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 :)

Teah's 1st two-word Sentence

Teah has started saying a lot of words lately, but just one word at a time. Some of her favorites are up, mom, elmo, blue, roof roof, and meow. So, I've been trying to get Teah to put two words together lately, with no luck. The other day we were at the park and I had brought along the dog. She saw the dog "marking hit spot" on a bush. She pointed at him and said, "roof roof pee". lol.

Silliness

Everynight around 6:30 or 7pm is now Teah's "hyper time". She loves to be tickled or jump around on the bed or play hide and seek. She's hilarious when she plays hide and seek because she always gives herself away. Yesterday she went into our bedroom closet and shut the door to hide. I said "Where is Teah?" and she let out a giggle from behind the door :) I found her.

A Wild Adventure

Today we made a trip downtown and ate dinner at the Rainforest cafe with my mother who was in town on business. Teah had a great time! We had a table next to the aquarium and she loved the fish, but she loved the animatronic gorillas even more. We ate for an hour and a half and she was entertained - she even had a balloon kitty made for her :) We ordered off of the kids menu for the very first time - recently Teah has been obsessed with chicken nuggets. She ate six nuggets at dinner! And Granmda even got her a souvenir - what a fun night!

Books

Today was the first day that Teah sat and looked at a book without me. She'll pull them all of the shelf or chew on one, but today she just sat down, pulled out her Tigger & Pooh book and flipped through every page. She looked at each page intently, like she was actually reading :) lol I guess she's becoming more independent. Oh - now she sees me ont he computer and wants to play on her website.

Teah's Potty

Well, Teah has a little potty now that sits on top of the regular toilet. She loves to sit on it and read books and usually I sit her on it for 5 minutes or so before bathtime, just to get used to the idea and maybe accidentally do something in there! Yesterday we did the usual, she sat on the potty and I read a few books. She wanted down, so I started her bath water. I was just putting in her bathmat when I thought I smelled pee - there she was standing right between the toilet and the bathtub in a puddle of urine! She had no idea she had gone, so I guess we're not there yet. Good thing she was about to get into the tub :)

The beginning of the end

Yesterday Teah said "No" for the first time! We were about to take a walk to the park and I told her she was going to have to sit in her stroller - she looked at me and said, "No" - sounded a little like now, but she knew what she was saying. I guess this is the beginning of a long life of Nos :) I bribed her with sidewalk chalk and she sat down. And she didn't just stop there. She said "no" when I told her we were going to go upstairs and take a bath (she wanted to watch tv - that's a whole other story ugh), although she still obliged, so perhaps she's just testing the waters.

OK - starting today I am going to blog more often. Teah does cute things everyday :) Anyway, today she found the wastebasket in our bedroom which was empty. She brought it downstairs to the sink and pointed at the water - she thought it was a big cup! So, I told her we don't drink out of it, trash goes in it, and I gave her a real cup. She took a few drinks out of the regular cup and I told her to give it to mommy when she was done (trying to avoid her dumping it on the floor). I was so excited when it looked like she was actually going to give it to me, but then at the very last second, she dumped it on the floor! That's my toddler.

May 1st - Cool Beginnings

Teah had her first popsicle today. Well, I ate a popsicle and she shared. She started off just barely touching her lips to the popsicle. By the time we finished, she was eating it like a big girl. Every day she amazes me by how grown up she is. I wonder how long it will be before I feel like she's not my little baby anymore...

April 22nd - the Vacation begins

Today was the big day - the vacation begins! We were headed to Kalamazoo in the morning for the Alumni soccer game and our flight to Miami left the Detroit airport at 9pm. A busy day! First, we woke up with our beautiful little girl and had to say goodbye for 6 days. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I held it together until we said goodbye and walked out the door and then I broke down the minute we stepped out. I felt like I was leaving a part of me behind. Of course, she's in great hands with Grandma and Grandpa and later I learned that she didn't even cry at all after we left, so I felt better. The teariness lasted until mid-afternoon, when I could finally say her name without crying :) Robert played in his soccer game and we hung out with old friends in Kzoo. It did feel good to be free. Check out our vacation photo album at: http://hilliard.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album40&page=1 Happy Vacation!!

April 19th - To blog or not to blog...

Wow, it's been over a month since I've "blogged", so I figured I'd send out an update. Teah is cute every single day of course, so it's hard to decide when to blog and when not to blog. Most of our existence has been occupied lately by our upcoming vacation. Robert has 16 days off of work!! We arrived at my parents' house today and will be heading off on a cruise Saturday - Sans baby :) She'll be splitting her time between both sets of grandparents. I'm so excited to be going on our first cruise and I really could use some time away from the "baby", but I'm so anxious to leave her for a whole 6 days. As for Teah, she's entered into another mild separation anxiety phase, so the grandparents will have to deal with that. If I leave she walks around the house screaming "ma ma ma". Thankfully, Elmo is always there to save the day! Teah has added a few new animal sounds and body parts to her vocabulary and general understanding. She got a baby doll for Easter, and as we were playing with it that day she looked at me as if she had a really important secret to tell me and then half whispered "ba-beee". It was so awesome! She communicates so much now - mostly non verbal. She has a very adamant way of waving her hand to refuse to eat or do something-there's more and more toddler everyday. Anyway, this blog has become the rambling blog, so I'll sign off. Next blog - Patti & Robert's Cruise!!

