Family,
Wow, where to even start! Going back to my notes, the first thing I should point out from the week ending 2/15 is that K can name quite a few body parts now (as opposed to just pointing at them as she did previously). To date, she's said tongue, teeth, arm, knee, elbow, neck, foot, cheek, and toe, but those aren't my favorite. No no, the best one to date? "EYEBALL!!!!!" Seriously, after I pointed at it and said in passing, "Is that your eyeball?", she then preceded one evening to say it at the top of her lungs OVER AND OVER AND OVER. Let me tell you - there are few things in life funnier than when a kid says "EYEBALL!!!!!" at 120 decibels about 60 times on repeat. I truly could not stop laughing. Now that being said, it was a different matter when, last Saturday before bath, I was undressing her and suddenly heard her say "Eyeball!" in a less jovial tone. She then said "Eyeball, daddy!" again and started rubbing her eye. We weren't actually able to locate the cause of the pain, and all already seems to be on the mend. However, it did worry us for a second, as how on EARTH do you tell a two year old to NOT rub what is hurting? And worry aside, I was impressed, amazed, and very happy that she'd just strung a phrase together in that fashion, as it showed that she knew how to express to a parent what was bothering her.
Next up - the vocabulary. In a word, WOW. I mean, trying to catalogue this kid's word retention and usage has almost become a full-time job (one that I intend to cease the moment she hits 2, for the record), and I cannot BELIEVE how many new words she's adding daily (as well as often wondering where on earth she's learned a few of them). Here's the list for the past two weeks (not counting the body parts mentioned above):
1. Pumpkin
2. Tunnel (referencing a little cloth tunnel Jenny bought her last spring that she can crawl through - she enjoys crawling through and then having mommy or daddy either chase her or pop up on the other end)
3. Tray (as in for her high chair)4. Coffee - and she knows it's a mommy/daddy drink. She recognizes the mug and always calls it out when she sees us holding them.
5. Window
6. Table
7. Bat (as in baseball)
8. Map (THAT'S MY GIRL - GEOGRAPHY, BABY!!!!)
9. Worm
10. Rapid (as in whitewater - she saw the picture, pointed, and said "rapid!" I mean, how did she learn rapid?!?!?! I know it's in 1 of our books, but I didn't realize she'd made that connection. Genuis, I tell you...)
11. Remote (that was only a matter of time)
12. Pillow
13. Cloud
14. Soap
15. Shapes (and she even can identify the word and the book in her Mickey collection that talks about shapes)
16. Onion (I mean, maybe I pointed one out ONCE...!?!?!)
17. Zebra (side note on animals - anytime she sees a porcupine, she holds her nose like it's a skunk. I'm pretty sure we've covered this 4,071 times, but nope - she's still pretty sure Sonic smells like death...)
18. Hippo
19. Wolf - and I've taught her how to howl, baby!
20. Bear - I might have given her credit before, but it's official now
21. Shark
22. Dolphin
23. Button (as in on her pajamas - it's actually only on 1 outfit, but she always points to where it should be and says it regardless of which outfit she's in)
24. Phone - so obviously she knows that we have phones and knows which one belongs to who, but what's cute now is that she's started answering her flip phone with "Hello", which is then instantly followed by "Nana." Yeah, we know who she wants to talk to...
25. Raining
26. Whale
27. Butterfly
28. Nala (as in Simba's girl)
29. lemon
30. Bed
31. On
32. Walk
33. Open
34. Coming - so I'm pretty sure she doesn't actually know what this means, but in one of the books we have, there's a point where a reindeer says "Ho Ho Ho!" Well, K would point at that spot from the first page until the page where it actually happened, and each time she pointed we would tell her "It's coming." Well, eventually she just started repeating "Coming!" until we hit it, but once we got there, she was "HO HO HO!" for the rest of that fantastic work of literature (perhaps 3 pages?)
