we're getting closer...

...to spring! It's almost March! Winter's almost over! Of course, there's snow on the ground, but that doesn't matter. The calendar says spring arrives this month. I'll just look at this and imagine:

I can't wait. Playing outside, going to the park, swimming, vacation, bubbles, the sand box, riding her tricycle.... ah, just thinking about it all puts me in happy mood.

Well, it seems that my extroverted social butterfly is becoming a bit shy. We're hoping it's just a little phase, because she seems really attached to me at the moment (more than normal), but who knows, since I've always been that way. Today at the grocery store the lady at the meat counter was talking to her and she looked down at her lap and wouldn't look at her. She finally looked up a little and grinned just a little and then said "dye dye" when we left, but a couple of weeks ago she would've been smiling, talking, and squealing away if someone talked to her. A few days ago Daddy took her to the library and into the little playroom she loves and she clung to his leg almost the whole time because there were a couple of other kids in the room. Is this my daughter? The one who just a month or so ago was in the center of that same room dancing around while all eyes were on her? What's going on? The last two weeks she's cried when we've gone to the nursery at church, when usually she loves going in there. She's been happy when we've picked her up, but why is it taking her so much longer to become comfortable all of a sudden? Like I said, we're hoping it's just a phase of separation anxiety or stranger anxiety or whatever, but I guess only time will tell.

Baby Einstein has made a surprising reappearance on our TV screen. I thought those were out a year ago, but for some reason she's totally in love with them again--particularly Baby Noah and Baby MacDonald...you know, the ones with the animals, of course. And she loves the little logo that looks like this:

She sees it on a few baby einstein books she has and goes crazy, shouting, "ah-gie, ah-gie"), pointing at that face. We think she's trying to stay "Einstein." Then she points to her videos and wants to see the same picture on the case. She also loves the little caterpillar that comes on at the beginning and thinks every caterpillar in every book is the baby einstein caterpillar.

The Wiggles are still an obsession, too, and now she has little stuffed dolls (Dorothy, Wags, and Henry that my mom found on ebay) and a Murray guitar to add to her obsession. Whenever she watches the Wiggles (every morning at 7 am) they all come out and dance with her and she points to their pictures on the guitar, too. This girl would watch The Disney Channel every waking moment if we would let her. (we don't, though sometimes it's tempting!).

Well, she's awake and talking in bed, so I need to go get her up.

words of the week

Just in the last week or two her vocabulary has started expanding a lot. Here are some of her new words:

cack-uh = cracker (this is a big improvement on the "k, k, k" she used to say when she wanted one!
bow--nie (with a big pause in the middle) = brownie
Dah-dee = Dorothy (the dinosaur on the Wiggles)
Hi, day-dee = Hi, baby (talking to her dolls)
bah = barn
a-uh = apple
puh-puh = purple
bom = bottom
tay = tail
bow = brown
ge-i = get it or get him (when waking Daddy up when he's pretending to be asleep)
bo = boat

That's all I can think of at the moment, but they're starting to sound a little more like the real thing (except day-dee, of course....but she is saying some words with the "b" sound now!).

Still plugging away on my class, but this week is easier than last week. I'll still be glad when it's all over, but I'll spare you my complaints from now on!

remind me to never do this again

This has to have been the worst week I've had in.....oh, probably since my little one started sleeping through the night. That was when life started getting bearable again...until this past week, that is.

I mentioned that I'm taking these classes to renew my teaching license....a license that I don't know when I'll use again but have to keep current in case I do want to use it again (kind of like an insurance policy...you pay for it even though you hope that you won't have to use it). It's a bunch of jumping through hoops, taking classes you don't want to take just because the state says you have to have 6 credit hours in order to renew it. It's expensive, it's time consuming, and it's just a bunch of baloney, if you ask me. My dad got a permanent license back in the day and never had to worry about it again. You can't do that anymore. Ah....the good ol' days....

Anyway, so I'm taking these classes. I signed up to start the first one the last week of January. It went three weeks, then I had a week off and the second one started, lasting three weeks. After I enrolled and paid all my money they told me the first class was full and I had to wait until the next start day, and they went ahead and enrolled me in that class. Well, it overlapped with the second class for one week. That was this week. THE.worst.week.EVER!

So I was trying to finish one class and start another one. These are three week classes, but they are a full quarter of a graduate level class, squeezed into three weeks, so it's an exorbitant amount of work in a very short period of time. Fine if you are childless, but for those of us with almost two year olds running around, it's difficult. Forget trying to get anything done when she's up. Impossible. So every naptime and every night after bedtime I've been at the computer. But this week it was even worse. Because of the amount of work I had to finish for two classes, I was also up here every second I could spare when my husband was home and could be downstairs with our little one. Well, she's going through a "Mommy" phase where she doesn't want anyone else but me, so everytime I came up to work I had to listen to her whining and crying because she wanted me and not Daddy. She'd come to the bottom of the stairs and yell, "Mama, Mama," to me. It broke my heart not to be able to go to her. Daddy did the baths and bedtimes almost every day this week so I could get an extra half hour or 45 minutes in....which caused tears on her part as well because she wanted Mommy. Well, Mommy wanted her, too. I would've much rather have been giving a bath or reading "Time for Bed" or singing her to sleep. Two broken hearts....

So today I turned in my last assignment for my first class and my two assignments that are due on Monday for my second class, so I'm ahead for a couple of days (out of necessity, because I'm going to my nephew's birthday party tomorrow and won't be home to work on it!). It's a relief, and yet not really because I know on Tuesday I have to start it all up again! At least these next two weeks won't be quite as hard as this last week was, since I'm back down to one class again.

If I had nothing else to do I would've enjoyed these classes. They're interesting, it's nice to have "discussions" with other teachers around the country online and not have to talk to them face to face (not a particular strength of mine), and I've learned a lot. However, I do have other things to do...much more important things, like dance to Wiggles songs and wipe goldfish cracker crumbs from little cheeks and play in the snow, just to name a few. I have baths to give and songs to sing and board books to read. Give me that anyday over online textbooks (have you ever tried to read an entire textbook on the computer screen? It's torture!) and intellectual "conversation." Do you know how hard it is to go from saying things like, "Five little monkeys jumping on a bed...." to then having to sound profound and write a 700 word paper in APA style?

Kudos to all of the parents of little ones who go back to school and do this stuff every day. I don't know how you do it. It's definitely not for me. Thankfully, for another five years it doesn't have to be.

Tomorrow is a new week. It's bound to be better than this one was.

a little about me

This blog is called the World of Weed, but it seems that I'm always writing about the daughter of Weed (well, she is pretty much my world, since I'm a stay at home mom)! Well, I ran across this survey and liked it because it's different than all of the rest I seem to get, so I thought I'd answer it so you'd know a little more about me that you may not already know.

1. What is the one BIG goal you hope to accomplish this week? Finish my classwork. This week my two classes I'm taking overlap so I'm trying to finish up my first class and get started on my second class. It's a ton of work and I'm not sure how it's going to happen (getting off of my blog would be a start, though, huh?)

2. What is the one household chore you do NOT like to do? I can only pick one? I hate household chores. But if I had to choose I'd say changing the sheet on my daughter's crib. It's torture and takes forever. Who knew a little bed could be such a pain?

3. What would you buy if someone gave you $2,000.00 (all debts and bills paid)? I'd put it in the bank because I'd need it soon enough. But if I had to spend it, I guess I'd fix our fireplace so we could use it and cut down on our heating bill.

