Another "Where Did You Learn That?!?!"

The other night, I took Lauren to eat at McDonald's. We were on the run from one activity to the next, so quick and easy ruled the day. Before I took her to order, I needed to change her diaper. I had her up on the changing table in the McD's bathroom and she was looking up at the pictures that comprise the safety information. All of a sudden, she said, "It's like Rock, Paper, Scissors, Mama." I swear I did a double take. Where in the world did she learn that?

Well, She Knows Who She's NOT!

Yesterday morning, we were trying to get Lauren dressed. Now, I've talked quite a bit about how rough mornings can be with her, so we were being very calm and patient. She'd had her juice and snuggled with mom for a while, so things were going well. I put on her black turtleneck and went to put this little dress over it. She immediately started screaming and crying, "I'm not a princess! I'm not a princess!" We didn't want to force the issue, so away we went with her in the turtleneck and jeans.

We were both flabbergasted and amused at her reaction. We really don't talk much about the whole princess thing in the house (I'm not a huge fan of the princess mania that's out right now); she's maybe heard a couple of stories with princesses in them and has a little dish set with the Disney princesses on them, so it's really not around. So, how she got the idea that dresses = princesses, I'm not sure. I'm fine with her in jeans every day, though, so it's fine. And, of course, we just need to wait a couple of months and she'll only want to wear dresses. Toddlers are fickle creatures, I'm learning.

Lefty or Righty?

Once Lauren began to reach and grab at things, I watched her carefully to see whether she's right or left handed. I figured she'd be right handed since that's what both Jeremy and I are, but the thing is, I'm not so sure. From the very beginning, she grabbed at things with both hands equally, with maybe even a bit of a preference for the left. I began watching her even more closely, waiting to see if a clear handedness would develop.

The interesting thing is, it hasn't. She isn't clearly right or left handed. She tends to eat with her left hand when she's using her fingers, but uses a fork or spoon with her right. Most of the time, she colors with her right hand, but also does just as well with her left and tends to switch every so often. She always points at things with her left hand and mostly picks things up and arranges things with her left. It's really odd. I think this is one I'll have to keep you posted on!

Our Little Super Beast

Lauren had her third Super Beasts class tonight and did really well. She already understands the routine of it all and is getting really good at following directions. That's the one piece I was worried about with her joining an older class, but I think she'll be fine. When it's time to get the music out at the beginning of class, she runs up, selects her instrument (tonight: maracas and jingle bells) and runs back to my lap. When it's time to put them away, she does so immediately and seems to want to help the other kids. I teared up a little tonight watching that, I'll admit. She's just getting to be such a big girl.

Tonight she wasn't as interested in the exploration time as she was the first night. She's actually more interested in looking at the different parts of the apparatus: the place where the bars connect to the ground and the screw that raises and lowers the beam. I figured she'd look at that a while and then quit when she saw the other kids having fun, but no. Maybe next week she'll actually use the equipment. She did try both of the tricks of the week, though: the forward roll on the balance beam and a back handspring over a bolster. Well spotted, of course.

Lauren's favorite part of all is at the end when they get a stamp on both feet, both hands, and their tummy. The stamp tonight was a red star and she wore it proudly. So happy was she, in fact, that she kept trying to sneak back in line to get more stamps. Goofy girl.

Lauren's Guide to Speaking English

As with any toddler, Lauren has some really cute pronunciations of words. Some she's grown out of quickly, but others have stuck. My favorites:

"Wal-ler" = water

"Liarm" = alarm

"Mee-nah" used to = banana

"Killy" used to = kitty

"Yoguck" used to = yogurt

"Back-cack" = backpack

"Umblella" = umbrella

"Bul-lerfly" = butterfly

Lauren says the "th" sound as "f", so "thanks" becomes "fanks" and "anything" becomes "anyFING." It's really cute.

She's also said a couple of really cute things lately:

- She's persisting in the President Obama thing. She was wearing her Carolina shirt, so I pointed to it and said, "Look, babe, you're wearing your Carolina shirt!" "No, Mom," she said with a hint of irritation, "It's President Obama."

- The other day, I wanted to lie down for a nap, and Lauren helped tuck me in. Jeremy was hovering in the doorway and she pushed him out saying, "Stay back, Daddy." As she shut the door behind them, I heard her say, "Go cook dinner, Daddy." That's my girl!

- She pointed out a leaf that was skittering across the parking lot due to the wind and told me it was walking. I thought that was pretty clever.

- She's had a runny nose ever since that cold last week and a couple days ago, I told her I needed to get her a tissue. "No! No tiss-me!" she wailed. I thought that was pretty clever as well!