35. Swan (from her letter puzzle)
36. Zipper (same)
37. Yo yo (same, but she did also call this out when she saw it as a Mouse-ka-tool on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse)
39. Ice Cream (more to come on that one later in the post)
40. Wheel - so seriously, for me this one came out of NOWHERE. We were at the Sweet Spot (Frozen Yogurt joint - more to come on that later) yesterday and were walking around to burn off some sugar. One of the other moms suggested that we go look at the "digger" (basically a forklift), and when we got up to it, K dropped "Wheels!" on me. I was in shock once again (notice a theme?). Now to be fair, we sing wheels on the bus all the time, and JT told me that she'd been point out the wheels on tractors in books. Still, for me, it's just amazing to see how quickly she soaks up EVERYTHING (and another reason why I've stopped cussing around her :-)).
41. Thank you - this one came out of nowhere as well. Throughout the week, she'd been signing "thank you" more and more, but then one time this weekend she just up and said it! Very exciting. She doesn't do it every time, but the fact that she is either signing or saying it upon request definitely feels like we're on the right track.
42. RUNNING!!!!! So seriously, this child is now a bullet in the chamber - we are talking BORN SPRINTER. I just cannot BELIEVE how fast she's gotten and how much she loves to run (but then again, look at the genetics, eh?). She's spent the last week running full board down every hallway we've got, splitting time between sprinting/galloping upstairs and running downstairs in the entry way. The game downstairs is simple - run to the door and touch it, followed by a run to the window at the back of the house. Touch it and repeat. And the funniest part? When she starts she'll either say "RUNNING!!!!" with a depth in her voice that would make most Basses blush or, even better - "I AM RUNNING!!!!" That's right, sports fans - I think we've got our first full sentence from the Munchkin!
43. Pony (as in the animal)
44. Pony (as in pony tail) - yep, we've finally had a few moments where K actually wants her hair back. We can't make this consistent yet, but we're not about to give up. :-)
45. Snowing - we had a thin layer of ice this week. Initially we'd hoped that it would have been K's first snow to play in. However, all it ended up being was a Dementor style security that kept us locked in the house for 2 days whilst temperatures outside dropped to 7 and 5 Fahrenheit - insane! Luckily it's trending back up. I mean, if I was ever going to be laid up sick, at least it was when going outside was impossible!
46. Mac Mac (as in her cousin - see #47)
47. May May (as in her cousin) - so as we've mentioned before, K LOVES to look at photos and videos on the iPhone. Well, she can now identify her cousins, and when you won't show her a "mama/nana" video, she moves straight to "Mac Mac." When that yields no fruit, we get "May May." Actually, her entire ritual at this point is as follows:
K: "Mama Nana."
Parental Units (PU): "No, sweetheart. We're not gonna watch mama nana."
K: "Tete."
PU: "No, sweetheart. No pictures of you either."
K: "May May."
PU: "No."
K: "Mac Mac."
PU: "Sweetheart, let's play a game!"
K: "Game!" (she does this while doing the motion for "beep beep," which means she wants the iPad to watch the "Wheels on the Bus" video Vol Nana showed her).
PU: "No, sweetheart. Let's shoot hoops or blocks. Let's do something else!"
K: "Nana" (because Nana will let her watch it).
PU: "Nana's not here."
K: "Pooh."
PU: "Pooh's not here either."
K: "One Mickey!" (Yes, that's right, sports fans - K now knows that she only gets 1 show a day, so she's actually pre-empting the conversation by saying "One Mickey!" Gotta love the adaptability).Third on the development list is color recognition. I am happy to report that K is REALLY starting to learn and roll through her colors at this point. We practice them often, and over the last week or so she's added purple, brown, blue, red, pink, black, white, and orange - all of which she can recognize and point to on command. I'm starting to work on gray now - and then we'll see about the rest. Again, another set of milestones that (I think) is now in the books - bring on the Peds!
happy. :-)
K also hit Chik-fil-a twice that week. The first time was on Monday for "Monthly Mommy and Me" morning at Chik-fil-a. It's really cute - there was free coffee for moms, story time (a few books), an art craft, and even a Valentine's Day cookie that the mommy and daughters could decorate and eat/take home. It was free, and the girls had a blast! Then, on Thursday, I had a VERY special treat at the same Chik-fil-a - Daddy Daughter Date night. Readers, I cannot tell you how cute this was (although I will try), and more to the point - I have to hand it to this establishment - THEY DO THINGS RIGHT.
