FINALLY! She's Walking

Cora is finally walking! Yeah...and I love it. She still is pretty clingy with me, but for the most part I can set her down and she is good to go. She follows me around when I am busy in the house.


I thought it was cute when she sat down on this pillow...my little princess.

Cora is learning to use a fork and spoon. She hasn't gotten the hang on stabbing the food yet, but she gets it in her mouth really well.
She needed some quiet time the other morning, so I set her in her chair and started her movie. I was busy getting ready to leave and looked up and saw this. She made her own recliner out of it!

Bella

Oops...ok, we went and met Bella on Sunday. She slept the whole time we were there...which is great for her parents. She seemed so tiny since I am so used to Cora. She had just had her hospital pictures taken before we arrived, so she was still all dolled up for us.


Dennis and David with all their girls!
Ok, this is not such a great picture of me, but we laughed because Cora had her hand on her face like I did.
Cora wasn't impressed with Bella. She hasn't been real impressed with any baby that has been around her lately though.
We had a fairly quiet week. She did really well in the mornings with only one day of crying and it was just for a second. She was bite free until today. And she is walking a lot more now! Yeah. She was walking around the room when I picked her up this afternoon. So neat to see. Her two teeth still have not broken through...but they are so close! Thankfully she hasn't been too fussy about it....at least not that we have noticed. She is going to be so wonderfully these days. She has the occasional cry out in the middle of the night, but that's about it.
She is still being picky about her eating. She is an animal cracker addict! If they are sitting out, she wants them. She is done with green beans, but loves steamed squash and zucchini. She still eats some asparagus, but I think she thinks it is green beans by the looks of it, so she doesn't eat it like she used to. Loves peas and avocado too. She is slowing down on eating meat and loving pasta. She loves those carbs!
We don't have big plans this weekend...just another birthday party tomorrow.
Have a great weekend!

Friday

We made it bite free for two days! The school is making some obvious changes and I am happy to see it. They have added another teacher and she is very sweet. I have also learned that I can't keep Cora in a bubble at all times and she is going to get picked on and bitten at times. After speaking with friends and hearing their stories, Cora's little bites were nothing. So I am counting my blessings until the next fiasco happens in this toddler room!
We started working on using a spoon while eating. She is doing great at it. I have to put the food on the spoon but she is getting it to her mouth with very few misses, if any. She tries to pick up the food on her own, but hasn't gotten that down yet. We'll keep working on it.
I asked the teachers this afternoon to try to work with Cora and signing for 'eat'. She throws such a temper tantrum when she wants anything, there is no distinction. So I thought we would start working on signing again. Well they told me that she knows 'more'. I said I used to work with her on that, but she never would do it. I tried tonight and she did it! Yeah! I was excited...she just wanted more! It was neat to see that.


Well about three years ago I bought a pineapple and cut it up to eat. My Mom told me to plant the top of the pineapple and it would grown another one....well three years later I have a pineapple! She kept telling me to watch it to turn yellow and then I could eat it. (I am not a green thumb and usually just ignore my plants, so it is quite shocking that I succeeded with this little project.) Luckily she comes up enough to see progression and pesters me enough to actually pay a little bit of attention to it. Well this evening when Cora and I got home I took her outside to swing for a little bit before we ate dinner...and I noticed my little pineapple was bright yellow! Woohoo! Ok, it is little...it is a little bit smaller than a softball...really cute though.
Isn't it cute?
I cut it up and gave Cora a few pieces after dinner. She ate them, but just didn't truly appreciate what it was that she was eating. It was good...very sweet and not as acidic as the ones from the store. Very neat. I might try it again with my next pineapple I cut up...if Dennis doesn't kill it. I did save some of it for him to try when he gets home tomorrow.
We had a rough night after dinner, I think those two nasty teeth are bothering her. With all the biting going on I kind of forgot about them coming in. She was in pain tonight though. She kept her fingers in her mouth and just cried. I got a shot of tylenol in her and some teething tablets. Gave a very quick bath and got her calmed down. She wouldn't let me sit and rock her so I just swayed her while standing. It worked enough to calm her down and put her to bed...at 7:05!! Yikes. I thought about going to bed too...but thought I better get a couple things done. I am still going to bed soon...she'll be rising very early tomorrow!

