Family photos

A picture thought for you today...

Colors

Meghan has learned the name of her first color.

And it is pink.

We are really in for it with this girly girl.

: )

Some things about Meghan

1. Meghan, talking on her cell phone (Tommy's old one minus the battery), "Hi, Joshie, how's it doin'? pause "That's great. It's Meghan and Mommy and Matthew in the kitchen." pause "Silver bells and cockle shells and warm and toasties warm..." repeat, repeat, repeat.... so funny.

2. Katie and I went shopping today. Katie came home with a swirly pink skirt. I came home with some new summer clothes for the girl who is too tall for a lot of her big sister's hand-me-downs. She exclaimed over each item, "Look, a dress, so cute!" "Oh, shirt, cute!" "Look, Daddy, cute!"


3. I tried one of the play dresses on her, along with her new straw hat. She did the "I Have a New Dress" dance.

Baby Pictures

Surprise!  Here are some pictures of Tommy and his siblings...

Tommy (with John) - May 12, 1989

Tommy (with John) - May 12, 1989

Tommy - May 12, 1989

Tommy (with John) - May 15, 1989

Tommy, August 1989

Patrick - December 22, 1991

Patrick (with Tommy) - December 24, 1991

Patrick - December 25, 1991

Patrick (with Judy), February 1992

Katie, July 1997

Joseph, June 2001

Matthew (with Patrick) - January 4, 2005

Matthew (with Tommy) - January 4, 2005

Matthew (with Judy) - January 6, 2005

Matthew (with Katie) - January 7, 2005

Meghan - June 4, 2008

Meghan - June 8, 2008

You know you've lived in Japan a little while when...

...you have the following conversation with your 22-month-old.

"What doin', Mommy?"

"I'm cooking dinner."

"Curry, Mommy?"

"No, it's yaki soba."

"Yaki soba, Mommy?"

"Yes. Yaki soba."

"Oh. I like it, yaki soba, Mommy."

Catholic folk toys

I do not want to lose track of this site. I am hoping to get Meghan some wooden saint dolls for her birthday.

http://catholicfolktoys.com/

Matthew-isms

Breakfast = Brek-a-day (this is old, but he still says it sometimes. Meghan calls breakfast "bek-kee-ka")

Yesterday = Last morning

Smock (as in painting smock) = mosque

Homophones and other baby talk

As Meghan ventures into speaking multi-syllabic words, we sometimes find ourselves guessing (and giggling) at the things that sound alike when she says them:

Doggie--Daddy ( both are dahhh-dee) this can be confusing at bedtime when we're not sure what (or who) she is asking to cuddle with.

Teapot--treetop--and something else that I can't remember at the moment (all three are "tea pot" said very distinctly and with a pause between the syllables): very funny when Rock a bye Baby is being sung

up--cup (both are "bup") but it's usually not too bad since up is in the kitchen when we are cooking and cup is mostly at the table

Mary--Meghan: both are "May-may" Funny when she says "Tih (kiss) May-may" and wants to give a kiss to my kitchen Madonna rather than receiving one herself.

bow--bowl understandable, and not a problem in context

bed-bread: both are "Bem" but again we have context to help us

There are some others, which I will add when I remember them.

I love that she says "bank-bee" for her blanket.

Other words:
dew--juice
mil--milk (in a cup)
Tommy--yep, she learned his name just a few days before he got home
boh-way--boy
Mah-moo--beginning to interchange with BoBo for Matthew
No--although usually not in defiance, just in answer to questions like "do you want some milk?" answered in a worried tone "No. dew." She's very sweet and funny when she worries that we are about to do something that she doesn't want us to do. Not one of us can continue with whatever we wanted when she does that. Ahhh....the life of the youngest child. :)
Bup-buh--diaper
bow (bowl)
pate (plate and placemat)
feet
hans
toes
cheek
mou (th)
tee (th)
hay (hair)
eye (s)
eah (ear)
tummy
poo! (for a wet or dirty diaper, as in "please change this thing ASAP")
go! (as in, "Hey, you people, I want to go, too.")
toat (coat)
mih-muh (mittens)
haaa (hat) usually she likes the idea of the hat, but pulls it off only moments after we put it on

bow (all hair clips, whether actually bows or not) she also pulls these out almost immediately if we don't sneak them in properly

shuh (shirt) and particularly "heh-ha shuh" for her shirt with the hedgehog on it which she asks to wear almost daily

pan--pants

sah (for socks or tights)

shoe--sometimes very insistently if we are going out and she thinks she might not be going along Meghan LOVES shoes. She is fascinated by big shoes and takes them out of the shoe cabinet and walks around in them: mine, Joseph's, doesn't matter whose really)

"Shuh" for "Sure" when asked if she will help with something or if she wants to do something she wants to do or eat something she wants to eat (otherwise, "No." See above)

