Matchmaker, Matchmaker, make me a match.

While we aren't quite ready to compete on the Memory circuit, we've been playing it (with rules slightly modified) for a few days now and Teagan is really getting it. I'm sure the fact that this particular version features Dora, Dora and more Dora has nothing to do with her fascination. Trying to figure out how to break it to her that it isn't ALWAYS her turn, though.

Like a Diamond in the Sky

I finally caught her singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on film. She sings it almost constantly, but zips her lip as soon as I run to get the camera. I missed the first few bars, but I'm celebrating the small victories. Those are the only ones I have these days.
My favourite part is when she makes the diamond...and it's really the first time that the song is recognizable. Melts my heart every time. Isn't it darling?

The Cutest Thing.

Brandon tells me the cutest thing about Teagan these days is that she's old enough to run errands. Like getting a tissue when she needs her nose wiped, or pulling books off the shelf to read...and by read, I mean pile neatly. Observe the "cuteness".

Out of the Mouths of Babies and Munchkins on Helium

Ever wonder what a munchkin might sound like after it inhaled helium? Come and talk to Teagan. More often than not, I have a hard time taking her seriously when she's babbling incessantly several octaves above everyone else. While we tend to speak in higher tones when we talk to babies, she has nowhere to go but down. Way down. She loves talking to her little friend Makenna and always lowers her voice to almost a growl. A little scary, but Kenna smiles at her politely.

I don't know if it's because she's my only one, but she is still my baby. Every now and again when she looks at me, I still see a six month old with impossibly chubby cheeks, struggling to support the weight of her fat head. Just this week, she looked up at me from the bathtub and I saw that baby face. And that baby face said "opposites". She has a little bath book about opposites staring Elmo and remembered what it was called from her last bath. It floored me to hear a three syllable word resounding from those oh-so-full-and-kissable baby lips. <sigh> not a baby anymore.

While it's funny to hear her talk, it's hilarious to hear her sing. She's always singing a little tune to herself, whether it be her version of the ABCs or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. (Sidenote: it took me YEARS to figure out that the two songs shared a tune. I was playing it on the piano the other day and she recognized that they were the same. How embarrassing.) She likes to sing the "Hot dog hot dog hot diggity dog" victory song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse but gets stuck in one particular spot and ends up sounding like a broken record. It goes something like "Hot dog, hot dog, hot digga digga digga digga..." you get the idea. And if you don't...

Getting into her PJs at night stresses her out, so we've tried to dispurse the anxiety with songs. Specifically "Zip a dee doo dah" while we're zipping up her zipper - bet you didn't see that coming. She sings the entire chorus of the the song and it's probably the cutest thing I've ever heard. And the dogs on our street go crazy for it :) As a hilarious little bonus, she now calls her zipper by its full name. I went to get her up from a nap and she'd unzipped it most of the way and asked me to fix her "zip a dee doo dah." Too funny.

In case you thought she could only sing in English and Jibberish, she loves to chant one of Dora's classics in espanol: "Bate bate chocolate." You've got to keep it fresh, people.

Nice to Meet You?

Teagan's taken to calling me Michelle lately. Well, if I'm being entirely honest, she's calling me Bash-ow. And without fail, here's how the conversations go:

Teagan: "Bash-ow? BASH-OW!"
Mummy: "My name is Mummy."
Teagan: "Hi! I Teagan."

I believe we've met. I did, after all, MAKE you. And you'd be wise to remember that.

Second ever jumping photo. It's in the genes.

Cadadoo!

For a few months now, one of Teagan's favourite activities has been to tell us to sleep and wake us up like a rooster. She can't quite spit out COCKADOODLEDOO, but CADADOO gets the message across. She'll tell Daddy to "sweep" then it's Mummy's turn to "sweep" and usually next comes "Teagan turn."

It's funny when we're at home and it's planned, but Brandon has an uncanny ability to fall asleep anywhere at the drop of a hat. It hasn't happened yet, but I'm waiting to hear CADADOO at church. She's told him to wake up several times, and perhaps she senses that a rooster doesn't belong in church. *knock on wood*

Tongue workin' overtime.

Teagan's doing really well learning the alphabet. Every so often I'll hear her singing the ABC's to herself and it melts my heart. For the most part she's pronouncing most letters properly (with the exception of Rs which I think is pretty common) but she is focusing on giving "L" her all lately.

"Crayon" is one of my favourite words that she says, and I coaxed her into saying it on video. It's more than a little shaky, so I don't know whether you'll get the full effect, but just watch for her tongue jumping out of her mouth when she says CRAY-LON:

Other words that she seems to get tongue tied over: stroLLer, MuLan, NanareLLA. It's precious. And a word of note, though it doesn't feature an L is Teagan's version of yogurt: nogurt. Cracks me up.

