Things Kids Say

About a month ago, Gabriel started talking. Constantly. What used to be a series of cute little grunts - so fitting that V calls him Piglet - are now words - and even sentences! Here are a few recent gems:

I was singing "Rock a Bye Baby" as I put him to bed, and he started chiming in along with me:
"Rock... baby... tree top... APPLES!"
(Me:) "Apples? Is the baby picking apples? Is the baby eating apples?"
"Baby eat apples tree top!"

The kids were pretending to spray water on me from the vacuum cleaner hose, so I played along - "Aaa! I'm getting all wet!" So Gabriel trots out of the room saying "Get! Mama! Towel! Get Mama towel!" I hear the little pitter-patter of his feet going down the hall to the bathroom. "Get Mama big towel!" Then a short silence. Then, "Get Mama liddow towel! Get Mama liddow towel!" as he comes back, dragging his own little yellow towel, which incidentally is soaking wet from mopping up some spill or other, leaving a long trail of damp across the tile floor. Oh my heart, so cute.

And always the joker:
Me: Say "I love you, Mama."
G: I lo-lo... DADA! [big laugh]
Me: No, I love you Mama!
G: I lo-lo you... VAL-VAL! [bigger laugh]
Me: No, I love you Mama!
G: I lo-lo... DOG! [biggest laugh, followed by tickle-fest]

They also invented this awesome game - mostly V but now G is really into it too.

First they crouch in the corner of G's room behind an open closet door. They are my baby mice and they are lost in the "cactuses." So I try to find them, and V coaches me if I get the words wrong: "Where are my baby mice? I miss them so much! Are they behind the curtain? Are they in the fan? Are they in the dollhouse? Where are they?" etc. Then they both start fake-crying (which is HILARIOUS). "Oh, there you are! I found you! I found you!" Then I have to put them both in the "submarine" (G's crib) "to get the itchies and ouchies off." Then I take them out and hang them on the clothesline by their ears (for pretend - I lay them on the bed actually). Rinse, repeat!

The Little Dude

Gabriel drew this:

It's a car!

This is actually my teddy bear. 

(Can an almost-40-year-old woman still sleep with a teddy bear?)

 One day I turned my back for a minute, and when I turned around again I saw this:

Dude. If you can push the chair over to the counter, climb up and find your infant tylenol, then you are so ready to use the potty. Yes you are. Yes you are! Okay, tomorrow then.

And the next day he climbed up on the counter next to the sink and helped himself to the gummy bears hidden on the Shelf of Forbidden Things (e.g. electronics, coins, batteries...)

A.M.

 Some mornings when Gabe and I wake up long before everybody else (not, obviously, when Terry is out of town as he is now) I take him out so his morning exuberance won't wake them up. We go down to the street, buy some bread or byrek (phyllo dough stuffed with cheese and/or spinach, onions, tomato, etc.) and then go to a cafe where we can eat and I can get some coffee.

He likes to help me put sugar in my macchiato, and then spoon up the foam and put it in my mouth - or sometimes his own! I think in these photos he was pouring the coffee dregs into the cup of cold water that you normally get along with your coffee.

We usually make a mess. Which is why we are big tippers!

Birthday Boy: 2 years old!

Aw, Little Dude!  

How was it you were ever so small?

Look at those tiny little fists... that nose... oh sleeping baby!

One turn around the sun, 

Once again the heat of summer,

Here you were: one year old.

My sweet little boy!

 You are SO. MUCH. FUN.
You are playful, mischievous, friendly and a flirt.

You are cuddly and sweet;  sa i dashur the ladies say.

You are curious, delighted, full of laughter and enjoyment of life.

 You've been places!

 You love to monkey around. 

You're way more coordinated than any other kid you're age that I've met.

You are a budding artist!

And comedian!

You love music and dancing.
You have a natural sense of rhythm and exuberant response to music.

Happy birthday to my favorite son. We are so blessed by having you in our lives.
I love you more than I can say. Hugs and kisses, Mama.

