Crescent Bar Getaway

Esme was able to go back to daycare towards the end of last week as her rash subsided.  I'd say it was a pretty mild case of hand-foot-mouth since she had less than 10 blisters on her hands and feet.  Unfortunately there was a blister on her right thumb (the one she sucks to sleep) and so once it started drying out and going through the peeling process her thumb looked worse and worse actually.  She kept showing it to people cause there'd be multiple layers of peeling skin that must have felt weird when she'd suck her thumb.

The best part about Esme getting over her rash was that we were still able to keep our weekend plans to go to Crescent Bar with some friends.  It's an annual trip and she was able to keep up with Natalie and Liberty this time who are both two years old now.  Last year they were both walking and Esme was just barely crawling since she's 7 months behind them.  We took Esme out on the boat but unfortunately she DID NOT like her life jacket.  She screamed for most of the ride out onto the water and finally calmed down when we reached our destination.  I don't think she liked all the noise either when the boat was going fast, almost like a sensory overload, so she just  put her head down on my chest and sucked her thumb till it was all over.

                                                                   
                            Look at that belly!                                                                                      The river water is sooooooo cold!
                    
               Living dangerously, trying to lean over the boat                                                       She survived the boat ride
                     
                   Allen's post-boating/wind-blown hairdo                                                 Apparently the girls aren't thrilled about the new look

Esme's left lower molar FINALLY came through last week.  It's been bulging and bugging her for about six weeks now.  Once it broke the surface it didn't waste any time and now it's almost all the way out which is faster than any of her other molars.  So let the chomping begin!  Here's a copy of the menu at Esme's daycare.  We get an e-mail copy at the beginning of every week so we can see what she's going to be having.  

  

Summer Fun

Esme's had another exciting week since our last update but most exciting of all is that she's gone pee in the potty three times last weekend!  Allen puts her on the potty right before she takes a bath every night but just recently I started sitting on the big toilet at the same time and it worked.  We're just going to keep doing that before bath time and see how she does.  Once she starts telling us the she has to go during the day then we'll start visiting the potty more.  Apparently she really likes to watch the big kids use the bathroom at daycare and they'll start working on potty training when she's ready too.

We had a field trip to the Woodland Park Zoo with Ms Faye and a few other daycare families this past weekend.  At first Esme was a little confused to see them in a different environment but then she warmed up and had so much fun running around with her friends.  She also enjoyed the zoo much more than our last few trips.  That evening  we had a bonfire with friends and Esme snuck her little hands in the marshmallow bag and tried her first one ever.  Actually it ended up being two cause she wanted one in each fist.  Greedy little girl!  She also got to visit the Bite Of Seattle and had a blast people watching, dancing to the music and watching the big water fountain at Seattle Center.

 Esme and Ms Faye

Enjoying The Bite Of Seattle

My attempt at a mommy-daughter pic

It was a busy weekend but unfortunately by the end of it we realized she'd come down with hand-foot-mouth which was going around daycare the week before.  She had a blister to her thumb and two on her feet and then just a rash to her butt and ankles.  So far she's been home this entire week and will continue to be if the blisters don't resolve soon.  The good news is that it doesn't seem to be that bad in her mouth cause she's eating just fine.

Esme, The Camping Pro

Esme's been so busy in the past week that it's hard to figure out where to start!  Last weekend we took her on her first ever camping trip out on the Key Peninsula and she did awesome.  I wasn't really sure how she'd do sleeping in a big tent so we took her pack-n-play which made things a little easier.  At least we knew she wouldn't roam all over the tent during the night.  She went to bed later than normal but slept until exactly 6am which is her normal wake time and she didn't make a peep the whole night.  During the day we went on some clamming adventures and she liked walking on the rocks during low tide and playing in the little puddles.  Esme and I actually left all the clam digging up to everyone else.  Unfortunately though she got so dirty on the first day that I decided to take her back to the car to clean her up and on our walk up the beach Esme dropped the car keys and for almost an hour we thought we lost them.  It was awful since our car was still loaded with all our camping stuff and we were FAR from home.  Luckily Uncle Chester and Addy found them and we were saved.  Otherwise Esme enjoyed hanging out at our camp site but made sure to stay clear of the fire pit which was fine with me.   

               
                              Too cool - Addy & Esme                                                                           Digging for clams at low tide
               
                        Just hanging out at base camp                                                                           Chillin in the camp chair
               
                                    Stirring her oatmeal                                                                     Determined to get the spoon to her mouth

Esme also got to meet up with her Awntee Bee (my best friend Brie) and Noonoo (Bree's mom) while on a layover at the Seattle Airport. Esme liked showing Awntee Bee all her cool, shiny hair clips and watching the escalators with Noonoo. We attempted to take a picture of all of us but Esme got ahold of the camera beforehand and wouldn't let it go so that didn't work out so well.

