Schmit Family
Welcome to schmits.org: , , , and virtual front porch. This web site is just that; a place to visit for family, friends, and anyone, who are too far away, to stop by in person. Pull up a chair and stay a while....
 

8 August 2008 3:14 pm

Piece of Candy?

This past Sunday, Andrea went to a birthday party with Dylan. It made me realize how she is growing up.

At previous birthday parties that we've been to with all of us, Dylan will often partake of the birthday festivities and Andrea will do her own thing with one of us watching her.

At this party, that all changed. Andrea did play by herself mostly on the inflatables and other toys. To her credit, there were mostly 4- and 5- year olds, and no one her age. What struck me as being very different was her behaviour during the pizza and cake portion of the party. Andrea wanted to sit at the table with all of the other children. She ate more pizza than probably any other child there. She was getting a bit antsy before cake, but sat still wand watched very intently when the birthday girl blow out her candles. Then, Andrea did revert and want to sit on my lap for her cake and ice cream. But, we were still at the table with all of the other children. Overall, her needs just seemed to be less than at birthday parties in the past. Andrea was very excited to get her goody bag at the end with all of the other children. She was especially pleased with her "piece of candy" that she got.

Speaking of the candy, I sure hope that Andrea's inquiry about a "piece of candy" just before bedtime while I was on the phone with a high school friend doesn't get misinterpretted. Really, we don't tend to give our children much candy. At least we try very hard not too! Andrea was hungry, since she ate dinner earlier than usual at the party. We settled on a snack of frozen blueberries, after Andrea's initial requests of a "piece of candy" and "ice cream" were turned down by me.

Posted by geoff at 15:14 in /family/andrea
 

29 June 2008 2:12 pm

Potty Trained!?!

Okay, I'm saying it out loud: "I think that we've purchased our last diapers for Andrea." We've cancelled our cloth diaper service. We've taken Andrea to public, indoor places, other than daycare, with her wearing underwear.

Over the course of our recent vacation, Andrea made tremendous progress on potty training. It was totally driven by her, with support from us. At the start of vacation, she would tell us she had to pee and would be peeing about three seconds later. By the end, she could wait to pee until she reached the toilet. She also will pee (or try) when we ask her to before we leave the house. She poops on the toilet without hesitation. Overall, she has made great progress.

Since she awoke from nap this past Tuesday afternoon, Andrea has been in underwear exclusively. She had one accident at school on Wednesday afternoon and one on Thursday afternoon. Both were while she was trying to get to the bathroom. She wet her bed overnight and awoke wet on Friday morning. She skipped Saturday for accidents, and is okay so far on Sunday.

Can we call it success?

Posted by geoff at 14:12 in /family/andrea
 

3 June 2008 9:43 pm

Potty Training?

My theory on potty training is adopted from some wise folks who shared it with me: A child will be ready to be potty trained at a particular age. Unfortunately, there is no way to know what that age is. So, if you start potty training a day before that age, it will take a day. If you start a week before, it will take a week. If you start a year before, it will take a year.

That said, I have no idea when Andrea will be ready. I do know a few facts. (1) She is asking to have her diaper changed right after she poops. Most of the time. (2) She was dry this morning when she woke up. (3) She didn't want to wear a diaper today.

That said, she did wear a diaper to school today, and the diaper was soaked by the time we got there. She wasn't interested in peeing on the toilet before leaving the house, so that's a big obstacle we have to overcome. She has peed in the toilet at school a total of three times now, over the past month. So, we have a long way to go. Or, perhaps it will all happen quickly.

Her teacher at school is willing to change wet clothes frequently throughout the day, so we're going to let Andrea go without a diaper as she desires there. I'll plan to do the same when we are at home over the weekend. I'm not ready to do so when we are out and about, until she can demonstrate to me that she actually can pee in the toilet. Andrea was willing to sit on the toilet about every 20 minutes at school today, so that is promising.

My approach with Andrea is to go right from a diaper to underwear. Pull-ups are just an expensive type of diapers in my opinion. They didn't seem to make a difference for Dylan. Since we use cloth diapers at home, that should be better for letting Andrea know that she is wet than a Pull-up ever could be.

It might be next year before we no longer need diapers... or it might be next week. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, and will let Andrea let us know when she is ready.

Posted by geoff at 21:43 in /family/andrea
 

29 May 2008 8:46 pm

Daddy's = Blankets

When Dylan was little, I thought it was strange that some two-year-olds used words that didn't sound like the word at all. Now that we have Andrea, it all makes sense. Dylan's pronunciation was very clear, very accurate. Granted we still had to try hard at times to understand him, and he got very frustrated when we didn't. Andrea is very patient with us. And she often needs to be. Sometimes, it still takes me a while to catch on.