Oh, Cora has a new cousin (Uncle David and Aunt Jennifer had their baby today.) Isabella Faith Wolford was born this afternoon. Not positive of the exact stats, but about 7lbs 11 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. Pretty close to Cora's size. Not sure when we are going to get up there to see her, hopefully on Sunday before they get checked out. Hopefully I'll get some pictures to post.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Bitten Again...Twice!!

Yes, she was bitten again...

This new class is ROUGH! Yesterday they called me to tell me that Cora had fallen while playing outside on the playground and hit her head...but she's ok. They have got to learn to start their conversations with 'Cora is ok', then tell me what happened.

Then they called me this afternoon to tell me that Cora had been bitten! I think my exact response was "AGAIN?" She apparently had her hand on a toy that another child wanted. Nice. Okay, again I am a pretty patient person these days. I head out as normal to pick her up. Dennis offered to pick her up and I declined his offer. Well it was very smart of me! When I walked into the daycare the assistant director asked if she could speak with me for a minute. I felt like I was being called into the principal's office. They proceeded to inform me that while she was on the phone with me about the bite, Cora was being bitten again. I got the formal speech of we are addressing the problem, yada yada yada. Then was told that Cora is holding her own and a tough little girl. (Yes, they are really going to love it when she starts fighting back.) They were very nice about it and answered my questions. I don't want to know who the biter is, but they were very good about not offering it up either...not even slipping on the gender. I was impressed. I just nicely explained that my main concerns are her safety/health and I don't want her to learn to bite and me be on the other side next month. Either way, I'll keep you posted. This room is still being very difficult on her...but she is going to make it through. I just don't know if I am going to make it through. When I left, I told them no incidents tomorrow! Hopefully we will have a good day, since we are 0 for 2 this week so far.

I took these this morning before her bad day...I put her hair in a pony tail and it looked cute.

Ok, so we get up pretty early in the morning in the Wolford house!
These were taken tonight - she obviously was fine.
My cookie monster - she loves animal crackers!

Pool Time With Daddy

Daddy is still working on his water baby. Sunday evening he got her in the baby pool. The water was a little cold, but she got in it. She had more fun than it looks like she did in these pictures.

Sunday

We went to John Allan's birthday party on Saturday afternoon. It was a swim party, but she isn't much of a water baby, so I didn't bother bringing a swimsuit for her. Cora was being really clingy to me, so I asked Daddy to take her outside for a little while. He had her out there for awhile and I visited inside with the other parents. After about thirty minutes or so, I figured I better check on him...this is what I saw!

He put her in the pool with her dress on! She did have fun though. Thankfully I had another outfit for her!
Today was a rough day for Cora. She has two teeth trying to break through and she is having a hard time with it. She will be fine one minute and the next will be throwing a complete fit. She will fuss to get down, then fuss to be picked up. It is horrible. If I kept her distracted enough she was ok, but it was like as soon as she would think about it, she would have a meltdown. One of the distractions was turning on her movie. I got her to sit in her chair and watch it for a little while. It was really cute. Notice the left leg hiked up again. She did that in the swing this afternoon too.

This is right after a fit...hence the buddy in her mouth.
Since we put the child locks on the big tupperware cabinet, I decided to make her a tupperware drawer. I cleaned out some of the tupperware and put the odds and ends in the bottom drawer for her to play with. She can drag them all over the floor and I don't have to worry about cleaning them when she is done. She loved it.
This was another successful distraction. However, she had all 50+ pieces all over the kitchen in about two minutes. I quickly threw them all back in the drawer so she could pull them all out again. I need to work on picking up all the toys next I guess.

We hope everyone has a great week. Be thinking of Cora...and pray these two little booger teeth break through soon!

Oh yeah and she still won't walk...I thought she would be all over the place this weekend...I think she only took about 5 steps total! She can do it, she is choosing not to! I just don't know where she got her stubbornness! Ha Ha... It isn't ALL from me...

Nana & Grandpa's House

Cora and I went to Nana & Grandpa's house on Saturday to spend a little time with them while we waited for Daddy and Chase to get back from fishing. We played for a little while, then ate and napped. She always sleeps really well when they come to visit her or she goes down there...not sure what it is. They did get some good play time in and Grandpa shared part (almost half) of his sandwich with Cora. She pointed and he gave! Guess Grandpa's are good at spoiling, huh? She had a blast. Uncle John was down too...he was picking up Chase. Cora seemed a little leery of him, but you can't blame her...it took him about ten minutes to figure out the alphabet table. And her eyes got pretty big when he walked Duko outside...I told her he was a dog, but I am not sure if she believed me.


