It's good to be appreciated

Between bites of goldfish crackers, Addy and I had the following exchange, verbatim:

Addy: "Pass my water please!"

Me: "Here you go" (hands water to her)

Addy: Thanks mom-mom!"

Me: "You're welcome. Thank you for being polite!"

Addy: (stops chewing and gets all serious) "Thank you for always changing my diapers, mommy." 

Well okay, then. 

Totally Cute Tuesday

My wiggly, hyper, busy-body girl is all cuddles today, and I'm loving it! 

Playroom reading nook

If you're on Pinterest, you've probably seen at least one variation of the awesome idea to use little wooden spice racks from IKEA to hold children's books. The spice racks are only $4.99 a piece, and can hold a handful of books forward facing. When I first saw them used this way about a year ago, I decided I wanted to put some in the playroom. A big chunk of Addy's books were on a traditional 3-shelf unit in the playroom, but she rarely looked at them. I thought that breaking them up into smaller "piles", and turning them front-facing would entice her to read more while in the playroom, as opposed to just in her bedroom at bedtime. Unfortunately, IKEA in Pittsburgh has been out of stock for quite some time (probably because of all the Pinterest addicts like myself), but I was finally able to pick them up this past week. Here's the finished playroom reading nook:

I was right - the new setup definitely entices her to spend more time reading in her playroom! Unfortunately, she feels the need to take out every single book from the five racks and place it on the floor. Each book must not overlap another, and they must all be on the floor before she begins reading.

That's not exactly what I had in mind, but whatever. My kid is weird sometimes. When she puts them away, it's fun to watch her figure out how to layer the books in the racks to get them all to fit again. I see it as a good little lesson in problem solving and spatial organization!

L is for...

...LANGUAGE!

Addy's language development is by far my favorite part of age 2. Every single day, she will say at least one new word or phrase that takes me by surprise - and usually has me laughing. Language is yet another area where I really have no benchmark or idea as to what I should reasonably expect from her, but I have been told by strangers on more than one occasion that she speaks very well for a 2.5 year old. And we've definitely entered the stage where she.does.not.shut.her.mouth. It's nauseating sometimes. I used to see kids with their parents where I work with something like the following exchange:

Kid: "This is an orange cart. Mom, this is an orange cart. MOMMY! Look, this is an orange cart.  MOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"

Mom: "WHAT?!?"

Kid: "Look, it's an orange cart."

Mom:  *sigh* "Yes, honey, it's orange."

I used to think to myself, "you know, you could just acknowledge them the first time and avoid the whole situation..." But now I TOTALLY get it. If I acknowledged every single thing Addy said all the time, I would never be able to complete an entire thought in my own head. Or finish any sentence with any other person. Sometimes, you just HAVE to ignore them, secretly hoping that they will just shut up and walk away. But they don't. They're relentless at 2.5 years old, I tell you!

I can understand about 99% of what Addy says, while I'd estimate my husband gets about 85%. I usually know what she's trying to say, even if she's saying it wrong; I correct her, and we go on our way. With everyone else, she's actually forced to keep trying until she gets the pronunciation right, or at least pretty close. It's hilarious to watch this, too. She'll pause, crinkle her forehead, sometimes get a little frustrated depending on how many times she is asked to repeat it, and she'll overexaggerate the syllables. This happens the most with words containing the letter L. She usually skips over the L sound, so when she realizes that she has to say it, she tries so hard to get her tongue movement right that she ends up double or triple saying it. Example:

Word: Franklin

She says: Fwankyen

She tries harder: Frankyen

She overtries: Frank-el-el-in

I love watching her mind work on making the words sound right, and the smile of pride that she gets when the person finally gets what she's saying.

Of course, her budding use of language is forcing me to watch what I say, too. I'm not going to lie, the F-bomb has unfortunately slipped out of her mouth on two occasions, and I know she didn't get that from her father. After she said it in front of company, I've been much better about my usage (for the record, painting the living room walls with a toddler around is not a good idea).