4. Describe yourself using one word. Quiet.

5. What is the one saying or theme that you live by? "I'll do it tomorrow." Not a theme I want to live by, but for some reason I've sort of adopted it...hmm...I'd better work on fixing that.....tomorrow, of course!

6. What is the one household item you can NOT live without? Dishwasher. Well, I did live without it for many years, but now that I have one, I don't want to ever be without it!

7. If you had one chance to go anywhere in the world where would you go? Europe--all over, but most of all I want to see London and the Alps.

8. List the one person you admire the most. Only one? My parental unit...does that work for one? I admire my mom and dad for being happily married for 40 years in a world full of divorce, for teaching me just about everything I know, for working so hard all of those years to provide for my brothers and me....for too many things to list here, actually.

9. What is one thing people may not know about you? My eyes are different sizes. If you look carefully at a picture of me you'll notice. Now aren't you glad you know that?

If you have a blog and want to use this...consider yourself tagged!

piecing things together

As I've mentioned before, though she babbles non stop she's behind in her language skills. Most almost-two-year-olds have been talking in short sentences for a few months now. Ours never has. But just the other day we saw a glimpse of her learning to put everything together. We were driving in the car and were stopped at a red light. We were pointing out the red to her and told her it would turn green soon (this is a regular pasttime when we're driving because she's often fussy in the car and we're trying to get her attention on something else). So the light turned green. She said, "geeee!!!!" Then as we drove through the light she said, "dye dye gee." Translation: Bye bye green light. Not quite a sentence, but she's getting there.

on a bargain high

I've just been shopping (by myself....Daddy's home today for President's Day, so I got a little time to myself--ahhhhhhhh....) and have to share my bargains.

First I went to CVS to get a prescription filled for my husband. I don't usually go there, but CVS takes competitor's coupons, so I took a competitor's coupon for a $20 gift card with a transferred prescription, and they honored it. So I got my prescription and $20 to spend.

I decided to spend it on items that would earn me ECBs (Extra Care Bucks). I've been reading a coupon board online for over a year now and see all of this stuff these women get for free by using coupons and earning ECBs at CVS. It always sounded so complicated, so I never tried it. But a few weeks ago a friend recommended a website which broke it down so I actually understood what to do and she tried it and it inspired me to try.

So this week CVS has a deal that you buy $30 worth of certain products and you get $15 back in ECBs to spend the next time you go to CVS. Huggies diapers were one of the products. They were on sale plus I had coupons. So I bought 3 packs of those and a couple of other things on the list of items to hit the $30 mark. I had a coupon for $4 off a $20 purchase, so it was going to cost me $26 plus some tax. Subtract my $4.50 in diaper coupons and my $20 gift card.....I ended up paying $2.67 out of my own pocket, plus I got $15 in ECB to spend just like cash the next time I go there. I was so excited.

Then I went to Kohl's. I had a gift card there. I bought a ladybug summer outfit (shorts and a shirt) for you know who for her birthday and a shirt for myself, and all of it was also on sale. After I used the gift card I had to pay $.09!!

I thought about staying out a little longer, but decided I'd better come home while I was ahead. My husband, of course, doesn't understand....he says I still had to pay for the prescription (it was $10), so really I spent $12.67 at CVS, but I told him that I would've had to have bought that anyway somewhere, so I may as well have done it at CVS to make my money work for me!

where do we begin?

Okay, we got a potty chair....now what? (No, this isn't the potty chair we have...we have a very simple cheap one...I just thought this was a funny picture of one, and probably one my husband would try to build her if he saw this picture!)

Yesterday we took it out of the box and she sat on it (with her clothes on). She was most excited about opening and closing the lid.

This morning she dragged it out of the bathroom out in front of the TV and sat on it to watch The Backyardigans.

I guess she likes it...

success!

She can drink out of a straw!!!

I know it's not exciting for anyone else, but it is for me, because every time she does something with her lips I start to think, "Maybe there's nothing wrong with those muscles after all!"

We were at Wendy's yesterday having lunch and didn't have a sippy cup with us, so we got her a little cup of water and tried the straw. Within seconds she was sucking water out of it. How she learned, I'll never know. She just did it.

My girl's got talent, huh?!

happy valentine's day

Couldn't decide which to post, so you get all three!

We're going out to dinner tonight--I don't think we've had a "date" since Christmas when we were at my parents' and went to a movie, so I'm looking forward to it. My husband asked me where I wanted to go and I said I wanted to not have to plan it, so I was in charge of the babysitter and he was in charge of dinner. It so happened that my mom was going to be at my brother's last night to sit for them while they went out, so she offered to come here today to sit for us tonight. Perfect! My job was easy!

Last night I tried to get him to tell me where we were going. I finally got him to give me a clue. He said, "You've been there before." I had a guess, but only because a week or so ago he told me he didn't remember where this place was. So I told him my guess and I was right! It's one of my favorites...Bravo. He's not a huge fan, but I've always loved it and a couple of college friends and I go there almost everytime we get together, but one of them moved away so we don't get together much anymore, so I haven't been in a really long time (I think I was pregnant the last time I was there--two years ago!?!?). I can't wait.

dress up

As I mentioned earlier this morning, I'm watching my three year old niece today for a few hours. She brought a big bag of dress up clothes with her for the girls to play with. My little one has never played dress up before, and to tell you the truth I didn't think she'd be much into it because she hates getting dressed in the morning and undressed at night. It's like she can't be bothered to stop what she's doing to do something so unexciting!

But I was wrong--she had a ball! Do little girls just have this instinctive understanding that big poofy dresses are fun to put on and purses and crowns make them "glamorous?" Because even though she doesn't have a clue who the Disney princesses are and has never had a tiara or any type of princess attire, she immediately knew what to do with them all!

I put the Snow White costume on her and that wasn't enough...she wanted the gloves, too. Of course, she doesn't know how to put fingers in the holes of a pair of gloves, and they were way too big for her tiny hands, but she loved having them on her hands anyway, and clapped and clapped with them on.

While I was helping my niece put a costume on, this is what my girl did on her own:

It's supposed to be a skirt, but she thought it was a hat and it wound up looking like a veil. Hilarious.

And her favorite, of course, was the ladybug, as it's an obsession of hers lately. Did I mention that I'm going to make her a ladybug cake for her birthday? I decided to make that the theme this year for her little party.

So here's my little ladybug, along with her cousin, Madame Butterfly. They're both in bed right now, which affords me the time to share all of this with you!

a sleepy, snowy day

I wrote this yesterday....so keep that in mind as you read.

My day started at 2:30ish this morning, when our little one had one of her night terrors, or whatever they are. She had one a few days ago, but before then it had been months since she'd had one. I've learned not to go into her, even though she's crying and carrying on, because she's not awake and it only makes it last longer if I try to fix it. She works through it much better on her own. Around 2:45 her cry changed and I could tell that she was awake and was calling "mama." Then I went in and she was fine as soon as I picked her up. I sat down with her in the dark and rocked her and sang a few songs while she sat quietly. I couldn't tell if she had fallen back asleep or not. After a few minutes I said, "Are you ready to go nigh night some more?" "Okieeeee," she answered quietly. So I put her back down and she was quiet. I went back to bed, but for the next hour she would rouse every few minutes and do her strange "I'm not awake" cry, so I couldn't sleep (not to mention my husband's snoring, because he has a cold). I was tossing and turning and didn't want to keep him up, so I got up and came downstairs. I was wide awake by that point and didn't fall asleep (on the couch) until about 5:30. At 6:30 I heard my husband get up, and a few minutes after that our little one started making noise, too. So my day started (with very little sleep).

