Monday, May 30, 2005

Look Mom!

Jaynie is so cute, pointing things out to me. She can't let a hat go by without commenting on it. She sees flowers and fish and kitties and doggies everywhere. She knows Kermit is a frog and when he comes on TV (he does "It's not easy, being green" on her video) she signs frog and ribbits for me. She points out babies, tells me when she hears a bird, and will point to any man in uniform and go "Daddy!" (She doesn't seem to actually think other uniformed men are her Dad, it's more like she's saying "Look, Mom, he has an outfit just like Daddy's!")

She loves to color. We have a big piece of cardboard out in the sunroom that I've drawn a duck, a fish, and a turtle on. She'll bring me a crayon and announce "Duck!" and I'll say "Are you going to color the duck?" and she'll take it back and run out there to do just that. That poor duck has been colored to within an inch of it's life.

Her new favorite thing to do is take her milk out of the fridge, have a drink, then put it back in and shut the door. She'll ask for it, take two sips, then announce "All done!" just so she can put it back. (Of course, she wants it again 3 seconds later.)

Ok, it's time to put this one to bed. Or as Jaynie likes to say... "Night night! Bee-bee!"

What a good eater!

A couple of nights ago I roped Joe into taking us to the Golden Corral (Hey judgemental people! Shut it! I was wanting pot roast and banana pudding in the worst way, and short of turning back time to that morning and making some, the Corral was my only option.)

Joe strapped Jaynie into the highchair while I went up to the buffet to get food for the both of us. I got a plate for me, and an entire plate for her. Seriously - it was a lot of food. I didn't want to have to get back up 12 times if she wanted more or something different or whatever. I got her broccoli and carrots and beans and fish and pot roast and potatoes and cauliflower and cantelope and pinapple and cornbread. It was a grown-up's portion of food.

She ate it all.

People 4 tables away were asking us "How old is she? Wow - she's a good eater!" When Jaynie abandoned the cut-up broccoli I'd given her and grabbed a big stalk to gnaw on, I heard a little old lady half the room away start giggling.

When the banana pudding came out, I thought she was going to pass out from the sheer joy of it. Bananas! Cookies! Pudding! All in one bite? Genius!

When we got home and gave her the bath, we were both crying we were laughing so hard. Her little belly was sticking straight out like a pregnant woman's. We're talking 3rd trimester here. She was stuffed.

So opinionated

Every day when it's time to get Madam dressed, I go to the drawer and ask her "So, my darling, what do you want to wear today? A pretty dress? A t-shirt and shorts? A cute romper?" etc etc. Kind of a running commentary while we do our morning thing. Sometimes if I hold out two choices she'll pick one, but most of the time she just looks at me like "What do I have you around for? You're going to make me decide this?"

This morning when I opened the drawer and asked her, she clearly replied "Turtle!". Poor thing had to say it like 6 times before I realized she was talking to me, and that she does, in fact, own an outfit with turtles on it. I turned and said "You want the turtle outfit?" and she got all excited - "Turtle! Turtle! Turtle!" So I pull it out, and before it was even unfolded she recognized the little bows on the sleeves and went berzerk. "TURTLE! TURTLE! TURTLE!"

So she wore the turtle outfit. And all day long if you asked her "What's that on your shirt?" she'd let you know. "TURTLE!"

Pee-Pee in the Potty!

On Friday, May 27, 2005, my big girl peed in the potty. It was exciting. It was sad. It was pretty funny.

I bought her this fun little potty that lights up and sings when you sit on it. When you actually put a deposit in it there's the sound of a crowd cheering. It's hysterical. We have it sitting in the bathroom so when she follows me in there she can sit on her potty while I sit on mine.

Friday night I've got her in there, naked, ready for the bath and all she wants to do is sit down, stand up, sit down, stand up, over and over and over. She finally gets in the tub, we have a quick bath, then she's out again and on the potty....

When I hear cheering!

She peed in there! I couldn't believe it. It was a total right place at right time type of thing, but still exciting. What a big kiddo I have here. (She did it again yesterday. You hear that cheering sound and you think "Naaaaah. Can't be!" and then you look in the little bowl - and there's pee!)

