Thanksgiving - so much to be grateful for

I was feeling pretty tired after working on a last-minute 8 page translation that I received from one of our clients. It was harder because Angelina now knows that if mommy is not wearing her phone headset, it means she's not working, so it's perfect timing to be asking mommy to come play. So yes, it was a lot more challenging than it used to be to work.

She's been talking up a storm, too. She knows words that I have no idea she knows and surprised me. Today she wanted to color, I had put my hair up and held it with a pen. She told me she wanted to color and I had forgotten that I had a pen on my hair. So I told her "honey, I don't know where there's a pen" she answered "up there mommy, in your hair, haves that pleaz? So I said "sure" she took the pen out of my hair and said "tinti" (that means thank you) and sat down to color. I couldn't deny her the pen, how could I when she had been smart enough to notice it in my hair?" So she sat and drew circles and triangles and bananas, her 3 favorite things to doodle on the special paper she uses (paper with butterflies and flowers."

I have SO much to be grateful for, I have a little girl who is intelligent and sweet, a husband that loves me and a job that I enjoy and that I get to do from home. I'm blessed for sure, really, really blessed.

The power of persuasion of a 2 year old

We were out running errands when Angelina said she had to go to the bathroom. We stopped at a local store and asked the lady if we could use her bathroom. She looked at me and said "well, you can change her here if you'd like..." I explained that AJ is already potty-trained... to which Angelina looked at her with a very serious look on her face and said: "I GOTTA GO POOPY!" The lady let us use her bathroom. :)

Ah... the power of persuasion of a 2 year old :)

Developing her creativity

Joseph and I are very creative people, I love oil painting, photography, music, and I play a little guitar. Joseph doesn't play an instrument but he's also very creative specially when it comes to photography and writing. We love going on little photography field trips and Angelina goes with us. So we bought her a very inexpensive little camera. She still does not know quite how it works but she loves it. She took a ton of pictures of her book, accidentally but it's still very cool. I think as she gets older she'll get the hang of it. In the time being, she loves holding the camera up to her face and saying "smile!"

I'm amazed at the amount of words she knows. She points at things and identifies them. The other day we were at a restaurant and they had a drawing of a castle on the wall. She pointed at it and said "look, mommy! Castle!"

On the way back home the day before yesterday I was singing "BINGO" which seems to be her favorite song. Since Joseph was quiet she suddenly said "come on Daddy! Song woof-woof!" So Joseph joined in. Music is one of her favorite things for sure. I know she's too young for dance lessons but I'm sure I'll be enrolling her into some type of music or dance class when she's old enough.

working from home with a little one

I work from home and my toddler stays with me, in fact many of my friends work from home and have their children with them. It's harder than people assume it is. I love it when people say to me "oh, lucky you! You get to stay home with your child," although this statement is true, people underestimate how difficult it is at times to manage a toddler, and in my case the phones since I'm a telephone interpreter. There are times when AJ needs me and I'm unable to give her my undivided attention. I know it will depend on your child but here are a few links of websites and activities that may help if you're in my shoes:

Angelina likes to come up to me, climb on my chair and wrap her arms around my neck from behind. I let her, I mute my phone (I have a headset that allows me to do that) and I whisper, "honey shhh... be real quiet, ok? Mommy is on the phone" For the most part it works. I recommend never teaching your child that if he or she needs you that it's not ok for them to come to you.

Now in regards to activities for your little ones while you work, here are a few:

www.crayola.com has some great activities and discounts if you sign up online and purchase items online (I'm always looking to save money)

There are also several websites now that work like "Netflix for toys" and they are not expensive. http://www.babyplays.com/
What I love about this business is that it was started by a mom.

Since I am always searching for activities for Angelina, I will be posting them here so I can share them with other moms.