Turning the car seat around

In retrospect, maybe it does make a lot of sense that Juliana was in such a mood over Thanksgiving... We had a lot of new things to experience and changes to make!

Juliana's not 2, so I was not anticipating turning her car seat from rear to front facing until that milestone. However, for the last 2 weeks, Juliana complained about needing "boo boo buddy" and "band aid"s every drive home from day care. Upon closer inspection, it appeared that her harness was cutting into her stomach, and the protective straps were hurting her. So, Brian suggested that we try turning her car seat around. Maybe something about the way she was crumpled and slouching in the seat had something to do with it. So, we turned her seat around. She wasn't quite sure what to make of  the change, and it resulted in a lot more of toddler impulsiveness (if I took a drink of water, she wanted a drink of water, and not out of her cup, but out of the same water bottle I had). But as the weeks have gone on, she has gotten really good about it, as in she wants to get into her car seat now... No more crying and fussing to get her to sit down (well, on the rare occasion we still get these fights of wills and strength to get her to sit down and buckle her up). It's fun to hear her describe all the "Big truck!" and "Bus!" that go by. Usually these identifiers are accompanied by "More? More truck?" which is an easy thing to promise when traveling on the interstate, but not so easy to promise on a ride to school when there's no guarantee that we'll pass another trash truck...

So, because she had most definitely outgrown her infant car seat which was our extra car seat for the truck, and she was being turned around to face forward anyway, instead of getting another, inexpensive, convertible car seat for the truck (the kind of car seat that can go rear and front facing), we opted for a toddler car seat which converts to a booster seat (i.e. can be used with the normal seat belt). She was soooo excited when the big box was delivered at our door. She immediately wanted to "open?" So, we opened it and put it together. Then she sat in it to test it out. That's when I discovered that the crotch strap (the bottom part of the buckling system) was too close to her because she was sitting on it. I moved it forward, and she was much more comfortable. In retrospect, this was most likely the issue with her Britax seat which was in the van, but she's adjusted to being flipped around just fine so we figure it's too late to turn back. The only thing I don't like about the new toddler seat (it's a Graco Nautilus 3-in-1 seat), is it doesn't "recline" very much, and especially with the rear seat in the truck, she sits up very straight. When she fell asleep on the way home from Grandpap and Grandma Paula's last weekend, her head had flipped forward with her chin on her chest (looked so uncomfortable to me!). But, she LOVED the built in cup holder, so we "splurged" and got her the cup holder accessory for the Britax in anticipation of our trek south for Christmas.

Not sure what to think about this front facing car seat...

Much better ride with Dada's "glasses"

Testing out the new toddler car seat fresh out of the package

Sleeping on the way home in the new car seat

When Grandma and Bill were visiting for Thanksgiving, Bill frequently "frustrated" Juliana by putting her hats (and she has quite a few which she is very possessive over, "Mine!!") on her baby dolls. So one morning after Brian had gotten home too late to put her to bed and gotten up too early to say good morning, she and I were headed downstairs for breakfast and discovered that Dada had put one of her baby dolls in her new car seat (it sat in the living room for a couple of weeks...) with one of her hat's on its head... I didn't even notice it, the lights were still out, but she practically screamed "my hat!!" And then we had to unbuckle and remove the baby immediately. But then she spent the rest of the morning talking about what Dada did.

The first weekend in December, we headed to Harrisonburg so Juliana could see her first ballerinas at my "old" company (it's not old by any stretch of the imagination, but it's been 10 years since I danced there). On the way south on the turnpike, we pass through a tunnel. The trip before was the first time Juliana was awake for the passage through the tunnel (Brian got off work early so she was awake). So, Juliana will frequently shout "Tunnel!" when we're driving, even if it's not a tunnel. She was thrilled to pass through this tunnel and then when we got off the Breezewood exit, it was dark and there were lots of lights on the side of the road and she also pointed out to us that this was a "tunnel!", so I realize now that she is identifying the darkness and lights as a tunnel because there are lights in the actual tunnel.

Aunt Laura and Uncle French sent Juliana an early Christmas care package and she was thrilled with the Snoopy, Charlie Brown Christmas book, and holiday outfit. Snoopy has since been spending the night with her (and Elly and blanket). It was hilarious one night when I was snuggling with her before putting her in her bed when she was trying to tuck Snoopy (which is not small) under one arm, Elly under the other arm (who is roughly the same size), and then still be able to put the bulk of her body and head down on my chest... Sometimes in the morning I'll hear "Oh no Snoopy!" or "Hi Snoopy!" or she'll tell me "Snoopy pooped"... I had no idea that she knew who Snoopy was!

Opening up the box to find Snoopy

She wanted Snoopy to wear her new holiday shirt

"Reading" the card

After she opened the book, she said "I read it"

She is definitely learning so much, and is wanting to be more independent than ever. Anything she can do by herself, she wants to and will do. She loves to "read a ba" or read a book, "I read, I read it". So sometimes, we will just sit down and she will point all the characters out to me. Brian reads her "two" books before nite nite most nights (although I have discovered than an excellent "threat" if she's being difficult getting (un)dressed at bedtime is to say that I am going to take a book away), and they're making their way through the Sesame Street Book Club collection of books that Caitlin and I had growing up. She has learned so many new characters (and although Elmo makes occasionally appearances in this series, it's usually only in the pictures and not by name, but she still knows who that red monster is). She is also starting to try to put on her own clothes. She has gotten very good about putting on her own hats, and will frequently try to pull shirts or onesies on over her head (see pictures below), but hasn't quite gotten it yet. I try to be as patient with her as possible on these things since I know she will need to know how to get herself dressed one day.

She tried to put this onesie on, and got it pulled onto her head pretty good.

She has started using the word "heavy" to describe all sorts of things but mostly things that are difficult. So if she has trouble moving something, she appropriately describes "It's heavy", but other times if she has trouble with something, like a buckle or putting shoes on, she'll say "help, heavy." instead of what we might say as hard or difficult. It's cute and amazing at the same time all the connections she's making.

Everything is "Mine!" at our house, even the things that aren't hers. So sometimes we have mini tantrums over incorrectly labeled "Mine!" items, and I know she's learned this possessiveness at school.

When we go to Lolli and Pop's house, one of her favorite things (besides the baby doll stroller and the play kitchen) is the piano. We will frequently hear her running from the family room to the living room followed by an interesting arrangement of notes pounded on the piano. She enjoys when people sit down and play with her, but she is so wiggly and won't sit still that most of the time I thinks she likes the option of climbing up into someone's lap only to climb back down again. And she likes to "Read" the piano and music books. When we got home, I found my keyboard down in the basement (which hadn't been opened in about 6 years), and we got it out, much to her delight. Mostly I think she liked pressing all the buttons and turning the dials for different sounds and songs, but it was still fun for her. She will frequently say "I play piano" when she does play on the keyboard or the actual piano and is very observant of surroundings where there is a keyboard or piano. Just like her fascination with pink and dresses, I don't feel like we pressed her into liking piano (or the color pink or dresses), but am thrilled that she does seem to have a fascination with it. Maybe the same would be true if we had guitars or violins or clarinets?