eat gibs, eat! that is what nissa keeps repeating as she comes up to him with spoon in hand, filled with kibble (all 4 pieces). just a few minutes before, she was sitting in his bed, 3 spoons in gibson's bowl, apparently spoon feeding gibson. he wasn't digging it and soon got sick and had to go outside for a few minutes. when i asked her to leave gibson to eat on his own, she states "no! sleep!" and curls up on his bed. ok, whatever.
now he's under my feet, essentially hiding from her. she can be a little too intense for him some times.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
just plain nuts
my child is nuts, and i love it. last night we played in her new tunnel (thanks, santa!) and we rolled around, head-butted, giggled a lot. then the toys started getting tossed in, so i exited. too much "fun" for my tastes. and thank goodness it's the sheer type of tunnel, because i would have been seriously claustrophobic in there.
we got together with rick and his family on monday and "tunnel" was the word of the day for sarah. awesome! nissa's word of the day on christmas? "robot guy!" santa left her 4 cars in her stocking, one of which was a navy blue jeep that converts into a robot (um, guy). like a generic go-bot. santa totally raided the attic for those cars; he's a smart one like that.
also on monday we spent some time at "little monkey bizness" and it was a bit overwhelming. too many parents with the same idea and not enough of them monitoring their kids' behavior. nissa picked up more bad habits in that one hour than i care to count. we'll be working hard to make sure they don't stick (like keeping kids out of toy houses, ugh or shoving her cousin later while i'm trying to take their picture). we did get our money's worth, though, since nissa was trying to sneak a nap in the bounce house and another padded area (but both with way too much traffic to allow napping). our little monkey got around most stuff on her own and she seemed to have fun. maybe it's better to go when it's less crowded.
christmas morning was a good time. we enjoyed cheoreg and cheese and egg nog, with nissa especially enjoying the cheoreg loaf she made herself. it was so fun having her "help" me roll out the dough, and help crack the eggs earlier. she's a fantastic egg cracker and i enjoy finding new ways for her to help me in the kitchen. nissa didn't have too many gifts, so she didn't get bored easily. . . but interesting enough that she came back to them after opening the others. the clear winner is the tunnel, which she asks to be opened on a daily basis (that we fold up nightly). from grandma and grandpa g, she loved her boat that follows the changeable track. in fact, adam and i both enjoyed that toy. we could play with it all day long! "all day long" is a phrase that's been repeated by nissa at random times and i wonder where she got that from.
christmas eve nissa was a bit hit, as always. the funniest part was at the end of the evening when she climbed into wrigley's travel cage and zipped herself in it. yep, zipped it up from the inside. then proceeded to roll around and pretend to sleep in there. . . and smash her face on the front door. again, just plain nuts. earlier in the day was a bit trying. she tripped and fell, leaving a red mark on her forehead. she later pulled a mug of hot hot chocolate onto her face, requiring a douse and holding her down to ice it. the hot chocolate turned into a bit of a fiasco, but she was fine in the end and adam handled it like a champ, unlike me.
the other day, i gave nissa a glass of apple juice to enjoy while i prepared dinner. i set it in the usual spot, under the butcher block, on the shelf with the pots. she does fine with it there every other day, but that day it spilled under the block. i realize this when both nissa and gibson have their heads under the block's shelf. . . licking up the juice! no dear, we do not lick stuff up off the floor, that's gibson's job. we drink from a cup. oi.
nissa got dropped off by grandma a the other day and she's shouting for something as we get her out of the car. what is it? a "piece of wood." grandma a says, "oh, here it is," and hands her a triangle of wood. nissa shouts "piece of wood!" gleefully. so there you go. her favorite toy for the day? a piece of wood.
we got together with rick and his family on monday and "tunnel" was the word of the day for sarah. awesome! nissa's word of the day on christmas? "robot guy!" santa left her 4 cars in her stocking, one of which was a navy blue jeep that converts into a robot (um, guy). like a generic go-bot. santa totally raided the attic for those cars; he's a smart one like that.
also on monday we spent some time at "little monkey bizness" and it was a bit overwhelming. too many parents with the same idea and not enough of them monitoring their kids' behavior. nissa picked up more bad habits in that one hour than i care to count. we'll be working hard to make sure they don't stick (like keeping kids out of toy houses, ugh or shoving her cousin later while i'm trying to take their picture). we did get our money's worth, though, since nissa was trying to sneak a nap in the bounce house and another padded area (but both with way too much traffic to allow napping). our little monkey got around most stuff on her own and she seemed to have fun. maybe it's better to go when it's less crowded.
christmas morning was a good time. we enjoyed cheoreg and cheese and egg nog, with nissa especially enjoying the cheoreg loaf she made herself. it was so fun having her "help" me roll out the dough, and help crack the eggs earlier. she's a fantastic egg cracker and i enjoy finding new ways for her to help me in the kitchen. nissa didn't have too many gifts, so she didn't get bored easily. . . but interesting enough that she came back to them after opening the others. the clear winner is the tunnel, which she asks to be opened on a daily basis (that we fold up nightly). from grandma and grandpa g, she loved her boat that follows the changeable track. in fact, adam and i both enjoyed that toy. we could play with it all day long! "all day long" is a phrase that's been repeated by nissa at random times and i wonder where she got that from.
christmas eve nissa was a bit hit, as always. the funniest part was at the end of the evening when she climbed into wrigley's travel cage and zipped herself in it. yep, zipped it up from the inside. then proceeded to roll around and pretend to sleep in there. . . and smash her face on the front door. again, just plain nuts. earlier in the day was a bit trying. she tripped and fell, leaving a red mark on her forehead. she later pulled a mug of hot hot chocolate onto her face, requiring a douse and holding her down to ice it. the hot chocolate turned into a bit of a fiasco, but she was fine in the end and adam handled it like a champ, unlike me.
the other day, i gave nissa a glass of apple juice to enjoy while i prepared dinner. i set it in the usual spot, under the butcher block, on the shelf with the pots. she does fine with it there every other day, but that day it spilled under the block. i realize this when both nissa and gibson have their heads under the block's shelf. . . licking up the juice! no dear, we do not lick stuff up off the floor, that's gibson's job. we drink from a cup. oi.
nissa got dropped off by grandma a the other day and she's shouting for something as we get her out of the car. what is it? a "piece of wood." grandma a says, "oh, here it is," and hands her a triangle of wood. nissa shouts "piece of wood!" gleefully. so there you go. her favorite toy for the day? a piece of wood.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
preparing for the holidays
first, i have to mention that nissa's latest trick is to drink with one hand. if it's a small cup (open, not a sippy) she'll take it with one hand and drink from it. i think it's her right hand. i was impressed!
she's also been using more words in her sentences, also impressive. "get me out of here" is a common one for when she wants to get out of her crib or is wrestling with daddy. last night she said "thank you wipe my face" after daddy wiped her face. she's getting pretty good at this talking stuff!
we're getting ready for christmas and for grandma and grandpa g to stay with us. it's been a long couple of weekends getting ready, but i think we're pretty close. adam even cleaned the walls in the kitchen! it really, really needed to be done, we just hadn't committed to doing it till now. it's so nice to have a clean house!
nissa has been enjoying playing with the christmas stuff: the music-playing stuffed animals, the beaded garland that i haven't found a place for yet, the purple "stars" snowflake ornaments. she likes the garland we have hanging on the windows. . . she saw the silver sparkly stuff on the table and had to take it. i then showed her what it was for and though she would have preferred to wear it, i talked her into leaving it on the windows. i've been trying to talk up santa, but she really doesn't seem to care. she likes the prospect of presents though. i hope she likes what santa brings her! we tried to get a picture with santa when we went to the mall a couple of weeks ago, but she really wasn't having it. the first time we walked by, it was "no" and kept walking. then we were able to wave as we walked by, and santa came up and said hello; she didn't run away, but she did hide a little. the last time i was able to talk her into saying hello and we got right up to him- only for her to hide in my shoulder (i had to carry her the last few feet) and refuse to even give him a high five. poor santa, left hanging by a two year old.
nissa gets a kick out of the snow and for the first time, will ask for her mittens. thank goodness for small favors.
she's also been using more words in her sentences, also impressive. "get me out of here" is a common one for when she wants to get out of her crib or is wrestling with daddy. last night she said "thank you wipe my face" after daddy wiped her face. she's getting pretty good at this talking stuff!
we're getting ready for christmas and for grandma and grandpa g to stay with us. it's been a long couple of weekends getting ready, but i think we're pretty close. adam even cleaned the walls in the kitchen! it really, really needed to be done, we just hadn't committed to doing it till now. it's so nice to have a clean house!
nissa has been enjoying playing with the christmas stuff: the music-playing stuffed animals, the beaded garland that i haven't found a place for yet, the purple "stars" snowflake ornaments. she likes the garland we have hanging on the windows. . . she saw the silver sparkly stuff on the table and had to take it. i then showed her what it was for and though she would have preferred to wear it, i talked her into leaving it on the windows. i've been trying to talk up santa, but she really doesn't seem to care. she likes the prospect of presents though. i hope she likes what santa brings her! we tried to get a picture with santa when we went to the mall a couple of weeks ago, but she really wasn't having it. the first time we walked by, it was "no" and kept walking. then we were able to wave as we walked by, and santa came up and said hello; she didn't run away, but she did hide a little. the last time i was able to talk her into saying hello and we got right up to him- only for her to hide in my shoulder (i had to carry her the last few feet) and refuse to even give him a high five. poor santa, left hanging by a two year old.
nissa gets a kick out of the snow and for the first time, will ask for her mittens. thank goodness for small favors.
Monday, December 13, 2010
adventures in parenting
this weekend was a bit of an adventure, and not just because of the crazy weather we had yesterday.
saturday, nissa and i ran errands, one of which included the pet store. of course she asked about it the whole time as we ran our other errands (pet store first?) but was worth the wait. she loved the fish, birds, mice, frogs, even a bunny. the highlight was waiting in line with a very young kitten- nissa was absolutely mesmerized. my favorite thing was nissa proudly carrying around her bag of new fishies- showing them to everyone, including the 2 dogs in the store. hilarious.
sunday was a cold and windy day- miserable for being outside. but we planned some errands for that day too, so off we went. nissa was in a mood, chattering away the whole ride out to the burbs. the fact that she didn't nap the day before was probably a factor (she was in bed, just not sleeping, grrr). i "ran in" to make a return, only to exit 30 minutes later. adam assured me that nissa pined for me the entire time, with tears, screaming and overall unconsolableness. she even watched the crowd, looking for grandma and grandpa to offer some salvation. weirdo. our next stop was a necessary one- picking out snow gear for adam and i. playing in the snow is very important to me, so i wanted to make sure we were both equipped to keep up with nissa, who is already outfitted with a purple sparkly set of bibs and jacket. we both tried on pants and while i was in the changing room with nissa, she was not having any of it. she was yelling "no pants" and "bad pants" so i had to be quick. my goodness is that child loud and crazy when she's tired. i took off the bad pants and returned my jeans to my person- thankfully finding a pair before it got too crazy. while adam looked for his jacket, i was oh so grateful for the audubon society's collection of cards nearby.
at dinner, nissa played with her pizza a bit, making it a puppet of sorts. she'd put the crust on its end and hop it along, "hello mommy!" i'd reply, "hello, pizza crust. i sure do hope nissa takes a bit bite out of you!" for some reason, that worked. i've asked nissa countless times to not play with her food, insisting it's not a puppet, toy, car, what ever. in the end, i'm content that she eats. i'd like her to be polite, but not creatively stifled. we'll work on striking that balance.
saturday, nissa and i ran errands, one of which included the pet store. of course she asked about it the whole time as we ran our other errands (pet store first?) but was worth the wait. she loved the fish, birds, mice, frogs, even a bunny. the highlight was waiting in line with a very young kitten- nissa was absolutely mesmerized. my favorite thing was nissa proudly carrying around her bag of new fishies- showing them to everyone, including the 2 dogs in the store. hilarious.
sunday was a cold and windy day- miserable for being outside. but we planned some errands for that day too, so off we went. nissa was in a mood, chattering away the whole ride out to the burbs. the fact that she didn't nap the day before was probably a factor (she was in bed, just not sleeping, grrr). i "ran in" to make a return, only to exit 30 minutes later. adam assured me that nissa pined for me the entire time, with tears, screaming and overall unconsolableness. she even watched the crowd, looking for grandma and grandpa to offer some salvation. weirdo. our next stop was a necessary one- picking out snow gear for adam and i. playing in the snow is very important to me, so i wanted to make sure we were both equipped to keep up with nissa, who is already outfitted with a purple sparkly set of bibs and jacket. we both tried on pants and while i was in the changing room with nissa, she was not having any of it. she was yelling "no pants" and "bad pants" so i had to be quick. my goodness is that child loud and crazy when she's tired. i took off the bad pants and returned my jeans to my person- thankfully finding a pair before it got too crazy. while adam looked for his jacket, i was oh so grateful for the audubon society's collection of cards nearby.
at dinner, nissa played with her pizza a bit, making it a puppet of sorts. she'd put the crust on its end and hop it along, "hello mommy!" i'd reply, "hello, pizza crust. i sure do hope nissa takes a bit bite out of you!" for some reason, that worked. i've asked nissa countless times to not play with her food, insisting it's not a puppet, toy, car, what ever. in the end, i'm content that she eats. i'd like her to be polite, but not creatively stifled. we'll work on striking that balance.
Monday, December 6, 2010
s'winter
saturday (or should i say friday night) doused the area with the season's first real snow fall. it was beautiful to see and for a few brief moments i enjoyed it before thinking about the shoveling and salt spreading i'd need to do before leaving the house.
when nissa got up, i pulled up the shade in her room so she could see the white, glistening glory that was our back yard. it had been a long time since she's seen snow and i wasn't sure she'd remember. i don't think she remembered per se, but she did recall something: s'winter! right from her mouth "s'winter outside?" yes, dear. it's winter outside. that's snow. but then i realized she didn't say "winter," it was "s'winter": one of many summer afternoon projects put together by her favorite tv half-brothers phineas and ferb, "It's a unique and logic defying amalgam of Winter and Summer."
so with the onset of s'winter came the need for boots. i've been thinking about it for a while now (for rain, for example) but never committed to the purchase. we braved target and managed to find 2 pair in her size: a pair of warm-looking black and navy classic snow boots and a pair of pink, polka-dotted galoshes with hello kitty faces on the toes. guess which ones we came home with? to be fair, nissa did stipulate on the ride over "boots, cute boots." so i really shouldn't have been surprised. she was really excited, by the way. she talked about them the whole time we were in the store, then wore them constantly once we got home. they're not the warmest, but they should keep her feet dry (if she figures out how to keep them from slipping off) and i'm working on a special pair of wool socks to help the warm factor.
the "boots, boots!" were worn to our friends' daughters' birthday party yesterday and she was thrilled. she had a great time playing with someone her own age and it was funny to see them act so similarly. nissa was a little overwhelmed at times by the affectionate nature of her new friend, but they got along well enough that i'm looking forward to another play date. thank yous and good byes were hard to find while we were leaving, but that's all she said on the way home (balloons in hand) so at least we know she understands when it's appropriate to say those things. . . we just need to work on her timing.
when nissa got up, i pulled up the shade in her room so she could see the white, glistening glory that was our back yard. it had been a long time since she's seen snow and i wasn't sure she'd remember. i don't think she remembered per se, but she did recall something: s'winter! right from her mouth "s'winter outside?" yes, dear. it's winter outside. that's snow. but then i realized she didn't say "winter," it was "s'winter": one of many summer afternoon projects put together by her favorite tv half-brothers phineas and ferb, "It's a unique and logic defying amalgam of Winter and Summer."
so with the onset of s'winter came the need for boots. i've been thinking about it for a while now (for rain, for example) but never committed to the purchase. we braved target and managed to find 2 pair in her size: a pair of warm-looking black and navy classic snow boots and a pair of pink, polka-dotted galoshes with hello kitty faces on the toes. guess which ones we came home with? to be fair, nissa did stipulate on the ride over "boots, cute boots." so i really shouldn't have been surprised. she was really excited, by the way. she talked about them the whole time we were in the store, then wore them constantly once we got home. they're not the warmest, but they should keep her feet dry (if she figures out how to keep them from slipping off) and i'm working on a special pair of wool socks to help the warm factor.
the "boots, boots!" were worn to our friends' daughters' birthday party yesterday and she was thrilled. she had a great time playing with someone her own age and it was funny to see them act so similarly. nissa was a little overwhelmed at times by the affectionate nature of her new friend, but they got along well enough that i'm looking forward to another play date. thank yous and good byes were hard to find while we were leaving, but that's all she said on the way home (balloons in hand) so at least we know she understands when it's appropriate to say those things. . . we just need to work on her timing.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
monkey see. . .