Jenny had actually read about this a few weeks back, and once she told me I was definitely keen on it. Picture your normal Chik-fil-a, but then add a cordoned off area filled with Valentine's Day balloons and hearts. Picture reservations required, table service, candles on the tables, pink napkins, a special menu, a cow walking around dressed as a princess (the cow wanted to hug K, but K was NOT having it. However, she did accept plenty a high five), and even a guy in a tux playing the violin! It was just precious, and K had a blast. She spent the entire hour trying to find the cow when she wasn't beside her, constantly pointing and saying "Moo, moo!" The music was good, the food was good, K was happy as a clam, and we even got some cute photos of daddy and daughter. All in all it was perfect - can't wait for the next one!Jenny also discovered a new play area that week - the Mallard Creek Indoor Recreation Center. This place is right by the house, and it's a FANTASTIC spot for K to burn some energy when the weather's bad. There were several slides, and my girls were the only two in the joint for most of the time. Side note here - can I just brag on my wife again for all the new, fun, and FREE activities she's found as of late. I'm telling you, people - EXCEEDS, EXCEEDS rating for the Director of Operations at Team Taylor, Incorporated (if you haven't seen the Fox & Friends commercial about the DO, you should really check it out).
Wednesday was another big milestone (and component of the Altitude Project) - beginning water
The evenings were a blur that week, but K and I did start a fun new game of "flying in formation." Basically, I will fly K around the room one time in my arms, but after that I'm spent (I mean, she's basically a cross fit apparatus at this point). Consequently, we then fly in formation, meaning she puts her arms straight out behind her back, curls her wrists up, and then takes off. She and I will fly around the house, picking a state or country to fly over, at which point I'll point out landmarks. This week K's been insistent that both Mommy and Daddy fly with her. In fact, K's been quite insistent lately that we both be within about .0000006 inches of her at all times. Yes, yes - I fear some additional reading (and then actions) around fostering independence will soon be required.
The weekend was an absolute blast, but certainly not without it's challenges! Team Taylor headed down to the ATL for President's Day weekend, a full slate of activities on the docket (for the first time ever, mind you, as normally the extent of our time outside the townhouse is a visit to Lenox Park). I took a half day on the theory that K would sleep in the car. Well, that didn't quite go according to plan, but we were saved by the fact that K is getting much better at entertaining herself. For starters, she's loving flipping through books right now - especially an Elmo book with lots of flaps from the Library. The books are filled with letters, numbers, colors, and words, and she can easily pass a good 30 minutes to an hour flipping through them. Add in her favorite music (especially the song "Apples and Bananas" - holy moly I never want to hear that song again...except the next time I'm in the car with her, of course) to keep her soothed, and the trip continues to go smooth (she really, really, REALLY doesn't appreciate it when you alternate your music in place of hers. She will just repeat "NO" over and over about 16,792 times. Eventually, however, she will give out. :-)). What ultimately saved us on this road trip, however, was neither of the above, but the newest presents from Vol Nana and Pooh - Dancing Mickey and Minnie! Seriously - these things were LIFESAVERS, as K did NOT want to stop playing with them. Each one plays the same tune, and K was happy as a clam just rocking out to the back with them going in surround sound. Mercifully there were no words, and dare I say it - the jingle isn't half bad. :-)
We arrived and had a nice afternoon before dinner and bath, at which point the unthinkable happened. I mean, let's be honest - we knew this day would come. We just didn't think it would be night one on a long weekend 4 hours from home. But there I was, fresh out of the bathroom after reading K her bedtime stories, when I rounded the corner to find Jenny was nowhere to be seen. Why, you ask? Well, because K WAS ALMOST OUT OF THE PACK N PLAY. One leg was over, and then POP - there went the other one. The good news? I think she got a bit scared and knew that she wouldn't be able to get back in if she slid on out. The bad news - Team Taylor now is in DESPERATE need of starting to move the Munchkin to a big girl bed. Luckily the next couple of spots we'll hit have cribs AND we don't have too much travel on the docket. However, there is now an urgency that did not exist a scant 2 weeks ago. The thing is that we still want her to stay in her crib for now at home, so we also have that dynamic to consider. But hey - first world problems, right?
