Homonyms

When you become a parent, one title that you don't expect is "translator." Yet, that's what I've become these days as we try to understand Hailey's ever-expanding vocabulary. It's absolutely amazing how quickly she learns new words and phrases now. You tell her something once, and she'll bring it up again a few days later. It's really unbelievable.

Anyway, I was amused the other day when I realized just how hard it is to understand what she's saying sometimes because many words sound the same. Here are just a few of my favorite Hailey homonyms...

Upstairs - Octopus
I wash it - I watch it

I don't like it - I want Lion King

Remote - Nemo
Up - Down (ok they don't sound the same, but she gets them mixed up all the time)

Stubborn Is As Stubborn Does

How stubborn can an 18 month old be? At least 20 minutes worth of stubborn! Here’s the story…

We are slowly starting to experiment with the “time out” discipline philosophy in our household. Most of what I’ve read says that children can begin to understand the concept around 18 months although they won’t really sit still until closer to 2 years. So, we set up our pack ‘n’ play in the dining room to give Hailey a quiet place to take a time out when she needs one. Last night after throwing an entire bowl of ice on the floor (she was eating the ice…don’t ask me why), I decided that a timeout was in order. Usually, we just put her in the pack ‘n’ play for about a minute or two, she says she’s sorry and it’s over. Last night, however, we made saying “sorry” a prerequisite for getting out of the timeout. That was our first mistake. Hailey did everything but say she was sorry. She danced, she sang, she laid down, she babbled, she cried (a little), etc. We just went on about our business in the living room, but checked in with her ever five minutes or so to see if she was ready. She wasn’t. This went on for about 20 minutes. The child would not say that she was sorry. She knew that saying it would release her, but it didn’t matter. I couldn’t believe it. Finally, I decided that enough was enough. It was almost time for bed, and she had more than served her sentence. That’s the last time that we’ll be playing that little game. She’s clearly more stubborn than me (I’ll give Luke more credit). So, I think it’s best if I don’t put myself in a win/lost situation like that again. From now on timeouts will be for a designated time only!

Name That Tune

Hailey learns many songs at school, but we usually aren’t briefed on her class’s latest musical endeavors. Therefore, we often find ourselves trying to figure out what she is singing from her off-rhythm, lyrically garbled mumblings (that’s not mean, just true). So far, we’ve figured out that she can sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus and Old McDonald (only the Ee, I, Ee, I Oh part). This weekend in Buffalo she was doing her usual new song routine, but I couldn’t figure out what it was she was singing. For two days, I listened to this strange melody without identifying it. Then, we visited my Grandmother who identified the song in less than 6 seconds. It was Ba Ba Blacksheep…duh!! I guess having 4 kids gives you a little practice at the “Name that Tune Game.” Next time Hailey comes home with a new song, I’m just going to call her Great Grandma for instant identification.

In potty training news, Hailey has gone “peepotty” (that’s what she calls it) about three more times. I’m not ready to throw away the diapers, but she clearly understands what she’s doing and that she needs to wipe afterwards. It’s pretty adorable! Oh, she also took all of her naps in a big girl bed while we were in Buffalo. What a big girl!

There are some new pictures from out Buffalo visit up at my Dad’s Flickr site.

One Shining Peepee in an Otherwise Poopie Weekend

This evening Hailey went into the guest bathroom, picked up her potty, carried it into the living room, set it up in front of the tv, pulled down her pants, and proceeded to make her first peepee ever on the potty. It was craziness! She just turned 18 months last week! I know that she has been practicing at school, but that was a pretty decisive peepee event. I'm not expecting any miracles here, but I'm so excited that she understands the concept because we had never sat her on that particular potty naked before today. Pretty impressive. And, yes, it is a bit strange that I am so excited about someone peeing in my living room, but parenthood is full of many firsts.

Anyway, the rest of our weekend was considerably less exciting. Everyone in the house is sick. I have the adult version of croup, Luke had some one-day flu thing yesterday, and Hailey threw up all over her carseat today for no apparent reason. Just another exciting weekend in the Hamilton household.

Groundhog Day

See grossness coming out of eyes and nose!

Like me, you may have forgotten this venerable American holiday. Groundhog day, aside from being a funny movie, is the day when a groundhog predicts whether we will have 6 more weeks of winter. Well, good ole Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this year, which means 6 more weeks of winter.

As ridiculous as this forecasting may seem, I can completely see why someone made up this stupid holiday, aside from the fact that it’s the only way that Punxsutawney, PA can attract tourists. I’m sure that the reasoning went something like this: “I’m tired of winter; let’s invent a way to predict whether or not spring will come soon. Oh, and let’s be sure to involve some type of rodent in the process.”

I’m getting that spring fever a bit myself lately. I think it has to do with the fact that the weather here has been fluctuating between 70 and 30 degrees daily. It’s a daily tease. Plus, I’m tired of someone always being sick. Between Luke, Hailey, and myself, our house is like an infirmary for the chronically cranky. Hailey’s most recent ailment was pink eye, and now she has a cough. I just feel crappy in general. So, you can see why I’m longing for spring.

I know that all of you people up North are cursing me now because it’s likely that you won’t see spring until May. We, on the other hand, will be enjoying warm weather soon enough. Good thing I finally broke down and bought Hailey that warm winter coat that you’ve been nagging me about. I guess she’ll wear it on our upcoming trip to Buffalo.