It snowed overnight, about an inch and a half, but then it started again and was supposed to continue all day, along with some freezing rain. All of the schools around us closed (including the city schools, which never close) and my husband says the road are pretty bad.

When I went to get her up after her nap (oh, I slept a little during her nap, by the way, so I felt much better by this point) I walked in her room and the hood from her hooded fleece was up on her head! I wished I had had a camera with me--it has a pointy hood and she just looked so funny sitting there in bed, hair all a mess, bright red cheeks, and a pointy hood on her head. Quite a sight.

So after her nap this afternoon we ventured out into the winter wonderland. She was, of course, excited to wear her boots. I threw a snowball to her, which she then picked up but wasn't sure what to do with. So she did what any exploring toddler would do, I suppose....put it in her mouth. She's almost through the putting everything in her mouth phase (I think!) but she couldn't resist. "Mmmmm," she said. "Yuck!" I said, as I told her no. It was dirty because the gloves I had pulled on as I rushed out the door were an old pair that I had used to help my husband out in the garage one time.

So she "threw" her first snowball and I helped her make her first snow angel. She liked it when I moved her legs back and forth and back and forth. She thought that was funny. She didn't get it, though, and when I tried to show her what she made she turned away and got interested in something else, but oh well. It's still her first snow angel:

We came inside after 10 minutes or so because it was lightly raining freezing rain and we were getting wet. She would've stayed out all afternoon, though. Then we played with one of her favorite things--her pretend food. Right now she's really into the ears of corn, a bunch of peas, and a pretend chocolate chip cookie. She carries them around for a significant portion of the day.

It's supposed to keep snowing, so we'll see what tomorrow holds, and whether we can go out again.

Okay, now it's back to today, Wednesday. I got much more sleep last night, though she still had one of her "episodes" as I've come to call them, since I don't know what to call them. This time it was at 10:00 though, just as I was getting ready for bed. It didn't last long and was much more manageable.

It did snow again last night a little bit. All of the schools are closed again here. I'm watching my niece today (she'll be here in a few minutes), so I'm sure my little social girl will be in all her glory with another little one to play with!

(Oh, and here's just a little of what goes on at my house....dancing with a jump rope in her mouth. Doesn't everyone do that?)

the pig tail war

My friend, Emily, recently posted on her blog about wishing she could put pig tails in her daughter's hair (our daughters are almost the same age), but her hair is still too short. I commented on her blog and said that I'd love to do pigtails too, but it's a battle I usually choose not to fight. She hates having her face or head touched to clean, brush, comb, wipe, etc, and makes it abundantly clear to the perpetrator (how do you spell that word, anyway?? I can't get my spell check to work!). Washing her ears, face, and hair is a daily battle I do choose, because, hello, she needs to be clean!

But anyway, until today she'd only had pigtails (successfully) two times, and that was because Daddy held her arms away so she couldn't grab her hair or my hands and make it impossible for me to do. I can't do them by myself at this point because she doesn't understand why Mommy's pulling her hair and can't help but pull away.

So today her hair was awful--she got out of bed looking like her finger was stuck in a light socket. Some mornings she wakes up and it looks almost perfect, and other mornings it's a static mess. Today is was the latter. So I decided to fight the battle of the pig tails. Daddy held her down and I, armed with a brush and two teeny tiny rubber bands, went to work. She wiggled, she squirmed, she cried and carried on, but Mommy (with reinforcement from Daddy) won. The pig tails stayed.

I tried to take pictures, but she was too busy either dancing, playing, fooling with her pig tails, or crying (because I wouldn't put the camera down) to really smile for me, but oh well. Here she is in her pig-taily cuteness (complete with drool on her jumper!).

my new name

First I was "da da." For a long time, actually.

Then came "dee da." My mom was that too for awhile. Last time we saw her she was "ga ga" (sounds kind of like "Grandma," right?)

Finally I became "Mama." I was so excited!

The other day I became "Nonny," as she's trying to say "Mommy." She'll say "nonny nonny nonny," and I'll correct her and make sure she's looking at my mouth as I say, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy." Then you can see her little mouth contorting just so and she says, "Mah-ny Mah-ny," and then finally a "Mommy" comes out. She'll say Mommy a couple of times and then it's like she just can't make her mouth say that anymore and it's back to "Mama," which is just fine with me! I'll take "Mama" anyday over "da da!"

I've had the thought for a long time that there's something wrong with the muscles in her mouth/lips. From day one she had eating problems (couldn't latch on correctly, had to switch to the bottle, had a zillion problems with that, too, and on and on). She can't drink out of a straw, uses the "d" sound for everything that's supposed to start with "b," and has trouble making the "m" sound, too. Something about putting those little lips in the right position just isn't easy for her. She can make the sounds now, but it's taken a long time, and it isn't very often that she uses them correctly in context (Mama is an exception). I mentioned this to the doctor a couple of months ago at a visit when she was sick, and she said we'd address it at her 2 year well check up, so we'll see. If there's a problem, I'd like to know about it now so we can get her in to see someone who can help us sooner rather than later. I hate that she's learning all of these wrong ways to say words! When she's in kindergarten I don't want her being made fun off because she wants to play "dasket-dall" or tells her friends "dye dye" at the end of the day, or can't drink out of juice boxes because she doesn't know how to use a straw!

So anyway, "Nonny" is off to bed. I just signed off of my class for the night (it's so weird that I can go to class 24/7 in my PJs if I want to), and I'm tired.

picture time

Okay, so I lied.... I said I wouldn't be around much this month, but I've gotten tons of work done for my class in the last two days and am several days ahead (chalk it up to being completely stressed about it all, so I worked hard to get as much as I could done), so now I can take a break and share some pictures with you.

Early this morning my little one found a hooded sweatshirt that she wore yesterday laying around--somehow it didn't make it up into the hamper last night when she went to bed. She decided to put it on (with Mommy's help when she couldn't get it on all by herself). Then she found Daddy's Steelers stocking hat (a hat he's had forever and a day) and put that on. She also still had her PJs on....she was quite a sight, so I decided to take some pictures. (By the way, notice that the back of her car is filled with her beads. That's where she likes to store them!)

Later on in the morning I decided to attempt fingerpainting for the first time with her. I was feeling blah and we didn't have any plans today, the weather was gross, and I needed something different and exciting to add pizazz to our day. I figured I'd have a big mess to clean up, but oh well. I was up for the challenge. So I taped newspaper to the kitchen table (actually, all the newspaper had already been taken out, so all I had were a few ads I had saved), and then taped a big piece of paper over the top of it. I squeezed a small bit of each color of finger paint onto a paper plate. Then I brought her over and put her new art smock on her that she got for Christmas (it's HUMONGOUS!--but it did the job!) and put her in her high chair. She didn't quite understand what was going on, but she was excited. I then put my finger in the paint and drew a smiley face for her to show her how to do it. She got a huge smile on her face and dipped her finger right in. It took her awhile to get the hang of it, and she tried a few times to bring her finger up to her mouth (but I was able to keep it from getting into her mouth, and she eventually stopped trying), but she seemed to really enjoy it.

