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

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!

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.

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.