Little Miss Manners

I'll have to confirm with Guinness, but I may have the world's most polite two year old. Her vocabulary is increasing exponentially, but the words she uses most seem to be "pease", "dand you", "shoory" and "wowcome" (please, thank you, sorry and you're welcome, in case you didn't catch it).

We inherited a series of 12 phonics books featuring Dora the Explorer from a great friend. She loved reading them for the first week or two, but now she's moved on to stacking them instead. But not before having me hand her the dozen books individually. Once she's created her literary tower, she passes them back to me. One by one. By one. It's some of the most tedious playtimes I've ever experienced, but the saving grace is the dialogue.

As I pass them to her:

"Pease."

"Dand you."

"You're welcome."

12 times over.

Once she has them all stacked, she cautions me to be "Cayful!" And then she passes them to me:

"Please."

"Thank you."

"Wahcome." (I keep thinking she's about to say waka waka. One day.)

x 12

If got bored reading this, try living it. Over. And over. And over. I suppose I should be glad that she's using her manners. Correctly. She doesn't always get it right. Take last week for example:

Mummy after Teagan broke wind: "What do we say when we toot?"
Teagan: "Thank you."
 
Manners are confusing.

Mummy's no dummy. Unless you ask Teagan.

We were having a nice family outing today, hitting Burger King for lunch and sundaes and heading to the park. Teagan was uncharacteristically well behaved while we were eating - I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that she ate dessert first. I was basking in the glory of being a happy little family as Teagan pointed to Buddy over and over, saying "Daddy. Daddy. Daddy." Then she started to go back and forth between "Daddy" and "Mummy." It all became too much for her little brain and I became "Dummy." An innocent mistake, I thought. And then it happened again. 

I blame myself - we have been watching a little too much Chip 'n' Dale's Rescue Rangers around here since Christmas.

Hola, soy Teagan.

There's a chance we may need to scale back Dora at our house. Had I had even an inkling of how obsessed Teagan would become, I probably wouldn't have introduced them on that fateful day in March at the tender age of 5 months.

 

Some of the latest evidence in favour of us limiting exposure to The Explorer:

• Telling me to "Arriba" when she wants to go faster.

• Upon opening any of her Dora books, she opens with "Hola!" 

• We were praying with Brandon's sister's family and while her cousin (3 months younger) was saying the prayer, Teagan was counting in the background. In Spanish.
• "Dear Heavenly Father..."
  "Uno, dos, tres..."
  "Thank thee this day..."
  "quatro, cinco, seis..."
  "Amen."
  "siete, OCHO!" Fantastico.
• She got a backpack toy for Christmas and immediately after gasping with excitement, asked "Where map go?"

She ran around the airport on our way home from Christmas, yelling "HI! I TEAGAN!" so she still speaks mostly English. She reminds of the little boy in the movie "Fun with Dick and Jane" who has a nanny who speaks Spanish to him, so he wanders around the house speaking only Spanish. 

Not sure what it is about "Doa", but the girl just can't get enough. I was lucky enough to snag 4 Dora & Diego DVDs for $5 from a Facebook swap. Brandon tells me that's just what we need. Mas Dora.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Teagan learning to communicate has been wonderful and maddening at the same time. Everything sounds like a demand, but I suppose when if I only knew a few words, and had pretty basic needs, I would sound like a tyrant too. Here are a few of the things I'm hearing. All. Day. Long.

"Coom on Mummy. I need milk." Her first fully formed sentence was a demanding one and it took me completely by surprise yesterday as she grabbed my hand and walked me down the stairs to the fridge.

"Here." Handing you anything from a spatula to a crayon and wanting you to guess what she wants you to do with it.

"Deesh one." Usually when she's picking out a movie.

"Copcorn!" We made the mistake of having a movie night as a family with a blanket on the floor and a bowl of popcorn. Now every time we watch anything on TV, she wants "copcorn".

"WAIT! Wait! Wait!" If she isn't finished with you, you'd better not think about walking away. We had a friend take care of her while we were at Scouts and by the time we could leave to pick her up, I had to run straight off to a choir practice. She was just around the corner, so Buddy said they would walk home, so I pulled out of the driveway and drove off, but not before Teagan saw me. Buddy tells me she cried "Wait, Mummy! WAAAAIIIIT!" all the way home. So glad I didn't hear it!

"Down. Sit down, Mummy. Read." Followed by "Pees" when I give her the look. Be sure to sit exactly where she points. If you're off, it doesn't count. She's detail oriented. No idea where she gets that from.

