The Tiny Overlord

Familly Traditions

2011-12-24T20:13:00.000-05:00

We're trying to include as many of the family traditions we grew up with as we can. On Christmas Eve, we read Christmas story books and watched some Christmas specials on TV (one channel is playing A Christmas Story, back to back, nonstop for 24 hours!) We tracked Santa through NORAD, watching him deliver toys across the globe, slowly coming closer to us.

We ate tacos for dinner, a practice that started when I was still dating Steve. His family used to go to a friend's Christmas Eve party every year, and needed a quick dinner that was easy to make but filling. Three years in a row it was tacos. We dubbed it Feliz Navidad and continued the tradition. The friends have since moved away and the party no longer happens, but Christmas Eve tacos live on.

Before bed, we cleared the space in front of the fireplace, and left out a plate of home made cookies and milk. Now I'm looking forward to her first real Christmas morning!

Paging Doctor Summer

2011-12-24T09:21:00.003-05:00

She came up to me and said "Your shirt hurt you, Mommy," and patted my arm. "You need medicine. And bandage." So I gave her a piece of tape and said "This is a pretend bandage. Will you put it on my arm, Doctor Summer?"

She did, then said I needed medicine. So she grabbed one of her wooden spoons, declared it be "pretend medicine" and rubbed it on my arm. She said my other arm was hurt and rubbed the spoon on it. I asked her if the medicine would make me feel better.

She replied "Of course. I doctor."

Bedtime Routine

2011-12-23T20:03:00.003-05:00

We usually eat dinner around 7pm. After dinner, Summer usually plays a bit with Daddy while I clean up the kitchen, pack lunches and breakfast and in general get ready for the next day. At 7:30 we head upstairs. She is generally enthusiastic if we pretend to be bird climbing up our tree to get to our nest.

Once upstairs, we brush her teeth. This used to be fun and easy, until she decided she didn't like it. That was solved by making up a Tooth Brushing song. Now however, like many other things, she has decided "Do it MYSELF!". We can usually get her to compromise by letting her brush her front teeth, which she does a good job of, and then I guide her brushing efforts for her back teeth, with varying degrees of success.

We change her diaper and put on diaper ointment and then begins the battle of pajamas. Some nights it's easy as pie, other nights it involves her running around the room like a diapered banshee while Daddy and I try to reason with her, and finally just grab her and hold her down while we wrestle her into soft, comfy night clothes.

Diapered, brushed and clothed, we begin the winding down portion. We all snuggle together for a few moments. Some nights she had a drink of milk, either in a cup or a bottle, other nights she just wants a snuggle. When she's ready for bed, she gives Daddy hugs, then I pick her up and sing to her while Daddy heads downstairs. We sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, then I lay her in her crib. She gets comfortable and I cover her with a blanket and give her either her Bunny or her Whale Shark to snuggle with, then I sing "Hush A Bye." She gets a kiss on the head, I tell her that Mommy and Daddy love her very much and I assure her that if she needs us, she can call for us. Then I head down stairs. About once or twice a week, she calls for us once, but most nights she goes right to sleep.

Let's Play

2011-12-22T10:24:00.003-05:00

What an imagination she has! So far this week she's been a princess, an astronaut, a pirate and a chicken. When we play princess, I have to dress in a "princess dress" which is actually my pink houserobe, and she needs "shiny armor." This ranges from my chain mail shirt to the remote to her Moon light (which apparently runs on gas, as she frequently tells me that it's out of gas).

Yesterday she told me that she wanted to dress up like a doctor. So I grabbed her lab coat and her stethoscope and she had a doctor costume. I'm pretty happy that so far we've been able to help her with all of her costume requests. We had to improvise a bit more with her pirate costume, since she's outgrown everything that we had already. I used a bandana as her pirate hat and her Daddy made her a pirate sword out of cardboard. She runs around the house waving the sword, looking for treasure and yelling "Ho ho ho!". It's supposed to be Yo ho ho, but she's getting it a bit mixed up with Santa Claus.

Oh, and she's got a big cardboard box that she uses as her sailboat.

Toddler Logic 2

2011-12-17T22:54:00.001-05:00

Little one said her doll needed a bandage. I gave her some tape. She looked at it, looked at me and said "That not bandage, mommy. That tape."

Pixie Dust

2011-12-15T22:53:00.000-05:00

Little one told me that I needed pixie dust, so she sprinkled some on me and said "Here you go, Mommy." I'm informed I can now fly.

Fun Day

2011-12-10T22:49:00.002-05:00

We had such a fun day with the little one today! This morning, the Overlord and I played hide and seek. Then she told me "Dress like princess, mommy!" So I grabbed my pink robe and declared it to be a princess dress. I got one of my summer dresses and tied up the spaghetti straps so that it fit on her, just barely. It was ankle length on her. She was quite happy. When her daddy woke up, he looked at me with puzzled look, so I explained that we were dressed like princesses. He said "oh, that makes perfect sense."

Next she declared that she needed water for garden in the kitchen. Apparently the cat furniture is actually her plants. In the afternoon, we went to a jump house. So tired now!

Funny Colors

2011-12-01T22:48:00.000-05:00

Summerism of the day: I asked her if she liked different colors - red, yellow, blue, etc. She said Yes to each of them. So I asked her if there was a color she didn't like. She was silent for a moment, then said "Gray. Gray not funny."

New Summerisms

2011-11-30T17:58:00.003-05:00

"I a cutie pie."

"Where are you, cats? Where ARE you?"

"Can't find my letters anywhere!"

One morning, I asked her if she had good dreams. She replied "Play bouncy ball on Moon. On Moon, have big hats! Go there with rocket ship!"

This morning, she wanted to touch the Moon. Daddy told her that it was too far away, then asked "How can you touch it, if it's too far away?" She replied "Hmm, don't know. Maybe use rocket ship!"

Owl

2011-11-29T11:59:00.002-05:00

Tonight Summer was an owl; instead of "flying" around the house saying "tweet tweet" she flew around saying "whoooo whoooo".

Croup

2011-11-17T11:51:00.001-05:00

Little one had a slight fever a few days ago. Yesterday she was fine in the morning but SO grumpy and cranky in the afternoon!

Her daddy took her to the doctor and turns out she has croup. We have two medications for her, we're running her humidifier. Croup is usually not serious, but when it turns bad, it does so quickly, so just to be safe we're taking turns sleeping with her, on the advice of the doctor.

Update: after three days she's much better.

2011-11-15T22:46:00.000-05:00

Little one wants to wear her Tinkerbell dress this morning. I offered the suggestion that she wear her pajamas to Ms. Sharon's house and change into the dress there. She told me "Good idea Mommy."

Ah Ha!

2011-11-09T22:41:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, as Steve and Summer were driving home, she said "Summer have idea! Look at Moon through goggles!" So when they got home, Steve gave her a pair of binoculars and we all looked at the Moon together. Her response? "Wow!"

She then walked around the house, looking at things through the binoculars. "Ah ha!" she would exclaim. "What did you find?" we would ask. "Kitchen!" she replied proudly, or "Couch" or "Mommy!"

Toddler Logic

2011-11-09T22:41:00.001-05:00

Steve pulled a blanket over his head and tried to sneak up on Summer. She said "Clearly Daddy."

Trick or Treating

2011-10-31T22:15:00.002-04:00

The Overlord has had a Tinkerbell costume for some time now. She wore it at Dragon*Con and we're planning to have her wear it for Halloween. The weather has turned cold, so we bought a white long sleeved shirt and white pants. We were more excited than she was, at least at first. The first house we went to was a bust; the person walked away when we rang the door bell. It turns out that having your porch light on is a code 'round here that you participate. No porch light, no candy. Most of the people on our street are Halloween Scrooges and had their lights off. But between walking the whole street and a few houses on the main street in our neighborhood, she had fun and figured out this whole trick or treating thing.

We came in when we realized how cold she was getting. She was having too much fun to tell us that she was cold. She got to eat one piece of candy and then to bed, although she had a bit of a meltdown when she couldn't take the light sticks and a pumpkin into bed with her. Hopefully she has fun trick or treating dreams.

Simple Joys

2011-10-30T22:40:00.000-04:00

We gave the little one a pack of magnetic letters - you know, the ones that you put on your refrigerator. She's exclaiming "Those Summer's letters! That a B! That a O!" with her Daddy. She is so happy and excited!

2011-10-25T22:39:00.000-04:00

Little one can finally really jump - both feet off the floor. She can't stick the landing yet, but she's working on it.

Crunching Leaves

2011-10-24T22:32:00.002-04:00

We were outside on a lovely autumn day today. We told the little one to go crunch some leaves that we had raked up into a pile. She obediently took a bite of one - after all, isn't that how you crunch apples and crackers and snacks? She didn't think it was as much fun as we had made it seem. I felt so bad!

We demonstrated how to make them crunch and rustle by stepping on them, and she did think that was fun.

Not Yet

2011-10-18T22:31:00.000-04:00

Had to convince the little one that her Tinkerbell costume might not be the most comfortable for her car ride. She agreed to wait until Saturday to wear it. Can't wait for Halloween!

