Two Babies

As you may recall I ask the Nugget daily two questions:

1) Do you know that mommy has a baby in her belly? (she nods or says "yes")
2) Do you want to be a big sister? (she either ignores me or says "no")

Now when I ask her question 1 she will immediately say "sister" anticipating question number 2. I don't think she knows what either question means but she is consistent. To confuse her even more we have been asking her lately if she is going to have a baby brother or a baby sister. She fluctuates between each but about 1 week ago when asked the question she said "two babies". Mama and I are pretty sure there is only one coming and we are hoping we don't have a little Nostradamus on our hands!

Tubby Time ...

Happened?

Liana has been having a lot of fun in the tub lately ... she will dunk her face under the water and then look at me and say "happened?", as in "what happened?". She did this repeatedly and the first night she did this so emphatically that she hit her head on the bottom of the tub :-)

This routine happened for several nights in a row (sans head bumping) and for some reason she decided to keep her head under water for longer periods of time. One time I counted that she held her breath for 7 seconds ... a true little fish!

Lillel Bit

There is a little container in the tub that the Nugget likes to fill with water and then she pours it into a little bowl. While doing this she says "lillel bit" (little bit).

how come?

this has nothing to do with the tub, but it's my next to last thought for the day..."why" is still a big part of conversations with Liana but "how come" has entered the mix recently as well. "How come" is usually accompanied by a shoulder shrug and hands raised in the classic "what do you mean?" type gesture.

Dada Proud

As we were brushing her teeth the other night Liana looked at me and said "Dada Proud" ... "proud" didn't come out 100% phonetically correct and it took me a second to figure out what she was saying. It donned on me that the night before I told that I was proud of her because she did such a good job brushing. Yet another reminder that nothing gets past these little ones and nothing is lost on them. My guess is she doesn't exactly know what "proud" means but by the tone in my voice and the look in my eye when I said she sure does know that it is something positive. I hope that I remember to tell her that as often as I can so she knows that I mean it.

TINY ...

So much to update - I keep thinking, "ooh, I need to write that down or blog about that" and when I get to doing it I know that I don't remember all the specifics or the exact dates or all the funny situations so this download will just be some matter of fact stuff that I don't want to forget about as the Nugget gets older (or as I get older and my memory fades :-))

Liana has gone pee-pee on the potty 2 times in the past week or so. I think both times were pretty much by accident but she said she wanted to sit on the potty (stall tactics before bedtime) and so we let her. She immediately went pee and mama and daddy got so excited. We made a big deal of it hoping to reinforce the result. Less than a week later she did the same for mama and was so excited that she got off the potty WHILE going pee and got it on the floor. "A" for effort! The Nugget will now sit on the potty for 1.5 seconds and then stand up and affirm "treat!". We are trying to reinforce the attempts but really only want to give a treat for productivity :-)


tiny pooh

Liana has an infatuation with "tiny" anything. She says "tiny" in a high pitched voice and squeezes her thumb and forefinger together trying to visually show us something small. We put relish on the table and I explained those were "tiny pickles" ... the Nugget laughed with delight and declared in her high pitched voice, "tiny pickle". Liana had a big mess in her diaper and her mama told her about a big pooh ... now anytime Liana gets her diaper changed she will say "tiny pooh" in the high pitched voice and mama will say "no,no,no ... BIIIIIGGG pooohh!"
Curious George closes ou the tiny conversation. There are 2 Curious George books that Liana likes to read (sorry Curious George shapes - you are third fiddle!) - one is a big book that has pop-ups inside for kids to explore. This is requested as "big monkey George" by Liana. There is also a small Curious George board book and Liana calls this "tiny Monkey George" (you have to hear the high pitched Nugget voice when saying "tiny" :-) She will ask me to read this every night after we have already reached our final book maximum. I usually refuse but at least she is a consistent about asking :-)

Nugget Speak

The Nugget is talking a blue streak and continues to string words and concepts together. She totally cracks us up and comes up with great questions, funny statements, and interesting commands.