last night we were watching a documentary about guitar music and everyone they interviewed illustrated his point by pulling out a guitar and playing a snippet. it was kind of surreal. while we were watching, nissa ran over and shouted "guitar" and pulled out her play guitar. too precious.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
tissue
nissa is figuring out new things every day and i try my best to jot them down, not just to record them, but mostly because they're funny. last night, i turned on the wii to set up my new wii fit profile to make my new morning work out go a little quicker. time is short in the am, so i have ot make every minute count. while i was in there, i set nissa up with a profile so she could "participate" in the process. she was mesmerized by the screen and really liked the animated balance board. she called it "tissue" because i guess it does look a lot like a tissue moving around. she liked how it wiggled and waved, often waving back at it. she knew the balance board on the floor was the same as the one on the screen, since she called it "tissue" too. it's amazing to see that little brain working things out like that.
last night while having our weekly video chat with the p's, nissa had her frog puppet with her. she moved its hands to type and also play with the keyboard and thought it was the funniest thing ever to have the frog doing those things. i laughed because she was doing them, and making herself laugh. (?) speaking of laughing- we watched the simpsons this week and in the episode lisa discards her saxophone by tossing it out the window, where it lands near santa's little helper. he walks up, sniffs it, gets it stuck onto his head and walks around making squeaking noises and bumping into things. nissa was watching and started cracking up after he got it stuck on his head. rewinding the video made her laugh over and over.
nissa's head for words is very impressive. over the weekend, we walked for mexican food for dinner and as soon as she saw me with the big, white styrofoam cup, she exclaimed "horchata!" well, not exactly, but it sounds a lot like it and you know it when you hear it. then yesterday i warmed up a small lahmajoun for a snack and offered some to nissa. "no lock-a-june!" was her reply. she said that a few times (though i only asked once) and it was hilarious to hear.
oh, and just when i thought we were making progress on the potty front, nissa's been on a 2 week potty strike. the mention of it is answered with "no!" man, do i get tired of that little word. she did brush her teeth last night, though, so perhaps there is a light. she's been refusing that too :P
last night while having our weekly video chat with the p's, nissa had her frog puppet with her. she moved its hands to type and also play with the keyboard and thought it was the funniest thing ever to have the frog doing those things. i laughed because she was doing them, and making herself laugh. (?) speaking of laughing- we watched the simpsons this week and in the episode lisa discards her saxophone by tossing it out the window, where it lands near santa's little helper. he walks up, sniffs it, gets it stuck onto his head and walks around making squeaking noises and bumping into things. nissa was watching and started cracking up after he got it stuck on his head. rewinding the video made her laugh over and over.
nissa's head for words is very impressive. over the weekend, we walked for mexican food for dinner and as soon as she saw me with the big, white styrofoam cup, she exclaimed "horchata!" well, not exactly, but it sounds a lot like it and you know it when you hear it. then yesterday i warmed up a small lahmajoun for a snack and offered some to nissa. "no lock-a-june!" was her reply. she said that a few times (though i only asked once) and it was hilarious to hear.
oh, and just when i thought we were making progress on the potty front, nissa's been on a 2 week potty strike. the mention of it is answered with "no!" man, do i get tired of that little word. she did brush her teeth last night, though, so perhaps there is a light. she's been refusing that too :P
Friday, November 12, 2010
other source recap
so i've made note of my nissa experience in other venues, so i thought i'd recapture them here. i've tried to take the approach that any tidbit worthy of repeating to another is worthy of noting here, so here they are.
recently nissa discovered the giraffe measuring spoons kate gave me. (they are adorable little giraffe necks on top of square bodies of various sizes, tablespoon through 1/8 teaspoon.) she loves them and will walk around with the little one for as long as i'll let her. she broke the head off the big one, but nothing a little super glue wont' take care of. gotta take care of that too. she didn't quite get it when i showed her what happened (didn't get upset either, good for me!), but i did explain to her to be gentle with them.
then in the car yesterday, beastie boys' "fight for your right" comes on the radio and nissa was rockin out to it and loved it. that's my girl!! now i know what other songs to select when we have our jam sessions.
nissa just started "what's that?" i kinda like it. as in my last post, it can come up in inopportune moments, but for the most part it's manageable and challenges me to really pay attention to what she's doing so i can answer her as best i can. i always like a challenge. she's a little chatterbox, but at least she's moved away from repeating for the most part (unless she's asking for something i can't give her, like keys while we're driving !?!?!?!?).
i always heard about the terrible twos, but admittedly didn't realize how quickly they'd come on! we had our first full-blown melt down on halloween and it's been a challenge just about every day since. nissa fights about everything, even our night time routine is completely out the window. she refused her guitar shirt jammies! they're a favorite!?
i too have tried to take the patient approach, because i realize nissa is not choosing this behavior and is just as upset and frustrated as i am. . . thus the tears and barrage of "no". i get frustrated about 10% of the time, but the other 90% i just laugh at her. sure, not very supportive, but it helps me keep sane!
lastly, i am working on stuff for the birthday party and i'm pretty geeked. i plan to use the frog pull-apart-cake pan atop a lily pad sheet cake and went from there. would like to do a frog themed dinner (meatloaf logs, frog mac and cheese, broccoli trees) but the guest list is a bit long for such a specialized meal. maybe for a birthday dinner? ooh. good idea. anyways, i plan to make lily pad decorations and the thank you cards are going to rock. seriously. just need a few more decorations and a blue table cloth and i'll be content. sure, it's only family coming over, but i like to coordinate and it's the only party i can do this for, so i'm doing it!
recently nissa discovered the giraffe measuring spoons kate gave me. (they are adorable little giraffe necks on top of square bodies of various sizes, tablespoon through 1/8 teaspoon.) she loves them and will walk around with the little one for as long as i'll let her. she broke the head off the big one, but nothing a little super glue wont' take care of. gotta take care of that too. she didn't quite get it when i showed her what happened (didn't get upset either, good for me!), but i did explain to her to be gentle with them.
then in the car yesterday, beastie boys' "fight for your right" comes on the radio and nissa was rockin out to it and loved it. that's my girl!! now i know what other songs to select when we have our jam sessions.
nissa just started "what's that?" i kinda like it. as in my last post, it can come up in inopportune moments, but for the most part it's manageable and challenges me to really pay attention to what she's doing so i can answer her as best i can. i always like a challenge. she's a little chatterbox, but at least she's moved away from repeating for the most part (unless she's asking for something i can't give her, like keys while we're driving !?!?!?!?).
i always heard about the terrible twos, but admittedly didn't realize how quickly they'd come on! we had our first full-blown melt down on halloween and it's been a challenge just about every day since. nissa fights about everything, even our night time routine is completely out the window. she refused her guitar shirt jammies! they're a favorite!?
i too have tried to take the patient approach, because i realize nissa is not choosing this behavior and is just as upset and frustrated as i am. . . thus the tears and barrage of "no". i get frustrated about 10% of the time, but the other 90% i just laugh at her. sure, not very supportive, but it helps me keep sane!
lastly, i am working on stuff for the birthday party and i'm pretty geeked. i plan to use the frog pull-apart-cake pan atop a lily pad sheet cake and went from there. would like to do a frog themed dinner (meatloaf logs, frog mac and cheese, broccoli trees) but the guest list is a bit long for such a specialized meal. maybe for a birthday dinner? ooh. good idea. anyways, i plan to make lily pad decorations and the thank you cards are going to rock. seriously. just need a few more decorations and a blue table cloth and i'll be content. sure, it's only family coming over, but i like to coordinate and it's the only party i can do this for, so i'm doing it!
Monday, November 8, 2010
challenging twos
i think i see how the "terrible twos" will manifest for nissa. in the last two weeks, she has become increasingly indecisive and becomes frustrated by it. she wants something, gets it, then shouts "no." in the few seconds it takes me to retrieve the desired object, she changes her mind. oh, so frustrating. i try to remain calm, but sometimes (after 4-5-6 attempts at avoiding the "no") my patience do wear thin. a trick with food that has worked so far is this: "would you like some (water, milk, crackers, etc)? no! ok, well i'll just leave it here in case you change your mind." and what happens a few seconds later just about every time? she goes for what was left for her. i definitely look forward to the end of this phase.
this morning i was woken up about 5am by nissa crying, squealing even, for daddy. i came in (since i was having trouble sleeping as it was) and nissa was petrified and i managed to hear "bug, squish it." i picked her up and asked again, and nissa was concerned there was a bug in her bed that daddy needed to squish. i set her down on the rocking chair, turned on the light and went through her bed. i assured her there was no bug, but she was certain. so i pulled a trick from an article i read and suggested that i said "shoo shoo bug and it left the room, and when i go outside, i'll tell it to go outside. that's where bugs belong, outside." and it worked! i had read that some kids worried about monsters under the bed are appeased by a "no monsters allowed" sign on the door. i can't argue with results. sure, i had to add on the "go outside part" after telling her the bug left, but it worked. i'm assuming this was inspired by a bad dream, maybe by some of the bugs we saw at the zoo earlier that day. i didn't think she was afraid of bugs that way, but i guess she is. i'll have to tell adam all about it when he gets up later.
so yesterday we made our first real trip to lincoln park zoo with nissa. technically, she went to see the zoo lights when she was a few months old, but she slept the whole time, so i don't think that counts. we've been talking about a lot of different animals from reading the books she has (dear zoo has been a potty stable for about a week now) so i wanted to show her what the animals looked like in real life. the biggest attraction were any areas with fish. we went to the sea lions right after the real lions and from the underwater area, she wanted to know where the fish were. she liked the fish in the alligator and hippo areas, and got a kick out of watching the aquatic birds swimming (lame-ola penguins were just standing around). sure, she was intrigued by the other animals (lion, jaguar, zebra, giraffe, snake, turtle, meerkat, rhinoceros), but didn't really get excited about them. most times she was excited to see the other people, and point out the animals to the other kids. i suppose we should have gone to the children's zoo area, but we never did. we'll just have to go next time!
last night nissa did something really cute. i came home from grocery shopping right around bed time and nissa and adam were watching phineas and ferb. i sat down next to nissa and after a few minutes, leaned over to me and asked "knits? purple knits?" it wasn't until she mentioned the purple part that it clicked for me (that happened the other day too) and i realized she wanted me to knit with her on my lap. i've been working on a knit winter ensemble for myself, including a cowl, mittens and a hat. i'll do that in the evenings, with the hope that she will take an interest in my hobby or, if nothing else, be soothed by the process. i'm glad to see she's noticing enough to ask.
my favorite new things nissa is up to are "come here, mommy" and "what's this?". i love how direct and explicit both statements are. usually "come here, mommy" is an invitation to play. i'm glad playing with me is a priority (and with daddy too) and i try to balance our evenings with necessity and play. "what's this?" is particularly new and most helpful when we're reading or doing something together so she can point to "this" and i can give her the answer. i realized yesterday that this question is very frustrating during a car ride, since i have no idea what "this" is while we are driving.
this morning i was woken up about 5am by nissa crying, squealing even, for daddy. i came in (since i was having trouble sleeping as it was) and nissa was petrified and i managed to hear "bug, squish it." i picked her up and asked again, and nissa was concerned there was a bug in her bed that daddy needed to squish. i set her down on the rocking chair, turned on the light and went through her bed. i assured her there was no bug, but she was certain. so i pulled a trick from an article i read and suggested that i said "shoo shoo bug and it left the room, and when i go outside, i'll tell it to go outside. that's where bugs belong, outside." and it worked! i had read that some kids worried about monsters under the bed are appeased by a "no monsters allowed" sign on the door. i can't argue with results. sure, i had to add on the "go outside part" after telling her the bug left, but it worked. i'm assuming this was inspired by a bad dream, maybe by some of the bugs we saw at the zoo earlier that day. i didn't think she was afraid of bugs that way, but i guess she is. i'll have to tell adam all about it when he gets up later.
so yesterday we made our first real trip to lincoln park zoo with nissa. technically, she went to see the zoo lights when she was a few months old, but she slept the whole time, so i don't think that counts. we've been talking about a lot of different animals from reading the books she has (dear zoo has been a potty stable for about a week now) so i wanted to show her what the animals looked like in real life. the biggest attraction were any areas with fish. we went to the sea lions right after the real lions and from the underwater area, she wanted to know where the fish were. she liked the fish in the alligator and hippo areas, and got a kick out of watching the aquatic birds swimming (lame-ola penguins were just standing around). sure, she was intrigued by the other animals (lion, jaguar, zebra, giraffe, snake, turtle, meerkat, rhinoceros), but didn't really get excited about them. most times she was excited to see the other people, and point out the animals to the other kids. i suppose we should have gone to the children's zoo area, but we never did. we'll just have to go next time!
last night nissa did something really cute. i came home from grocery shopping right around bed time and nissa and adam were watching phineas and ferb. i sat down next to nissa and after a few minutes, leaned over to me and asked "knits? purple knits?" it wasn't until she mentioned the purple part that it clicked for me (that happened the other day too) and i realized she wanted me to knit with her on my lap. i've been working on a knit winter ensemble for myself, including a cowl, mittens and a hat. i'll do that in the evenings, with the hope that she will take an interest in my hobby or, if nothing else, be soothed by the process. i'm glad to see she's noticing enough to ask.
my favorite new things nissa is up to are "come here, mommy" and "what's this?". i love how direct and explicit both statements are. usually "come here, mommy" is an invitation to play. i'm glad playing with me is a priority (and with daddy too) and i try to balance our evenings with necessity and play. "what's this?" is particularly new and most helpful when we're reading or doing something together so she can point to "this" and i can give her the answer. i realized yesterday that this question is very frustrating during a car ride, since i have no idea what "this" is while we are driving.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
1-2-3 PEE!
for several months now we've been successfully sitting on the toilet before bedtime. from what i read, just sitting on the toilet is an accomplishment, so i apply the "successfully" label eagerly (despite the fact that, until recently, nothing actually happens when nissa sits). our patience paid off on saturday when we were rewarded with nissa's first pee in the toilet. no little trickle either! a full 5 seconds or so of full stream; enough time for both of us to realize what was happening, get excited about it, then still have it going some more. finally, i think nissa really gets it. now, when we sit, she'll ask "pee come out?" and i respond, "i don't know, but i hope so!" i know she can't necessarily go on command yet, but i know that she'll try somehow. in the interim, she still looks forward to her daily seating and i'm hoping to introduce more frequent visits to the toilet (but no pressure).
while we sit, nissa and i will read books to pass the time. "time to pee" is the standing favorite, and nissa enjoys pointing out her favorite mice or the kites, or reading the "circles" at the end of the story. super! excellent! we'll read "it's potty time" too, and nissa likes the "yucky" and "big girl" parts of the story. i've tried so many different ways to get the flush noise button to work, but the little noise it does make is still fun for nissa. the most recent addition to the mix is the zoo book, "dear zoo." i found out two nights ago that nissa remembers a lot of the details and helps me read the story. i'll prompt "they sent me a" and she or i will open the door and she'll announce the animal (elephant). then i'll prompt "but it was too" and she'll respond the correct adjective/adverb (big). it's so much fun.
beyond helping me read stories, nissa is still very helpful in the kitchen. i like to have her help cut as often as possible, but it's not always an option. sometimes that means helping me eat the vegetables i'm cutting (like the broccoli "stars" or cross-sections of the stalk), or using an extra sponge when washing pots (she'll get the outside while i'll work on the inside and vice versa), or helping me stir (or turn, as she puts it) all kinds of things. sure, all of her helping usually results in a mess, but she's learning, and that's what's important.
in other news, nissa did not nap the day before (though nap time was held) and the same for the day of halloween, so when it came time to get up and go to hang out with the cousins, nissa had her first full-fledged melt down. early terrible twos? maybe. i'm willing to just chalk it up to lack of sleep. no amount of bribery or consolation or compromise would stop the constant crying, shouts of "no!" and/or throwing/stomping/protest sitting. ugh. so we took off our coats, made a phone call and enjoyed pizza and monsters inc instead. the completed pumpkin dress has yet to be worn.
unfortunately, nissa has been continuing this "no nap" trend and it will not bode well for anyone. it started saturday and i'm hoping it ends soon. she'll go to bed, but just not sleep while she's there. aside from getting up an hour early saturday and going to bed a little more than an hour late saturday night, her schedule has been regular for night sleeping. fingers crossed.
while we sit, nissa and i will read books to pass the time. "time to pee" is the standing favorite, and nissa enjoys pointing out her favorite mice or the kites, or reading the "circles" at the end of the story. super! excellent! we'll read "it's potty time" too, and nissa likes the "yucky" and "big girl" parts of the story. i've tried so many different ways to get the flush noise button to work, but the little noise it does make is still fun for nissa. the most recent addition to the mix is the zoo book, "dear zoo." i found out two nights ago that nissa remembers a lot of the details and helps me read the story. i'll prompt "they sent me a" and she or i will open the door and she'll announce the animal (elephant). then i'll prompt "but it was too" and she'll respond the correct adjective/adverb (big). it's so much fun.