Summer Dragon

2011-10-02T21:53:00.003-04:00

Summer has recently decided that she is a dragon. The Paper Bag Princess is one of her favorite stories. Like her father, she tends to be sympathetic to the to dragon in the story. She calls it the Dragon Book and often requests it by that name.

A few days ago she decided that she was a dragon. She refers herself as Summer Dragon and walks around saying "rawr". She has also started picking up small items around the house and referring to them as "treasure." Apparently Summer Dragon needs to increase the size of her hoard. Luckily for us, dragons seem to take lots of naps and eat snacks.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

2011-10-01T21:59:00.002-04:00

Today was one of those great days! Yesterday the wind really kicked up and Summer declared that she wanted to fly a kite. We didn't get a chance, so when today was still windy, we decided to take advantage of it.

We headed out to a local park, White Oak Park, which as it turns out is MUCH larger than we ever knew. We joined several other families out in a large field, all flying kites with young children. The field consisted of gently rolling hills, overlooking a creek and copses of woods. There was a birthday party in a pavilion close to us and down the hill a playground full of children. It was like an idyllic scene from some movie.

We flew a kite with long red tails. Summer didn't like the kite being up too high in the sky, so I pulled it down low. She had a great time chasing the tails and grabbing them when the wind make the kite dip down.

After a while, she wanted to go to the playground so we headed down hill. The playground was full of kids from another birthday party so we had to be careful around the larger kids. We found a slide that was designed for the younger set and she had a great time. It was at least twice as long as her slide at home, so she felt quite brave. We eventually moved on to a plastic pipe that she could climb through and then a large multi-level "barn" that had stairs and platforms and bridges, with another slide that she loved. She had to share this one with two other little ones, which was good for her. She had to wait her turn and practice being patient. For the most part she did a really good job.

We went down to the little creek and she splashed her hands in it, and threw a few pebbles into the water. Then we went back up the hill and flew the kite a little more. When we all got hungry, we packed up and headed to a restaurant. By the time we came home, Summer was tired and headed off to bed, an hour early. She was tired enough to be cranky, but all we had to do was to ask her "What was your favorite thing at the park?" and she was all smiles. We'll definitely be heading back to the park, maybe even every weekend while we're having the nice fall weather.

Tinkerbell

2011-09-28T22:23:00.001-04:00

The Overlord LOVES Tinkerbell. We watch Tinkerbell movies, she has a Tinkerbell costume and a magic wand. She likes to go around the house and zap things. She also sprinkles us with pixie dust from time to time.

She's running around the house right now with her arms behind her. She says that she's flying. Can't wait for Halloween when she gets to wear her Tinkerbell costume again!

Note on New Words Posts

2011-09-25T22:25:00.003-04:00

Sorry I haven't done one since June. The reason is simple; her vocabulary is so big I can't keep up with it anymore. Instead of individual words, what stands out now are certain phrases, or leaps in language.

She uses "too" now, as in "Summer wants that, too." And yes, that's a four word sentence. She uses them fairly regularly now.

She's starting to use verb tenses, which is the part that just floors me. "Summer pooped" is one of my favorites. It's pronounced "poop-ped" which just cracks me up. She'll also say things like "going" or "eating."

Fall Break

2011-09-23T21:31:00.015-04:00

I had this week off of school, so we headed down south to visit family. We stopped halfway through the trip and got a hotel room, because the Overlord let us know that she was quite tired of being in the car. We had some play time in the hotel room, then it was lights out for us all.

The next day we finished our drive. All of the grandminions gave the Overlord her due praise, which she acknowledged graciously. Pimi gave her some blocks.

Papa Bob's trains were the star of the entire visit and she watched them over and over.

The next day we took her to the beach. She wasn't certain what the beach was, but she was getting excited from us talking about it. First we took her to the beach next to the inlet.

She walked out to the water, and after a bit of coaxing, she got close enough that a wave got her toes wet.

One was okay, but when the next wave came in, she yelled "Ocean coming back! Ocean coming back!" and ran off.

Since the entire ocean was a bit much, we took her to a little spot next to the rock walls of the inlet where there was a quite little pool of salt water. She was cautious at first but with some encouragement she eventually came into the water.

She quickly gained her confidence back and started to walk around, splash and play.

Throwing rocks was fun.

She even maintained a smile through a few tumbles.

What a character!

She played for quite some time before she got tired and it was time to head out. Quite an exciting day!

Ick

2011-09-11T09:16:00.000-04:00

Recipe for stinky garbage: one poopy diaper and red cabbage that's been boiled to make pH indicator. At least I didn't feed the red cabbage to the little one...

Splotches

2011-09-10T09:16:00.000-04:00

Beginning to think little one is allergic to something in bread; she gets red splotches on her face every time. So I'm going to try to go gluten free with her for a week or two and see what happens. If we get no red splotches, I'll gradually add foods back in, starting with organics. Not sure if it's the gluten or preservatives.

Home, and Tornadoes

2011-09-05T08:23:00.000-04:00

Came home from D*Con to a tropical storm - watching tv and the internet for the tornadoes all around us. Little one napping downstairs so I can grab her & go if the need arises.

Update: More sirens here, and a phone call from the Code Red service. Have moved family into basement. Little one set up in her play pen and I'm on some blankets on the floor next to her. Looks like we'll be sleeping down here tonight!

Dragon*Con 2011 Sunday

2011-09-04T16:09:00.000-04:00

Another D*Con morning. The Overlord and I dressed as fairies for the day and her Daddy dressed in his kilt.

After breakfast we went to a panel on "How to Raise a Mad Scientist". A nap occurred afterwards.Then we explored the dealer's hall at the Con.

After some wandering around, the Overlord insisted we return back to the hotel room. After dinner, we went with some friends to their hotel room and we all watched the costume contest which was broadcast over the tv in the con host hotels. The Overlord got tired so I brought her back to the room, while Daddy went out dancing with friends. Monday morning will be time to pack up and head home.

Dragon*Con 2011 Saturday

2011-09-03T13:00:00.000-04:00

We woke up this morning, had an excellent breakfast at the hotel buffet, and changed into our costumes. Today we were all mad scientists. The Tiny Overlord had her own lab coat and goggles.

Afterward we headed out to the parade. Unfortunately, we got there a bit late and couldn't get close enough to see anything, and after a short time, the Overlord got tired and cranky. So we headed back to the hotel room for a nap.

After the nap, we met some friends at Max Lager's. This was the only time during the weekend when all of our friends were able to get together. While we were there, our friend Tom proposed to his girlfriend Kim. Everyone joined in the applause, even the people at other tables who didn't know us and the wait staff.

Between the excitement and the long wait for our food, the little one was tired after lunch and we headed back to the hotel room for a nap. In the evening we met our friends for dinner, then it was back to the hotel room.

Dragon*Con 2011 Friday

2011-09-02T08:23:00.000-04:00

On Friday we headed off to Dragon*Con. We got into our hotel room, got changed and headed out to the Georgia Aquarium to meet our friends. The Overlord loves her fish and her favorite movie is Finding Nemo, so we were excited to show her the Aquarium.

This was her first glimpse of whale sharks. They have since become one of her favorite animals. She has a stuffed whale shark toy that she now sleeps with.

One of the best parts of the Aquarium is a single, huge window looking out on the Open Ocean tank.

And by huge, I mean really, really huge.

We watched fish, an octopus, and jellyfish, ate dinner, and petted sharks and rays.

There was a tide pool where she got to touch a sea urchin, a star fish and a sea anemone.

Finally even the excitement of the Aquarium wasn't enough to keep the Overlord awake and we headed back to our hotel.

Darn Cold

2011-08-28T08:20:00.000-04:00

Little one still has a cold; nothing seems to be helping. She did have a low grade fever earlier and some acetominophen brought it down, but nothing is helping her stuffy nose and coughing. I've raised one end of her mattress, hoping that helps. She flops around a lot, though, so I'm not certain it's a good solution. I hope she gets rest tonight.

2011-08-27T08:19:00.000-04:00

Little one has a cold of some sort. Took her to dr this morning for little red bumps. They're hives and nothing to worry about. Got some meds for her and a recommendation of a GOOD pediatric dermatologist instead of the crackpot we went to last time.

All Stuffed Up

2011-08-25T08:04:00.001-04:00

Little one's allergies are really bothering her; she's sleeping but very fitfully. I suspect I'll end up on the floor in her room again tonight. Last night, when she woke up I was able to soothe her and get her back to sleep in minutes. Her allergy medication doesn't seem to be helping.

Deer

2011-08-15T22:06:00.006-04:00

We had some deer visit our back yard this morning. The Overlord loved them and watched the entire time. Now she's telling me to bring them back and I'm having a hard time convincing her that I can't make the deer come any time that she wants to see them.

I Can Put My Diaper On Myself

2011-08-07T08:14:00.000-04:00

Presented without comment, but with a lot of giggles.

Some days....