"Tute" cute

"Nice" when she likes something--like her Christmas presents. Every time she opened one, she said "Nice" and sometimes she laughed with great excitement. We laughed when she spent the time between her turns to open presents by putting the gifts back in the bags, taking them out, putting them back in, taking them out, over and over and over. By this evening, she was actually calling wrapped presents "nice" even before they were opened. And she was almost as enamored of the tissue paper as she was of the gifts. Almost. It turns out she like clothes. A lot. And tries to put them on when she receives them. Who needs TV?

sho-shay (horse)
various other animal sounds and a few names that are more or less accurate
You should hear her roar for lions and bears.

angy--angry (for the baby's expression in her Baby Faces book)
sad--same as above
puh-pld--for the page that says "puzzled"

Dayce--for her friend Grace (although she sometimes forgets and calls her May-may)
Doshie--for her friend Joshua (never called May-may)

chay--chair
towtch--couch
bem--bed & bread

Read! said very insistently with books being handed to us. This is one area where we are working hard on attaching please to the request.

And probably the cutest thing:
"MAh-mee-mah, I neen you." For I need you. She only says my name with three syllables when she says this sentence. It's sort of a game in which I am supposed to reply "Meg-gy-gah, I need you." or sometimes, she goes around the dinner table inserting other names and adding an extra syllable (doh-doh-dah for Joseph, who is usually Doh-doh) It's adorable.

Other sentences or almost sentences:
She tells me what she wants to eat by saying the name of the food and mouth or bowl or plate
e.g. Mommy, cheese, bow. Or Mommy, tooh-tee, mou (cookie, mouth)

In a variation of this, today when she received a pair of pink corduroy polka-dotted pants she wanted to put them on immediately. She brought them to me and said, "Mommy, pan, tummy." Pretty good for a 19-month-old.

"Tute baby" for pictures of babies anywhere

Read boh-way. For books with pictures of boys in them or on them. And she calls snowmen boys, too. I guess there's some logic to that.

"Own bem" This is what she calls her new toddler bed, which she now gets into willingly, says "Head" as she carefully lies down to remind herself not to bump her head on the headboard. She still kicks off the covers, gets cold or lonely and crawls into bed with us in the middle of the night. But I now usually get my side of the bed all to myself for at least a few hours of comfy sleeping bliss at night.

A flash of her sense of humor. The other day, she, purposely I think, called a stuffed animal that was not a horse a "Show-shay". I corrected her and said, no, that one is a (whatever it was, not even close to horse). She said 'show-shay" again, and I said the correct name again. With a twinkle in her eye, she said "Show-shay" a third time. And waited. And grinned, almost giggling, for me to respond with the correct word. Another word-playing child.

One Matthew note: The day before yesterday, the kids were playing Risk in the living room. Matthew was alternately being on Tommy's team and doing his own thing. At one point in the game, he said, "You know what I think of when I hear you say 'take over'? I think of a black guy leaning over with his tongue sticking out." (by 'black guy' he means a man wearing black--all people whose names he doesn't know are labeled with the color they are wearing, as in "Mommy, why is that green lady going up the stairs?") A random glimpse into the working of his mind. We get more of these for Matthew than some other children because most of what goes through his mind comes out his mouth. It can be very strange and funny, and we smile a lot over this.

Pious Sodality of...Marshmallow Shooters?

This is too good not to share. Should be a must-have for any family likely to be trapped indoors periodically.

One more thing

Can I just share that when Meghan reaches up for my kitchen Madonna and signs "please" and when given the statue to hold, bestows kisses on Mary and Baby Jesus I think it is one of the sweetest things any of my children have ever done?

Okay, back to Patrick's transcripts and relative radio silence.

Words, words, words

A Meghan update

At 15 1/2 months, this g irl seems to learn a new word every day, sometimes more than one. Some of her first words are already morphing into more recognizable sounds. I want to write them down before I forget the initial cuteness.

