Monday, May 31, 2010

Take two!

Hi, world.  Happy Memorial Day to you and yours.  Just wanted to check in and say that even though we had a false alarm last week, we aren’t any less eager to meet Baby McVeigh!  Adie SHOULD be induced today, so since you’ve had an extra week to practice, please send EXTRA happy thoughts and prayers to San Francisco as we will all be waiting to welcome Miss McVeigh to this side of the belly. 

Lots of love from SC,

The Bogle Family Blog

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Put a lid on it

Lily has two new activities that she adores these days.  The first is an obsession with containers that have lids.  She LOVES to take tupperware or sippy cups (empty, thank goodness!) and put the lids on and take them off…and put them on and take them off…  Again and again and again…

She goes nuts if she sees cups in the dishwasher.  She starts yelling “Lih!  Lih!  Lih!” for “lid” and pointing frantically.  Usually, she’s seeing them when I’m loading the dishwasher, so she can’t have them because they are dirty, and she gets SO upset.  The upshot to her lid fascination is that an empty sippy cup with lid along with a small microfiber bag and a crayon kept her infinitely entertained at a restaurant for dinner last night as we were waiting for our food to arrive.  I also got some peace yesterday thanks to a crumpled up piece of tape and a sippy cup. 

*Warning – this video is quite boring!  :-)

Apparently this was way less boring than it looked, as she kept this up for 15 solid minutes.  You can hear her say, “doh!” a lot at the beginning.  That’s how she says, “go!” whenever we say, “ready…set…”  For example:

I think it’s so cute that she incorporated saying “go/doh!” into her sippy cup / tape game without us prompting her.

As for the boo-boo, she scraped her knee while she was in the nursery at the gym. 

Say, what?!?!

The gym?!?!?

Yes, as I have said elsewhere, I hope your end-of-the-world insurance is up to date, because I actually joined a gym last week.  I figured it would be good for me (both physically and mentally!), and good for Lily so that she could spend some time with caregivers other than immediate family.  She did AWESOME the first week, and didn’t cry at all.  This week, she did cry a bit more.  The first couple of days, she would reach for me, crying “mama!  mama!" and just breaking my heart.  Mid-week, she started toddling away from me willingly when we arrived, but still crying as she walked away without a backwards glance!  Yesterday, she did VERY well, and only cried for a few seconds when I left her.  I am hopeful that she will continue to do well, and I might get to leave her for the 3-hour “mother’s morning out” program one week, or even the “parent’s night out” program they have once a month.  How exciting for us!  :-)

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You may remember back…um…a few paragraphs up when I mentioned that Lily has two new favorite activities.  Aside from lids, her other new love is “toh toh.”  We talk about “toh toh” all day long.  Well, it’s not just “toh toh,” it’s actually said, “toh toh” combined with sweeping one arm back and forth. 

EVERY morning, Lily and I have this conversation:

Lily:  Toh toh? (while frantically sweeping one arm)

Me:  No, we can’t do that until Daddy get’s home.

Lily:  Dada?

Me:  Yes, when Daddy gets home from work.

Lily:  Wuh-wuh?

Me:  Yes, work.  When Daddy gets home from work.  Later.

Lily:  Lae-lae?

Me:  Yes, later.

Lily seems to consider this for a moment.  Then: Toh-toh? (while frantically sweeping arm)

Me:  Apply palm to face and repeat as above.

Any guesses?

Why it’s a helicopter, of course! 

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Michael’s parents gave him a miniature RC helicopter for Christmas, and he was playing with it a few weeks ago, when Lily took notice.  She wasn’t too sure about it at first, and usually fussed while it was flying, but then would ask for more whenever it stopped.  It was a very love-hate relationship.  As of last week, it’s just a love-love relationship, and she looks forward to playing “toh toh” every night when Michael gets home from work.  Saying “toh toh” is her version of “helicopter” for some reason, but she combines that with her self-invented sigh for “airplane” which is the hand sweep.

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What a catch!

Here is Lily’s “I’m about to catch a ball” act.

Looks like softball may not be in our future.

Dancing with our star

It seems Lily has advanced to partner dancing now instead of just solos…

Karmical

What do they call it when you do something to your parent when you’re a kid, and then when you’re grown up your own kid does the exact same thing to…your spouse? 

I call it…hilarious!  :-)

It won’t be for long, I’m sure, that I’m spared from the teeth of doom, but it seems the girl wonder is hitting another milestone ahead of the curve. 

Unfortunately, this milestone is tantrums. 

Yikes!

First off, let me re-iterate that she can be SO sweet, and we just adore her to pieces.  But, she also has a bit of a temper sometimes, and is struggling to…ahem…express herself appropriately at all times.

Her little 14-month old brain just can’t get itself around the idea that she can’t  have everything she wants, regardless of how dangerous or “not ours” it is.  If she gets frustrated, she roars like a dinosaur, stomps her feet, and, worst of all, sometimes looks for something to bite.  So far, the objects of her toothly terror have included a metal baby gate, her own toe, and Michael’s pants.

Hahahaha!

Apparently I was a bit of a knee-biter when I was a tot, so my mother is really enjoying that my own child has this same tendency.  I can’t believe I am laughing about this, but you can tell when Lily gets so overwhelmed with frustration, that she just starts searching for something to take it out on.  When she bit Michael’s knee because he wouldn’t give her something she wanted, all she got was the fabric of his pants, but I can’t tell you which of the three of us was most surprised that she did that.  Fortunately, when she went to bite her toe, she seemed to think better about biting down once she actually got it in her mouth.  She also seemed to re-think how hard she wanted to bite once she got the metal baby gate in her mouth.  At least she has a bit of self-preservation instinct that peeks through even when she’s SOOOOO devastated about being told she can’t have a dirty sippy cup from the dishwasher (details of why she would want a dirty sippy cup to come in another post).