"daddy, more under water" - she got some good laughs as daddy went under water at swimming classes while holding her above the water

"sun - I found it!" - her proclamation on the way to church on Easter as the sun broke through the clouds on her side of the car

"more up high" - her request to be thrown up in the air over and over again

"mama, daddy no hug" (or "no kiss") - our instructions if we show each other affection

"Liana hold it", "Liana do", "Liana!" - independent Liana wanting to do everything for herself

"1,6,9!" - she will give me this countdown (supposed to be 1,2,3) before she jumps into my arms at swimming class

"Nake!" - the Nugget's proclamation when she is naked or wants to be naked, usually right before tubby time. She will run around as naked as a jay bird and sometimes even draws naked :-)

"Igotthat" - usually says this with arm outstretched or pointing when she wants something

By the way, everything is green ... until we say, "no, what color is it really?" She will then tell us the right color (usually). Not sure about the obsession with green but she is a big fan.

"Hold You!" - The Nugget will say this when she wants you to hold her, either because she has a boo-boo, is sleepy, acting shy, or in general wants to be held. It can be directed specifically as in "mama hold you!"

"losht" - this means "lost", and the Nugget will put her hands over her eyes and pretend to be lost or invisible. We need to ask "where is Liana" and she will uncover her eyes and yell "boo!" or just giggle with excitement. This happens sometimes when we meet new people or if she hasn't seen someone in a long time. Synonyms are "shy" - which she is definitely NOT.

"daddy's funny" - my favorite ... it's all of my impromptu material that she loves ;-)

Baby Tubby!

With a new baby coming in August Liana has regressed already ...

It was one thing that she has been asking mommy to "rock baby" (hold her in mama's arms like a baby and swing her back and forth).

As of 3 nights ago The Nugget decided to get the "baby tubby" out of the bathroom closet. So now, rather than bathe in the regular tub like a big girl she now scrunches herself in the baby tubby and will proclaim "stuck". She wants nothing to do with the big girl tubby - we'll see how this goes and what will happen when her baby sister/brother arrives.

With Friends Like These ...

The Nugget distinctly remembers and associates particular things about those she calls her friends. We learned this when we came back from Utah ... she would say "friend, Kate, cry". This was in reference to her friend Katelin (9 months older) who yelled and cried when it was bedtime one night - it had quite an impact on the Nugget.

The Nugget had visited one of mama's friends who has a son named Sam. Apparently he was testy during the play date and screamed a lot. Recently we visited friends of ours who have a new baby Lyla. Liana was taken to the little girl Lyla but seems to only remember that she went pooh a couple of times. Another of her buddies Jameson is somewhat quiet and they hug and kiss sometimes but he is not a big talker. So the other night I asked Liana about her friends and got this response for each:

Katelin: "kai" (cry)
Sam: "skeem" (scream)
Lyla: "pooh"
Jameson: just silence from the Nugget

Yes, no response to Jameson was perfect since he is so quiet!

I told her maybe she should get some new friends but I think she is happy with the ones she has ... not to mention Shane, Christian, Kara, Libby and all the neighborhood girls who love to mother her. She gets to entertain them and soak in all the love they give to her!

Killer B's

Simply put The Nugget has her favorite things in her life and most start with the letter B. The above pic incorporates all but the ba-ba.

Ba (blanket, particularly one of her purple silky blankets)
Ba-ba (her milk in a bottle)
Big Bird (her stuffed Big Bird that she hugs and sleeps with). One afternoon on the monitor we heard "Are you Big Bird?", which means "where are you big bird". Mama forgot to put Big Bird in the crib at nap time ... I found it in our bedroom and brought him to the Nugget. If Big Bird was in the crib we may have been able to squeeze an extra 20 minutes out of the nap!
Bink - this is the Nugget's binky. Of course she didn't want one until she was 15 months old but she needs it now when she is tired or if she gets a boo-boo.

Testing: 1,6,9

The Nugget gets a look in her eyes and a devilish grin on her face when she is about to test mommy and daddy. The best example is when she cocks her hand when holding a marker, a crayon, a toy or whatever ... and then makes sure she has our attention. She will wait to see if we are going to say "don't throw that" and we never know what will happen next. The Nugget could ask "why", put the object down, or just throw it anyway.

1,6,9 is how Liana counts. It used to be that everything was "TWO!" but for some reason she skips 2 and 3 and 4 and 5.

You can ask her to count something or say "Liana, how many do you see?", and she will say 1...6...9 - no matter how many items may be on hand. Too funny.