Not only does Esme say Bella, one of her classmates, but now she says Adler too which is one of the babies at daycare. Whenever she sees a baby now she just calls it Adler. She has a hard time with the d sound so it ends up sounding like Ah-ler. She's transitioned to napping with all the big kids on a little mat instead of in her pack-n-play which means she's only napping once at daycare. At home she still seems to need a morning and afternoon nap to get by.

Her 4th molar is still just under the surface and Esme frequently puts her fingers in her mouth around that area. The others are almost all the way through so we've seen some changes in her eating. She's eating more sandwiches, meat, vegetables and also branching out in her tastes. The latest addition to her diet includes homemade guacamole with lots of garlic.

Esme got a very special present in the mail the other day - her very own Rody! It was a surprise gift from Nana who's going to be here in just a few weeks to play with Esme. Allen had a hard time using the pump so just decided to blow it up on his own :)

Bye-Bye Bottle

Well my frozen milk supply has finally come to an end.  Even though I weaned Esme around 13 months I still had a huge supply of breastmilk stored in our deep freezer.  She's been getting a bottle of my warm milk every morning since then.  Otherwise during the day she has whole milk and water in a sippy cup.  Initially we tried to give her the breastmilk in a sippy cup but that didn't go over well so I let her keep the bottle while we still had my milk supply in the freezer. 

I have to admit, the past 2 mornings have been hard for Esme because she's used to waking up and getting a warm bottle immediately. We've tried to offer her a sippy of warm milk instead but she's barely touched it. The first morning she actually threw it all over the kitchen. I'm sure it'll just take a little time to transition to this new morning routine and she'll be fine. She's always been a trooper!

The last bottle

No more mommy's milk

Fever Free

Esme seems to have a thing for getting fevers on holidays (her last one was on Christmas morning) because she spiked one on the 4th of July.  I took her to a parade and was amazed at how content she was just sitting in her stroller and watching.  Then afterwards we went to the playground and she just wanted to stand back and observe the other kids which seemed a little odd until I felt her burning up.  I checked her temp when we got home and it was 102.  I gave her some Tylenol and put her down for a nap and she woke up all better so we went to a friends house for a holiday barbecue.  Unfortunately later that evening her fever came back and didn't stop for the next 48 hours.  We gave her Tylenol and Motrin around the clock and the fever would always creep back up before the next dose.  She'd wake in the middle of the night burning up too.  It was so awful to watch cause she was miserable and wouldn't eat a thing.  We were lucky if we got 10 Cheerios in her each day.  Luckily she still wanted to drink her milk and some water.

Esme's been teething for the past few weeks but these fevers got up to 104 and I couldn't find anything wrong with her.  She didn't have any cold symptoms and I checked her ears and lungs for infection but nothing.  I took her into my office just to make sure I wasn't missing anything and she was clear.  That was the day the fevers stopped, after 2 days straight.  I kept expecting a rash afterwards, like roseola or hand-foot-mouth but that didn't come either.  It was the strangest thing.  I checked with her daycare and nothing was going around there.  Now she's better and slowly picking up her appetite.  She was even able to attend her friend Natalie's 2nd birthday party this weekend and was in good spirits.

               
                      4th of July wagon rides with Uncle Rex                                           Barbecue dinner with Ethan, Ozzie, and Aunty Ang
               
                                      Birthday party fun                                                                        In the bounce house with mommy
               
                                   Esme loved the slide                                                              She kept going up and down, again and again

Happy 4th Of July Eve

Esme's learning so quickly these days that we're constantly amazed.  She's been enjoying counting in Mandarin and English and can usually repeat the next number if you start counting first.  She's also learning the days of the week and apparently she sits in circle time with the big kids and loves to yell out Tuesday in Mandarin cause it ends in an "errrrrrr" sound.  Of course she waits for them to say Sunday and Monday first and then she has her turn.  

Her three molars still aren't all the way through and they look so painful in there.  Her gums are red, swollen and bloody at times which explains why she's been so edgy lately.  We're trying our best to keep her distracted and entertained cause that seems to help.  We're still waiting on the bottom left molar and then after that all her canines to come in.    

  

               
                       Playing with daddy's computer                                                                Esme's egg carton/shape-sorter
                
                                             Esme likes to stick the top of the eggs on her hands and bang them together for music                
                                            Eating corn on the cob for the first time with daddy and she finished most of her little piece
                                                         

          Mmmmm......corn

Esme singing

Esme has been singing a lot.  Sometimes we know what she is singing and sometimes we don't.  Here is a case of the latter.  Also, it seems like she's picking up language pretty well.  She can understand a lot of what we are saying and likes to boss us around.  Without further ado... the next Adele: