First Stomach Flu

We've been watching a lot of TV these last two days, because Tess has been sick with her first stomach flu. I am so not enjoying all the extra laundry and furniture cleaning. I keep hoping that she's past the worst of it, but then she nurses and throws it all up. She threw up tonight as I put her to bed, so clearly we're in for another day inside tomorrow. She doesn't have high fevers, so it's not serious, just messy and uncomfortable.

Play

Tess really loves drawing and painting right now. That still means that getting set up and cleaning up are about as much fun as the actual activity, but she's also starting to spend a lot more time engaged in "drawing." She holds the crayons from the end and starts and the bottom of the page and makes vertical lines all over the page. She also tries to trace her hand, which involves making lines that start from her fingers and then go up. It's not much, but it is interesting to note that she went from just brushing the crayons over the paper to suddenly making very clear marks all in the last couple of weeks.

She also loves to play with blocks now--making towers, pretending they are food, or stacking her little people up as she did here.

She's very social in her play.  In the picture below, you can see that she's surrounded herself with Elmo, a little porcelain figurine, and a sticker of a dog. She specifically wanted all of these things arranged around her to watch Shaun the Sheep with her. This is typical. She gathers little "friends" around her all day long, and LOVES when she gets to meet up with real friends.

Thanksgiving Photos

I know Thanksgiving feels like a million years ago, but I thought I should post a few of our pictures. We never seem to get good pictures of Thanksgiving. We're too busy, the lighting is really hard, and so year after year it's the same. But here's our proof that in November 2010, we transformed our living room into dining space for 18 + baby Ida. The whole extended Grossman family, Tim and Sven Beyer, and the Lessers were all able to join us. It was a record turn out, and a huge success.

Baby Ida was very patient with all of our doting affection.

The tables:

More First Sentences

On Thursday Tess spent the morning with a babysitter that she hadn't seen in two weeks. When I picked her up, the sitter remarked, "She's speaking so much more than even two weeks ago! There are whole sentences. We're having conversations now."

I agree. Something has changed recently. Here's a few of the things I'm hearing right now.

"I want this!"

"I want a doggy."

"Dada ss seeping."

"Mama's rice, hot. Dada's rice, hot."

"Dada dinner done. Na dinner, done. Shaun the sheep!" (I had told her she could watch an episode with Lenny (Na) after dinner. Initially she finished her dinner and then told me it was time for Shaun, so I told her she had to wait until Dada and Na were finished, which she did with pretty good patience.)

"Mama read it."

"Mama sit. I daw." (draw)

"Alright!"

What Have We Been Doing?

I feel very delinquent in my blogging. This is because we haven't been sleeping much for the last couple of weeks.

As soon as Eric recovered from his jet lag, we began night weaning. While in the midst of night weaning, we hosted Thanksgiving dinner for 18 people in our apartment. After putting our house back together, we said good-bye to our visiting cousins, and then Eric began a very hectic week of work. The night weaning was just starting to get better, and then Tess got a cold.

So, we're tired. On that note, I'm going to bed. If I hurry, I might be lucky enough to get a good 6 or 7 hour stretch in. Good night.

Things I'm hearing these days

• "Thas so funny" or "funny" - Tess says this a lot. Sometimes she will sit by herself, laughing at her own jokes, saying, "funny, funny." Other times, she runs away and it's quiet for a long time. When I go looking for her, she squeals and laughs as I come into the room and says, "I hide. Thas so funny." (I so wish I could convey the inflection that she uses to say it. It really is funny.) Today I found Tess hidden in a corner of my room holding my hand cream. She knew I would take it away from her, so when I showed up she gave me a guilty look and said, "funny!"

• "One and all done." That's what I tell her when she's begging for more Youtube or Shaun the Sheep videos. I tell her that we can watch ONE more and then all done. And she nods her head enthusiastically and says "one. One and all done!"

• She surprises me these days with the words she knows. We were playing with play dough today, rolling it into thin logs, and she said, "beans," which I totally didn't expect.

• "Away" She likes to put things away, and tells me, "away" when she wants help putting things away. There's also a page in the Corduroy book that ends with the word, "away." The Mom and girl walk away from Corduroy. Yesterday Tess was reading the book to herself, and she brought it to me to show me the page and said with a very serious face, "Mama, away. Away!"

• "Tess watch" as she pushes a chair or stool over to better see what I'm doing. When we paint or draw or do anything kind of special, she will often pause before we begin and then run to find Monkey, park him in a chair and say, "Aa-aa-ee watch."

