« December 2004 | Main | February 2005 »
January 26, 2005
No Imagination
So last Sunday, I had Signa all day, while Marc finally got a day off. One day. Alone with a 2-year-old.
I have no idea how Marc does this. He just sits and plays with her and her toys, making up games. I am uncreative. I have to have PROJECTS. So we painted, glued cotton pompoms, made window hangings out of glue, colored with markers, made a piggy bank jar, filled that with change, one at a time, and made hard boiled eggs and pudding (vanilla and then explored colors with food coloring).
So when I went on to find another thing to do (paint rocks), poor Signa. She says, "No, Momma. Seep. Signa seep. This way." And she took my hand and led me to bed.
I have got to learn how to just play like a normal kid. Star Wars forts and Little People nap times. I just don't know how. Projects sound all cool and crafty, but sadly it was out of desperation, because I really honestly don't know how to just be.
Signa just looks to me like I'm the most boring person in the universe with the least imagination (which is actually true, but I just didn't want her to learn that this early) and I flounder and pull out a project. Marc just grabs toys and uses his imagination.
Wonder where I can buy some of that?
So after her nap, I she said, "Paint rocks." Since we'd talked about it before her nap, I thought that's what she wanted to do. So we went outside and got a rock and then painted it.
Yesterday I learned that I really can't understand my own two-year-old. She said, "Paint rocks" to Marc and then they held hands and walked (the whole five steps) to the train table. Huh?
Marc explained that, "Please walk" means that she wants to walk with you to her toys and then for you to sit down and play with her.
"Please walk" sounds JUST LIKE "Paint rocks." Really it does.
Then she said, "Pink one" which clearly to me meant that she wanted a pink animal cookie, since that is her current obsession (actually, I THOUGHT it was, but it changes and I don't notice so it's likely windmill cookies or meatloaf now). Anyway, I thought she wanted a pink animal cookie. "Pink one" could only mean that, right? Nope. Can also mean, "Penguin." Batman was what she really wanted.
So I have no idea what she is saying, even when I think I do. "Hold you," though, I think I get. I think it means, "Hold ME" but she has no idea of the difference between "you" and "me". Besides, what do I say? "Do you want me to HOLD YOU?" So that is what she hears. Wonder if she thinks it's all one word that stands for having me heft her up by her armpits and then grasp her tightly. "HOLDUE"
As you can likely tell from the things she does and plays with, Signa isn't a very girlie girl. She likes superheroes and Star Wars and monsters (even thought she calls them, "Scare wee" she is drawn to them). She does have a couple of exceptions. She love Hello, Kitty and Care Bears. I hate Hello, Kitty and Care Bears, but when I see them now, my skin doesn't boil and vomit doesn't rise from my bowels. I now think of Signa. I hope that doesn't happen with Barney. I truly hate Barney with a passion.
Signa also has one small My Little Pony that I got her when Melanie was over, because Melanie got one. They played together, but now mostly Signa uses it for Darth Vader or Fisher Price people to ride around on.
But that My Little Pony isn't useless. I found out that our gay cat, Jones, adores that My Little Pony. He sleeps with his head on it and rubs his face all over it lovingly. This morning he dragged it by the brushable hair to the train table and was found bathing it.
Oh, and he's not gay because he likes My Little Pony. He's gay because he likes our other boy kitty. A lot.
Posted by Debbie at 04:43 PM | Comments (0)
January 19, 2005
Tickobah
This just in. "Tickobah" has been defined. "Tinkerbell". Tickobah, the word Signa has been saying since March 2004 when she was 18 months old. We never could figure it out. "Take a bath?" No. What? What is it?
Tinkerbell.
Marc has a figurine on his computer and it represents her time with Marc watching coming attractions on his computer and also Disney movies. "Tickobah."
-----
We've had a tough few days with poop. Or lack of. I always thought constipation was when you didn't poop for a long time. Turns out it can also be when you pooped just yesterday, but then you get a big ol' one clogging you up so that you can't any more.
Oh. This is Signa, not me or Marc, by the way. Somehow that makes it a little less gross.
Anyway, to cut to the chase, Signa finally eliminated it, but the repercussions are a raging diaper area that she just cries about when it's time to change her. Actually, it's worse than crying, since she can talk now. Crying was one thing, but when she has her super scared high-pitched voice on and is saying things like, "Diaper on, Daddy? Diaper on, Momma?" and then repeating everything as if it is a beg ("Just a little longer. Good girl, Signa." "Signa good girl?"). It's heart wrenching. I hate it when she's not perfectly well.
-----
I also wanted to write down that Signa repeats everything. Like this:
Signa- "Down, Daddy."
Me- "I'm Momma."
Signa- (giggle) "I'm Momma. Down, Daddy."
