Video trial - click on middle

Eloquence

I offered Hannah an apple or an orange at breakfast today (out of bananas, again! This time she just asked, "Why?" when I told here there were no bananas). She pondered my offer for a minute and then said, "I was thinking of orange."

She's got the rules down

I recently got some write-on placemats with numbers and letters for Hannah. I was showing her how to trace and draw with washable markers and she looked at me, concerned. She said, "We don't draw on mats. We draw on paper, Mommy." (Yes, that is the refrain we've memorized regarding marker use up to this point--We don't draw on bodies, etc., we draw on paper.)

Naming

Today Hannah was sitting a few inches away from the kitchen table on a booster with a tray. She put all of her toes (currently painted pink) up against the underside of the table then hid her big toes under it. "Where's the Mommy toe?" she asked, smiling.

New and Improved--check out the video!

Just click on the "play" triangle in the middle of the video, even if there's no image yet. Enjoy! And thanks, Leah, for your inspiration. You are the wind beneath my wings.

Not napping

As of right now, Hannah has been in her room not napping for the last hour and a half. She is currently proclaiming, "I love Barney!" in her loud, into-the-monitor-I-know-you-can-hear-me-Mommy voice. And then she asks, "Do you love Barney, Mommy?" Barney comes on after Sesame Street. Don't ever let your child watch it. Even once. It will be with you forever.

Empathy

Lately, Hannah has been going into the kitchen when she's hungry and trying to help herself to something to eat. I've been trying to teach her to ask first, not to open the fridge on her own, etc. When standing with the fridge door open today, she asked why she needed to close it. I told her close it because we needed to keep the cold air in, to keep the things inside cold. She closed the door. Then opened it and peeked in, saying, "Are you guys cold in there?"

Close encounters

This post is a tribute to all you second-borns and on...

To date, I have rescued Matthew from:

1. Having his eye gouged out with a meat thermometer ("What are you doing with that, Hannah!!!!???" "Poking his eye.")

2. Cranial trauma from a corn poker

3. And today: a haircut with a butter knife.

Two-year-old Theology

Hannah loves to ask questions and uses it as a stalling technique when she doesn't want to go to bed, leave a place, etc. She often asks about people she sees or about people we've read about--What's his name? Where did he go? What is he doing?


Tonight she was talking about Jesus and said, "What did he do?" I returned the question and she said:

"He picked up the children." (the story of when the children come to Jesus)
"He died. And He rose again."
"He healed Bartimaeus."

Then... "Does Bartimaeus have blood on his eyes?" (the blind man that Jesus healed) I explained that no, he didn't have blood there, he was just blind, etc. She was still concerned, "Does he have bandaids on his eyes? Does he need some of MY bandaids?"

More food wonders

Matthew has a very sensitive gag reflex and still has trouble with anything that's not very smooth in his mouth. He was crawling (not literally, just scooting, really) on the floor and found a little piece of food, gagged and lost his breakfast of mango and cottage cheese. Hannah saw the whole thing and exclaimed excitedly, "Shoot! It's yellow!"

Get on it!

Matthew gets very excited and screeches/squawks quite loudly at times. Hannah finds this distressing and tells him, "No!", very sharply. I try to explain that he's just learning how to talk and what his voice can do. I tell her again and again that it's not her job to tell him "no". The most recent time this happened she waited a few seconds after my admonition and then asked, "Can you tell him 'no', Mama?"

Food fun

Before I left for Colorado last week, I didn't have much produce in the house since I knew Shae wouldn't be eating too much in my absence. I offered Hannah an orange or an apple at breakfast. She asked for a banana. When I told her that I didn't have any bananas, she said, "WHAT?!" I think it's the first time I haven't had bananas on hand.

I baked some cookies today just before lunch and Hannah was begging for some, of course. We told her she could have one after lunch. She ate it excitedly and then asked for another. I told her she couldn't have another with her lunch but maybe later for a snack. She asked, "Is it snack time now?"

Much to my chagrin, ranch dressing is one of Hannah's favorite things. She'll eat just about anything with it. And she'll eat it off her fingers without dipping anything in it--a habit we're trying to discourage. She had carrots & dressing at lunch today and Shae said to her that he'd take it away if she ate it off her fingers. Hannah said, "Take it away." Shae looked at her to see if she meant it and she clarified, "Take the carrots away." I tried not to laugh. :)

Buzz

One of the books we currently have from the library is called "Buzz". It's about all the "buzz" noises you hear during the day. One page shows Daddy shaving and I was acting it out as I read to Hannah.

She looked at me with concern and said, "You don't have those!"

"What don't I have?" I asked.

"Beards."

Taking the temperature

Hannah is pretty aware of emotions and I've been trying to name them with her so she can talk about them. She's aware of mine, too. After she'd been quite testy, she looked up at me and said, "Are you happy?" That's the day she learned "frustrated". :)

Body talk

Hannah and I were showering together and she was soaping my legs as I was shaving them. I said, "Mommy has long legs, doesn't she?" Her reply: "No, they're big." Thanks, Hannah.

A planner already

Hannah loves to write in my planner whenever she can. I left it out on the table and came back to find her scribble all over the page. She said, "I drew my errand, Mommy!" I didn't know she knew what I wrote in there!

A bad cold

As I was fixing breakfast, Hannah exclaimed proudly, "I blew a bubble! I sure did." I came into the dining room a little confused because she didn't have anything on her tray (no milk, etc.) with which to blow a bubble. I quickly saw what she meant as she smiled with a big, snotty nose....

Little parrot

I called to Hannah from the living room where I was sitting with Matthew. She replied, "Just ONE minute. Be patient!"

Old McDonald

One of Hannah's favorite songs is" Old McDonald Had a Farm". Recent variations include:

And on that farm he had some...


...bubbles...with a blub blub here and a blub blub there... (sung in the bath)
...eyes...with a blink blink here and a blink blink there...
... fork... with a scoop scoop here and a scoop scoop there...

Why?

Hannah's new favorite word. Nough said. Should I start counting it with tic marks? lllll lllll lllll

Keeping an eye out for him

Shae's been helping some friends with a house project and his back was sore the other day so he asked me to rub his shoulder. Hannah saw from across the room and exclaimed, "Don't scratch my Daddy!"