy."

Miss Manners. How do you teach manners or politeness? That's the struggle we've had with Cati this past week. Tantrums are at a high (they are 10x worse with me) and she's started hitting again. She tells you to "stop it" when she doesn't want to be touched. That's my fight because I am constsantly telling the dogs to stop doing something (bark, jump, snatch food, rummage the trash). We've made small steps and if corrected in time she will say "por favor no" with no hitting or finger pointing. She's also started to ask "you ok?" It's such a battle because patience runs low when you get nothing but nasty behavior. I love this age but I hate the "terrible twos." I also hate that I never know what to attribute tantrums to: age or having a new sibling.

 Esta Loca. One day I said our dogs were "loca" and it caught on. Now every time the dogs do something weird or bad Cati says "Rosie/Gracie esta loca." It's funny every time.

Time Out. One day Cati placed herself in time out. We have no clue what she did but she put her chair in the corner, sat down, and then said, "cati time out." After she got out of time out she put her bunny in time out. I don't know if this works for or against all our discipline attempts.

Pillow Talk. I don't know why but pillows and blankets freak me out. Cati's never had either up until this week. She asked for a pillow and I thought she wouldn't actually want to sleep with it but she did. She doesn't really use it to sleep but it has become a sort of toy where she takes off and puts on the cover.

Yummy Hands. Elina has officially discovered her hands and she can't get enough of them. If she's awake chances are good there will be a hand in her mouth. What makes this even funnier is that Cati tells her "Elina la mano esta yucky."

 

First Bath. The girls got their first bath together. It was so cute! Cati was protective (possessive?) and didn't want to let me give Elina a bath. I can't wait until Elina's big so she can play with Cati in the bath. 

Here's to surviving another week. For as much as I talk about surviving, I can't believe we're already in May and that Elina will be three-months old next week.