After she was done, but before I cleaned up, I was trying to get her to smile for a few pictures. I started singing a song to make her smile, and she, in turn, started dancing. In the process she got some paint on her face. Up until that point she had stayed so clean! Actually, there was very little mess to clean up, so I was happy about that.

All day long she kept asking for more. I'm afraid I've started something.... Maybe she'll forget about it by tomorrow!

a few quick tidbits

The other night Daddy snapped his fingers (I think it was to some music). Our little one thought that was great, so decided to snap herself. After all, snapping is just moving your hand up and down and saying, "K," isn't it? Well, that's what she thinks it is, anyway. It was so funny I started crying I was laughing so hard.

There's a Wiggles song about standing on one foot and shaking your hands. She's got the standing on one foot part down pat: she holds onto the coffee table and lifts her foot up whenever that part of the song comes on. It's too cute.

There's another Wiggles song about moving your arms like Henry (he's an octopus, for all of you non-Wiggles fans out there). The dancers move their arms around and around. Well, the other night, out of nowhere, she started moving her arms really slowly around and around (mind you, she wasn't watching the Wiggles....just wandering around moving her arms). I couldn't figure out what she was doing. Yesterday as she watched that song, she started moving her arms around and I finally figured out that's what she was practicing several nights before!

This story is for my friend, Nancy (Nancy and I were roommates in college). Nancy made R a beautiful quilt when she was first born. When we used to lay her down on the floor to play we always laid her down on that quilt. Since she's been mobile and doesn't play in one place anymore the quilt has been folded up, hanging on the back of the rocking chair in her room, and occasionally if I go in to check on her and it's cold I'll put the quilt on top of her. Well, in the last couple of weeks, when she gets up from a nap or gets up in the morning she wants to crawl up on the rocking chair and point to the colors in the quilt. She says "blue" and "green" when she points to the those colors, and wants me to say "pink" and "yellow" when she points to those colors. Then she wants to take the quilt down onto the floor, spread it out just so (if it has wrinkles in it, she fusses), sit on it, and look at her books. We do this nearly every day at least once. And before we leave the room she makes sure I fold the quilt back up and hang it back on the back of the chair. Nancy, I thought you'd like to know that your quilt is still used and loved!

I probably won't be posting much for the next month or so. I'm taking two online classes, starting today, in order to get the credits I need to keep my teaching license valid. It expires this summer, so I needed to get on the ball and get this done. I got the syllabus last night for the first class and it looks like a ton of work, so I don't know that I'll have a lot of time to post here. We shall see! I'm a little worried about how I'll get all of the work done, but my husband assures me that I don't need to get an A, I just need to pass. He thinks I should aim for a B or C. I told him that I don't work that way. How about I just do my best and see what that gets me? I'll be glad when March 11th is here and I'm all done!

obsessed

Here are a few of her latest obsessions....


1) The aforementioned ladybugs. I won't elaborate...you can read the previous post.


2) Climbing onto the kitchen chair. But now instead of just climbing on the chair, she also likes to try to sneak past Mom and Dad and continue up on the table! Sadly, she's succeeded twice on two different days--once with Mom, once with Dad. Big trouble ensued....


Yesterday she climbed up there and I gave her a snack. She just couldn't wipe the smile off of her face--you could tell she felt like such a big girl, not having to eat in her booster seat. The sun started coming in through the window right onto her face. She pointed up to it and said, "Moo, moo, moo," which means "Moon, moon, moon..." the title of a Laurie Berkner song. She likes to mix up the sun and moon a lot. We'll need to work on that!


3) Watches. I also mentioned in a previous post about how she likes to run back and forth looking at everyone's watches and saying "tick tick tick." Yesterday at the library she saw my watch and then ran around to several other moms in the room to try and look at their watches. That's my daughter for you.... No strangers....


4) Brushing her teeth. She loves it. Well, she loves the thought of it anyway. As soon as we go up for her bath she starts pretending to brush her teeth with her finger, which is her way of asking me for her toothbrush. I give it to her with the toothpaste on it, but she just likes to chew on it. When I take the brush and actually start brushing, she suddenly has no interest. But anytime she sees a picture of someone brushing their teeth, she brushes her teeth with her finger again, trying to get me to let her do it again.


5) Much to her parents' dismay, TV. She doesn't want to live without it. We've been keeping it off more and more (much to her dismay) because she seems so intent on watching it and we'd rather have her playing or reading. But there are certain times that it's just necessary to turn it on....


So last night Daddy was gone for the third evening in a row, and Mommy was tired after three very full days of watching her, so I had the TV on before dinner for Dora and after dinner for The Backyardigans...two of her favorite shows. What she likes best about The Backyardigans is the theme song. She'll drop whatever she's doing in another room when she hears it and make a mad dash for the TV to dance along. So last night it came on and this is what she did:

She started off subtle, but then got more excited as the song went on:

As she watched, I took pictures of her various TV watching positions. She doesn't watch it in one spot for very long, as you can see!

There's also one of her in her rocking chair watching, but for some reason it didn't upload when I put them on the computer. Oh well...you get the idea.

Oh, and this isn't obsession, just kind of funny. As we were leaving the grocery yesterday she saw broccoli in the bag. "Gocky!" she shouted (this is a new word....I'd never heard her use it before, so I'm not sure how she knew it!). She loves broccoli, and we hadn't had it for a week or so, so I guess she was missing it, because she kept calling out "gocky" all afternoon until she finally got it for dinner....ate all of hers and almost all of mine! Guess I better buy "gocky" more often!

sleep and squeals

Last night I posted about the two nap/waking up early problem. Well, last night I put her to bed a half hour early, since I've learned that "sleep begets sleep," when it comes to her. If she sleeps well, she sleeps longer. So I put her to bed early in hopes that she'd sleep longer this morning. It worked! She slept until just after 7:00 this morning. It was great--I had time to myself, took my shower, and was much more excited to greet her than I have been at 5:00, 5:30, or 6:00 this past week or two.

Since she slept later, I decided on no morning nap--I'll try just one today and see how she does. So what did we do with our long morning with no nap? I decided to brave the cold and attempt storytime at the library again. I haven't done it in months and months. The last two fiascos have made me shy away from them. But this morning I realized that she really needs the social interaction and I need to get over my fear of her social interactions (the fact that she's so social and I'm not), so we went. I took her there a little early because she likes playing in this little playroom they have in the library with puzzles and books. If we go there for a quick trip to just drop off or pick up something, she gets very bent out of shape if she misses her time in the playroom (to which I usually say, "too bad," and ignore her fit, but on a day like today when I wanted her to behave herself in a big group of people, I decided it was worth it to play a little first in the playroom and then go to the storytime). Well, everyone else going to the storytime seemed to have the same idea, because the playroom was packed with moms and toddlers. All the kids were sizing each other up, just watching and kind of milling around. Not my daughter.....guess whose child was in the center of the room jumping, dancing, smiling, and squealing with delight with all of the eyes on her!? Yeah....mine....how she ever is a product of my flesh and blood, I'll never know, but she's mine and I love her.

