Boys will be boys...

Carter is really into physical play. Maybe it's a boy thing, maybe it's a second child thing, or maybe it's just a Carter thing, I can't really say. Today he would not play with any toys, just wander around the house looking for trouble. He enjoyed finding my broom and tried to lift it from the ground up into the air. It was a full-size broom, so it was rather hilarious, but also quite dangerous, since he could get it up quite a ways and then he would just let it fall. Then, I decided to move our bookshelf to the other side of the room. It's a small bookshelf, only coming up to my hips (and I'm not tall :) and it has felt on the bottom so as not to scratch our floors. Well, I guess I gave Carter the idea that it could MOVE. I put it up against the wall and 10 minutes later he was over there pushing it away from the wall. He moved it a few feet away and spent 5 minutes walking in the new tunnel (space between wall and bookshelf) that he had made!

Election Day

I voted today, which was very convenient because our polling place is also where Teah's preschool is. At preschool, they had an election theme today and got to "vote" for what snack they wanted. Cupcake was a candidate, so it was an easy choice. I told Teah that it was election day on our way to preschool and Teah said, "Barack Obama". She must've remembered the name from a discussion we had a few weeks ago when we told her that Barack Obama was running for president. It's hilarious when she says his name - she seems to think that it's really fun to say. Check out the video:

Teah Lately

So, I'm starting to realize that Teah turns 4 in less than two months! She's such a big girl. We were taking a walk today and I told her that I could hear the road up ahead. She said, "No Mommy, that's not the road. Those are the cars. The road doesn't make any noise." I had to admit that she was right. :) Then we were crossing a little walking bridge over what is sometimes a stream, but just a ditch with a little water in it right now. She asked why there was a bridge and I told her that sometimes there's a stream down there. She said, "That's right Mommy, there's the rainy season and the dry season. Right now it's the dry season, so there's no water in the stream." I think that one came courtesy of Diego. She really loves to tell me how the world is!

Halloween

Well, we had a pretty great Halloween I would say. Yesterday, Teah had her Halloween party at preschool. We all dressed up and they had a little "parade" around the building where the parents lined up so the kids could "trick or treat" from us. Teah and I were pirates and Carter was a crocodile. After preschool Carter took a nap and then we were off to a Halloween party thrown by a friend that I met through a playgroup. It was kid oriented and we had a good time. Today, I decided to take the kids out in their costumes in the morning and get all of the pictures that I wanted. I didn't want to have to worry about pictures while we were actually trick or treating. Sometimes I miss the fun trying to take pictures... Robert was on-call tonight so the kids and I were on our own. Trick or treating hours are really early here - 3 to 6pm. At 3 o'clock I had hung up some decorations and downloaded some Halloween songs and had them playing. Carter woke up from his nap and we had a few early trick or treaters - we don't get many anyway - maybe 30 kids total. Well, then Teah got quite lethargic and told me that she wanted to go upstairs and take a nap. She told me that her throat hurt earlier, so I figured that she might be getting sick. I took her temperature and it was 102, so I laid her down and she fell asleep at 3:30pm. It was a REALLY beautiful day - the temperature was almost 70 degrees - so I had the windows open and Carter and I decided to walk to our next door neighbors during Teah's nap (we live in townhomes, so it wasn't far :) and trick or treat a little. He caught on to the idea pretty quickly and seemed to really enjoy carrying around his pumpkin basket and going up to the houses. He took a little break to eat a sucker on the front porch - it was really relaxing and fun to spend some time with just Carter. At 5pm I woke Teah up - her fever had gone down from the Tylenol, so we went out trick or treating around the block. I really didn't want her to miss out on that. The kids had a great time - Teah said Trick or Treat and Thank You. About 3/4 of the way, Carter pooped out, but I convinced him to sit in the stroller with another sucker. Teah started pointing out "scary" things that she wanted to avoid - like a guy who was dressed in a pretty scary devil costume and some window decorations. One of the last houses we stopped at there was a sign that said "The wicked witch lives here". Perhaps this should've been a hint for me to skip this one. There were 2 little kids lined up in front of Teah and the woman came to the door dressed as a witch (green face, hat) and cackling. When Teah saw her she freaked out, dropped her basket, and ran away screaming and crying! It took me a few minutes to get her to calm down. Hopefully she will not be having any bad dreams about witches. The kids had a little candy when we got home and it was fun to relive the joys of Halloween as a child through them :) Check out the slideshow of pictures:

Flashback Friday

2007 - Carter in a bowlfull of candy!


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

A Morning Surprise

Yesterday morning Carter woke me up as usual. I went to get him from his room and noticed that Teah's door was open. We don't shut it all the way at night, so sometimes it creeps open. I went to shut it and it didn't look like she was in her bed. I figured she was just hiding under her covers a bit, but went in to check. Sure enough, she was nowhere to be found. Normally the minute Teah's feet pitter patter across the floor it wakes me up, but I guess I was sleeping very well that night. I went downstairs and found her asleep on the couch with a blanket over her. It was 8am and I thought that she must've woken up an hour before and came downstairs. Well, when I told Robert about it when he got home from work he told me she was there asleep on the couch when he left at 6am! I guess it's time to start shutting the gate when we go to bed...

Pumpkins!

We went to Aaron & Pam's pumpking carving party tonight and had a great time. Martha gave me a great pumpkin idea (check out the pick). The kids weren't very interested in helping, but they had a great time playing. We were able to get them both to fall asleep at Aaron's and picked them up to leave around midnight. Teah didn't wake up at all - she went from house to car, car ride, then car to her bed without waking. Carter on the other hand was awake the entire drive home, but went back to bed with a bottle. So, all went well and a great evening was had by all!

Carter's obsession with dogs

Carter is pretty obsessed with dogs. He always points when we see them on walks and gets upset if they start walking in a different direction than we are. Our next door neighbor has a dog and every tme we leave the house we have to walk in that direction to see if Buddy is out on his line. Last week in Michigan he followed Skeeter (Robert's parents 15 year old Beagle) around the house. For the first few days he didn't even try to touch her - just followed her around. Even after that he was very gentle. He loved just following her around and bending over to look at her face! If she laid down he would sit down next to her (see picture!). We went over to visit the Wade's for dinner yesterday and they have a much larger black lab with a very big bark. I was carrying Carter inside and Ella barked a few times. Poor Carter just started screaming and crying. For the first hour we had to keep Ella separated and he would cry if he just saw her. Then he must've forgotten about the barking because he wanted to watch her and try to pet her again.

I wasn't expecting that!

I was getting ready in the bathroom this morning and Carter was hanging around climbing up on the stool next to the toilet. The lid was closed and he was behaving himself. I stopped watching him for a minute to put my hair up and he opened the lid and started to climb on in! One foot was all the way in the toilet before I pulled him up!

Carter Update

Carter is 16 1/2 months old now. Last week while we were in Michigan he perfected his run. He had been walking really fast, but last week he decided to work on picking up his knees and running. He picks up his knees a bit too much which makes him wobbly - it's hilarious to watch! Other things he has learned recently: perfected his eating with a spoon, sometimes can poke things with a fork and eat them, animal sounds: cow, dog, duck, snake, and monkey. When he wants something he will reach his hand for it and then open and close his palm - it's funny how he just made that "sign" up all on his own. He will also vigorously shake his head no if he doesn't want something. He has been saying the "mama" sound for awhile now, but only recently has he started to use it to actually get my attention. He's growing up so fast!

Our Trip to Michigan

Last week we packed up the family and headed to Michigan for the week. Robert's sister Marj, who is now a permanent resident of Tampa, was up for a visit, so we drove over to metro-Detroit on Saturday. It took 6 hours total and the worst part of the drive was the stop at the rest area because Teah was afraid of the bathroom and refused to go. It was busy and the toilets were loud - she doesn't like the loud flushing. Anyway, here are some of the highlights of the trip.