Monday, May 23, 2005

Hello? Can you hear me now?

Joe has been TDY for almost 2 weeks (gets back tomorrow - yay!) During that time Jaynie has perfected her phone skills. When he's not avaliable, we'll sometimes just call so she can listen to his voice on the voicemail and leave him a little message ("Hi Dad!") When he is avaliable the two of them will chat forever. He askes her stuff like "What does the cow say?" and she'll respond (wait for it...) "Moo!" So cute.

She's gotten so good at this phone thing that I can just hand it to her and she'll hold it to her ear and talk to him. A couple of nights ago I was trying to get dinner on the table, she was trying to climb me, he was trying to talk to me, so I just strapped her in the high chair, handed her the phone, and the two of them amused eachother while I made dinner.

That led us to yesterday at WalMart. I'm pushing her around in the cart, hunting for creamsicles (Why can I only find the sugarfree kind? I don't WANT the sugarfree kind! I want a CREAMSICLE!), when her Dad calls. She's immediatley reaching for the phone ("Dad! Dad! Dad!"), so I hand it to her and keep shopping. You would not believe the looks we got from other shoppers. Picture a toddler, chatting on a cell phone ("Moo. Baa. Ribbit. Meow. Ruff-Ruff."), while Mom looks for popsicles. We were quite the spectacle. Would've been better if I'd had another phone for me to talk on - then it would've looked like she had her own phone, at the tender age of one. Too cute.

Friday, May 20, 2005

A note from Jaynie

Hey kids! Did you know that if your Mom is being unreasonable and mean and uncooperative, and refusing to stick a straw in the juice-box for you, it is totally possible to gnaw a hole in the side of it and drink your juice like that? It's true! All you need is a couple of opposing teeth, and you're set! The best part - it will NEVER occur to your Mom that such a thing is possible, so you can get away with wandering around, drinking juice (or better yet - squeezing the box and squirting juice all over the house!) for like 5 minutes before she notices and stops you! Yay!

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Too cute for words...

I really need to start wandering around with the video camera strapped to my hand. Tonight, while Jaynie was taking a bath, George kept hanging out on the edge of the tub. This is always surprising to me considering the number of times he's fallen into the tub in the past - you'd think he'd learn. She suddenly lunges at him - it looked like she was trying to drag him into the water to me. He jumps up and runs away, and she climbs out of the tub and before you can say "naked baby!" she's out the door and chasing him around the house. At some point she picked up her glow-worm. So picture this - big fat cat running for all he's worth, being chased by wet, naked baby holding a toy under her arm (think holding the football, running for the touchdown) that's singing "Twinkle Twinkle" as she books it down the hall. Little chubs bouncing around as she runs (yes, folks, she runs now). Cutest thing ever.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Swing!

Every time we go to the park I do a sign for "swing" when she's on them. She's never done it back, or said the word. When she wants to go on the swings, she just heads towards them. (It's so cute - she'll go down the slide for the last time, then just walk away towards the swings. She doesn't bother to let me know where we're going, she doesn't even check to make sure I'm following - she just heads over there. )

It's been a few days since we went out there - we've been doing our outdoor playing in the front yard lately (we've discovered the joy of playing in a sprinkler - what fun!) Today when she woke up from her nap she looked around, zeroed in on me, took her binky out of her mouth and signed while saying, clear as day, "Swing!"

So we went. And we swinged (swung? swang?). And we blew bubbles. And we went down the slide. And we played with some other kids. And we had a blast.




And when we got home.... I had to pull a tick off of my baby. It's back to the front yard for her. Blegh.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

The more the merrier!

So I didn't shower last night, and this morning instead of doing it while she napped I napped with her (lazy lazy, I know). I think it through and decide that if I have her movie on the tv, and leave the door open, and the opaque shower curtain pulled up so she can see me - I should be able to take a quick one while she's up and about.

Wrooooooooooong.
I'm in there for approx. 2 seconds when I hear the sound of a screaming toddler heading my way. "MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY MOOOOMEEEEEE!" I was standing with my face in the water, so without opening my eyes I'm already saying "It's ok, I'm right here, calm down, etc. etc." Then I feel something on my leg.

