Future Poltergeist

We're less than two weeks from the due date and I just realized that I've hardly done any blogging at all about the Oncoming Baby. I'm putting the blame squarely on the third baby stuff. You know, the first one has a full baby book, the second half full and the third baby book isn't even taken out of the wrapper. That's probably what's happening here. Anyway, I was just reading back to when Relia arrived so I could try and gauge the comfort level of the FP Gal. (Go ahead click that link. It goes back to a younger, more innocent time. You might enjoy it.) It's interesting to read my words from back then when I knew so little. I know more now, but the biggest lesson I've learned with labor is this: do some reasonable preperation and then trust that the people who do this for a living can get you through the rest. Anyway, I did want to put down some other thoughts here: We think we've settled on names. We're not quite sure if we'll share them a...

Even though she's gone today, I thought I'd share another Relia tidbit. The FP Gal has a small white chair, maybe 16 inches high. It's absolutely the perfect size for our little girl. Normally it sits by our coffee table. Often she sits there and eats breakfast. It suits her perfectly. Maybe too perfectly. It suffers from one problem. It wanders all over the house. That chair somehow moves from place to place and it leads our little angel into temptation. We call it 'The Chair of Trouble'. We're trying to get the chair to stay in the living room. But it's a hard lesson to learn. Just the other day we saw it floating into the kitchen with our dear daughter trying valiantly to hold it in place. It somehow led her right to the licorice on the counter. The Chair has been quiet this weekend. But we know it's only waiting. And when the time comes, it will go astray. Oh yes it will...

We're almost at the two year mark and Relia's language skills grow by leaps and bounds. Everyday three are new words and phrases. It's like she's listening to us and learning or something. Recent phrases include: Where are you? It's yucky. Dancing car outside! (This one is for the ice cream truck.) Is that really the square root or are you just making that up? (Mumbled, but you can still tell that's what she's saying.) She has also become very involved in what clothes she will wear. Most mornings we find her with a shirt wrapped around her waist as she tried to change outfits. Sometimes the clothes are too warm or too cold but her color sense is about on par with mine. (We're hoping it improves.) If we make the mistake of picking out the wrong pants she lets us know. Boy howdy, she lets us know! Occasionally we have to force pants on her but we usually let her win. The learning continues...

Having a toddler means watching unbelievable changes. Or at least changes at an unbelievable pace. Every day Relia has better diction, more subtle opinions and a better vocabulary. The last week or so has been jet fueled and I think Sesame Street is to credit. We put it on the Tivo list and it's quickly become a favorite. She's picking up more on letters and numbers and colors. Soon she'll have a working knowledge of traveler Spanish. And of course Elmo. Or as she says, "Elmo dance?". That's actually what she calls Sesame Street. The FP Gal can't stand the little red guy and I'm about a week away from joining her but he is Relia's favorite. Her other new favorite is a DVD called 'Baby Dance'. The FP Gal caught some video of her dancing to it earlier. It's absolutely adorable. She's just growing up so fast!

The FP Gal has blogged about setting up the toddler bed in the nursery. It's adorable and Relia has taken well to it. One thing it has changed is the bedtime routine. Before the bed was there we would sit in a glider chair with her on our lap and read to her. Now with the bed we try and coax her to lay down next to us and then read a couple of books. This isn't always easy. Relia is starting to fight bedtime. This mean that she has to run around the room crying before she'll finally submit and climb onto the bed. Tonight was one of the fighting nights. It was my turn with her and I simply laid on the bed with the book I'm reading and let her yell. After five minutes or so she asked to come up (even though she can do it on her own, I helped her out). She didn't want me to read one of her books out loud. Nope. She was very firm that I should keep reading mine while she lay next to me and 'read' hers. All very cute of course. After I'd read for...

Relia: (guiding me to the couch) Sit down! Me: On the couch? Relia: Yes. Me: (trying to instill politeness) What do you say? Relia: Yes! The FP Gal sat on the other side of the couch and laughed and laughed. On the third try she finally said, "Please".

After months and months of coercion, Relia finally decided to count to three today. Well, kind of. We're under no illusion that she understands the concept of 'a single thing', 'two things' or 'three things' but at least she's saying them in the proper order. For some unknown reason she also adds "oh no!" at the end and then laughs hysterically.

So we've been watching reruns of 'Two and a Half Men' (thank you Tivo!). It's fun and the writing is crisp and we're enjoying it. And...the themes are quite adult so we have to watch it now before Relia understands what they're talking about. Anyway, as the show changes from scene to scene they use a simple croon of 'men...'. Relia has taken to imitating it. Which could hardly be cuter. Relatedly, this afternoon while driving her home she was singing the 'Mommy, Mommy' song. I told the FP Gal and she said that it sounded quite a bit like the 'Nana, Nana' song. I'm hoping for my own song soon. I've got my fingers crossed!

Relia has covered all of her little dolls with blankets, put them 'night-night' and left them on the floor of the living room. It makes the place look like the morgue for 'CSI Nursery'.

