The Neverending Christmas

Christmas goes by too quickly. One day its here, and then its over. 3-4 weeks of preparation for just 1 day of celebration. Then its just a long wait until next year. That's what I used to think. This year, I'm not so sure.

It started on Christmas Eve morning. Clearly Kaylani's not old enough to truly appreciate Santa/Christmas since we had to wait for her to wake up. And when she finally did wake up (at 7:30am), we pumped her full of anticipation and excitement by talking about the presents and Santa. So when we went downstairs, she didn't give us the reaction we expected. But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Kaylani rounded the corner and immediately saw the presents and said "Santa brought me gifts!" But the best part was when we told her to look at the cookies and milk she left for Santa. That got the following reaction:

"Santa ate all the cookies. And he drank all the milk! I'll be right back"

Then she picked up the cup and plate and went to the kitchen as Mommy and I stood there in disbelief at as she ignored all the unopened presents to clean! It was a great moment that we'll never forget. And after she came back, she went straight after all the presents (mostly hers, but also ours too). She opened everything from us and a few others, including a giant teddy bear (that she asked Santa for), a countless number of Dora related toys, and much more. But that was just the beginning of Christmas.

Sadly, we left most of that home (especially the giant teddy bear) and were off to Yin Yin and Yeh Yeh's house for the annual Tam family Christmas (which is always on Christmas Eve). There, she opened up more presents, including an awesome train table and a Geotrax set. For the rest of the day, she played played played, and in the morning, it was off to the next stop.

After a quick 5 hour Christmas Day drive, we made it to Titi Glenda's house for more present opening, which was a baby changing table/sink/highchair playset. She also got a new tricycle from Madrina Maria, and then a magnet book and xylophone from Titi Mayte and Tio Alan. And it didn't end there since she got a purse from Titi Carmen the next day, and a shopping cart of groceries from Titi Sonal a couple of days after that. So that brings us to December 28th, but we still weren't done.

New Year's Day might as well have been Christmas Day part 2 since Kaylani woke up to her train table actually assembled. Ever since she set eyes on it, she's been super excited and jumps all around while playing. She's actually so excited that she won't even let Papa play with it (which is a problem since its Papa's first train table too).

Anyways, now that we're well into 2011, you'd think Christmas was over, but you'd be wrong. We still have 1 more celebration coming up (3 Kings Day) which Mommy celebrated growing up in Puerto Rico. So we've got at least 1 more morning with a gift coming up, but with much less fanfare. And until Kaylani goes a few days without Christmas (or when we take down the tree...which will be interesting), she'll probably keep talking about Santa bringing her gifts everyday. In the meantime, here are some pictures from Christmas. Enjoy!

Kaylani's "First" Christmas

Officially this will be Kaylani's third Christmas, but it feels like HER first, even though it's not OUR first. Subtle difference in language, but big difference in events leading up to Christmas.

Christmas shopping for us started about a month ago. Okay, all lying aside, it really started about a week ago (but we had ideas and intentions of starting a month ago). The past 2 years with Kaylani, we bought her small gifts that we knew she would play with then or at some point. And we let her open them, touch them, and pose for pictures with them. But this year feels different. This year, we think she's really going to enjoy Christmas. So far, everything she's done confirms that.

For example, while trick or treating at Peddlers Village the day before Halloween, she saw a Santa doll and said "Santa says 'Ho Ho Ho'". And right before we went to cut down our Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Kaylani kept telling me to "get out of the living room so Christmas could come in," which was because I was telling her the tree was going to go in the corner. And when we took her to get her picture taken with Santa, or when we saw him at Houlihan's during lunch, she told him she wanted a "big oso (bear)."

And the top moment that Mommy saw (Papa missed) was when Santa came around the neighborhood ona fire truck, and personally came to our door because he was Kaylani standing there. Her face when that happened was PRICELESS, and even brought Mommy to tears. To this day, she still says Santa gave her a candy cane (which he did), and also that Santa will bring her gifts.

