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.