So then it was time for storytime. Once again, everyone was sitting on Mommy's or Grandma's lap (or at least right next to Mommy or Grandma). Not us.... When we first went in the room she spotted the CD player on the table in the front, which looks almost just like ours. She ran up to it and tried to push the button to start it, jumping up and down because she was so excited. The storytime lady came over and rescued the CD player by moving it back and then commented on how excited she was. Then when storytime started we sang, "If You're Happy and You Know It." She loves that song anyway, so she just clapped and squealed through the whole thing, while all the other kids were just kind of standing there--a few clapping, but mostly just the moms doing the words and motions. Everyone kept looking over at her (smiling, thankfully!). When the story lady started a book, of course she wanted nothing to do with sitting still. She wanted to go up to get the book, but I wouldn't let her. First I held her hand....she wriggled free. Then I took her to the back where there were a couple of boys kind of wandering around so she could wander around too. That worked okay--she wandered and smiled at the boys while the story was read, but every once in awhile she'd just squeal--she is just so excited when she's around other little kids that she just can't contain herself! During a felt board story, she actually did sit in my lap (for about half of it) and listen. For the other half, after she wriggled off my lap, I stood up and held her so she wouldn't run around bothering everyone else and she listened. She stayed in my arms the rest of the time. I think she was getting sleepy because every once in awhile she put her head on my shoulder for a second (which she never ever does!). She did pretty well listening the rest of the time, but every so often she'd push against me and try to get down. I wasn't going to chase her around the room, so I wouldn't let her down. She gave in and kept listening, especially enjoying the songs (one of them was actually a Laurie Berkner song she knows and loves, so she really liked that one). After every song or story when everyone would clap, she would not only clap, but squeal with glee. What an enthusiastic girl I have!

So overall it was more successful than the previous attempts, but she still has a long way to go. I know I need to keep taking her or she'll never learn....but will she ever learn? My husband and I are already worried about how she'll ever learn to sit still in school!!! I'm a teacher....I can't have one of those students! Tell me there's still time.....

odds and ends

Yesterday was a better day. We played outside and she would've stayed out all day if I'd let her. My mom asked, "What does she do outside?" Well, after swinging for about 15 minutes, she spent the next 15 minutes picking up sticks in the backyard and putting them in the wood pile in the back of the yard. Then we went out in the front and took a walk around the cul de sac. It's always a very slow ramble, as she stops at nearly every crack in the sidewalk and picks at it with a stick, picks up every stone and broken piece of cement she encounters, admires every acorn top (we have an oak tree in our front yard so there are millions of acorns!), and collects leaves. I've tried taking her bucket outside to put everything in because she tries to hold it all, drops it, and tries to pick it all up again, but she likes keeping her bucket empty! We never make it all the way around the circle.

Both yesterday and today she's come to me several times to tell me she needs a new diaper (in her own way, of course--touching her bottom and saying, "dit!" Sounds a lot like, "Mommy, I need a new diaper, please," doesn't it?!). I say, "Do you need a new diaper?" and she answers, "Okieeeee." This is new, and I'm wondering if a potty chair is in our near future? I'm in no hurry to start potty training, but neither do I want to miss the cues, and this seems like one to me.

Remember I said that she was back to one nap and sleeping in? Well....I spoke too soon, I guess. Once she started getting sick she started waking up very early again (between 5 and 6 AM). This means she's tired again by 8:00, goes back to bed, and takes another nap in the afternoon. I'm ready for the one nap/sleeping in regime.

I'm sick of the Wiggles, so today instead of Wigglydancing, I pulled out Baby Noah, an oldie but goody. She hadn't watched it in months and was completely enthralled. This time around she started doing all of the animal sounds and trying to say the names of the animals. She was very fun to watch.

Sorry there are no pictures lately....I need to be better about taking them. I'll try to get some up soon. Hopefully my scintillating tales are enough to keep you coming back! :)

a ray of sunshine

...literally!

I've been so frustrated with our constant health issues lately, but today I feel more hopeful. Today the sun is out and it's supposed to be close to 50 degrees! Our little one's cough is better and her nose is a little less stuffy and runny, and things are looking up a bit. I've felt rather like a caged lion lately, not wanting to take her much of anywhere because I don't want her getting anything else or giving her germs to some other unsuspecting little one, but going crazy inside these four walls. So I haven't been out a whole lot, which is hard for me. I'm looking forward to going outside this afternoon to play and for a walk. And tonight I tutor, which I always enjoy.

Crayons are a big obsession at the moment. Ever since Daddy got them out a week or so ago, she asks for them several times a day. It's really increased her excitement about colors. She's becoming much more consistent at naming them correctly or pointing to the right ones when you ask her. Blue used to be her favorite to talk about. Then pink. The last two days it's been green ("geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee," she calls it). She's been pointing out green things all the time.

She's also obsessed with ladybugs right now. She has a sleeper with ladybugs all over and she goes berserk whenever she sees it. I can't get it on her fast enough if I have it out. She bends over and points to them on her feet and legs, then stands up and points to them on her tummy and her arms. Then she points to the ladybug on her wall (a painted wooden one that I made before she was born--there are lots of little bugs and things up on her wall for decoration). Last night she discovered lady bugs on the cover of her current favorite book (Each Peach Pear Plum is the book). She wouldn't stop pointing to those.

We've started doing bedtime stories recently. While she drinks her milk sitting on my lap in the rocking chair after her bath, I read her a book. Each Peach Pear Plum is the one she chooses the most right now. But once in awhile she'll choose Guess How Much I Love You, which always makes me cry, if she actually lets me get to the end of it (she just likes to look at the pictures in that one and keeps turning the pages before I get to the end of the sentence!). Sometimes she just likes looking at pictures in her Richard Scarry word book. She goes through phases, but always returns to the same things. I'm ready to move on to something new! What books do your little ones like at the moment?

coughing and ketchup

Remember what I said about our little one getting better? Well, I spoke too soon. She's sick yet again, or maybe I should say still. It's the same old stuff...runny/stuffy nose and horrible cough. Just horrible. She's coughing until she gags and her eyes are watering. Her face turns bright red and she just looks and sounds miserable. Yesterday was the first day that she just wasn't herself. Up until then she was her usual happy self all through the sickness, but yesterday you could definitely notice a change. She was clingier than normal and she threw a huge fit in the middle of the afternoon, which is not like her. I finally had to put her in bed just to give herself some time and space to calm herself down because nothing else would do it.

Before I put her to bed last night I remembered reading once that you should put Vicks on a child's feet under their socks before bedtime to help with coughing . Sounds strange, but the coughing was so bad that I decided I'd try anything to help her sleep. So after her bath I lathered up her feet with Vicks. Whew! It was strong! And from the moment I laid her down, she didn't cough once! We heard her several hours later, but she only coughed once, and then slept all night. I didn't hear her again until 6:00 this morning, when I normally hear her.

Well, she got up just miserable. Totally stuffed up, coughing non stop again, watery eyes, the works. She wasn't even very excited when The Wiggles came on at 7:00, usually one of the highlights of her day! She sat on my lap and watched, but didn't dance and bop along like normal. A little bit after that she was rubbing her head. I started wondering if maybe she didn't have a huge headache from coughing so much. I said, "Do you want Mommy to give you some medicine?" "Okay," she answered. So I gave her tylenol. Then she was rubbing her eyes. I said, "Do you want to go nigh night?" "Okay," again. You know she's sick when she asks to go to bed after not even being up 2 hours! I put more Vicks on her feet and again, from the moment I laid her down, her coughing stopped! Amazing!

