Frankie the Fire Dog

We have loveys who live exclusively in the house and those that ride in the truck with us and go on our shopping adventures to the mall. The travelling loveys often make it into the house and stay there.

These items are often bought at yard sales or at the discount stuffed animal section at our favourite discount stores (Walmart and Target). This usually when the screaming starts and can not be ceased by any other method than to have something to hold. Usually, I try to find a cheap board book or hand over a grocery item that can't be broken by dropping, biting or is otherwise toddler proof but sometimes a stuffed animal makes it into the cart.

Now for all you parents out there who say "I would never do that!", I have a very purposefully edited and polite word for you: BALONEY!

One such stuffed friend who came into our lives in such a way, is Frankie the Fire Dog. Yes, Frankie is a Dalmatian puppy who is quite small (maybe 6 inches tall) but fits nicely into small arms when T is strapped into the carseat in the back seat of our truck.

Today on the way home from the gym, T recounted her 45 minutes spent at the gym daycare to Frankie. What I watched through the rear view mirror today was priceless. I had to force myself to watch the road because it was the sweetest thing T did today.

She held onto Frankie very snuggly and warmly. He was tucked under her arm and with her finger in a very maternal wagging motion, T proceeded to tell Frankie what she did and what she was not to do at the daycare. I only wish I had had my camera and we were parked. She was talking away to him and he was turned with his face looking up at her like he really was listening.

T gives Frankie a big kiss goodbye when we go in the house or the store. Frankie, like all good guard dogs, watches the truck and keeps it safe until our next adventure.

Frankie cost us something like $2.50, but he is priceless to T.

Frankie the Fire Dog

A Bart by any other name....

As with most small children, T has a lovey. A lovey is a favourite pal beyond all others, who is loved well beyond their means.

For some kids, its a blanket, or a doll, but for T, its a dog. We got Bart as a gift from S's mother's best friend from BC when I was about 5 months pregnant with T. He was her first stuffed animal that wasn't inherited from anyone.

Bart came to us as Whiffer, a stuffed dog who resembles a beagle. We didn't think the name Whiffer really suited him so S came up with the name Bart, the Bad Dog. S added the Bad Dog part as a way of making the household cats less hateful of him.

At about 10 months of age, T really took a shining to Bart and hasn't looked back. People all laugh at me since all of T's stuffed friends have names but it has come in handy. When I ask for Bart, I don't have to explain who Bart is, all of our friends know who Bart is and well, T can kinda say his name so it makes the identification of what she wants in her toddler speak a little easier.

Bart has been loved so much (read: drooled on, puked on, gnawed on, slept on, hugged, dragged around, yanked lovingly through the crib bars by his head, washed in the washing machine, sewed up and then some) that he is starting to look beyond his years. T spent the better part of the last year of her life teething so Bart's ears were about 2 inches shorter than they started - let's just say, T didn't use a plastic teething ring.

I tried trimming his ears when they started to fray; this eliminated the holes that T incessantly put her fingers through and stitched them up so that they would last a little longer. The final straw came when he started to get holes beside the base of his ears. Bart needed some more in- depth surgery.

S kindly took T downstairs while I tried to slipcover Bart's ears. I left the originals just in case the transformation was just too much for T to handle. She loved to sit and flip his ears as they were practically as thin as cotton by the time I got to put new ones on.

I slip covered them with a pair of nice fleece ones. I broke two sewing needles and bent another but it was worth it. I used a zig zag as apparently its more flexible given all the yanking his ears take but it also made for some tough going for my sewing machine. T keeps telling me that Bart has new ears and while she hasn't gnawed on them quite as lovingly as she did she still loves him just the same.

Ironically, we have a backup Bart, waiting in the wings but I have a feeling that despite being Bart's doppelganger, I don't think she would take to him quite as much as she loves her current Bart.

Note to all new or soon to be parents, get a backup of any loveys if you can or learn to sew.

Note Bart's dog eared ears

What Bart started off looking like...

What Bart looks like now...his new ears are a little longer than the original but look just fine, or at least I think so.

Christmas chez nous 2008

So Christmas has come and gone for another year. Its amazing how anti climatic that particular day is, even with a young child.

Unlike last year, Talia was a lot more fascinated with her presents this year however, she did suffer from GOF (Gift Opening Fatigue). About half way thru her presents, she was like "All done". I think next year we will have a 7th inning stretch for breakfast and then continue.

Among her haul of pressies, Talia got several new outfits for now and later, a new wagon (which she is quite enthralled with), a new chair and additions to her DVD and book libraries. Of particular note, she got a new coat, an Abby Caddabby (a Sesame Street character) fake fur pink coat.

Now, she doesn't know who Abby is and Elmo has just started making a notable appearance in her memory, but I think she likes the feel of the coat. She wore it thru out the morning of Christmas over her fleece PJs and strutted thru the house modelling it the next day.

I hope she is tall and skinny because this kid has the poses of a super model down. She particularly like wearing her coat with a pink snow boots (also a Christmas present) although its really not cold enough most days to wear snow boots. She's a pink wearing machine much to her father's chagrin.

Part of the haul

Watching a new DVD with Dad

Having our morning brevie with Bart

A new toy as known as trainin potty!

Playing in the lazy susan

Hangin' in our new chair with Bart and our new jacket

T's first ride in her new wagon

Helping Daddy put the wagon together, T was a big help...ha ha.

Onward, driver...mush mush!

Did you not hear me? I said DRIVE!

I'm too cute to be a demanding passenger, right?

Dreaming of all the fun we are going tp with this puppy while Daddy struggles to get it put together!

Modeling our new towel that Mom stood in line for hours for on Black Friday....

Cool shades!

One last photo before we go for a haircut.

Aren't I too cute for words? I like to think so.

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.

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!

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.