"Oh goodness." I said this one time, to get her excited about something and she's been saying it ever since.

"Sua why!" In a big Super Why phase. It's geared towards children learning to read, but she loves letters, so happily follows along with what she can. His sidekicks Princess Pea, Red Riding Hood and Pig sound something like this: "Pincess P, Widing and Peeg."

"Soo tot!" a.k.a. It's too hot!

"Seep!" She loves to wake people up when they're "sleeping", so out of the blue she'll ask you to go to sleep so she can yell "Wake up, Daddy!" It's a fun game.

"Pitty pincess." As hard as I tried to avoid it, she's totally into princesses. I suppose I should clarify: I'm on board with princesses, especially Disney ones, as long as she doesn't adopt the "I'm a princess and I can do no wrong" attitude that often goes hand-in-hand with all the crowns and sparkles. (fingers crossed)

"Meeook." She still signs "milk" but she's getting better at saying the word.

"You're so cuuuute." She gets right in our little friend McKenna's face and lowers her voice (backwards, I know) whenever she talks to her.

She sings the ABCs all the time, but you'll need Buddy or I to interpret if you want to follow along. She also counts to 14 (she shocked me the other day). Once you hit 14, everything else is 19.

She's so much smarter than I give her credit for and she surprises me all the time. It's weird to almost be able to hold a conversation with your baby. We have conversations all the time, but most of it is still gibberish...on both sides.

Alternative Lifestyles

Teagan pluralizes everything. From "Novies" to "binkies" to "Grandmas", when she's only referring to one. She calls us "Mummies" and "Daddies" a lot, which leads me to believe that if it continues, people may wonder about us. While it indeed takes a village, it's just Brandon and I filling the role of Mummy and Daddy.

"Oh goodness?"

I said it once, trying to get her excited about something and now "Oh goodness" is her go-to phrase for anything out of the ordinary. And it always sounds like a question. Sometimes she'll throw in "Oh my", but that's on rare occasions. Apparently I need to watch what's coming out of my mouth!

Silent Night? Fat chance.

I thought it was a brilliant idea to teach Little T to say "Help" instead of whining and grunting incessantly when she can't do or reach something. And it WAS brilliant. Until last night. 

Picture this: a Christmas fireside at church, with beautiful music and reverent silence in between. That is, reverent silence broken up by cries of "Howp! Howp! from a tiny voice in the back. Literally a far cry from a silent night.

What do YOU do in 25 mph wind gusts?

We blow bubbles.

What with it being frigid and all, I insisted she wear a warm jacket. I reached for a sweet little number with a furry hood. It was a little snug, so when I zipped it up, her giant cheeks became a little smushed, impeding her speech.

Teagan: "Rrr."
Me: "Yes, your jacket is warm."
Teagan: "RRR."
Me: "Yep, still warm."
(this went on for a while)
Teagan: "No. Lion. Teagan. ROARRR."

Seeing that I clearly wasn't understanding what she was trying to say, she backed up and spelled it out for me. I keep underestimating her - she's so much smarter than I give her credit for!

So the lion and I stepped outside to blow some bubbles. Correction, we stepped outside to hold our bubble blower aloft (a la He-Man) and let the intense wind gusts do the bubble blowing for us. It was actually really fun. Chilly, but entertaining. And I wasn't out of breath at the end, so that was a plus.

Teaganese: Installment II

Teagan's expanding her vocabulary every day and it's getting funnier and funnier...

 

{BUBBOS} - Bubbles. If you're talking about anything that sounds remotely like 'bubbles' you'd better keep your voice down around Teagan...or have some in your pocket.
{DACKO} - Cracker. Not Michael Jackson. She always signs along with this one.