While she was sleeping I called the doctor and made an appointment. When I've called before I feel like they've done everything possible to keep me from bringing her in. I know there's not much they can do for a cold these days, with no cold or cough medicines allowed anymore, but gosh, this has been going on since about Thanksgiving!!! So I got her up over and hour later and we went to the doctor. The doctor wasn't much help, but gave us an antibiotic to treat a sinus infection, even though she doesn't know if that's what it is. She said her lungs are fine, her ears are fine, her throat is fine....so it must be her sinuses. She looked in her nose and said it doesn't look like allergies, so she's going under the assumption that it's a sinus infection. It's a different antibiotic than normal, since the pink stuff didn't do anything to help last time. We'll see if this one helps (if I can get her to take it! She hates the pink stuff, and this is something different...and not anymore tasty! She took most of it this first time, with difficulty, but we'll see what kind of reception I have the next time she sees it. Ugh....two weeks of that does not sound fun. But neither does two weeks of coughing. Maybe this will help.)

After the doctor we went to go get some lunch. Well, she discovered ketchup. I was dipping my french fries in ketchup and she started pointing to it. So I dipped one in just a little bit and gave it to her. She made a funny face when she tasted it, but then dipped it back in, and continued over and over. Everytime she'd put it in her mouth she'd make a face, so I don't know that she really liked it, but she sure liked the dipping process! The novelty of it, I suppose, more than anything else. So I got her her own little cup with just a very little bit of ketchup in it (because she kept trying to put her fingers in the full cup). This entertained her the rest of the meal. If only everything was so easily solved....

Oh, wait, I almost forgot! Her weight!! She weighs 22 pounds, 4 ounces now, which is WAY more than last time. The doctor was so happy with her weight--she seems to be growing out of whatever her problem was, even with her eating strikes she's been going on lately. I guess she's still getting the calories she needs (graham crackers and milk really pack on the pounds, apparently!) Whatever the reason, I'm so glad!

good as new

....well, not quite, but I tried!



Since Christmas my little one has been playing with my old baby doll, Baby Heen. But it's been bugging me that she's so dirty and messy. I remember my mom used to wash her and I would be so thrilled to get her fresh, warm, and clean out of the dryer.

So today Baby Heen got a makeover of sorts. I soaked her and all of her clothes in a big bucket of Oxyclean and scalding hot water. Then I scrubbed her and her clothes with an old toothbrush. You should've seen the nasty stuff that came out! Her cloth skin looks so much cleaner. Her hair, however, is a different story. It came out of the bucket terribly matted and nasty. Of course, when she went into the bucket it was matted and nasty, too, so this wasn't a huge difference. But I got a wide toothed comb and actually combed her hair--I felt like I was six again, doing my doll's hair (I used to put curlers in Mandy and Becky's hair--do you remember Mandy, Becky, Jenny, or Joey dolls? I had Mandy and Becky, my next door neighbor had Jenny, and my brother had Joey, and we used to play with them all together). Anyway, I got a lot of the tangles out and thought maybe I had made a difference in her hair.

Then I put her in the dryer with a pillow (to help with the thumping noise she made every time her hard, plastic face hit the wall of the dryer!). After a few minutes I took her out to make sure she wasn't melting from the heat (even though I had it on low). She wasn't melting, but her hair was dry and still matted and nasty, just like it was before it got wet. Oh well. It was no worse for wear.

But she does look better....infinitely cleaner and ready for lots of playing! My daughter really could care less, but I feel better about it, anyway.

a look inside the mind of a 21 month old

...well, my 21 month old, anyway. Read the following stories and just see the wheels turning in her little brain!

1) Background: She loves watches. Everytime she's around my parents, who both wear watches, she goes back and forth between them, pushing their sleeves up to see their watches. On the few occasions that I wear a watch, she's obsessed those days with looking at mine. Whenever she does this she points to it, says "tick tick tick" and then points to the clock on the wall above the mantle and does the same thing.

Okay, so here's the story. Today I was cooking dinner and she was a little cranky. Daddy tried to entertain her to keep her out of my way, but that only lasted so long and then she was at my feet again, trying to push me away from the counter like she always does. I encouraged her to go into her play kitchen and to cook some chicken, just like mommy (I was making chicken and dumplings). She did, but again, that didn't last long and she was back. So I was going to pick her up and hold her while I stirred the dumplings in the pot on the stove, so I said, "Do you want to watch?" She said, "ohhh-kie," and came up to my awaiting arms and instead of letting me pick her up she pushed up my sleeve, looked for a watch, and said, "tick tick tick!" Funny girl!!! (Lesson learned....the next time I said, "Do you want to see what Mommy's doing?")

2) Background: One of her favorite things these days is to see one of us laying down and making a snoring noise, telling us to pretend that we're sleeping. When we comply and then pretend to sleep, she laughs and laughs. Yesterday I was looking at a Parenting magazine and she saw a picture of a sleeping baby. She proceeded to lay down on the floor and start her pretend snoring. She does this with her baby dolls, her stuffed animals, her little people people.... all the time. Her favorite part of the Wiggles is when Jeff is sleeping, so she can make her snoring noise (which, incidentally, sounds just like her pig snorting noise!).

So at lunch today she decided to chew threw the soft, rubbery spout on her sippy cup. These are the ones she started out with when she was just learning to use a sippy cup. She's since moved on to hard spouts, but I still use the old soft ones (guess I won't be anymore!). So I took that one away to throw in the trash and got out a tall one that I don't use very much. It's a really cool Nalgene bottle/sippy cup with the name of my college on it that my mom bought for her when we were visiting the bookstore of my college over the summer. But since it's so big I just usually don't use it. When I pulled it out this afternoon she was SO excited and carried it around, patting it, showing it to me, and taking drinks of water out of it.

Fast forward to dinnertime. We were eating and she was playing in her booster seat (she had finished her chicken and veggies already and didn't want anymore). She started playing with her precious big cup. It tipped over and was laying on its side on the tray of her booster seat. After looking at it a bit, she started snoring and smiling, looking at me. It took me a minute to realize what she was doing, but she was showing me that the cup was laying down, sleeping!

3) One of the things Daddy did with her to entertain her while I was cooking dinner was to get out the crayons and some paper--a big treat, since she still likes to try to put them in her mouth on occasion, and I don't get them out very often. After dinner she saw the paper she had colored on, remembered, and pointed up to where we had stored the crayons, out of her reach. So I got them back down and she sat at her little table and chairs to color a bit. Coloring doesn't last long, though--mostly she just likes playing with the crayons. So she proceeded to pick up a blue crayon and say "boooooooo" (which is how she says blue...the only color she knows consistenly--the others are hit or miss). Then she picked up another blue crayon and did the same thing. There were three or four different shades of blue in the box, and she picked them all up and held them in a bunch, so proud of her blue crayons. She then pointed to a toy nearby that had blue on it and said, "booooooo." I praised her and then pointed to her outfit, which was blue, and said, "blue." She kept looking around and pointing out blue things. Then she started doing the same thing with the purples ones, except I had to say, "purple" because she doesn't say that one. But when I'd say, "Where's another purple one?" she could pick it out and find it. We did it for green and orange, too. Then she picked up the pink crayon. I said, "pink." She immediately looked down at her feet and stuck out one of them. Sure enough, there was her little pink fuzzy slipper! Pink! She amazes me every day with what she knows but can't say yet.

