Teiaspeak

I've mentioned before Second Child Syndrome. This is characterized by a cluster of symptoms including fewer photos and videos and a pretty empty baby book. I hear its very common. But at least we have this blog where we find some time to record some important stuff. As I was changing Teia's diaper this morning I realized how fast she is growing up and that I better record some of the stuff she says before she is not saying it anymore..... :-(

I just love toddler-talk and Teia is pretty good at it:

Pooty = poopy

Mommy, I tootied! (giggle, giggle) I tootied again = usually said while passing gas as her diaper is being changed.

Watch out Puppy and Meow, zippas coming! = also said on the change table as I am about to zip up her jammies, with Puppy and Meow raised safely over her head.

Wook Mommy/Daddy/Kai!!!! = said while enthusiastically pointing.

Wha's disa guy? = Teia's version of "what's that?"

Sowwy Mommy/Daddy/Kai = for some reason, she apologizes all of the time (part of her Canadian blood).

Ipad, Ipad, Ipad, IPAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! = this is usually followed by flinging herself dramatically to the ground if the Ipad doesn't appear (another symptom of Second Child Syndrome).

Peabop!! I saw Peabop at the zoo!!!! = Love this one. Said the other night while looking at her animal book. She really enjoyed watching the free roaming peacocks (just in case you weren't sure what a peabop was).

Meow, wanna feep with Puppy? = this is followed by Meow vigorously nodding his head and Teia and Meow are placed into her crib to nap with Puppy who is already there.

Teia did it!!! = accompanied by huge smiles over whatever feat she just accomplished.

Here ya go Mommy = usually said as she places rejected foodstuffs on my plate, sometimes pre-chewed.

Open mouth! = sung to us whenever she wishes to feed us. It is sweet but beware what she proffers.

Daddy/Mommy, I funny!

Too woud! (loud)

Mommy where did the baby wyan (lion) go? =everything is a baby and a mommy or  daddy, even big trees and small trees are mommy and baby trees.

And particularly endearing - today at lunchtime she looks across the table and says "Mommy, I wike dinosaurs and puppy tails." After I acknowledged what she said, she added "Mommy wike dinosaurs and puppy tails?"

Tonight as I'm leaving her bedroom "feep tight Mommy!" Awwwwww......

Funny Kids!

Lately our kids are just cracking us up. Which is a good thing. Otherwise we might be tempted to sell them ;-) Teia is developing the distinctly female habit of having strong clothing preferences from a young age. We're not dealing with pink, froufy tutus yet but we did have fleece pants, rain boots, and mom's running hat the other day for a trip to the beach when it was pretty warm out. Note also the Thomas the Train sticker placed just so on her hand. 

We've actually had a bit of rain lately which is fairly anomalous for San Diego. The kids were intrigued, having forgotten what rain was (well, not exactly) and wanted to go out to jump in the puddles. So they trudged outside in their jammies, rain boots and backpacks. Not sure what the backpacks were for but when one does something, the other follows suite. 

And here they go, trudging back inside after being a little disappointed with the puddle quality on our street. 

 And here is our bouncing bean, full of energy early in the morning launching herself from bosu ball to bean bag.

 She is a very talented little woman. Here she demonstrates her skill at levitation.

Here you see the Head Lifeguard peeking out from his Lifeguard station to watch the Wiggles. Budsy has decided that Lifeguards and their Lifeguard towers are pretty cool and really likes the lifeguard station daddy made for him. Teia has been named the Assistant Lifeguard but she actually isn't allowed in there too much. Our Head Lifeguard is quite good at applying band aids to our injuries but mostly he enjoys surveying the "beach" from inside his station.

I'm actually hoping this lifeguard thing sticks b/c I think a lifeguard costume will be much easier to pull off for Hallowe'en next year than another sky tower! That is, unless he decides he'd like to be the lifeguard tower...

Belated Birthday wishes for our Peach Cobbler

Greg here.  After a long sabbatical from blog-writing, its high time I continue some contributions and give our journeyman blogger, Louise, a wee rest.

I promised to write a blog for Teia's birthday (or I was threatened, depending on one's point of view) then Big T's big day came and went and my blog entry was still left wanting.  Our trip to Banff/Calgary/Sky Tower was a blur of little blondies running around and giving us little time to enjoy the mountains, cool air, grizzlies, and mountain bike trails the Canadian Rockies are so famous for, let alone giving me time to whip up a blog worthy of our T-ster.

Peach started out as 'Peach' due to her peachy-fuzz 'do in her earlier days.  Unless you're reading this blog on a Crackberry, you'll notice that her hair is more golden-fleecy than peach-fuzzy these days, but the name has stuck.  Her love of peaches hasn't hurt either (tho if love of a food item was the main criteria for nicknames, mine would be Nutella, Louise's would be Chocolate, and Kai's would probably be Clif-bah).

T-bar has become quite the ruler of the roost in the last few months.  All the hard work, discipline, and standards that were applied to turn Kai into the good little soldier he is has gone completely out the window, down the rain gutter, into the Pacific ocean, and down the GI tract of some surly little fish.  In other words, we have lost complete control of this child.  In the morning, she stands up in the crib, cries till one of us arrives, and immediately demands what DVD is expected on the TV.  And whoa be to the body who doesn't get that DVD purring post-haste!  To complicate matters, multiple DVDs have the same call sign (e.g. "Thomas") so some quick Eject/Loads are sometimes required before we can leave the area.  T-bar then takes up her perch on the chase to watch the DVD.  During this time, we are expected to get her milk warmed and ready for the next word she speaks "Mulk!"   Every now & then, she may wander into the kitchen, demand 'mulk' before its warm, take a few unsatisfying slurps, and thrust the bottle back at us: "Too cold!", with a furrowed brow to boot for emphasis.