Cool dude

My cool little dude is almost 20 months old! I missed his 18-month and 19-month posts so here is an attempt to catch up a bit.

Height: we measured him a couple weeks ago, and he is now 31 inches - he grew well over an inch in the past two months. Incredible.

Development: He's started talking more, in addition to Mama, Dada, and a few other sort-of-words, he now says very clearly: Sun, Hajde ("come here" in Albanian), Agua, and Nëna (Grandma in Albanian). He says something sort of like "Lar-Lar" for Val-Val, and "Boo" for Pooh. And thanks to his sister's alphabetic orientation, he can identify a couple letters consistently and accurately, especially M and S.

He does adorably cute role plays either remembering things that happened, or telling us what he wants to do. He's currently fascinated by candles (we had a couple power outages recently) and one morning woke up saying "Wow! Wow!" and pointed up at the top of the book-cases, where Terry had put the candles the night before. This morning he burped, then put his hands over his mouth and mimed vomiting - ok not so cute, but here's the cute part: then he said "Nëna," and mimed cleaning the floor, because my mom had cleaned the rug after he threw up last week. He role plays putting toy animals and cars to bed, including trying to diaper a plastic horse, and giving a stuffed piglet a toy and blanket to sleep with.

He loves to dance and jump. One morning I just sat and watched him dance in circles around the kitchen, arms raised and jumping up onto his tiptoes, just brimming over with Life. He's such a delicious little squishy bundle of dimpled fun - I have to remind myself to soak it all in while I can.

Sleep: Sometime in December he dropped his morning nap. This was as the footsteps of doom for Pooh, since we used to use this quiet hour in the morning for some mother-daughter breakfast and craft time. But he just doesn't need it, and won't take it anymore. Then about a month ago he decided that a 7:00-7:30 bedtime is for babies, and oh no he's not a baby anymore! He's a big boy who sleeps in a bed, not in a crib, and not until he's good and readzzzzzz. So we've been trying to find a new equilibrium, one that will work even while Terry's away on work trips. Pray for us!!!!!

"Wooshawoo!"

Cute babies

Remember those frozen blueberries I scored? We've been making muffins. Lots and lots of muffins. Also, blackberries are in season. So, more muffins. Yum.

kid stuff

Gabriel is learning to sign! He can sign "hat," "duck," and "rabbit." He also makes appropriate noises for cats, dogs, cows, and frogs. He shakes his head vigorously side to side when he doesn't want something, or when we say "no." He's become very interested in books, and when he finds one he likes he'll stomp over to me or Terry for us to read it to him. He loves books with pictures of animals and babies. He's a great mimic and is already feeding himself really well with a fork. As soon as I bring over the oatmeal for breakfast he puffs out his little cheeks and starts blowing because that's what I do every day :-). When we say bath time he drops whatever he is doing and walks straight to the bathroom as fast as he can. He can kick a ball pretty well, too.

We're still working on sharing, but it's getting better. Valerie will sometime run past Gabriel, throw a toy in his lap and say "Share with 'Briel! Good blob [job]!" Something really clicked for her around the time G started crawling, even more so when he started walking. Suddenly they seem more like siblings, instead of the Queen Bee and the Interloper (well, most of the time anyway). When she wakes up in the morning or after her nap, I'll go in and leave the door open. Usually G is already awake, and he'll follow me into her room. When she hears him coming she sits up with a big smile and as soon as he appears in the doorway she starts laughing and says "Gabriel comes walking!" When G wakes up from his morning nap and I go to get him, she runs ahead of he to his room and knocks on the door saying "knock knock knock, hewo, come in!"

Here is a transcript of V's account of a play date we had a few weeks ago (she was Duck that day):

"Went Sammy-Beanie's house. Saw black doggie in house. Goes 'wa wa was WOOF!' Read big Brown Bear book. Saw pictures on wall. Played in swimming pool. Duck got all wet. Girl splashed you. Went to see toys, went to ride on lion [riding toy], went to sit on lion. Going RRRAWR! Went play toys. Duck ate food in high chair. Duck got milk. Good milk."