beyond helping me read stories, nissa is still very helpful in the kitchen. i like to have her help cut as often as possible, but it's not always an option. sometimes that means helping me eat the vegetables i'm cutting (like the broccoli "stars" or cross-sections of the stalk), or using an extra sponge when washing pots (she'll get the outside while i'll work on the inside and vice versa), or helping me stir (or turn, as she puts it) all kinds of things. sure, all of her helping usually results in a mess, but she's learning, and that's what's important.
in other news, nissa did not nap the day before (though nap time was held) and the same for the day of halloween, so when it came time to get up and go to hang out with the cousins, nissa had her first full-fledged melt down. early terrible twos? maybe. i'm willing to just chalk it up to lack of sleep. no amount of bribery or consolation or compromise would stop the constant crying, shouts of "no!" and/or throwing/stomping/protest sitting. ugh. so we took off our coats, made a phone call and enjoyed pizza and monsters inc instead. the completed pumpkin dress has yet to be worn.
unfortunately, nissa has been continuing this "no nap" trend and it will not bode well for anyone. it started saturday and i'm hoping it ends soon. she'll go to bed, but just not sleep while she's there. aside from getting up an hour early saturday and going to bed a little more than an hour late saturday night, her schedule has been regular for night sleeping. fingers crossed.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
a girl of many wonders
nissa is truly a girl of many wonders. as she nears the 2 mark, the wonders are coming fast and furious and of course, it's hard to keep up. i remembered a couple to mention here, so it's not a total loss.
two weeks ago nissa started pretending to be a dog. she'd crawl around saying "woof woof" so i offered to pet her hears and scratch her behind her ears. she loved it! she even sat and gave paw for treats. she does it often now, much to the absolute confusion of gibson. adam joked about teaching her to "die" when shooting her with an index-thumb gun and i suggested making it a part of her dog routine. sad, but true.
we've been dealing the last week with a head lice infestation. nissa and i both have head lice and it stinks. i'm not sure how long we've been infected, but we're pursuing a full week of treatment to date. honestly, if i hadn't had it too, i'm not sure i'd ever know nissa had it. she rarely scratches her head and these little buggers are absolutely microscopic and hard enough to see when you're really looking for them. i'm hoping to be done with the combing and washing sheets daily soon, but time will tell. we're finding less and less each day after a combing, so it's progress.
the funniest thing she's done lately happened yesterday. i was tying my shoe in front of nissa and she pointed to the shoelace and said "aglet!" of course this stems exclusively from watching phineas and ferb and the aglet episode, but still! we've never talked about it amongst ourselves, this was her taking what she saw on tv and applying it to real life. i was shocked and mused by it and adam loved it.
nissa rediscovered the cute brown haired girl doll she got as a baby and spent this afternoon carrying around "girl" with her. she had girl lean back and nissa followed suit, laying down on the floor next to her. when it was nap time, i suggested girl come with us. she had girl lean back on the changing table next to her and nissa asked girl "downstairs?" and nissa replied to herself in an even higher voice (nissa's voice is pretty high, especially when asking questions) "yes." it was just too much. i love the development of this pretend stuff and find it absolutely fascinating!!
two weeks ago nissa started pretending to be a dog. she'd crawl around saying "woof woof" so i offered to pet her hears and scratch her behind her ears. she loved it! she even sat and gave paw for treats. she does it often now, much to the absolute confusion of gibson. adam joked about teaching her to "die" when shooting her with an index-thumb gun and i suggested making it a part of her dog routine. sad, but true.
we've been dealing the last week with a head lice infestation. nissa and i both have head lice and it stinks. i'm not sure how long we've been infected, but we're pursuing a full week of treatment to date. honestly, if i hadn't had it too, i'm not sure i'd ever know nissa had it. she rarely scratches her head and these little buggers are absolutely microscopic and hard enough to see when you're really looking for them. i'm hoping to be done with the combing and washing sheets daily soon, but time will tell. we're finding less and less each day after a combing, so it's progress.
the funniest thing she's done lately happened yesterday. i was tying my shoe in front of nissa and she pointed to the shoelace and said "aglet!" of course this stems exclusively from watching phineas and ferb and the aglet episode, but still! we've never talked about it amongst ourselves, this was her taking what she saw on tv and applying it to real life. i was shocked and mused by it and adam loved it.
nissa rediscovered the cute brown haired girl doll she got as a baby and spent this afternoon carrying around "girl" with her. she had girl lean back and nissa followed suit, laying down on the floor next to her. when it was nap time, i suggested girl come with us. she had girl lean back on the changing table next to her and nissa asked girl "downstairs?" and nissa replied to herself in an even higher voice (nissa's voice is pretty high, especially when asking questions) "yes." it was just too much. i love the development of this pretend stuff and find it absolutely fascinating!!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
challenges and surprises
being a mom, life is filled with both: for you, for your child, for your husband, for your pets.
gibson surprises us often lately by finding new things to eat/destroy. it may be because we don't let him sleep with us any more, but that's been the case for months now. his late night antics, aka sleeping, were keeping adam and i up, so it was a call we had to make. just the other day he got into a boxed bar of soap that nissa had pulled out of the cabinet. soap? really? yuck. i'd really like to work on some more training and get him more exercise, but finding the time is a challenge. i still have 2 rounds of laundry in baskets in our bedroom that still needs to be put away, with another laundry round coming up this weekend. grrrr.
nissa and i were both surprised yesterday when she swallowed a penny. we were playing in bed and she had a "shiny penny" to hold onto. she was on her back and held it up above her face when she dropped it, fell straight to the back of her mouth, and before i could flip her over and pat her back it was, in her own words, "all gone." of course, she wanted more pennies to hold, but i said only if she didn't eat them again! silly girl. i think she kind of understood i was joking, but was still freaked out that she swallowed a penny, so her reaction ended up kind of neutral. i explained that in a day or two the penny would come out in her poop, to which she repeated "penny, all gone, poop" and pointed to her diaper. yep. that about sums it up. of course, i'd prefer that she didn't swallow pennies (not the first, but first i witnessed), i suppose it's a challenge i can accept. my favorite part was when she asked for a 3rd penny (to have 2 to hold) so she could "jingle" them. i also like her jumping on the bed chant: hoppity dee.
nissa surprised and impressed me when we opened up someof the videos that grandpa g took at tumbling class. there was one of nissa on the trampoline with the other girl in class and she piped right up "nissa, ally" and it took me a second to remember that ally was, in fact, the other girl's name. wow! that was over a week ago and ally was only in 1 or 2 classes prior. she is such a smart cookie.
gibson surprises us often lately by finding new things to eat/destroy. it may be because we don't let him sleep with us any more, but that's been the case for months now. his late night antics, aka sleeping, were keeping adam and i up, so it was a call we had to make. just the other day he got into a boxed bar of soap that nissa had pulled out of the cabinet. soap? really? yuck. i'd really like to work on some more training and get him more exercise, but finding the time is a challenge. i still have 2 rounds of laundry in baskets in our bedroom that still needs to be put away, with another laundry round coming up this weekend. grrrr.
nissa and i were both surprised yesterday when she swallowed a penny. we were playing in bed and she had a "shiny penny" to hold onto. she was on her back and held it up above her face when she dropped it, fell straight to the back of her mouth, and before i could flip her over and pat her back it was, in her own words, "all gone." of course, she wanted more pennies to hold, but i said only if she didn't eat them again! silly girl. i think she kind of understood i was joking, but was still freaked out that she swallowed a penny, so her reaction ended up kind of neutral. i explained that in a day or two the penny would come out in her poop, to which she repeated "penny, all gone, poop" and pointed to her diaper. yep. that about sums it up. of course, i'd prefer that she didn't swallow pennies (not the first, but first i witnessed), i suppose it's a challenge i can accept. my favorite part was when she asked for a 3rd penny (to have 2 to hold) so she could "jingle" them. i also like her jumping on the bed chant: hoppity dee.
nissa surprised and impressed me when we opened up someof the videos that grandpa g took at tumbling class. there was one of nissa on the trampoline with the other girl in class and she piped right up "nissa, ally" and it took me a second to remember that ally was, in fact, the other girl's name. wow! that was over a week ago and ally was only in 1 or 2 classes prior. she is such a smart cookie.
Friday, October 15, 2010
bad mommy day
so two days ago i had a terrible mommy day after work. it started off well, with nissa helping make beef stroganoff by helping slice the mushrooms. we stepped outside to chat with the neighbors and though i suggested otherwise, nissa stepped right into one of gibson's piles. gross.
then we came inside and i suggested nissa help me put the noodles into the water. her stool was right by the stove (ready to help) and when i turned around to grab the noodles, she started screaming. i'm pretty sure she touched one of the pots. . . so i kept her hand under cold running water for several minutes.
then we were hanging out in the bedroom waiting for dinner to be ready (stew meat in stroganoff only tastes good if you cook it forever). we were playing on the bed, rolling on our backs to imitate gibson. . . then nissa stood up and jumped, bounced on her butt then fell backwards off the bed, landing on her back, bumping her head. she had a sizeable knot in seconds and was so upset she went to daddy.
i guess it's a good thing bad things happen in 3s. . . or maybe because i spent the rest of the evening in the kitchen by myself. i'm not sure nissa would have survived much more time with me that day. i joke, but still. poor kiddo.
on a lighter note, nissa has started successfully jumping on two feet. she was jumping for tellulah the day before, and jumping well on the bed (before she fell :( ). it's pretty cool to watch and i look forward to her showing off her new skill at tumbling class today!
then we came inside and i suggested nissa help me put the noodles into the water. her stool was right by the stove (ready to help) and when i turned around to grab the noodles, she started screaming. i'm pretty sure she touched one of the pots. . . so i kept her hand under cold running water for several minutes.
then we were hanging out in the bedroom waiting for dinner to be ready (stew meat in stroganoff only tastes good if you cook it forever). we were playing on the bed, rolling on our backs to imitate gibson. . . then nissa stood up and jumped, bounced on her butt then fell backwards off the bed, landing on her back, bumping her head. she had a sizeable knot in seconds and was so upset she went to daddy.
i guess it's a good thing bad things happen in 3s. . . or maybe because i spent the rest of the evening in the kitchen by myself. i'm not sure nissa would have survived much more time with me that day. i joke, but still. poor kiddo.
on a lighter note, nissa has started successfully jumping on two feet. she was jumping for tellulah the day before, and jumping well on the bed (before she fell :( ). it's pretty cool to watch and i look forward to her showing off her new skill at tumbling class today!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
making friends
so nissa has been at the stage where she is interested in making friends. she likes to follow kids around at the park and engage them. nissa loved spending time with her cousins (2 3-year-old twin boys, 5 yo girl, 3 yo boy, 17 mo girl), running, playing, dancing.
yesterday we had the unique opportunity to run into our neighbors across the street and it was great to catch up. when tallulah was done with her snack, she joined nissa outside and they seem to have had a good time. they sat on the stairs together, climbed the stairs, walked up and down the sidewalk, said hello to the neighbor's cat. at one point they were even walking together holding hands. nissa's outgoing nature seemed to help tallulah warm up quickly to her and bring her out of her natural shyness. it was so great to see them interacting and happy. for the rest of the evening, nissa would repeat "lulah, hand" because i showed her the picture i took of them holding hands. how cool would it be to have a friend right across the street? i love it. we look forward to seeing more of them now that we don't have to rely on just running into each other outside.
yesterday we had the unique opportunity to run into our neighbors across the street and it was great to catch up. when tallulah was done with her snack, she joined nissa outside and they seem to have had a good time. they sat on the stairs together, climbed the stairs, walked up and down the sidewalk, said hello to the neighbor's cat. at one point they were even walking together holding hands. nissa's outgoing nature seemed to help tallulah warm up quickly to her and bring her out of her natural shyness. it was so great to see them interacting and happy. for the rest of the evening, nissa would repeat "lulah, hand" because i showed her the picture i took of them holding hands. how cool would it be to have a friend right across the street? i love it. we look forward to seeing more of them now that we don't have to rely on just running into each other outside.
Monday, October 4, 2010
one mystery solved
so we think we figured out where "ah-keys" came from (nissa's word for sunglasses)- armenian achnots (sp?). grandma a probably used the word one day and nissa improvised and we all just followed along. who new!?
nissa's latest "thing" is to make friends at the park. she is quite outgoing and when she finds someone she'd like to talk to, she walks right up, looks them in the eye and says "hi!" it's adorable to watch. she'll follow the new friend around, maybe even lead the way and giggle the whole time. sometimes the giggle is kinda fake, but so appropriate! only problem is she wants to see her new friend when we go back to the park. i try to explain that maybe next time we'll meet a new girl (she'll ask park, girl?) and that it's not likely to see the same girl at the park again.
even this weekend, when we had the honor of attending the wedding reception of a dear friend (home wedding and reception, so perfect) nissa made quick friends of the 4 nieces and nephews running around. all 10 and under, i think, they event followed nissa around the yard, then asking her the colors of the flowers. so cute to watch.
nissa and i had some fun on our own at the local pumpkin patch at the park. adam had the car (the other in the shop), so we walked over and toughed out the frequent drizzles. we got a temporary tattoo, fed the animals at the petting zoo, waited a LONG time for a horse-drawn carriage ride and picked out a pumpkin. i think nissa's favorite part was the petting zoo, where she got to see all kinds of animals close up. it was tricky for me to keep the pushy goats and sheep at bay (they'd knock her down in an instant, at which the magic would be OVER) but nissa managed to have a good time. as we left, nissa offered an un-prompted "bye bye animals!" hot cocoa and soup for lunch, then naptime spent prepping slow-cooker pot roast and a rustic apple pie. classic fall.
eyes closed, but she's smiling and you can see a lot of animals
nissa sitting with her little pumpkin and the big pumpkin
then we come back for naptime and i have a daughter shouting "my turn!" while she's in bed, supposed to be taking a nap. your turn to do what, exactly? and who is taking their turn before you? there is a video monitor and i'm still not sure.
nissa's latest "thing" is to make friends at the park. she is quite outgoing and when she finds someone she'd like to talk to, she walks right up, looks them in the eye and says "hi!" it's adorable to watch. she'll follow the new friend around, maybe even lead the way and giggle the whole time. sometimes the giggle is kinda fake, but so appropriate! only problem is she wants to see her new friend when we go back to the park. i try to explain that maybe next time we'll meet a new girl (she'll ask park, girl?) and that it's not likely to see the same girl at the park again.
even this weekend, when we had the honor of attending the wedding reception of a dear friend (home wedding and reception, so perfect) nissa made quick friends of the 4 nieces and nephews running around. all 10 and under, i think, they event followed nissa around the yard, then asking her the colors of the flowers. so cute to watch.
nissa and i had some fun on our own at the local pumpkin patch at the park. adam had the car (the other in the shop), so we walked over and toughed out the frequent drizzles. we got a temporary tattoo, fed the animals at the petting zoo, waited a LONG time for a horse-drawn carriage ride and picked out a pumpkin. i think nissa's favorite part was the petting zoo, where she got to see all kinds of animals close up. it was tricky for me to keep the pushy goats and sheep at bay (they'd knock her down in an instant, at which the magic would be OVER) but nissa managed to have a good time. as we left, nissa offered an un-prompted "bye bye animals!" hot cocoa and soup for lunch, then naptime spent prepping slow-cooker pot roast and a rustic apple pie. classic fall.
eyes closed, but she's smiling and you can see a lot of animals
nissa sitting with her little pumpkin and the big pumpkin
then we come back for naptime and i have a daughter shouting "my turn!" while she's in bed, supposed to be taking a nap. your turn to do what, exactly? and who is taking their turn before you? there is a video monitor and i'm still not sure.
camping
so i look at my blog and i have been remiss in posting. almost 2 weeks since we went camping and i'm just writing now. wow.
camping was a lot of fun. the weather left a lot to be desired, but it was manageable. nissa had a good time exploring: acorns, tent palettes, worms, you name it. we hiked up to site 14 (from 5) at one point and though she walked most of the way, she did stop a couple times to dance. yes, to dance.
nissa napped OK (took a while to go down, just like at home) and went to bed well. when it was night time, she insisted on leaving one of the tent lights on, which stunk for battery use, but reasonably minor to be able to leave her on her own. the pack and play worked splendidly. the first night there was a huge storm that had me up worrying if we had put away everything that couldn't get wet and if nissa would wake up, not to mention i really needed to walk to the kybo. nissa slept thru the whole thing and woke up refreshed and ready to tackle the day. the other nights she woke up shortly after we went to bed and we took her to bed with us every time. only problem with that was her 7am wake time. shudder.
nissa really enjoyed the company of aaron and peter, as well as fabian and nancy. in short order, she was calling fabian and nancy by name, asking about them when they were out fishing. nancy doted on her, keeping her well fed and fabian provided some fantastic entertainment for her.
