Seven Hundred Thirty-one Days

Right this minute Gaz is sitting in her new Radio Flyer wagon eating blueberries with her doll, Sweetie. I tried to get her a used wagon on craigslist, but the lady I connected with never did tell me where she lived or where to meet her. Then when Gaz got a healthy amount of birthday money, we just decided to go for one with seatbelts (considering how daring Gaz is, we probably should have planned on doing this from the beginning).

As I already noted, Gaz has been talking constantly. Every day now, we have an explosion of various magnitudes of new words and word combinations. There are so many new words, that I can't tell anymore if a word is in fact new or I was too overwhelmed with other words the last time she said a thing.

"My turn!" has replaced "Self!" as the new way for her to express her desire to do a thing by herself. She demands that it is her turn to do it herself for everything from cutting up a cucumber for a snack (which I don't allow, in case you were worried) to driving the car (also not allowed, in addition to being not possible) to brushing her teeth and combing her hair. Today she got dressed all by herself. Okay, she had a tiny bit of help from me: I straightened her shirt out so she could get her arms in the correct sleeves, and I helped her get her waistband over the bulky backside of diaper.

Now Gaz has moved on to playing in the wagon box. She's in there with a flashlight yelling "keep me!" Not sure exactly what that's about, but it's cute.

She's still singing and dancing all the time. She's still got her old favorites ("Animals! Animals animals ANIMALS!" and "Unicorns" and "Dinosaurs", which are all the same tune with different words) and some new ones too. The best one hasn't been repeated in a while, but I'm sure she'll sing it again soon. I've never gone on about infant excrement here and I don't plan on going on about the toddler variety, but we're going to get close to that subject. I promise it's funny, though.

The other day I was here at the laptop and Gaz was playing under the dining room table with some balloons. There is a fan on the other side of the table, so when an ill wind blew my way I knew who the culprit was. "Do you have a poopy* diaper?" I asked. "No, Mommy," was the initial response, but even before I could get down on hands and knees to coax her out I started hearing the new song: "Pooooooopy daaaaaaaahhhhhhhhper! Pooooooopy daaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhper!" I laughed myself stupid. The adorable babyish pronunciation makes it. And now let me share with you another song of hers:

Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, H
Twinkle, twinkle, what you are
H I J K L M N O P
Q R S
T U V
W X Y and Z!

She's also obsessed with They Might Be Giants's album "Here Come The ABCs." She knows the names to most of the songs and has her favorites that she like to sing along with. "Go for G" is quite popular these days.

Now Gaz has filled her wagon with pillows and insists that she is sleeping. I have to go explain again that I can't join her in the wagon. I think this is just about all the new stuff. Except that she's got three of her two-year molars out and about. Still waiting on the lower right to make its entrance. Wooo!

Oh, and if you are localish and haven't received the e-mail about our local birthday party plans, drop us a line!


* I don't like using cutesy names for bodily functions, but I do make use of and advocate "poopy" as an adjective.

Happy Birthday, Gaz!

Birthday Morn
Originally uploaded by georgiegrrrrl

Yesterday we closed out the year by experimenting with static electricity (sticking balloons to the undersides of tables) and talking up a storm. After I was reasonably sure that sleep was about to over take the wiggling, Gaz sat up in bed and began telling me about an episode of Dragon Tales. There was much talk of Eunice the unicorn and how she lost her glasses and how she had a race for baby unicorns, and how the dragons and Max and Emmy helped. . . It was wild to listen to her go!

And she wouldn't stop. I called in Mark so she could tell him about Eunice, and she continued to ramble on about all sorts of things (stuffed animals, eating people's brains) for about an hour, at which time I insisted that it was definitely time for bed and promptly fell asleep myself.

Today so far Gaz has refused to put on clothes and is eating some animal-shaped confectionery sprinkles because I am a fool and can't say no to sugar for her today. At least not when it comes in such cute and tiny shapes.

My head's a whirl today, but I'll post more about what the girl's been up to soon

Monday, July 16th, 2007

The day Gaz first said "I love you."

Granted, it was to Dipsy, but she said it of her own accord. By the end of the evening, I got her to say it to Mark, and this morning she said it to me.

It's more than wonderful, even if sometimes it takes some prompting.

Aquarium!

Gaz had her first trip to Shedd Aquarium on Friday the 13th! I forgot to bring the camera along, but Uncle Greg and his Canon PowerShot stepped up to help out. So go enjoy his photos of a very pleasant and Gaz-amusing visit to one of our fine local institutions of cool and stuff.

And if anyone wants to give us a life-size plastic sea turtle, Gaz will surely be your best friend forever!

Update and Birthday Information

Life continues here, as it tends to do, with eating, sleeping, some conversation, and the odd tantrum over wearing pants.

Yesterday was one of those rare extra-good days. Gaz communicated more effectively than she ever has, using words appropriately and being more patient with her thick-skulled mama. She was also very good about playing (both alone and with me) and only got a little frustrated with a bowl. I still don't know what she was wanting it to do with it. I doubt she really knew either.

New word tricks involve instant apologies or apologetic hugs for things ranging from not listening to stepping on the cat to throwing food on the floor to lifting up my shirt. She's also been grabbing my hair today and saying "nice cut!" (I got my hair cut last month). Just a moment ago, she said "nice shirt!" tried to identify the color (she was pretty close), and asked if I liked her shirt. Colors and shapes are slowly being learned. Sometimes she's stubborn about colors. I'm sure there's a reason why red is sometimes "buh-loo" but I sure don't know what it is. It's hard to recall as I type exactly how she's been progressing because it's much less remarkable to hear proper English than it is to hear things like "pocky" and "bankie" and "bocky." I promise that the next time you see/hear her you will be suitably impressed.

Now for the birthday information: the local shindig will be on August 18th around noon. If you are interested, email me and I will get you to details. It'll be a barbecue sorta affair, and presents are optional. Mostly we want to have a good time with our nearest and dearest.

If you are in the gifting mood, however, keep you eyes peeled for an update to Gaz's Amazon Wish List (which hasn't happened yet, but will soonish). She's also really into Dragon Tales, and anything you can find for that show, be it books or toys, would be seriously appreciated. Of course, all that stuff is not currently in production, so any such items would be found on eBay. She also loves Thomas the Tank Engine, but since many of those toys have been recalled, I would suggest going with books if you're in a train mood. We have seriously had more than enough of lead worries in this house.

She's getting a bit better about book annihilation, so things like the Little Golden Books are okay now. We've got a TON of Dr. Seuss books already, so ask us before you buy any of those. We're still slowly easing into the longer books, which is kinda hit-or-miss. Sometimes she's patient, sometimes she's not. So shorter is still better, and board books would not be frowned upon, especially if the board books were of the Olivia variety.

It looks like it's time for a snack now, so I'm off.