2011-07-22T16:47:00.003-04:00

Just had the most worthless doctor's visit I've ever been too. The Overlord has some blotchy colored skin on her left leg. We went to the dermatologist and this person spent 10 seconds looking at her before declaring "It's eczema." I asked why it didn't look like her other eczema and she replied "Eczema looks like that when it's healing from the rash." I explained that this had never been a rash and it had looked like this for two months. She repeated that it was eczema. She handed me a prescription, two samples and a coupon for a discount on the prescription and walked out. She was in the room for less than two minutes.

More interestingly, I also just had to get a piece of cheese out of the Overlord's nose. Someone explain to me why she thought it was a good idea to put cheese up her nose? She showed it to me, quite proudly, as I stood there, dumbfounded at her actions.

Summer Walks

2011-07-20T07:57:00.004-04:00

In the summertime, I like to take walks around our neighborhood. The Overlord rides serenely in her stroller and likes to get out and look at all of the flowers.

Since the tradition here is for people to plant flowers around their mailboxes, she does more looking than we do walking on some days. And that's okay.

2011-07-19T23:01:00.000-04:00

Found out yesterday that my girl likes fried okra. She tried a piece of mine, then proceeded to steal most of it, until I convinced her to at least ask. "More. Ok. Ra." **chuckles**

Grandparents visit!

2011-07-17T07:28:00.004-04:00

The Kohlers came to visit and as always the Tiny Overlord really enjoyed it. She remembers her grandparents now and talks about them in between visits. She still sometimes needs some time to warm up to them, but she definitely knows who they are.

She loves getting to spend time with GG and Papa Bob. Two more people to pay attention, play with, read books to her - what's not to love? And this time, she got to swim in another Big Pool! The excitement was palpable. I honestly don't know who had more fun, Summer or Papa Bob.

We all made some peach cobbler. We measured out the ingredients, and the Overlord dumped them into a bowl and stirred. It was tasty!

The ladies all went clothes shopping at Babies R Us at a big end of summer clearance sale. The clothes we bought were all for next summer. The pants are huge on her now, of course, but she can wear the shirts already. I enjoyed the shopping, but the Overlord thought the pool was much better.

We went to Jump for Joey, where they have a bunch of bouncy houses set up inside. It's great for exercise and fun any time the weather is too hot, cold or rainy to play outside.

Small surprise that she wore herself out. She had a great time and we did too.

Last Shuttle Launch

2011-07-12T17:49:00.004-04:00

Today we all watched the very last launch of the Space Shuttle. I can't express my anger and frustration that Summer will be growing up while our county has no manned space program AND no plans to implement one. As someone who applied to become an astronaut (I was disqualified because of my eyesight) this seems so near sighted.

You can be anything you want to be, little one. Except an astronaut.

Fourth of July

2011-07-04T22:28:00.000-04:00

The Overlord gets tired around 7 or 7:30, which is much too early for one of the major firework displays. So we gave her a small display here at home, which she enjoyed.

Zoo!

2011-07-01T14:15:00.020-04:00

Today the Overlord and I went to the zoo with some friends (the same ones who invited us to the Big Pool). Her local library has a DVD about the zoo, and when you check it out and back in, you get 4 free tickets to the zoo. Children under 2 are free, so all 5 of us got into the zoo for free. Quite the deal.

I was up at 6 and the Overlord at 7:30 to make it to their house by 8:30, where we all piled into her van (the Overlord's car seat was moved into the van, of course.)We sang songs as requested by Her Supreme Smallness and arrived at the zoo by 10.

First we visited the elephant. Her Excited Excellence proudly called out "ears!" and "tail!". Then we visited the warthogs. She deigned to speak their language, calling out "oink!" and "tunnel!". She wanted to climb in their tunnels, so we had a discussion that the sidewalk was for little girls only, and the tunnels were for the warthogs only. She was not pleased.

We visited the parakeets next. The zoo sold "Seed Sticks" which consisted of seeds and little pellets of bird food stuck on a small stick. I got one for each of the kids and they had fun feeding the parakeets that flew freely in an aviary. The picture shows the Overlord's hand, and the people across the way are our friends (flowered shirt and shorts, pink shirt and shorts, and green shirt with Goofy hat).

One of the parakeets even landed on her stick.

She seemed to enjoy it, telling me "Birds! Tweet!" and "Eat birds!" which is her way of saying "Feed the birds."

On our way to see the lions, Her Cuteness saw a photo opportunity. Never one to pass this up, she exclaimed "Tunnel!". She climbed up the little steps behind it and posed all by herself. This picture was all her idea.

She liked the lion, but once she realized he was taking his nap, she told us all "Shh! Lion sleep. Nap." There was a volunteer there answering questions who let the Countess of Cuteness touch a lion skull.

She posed for another picture on the way to the meerkats.

We moved on to the African Plains where we saw zebras, giraffes, a rhino and ostriches, all together.

There was a walkway constructed so that it was flat to us but in the tops of the trees for the habitats it passed through. We saw birds, lemurs and monkeys here. There was a huge nest, and of course her Adorableness climbed in and had some fun being a bird.

From there, we moved on to Asia, with hornbills, sun bears and tigers. The Overlord was quite disappointed that the tiger was hiding, but after a while he came out and she yelled out "Kitty!"

We also saw pandas, which the Overlord promptly named "Bear."

There was a naked mole rat exhibit, which the little ones could enter and exit by crawling through a tunnel. Outside of the exhibit was a playground of tunnels. She had fun pretending to be a mole rat.

All in all, we spent over 4 hours at the zoo. The Overlord took an hour nap in the van on the way back, and talked with me on the way back to our house. I was planning for her to continue her nap, but her daddy was home early because of the holiday weekend, so she was too excited about this to nap. She ended up going to bed at 5:30. She woke up about 8:30 crying, so that both of us went to comfort her. She cried and rolled around for a while, and then passed quite a lot of gas. She felt better but still couldn't settle down, so I ended up sleeping next to her crib for the rest of the night. With me in her room, she fell asleep until the morning. What an adventure!

18 Month Checkup

2011-06-30T13:16:00.003-04:00

The Overlord had her 18 month check up today, and passed it with flying colors, of course. The doctor looked her over, checked out her breathing, heartbeat, ears, eyes, mouth and belly. He said everything looks great and she's right on target on height, weight and head circumference. Her motor skills are developing normally as well.

Then he asked about her vocabulary. His words were "Is she saying at least 10-30 words?" I had counted her words from my posts here on the blog, so I was able to answer "She's saying 163 words." The look on his face was priceless. He said that was twice what they expect of an 18 month old - it's more in line with a two year old's vocabulary.

Who, me? A proud momma of a genius? You bet I am!

Momma

2011-06-29T09:07:00.002-04:00

Over the past few weeks, she's used a few phrases that have just made my heart melt.

"Sorry momma" after she got out of time out.

"Thank you momma" after I handed her one of her baby dolls.

"Love you momma" - what more do I need to say?

Big Pool!

2011-06-29T08:29:00.004-04:00

Yesterday we went with a friend of mine and her two children to their community pool. I had been telling the Tiny Overlord since Sunday that we were going to go to a Big Pool. She seemed excited, growing more so as the day arrived. "Big pool! Big pool!"

The day dawned cloudy with a strong chance of thunderstorms. I tried to prepare her for a change of plans, explaining that we would go to the big pool unless there was thunder. We had a fun morning outside, playing with bubbles and sidewalk chalk and getting covered in sand in her sandbox. A bath followed, and then snacks and play time with blocks, and of course hide and seek with her dolls.

After her nap we headed out, with Her Excited Excellence chanting "Big pool! Big pool!" for much of the car ride. We arrived and I got her changed into her swimsuit, which has flotation built in. Not enough to be a life saving device, but it definitely helped her buoyancy. (Note; this is not the bathing suit in the picture. I didn't get a chance to get any pictures of her at the Big Pool, so I just used a picture from her 18 month birthday party.)

At first she clung to me like a little monkey on its momma, but she soon relaxed and eventually even let go of me, although I didn't let go of her. We bounced up and down a bit and tried floating on her back. That will take some more practice. Then we went "flying" as she described it - I held her with one hand under her chest and one under her legs so that she was sort of in a swimming position. I walked her all around the shallow end of the pool that way, and every time I stopped she said "More flying!".

She also played with my friend's children, who were much older (5 and 9) but who were very kind and patient with my little one. They gave the Tiny Overlord pool toys (floaty balls, a toy boat, etc.). She would throw them and they would retrieve them, swimming back to hand them to the Overlord. Thus the Overlord got throwing practice and fun playing with the big kids, and they got some good swimming practice.

She also got a good look at some planes flying overhead. We can hear them at our house quite frequently, but with all of the trees it's very difficult for her to see them. The view at the pool was fairly unobstructed, so she was delighted that for once the planes weren't hiding in the trees.

We finally had to leave when it was dinner time. I promised her that we would go back next week. She was almost too excited to go to sleep, but she was definitely tired from her big day. As I write this, it's 8:43 am and she's still asleep. Normally she's awake by 7:30. I think we'll try for a somewhat restful day today, with nothing more exhausting than a trip to the grocery store. But next week, we'll head back to the Big Pool.