If only she would learn to talk (well, talk so I can understand her, anyway!). This afternoon after her nap she was all out of sorts and wanted something but couldn't communicate to me what it was. She was pointing and fussing and I was trying and trying to figure out what it was, but nothing I did was what she wanted. I was getting so frustrated and held her fussy face in my hands, saying, "AHHHHHH! PLEASE learn to talk!!!!" And I know she would if she could. I never did figure out what it was she wanted. I diverted her attention by putting in a new Wiggles video I had gotten at the library yesterday! (Yeah, probably not the best thing to do to improve our communication, but it did improve both of our moods!) The Wiggles work wonders right now...all was right in her world again, and in mine.

Oh, and for those who read last night's post and were wondering, she's not sick.... I think it must've just been the full tummy, like I thought! She slept all night and was fine all day today. Hooray for no more throwing up!

an unpleasant milestone

Well, I just had a motherhood first..... (a little gross...don't read if you have a weak stomach!)

I went in to check on our little one before I went to bed. I walked in there and it smelled really bad. At first I thought she must have a stinky diaper, but then I realized it wasn't that smell, it was throw-up smell. Then I remembered that after I put her down at bedtime and left the room I heard her cough a really loud, hard cough. But then she coughed just a little regular cough, so I didn't think much of it.

Well I went to get a flashlight and sure enough, at one end of her bed, there it was. She was asleep at the other end. So I got my husband (who was up all night last night at a lock in, mind you, and really wanted to go to bed!!) and we went in and got a clean sheet and matress pad out of the dresser, then I picked her up--she woke up but was really groggy. It was all matted in her hair--nasty!!!! So I took her into the bathroom and started a bath--she was quiet and still, just staring at the water, probably wondering what in the world I was doing, waking her up and giving her a bath in the middle of the night! (okay, so it was 10 pm, but that's the middle of her night, anyway!) She was SO good the whole time...getting her undressed, putting her in the tub... except when I rinsed her hair, when she cried pretty hard. She normally hates that anyway, and being half asleep and probably not feeling great made it 10 times worse. I had trouble getting all of it out of her hair, and she was crying...that part wasn't fun at all. I got her out and she was shaking she was so cold and crying. I held her for a long time as she calmed down and I tried to warm her up. Then I got her dressed and she started covering her eyes playing peekaboo with the two of us (he had just finished changing her bed and was talking to her), so she had cheered up.

Can you imagine if I hadn't gone in--she would've slept in that all night! Poor girl!!! She ate a TON for dinner (because she hadn't eaten much earlier in the day) and I think when she coughed so hard that time, some of it must've just come up. I don't think she's sick--at least I hope not. She did feel kind of warm when I first put her to bed and I gave her some tylenol just in case.... she wasn't acting sick, though.

I sat down with her in the rocker and offered her water, but she didn't drink it. I rocked her a bit in the dark and she was yawning. I said, "Are you ready to go nigh night again?" and she said "Okay," (remember, I said last night she doesn't answer "okay" to that question?!?!? I guess in this circumstance she does!) so I put her back in bed with her other blanket and she didn't make a sound. I cleaned the bathtub and am washing the load of the sheets, blanket, PJs, etc. now.

So that was my first throw up experience as a mother--not a particularly fun milestone, I have to say! Won't be the last, I'm sure. And Daddy was a good sport and didn't even throw up himself from the smell, even though he did feel sick to his stomach (I did too a little bit, but I was so concerned about her that it didn't really bother me too much).

Now I can't sleep....worried that she might be sick. I hope it was just a full tummy.

good news, bad news

Good news: Our little one has gone back to taking one nap a day again. Before Christmas when she was sick she started waking up really early because of her stuffy nose and then needed a morning nap. This kind of stuck all through the Christmas season. This week we were out one morning and she didn't get a morning nap, and did just fine. The nap she did get was longer and she was happy the rest of the day. This means I can be gone in the mornings and not have to worry about getting back in time for a nap. Another added bonus is that because she's only getting one nap, she's sleeping in later in the mornings! Yippee!

Bad news: Only one nap means only one time a day to myself to get things done.

Good news: She continues to love her bathtub letters and knows T, O, S, and A. She even recognizes them on her leap frog caterpillar.

Bad news: I've searched all over town this week for magnetic letters for the refrigerator. Who knew they were so hard to find!? I found a set at the teacher store but they wanted an arm and a leg for them. I looked on ebay and have a few that I'm watching, so maybe I'll get some soon. But by that time her fascination with letters could be gone.

Good news: She's so fun to communicate with these days. When you ask her a question she almost always answers with, "ohhh-kie," which is her version of "okay."

Bad news: This only works if it's something she wants...."Do you want some milk?" "Ohhh-kie." "Would you like to watch The Wiggles?" "Ohhh-kie." "Are you ready to go nigh-night?" Silence..... It doesn't work like a charm, unfortunately.

Good news: Today she ate pizza, yogurt, graham crackers (LOTS of graham crackers), apple, french toast sticks, cheerios.... that's a lot of food for her in one day.

Bad news: Today she ate pizza, yogurt, graham crackers (LOTS of graham crackers), apple, french toast sticks, cheerios.... that's a lot of carbs in one day, very little fruit, and NO vegetables! She's been pickier than normal these days. I'm lucky if I can get her to eat anything.

Good news: Her cold and cough are getting better.

Bad news: Her nose is running like a faucet as she gets rid of everything. Her little nose is raw and red underneath from Mommy wiping it so much.

Good news: She's in bed, Daddy's gone for the night (at the middle school lock in at our church--there's nowhere on earth I would rather NOT be!), and I have the whole evening to myself!

Bad news: Daddy will come home in the morning very tired and want to sleep most of the day.

Good news: He loves it and will come home happy, though tired.

playtime

Just thought I'd post some pictures of playtime these days. We got her some beads, after her introduction to them on New Year's Eve, and she's loving them!

Yesterday she decided to share the wealth with her baby doll.

She became a little monkey a few weeks ago and learned how to climb on the kitchen chairs, the couch (sometimes....sometimes she can't make it up on her own), and the piano bench. Sometimes I'll open the piano and let her play when she climbs up there (with one finger...she's not allowed to pound), which she loves.

midnight musings

Well, it's not quite midnight, but I can't sleep and it's only 44 minutes away as I begin typing this, so I declare it close enough to call it midnight!

Our little one is sick again. It seems one of us always is these days. My husband and I are both better, so that means it's her turn to get sick. She's coughing a lot and I'm going to keep her home from church tomorrow--no use passing all of those germs along to the other innocent toddlers (though that's where many of her germs seem to originate!). A friend of mine said recently that her son is sick every Tuesday, after being in the church nursery on Sunday! Then he gets better, goes to church again and gets sick again on Tuesday! Our situation isn't quite so predictable, but I can understand her point.

Spinning has become a popular dance move for her lately. She's been getting into The Wiggles a lot lately (and I mean a lot....I pretty much know every song and dance by heart. Move over, Laurie Berkner! --though she still loves those CDs, too). She's been watching Wiggles videos from the library, though--right up her alley with all of the music and dancing. Well, somehow she got the idea to spin around to the music, in addition to her usual repertoire of dance steps. She turns and turns around until she nearly (and sometimes actually does) start to fall down, frequently dangerously close to the coffee table, so I'm trying not to encourage the spinning! It's cute and all, but a big bump on the head wouldn't be worth the cuteness of it.

