Giuliana's 18-21 Month Update!

I'm finally catching up on blog posts! Yay! Clearly, I procrastinated on Giuliana's 18 month update, as that happened in July. Now, she's approaching 22 months. So, we'll call this her 18-21 month update!

So far, this is and has been my favorite age range with all of my babies. When they hit 18 months, their personalities really start shining through. They're still snuggly and cuddly (although Rocco didn't GET cuddly or snuggly until about 21 months!), and they're busy and showing you what they like and want to do. They start to learn about independence and they're not really 'naughty' yet. Well, not on purpose, anyway. And anything that they DO do wrong... well, it's still kind of cute. And funny.

GIULIANA'S 18 MONTH GROWTH STATS:
She continues to be very long and lean. She's one inch shorter than the boys were at 18 months. And, a lighter than Gabby was at 18 months. My girls seem to create their own growth curve, as the doctors tell me. And the boys fell at the top of the growth curve.
HEIGHT: 32 inches (75%ile)
WEIGHT: 18lbs 13oz (5%ile)
HEAD: 18.5

FUNNY THINGS SHE'LL SAY:

• Omay = Open
• Batba on = B.atman on
• Pwess pway = press play
• Cocco = Rocco
• Gobby = Gabby
• Daggy or daddy = daddy
• Mon, momma, mommy = mommy
• Tweet or teet = treat
• Popkle = popsicle
• Buk = bug
• Wa wa = water
• Cook cook = cookie
• Chipies = chips
• Miw-kee = milky
• Deego = D.iego

GIULIANA's SLEEP PATTERN:

Giuliana naps once daily, usually from 12 noon – 2pm. Sometimes as late as 3pm. Giuliana is sleep trained so before her nap and bedtime, we look out the window, say good night to about 15 animals and say the sounds they make. Then, we sing “T.winkle, T.winkle Little S.tar”. Then, we say good night to her and put her in her crib with her purple blankey, her twin babies and sometimes a few extra babies, a book, or a specific stuffed kitty. It all depends on what her requests are on the way to bed.

She goes to bed beautifully. Sometimes she’ll sing or talk for a little bit, but then she just falls asleep. And, then sometime between 11pm and 2am, we hear her say “Momma? Momma?” or “Daddy, hold me?” And then, I go over and pick her up out of her crib and bring her into bed with us. She sleeps like a rock. Sometimes she’ll snuggle me…sometimes Dan, and sometimes she sleeps soundly just enjoying her own space between us. I completely and freely admit to loving this. As long as she can put herself to sleep at night without any drama - I’ll totally take a baby visitor in our bed. I wish I would have let Matteo sleep with me. But, at the time…who would have thought I’d only have 18 months of life to enjoy and share with him. I deeply regret not ever sleeping and cuddling him throughout the night once.

GIULIANA'ISM'S... THE FUNNY THINGS THAT STICK OUT IN MY MIND ABOUT HER:

• If she hears anyone say the word “GO”, then Giuliana wants to go somewhere… she’ll run from adult to adult saying “Go? Go?” and then she’ll go and get her coat and shoes. This tends to be a bit of a problem if we’re trying to sneak out of the house to take one of the big kids somewhere!

• She constantly pretends to be a kitty cat. She’ll drop on all fours and start saying “Mew, mew, mew…” and then she’ll rub her head up against your leg. Sometimes, when you pick her up out of bed in the morning to hold her, she’ll start mewing… really loud… which makes us laugh. Not sure where the cat interest came from since Dan & I are both dog people. But, it’s cute.

• Giuliana has a po oping place. We have noticed that in the past month, whenever she has to poop, she’ll go over to her little kitchen area in our TV room… pretend like she’s cooking… and then she’ll run out and say “mommy poo poo!” or “daddy poo poo!”. She’s always very proud to announce this and I LOVE that she’s already so aware of the fact that she’s pooping! Hoping for early/eager potty training with this one!

• She’s been known on several occasions to wake up in the middle of the night asking for cook cook (cookie)or chipies (chips).

• She’s discovered the word “mine”. She likes to declare things mine and is always sure to get the last “mine” in when there is a “mine” war between her and Rocco, or her and Gabby.

