I've created a monster.
My intentions were good, and I thought I was being so smart by teaching my young toddler to have manners. I have this strong aversion to the whole point-and-grunt thing that toddlers do when they want something. So a while ago (like, months ago) when Emma was eating and was pointing and grunting when she wanted more, I taught her to say "more." Bam. Worked like a charm. Except, when she wanted anything at all, she would say "more." As in, she wanted me to open the door, so she would point to the doorknob and say "more!" You get the idea. So then I reprogrammed that little baby brain of hers and taught her to say "please" when she wants something because I'm a super genius like that. It worked. Very well. Too well.
So now, I have this crazy Energizer Bunny of an almost-two-year-old running around the house shouting "BEEEEZ" all day long. Beez= please in Emma speak. So anytime she wants something, she literally begs without realizing that this is what she's doing. Hence, the Manners Monster.
So when the Manners Monster's not busy begging for something, she's risking her life by doing something completely and utterly dangerous. Her gross motor skills are pretty much on-target now for the most part- she walks with no issues at all, can climb like a mountain climber, and has recently started running. Ah, yes. Toddler running... we had our first incident this afternoon of her gaining too much speed and falling on hands and knees on the sidewalk in front of the house. She looked more offended than hurt. So add walking, running, and climbing all over everything minus the fear of harming herself and you have one adorable little Danger Mouse. Danger Mouse's favorite activities include trying to climb onto Mommy and Daddy's bed while holding something in one hand, walking full speed directly into something because she's not looking where she's going, crawling off the edge of Mommy and Daddy's bed, and trying to sit on the arms of her Pottery Barn chair and almost falling backwards. Mommy has had a few epic moments of catching Danger Mouse just as she's about to face plant.
I've been having far more Epic Mommy Moments than Rookie Mom Moments lately and I don't know if I've leveled-up or if I've gotten so used to making dumb mistakes that I don't even commit them to memory anymore. I'm certainly still in the learning curve. Today, Danger Mouse kicked off one shoe as I tried pulling her out of the shopping cart in the checkout line. After a sweet teenaged girl picked up the shoe from the ground for me, I toyed with the idea of putting the shoe back on the toddler, or being that totally chill mom that let her go with just one shoe until we got into the car. Or should I have taken off the other one? I decided to then put the shoe back on her... by balancing on one foot while I sat Danger Mouse on the thigh of my right leg (balancing on the left foot in an awkward tree-pose-esque display of absurdity) and proceeded to put her shoe back on. While still wearing the diaper bag on my shoulder because I'm a boss like that.
Ok, ok. Time to pretend like I'm somewhat organized by giving you bulleted points about the center of my universe these days:
Food- This is where I wish I could proudly announce that the days of feeding troubles are behind us but... nope. Nope nope nope. She had about 1-2 weeks of complete and total finickiness that far exceeded anything she's ever done before. I was hopeful that it was a side effect of having two molars popping through the gumline at the same time, and I think I was right. But for that period of time, I really thought I'd be begging a ten-year-old Emma to just please eat something other than toast and yogurt. But she did improve over time. In fact, she has eaten taco meat and chicken nuggets. SAY WHAT?! Yep. My little "I'd be Vegan but I like cheese too much" kid graciously ate some of my taco one night and has, on three separate occasions, eaten a chicken nugget for dinner. I have got to be one of the rare parents out there who is flat-out excited that my young toddler has eaten a chicken nugget... I feel like the majority of parents out there worry that their child will turn into a chicken nugget if they eat another one. But Danger Manners apparently really likes barbecue sauce, which is her dipping sauce of choice for just about anything. Apparently she is not afraid of strong flavors... she calls barbecue sauce "happy sauce." She has been a little finicky again this weekend but I'm guessing molars three and four are going to be making their debut soon. They are the top ones, so I'm not really going to know what's going on with those.
She still LOVES toast, yogurt, and graham crackers more than anything. She has surprisingly dialed down her love of cheese, but will eat almost anything that is considered a fruit. She actually enjoys broccoli, but struggles with the texture and spits it out after trying to chew it. We give her some pouches of fruit and veggie blends for toddlers to make sure she's getting her vegetables because it's the only way she'll eat them right now. Other than sweet potatoes, and occasionally some steamed peas. She still holds a strong grudge against carrots.
Teeth- Ten! Four on the top in the front, four on the bottom in the front, and two bottom molars. Having been bitten far too many times, I can attest that they are really, really sharp.