nissa loved to walk around and name things. at one point she walked over to the fire bowl and named the owner of each chair. that night, she even remembered the color of each chair as the owner sat in it (making it challenging to see the colors, both from darkness and being occupied). it was pretty impressive.
nissa got a lot of entertainment from finding acorns (they are everywhere) and hearing them "pop" land on things as they fell. she also enjoyed drawing in the sandy ground, eyes especially.
adam and i took her out on the rowboat for two adventures and she was surprisingly well-behaved for it. we expected to just go out row around a bit then head back, but she was content to watch daddy fish and look over the side into the water. the first trip out i was able to keep her occupied a little longer by going through adam's tackle box. she found the whole thing, including a dancing frog, very intriguing. the second trip was highlighted by adam catching a nice bass, but the yellow measuring tape really kept her attention the longest. we tried to have nissa touch the fish, but she wasn't too interested. she liked the idea of daddy looking for fish to bring them up to say hello. nissa liked seeing folks out in the rowboats and canoes (tenues) but often was upset to see them leave at first.
in all, it was a fun trip. we kept nissa well slept and fed and she was a breeze to have around. can't wait to go again next year, and maybe have gibson join us!
camping was a lot of fun. the weather left a lot to be desired, but it was manageable. nissa had a good time exploring: acorns, tent palettes, worms, you name it. we hiked up to site 14 (from 5) at one point and though she walked most of the way, she did stop a couple times to dance. yes, to dance.
nissa napped OK (took a while to go down, just like at home) and went to bed well. when it was night time, she insisted on leaving one of the tent lights on, which stunk for battery use, but reasonably minor to be able to leave her on her own. the pack and play worked splendidly. the first night there was a huge storm that had me up worrying if we had put away everything that couldn't get wet and if nissa would wake up, not to mention i really needed to walk to the kybo. nissa slept thru the whole thing and woke up refreshed and ready to tackle the day. the other nights she woke up shortly after we went to bed and we took her to bed with us every time. only problem with that was her 7am wake time. shudder.
nissa really enjoyed the company of aaron and peter, as well as fabian and nancy. in short order, she was calling fabian and nancy by name, asking about them when they were out fishing. nancy doted on her, keeping her well fed and fabian provided some fantastic entertainment for her.
nissa loved to walk around and name things. at one point she walked over to the fire bowl and named the owner of each chair. that night, she even remembered the color of each chair as the owner sat in it (making it challenging to see the colors, both from darkness and being occupied). it was pretty impressive.
nissa got a lot of entertainment from finding acorns (they are everywhere) and hearing them "pop" land on things as they fell. she also enjoyed drawing in the sandy ground, eyes especially.
adam and i took her out on the rowboat for two adventures and she was surprisingly well-behaved for it. we expected to just go out row around a bit then head back, but she was content to watch daddy fish and look over the side into the water. the first trip out i was able to keep her occupied a little longer by going through adam's tackle box. she found the whole thing, including a dancing frog, very intriguing. the second trip was highlighted by adam catching a nice bass, but the yellow measuring tape really kept her attention the longest. we tried to have nissa touch the fish, but she wasn't too interested. she liked the idea of daddy looking for fish to bring them up to say hello. nissa liked seeing folks out in the rowboats and canoes (tenues) but often was upset to see them leave at first.
in all, it was a fun trip. we kept nissa well slept and fed and she was a breeze to have around. can't wait to go again next year, and maybe have gibson join us!
Friday, September 10, 2010
fun times
so this morning i make my routine stop to the DD and paid for a small and received a medium coffee. should i have said something? maybe. but i didn't and i'm enjoying my extra coffee this morning. there you go.
so last night nissa made her longest sentence yet. "oops, (i) fell down" i can't recall if she said "i" or not, but still. that's quite a few words to string together for nissa right now. also last night nissa insisted on going in the "van" to go to "class." we haven't talked about class in weeks, but she remembers. i guess she had a good time. class doesn't start up again until after camping, so i hope she can wait that long. while she was talking about class, she was doing a hand stand on the couch, with her hands near the edge of the seat and walking her legs up the back. i swear she never did a handstand when we were at class, or any other time i suggested it, BUT apparently she was paying attention because she did it just the way i had showed her. stinker.
times with my crazy toddler are fun times. unless she's crabby, then not so fun, but often amusing (unless i'm crabby). wednesday she got her nap late and i had to wake her up at 8 (still debating if i should have just let her sleep). she was super crabby after having been woken up and the only thing that would soothe her was P&F. sometimes i hate that TV, that it works so well. then after some of that, she was hungry. . . for what? popcorn. didn't matter that i had to wash the pot first. we had a late/big lunch, so "dinner" was popcorn, grapes and a glass of milk. mmmm. at least i kinda covered some food groups there. . . kinda.
wednesday was a big day for adam and nissa, it was nissa's first trip to bass pro shop. needless to say, she was absolutely enthralled with the fish tank. it took a lot to pry her away to actually *shop* in the store and the entire time she asked "back water?" we made several return trips and eventually covered the ground we needed to. here's a video of her at the tank:
we finally bought some new shoes for nissa and she's fitting a size 6 already. well, they were a little big, but she's a 6.5 according to the shoe store foot measuring thingy. she got a cool pair of black velcro converse all stars and some cute brown leather mary jane's. man! kids shoes are adorable.
when we came home we set up the tent to confirm both air mattress and pack n play fit inside. success! now that the logistics are out of the way, all we have to do is figure out a way for her to sleep in said arrangements. i'm really looking forward to camping, but i know it's going to be a challenge. maybe it's just as well not many folks are going. . . less people to keep up if nissa decides to have crazy sleep patterns!
monday nissa and i had a fun day. to start, we had breakfast together at home. during breakfast, nissa altered her usual pattern and asked for a "bust 'em" fist bump, like candace and lulu "busting" jones. it always amazes me when nissa remembers things like that. i know she does all the time, it's just impressive when it comes out of the blue. we then headed out to the yard to set up the pool for one last splash for the summer. while it filled, i tackled propping up a fallen tomato plant by hammering in a stake with the camping mallet. while doing so, nissa came running over shouting "cat" and i was totally confused. after repeating herself several times, i realized she was saying, "Pat" the hammer from handy manny. duh. so i picked her up and had her help me use pat on the stick. she must have really enjoyed that, because she brought it up several times that day "pat stick". we ended up swimming in the pool for all of 20 minutes since it really wasn't all that warm out and there was a consistent breeze. so we ate a quick lunch and headed out to uncle rick's to spend some more time with grandparents g. on the way, some dried leaves on the window wipers slowly blew off and away. when they finally did, nissa commented "leaf gone," and mentioned it later too. she's getting good! nissa had a great time dancing with sarah and getting tickled by grandpa. we even got to go out to dinner where we introduced sarah to the fine art of doodling with colored pencils. after dinner, nissa offered an impressive feat: after being held by uncle rick waiting for a "down please." when something close enough was said, rick put nissa down and then she said "thank you rick." i was flabbergasted. thank you's are rare, and then to pair it with a name? outstanding.
sunday we spent time with grandma and grandpa g as well. we hoped to go to the zoo, but the holiday crowds kept us from parking. bummer :( so we went out for lunch and stopped by revere park for a while. nissa was really too tired to have much fun at the park, and when we headed home for a nap, all 4 of us ended up dozing off. must have been something in the air.
saturday was lots of fun: we went to check out chase park and then went out to uncle george's for a bbq. chase park recently opened a new playground and it was a big hit with nissa. she really enjoyed the beam, bouncy lady bug and piano-chimes. thank goodness she was hungry when we left, because i don't think she would have gone so willingly otherwise. while we enjoyed our torta lunch on the front stairs (i love dining al fresco!) nissa came up, asked for and gave me a hug, then said "love you." of all the new word combinations she's putting together, that's my favorite. it was supposed to be a pool party at uncle george's, but the weather did not cooperate and it was too cool to swim. nissa and i did put our toes in the water for a few minutes and got a fun family photo to boot. while we ate, meg helped nissa discover her inherited gift of being able to roll her tongue. i couldn't get it on film, but i will! nissa had a good time with the puppies, remembering bubba's name right away and calling elwood and gabby by name after a quick reminder. she is getting really good at names, including inquiring about entire families (grandma and grandpa, rick and lisa and sarah, etc). if you mention one, you get them all. she was a big hit on our way out- she willingly gave some awesome hugs and kisses to all who asked for them. i doubt that will last much longer, but it's fun while it does.
friday we got to have some adult time, which i suppose was needed. we were honored to witness the marriage of a good friend to his best friend in the beautiful cantigny gardens. between the ceremony and the reception, we got to check out a cool tackle shop near by. then we made a new friend (well, adam already knew him) that is an amateur bass fisherman. we had a great time sharing fishing stories, getting tips and discussing opportunities to fish together soon. i hope so, cuz we haven't done nearly enough fishing lately!!
so last night nissa made her longest sentence yet. "oops, (i) fell down" i can't recall if she said "i" or not, but still. that's quite a few words to string together for nissa right now. also last night nissa insisted on going in the "van" to go to "class." we haven't talked about class in weeks, but she remembers. i guess she had a good time. class doesn't start up again until after camping, so i hope she can wait that long. while she was talking about class, she was doing a hand stand on the couch, with her hands near the edge of the seat and walking her legs up the back. i swear she never did a handstand when we were at class, or any other time i suggested it, BUT apparently she was paying attention because she did it just the way i had showed her. stinker.
times with my crazy toddler are fun times. unless she's crabby, then not so fun, but often amusing (unless i'm crabby). wednesday she got her nap late and i had to wake her up at 8 (still debating if i should have just let her sleep). she was super crabby after having been woken up and the only thing that would soothe her was P&F. sometimes i hate that TV, that it works so well. then after some of that, she was hungry. . . for what? popcorn. didn't matter that i had to wash the pot first. we had a late/big lunch, so "dinner" was popcorn, grapes and a glass of milk. mmmm. at least i kinda covered some food groups there. . . kinda.
wednesday was a big day for adam and nissa, it was nissa's first trip to bass pro shop. needless to say, she was absolutely enthralled with the fish tank. it took a lot to pry her away to actually *shop* in the store and the entire time she asked "back water?" we made several return trips and eventually covered the ground we needed to. here's a video of her at the tank:
we finally bought some new shoes for nissa and she's fitting a size 6 already. well, they were a little big, but she's a 6.5 according to the shoe store foot measuring thingy. she got a cool pair of black velcro converse all stars and some cute brown leather mary jane's. man! kids shoes are adorable.
when we came home we set up the tent to confirm both air mattress and pack n play fit inside. success! now that the logistics are out of the way, all we have to do is figure out a way for her to sleep in said arrangements. i'm really looking forward to camping, but i know it's going to be a challenge. maybe it's just as well not many folks are going. . . less people to keep up if nissa decides to have crazy sleep patterns!
monday nissa and i had a fun day. to start, we had breakfast together at home. during breakfast, nissa altered her usual pattern and asked for a "bust 'em" fist bump, like candace and lulu "busting" jones. it always amazes me when nissa remembers things like that. i know she does all the time, it's just impressive when it comes out of the blue. we then headed out to the yard to set up the pool for one last splash for the summer. while it filled, i tackled propping up a fallen tomato plant by hammering in a stake with the camping mallet. while doing so, nissa came running over shouting "cat" and i was totally confused. after repeating herself several times, i realized she was saying, "Pat" the hammer from handy manny. duh. so i picked her up and had her help me use pat on the stick. she must have really enjoyed that, because she brought it up several times that day "pat stick". we ended up swimming in the pool for all of 20 minutes since it really wasn't all that warm out and there was a consistent breeze. so we ate a quick lunch and headed out to uncle rick's to spend some more time with grandparents g. on the way, some dried leaves on the window wipers slowly blew off and away. when they finally did, nissa commented "leaf gone," and mentioned it later too. she's getting good! nissa had a great time dancing with sarah and getting tickled by grandpa. we even got to go out to dinner where we introduced sarah to the fine art of doodling with colored pencils. after dinner, nissa offered an impressive feat: after being held by uncle rick waiting for a "down please." when something close enough was said, rick put nissa down and then she said "thank you rick." i was flabbergasted. thank you's are rare, and then to pair it with a name? outstanding.
sunday we spent time with grandma and grandpa g as well. we hoped to go to the zoo, but the holiday crowds kept us from parking. bummer :( so we went out for lunch and stopped by revere park for a while. nissa was really too tired to have much fun at the park, and when we headed home for a nap, all 4 of us ended up dozing off. must have been something in the air.
saturday was lots of fun: we went to check out chase park and then went out to uncle george's for a bbq. chase park recently opened a new playground and it was a big hit with nissa. she really enjoyed the beam, bouncy lady bug and piano-chimes. thank goodness she was hungry when we left, because i don't think she would have gone so willingly otherwise. while we enjoyed our torta lunch on the front stairs (i love dining al fresco!) nissa came up, asked for and gave me a hug, then said "love you." of all the new word combinations she's putting together, that's my favorite. it was supposed to be a pool party at uncle george's, but the weather did not cooperate and it was too cool to swim. nissa and i did put our toes in the water for a few minutes and got a fun family photo to boot. while we ate, meg helped nissa discover her inherited gift of being able to roll her tongue. i couldn't get it on film, but i will! nissa had a good time with the puppies, remembering bubba's name right away and calling elwood and gabby by name after a quick reminder. she is getting really good at names, including inquiring about entire families (grandma and grandpa, rick and lisa and sarah, etc). if you mention one, you get them all. she was a big hit on our way out- she willingly gave some awesome hugs and kisses to all who asked for them. i doubt that will last much longer, but it's fun while it does.
friday we got to have some adult time, which i suppose was needed. we were honored to witness the marriage of a good friend to his best friend in the beautiful cantigny gardens. between the ceremony and the reception, we got to check out a cool tackle shop near by. then we made a new friend (well, adam already knew him) that is an amateur bass fisherman. we had a great time sharing fishing stories, getting tips and discussing opportunities to fish together soon. i hope so, cuz we haven't done nearly enough fishing lately!!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
more teeth, more fun
so nissa's canine teeth seem to be coming in nicely. there hasn't been much action on the teeth front lately, so i felt it needed to be reported. and she seems to be using them better too- as evidenced by her ability to consume more than just the outer few centimeters of a carrot. sure, they still end up with gibson, but at least there's more of it gone before the switch.
monday night marked the last family dinner we shared with our house guest. tuesday he officially moved into his new condo. it's not much of an adjustment for adam and i, but i wonder how nissa will make the adjustment. we'll see. billy's legacy: teaching nissa beer (old style) and "alright" and emphasizing the importance and proper execution of an exploding fist bump.
near the end of dinner on monday, nissa started up a new game- lean back, sit up! i think she liked that billy and i played along and she was able to call the shots. it made for lots of giggles and i loved it. she even played it with her teddy bear the next day. i always am honored and count myself lucky to be the mom of such a happy kid. like when we were all hanging out on our bed last night after dinner- she had so much fun giggling and wrestling with daddy, doing somersaults into him, jumping, getting tickled. it's impossible NOT to smile when you're with her.
unless she's being unruly, that is, which she was at dinner tuesday night. it was just the two of us and i got up to answer the phone. in a few short minutes she was pushing food off of her plate onto the table, taking fist-fulls of food to throw down to gibson, then spilled most of a glass of milk on her, the table, chair, floor, etc. i had no idea just how badly spoiled whole milk smelled. . . it's disgusting and i now clean up messes diligently and quickly to avoid it. shudder.
so i've wondered this before, but i'll ask it again. is it normal for a 21 month old to constantly narrate her day? if she's not talking about what she's doing (walking, eating, dancing) she's describing the world around her (grass, fork, funny, blue, black, green, red). i've interacted with toddlers before, prompting them to remember colors and names of objects and the sounds various animals make. but with nissa, she's starting the conversation and keeps it going often all on her own. i love that she's so confident in her knowledge that she likes to practice and love that she enjoys talking about what's going on. i just hope she hones her pronunciation before she branches out to talk about more abstract things (what she did that day, what she'd like to play with that's not in the room) because sometimes it's hard to figure out what she's saying without the context of the current situation.
a report of weirdness- monday and tuesday nissa brought her plane and garbage [truck] to bed with her (though i tried to protest). when it came time to get ready, i couldn't brush, change, clothe her fast enough to get into "bed!" it was so bizare. she didn't even want to read a book! though last night she was interested in reading her new favorite, "danny and the dinosaur", i was wondering what was going on for a minute there.
i love that nissa likes to help, though her efforts aren't always "helpful." last night i did a quick mow of the back lawn. she insisted on having her rake at the ready, though i don't think she did any actual raking. she did help me carry grass clippings to the garden, but by hand. i know she'll be helping more and more in the future, but in the interim, i enjoy the company and enthusiasm.