• "Eet" She knows the word eat, and uses it appropriately, but when she's playing in her room she'll often yell out, "Mama eet!" She taps the floor next to her to let me know that she wants me to come sit with her while she plays.  

• "Oh-Tay" (OK) I have started to notice that I say, "OK" a lot. I'll say it as I'm making a mental list of everything we need to take with us when we leave the house. I say it when we're going to change activities. I just say it. And now, Tess says it too. 

• "Tum" (Come) She grabs my hand and guides me into her play space, pushing my legs at times to position me just so.

Marks in the Sand

I'm starting to think of these entries like the marks that are left in the sand after a wave washes to shore and then recedes. I feel like I see Tess trying new skills, delighting in new things, and as soon as I write it down, it changes. A month later, those same skills feel so ordinary it's a wonder that it ever struck me as surprising. Yet it's kind of fun to watch my impressions change as she grows, and to remember that there was a day when I couldn't fathom that she would ever walk.

 

 

On that note, one of Tess's favorite toys right now is a set of five stones that I keep in a small pottery vase. The stones have various sentimental memories attached to them, and I made the little vase about ten years ago. Tess likes to take the rocks out, put them back in, pour them on the floor, pound them against each other, etc., etc. She plays with them everyday, often for long periods of time. She calls them "rots" because she can't pronounce the [k] sound.

She's also working really hard to memorize words in favorite songs and books. She loves books that have rhyming couplets, and she tries to memorize the last word in each set. When we read The Going to Bed Book by Sandra Boynton, she tries to say about two words on each page. I often read and then stop, and she fills in the missing word for me. (Or some approximation of the word.) At the end of that book, "they rot and rot and rot to seep."

Light at the end of the Tunnel

Eric gets home from Thailand tomorrow. It's been a long week. Tess and I did great. Eric did great. And now we are all tired.

In other news, I'm regularly surprised by the words that come out of Tess's mouth these days. She'll ask for things using words I've never heard her say before. After almost two years of figuring out her communication mysteries, it's a shock to hear an English word instead of some babbled clue hinting at a desire.

She still can't pronounce the [k] sound, so often it takes some imagination to figure it out. Like tonight when she was asking for what sounded like "nuts," but clearly wasn't. Turns out she wanted a necklace. (She's been asking for nuts very clearly for a while now, and sometimes even specifies that she wants almonds or cashews.)

Lord of the Flies

Tess cannot wait to go to her babysitter's house every week. She talks about her two friends (Ime and Sebastian, both a year older than her) almost every day. When we get to the building, she starts kicking her legs and when I let her out of the stroller, she runs down the hall squealing with joy. When I pick her up, she never wants to leave. Today she told me, "Tess stay," in response to my news that it was time to go home.

So it's interesting for me to notice how much time these three spend arguing over toys. They also play nicely together, but nonetheless, a good portion of the playtime is all about resolving who gets what and for how long. Objects that had no value suddenly become highly valuable and everybody wants IT. Moments later, the IT has changed.

Today as I was saying good-bye, there was a conflict over a container of crayons. Tess and Ime were both grabbing it, and Tess's whole body was tensed in an effort to hold on. I had her take a few deep breaths and we worked out a solution.

Then I went into Macy's to do a little shopping for myself. I showed up and learned that today is a huge ONE DAY SALE. Oh dear. As I walked through the handbag department, the frenzy in the air was palpable. Women were walking around with ten or more handbags. Other women were throwing handbags aside as they searched through the clearance bin. I felt nervous and like I was going to miss something very important, even though I had no intention of buying a handbag. It was like I was back with the toddlers.

What's valuable and why? The politics of play, sharing, and limited resources. All complicated stuff that apparently we never outgrow.

Pictures

I'm really baffled by how Tess responds to pictures and drawings. She treats them like they are real, and she wants them to pop off the page. Just now she opened a book with a drawing of a dog licking a man affectionately. It made her cry because she wanted that dog to lick her. She stood there grabbing at the picture, pointing it out to me, asking me for the dog. One time she was inconsolable because she couldn't get a piece of cake out of a book.

She will also carry pictures around as if they were real things. Someone sent us a card with a picture of a dog on it in September. She still has that card! It's been chewed around all of the edges, but she doesn't lose it. It floats around with her toys, and this week she insisted that we take it to the park. She walks around carrying it, talking to the dog.