Speaking of furrowed brows, T-bone is the queen of facial expressions.  From a brow that can practically cast a shadow over her whole body, to squinty eyes of silliness, big "O" looks of surprise and pleasure, or sideway glances that would put a rabid Doberman back in its place, T-bone hardly needs words to make her motives and thoughts known in no-uncertain terms.

Meal times are moments of great family conversation, as long as the conversation centers around Teia's proximity to her chair:  "Teia, get back in your seat", "Teia, sit down please", "Teia, don't drop food on the floor", etc.  Kai is no great sitter in our dining room either, tho he's a champ on the bar stools in the kitchen.  After 5-10 bites of 1/4 of her plate, Teia will exclaim "All done." If she's in a high-chair and we don't immediately acknowledge, this becomes "Allllll Donnnnee!", then "Mommy, all done!  Daddy, all done!", then temper tantrum.  If she's not in a high chair, no acknowledgements are required: she's all done and she's going to restart the DVD, damnit!  Bribes and promises of dessert may or may not coerce her back to the seat.

Since the wedding, T-dawg has really enjoyed dancing, mostly with Dad, I'm proud to say!  Dancing usually consists of us holding hands and her flailing about wildly until I can't hold on much longer and allow her to plop to the ground, giggling wildly.  Occasionally, its a solo affair, full of raised elbows, circular running, and body gyrations that would also work if she were an alligator swimming through the water.  Kai's world-famous 'Gordon Dance' is occasionally imitated too (tho never duplicated!)

I must admit I didn't believe Louise 2+ years ago when she claimed Tay-tay would be a feisty one (a very prescient prediction 36 hours after she was born!)  But we've been eating our words ever since; Tay-tay's got some real piss & vinegar coursing through them little veins (but fortunately not ALL the time....)

Project SkyTower

So this year Kai was pretty sure of what he wanted to be for Hallowe'en: the SkyTower at SeaWorld. Given his current love of Thomas the Train, we figured that would be a sure bet for this year's costume. But when I mentioned it, he turned up his nose at a simple Thomas costume I could buy at a store and told me in no uncertain terms that he was to be the SkyTower.

Now my mom was always able to whip up a unique and crafty costume but I lack a) a sewing machine, and b) any crafty skills whatsoever. Greg and I pow-wowed on this costume and we really weren't sure how we were going to pull it off. Somewhere along the way we came up with the idea of using a collapsible laundry hamper and the rest is history. We somehow managed to turn this:

Into this:

If you haven't seen the SeaWorld SkyTower you'll see the similarities below:

Kai proudly wore his costume all around SeaWorld, including on the SkyTower itself and on the Sky Ride over the Bay. He was also happy to tell anyone who asked, what he was. We have never seen him talk to so many strangers! Teia, on the other hand was a more reluctant Dolphin. Until we went to visit the Dolphins that is, then she sported her costume happily. 

By Hallowe'en night itself, Teia had had enough Dolphin and she decided to be Tigger. Here she is making sure her germs are on all of the Hallowe'en kazoos we had in our treat bowl. In fact, if she had her way she would have cleaned out our treat bowl herself before we even left the house. This picture is blurry but I had to add it anyway as it shows our two rascals filling their pumpkins with our treats before we even headed out!

Teia provided a fair bit of entertainment on Hallowe'en night. First of all she was quite terrified of her own Daddy. I can't imagine why...

But once she got the hang of the whole deal, she sprinted b/tw houses giggling madly like a little Hallowe'en banshee. Daddy and Kai had to sprint to keep up (I am still gimp so got to take the pics). 

Then she practically vibrated with excitement to eat her first ever "wally pop." Back at home we had a few trick or treaters stop by and the kids got to try their hand at being candy givers. It was interesting to watch. Kai was savvy and very carefully plucked only the plastic toys (spider rings, kazoos etc) out of our bowl for hand outs. Teia was a bit more generous and did dole out a few chocolate bars. Greg, on the other hand, was scoffing Kit Kats from the bowl and piling them in the kitchen. I will have to keep that man away from the kids' candy loot! 

Tonight Greg and I were discussing the various ways we've heard of parents managing their kids' candy these days: taking it to a homeless shelter, throwing it out, having the kids pick out only a certain number and then giving the rest away (you can give to dentists for money!) Back in the day there were no candy controls, other than checking for those ominous apples with razor blades inside, you know the really shiny red ones. I remember keeping my stash in a pillow case in my bedroom! But those were crazy times, back then. 

I had to add this photo b/c I married a very artistically talented man - seriously! Guess who?

Warm weather will do a number on a thomas-o-lantern. By Hallowe'en night our little pumpkin engine was sporting some pretty serious mold and leaking some pretty nasty I don't know what. One poor little kid walked by Thomas Pumpkin and said to his dad "THAT is a scary pumpkin!"

Kai has already chosen his costume for next year - a tram. At least we've got some time to figure that one out!