Here's a few details about her current language usage/learning:

• Lately she precedes a yes or no answer with "Um", like a valley girl. "Um, no."
• She does a very good job of using context clues to help others understand what she's saying if she's having an extra difficult time forming the words
• She's good with sentences, but sometimes on longer than usual ones, she has to pause and think about the order of the words. Or, she'll say it kind of jumbled first, then pause and say it again correctly
• When Matt gets home from work, she usually gives him a narrative of the day (sometimes it details a previous day, but it's still cute)
• She's constantly describing everything she sees from her carseat, and wants confirmation that it's all correct
• Anytime she leaves the room with a purpose (such as to go find her purple water cup), she announces, "I'm going to get my purple water, I'll be riiiiiight back."
• She consistently uses singular and plural forms correctly, with little exception
• She can recite a multitude of nursery rhymes (though not very clear on the words, moreso the tune)
• Everytime we get home from having left the house, the first two minutes are filled with her repeating where we went, what we did, and how we are now home
• She's an extrovert, and she's starting to hold conversations with complete strangers. They generally look at her like she's crazy, because she decides on the oddest things to tell them, like how Heidi and Dexter sleep on the couch (our cats), or that she went to the big playground with Max and Emmett and it was big and she went down the slide, and she fell, and it was big.....blah, blah, blah. She gets excited talking to strangers, so this is actually when it's most difficult to understand her, hence the strange looks and blank stares, or manufactured replies ("Oh my!" "Really?" "Wow..")
• We have about 5 instances similar to the orange cart example each day. Whoops!

I absolutely love being able to hold a full conversation with my daughter. I only wish I'd done a better job of keeping track of the truly hilarious things that have come out of her mouth!

Before the birds and the bees hook up...

We don't use code words for male and female genitalia in this house. Sure, I think it's adorable and hilarious when little kids blurt out the usual made up words for these body parts - peepee, weewee, hooha - what have you. But I guess I just kind of think, well, it's a private part, but I don't want to teach it as being "silly" or "shameful" or "dirty"...I'm not finding the right words here. No offense to anyone that prefers to use the more fun names; for me, it just feels more natural to use the actual body part names. For the record, I personally prefer hooha over vagina, but when imagining my daughter talking about hers, something didn't seem right about hearing her say hooha. So, when Addy first expressed interest in her genitalia (I do not happen to recall exactly when this was), I called it a vagina. So now she'll say, "My 'gina hurts", or "I have 'gina, you have 'gina".

As a SAHM, I get the pleasure of never getting to shower without a toddler all up in my business. My husband, on the other hand, gets that luxury 99% of the time. So it turns out that today, as he was drying himself off after his shower, Addy caught sight of his manly parts for the first time (My husband might be planning to kill me as he reads this blog post - sorry dear! We must record all off the wonderful firsts, you know?) She looks at it, and questions, "What's that 'gina?" I love my husband, because even though we've never discussed the topic, we're on the same page with terminology. He responds, "Oh no honey, girls have vaginas but boys have penises".

She just nodded her head and moved along. So, yeah. Two and a half years old, and we've got penis and vagina covered. I hope its quite a few years before we need to discuss their functions in whole, or else I'm going to have to invent the "Slow the fuck down, time!" button.

Indoor fun

Today's rain and gloom was a perfect excuse to play with paint for a little while. Addy started off with a big dollop of each color, and soon realized it's rather fun to make handprints.

She's a fan of edamame...

...and I'm not complaining! I was 30 the first time I tried it, and I'm so glad I did! It's a yummy, filling, healthy snack. I think Addy likes the fact that she has to tear it apart to get to the good stuff. Today was the second time she's had it; the first was over six months ago. Watching her peel them apart and pick out the beans, it dawned on me that this must be why she all of a sudden started eating her green beans like this a few months ago. She must have remembered these things and thought that's what she should do with green beans too!