monday night marked the last family dinner we shared with our house guest. tuesday he officially moved into his new condo. it's not much of an adjustment for adam and i, but i wonder how nissa will make the adjustment. we'll see. billy's legacy: teaching nissa beer (old style) and "alright" and emphasizing the importance and proper execution of an exploding fist bump.
near the end of dinner on monday, nissa started up a new game- lean back, sit up! i think she liked that billy and i played along and she was able to call the shots. it made for lots of giggles and i loved it. she even played it with her teddy bear the next day. i always am honored and count myself lucky to be the mom of such a happy kid. like when we were all hanging out on our bed last night after dinner- she had so much fun giggling and wrestling with daddy, doing somersaults into him, jumping, getting tickled. it's impossible NOT to smile when you're with her.
unless she's being unruly, that is, which she was at dinner tuesday night. it was just the two of us and i got up to answer the phone. in a few short minutes she was pushing food off of her plate onto the table, taking fist-fulls of food to throw down to gibson, then spilled most of a glass of milk on her, the table, chair, floor, etc. i had no idea just how badly spoiled whole milk smelled. . . it's disgusting and i now clean up messes diligently and quickly to avoid it. shudder.
so i've wondered this before, but i'll ask it again. is it normal for a 21 month old to constantly narrate her day? if she's not talking about what she's doing (walking, eating, dancing) she's describing the world around her (grass, fork, funny, blue, black, green, red). i've interacted with toddlers before, prompting them to remember colors and names of objects and the sounds various animals make. but with nissa, she's starting the conversation and keeps it going often all on her own. i love that she's so confident in her knowledge that she likes to practice and love that she enjoys talking about what's going on. i just hope she hones her pronunciation before she branches out to talk about more abstract things (what she did that day, what she'd like to play with that's not in the room) because sometimes it's hard to figure out what she's saying without the context of the current situation.
a report of weirdness- monday and tuesday nissa brought her plane and garbage [truck] to bed with her (though i tried to protest). when it came time to get ready, i couldn't brush, change, clothe her fast enough to get into "bed!" it was so bizare. she didn't even want to read a book! though last night she was interested in reading her new favorite, "danny and the dinosaur", i was wondering what was going on for a minute there.
i love that nissa likes to help, though her efforts aren't always "helpful." last night i did a quick mow of the back lawn. she insisted on having her rake at the ready, though i don't think she did any actual raking. she did help me carry grass clippings to the garden, but by hand. i know she'll be helping more and more in the future, but in the interim, i enjoy the company and enthusiasm.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
sassy
i can't believe i didn't mention this before! i just had to look and double check.
if you ask nissa if she's sassy, she'll put her hands on her hips, stick out one hip and say "sassy." it's the most hilarious thing ever. she is a sassy girl, to be certain, i just didn't realize *she* knew it.
last night adam and i had a strange mini battle of wills when it came to combing nissa's hair after her bath. for the first time, i encountered knots in her silky fine hair. i guess it's getting long enough for that to be an issue. they were in the back, and with nissa flipping her head around every second, it's hard to address. i asked adam to come in and distract and he wanted to give it a try. i insisted that i was going to do it, but completely forgot that he once had long curly hair that needed detangling and might know what he was doing. how foolish of me.
if you ask nissa if she's sassy, she'll put her hands on her hips, stick out one hip and say "sassy." it's the most hilarious thing ever. she is a sassy girl, to be certain, i just didn't realize *she* knew it.
last night adam and i had a strange mini battle of wills when it came to combing nissa's hair after her bath. for the first time, i encountered knots in her silky fine hair. i guess it's getting long enough for that to be an issue. they were in the back, and with nissa flipping her head around every second, it's hard to address. i asked adam to come in and distract and he wanted to give it a try. i insisted that i was going to do it, but completely forgot that he once had long curly hair that needed detangling and might know what he was doing. how foolish of me.
Monday, August 23, 2010
beak (beach)
so nissa has a hard time with "ch" some times. i noticed there was another word with the same sound that she pronounces like "sh" but i can't think of it now. oh well.
so yesterday, when i got nissa up, i was getting her dressed and telling her about our day. we'd go get breakfast (bagel, coffee? no, something better), run some errands then go somewhere fun. "pool?" she asked right away. no, i responded. "beak?" (beach) um, well yes. we're going to the beach. i didnt' want to say anything because she doesn't always understand "later," but i think she did today. or at least to the extent she wasn't too frustrated when i had to tell her "later." after everything we did, she asked about the beach. after breakfast. in the check out at target. in the check out at joanns. at home when i had to run in and get our beach stuff. at the beach office when we went to visit daddy first and chat with some of his coworkers. once there, she was as happy as a clam (quite literal, i suppose, in this situation?) and loved playing in the wet sand (of which there was an abundance thanks to wave action). we even wandered into the wavy water by her request. she'd walk out until a bigger wave got her (i was always spotting her) then asked to go "up" then eventually asked for the sand. as always, she loved to squish whatever mold i created in the sand. destructive little bugger.
after the beach we stopped for a hot dog picnic and was off to nap. not sure why if while i was parking, she was asleep, but then nissa stayed up a good 45 minutes once getting into bed. she's a conundrum some times.
during dinner, nissa turned to me and said "beak?" i said yes, we had fun at the beach today, right?" and she paused and said "yeah!" and nodded her head. mission accomplished.
so yesterday, when i got nissa up, i was getting her dressed and telling her about our day. we'd go get breakfast (bagel, coffee? no, something better), run some errands then go somewhere fun. "pool?" she asked right away. no, i responded. "beak?" (beach) um, well yes. we're going to the beach. i didnt' want to say anything because she doesn't always understand "later," but i think she did today. or at least to the extent she wasn't too frustrated when i had to tell her "later." after everything we did, she asked about the beach. after breakfast. in the check out at target. in the check out at joanns. at home when i had to run in and get our beach stuff. at the beach office when we went to visit daddy first and chat with some of his coworkers. once there, she was as happy as a clam (quite literal, i suppose, in this situation?) and loved playing in the wet sand (of which there was an abundance thanks to wave action). we even wandered into the wavy water by her request. she'd walk out until a bigger wave got her (i was always spotting her) then asked to go "up" then eventually asked for the sand. as always, she loved to squish whatever mold i created in the sand. destructive little bugger.
after the beach we stopped for a hot dog picnic and was off to nap. not sure why if while i was parking, she was asleep, but then nissa stayed up a good 45 minutes once getting into bed. she's a conundrum some times.
during dinner, nissa turned to me and said "beak?" i said yes, we had fun at the beach today, right?" and she paused and said "yeah!" and nodded her head. mission accomplished.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
where does adorable come from?
because my daughter seems to have acquired a whole heapful and i love it.
once again, nissa is supposed to be taking a nap- she was falling asleep in the car just moments ago. now she is running around her crib!?!?! she lined up all of her "friends" (stuffed animals) so that they rested between the rail of her crib and the wall, heads up above the bar. she just walked down the line and gave them each a "muah!" big kiss.
then last night the three of us were sitting around enjoying some strawberries in front of the tv. adam and i were laying on the couch with our heads to ward the wedge and the berries were on the ottoman in the middle. nissa put her head by ours with a big grin and a mmmmmm like a hug. what an awesome family moment.
once again, nissa is supposed to be taking a nap- she was falling asleep in the car just moments ago. now she is running around her crib!?!?! she lined up all of her "friends" (stuffed animals) so that they rested between the rail of her crib and the wall, heads up above the bar. she just walked down the line and gave them each a "muah!" big kiss.
then last night the three of us were sitting around enjoying some strawberries in front of the tv. adam and i were laying on the couch with our heads to ward the wedge and the berries were on the ottoman in the middle. nissa put her head by ours with a big grin and a mmmmmm like a hug. what an awesome family moment.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
so much to do, so little time
ok, it's saturday during nap time. i should be doing laundry, mowing the lawn, cleaning the bathrooms and doing dishes. all at the same time, getting it all done in the scant 2 hours i'll likely have (not including the little bit o' time i just took to watch a tv show i slept through last night). but am i doing any of those things? um, no. because it's been 2.5 weeks since i've written anything here and it feels like even longer and nissa's been up to way to much to let it go much further.
so, today we went to the zoo with uncle rick, auntie lisa and sarah. nissa is getting really good with names, she would call sarah by name (and offered rick some strawberries and gold fish) and repeated lisa's name before we left in the morning. the zoo visit felt like it went quickly because nissa was walking a lot of the time and sarah had to be back in an hour and a half for her morning nap. oh, the days of 2 naps! sometimes i miss them, sometimes, when i want to do do things, i don't. nissa's been "napping" the better part of an hour and a half and she's barely slowed down. she plays with her friends, drinks her water, rearranges the pillow and blanket several times, sings songs for the camera. you name it, she's doing it (everything short of climbing out, though, thank goodness!).
so at the zoo, we saw a rhino from a distance, but spent the most time in the bear area. we saw some bison, then some wolves (nissa loved the buttons on the wolf cam), then saw the grizzly and polar bears swimming. nissa walked right up to the window where the polar bear was swimming and took it all in, there were 30 people by the window easy, by the way. when the bear swam by, she went to the kid next to her "see, animals!" it was hilarious.
after the bears we got the obligatory mold-a-rama parting gift of a brown bear (love it!) and walked over to the penguins. nissa was walking with uncle rick holding hands- until i tried to grab my camera, that is. we walked around the water sprayers a little for a refreshing shower. nissa enjoyed the penguin area, but was insistent on seeing a turtle we never saw. not sure why she thought there would be one (there were pictures of some, i guess) but we never did see a real one. oh well.
back at the house, we enjoyed some lunch and nissa enjoyed sarah's toys while she napped. while nissa was relaying a story about work, she concluded with "scary." nissa then growled and held up her hands and said "scary." where does she come up with this stuff? she especially enjoyed the bus (her favorite car), the birthday cake, violet and the talking perry the platypus. how many 21 month olds do you know that can say "platypus"? this one can.
last night nissa helped me make dinner again. she is a whiz with slicing mushrooms and this time i planned ahead by washing more than what we needed, to account for all the sampling she inevitably does. the other day nissa helped me make rice by helping me measure and pour out the rice and water. love my little helper. she ate most of the casserole i served her, in her usual narrative style. near the end, some of the green beans got chewed and discarded, but most was eaten, so i was happy.
we enjoyed the rest of our evening putting together the rubber puzzles from my childhood. my parents wisely held onto the impressively high quality lauri puzzles i put together as a child (30 years ago now) and i'm glad they did. they are just as vibrant and flexible as i remember, and just as much fun to assemble. in just a week, nissa is recognizing the methods for assembling the puzzles, even keeping the "bumpy" sides up when putting the pieces in.
before bead we put on her "tea car" (guitar) jammies, brushed her teeth, read "danny and the dinosaur" and called it a night. i was impressed by how much she enjoys the d&d book, so i went online earlier that day to get some more "level 1" books. for a while, she just enjoyed the mostly-pictures books and the mild story lines like "good night moon." i know she'll start reading other books, but if she's preferring more wordy, story-lined books, why not?
lately nissa has been preferring non-lidded cups for her drinks at home. often she'll protest if i grab for the tilty and not relent until i've picked up something open. my preference for dinner time ghatik is her handled frog cup (though it's got a lid and a straw, we skip these). nissa's still getting the hang of tipping the cup to drink and has trouble in the beginning and end. coming home to a dining room that smells of feet after a night of too-much-spilled-whole-milk required some preventative measures moving forward. live and learn. always learning. always.
we've approached the 2 hour mark on nap time and nissa has resorted to growling and fake crying. i think she might actually sleep soon.
nissa's been requesting to sit on the potty quite often lately, which makes me very happy. and she loves her two potty books (i am especially fond of "time to pee") which we've taken to reading while she sits, to pass the time. i know it's just a matter of time before we catch a pee time while sitting, i just have to be patient. we've tried the "going naked' think in small increments, but haven't had much luck yet. i've discovered she pees often in small amounts and though i've tried to watch, doesn't seem to have any tells to precede the peeing. it's cute when she does pee, though. i talk up peeing, but we carry on with whatever we're doing, then i hear a tinkling sound and a soft "mom". i say "ok, you peed!" and whisk her off to the bathroom to sit on the potty, wipe and wash her hands. i try my hardest not to make it a disappointing thing and just talk up the idea of doing it on the potty next time. again, it's bound to work eventually, i know it. nissa's got all the other signs down- words, excitement/comfort with the potty, close to managing clothes; just not the bladder mastery just yet.
silence. the sleep has come. finally. it's about time. i'm tempted to nap too, but i'll do my best to resist. it amazes me that for as long as i tune out her yammering, i don't always notice when she stops, or what happened to lead up to the quiet. kinda eerie sometimes.
i find myself grabbing my cell phone often to snap pictures; something that i only hope i still do when #2 comes along. i think i will, but that's something i think all parents say and fall short on when the time comes. at least having a camera constantly at the ready should help.
nissa is really big into taking turns recently. she says so by shouting "turn" when she thinks it should be her turn to do something. kinda hard not to laugh some times, but i appreciate the awareness of the concept. it comes up the most while i'm doing dishes, where she and i need to take turns with the water. i'm rinsing dishes, but she is filling and dumping out a cup of water. it's a good system.
last weekend nissa and i were able to strike a good balance of fun and errands and i was very proud. we even spent some time in the pool! nissa was really enjoying the pool this time. i filled it up a little lower this time, so it came up to her hips. this way, if she tripped, she could catch herself and not necessarily get a face full of water; but also have enough water to have some fun in (and me too). we blew a lot of bubbles and spent a lot of time kicking. she's also getting really good at filling then pouring out the buckets. i didn't realize that was something to get excited about until i saw her difficulty filling a bucket early on.
last friday was the last day of gymnastics class for the summer session and i have to say i was bummed. every thursday night for the last few weeks ended with an inquiry, "jump?" that i could gladly answer, yes dear, tomorrow. this week i couldn't, but will be able to in a few weeks when we go back for another class. nissa was in another crabby mood that day, but she did do some cool stuff when she wasn't trying to have a fit. she did kinda well hanging from the rings and walking up a wall to ultimately flip. the first time she let go too soon, but the second time she held on a little longer. another obstacle was to walk along atop a tubular mat, supporting yourself on the parallel bars. i spotted and rolled the mat along and nissa rocked that task. i thought for sure she'd not get the hang of it, but she totally did. the majority of the end of class we spent hanging around the short beam (which is 2 beams together right then). she was so crabby she didnt' want to hold my hand, so she ended up walking it end to end a few times all on her own. she was really slow at first, but started picking up the pace after a while. the class concluded with the usual stamp and picture and nissa sat right down with the others. again, i was impressed. i was so busy trying to snap a photo, however, that i didn't notice miss jessica stamped both forearms and both feet with froggy stamps. loved it, but man!
nissa will get randomly affectionate, which usually involves hugs, kisses or blown kisses. but lately it's expanded to also include high fives and fist bumps. but the bump must explode afterward, or nissa will be displeased. she also gave a successful thumbs up about 2 weeks ago. i've been working on it with her for a while, so i'm glad to see some progress. rock horns are next! she already will occasionally bust out a "rock" and fumble with her fingers if she hears a song she likes. she gets it!
so, today we went to the zoo with uncle rick, auntie lisa and sarah. nissa is getting really good with names, she would call sarah by name (and offered rick some strawberries and gold fish) and repeated lisa's name before we left in the morning. the zoo visit felt like it went quickly because nissa was walking a lot of the time and sarah had to be back in an hour and a half for her morning nap. oh, the days of 2 naps! sometimes i miss them, sometimes, when i want to do do things, i don't. nissa's been "napping" the better part of an hour and a half and she's barely slowed down. she plays with her friends, drinks her water, rearranges the pillow and blanket several times, sings songs for the camera. you name it, she's doing it (everything short of climbing out, though, thank goodness!).
so at the zoo, we saw a rhino from a distance, but spent the most time in the bear area. we saw some bison, then some wolves (nissa loved the buttons on the wolf cam), then saw the grizzly and polar bears swimming. nissa walked right up to the window where the polar bear was swimming and took it all in, there were 30 people by the window easy, by the way. when the bear swam by, she went to the kid next to her "see, animals!" it was hilarious.
after the bears we got the obligatory mold-a-rama parting gift of a brown bear (love it!) and walked over to the penguins. nissa was walking with uncle rick holding hands- until i tried to grab my camera, that is. we walked around the water sprayers a little for a refreshing shower. nissa enjoyed the penguin area, but was insistent on seeing a turtle we never saw. not sure why she thought there would be one (there were pictures of some, i guess) but we never did see a real one. oh well.
back at the house, we enjoyed some lunch and nissa enjoyed sarah's toys while she napped. while nissa was relaying a story about work, she concluded with "scary." nissa then growled and held up her hands and said "scary." where does she come up with this stuff? she especially enjoyed the bus (her favorite car), the birthday cake, violet and the talking perry the platypus. how many 21 month olds do you know that can say "platypus"? this one can.