Good Sleep

Finally, the kids slept well while traveling. We hadn't traveled since I stopped having to rock Carter to sleep - and not having to do that this time around was GREAT! When we were in Michigan for his birthday in June I ended up walking around with him (since neither of our parents have rockers) for 15 minutes for naptime and bedtime and he weighed 22 lbs at that time! It was hell on my back. Well, this time around I just gave him his bottle, laid him down in the pack -n- play, and walked out. Voila! he fell asleep without issue. It was tight quarters at Robert's parents house (Thanks to them for having us all stay!) so we brought Teah her Thomas the Train tent and a little kids pullout foam couch that fit inside of it. She slept in there and thought it was great. Now I wish I had taken a picture of her sleeping quarters!

Cousins

We drove up to Flint to visit Robert's grandparents, his aunt and uncle, and their children - Emily and Sarah - who are Robert's cousins, but more the age of our kids. Emily is 5 and Sarah is 3 - Teah and Sarah were born only a few months apart. The kids had a great time playing together. Emily did a great job watching Carter if he would walk out of sight and playing with him! Sarah and Teah played nicely without too many problems - a big feat for 3 year olds!

The Library

Here in the Chicago burbs we live in an unincorporated section of the city, which means that we pay no city taxes. The downside is that we also cannot get a library card without paying for one. So, we haven't been to our library much. While in Troy we all took a trip to the Troy library and had a really great time. Teah checked out 15 books and read them all numerous times in the 2 days before we left. I think that her favorite was called Mommy in my Pocket.

The Corn Maze

After Marj left to drive back home, we drove to my parents house in the country. Right across the street is a field with feed corn, so this time of year the corn hasn't been harvested yet, but it's all dried out. While Carter and Daddy napped on afternoon, Teah and I went out to play in the "corn maze" (field across the street). We had a REALLY great time finding a few cobs of corn inside the husks and playing the game, "trying to get out of the corn maze" after we would walk in a little ways. Here are some pictures that I took.

It was a great trip and we all enjoyed seeing Marj as well as the rest of our family and even a few friends. We headed home the following Saturday after a BBQ. Carter had woken up early from his nap because Teah walked into the room where he was sleeping at my parents house because she wanted to get to their computer. Well, we didn't get home until 9pm - at least an hour after their bedtimes - and neither of them fell asleep on the way home. I couldn't believe it! Now I'm still trying to adjust the kids back to Central time - Teah has yet to wake up later than 6:30am since we've been back!

Flashback Friday

Well this is my first "Flashback Friday" blog. Thanks for the idea Becky - I love it! I started it on Friday, but am publishing it today, so I guess now it's a "Flashback Monday"... doesn't quite have the same ring!

3 years ago... October 2005
























2 years ago... October 2006
























1 year ago - October 2007







Currently - October 2008

The many faces of Carter

Teah's latest phase

With the kids so far I've learned that everything is a phase - the good and the bad will all pass. All summer Teah had gotten into a really good groove. She was for the most part very polite and easy going. Before that had been a "screaming phase" where she was just screaming about everything that would happen. It was strange because one day is just ended and she was so well-behaved. I was hoping this well-behaved Teah wasn't a phase, but a permanent disposition - unfortunatley that was not the case. About 3 weeks ago we entered another screaming phase. Actually it's more of a defiant phase this time around. She can't handle it at all when we tell her she can't have or do something that she wants. She wants to do everything by herself even more than before. Numerous times we've found her with the gallon of milk and a cup on the floor about to try to pour herself a drink. The funny thing about these "bad" phases is that they always seem to happen when Teah has shown a big change and started doing things that she hadn't been doing previously. You would think that she would grow and change gradually and we wouldn't really even notice, but it seems to be more that in a week she just starts doing all sorts of new things and understanding things in a different way - this is when she enters the bad phases. I can see that probably numerous things started this one rolling - she realized she could open the fridge by herself, she was finally brave enough to go down the slide at the mall, she started writing her name, and she started preschool. So, I guess she's just dealing with the new idea of her "big girl" self. Check out the picture below - it's the first time that Teah has drawn a real picture. She drew the sun all by herself, colored the sky blue, and added the grass at the bottom. I think it's some sort of developmental milestone when children start drawing pictures with a bottom (ground type of area). I drew the outline of the cow and she added the face and ears. Notice the piece of grass that Teah drew up to the cow's mouth :)

An eventful weekend

So, we rarely have many functions to attend, but this past weekend we had two in one day. Addison's 1st birthday party (Mike & Lindsey's daughter) and a BBQ thrown by one of the few other residents that has a child. Carter was getting over a bit of sickness or perhaps just a reaction from his vaccinations, so there was no way he wasn't getting a full nap that day. So, Teah and I headed out to Addison's birthday party and left Robert at home to laze while Carter napped (for 3 1/2 hours). It would've been nice for everyone to see Carter, but it was also very nice to just have Teah. She's very easy to deal with by herself, especially when we're at a house with toys, a playset in a fenced backyard, and a friend (Austin) to play with. Here's a picture of Addison in the hairbow I got her (love the little girl things! - I tried it on Carter in the store to see how it looked :) and the best one I could get of Austin and Teah. It's impossible to get them to both look at the camera. Funny that in this picture they look like they're dating LOL.

Addison's 1st Birtday!

Teah and Austin

I hated having to leave the party early, but Teah and I headed out to pick up Robert and Carter and go downtown to our next function. The kids took a little break in the van and ate some chicken nuggets on the go. The BBQ was fun and the kids were both great. Carter was obsessed with the closed bedroom door, behind which he could hear the barking dogs. Teah was hilarious - She found a little piano and decided to get everyone's attention (there were like 15 people there) and proceed to sing along to one of the songs with the attached microphone. She really isn't shy. The kids didn't get to bed until 9:30pm, but we all survived and actually had a great time!

A flu shot please?

Teah was with me yesterday when I went into our local grocery store pharmacy to get a flu shot. It told her I was going to get one and she said, "Mommy, I want a flu shot!". I told her that only grown-ups could get flu shots here and she would have to get one at her doctor's office. She seriously argued with me for 2 minutes about wanting one right now! :) I'm sure she'll change her mind once she actually gets one - I guess she doesn't remember last years...

Teah's 3rd Day!

Well, I'm sure that I won't blog about every single day of preschool, but today was a pretty good one. The kids were a little challenging getting ready to get out of the house, so I'm glad that they day turned around.

On the preschool calendar for today was "wear red". So, Teah picked out a red shirt and wore her red shoes. I dropped her off at 9am as usual and didn't even come back to peek in today. It was a beautiful fall day, so I let Carter walk most of the way home to get out some of his little energy. He stopped every 5 feet to point at something - a stick, a leaf, a plane in the sky, a bird in the sky, a dog walking by, the trees, the grass :) Then I'd tell him what each thing was and we'd talk about it (by we of course I mean me). It was really great to have time with just the two of us so I could slow down and watch him explore the world! It's amazing to watch him learn about the world.

After our walk, Carter and I went to the mall and I was finally able to use a gift certificate I had for Mother's day and buy a few gifts that needed to be bought. I even found a pair of jeans that fit me and I like rather quickly. We came back to pick up Teah a little early and I watched the end of class. They were using glue sticks to make a big construction paper Clifford the Dog - I'm guessing because today's theme was read and he's the big red dog. They had done a little worksheet that day that had three sets of two pictures. For each set they were supposed to color the item that was red. They had also been given a blank piece of paper with the instructions to draw something for mommy. The teachers had written next to all of the scribbles what the kids had said they were drawing - it was really cute. Teah had written her name for me. Teah also used scissors for the first time to cute out a little lady bug craft.

