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 :)