The next day was a good one, but the sneetch was up at 5:40. Luckily I was pretty well rested, but K was a bit fussy from sleeping in the pack n play. Her mood didn't brighten over the course of the day, and by the time we were ready to leave for our first activity - a 1 year old's b'day party - K was in full tilt meltdown. Seriously, family - this was NOT our daughter's normal tantrum. She was bucking, crying, and screaming so much that by the time we finally got her strapped into her carseat she threw up about a gallon of applesauce. That was the tipping point, and we knew the drive there was going to be a NIGHTMARE. Consequently, I took her back to Matt & Kim's, where we read and then I put her down while the other folks went to the party. It was definitely the right move, and I am very happy to report that K woke up much happier for the evening session. The evening session featured a photo shoot on the staircase with Uncle Matt, and even some outside time chasing balls in the little green area behind their townhouse. It should be noted that K says "Matt!" very well, and she also loves repeating "Unt Tim!" (Aunt Kim) over and over as well. We flipped through the "Tacy Sisters in Thailand" book several times, and it was so cute to watch her point out each person again and again on every page (she even learned Yazz!).
On Sunday, we finally managed to get the munchkin out of the house, rolling over to an indoor play area called Hippo Hopp. This place was Romp n Roll on steroids, and I'm also fairly confident it's the place that gave me my nasty little virus. That being said, it was truly incredible, filled with lots of bounce houses, indoor slides, and tons of other toys/balls/apparatuses for Munchkins. K went straight for a structure designed for 3-12 year olds, and she was GREAT until she got to the actual slide. When she wouldn't go down and JT went up to get her, K was still happy but wouldn't budge. Given that there was a line forming, JT slide down with K. Family, all I can say after that was WOW - MELTDOWN. OF. NEVER. BEFORE. SEEN. PROPORTIONS. I have seen K cry. I have seen K fuss. I have seen the silent protest. I have seen the lie-in protest. and have seen her buck to stay out of her carseat. But until that moment, I'd never seen this. We are talking uncontrollable sobbing and thrashing for 15 minutes, all at the base of the slide. I couldn't hold her or restrain her, so I just had to cordon her off between my legs while she flopped around like a mackerel out of water. The good news - she was great until we left after that point.
After that we rolled out for another first in ATL - dinner out with the Sneetch! We hit a Bangladeshi place, and it was incredible -really, really good food. We got there right when it opened (as did some other parents), and K loved it - ate the whole time! In fact, she enjoyed it so much that she went into meltdown ONCE AGAIN when we left. The girl actually tried and in fact CLAWED to get back into her high chair! As we walked away she just pointed back at the restaurant, tears streaming down her face, screaming "Num, num!" Honestly, we'd never seen anything like it - a sure sign that she was tired and over stimulated.