Cora loves Chase. All of his little cousins do!

Ouch!

I think this new room is going to be the death of me! When I picked her up from school today...I was told she had been bitten. Surprisingly enough to most of you, I really contained my composure. Purely because they told me that they didn't know who bit her...so I assume that means that she didn't cry when it happened. But after thinking about it further, I got to realizing that they probably just didn't investigate when she did cry. They said they noticed it in the morning when they changed her diaper and there was still a mark when I picked her up. It doesn't look like it broke the skin, but I am going to keep an eye on it.

Oh, and I learned that they couldn't narrow it down to a particular child because they have THREE biters in the class. Ugh. I am trying not to get too upset because I firmly believe in karma and if I throw a fit...the laws of nature will turn her into the biter next time. I can tell you right now it was a kid with a mouth full of teeth! She has a full circle on her arm.

We are going to Nana and Grandpa's house tomorrow and then off to another birthday party! Have a wonderful weekend!

My Little Ham

Ok, this picture won't upload the correct way, but it is a good one of her Blue eyes!

When sitting in her highchair Cora has been pulling her left foot and leg up. If you pull it down, she'll pull it right back up. She usually will sit kind of cocked sideways too.

Well we were growing tired of Cora pulling out all the tupperware every night, so Momma went and bought some more child locks and Dadda installed them. Oops...she was a little baffled. I am sure she will move to the tupperware drawers soon, but there isn't near as much in those drawers as there is in the cabinet.

Cora has learned how digital cameras work. She wants to see her picture after you take one of her. One good thing is she will smile pretty good for the picture, but she is usually reaching for the camera or coming at the camera...so you gotta be quick! These are some pics that mostly Daddy took of her this week.

She finally took a few steps at daycare and Miss Jennifer, one of the infant room teachers saw it! She said she tried to get her to do it again and she wouldn't.

Cora has a couple of teeth on the top that are about to cut through...we have had nasty diapers, nasty diaper rash now and lots of fussing. Boy I wish they would break through already!

Hurricane Cora

I am not sure about the Hurricane Edouard that everyone was talking about! I got to stay home with Cora today...it was an experience. She was great this morning and followed schedule as usual. She slept great, played great...I got tons of work done...then this afternoon hit. Which ensued my inside hurricane. The kitchen was a disaster. I was dumb enough to leave a stack of papers on the edge of the table (aka my desk today) and she pulled them all down. Of course she didn't grab the stack that was going to the garbage. She had them spread every where. She had half the Tupperware cabinet all over the floor too (I failed to get a picture of that).

She also grabbed the few items left from the Sunday paper and ripped them to pieces...luckily my work stuff fared better.

But she saved the coupon for me. Way to go.

She has tormented Katie (my cat) all day...she is again right now and Katie is crying for help. Poor Katie. She has been very patient with Cora and has never bitten her...after today she still hasn't. Katie will bite the fire out of anyone, but not Cora. Dennis swears she is a dumb cat...but I think she is pretty smart. (As I type up this blog entry, Katie has screamed about four times!)

Cora decided to clean out my purse for me and miraculously didn't break my sunglasses or find the buddy that I keep stashed in there for major emergencies.

Daddy called and is on his way home...yeah for us! I think she is bored with me. We took a walk in the neighborhood in her wagon and played peekaboo around the island in the kitchen to distract her tempers. Now she is reaching for the stove knobs...hmm..I guess I need to look into the knob covers soon! And she is testing me...I better go distract her with something else since telling her no is definitely not working!

Bathtime w/Daddy

Look at that belly! She did just eat a very good dinner...
She is ready to get in the tub! Those legs are going to thin out soon! I am going to miss all those rolls.
Only Daddy would figure out that the letters not only stick to the sides of the tub, but they also stick to Cora.

Daddy gets a little carried aways with the bubbles too.

Sunday night Daddy was missing Cora, so he gave her a bath. I love a cute baby tooshie, so I had to take some pictures. I was trying to clean up the kitchen after dinner and Daddy kept calling me in to see what they were doing. I think they both had a fun bath.