Barnyard Dance!

Anyone remember the 2-year-old version of this?

(Look in the background during the last verse - 0:37 - and you'll see some boxers who were working out near us at the park. G was fascinated by them!)

youtube version here.

blurb

Shpresa is away at a retreat this week, so I'm on duty now from x:00 a.m. (whenever Gabriel wakes up) until x:00 p.m. (whenever Valerie falls asleep). Terry has a work trip today and gets back late tonight so I don't have anybody around to shoo me off the computer. I'm waiting for Valerie to fall asleep so I can cut her fingernails. Meanwhile, here are a few photos representative of fun at home! While I'm making an effort to re-instate our twice-daily outings, we do have a lot of fun just hanging around the house.

Monkey just had a bath and is about to have his diaper changed.

This is "Panther's" picnic - I think baby panther is holding a "tomato." The blue triangles are fish, the books are sandwiches, and I'm not sure what the pelican is supposed to be but it's something edible.

I just thought this was too cute: Mama giraffe giving baby giraffe "a BIG hug!"

Buildings

Tonight before I said goodnight to V, she told me "Doggie [her current alter ego] ate fish all day, just like the llama."

I said, "Llamas don't eat fish; seals eat fish, llamas eat grass."

"NO. Llamas eat çubuk!" (breadsticks).

Before I forget...

Some cute things the kids have been doing.

Gabriel:

WALKING!!! (See video in previous post.) And climbing. EVERYTHING.

Yesterday I was making lunch and the kids were playing quietly in the living room. Perhaps TOO quietly. I turned around and saw that Gabriel was standing on the armrest of the couch! Apparently he had climbed up on some sofa cushions that were stacked on the floor, then up onto the couch, then the armrest and onto his feet. Scary!

Beginning to blow kisses, peekaboo expert, eating almost 100% table food with us, ever-louder babbling, and recently became very interested in books, finally! He especially likes pictures of animals and babies, and books with textures (like Feely Bugs, or That's Not My Dinosaur). He also enjoys playing with Valerie's baby doll (although he does try to bite its head sometimes).

Valerie:

She saw a couple Pink Panther clips on Youtube, and she has now adopted a new identity. If I say "Val-Val, do you want some milk?" She'll answer "Panther wants some milk." She calls me Mama Panther, Terry is Dada Panther, and Gabriel is Baby Panther. Except sometimes now she's Bird, and occasionally even Panther-Bird. She acts out portions of the video, like when the panther tries to kill the flea on its nose with a baseball bat (she uses a drinking straw, thankfully) or freeze it off its back with ice cream (she uses plastic toy ice cream, thankfully).

She likes to act out pictures from the big Richard Scarry Storybook Dictionary Anita brought for her. One recurring theme in the book is a pig eating pickles. I commented off-hand one day, "You've never had a pickle, but someday you will get to try one." So for days after that she'd say "someday Val-Val eat a pickle" (this was before the Panther persona). Finally I bought some pickles for her to try and she didn't like them, which I kind of expected, and I felt kind of bad because she was soooo excited when I got them out for her to try. But then she talked about it afterwards a lot, "Val-Val ate a pickle!" so it wasn't a total loss.

She also re-creates the picture of all different kinds of buildings with her blocks, making castles with post-it note flags, "brick" houses, barns, etc.

Today she helped me make cupcakes. Well, first she found the muffin tin I used to make carrot cake cupcakes for Gabriel's birthday, and she got super excited "Mama make cupcakes! Mama make cupcakes!" So I looked around for something to make them special and decided just to add some orange juice for flavor to the basic cake recipe my mom taught me when I was 12. Panther helped me dump in the ingredients and mix them together, and then while they were baking she ate a huge bowl of alphabet soup BY HERSELF, switching back and forth between right and left hands. This is huge for me because even though she CAN feed herself, she hates getting food on her face and so usually insists that I help her eat. But she was so fascinated by the tiny letters that she didn't once ask for my help. Yay! And I don't bake much (ever), so there's not much cooking I do that she can help with since everything else involves knives and heat. So it was really fun to do this together.