I look down and find a fully dressed kid in the shower with me, now screaming because the water is getting her. Genius.

It really just deteriorated from there. She wanted me to hold her, she didn't want to get wet, she started looking at my chest like "Heeeeey! I haven't seen you guys in a while!" - what a fiasco. Note to self - shower tonight after she goes to bed.

For those who worried...

She did wake up this morning at 4am, but just played with her toys for half an hour then went back to sleep. (I know this because I heard the doll that plays "Twinkle Twinkle" when you squeeze it do so approx. 47 times.) It's like she went "Hmm. I'm awake, but it's still dark out. It must not be time to get up yet!" What a sweetie.

She demanded "Mommy! Up!" right on schedule at 5:45am. If anyone has suggestions as to how to push that back by at least an hour, I'm listening. Having her go to bed later seems to have no affect on what time she gets up - she's just crankier in the morning if she gets less sleep.

Have I mentioned that I'm not a morning person?

Monday, May 16, 2005

Dooooomed

Last night, Jaynie went to bed at about 8:15. She woke up this morning at 5:30am.

Tonight, she went to bed at 6:30.



I'm doomed.

A few more...

I've been thinking about the word list and have remembered a few more...

Bubbles (I can't believe I forgot this one - she says it a l l t h e t i m e. It's like she figures the best way to get some bubbles is to constantly remind me that she likes them.), jacket, sit down, barn, chick, ball... I had more but I can't remember now. There may be yet another update (or, I suppose, I could just come back and edit this post and add them. Duh.)

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Communication 101

This isn't going to be a fun, cutesy post. This is just documentation of all the words and signs Jaynie knows. I haven't really tried to count them yet, and I'm curious as to just how many she does.

Most of them she does a sign and says a "word" at the same time - we wouldn't know what she was saying if she didn't do the sign with it. Some of them she's stopped doing the sign altogether because she says the word now instead (thank you comes to mind). So the lists will overlap, but I'm gonna list all the signs she does or did, and all the words she says that I can tell what she's saying.

Signs - hat, more, drink, milk, diaper, poop, kitty, doggie, duck, frog, giraffe, hippo, elephant, bunny, turtle, gentle, cracker, cereal, hot, cold, spider, sun, rain, train, car, horse, bird, please, thank you, hear, flower, cheese, fish, big, little, tired/nap, book, pig, eat, all done, and (the gone but not forgotton) boob.

Words - hat, more, drink, milk, diaper, poop, duck, turtle, gentle, cracker, spider, rain, train, please, thank you, cheese, fish, big, little, nap, book, hi, hello, bye-bye, Mommy, Daddy, Gramma, apple, peas, water, juice, raisens, chicken, Victoria, George, binky, bath, swing, moo, quack, ruff-ruff, baa, ribbit, meow, tweet-tweet, wah-wah, baby, tv show, movie, Elmo, Cookie, Ernie, Bert, Big Bird, trash, batty-bat, la la la, "and me" (from "Rainbow Connection"), blanket, Bob, Boom!, beans, green beans, ice cream, shoe, foot, hand, arm, nose, glasses, high-five, outside, out, up, down, all done, uh-oh, two, three, slipper....

I've been working on this for like 20 min. There might be more, but that's all I've got for now. Plenty of these "words" are only things I understand (example - "glasses" are "dat-dats"), but I *do* understand them, so I'm counting them. If she can use a sound to tell me what she wants and I get it, that counts as a word in my book.

I can't believe how many there are! Holy cow - when did my baby turn into a kid?

She also is combining them. She'll ask for "more cheese", or "Movie! Elmo!", or "book, pleeeease", or "fish cracker" etc. Tonight she asked for "cereal, milk" because she wanted a bowl of cereal, not just a handful of dry Cheerios. The most memorable thing she did was when she was having a diaper change pre-nap. I always give her a drink of water before laying her down. She was on the table, and she looked around and then signed for diaper, then drink, then nap. It was just like in Meet the Fockers - she was telling me "Right now you're changing my diaper, then I'm going to have a drink, and after that a nice nap." Amazing.

All her 2000 parts!