2011-06-28T23:03:00.001-04:00

The little one and I are playing "cooking". She's using a spoon to mix imaginary things in a bowl and runs over frequently to have me taste it. I don't know what she's cooking, but so far she's told me "good" and "sauce" and "cheese", so I'm guessing it's Italian. Good thing tonight's pasta night!

Words for June

2011-06-28T12:29:00.005-04:00

*Forward
*Backward
*Camera (Daddy gave her his old digital camera. She's quite good with it; we'll have to post some of her pictures.)
*Blue (Right now, everything is blue. It doesn't matter what color it is, she says it's blue. If you ask her to pick out a blue object from a pile, she can do it, but if she picks up something on her own, it's all blue.)
*Seatbelt (This is any strap that has a connector. She loves to push them together, but she can't get them apart, so she says "Seat belt out. Momma - seat belt out!" I'll put it apart and she'll put it back together. This can entertain her for 10-20 minutes at a time. )
*Shoulder
*Neck
*Chest
*Grab
*Smack
*Hit
*In
*Out (This is usually things like "In pool!" while she's stepping into her pool, and followed by "Out pool!" as she steps out of her pool. Repeat ad infinitum.)
*Play
*Pool
*Bubbles
*Cake
*Tunnel (She loves for us to build little forts for her, which she calls Tunnels. She also recognizes the tunnels on Thomas the Tank Engine)
*Enough (This started with Daddy asking her "Is that enough?" when he was giving her some food on her plate. She now uses it for other situations - for example, the other day she wanted to play one of her favorite game, Tickle Baby. After a few minutes she said " 'Nuff Momma." So I stopped tickling her and we moved on to another game.)
*George (this means she wants us to read a Curious George book, her current favorite)
*Wash
*Rash
*Thunder (she's quite annoyed that she hasn't been able to see thunder yet. Our explanations that thunder is only a sound have in no way deterred her from trying.)
*Little Bit (She knows this means a small amount. She loves to feed her fish and right before she sticks her hand in the container of fish food, she reminds me "Little bit." Of course, she usually grabs too much and has to try again.)
Too much (see the note above about little bit. Also, she says this when she's eating and takes a bite that's too big.)
*Chew
*Bite (she's said this for a while, but the meaning has changed. It used to mean "Give me a bite of what you're eating." Now it has the regular definition.)
*Color
*Get Up
*Hold It (This means she wants to hold it, whatever it is.)
*Big Yawn
*Diaper
*Here (she just handed me her cup and said "Here mama" then walked away to color.)
*Come (She'll grab a hand or a few fingers and say "Come momma" as she leads me to where she wants me to go.)
*Sorry
*Sauce
*Salt
*Pepper
*Good
*Hammer
*Screwdriver (she's been playing with the little "workshop" Grandma and Grandpa H got for her)
*Jump
*Crawling
*Catch (This can be both "Let's play catch with the ball" and "I'm hiding so come
catch me!")
*Almost (She says this when we are playing catch and she misses the ball. She'll say "Almost!" then run after the ball.)
*Hiccup
*Burp
*Mole (I have a mole on my shoulder and she is very interested in it. She thought it was a boo boo or a bug bite at first, so I had to teach her the word mole.)
*Hurt
*Itch
*Bug Bite
*Band Aid
*Berry
*Peach
*Bagel
*Burger (About once every one to two weeks we grill burgers. I buy low fat, grass fed, humanely raised, locally sourced beef. Gordon Ramsey would be so proud.)
*Fork
*Sleep
*Sleeping
*Blanket (she says "blank")
*Love You (my favorite, obviously)
*Twinkle (if she says "Twinkle twinkle" she wants me to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She joins in on the words "Up above" but I don't think she knows what they mean yet.)
*Sing (When we're in the car, she loves for me to sing to her. I end up singing for most of the drive. I need to learn/remember some more songs.)

We sing Old McDonald Had a Farm - she'll pick out the animal and then I'll start. I'll sing "Old McDonald had a farm" and then say "Your turn." She'll say EIEIO. Then I sing "And on this farm he had a ---" and say "Your turn." She'll say EIEIO. I'll ask her what sound the animal makes and she'll tell me and I'll sing the part that says "With a -- here and a -- there" etc. She'll sing the final EIEIO. Then I'll ask her for another animal and we'll do that one.

2011-06-25T23:03:00.000-04:00

The pediatrician's office hands out cheap little plastic toys to the children when they are finished. MUCH amused that yesterday's toy was a pink platypus.

18 Months of Summer

2011-06-25T20:12:00.009-04:00

Today we had Summer's Half Birthday party. Our guests showed up and the young ones all played while we older folks chatted for a bit. Then we broke out the pizza. The Tiny Overlord had her piece whole for the first time - we usually cut it into strips. She enjoyed having a whole piece like a big girl, although she ate it by peeling the cheese off of the top and then scooping the sauce up with her fingers.

Afterwards we all went outside and the youngsters played in the kiddie pool and in a sprinkler toy. We also had bubbles. Apparently the Tiny Overlord has encountered bubbles before - she squealed with delight and started chasing them. When everyone was tired and quite thoroughly soaked, we headed back inside for cake and presents.

The cake featured Thomas the Tank Engine. The Tiny Overlord quite approved of the picture, but then demanded her cake. She was gracious enough to allow us to share it with her. The gifts were presented to her and she accepted the tribute of books, a beach ball and sidewalk chalk delightedly.

The Tiny Overlord waved and said bye bye as her guests had to leave. We played with bubbles some more and watched a few episodes of Thomas the Tank Engine before it was time for dinner and bed. She told us about her day excitedly - "play pool" and "bubbles" were words that featured predominately. She's sleeping now, and we hope she's having fun dreams about her day.

Today's Adventure

2011-06-23T11:47:00.001-04:00

Okay, no worrying - she's recovered completely.

Are these openings helping at all? The Overlord had a Staph infection. Yes, the nasty bacterial infection. Thursday it looked like a really nasty bug bite. We figured something had bitten her when she was outside. It was a bit odd though that she didn't say it itched, she said "Hurts." By Friday morning it had 3 or 4 little yellow pimples where the bite had been. Fire ant bites look very similar so again I thought to myself "bug bite."

That morning we went to a local place, Jump for Joey. It's basically a warehouse with a bunch of bouncy-house type inflatable slides, etc. They have two areas set aside just for toddlers. She loved it, of course, and ran around like a little crazy person. When we were heading out and it was time to put her shoes back on, I saw that her sock had yellow crusty stuff and it looked like the little bug bite "pimples" had popped. I put some neosporin on it when we got home and she took a nap.

That afternoon we went grocery shopping at Publix (a grocery store chain in FL/GA) and while I was there I asked the pharmacists if there was anything I could put on it. They asked to see the bite so I put Her Overlordship up on the counter, where she wowed them with her cuteness and intelligence, of course. (One of them said to me "She pays such attention to you when you talk to her! It's like she understands what you're saying." I told her that for the most part, she did.)

They looked worried when they saw the yellow crusty stuff and said that since staph was common in this area, I should probably get it checked out. I called the after hours nurse for our doctor's office as soon as we got home. (The person working for the answering service was one of my former students, who recognized the Overlord's name. Our country may be the fastest growing in our state, but it's still a small town! And yes, she was one of my really good students.)

The nurse talked to me and said that it would be fine to wait until the morning to bring her in, but that it might be a good idea. I made an appointment as soon as I could. The doctor confirmed that yes, it was a staph infection, but we had caught it very early. So early, in fact, that she only needed to be on the antibiotic for half the normal time.

After a week we went back for her normal 18 month checkup and I had the doctor check the site again. He said it was fine and fully healed - the slight darkening of skin was just bruising.

I went back and definitely gave my thanks to the pharmacists who caught it so early.

Fork

2011-06-22T15:30:00.004-04:00

I bought some plastic forks the other day, so the Tiny Overlord has been practicing with them. Last night at dinner she ate about half of her ravioli by spearing them on the fork and then biting at them. The other half she ate with her fingers. She is, after all, the Tiny Overlord. Who are we to say that she can't eat with her fingers?

Bright Red Berries

2011-06-21T19:49:00.003-04:00

Before you read any further, she's fine. That's never a good opening, is it?

Today, on the Summer Solstice, the Tiny Overlord and I were outside playing. Before I could stop her, she picked up a bright red berry and popped it in her mouth. Now, I happen to know that these are Mock Strawberries, and they're edible, or at least not harmful. But the speed at which she managed to get a wild berry into her mouth was terrifying. I literally couldn't stop her, even though I was within arm's reach.

I figured that I had to teach her a lesson right away. I yelled at her, which I almost never do (an exception would have been the diaper rash ointment incident, see June 14). I also immediately washed her mouth out with the hose. I must have made an impact, because she looked really scared and started to cry. A lot of times, if she's in trouble she'll cry, but only for a few seconds. This time she cried for several minutes while sitting in my lap, with me holding her. Once she was calmed down, we talked about it. I found more mock strawberries and asked her if she could eat them. She said yes so we repeated most of the process. The next time she said "No bite. No eat." I hugged her and told her that was right.