When I picked Teah up Mrs. Kassanders let me know that Teah was starting to test out the rules. She didn't want to pick up at clean-up time and had told the teachers, "I don't want to". She also hadn't flushed the toilet after going potty and when the teachers asked her to she covered her ears. I talked to Teah about the flushing the potty. She told me that her teachers had to help her and she had covered her ears - the teacher and I were both thinking she had done this to try to act like she wasn't listening to them. I told Teah that covering her ears wasn't a very nice thing to do with her teacher. Thankfully she explained that she doesn't like how loud the potty is so she was covering her ears because of the noise. Of course that made sense once I heard it because she always as to cover her ears before we flush whenever we're using a public potty. So, I ran back and talked to Mrs. Kassanders about her not liking the noise and that's why she was covering her ears! Mrs. Kassanders was just really excited that we had discussed it and figured it out together - I think she was really happy about having some parent/teacher communication going on.

It's really fun to have Teah tell me about preschool afterwards and I'm pretty surprised by how much she tells me and remembers about her day. The 3rd day was a good one!

Silly Pasta

Teah has always made up her own names for things. For example, she calls Target "the ball store", Toys R US "the S store", and string cheese is "white cheese", english muffins are "circle bread"... the list goes on and on. Well, we had farfale (bowtie) pasta for dinner yesterday. Teah decided to call them SILLY MUSTACHE PASTA! I thought it was hilarious and definitely my favorite self-named item :)

Teah's 2nd Day!

Teah had her second day of preschool yesterday. I didn't cry this time, although I was pretty emotional when I left and I did return 30 minutes later to peek on her. I needed to grocery shop, so at that point I decided to commit to being gone the rest of the time (no more peeking!) and Carter and I headed to Trader Joe's. It was nice to shop with just one child. We got back to pick Teah up a little early, so I was able to peek in on the last 10 minutes of class. The theme of the day was new friends and they were coloring a picture of two little kids hugging. The names of the 5 kids were written around the outside. After coloring they sang a song for each kid - inserting their name into the song and pointing to that person, then glued a picture (I'm assuming they'd taken and printed out earlier in the day) underneath the right name. It was really cute.

Teah seemed to have a great time for the 2nd day as well. I'm waiting for the day that she throws a tantrum about something, but maybe she only reserves those for me :) She told me about their snack and about the toys that she played with. Mrs. Kassanders told me that she was really impressed with Teah's ability to listen to the songs they were playing and memorize them quickly, keeping well with the beat. She mentioned putting her in a music class or something since she seems to really like it. Teah always tells me that she wants to play the piano when she grows up, so next year I'll have to look into lessons - when she's a little older and we have a little more disposable income!

Well, it looks like this preschool thing is going to work out and I am even starting to look forward to 2 1/2 hrs of time with Carter.

Teah's 1st Day!

** Picture: Teah in front of her cubby**


Teah had a great time at her first day of preschool! We walked over to be there by 9am. Teah hung up her coat and backpack in her cubby and went right in. We took a few pictures (check out our photo album - http://hilliard.myphotoalbum.com/ - for more) and Carter and I stayed for a few minutes. Teah immediately went in and starting playing with a pretend castle with a little boy in her class. There are 5 kids in the class right now, but last year they started out with 6 and ended with 15. Other than Teah there are two little girls and two little boys - Dima, Rodeena, Basel, and Marco.

After a few minutes I went over and told Teah that it was time for me to leave and asked her if that would be OK. She said, "yep", and kept right on playing. So, I made her give me a kiss goodbye and left (see blog below for my reactions :). I ended up peeking in (without her noticing) through the door 2 times - once Teah was playing happily with the dolls and the other she was in the girls bathroom. One of the little girls was screaming the first time I peeked in, obviously upset being away from her parents. With the second peek she seemed to have fallen asleep sitting on Mrs. Kassanders lap.

When I picked Teah up they were out playing on the playground. I talked to Mrs. Kassanders for a few minutes and she told me that Teah had done well. I guess she dawdled a little at clean up time, but not too bad. We went down and picked up her papers - she had colored a picture of a school that had a poem attached about the first day of school. There was the calendar for the month, which basically just tells you the topic for the day and a few other things. For example, Thursday's theme is "New Friends", next week Tuesday they are supposed to wear red, and the Thursday after that they're supposed to bring an apple.

After we got home I asked Teah questions about her day and she did a great job answering. She told me that they had raisins and crackers for their snack. When I asked her if she had something to drink she told me that she didn't like the orange juice so her teacher had dumped in down the drinking fountain and she had thrown the cup in the trash. I asked her if all the little kids had been happy and she told me that one little girl was sad, probably because she wanted to see her mommy. When we read the little poem attached to the picture she colored that talked a little about being scared and wanting to go home when you're at school, Teah told me that she hadn't felt that way :) Sounds like a great first day of school!

Mommy Reflections

Teah started preschool today. I can't believe I thought that I might not cry. :) She goes Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am-11:30am and right now it's 11:06 as I'm writing this. So, I'll have to blog about how her first day went for her later in the afternoon. I, on the other hand, have spent the last two hours reflecting on my own emotions.

I made it through the actual dropping her off with just a few moments of glistening eyes, but when I walked out of the building I sat on a park bench, gave Carter some breakfast in his strolled, and cried. Once I had my moment I realized I didn't know exactly when to pick her up - was it 11:15 or 11:30? I couldn't remember. So, back to the front desk I went. Teah's preschool is in the basement of the building so I decided that I needed to peek in after chatting with Dee (working the front desk) for a few minutes - it was 9:30am. Both of the doors were closed, but they have little windows in them. I peeked in and saw Teah happily playing with a doll. There are only 5 kids in her class right now and one little girl was crying for her Mommy. Teah seemed oblivous to this :) After peeking I lost it again and had to take another "moment".

"Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."

~Elizabeth Stone

When I dropped Teah off in her room there was a maintenance man working in one of the rooms next to it and it made me uncomfortable. I thought, "Who is this guy? Do they know him?" I realized one of my first emotions of leaving Teah was fear. The quote above is exactly it - my heart was in the preschool and I wasn't there to protect it. I love the preschool and trust the teachers and know that it is as safe as it can be, but it's hard to get over the paranoia and worry. That made me think about how hard it must've been for parents (in general - I don't feign to even begin to know how those close to the situation felt) to take their children to school after Columbine - I had never really thought about it from that angle before.

I was the only one at the preschool who was dropping off my oldest child for the first time. The teachers gave all of the parents a little note with a baggie stapled to it filled with a tissue and tea bag. The note told us to go home, dry our tears, make a cup of tea, and relax. :) They could tell it was hard for me and they called and left me a message letting me know that Teah was doing fine (Carter and I were having breakfast at Burger King). The funny thing is, that's not what I'm worried about. I know she's ready and she'll do great with me not being there. I've always known that this was going to be harder on me than her. I wondered what it was then that made me so emotional and I realized it was because I always know what she's doing and now I don't. And honestly it's not a control thing. The fact is that I'm going to be missing some of her "firsts" and happy moments. I'm not going to be the person there to witness the good times and help her when she's upset. It's only 2 1/2 hours for 2 times a week and I know it's what she needs, but it's definitely part of my sadness just not being there with her.

A Big Step for Carter

Well, I finally think that at 15 months Carter is ready to fall asleep by himself for naps and bedtime. It's been a long and tiring journey, but I'm excited today that he's finally ready. If you're interested in the long and tiring journey, keep reading...

Carter didn't sleep more than 5 hours at a time until he was 9 months old - and often he would wake up every couple and need me to come into the room. At 9 months I just couldn't function any more without a good nights sleep. I wasn't being the best mom because of how tired I was, so I decided to let him cry it out. I had been rocking him to sleep up until that point, but I guessed the reason he kept waking up was because he didn't know how to put himself back to sleep. I HATED doing it, but was desperate for sleep. Thankfully the first two nights Robert slept upstairs and dealt with Carter while I slept downstairs in the basement with lots of background noise - I really can't handle the sound of my kids crying well. For almost 2 weeks we let Carter cry himself to sleep to go to bed and when waking in the night. After only 3 days he was sleeping 11 hours through the night without crying anymore, but at the end of the 2 weeks he was still crying for 10 minutes to fall asleep. For numerous reasons I started rocking him back to sleep again and thankfully his good nighttime sleep continued.