Ok, I realize I've posted twice already today - it's just this kiddo keeps amazing me! We were just having a game of "Where's your nose?" and she was so impressive I figured I'd better come document it. We started at the top and worked our way down - head, hair, ear, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, arms, hands, fingers, belly, legs, feet, toes. She got them all. Then I tried to challenge her - "Where's your elbow?". She patted it and said "ELMO!", then got down and went to the tv.

So she's now watching her Sesame Street video, and I'm sitting here completely amazed at how grown up and smart my baby has gotten.

Who taught that kid elbow?

Well, that explains it...

I think I've discovered the reason for the uber-crankiness we've had going on around here. Earlier, when Jaynie was yelling at me (no respect at all in this house), I spotted a molar that had just broken through! My baby has a molar! She also has 3 giant red lumps to match - the other teeth that haven't quite made it in yet. So I guess we'll have these crankypants on for a while yet. Poor kid. I'm off to administer some Baby Tylonol and a frozen waffle.

Uh oh

I have two alarming things to report today...

1) As of this morning, Jaynie can reach the kitchen counter. No more leaving stuff close to the edge. Every time I think I've got the house Jaynie-proofed, she either learns a new skill or grows another inch. Sigh.

2) Yesterday was my one free day a month of daycare. She was there from 8am to 2pm. I did lots of exciting things like clean her room, go grocery shopping, vacuum the floors, and take a shower. The shower was the best part. Without the chorus of "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" outside the door, I was able to take my time. I actually used my body scrub, not just the soap. I deep-conditioned my hair. I used the pumice stone on my feet. I also sang a bit in the shower. What song did I sing, during my grown-up-Jaynie's-not-even-in-the-house-shower?

"Do the duck! Rubber duck, duck, rubber duck..... "

Friday, May 13, 2005

Pretending!

Jaynie has started playing pretend games with her stuffed animals! It is the cutest thing ever. Today she was having a drink of water, and when she was done she held Bob (her lamb) like a baby and held the water up to his mouth. Later I caught her feeding apple to her frog, and then trying to brush his teeth.

She's got little plates and cups that go with her toy-kitchen-thingy (not sure what to call this - play kitchen?) and she'll take fake sips from the cups, then hold them to your mouth for you to have some. She'll use the little spoon and stir and scoop from the plates, then take fake bites - or offer them to you. It's adorable.

I'm constantly blown away by the things she can do and understand, but pretend play? So cute. So amazing. Such a big girl!

Houston, we have a problem.

Jaynie has begun the process of dropping the 2nd nap of the day. Instead of two shorter naps, she just wants one big one right around noon.

Why is this a problem, you ask? If you are asking this, you either don't have kids or are not very smart. Or maybe a combo of the two.

By dropping the later nap, she's ready for bed (read - completely fried and starting to whine) an hour earlier in the evening. Instead of being in bed by eight, she's going down at seven. That, in turn, is causing her to wake up an hour earlier in the morning. So instead of 6am, I'm hearing "Mommy! Up! Mommy! Up! Moooommyyyyy!" while it's still dark outside. Uggghhhhhhhh.

I am so not a morning person. It's bad enough she looks exactly like her Dad, did she have to pick up all his most annoying personality traits, too?

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Boogers beware!

This morning Jaynie shoved the bulb syringe up my nose.

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, the bulb syringe is a little turkey-baster-looking thing that you use to suck the boogers from a baby's nose when they are still too little to understand "Blow!". (We actually call it the "nose-sucker" around here, but I figured I'd be technical when telling the story.)

I was laying down in the nap arena* with my eyes closed, trying to encourage Jaynie to do the same. She decided that a much better idea than napping would be to have her revenge on me for 14 months of snot-sucking. Holy cow - my eyes are still watering. There is never a dull moment in this house.




*Nap Arena - this is a genius concept brought to us by the Foose family. Instead of fighting to get a kid who just wants to play play play into the crib for a nap, you spread out some soft blankets and pillows on the floor of her room. Then when it's nap time, just lay down there and invite said kid to come have a snuggle. After a few minutes she's in dreamland, and you can sneak off to do something really exciting and fun... like shower.