We discussed that she should only eat things that Daddy and I gave her or if we told her that it was okay to eat it. Then we came inside and I double and triple checked my information.

Later in the evening, as Daddy was making dinner and Summer was playing in the living room by the firewood left over from winter, she suddenly grabbed something and ate it. I grabbed her arm and told her "Let mommy see what you ate." She shook her head No, so I squeezed her cheeks and forced her mouth open. I hadn't seen anything on the floor that should be eaten and I was afraid that she had grabbed something off of the wood, otherwise I wouldn't have reacted so strongly. I was able to see and smell that it was a Cheerio that she must have dropped earlier.

By this time she was scared and crying again. Daddy and I both held her and explained that we weren't mad and that we still loved her, but some things could hurt her and we had to be sure that she wasn't eating anything that would make her sick.

After all of the excitement of the afternoon and evening, she was pretty tired, so we put her to bed right after dinner. We're both watching her on the monitor.

Things I Never Thought I'd Say

2011-06-21T15:17:00.005-04:00

Why are you eating your pants?

I have to wash the yogurt off of the train first.

We need more light for your book to work.

I don't think deer moo.

There aren't any bears in the house, I promise.

Chickadees are not dangerous.

Come back with my toilet paper, you little theif!

If you are offended by the F word, don't watch this video. But I thought it was hysterically funny. The idea is that the first two lines of each page are being read out loud to the child, while the rest is what the parent is thinking. Definitely NOT safe for work!

Poison Control

2011-06-14T19:40:00.003-04:00

Tonight the Tiny Overlord decided to give us a new life experience. We were getting her ready for bed, which includes putting a disposable diaper on and slathering her up with Desitin to prevent diaper rash. Before we could stop her, she dragged her left hand through the Desitin I had just spread on her diaper area, and lickety split, put that hand in her mouth.

We read the container and it said to call Poison Control, so we looked up the number and called them. We knew that she had only gotten a tiny amount, but we figured it was far better to be safe than sorry. The nurse on the phone talked to us for about 10 minutes and had us wipe her mouth out with a cloth to made certain that there wasn't a ball of the ointment up in the roof of her mouth. Desitin can cause GI tract upset, both upper and lower, but with the small amount the Tiny Overlord ingested, the nurse didn't expect that she would have any ill effects.

On the scale of emergencies, it was a very minor one, but I was happier never having called Poison Control. Here's hoping this is the only time.

Pimi and Papa!

2011-06-12T14:23:00.004-04:00

(I'll put up pictures of Grandma and Grandpa soon; in the meantime here's another picture of Her Cuteness)

Two of the Grandminions visited this week. They arrived Wednesday night and we all went out to eat at the local Tex-Mex restaurant. The Overlord got tired, so we parted ways and headed home to put Her Crankiness to bed.

Minion #2 had to go to work the next day but the Grandminions came over and spent time with Her Cuteness and Minion #1. The Overlord decreed that their names would be Pimi and Papa, just like the other grandminions. She was shy at first but quickly warmed up to them. She introduced them to her new favorite game "Hiding". We also played with blocks and in her sandbox. After her nap, Pimi wanted to take her shopping, so on Thursday off we went to the mall, where the Overlord acquired a hoody, pants and a Hello Kitty shirt, much to her approval. Then Grandminion Papa wanted to get her a bear at Build a Bear. When we got there, we ended up deciding on a dog instead. The Overlord has named this "Papa Dog Dog" and has carried it almost everywhere since she got it, including on our morning walk the day after we got it. The grandminions went off for dinner on their own. We had a thunderstorm after they left and the Overlord learned the word "thunder". She also learned that you can't see thunder, much to her annoyance. The Grandminions reported a hailstorm in their location, along with a 30 degree temperature drop within a few minutes. We got neither hail nor lower temperatures, but we did spot a deer in our backyard, so we watched it until it ambled out of sight.

Friday morning Mommy Minion and the Overlord went for our morning walk with Dog Dog coming along. Pimi and Papa showed up and we had fun playing with blocks and other toys. A good game of Hiding was enjoyed by all. After naptime, we went to Target where I bought some essentials (mostly related to the Overlord) and Pimi and Papa bought her a pool. We went home and filled up the pool, which the Overlord promptly climbed in. Pimi and Papa went back to their hotel for a bit, and when Daddy Minion came home we all met up at Olive Garden for dinner. They have an excellent children's menu, and I was able to get her grilled chicken, broccoli and whole wheat linguini with tomato sauce. She approved.

Saturday morning the Grandminions came over early and I headed out for a Girl's Brunch with two friends that I hadn't seen since February. I'm told that there was sliding, swinging, sandbox playing, block building and much Hiding in my absence, as well as a LARGE lunch involving leftover Olive Garden fare. I came home at 1 and we put the Overlord down for her nap, during which the Grandminions and we Minions talked. We spent the afternoon talking and watching the 24 Hours of Le Mans. When the Overlord woke up we watched Thomas the Tank Engine, played with blocks and read some books. The Grandminions said their goodbyes and left at 5 to go to a local racetrack. The Overlord gave them kisses and personalized goodbyes. "Bye bye Pimi" and "Bye bye Papa" said in her adorable voice are really almost too much.

This morning we had to explain to her that Pimi and Papa had to go back home, and they live far away. I'm not certain she understands, but she accepted that they wouldn't be coming over today. She got her Papa Dog Dog and looked at one of her Recordable storybooks that was read by Pimi H. She had a great time, and we really enjoyed the visit. We'll have to make sure that we see each other again soon.

24 Hours at 17 months

2011-06-12T13:27:00.002-04:00

7:00 Summer wakes up sometime between 6 and 8, usually around 7 or 7:30
7:00 - 7:30 play in her room, change diaper, get dressed
7:30-8:30 go downstairs, make and eat breakfast for Summer and mommy
8:30 - 9:30 change diaper, get shoes on, get mommy's hat & drinks for both of us and go for a walk around the neighborhood, with lots of stops to look at flowers and trees
9:30-10:30 morning snack, then play outside on swing, slide, sandbox and pool.
10:30-11:00 play time in the tub
11:00-12:00 make and eat lunch
12:30-2:30 nap time
2:30-3:00 afternoon snack
3:00-5:00 running errands - grocery store, Target, house cleaning, etc
5:00-5:30 watching Thomas the Tank Engine because mommy is tired from keeping up with toddler
5:30 Daddy comes home!
5:30-6:30 playing outside
6:30-7:00 Daddy making dinner, Summer and mommy playing inside
7:00-7:30 eating dinner, Mommy cleaning up dinner, Summer and Daddy playing inside
7:30-8:00 bedtime routine
8:00 Night night!

2011-06-10T23:05:00.000-04:00

Summer went pee pee in her potty! To those who aren't parents, please disregard this status. :)

Potty!

2011-06-10T13:44:00.000-04:00

Summer went pee in her potty today! I was changing her diaper and she said "Potty." I asked "Do you want to go sit on your potty?" and she said yes. So I took her into the bathroom, stripped off her pants and diaper as fast as I could and sat her down on her potty. She sat there for a little bit, like she usually does and then she peed! The surprised look on her face was priceless. So she got to use the paper and flush, which made her very proud of herself, although the flushing was scary.

I gave her a Dora sticker and lots of praise, and so did Daddy when he came home. She was very pleased with herself.

Surprised Mommy

2011-06-08T16:30:00.003-04:00

We were laying down, reading a book. The Overlord got up, announced "Mommy Poop!" and pulled my pants back to do a poop check, like I do on her. She serenely announced "Clean" then sat back down for me to continue reading the book. Color me surprised!

Bubbles!

2011-06-06T10:02:00.007-04:00

The Overlord loves playing with bubbles. We often go outside and play in the front yard. She runs around, climbs on her playhouse, slides down the slide and when that gets old, we play with bubbles.

Sometimes she blows bubbles. Sometimes I do.

She loves to chase after the bubbles.

Sometimes she tries to catch them.

Such fun from such a simple thing. Watching the world through her eyes is wonderful.

2011-06-01T23:07:00.001-04:00

Garden watered and somewhat weeded. Mud puddles achieved, and child got absolutely filthy, ate some mud and had a great time. Still trying to convince her not to eat mud, but getting filthy by splashing in mud puddles is highly encouraged. Need to get a picture next time.

2011-05-31T23:06:00.000-04:00

I have the best husband; came home tonight to find out he had Tivo'ed Thomas the Tank Engine so our little one could watch one of her favorite shows. She's so cute running around the house saying "Choo choo!"

Grandpa will be so proud!

2011-05-31T19:10:00.001-04:00

There are so many occasions when Minion #2 and I look at each other and say "Grandpa will be proud!"

When she hears a loud car and wants to see it. When she loves to go riding in her car. When she rides her four wheeler in the house.