last night nissa helped me make dinner again. she is a whiz with slicing mushrooms and this time i planned ahead by washing more than what we needed, to account for all the sampling she inevitably does. the other day nissa helped me make rice by helping me measure and pour out the rice and water. love my little helper. she ate most of the casserole i served her, in her usual narrative style. near the end, some of the green beans got chewed and discarded, but most was eaten, so i was happy.
we enjoyed the rest of our evening putting together the rubber puzzles from my childhood. my parents wisely held onto the impressively high quality lauri puzzles i put together as a child (30 years ago now) and i'm glad they did. they are just as vibrant and flexible as i remember, and just as much fun to assemble. in just a week, nissa is recognizing the methods for assembling the puzzles, even keeping the "bumpy" sides up when putting the pieces in.
before bead we put on her "tea car" (guitar) jammies, brushed her teeth, read "danny and the dinosaur" and called it a night. i was impressed by how much she enjoys the d&d book, so i went online earlier that day to get some more "level 1" books. for a while, she just enjoyed the mostly-pictures books and the mild story lines like "good night moon." i know she'll start reading other books, but if she's preferring more wordy, story-lined books, why not?
lately nissa has been preferring non-lidded cups for her drinks at home. often she'll protest if i grab for the tilty and not relent until i've picked up something open. my preference for dinner time ghatik is her handled frog cup (though it's got a lid and a straw, we skip these). nissa's still getting the hang of tipping the cup to drink and has trouble in the beginning and end. coming home to a dining room that smells of feet after a night of too-much-spilled-whole-milk required some preventative measures moving forward. live and learn. always learning. always.
we've approached the 2 hour mark on nap time and nissa has resorted to growling and fake crying. i think she might actually sleep soon.
nissa's been requesting to sit on the potty quite often lately, which makes me very happy. and she loves her two potty books (i am especially fond of "time to pee") which we've taken to reading while she sits, to pass the time. i know it's just a matter of time before we catch a pee time while sitting, i just have to be patient. we've tried the "going naked' think in small increments, but haven't had much luck yet. i've discovered she pees often in small amounts and though i've tried to watch, doesn't seem to have any tells to precede the peeing. it's cute when she does pee, though. i talk up peeing, but we carry on with whatever we're doing, then i hear a tinkling sound and a soft "mom". i say "ok, you peed!" and whisk her off to the bathroom to sit on the potty, wipe and wash her hands. i try my hardest not to make it a disappointing thing and just talk up the idea of doing it on the potty next time. again, it's bound to work eventually, i know it. nissa's got all the other signs down- words, excitement/comfort with the potty, close to managing clothes; just not the bladder mastery just yet.
silence. the sleep has come. finally. it's about time. i'm tempted to nap too, but i'll do my best to resist. it amazes me that for as long as i tune out her yammering, i don't always notice when she stops, or what happened to lead up to the quiet. kinda eerie sometimes.
i find myself grabbing my cell phone often to snap pictures; something that i only hope i still do when #2 comes along. i think i will, but that's something i think all parents say and fall short on when the time comes. at least having a camera constantly at the ready should help.
nissa is really big into taking turns recently. she says so by shouting "turn" when she thinks it should be her turn to do something. kinda hard not to laugh some times, but i appreciate the awareness of the concept. it comes up the most while i'm doing dishes, where she and i need to take turns with the water. i'm rinsing dishes, but she is filling and dumping out a cup of water. it's a good system.
last weekend nissa and i were able to strike a good balance of fun and errands and i was very proud. we even spent some time in the pool! nissa was really enjoying the pool this time. i filled it up a little lower this time, so it came up to her hips. this way, if she tripped, she could catch herself and not necessarily get a face full of water; but also have enough water to have some fun in (and me too). we blew a lot of bubbles and spent a lot of time kicking. she's also getting really good at filling then pouring out the buckets. i didn't realize that was something to get excited about until i saw her difficulty filling a bucket early on.
last friday was the last day of gymnastics class for the summer session and i have to say i was bummed. every thursday night for the last few weeks ended with an inquiry, "jump?" that i could gladly answer, yes dear, tomorrow. this week i couldn't, but will be able to in a few weeks when we go back for another class. nissa was in another crabby mood that day, but she did do some cool stuff when she wasn't trying to have a fit. she did kinda well hanging from the rings and walking up a wall to ultimately flip. the first time she let go too soon, but the second time she held on a little longer. another obstacle was to walk along atop a tubular mat, supporting yourself on the parallel bars. i spotted and rolled the mat along and nissa rocked that task. i thought for sure she'd not get the hang of it, but she totally did. the majority of the end of class we spent hanging around the short beam (which is 2 beams together right then). she was so crabby she didnt' want to hold my hand, so she ended up walking it end to end a few times all on her own. she was really slow at first, but started picking up the pace after a while. the class concluded with the usual stamp and picture and nissa sat right down with the others. again, i was impressed. i was so busy trying to snap a photo, however, that i didn't notice miss jessica stamped both forearms and both feet with froggy stamps. loved it, but man!
nissa will get randomly affectionate, which usually involves hugs, kisses or blown kisses. but lately it's expanded to also include high fives and fist bumps. but the bump must explode afterward, or nissa will be displeased. she also gave a successful thumbs up about 2 weeks ago. i've been working on it with her for a while, so i'm glad to see some progress. rock horns are next! she already will occasionally bust out a "rock" and fumble with her fingers if she hears a song she likes. she gets it!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
so big
i suppose this would be more momentous at the 2 year point, but i just pulled these pictures now, so i'm blogging about it now.
20 months
2 weeks
it's amazing how much nissa has grown in the last (almost) 21 months. she's been so much fun the entire time. . . i always like where we are currently, but tomorrow always brings something new. i've always had fun with her, will have even more fun today, tomorrow will be even better. i love her the same at all times, and it is a profound love i find hard to describe.
this little love of mine is up to all kinds of nonsense lately, so i'm going to try and jot things down quickly. funny observation: nissa totally has tan lines on her legs, noticeable where her diaper was. i'm glad we finally made it to the beach; maybe we'll go again this weekend?
the last 3 mights nissa's asked to sit on the potty before bedtime. i think we may be ready for some real practice? 2 nights ago we took a shower before bed (sooo humid, we mowed the lawn) so nissa sat bare bottomed for the first time. i'm intrigued by the naked-for-3-days method, but not sure i'm up for that. but, given nissa's extreme tolerance of a wet/dirty diaper, it may be a good method for us. we'll see.
also before bed, nissa brushes her teeth every night. the last few weeks she's insisted on using the pink toothbrush (mine). i pull out both anyways, so as long as she's making an effort, i'm ok with it. some days are better than others, but i think she's starting to get the hang of it.
i've been trying to take a different approach when nissa wakes up at night. we usually take her downstairs to watch an episode or two of ferb/manny, but i'd like to get away from that. 3 times now i've stayed in her room (except to get milk) and rocked her, read to her, talked to her. she's so tired she usually falls asleep on my shoulder, but if she's upset, she'll wake up when i move. i try to let her sleep a little while, then talk her into going to bed. it's worked ok- she'll cry for about 30 seconds, then be quiet. next i'll work on adam employing this approach.
the other day nissa totally got into playing in the lawn sprinkler. our neighbor had theirs on when nissa was dropped off and she couldn't get enough. she'd walk through the sprinkles, put her head in the stream, even tried to drink a little. i literally had to drag her away kicking and screaming. she was utterly soaked, by the way. i made up for it by setting up our sprinkler, but we had to cut it short when nissa insisted on lapping up the water from the sidewalk puddles. i can only verbally correct behavior so many times before i have to take drastic measures.
nissa is getting pretty good at naming colors. we like to name the colors of coloring pencils, blocks, cars and flowers especially. she's great with pink, and pretty good with orange, green, white, brown and black. blue and red are coming along. the cutest is to hear her say orange. it kinda sounds like "orng-keys", sometimes with a "juh" at the end. adam commented that she makes it sound like an armenian word. only knowing a small handful of words, i'm inclined to agree.
nissa, gibson and i went for a walk monday, which proved interesting. nissa walked for the better part of 2 straight blocks- an impressive feat for her so far. but then she started to get distracted, stopping to shout her name, waving "bye" as we walked away and she stood still. she didn't want to keep up with us, so i ended up plopping her in the stroller, which she duly protested. i always explain this, i'm hoping one day she'll get it.
20 months
2 weeks
it's amazing how much nissa has grown in the last (almost) 21 months. she's been so much fun the entire time. . . i always like where we are currently, but tomorrow always brings something new. i've always had fun with her, will have even more fun today, tomorrow will be even better. i love her the same at all times, and it is a profound love i find hard to describe.
this little love of mine is up to all kinds of nonsense lately, so i'm going to try and jot things down quickly. funny observation: nissa totally has tan lines on her legs, noticeable where her diaper was. i'm glad we finally made it to the beach; maybe we'll go again this weekend?
the last 3 mights nissa's asked to sit on the potty before bedtime. i think we may be ready for some real practice? 2 nights ago we took a shower before bed (sooo humid, we mowed the lawn) so nissa sat bare bottomed for the first time. i'm intrigued by the naked-for-3-days method, but not sure i'm up for that. but, given nissa's extreme tolerance of a wet/dirty diaper, it may be a good method for us. we'll see.
also before bed, nissa brushes her teeth every night. the last few weeks she's insisted on using the pink toothbrush (mine). i pull out both anyways, so as long as she's making an effort, i'm ok with it. some days are better than others, but i think she's starting to get the hang of it.
i've been trying to take a different approach when nissa wakes up at night. we usually take her downstairs to watch an episode or two of ferb/manny, but i'd like to get away from that. 3 times now i've stayed in her room (except to get milk) and rocked her, read to her, talked to her. she's so tired she usually falls asleep on my shoulder, but if she's upset, she'll wake up when i move. i try to let her sleep a little while, then talk her into going to bed. it's worked ok- she'll cry for about 30 seconds, then be quiet. next i'll work on adam employing this approach.
the other day nissa totally got into playing in the lawn sprinkler. our neighbor had theirs on when nissa was dropped off and she couldn't get enough. she'd walk through the sprinkles, put her head in the stream, even tried to drink a little. i literally had to drag her away kicking and screaming. she was utterly soaked, by the way. i made up for it by setting up our sprinkler, but we had to cut it short when nissa insisted on lapping up the water from the sidewalk puddles. i can only verbally correct behavior so many times before i have to take drastic measures.
nissa is getting pretty good at naming colors. we like to name the colors of coloring pencils, blocks, cars and flowers especially. she's great with pink, and pretty good with orange, green, white, brown and black. blue and red are coming along. the cutest is to hear her say orange. it kinda sounds like "orng-keys", sometimes with a "juh" at the end. adam commented that she makes it sound like an armenian word. only knowing a small handful of words, i'm inclined to agree.
nissa, gibson and i went for a walk monday, which proved interesting. nissa walked for the better part of 2 straight blocks- an impressive feat for her so far. but then she started to get distracted, stopping to shout her name, waving "bye" as we walked away and she stood still. she didn't want to keep up with us, so i ended up plopping her in the stroller, which she duly protested. i always explain this, i'm hoping one day she'll get it.
Monday, August 2, 2010
beach. finally.
this weekend was the first successful trip for nissa and i to the beach and we had a great time. daddy helped out with the arrangements, and we enjoyed a couple of hours on the sand (with a few brief trips into the water to cool off). nissa was so excited to go to the beach (beak, as she said it) she was having a fit that we needed to back into the car after visiting daddy before we could go to the beach. she said "beach" every few seconds as we walked from the car to the gate and when i asked if i could go to the potty first, i got a very decisive "no." um, ok then. it was a nearly perfect beach day: warm sun (but not too beastly hot or humid), cool water (refreshing, easy to walk into), a soft breeze and a not-too-crowded beach. nissa enjoyed the "sandy" the most- putting it into buckets, using her shovel and rake, squishing any sand shapes i made with the fish or tower forms we had. i think the water was a bit too cool for her, as she really wasn't interested in splashing, kicking or swimming as she usually is with water. she did enjoy me getting her water in the watering can and then sprinkling the sand with it. i think the only reason we made a successful exit from the beach was because she was hungry. after about 2 hours, i asked her if she wanted some food and i got a very big yes. i rinsed off the toys, packed up our blanket and then we rinsed ourselves off in the water. i got a lot of "food?" from nissa, so she was very excited when we finally got our hot dogs in hand, followed by some blueberries in the car.
it's funny to write about stuff now, because i can hear her little voice in my head rattling off the words as i write them. "blueberry" and "sandy" and "rake" and all the others. i used to be able to list out the words she new and i don't think i could even attempt it now. she understands so much and learns new things so quickly, it is truly amazing to witness. i think she may even be "counting" now, because if we see 2 things in a row, she'll say 2 _____, like 2 window as we were walking down the gangway. she'll say something that sounds like "one, two three" before "go!" as she gets ready to push her cars or take off speed walking (also, "1, 2, 3, jump!" is a popular one: 'gump' is more like it, though). she knows the names of 2 numbers (5 and 8) and knows "O" and "P" too. we sing the alphabet song frequently and sometimes she'll sing it to herself "a, a, a, c, p", which is cute. (she'll start the happy birthday song too "happy, happy" and i'll sing it with her.) the playground we enjoy has a bard with the alphabet carved into the plastic, with the braille version below, and we sang the song there a bunch of times. after we finish each time, nissa will usually point to a few letters, then ask "again?" or should i say demand? whatever.
saturday we had a fun time in the morning at the playground (with the alphabet) and nissa really ran around a lot, climbing, sliding, swinging, the works. she's getting really good at climbing the ladder by the monkey bars, and likes it when i left her up so she can swing and kick her legs. she's such a strong little thing. i should probably follow her lead and work on my own strength too! after that, she took a good nap (all according to plan, ha ha!) and we were off to alexa's birthday party. we arrived as food was served, so while we ate, all nissa wanted to do was go "outside!" to play with the other kids. when we finally made it out, nissa occupied herself with the bags toss (as did another smaller boy) but seemed to enjoy watching some older boys toss the football around. a couple of times nissa got to the ball (either by it not getting caught, or being handed the ball), so i told her to take it to the boy on the opposite side (i suggested throwing it, but she seemed wiser than that). the boys were very kind about it, showing much more compassion than i would have expected. soon she found an older girl (one of the nieces) and she took her by the hand (she'll say "hand" and hold out hers) and took her to the door, asking to inside. i took her in, where we enjoyed alexa's playroom full of goodies. nissa especially enjoyed the eyore rocker and a rolling horse. we even got to spend some time with the birthday girl herself. oh, and you know how most kids, after spending an afternoon playing at a party, will knock out for the car ride home? oh no, not nissa. she yelled and squealed the entire 45 minute car ride home. i think most of it was to compete with the din of driving in the van, but she showed NO signs of being quiet, much less sleep.
on a side note, nissa is going through an interesting affectionate stage that i'm kinda digging. with me, at least. occasionally out of nowhere, she'll ask for a kiss or a hug (usually a hug), sometimes followed by a high five. her kisses are on the lips and with exaggerated sound effects (mmmmmmuah!). love it.
we've been working on thumbs up for a while and we are getting closer. before, she'd hold up her index finger. . . now she'll make an L with her thumb and index. we're so close!
it's funny to write about stuff now, because i can hear her little voice in my head rattling off the words as i write them. "blueberry" and "sandy" and "rake" and all the others. i used to be able to list out the words she new and i don't think i could even attempt it now. she understands so much and learns new things so quickly, it is truly amazing to witness. i think she may even be "counting" now, because if we see 2 things in a row, she'll say 2 _____, like 2 window as we were walking down the gangway. she'll say something that sounds like "one, two three" before "go!" as she gets ready to push her cars or take off speed walking (also, "1, 2, 3, jump!" is a popular one: 'gump' is more like it, though). she knows the names of 2 numbers (5 and 8) and knows "O" and "P" too. we sing the alphabet song frequently and sometimes she'll sing it to herself "a, a, a, c, p", which is cute. (she'll start the happy birthday song too "happy, happy" and i'll sing it with her.) the playground we enjoy has a bard with the alphabet carved into the plastic, with the braille version below, and we sang the song there a bunch of times. after we finish each time, nissa will usually point to a few letters, then ask "again?" or should i say demand? whatever.
saturday we had a fun time in the morning at the playground (with the alphabet) and nissa really ran around a lot, climbing, sliding, swinging, the works. she's getting really good at climbing the ladder by the monkey bars, and likes it when i left her up so she can swing and kick her legs. she's such a strong little thing. i should probably follow her lead and work on my own strength too! after that, she took a good nap (all according to plan, ha ha!) and we were off to alexa's birthday party. we arrived as food was served, so while we ate, all nissa wanted to do was go "outside!" to play with the other kids. when we finally made it out, nissa occupied herself with the bags toss (as did another smaller boy) but seemed to enjoy watching some older boys toss the football around. a couple of times nissa got to the ball (either by it not getting caught, or being handed the ball), so i told her to take it to the boy on the opposite side (i suggested throwing it, but she seemed wiser than that). the boys were very kind about it, showing much more compassion than i would have expected. soon she found an older girl (one of the nieces) and she took her by the hand (she'll say "hand" and hold out hers) and took her to the door, asking to inside. i took her in, where we enjoyed alexa's playroom full of goodies. nissa especially enjoyed the eyore rocker and a rolling horse. we even got to spend some time with the birthday girl herself. oh, and you know how most kids, after spending an afternoon playing at a party, will knock out for the car ride home? oh no, not nissa. she yelled and squealed the entire 45 minute car ride home. i think most of it was to compete with the din of driving in the van, but she showed NO signs of being quiet, much less sleep.
on a side note, nissa is going through an interesting affectionate stage that i'm kinda digging. with me, at least. occasionally out of nowhere, she'll ask for a kiss or a hug (usually a hug), sometimes followed by a high five. her kisses are on the lips and with exaggerated sound effects (mmmmmmuah!). love it.
we've been working on thumbs up for a while and we are getting closer. before, she'd hold up her index finger. . . now she'll make an L with her thumb and index. we're so close!
