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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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!