She loves watching Go, Baby on "pay disney DOT COM!" (she says this, with the DOT COM part done really loud). She likes, "Farmer hat! Farmer hat!" (where they find a lamb). Her second favorite is the beach one (she likes the hermit crabs) and then the one where they sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star makes me cry, as Signa sings along quietly and it's so pretty.
She also has been doing the Reader Rabbit Toddler games. She's slowly understanding the mouse, although she mostly just scrolls it around the mouse pad at breakneck speeds until the things does what she wants. I think it's all an accident at this point.
I went to a baby shower on Sunday that was so fun and so pretty. I got sad when I realized I won't have any more baby showers. Oh well. The one for Signa was so magical that it can't be repeated anyway.
Posted by Debbie at 12:33 PM | Comments (0)
January 14, 2005
Our Vacation: AKA The Conner Party
Wednesday, January 5, 2005, approximately 8:30am
The call came. "Mom Cell" is what my phone's display read. "They are on their way!" I exclaimed before pushing the Talk to Me button (that isn't really what it is called, but that's what I call it). It wasn't just that they were on the way. They were on the way with no room in the car.
Didn't they know that we were a family of three? A family of three with one of us being 2 years old and requiring much equipment and toys. We freaked out. Frantic about what would stay and then, when we decided nothing, who would stay? I decided Signa, since she takes up the most room, but that was vetoed. Also by me.
Then the phone rang again. "Mom Cell" again. "Todd told me to call you back and tell you that we have plenty of room and that I should stop being so dramatic." I think she said something like that anyway. So we stopped worrying and then when they arrived, they repacked the car and all was well. So what if Austin had to sit next to diapers (clean), a potty seat (also clean), and a Wiggles backpack.
Wednesday, January 5, 2005, approximately 10:30am
Apparently Signa gets carsick. We learned this soon after we also learned the highway 50 is much shorter if you don't take BUSINESS 50. We also learned that cheese stays pretty much intact when it's regurgitated 2 hours after eaten. It's just juicier.
After an hour or so of clean up (Signa, Marc, the car, the carseat), we were back on the road. Complete with new little air fresheners in lovely strawberry and apple flavors. Cheesy strawberry and apple flavors.
Wedensday, January 5, 2005, approximately 1:30pm
Holy smokes! What an awesome cabin. It's a three story (four if you count that there are some steps down into the garage) log cabin, complete with three bedrooms, three bathrooms and a big "great room" with a fireplace and all. Our view was nice (snow) and the place was fully stocked. Well, it was after Todd and Mom and Kelly went to the grocery store.
As they were getting ready to go, I decided I was starving to death and went for the jar of pickles in the back of the refrigerator. Suddenly, on their own accord, the jar of pickles was flying right out of the refrigerator and onto the tile flooring. Shattering everywhere (and getting glass all the in the pickles so now I couldn't even eat them as I cleaned up). As a side note, throughout our time there, I also dropped a container of Tobasco sauce and found old, dead limes in the garbage disposal.
Anyway, we ate and rested and played and taught Signa about stairs being unsafe. Then when that concept didn't work, we went to "stairs are scary". Then just HOT! HOT did the trick. Also the baby gate that we found in the closet.
Thursday, January 6, 2005, approximately 6am
A beautiful, sunny day with snow everywhere, but not that cold and just perfect. A perfect day to head over to the Donner Party Museum! We checked out the displays and then watched the movie. Haven't seen it? It had to have been made 30 years ago. It documents the history of the Donner Party and all they went through. It's great (except for the song that made Marc and I laugh inappropriately). Towards the end of the movie, there is a quote from a letter that a little girl who survived wrote to her cousin back east. I won't try to quote the quote, but it basically said, "It's neat out here, but when you come, don't try to take any shortcuts."
We left the museum and decided to walk the trail to see the monuments. As long as we stayed in the middle of the trodden path, we were fine. But have a foot veer off to the right or left and you'd sink almost to your knee! Oh the horror! We trudged on.
Then Todd, our leader, who also had been here 3 weeks prior, said, "Oh, we missed the shortcut." Please reread the above story about the little girl. She warned us not more than 15 minutes ago not to take freaking shortcuts.
Now I'm not blaming Todd, because we all had eyes, ears and feet of our own. And since we all are home safe, it actually makes for a funny story. Especially since Todd is the one that we made carry the 30-pound crying toddler while we were WAIST DEEP IN SNOW STRUGGLING TO MAKE IT BACK TO THE MUSEUM.
I just know the rangers were watching us from the windows of the oh-so-far-away building with their feet propped up on their desks, kicking back saying, 'Ah ha ha ha. Check out the stupid city folk!"
