Welcome to Tantrum Alley, baby!!!!

Age of Lady Kaitlyn:  18 months and 19 days

Family,

And a good Tuesday afternoon to you on the last day of the third quarter - where on EARTH has the time gone?  Another wonderful (and entertaining) week is in the books, so let's recap, shall we?


For the sneetch, I can confirm that she has officially LEARNED HOW TO THROW A TANTRUM.  A lot of people talk about the Terrible 2's actually being the Terrible 3's, but I'm thinking K's doing a pretty solid job at the 18 month mark of making it well known when she's not happy.  And granted, she still wakes up super happy and has a smile on her face most of the day.  However, when the switch flips these days, it FLIPS.  WOW.

The good news is that she is definitely babbling more.  She's definitely playing with syllables and trying to sound things out, with her favorite phrase being the ever mysterious "da bum dap."  So far that means about 16,000 things, ranging from "Yes, I would love more cheese" to "could I have a cheese stick" to "I would love a honey wheat pretzel with my cube of cheese" to "when do I get more cheese on toast" to "it sure has been awhile since you've given me mac 'n cheese" - you get the picture (and notice the theme).

A similar turn of phrase is dada, which for most children would mean "daddy" or "father."  However, as K currently thinks of me as a plague wandering the house, terrorizing all who lay in my wake, dada has expanded to mean other things.  So yes, at present, "dada" does mean "father," but it also means:

"Love the new Jungle Jim, daddy!  What do you mean
it has to go outside?"

1. My 30 year old baby doll I carry around

2. A school bus (and anytime she sees one, she gets SO excited...all the way up to the point where they turn into a subdivision and she says "uh-oh!").

3. Any type of bird - take your pick

4. Plastic pink flamingoes (yep - I am REALLY down the pecking order these days)

Side note on this:  the most classic "I am NOT playing with daddy" happened yesterday when K was running around in the Bonus room.  Jenny said "Go show daddy!," at which point K ran down the hall, came bounding into my room, saw me, continued to run in a circle (rather than turn around or backtrack), and sprint out the door - Jenny could NOT stop laughing (and I have to admit it was pretty damn funny).

K is definitely saying "dipe dipe" for diaper, which is funny because that's what we used to say back when she was an infant.  Now we can't stop saying it, and she asks to change "dada's dipe dipe" all the time (that would be the doll - not me).  She's also saying "ah-ah," which is definitely apple (as evidenced by her stalking me for bites of my apple whenever I'm eating one).  She has some syllables that constitute banana (and she definitely knows what it is), but she's not saying the full word yet (closer to "nana").  Jenny did tell me that the last time she was at her parents' place she called Jan "Nana" vs. Nanny - that's definitely exciting progress!  Oh, and it should also be noted that "dipe dipe" can mean school bus as well.  Yes, yes, I know - I sound like THE TYPICAL PARENT on this one.

Now all this being said, I will say that her learning and memory have astonished me.  Between the Golden Book and "Rocket's Mighty Words" (from the library), it has been crazy to teach K new words and pictures and then have her point them out the next day.  Some of my favorites have been hammer, robot, moose, possum, and prairie dog (seriously - who remembers prairie dog?).  We're working on lemur and meerkat - just give me time. :-)

Also, perhaps the cutest thing this week has been K saying "Awwwww" whenever she sees a deer or a teddy bear.  She is often playing with Jenny's HUGE teddy bear that's basically the same size she is.  Her favorite activity is to set the teddy bear in her rocking chair and rock her, after which time she lays her on the ground, bounces on her for a bit, and then lays on her like she's about to go to sleep - TOO CUTE!  She's also putting baby in the UNC rocker, which is quite adorable.  The "awwwww" in reference to deer came from the book "Baby Loves Winter," which is another K fave (and part of the library collection - no cost, baby!!!!!!).

The girls learning how to share, which, at the moment,
consists of a wrestling match that equates to:  "Bitch,
you better let go of the stroller or the bunny gets it."