March 29, 2005 - Look on the Bright Side

Well, Teah is now over 15 months old and she had her 15 month checkup last week. I have updated her information on the side of the page - 23 lbs - what a big girl! (although that's 50th percentile). Since she turned 15 months I feel like she's really entered into the toddler stage. She had a HORRIBLE time at her doctors appointment culminating in her throwing up all over us when we got home. :( We're going to start practicing with Daddy's doctor toys so she'll be a little more comfortable next time. Also, she's started into the tantrums phase. She'll scream and scream when she doesn't get her own way. ugh.

But, I thought about all of the negative writing I've been doing and wanted to look on the bright side and talk about what a cute, cute, cute little girl Teah is. She really loves to wave and practices all the time. She's also really good at giving Daddy high-fives. She'll come up to me now and lift her arms up, wanting me to pick her up. And then she'll spontaneously give me a kiss. She loves to give kisses! She kisses mommy and daddy and Elmo and pictures of Grandma and Grandpa and animal cookies and ... anything really! She loves taking her socks off and putting them back on as a fun game (with mommy's help of course). She also loves to walk. Anytime we go somewhere that she can just walk continuously she loves it. She looked really cute today toddling around Marshall Field's and she'll even hold my hand most of the time.

What a great little girl - even with the tantrums :)

March 11th - My baby's growing up

Teah is really diving head first into toddlerhood lately. Yesteday she used a fork for the first time - I mean really used it. She stabbed a piece of sweet potato all on her own, and then got it into her mouth using only the fork. What a big girl! I was such a proud mommy :) She's doing her best to run, but still her body gets ahead of her feet and she falls - I'm sure that it won't be long. She's also getting into animals sounds. If I ask her what sound a dog makes, she'll say "ooof ooof ooof". She claps her hands when she sees something exciting and thinks that going down the slide is really a lot of fun. Where did my baby go?!

March 7th - The 2nd time is NOT a charm

Well, today was our flight home from Atlanta - Teah's second time on a plane. As we were pulling up to the airport I made a comment that the first flight went so well something must go wrong with this one - that may have been an understatement! :O The trip started off with the attendant at the gate unable to ensure that there would be an empty seat next to us for the carseat - in a very rude and unhelpful way of course. I decided to just bring the seat on board and hope for the best. As we boarded, the same attendant took our ticket and we walked down the hallway, Teah, myself, the stroller w/ the carseat in the basket, and two bags. As we walked we came to a staircase - yes a staircase! The attendant didn't mention this or offer any help or alternate route. I went back and asked her (very politely) how I was supposed to get down. She told me to fold the stroller up and take it with me!?! As if I can carry a baby, carseat, stroller, and two bags. I mentioned this and she said I wasn't listening - and then she repeated herself. seriously. I suggested that I could just leave the stroller at the top of the stairs and she responded that maybe she could get someone to bring it down - MAYBE? So, to make a long story a little less long, another passenger ended up having to carry the stroller down for me as we walked down the stairs and directly outside onto the runway to board our puddle hopper of a plane; 30 rows with two seats on either side. Now I have ear problems when flying, so after an hour and a half of entertaining a cranky baby who had only taken an hour nap that day my ears really started to bother me as we started our descent. Teah started crying and pulling at her ears as well even with her pacifier in. So I gave her a bottle even though she had just eaten dinner in hopes to help her pain and stop the screaming child. It helped her ears, but not long after drinking 5 ounces - she threw up all over herself and the carseat (which we did fit in since the plane was half empty - seems like she could've told me that!). So, I'm cleaning up puke and changing Teah's clothes on the way down - ugh. She was pretty happy after throwing up at least. And it was great to see Robert when he picked us up at the airport and Teah was excited to see her Daddy. Of course, I spent that evening doing baby laundry and hand washing the carseat cover and straps. Now I am going to promptly forget the whole experience! :)

February 28th - There's a First Time for Everything

Well, this week Teah has had two big firsts. Her first swim class and her first airplane trip.

Monday night was Teah's first swim class. A swim class for a one-year old you say? It's true. I thought we'd just be having some fun splashing, but we're actually learning and practicing some skills for the future. Teah's learning how to climb out of the pool and hold on to the side of the pool by herself. We're also practicing her lying on her back in the water and also her holding on to my shoulders while kicking straight-legged. Surprisingly, Teah wasn't afraid of the pool at all. I think she's a bit confused and thinks it's more like the bathtub, because she kept wanting me to let go of her! :O Her age is a bit challenging in class, because she's not quite old enough to follow instructions, but definitely old enough to have a mind of her own! :) We'll be well prepared come summer time when our own pool opens.

Tuesday night was Teah's first flight. She did great! Thankfully the flight wasn't full and they left an extra seat next to us - so I brought on her carseat and she sat in it the entire flight to Atlanta. The flight was only 1 hr. 40 minutes, so that sure helped. We ate dinner, read books, and played with toys. As expected there was a lot of entertaining to be done (if only we had a portable DVD player Elmo could've filled that role :), but very little complaining on the part of Teah. It seemed like her ears bothered her a bit on the way down, but her bedtime bottle appeared to fix the problem. Our flight arrived 20 minutes early and our luggage was ready when we got to baggage claim. All in all a good experience!