Since that point I've put him to sleep for naps and bedtime by rocking him with a bottle. I've always enjoyed rocking him to sleep for the most part, but I knew it would have to end at some point. There's a lot of "Mom pressure" out there to have your kids put themselves to sleep at a young age and to nix the bottle at 12 months, so I kept feeling like I needed to do something about the rocking and the bottle, but it worked for us and I enjoyed that time Carter and I had. I debated numerous times just trying the crying it out again, but we stuck with our routine for the most part. Once a week or so I would end up putting him down awake just because I couldn't get him to fall asleep and he would cry for 5 or 10 minutes to fall asleep. Last week I encountered one of those naps, so I did the usual and laid him down awake, fully expecting the usual crying, but it didn't come. He talked for a few minutes and then fell asleep! Right before this he had stopped screaming whenever he woke up in the mornings and from naps and instead would just babble until I came to get him. So, these two things made me decide that he was ready to put himself to sleep.

Today for naptime I kept mostly the same routine, except I gave him most of his bottle downstairs and just the last few ounces upstairs while rocking. This achieved a sleepy, but not quite asleep child. I laid him down sleepy, but awake - he sat up and I said my good night and left. No crying and he was asleep in 15 minutes! At bedtime I did the same thing and he was asleep within 5 minutes without a peep. I'm glad he's finally there and continue to think that if I just have the patience to wait until my kids are ready for something and don't give in to what everyone else tells me I should be doing, it'll work itself out.

Nobody's Perfect...

I lost my temper today with Teah and later I apologized for getting angry and yelling. It happens to the best of us with 3 year olds. When I told Teah I was sorry she said, "Don't worry Mommy, everybody makes mistakes sometimes". I know it's something she's memorized to say, but it was really cute.

Carter's Stats

Friday was Carter's 15 month appointment and here are the stats:

Weight: 23lb7oz - 34th percentile
Height: 31 1/2" - 60th percentile

Well, the doctor actually measured Carter at 32 3/4", but they measured him very quickly while trying to get him to lie down on that table with the crinkly paper. I've taken to measuring him myself at home - the doctors measurements are always WAY off! Three months ago he weighed 21lb13oz and was 30 1/2" long - he's a growing boy, that's for sure! The rest of the appointment went pretty well for 15 months. It's a bad age because they are old enough to know what's going on, but not really understand it. Teah's 15 month appointment was the all-time worst. She cried when anyone would even just walk in the room. She cried all the way home and then threw up her bottle all over me because she was so upset. I thought it would never get better, but by the time she was 2 I explained what was going to happen and she did great. Carter definitely cried when they would poke him or prod him or get too close to him, but he stopped quickly. The poor guy had to get 4 shots and of course he screamed at that, but it didn't take long until he was happy again. Overall a good appointment with a happy, healthy little guy!

Chef Carter

Carter has always been a fan of cooking. It started when he first discovered the pots and pans in the kitchen and would bang them around. Now he loves to pick out a pot and walk over to the counter and point up until I give him a big plastic spoon. He'll put some pretend food in the pot, shake the pretend salt and pepper over it and stir it all up. He has a little pretend grill as well that he puts pretend food on, squirts on pretend ketchup, and uses the little flipper. Not only is his favorite playtime with the food and pots, but he loves to watch me cook. If I put something on the stove he doesn't give up until I pick him up and let him watch. Often he'll sit on the counter while I prepare dinner. This kids is seriously obsessed! Maybe we'll be calling him Chef Carter someday... I'm attaching two videos of him helping me make the salad for dinner last night :)

Preschool!

Teah starts preschool next week and today they threw an open house. The idea was that parents would stay for the hour for the kids to get comfortable before next week when they're on their own. I found out that there are only 6 kids signed up for the 3 year old morning class - 4 girls and 2 boys. Teah turns 4 in December and I was worried that she would be much older than the other kids in her class, but there are 2 other kids whose birtdays are November and January, so I felt good about that. Only one other little girl came to the open house, but it was really good. I was able to talk to Teah's two teachers, Mrs. Kassanders and Mrs. Linnville, for awhile while the kids played. They both have four kids of their own. Then we had story time and Mrs. Kassanders read a book about school and another about a racoon who was afraid to go to school, but whose mommy kissed his hand so he could carry her love with him. I kissed Teah's hand and she gave the kids a little heart sticker to put there. It was very cute.

Pic: Teah's ready for her preschool open house!

When Teah and I first started talking about preschool at the beginning of the summer she would tell me that she was scared of preschool. We talked about it and we went to visit last year's class right before they finished for the year. After that visit when Teah saw all of the toys she wasn't scared anymore! She also watches a Wonder Pets episode where a baby blowfish goes to preschool and doesn't want his mommy to leave - they sing a song about her always coming back. So Teah has a really good understanding that I'm not going to be there with her - she seems really comfortable! The last step was her using their potties all by herself today while I was there. They have two bathrooms - one for girls and one for boys. The doors are always open and there are two stalls inside with potties that are tiny for the little kids to sit on. I thought that I would be sad about her going, but I'm really excited for her. She's so ready and I know she's going to have a great time and learn great skills. I'll report next week Tuesday on whether or not I cried :)

A Good Loser...

Teah recently got a new game called Zingo - it's basically a bingo game, except you turn over tiles and you take the tile and put it on your card. Two cards can have the same item, so if one is turned over you have to be the first one to pick it up or else you have to wait for another one. Teah kept winning every game she played. Sometimes people were letting her win, but then we all started trying to win and she was still winning! When Robert and I were playing with her Robert took a tile that I needed before I could get to it. I made a comment and Teah said, "Don't worry mom, you don't have to be sad. You can just wait for the next one". Now I'm thinking how well she's going to play this game - I was a little worried with her being 3 years old and all. Well, the next tiles were turned over and Robert took a tile that she needed. She burst out in tears! We were able to get her interested in the game again, but it looked like Robert might win. We told Teah that having fun was the most important thing and that when Daddy won she should say, "Good Job Daddy!" and give him a high five. Well, Robert won and Teah said, "Good Job Daddy" and she gave him a high five. Then she thought for a second and burst out crying. "But I wanted to win", she cried. I guess we still have our work cut out for us when it comes to being a gracious loser!

A Sack Race!

This was a priceless moment!

Labor Day Weekend

What a great weekend! My parents and in-laws both came to town to visit. The kids loved seeing Nana and Papa and Grandma and Grandpa. We went to the mall on Saturday and then grilled out and watched the old Roger and Hammerstein's version of Cinderella (I love those songs!). The kids stayed up a little later than usual and actually slept in Sunday morning. We went to the zoo Sunday which is always fun. Something memorable always seems to happen with the animals and everytime we go it's always a different one. Once we saw the sloth bears climb all the way up the trees in their exhibit (which I don't think they're supposed to be doing). We've seen monkeys screeching and the tiger swimming through his lake. This time around we saw a polar bear dive from a rock into the water. It was really cool! We had beautiful weather the entire weekend and it was great to spend time with family.

Carter and Grandpa happened to be wearing the same shirt one day, so we made Daddy put one on and took some pictures!