Nature vs. Nurture

As Lauren becomes even more herself every day, I've started standing back and wondering where she got some of her personlity traits (okay, quirks) from. Is it a direct genetic link to me that's showing its ugly head or is it from living in proximity to me that's developing these things? You decide:

The Cleaner Upper

The older I've gotten, the more I just want stuff to be in its place. I'm not an OCD neat freak by a long shot, but I believe that everything should have a home in our home and that it should spend the majority of its time there. Of course, I've had to temper that a bit with marrying Jeremy and having Lauren, but overall, I'd say I'm still more interested in having a clean house than most.

That trait does seem to be carrying on to Lauren. She can certainly make a mess with the best of them and really does howl sometimes when it's time to clean up, but if you watch her closely, you'll notice how she likes organizing things and seems to take some happiness from things being neat. This really showed one day when I was watching Hoarders and at the end, the house still wasn't clean. "It's still messy," Lauren said. "There's still boxes." And she was right! Now, has she learned that from me, or is it genetic?

The I-Hate-Mornings Person

I hate mornings. Hate them with a passion. Even if I've gotten 12 hours of sleep, opening my eyes and putting my feet on the floor is painful. Psychically if not physically, anyway. I just hate mornings. No amount of coffee or bluebirds or sunshine can make me happy to be awake. I'm not a night owl either, so I've always chalked it up to just being one of those people that should go into work around 10 am.

As you've seen in my previous posts, Lauren is certainly the same. She just hates being woken up, hates getting dressed, and hates you for doing it to her. I think that there's definitely a possiblity that I just radiate so much negative energy in the morning that she's picking it up, but I do wonder about the genetics of it all.

The Avid Reader

This one is especially pertinent, given that I spent my entire day off today with my nose in a book. I've always loved to read; I love the feeling of being transported to another time and place with a book. I'm currently in two book clubs and read other books as well; I can't get enough. I could do without TV, but never without books.

Ever since Lauren was a little kiddo, she's loved books. We started reading to her almost immediately and for the longest time, we've always read her three stories at night. She carries books everywhere she goes, especially in the car. She can sit for an hour looking at a single book, staring transfixed as if she must remember every detail. Since she doesn't nap anymore, they just give her a stack of books to read and she's as happy as a little clam.

While the two above traits certainly could be explained by her watching me, I think this one is definitely at least partly genetic. She doesn't see me read much, since I do so after she's in bed, though she does see me with books. I think, though, that she just loves the feeling of reading and learning something new. Of course, she can't read the words on the pages yet, but she seems to understand that books bring you to a different world. Wherever she got it, I'm so glad that she loves to read and learn. I just hope that continues!

I Love My Daughter

Watching the news out of Haiti the last few days has been just heartbreaking. My mind can't even comprehend the sadness and devastation the people of Haiti are experiencing and I just wish I could help.

I always feel blessed, but seeing the tragedy these others humans are experiencing really makes me look around and count all the wonderful blessings I have in my life. And the most wonderful blessing of all? My beautiful little monkey-girl Lauren.

From the moment I found out I was pregnant, I have lived in this amazing state of love and grace. Having Lauren was the best thing that ever happened to me: she's changed my world in a million little ways, all for the better. I'm constantly astounded by all the wonderful things she can do and the fact that there's nothing she believes she can't do. Seeing a child become a person is just incredible. She's so strong-willed and independent and smart, and she's so loving and kind to others; she's more than I could have ever dreamed. Watching her learn and grow into her own is such a privilege and I can't wait to see what she does next.

Sick Little Monkey

We have a sad, sick little girl. She started getting a little hoarse sound to her voice on Saturday and had a little cough on Sunday. Sunday night, it became really clear that she was coughing more and more. By the time we went to bed, she had woken up again and was having a tough time. We put her in her room with us and turned on the humidifier. It wasn't easy to get her back to sleep, but she went eventually.

This morning, we decided to go ahead and keep her home for the day. She was warm to the touch, though not quire feverish. She had the runniest nose and watery eyes. Poor kiddo was just miserable. So, we just relaxed and played quietly all day. She seemed to be getting a little better, until after nap. She started coughing so hard that she threw up a couple of times. She felt terrible and kept apologizing to me. I immediately called the doctor and off we went.

Basically, she just has a really bad cold. The doctor said to keep an eye on her cough and make sure her ears are okay, and that she should be fine. It looks like I'll be staying home tomorrow since she isn't any better, but I'm glad to know it's just a cold.

The funny thing about this is that our daycare lady, Veejay, totally knew Lauren was getting sick before she was showing any symptoms. She told me on Friday that Lauren had had a great day, really being quiet and easy to work with. I was pleased, until she told me that she thought it was because Lauren was getting sick. Turns out she was right, but it's too bad that's the only reason for a good day!:)

Clever Girl!

Lauren said some really smart things yesterday that I wanted to share.

- We were driving home from daycare and she was looking at a book. She told me that she found a square. I asked her what color. "Light blue," she says. She was right, too!