I hope you all don't mind, but I just have to brag for a minute about her....not that this whole entire blog isn't one giant brag-fest about our daughter, but this is blatant bragging at it's best! For Christmas we gave her this set of foam letters and numbers for the bath tub. She's in love with them and gets even more excited than usual about taking her bath every night because of them. Well, several nights ago while she was holding up letters one by one, I started telling her what letter they were and what sound they made. For some reason she became really excited about the letter "T" and its sound and kept repeating it over and over: "t, t, t, t, t, t" (the sound, not the actual name of the letter). So the next night I found the T and did it again. We did this for a few nights. So the night before last I asked her, "Can you find the letter T?" and then made the "t" sound for her. She looked and looked all around the tub--mind you, there are 26 letters floating around and the numbers 0-9. She couldn't find it, so I pointed in the general direction and she found it. So last night we asked her again, and without any prompting about where it was, she found it and held it up proudly! She picked it out of all of the letters of the alphabet! I couldn't believe it. Then she proceeded to do the same thing with "O!" That's another one we had worked on and that she seems to like a lot (why you like one letter over all of the others, I'm not sure, but she seems to have her favorites--she likes to play with the W and M a lot, too--I think because they look almost identical and she likes having two of everything--one in each hand. Incidentally, those are my initials! She also likes the B and 8--again, because I think she thinks they look the same! Funny girl!). Looks like it's time to go buy some magnet letters for the fridge--that's how I learned my letters and learned to read. Can you tell I'm a teacher? Already pushing my not quite 2-year-old to read!!!!

Well, it's not midnight yet, but I don't think I have enough musings to make it for another 19 minutes, and my eyes are now getting sleepy, so I'll say goodnight!

my very favorite people

This was taken Labor Day weekend after a rousing game of wiffle ball. We all got together at my parents' because my younger brother, Jack, and his wife were in town from NYC, and they don't get home very often. I had totally forgotten about this picture until my mom sent it to me just recently. These are my very favorite people in the whole wide world!

Top Row: Megan (Jack's wife), Jack, Ted (my older brother), my grandpa

Middle Row: Leslie (Ted's wife), my dad, my mom, me, our little one, my husband

Bottom Row: Ted's kids--Alex (2 1/2), Emma (5), and Ethan (7)

We saw all of these people at Christmas (and lots more) but we didn't get a group picture. So I'm posting this one instead.

outer banks, anyone?

I've talked to a few of you about this already, but for everyone else, have you ever been to the Outer Banks? We think we're headed here in June for vacation (with our little one this year!) and I'm in information overload as I research options online. So I've been turning to those I know to give me more specific advice, rather than trying to weed through it all myself, though I've already done a fair amount of that! I think we've narrowed it down to a couple of oceanfront condos in Duck, but I'm up for advice from anyone with experience--restaurants, the best beaches, things to do, etc. So if you have some experience to share, write me a comment (in case you don't know how to do that....click under my post where it says "O Comments" or "1 Comment" or whatever it happens to say at the moment).

On the home front, I'm finally starting to recover from the never ending party going on in my sinuses--it started way back in mid December, and hasn't stopped. Ever see the Mucinex commercial with those germs who don't want to leave? Well, that's what they're doing inside of my sinus cavities. I don't just get colds, normally. I get full blown sinus infections of epic proportions. I haven't tried Mucinex, actually, and maybe I should've to see if their commercial really does what they say it does! But it's finally starting to clear up and I've probably only used about 20 tissues today as opposed to the usual 47 or so! I've gone through two of those huge boxes of Puffs since this all started. And today at dinner my husband informed me that he's felt a cold coming on all afternoon. Wonderful! More germs to pass around our little family.

Mama continues to be a favorite phrase for our little one, which is such a wonderful thing to hear! Tonight in the car on the way home from dinner (we went out, which was a nice treat), she was saying it over and over (mamamamamamamamamamamamama.....like that). Daddy says she's making up for lost time! This morning he got up (very early) with her while I got a little extra sleep, since he got to sleep in yesterday. After an hour or so I woke up to get ready for church and heard "mama" coming from outside my closed bedroom door. Usually we don't close our bedroom door because then I couldn't hear her if she wakes up in the middle of the night, but it was closed after he got up with her so I could continue sleeping. So anyway, I open my door and there she is at the top of the stairs saying "Mama," all by herself--Daddy was still downstairs and didn't know she had climbed upstairs by herself to find me, the sneaky little stinker! Sweet.....but dangerous. She's not allowed to crawl up the stairs by herself, because I'm terrified of her tumbling down again.

home alone

I can't tell you the last time I was at home, alone in my own house. Until right now, that is! Oh my, it's such a strange, free-ing feeling! This morning I was up really early with our daughter, then couldn't go back to sleep after I put her back to bed, since my husband was snoring. So I got up and read, and by the time I was ready to go back to bed, guess who was babbling and ready to get up for the day, saying "ma ma" in her crib (for only the second time....who can resist her when she's finally calling my name???) So she got up and I was playing Mommy for a few hours while Daddy slept in.

Around 8 he finally came downstairs and I was sitting on the floor "playing" while our little one was whipping up some delicious concoction in her play kitchen. My playing involved sitting with my eyes closed and my chin in my hands trying to rest until she came bouncing over to me for me to taste what she had made and say, "Mmmmm!" He told me to go back to bed, so I did! He got her dressed and took her to his woodworking store, which is on the other side of town and always takes a long time. I slept for almost two hours, got up and took a shower, and they're still not home.

Uh oh, I take that back. The front door just opened. But boy, was it nice while it lasted!

little drummer girl

Did you have one of these drum sets when you were little? We did. My mom found this one, like new, on ebay for her for Christmas. It even says "Fisher Price 1979" on the bottom. Ours got lots of use growing up, as I'm sure this one will, too.

She loves the harmonica inside, though all she can do is hum when she puts it up to her mouth to make it "play." She loves it when I play it, but when she tries it herself, it's just her singing. I'm sure she'll get it someday! It also has maracas and cymbals inside, which are lots of fun, too.

happy 2008

We rang in the hours before the new year with lots of friends (and their children) last night. It was lots of fun, especially for our little social butterfly. She had a great time and seemed to be the life of the party. How she ever came from my husband and myself, I'll never know, because neither of us would EVER be the life of the party!

She found a box of beads that belonged to the little girl whose parents hosted the party. She decided to beautify herself by putting on as many as she could (then taking them off, putting them on, taking them off, putting them on....you get the idea). Pretty soon about every girl in the room was wearing at least one strand of beads, and even the one boy, her best friend, Kaden. She's such a little trend setter!

Toward the end of the evening we took a group picture of all of our kids (there were about 8 or 9 couples there, and upwards of 12 little ones--some had left and one had gone to bed by the time we took the picture). There wasn't room for our little one to sit on the couch, so she, Kaden, and another little girl sat on the back of the couch while the other two moms and I hunched down behind the couch and held them up there. The rest of the parents were standing out in front either taking pictures or clapping and trying to make everyone smile. Well, our daughter, the life of the party, decided she was a super star or something, and started cheering, squealing and smiling like crazy.

She's the only smiling one in the bunch! I think Leah, the little girl below her, is crying because she got kicked in the head by my little one's foot! We're sorry, Leah!

She put up a fuss when we had to leave; she was having such a great time. We got home around 8, a little bit past her bedtime, but not too late (Yeah, I know...we're quite the party animals, aren't we? But everyone else was leaving too, so we weren't the only ones. That's what happens when you have kids, I guess). After we got her in bed we put in a movie, but I was asleep on the couch within a half hour! Some date I was! I was in bed and sound asleep well before the new year, but that's just fine with me!

Happy New Year!