Sunflowers

Teah and I planted sunflower seeds in our backyard this summer just after memorial day. We've watched them grow all summer long and now they're about 8 feet tall! Teah and I have watered them and watched them bloom. Tuesday evening we pulled off one of the flowers that was starting to wilt and about to fall. I had read you can harvest the seeds out of the middle and when I looked at the flower I couldn't see how there were going to be seeds in there. But sure enough when I pulled off the little green parts overtop of the middle of the flower, nestled in were a bunch of sunflower seeds. Teah helped me pick them out and now we're saving them to give to the birds this winter. We opened a few and ate them raw and Teah even tried them. The smell of them fresh from the flower was great. I have really loved this summer project with Teah!

One is the Easiest Number?

Well, Robert was post-call today and had enough energy in him to watch Carter while I took Teah with me to the grocery store. This got me to wondering how I ever thought having only one child was hard. I know it was because I went through it, but now that I have two I can see it's just a matter of perspective! I often take both kids with me grocery shopping and it definitely is not a simple task. Only having Teah with me today, even though she was acting up, was a breeze. And I used to complain about having to take only Teah before Carter came along... once again, there's that perspective.

Carter

Also known to Teah as "Sir Carter", "Carter Giant", or "Curious Carter". Now that this little guy is a toddler, he's joining in on the family blog and it's about time! He's 15 months old and what a great age. He has just recently learned how to use a spoon by himself and I swear he understands every word I say. He as a few words of his own too, including "ba ba" and something that sounds like "quack quack" when he sees a duck (in person, stuffed, or in a picture).

His favorite thing to do is to pretend to cook - maybe he'll be a chef someday. He LOVES to pull out my pots and pans and proceed to place numerous different pieces of pretend food in them. Then he'll walk over to the counter and keep pointing up until I get him one of my big stirring spoons. He then will open the bottom drawer of the stove to get out a lid (usually all of the lids). Finally, he'll sit and stir his food and pretend to taste it for forever (well, forever in the time of a 15 month old, which is 30-60 minutes).

He sleeps 14 hours a day and is generally good natured and happy. He has a few bad habits to break, like tackling his sister or stealing her toys because he likes her to chase him (not at all because he actually wants to play with the toy). So, all in all, he's a keeper!

A Whole New Blog

Well, I finally took the time to update our blog. From this post forward it is no longer "Teah's Toddler Blog", but "The Hilliard High Jinks". Having been Teah's blog for the past couple of years, previous posts are all about her. Well, now that Carter is a toddler himself it's time to include all of the craziness that happens in the entire Hilliard House!

Go Green

At 3 1/2, Teah has learned quite a few important things about the world. Yesterday I accidentally left the refrigerator open while I was refilling the water pitcher. Teah shut it for me and said, "Mom, you left the fridge door open. You're wasting energy!" Hopefully she'll do the same thing 10 years from now!

Teah's Funnies

Teah has said some funny things lately. The other day she was singing a kids song and I strated to sing along. She stopped and said, "Mom, you're making it worse!". :) This morning I told her what a big girl she was for keeping her nighttime pull-up dry. She said, "Thanks Mom. You're a big momma!" I think she thought she was complimenting me :)

Understanding

Well, Teah talks like she's all grown up sometimes, but of course she reminds you that she's only 3 quite often. There are some concepts she just can't grasp, like death. Today in the pet store Teah asked if we could buy some bones for when Scrappy comes back. I've explained to her numerous times that he's not coming back, but permanence is just not a concept she understands yet. It broke my heart just a little...

Reading

Teah can read! Kind of... There are quite a few words that she has learned how to spell. Well, today we had mail sitting on our table from Brookfield Zoo and the outside of the envelope says has the zoo logo. Teah looked at it and said, "Look Mommy, we got something from the zoo. See - Z - O- O". It was the first time that she actually told me what a word was when she had never seen that specific instance before. What a big girl!

Mo' Money

So, in the past I have explained to Teah that when people work they make money. She has a piggy bank and sometimes demands money for it, so we figured we should teach her at an early age that it doesn't grow on trees. Well, today Teah found a penny in our bedroom and wanted to put it in her piggy bank. Then she said to me, "Mommy, Daddy works to get money for me". She knows the ways of the world already...

Like a Kitty

Nana and Papa (Mommy's parents) visited this weekend. Papa currently has a mustache and goatee. Teah felt it and said, "Papa, you have whiskers just like a kitty" :)

Barry the Snake

Teah has named her first stuffed animal! I've been trying to get her to name things for awhile now, but she never has come up with anything when I asked. Well, yesterday she found a beanie baby snake in the basement that I've had for awhile. She came up to me and said, "Mama, this is Barry the snake. He's my best friend". :) How she came up with Barry I have no idea!

Does this make my butt look big?

The mascot for Kalamazoo College is a hornet and I was wearing a K shirt the other day with a hornet on it. Teah pointed at it and said that it was a bee. I explained to her it was a hornet and trying to figure out a way for her to know the difference, I told her that the hornet has a big butt (well, the one in this picture did). In hindsight, that may have been a bad idea. I told her that one time and now everytime I wear this shirt she points at it and says, "Mommy, the hornet has a big butt". Well today I wasn't even wearing the shirt and she commented that hornets have big butts. Then she said, "I have a little butt". Just for fun I asked her, "What does mommy have?". Of course she said, "a big butt" :) Now I'm just waiting for the day that she tells someone that they have a big butt in the grocery store! :O

Teah's Obsession

Teah is totally obsessed with Dora the Explorer. Yesterday at bedtime she climbed up onto her bed at the foot of her bed onto her ladybug sheets. She looked at me and said, "Mama, help me to jump over the ladybugs. Say Salte, say salte!". (Salte is Spanish for jump, although perhaps I'm not spelling it correctly). When I said "Salte" she hopped up onto her pillow. Then she said, "Great jumping!". I think she thinks that she IS Dora :)

Independence

Lately Teah is really acting like a 3 year old. There's a park that we walk to quite often and the play structure has one small slide and a set of three bigger slides. I have tried to get Teah to slide down the big slide for as long as we've been going to this park. I've tried telling her that I'd slide down next to her. I tried going down first to show her it was OK. I tried putting her stuffed animals down first hoping that she followed. I tried talking her into it by telling her what a big girl she was. I tried standing at the bottom and telling her that I'd catch her. Nothing ever worked. She would tell me that those slides were for big kids and that the little slide was just her slide. I had given up trying to get her to go down, but when we'd go to the park I would comment something like, "You're such a big girl now Teah I bet you could go down the big slide". Still it was only the little slide for her.

Well, the other day we were at the park and she was playing by the splash pad - a little distance from the slides. She went back over to the playground and I was fussing with Carter a bit before following her. I could still see her, but she was a little ways away. I was about to head over in that direction and when I looked over there Teah was going down the big slide! She really has to do things her own way and in her own time. She's definitely a big kid now!

Watch Teah go down the big slide:

Grown-up Questions

Well, Lindsey (a close friend) had her second baby a few days ago. Her son (Austin) and Teah play together a lot. Today I told Teah that Lindsey had a baby and Austin was a big brother. Teah responded with, "Mama, is it a boy baby or a girl baby?". I was taken aback by what a relevant question that was. I told her it was a girl baby. Then she said, "Did they give the baby a name?". Again the relevance astounds me! Her name is Addison. I think Teah asked more relevant questions when I told her the news than Robert did! :)

Baby Weight

Today Teah was sitting on my lap facing me and we were just chilling and watching some TV. She likes to poke my tummy for some reason and usually she comments that there isn't a baby in there anymore. Today, she poked my tummy and said, "mommy, you feel bouncy"! LOL I guess it's time to lose that baby weight :)

A Clean Potato

Teah got a new Detroit Tigers potato head from her Nana and she was loving playing with it. Yesterday afternoon it disappeared. She kept asking me for her potato head and I looked around a little but couldn't find it. I just figured it had gotten kicked under something or put somewhere that I hadn't looked yet. Well, this morning while emptying the dishwasher I found her potato head - nice and clean on the top rack. I guess she decided to put him in there at some point yesterday. I just never know what to expect!

