Monaloca

The little girl’s always loved books, but here’s how extreme it sometimes gets: I’ve found that it’s much easier to drop her off at preschool at story time than snack time. Seems unusual for a girl who also loves food, but at story time she walks right into the room with barely a wave good bye, whereas at snack time she still has a hard time letting go of my leg.

At story time each night she insists on reading to us (rather than us to her) more often than not. She also has to have a book with her whenever she poops. I think she owes this habit to Kai. Too bad we only have one bathroom in the house.

And my favorite, in terms of being a life saver for us: She takes at least three books to bed every night and “reads” them (often quite loudly, and with the help of her mushroom nightlight) for up to 40 minutes before finally going to sleep. We often hear her get up in the morning from the loud crash of books onto the floor. I don’t mind this habit: To a certain extent it keeps her from getting out of bed over and over and over again. And it won’t be long before she’s reading the actual words. In the end, she’s starting a habit that both her parents enjoy, so who can blame her?

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Easter’s been in the air at our house since I pulled out the baskets and plastic eggs a month ago, well before St Paddy’s Day hit. The peek-a-boo spring weather of late March helped with our spring spirit, too, but turned to cold rain by the time Easter Day actually arrived.

No matter: We had fun coloring Easter eggs with Lily and her mommy last weekend while the two dads poured concrete around the new sump pump in our driveway. Then for the big weekend, Grandma and Grandpa Weiss, and cousins Lucas and Noah joined us for a huge egg hunt at Willard Park. Luckily the rain stayed away til later, and all the kids got tons of candy loot except for Lucas, who was so upset he couldn’t get ALL the yellow eggs that he refused to take even one.

Melina was a little hesitant at first, too, but because of the human-sized bunny leading the eggstravaganza. “I don’t like him! He’s scary” she said over and over…. At least until the bunny shouted “Ready, set, go!” into a loudspeaker for the two-and-under crowd, and I quickly thought to say “Hey Melina, there’s CANDY in those eggs, why don’t you go put some in your basket?” Suddenly she was out of my arms and running across the field with the rest of her friends.

Kai and Melina also got some fun toys from the bunny: tutus (which they’d been asking for), funky sunglasses, and bubbles were the greatest hits. Well, and the candy. I think they would have been almost as pleased with one huge lollipop each, and nothing more. Though Melina continues to carry her basket and loot all over the house, and counts her candy whenever the mood strikes. So far she hasn’t eaten anything that’s wrapped, but I caught her sneaking an M&M yesterday. Too tempting!

This morning Meli woke up saying “Kai told me I could have all his candy.” When did he tell you this? “This morning.” But he’s at his mom’s house. Maybe you dreamed it. “NO, he TOLD me I could have it. Then he was sad.” I bet he was.

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We’re in the one month countdown to official baby time, and possibly less if she arrives early. Ready? I’m ready for maternity leave, but still have almost three weeks of work left. Prepared? More or less. We have the car seat back from friends, and the cover’s washed, it’s just not in the car yet.

We set up the crib, but not yet the Pack ‘n Play in our room where she’ll be sleeping for the first many months. We have gear, we have clothes, and we even have one small pack of newborn diapers. I’m expecting a nine-pound baby, which would mean moving onto the next size pretty soon anyway.

I’m not kidding about the nine-pound baby, either. Melina was over eight, and according to my doc (and anecdotal evidence) second children are usually born larger. She also said there’s some evidence to show that birth weight follows trends of the father’s side.

Joey was over nine pounds, his brother almost ten, and his nephew over ten at birth. I’m also close to five pounds ahead of where I was with Melina in the final month. So part of it is wishful thinking: The more weight that’s baby, the less I’ll have to lose post-partum.

Today, a fellow parent at Melina’s preschool relayed this conversation between the two of them. Parent: Is the baby here yet? Mina: “Yes.” How exciting. Is it a boy or a girl? “Girl.” What’s her name? “Pink.” As the parent pointed out, to Melina being inside my belly probably means the baby is in fact “here,” which only makes me wonder how she’ll react when the baby really is “here” for the rest of us.