After her bath Daddy played with her for awhile and wore her out. We were all sitting in the living room when it started thundering. We didn't have the TV on, so Cora actually heard it and it startled her some. Then it thundered again and it scared her. She crawled so fast to her Daddy and crawled up into his lap and held on tight. It was so sweet to see her run for the security of Daddy. It made Daddy melt some too.

Cora finally walked for Daddy last night! Yeah. She has been taking some steps for me, but as soon as Daddy gets home, she would only crawl. She took quite a few steps in a row for me so I got him to come inside and she took two or three for him. Very sweet.

Cora is pronouncing 'Uh-oh' a little better. She also has learned no some. When she is not supposed to do something (like touch the outlet) she will look at you, grin, start shaking her head no, then do it (touch the outlet). And continue grinning and shaking her head no. She doesn't say the word yet. I try not to say it too often, but it is hard. She also has learned what 'all done' and 'all gone' means. When you say it, she puts both hands out palm side up. She's so smart! Ok, so I am biased a little. She seems like she is trying to say Tucker, but it comes out differently every time.

Cora is enjoying her sleep and is crying to go to bed these days. Her new class only takes one nap a day, right after lunch. They said she was struggling last week in the mornings, but after her nap she was fine. Well Friday they let her have a morning nap and they said she did great. I tried to keep with the one nap program over the weekend and that failed miserably! She was throwing major temper tantrums to go to bed. So, she will keep her morning naps now. They let her take one yesterday and she did well.

Cora and I are home today because of the hurricane...her daycare decided to close. And she slept in and is already down for her morning nap. Hopefully it will last long enough for me to get some work done.

Have a great week!

Party Dress

The party bow didn't last long, but we are still working on it.

She just put the blanket on her baby.
She saw one of the pictures on the camera, so I kept taking pictures of her and showing it to her - she was smiling pretty for them and getting excited.

She can stand up easily on her own and she actually took a step after this picture.

I bought this dress for Cora a long time ago and kind of forgot about it...and she almost outgrew it before she got to wear it. I loved it so much though, so we squeezed her into it and went to her cousin Tate's first birthday party. It was really hot so we played inside most of the time. When we got home I tried to take some pictures of her in it and she wouldn't have anything to do with it...I chose not to post the crying pictures this time. So we ate dinner and then tried again. Much better. She was playing around so much that I pulled out the video camera and she shocked me!! She took a few steps for me. It was so neat, but sad at the same time. I was sad because she is growing up so fast and because Dennis missed it. However, he had his own excitement and shot a really big Axis deer. I am happy for him since he was thrilled...and became even more happy for him when he told me it was going to the office. I was not looking forward to having a head looking at me in the living room...I swear those eyes follow you wherever you go...too creepy for me! :-)

Brushing Teeth

We have finally started brushing Cora's teeth...all four of them! She lets me brush them, then she likes to chew on the gum massager thing. We are getting there!

Well we all survived a week in the new class. It was rough on all of us and we have to still get adjusted to it. The teachers tell me she is getting better each day, but she struggles in the mornings. She is very used to taking a morning nap and now only gets one midday nap. She sleeps good for those though...she slept a minimum of 2 or 3 hours...a couple days were over 3 hours. Awesome. They all take naps at the same time so that helps...plus they wear them out all morning.

Cora has taken a couple steps at school and she took another little one tonight. She is walking along everything and will hold my fingers to walk through the house with me. Dennis is out of town this weekend, so I am trying not to push it too hard until he gets home Sunday so he can see it. I won't be knocking her down either. :-)

She is also getting better with the shoes. They put them on her to go outside and she usually is wearing them when I pick her up. The other day she only had one of hers on and was holding another little girl's shoe. Nice.
It took only 4 days around a bunch of toddlers and she has a stuffy nose. So we are going to take it easy this weekend. Lots of rest and good healthy food. So far she has been pretty good with the nose sucker...she is funny because she braces herself and lets me do it. I am doing good and when she says no (starts shaking her head no usually), I stop. I don't want to ruin a good thing. And I have a feeling this runny/stuffy nose is only going to get worse - between the other snotty toddlers and her allergies, we have a very long road ahead of us!

Have a wonderful weekend!!