She's an artist

Yesterday Teah was napping and it was time to feed Carter. I took the gate off of her room in case she were to wake up she'd be able to come and find us in Carter's room. Of course, I forgot to close the door to my bedroom, which isn't exactly Teah-proofed. So, she woke up and found us and then of course decided to play in my room. I could hear her and knew what she was playing with for awhile, but then she got quiet - too quiet. Carter was nursing well, which is rare lately, so I hated to make him stop to go check on her. I tried talking to her and getting her to come into Carter's room. She answered me, but I still didn't know what she was up to. Then she said, "Mommy, mommy, wipe me off". UH OH So, I went into my room and there she was on our bed covered from elbow to hand in hand lotion. She had decided to pump it out of the bottle that was sitting on our dresser and spread it all over our wall.

What a masterpiece!

Hamstery

Well, Teah has really gotten into watching Dora the Explorer. We have a lot of episodes saved on our DVR and when she wants to watch one I sometimes go through the episodes to see which one she wants to watch. Lately she has been coming up with some great reasons for not wanting to watch them! She comes up with her own names for the episodes, so I'll go through and ask her, for example, "Teah, do you want to watch Big Noise Dora?" and she'll say, "No, that one is too noisy". Ok, that made sense. Then I say, "How about Truck Dora?" and she says, "No, that one is too trucky". OK, that's a new adjective. But my favorite was - "Teah, do you want to watch Hamster Dora". "No Mom, that one is too hamstery". LOL

Not Good For Us

Well, life with two kids is very hectic and cleaning is at the bottom of the list. So, when it was time for lunch Teah wanted to sit in her high chair, but I of course had not cleaned it off since breakfast, so it was dirty. Not a big deal - that had happened before. I told Teah to wait a minute because her tray was dirty and we had to clean it. She said, "Mommy, I just want to eat with a dirty tray". I responded and told her that eating with a dirty tray wasn't good for us so we needed to clean it. She said, "Yes Mommy, eating with a dirty tray is good for us". She thinks she knows everything already at 2 1/2!

Daddy's Eyes

Well, the other day I was talking about how Carter had his Daddy's ears. Not to leave out Teah, I turned to her and told her that she had Daddy's eyes. She looked at me and said, "No, Mommy, I have my eyes". She's a smart one.

The Terrible Twos

Well, the terrible twos are in full force for Teah. The other day she was mad about going into her room for her nap. I tried to get her to calm down and finally just decided to leave for a few minutes. I always give her a kiss and say I love her when I walk out. So, I gave her a kiss and said "I love you" through her protests of nap time. I was about to walk out and Teah looked at me and said "I DON'T love you". Oh - the terrible twos. I figure if I get more I love you's than the I don't love yous I'm ahead of the game :)

The Letters and Numbers Game

Teah has this great new game that she loves to play on the computer and she calls it the "letters and numbers game". To you and I it's known as Microsoft Word! :) She loves to watch the letters appear and disappear (after learning the backspace key). Who needs to buy fancy games for your two year old?

Milestones

Well, for the record today was the first day that I dropped Teah off at a child care center. I am taking a pre-natal water aerobics class 3 days a week and have so far been able to leave her with Robert or my mother. Well, today was the first day that no one was available to watch her. The fitness center has a childcare center, so for $5 I paid for her to play for two hours. I had a lot of nervous energy in my class and kept waiting for them to call me over the PA system, but I made it through my hour of class. When I picked her up she had her blanket and pacifier, so she must've gotten upset at some point, but she was doing a great job. On the way home in the car she said, "Mommy, I had a good time playing with the other kids." I'm so proud of my big girl :) *tear*

Getting Bigger...

Of course everyday Teah gets bigger and says things that make me realize it. Just this morning she woke me up and I went to let her out of her room. I was cold, so I put my robe on. Teah saw this and said, "Mommy has her robe on". "Yep", I said, "I am a little cold". Teah turns to me and says, "I'm a little cold too. I need my robe" (dragging out the word my). So she put on her little blue robe too :)

2 year olds will believe anything

A few weeks ago Teah and I were visiting with her cousins, Sarah and Emily, who are 2 and 4 years old. I am looking really pregnant by this point, so I told Sarah, the two year old, that there was a baby in my tummy. She listened for a few seconds and then went about playing. An hour later when I asked her what was in my tummy, she said, "a baby". What you tell her becomes reality. Then I told Emily, the 4 year old, that there was a baby in my tummy. She looked at me for 10 seconds or so and then said, "No". I repeated, "Yep, there's a baby in there". A longer pause this time and then she said "No, I don't think there's a baby in there." She just wasn't going to believe me! At this point I realized the upside of a two year old - they'll believe most anything you tell them!

Discoveries

Having a two year old is getting to be a lot of fun. It's amazing the discoveries they make along the way. Yesterday I went to get Teah out of the van. When I opened the door, she holds her finger up and says, "Mommy, what's that?". She had a booger sitting on her finger! lol I told her that was a booger and she said, "I got it from my nose". :) Today's valuable lesson learned - boogers go in Kleenexes.

Baby Names

Teah, Robert, and I were sitting at the table. Teah was eating a snack and I was looking through the baby names books and suggesting things to Robert. I saw the name "Kermit" in the book and said to Teah, "Should your baby brother's name be Kermit". She said, "No mommy. Kermit is a frog". :) I kept suggesting and she was having fun saying No. Then she said, "How about Henry", in a much more mumbled 2 year old way of course. She kept saying it until I said, "what about Henry". She said, "No, Henry's in the Thomas book". Too funny.

Hide and Seek

Last week after Robert got home from work we decided to play a game of hide and seek with Teah, which she'd never done before. So, we taught her to stand in the corner and hide her face while she counted to ten (mommy had to supervise to stop her from peeking :). While she counted Daddy would hide on only our main level. She thought this was the funnest game ever. At first Robert would just hide behind a wall. Then he started getting more creative. It's really hilarious where you can hide with a two year old. Robert decided one time to get behind our couch cushions, pushing them out to the middle of the couch so he could fit behind them. I immediately knew where he was when I turned around and saw the couch and started laughing. Teah couldn't find him for the life of her. I had to tell her that maybe Daddy was on the couch. She got this look on her face like, oh, that's an idea. Then she found him. Then he decided to just take a blanket and crouch down in the dining room with the blanket over him - in plain view. Teah walked by him like 3 times without even noticing this random blanket! Robert started giggling and she decided to look under the blanket. It was really fun times!

A Conversation

Teah and Mommy looking at pictures:
Mommy says: "Teah, look at this picture. Who's that?"
Teah says: "Mommy and Teah"
Mommy says: "What's Teah doing?"
Teah says: "Holding mommy's tummy"
Mommy says: "What's in mommy's tummy?"
Teah says: "A baby!"
Mommy says: "That's right. Teah's baby brother"
Teah says, while patting mommy's tummy:

"Get big baby. Get big"

Preparing for Baby.

Well, we've been preparing more and more for the new baby and Teah says some pretty hilarious things.

Lately I've been trying to help Teah to understand nursing, since she has numerous books that talk about bottles of milk and her baby dolls drink from their bottles of milk. So, I told her that mommies make milk and they don't need bottles to feed babies. That day when I got the milk out of the fridge, Teah said, "Mommy make milk". I told her that mommy didn't make that milk and that milk came from a cow. Teah said, "like Blue farmer". She was referring to an episode of Blue's Room where they milk a cow. She was right - it was exactly like that! Amazing the things they understand.

