(no subject)

[moominmolly]

It had recently seemed that as soon as Natalie was able to speak a word, she would give up the sign. I haven't seen [BABY] in weeks, for example. But this weekend, she decided to use the signs for [MOTHER] and [FATHER] in addition to saying "mommy!" and "daddy!". This combined with playing around with calling me "daddy" and dilletante "mommy", and then calling herself "mommy" or "daddy". This was a grand game, apparently.

"MOMMY!"
"No, that's daddy."
"DADDY!"
"No, that's mommy."
"DADDY!"
"No, that's Natalie."
"MOMMY!"
"No, that's daddy."
"MOMMY!"
"No, that's Natalie."

and so on. She seems to like defining boundaries, too -- she will point at different bits of her torso saying "dat!" over and over to find out which bits I call "belly" and which bits I call "chest".

Oh! And for MONTHS -- have I mentioned this? -- she points at my belly button, or hers, and signs [FOOD]. Did someone once tell her what belly buttons were for? Did I, and I don't remember? Regardless, it's cute.

She's working harder on stringing words together, though now mostly spoken ones; water_childe's hula hoop in the backyard is "nana hoop!", and my keys are "mama keyyyy!" Her cutest word at the moment, though, is "tylenol", spoken like "taywnowwl". Tylenol is pretty important in her world. I admit, sometimes I goad her into saying it because it's so darn cute.

This morning, when I took her little baby doll away so I could put her hand into her sleeve, she asked me, "where the baby?"

What I most love right now, though, is how weird and playful she is:



She dances to the two seconds of music in the background that I wouldn't have heard if she hadn't been dancing. She spins around and around until she gets dizzy. She makes silly noises just for the fun of it. This morning, she told us that her baby doll needed food, and wanted me to nurse it. She has funny walks. We had a fire in the backyard last night, and when I told her it was dangerous to get too close, she ran around saying "deenjee! deenjee!" She is totally and incontrovertibly a little tiny person.

Comments

[kimberlogic.livejournal.com]

Adorable! I think my favorite of this post is "deenjee! deenjee!" - the image of her running around saying that is just too damn cute
I hope I get to see all of you soon

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

I hope so too! :)

[moonshadow.livejournal.com]

She is totally and incontrovertibly a little tiny person.

A little, tiny, free-spirited, strong-willed, and ADORABLE person.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

seconded.

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

The story-telling is so totally charming.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

I want her to do as much of this as possible. I hope I always have time to listen to her stories.

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

Yeah :) The other day, she picked up one of the teddy bears, put it on my couch, and told me it was in bed. I told her she was pretty awesome, and she agreed :)

[montacute.livejournal.com]

that's a great photo. what's going on on her nose?

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

It's a pipe cleaner. Moments later, Sylvana was agitating for her own fuzzy nose:

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/moominmolly/497960807/)

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

Now I want one! ;)

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

A fuzzy nose?

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

Spending time with you all yesterday was filled with precious moments. I note that, except for the rare times when someone falls and cries, the kids smile a large part of the time. Happy children! Such a joy:)

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

They are pretty happy little girls, aren't they? It's cool.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

I've wondered if M. will get confused about "mommy" and "daddy" since daddy is the stay-at-home. Will she focus on gender, or role, or what we tell her?

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine why she'd get confused, unless you spend more time saying "mommies stay at home and daddies go to work" as you do referring to yourselves...

[signsoflife.livejournal.com]

Might she get confused with other people's parents?

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

I mean, my kid is totally not old enough to judge by, so I *really* shouldn't speculate, but it always seemed to me that kids were pretty clear on what their parents do versus what they believe the rest of the world does, and that it was mostly other kids' parents that got confused.

[gentlescholar.livejournal.com]

They're great. I think I'm crazy for missing all this growing up stuff, just from being a mile or two away...Of course, I've got my own supply right upstairs, about to double in quantity, too. Still, I wish I could come see you guys sometimes.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Now that it's nice out, we're going to start having more backyard hangy-outy things. You should come by. It'd be good to see you. :)