Friday, July 30, 2010
my little "big girl"
so tonight i had one of many "like my mom" moments and i'm really ok with it. for dinner, i didn't have a cup clean, so i grabbed the bottom of her frog straw cup and filled it with milk, leaving it open. after some preliminary spillage due to over tipping, nissa enjoyed the milk relatively spill-free. then, because dinner was tuna casserole over rice, nissa was easily able to eat almost all of her meal using a spoon (instead of her hands). out of the blue, she looked at me, pointed to her chest and said, "nissa." it was too precious. i said "yes, you are nissa and you are a big girl." and then she repeated that. i complemented her on her drinking and eating skills and called her a big girl again and she really seemed to like it. but then, having that "like my mom" moment- i said she'd always be my baby girl and gave her a kiss.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
aw man
being the parent of a toddler who is expanding her vocabulary hourly (probably faster than that!) always proves to be interesting, as she is the mirror of all of your vocal patterns, good and bad. nissa is my little parrot, but better than a parrot because she is understanding most of what leaves her lips, including when it's the appropriate context to repeat something at a later time.
"shoot" was my first obvious experience with nissa's new habit. now, she's starting to say "um" at random times, just like adam and i do. what's kind of good is that we use it as a word, not a long, drawn out vocalization as some do, and it tends to be limited in our conversation. nissa uses it when she seems to be assessing her next move, and it's cute. i just hope it doesn't become too much of a habit for her. i remember quite distinctly trying to remove the practically-subconscious "um" from my speech during speech class and it was a challenge. speaking around nissa has brought me back to that awareness of speech mode of thinking/speaking, since i want to lead by the best example that i can. i do try to encourage adam to do the same, with a minimum of correction (in front of nissa, at least). is nissa or gibson in the way? "move, please" or "excuse me". does nissa have something i need? "may i have that please?" or "give that to me, please" (really trying to avoid gimme, which is so tempting to say).
another phrase cropping up is "aw, man!" and it's funny because she inflects almost exactly the same way i do. i really hope to get that recorded at some point, but it's probably easier said than done. it's hard to plan her disappointment, after all.
last night nissa did something i would qualify as momentous, but maybe it's not. during dinner, she pointed to herself and said "nissa" clear as a bell. then she pointed to me "mommy" and where daddy sat "daddy" and to gibson "puppy." she's named the rest of us several times over by this time, but the "nissa" part was very new and very exciting.
"shoot" was my first obvious experience with nissa's new habit. now, she's starting to say "um" at random times, just like adam and i do. what's kind of good is that we use it as a word, not a long, drawn out vocalization as some do, and it tends to be limited in our conversation. nissa uses it when she seems to be assessing her next move, and it's cute. i just hope it doesn't become too much of a habit for her. i remember quite distinctly trying to remove the practically-subconscious "um" from my speech during speech class and it was a challenge. speaking around nissa has brought me back to that awareness of speech mode of thinking/speaking, since i want to lead by the best example that i can. i do try to encourage adam to do the same, with a minimum of correction (in front of nissa, at least). is nissa or gibson in the way? "move, please" or "excuse me". does nissa have something i need? "may i have that please?" or "give that to me, please" (really trying to avoid gimme, which is so tempting to say).
another phrase cropping up is "aw, man!" and it's funny because she inflects almost exactly the same way i do. i really hope to get that recorded at some point, but it's probably easier said than done. it's hard to plan her disappointment, after all.
last night nissa did something i would qualify as momentous, but maybe it's not. during dinner, she pointed to herself and said "nissa" clear as a bell. then she pointed to me "mommy" and where daddy sat "daddy" and to gibson "puppy." she's named the rest of us several times over by this time, but the "nissa" part was very new and very exciting.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
more and more
nissa does more and more each day and it is amazing. i try to keep up with things on the blog, but time passes and next thing i know it's been weeks since i've written anything and the list is soooo long of things i want to talk about!
without fail, yesterday brought some wacky insights into all the new things nissa is learning. when she came home with grandma, they walked up to the front door and apparently she said "ding dong" either before or immediately after grandma suggested they ring the bell. she said it again when i came to the door, pointing at the doorbell. since when does she know that? (sadly, i find myself saying that very often lately, i guess the feeling never gets old.)
i procured a nissa-sized cutting board and crinkle cutter online recently and wanted to give it a try last night. we made some pretty tasty vegetable stew that required lots of veggies to be diced up. i helped nissa work on some zuccini (after slicing a side flat) and with a few joint slices, she was ready to try on her own. it didn't go well at first, so we went back to mushrooms for a while, but she eventually got the hang of it. i was relieved when she had the best luck using two hands (one on the handle, one pushing on the "blade") to keep her using that safer technique. the tricky thing about having nissa "help" with dinner is that she's constantly sampling the food! i'm pretty sure she ate at least half of the mushrooms i washed off (at least she sliced them first?) and sampled the zuccini pretty regularly. it really does make me happy that she enjoys vegetables (raw even) and not just the sweet ones either (like carrots) she tries just about anything.
while dinner cooked, we ended up spending some time in the work out room. nissa discovered the weight lifting bar over the bench and after i leveled the bench, she climbed up and swung on it. she did it so many times, it was great. she'd get up to standing then lift her feet and swing through. i guess the gymnastics classes are making an impression with her :D. we also had a rousing game of hide and seek with her hiding behind the sheers. i think she finds it funnier because she knows i can see her but i'm pretending not to.
during dinner, we enjoyed our vegetable stew and some grilled cheese and leafed through a catalog, looking at the pictures. nissa found something she liked (ooh!) or knew the name of on each page. she points things out and can name things i point to and point to things i name, so we're doing really well in that vein. a woman at work tried to convince me that i should by the "your kid can read" videos, but i'm not falling for it. from what i understand, the "reading" kids don't end up ahead in the long run, so why bother? so you can impress your friends with a parlor trick that takes advantage of a toddler's ability to mimick a skill? no thanks. we're doing just fine the old fashioned way. even now she can pull out one of her little board books and find her favorite page/picture- like the apple. or the picture of tigger stuck in the tree, where she knows tree and stuck. or the cookies at the end of the puppy book or the mandatory finger wave in moo baa lalala. she knows what she's doing and loves her books, end of story. anyways, at some point i said something that had a familiar ring to it and nissa busts out with "fossils!" we laugh about it for a while and she says "funny" and i agree. she got it from phinneas and ferb and knows to say it for a laugh. here's the clip:
then later, while we were brushing teeth before bed, nissa asked about the potty. i asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty and she said yes (rare!) so i put the seat on and moved the stool. she got up there and sat down and stayed there a few seconds. in the recent past, she'd try to sit the way she sits on chairs by facing it, getting a leg up then spinning around- a method that doesn't work well on the toilet. nissa was not a big fan of backing up and squatting, but last night she did! and then stayed! not too shabby.
now i'm going to try to go backwards and remember the highlights of the last few weeks. . . . hmmmm.
i went to physical therapy yesterday in the middle of the day for my back/foot injury from 2 months ago. i figured it was high time to start feeling normal again, so i'm glad i have the option to go to pt. having a bad back is no fun with a 20 month old and i couldn't take it any more. i'm too young to complain of a bad back. so hopefully after 5 weeks my back will be in better shape and i can ride my bike again. i need all the exercise i can get and this back pain business is really cramping my style. there is hope, and i am relieved.
sunday nissa got to use the new small rake i procured for her. i mowed the lawn and she helped rake afterward, kind of. she's always reaching for the rake while i'm using it, so if nothing else this kept her focused on something else. she still helped by carrying clippings to other locations (preferably the garden, but i'll take whatever she does, as long as she's involved). i definitely thing it's something she can grow into and work with as time goes on.
saturday we had a baby shower for our friends. i was supposed to help plan it, but got sidelined by a take-charge relative, so i embraced the sidelines and made the best of it. i do have a kid, after all, with limited free time. with help from mom, we made some awesome gender-neutral, occasion-specific favors for the guests that i'm so proud of! they were crocheted baby booties to look like little converse all-stars, with a tulle bag of personalized mms. [funny side story re: tulle. i was in joann's recently and heard a girl on the phone talking about using tulle for something, and she says "tulle, tulle, "t-o-o-l" tulle". i could tell from other context and her location in the store that she was totally talking about tulle. is it ever appropriate to correct someone in that situation? i doubt it.] they were all different color combinations and in my humble opinion, looked absolutely adorable all lined up.
nissa was a little hard to corral at the party, but she had a good time and i think she amused the other guests too. she loved helping herself to the bowls of snacks (baked doritos especially, which made her and my white shirt very orange). she really loved watching the puppies on the computer- the host's dog was at doggie daycare where they feature a live webcam. who wouldn't love watching the puppy show?
friday after work i got to go out for drinks like a real adult and it was fun! of course, i couldn't stay too long, but it was good none the less. though the reason was not as good, since a good friend at work was leaving (good for her, bad for us). oh the days of drinks after work. . . why was i looking for friends to do that with for so long and find them only when i'm no longer available to do so? i can hardly believe it's been seven years that i've been at the park district. holy cammolies. (wait, what does that even mean?) afterward, grandpa offered me dinner and i couldn't refuse. and neither could nissa. she is always helping daddy with his dinner when he gets home after we eat (and is very demanding about it too).
gymnastics class was fun. they had a new obstacle course for us, followed by some time on the tumbling trampoline. nissa is slowly getting better about watching what the others are doing and following suit, but there's lots of room for improvement. she did an excellent job walking across the single bar (situated between low parallel bars for support) and is taking an interest in somersaults. she was very leery of the trampoline, but is getting the hang of frog jumps (though the jump part is still a way off). she really liked the "pool" by the rings, but i think mostly because it's called a pool. i really hope adam has time to take her again soon to a pool.
wednesday we visited our friends' new baby girl and man am i ready to have another. she was so tiny and adorable and so calm. i have a feeling she's going to be a fun baby just like nissa. nissa took an interest in the baby "baby!" but it was always brief; she often quickly found something else to catch her interest. she impressed everyone by asking for the "light" the laser pointer-usb combo she found and played with last time. man, is she sharp. once, while the baby was being nursed, nissa walked up and pointed to the cover and said "baby?" and i said yes. she then reached around to the corner of the cover and lifted it up, looking for the baby. it was cute, but i had to ask her to leave the baby to finish- she had to focus on the task at hand and we didn't want nissa distracting her. i tried to hold the baby while sitting on the floor, so nissa could have a closer look. this was near the end of our visit, though, and very close to nissa's bed time. nissa insisted on hugs while i held the baby and made to push her out of the way. i kept my attention on the baby and showed nissa how i could both hold the baby and give nissa hugs. it worked well, until one time when the baby caught an arm from nissa, but the baby hardly fussed at all, so it was all good. i hope to spend more time with our friends so nissa gets used to the idea of people smaller than her being around. she'll have company in a little over a year, if everything goes according to plan.
we got to go out to my uncle's last sunday and nissa had a great time. rick and his family came too! nissa spent time in the floatie and out of it just floating around. she's getting really good at bubbles, kicking, floating on her belly to "swim" and allowing herself to go a little further back to float on her back. we even managed to get her water akis on for a little while. i tried to take her under water for a second, which she didn't like, but didn't totally dislike either. i'll take it as a win. nissa enjoyed spending time with meg a lot, sitting next to her on the deck and splashing, then following her around. nissa is so good ad making friends. the cutest part was watching her interact with sarah in the pool. she'd mimic her a lot (sarah's not saying as much, but nissa loves to repeat it all back). while in the floatie, my aunt would say "bye" and spin her around to face away from her. while nissa was out of the of her floating, but sarah was in, she'd say "bye" and try to do the same thing to her. everyone else thought she was suggesting sarah leave the pool, but i knew what was going on! she was just trying to play the same game that was played with her.
the day before was our friends' kids' birthday party at little gym and nissa had an absolute blast. there was lots of gymnastics equipment like at class, so nissa knew just what to do and jumped right in. the lower of the uneven bars was set so nissa could reach on her own, and she held on and swung to her heart's content. she climbed, walked across the beam, the whole 9 yards. when the music came on, she danced. when the balls came out, she threw them around and tried to get them in the basket. when the hula hoops were available, she carried one around diligently, once trying to put a ball through it. then came the bubbles. she loved the bubbles (as did everyone else) and the employee looked like the pied piper with her bubbles and throng of kids following closely behind, trying to pop every last one. after a while nissa was reaching up, but not to pop bubbles, but to have a turn at blowing them. she'd reach up, ask "please?", but she was not allowed a turn. the employee appreciated her asking so nicely, and i did too, but i had to explain that despite that, she would not get a turn. [we've been taking turns with things more and more and i think she's starting to get the hang of it. while i do dishes, she uses a "cup" to fill with water and dump out. we take turns with the running water.] nissa tried the giant roll and liked it. when everyone had to line up to play "push the cheese" (it wasn't push, but something like that, with a wedge mat that they knocked over), she actually walked up to the wall where everyone was sitting and sat right down between 2 kids. i was so astounded i took a picture. of course, she didn't sit for long once she saw what was to be done, but we worked with that. nissa sat nicely and drank her juice box (didn't spill too much) and ate her pizza, even some cake. she sang along with the happy birthday song and clapped at the end. good timing too, because she was just singing the happy birthday song earlier that day. one of her color books has a birthday cake under pink and when she sees it, she points and says "happy." she'll say "happy, happy" in a sing song fashion and i'll take her cue to sing it with her.
by the way, much to my chagrin, nissa is taking a significant interest in the color pink. she points it out pretty regularly and gravitates toward it in her colored pencil selection. why, oh why, does she favor the color i despise? we haven't talked about one color or another nor have i shied away from pink (though she is exposed to a lot of green), she's created this preference all on her own. oh well.
saturday night we had the honor of attending a good friend's wedding, well the reception at least. it was on the formal side and featured a live band and ethnic dancers doing a couple of numbers during dinner. it was quite the show. we were seated with a really cool group of people, with which we had a lot in common. we may even work on some future play dates!
friday after work i met adam at the beach to join in on a kayak fishing trip. it was cool in concept, but ended up involving more kayaking than fishing, and i wasn't really in the mood for that. the novelty of the kayaking (though very soothing) wore off too quickly, so i headed back early, but ended up arriving at the same time as the others with my slow pace. maybe another time. it was cool to have a bird visit us while fishing by the morley. here's a shot of it hanging out with sarah:
wednesday after work we went swimming as a family at a nearby park's indoor pool. we got there late, thanks to so much traffic on irving. during the walk to the building, i tripped and fell on some uneven pavement while carrying nissa and it sucked. though i tried to keep her up, her momentum caused her to bump her head on the cement and it completely tore up both my knees. ugh. nissa seemed to be ok and recovered quite quickly. we were hesitant to swim (because of nissa's head injury and my open wound) but we did anyways and it was a good time. the pool was tiny, but serviceable for our purposes. it took a while for nissa to warm up to the idea of the pool (and warm up to the less than warm water), but got there eventually so daddy could see her in action. we tried to get her to wear goggles (or water akis, as we're calling them) but didn't have much luck. she enjoyed holding onto them though!
well, i think that covers most of it. :D
without fail, yesterday brought some wacky insights into all the new things nissa is learning. when she came home with grandma, they walked up to the front door and apparently she said "ding dong" either before or immediately after grandma suggested they ring the bell. she said it again when i came to the door, pointing at the doorbell. since when does she know that? (sadly, i find myself saying that very often lately, i guess the feeling never gets old.)