But we did make it without their help. All is well (except me who has a wicked cold- not that you catch colds from being cold- I'm just sayin'...).
After that, the previous plan to go sledding was abandoned and we went back to the cabin and rested.
In the afternoon, Mom and I went to the grocery store for food. "Why is it so darned crowded at 2pm on a weekday?" "I don't know. Why are all the shelves so bare? I hope these people don't know something we don't."
They did.
Friday, January 7, 2005 and Saturday, January 8, 2005 and Sunday, January 9, 2005
A near-blizzard. We couldn’t even see out of the windows for the rest of our trip.
Which was fun. We ate, played cards, watched Signa torture Austin with an immense amount of love, and generally just relaxed and had a really good time.
It was really fun to see how much Signa loved waking Austin up. "WAKE UP, AUTIN! WAKE UP!" She now plays that game with her toys. She buries them under the blanket and shakes them all awake. It's so cute. She really does, I think, believe that Austin was put on this earth to be loved by her. It was all so wonderful.
However, Signa does now look at pictures of snow and say, "Snow. Bad guy."
Posted by Debbie at 01:41 PM | Comments (0)
January 13, 2005
More About Signa
Some cute things Signa has done in the past few days:
Marc and I were talking at the dinner table. He broke his tooth night before last and yesterday made a dental appointment with a new dentist. So at dinner I said, "What's your doctor's name?" and Signa jumped in and said, "Doctor EVIL!" (She plays with Marc's Captain Action and Doctor Evil action figures).
One day Marc and I were playing, "Sneak up on Momma/Daddy." We'd tiptoe in an overly exaggerated way. All Signa really saw was that we were bouncing up and down (do it- you'll see) and so now she says, "Shhhhh... Sneaking!" and bobs up and down through the house.
The other day, Signa started pointing at the kitchen and saying, "Cheese! Cheese!" Marc said, "Do you want some cheese?" "NO! Cheese, cheese, cheese!" Getting more frantic and pointing at the counter in the kitchen. Marc figure it out: Signa loves to line toys up. Marc gets a kick out of it and takes pictures of them a lot. She wanted him to takea picture of her perfectly lined up toys.
She loves to call everything, "Scary." Just because it get a rise out of us. I love how she says it, though. She overly enunciates the "S" and the "K" sound and then says AIRWEE. SSSSS K AIRWEE!
We were discussing the mishap of Jar Jar Binks in the Star Wars movie. "I hate Jar Jar," said I. Marc said, "Signa, can you say, 'Jar Jar Binks'?" Signa replied, "You're welcome." Yes, Binks does sound like Thanks.
Posted by Debbie at 02:41 PM | Comments (0)
January 10, 2005
December Pictures
Here they are:
www.mascotmanor.org/Pictures/dec04/index.htm
Posted by Debbie at 01:54 PM | Comments (0)
January 05, 2005
November Pictures
November pictures are up:
http://www.mascotmanor.org/Pictures/nov04
December will be next week. Shouldn't take too long!
Posted by Debbie at 12:12 AM | Comments (1)
January 04, 2005
Signa-isms
NOTE: I lost all my email addresses when I forgot to back them up before Marc redid my computer so that I could play Sims2. And so that it would stop shutting down at will, but mostly so that I could play Sims2. So please email me at debbie at mascotmanor dot org.
Thanks! I now return you to SIGNA-ISMS:
*****Octopus=Apple Juice=Elephant*****
If you show Signa a picture of an 8-legged sea creature (or a purple leggy thing with plaid) and ask her what it is, she says, "Appo Jew!" If you show her a picture of a large animal with a trunk and ask her what it is, she says, "Appo Jew!" (and makes the sound of an elephant that is surprisingly exactly like an elephant). If you ask her to say, "Apple Juice" she says, "Appo Jew!" (showing her a picture of apple juice or a container of apple juice, though, gets, "Milk!")
So Appo Jew=Octopus=Apple Juice=Elephant.
*****6-armed monster women are also called Octopus*****
If you show Signa a picture like this:
She will respond with, "Appo Jew!"
*****"Was 'at, Dad?"*****
We hear this 100 times a day. Marc hears it while I'm at work. It usually is twice, really. "Was 'at? Was 'at, Dad?" He thinks it is cute even though it's slightly repetative and slightly repetative. I, however, can't tell you how many times I have to tell her, "I'M NOT DAD! I'M MOMMA!"
"Was 'at, Dad?"
"I'M NOT DAD! I'M MOMMA!"
"Momma! Was 'at, Dad?"