{DA DA BOO} - Peekaboo.
{DA DA GO} - There you go. After picking up random objects you don't need and giving them to you as if she's done you a service.
{DEE} - Uncle Daniel
{DEECO DEECO} - Tickle tickle. She's going through a phase. Hold your babies close.
{DEET} - Keaton, one of Teagan's besties
{DOOOOKE} - Luke, our friend & neighbour who is so sweet to her. (two O's weren't enough - it gets dragged out A LOT)
{EE AH!} - Yee Haw! See 'Woody' below.
{EENA} - Auntie Kristina.
{EESH OK} - It's Okay whenever she falls, she's quick to confirm to me that she made it through the ordeal.
{G G} - just like it sounds (one of the few). My mum's chosen moniker.
{G MOM} - She thought that since my parents went by G ___ that she'd continue it with Grandma Richards (not at Grandma's request, but it works)
{G POP} - just like it sounds (one of the few). My dad's chosen moniker.
{HOSH HOSH} - Wash Wash (as in drip hand sanitizer all over the floor)
{OLA} - Auntie Nicola
{OODY} - Woody. She can spot him from a mile away on some of the random Disney things we have around the house. Going through a huge Toy Story phase (thank goodness they made 3!) She loves Buzz as well.
{POO POO} - one of the obvious ones. Although she's attached the word to her nether regions and not what we flush down the toilet occasionally. Hmmm.
{SHAMA} - Sam, her cousin
{SHA-SHEE} - Sydney, one of Teagan's besties
{SHA-SHON} - Carson, one of Teagan's besties
{SHEESH} - Teeth. If anyone says anything within a mile radius that even sounds like the word 'teeth', they'd better have a toothbrush handy. I will never refuse her an opportunity to brush (she's half British, after all.)
{SHAW-EE} - Sorry. Lots of practice with this one.
{TAY-DAN-AH} - Teagan. For a while now she's been able to identify herself, if I ask "Where is Teagan?" But now she's actually saying her name and it's to die for.
{UK} - Book. Often confused with milk. But she will sign if you guess wrong. So helpful.
{YA YOU} - Love you. SO darling
*list not inclusive, but it's all I can remember at the moment

Several of her words and phrases come out as though she's speaking Parseltongue (the snake language from Harry Potter). Particularly "hosh hosh" when she wants to wash her hands. She gets a little too close to my face and whispers (as much as a toddler can whisper) holding the "sh" sound. It's hilarious...and creepy.

She can correctly identify (if you're listening really closely) most of the Sesame Street Gang (Bert, Big Bird, Cookie, Elmo, Ernie, & Zoe - Ernie's creeping up on Elmo as her favourite...who saw that coming?), as well as Dora's pals (Benny, Boots, Diego, Dora, Isa, Swiper & Tico). 

She still signs when she says most of her words, especially her manners (please, thank you and sorry) and continues to pick up new signs like plane, book, out . She loves to sing the opening to the Baby Signing Time DVD's "Baby, Baby, Baby Signing Time" and will sign each of the words in time with the song.

It seems like she's saying something new almost daily - it's hard to keep up and it's wonderful. We're getting more and more insight into how her beautiful little mind works and while it's frustrating for both of us when I can't understand a word she thinks she is saying so clearly, on the whole it's a hoot!

A Girl and Her Shoes

I don't mean to feed into a stereotype here, but the girl LOVES shoes. I may have to find a different spot for them. We've changed them at least 10 times today. But I do love a good Munchkin voice saying "Shoes" and "Please".

A Crash Course in Teaganese

Nod your head if you've ever had a hard time understanding someone else's child. I thought so. Heaven knows I've been there, and it's more-than-uncomfortable. So, if perchance you should meet my daughter wandering, lost in the streets and she tries to tell you something important (like her address or "cookie") I wanted to give you a crash course in Teaganese so you won't feel so helpless and uncomfortable. (For the record, she doesn't know her address, but she's got "cookie" down pat. To be truthful, the chances of her wandering the streets are minimal (crosses fingers, knocks on wood). I more or less just wanted to remember how amazing/sweet/funny it is now that she thinks she is talking.

{ABBA} - Unfortunately, your guess is as good as mine on this one. No rhyme or reason to when or why she says it. Hopefully we'll figure it out soon - we'll keep you posted.
{ADADOO} - see "Abba"

{AT} - Hat. This one came as a surprise, I suspect from a Baby Signing Time video we watched together. We bought some finger puppets at Ikea and one of them happened to be wearing a hat and she picked up on it. It's amazing how quickly she's picking on things she only sees/hears a few times. Hat is usually accompanied by patting herself on the head - the sign for hat. 

{BA} - Ball. Or anything round.
{BOO} - Boots. As in Boots the Monkey from Dora the Explorer.
{BOO, BEE, BO} - Two, Three, Four. Lately she's been running around saying 2 & 3 over and over. Yep, that's "boo bee boo bee" all day long.
{BUH} - Bird. Including and especially Big Bird. She never misses him. And she always accompanies "Buh" with the ASL sign for bird - pinching her forefinger and thumb together close to her mouth like a beak. Yep, it's cute.

{DA DOO} - Thank You. Can't tell you how good it feels to have her saying it almost every time. Although I think she's got it confused with please, because she hands me something she wants me to unwrap and give to her and says "thank you". That, or she just knows I'll do it. That sly dog.
{DADA} - Daddy. Whenever she looks at family pictures, "Dada" seems to be the only one in them. 

