Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Amazingly enough, my 12 weeks of FMLA have flown by and, as of yesterday, I'm back to work. A couple of thoughts on that:
1. I miss Jaime (who is, incidentally, no longer Jaime-Sasha and won't even answer to Sasha anymore) every minute I'm at work.
2. They'll probably have to retrain me. I feel like a newbie!
3. While I loved my time off work and am not thrilled to have to go back, I'm still thankful I have a job.
4. I'll save tons of money. This shopping thing has to stop :)
For those of you who are waiting for pictures, updates, etc. on our new life, I can publish the updates but it appears Blogger and/or Blog*Spot updates are currently unavailable so no pictures right now. I'll see what I can swing. If I can't swing it here, I'll just republish at the site I have the upgrade on...ain't rocket science :) I'll let you know.
As for the updates, Jaime is doing wonderfully (is wonderfully a word?). She's grown into a beautiful, charming, happy, intelligent, affectionate child who never ceases to amaze me. While we're still working on her speech, she does say about 20 words clearly enough to understand and her comprehension is amazing for a 2 year old. Remember, this is coming from someone who is not only absolutely in love with her daughter (I love saying that word!) but has a background in early childhood development.
The standard rule for children is, they understand as many words in a row as their age. Up to a certain point of course (I think it's 6 years old.) So, a 1 year old can understand one word at a time. "No", "Go", "Cold", etc. A 2 year old understands two words at a time. "No biting", "That hurts", "Drink milk", "Kiss Mommy", etc. Everything after that is either ignored or the entire phrase is lost. This explains why it does no good to lecture your 4 year old on the need to clean his room.
Jaime, however, hit the ground running and she's to the point where I can say, "Please drink your milk so we can go to the store and buy cottage cheese" (more on the cottage cheese later...it's a sad story :) She will then drink her milk, get her jacket and hat, get her shoes, get Mommy's shoes and go for the keys. Once in the store, she'll head straight for the cooler and the cottage cheese. I am not kidding on this. Even the pediatrician said she seems to be very smart (of course, Mommy just beamed!)
My pediatrician is fantastic. How did I find her? Referral from a friend? Referral from findadoc.com or some such nonsense? No, I simply lucked out. There's a clinic nearby called Northwest Pediatrics. I needed to get Jaime in for an evaluation, titers (we decided against them), shots, etc. I was starting to get desperate so I called to schedule an appointment with anyone.
Fortunately for both Jaime and me, the earliest appointment was with Dr. Elizabeth Riedy. She has been so kind and helpful to both Jaime and Mommy. She understands that I am new at this and sometimes starting out as a new mommy with a 2 year old can be very challenging. Silly things like vitamins, nutrition, sleep habits, etc. She patiently explains everything to me and makes sure I understand. Proudly, I had most of it right! Yeah!
Then came the horrible day a couple of weeks ago. I was transitioning Jaime into daycare (more on that later, too) and it was our first day. Mommy stayed while Jaime played with the other kids. I somehow became the book reader of the class. The kids would bring me books and then sit on the floor waiting for me to read them. Imagine their surprise when they found out I was somebody's mom!
Anyway, we were getting ready to go home and Jaime put a book away, turned to run back to me and tripped over one of the sleep mats that was out for naptime. I heard her do the windup for the "Big Scream" and nothing. No sound.
I went over to comfort her, picked her up and the eyes rolled back and she was down for the count. Let's talk panic. I ran to the office and had them call 911. By the time we got through, she was already waking up but let me tell you, I was one scared puppy. I think that day I found out just how much I really am her mother.
The EMTs came and pronounced her fine, notwithstanding the huge, red bump on her head. But I wanted to make sure so I called the doctor who told me to come on in and also pronounced her okay. But, she gave me the lowdown on what to watch for in the next 24 hours, just to make sure. I don't think I slept a wink that night. Things like that make me glad there are still good, caring doctors out there and renews my faith in the medical profession.