Siblings

Some absolutely golden moments that make everything worth it:

• One day I was singing a dance song and V wanted to dance with G but wasn't sure how, so I suggested she hold his hand. He was standing supporting himself with one hand, and she took the other, and did a little running dance step back and forth while he grinned from ear to ear! By the time I ran to get the camera she was done, but it was SO CUTE. You'll just have to use your imaginations.
• Another day G was standing unsupported and I suggested V give him a hug. She stood behind him and put her arms around his shoulders and they both smiled. It was beautiful. Again, same story with the camera, but someday I'll get a shot since she's done it a few times since then as well.
• They've been learning to play together like little puppies on our bed - rolling around, tickling each other's feet and hands, giggling and laughing.

Little Updates

wrapping monkey in his towel post play-bath

Anyone know how to get a 3-year-old to take a nap already????

We've been doing a new thing this week; setting a timer at bedtime and naptime. I lie down with her until the timer goes off, then I leave the room. It's working great at bedtime - instead of fighting sleep and trying to play with me, she actually lies down and puts herself to sleep, like she's trying to fall asleep before the timer goes off (I set it for 20 minutes, though I plan to cut back over time). Naptime is another story. Right now she has been in bed for an hour and a half and is still shouting intermittently. I went in twice to check on her in case she had a diaper issue going on but she was fine. Just not SLEEPING.

And I reeeeeally wanted a nap, myself, today.

Oh well.

Gabriel's been up to some cute new things; he is an enthusiastic mimic and has started imitating hand motions with little songs - adorable! Also, mooing when he holds a toy cow. He really wants to feed himself with a spoon but it's hit-or-miss whether he'll actually get any food into his mouth. He also likes putting the spoon in MY mouth!

We've been trying out our Ergo since I think he's outgrown the Bjorn - he loves the Ergo! I think it's a lot more comfortable for both of us! I haven't figured out yet, however, how to get him on and off my back without help. So when I'm on my own I still use the ring sling.

Valerie and Gabriel have been playing together more which is awesome. They have crawling races down the hallway which both of them find hugely hilarious, laughing all the way. Valerie is learning to touch him gently, and likes to play with his feet and touch his hair.

She's been living in a world of imagination lately - clothespins tossed onto a blanket become beans growing in a jar; her stuffed animals get pretend baths, then the "tub" (any random object will do - a shoebox, a basket, a plastic bowl, a shoe) turns into a cable car, a boat, monkey bars at the playground...

I've night weaned Gabriel this week too, and while he still wakes up two or three times at night, I only give him water and then a quick cuddle and he's back to sleep again with no tears. I wonder what it will take, though, for him to sleep through the night? I'm just don't like not checking on him at all when he wakes up at night, not knowing if he might be cold, or hot, or thirsty, or poopy. So a little drink and a little cuddle it is (exactly one verse of "Like A River Glorious" in my arms, then into the crib). The exception is when he wakes up at around 5:00 a.m. (which is every single morning, no joke). Then I let him sort of grunt and fuss because usually he doesn't actually cry, until he goes back to sleep until 6 or 7. The only problem is that it's light out by that time and I have a hard time falling back asleep myself then.

We've had cooler temperatures this week which as been nice. I've heard August is really really hot so we'll see how we fare with that!

Offspring updates

Often, out of the blue, Valerie will look at me all seriously and say, "Saw Gabriel sitting in the high chair." Oh the trauma of sharing life with a younger sibling! (I say this with love, Rosanne and Anita!) She reminds me of the old lady in Cold Comfort Farm who "saw something nasty in the woodshed" when she was a little girl and never let anyone forget it; in fact, she used this phrase to browbeat people into doing whatever she wanted them to do. We got the high chair for Gabriel but I'd say Valerie uses it about 3x as often as he does. If he so much as touches it when she's in it, screaming banshees come flying out of the woodwork. Teaching her to share is probably our parenting challenge #1 these days.