• Gabby LOVES to snuggle Giuliana and wrap her like a baby, holding her in her lap. Giuliana has warmed to this in recent months and now lets Gabby baby her. It's pretty darn cute!
  

• She often likes to blame Rocco for things. I’m noticing this is happening less and less as we move away from 18 months. But, for example, if she falls by her own doing and Rocco is standing by her, she’ll walk over to me or Dan and say “Cocco made me fall”. We also often hear “Cocco took my blankey or book”, etc.

• It's impossible to take pictures of her... or artistic/fun ones of her because she moves so fast and has no patience for a mommy who likes to try and take cool photos!

• Giuliana loves to take her pants off and run around the house in her diaper. And, then sometimes she'll even pull her diaper down so her butt crack is showing and then she runs and runs, and laughs while Rocco or Gabby chase after her laughing, and calling her the little naked girl.

• Books: She LOVES, LOVES looking at books. She isn’t very good at letting you actually read to her… she prefers to flip the pages at her pace and look at all the pictures. But, she is most interested in books with animals and whenever she sees and animal she yells out the animal name with a “Awwww… kitty!” or “Awwwwww… doggy!”. And, sometimes that is followed by the sound that animal makes.

• Favorite TV shows are “B.atman” and “D.iego”. I think the love of Batman is so odd… I mean, have you ever watched it? So boring! But, I think this has just become a thing with her and Rocco… and she knows how much Rocco loves Batman, so I think that’s partly why she loves it so much. She’ll say “Batba ON!” Or “Deego on”.

• “Momma… pwess pway!” = Mommy, press play! Yes, she learned this from the big kids and knows when she should tell me to press play for the DVR or DVD player in the car.

• The first words out of her mouth in the morning are either:

1. “Mew, mew” and her rubbing her face up against my or Dan’s face

2. “Batba On!”

3. Humming “twinkle, twinkle little star” or “silent night”

4. “Mommy, cookie!”

• She often wears her purple blanket on her back like a cape. Dan calls this Giuliana’s “darth vader look”.

• When she puts her purple blanket on her back like a cap, it is quite the process… she doesn’t just pick it up and put it behind her and grab with the other hand to pull up around her shoulders. Instead, she grabs two ends of it, puts it over her head, and then slowly works the blanket over her head until one side is sitting on her shoulder tops.

• She is a GREAT eater… eats almost anything! Best eater of any of my kids… and my tiniest, go figure! Some of her loves include: hot dogs, corn dogs, K.raft m.ac & cheese, salmon, steak, avocado, peas, pizza, strawberries, bananas, blueberries, soup of any kind… even chili, potatoes done any way (mashed, baked, fries, potato salad).

• Favorite snacks/treats include: chocolate kisses M.&M’s, popsicles and ice cream. They all put smiles on her face!

• Favorite toys: baby dolls, baby stroller, and playing with Gabby’s dollhouse stuff

• At bedtime, she likes to turn on Gabby and Rocco’s sound machines and help us tuck them in before she goes to bed. She’ll run back & forth between their rooms saying “night, night!”, giving out her bedtime love.

• For Rocco being such a rough & tumble boy, he sure shows his sweet, sensitive side around Giuliana. Always looking out for her, getting her what she needs and sharing toys that he would fight with Gabby over. Or, yelling at us "MOM, GIULIANA NEEDS THIS (whatever that might be)!"
  

• She likes to pick out her own pajamas and clothes and is VERY opinionated about what she will wear. Try putting something on this girl that she didn’t want to wear and it is MELTDOWN city! I have never been able to dress either of my girls as I wanted to from the time they are 18 months old! Jeesh! Oh well… glad we’re raising little ladies with independence!

• She knows exactly where the treats and her treat basket are kept in our house. Thanks again to the big kids!

• She likes to dig in drawers and cabinets.

  

• She loves playing with all the goodies in mommy’s makeup bag. She actually plays in their more than mommy does! And, she loves putting lip gloss on.

• She loves putting mommies shoes on, and also trying on any adult shoes that sit by the front door.

• She loves playing with water, going down slides, swinging, and looking for bugs outside.

• She loves long walks and wagon and stroller rides.