All of that just makes us want to make the holiday season more and more special for her. We keep buying small gifts here and there because we know she'll love it, or more stocking stuffers because they're "perfect", or more decorations (like a Santa cookie plate) so we can really start our own tradition. Because we've got some traditions already (like Christmas Eve night at Yin Yin/Yea Yea's house with the family), we're gonna have Christmas come a little early. When Kaylani wakes up tomorrow, we'll do our own little Christmas morning before heading over. And if I had to guess right now, I think her face is going to be priceless when she sees all her gifts under the tree and the cookies eaten. She'll be so excited that she probably won't even notice that the couch smells a little bit like milk since Papa sat on the milk she left out for Santa and spilled it all over. And because of that, I can't wait. Merry Christmas!

Family Time

Other than the weekends, spending time as a family is tough. By the time I get home most days, its usually 6:30, which is about an hour before Kaylani is in bed and asleep (ideally). That leaves enough time for me to join Kaylani and Mommy for dinner (normally in progress already), watch an episode of Dora, and give a bath and read some books before saying good night. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it is and it isn't all at the same time.

When it comes down to it, I'll take an hour, or even 30 minutes, or even 10 minutes if I can only make it for storytime or to say good night. Some nights I miss the "routine" all together, and others I miss the mornings, so weekday time is limited. But, the time we do get together is great, and I'm hoping its developing into something special for Kaylani and Mommy too. On typical days when I get the full hour or more, we sit around the table and I ask Kaylani how her day was. If she went to school, she likes to say "good. I play play play with friends." And if she went to music class, its along the lines of "good. I dance and sing "helloooo." And if its a gym class day, she goes with "good. I run around and play." But the best part is that she's started to join in and now asks "Papa, how your work? Your work good?" Cutest thing that makes my heart melt.

After dinner, it gets even better. Kaylani automatically washes her hands, and then runs over to the couch, sets up 2 pillows (one to sit on and one to lean against), and plops herself there with her milk. Then she asks for a blanket, and for Mama and/or Papa to sit and watch TV with her. The next 22 minutes are just cuddly, quiet, TV time with the family. And to top it off, Kaylani dances for 2 minutes at the end, then goes a little crazy climbing on us or jumping around before its time to go upstairs.

Bath time is always an adventure, and usually starts off with naked Kaylani "being chased" from her bedroom to the bath. Then there's all types of splashing, swimming, toys, sillyness that goes on. With a quick brush of the teeth, and a towel off, its a naked run back to the room for pajama time! Storytime is another adventure with anywhere from 1-3 books being read 1-3 times each (depending on the days mood). Next is lights out, hugs and kisses, then song time (usually by Mommy).

All of that is our normal weeknight routine. In fact, its our normal nightly routine, but it means that much more on weeknights since its the only time I get with her. So whether its an hour, a minute, or an entire day, I'll take what I can get when I can get it, because nothing beats family time! Click here to see pictures of just some of our family time moments over the last two months.

What a Girl Wants

When you're expecting, you can either have a strong preference for a specific gender of the baby, a mild preference, or no preference. I find myself in that 2nd category. If we have a boy, great! After all, most men would want a boy in their family to carry out the family name and do manly stuff with (like hammer up dry wall and drink beer...only 1 of which I've ever done). But if we have another girl, then I'm perfectly happy with that too. Truth be told, I'm probably more of a girl dad anyways (which goes back to that hammering up dry wall thing probably). And I've always felt this way...but apparently Kaylani thinks otherwise.

The other day, Mommy and Kaylani were at Little Gym class, which they've been going to forever. The teacher, Miss Tiffany, and Kaylani are close with Kaylani following her all around class most days. And of course they talk, but I guess we weren't expecting this conversation:

Kaylani: Mama has a baby in her belly
Tiffany: Oh yeah? Kaylani's gonna be a big sister right?
Kaylani: Papa wants a brother but Kaylani wants a baby sister.

Miss Tiffany reacted like normal, saying things like "yeah, most Dads want a boy" and some of the Dads in the area were chuckling to themselves because it was probably true for them. The funny thing is that it's not true for me, and the odd part is we have no idea where that came from!

Since we found out Mommy was pregnant with #2, we've asked Kaylani what she wants and she's always consistent. Boy or girl? Girl. Brother or sister? Sister. Like Alisha or Rohan? Alisha. Like Connor or Zoe? Zoe. Girl like Mama or boy like Papa? Like Mama. So its not like she doesn't know the difference, its just that she is the one with a strong preference!