i procured a nissa-sized cutting board and crinkle cutter online recently and wanted to give it a try last night. we made some pretty tasty vegetable stew that required lots of veggies to be diced up. i helped nissa work on some zuccini (after slicing a side flat) and with a few joint slices, she was ready to try on her own. it didn't go well at first, so we went back to mushrooms for a while, but she eventually got the hang of it. i was relieved when she had the best luck using two hands (one on the handle, one pushing on the "blade") to keep her using that safer technique. the tricky thing about having nissa "help" with dinner is that she's constantly sampling the food! i'm pretty sure she ate at least half of the mushrooms i washed off (at least she sliced them first?) and sampled the zuccini pretty regularly. it really does make me happy that she enjoys vegetables (raw even) and not just the sweet ones either (like carrots) she tries just about anything.
while dinner cooked, we ended up spending some time in the work out room. nissa discovered the weight lifting bar over the bench and after i leveled the bench, she climbed up and swung on it. she did it so many times, it was great. she'd get up to standing then lift her feet and swing through. i guess the gymnastics classes are making an impression with her :D. we also had a rousing game of hide and seek with her hiding behind the sheers. i think she finds it funnier because she knows i can see her but i'm pretending not to.
during dinner, we enjoyed our vegetable stew and some grilled cheese and leafed through a catalog, looking at the pictures. nissa found something she liked (ooh!) or knew the name of on each page. she points things out and can name things i point to and point to things i name, so we're doing really well in that vein. a woman at work tried to convince me that i should by the "your kid can read" videos, but i'm not falling for it. from what i understand, the "reading" kids don't end up ahead in the long run, so why bother? so you can impress your friends with a parlor trick that takes advantage of a toddler's ability to mimick a skill? no thanks. we're doing just fine the old fashioned way. even now she can pull out one of her little board books and find her favorite page/picture- like the apple. or the picture of tigger stuck in the tree, where she knows tree and stuck. or the cookies at the end of the puppy book or the mandatory finger wave in moo baa lalala. she knows what she's doing and loves her books, end of story. anyways, at some point i said something that had a familiar ring to it and nissa busts out with "fossils!" we laugh about it for a while and she says "funny" and i agree. she got it from phinneas and ferb and knows to say it for a laugh. here's the clip:
then later, while we were brushing teeth before bed, nissa asked about the potty. i asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty and she said yes (rare!) so i put the seat on and moved the stool. she got up there and sat down and stayed there a few seconds. in the recent past, she'd try to sit the way she sits on chairs by facing it, getting a leg up then spinning around- a method that doesn't work well on the toilet. nissa was not a big fan of backing up and squatting, but last night she did! and then stayed! not too shabby.
now i'm going to try to go backwards and remember the highlights of the last few weeks. . . . hmmmm.
i went to physical therapy yesterday in the middle of the day for my back/foot injury from 2 months ago. i figured it was high time to start feeling normal again, so i'm glad i have the option to go to pt. having a bad back is no fun with a 20 month old and i couldn't take it any more. i'm too young to complain of a bad back. so hopefully after 5 weeks my back will be in better shape and i can ride my bike again. i need all the exercise i can get and this back pain business is really cramping my style. there is hope, and i am relieved.
sunday nissa got to use the new small rake i procured for her. i mowed the lawn and she helped rake afterward, kind of. she's always reaching for the rake while i'm using it, so if nothing else this kept her focused on something else. she still helped by carrying clippings to other locations (preferably the garden, but i'll take whatever she does, as long as she's involved). i definitely thing it's something she can grow into and work with as time goes on.
saturday we had a baby shower for our friends. i was supposed to help plan it, but got sidelined by a take-charge relative, so i embraced the sidelines and made the best of it. i do have a kid, after all, with limited free time. with help from mom, we made some awesome gender-neutral, occasion-specific favors for the guests that i'm so proud of! they were crocheted baby booties to look like little converse all-stars, with a tulle bag of personalized mms. [funny side story re: tulle. i was in joann's recently and heard a girl on the phone talking about using tulle for something, and she says "tulle, tulle, "t-o-o-l" tulle". i could tell from other context and her location in the store that she was totally talking about tulle. is it ever appropriate to correct someone in that situation? i doubt it.] they were all different color combinations and in my humble opinion, looked absolutely adorable all lined up.
nissa was a little hard to corral at the party, but she had a good time and i think she amused the other guests too. she loved helping herself to the bowls of snacks (baked doritos especially, which made her and my white shirt very orange). she really loved watching the puppies on the computer- the host's dog was at doggie daycare where they feature a live webcam. who wouldn't love watching the puppy show?
friday after work i got to go out for drinks like a real adult and it was fun! of course, i couldn't stay too long, but it was good none the less. though the reason was not as good, since a good friend at work was leaving (good for her, bad for us). oh the days of drinks after work. . . why was i looking for friends to do that with for so long and find them only when i'm no longer available to do so? i can hardly believe it's been seven years that i've been at the park district. holy cammolies. (wait, what does that even mean?) afterward, grandpa offered me dinner and i couldn't refuse. and neither could nissa. she is always helping daddy with his dinner when he gets home after we eat (and is very demanding about it too).
gymnastics class was fun. they had a new obstacle course for us, followed by some time on the tumbling trampoline. nissa is slowly getting better about watching what the others are doing and following suit, but there's lots of room for improvement. she did an excellent job walking across the single bar (situated between low parallel bars for support) and is taking an interest in somersaults. she was very leery of the trampoline, but is getting the hang of frog jumps (though the jump part is still a way off). she really liked the "pool" by the rings, but i think mostly because it's called a pool. i really hope adam has time to take her again soon to a pool.
wednesday we visited our friends' new baby girl and man am i ready to have another. she was so tiny and adorable and so calm. i have a feeling she's going to be a fun baby just like nissa. nissa took an interest in the baby "baby!" but it was always brief; she often quickly found something else to catch her interest. she impressed everyone by asking for the "light" the laser pointer-usb combo she found and played with last time. man, is she sharp. once, while the baby was being nursed, nissa walked up and pointed to the cover and said "baby?" and i said yes. she then reached around to the corner of the cover and lifted it up, looking for the baby. it was cute, but i had to ask her to leave the baby to finish- she had to focus on the task at hand and we didn't want nissa distracting her. i tried to hold the baby while sitting on the floor, so nissa could have a closer look. this was near the end of our visit, though, and very close to nissa's bed time. nissa insisted on hugs while i held the baby and made to push her out of the way. i kept my attention on the baby and showed nissa how i could both hold the baby and give nissa hugs. it worked well, until one time when the baby caught an arm from nissa, but the baby hardly fussed at all, so it was all good. i hope to spend more time with our friends so nissa gets used to the idea of people smaller than her being around. she'll have company in a little over a year, if everything goes according to plan.
we got to go out to my uncle's last sunday and nissa had a great time. rick and his family came too! nissa spent time in the floatie and out of it just floating around. she's getting really good at bubbles, kicking, floating on her belly to "swim" and allowing herself to go a little further back to float on her back. we even managed to get her water akis on for a little while. i tried to take her under water for a second, which she didn't like, but didn't totally dislike either. i'll take it as a win. nissa enjoyed spending time with meg a lot, sitting next to her on the deck and splashing, then following her around. nissa is so good ad making friends. the cutest part was watching her interact with sarah in the pool. she'd mimic her a lot (sarah's not saying as much, but nissa loves to repeat it all back). while in the floatie, my aunt would say "bye" and spin her around to face away from her. while nissa was out of the of her floating, but sarah was in, she'd say "bye" and try to do the same thing to her. everyone else thought she was suggesting sarah leave the pool, but i knew what was going on! she was just trying to play the same game that was played with her.
the day before was our friends' kids' birthday party at little gym and nissa had an absolute blast. there was lots of gymnastics equipment like at class, so nissa knew just what to do and jumped right in. the lower of the uneven bars was set so nissa could reach on her own, and she held on and swung to her heart's content. she climbed, walked across the beam, the whole 9 yards. when the music came on, she danced. when the balls came out, she threw them around and tried to get them in the basket. when the hula hoops were available, she carried one around diligently, once trying to put a ball through it. then came the bubbles. she loved the bubbles (as did everyone else) and the employee looked like the pied piper with her bubbles and throng of kids following closely behind, trying to pop every last one. after a while nissa was reaching up, but not to pop bubbles, but to have a turn at blowing them. she'd reach up, ask "please?", but she was not allowed a turn. the employee appreciated her asking so nicely, and i did too, but i had to explain that despite that, she would not get a turn. [we've been taking turns with things more and more and i think she's starting to get the hang of it. while i do dishes, she uses a "cup" to fill with water and dump out. we take turns with the running water.] nissa tried the giant roll and liked it. when everyone had to line up to play "push the cheese" (it wasn't push, but something like that, with a wedge mat that they knocked over), she actually walked up to the wall where everyone was sitting and sat right down between 2 kids. i was so astounded i took a picture. of course, she didn't sit for long once she saw what was to be done, but we worked with that. nissa sat nicely and drank her juice box (didn't spill too much) and ate her pizza, even some cake. she sang along with the happy birthday song and clapped at the end. good timing too, because she was just singing the happy birthday song earlier that day. one of her color books has a birthday cake under pink and when she sees it, she points and says "happy." she'll say "happy, happy" in a sing song fashion and i'll take her cue to sing it with her.
by the way, much to my chagrin, nissa is taking a significant interest in the color pink. she points it out pretty regularly and gravitates toward it in her colored pencil selection. why, oh why, does she favor the color i despise? we haven't talked about one color or another nor have i shied away from pink (though she is exposed to a lot of green), she's created this preference all on her own. oh well.
saturday night we had the honor of attending a good friend's wedding, well the reception at least. it was on the formal side and featured a live band and ethnic dancers doing a couple of numbers during dinner. it was quite the show. we were seated with a really cool group of people, with which we had a lot in common. we may even work on some future play dates!
friday after work i met adam at the beach to join in on a kayak fishing trip. it was cool in concept, but ended up involving more kayaking than fishing, and i wasn't really in the mood for that. the novelty of the kayaking (though very soothing) wore off too quickly, so i headed back early, but ended up arriving at the same time as the others with my slow pace. maybe another time. it was cool to have a bird visit us while fishing by the morley. here's a shot of it hanging out with sarah:
wednesday after work we went swimming as a family at a nearby park's indoor pool. we got there late, thanks to so much traffic on irving. during the walk to the building, i tripped and fell on some uneven pavement while carrying nissa and it sucked. though i tried to keep her up, her momentum caused her to bump her head on the cement and it completely tore up both my knees. ugh. nissa seemed to be ok and recovered quite quickly. we were hesitant to swim (because of nissa's head injury and my open wound) but we did anyways and it was a good time. the pool was tiny, but serviceable for our purposes. it took a while for nissa to warm up to the idea of the pool (and warm up to the less than warm water), but got there eventually so daddy could see her in action. we tried to get her to wear goggles (or water akis, as we're calling them) but didn't have much luck. she enjoyed holding onto them though!
well, i think that covers most of it. :D
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
dinner!
how many kids do you know cheer for dinner? mine does. not all the time, but often. i ask, will you help me make dinner? "dinner!" with arms raised, is the response from nissa. sure, it's just another example of potentially misplaced emphasis, but it's still a lot of fun. i get the same reaction for ride (car or stroller),walk (sometimes), pool, bath, park, maybe more. that's all i can think of right now.
we made chicken cacciatore last night and nissa helped! the last time i made something with mushrooms, i showed nissa how to slice them with the egg slicer (thanks, alton!). she took to it right away, and this time around knew exactly what to do. i'll help pull the mushrooms off after they're sliced, but otherwise she can do it all by herself. too bad the mushrooms were a bit aged yesterday; they were harder to slice. too bad nissa was hungry- cuz she kept eating them!
that happens often while i'm preparing dinner, though. nissa is always reaching over and helping herself to whatever veggies i'm cutting up. bell peppers and mushrooms are always popular (and get eaten). she'll take carrots and broccoli, but those end up getting spit out after a few minutes. while i was finishing up getting the chicken dish prepared, she was making her pepper bites jump, then was jumping herself. then we both would jump, and she added a "ready?" and she'd squat low, then i added a "1, 2, 3" after the ready, so we could jump at the same time. so fun.
while the chicken simmered and the pasta cooked, we decided to go into nissa's room to read a book to pass the time. we read books that had puppies in them, by request. the one book about animal babies has puppies on the first page, but a bunch of different animals too. the last page has a seal pup and an adult. no sooner did i turn the page, did nissa make a seal sound (aru aru) and clap her hands together. she picked up that little trick from riley doing it a couple of times in the pool saturday. i was impressed that she remembered that the seals on the page were the same that riley were imitating. maybe that's not that impressive? it seems like a lot to put together to me. not to mention, hilarious!
we sat down to dinner and nissa really put it away! i guess it's been a while since i made something she really liked (and she hadn't eaten a full banana right before dinner) so it was nice to see her enjoying dinner at the table. of course it did get old with her exaggerated chomping noise after each bite, but she's eating nicely otherwise, so i let it slide. she also announced most of her bites: noodle, pepper, mushroom, chicken. after cleaning her plate, she still had room for more when daddy came home. daddy does have a hard time eating around nissa- she is insistent for a "bite" at all times.
after dinner we went for a walk and nissa pushed her stroller down richmond and up half a block down belle plaine. that's the farthest she's walked (at a decent clip too) that i can think of. she even walked a bit at the park too. like gibson, nissa has been doing a good job of walking by me, but occasionally she will wander off. not the end of the world, but at the park, where there's joggers, bikers, little league games, i'd prefer her close to me. we're getting there.
just before bed nissa started playing with her blocks box (colored, shaped blocks that go into shaped holes in the box). it seems whenever we mention "time for bed" that's nissa's signal to rock on her horse, slide down the slide, play with any toy she can get her hands on. i was impressed to see her put the oval shape into the oval hole (previous interactions involved me showing her what hole a piece goes into, and nissa attempting to shove it in, usually successfully). she picked up the clover shape next, but that is on the lid (on the floor behind her) so after i put it back on the box, she put that shape through too.
i'm excited to report our friends had their baby! carina grace joined the world earlier today and we can't wait to meet her.
we made chicken cacciatore last night and nissa helped! the last time i made something with mushrooms, i showed nissa how to slice them with the egg slicer (thanks, alton!). she took to it right away, and this time around knew exactly what to do. i'll help pull the mushrooms off after they're sliced, but otherwise she can do it all by herself. too bad the mushrooms were a bit aged yesterday; they were harder to slice. too bad nissa was hungry- cuz she kept eating them!
that happens often while i'm preparing dinner, though. nissa is always reaching over and helping herself to whatever veggies i'm cutting up. bell peppers and mushrooms are always popular (and get eaten). she'll take carrots and broccoli, but those end up getting spit out after a few minutes. while i was finishing up getting the chicken dish prepared, she was making her pepper bites jump, then was jumping herself. then we both would jump, and she added a "ready?" and she'd squat low, then i added a "1, 2, 3" after the ready, so we could jump at the same time. so fun.
while the chicken simmered and the pasta cooked, we decided to go into nissa's room to read a book to pass the time. we read books that had puppies in them, by request. the one book about animal babies has puppies on the first page, but a bunch of different animals too. the last page has a seal pup and an adult. no sooner did i turn the page, did nissa make a seal sound (aru aru) and clap her hands together. she picked up that little trick from riley doing it a couple of times in the pool saturday. i was impressed that she remembered that the seals on the page were the same that riley were imitating. maybe that's not that impressive? it seems like a lot to put together to me. not to mention, hilarious!
we sat down to dinner and nissa really put it away! i guess it's been a while since i made something she really liked (and she hadn't eaten a full banana right before dinner) so it was nice to see her enjoying dinner at the table. of course it did get old with her exaggerated chomping noise after each bite, but she's eating nicely otherwise, so i let it slide. she also announced most of her bites: noodle, pepper, mushroom, chicken. after cleaning her plate, she still had room for more when daddy came home. daddy does have a hard time eating around nissa- she is insistent for a "bite" at all times.
after dinner we went for a walk and nissa pushed her stroller down richmond and up half a block down belle plaine. that's the farthest she's walked (at a decent clip too) that i can think of. she even walked a bit at the park too. like gibson, nissa has been doing a good job of walking by me, but occasionally she will wander off. not the end of the world, but at the park, where there's joggers, bikers, little league games, i'd prefer her close to me. we're getting there.
just before bed nissa started playing with her blocks box (colored, shaped blocks that go into shaped holes in the box). it seems whenever we mention "time for bed" that's nissa's signal to rock on her horse, slide down the slide, play with any toy she can get her hands on. i was impressed to see her put the oval shape into the oval hole (previous interactions involved me showing her what hole a piece goes into, and nissa attempting to shove it in, usually successfully). she picked up the clover shape next, but that is on the lid (on the floor behind her) so after i put it back on the box, she put that shape through too.
i'm excited to report our friends had their baby! carina grace joined the world earlier today and we can't wait to meet her.
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