The biggest milestone I had the privilege to observe this week was K stacking blocks for the first time!  Normally she just destroys the towers we build, but this time she actually took the over-sized legos and stacked them up.  As this was one of the "do this by 2 years" milestones, I was quite excited.  I haven't been back in the bonus room with her to see if she remembers how to do it (or is even interested), but it's good to know that she is capable (not that I had any doubts :-)).

But back to the title of the blogs - K's tantrums.  So some of it may stem from some illness (things have been going around a bit lately).  Some of it may stem from teething (although I've been hearing that for EIGHT WEEKS NOW WITH NO CANINES IN SIGHT, so I'm not holding my breath).  Some of it could be the age.  Whatever it is, there is no denying that K does NOT want to be without mommy right now - even for a second.  When she runs upstairs while K's eating, K instantly stops eating and says "mama" over and over until Jenny returns.  The same is true if we are upstairs and Jenny goes down, outside and Jenny goes in - you name it.  And let me tell you who is NO comfort to her - THIS GUY.  The thing is, K's tantrum isn't just a scream.  She will literally bang her head against the floor and wail like a banshee, rolling around and swinging her arms like a Bayblade.  She has a nice habit of punching me in the throat and trying to crush my larynx when I attempt to sooth her (yet I continue to do it).

Coming into this week, Jenny had gone to the Y on a few occasions, dropping K at daycare.  In the morning, this had met with measured success, but the evenings had always been a bit touch and go.  Well, it came to a head this week, as we had our first epic fail at daycare.  That's right, sports fans - the staff actually had to come get Jenny out of the pool because K had been screaming uncontrollably for 30 minutes.  The next day Jenny left K with me at the house, and under advice from multiple sources we tried the method of telling K that "mommy was leaving for a bit."  You would have thought we'd just told her "your parents are flesh-eating zombies and you're locked in the house with them."  Seriously - she.  went.  NUTS.

The trend was the same:  Jenny sits down beside her, and K instantly knows something is amiss.  As Jenny starts talking, K's face becomes a complete frown, and then the second Jenny goes to walk away, K sprints to her (it's more of a gallop at this point - which is also really cute) and buries herself between Jenny's knees, holding onto her for dear life.  If I can manage a distraction, it's usually okay within 5-10 minutes, but Munch will proceed to ask for "mama" about every 20 minutes or so until she returns.  And when she does return - THE WORLD STOPS.  Now that, sports fans, is also about the cutest thing ever, as K stops WHATEVER she is doing - eating, reading, playing, bungy-jumping...you name it - gasps for air, and then marches over to mommy.  Moments like that are great, as they remind you how amazing being a parent is.  And while I'm second (or 27th) fiddle at the moment, the important thing is happening - K and her mom are developing that unbreakable bond that forever links mother and child.  For my part, it's been something special to watch.

Claire's face:  "Are you eating my goldfish?"  Priceless.

The weekend was really great, as Team Taylor played host to a pair of parties, as well as managing to wedge 2 park visits in!  On Saturday Jill and Neal (whom I'd never met) came over with their pair of rug rats, and we had a blast chatting about all things Tennessee, beer, and food - hard to complain about that!  Sunday was a long overdue catch-up with the Parkhouse and Wetzel clan, and this place was a CIRCUS of children.  It was all a bit too much for K, and there was a period where she just went behind the table and tried to stay out of the madness.  Call me crazy, but I think it was Maddie squeezing the life out of her while playing with her.  As the only child without a sibling in the crowd (and the youngest of the bunch), I think she was overwhelmed, but she managed to play quite a bit outside.  Space was key. :-)

Well, no better way to test the swing than to load it
with 5 children and then treat it like a Carowinds attraction.

Okay - I'll close it there for this installment.  The last 4 days were crazy, and this week has been full board so far.  Add in trying to keep up with the morning workouts (5 miles tomorrow!), and you've got a guy who can tell he's running on reserves and trying to keep cough, cold, and illness at bay.  Date night tomorrow, so hopefully a bottle of wine will help kill any lingering germs. :-)

Chat soon!

Love,

Sam and Jenny