We've tried to steer clear of the conversation for awhile now since she use11d to get animated about it when we'd ask ("no boy Papa, Kaylani wants a sister!! No boyyyy"). In fact, sometimes we'd go to pick her up from her crib in the morning or after nap and she would just randomly say "I want sister."

The only thing we can think of is that she takes our question asking ("Kaylani, what if its a boy") as our/my preference. Its either that or she reads my blog and thought that by me saying I thought it was going to be a boy meant I wanted a boy. Not sure which one of those is more probable, but either way, if its a boy, we may be in a lot of trouble. After all, what a girl wants, a girl gets... especially if she's our daughter.

Second Fiddle

For as long as I can remember I've been preaching against unfairness towards the second (or youngest) child/sibling, obviously because I was both the second and youngest child in the family. I always felt that different rules applied for my older brother, or that he got preferential treatment when it came to...well, everything. And the same things applied to Mommy's older sister, which was validation enough for me. But when we saw the younger of our niece and nephew going through the same thing (seemingly), it solidified to me that I was right on with my feelings. Well, until we found out we were expecting our second.

It kills me to say this, but so far, 17 weeks in, we've been completely different from the way we were when Kaylani was at this point, especially me. And the answer that I heard for so long that I argued about and against is so true: its different with 2...and we don't even have 2 yet! Now, in my defense, the level of difference with our second one is still early...REAL early. I'm not attending every single one of Mommy's pre-natal visits, which is bad since I probably only missed 1 with Kaylani, but my excuse there is now I work 45 min away from the doctor instead of 10 min. And I'm not reading directly to Mommy's belly (yet), but the baby/fetus still hears my voice since I read to Kaylani while Mommy and baby bump are in the room. And even though Mommy is eating nuts, cold cuts, and other things she stayed away from the first time around, its okay because we were being overprotective the first time. And those are things that can be remedied...and its still early...right?

The things I made a big deal about growing up were more about the attention the olders got, or how they got to carve their own path while we had to follow in their footsteps. They got to set expectations while we had our expectations set for us. Those things are different than the difference we're going through with the pregnancies. Things will be different for us with our second, which means they'll be the same for both our children. I won't let that happen with our second. I can't let that happen for our second. I shouldn't let that happen. That's possible...right?

The Right Name

What's in a name? EVERYTHING! Okay, maybe that's not true, but a lot of pregnancy time revolves around names. For example, Mommy's baby bump has been named "Mezclita", which came from a craving she was having a few weeks before we found out she was pregnant. For those wondering:

1) Mezcla (mezclita meaning "little mezcla") is some weird mix of cheez-wiz, spam (yes, the canned ham), and roasted red peppers blended (yes, blended) together and spread on toast that is supposedly common in Puerto Rico and supposedly tastes good (which I cannot confirm and can definitely deny)

2) Mommy's baby bump when she was pregnant with Kaylani was "Chicharron", which is the fried, dried, skin of a pork shoulder/pernil (and tastes FAR better than mezcla)

The good thing about baby bump nicknames were that they just came to us, no matter how gross they were. Unfortunately, as of right now, we've got nothing for an actual name. We're not stressing out just yet since we won't find out boy or girl for another few weeks (Mommy is only 17 weeks right now), but we will soon...especially if we're having a boy (which I think we are). You'd think we'd be alright and had a few name holdovers from Kaylani, but we've got none because coming up with Kaylani's name was as easy as taking a trip to Hawaii...literally.

This time around, we're faced with a few different issues. For starters, we don't have any trips planned to Hawaii (or anywhere for that matter). Second of all, Kaylani is such a unique name (we think) that our second name should be just as unique. Third of all, if we have a boy (which again, I believe we will), we're in a lot of trouble because we never even came realistically close to picking a boys name last time (and we were convinced we were having a boy then too). Actually, we were close for about 3 minutes when we both liked Mariano since it was a nice boys name and had some Spanish/ethnicity in it, but that was shot down when Mommy realized I picked it because of Mariano Rivera. After that, nowhere close.

So that's where we are now. We probably won't stress over the name very much for now since we have other things on our mind (like potty training, Christmas shopping, etc), but I'll keep you posted if/when we know. First thing is the ultrasound to tell us boy or girl. Then we'll get cracking on names for real. But if we're having a boy, don't be surprised if the only name we settle on is "Baby Boy Tam".