Teah has a great book called "I'm a Big Sister" that she loves to read. After we read it, I told her that Teah was going to be a big sister when the baby comes. Teah said, "Want baby to come". I told her that we had to wait for the baby to get bigger in mommy's tummy. So, she said, "Baby get big, baby get big, baby get big", as if she was willing the baby to get bigger :)

Little Miss Independent

Boy is Teah getting big! Yesterday we had a great time going out to dinner and then to the bookstore as a family. We try to give Teah a lot of advance notice before leaving and something exciting to try to get to, but sometimes she's not so good when leaving a fun place. Anyway, we were able to get her to walk out of the bookstore last night, but when she got just outside the door she decided to stop and didn't want to go. Well, it was freezing cold and we were getting in people's way, so Robert scooped her up and started walking her to the car. She started screaming "No! Walk! No! Teah wants to walk!". Of course, this screaming continued for the 5 minute car ride home - "Get out of car. Walk Outside! Get out of car! ". We could get her to calm down for two seconds by telling her that she could walk when we got home, but it wouldn't last long. Well, when we got home and we told her she could walk she stopped crying, but was still doing the sniffle thing that kids do after they've cried for awhile. We got out of the car and she said "Mommy, go inside". So, I went inside and left her with Robert. Then she said, "Daddy, go inside". Of course we're not going to leave her alone, but Robert walked inside the gate to our backyard and shut the door, still being able to watch her through the door as she stood on the sidewalk. She just stood there for 2 or 3 minutes, sniffling and looking around, then she decided she was ready to come in. I guess she needed to assert her independence! :)

Our Little Chatterbox

As I'm writing this Teah is playing with her Little People House. She put the people into the bed and said "Goodnight Everybody. I love you." She's the cutest. I was blogging today to jot down a few other funny things she's said this week.

A few days ago I gave Teah a spoon for her applesauce. Just an ordinary plastic kids spoon that she eats with all the time. She held onto it with both hands, looked at it closely, and said "Oh, that's a nice spoon". :)

Lately, I've been saying to Teah, "Guess What. Mommy loves you". The other day Teah came up to me and said "Guess What". She waited for me to say what and then she said, "Mommy Loves Teah!" lol

Kids say the Darndest things!

Well, I've fallen out of blogging and Teah has gotten so big! She talks up a storm now and everyday she says something hilarious - most of which I forget. So, I think it's time to start up once again and remember all of the funny things that come out of her mouth. Today Teah brought me a book to read - it's called something like "My First Baby Words Book". It has a bunch of pictures and labels and the first few pages have pictures of a baby in a diaper labeling hands, feet, eyes, mouth, etc. Teah brought the book to me and said "Mommy, read naked baby book". :) Kids says the darndest things!

Eat Cake!

Yesterday morning I decided to let Teah eat breakfast while just sitting at the table instead of in her high chair. There were some miscellaneous groceries and stuff on the table, but nothing within her reach. I decided to do the dishes in the kitchen while she ate her apple - don't ask why but she decided she wanted an apple for breakfast that morning. As I'm doing dishes I hear her say "Eat cake. Eat cake". I walk out into the dining room to see that she had found a box of chocolate truffles that I had left sitting on the other side of the table. They had been closed, but I guess she found her way into them and decided she would help herself to some "cake" for breakfast :)

Telling Stories

Teah has started to talk so much that she is telling me stories! Recently she has been watching an episode of the Teletubbies that has a short video of a family walking down to watch the train pass by. There's a little boy who gets really excited to see the train and he jumps up and down. I've been telling Teah that the baby is happy because the choo choo is coming. Randomly she started telling me - "mama, bebe oppy choo choo come jump". Well, this past weekend Jenn was visiting and we dropped her off at the train station on Sunday on her way out. Instead of just dropping her off we all got out of the car to wait for the train to come so that Teah could see the train. I told her the choo choo was going to come and that Jenn was going to get in and say bye bye. This afternoon when she woke up from her nap she said all of the following:

"Mama, bebe jump oppy choo choo come. Daddy choo choo come. Jenn on choo choo go."

She was very excited to tell me all of this :) I think we might be in trouble when she starts to really be able to talk - we will probably never get her to stop!

I am THAT Mom!

Ok, I hate to admit it but lately I've just been walking out of the house without even a glance in a mirror. Not that I've ever been a big vanity person, but I like to catch the occasional flyaway hair. Anyway, today as I was picking up the house and playing with Teah my hair kept falling in my face and annoying me. The only hair thing I could find which didn't require me to go up or down stairs was one of Teah's hair things. Now this wasn't just a plain old rubber band. It was one of the thick fabric-coated rubber bands with a bow tied on. I decided to use it to pull up just the very top front of my hair so it stuck straight up in a little pony-tail - just to keep it out of my face for a few minutes. Hours later when I decided to take Teah out for a walk to the park I just walked out the door and had a great time. Thirty mintues after we'd been home I realized that my hair had been up in Teah's hair thing for the whole walk! :) DOH

Trick or Treat

This year was the first year that Teah actually went Trick or Treating and she had a blast! Her costume was a Pooh bear dressed as a bee costume and she loved it. If she would see if around the house she would say "Pooh bee on" and wear it around for a few minutes. It is basically like a snowsuit, so that was good since it was a bit chilly the night of Halloween. Our trick or treating hours were really early - 3 to 6pm - so Daddy didn't make it home in time for the outing, but Teah and mommy went out for about an hour walking around the neighborhood. Surprisingly, Teah carried her purple pumpkin basket the whole time and although she didn't know what candy was, after the first few houses she was really excited to go get more in her basket. "Mo Ca-ny Baket" she would say. When we would walk up to a house and the person would open the door I would ask Teah to say Trick or treat and she would say "Teat". She didn't want people to put the candy in her basket - she wanted to take it from their hands and put it in her basket herself. One house had taken a few pieces of candy and a sucker and tied them up into one of those plastic Halloween baggies. When the guy tried to hand that to Teah she handed it back! She didn't want it in her basket - lol. I had to take it and put it in my pocket. Once she had her candy I would ask her to say thank you and she would say "ank you". She would always give a good "buy bye" on our way out. It was soooooo super cute. We finished our loop after about an hour and she was definitely done. Daddy got home after dinner and we did go to one more house with him, which was nice.

Someone had given us some individually wrapped sugar cookies in the shape of pumpkins and Teah immediately wanted to eat those when we got home - she may not know what candy was just yet, but she definitely knew cookie. I tried to get her to eat a few other pieces of candy that night - a tootsie roll and a twizzler, but she would just touch them to her tongue and hand them back to me. I don't know what I was thinking that night because I didn't hide her candy basket before I went to bed. When she woke up in the morning she saw the basket on the table and said "candy candy". As any good mother would do, I made her eat breakfast before giving her the basket. Once again she tried out a few candies without eating anything, which was fine by me. Then she wanted the package of mini m&ms and chowed them down. Now once again I must've been going crazy because I STILL didn't hide her candy! So an hour later she noticed it again and said "candy candy". Since she hadn't been big on eating it, I figure I could just give her the bucket and let her play with it - she likes just taking the pieces out and putting them back in. A few minutes after giving her the bucket she had found the one bag of mini m&ms left. She brought them to me and said "eat".

Sentence Explosion

This week out of nowhere it seems that Teah understands the concept of the sentence. Not just putting words together, but subject and verb w/ connectors (I'm sure that's not an appropriate English term :). She has said:

Here I come
I need a hat
Daddy I'm going to throw Elmo
Mommy I have a book

Of course probably only Robert and I could decipher the sentences to actually be the things above, but she definitely is saying them! She says so many new words everyday that I can't even keep track anymore.

One added off subject thought: Teah counted to ten yesterday totally out of the blue. She has repeated a few of the numbers after I've said them before, but never even attempted to count. Usually when I'd ask her to count she'd say "A B" - not really understanding the difference between the alphabet and counting I guess. Well, yesterday at dinnertime she had a bowl of peach pieces. She had dumped them all out and she put one back in the bowl - her usual dump then put them all back before I eat them. Well, she put the second one in and said "two peach". I was shocked. She put another one in and I asked how many she had - she said "thee". She continued to answer me when I'd ask how many she had all the way up to ten! Robert and I were just looking at her in amazement like "where did you learn that and since when can you count?"!