One morning, I was leaving to take the kids to school and we were saying bye to Geoff. Andrea kept pointing at him, saying "Daddy." We couldn't figure out what she needed from Daddy, so I eventually pulled away from the house with her screaming. Part-way to school, it struck me. She didn't want Daddy, she wanted "daddys" and was pointing inside the house. Years of hearing us call the wool blanket Dylan is attached to "Daddy's blanket" have convinced her that a blanket is a "daddys." Once I realized what she wanted, she settled down. She didn't get her "daddys" because it was at home, but she was content that I was no longer a total idiot.

Another strange word that Andrea has is "da-doo", which somehow she has decided to call ice cream. I have no idea where that one originated, but she could show me the ice cream bars in the freezer to explain to me what she wanted. I think that it might refer to ice cream bars only.

Andrea's speech has come a long way since her 18-month check-up. She now frequently uses short sentences. Earlier this week, she told me that she did something at circle time at school. She also told me that she pushed down Dylan. I hope that she was referring to pretending to push her brother Dylan down before dinner, and that there was not a pushing incident at school with her friend Dylan.

Posted by geoff at 20:46 in /family/andrea
 

23 April 2008 9:18 pm

Dr. Seuss

Andrea turned two last Saturday and had a birthday party. When she woke on Saturday, I wished her a "Happy Birthday" and asked her how old she was.

"One," was the reply.

"You're not one. How old are you?"

"Three," was her clarification.

"You're not three. How old are you, Andrea?"

"Two," she finally admitted.

We had this same conversation at least once more that day, and a couple of times since. I have a feeling this is just the start of challenges we're going to have getting a straight answer from her.

Today, we took Andrea to the doctor for her 2-year-old well-check. On the way to the doctor's office, I was talking to Andrea about how we were going to go see Dr. Kash and asking whether Andrea remembered Dr. Kash. At some point, Andrea replied with something that sounded like "Dr. Dooz." Neither Dylan, nor I, could understand what Andrea was saying from the context.

At the doctor's office, we were waiting for the doctor to come into the exam room when Andrea repeated the phrase. This time, it was much clearer to me -- "Dr. Seuss" !!! She has heard us say Dr. Seuss so many times when reading stories, that she had connected the doctor with the author. Even though she had a finger stick and a shot today, she was still willing to read two Dr. Seuss stories at bedtime tonight.

Andrea had a great check up, and I was surprised to learn that the American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends a 2 1/2 year old check-up. Andrea is relatively shorter now that six months ago, as she is now between the 50th and 75th percentiles for height. She grew an inch in that time to 34 1/2", although I would have guessed it was more than that. She weighed in at 26 lbs 2 oz., which puts her just shy of the 50th percentile. Her head size is now 19 3/4", which is off the charts. Maybe it's all that hair she now has!

Another interesting change that came with turning two is that Andrea now will let us put barretts in her hair -- and she'll keep them there. For a while we were using elastic headbands to keep her hair out of her eyes. We introduced those while I was out of town and Geoff was responsible for doing Andrea's hair. Andrea also came home from school a few times with her hair in a ponytail or pigtails. I'm not sure that I'm ready for her to be interested in these little girl activities... but, at least she still likes to play with trucks and dinosaurs. And she pointed out the soccer ball on the wall in the exam room today. She also mentioned the basketball, but her trend in height isn't promising for that endeavor.

Posted by geoff at 21:18 in /family/andrea
 

23 February 2008 1:52 pm

Jumping In

Today at swim class, Andrea did not want to wear the float belt. I didn't push it, and she got to demonstrate some other skills without it. She has taken a liking to riding on the pool noodle by stradling it. This supposedly improves the ability to balance in the water and can indicate whether a child is ready to swim. Regardless, Andrea was enjoying it for a while unlike last week.

At the start of class, Andrea wasn't really ready to swim. She refused to do the first number of activities: climb out of the pool, sit on the side of the pool and kick, and even jumping in. During the class Andrea slowly participated more. By the end of class, Andrea was finally ready to really swim. There is 15 minutes after our class prior to the start of the next class, so we always get a bit of free swim. During this time today, Andrea demonstrated that she can jump in from the side of the pool all by herself with no float belt. She sinks much further and I believe that she touches the bottom of the pool; the pool is marked as three feet deep. She then surfaces but needs a bit of help getting her face out of the water. She needed a few reminders to keep her mouth closed under water, but not once did she come up choking. After the first unassisted jump, I was waiting to see what her reaction was. And it was to reach toward the side of the pool and ask to do it again.

A new session of swim classes starts next week. Andrea got her report card this week, and it is never clear exactly what level she is in. Her swim teacher keeps asking when Andrea will be three, and I have to remind the teacher that Andrea isn't yet two. So, we're going to be in the same swim class for another year and a couple of months.

Posted by geoff at 13:52 in /family/andrea
 

3 February 2008 8:40 pm

Swimming!