Mumford & Sons Love

A proud moment in my parenting experiences...

Details - Version 2.0

In August of 2011, I wrote a blog post that detailed the stats below, as they were at the time. Since it's been a year and a half, I thought I'd update the responses for each item, leaving the old to compare...

Age: 9 months and 12 days
         2 years, 4 months, and 13 days

Weight: 18 pounds 10 ounces
               29 pounds (approximate)

Height: 28 inches
              36 inches

Teeth: 4 - 2 on top, 2 on bottom
            All except her very back molars

Diet: Similac formula, Stage 2 foods - all veggies except peas, all fruits except prunes, Mixed Grain cereal prepared with white grape juice (helps the pooping). She refuses to eat anything with texture.
          Loves peanut butter, bananas, mandarin oranges, all berries, pancakes, goldfish crackers, toasted cheese sandwiches, noodles. Hates all veggies except corn, and maybe green peppers. Recently developed an aversion to spaghetti.

Elimination: 1-2 poops per day, definitely a pound of pee in the diaper when she wakes up
                     1 poop every 2-3 days. Still a pound of pee in the diaper when she wakes up.
      
Favorite toys: the fisher price playhouse, anything musical (she's thrilled that she can reach the piano keys), balls, safety straps, teeny tiny things on the floor that she can pick up and transfer from hand to hand and examine forever and ever and ever, the squeaky hippo, baby wipes
                        The play kitchen and accessories, bouncy balls, wooden puzzles, stuffed animals, anything she can take apart and put back together - or dump and refill, letter and animal magnets, my iPhone.

Language: lots of babbling, shrieking, mama, dadadadadadadadada, awawawawaw (like an indian call, pounding her fist over her mouth)
                   She's Miss Talky Talkerton these days. Full sentences, constantly naming objects and recounting memories for clarification and assurance that she's correct, immediately repeats any new words or concepts (this has resulted in me focusing on narrowing my use of cuss words).

Mobility: She crawls and cruises with ease. She has climbed three stairs before giving up. She doesn't try to climb anything else. I think she's clumsy like me.
                She is most definitely clumsy like me! She trips a lot, mostly in our house because she's confident about her surroundings. Her legs look like Bruise City. She climbs with ease, she's not terribly scared of anything it seems. She walks upstairs and downstairs holding the railing and putting both feet on each step.

Sleep schedule: Wakes up between 8am and 9am, takes an hour nap before noon, takes an hour nap late afternoon, goes to bed at 7:30pm. My sister refers to me as the Sleep Nazi. The entire day and all of our activities/outings hinges upon her nap schedule. I probably need anti-anxiety medication just to handle any uncontrollable interruption to her sleep schedule.
                           Wakes up between 8am and 9am, takes a two hour nap around 2pm maybe 50% of the time, goes to bed at 9pm. I'm still the Sleep Nazi in regards to bedtime, but I've become more lenient on catering the day around getting a nap in. I try to avoid scheduling during the 2-4pm timeframe, but I don't freak out if it happens.