Guess what Teah did?!

She went pee on the potty!

I was upstairs when I heard her wake up from her nap. I decided to go in and get her and I noticed that her diaper wasn't warm, so she probably hadn't peed yet. I sat her on the potty -mind you, I've done this numerous times before with no results - so I wasn't really expecting anything. I told her to go pee and we read a book. Then there was pee in the potty - I couldn't believe it! I read another book and she kept pointing down to the potty and saying "pee". Of course I praised her like it was the best thing she had ever done.

All evening I would ask her what she did in the potty today and she would say, "pee. yea" and clap her hands :) Well, I thought this was a one-time fluke. At bathtime I had to go to the bathroom myself and I had to take her diaper off to put her in the tub, so I figured we'd set on our potties together. She pointed at the potty as if she expected her pee to still be in there. I told her it was all gone and she had to make more pee. Well, she sat down and peed again! Pretty cool.

How did that happen?

So, we still have the exersaucer Teah used as a baby sitting downstairs in our basement play area. Every once in awhile Teah will want to sit in it and play for like 2 minutes. It's funny because she's way too big for it, so she just looks silly. Well, yesterday we were playing in the basement and I went upstairs to take dinner out of the oven to cool. I was upstairs for 3 minutes at the most. When I came back down Teah had tried to climb into her exersaucer all by herself. Well, she put one leg into a hole, but it was the wrong hole, so there wasn't a hole on the other side for her other leg. There she was with one leg in a hole and the other leg sticking up out of the exersaucer. :) Man is she fast!

Teah Translations

OK, so Teah may be "talking", but it takes some translation to understand what she's saying...

Kee Kee = Cookie
Die = Done
I Die = All Done
Pee = Pee or Please (must use context)
Tay = Stay (Referring to dog)
Emo = Elmo
Boo or Aboo = Blue (From Blue's Clues)
Ah coo = A Clue
Moo = Moon
Joomp or Joompy= Jump
Ow = She's been hurt or something has fallen to the ground
Nyum Nyum = Food and Drink both
Choo Choo = Train
Choo = Shoe

She'll refer to animals by sounds instead of names -
Mmmmm = Cow
Roof Roof = Dog
Neigh = Horse
Meow = cat
Baa = Sheep
Ssssss = Snake
peep peep = Baby Chick
Really high-pitched squeal = tweet tweet for a bird :)
Oooo Eeee Aaaa = Monkey
Quack Quack = Duck

Pronounces the following words correctly -
Eye Go No (Usually No No No No No very loudly :)
Sit Knee
Up Head
Eat Poop
Off Drop
On Egg
Bee Baby

Sweet Dreams

Teah has really been into pretending with her stuffed animals and figures lately. The only way I could get her to eat her brocolli the other day was to give some to her princess figure. She also has started going down the slide by herself again because one day we brought Dale to the park and let him go own the slide. Today she was playing with her weebles in their little treehouse, which has a bed for them to sleep. She brought the weeble over to me and wanted me to give him a kiss before she put him in his bed :)

Talkin' Teah

Three days ago Teah decided to say three new words all in one day - hat, head, and cheese. And she didn't just say them once, she said them over and over again. And she actually ate cheese for the first time, although I've tried to give it to her before. Everytime she wanted more she would say "chee", sometimes putting the "s" on the end. All day long she would say "mama head" and point to her head or "Dada head". She's very intrigued lately that we all have the same body parts :)

That same day Teah played with Scrappy for the first time by herself. In the past I would take the ball from Scrappy and give it to Teah. When I told her to throw it for the dog she would just throw it right at his face. The other day she actually would grab the ball from the dog herself, holding on to his collar to keep him there :) Then when we told her to throw it the other way, she actually did. We sat and watched Teah and Scrappy actually play a game of squeaky ball all by themselves.

Teah's so into talking now that she'll repeat commands that I give to Scrappy as well. Whenever I tell him to sit, stay, or drop she'll repeat the words. Especially when I tell him No :)

More Blue

After I put Teah down to bed tonight I hear "Ma Ma. Ma Ma", so I went up after a few minutes when she wasn't falling asleep. She saw me and said "AhBlue" :). I brought up her Blue toy and she went to sleep. Perhaps she's developing her first real security object.

Ah Blue

Teah has become quite obsessed with a stuffed Blue (from Blue's Clues) toy that she has. She walks around saying "AhBlue" whenever she wants it. I don't know if she's trying to say "my blue" or what. Today we went to the park and when we got out of the car she was saying "Ah blue" (she always wants to bring it in the car with us). So, I let her bring Blue with her to the park. She was hilarious. She caught Blue at the bottom of the slide, drug the toy through the tunnels, and pushed her on the swing. Now for months Teah has not wanted to go down a slide by herself - she might if I hold her hand or go down with her, but definitely not by herself. Today she brought Blue up with her, put the toy down the slide and then followed her down without hesitation all by herself :) It was only then that I realized the magic of Blue and pretending. For lunch Blue took a bite of peas before every bite that Teah took and she gobbled them down :)

A Little Experiment

Two days ago I decided to have a little experiment with Teah. Lately she's been obsessed with going to the bathroom - poop and pee are two of her favorite words :) She watches the dog and always has to go in with me. She puts her stuffed animals on her little potty and says "pee. poop". Every time I change her diaper she says the same thing. So, I was wondering if she might be ready to start some potty training, even though she's pretty young. Well, I decided to move the potty chair into the living room and let her run around naked one evening. I planned on watching her like a hawk and sticking her on her potty if she looked like she was going to go on the floor. Well, Robert came home and we were talking and I was not watching her so hawklike. She was standing up next to the TV Stand reading a book and the next thing I know there is poop on the floor!! lmao. I jumped up and put her on the potty, but I don't think she had any clue that had come from her. Lesson learned - we'll keep the diaper on!

Fun and Games

Today Teah discovered stickers. She had gotten six little round Disney princess stickers from the doctor awhile back, but I didn't give them to her because she wouldn't have understood them. Today we were sitting around and I decided she might have fun with them. She thought they were great - she kept taking one and sticking it on her foot, and her tummy, her nose, her leg, etc until it wouldn't stick anymore - then she'd want another one. Well, then she came up with a game. She took the sticker and put it on her little soccer ball. Then she rolled the soccer ball so she didn't know where the sticker was. Then she would pick it up and play Find the Sticker! She was so proud of herself when she would find it on the ball :)

Toddlerhood's happening

Cute things that Teah has done recently -

We walked into the grocery store and Teah immediately said "Elmo Elmo Elmo" - of course she babbles on about Elmo constantly in general, so I didn't think much of it. As I went to get a cart I noticed that a little girl walking into the store with her Mom was holding an Elmo doll. Teah noticed it the minute we stepped through the door :)

Teah's is also recently obsessed with Blue's Clues - she got her first Blue stuffed toy the other day and today she took, after putting her shoe and hairthing on the toy (with mommy's help of course), she laid down on the floor with her and took a little rest.

Every time we leave the house now to go shopping Teah wants to bring a toy with her. It's so cute to see her walk out the door - generally I let her walk out to the sidewalk rather than carry her - holding her little Blue toy by the arm or carrying her magnadoodle using the handle.

Teah's recent accomplishments - being able to do wooden "board" puzzles, saying "please", going down a step without holding on (running even), eating competently with a spoon

Teah's love for Elmo

Teah can now say the word "Elmo" - well, perhaps it sounds more like "Emo" - and she doesn't stop saying it. The funniest time that she uses the word is when she wakes up. Every morning and after naptime for the past few days the minute I walk into her room she looks at me and says "Emo, Emo, Emo, Emo". I guess she's dreaming about Elmo :)