*****The Hi Game*****
All her Fisher Price Little People, all her stuffed animals, all her plastic animals and toy dinosaurs. All her Wiggles and her one Care Bear and one My Little Pony and all her homemade Playdoh whatevers. All her Star Wars people and all her train table people. All of them. They play the Hi Game. Signa frantically brings two of any combination of the above listed items and hands you one. She then bounces the one she kept up and down and says, "Hi! Hi! Hi!" Then it's your job to bouncy your item up and down and say, "HI! My name is [fill in the blank]. What's your name? [pause while Signa just laughs] Want to play?" Then her bouncing thing says, "OKAY!"
*****Musical Signa and Her New Piano o' Fun*****
Grampa and Grandma Molly sent Signa a Toys R Us Gift certificate. We took Signa there on Friday, hoping we'd figure out what to get her with it when we got there and saw what Signa played with. I'd my mind set on a Video Now Jr. thing that travels and plays special DVDs, but when we saw it, we decided we'd rather not. It looks like she'd outgrow it too fast and the videos for it were not worth all that money. She also didn't like it.
What she did like were all the things she already had. But we finally found the perfect thing. A piano. Not just ANY piano, but one with a microphone that attaches and a little bench to boot. Signa is in heaven. She sits at her little piano like Stevie Wonder, all playin' and swayin'. There was even $$$ leftover for a Millennium Falcon with tiny Star Wars people that she loves. (see next section)
*****Ton-tons, Sand People, Jawwas and The Noises They Make*****
How in the world did I not see this coming? How could I not have known that my 2-year-old would not only LOVE Star Wars (the first one... wait... I mean the fourth one... but the first on they made... oh whatever), but also be able to name all the characters AND mimic the noises they make? It's uncanny. Ton-tons make this nyuk nyuk almost 3 Stoogesy sort of sound. Jawwas talk in whispers. It is so cute and so weird coming from my tiny daughter. I'm glad she will be a dork, but also glad that she isn't so into it that they don't just reenact the big screen; they can play the Hi Game and take naps (see next section)
*****Naps for All*****
Another fun game beside the Hi Game is the Nap Game. This is new. Signa, my non-sleeper, is suddenly very into making sure that all her Fisher Price Little People, all her stuffed animals, all her plastic animals and toy dinosaurs. All her Wiggles and her one Care Bear and one My Little Pony and all her homemade Playdoh whatevers. All her Star Wars people and all her train table people. Get naps. She lies them down and makes snoring noises and says, "S'eep. Jawwa s'eep. [or whatever it is]" She herself has also been (knock wood) sleeping much better. She has a cough that won't stop, but it only hits once at night and then it's gone. I hesitate to say it aloud, but I think the average sleep lately has been 7 or 8 hours. Interrupted by a cough, but no boobies
*****The Wonder of the Pictures Decorating Noah's Ark*****
I like to do art with Signa. I mostly do it, but she watches and then I put her name on it and the date and get all proud that my kid does art. We paint, fingerpaint, use markers and crayons and coloring pages I print from the internet. So one day I said, "What do you want to do, Signa? Want to do some art?" "Ark! Okay!"
So this brings us to another thing we do. Another game. Sometimes following the Hi Game and sometimes a prelude to the Hi Game. Sometimes following the Naps for All Game and sometimes a prelude to it. She has the Fisher Price Noah's Ark and is obsessed with the pictures "hanging" on the wall inside when you open it up. She says, "Pictures!" and that means take any and all men/dinosaurs/playdoh people and assemble them in front of the pictures. Sometimes she gets 20 or 30 folks checking them out. They all just stand there checking out the art on the ark. All the little things arranged like they are at a concert, facing the Art on the Ark.
I almost have November's pictures done. And December. Next week for sure!
Posted by Debbie at 11:14 AM | Comments (0)
January 03, 2005
List of Signa-isms for Later Posts
Dear Signa,
I am such a dork. It's been so busy everywhere that I've not been logging all the cute/funny/silly/ingenious things you've been doing. And since I can't remember from one moment to the next, here is a quick list to be explained later:
* Octopus=Apple Juice=Elephant
* 6-armed monster women are also called Octopus
* "Was 'at, Dad?"
* The Hi Game
* Musical Signa and Her New Piano o' Fun
* Ton-tons, Sand People, Jawwas and The Noises They Make
* Naps for All
* The Wonder of the Pictures Decorating Noah's Ark
I want to log all the you things in here, but I have to at least mention the disaster of gigantic proportions that occurred in the world last week. Many, many tens of thousands (possibly hundreds of thousands) people were killed when there was a tidal wave after a big earthquake in Asia. It's very hard and sad to see the news these days.
I hope that the New Year brings the families of these folks some comfort and peace and that you, my Mrs. Magillicutty, have a wonderful, happy, healthy new year.
Love,
Momma
(to be continued)
Posted by Debbie at 12:23 PM | Comments (0)