Typical day: She wakes up, I take her out of her pajamas and diaper and she has naked baby crawly time. Lately, she pees before I get a new diaper on her, so naked baby crawly time is nearing an end. She eats an 8oz bottle. She plays in the living room for a little while. I get dressed and get her dressed, and we go for a 1/2 hour walk in the neighborhood. She eats a fruit. She plays some more, with Baby Noah in the background. She naps. She gets up and eats oatmeal and a veggie for lunch. I wash all bottles and do all dishes while she sits in her chair. She plays some more. I get a shower while she whines in her pack n play. She plays some more. At some point, I eat lunch. We go to Target, or Kriegers, or just stay home and play some more. She eats an 8oz bottle. She naps. She wakes up. She plays some more, I'm very bored with entertaining her. I desperately need adult interaction. She eats a fruit or veggie. I attempt to cook dinner. Matt comes home from work. If I'm not scheduled to work, we try to entertain her together. We all sit at the table to eat dinner. She watches. She plays, and whines. We start bedtime routine at 7:15ish. She goes to bed, we relax. 
                   She wakes up, we get dressed and eat breakfast while watching some cartoons (we both like to ease into the day). We generally do some sort of morning activity (go to the YMCA, groceries, other shopping, playdates, park, etc.) and return home to eat lunch. We play until naptime, which is either sleeping or quiet time in the crib. She gets up, I shower if I haven't done so yet, and begin dinner preparations. We play some more and usually she watches a little TV while I finish dinner. Matt comes home, we eat dinner. Sometimes we do an evening activity as a family, but usually we play together. She gets a bedtime snack at 7:45 and we start the bedtime routine at 8:30. She goes to bed, we relax.

Her demeanor: She's overall pleasant, very serious, very observant. She like to figure out how things work. She gets frustrated easily. So, in a nutshell, she's a mini-me.
                          She's no longer observant - she's hands-on. She is a typical toddler most of the time, but can be extremely strong willed at times. She still likes to figure out how things work, and the fastest route possible to stop them from working. She still gets frustrated easily, but lately she says aloud, "Keep trying, keep trying, don't give up" that she learned from Yo Gabba Gabba. I think she plays very well with other kids. She understands the concept of taking turns. She's more of a mini-Matt now.

Issues: She likes to touch slap faces. When we say "no" and pull her hand away, she gets very angry, and fights with us. It's her way of examining a person, but she's not gentle. I'm worried about this one.
             She's been struggling with eating what is served to her for dinner - there will be a blog post to follow regarding that. Lately, she's begun to push me, or otherwise has been a little more physical with me than usual. She does not respond to her name being called if she's on a mission, and does not repsond to tones of panic. This worries me because she would be the child that runs away in a parking lot and gets hit.

William McKinley Presidential Library & Museum

A couple of months ago, my dad gifted us the funds to purchase a season pass to the William McKinley Presidential Library & Museum in Canton. The season pass is a super deal - at $59 for family admission, it covers unlimited visits to the museum, monument and planetarium, as well as free or reduced admission to over 250 museums across the country. I'm most excited about this because we can get in for free at COSI in Columbus and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and we get in for 50% off at the Great Lakes Science Center.

I didn't take a single picture as proof, but this morning we met up with friends of ours to explore the McKinley Museum (all pics are from museum website). The fun starts with a life size replica of a dinosaur, which is motion activated to roar as you walk by.

Addy was clearly hesitant to move forward once she laid eyes on him, but a nice worker guided us through a back way, bypassing the dinosaur. We spent some time checking out various creatures, such as snakes, fish and tarantulas, before moving on to the science exploration. We learned how tornadoes form, how pulleys work, and how electricity is conducted (and by learned, I mean we pushed lots of buttons, fiddled with lots of switches, ran around a lot, and didn't actually learn anything...she is only two years old afterall).

My favorite part of the museum is the Street of Shops - a true to size replica of a historic town, complete with working displays and a pole to slide down at the fire station. Walking through, you actually feel like you are outside, walking in a real town - on a day of perfectly controlled weather obviously. There's a barber shop, a hat store, a gas station (with an old Ford), a hotel and saloon, a fire station, a blacksmith's shop, a toy shop (filled with vintage toys), and much more. There's also a train station with a fabulous model train layout, replicating the Pennsylvania Railroad and its relationship with our community. The kids loved the trains, of course!

This museum is a great indoor activity for cold & rainy days where Addy can explore freely (with the exception of the spiral staircase and firehouse pole that I did not let her explore). On our visit today, we encountered a total of eight other visitors  - so essentially, we had the place to ourselves. It was a delight.

Thank you dad for the gift of exploration! We are looking forward to visiting the Great Lakes Science Center and COSI soon!