On Monday we rolled over to Alpharetta to visit Jenny's friend Nicole and her two kids. They have an AMAZING house, including a BOUNCE HOUSE IN THE BASEMENT. K could not get ENOUGH of this, nor could she get enough of the craft room, the bonus room filled with toys, and one of the bedrooms filled with toys, books, and clothes. In short, K was in HEAVEN, and she did NOT want to leave (but promptly passed out from exhaustion about 13 seconds after we started the car to get on the road). The drive home was tough due to weather, but once again K was really good and well behaved. All in all, that was our best ATL trip to date (despite a few hiccups). Our concern is that it might also be the last ATL trip for awhile, as we're not totally sure how we're going to keep K from crawling out of the pack n play at this point. Given that we know we need to make the transition, that will likely slow us down a bit for the foreseeable future (when visiting houses without cribs, that is).
As for this past week, it was obviously slower given the illness, horrible weather, and extreme cold. That being said, there were still some great moments of discovery and development. For starters, I think K can now identify my mom's handwriting. Anytime there's a book where mom has written that it's from "Nana and Pooh," K always points to it and says "Nana Pooh." I realize that sounds random, but I honestly think she's at least recognizing the patterns and shapes.Actually, on that front, she's really, really starting to learn her alphabet at this point. She doesn't know all the letters and certainly can't say them in order, but I'd say she does recognize 13 or 14 of them and can somewhat articulate them. We've been playing a lot with a block set that has each letter and a picture that starts with that letter beneath, and K either recognizes the letter or can associate the letter to the picture once I say something like "G is for goat." What's funny is that right now she's oftentimes putting the letter in backwards, so I've started saying "flip it over." Again, she now knows that means to rotate it, but she doesn't always know whether that means to change sides or rotate a certain # of degrees. Also, I do love how she always calls "V" the letter "Y," at which point I explain that Y has the tail. This usually follows with the world "Yo yo," and all I can think of is a certain cellist. :-)More to come as we make progress on this. :-)
In terms of other milestones, K has become obsessed with pointing out "boys" lately. And now, I don't think she's going to be "boy crazy," but it is so funny to watch her point out every single person on each page and say "boy!, boy!, boy!". Oftentimes I have to walk her through it all again, explaining that "girls have long hair, pony tails, pig tails, or purses," and lately she's starting to get it. However, if we put a book down and then pick it back up a week later, she'll be right back in the same camp of calling everyone a boy. It's pretty cute - think she fancies a brother? :-)
Also, with the birthday just around the corner, Team Taylor purchased a Little Tykes b'ball hoop for K this week. The good news - I think she really likes it. The bad news - I think I like it more and am now trying to make shots from all over the bonus room - even when K is under the hoop. I give it about 2 more days before I peg her with an errant rainmaker. :-)On the motor skills front, K made another big leap this week by actually taking several stairs WITHOUT ANY ASSISTANCE. She can't yet go back to back on steps without having to break her stride, but she can tackle multiple steps during a session without holding a wall or our hands. It's really cute to watch her do it (and to see how winded she is when it's over) - our girl is growing up!
Sunday afternoon we visited the "Sweet Spot," where K got her first taste (as well as her second through 700th) of frozen yogurt! Talk about a kid who needed to burn some energy after that one hour feeding binge! But it was an absolute blast - you should have seen K take her first bite of "red velvet" from a sampler and then immediately say "more, more," stopping only when I had to wipe her sugar covered face - hilarious! After 30 minutes of eating, we had to take the party outside, where K proceeded to run up and down the sidewalk (and side on a stone bulldog every 2 minutes) for the next half hour - too cute! Also, some of JT's friends from the mommy group had come by, and so it was great for her to catch up with all of them (as well as make a few new friends).
And lastly, K's new favorite game to play? The sleeping game! Basically, this consists of her laying on her belly and fake snoring (which she actually does quite well) with her eyes wide open. When you tickle her, she cackles, says "NO!" (the sure fire indicator for you to stop), and then resumes fake sleeping again.
So there you have it - two weeks in review, now in the books. Speak again next week - hard to believe we're almost done with volume 2!
Love,
Sam and Jenny
