There are so many things I just want to bottle up and preserve and keep forever the way they are now, at 23 and a half months. Watching Mariah learn to talk is one of those things. Still one year old. I'm afraid I'll forget the way that she says and does things.
My favorite is that she loves "fuffins" (muffins) and "wooshies" (smoothies).
She is very concerned about "pyme out" (time out) and often has her stuffed animals act out things she's not supposed to do and then explains to them, "No, no monkey, no climb table. pyme out."
Ev.er.y.thing. is "Yaya self!" and "Me mine!"
The latest additions to her vocabulary have been: "not yet", "too", and "togeder" (together) as in "Mariah, do you need a new diaper?" "Not yet...!" and she hears me talking to Matt in the morning saying, "What do you want for breakfast?" and she chimes in "Wait! Yaya breakfast toooooo!" and in the evening she wants us all to "Pay (play) Yaya's room togeder"
She wakes up at the crack of dawn every day so while I'm still prying my eyes open at quarter to six she's running around the living room balancing her sippy cup in one hand going, "Watcha meee!" (watch me!) "Ta daaaaa!" and spinning in circles getting "wizzy" (dizzy) and laughing hysterically until she falls over.
She thinks "onetwofweee!" (one, two, three) is a synonym for "Watch out I'm about to jump off of this!" so we get about a half second warning before she launches herself off the couch or a rock or whatever high thing is nearby.
Her favorite game right now is doctor. She comes over and kind of pushes you over until she can press against your shoulder to get you lying down on the ground, then she tells you, "Just ONE shot." and gives you a "shot" (sound effects included) in your arm or face. She also says while patting you down, "Check head. check heart. check feet. check mouf. okay. Heffy! (healthy!)"
The only song on the radio she likes is Taylor Swift's new Shake it Off song. She calls it "dance off" and runs around shaking and dancing and trying to sing the chorus. It is hilariously cute. Other than that we usually have to sing her favorites in the car which is almost always "Happy Birthday." We sing it to her, to her stuffed animals, friends, relatives, water, buckles, trees, and whatever else she requests. We also sing a lot of "Do you know the fuffin man?" and "Popcorn Popping."
Daniel Tiger is still her favorite show, but Blue's Clues is starting to creep up in the rankings. She calls it "Couscous" which I love. Veggie Tales ("Wedgie Tales") is also becoming a contender.
She loves leading us by the hand, telling us "Mere!" and "Mon!" (Come here! and Come on!)
She still puts everything in her mouth. This morning she picked up a piece of...something...off the floor, put it in her mouth and said, "Mmm, spicy!"
I laugh when we're walking and she very seriously picks up a rock and says, "Oh! My favwit (favorite)!!"
She recently discovered that she can pull the small chair away from her table, and drag it all over the apartment to do what she needs to do. She pulls up the chair to "help" with dishes- aka splash water and throw stuffed animals in the sink for a bath, and she pulls her chair up to the bathroom counter to help me get ready. She asks to borrow "gake up" (make up) and this morning she picked up tweezers and reached for my face saying "mommy eyebrows." Every time she gets in the bath or shower with me I notice her carefully lift each leg on to the side of the bath one at a time and rub bubbles on it to practice shaving her little legs. It is cute and makes me sad at the same time. For better or for worse, she is fiercely independent. She loves correcting me (even when she's wrong.) I point out an airplane in the sky and she says, "No. hehcocter." I say, "Nope, That's not a helicopter it's an airplane." And she insists: "NO! HEHCOCTER!"
Her learning to talk is fun, but the not fun things are the constant tantrums, the fact that she didn't sleep all last week, the molars that are trying to break through (WILL TEETHING EVER BE OVER??), and the constant battle that is every single thing she tries to do on her own but is physically incapable of (e.g. cooking at the stove, putting on her boots, cutting her food, and filling up her own sippy cup).
Hard to believe it was almost a year ago that we were driving home from a weekend in Vegas, Mariah was screaming, no shrieking, for hours on end in the car, and I was literally crying to Matt asking, "Does this get easier? Will this get better?" In the last year the answer is: No and yes. It doesn't get easier. But it's all worth it. There are some good days and good weeks and there are really hard days and hard weeks. Mariah is chatty and charming and bright and full of life, funny and feisty and stubborn, sweet and sensitive and emotionally charged. With a little prompting, she reminds us often that she is "Trong and Fart!" (strong and smart. We're still working on that pronunciation hahah) She is almost two in every way and if I could change a thing, I probably wouldn't*.
*(except sleep. please more sleep.)
(Totally unrelated pictures are from last Friday afternoon in New Haven at Lighthouse Point Park. Also wish I could preserve this day.)