• She loves picking and eating blackberries off the many blackberry bushes that live on our property. Not sure who eats more… my kids or the deer.

• She LOVES when the deer visit our yard and will sit at the window screaming with excitement and pointing at the deer. I swear they hear her and always get a little scared.

• She loves taking baths with her older siblings.

Giuliana is seriously just a GREAT kid! We love her SO MUCH! She’s so darn cute… and so funny. I think Dan and I really, truly just enjoy and love taking in all her funny little quirks and personality traits. Gabby and Rocco love her so much… which is completely evident every day as they constantly give in to her “mine” and share with her in ways that make me such a proud mommy. Giuilana is beautiful and a fun little handful… and we completely and absolutely ADORE her to bits!

Pumpkin Patch... success!

We visited a pumpkin patch this past weekend and the kids really had a great time. It's a family farm and small amusement part, truly a hidden gem, and it's located real close to us. The best way to describe it to our NorCal friends and family would be a cross between a G.ilroy Gardens (for the rides and food), a farmers market (for the large variety of organic, fresh fruits and vegetables), a craft fair, and a H.alf M.oon B.ay pumpkin patch. And, it was just sort of autumn eye-candy. The trees are all starting to change colors... lots of reds, oranges and yellows... and the grounds were decorated with hundreds of super-cute scarecrows.

We walked around a huge field with lots of pumpkins first... the kids took their time picking and choosing. Rocco seemed mostly entertained by picking up huge mud balls and smashing them on things. Giuliana was mostly intrigued by all the ladybugs we were finding. And, Gabby was truly interested in finding the perfect pumpkin. Rocco also made sure to tell his daddy that he found a pumpkin for Matteo, which I of course loved... don't ever want our little Matt to be forgotten and I love it when he's front of mind in the kid's heads too.

After we picked our pumpkins, the kids did a hayride with daddy and our au pair, Michalina. And then we thought we'd check out the market, restaurant and amusement park. Wow... were we ever pleasently surprised! The kids wanted to do the rides but we couldn't because it was going to close in a half hour. But, we did explore the market and get some ice cream cones. And, we told them we could go back next weekend. I can see us visiting this place a LOT in the future.

We ended up coming home with 5 pumpkins to carve... 5 large pumpkins. Oh boy... looks like Dan & I just earned ourselves another BIG task. Something tells me these kids won't be gutting the pumpkins this weekend.

R-O-C-C-O...that spells ROCCO!

Rocco has been very interested lately in learning to spell words and pretending to read. It's SO CUTE! He also is constantly running around the house either humming the theme songs to B.atman or T.ransformers... OR, he's running around singing "R - O - C - C - O... that spells Rocco!" This is improvement from last month when he'd sing "R-O-CCCCCCCCCCCCC-O...that spells Rocco!"

And, this week he also actually WROTE his name! Legibly! I was SO PROUD!

I can take full credit for him spelling his name. But, truth be told, we have to give thanks to our current au pair, Michalina, for Rocco actually writing his name. Michalina has done a great job working with Rocco on writing his name for the past several weeks. She does a great job with the kids and she really enjoys spending time with Rocco reviewing letters and numbers, etc.

Pneumonia? Fevers? Coughs? Welcome back germ season.

Our sweet little Giuliana has finally fully recovered from pneumonia.

Rocco had brought home a bad cough from school at the end of September. He didn't have any other symptoms, but we brought him to the doctor anyway. She confirmed that nothing else was going on, and said it was just a cough. It took about 7 days for Giuliana to catch it. Then, that night she also came down with a nasty fever that started around 11pm and spiked up to 103.6 a little after midnight. I was able to control it by switching every 3 hours between i.buprofren and a.cetaminophen. But, she still had a fever the next day, which was a Friday, so I decided to take her in to the pedi before the weekend. Dr. C said her lungs sounded good, no ear infection, throat looked good. So, we assumed her body was just very busy fighting a virus.

Her fever continued over the weekend, although thankfully it never went over 102.5. But, I noticed her cough changed over the weekend. It went from being a dry cough to a wet cough... sounding like mucus was in her lungs. So, we went back to the doctor Monday morning. And, sure enough... our sweet little girl was diagnosed with pneumonia. She was prescribed a.zithromyacin and I knew it would be a battle getting her to take the medicine, but my plan was to give it to her in ice cream... because that's how I got her to take it back in July.