On the other hand, sometimes apropos of nothing she will run over to Gabriel and throw a toy in his lap and say "Good job sharing with Gabriel!" so something, at least, is sinking in.

Valerie is also learning to spell! We use the alphabet cards Anita gave us, or the wooden blocks, or alphabet puzzle, or old-fashioned pen and paper, and I write words as she dictates. Then I'll ask her to identify which one says "Mama," which says "sun," etc. She knows Val-Val, mama, Dada, sun, and cat. And, randomly, hole. She can pick out the letters to spell Val, mama, and sun by herself!

::

Gabriel is so full of laughter! We should have named him Isaac maybe! He laughs and chortles when he gets the hiccups, one time so hard that he actually spit up. Fake-sneezing is another thing he finds hilarious.

He's also getting more and more interested in doing and exploring. It's pretty hard now to distract or divert him from something he wants to play with, which makes that whole "sharing" thing that much more urgent. Electrical outlets, plugs, appliances, drains... lovely baby toys, from his perspective!

He's learned to shake his head "no" and to wave hello and goodbye as well. And he's really good at peek-a-boo - yet another completely hilarious game as well! (I guess his propensity for laughter strikes me particularly because Valerie is so serious. Even when she's having a lot of fun she often doesn't even crack a smile. Although it is possible to make her helpless with laughter, you just have to hit it pitch-perfectly. Playing catch with a beanie baby monkey and failing to catch it every time is a good one.)

I may have to cut his hair after his birthday, since it's long enough to get in his eyes and I don't think I can get away with clipping it back like I used to Valerie's.

Little Bits of Random

So it's been awfully quiet around here - as quiet as it gets with a 3-year-old Shrieking Eel in residence, that is! Anita et al left on Monday, and Terry did too - he's in Vlorë for 10 days. We'll be joining him later this week. I decided the kids and I should stay in Tirana for a few days to relax at home before another trip. So far I think I made the right decision.

Gabriel is standing unsupported for longer and longer periods of time! He's up to about 30 seconds, I think. It's very exciting! The first day he really stood on his own was May 29, Sunday, in Durrës.

Valerie has about 20-30 angry red welts on her arms and feet from mosquito bites. Gabriel only got two! One on his hand and one on his forehead, and neither reacted the way Valerie's have - dime-sized red circles. She was looking at them yesterday and remarked "Got red spots on arms."

I introduced a new story into our repertoire - the Three Little Pigs. It totally cracks me up every time I say the iconic line, "not by the hairs on my chinny-chin-chin," Valerie responds "Pigs not go buy hair!" (It's very clear to me that she means BUY because "go buy" is the phrase she always uses for shopping.) She laughs too, not sure if it's because I'm laughing or because the idea of buying hair is funny to her!

I've started spelling out words very intentionally with her, using some alphabet cards Anita gave us. I figured she knows the alphabet backwards and forwards (quite literally)* so she is perfectly capable of memorizing how to spell her own name. Mostly I'm focusing on Val, Mama, Dada, Babi (she calls Terry Babi often), and some other simple words (dog, cat, sun, etc.). It's fun!

Anita also brought her a couple jigsaw puzzles and she's getting quite good at putting them together! They are 25 pieces and labeled for ages 3-7. One is of dinosaurs and one of balls and other sports gear (like baseball bat and glove, etc.). She refers to some of the pieces as "cats" and some as "dogs," depending on their shape, and to the wavy line of the puzzle's edge as a "river." When a "cat" piece (an edge piece with one bump, opposite the flat side) goes along the top edge, she says "cat hanging upside down."

And not to ignore little G - he's getting increasingly vocal and will "chatter" on and on about only he knows what! When he's very interested in or curious about something he will stare at it and say "Ta! Ta!" He calls me "Mama" and makes a "bababababa" sound with his fist against his open mouth. I should probably start working on baby sign language with him soon. I can't believe we are one month and one week away from his FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!!

