Proud that we did it!

I decided to try to leave Munkey at the Gold's Gym day care for the first time last week. I was really stressing about it because it's the only place she's ever been left that wasn't with family and I was worried about how she would do. I was trying not to act too stressed out about it around her though so she wouldn't pick up any anxiety from me.

As it turns out, it was what I would consider a nightmare day to have left her there. There were 40 kids in a room the size of our living room, so much screaming and crying that I couldn't hear the person talking that I was leaving her with. I felt even worse leaving her in such chaos. If I were left in that kind of situation as a child I probably would have just died.

I sat down in a chair in the room to fill out some paperwork and Munkey was clinging to my leg at first but then she just wandered off into the chaos. She headed right for the play kitchen, a particular favorite toy of hers. I left for my workout and she didn't even look up or try to see where I was.

The whole workout all I could do was wonder what she was doing and if she was OK. I made myself stay and workout for the whole hour even though I wanted to go rescue her and myself after 10 minutes. When I went to get her, it was still loud and chaotic but she made her way over to me, being followed by two other little girls she had made friends with I guess. Munkey wasn't in a hurry or a panic for me to grab her, she looked as if she had been having fun. The lady watching them said she did fine. I guess all my anxiety was for nothing.

The next few days afterwords, every time we drove past the gym she would say "Go play children" and point to the gym. It was a good sign that she really did have fun.

Today I took her again, mid-day so as to avoid the morning rush. It was much better, only about 12 kids in the room this time. I went early thinking that I would sit in that chair again and let her wander off on her own instead of just dumping her over the gate abruptly. I walked in and she ran right for the gate, when I opened it she ran for the play kitchen and some girls came over to see what she was doing. She never looked back as I was signing her in and she was happily playing with toys and friends when I returned in an hour.

I'm glad that she does not seem to have inherited my dislike of crowds and especially my anxiety around crowds of children (which is actually much much better now, if you can believe that). It makes me happy for her that she will hopefully not have that kind of anxiety to deal with in her life. I love that she seems to like all kinds of different situations and groups of people. She is definitely more like her Dad this way and I am thankful for it.

Baka-la

We were making baklava the other night and Munkey kept trying to say baklava. It was really cracking us up, so of course we had to get the video camera. She was doing it for about an hour and then as soon as you get the camera out, she needs coaxing of course. Also she was saying coriander the other day when Dan used it in a recipe so we wanted to get that on tape for nostalgia.

Growing up on fast forward

Today Munkey grabbed me by the hand and led me to the toilet and pointed to her pants and said "off". Maybe that's a good sign she's getting ready for toilet training. I feel completely unprepared for it so I hope she is easy to train. I would say that this is the first parental duty/challenge that seems daunting to me for some reason that I can't substantiate.

Also she has been picking out her own clothes. She is very concerned with colors and tells us what colors she wants to wear. Last night we took down all the PJ's out of the closet and let her pick the one she wanted to wear. She seems to love having that kind of decision power and it's also good because she gets to practice saying her colors.

Another thing she does is tell us the days of the week. She doesn't get them right yet as far as matching the actual calendar day but she likes saying them and guessing.

Lastly, she is growing up so fast, the things she does surprise me daily. This is probably because I'm not used to be around children at all, so I learn as she learns. Today we picked out her favorite book to read, "Peter Rabbit" and she pointed to the cover at the word "Peter" and pointed to the letters "ete" and said "ete". Pretty cool I'd say.

Free at last, not what it's cracked up to be

Munkey climbed out of her crib today for the first time.

She didn't even open the door to come get me but I could hear banging around in her room. I think she was trying to climb back in. When I went in her room to check on her she was feeling a little guilty. She was looking at the floor with her bottom lip sticking out and murmuring while pointing towards the crib, like the crib made her do it. I put her immediately back in the crib because it seemed like that's what she wanted and she laid down with out even a single protest and went to sleep.

I think the whole incident freaked her out a little and wasn't quite what she had expected. Now I guess we'll see if she gets over it and keeps escaping or if we can squeeze out another few months of nocturnal captivity.

A horsey named Jimbo gets his hair did and other funness

Munkey has been a busy girl lately. This week she got to help us re-pot the tomato plants. She thought playing in the dirt was really fun and she insisted on being the one to fill up the pots. She was really careful and didn't even hurt the tomato plants.


She has also been really busy with a salon styling set that Nanna got her. It has a hairdryer that really blows air, a curling iron, brush, fake lipstick, and bottle of perfume that she says is shampoo. She is really into it, she has been shampooing, brushing, and blowing any hair she can get a hold of all week, then applying curl and lipstick. Here are some of her victims and these are their stories, their names have not been changed:

Horsey named Jimbo gets a shampoo

Then we blow dry and style


Next, Jimbo gets his curl on

Then, because this ain't no cheap salon, Jimbo gets a snack

And his teeth brushed

Munkey and Jimbo share toothbrushes

Next victim, Me. Wash, rinse, repeat.


This is the last thing the victim sees

Also, I made her this really cool rainbow poofy pillow that she likes to sit on and plan her next blow drying assault


Whew, we need some down time, it's been a long day. Munkey loves watching people cook. She loves Emeril Live. She points and says things like, "pan, spoon, onion, pasta". She really gets into it and you can't peel her away.


After a long day like this, she is super tired....