Bushels of New Tricks

Greetings from Evansville! We're at the end of our visit with Nana Cel and Papa Charley, and Gaz has been having a mostly lovely time. There have been the usual amount of tantrums, most of which have been related to tiredness or hunger. Those are the easy fixes. Her mouth has been bothering her, too, but not nearly as bad as it has in the recent past. I think we may have a molar that's finally cut (2nd year molar; all her first year teeth are already fully erupted).

Anyway, those tricks I mentioned:
- Mostly new sentences, such as "I love it!" "No like!" "See you later" and many more I don't remember at this time of night
- Asking for bed and leading me by the hand to the bedroom
- Greeting people she really likes with many kisses (it's unbelievably nice to be on the recieving end of this trick) and blowing more kisses with less prompting
- Trampoline jumping!
- Singing "Twinkle what you are!" over and over again
- Swinging on the big girl swing, followed by falling off the big girl swing, followed by getting back on the big girl swings without any tears.
- Going in and out the dog door in the back porch wall

We've had good visits with Great-Grandma Kathy and Great-Grandpa Charlie, Amber, Beth-Terry-Kate and Patty-Jaimie-Cody (thanks again for the trampolining and the big sistering and big brothering!), and of course, Uncle Sean and Aunt Hillary. Gaz loves her Uncle Sean so much she made him walk around outside with her and also attacked his beard-braid with the full power of her toddler grip. Uncle Sean's poor chin will perhaps not be so bearded when next we visit (for unrelated reasons mostly, but I'm sure the memory of Gaz hanging from his chin wiskers will ensure that he doesn't forget to shave).

We went to the zoo (where Gaz was very well behaved) and looked at the wild bald eagles (where Gaz wasn't quite so well behaved, but she didn't run out into the road so that's a definite plus). It's been a very full not-quite-a-week.

Tomorrow we drive back home with Papa Charley, and hopefully we start a new round of Wiggleworms on Thursday. I had to call and beg for Gaz to be moved into the 2-3 year-olds class because she's one month shy of the typical cut-off for moving up. It's rather a necessity, though, as she's way too rambunctious to be running around twelve-month-olds these days. I'm sure she'll love the more active stuff that they do in the 2-3 class. My only regret is that we couldn't get into the class with one of the little boys from this previous class. I'm sure she'll have a great time meeting new kids, though, and she will probably attach herself to a new someone-else's-caregiver too. Maybe not one as cool as Bella's nanny, though.

"I did it!"

Gaz is now declaring "I did it!" when she accomplishes things. If only she would start saying "yatta!" Well, we'll work on that.

We've fallen off the potty wagon, with the last five attempts or so ending in accidents on the bathroom floor or just a whole lotta nothing. Oh well. I didn't think it was going to be that easy, really.

Mama Gaz?

Last night when I laid my weary bones down next to Gaz, I fell asleep. I often do this these days, because there are few things as soothing as slipping into unconsciousness next to your angelic little sleeping child.

And, as I often do, I woke up two hours later. Usually I'll get up and get a few things done before going back to sleep, but last night I was thinking I'd just doze off again. Until I noticed that instead of Gaz snuggled up next to me, I had a small stuffed monkey toy pressed against my chest, and Gaz was sound asleep with her head and shoulders up on Mark's pillow.

It seems that not only did I doze off, I dozed off well before Gaz did. And instead of making a nuissance of herself, she tucked me in and laid down on daddy's pillow where she eventually fell asleep.

I'm a little bothered by my beating my sleepy child to dreamland, but even more overcome by the cuteness.

Monsters in the Bedroom Window

That's right, we've got monsters.

On Friday while the bath was running, Gaz pulled Mark and I into the bedroom and declared that there were monsters in there. We asked her to show us and she took us to the window, where she animatedly shouted "monsters!" and "rawr!" over and over and over again. That night when she and I went to bed, she insisted that the tap light be left on while she was drifting off because of the monsters.

Yesterday Mark and Auntie Angeli got out the big hairy spider that Ken gave her at her birthdaychristeningthang and did some monster slaying just before bedtime, and then when Gaz and I went to bed she said I could turn out the light. Progress!

I don't know where the scary-monsters-in-the-bedroom thing came from, but I hope the monster-eating spider keeps working.

In unrelated news, we bought a new car yesterday. All those visits that have been delayed by our unwillingness to drive a seriously bad car to far-off places will be getting scheduled as the calendar permits. :)

I can't believe I forgot to blog!

Guess who used her potty chair last night like a big girl! She sat there for a while before bath time (mostly because she was refusing to get into the tub) and eventually she said "ew! yucky!" and hopped up to reveal the less vile of the things she could have left in the potty. She received many hugs and huzzahs, and in her glee she was most compliant when I picked her up and deposited her in the bathtub while I dealt with the potty.

Oh, my little girl. Not quite so little for a minute there. We'll have to try the potty every night now, and I suppose we'll have to start thinking about buying pull-ups instead of regular diapers.

Never before has a bodily function made me so happy.

Wiggleworms for Everyone!

I feel it is my moral duty to inform those far and wide who might ever need to entertain a child about the Old Town School of Folk Music's Wiggleworms CD. There are one or two songs on there I haven't heard (or don't remember I've heard) but I'm sure they're just as lovely as the old favorites from our class.

If you've got to listen to these songs, you should listen to these versions. I've been getting weekly doses for about 12 weeks, and I still like them. And the Old Town School is a fine organization to support, so give 'em a listen and throw some cash their way. You'll be glad you did. :)

One day I'm going to blog my very favorite kids music records, but I have to track down some Ralph's World first!

Things Said

Gaz: "H?" (pause, as if waiting for an answer) "No, H."

Gaz: (playing with her chatter phone) "Hello, H! Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah! Buh-bye!"

Me: "It's bathtime, are you ready, baby?"
Gaz: "Ready, baby!"

Gaz: rattling doorknob on front door
Me: "Where are you going?"
Gaz: "Beach!"
Me: "You can't go to the beach. It's too cold outside and you're not wearing any pants."
Gaz: looks down with a heavy sigh, then back up at me "Please?"

Oh, and she's 20 months old today! Just four months before the big t-w-o.

Recent Highlights

• Today Gaz asked to use chopsticks as we were eating our Thai noodle soup. Her skill level, of course, is nonexistent, but she tried and didn't get upset. In the end she let me feed her with my chopsticks.
• She's stacking everything in sight! Last night she protested sitting in the sitting part of the cart so we let her sit in the basket part where she happily stacked groceries.
• This morning she named her monkey (which has thus far been known as "Bed Monkey") Max, after a character on Dragon Tales.
• She also tries to recite rhymes from Dragon Tales, and she really loves Ord.
• Gaz has rediscovered Proton's tail, much to his chagrin. She likes to hold onto it, sometimes tries to lead him around by it, pretends like she has one of her own (which usually involves much bottom-shaking on her part), goes looking for it when she sees the telltale lump of cat under the blankets when he goes for his daily snooze on the bed, etc.
• Nap times are in flux yet again. This growing thing is taxing, trying to keep up with how much food and sleep she needs at any given time.
• Still playing "peeky boo" every chance she can get.
• "Pretty" comes out "pootee" these days. Insert joke here.
• The number of things that are coming to bed with us these days is growing: now besides Max, we are routinely joined by a bear ("Blood Bear," the bear she bled all over when she busted her face open in December), her baby doll (still nameless, as Gaz has rejected my suggestion of "Shirley"), and a hand towel. She's really nuts about the hand towel. You should see her try to make it out of bed in the mornings with this collection.