It's Potty Time!

Math time! 6 diapers per day is 42 diapers per week. 42 diapers per week is 42*4.3 diapers per month. 42*4.3 diapers per month is 42*4.3*12 diapers per year. That means that over the course of Kaylani's 2 years and 5 weeks of life, we've used 42*4.3*12*2+42*4.3+42 diapers (give or take a couple here and there). Now that may not seem like a lot (especially since I didn't actually do the math), but I think you get the point. So its no surprise that when Kaylani's cousin Zoe started her potty training that we decided to follow suit shortly after. Unfortunately we haven't had the same "splash" as she did.

For months now, Kaylani has been okay with sitting on the potty. She has her own special Dora seat and even her own mini-potty downstairs, but for the most part, they've just been places for her to sit and relax or read books for a few minutes. Once she went #2 on the mini-potty after starting elsewhere, but otherwise nothing (sidenote: its amazing that the mini-potty was cleaned instead of being thrown out and replaced. Guess its true parenthood (or finances) change you!). So with Kaylani being as comfortable as Daddy on the toilet for 5-10 minutes (or more) at a time, we thought that potty training would be a breeze. Wrong.

When Zoe went cold turkey potty training, Yin Yin bought a "potty watch" to help the process along. The idea was to have a countdown (30, 60, or 90 minute increments) and play a little "potty time" jingle while flashing lights (who doesn't like flashing lights?) which would help remind the child (and the parents) to go potty and avoid accidents. In theory, GREAT invention and probably worth the $11. In theory.

We tried this for the first time around 3:30, after Kaylani woke up from her nap. She was thrilled to try to use the potty, but mainly cuz it meant she got to wear Dora panties instead of a diaper. So after a quick try, we were all systems go. Cold turkey, no diaper, and only her panties, pants, and hopefully hardwood/tiled floor instead of carpet/furniture in the way. 30 minutes later, music and lights came on and it was Potty Time! 1 minute later, we were back with no pee pee in the potty, but that was expected. Every few minutes we'd ask if Kaylani had to use the potty, but the answer was always nope. Another 30 minutes went by with the same results. Music, lights, but no pee pee in the potty. So back out we went.

5 minutes after that 2nd potty trip, we heard this: "Papa I went potty in my pants" followed by a lot of crying because she "made a mess." Poor girl, but that was how she was supposed to learn, right? Peeing yourself makes you feel wet and makes a mess, and both those things make you cry. So accident #1 we'll call a productive accident. After some explanation about that, and a change to Princess panties and new pants (and a quick Clorox clean of the stool she was sitting on), we were back. 30 minutes later, music, lights, no pee pee. 24 minutes after that, we had something. But we weren't at the potty.

Crying, mess cleanup, and a change of clothes and we were back again. Another 2 trips and nothing until 15 minutes in, we had accident #3, right before bath time. So close, but no luck as we had our 3rd wet panties and pants set on our hands. That was enough for Day 1 of Potty Time. Day 2 didn't go much better (depending how you look at it).

Day 2 started the same with panties after nap. No accident after the first hour, and none after the second hour either. We approached 2.5 hours (or 5 music/light cycles) with no accidents. The problem was that she wasn't peeing at all! It was at the 3 hour mark, after dinner, that we threw in the towel (panty?) and slapped on a diaper so she could sit on the couch and watch Dora for 22 minutes without us worrying about her peeing on our furniture. The alternative, as suggested by Jes, was to cover our furniture in plastic like my grandma did, but we decided to go the diaper route.

Day 3 went the exact same way with her pushing 3 hours without peeing in the potty or her panties. And that brings us to day 4, which is today. Not sure how that's going to play out, or if Mommy is even going to try with me not home until after bedtime. We're convinced Kaylani just needs that first time to "get over the hump" and get the pee pee cues (with or without the watch). Our pediatrician recommended we get Kaylani potty trained well in advance of Baby #2's arrival, so we're working on it. We've still got 6 months or so, but at this rate, its not looking good...for any of us!

Inappropriate demands

Kaylani: Papa crap!
Me: What?
K: Papa crap for me
Me: What did you say?
K: Crap *makes motion with hands*
Me: You mean crab? *pinching motion with hands*
K: No Papa, no crab. I do this, then you crap
Me: I do what?
K: You crap and say yay!
Me: Kaylani, you want me to crap?
K: Yes Papa. I sing ABC and you crap when I finish
Me: Ohhh, you mean CLAP for you.
K: Yes Papa. Ready? ABCD...