She also seems to love trains. Sometimes we can hear train whistles at our house and she always wants to see them. She LOVES Thomas the Tank Engine. We got her some toys of Thomas and two of his friends, and right now she's carrying them around the house, making Choo-choo and Wooooo-woooooo noises.

Grandpa will be so proud!

Oh maaaaan!

2011-05-28T20:53:00.002-04:00

If you've ever seen Dora the Explorer, you know about Swiper. If not, Swiper is a fox (?) who tries to steal things. Dora and her friends stop him by saying "Swiper no swiping! Swiper no swiping!" about a gazillion times, after which he always replies "Oh man!"

Well tonight the Tiny Overlord took Minion #2's watch and ran off with it, giggling. He looked at me and jokingly said "Swiper no swiping!" She stopped, allowed him to catch her and replied "Oh maaaaaan!"

Too funny for words.

Read It!

2011-05-25T06:57:00.005-04:00

One of my favorite things is when she brings me a book and says "Read it!" Then she'll say "Lap" and sit in my lap. We read the book together and she turns the pages. When the book is finished she'll say "Done!". And then we start all over again.

Right now her favorites are Goodnight Moon, Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See, and a fantastic book called Daddy Hugs.

She can make noises for almost all of the animals in Brown Bear. For the bear she growls Rawr! For the red bird she says "Tweet!" For the yellow duck, she tries to say "Quack" but it comes out "Cack". She can't quite make the horse neigh. I love the green frog - she tries to say "Ribbit" but she can't say her R yet so it's "Ibbit." She's been able to meow and say woof (well, "Oof") for a while. She can't say the "Baa" for the sheep yet. For the goldfish, she opens and closes her mouth like a fish gulping water.

My bliss? Watching Steve hold her in his lap while they read Daddy Hugs together.

Words for May

2011-05-25T06:16:00.011-04:00

Tiny (she says this when she sees a baby "Tiny baby!")
Old (if she sees her water cup from the day before, she'll solemnly say "Old drink")
Heavy
Teacher
Dirty (Summer, don't touch that, it's dirty!)
Arm
Elbow
Knee
Face
Back
Book
House
Read It
Lap (when she wants to sit in our lap)
Bee
Ant
Spider (she's still working on S, so this sounds like "pider")
Bug
Bad bug (this is accompanied by hand waving, as if to ward off mosquitoes, and giggling) (Also, I am so proud of our budding entomologist!)
Teeth
Purple
Orange (she still gets her colors mixed up, but she's pretty good with these two)
Crying (If she hears a baby crying she'll say "Baby crying. Paci.")
Happy (When she sees pictures of herself smiling she says "Baby happy)
Hold you (this means she wants me to pick her up "Do you want me to hold you?"
Me
Mine
My
Laptop
Cherry
Apple - she's starting to really say Apple, not Bop-bop, which is what she's called them until now
Juice
Pancake
French toast
Play
Room (she can't say R yet, so this is "oom")
Sick (one of our cats was sick recently)
Medicine (she's taking medicine for allergies)
Bag
Couch
Truck (this has the same unfortunate pronunciation as "sock". We're still working on it.)
Mickey Mouse (We bought a DVD of Fantasia. She loves the part about the Sorcerer's Apprentice, with Mickey Mouse. She says it "Me moush!)
Nemo (She loves Finding Nemo, which she calls Mee-mo)
DVD (when she wants to watch one of her DVDs)
Fart (this one makes me laugh. For a while, if anything happened in her diaper area, she said "Poop." Now when she says it, I'll sometimes ask "Was it a poop, or was it a fart? She'll look at me seriously and very solemnly say "Fart.")

Every night, as the first part of our bedtime routine, we say goodnight to the cats. Our longhair cat is almost always asleep on one of our dining room chairs, so we say good night to her first. Summer now uses this as her way of telling us that she's tired. If she says "Night night Coco" then we know it's time for bed.

Square/Circle (She's playing with puzzles and blocks - the type where she has to put a certain shape into the hole with the same shape.)

Help (any time she wants us to help her to do something, or if she wants to help me do something. She loves helping to empty the dishwasher with me, and she's great at helping with put groceries away.)

She's consistently putting two words together - Mommy car, play outside, old bottle.

She also likes to feed us, and help us to get dressed and put on our shoes and socks.

2011-05-24T23:06:00.000-04:00

The little one has a new interesting habit; putting her food down my shirt. If she can't reach mine, she'll settle for putting food down her shirt. **shakes head** Toddlers are an alien species...

Memories

2011-05-16T06:19:00.002-04:00

A few things have been sparking recollections of my pregnancy. For the most part, I really enjoyed being pregnant.

I used to sing "Good Morning Starshine" to her every morning and talk to her, wondering who she was going to be. I loved my doctor's visits, getting to hear her heartbeat. It's an incredibly fast paced whoosh whoosh sound.

She used to tickle me when she moved. It felt like little bubbles moving through my belly. I wasn't certain it was her for the longest time. When she started kicking, she got strong FAST and I knew it was her for certain. She used to kick me behind my belly button for hours every night when I finally relaxed for the night. That part wasn't fun - I would cry for hours because it hurt. She left a bruise that took weeks to go away after her birth.

She slept most of the day when I was teaching at school, although she would wake up if the students got too loud, and yes I did use that as a reason they should be quieter. We took her to a concert at Dragon Con and she definitely thought THAT was too loud; I ended up sitting at the very back of the hall, with a bunch of jackets around my belly to muffle the noise.

My tastes changed during pregnancy; I couldn't stand the taste of coffee, broccoli or pizza. I still don't like pizza. My sense of smell was incredibly sensitive.

For the last month or so of the pregnancy, I could only sleep on the couch. I would arrange myself so that my belly was in the crack between two cushions, and that cradled it softly enough that I could sleep.

Quote

2011-05-01T14:12:00.002-04:00

"Every child should have mud pies, grasshoppers, waterbugs, tadpoles, frogs & turtles, elderberries, wild strawberries, acorns, hickory nuts, trees to climb, animals to pet, hayfields, pine cones, rocks to roll, sand, snakes, huckleberries and hornets – and any child who has been deprived of these has been deprived of the best part of his education." -Luther Burbank 1849 - 1926

Easter 2011

2011-04-24T13:29:00.006-04:00

This is the Tiny Overlord's second Easter, although it's the first one she was aware enough to participate in. She received tribute from both her Minions, her Grandminions K and her Grandminions H. This pleased her.

Her Grandminions K came to visit the week before Easter, so we had our fun that week. (The Tiny Overlord isn't constrained by such things as following a calendar.) They bought her a sandbox, which was received with much delight and promptly named "Bok" and declared "Mine!" She loves dumping the sand on herself and, unfortunately, eating it. We're working on that one. We put it down by the garden so one of us can play with her while the other does garden chores, which she likes watching.

The next day we had her first Egg Hunt. She was intrigued by the first one, which she sat down with and promptly opened. We enticed her to walk to the second one but couldn't convince her to put either one in the bag. Instead she held one in each hand. This created a quandary when she got to the third one. I eventually snuck one of the eggs into her bag. It rapidly became clear that we were much more interested in her finding the eggs than she was - she was happy to open one and then try to put it back together. So her Grandminions gave her the Easter basket they had bought for her. Between the toys, the stuffed duck and rabbit and the fake grass (which she threw into the yard) she was pleased.

The next weekend, the Grandminions H arranged a surprise; they ordered a cake from a local bakery for us! As usual, Bumblebee Bakery did an outstanding job. The cake was not only beautiful, but delicious. The Tiny Overlord approved of her tiny piece, and we definitely approved of the (much larger) pieces that we ate.

Off to Work

2011-04-10T14:49:00.001-04:00

Often, the Tiny Overlord likes to get a lunchbox, either hers or mine, and pretend that she's heading off to work. She'll load it up with crayons and cheerios and her drink, then grab a jacket and head to the front door.

Too cute for words.

New words

2011-04-07T16:33:00.008-04:00

Knee
Yogurt
Work
Ick, Uck, Ew (she loves to use all of these while we're changing her diaper)
Chair
Ride
Stuck (she gets stuck on her four wheeler a lot since she hasn't figured out steering)
Cough (she makes a fake cough sound with this)
Coff (this means coffee; it sounds the same as cough)
Bless you (she says this to herself after she sneezes)
Pock (this means pocket)
Bra
Dora (from Dora the explorer; she has a Dora tunnel/tube and a Dora toddler sized seat)
Isaac (this is what we call our roomba vacuum cleaner)

For anyone who's counting, she's up to 50 words.

2011-04-05T23:10:00.000-04:00

Poor little one has 3 premolars coming in at the same time. Not fair!

2011-04-05T23:08:00.000-04:00

Busy day for the little one and I: went to the grocery store; cut, steamed and froze some veggies for her; worked on the compost heap; went to the bank; and got in lots of play time and two naps! Now for dinner, toothbrushing and then night night.

2011-03-31T23:10:00.000-04:00

The little one got her first toothbrush yesterday and we brushed her teeth last night. She was very excited about it.