Well, as it turns out, my 21 month old child is so stubborn and willful that she can easily sniff out medicine and outsmart any medicine-giving strategies I come up with. i tried hiding it in ice cream - she flat out refused the ice cream, I tried giving her a straight shot of chocolate syrup (w/medicine in it), and she also refused it. I tried giving it to her in a syringe, a spoon, a cup and from a straw. So, then I had to try the tough method... so I pinned her down, and by the time I finished that method, there was more medicine in her hair, on her clothes, and on my clothes... and I'm not sure any of it actually made it into her mouth. She actually grabbed the syringe from me at one point and in the battle and pushed all the medicine out so fast that it went flying into the air and hit my face and hair, and her hair. I swear... if someone would have been watching this they probably would have thought we were both crazy! I had to call the pedi and tell them we wasted an entire bottle of medicine. And after telling them all the strategies I used, they told me we'd have to bring her in for shots. I was relieved to hear that though... at least we would KNOW she was getting the medicine.

So, we did 2 days of shots, and went in again on the third day to get 2 chest xrays so we could see if she needed another set of shots. Talk about stressful! I couldn't be in the xray room with her and she was screaming "momma, momma, hold me!!" at the top of her lungs. It was heart breaking! Then, when I got her back in my arms and calmed her down... she had to get a third set of shots...ugh! Poor baby! If only you could reason with a 21 month old and tell them "this is why you have to take your medicine!".

In addition to bringing Giuliana to the pedi 4 times last week, we also had to bring Rocco in again too. His cough was going on week #3 and with Giuliana being diagnosed with pneumonia, we were worried he might develop something worse too. Miraculously, our little dude's lungs are getting so much stronger! This is such a relief... when he was an infant, he would get bronchitis, pneumonia, or RSV at the drop of a hat. Over the past year, Rocco's lungs and immune system have finally gotten over the hump of succumbing to serious sickness within days of catching a simple cold. HOORAY!!!

Giuliana continued with a low-grade fever through Friday... poor little thing! Almost nine days of having a fever that lingered between 99.5 and 100.3. Sunday brought her a nasty cold... snot everywhere and lots of sneezing. By Monday, her cough was finally gone though. And, by Tuesday, my funny, silly, stubborn little girl was back to her normal antics, which was such a relief for me.

I know a fever is nothing a parent should stress over or fear. The fever itself is of course just a sign that the body is doing it's job and trying to fight a virus or infection. But, if you're THIS momma... a fever is stressful. I can't sleep, adrenaline rushes through my body, and I obsess over what is wrong with my child. It brings out my PTSD more than anything else... because Matteo died the night he went to bed with a high fever. He didn't have a seizure, pneumonia, swine flu, or any other known virus. He just had a fever. And, he died. The coroner told us that by all accounts, he looked like a perfectly healthy little 18 month old boy... all of his organs were beautiful. No sign of any issues. To this day, this makes me so angry and hurt... I will never know why he died. My little guy was just cheated out of life... and a fever is the only thing I knew to be wrong that night.

So, I'd like to tell germ season to suck it... leave my kids alone. That's all. Thanks!

First Sleepover!

Gabby and Rocco were invited to their very first sleepover last Saturday night at their best friend's home (Sofia and Giovanni). They had SO much fun! I told them about it the day before, and by 8am on Saturday morning, they were both packed and ready to go!

It was comical to see what they packed... between the two of them, there were two heavy bags of toys packed that included cars, guns, swords, flashlights, photo books, dolls, dress-up jewelry, color crayons, etc. We basically had to remind them to pack their pajamas, clothes for the next day, toothbrushes and their sleeping bags.

We were slightly worried that we might get a call sometime before 11pm to come and pick them up because one of them was scared or just wanted the comforts of home. But, nope! They did GREAT!

After we dropped the kids off, Dan & I took Giuliana on a date with us. We had some great food and enjoyed the calm & peacefulness associated with only one child joining us for the evening. Giuliana got extra spoiled by her mommy and daddy.... LOTS of love and ice cream after dinner.