That was our conversation on the way to school this morning. It was pretty funny once I realized Kaylani wasn't actually asking me to crap for her. While it sounded ridiculous for her to ask, I wouldn't have been that surprised. For one, she does seem to have a hard time doing that (clearly not from my side), but also because she is awfully bossy and demanding (maybe a little bit from my side). So maybe "Papa sit here" and "Papa don't talk" was evolving into "Papa crap for me!" Luckily, that wasn't the case...this time.

As parents in denial, we like to think that Kaylani will grow out of her bossy stage. We also like to think that its just a part of her "terrible twos" and she'll grow out of that in a few months (since she started with her "terribles" at 18 months, that means she'll grow out of it by 2.5 years right?). The good thing is we can get her to say "please" when she repeats it so she's not completely rude all the time. Unfortunately most of the time she just repeats her demands until we give in or send her into a tantrum, both of which we're relucant to do.

And to make things worse, she usually adds a bit of humor somewhere in the middle to make us crack a bit. One way or another we're gonna find a way to hang tough and try and negotiate with her. And at the end of the day, we'll either crap or clap. Tough call.

Kaylani's Big Announcement

Sometimes it takes a minute to figure out what Kaylani is saying. It takes even longer than a minute if you're not around her often, but for the most part Mommy and I "speak Kaylani" pretty well. But a few months ago, it took me a couple of minutes myself, and I even had help.

It was the morning of September 23rd and Mommy told me I had to get Kaylani because she wanted to see me. Nothing unusual there, especially since I had gotten home late from NYC the night before and missed bedtime. So around 7:15am, I wandered into Kaylani's room. She stood up as usual, and started to say something. I, of course, went on with my usual routine of turning off her nightlight, opening her blinds, and turning off her humidifier. Still Kaylani was saying something that I couldn't make out so I kept on going.

First I said "Good Morning Kaylani" and asked her how she slept. I gave her a hug and a kiss and knelt down in front of her crib to talk to her. She kept saying "pajamas" and "I have girl" which I thought nothing of since Mommy had told me the night before that she bought Kaylani new pajamas with a little girl on them. But when I noticed Mommy standing in the doorway, and Kaylani looking at her and repeating "I have girl I have girl" while they both smiled, I started to think I was missing something. Boy was I ever.

Slowly it all started to come clear and I started to understand what Kaylani might have been talking about. I looked over at Mommy and she was smiling wide as could be and on the verge of tears. I looked at Kaylani again and looked at her harder to see if I understood correctly. I looked back at Mommy and she confirmed it. It was true. Kaylani was telling me in the clearest way possible. She had a little girl on her pajamas. And with that picture of the little girl were two words that she couldn't be happier to have learned: Big Sister. Kaylani was gonna be a big sister. She had a little girl on her pajamas, but Mommy had a little girl (or boy) in her belly. Wow.

Immediately all the feelings I had over 2.5 years ago when we found out that Mommy was pregnant the first time came flooding back in. But this time, It wasn't just 2 of us hugging and smiling. This time it was 3 of us. We're not entirely sure if Kaylani grasped exactly what being a big sister meant (she does now), but she was happy enough to just be a part of it. Thankfully we have some of this time documented through pictures you can see here. Also thankfully I didn't have a recently peed on stick stuck in my face as I was waking up like last time.

So here we are, 11.5 weeks into Mommy's 2nd pregnancy and its like its all new to us. She just had her 12 week ultrasound and we stared at the little baby inside her with what seemed like the same amazement as the first time. It was still hard to believe a little baby with a head, arms, legs, and a rapidly beating heart were inside there. Just a few weeks ago we saw a dot that was supposedly the same thing. Its grown so much but we have no concept of size even though we've been through this before. Guess we should re-sign up for those Babycenter newsletters to find out if we have a peanut, pear, squash, or some obscure fruit sized baby each week.