So, who knows what the next year will bring.  Will we have a longer period of the “terrible 2’s” since we’re already starting, or are we just getting it over with sooner?  Who knows.  It was bound to come, and I’m not as worried about it as I thought I would be.  It’s a normal part of the process of her figuring out her world and how to express herself, so I will just hope for patience and the understanding of fellow grocery store customers when they hear me telling a screaming, tantruming 14-month old, “No, Lily, you cannot hold that bottle of wine in the shopping cart.  I know you really WANT to hold bottle of wine, but it’s glass so you can’t have it because it could break.  And trust me, baby…Mama is really going to NEED that wine…”

Mama x 3

Lily is doing well with learning to talk, but like all kids, she has a few idiosyncrasies that we don’t quite get.  One is that she calls both me and bananas, “mama,” and will mouth the word “mama” (with no sound) when she is trying to say “Annabelle” (her kitty cat lovey that she sleeps with). 

She goes and gets Annabelle from her crib after we put on her PJs at night, and if she can’t reach Annabelle by herself, she really starts popping those lips when she is mouthing “mama.”  So weird.  Is she wanting to call Annabelle “mama,” too, but is afraid of hurting my feelings?  We’ll never know, but we think it’s cute while it lasts.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Haikus

A poet, I am not.

Silly, I am.

Sitting on treadmill

Baby looks guilty to me

Is that diaper cream?

 

Hear the music play

Ding dong, bebop all day long

Oh dance, baby, dance

 

Cute girl grins at me

Shiny shark teeth sparkle bright

Oh dear, she is bald

 

Weep not, little one

I will reach that ball for you

Be calm now, shorty

 

Feet stomp. No, no, no!

Budding will is cute. For now.

Tiny tantrummer

 

Lawnmower sounds tease

I sense the Dada is near

Mama is so dumb

 

Frolicking with friends

Swimming lessons are so fun

Until we leave. Tears.

 

Baby steps approach

We must be gentle, Lily

Run quickly, “maow maow”

 

Whiff of something foul

She denies dirty diaper

Methinks baby lies

 

Falling down is fun

Baby clown must make us laugh

That will leave a mark

 

One last kiss for mom

Stalking baby as she sleeps

Keeper of my heart

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In more surprising news, you have an extra week to perfect your prayers and happy thoughts because Adie and Scott have been sent home without being induced because there were so many other sick babies there today.  They will try to hold out until next Monday.

Love,

The Bogle Family Blog

Too lazy to double-check my syllables or look up rules regarding punctuation in haikus since 2010

Team Baby McVeigh

Hi, friends.  Some of you may know dear friends of ours, Adie and Scott McVeigh.  We have known them since grad school, and Adie was in our wedding.  I love these people, folks – they are wonderful, fun, amazing friends.  Adie is pregnant with a baby girl, and will be induced today in San Francisco (far from their home in Atlanta).  Even though she hasn’t even been born yet, here is what I know so far about Baby McVeigh:

  • She has amazing parents.
  • She has a big, slobbery, furry brother named Toby who can’t wait to meet her.
  • She will be one of the spunkiest kids you’ll ever meet.
  • She will probably love pancakes.
  • If her family genes prove true, she will have a head of hair that will make Lily extremely jealous.
  • Her debut into this world is likely to be wonderful yet extremely stressful, as she will require surgery within a week or two of birth to correct a hole in her diaphragm.

So, please join us in sending happy thoughts and prayers to the McVeighs – we’re all rooting for you guys!

Much love,

The Bogle Family Blog

Fingers crossed and hearts hopeful

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Are you deaf, Mama? I hear the Dada!

I love that Lily is able to communicate to a limited extent.  Here is a typical conversation. 

As you can tell, she does not agree with my assessment of the situation.  I have spent the 30 minutes since this video trying (unsuccessfully) to convince her that her daddy is not mowing the neighbor’s lawn. 

Apparently she is advanced on her “gee, Mom, you don’t know anything” milestone. 

Love,

The Bogle Family Blog

Yes, indeed - we don’t know anything

Monday, May 10, 2010

Happy Mother’s Day!

Well, we’re a bit late, but here’s Lily’s musical tribute. 

My poor mother has chosen “Grandmom” for her grandmother title, so gets the “monster voice” treatment for her name since Lily can’t say “Grandmom” yet. 

Oh well, Mom – maybe next year!  :-)

Happy {belated} Mother’s Day to all the mommies out there!

Love and hugs and kisses,

The Bogle Family Blog

Running behind schedule, but really should you expect anything less at this point?  I mean, do you know us at all?  Sheesh. 

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Happy Birthday, Papa Bogle!

A day late in posting, but Happy Birthday to Michael’s dad. 

Lily doesn’t quite get the first line right, but she does have an interesting new way of saying “Papa”…

Speaking of monsters, we have created a monster with teaching her to “sing” with us.  She usually ends any song we sing with “mo mo,” asking us to sing again.  If we won’t she will sometimes say, “la la,” which is what she says when you ask her if she can sing. 

Happy Birthday, Papa B.!

The Bogle Family Blog

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Clear as mud

Lily was pretty cooperative today in repeating many of the words she can say. 

Why we started with “la la” when that’s not a real word, I can’t say, but she does say “la la” when you ask her if she can sing.

We forgot a few, but this is a pretty good sample.  A lot of them sort of sound alike, but I can understand her pretty well with context.

 

 

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I don’t have a video of this, but her new favorite game is to bring toys and other objects to me, shouting “Mama!” all the while, and pile the items in my lap.  If someone tries to take something me, they get an emphatic, “no no!” and then “Mama!” 

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Here she is bringing me a chair to add to the stack of babies she had already placed in my lap.