{DOHWA?} - Dora Dora Dora The Explorer. And it always seems to be a question. As in, may I watch Dora? She's finally stopped stuttering when she says it. I think the theme song starting out with D-D-D-D-D-Dora messed with her head a little. 

{DUDE} - Food. She learned this one pretty quickly, probably because she signed it first, and still signs it when she says it just to make sure she's clear. Her mama didn't raise no fool when it comes to making sure you're fed.
{DOOKIE} - Cookie Monster. Or any blue Sesame Street character, for that matter.
{DUK} - Milk. That's a tricky one. But to help you, she'll always sign "milk" by squeezing her fist like she's milking a cow. This was one of her first signs. And a rather important one.
{EES} - Please. Again with the manners - she's actually very polite for a 19 month old. It must be the British in her. She signed this before she said it, so she still rubs her chest as she says it. Hard to resist, regardless of what she's asking for.
{ELMO} - Elmo. The red, furry monster. He seems to be everywhere, so we hear this one a lot.

{I!} - Hi! Her first word. Well, her first letter, I suppose.
{MMMUMMY} - Mmm Yummy. Or bacon. I'll accept Yummy Mummy as well.

{MOMMY} - Mummy. Have yet to hear this one at a regular decibel level - it's almost always being yelled. I pay attention to her - I promise!
{NAAN} - Oh man! This one took me a while to pick up on, but when I finally did and I said it back to her she grinned. She still beams when I do it. It's when Swiper (from Dora) gets denied the opportunity to swipe, after Boots & Dora say "Swiper, no swiping!" 3 times. She gives Swiper the stiff arm whenever she sees him on screen, but fear the day is not afar off that she tells me no swiping.

{NAHNA} - Banana. The British Way. It can be done! It's very sweet, and for obvious reasons my parents love it.
{PAPA} - Grandpa/G-Pop We'll review family albums every now and again to keep her up to speed with her relatives and her granddads were the first. It's one of the sweetest sounds she makes.
{SHESHE} - Jesus. Of course, I would rather it sound a little less like a gender bender, but the first time she recognized Jesus in a picture we show her every night, my heart melted. Sometimes she gets confused and calls Him "Bee" while shooting her hands up in the air. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that singing "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" every night has had an effect.
{SHOO} - Shoe. Sometimes it's "Ashoo" but we won't nitpick.

{THICO} - can have 3 meanings, depending on the context -be aware of your surroundings.

• 1. Tico the Squirrel...from Dora. I am ashamed. If there's a Spanish speaking squirrel in the vicinity, this is what she'll call it.
• 2. "Where'd it go?" - If her arms are out like a scale and it sounds like a question, she's looking for something. Let's just hope you can figure out what.
• 3. Tickle - Brandon reads Sesame Street alphabet books to her every night and the "T" book talks about tickling. There's a picture of Elmo being tickled that appears in another book and she recognizes it and tickles herself. Exhibit A: (0:36 seconds) the rest is her just reading to herself - keep in mind there are only 3 words on each page.

{WA WA} - Quack. Quack. If there's a duck, rubber duck, picture of a duck within a 5 mile radius, she'll spot it and it's hilarious. Our library is doing a summer reading program, and a rubber duck happens to be one of the prizes, so they have paper ducks everywhere. It's hard to discourage a child from recognizing animals and making the appropriate sounds, even if they're deafening, reverberating off the walls of an otherwise pin-drop-quiet establishment.
{ZEE} - Zoe from Sesame Street. We read A LOT of Sesame Street books.

It's been absolutely awe-inspiring as a first-time mother to watch my baby learn new things and become more aware of the world around her. How gratifying it must be for her to finally be able to communicate even a fraction of her feelings to us - and on the flip side how frustrating to still be so limited in what she can get across to us. My heart glows at the look on her face when I "get it right" and we see that we understand each other. Before I became a parent, I marveled at the way parents understood their children when all I heard was gibberish. I doubted my ability to decipher what my future children would try to communicate to me and had to trust people when they said that being around them so much helps you understand them and help other people understand them as well. Hope that helps! There will be a quiz.

Talkin' with Teagan

So if my baby can say "baby", does that make her not a baby anymore? For now, I can't get enough of her soft, breathy little munchkin voice...but I know that will change soon enough when she won't be quiet.

She's been saying "Wow" for a while now (we didn't get her best ones on film) which is super cute. And lately signing has come in really handy, figuring out what she wants and doesn't want. "All done" was the first sign she learned and she's taken to using it with more than food. For example in this video, she lets us know we're buggin' her and that she's "all done" saying "Wow". She's even been known to approach me out of the blue and sign "all done", meaning, "all done" with being awake. Yup, telling me when she needs a nap. Not too shabby.