Especially for Grandparents

Kids open Christmas gifts. I'm told it happens every year. So this post will probably only interest Teagan's grandparents. Here's a video of her favourite gifts of 2012. Enjoy!

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.

One Step Forward. Two Poops Back.

To say we're potty training would be an outright lie - I'm not ready and she's not ready, so I'm not going to force it. I should, however, figure out what the heck I'm supposed to do.  Just so she warms up to the idea, I've been sitting her on it every now and again when she takes an interest. I thought she should sit on it with some success, so I manipulated the fact that she physically cannot resist peeing while the bath is running. So I've been sticking her on the potty and the potty in the bath. Works every time. Tonight, she begged to stay on the potty, but in an effort to conserve the water we had running, I insisted she get off. 

I should have listened. 

We washed, we rinsed, we dropped a Crayola bath tint in there with her as a reward for behaving uncharacteristically well while rinsing, then we saw it. Correction: them. Have you ever tried to chase down poop in the tub? I've done easier things. We whisked her over to the shower, which went infinitely better than expected, and redid all our hard work, sans floaties.

 

Never a dull moment with this one.

All was TOO quiet on the Western front.

Teagan was reading upstairs, as she is wont to do, so I decided to stay downstairs and blog about how wonderful she is. Was. In hindsight, I was asking for it. But, hey - even the best moms need a break...and so do I.

I couldn't hear her reading to herself or singing the ABCs anymore, so I ventured upstairs to see what she was up to. I smelled it before I saw it. Mod Podge (a whole jar), a futon and a toddler. In one sticky, glossy mess.

 

I HAD to take a photo, all the while remembering watching America's Funniest Home Videos and thinking "why are the parents taking a video when they should be cleaning up and disciplining?!" If you don't laugh at it, you'll cry. So I snapped a photo and then snapped into action. I'd love to tell you that I didn't raise my voice. I'd love to tell you that I didn't throw her in the tub and dump jugs of water on her while she screamed and gurgled. But I did. The futon pad is ruined. It won't come off for me to wash it, so it's festering in my bathtub, soaked through from vain attempts to wash off the glue. I can't deal with it right now, so I'm writing about it. Poor Buddy has no idea what he's coming home to.

I will say that while I was pulling my hair out (literally - I had dried Mod Podge in my hair) and wringing my hands over a ruined futon, I remembered that Brandon insisted we keep the pad from our otherwise useless futon that stands disassembled in our garage. What a wise, wise man. Don't tell him I said that :) Another reminder that things are things. But I won't be able to laugh about it until tomorrow.
I went into her room while she was sleeping, just to look at her face and remember how sweet she really is. I went with the intent of waking her up, since it's after 5:00, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. She was sleeping so soundly and looked so angelic. It isn't often that I see her sleeping - I usually steer clear of her room to avoid the risk of waking her prematurely. But I stood and watched her for minutes and finally set my finger in her open hand and she gripped it, just like she did when she was a baby. And just like that, all was forgiven. Not to self: remember her like this the next time she destroys something.

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.

Nigh Night!

Remember how I said that lightning should strike me if I ever complained about Teagan's sleeping habits? Well, that was then. This is now.
She's going through a phase, that happened to coincide with daylight savings time. She usually sleeps well past Brandon leaving for work at 7:15, but for a few weeks after the time change, she was up closer to 6. While that may not sound painfully early to you, when you're accustomed to her sleeping two more hours, it makes a big difference. Her only saving grace is that when Brandon would bring her to me in bed so he could shower, she would RUN to me, arms outstretched. She couldn't wait to hug me, and while I could have waited an hour or two more, I couldn't stay frustrated with her while she grinned her gap-toothed grin and squeeze me with all her might.
We're back to normal now, as far as mornings are concerned, but she seems to need a little extra love at night these days. She wakes up in the middle of the night, crying and calling for us and it's so unlike her that we always go in to see what's happening. Her problems are always solved by cuddling with one of us in the rocking chair for a few minutes, swaying back and forth, singing songs and stroking her hair. She usually falls asleep on me, which hasn't happened in ages and I relish the moments (for the most part). What is it about sleeping babies that just melts away any frustration or sadness? She looks so angelic and while I may feel differently at the time, in the morning I realize I would rather have cuddled her for 15 minutes than gotten 15 more minutes of sleep. So worth it.
Many a time, I think she's asleep and I lay her down in the crib and tiptoe out. She sighs "nigh night" and rolls over with her three binkies and sleeps through until morning. Since I was a kid, I always liked for "I love you" to be the last thing I say to my family at night...you know, just in case. My mum can attest that I would say it over and over again when I'd done something to upset her and wouldn't give in until she'd reciprocated. "You never know," I would always say...quickly followed by "I love you."
So I always tell Teagan that I love her, and she answers back with "Ya you. Nigh night."
"Night night. Love you."
"Ya you. Nigh night." Apparently the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree. It just rolls backward a little.