One of my favorite times of the week is swimming with Andrea. If you missed it, there was a short video with clips of Andrea's swim class two weeks ago. Well, I sure wish there was a video camera focused on Andrea in the pool yesterday. Words just won't do it justice. The swim instructor suggested that we can try a swim belt with Andrea. This is the modern day version of the "bubble" that I remember swimming with as a kid; I also remember taking it off, swimming in front of my mom and nearly giving her a heart attack. Initially, Andrea was hesitant to put it on. However, I managed to trick her and then she had a blast once she became comfortable with it. Andrea was able to "swim" all by herself with it! Yes, she motored around the pool totally unassisted from me. Now, she's not yet skilled enough where I'd be more than a foot away from her, but it was still quite amazing to me. Okay, maybe not yet olympic material, but I deserve to be a proud mom.

Also amazing is the fact that Andrea finally has a new tooth. Her lower right eye tooth broke through the surface last Sunday. We're now up to 12 teeth. She is still missing the upper right lateral incisor. The last of her molars appeared sometime last September. Or maybe it was October. It seems that we've been awaiting the eye tooth for a while.

Posted by geoff at 20:40 in /family/andrea
 

21 January 2008 9:45 pm

Andrea Swimming

Andrea still has a blast at her swim lessons at the YMCA. Oma was visiting this weekend and took some short video clips on her camera. Here's a short video compilation of about 30 seconds of the 30 minute class. Andrea is first jumping of the side of the pool, then jumping off the platform in the pool, and finally just swimming a bit.

This was my first attempt at using iMovie '08. Well, the first successful attempt. It was extremely frustrating getting started, as it did not seem nearly as intuitive as the old iMovie. It still seems a bit clunky. I was not able to do exactly what I wanted to, but it's close enough. On the upside, here are a few new features that look like they'll be nice to have, such as cropping and rotating video. Also, the integration with iPhoto makes accessing video much easier.

Posted by geoff at 21:45 in /family/andrea
 

22 October 2007 8:55 pm

Monkey Andrea

Andrea had her eighteen-month well check this afternoon, and even the doctor called her a monkey. She was demonstrating her desire to be held upside down, and also showing her keen interest in doing flips in the air, fully supported by Mommy, of course.

Andrea was not too keen to be measured. The weight wasn't too big of a deal, as she just had to sit on the scale. She has added just over a pound in the last three months, and is now 23 lbs 1 oz. Andrea did not want to lie still on her back, but the nurse somehow managed to measure her at 33 1/4" long, whch is an inch and a quarter longer than three months ago. The measurement of Andrea's head circumference was a bit more of a struggle. After the first attempt read 19", the nurse decided to try again. The second attempt also read 19", which is the same as it was three months ago. My guess is that the measurement was off at the last doctor appointment, but no one wanted to try a second time to confirm it. Andrea continues to be at the 90th percentile for height, to be between the 25th and 50th for weight, and is now back between the 90th and 95th for cap size.

Andrea is developing well. Her fine motor skills are well ahead of where Dylan was at the same age, but Dylan's verbal skills far exceeded Andrea's. Nothing to be concerned about at this time.

Both Andrea and Dylan received their flu shots today. Dylan's leg will likely be sore for days, as he really tensed up for the vaccination. I don't think that Dylan uttered a peep, while Andrea had a few shouts of protest. Oh yeah, Dylan gratefully volunteered his sister to get her shot first. He made sure to tell the nurse directly, so that there would be no mistakes.

Our next scheduled visit to the doctor is for Dylan's four-year well check in January. Andrea does not need to return until her two-year well check in April.

Posted by geoff at 20:55 in /family/andrea
 

15 August 2007 8:35 pm

Two Firsts

This week Andrea experienced two more "First"s: her first experience drinking from a straw, and her first ponytail.

The first straw-drinking experience occurred at Chili's on Sunday evening. Actually, that was I believe a first for Andrea too - eating at Chili's rather than getting carry-out. Anyway, I was drinking water with a straw and Andrea was all too interested to ignore her. So, I let her have a try. She put the straw in her mouth, and, well, nothing happened. She looked at me with a confused look, so I demonstrated how to suck water up through the straw. She attempted again, and barely got water to draw into the straw. On the next attempt, she did well and managed to get a drink of water. Not surprisingly, she continued to want to drink water from the straw.

Andrea's first ponytail occurred yesterday evening and only lasted about 15 minutes. She was pretty indifferent to it, but I opted to take it out for bedtime. Her second ponytail lasted the entire day today! I put it in this morning and didn't take it out until bath time. It was a single ponytail on the top of her head -- a "fountain ponytail" as my friend Carla taught me. Let's hope she continues to allow this, because her hair is long enough to be covering her eyes some. And I haven't quite decided whether I want to go the bangs route.

Posted by geoff at 20:35 in /family/andrea
 
Previous 10 entriesNext 10 entries