-----

*I've seen her stack the cards from Z to A, in the correct order, starting with the Z on the bottom and working backwards through the alphabet to A. I've also seen her correctly name letters through a glass window, painted on the other side, that were backwards and lower-case!

Valerie's birthday

In her own words:

"Got on red cable car, cable car moving, doors shut, can't fall out!"

"Saw horsies at the top! Hold on tight, don't let go!

Dada right there. Man pulled rope on horsy's nose. Went fast!"

"Had a little picnic in the grass"

"After got off, went home. Had a little party, had cake, got butterfly card. Got new toy*"

"Ready for cake!** Blow out candle!"

*(Not actually a new toy - recycled hand-me-down brought from the US and kept hidden until now. She's been playing with it non-stop!)

**(And no, I didn't make the cake, we bought it at the bakery across the street. And the only candles Terry could find at the store were zeros...)

THREE!

A retrospective...

Newborn

One

Two

THREE!

Almost Three: What a year!

Valerie is almost three years old! And holy cow has it ever been a full year for her. I'm going to imagine her telling you about it herself:

May: I had a birthday! Mama got me this lame cake from Red Front but I liked it. Some kids came over, mostly the ones that I allow to play near me. We played in the sandbox.

June: Mama rested on the couch a lot. She has a big tummy and can't pick me up. Dada went on a loooooong trip and Grandma Irma and Grandpa Conrad stayed with us. I spent a lot of time with Miss Rachel and Grammy Dot.

July: We brought home this BABY. I call him Blablirl. I don't like it when he makes noise. Dada says "that's your baby brother." Aunt Anita came with Uncle David and Solana and Lotus and I had to share my toys.

August: We did a lot of fun things! We went saw animals and a circus! [Rockingham County Fair] That BABY was still here.

September: Tia Rosanne came to visit and some stuff went away. We got on an airplane for a long time and I cried a lot. I felt safe in my stroller because we were in a different place and I was scared. The BABY came too.

October: WE WENT TO SEE THE OCEAN!!!!!

We stayed at a hotel and I played in the playground. I ate french fries. It was fun.

November: It rained and rained and rained. Pesh came to help Mama clean the house. Mama played with me a lot. I decided to start talking.

December: Dada put lights in the windows and it was pretty. Some big boxes came and Mama found lots of books and toys that I remember. I was so happy playing with my Noah's Ark!

January: It was cold. Sometimes I stay with Pesh when Mama has to go to the store. Pesh is nice. She holds Blablirl a lot. Mama tried to make me go pee-pee on the potty but I cried for my diaper so she let me keep my diaper on.

February: We went to live in New House. I have a blue bed. I like playing on the balcony. I like turning all the lights off and on. Blabril came too. Pesh still comes here.

March: We saw the Ocean again! I had fun playing in the sand. I fell off the swing and cried. I ate food and the boy shared his cow with me. Blabril came too.

April: I like going to Fun Cafe and playing on the swing and slide and riding the bike. I like to go to Zoo Park to see the animals. I like going on walks with Dada and riding up high on his shoulders. I like playing on the steps and looking at all the yucky [trash]. No step in dog poop! I like playing on the balcony with Mama or Pesh.

May: I am THREE! I can count like this: Një, dy, tre, katër, pesë, gjashtë, shtatë, tetë, nëntë, dhjetë. Everybody claps! I love jumping, climbing, dancing, spinning, playing in the park, and playing on the balcony. I can turn somersaults and climb trees. I like to say letters and read books - not Mama, just Val-Val. I like to go to Fun Cafe and ride up high on Dada's shoulders. I like to take baths with Blablirl and then stay up late after he goes to sleep. I'm thinking about peeing on the potty but I don't like to take off my diaper. I like to play Baby Up and Down and Come Get Me Mama! I have so much fun!