A couple of days ago Tess noticed a small image of a book she likes on the back of another book. (The Sandra Boynton books promote other books on the back.) She was reading Moo, Baa and saw the picture of Blue Hat, Green Hat and came to me whining for the book. It's a book we have, so I went and found it in another room and brought it to her. When I handed it to her, she looked at it for a bit. Then she looked back at the small image of the book, and back at the book, and back at the image, and back at the book. Finally she reached out and took the book. It was as if she was amazed that her small image wasn't the actual thing. Or she wondered how I made the book appear. I'm not sure, but it tickled me.

First Sentences

The first sentence that I've really noticed started in the last couple of days. Tess has started saying, "I need ____"

"Mama, I need up."
"I need apple juice."
"I need hat." ("Hat" in this instance meant a Hershey's kiss. She got one yesterday and called it a hat, and put it on her head, and thought it was such a funny little hat.)

This morning she also started grabbing the books off of Eric's side table saying, "I read. I read." And she does some other simple sentence construction like "Doggy eat." or "Baby nigh nigh."

More Imaginative Play

Before eating her breakfast this morning, Tess had to push the small chairs from her table over to the big table and get Doggy and Monkey set up just so.

After breakfast we were in her room, and I opened up a box full of blocks. She pulled out two circular blocks and started "drinking" from them. "Mmm, hot tea," she told me. Then she brought a semi-circular piece into the kitchen, calling it "apple."

She plays with our statues and figurines, draping a washcloth over one so it could go "nigh nigh." She wanted the egg cups so that she could play tea party with them.

And here she is in her room playing with another little toy figurine. She had been quiet for a while, so I peeked into her room to check on her, found her in the rocking chair, and came back with my camera. This is what I found:

Imaginative Play

"Mmm" Tess says as she licks a toothbrush
"Is it good Tess?"
"Yeah!" She's using that excited voice that means we are pretending. So I ask, "What is it Tess?" I expect her to say some kind of food.
She replies, "a brush."

Singing

Tess's favorite songs right now are:

• Doe, a deer (from Sound of Music) - not sure what the official title is
• Wheels on the Bus (still!!) - though now she likes me to make up verses about all her favorite people in the world
• Eric sings a variation of Rain, Rain, Go Away when she's going to sleep
• A, B, C's

She's started singing along to songs that she hears regularly. She loves songs with hand motions. She dances at every opportunity, often pulling electronic toys into a room, pushing a button for some music and then dancing beside the toy for 30 seconds or so until she has to push the button again.

Happy Birthday to Me

My present to myself this year was a big Chocolate Date Cake. I don't remember where I got this recipe. I remember my friend Lauren mentioning a Chocolate Date Cake, and I think I then did some internet research to get this one. I made it for Tess's first birthday. Fortunately my birthday gave me a valid excuse to make it again.

Chocolate Date Cake
(makes 1- 10 inch round cake)

2 cups pitted dates (chopped)
1 1/4 cups hot coffee
2/3 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 lg. eggs
1 cup white flour
1/2 c. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter cake pan (line with parchment paper and butter it also.)

2. Loosely fill 2 cup measuring cup with dates and cover with the hot coffee. Let sit for 5 minutes.

3. Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs and add vanilla.

4. Sift flour, cocoa powder, salt, and soda together. Add to butter and egg mixture. Combine by mixing gently.

5. Blend the dates and coffee in a blender and add this to the batter.

6. Pour batter into pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips on the top. (Or don't, it's goo either way.)

7. Bake 40-45 minutes. A toothpick should come out basically clean.

I made two of these on Saturday night. Paul and the Rice family helped me eat them, and now I'm enjoying the large quantity of leftover cake. It makes me so happy. :)

November

We enjoyed a particularly lovely October. Eric's aunt Hanne and Uncle Jan visited from Germany. The weather was fabulous almost the whole month. We drove out of the city for beautiful walks to see the changing leaves. We enjoyed Halloween celebrations, visits with friends, and did I mention that really nice weather?

So this week has been a bit of a reality check. November 1st was cold, and it has stayed cold. Plus it's getting darker, the leaves are almost gone, we spent almost the whole week inside, and Tess has a bit of a cold or something. I've had neck and hip pain and also been feeling tired and run down. So here's what we've been doing to get by.

Tea Parties with Monkey and Doggy:

 And more Shaun the Sheep:

And long naps.

Friday I had my birthday and Eric and I enjoyed a long-overdue date.

Eric leaves on Friday for a week-long business trip to Thailand. When he returns, his cousins from Germany will arrive, and we will host 18 people for Thanksgiving. So it's a busy month. Paul came over last night and helped us put together our new dining room table that will allow us to seat the crowd.

