humor

So, my 2.5 yo has always had a silly streak, but today we got a taste of what it looks like to have Magdalena Dawn mess with you and joke with you - intentionally. :)

She and I looked at a website with compact car seats a few days ago. Tim & I are just *over* moving the carseat back and forth (and back and forth) between our cars - never you mind having to do that with two (!) in a couple more weeks. So we decided it was worth our sanity to invest in a set for his lil car. I found a brand I liked and asked Maggie which color she liked. She picked out orange to go with baby bro/sis's limey green one I had already picked out. But later today, as she was getting loopier and loopier pre-nap time, she declared (through giggles she could scarcely hold back) that she wanted a stinky carseat.

"What?" I asked her, "A stinky carseat?"

"A STINKY CARSEAT!" she howled, giggling... and within 5 minutes or so, was fast asleep, perhaps dreaming of what a stinky carseat would involve. :)

Tonight during prayers, she listed the "regulars" who she needs to pray for (these are generally her pals from church, and especially her babysitter's kids) and then she threw mommy and daddy and baby brother/baby sister a bone.

So I prayed, "We pray for mommy and baby and daddy..."

And she said, laughing, "He wears a dress!!"

"Daddy?" I asked. "We pray that Daddy wears a dress?"

And, oh how she laughed and said, "YES, to wear a DRESS!"

Oh prayer time, what a riot you can be! God has got to have a sense of humor to listen to the prayers of 2yos! Mind you, I have one darn funny kid, if I do say so myself. Or maybe I just spend all day with a 2yo... and my brain is mush. But it works for me. I have been giggling about her new-found joke cracking all day. :)




PS. And we're super excited that our nieces were born last Wednesday and Thursday!! Amy gave birth to Natalie Lorena Wednesday afternoon and a little over 24 hours later, Megan welcomed Charlotte (Charlie) Louise into the world! So exciting - and it makes our baby's arrival seem all the more imminent! With that in mind, I worked on a pretty simple birth plan tonight. Babe will be here before we know it...

maggie's world... potty time ... excellent!

By the time we got back from our "spring break" in snowy Michigan (during the first week of March ... brrr, I suppose it was spring somewhere), a package had arrived and was sitting on our landlord's doorstep. What ever could it be??



We had ordered a potty chair since Maggie was announcing things like, "Poop?" when we'd hear that she was working on her "business." We had also ordered a little book called Big Girls Use the Potty in order to spend $30 and get free shipping. Our plan was to just take it waaaay easy and be very casual about things. We didn't want to push the potty training issue on Maggie, as she still is quite young to be thinking about such things. We just set it out in her bathroom and showed her that she had a new book to look at.


It has been a surprise to me - but she has taken right to it! She loves the little book and walks around saying, "Potty!" In the last couple days, she has been sitting on the potty a couple times daily AND actually peeing. (We weren't going to jump into rewarding her with stickers on a chart, but since she has taken interest, we put it up.) This morning she even pooped, which surprised me to no end. She normally would pee and talk about "poop?" but not sit still long enough to really... transact any business. Yet today ... she did! Wow!

I somehow think the thrill won't last and we'll be back where we started in no time, but since she has shown interest (and even some proficiency), I did actually order some cloth pull-up training pants. Might as well run with it since she is interested, I guess! And though she's still a little young to have a handle on undressing herself, these might be a little easier to get out of than a diaper, a cover, and a snappi. :)

wrapping up 2009 ...

We're on the road coming home from having spent a wonderful couple of days down in Melbourne, Florida - where Tim's parents reside. Maggie has had an excellent time with her grandparents and though she always takes a while to warm up, her moodiness and sadness this morning definitely had to do with the realization she was leaving her new friends and family ... and that was difficult for her to do! Slowly but surely, she developed relationships and games and routines with her aunts and grandparents ... and experiencing all those fun new things made our leaving today SO hard to do!

Tim & I have just been marveling at Maggie's communication - this week alone! She is making so many strides with expressing herself - not just with words, but also with signs. And she is repeating SO many things ... guess it's time to check ourselves and be a little more careful as we may have quite a little talker on our hands VERY shortly! Some of her revelations have included:

- When Tim's mom sang vocal warm up songs to her, she was able to say "'gin! 'gin!" asking her Grammy to repeat that same vocal song ... again and again. :)

- Saying, "Amen!" repeatedly at the end of our mealtime prayer. Girlie has got the Spirit!

- Being very clear with her "all done" signs at the end of meals, bathtimes, naptimes ... and while we try to honor her clear signal, we also tried to make sure still napped as necessary. :)

- Doing more signs than usual - "water" and "change" standing out.

There's lots of other things too ... mostly lots of repetition and things that sound pretty close to real words and phrases - "I diit" (I did it) or "Bangda" (granddad) or "eeee" (which now could mean not only monkey sounds or teeth ... but also "tree" or "east." Grandma taught her about going east.) :) She's also saying "nana" (banana) and "keeee" (kitty) and meowing (ya ya ya, she "sings" it) ...

Anyway, we will soon stop at our hotel for the night (in Florence, SC). Happy new year! May 2010 bring blessings upon blessings - and joy and peace of mind and heart to help you through the inevitable difficulties!

communication!

We've been having some fun little breakthroughs with Maggs in the communication department. Of course, she chatters away all the time and much of what we do is guess and go by her emotional cues (oh, and she has emotional cues!) ... but for the sake of my memories (and not being a diligent scrapbooker or baby-booker), here are some of things Maggie says/signs as we approach the 18mo mark:

- eee eee eee! (Depending on inflection, this is either a monkey OR a toothbrushing request)
- hewp/ewp ("help!" - usually w/getting in a chair or out of a basket, she also signs this by clasping her hands together and raising them up and down in front of her - very close!)
- uh-oh!! (her phrase of choice ... for mischeviousness, for dropping things, for...just about anything!)
- umma umma! (Yum! I like this! ... or want this!)
- da (refers to Dad ... and sometimes other relatives ... an oddly enough, Ms. Ruth, our church organist)
- mama (yes folks, that's me!)
- nasal snorts (in general she is looking at a picture of a pig when this happens)
- quack/guack (duck sounds, she also signs "bird" for just about every kind of aviary she sees ... and sometimes for other animals as well? She talks about birds a lot!)
- oof oof (says a dog)
- tayoo (I swear I've heard this and in context it could really be "thank you"!)
- signs "eat" and "more" and "all done" and sometimes makes a drinking motion for a cup of milk

I am sure there more, but I know I'm forgetting some things. I will add to the list as I remember/witness more of these fun little "breakthroughs." :)

And many happy wishes to my sister-in-law/new mama (the girl is a natural): Amy, who birthed Sofia Victoria on the morning of December 3! She is such a sweet girl who we got to spend the last two days with and we are looking forward to many more visits in the future! Many blessings be upon your days together and may God continue to bless this beautiful family: Amy, Gonzalo, and Sofia!


Me with (the slightly jealous) Magdalena and new cousin, Sofia!

new skill!

Look what Maggs can do! I'm used to helping her scoop but I just let go... and what do you know? She can do it! (Of course, it's a little messier with something like applesauce or pureed peas ... they don't stay put on the spoon as well!)