Okay, that's enough for tonight. I'll check out the rest of Blogger and see what I can find out about the photo publishing upgrade.
1. I miss Jaime (who is, incidentally, no longer Jaime-Sasha and won't even answer to Sasha anymore) every minute I'm at work.
2. They'll probably have to retrain me. I feel like a newbie!
3. While I loved my time off work and am not thrilled to have to go back, I'm still thankful I have a job.
4. I'll save tons of money. This shopping thing has to stop :)
For those of you who are waiting for pictures, updates, etc. on our new life, I can publish the updates but it appears Blogger and/or Blog*Spot updates are currently unavailable so no pictures right now. I'll see what I can swing. If I can't swing it here, I'll just republish at the site I have the upgrade on...ain't rocket science :) I'll let you know.
As for the updates, Jaime is doing wonderfully (is wonderfully a word?). She's grown into a beautiful, charming, happy, intelligent, affectionate child who never ceases to amaze me. While we're still working on her speech, she does say about 20 words clearly enough to understand and her comprehension is amazing for a 2 year old. Remember, this is coming from someone who is not only absolutely in love with her daughter (I love saying that word!) but has a background in early childhood development.
The standard rule for children is, they understand as many words in a row as their age. Up to a certain point of course (I think it's 6 years old.) So, a 1 year old can understand one word at a time. "No", "Go", "Cold", etc. A 2 year old understands two words at a time. "No biting", "That hurts", "Drink milk", "Kiss Mommy", etc. Everything after that is either ignored or the entire phrase is lost. This explains why it does no good to lecture your 4 year old on the need to clean his room.
Jaime, however, hit the ground running and she's to the point where I can say, "Please drink your milk so we can go to the store and buy cottage cheese" (more on the cottage cheese later...it's a sad story :) She will then drink her milk, get her jacket and hat, get her shoes, get Mommy's shoes and go for the keys. Once in the store, she'll head straight for the cooler and the cottage cheese. I am not kidding on this. Even the pediatrician said she seems to be very smart (of course, Mommy just beamed!)
My pediatrician is fantastic. How did I find her? Referral from a friend? Referral from findadoc.com or some such nonsense? No, I simply lucked out. There's a clinic nearby called Northwest Pediatrics. I needed to get Jaime in for an evaluation, titers (we decided against them), shots, etc. I was starting to get desperate so I called to schedule an appointment with anyone.
Fortunately for both Jaime and me, the earliest appointment was with Dr. Elizabeth Riedy. She has been so kind and helpful to both Jaime and Mommy. She understands that I am new at this and sometimes starting out as a new mommy with a 2 year old can be very challenging. Silly things like vitamins, nutrition, sleep habits, etc. She patiently explains everything to me and makes sure I understand. Proudly, I had most of it right! Yeah!
Then came the horrible day a couple of weeks ago. I was transitioning Jaime into daycare (more on that later, too) and it was our first day. Mommy stayed while Jaime played with the other kids. I somehow became the book reader of the class. The kids would bring me books and then sit on the floor waiting for me to read them. Imagine their surprise when they found out I was somebody's mom!
Anyway, we were getting ready to go home and Jaime put a book away, turned to run back to me and tripped over one of the sleep mats that was out for naptime. I heard her do the windup for the "Big Scream" and nothing. No sound.
I went over to comfort her, picked her up and the eyes rolled back and she was down for the count. Let's talk panic. I ran to the office and had them call 911. By the time we got through, she was already waking up but let me tell you, I was one scared puppy. I think that day I found out just how much I really am her mother.
The EMTs came and pronounced her fine, notwithstanding the huge, red bump on her head. But I wanted to make sure so I called the doctor who told me to come on in and also pronounced her okay. But, she gave me the lowdown on what to watch for in the next 24 hours, just to make sure. I don't think I slept a wink that night. Things like that make me glad there are still good, caring doctors out there and renews my faith in the medical profession.
Okay, that's enough for tonight. I'll check out the rest of Blogger and see what I can find out about the photo publishing upgrade.