I guess it took Rocco a while to get settled/comfortable in sleeping on the floor in his sleeping bag. I was told Sofia and Giovanni fell asleep shortly after 10pm... and Gabby and Rocco finally fell asleep shortly after 11pm. Apparently Rocco was up every 10 mins to get water, which annoyed Gabby... but thankfully, the sleep fairy finally hit both of them. And, I guess all the kids were up by 7am to play again!

My kids are used to sleeping from 8 or 8:15 pm until 7 or 7:30am. So - they got a short night's sleep... which is to be expected with a sleepover, right?! My kids normally sleep HARD and long! Rocco never wakes up in the middle of the night... if he does it is extremely rare. Gabby wakes up from nightmares every once in a while still, but is easily put right back to bed. So, when they got home from the sleepover...they were both abnormally tired and a little fussy. So tired in fact that they next night we put them to bed at 7:40pm and they slept in until 8am!

The kids had SO MUCH FUN and are very excited to do another sleepover or host a sleepover at our house. They played, they read books, they colored, they watched movies and had a popcorn party, they built forts... and so much more.

A definite success!!

Mommy, Where Do Burglars/Bad Guys Live?

Lately, Dan and I are fielding so many questions from Rocco about bad guys and burglars. I think his interest in super heroes, Batman being his favorite, has peaked his interest in good guys and bad guys.

Typical questions heard many times throughout the day include:
1. What do bad guys do?
2. What do good guys do?
3. Why are bad guys bad?
4. What happens to bad guys?
5. What is a burglar?
6. Where do burglars live?
7. How do you catch a burglar?

One day when I was driving Rocco to school, he spent the entire drive questioning me about burglars, but he was particularly interested in where they lived. I told him they could live anywhere, to which he yelled "MOM! Burglars don't live ANYWHERE!" So, I asked him where they live and he started pointing to houses saying they lived there... and there... and there.

Dan and I find these bad guy/burglar conversations very amusing.

Rocco & His Swords, Guns & Glow Sticks

Rocco pretty much coasts through life happily... so long as he has his swords, N.erf guns and glow sticks.

Every night, he goes to bed with a gun and/or sword in hand, his blankey and his glow stick or a flashlight. Often times, the glow stick or the flash light is left on... and I turn it out when I check on him before I go to bed.

If he loses any of these items throughout the day, which he does approx 189 times a day... he sends anyone and everyone who is in the house on a wild goose chase to find his lost glow stick, gun or sword. It is annoying when he loses any of these items... not only because this happens a lot, but because you have to drop everything you're doing to find it right then & there... and also because if you don't, you have to listen to a 3 year old meltdown.

Lately, he's been carrying his Spiderman backpack everywhere, filled with guns, swords, glow stick, and tools (little kid hammers, plyers, etc.). There was an electrician here the other day, and Rocco started chatting up the electrician about all the tools he had in his backpack... I overheard him say from the other room "See, I have a hammer too! My hammer is blue!" To which of course, I am very sure the electrician was super impressed. :)

Also... another super-cute thing that I love seeing lately, is Rocco & Dan's wrestling matches. Rocco seriously and truly LIVES to wrestle with Dan. I think it is is favorite thing to do every day. And, when Dan is traveling, it's very evident that Rocco misses his daddy and their wrestling. Not only do they wrestle together... A LOT... but they play T.ransformers together... there is a theme song that Rocco hums/sings loudly and Rocco and Dan transform into bad or good transformers (directed by Rocco, of course) and then proceed to attack each other, run from each other and battle. It's really very odd and strange and manly, all at the same time.

Oh... and those two also spend a lot of time playing guns. They go through the house, hiding behind various pillars and walls... popping out and shooting windows and walls and stuffed animals. I'm told they're trying to shoot all the bad guys. It's pretty cute. And, I love watching this happen.

Of course, I always wonder where little Matteo would be in the mix of all this. I wonder if he'd be into the wrestling... or if he'd be more mellow and chill. There are so many moments throughout the day where I would give ANYTHING to have him here with us and see him playing guns or transformers or wrestling with Rocco.