Sunday, December 21, 2008

At our house, a laundry basket is a TTV (Toy Transportation Vehicle)...

So, T is a cheap date..at least when it comes to entertainment.

She loves all of her toys but also enjoys commandeering my laundry baskets to push her toys and little stuffed friends around the main floor of the house. She loves playing with plastic hangers she grunts for (sorry, requests me to pull down) from my closet and pinchs shoes from Mom's closet. Did I mention she loves to wear her toques around the house when she sees someone on TV wearing a hat? Or the former ice cream bucket turned T sized chair or step stool to cause Mom's blood pressure to spike when T is precariously perched somewhere she shouldn't be?

I swear why do I bother trying to buy her toys when she'd rather play with the plastic plates, bowls and cups I bought for when we have kids over for lunch at our weekly playdates? She's taken over my lazy susan where the plastic plates are kept and don't get me started on my dish towel drawers. The dish towels are pulled out and tossed on the floor, just to be put back into the drawer or place lovingly into the laundry baskets to be chauffeured around the house.

T has also taken a liking to the wrapping paper tubes (the wrapping paper was used to wrap Christmas gifts). She uncurls them and wings them around the house like light sabers. Even Phenix got into the fun on Friday night by batting at the unfurled roll, which made T laugh because Phenix was playing with her. T laughed so hard I thought she was going to fall off the couch.

Today, upon returning from a brief trip to the grocery store, T stole the canned goods I had just bought. She then proceeded to carry them around the house and stack them on the fireplace surround. Give the kid a pot and a spoon and she's occupied for hours.

What's that Mastercard commerical, something to the effect - 3 hours searching for the perfect toy, $20 to buy the toy and the hours spent playing in the box the toy came in...priceless.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

One part snow, one part sled, all fun!

One of the best things about having small children around whether they be your own, friends' kids or relatives, you get to experience all those things you enjoyed as a child for the second time.


From the first time we put T on a swing set, she was in love. Now, she has another favourite past time. We have received about 3 inches of snow as of noon today. The first thing I thought of this morning when I got up was that we have to go outside today. The second thing was - We need a sled.


When I was little, one of my favourite things was to go tobogganing. There was no better way to spend an afternoon than to slide down a hill on a crazy carpet or a sled. Countless afternoons of my youth were spent this way.


Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of hills around here nor do we usually get a lot of snow like they do back home. So those few precious days that we do get decent amounts of snow are extra special.


After I ran a couple of errands this morning, T and I set off for Walmart to get a sled. There were only two kinds so I got the one designed with a bit of a back rest and headed to the cash.


I made the comment that they would likely be selling a lot of these today and the cashier lady said that this one was the first but that they had sold a lot of shovels. I guess the neighbour kid will be over to ask if he can shovel our driveway. At least he finally invested in a shovel..the first time he rang our bell, he only had a broom....amateur.


T can now say snow so she was extra excited when she discovered that she would be wearing her new one piece snow suit and new snow boots (a Christmas present that we had to break out early).


We did one tour around the block in the sled and she was all too unhappy when we stopped. We tried to go into the back yard but she can't walk too well in the snow yet, so we went inside. Before we went inside, T did a face plant, which resulted in a good ol'fashion face wash in the snow. Poor kid, she didn't know what to do.


When we went inside, let's just say that the snow wasn't the only thing having a meltdown when that happened.




Ah Mom, I can't breathe!


Sitting in the back yard, remembering on how much fun it was in the summer to play outside.


Post face plant...poor kid.



Okay, why aren't we going Mom?



Go faster!

One, two, three...down we go!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

World meet the newest master manipulator

So we've been teaching T her body pairs such as head, eyes, nose, hair etc. She has become quite proficient at them. T has also entered the toddler years full throttle and is suffering from lack of communication abilities which bring on temper tantrums and the like. All the books say, redirection, redirection and more redirection, so we employ this method when possible.

However, being human I too am fallible and there are days when I sit and wonder which one of us is the toddler after I throw a temper tantrum after having redirected countless times or have informed her royal toddlerness that we don't do such and such for the umpteenth time today.

My toddler-ese doesn't always make it through the toddler translator. Its blah blah blah, no play park or blah blah no Jack's Big Music Show blah blah when in reality I've said, "We don't throw things or there won't be any more Jack". Its like trying to herd cats some days but some key words do register, or so I like think.

When we are about to hit meltdown mode, we redirect T by asking her "Where's your head?", What does a cow say?" etc. It has been rather effective for us. Failing success with our redirection efforts, we ask T to show us what she wants because while I have become an expert at T-speak, there are some things that the mommy translator doesn't have an explanation for.

Of late, our redirection technique are being used against us, in a way that would make you smile, even when you are supposed to be mean ole mommy.

There are times we have to chastised T for being errant in her ways. When we tell T "No, we don't throw food on the floor." sternly, we are confronted with T telling us where her nose is. How can you keep a straight face when you have a precocious toddler, looking you straight in the eye with those blue eyes, saying "Nose" while pointing to her nose and smiles like only she can.

Gotcha Mommy!

World meet the newest master manipulator.



This picture is T looking at the ducks in OKC last weekend.