 

And that's how our November has begun.

Progress

This week, when I brought Tess to her babysitter's she went running to the door. In weeks past, she would walk with me to the door, then turn around and start walking away. Now when I go to leave, she calls out, "bye, bye!" and returns to her play. It warms my heart.

Halloween Cuteness

Today we marched in Jackson Height's huge Halloween Parade.

 Dragon, meet Dragon and Dragon. Tess met twins wearing matching costumes.

Monkey marches in the parade. (Tess has started holding him out to the side like this when we walk. She tells me Monkey is walking.)

"Cheese." (I think this series could also be titled: Monkey's Halloween.)

 The wings and tail:

She's just started to take an interest in her castle, dragon, princess, and knight toys. Maybe because of the costume?

Fun and Games

 

Small Moments

• Yesterday Tess was having trouble settling down for nap, but she was really tired. I let her have some time alone, and I heard her crying in the other room. I peeked in to check on her, but I saw she was just looking at a book, so I figured she was fine. But the crying didn't stop, so I went over to see what was wrong. She was grabbing at a picture of cake in the book, and then putting her fingers in her mouth, furious that she couldn't EAT THAT CAKE!
• Cutting Tess's fingernails has always been one of my most dreaded tasks. But today there was this marvelous breakthrough. I asked Tess if she wanted to cut Monkey's fingernails. She did, and she not only sat still while I trimmed Monkey's nails, but also sat calmly while I did all of her fingers!!! Monkey is so useful these days. 
• I love the fact that she's starting to understand cause and effect, and sometimes she can even understand "this, then that." I can even bargain at times, and at other times, I can use imaginative play as a tool to achieve the desired end goal. :) This part I like much better than the blind screaming of 15 months.

Monkey's Vacation

As I've mentioned before on this blog, Monkey has become Tess's dearest companion. He goes with us everywhere. He sleeps with Tess. He has a special seat at the new table. (Tess told me this week that it's Monkey's chair.)

So you can imagine our dismay when Monkey fell off the stroller on Sunday during a walk and was lost to us forever. Tess was sleeping, and we dreaded the next time she would ask for him. We did an Internet search and fortunately Amazon could come to our rescue. We'd ordered a new monkey before she even woke up.

Sure enough, she looked for him later that afternoon. I told her that Monkey had taken a trip to visit Nana and Baba in Florida, and he would be gone for a few days, but he was coming back. She accepted this explanation, along with Doggie who became her stand-in-friend for the last few days. She asked for Monkey several times every day and whenever we'd go into her in the middle of the night, but whenever we'd tell her the story about Monkey coming back, she accepted Doggie and didn't cry. (That was a relief.)

The only time she cried was when she saw a boy with another monkey in music class on Wednesday. It was too much. She wanted Monkey.

So when I told her this evening that Dadda had picked up Monkey at the airport and was bringing him home, she got so excited. She kept saying "ah ah ee" and "Nana, Baba" on the way home. Eric had put Monkey in his seat, and she ran to him as soon as she got out of the stroller, squealing with delight. She hugged and kissed him and did a happy dance of jumping around in circles for a bit. Then she had Monkey jump up and down with enthusiasm.

Now Monkey stays close by, reunited at last. He's so much softer and cleaner now, but Tess hasn't noticed. ;)

Pumpkin Painting

Rather than carve pumpkins this year, I decided we'd paint them.

We started with brushes.

Then we tried our fingers.

But Tess hated having her fingers dirty.

Much better.

And an after-painting snack.

Eric's Birthday

Eric turned 45 on October 11th this year. I'm sadly late with photos, but here's a few of our family celebration. Tess now pantomimes blowing out candles every time she hears the word "birthday."

New Table

We recently bought a new little table and chairs from IKEA for Tess. She loved helping us put it together, and it's been a hit ever since. She plays here regularly, and feeds her monkey here at each meal time. It's a fun addition to the kitchen.

 Of course there's always the floor for reading fun.

I'm a Super Kicker

This is one of the few parts of soccer that Tess enjoys. Most of the other activities she'll only do if I remind her that she can have a sticker if she does them. But she likes to kick the ball.

And score. Often she kicks the ball right up to the goal and then picks it up and throws it in the net.

Then she gets to sing the song. Yay.

 And the ultimate reward! Stickers! On her "arm."

And one on the nose. "Ding dong,"her teacher says.