The Holidays 2011-12

Well, Christmas, New Years and Valentines Day have all come and gone. Easter has arrived. And one thing I have learned about my child over these special days of the year is that she is obsessed with one thing:

CANDY.

We've tried to strike a decent balance with her - not leaning to the one extreme of forbidding any and all sugar in any form at all times...or the other extreme of just filling the kidddo up with corn syrup based crap all year long. We allow her to have treats - candy, cookies, cake occasionally. As in...she gets to enjoy the free bakery cupcake they give you at the grocery store once a week. She gets a lollipop after a doctor's check up. Girl Scout cookies inevitably make their way into the house in late winter. But we don't keep the place stocked with cupboards full of empty, processed carbs.

On holidays, though...all bets are off. I would probably approach this whole thing a bit more conservatively because, honestly, I have come to see sugar and ingredients that are 17 letters long and end in "ose" and "ite" and "ated" as bordering on poisonous. However, my husband seems to have some deep issues centering around "treat deprivation." I don't know if his brother stole his gummie bears when he was a child or if he was once at a birthday party where they actually ran out of cake and he was last in line. But whatever the case, fighting the battle of "can we please limit the number of Peeps that we stuff into that Easter basket?" just isn't worth it when I could choose "oooh, it's 5am - could you get up with her this time?"

So, it's Easter Morning 2012. My two year old has eaten: a Peep, 2 mini chocolate bunnies, a chocolate carrot, 3 large gummie bears and 10 M & Ms. It is 10AM. Her little sugar-fueled body is raging with a dark energy that makes me fear for us, the cats and anything that can be knocked over and broken or spilled. She is obsessed with blowing bubbles at the moment - thankfully with a battery operated bubble blower - otherwise she absolutely would have passed out due to hyperventilation. Although...her passing out right about now sounds pretty fantastic. I informed her a moment ago that there would be no more candy until after lunch (this is a generous offer since my preference would be: no more candy until 2013.) She broke down into a puddle of tears and then shifted to demonic screeching. After a time out she settled down but there is still a hint of crazy in her eye.

In other news, she continues to grow and thrive. Healthy as a horse, curious as a cat, sly as a fox and crazy as a monkey. Her vocabulary is amazing - she talks in "adult-length" sentences and uses words like "actually" and "seriously." She completely makes things up that never happened - which can be quite confusing, but also funny, as long as she isn't saying things like "Daddy pushed me." (Not amusing, at all.)

.

I love you in...Pittsburgh!

A few months have passed, so there is much to add abotu Cassidy as she grows and changes. She can do more things like put on her own socks, get in and out of the bath tub, have a full fledged telephone conversation with someone and then hang up on them, walk down stairs confidently on her own and do a somersault. She is taking gymnastics classes and classes at the zoo about animals. She has many friends and loves to sing and dance. By far the most interesting thing about her is the funny stuff she says. I bring to you...conversations with Cass.

Conversations with Cass:

I Love You in Pittsburgh
CASS: "Mommy I love you very much."
ME: "I love you more."
CASS: "I love you the most!"
ME: "I love you infinity!"
CASS: "I love you in....in....Pittsburgh!"

(I laughed so hard I cried.)

Whose Wife is it?
CASS: " where do you work?"
ME: "I work at a place called Light of Life."
CASS(who pronounces Ls like Ws): "My wife or your wife?"


Cookie Monster
CASS: "I don't feel good."
ME: "You don't? What doesn't feel good?"
CASS: "My tummy."
ME: "Awww, is there anything I can do for you?"
CASS: "Yes. Make me feel better."
ME: "Ok, well, do you want something to eat?"
CASS: "Yes. I need a cookie. A cookie will make me feel better."


Tiny Dancer
CASS: "Mommy, sing with me."
ME: "I don't really feel like it right now. You sing."
CASS: "No. I'm not a very good singer....but I AM a very good dancer!"

Two already??

How is this possible? Little Miss the Lemonette is two already?!

Somehow she morphed from a wiggly baby into an independent being. She hardly needs us at all, it seems! (Unless she needs help opening the lid of a Play-Doh container.) She speaks in full, varied sentences saying charming things like "No, Mommy. Don't talk to me like that. Be nice. Pweese."

She also sings constantly, often making up songs from whatever is going on around her. She recently entertained us while we were eating dinner with a slightly wonky version of "BaBa Black Sheep" at full lung capacity. She ended it with an accidental slip and unintentional but festive split at the end.

We spent her birthday at home with her 30 closest friends and a lot of Monkey Luau themed decorations. We also went to the beach where she became incredibly brave in regard to playing in the surf. But she got knocked down enough times that she began to demonstrate a useful understanding of the power of the ocean.