Talking- This is old news. Her spoken vocabulary is well over 100 words by now but I lost count after my last blog post. They aren't kidding when they say a young child will suddenly have a language explosion- there's no stopping her now. She picks up new words so quickly. Case in point (this happened yesterday):
Mommy- "blah blah blah blah blah and also..."
Emma- (interrupting) "Also!"
Mommy- (laughing) "You're so funny. And you don't even know why you're funny, you really don't..."
Emma- "Don't!" (starts laughing hysterically)
She has even started stringing some words together every-so-often. I told her we needed to let the puppy inside one morning and she proclaimed "cold puppy!" She also says "go baby" when she sits on her little push car. I'm going to take a stab at her words list, and it'll probably be the last time I do it.
Mommy
Daddy
Grandma
Grandpa
Grammy
Pop
Auntie
Aimee
Gracie
Chelsea
Jonnie
Baby
Uncle
Elmo
Emma
Tubby (For "Chubby Bunny" her stuffed animal that she sleeps with)
Puppy
Cow
Fish
Monkey
Sheep
Piggy
Mouse
Bird
Bear
Owl
Duckie
Turtle
Bee
Toast
Cheese
Yogurt
Graham Crackers
Crunchies
Pouch
Milk
Drink
Pancake
Waffle (one of my favorites)
Cookie
Banana
Pear
Apple
Orange
Peas
Broccoli
Grapes
Peach
Shoes
Socks
Hat
Shirt
Pants
Jammies
Blankie
Diaper
More
Please
Hi
Bye-Bye
Night-Night
Go
No
Yes
Hot
Cold (she knows the difference between hot and cold, too)
Nice
Up
Down
Bubble
Ball
Book
Read
Outside
Balloon
Spoon
ABC's
Moon
Boom
Rainbow
Beads
Cup
TV
Truck
Airplane
Rain
Tree
Grass
Potty
Bath
Eat
Drink
Pretty (she says "ooooooh pretty!")
Yummy
Happy
Eyes
Nose
Ear
Mouth
Elbow
Toes
Feet
Teeth
Poopy
Pee-Pee
(She can point to all of her body parts now)
Animal sounds:
Quack quack
Moo
Baa
Peep peep
Ooh ooh Aah aah (monkey)
Growls for a lion or tiger
Arf arf (dog)
Meow
Buzz
So that's 105 words I could think of off the top of my head. She truly amazes me.
I mean, really... watching her learn and grow has been more educational and philosophical for me than any of my studies in college. It's absolutely astonishing to watch how rapidly a little one learns such ground-breaking concepts. Every night I tell her it's bath time and ask her to go get her towel, and she always remembers that it's in her bedroom next to her crib and finds her way there without help. This from a baby that wasn't even sitting up on her own a year ago.
Walking- and running, and climbing. There's no stopping her now.
Sleep- still going strong. She's still at two naps per day, which is working out. She doesn't seem to be ready to switch to one nap yet and I'm ok with that. She has been taking 1.5 hours in the morning and 1-1.5 in the afternoon. She's in bed by 8pm most nights and sleeps until 7:30 or 8am with nary a peep. Some nights she wakes up and cries for a few seconds and goes right back to sleep.
Cuddling- So if I neglected to mention it before, we are a bottle-free household. I finally decided that the bottle feeding was more for me than Danger Mouse, so I tapered her off. I was really, really sad about it but I knew it was the right thing to do because she wasn't reliant upon it and continuing it was only going to make it traumatic to stop later on. She dealt with it fine- she was pretty peeved the first night, a little ticked the second night, and by nights three and four she practically forgot about the bottle completely. Mission accomplished. So every night, during the time previously occupied by bottle drinking, I sit next to her in the glider and read stories to her, while she licks the back of her Elmo's head. It's this strange self-soothing thing she's been doing that started with licking (if you can even call it licking, more like sticking her tongue out and touching it to something) her bicep, which has transitioned to doing this to stuffed animals. Weirdo. Anyways, we read stories and sometimes she'll lean on me while we rock and read. Then it's kisses and hugs, and I put her down in bed and she snuggles in and drifts off to sleep. Perfection... most nights. She sleeps with her Tubby, Elmo, and Blankie. And wakes up in a darned good mood, unlike her mother.
So that's the update on my crazy little bundle of joy. I'm really glad I decided to create this blog, because it's been really eye-opening to read back through old entries. Especially the NICU days, which seem so distant now. We'll be doing the March of Dimes walk again this year, for Emma and for a special little warrior who is currently growing big and strong in the NICU and will hopefully be adjusting to her life at home by the time the walk comes around :)
90210 out.