What’s funny about the name is that she now knows – and remembers – baby’s real name. Well, she drops the “N” at the beginning but has the rest down. In fact she gave it away to Kai when we hesitated telling him last week (only because Kai has a very hard time keeping a secret). And when I asked her to tell Grandma baby’s “real” name she did. But when anyone else asks her, she says “Pink.” Does the girl really get how to keep a secret?

To celebrate the soon-arrival of our littlest family member, we had a friend of a friend take some belly (and family) photos last week. With a two-year-old in the mix, Myron pretty much just followed us around the house and yard for an hour, though did try to pose a few shots here and there. We couldn’t be happier with the results, and can’t wait for Baby N to make her screaming, squirmy debut.

She’s kicking up a storm inside my belly and Joey keeps saying “Stay inside a little longer!” But I predict she’ll follow the path of her big sis and arrive a day or two late. We’ll know in a month!

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Pink Girl Notes:

Melina insists on picking out her own day clothes most of the time. She usually chooses a dress. The other day she went to school in a pink striped dress, pink leopard-print pants, and pink polka dot shoes. “I match!” she shouted. “It’s all pink!”

She still calls the baby “Pink” and says that she’ll wear pink clothes and eat pink food. (Good thing we’re having a girl.)

When I asked Melina what color was used to celebrate Chinese New Year she said “dark pink” without missing a beat. Yet she refused to wear it (ok, it was red) for her preschool’s dragon parade. When I pushed her on the topic, though, she said “I don’t like dragons.” Fair enough. But did you know dragons have pink tongues?

Baby Sister Notes:

To help prepare Melina for the reality of her new little sister-to-be, we told her the baby’s real name – but it’s unique enough that she’s having a hard time remembering it. The other day we asked “What’s the baby’s name?” and after a good hard thought she said “Mmmm… Salami?” It’s actually not that far off!

As for Baby herself: She’s very active, and huge! I’m all belly these days, no joke. Even people who see me several times a week have started to comment, “Wow, she’s really popping out now!” I kinda hope she’s not a nine-pounder, but as long as she’s healthy, no matter.

Random Development Notes:

Our girl is very independent, especially when she has a stool at her disposal. She uses it to turn on lights, to reach upper shelves in the fridge (it took her a couple attempts before she realized she had to open the door before moving the stool in place), and to reach shelves she’s not supposed to reach. She loves pulling out her own snacks and lunch, and usually finds appropriate food. Though I did catch her opening a box of Girl Scout cookies for breakfast the other day.

A stuffed monkey from Grandma and Grandpa’s house has taken purple batchie’s place as the security item of choice. Monkey gets dressed in baby sister’s duckie jammies for bed each night, and goes school with Melina each day (sans jammies, unless it’s a jammie day).

Finally, Melina got her first “big girl” haircut earlier this month. With her hair reaching over half-way down her back, we decided it was time. She got to sit in the chair all by herself and did great, mainly because she knew she’d get a lollipop (she chose pink) when it was all done.

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Joey and I finally had kids-free getaway weekend! It’s only the second since Melina was born, and will likely be the last for at least another year, til I’m ready to leave baby with my parents overnight. But it was fantastic.

We dropped Melina off at my parents’ on our way down to Carmel. She was somewhat prepped for what was going to happen, having known for a few days we were going to Grandma and Grandpa’s house, and even having understood from our conversations with Kai that Mommy and Daddy were going “to the beach” and without them. (It’s always questionable how much to reveal directly to a two-year-old.)

But earlier that morning she’d told me “I’m going to GrampaGrammas with Kai Kai” and I’d had to say “Ummm, noooo… Kai’s going to Jen’s. And you’re going to Grandma and Grandpa’s.” Her face dropped and she screamed “No! I don’t want to go!” Luckily, she was fine when we got there, and did great all weekend.

For our part, Joey and I stayed at a little inn right in Carmel, dined in style for two nights and two mornings in a row, and lucked out with fantastic, sunny weather smack in the middle of weeks of rain. Besides strolling in and out of fancy village shops, we took in a few new sites. Point Lobos was the perfect spot for light trail walking along the coast, and in driving out to Carmel Valley I got to live vicariously through Joey while he did a bit of wine tasting. He claimed it wasn’t that good, but I wouldn’t have minded joining him. Something for the next getaway!