She is very concerned about "pyme out" (time out) and often has her stuffed animals act out things she's not supposed to do and then explains to them, "No, no monkey, no climb table. pyme out."
Ev.er.y.thing. is "Yaya self!" and "Me mine!"
The latest additions to her vocabulary have been: "not yet", "too", and "togeder" (together) as in "Mariah, do you need a new diaper?" "Not yet...!" and she hears me talking to Matt in the morning saying, "What do you want for breakfast?" and she chimes in "Wait! Yaya breakfast toooooo!" and in the evening she wants us all to "Pay (play) Yaya's room togeder"
She wakes up at the crack of dawn every day so while I'm still prying my eyes open at quarter to six she's running around the living room balancing her sippy cup in one hand going, "Watcha meee!" (watch me!) "Ta daaaaa!" and spinning in circles getting "wizzy" (dizzy) and laughing hysterically until she falls over.
She thinks "onetwofweee!" (one, two, three) is a synonym for "Watch out I'm about to jump off of this!" so we get about a half second warning before she launches herself off the couch or a rock or whatever high thing is nearby.
Her favorite game right now is doctor. She comes over and kind of pushes you over until she can press against your shoulder to get you lying down on the ground, then she tells you, "Just ONE shot." and gives you a "shot" (sound effects included) in your arm or face. She also says while patting you down, "Check head. check heart. check feet. check mouf. okay. Heffy! (healthy!)"
The only song on the radio she likes is Taylor Swift's new Shake it Off song. She calls it "dance off" and runs around shaking and dancing and trying to sing the chorus. It is hilariously cute. Other than that we usually have to sing her favorites in the car which is almost always "Happy Birthday." We sing it to her, to her stuffed animals, friends, relatives, water, buckles, trees, and whatever else she requests. We also sing a lot of "Do you know the fuffin man?" and "Popcorn Popping."
Daniel Tiger is still her favorite show, but Blue's Clues is starting to creep up in the rankings. She calls it "Couscous" which I love. Veggie Tales ("Wedgie Tales") is also becoming a contender.
She loves leading us by the hand, telling us "Mere!" and "Mon!" (Come here! and Come on!)
She still puts everything in her mouth. This morning she picked up a piece of...something...off the floor, put it in her mouth and said, "Mmm, spicy!"
I laugh when we're walking and she very seriously picks up a rock and says, "Oh! My favwit (favorite)!!"
She recently discovered that she can pull the small chair away from her table, and drag it all over the apartment to do what she needs to do. She pulls up the chair to "help" with dishes- aka splash water and throw stuffed animals in the sink for a bath, and she pulls her chair up to the bathroom counter to help me get ready. She asks to borrow "gake up" (make up) and this morning she picked up tweezers and reached for my face saying "mommy eyebrows." Every time she gets in the bath or shower with me I notice her carefully lift each leg on to the side of the bath one at a time and rub bubbles on it to practice shaving her little legs. It is cute and makes me sad at the same time. For better or for worse, she is fiercely independent. She loves correcting me (even when she's wrong.) I point out an airplane in the sky and she says, "No. hehcocter." I say, "Nope, That's not a helicopter it's an airplane." And she insists: "NO! HEHCOCTER!"
Her learning to talk is fun, but the not fun things are the constant tantrums, the fact that she didn't sleep all last week, the molars that are trying to break through (WILL TEETHING EVER BE OVER??), and the constant battle that is every single thing she tries to do on her own but is physically incapable of (e.g. cooking at the stove, putting on her boots, cutting her food, and filling up her own sippy cup).
Hard to believe it was almost a year ago that we were driving home from a weekend in Vegas, Mariah was screaming, no shrieking, for hours on end in the car, and I was literally crying to Matt asking, "Does this get easier? Will this get better?" In the last year the answer is: No and yes. It doesn't get easier. But it's all worth it. There are some good days and good weeks and there are really hard days and hard weeks. Mariah is chatty and charming and bright and full of life, funny and feisty and stubborn, sweet and sensitive and emotionally charged. With a little prompting, she reminds us often that she is "Trong and Fart!" (strong and smart. We're still working on that pronunciation hahah) She is almost two in every way and if I could change a thing, I probably wouldn't*.
*(except sleep. please more sleep.)
Loved, loved, loved this whole post. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to document her life right now. Later on you'll both be so glad you did!
This is beautiful, the pictures and the post! It made me laugh and tear up. She is a "smart" one that girl. :) Love you all!!!!
ReplyDeleteOh man. It's totally hard. And every day my kids wake up before I'm ready all I can think is, can we really add another one to this? But Mariah is such a doll. I wish our kids could grow up with yours because I think (and I know Amy does too) that you and Matt are two people that are doing it right.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. And yes, it is so worth it.
ReplyDelete