Already we've seen differences from the first time, like Mommy not being able to sleep for the last 7 weeks, or the nausea caused by the cooking of food, or of course from the presence of Kaylani. But the biggest difference is that I've got the blog up and running already and I plan on documenting the next 6 months and beyond in addition to the normal blogs on Kaylani. So stick around, keep on reading, and look ahead to May 29, 2011 with us, which is when all three of our lives will change again. And change is always good...especially in this case.

Time flies when you're turning 2!

At this very moment, 2 years ago, we were in the hospital in absolute disbelief at the little girl that we were blessed with. Now, 2 years later, here we are still in absolute disbelief that our little girl is two years old. And to top it all off, I almost ended up back in a hospital. Confused? Hear me out. Warning: Long overdramatic post ahead.

The past 5 days have been nothing but birthday birthday birthday. Since September, Kaylani has had to celebrate each of her friends birthdays, and kept saying "I'm not two yet. Almost two. I'm turning two. Not yet!" So when her birthday became next in the queue, she could hardly contain herself. On Thursday, she kept saying she wanted to sing "Happy Birthday" and blow out a candle. In fact, she insisted so much that Mommy gave in and had her "practice" blowing out a candle in a cupcake. On Friday, Primitos Alisha and Rohan (and Titi Glenda) arrived, and she got to open up and play with her first gift. Then, on Saturday, it was time for her birthday celebration. That's when things got out of control. And by things, I mean me.

Kaylani's birthday party was at Uptown Playaround, which is a giant indoor play area. They had a giant structure with nets, slides, rope swings, blocks, tunnels, and ramps to climb up and through. There was also a play house and kitchen, grocery store, basketball area, puppet theater, and block area. If that wasn't enough, there was a dance area, virtual floor soccer, and bubbles. And if you still wanted more, there was just a giant space to run around in. Might seem excessive, but for 14 kids, and 20 adults to boot, all that space was absolutely necessary. I fully expected the kids to have tons of fun. I was not expecting the adults to do the same.

While Kaylani's favorite areas were the calmer ones (kitchen, grocery store, giant play area), Daddy, Bat Bat and most of the other adults ran around through the net maze and down the super fast slides over and over. After an hour, it sure felt like I needed to be back in the hospital, but this time, it would have been me with the back pain instead of Mommy. But instead of going there, I toughed it out, had pizza and cupcakes with everyone, and finished up the big party.

To continue the celebration (and after a nap), Kaylani cut into a piece of Papa's heart and soul, which was transformed into a Dora shaped cake. After slaving over baking and decorating it the night before, and seeing it come out better than I could have imagined, we cut up Dora's head ("Dora got a head cut" according to Kaylani) and had cake. Guess its true that you can't have your cake and eat it too (which should really be "you can't eat your cake and have it too" but whatever).

Sunday, the fun continued with a trip to the Animal Kingdom Zoo with the cousins to feed monkeys, giraffes, donkeys, and more. Thankfully we distracted Kaylani from having more cake, and instead opened up a few more of her presents that we hid from the party. And then, finally, Monday rolled around and with it, Kaylani's official birthday.

Kaylani was born at 4:09am on 11/08/08, so I guess it was inevitable that she'd wake up shortly after that 2 years later (at 6:35am). Can't blame her since who doesn't remember being so excited that you just can't sleep on special days? And after Kaylani spent the whole morning playing with Alisha and Rohan, and then talking to Mommy about her birthday, she took a nice nap so she could spend the night with Papa, Yin Yin, and Yeh Yeh at home. That's when she got crazy again.

After the last of her gifts were opened, she focused on a few of them, like her new roller skates from Padrino Tim and Auntie Meredith, and her house from Yin Yin and Yea Yea. And with one more round of Happy Birthday to Kaylani and another cake (ice cream cake this time), it was time to call it a day, or a birthday that is.

All in all it was an amazing 5 days of celebration, which is fitting since its been an amazing 2 years ever since Kaylani was born. Not a day goes by that we don't thank God for how lucky we are to have such a wonderful family, but its still hard to believe that its already been 2 years. Luckily we've got plenty of pictures and even videos to remember most of the time. So check out our pictures from Kaylani's birthday, and some more from Halloween too. And if you've got 5 minutes, watch Kaylani's video "interview" with Mommy below. Its priceless, especially the end. Or click on her YouTube page to see her using her roller skates with the Paparazzi around. So for now, its time to say good night, and Happy Birthday Kaylani. Until next year!