- As I got in the backseat to undo her carseat buckles, she said, "Is it still raining, Mama?" I'd never heard her used 'still' before, but she did it again today.

- When we got home, she was eating an apple. She kept putting her finger on the stem, so I told her that apples grow on trees and that the stem keeps the apple on the tree. "It's like a stick," she said. Again, she was right!

We did a little potty-training today and it was pretty successful! She went on the potty probably 8 out of the 10 times. I do think this is the right time, so we'll see how it goes!

She's a Super Beast, Super Beast! She's Super Beastie!

We've been wanting to get Lauren into a more structured class like some sort of movement or art, so tonight we took an introductory class at Little Gym, called "Super Beasts." The littler kids are "Beasts" and Lauren's age group are the "Super Beasts." Isn't that cute and oh so true?

Anyway, I think we've found her niche! She did pretty well at the group activities; catching on and mimicking the others fairly well. She even followed directions about putting things away. I was amazed! Where she really shone, though, was in the exploration times and skill of the week, where she got to try all sorts of equipment and even start learning some basic moves. She's fearless and will try anything, even if she's not totally clear on what she's doing. She's also quite strong and can do a full somersault by herself! The teacher even commented that she seemed very strong and coordinated. I puffed up with pride and maybe even got a tear in my eye. It's so amazing to watch her personality peeking (well, barging, sometimes) through and learning more and more about her. I have a pretty cool kid!

So, of course after the comments from the teacher and seeing how much fun Lauren had, we signed her up for classes through June. We're going to go to the next three Super Beasts class (we get them for free) to get her acquainted with how the class runs and how to participate and listen and then we're going to try her in the "Funny Bugs" class, which is for 3-4 year olds. She's not quite old enough, of course, but she seemed okay tonight and we can always move her back if needed. So, into training she goes!

Here She Comes!

This afternoon, as I was walking up to Veejay's to pick Lauren up from daycare, I could hear happy little voices outside. Today was near 50, and this was their first trip out in ages. They were all so thrilled!

As I got closer, I heard this one sweet little voice bellowing over the others. I couldn't hear what she was saying, but it was clearly Lauren's voice. As I stepped in the gate, I saw her on this swing-like thing, being pushed by Miss Veejay. It took her a minute to even notice I was there, but once she did she shouted, "Mama! I on swing with Miss Bee-jay!" I started talking to Miss Veejay and Miss Suzie about her day while Lauren continued to swing. Over our conversation, I heard her said, "It's the Law-wen train!" I laughed and asked her what she said. She just answered me with a "chug a chug a choo choo!" What a funny little girl!

Ordinary Days

I'm discovering that it's difficult to blog when we just have an ordinary day, which is most days. Lauren will occasionally come up with little snippets of funny thoughts or do something really cute, but normally, we're just going about our day, boring as that can sometimes be. In writing this, though, I'm realizing that even on those "boring" days, I keep little snapshots in my mind of what she's doing and saying, even when it's not out of the ordinary.

Snapshots I'm seeing right now:

- Lauren "peeling" a play banana to give to me as she gave me a lunch she made in her new kitchen.

- Lauren "driving" to the store. She would get in the big blue recliner and move her hands in front of her as if moving a steering wheel. She'd then get down, do her shopping with the play food and the shopping cart and then get back in the recliner to drive home. She even got a little wild with her driving, bouncing up and down and back and forth, making me and Jeremy laugh.

- Lauren sitting zombie-like in front of the TV watching Max and Ruby or Busytown Mysteries. She actually sits with her mouth open; I figure it's only a matter of time before I see her drooling.

- Lauren sitting out in the living room this morning with the cat after she decided she must play. She woke up really, really early and once I got up, wanted to shower with me. Jeremy was trying to distract her when she decided she must play. As I walked from the bathroom to the bedroom, I could see her out on the floor playing and saying something to the cat. Who knows what they were up to, though I would guarantee he wasn't a willing participant.

- Lauren taking my drinks in the car after my run. She and Jeremy picked me up at the end of my long run so that we could donate blood. I had both a bottle of Gatorade and some tea from Starbucks in order to hydrate. Well, Little Miss thought they were both for her, so I kept hearing, "Have some juice, Mom?" and "I need coffee!"

- Lauren getting really irritated at me for something (who knows what?) and telling me, "No, Mama, stay back!" as she pushed on my legs.

- Lauren sitting in my lap so that I could read to her. She gets such joy out of being read to and gets this huge grin on her face as you read.

- Lauren standing on the couch dancing to the theme song from Busytown Mysteries.

The thing that I'm learning about the "Terrible Twos" is that they're not so bad. Sure, Lauren can whine and cry with the best of them, but really those times are not all that common and I've learned to head many of them off. What's truly wonderful about this age is these little moments of seeing her learn and live and grow and getting to be part of that. That's what makes each day special, even if it's "boring."