Toothbrush

2011-03-31T20:29:00.002-04:00

With all of her new teeth coming in, we bought a toothbrush for the Tiny Overlord. She thinks it is great fun. Every night Minion #2 and I get her ready for bed. While Minion #2 gets some well deserved hugs, I get her toothbrush and bring it in to her room, she runs up to me, yelling "Teeth!" We're still negotiating the amount of toothbrushing vs. toothbrush biting, but it's starting to lean more towards brushing. After I brush her teeth, she takes the brush and shows me how well she can brush. Then she says night night to her toothbrush, after we promise that she can brush her teeth again in the morning.

New Ride!

2011-03-24T09:19:00.004-04:00

Today a coworker of Minion #2 donated some toys that her daughter had outgrown. This included a play set with a swing, a slide and a climbing wall, and best of all, a car! Well, actually a plastic truck that the Overlord can ride in and use to carry materials for her nefarious schemes. It has a Flintstones-style open floor, so that she can propel it with her feet, but they don't quite reach the ground yet. So for right now, it's minion powered. It's one of her favorite toys.

Grin!

2011-03-17T11:42:00.001-04:00

The Countess of Cuteness has long known what a camera is. She's learning how to pose, so that she can increase her cuteness quotient. It's her best weapon, and she knows how to use it!

As usual, she and Minion #2, aka Daddy, had just arrived home. She likes to run around and explore for a while. She will proudly exclaim "Daddy car!" and "Mommy car!". She knows that tires and the exhaust pipes are hot, but she's not convinced that we know, so she points to them and tells us "Hot!" repeatedly. She's not happy until we agree and repeat hot.

She also insists on carrying her own lunchbox and/or sweater up to the house. She often slings the sweater over her shoulder just like a little executive. Daddy was trying to get a picture of her doing this, but as soon as he brought out the camera, she struck this pose.

Grandma and Grandpa H come to visit

2011-03-15T11:55:00.002-04:00

This weekend, Grandma and Grandpa H were coming up to visit, but they had to turn around when Grandma got sick. Everyone was sad about it, but traveling so long and being away from home when you're sick is no fun at all, not to mention Grandma didn't want to share germs with the Marvelous Mite.

Monday night we got a call - Grandma and Grandpa were in Georgia and on their way to visit us! They spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night with us. We really enjoyed our evenings together, and as always the Tiny Overlord basked in having extra minions to serve her.

In addition, this time her Grandminions brought her a set of wheels. She quickly figured out how to make it go - there's one big red button. Buttons and the Tiny Overlord go together like toast and jelly, so it didn't take long at all before she was riding around the house.

Now we just have to work on steering.

Corn on the Cob

2011-03-13T20:40:00.004-04:00

Since the Tiny Overlord's biting teeth are all in and she has demonstrated her ability to take bites out of things, we decided to give her some corn on the cob. She ate most of it just like we did, but when we brought the camera out she decided to nibble on the ends.

More Words

2011-03-13T09:15:00.002-04:00

Hug
apple (she calls them Bop Bop)
remote (mote)
belly
ear
hair
pee
poop
potty
bite (this means she wants a bite of what you're eating)

Potty

2011-03-12T19:11:00.003-05:00

For a while now, the Tiny Overlord has been telling us "Poop" in the cutest, most adorable little voice. She doesn't always get it right, so we've had some false alarms and we check. She's started to check other people for poop, mostly the other children that stay with her caretaker, but this morning she checked my pants.

She's also started to tell us "Pee." She's taken her caretaker by the hand and brought her into the bathroom and pointed at the toilet while saying "Potty." She's started doing it with us, also, so today we all went to Target and bought her own special seat that goes on the potty.

I think toilet training may have started.

Car!

2011-03-03T06:39:00.003-05:00

I think we have a gear head on our hands.

Every afternoon, when she and Minion #2 get home, she has to explore. She starts out by checking out the cars, and naming them just in case we forgot they were called "cars!" She knows the handles open the doors, although she isn't quite strong enough to open them herself. Some days we open the doors for her and let her climb in and explore the interior of the cars.

She loves the sound of engines and machinery - the tiller we bought for the garden was great fun and made her smile and clap. I held her and we sat on the hill to watch Daddy as he tilled the garden. When the tiller wasn't running, she and I would come down the hill to look at it. She was pretty good about not touching it when we told her it was hot.

Inside, she plays with her dolls and stuffed animals, but she plays with her cars, too, pushing them all around. Her Grandaddy H said that next year he'd get a car seat for his race car. I think he thinks he was joking, but the Tiny Overlord would love it. She's going to love the battery powered four wheeler that he got for her. Once she gets her wheels, watch out world!

Outside!

2011-03-03T06:25:00.003-05:00

With the weather warming up, we're spending more time outside, and our Overlord approves! She loves wandering around the yard, investigating things, picking up pine cones, shredding leaves and exploring her world. She has, somewhat reluctantly, agreed to our rule that if she's walking downhill she must hold our hands, although she isn't happy about it. We follow right behind her when she's going uphill, with a hand ready to catch her if she starts to tumble. Other than that, we let her wander and explore. She's spending 20-30 minutes each afternoon doing just that.

She smiles and giggles and names everything that she can. We blew the fluff off of a dandelion one day and she thought that was the best thing ever! We head down to the garden to see how that is doing, and while we're there she finds rocks for us. Unfortunately sometimes she finds them from the little rock wall I'm building to cut down on erosion, but I can replace them quickly enough.

She's very good at finding "gumballs" - the seed pods from a sugargum tree. She fell on one once, and scratched her face up. Now she seems fascinated with them. She was fascinated with the blackberry bushes too, for a while, but we told her to be very careful, because they bite with their thorns. She pulled back her hands, looked at us, looked at the blackberry, and went to go find a gumball.

After a while, she heads to the house and slowly climbs up the front steps. Right now she's still crawling up them on all fours, and of course we're right behind her, but as long as we're patient, she can make it up the steps on all on her own. She explores the porch for a while, then she sees her kitties through the glass door. She says "Kitty!" and "in!" so we open up the door and head inside for dinner and more family play time. Evenings at our house are great.

2011-03-01T06:30:00.003-05:00

This weekend the Grandminions K came to visit. Her Overlordship greeted them with some distance at first, but quickly warmed up. Soon she was back to her usual self, with that unique mix of extreme cuteness, charm and ability to create complete chaos. She enjoyed playing inside, and spending some time outside. She truly enjoys visits and each time it takes a shorter period of time for her to warm up. I think she's starting to remember her extended family, which makes me happy.

I bought a recordable book and had her Grandma K record it, so now she has books read by both grandmas. She loves turning the pages and listening to them.

Our Little Chef

2011-03-01T06:15:00.003-05:00

A few months ago, while I was cooking, I gave the Tiny Overlord a plastic mixing bowl and a wooden spoon, expecting her to use them like a drum. But instead she turned the bowl right side up and started using the spoon to stir. She helps us with cooking now, whenever something needs to be stirred. She's quite enthusiastic about it, but her enjoyment is worth the extra clean up needed.

(note: if the video below doesn't work, click here)

Gardening

2011-02-27T20:00:00.005-05:00

Today, under the close supervision of the Tiny Overlord, the two minions started our garden. Minion #1 planted seeds in peat pots to give them a head start (okay, I admit that I did this while the Tiny Overlord was napping; it seemed an exercise that was fraught with opportunities for her to throw dirt and seeds around the entire house). Minion #2 spent most of the afternoon tilling the garden plot, raking out the dead plants into a compost pile, removing rocks (oh so many rocks) and trying to level the area. I brought the Tiny Overlord out for regular supervisory visits.

She enjoyed the tiller; she's really showing a preference for engines and vehicles. I think we have a gear head on our hands! But she also had quite a bit of fun playing in the dirt, only some of which got eaten. All in all, it was quite a productive day. Our garden plot is ready, the seeds are started, she got to play outside and get properly dirty. I love springtime!

More Words and Games

2011-02-26T10:06:00.002-05:00

hair
ear
belly
car

She knows how to throw things away. She will pick up trash, carry it to the garbage can, lift the lid and throw the trash away. This can be very helpful, such as when she throws away her own diapers. Unfortunately, this new game is so much fun that so far she's also thrown away two toys and a cell phone. Luckily I was there to rescue all of them, and the cell phone was an old one any way. But now I have to put "searching through the garbage" to my list of duties.

Night Night!

2011-02-26T10:01:00.004-05:00

For a while now, the Tiny Overlord has been saying "Night Night" when it's time for bed. Well, actually she says "Ni ni" but we know what she means. She waves goodbye and says night night to both cats and to her daddy, and then we head upstairs for a short play time, a change into a new diapers and jammies, then it's her blankie and a bottle. When she finishes the bottle, she usually nurses for a short time and then tells me night night, and I know it's time to put her into her crib with a kiss and Mr. Bunny.

This morning she was playing in the living room and kitchen after breakfast. She was starting to get a bit cranky and fussy, so I asked her "Is going to be naptime soon?" She looked up at me and clearly said "Night night." So we took her upstairs and gave her a bottle and put her into bed, where she promptly fell asleep.

