Existential growth spurt

Last night Millie wouldn't sleep. Sleeping has always been her Achilles heel-- we figure she's so engaged with the world she doesn't want to let it go. Sometimes it's also teething, or a tummy ache, or a cold.

Last night she cried out at 11pm and was really inconsolable- night terror? I don't know. I couldn't get her to settle back down. Then her dad came in to try to help and he took over. I heard her babbling away with him. At 12 am I went in and took her back from him to see if nursing would help. I'm trying to wean but it's hard if it's the only thing that will console her on a night like this. She settled down peacefully but didn't want to be alone. She was upset if I put her back in her crib so at 1am I brought her in to bed with us where she fell happily asleep until 7:30am.

This morning my husband said, "What do you think it was last night?" "I don't know," I said.
He said, "Well, there was a bizarre moment when I was holding her last night. She kept trying to settle down on my lap but at one point she sat up and said,

"Where did I come from?"
Wha??
Then she asked, "Where did I get my eyes?'"

"What did you say?" I asked him, in shock. "I told her she came from Mommy and Daddy. And you grew the eyes when you were inside mommy's tummy," he said.

She seemed to accept that and settle back down but not to sleep.

So now we can add to the list of things that keep Millie up at night: existential angst. It's like she went through a physical and psychic growth spurt last night. She seems taller this morning too.

I don't think I'd want to sleep alone either if I were her and all that was coursing through my little brain.

toddler-ese

This afternoon while she was enjoying her pretzels...

"Millie's eating her good snack-a-lacka."

Just to be sure, I checked with dad. Nope- he hadn't taught her that word. It's all her own.

Snack-a-lacka.

Humor and style. I like it.

Favorites: Books

I've been trying to figure out how to record and share her favorite stories, music, etc. Not sure how. Should I run a little widget or something on the side with a list?


For now, I'm just going to put it here. So, here is Millie's favorite book right now. She loves hearing about George and the Trainmaster. Also loves hearing about George and the Dump Truck. Makes sense, I'm sure it's easy for her to identify with lines like:





"When a line is long, it's not easy for a little monkey to be patient."


or


"Poor George. It's too easy for a monkey to get into trouble."




That's exactly how I felt when I was a kid. Somehow I was in trouble and couldn't figure out how it had happened *again*.





Thanks Aunt Kristen and Uncle James for the great book!

Group hugs

As my husband left for a short business trip to Italy in 10/08, Millie reached out to give him a hug while I was holding her. It was the first time we'd been apart as a new little family.

She reached for him and then leaned into me and squeezed our little family together.

Did she really just call for a group hug? Wow.

Now she does it every night as her dad hands her to me after stories at bedtime.

That's our routine:
Stories.
Group hug.
Then bedtime.

She's such a great kid.

Guess who?

Recently Millie has decided that we should call her Goofy. I have no idea why. She sees maybe 20 minutes of Disney programming all week... okay maybe 30 minutes total for the week. We may say she's silly but we never called her Goofy. Either way, I'll ask her if she wants something and she won't respond unless I address her as Goofy.

Mommy: Millie, Want more milk?
Millie: Goofy. Goofy want more milk?
Mommy: Ok, Goofy do you want more milk?
Millie: Yes. Goofy wants milk.

The week before that it was Snuffle-upugus. This week it's Trainmaster and Gecko. We read a story with Curious George when he goes to the train station. They have someone there called the trainmaster who changes the numbers on the signs. So, sometimes she's trainmaster. Today it was Gecko. We saw a Wonderpets** episode where they save a baby gecko. So today it was:

Mommy: Millie, where are your shoes?
Millie: Gecko. Where are Gecko's shoes.
Mommy: Ok, Gecko, where are your shoes?
Millie: Right here.

It's funny watching her try on different personas.

Wonder who she'll be tomorrow... anything is possible.


**Note: Really we don't let her watch much TV but it's the only way she'll sit still for 10 minutes while I try to get her hair into some sort of civilized shape. Looking around for a kids show one morning we discovered The Wonderpets. It is a truly lovely little cartoon with 12 minute episodes. A guinea pig, a duckling and a turtle save other baby animals. Usually there's a little life lesson and something educational too. The best part is they sing everything. After all, the mini-operas that Bugs Bunny did were truly the best episodes of those cartoons. The Wonderpets have these mini-operas and catchy tunes that don't annoy me that much when they get stuck in my head. If you don't know them or you're looking for a 10 minute distraction for your kid in case of emergency-- I highly recommend checking them out.

Happy Tea Party!

Millie cracks herself up.

While I was trying to put her down to sleep this week, she started talking about her day. She's quiet for a moment and looks away concentrating, then turns to me and says,

"Giant Crab!"
"Yes Millie, we saw a giant crab at the Maryland science center today."
"Wake up crab!"
"Yes, Amelia, the people were trying to get it to move by jumping around."

It was a motion sensor activated animatronic crab. Then..

"Yo ho ho."
"Yes, Max was pirate."

We had watched all of 3 minutes of Max and Ruby on TV while I tried to comb her hair- TV is the only thing that gets her to sit still while anyone touches her head. On this particular episode Max the rabbit was pretending to be a pirate and kept saying Yo-ho-ho. His sister Ruby wanted to have a tea party instead. So the next thing Amelia said was...

"Tea Party!"
"Yes Millie, Ruby was having a tea party with her dolls."
"Happy Tea-Party"

With that she busts into a hearty fit of laughter.

"Happy tea-Party! ah-ha-ha-ha-a" It's like she's saying, "Get it? Happy Tea Party!" She said it like 5 times and each time she thought it was more hysterical. Of course, I laughed too- not because I had any idea what the joke was in her mind but because it is just so funny that she cracks herself up.

Songs

Everyone should have a song to greet them in the morning. This morning Millie sang and clapped the greeting song from her daycare to me as I got her dressed:

"Good morning Mommy, good morning mommy, good morning mommy- it's nice to have you hear."

It's nice to be here.