Cassidy is full of life, opinions, ideas, imagination and is in possession of an iron-strong will. While I can see she is not and will not be the easiest child to parent, she is an incredible source of laughter and joy. Her smile lights up entire zip codes and her magical way of being has chased away many a rain cloud. It's an honor to be a temporary steward of this precious life that absolutely going somewhere very, very interesting.

Cass in 2011

Well, it's hard to keep up with Cassidy's words. She basically can say any word now and she is stringing together simple sentences with 2-3 words. The other day i heard the daycare teacher say to another teacher that she talks more than any of the kids in the 2 year old group - she's still got a few months to go before she turns 2. Smartypants.

She continues to love being read to. She would sit on a lap and have 10 books read to her in a row any day. After about 7 or 8 I usually quit, despite her loud protests.

She loves to take stuffed animals and human people and put them to bed. She will make us lay down and she gets a blanket and puts it over us and pat us firmly saying "Night-night." I love her capacity to pretend, which she has had for some time now.

She eats very well with a spoon and likes to have a bib on to eat. She will firmly say "bib" until she gets one. Her eating habits vary. She will never turn down shredded cheddar cheese, sliced grapes or cookies. She regularly asks for mango. She will usually eat green peas, black beans and tofu with a little soy sauce. She likes chicken soup, too.

We have mostly kept her away from tv, but we allow her to watch Steelers games if we are home for one and we let her watch while we exercise with the Wii fitness programs. She often says "Watch...watch" and points to the tv, meaning "I want to watch the tv while you exercise." I guess it's better than Barney.

She does well at daycare and rarely cries when we leave her. But she is always eager to go home when we pick her up. She gives hugs and kisses and says "lub you" for "I love you." It is basically the sweetest thing ever.

More words

New words she's started saying

Cool
Yep
blue
green
puzzle
family
Lion
Zebra (bebra)
hockey
tunnel
choo-choo
phone
Evelyn
Bob


She has started making up songs with words she knows. Her favorite is roughly in the tune of baba black sheep and it goes something like "Mama, dada, pappy, hi....abby, puppy, happy, bye."

She also has started having LONG nonsense conversations - like stringing together a whole bunch of nonsense words in the cadence of a conversation, with pauses. Almost like she's pretending to talk on the phone. It is very, very funny.

She has gotten further with Row, Row, Row Your Boat by singing "Row, row, row, boat.....stream...merry." Definite progress.

Cassidy's 2nd Christmas

We got to spend time with family and friends, eat good food and visit. Cassidy got tons of gifts, of course, and entertained the family with her silly faces and general antics.

Some updates:

She has so many words, it's hard to count. She knows many animals, body parts, people's names, etc. She talks incessantly and puts 2 words together frequently. She has a set of 52 cards with different things on them and she knows what each of them are - if I put down 6 cards and say "Where is the giraffe" she points right to it.

She can't say the "S" or "Sh" sound so she replaces those with an "H". So, Shayna is Hayna and Santa is Hanta. She loves the idea of "Hanta" and points him out wherever she sees him.

She knows to say please and thank you and is learning to use words to get what she wants - hopefully lessening the whining, which is annoying.

She is very outgoing and independent. She warms up to people quickly and enjoys attention.

She has a funny little dance that she does when catchy music comes on. One of her favorite things to do is to pretend to put her stuffed animals to bed. She covers them with a blanket and pats them and says "Night-night."

Here are some photos from Christmas.

more words

Just popping in to add to Cassidy's word list:

New words in italics, as of 17 months of age - some of these she has known for a while but I forgot about.

mama
dada
pappy
mamie (Grammie)
Tait (Kait)
Henny (Henry)
Ted
eat
cheese
peas
bottle
ray-ray (raisins)
bow (hair bow)
ball
dog
duck
hi
bye-bye
binky
blanket
gentle
tickle
sticker
monkey
book
hug
Animal sounds for (horse, dog, cat, cow, sheep)
no
Ok (she says this a lot when she means "yes")
please
Wee!
Yay!
Good girl


yeah
home
one
two
"b" (she only knows this letter for some reason.)
apple
turtle
water
milk
more
up
down
done
horse
eye
ear
head
nose
hurt
ouch
help
go
Abby (dog next door)
walk
peek (as in peek-a-boo)
shoe
sock
hat
fish
elbow
bow
bugger! (just something funny she yells)
thank you
swing
doll
shirt
bunny
chair
school
cracker
beans
tofu
grapes
juice
poop
that