14 months old, and she recognizes when she's tired and asks for naptime. I'm not just being a proud parent when I say that this one is smarter than the average toddler.

Cat 1, Tiny Overlord 0

2011-02-09T17:51:00.002-05:00

The Giggling Guru has recently invented a new game. She calls it "Let's pull on the fluffy moving snake!" We like to call it "Uh oh, she's pulling the cat's tail again." We've tried to convince her that it is not, in fact, polite to yank on any portion of anyone's anatomy. She does not feel the need to comply to our standards.

Yesterday the Guru of Giggles decided to try this new game on one of her caretaker's cats, who responded in a different manner than our cats. Instead of retreating to a higher location, Callie registered her displeasure by swatting the Overlord on her forehead. 3 minor war wounds were administered, and both the Overlord and the cat retreated to fall back positions.

Her Majesty is now leaving the cats' tails alone.

2011-02-05T23:11:00.000-05:00

Got the little one upgraded to her big girl car seat today. She looked so huge in her infant carrier, but she looks so small in the bigger seat!

Her Words

2011-02-03T19:26:00.005-05:00

jacket
no
go
more
eat
drink
cat
Draco
Coco (her name for Callisto)
shoe
sock
bottle (said in an adorable Cockney accent)
bunny
blankie
hair
bear
fox
night night
home
phone
na na (her word for banana)
nack (her word for snack)
hot
cold

New Word

2011-02-02T17:55:00.002-05:00

We knew it was going to happen. Last night, the Tiny Overlord was delighting herself by turning off all of the electronics in the living room. We, of course, responded with "No, don't do that. Come play with these toys instead." In a regal tone, she replied No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.

Oh boy.

Terrible ... 13's?

2011-02-01T20:49:00.002-05:00

Mealtimes have become more interesting. She's discovered that if she smacks her hand down on her tray, the food jumps, squishes and flies. She knows how to flip over her bowl and plate. The most disturbing, however, is when she looks at us, takes a handful of food, smiles at us, and drops it onto the floor.

From a psychological standpoint, it's fascinating. As a mom, it's frustrating. We'll just have to keep trying to convince her that manners are, in fact, important.

A Fine Winter's Day for a Walk

2011-01-30T17:59:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend, we had some warm weather move in. We all decided that it would be nice to take a walk to get out of the house. The Petite Princess was very proud to be walking All By Herself! She walked for most of the cul de sac, then headed back to her Royal Conveyance, a.k.a. her stroller. We continued on, up several hills and took her back out on another level spot. She was distracted by two boys riding battery powered four wheelers. She watched them until she was ready for her afternoon nap, so she retired to her carriage and her loving minions swiftly returned her to the house.

Snow Days!

2011-01-14T23:13:00.003-05:00

We've been snowed in all week. I should say, iced in. We had a bunch of days where the temperature was below freezing, then an ice storm came in. The snow hit the roads and froze into ice. We've never seen so much snow here!

We had enough warning that we were able to stock up on food before the storm hit. So we've had a fun time, playing in the snow, making snow ice cream and enjoying the beautiful view. Having advance warning made a huge difference; this could have been ugly.

These Feet Were Made For Walkin'

2011-01-11T10:46:00.002-05:00

After gifting her Grandminions with the sight of her first real steps, the Tiny Overlord has decided that crawling is now beneath her. She walks almost everywhere. Sure, she's still a bit wobbly and she falls down a lot, but she catches herself, pulls herself back up and keeps on walking. Much more of her world is now in her reach.

We're in trouble now.

New Year's Eve

2010-12-31T20:27:00.003-05:00

As Her Little Ladyship was winding down for the evening, Minion #2 and I were discussing what was happening at this time last year. At 6pm we were finally allowed to leave the hospital. It was 7 pm before we actually got all three of us in the car. It was cold, rainy, dark and foggy, and New Year's Eve to boot. NOT a good time to be on the road with your infant daughter in the car for the first time. She was 49 hours old, and both Minions were stunned that the hospital staff had actually let her just take her home. We read comic books and play video games, for goodness sake!

We arrived home, terrified. I was already exhausted, and hurting. For some reason, I had never calculated on the fact that I would be recovering from the birth. Walking and even sitting hurt so badly I wanted to cry, and I ended up doing just that several times. Add to this that we were in charge of this tiny, demanding little creature and we had only the vaguest idea of how to properly take care of her.

As Her Little Ladyship's first birthday approached, I was mourning the fact that she wasn't my baby any more. I was remembering all of the wonderful moments. For some reason, tonight I'm remembering all of the difficult moments, and suddenly I'm not missing the last year any more. I'm glad that we've gotten a lot more experienced, a lot more sure of ourselves. She's immeasurably easier to take care of, and she's not only interactive, but affectionate and downright fun. I love our time together now - instead of slaving to meet her demands, we actually play.

This is the best time so far, and I'm looking forward to what the new year brings. Happy New Year!

Quiet Morning

2010-12-31T10:19:00.005-05:00

Having one of those moments that you just quietly treasure. She slept all night long, only waking up a few times but getting herself right back to sleep. She slept until almost 8 am. I went upstairs, changed her diaper and got her dressed for the day, then we played in her room. She asked for milk and nursed for a while, but I'm not producing enough milk to satisfy her any longer.

So downstairs for breakfast. She liked her oatmeal for a while, but using the spoon frustrated her after a while and she dug in with her hands. I laughed, cleaned her up and started feeding her with a spoon, but that didn't last long. She's a toddler now and She Can Do It Herself! Or so she tells me. She refused the oatmeal, so I took her out of her seat and tried to finish my breakfast, but she was still hungry and demanded some of my banana. So back into her chair for some banana and blueberries. While she ate those By Herself, I was able to fit in spoonfuls of oatmeal. She eventually ended up eating 5 tablespoons of oatmeal, 2 ounces of applesauce mixed in with the oatmeal, 3/4 of a banana and 3 handfuls of blueberries. I honestly don't know where it all fit.

Then we played for a while with her new Christmas toys. She loves her little wood shop and her CD player, and played with them both for quite a while. Then it was on to snuggling with her toy wolf and petting our cat Draco. That's her toy wolf on the bottom right of the picture.

She's learning a new word, poop, which her daddy and I appreciate. She's fairly good about telling us when she has a dirty diaper. We went upstairs for a change, and while we were doing that, she started yawning and rubbing her eyes. I washed my hands and then made her a 6 ounce bottle. She drank almost all of it. I tried to burp her but nothing happened, and the poor thing was falling asleep sitting up. I put her down in her crib, gave her a sleeping pacifier and her Bunny, which she pulled in close. I wished her a good nap as I closed the door, and I'm watching her on the video monitor as I write this.

I can't stay up until the wee hours of the morning on my vacation anymore, and my days start at 7:30 or 8 am if I'm lucky. But having this morning time with her, as she happily played and I got to watch, play and talk to her, is priceless. I love having quiet mornings with her, and I treasure every one. Her daddy is still asleep, all is still outside, I've had soft music playing all morning - these are wonderful times.

First Birthday!

2010-12-29T23:24:00.000-05:00

Today at 5:43 pm the Tiny Overlord completed her first voyage around the Sun. Appropriate festivities were observed. We started by offering her a dinner of her favorite foods - organic crackers and cheese, with green beans and sweet potato. The actual anniversary of her birth occurred while she was eating, so Minion#2 snapped a few quick photos to commemorate the time.

Next we presented the Overlord with her cupcake. Earlier in the day Minion #1 had baked the cupcakes and made the frosting entirely from scratch to be certain that there were no preservatives, artificial flavorings or other things that may upset the Tiny One's tummy. She looked on with approval as we light the candle and held it in front of her. Minion #1 demonstrated the proper technique for blowing out a candle, and after a few tries, the Tiny Overlord was able to successfully defeat the candle foe! Minion #2 captured the moment on film.

We then repeated the event to capture it on video. Videos will be posted at the end of today's update. Minions #1 and #2 both taste tested cupcakes, to reassure the Tiny Overlord that they were indeed safe to eat. After a brief period of time spent investigating this new offering, she settled down to enjoy her cupcake. Some of it went inside, but the vast majority seems to have ended up on the floor.

Afterwards, the Grandminions K made a Skype call. We opened the Overlord's tribute as they watched, and her Uncle-minion J kept her entertained by making funny faces, which she deigned to return. The tribute was deemed to be acceptable, especially the CD player that "plays" little plastic disks and the crocodile that moves when you push the birds on his back. After paying homage to her Overlordship, the Grandminions and Uncle Minion disconnected. Minion #1 made a Skype call to the Grandminions H and her Tininess opened her final present while her Grandminions looked on.

After a bit more playing with toys and boxes, it was finally the Overlord's bedtime. We escorted her upstairs, got her into her pajamas and night time diaper and read a few pages of a book. Then it was time for a bottle and finally the Tiny Overlord fell asleep. Minion #1 shed a few tears that her little one was now officially a toddler and not a baby any longer. But all in all, it was the best birthday ever.