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Melina’s got some new obsessions these days, and is also getting ready for her little sister to arrive in three short months.

Since right around Halloween, she’s taken ownership of the color pink. She feels any pink bowl, item of clothing, piece of paper, pen, or toy she finds must be hers. It took me 10 minutes at preschool the other day to convince her that the pink Dora umbrella in the basket was someone else’s, and not hers to take. (“But I *like* it, mama. But I WANT it!”) She also prefers dresses and tights over pants, though I was able to talk her out of dresses in the rain until a classmate’s mom showed up in a skirt one day. (“But Maya’s mommy wears a dress in the rain.” Yes, she does.)

Melina is also seeing the reality of my growing belly (er, baby) and has taken ownership of her, too. (“That MY baby!”) Last week we asked what she wanted to name the baby. Without missing a beat, she said “Pink,” and since then has been calling her little sister “Baby Pink.” She’s already told me that the baby will wear a pink shirt and pink hat, and asks repeatedly if the baby herself will be pink. Well, kinda…

She’s also suddenly attached to only one of her six security blankies (which she still calls batchies). Amazingly, it’s not pink but dark brown and green. Melina, though, calls it “purple batchie.” Our super sleeper has finally succumbed to her playful stubbornness (I blame it on the Rapoza side!) It takes us at least 45 minutes to get her down for bed each night. She especially likes to “play” with Daddy, getting out of bed repeatedly, and when he chooses to ignore her, following him around the house saying “Daddy, I outta bed. Daddy, I outta bed…” until he finally pays attention and carries her back to bed. She’s also getting up earlier (sometimes before 7) but mostly because she needs to pee. That’s the odd downside of potty training.

Finally, our little girl has started real swim lessons! Ok, it’s still mama-and-me swimming, at least til she hits age three. She hadn’t been in a pool since summer, so I was a little worried she’d need a few weeks to warm up her comfort level. Nope, not my girl. At the end of the very first lesson I turned to grab our towels, and when I looked back to where Meli had been standing she was back IN the pool, holding diligently to the edge. When I said she needed to wait for me to tell her it was ok to get in she only said “Mama, I wanna go swimming again.” At our last lesson the instructor asked us to practice using a trigger word for her to jump in the pool so she wouldn’t whenever she felt like it. So along with bubbles and kicking, we’ve been practicing “1, 2, 3, GO!”

(Swim pictures are a little blurry cuz Kai had to take them through glass.)

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We had a pretty mellow week off between Christmas and New Years. Joey had to work most of it, so Melina and I spent our time on play dates, triking around the neighborhood, and heading to story time at the library. On New Year’s Eve we had dinner with Raycer and his family, then headed to a grown-up house party near our home. Melina lasted til almost 11pm but was begging for her bed by then. What a rare thing! We also checked out the Lawrence Hall of Science last weekend and stopped for ice cream in Elmwood on the way home. Melina got strawberry pink to match the pink in her dress.

Big sister moments: Melina’s expectedly ambivalent about Mama’s belly growing with her little sis. She still says “hi” to baby and gives her kisses more often than anyone. But she’s now taken one of Grandma and Grandpa’s baby gifts as her own. She found the fleece ducky sleepsack in the baby’s drawer and first wanted to use it on her dolls, then decided “it’s soft, it has duckies” and carries it around like a second security blanket. She sometimes takes it to bed with her, and other times she lifts up my shirt and places it on my bare belly saying “baby’s cold.” What a caring big sis! We’ll see what happens when baby arrives.

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Happy new year from the Rapozas! Our friend Roy took some holiday photos of our family at the Berkeley Rose Garden, just before sunset, last November. If you look closely at Melina’s hands, she’s holding two small lollipops used to reward the kids for cooperating during the shoot.

Melina still wasn’t too keen on smiling for the camera, but at least she did better than with her school pictures. She was really excited about those until she saw the photographer and the whole setup. She even watched a bunch of her classmates laughing as the camera snapped, but refused to to participate until a teacher sat with her. We ended up with a single pose: A big frown. I had to purchase one small sheet for comic value alone!

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Melina and Lucas at Weiss Christmas dinner…

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