We had another rough night last night (one that the FP Gal eventually fixed around 130a with a waffle). The crying started a little after ten. First there was coughing and we weren't sure what to do. We wondered if this was teething related and if she needed some painkiller. Then the crying started and we decided to give it a try. I went into her room and gave her some Tylenol. Then I washed out the dropper and went back in to have her drink some water. She was already laying down again and facing away from the door. Back out of the room, but not before tripping over something and making more noise. No sooner did I get back into bed before she started calling me. The worst part was that for the first time she was calling for me by name. "Daddy! Daddy!" Talk about heart-wrenching!

"Owl! Owl! Owl!" At least that's what our daughter tells us. If she doesn't know one of the animals then she just repeats their name back. It's pretty funny and we kind of hope that it takes a while for her to learn the right answer. In a similar manner, if we ask her what Mommy says she responds, "Mommy!". Same thing with 'Daddy' and 'Relia'. I guess 'what does something say' is closely related to 'how do you say something'. Again, very cute.

Relia has discovered our baby name books. She's just tall enough to reach them and demand that she be able to look at the babies. Well, all of our books are boring to look at. At least for toddlers. A pretty picture on the front but inside nothing but black and white paragraphs of name descriptions. Sometimes there is something interesting for adults though. One of our books is 'The New Age Baby Name Book' (which is fitting since the FP Gal and I are very into crystals and astrology ). This book has some interesting lists, one I discovered today is a list of "Most Unpopular Names". Sound fun? Here is the list: Abishag Amourous (talk about sending your daughter down the wrong road) Babberley Brained Bugless (every parent's hope I suppose) Clapham Despair (middle name Pit of) Dozer Energetic Feather (actually surprised this is on the list) Ham (somewhat better than 'Pork') Lettuce (sister of Bacon and Tomato) Minniehaha (serious diaper changes fo...

Relia is at the stacking blocks age. She stacks them as high as she can, a height usually established by how high she can reach on the table. After it's stacked she takes a swipe at them, knocking them down. Then loudly, "Oh no!", with as much tragedy as she can muster. Then pick up the blocks and repeat.

Relia was up around 430a this morning. Which is at least an hour earlier than normal. She didn't eat many fish sticks last night and was probably hungry. I gave her some animal crackers and rocked her for awhile but as soon as it came time to lay down in the crib, she woke back up and started yelling. Then the FP Gal took over and rocked her for awhile before taking her down for breakfast. (In retrospect, I probably should have just brought her into bed with us...) This morning she has responded by walking around putting all of her dolls to bed. That means laying them down (sometimes gently, other times...) and saying 'night-night' while smothering them a blanket. I wonder if she's regretting that early morning.

Relia just discovered that if she leaves her waffles unattended that the kitties go after them. She wasn't happy about that. I wonder if she'll protect them better from now on?

My dear mother gave us a wonderful Valentines treat this weekend. She took Relia overnight on Friday and most of today. I had the day off yesterday so the FP Gal and I loaded up Relia and took her over when Mom was done with work. We showed her how to install the car seat and helped her put away her snowman. And then we were off! Off for a night of adventure, the kind of night that only two suddenly free parents can really enjoy! A night without responsibility or restraint! That's right, we got two orders of Noodles Inc and settled down in front of the TV. The FP Gal went to bed before ten and I only made it until eleven or so. But today was the real treat. We could get up when we wanted without Relia calling the shots. That's right, sleep in as late as we could. For the FP Gal that was almost seven am. For me, it was closer to eight. Unfortunately for both of us, for the cats it was closer to five. They caused such a ruckus trying to get us up to feed them that a...

That's the baby word for 'baby'. And no I don't understand it, but I've heard it from more than just my child. Today for instance. My dad was up from Austin to spend some time with Relia and I. We took her out to the MOA so that she could run around and see some of the outside world. Longtime readers might remember that a trip to the Mall was a mainstay of Thursdays with dad last year. I'd strap her into her stroller and do the three main levels. Most times she'd conk out by the third one. Not anymore. Now when we go she wants to run and run. And then stop outside of various stores and look at things through the window. (Fortunately, she rarely wants to go inside and pull things off of shelves. I'm not sure that she understands that she can yet. Please let that day not come soon!) When the FP Gal and I go there on Sunday mornings it's not a problem because there aren't many people in the place and we outnumber her. Someone pushes th...

We went out today and the FP Gal blogged about it here (with pictures) . It was fun watching her looking for fish and other animals. But again the real treat for me was watching her with other children. We ran into at least two other little girls that were also right around a year and a half old. They regard each other intently, sizing each other up. Then one of them tries out the word 'hi' and the other one responds...eventually. They have some inkling of personal space but it's not quite the same rules that adults use. The science part of parenthood shouldn't be underestimated.

Overheard at the house: Me: What does the cow say? Relia: Moooo! Me: What does the sheep say? Relia: Baaaa! Me: What does a pig say? Relia: La la la! Link . Relatedly, if you start this series of questions and ask what mommy or daddy says, you often get "Neigh!".