Her first word: mama I had to get one out of six, right? every other baby said dada first :-)
Soon after mama, she said dada--now dah-dee, not to be confused with dah-dee, which means doggy--these are homophones, only discernable through context or the pointed finger
Dog: used to be dah, now is dah-dee
She said something for rabbit this morning, and star, as she pointed at, and we talked about, her Miffy cup at breakfast. But she hasn't repeated it, so I'm not sure if she really knows them yet.
bay-bee: usually shrieked at top volume and accompanied by a finger pointing at a child who is anywhere from 0 to 3--also for lifelike dolls
dah-for dolls that look fake--kokeshi, her little pink teething doll
duy-rhyming with and meaning "guy" for plastic figures that the boys play with, plastic bath toy people, and wooden Plan City figures, although sometimes she calls those dah (doll)
Bah-this is bath, which she turns to me and says hopefully after every meal, hoping that it is time for her daily after-dinner dunking
wahh-this is wall. She points to it. We're not sure why walls are significant to her, but she knows the word.
chay-for chair, any chair, but usually means she wants to sit in one or someone else is sitting in one
chee-cheese
shih-fish (for the pets in our aquarium, a stuffed toy, or a picture of a fish, but usually not for her fish dinner unless we say it first)
eee-ahh-for cat, but she still mostly refers to all furry animals as dah-dee (see above) until told otherwise by the nearest family member
(grrrr--a roaring noise)-it's not exactly a word, but it's what she always uses for lions and reverts to for bears after we remind her that bears are not dogs
oww-for out, which she uses to mean "Pick me up," "Open this please," "Get me out of my chair," "I would like to go outdoors and play on my slide now," "Take off your watch/ring/bracelet and let me play with it," etc. in the same way that Matthew used to say "ope it"
boohhh-book. She loves books. Especially the ones with bay-bees and dah-dees (any animal) in them.
beeeee??? often accompanied by her version of the ASL sign--hand on heart--for please, always said in a very beguiling tone
nak-snack just like her cousin CJ
ay-eggs
doe-toast
She signs "eat" when she wants to eat (if she isn't pulling on my skirt and insistently saying "nak...nak"), but if she sees a picture of animals eating or a baby in a high chair, she says "eee"
She signs "drink" too, or else says "bup," for cup, when she wants a drink
For nurse, she signs and says "dih" I have absolutely no idea why.

A side note: she loves yakisoba, plain yogurt, most fruits and vegetables, cheese, eggs, and the cream cheese I spread on her morning toast. She is not particularly fond of toast itself, although she will come back and eat it for morning snack shortly after having left it at breakfast.

She is no longer a fan of baby cereal. This is most likely because I bought 3 boxes of organic baby cereal while we were home and carried them home in the suitcase because it is impossible to find here. Anyone on base need some baby cereal?

Names: She has a name for most everyone in the family
pah-pah-Patrick (and sometimes for photos of Tommy--sorry Tommy, you'll just have to get home and spend a little time with her to get your own name)
day-dee (used to be day-day)-Katie
doe-doe-Joseph
bo-bo-Matthew (we guess this is because Joseph calls him Buddy)
dee-dee-Jesus (for any crucifix, cross, or Biblical-looking male, and the Infant of Prague statue on our home altar, but that might be because he has a cross on his crown :-))
may-may-Mary (for Mary and most female figures in statues and holy pictures)

When we were home visiting, she also said "na-na" for Grandma R and "papapa" for (who else?) Papapa G, but it's hard to keep those when she doesn't see the person all the time. We're trying to help her remember by showing her lots of photos. Don't worry Grandmom, one of these days, she'll come up with a special name for you, too, just like Matthew did when he called you "wah-bom" :-)

Her favorite toys at the moment are
-Katie's old Corolle baby doll, which she kisses on the head. Much nicer than what I did to my first baby doll--dragging poor old Judy doll around by the hair.
-stacking cups and wood stacking blocks and cylinders
-anything that she can chew on--poor kid is getting four more teeth! (bottom pre-molars and canines--the top pre-molars came in at the end of July/beginning of August while we were on vacation.)
-anything Matthew is playing with. She really tries his patience.
-her slide. How she loves to climb!

A memory: Tonight when I took her out of the bath, she struggled and protested loudly, as she usually does. She never wants to get out of the tub. I wrapped her in her fluffy, white, angel towel and she snuggled into me for a second. And there in that moment of warm, damp, curly, pink, baby-bath-scented peace was something that made all the day's toddler activity and angst fade away. That is the moment to ponder in my heart. The moment when I remember the gift.

Recent Posts

We recently posted two more days of our Hawaiian vacation. They are here (Day 5) and here (Day 6).

Here's the entire list of Hawaiian vacation days so far:

Day 6
Day 5
Day 4
Day 3
Day 2
Day 1

Logical question

"Why do they not fight on the sidewalk?"

That's what Matthew asked when told that in Romeo and Juliet, the Montagus and Capulets were in trouble for fighting in the streets.

Then, giggling, he said "When I grow up, I'm going to name one of my kids Romeo." And then, after a second's thought, "But I hope he will not be so angry and doing all those things to get in trouble."

Dat!

Photo credit: Katie

Meghan has become very interested in the names of things around her. Whenever one of us is holding her, she points and says, "Dat," meaning "that" we guess, and waits for us to tell her the name of the person or thing she is looking at, but not necessarily pointing directly toward. It makes a fun guessing game.

She still loves ceiling fans and points at them to be named regularly. Also photographs, wanting to know the name of the person in the picture.

Today she has a rotten cold, but it isn't stopping her from asking "Dat!" In fact, we think the "Dat!" is what kept her from a much-needed nap. She just keeps pointing and asking and can't seem to settle down to sleep. Guess thar's what the drive to soccer practice is for.

This morning

John and I were in our room playing with Meghan when the sounds of an argument rumbled in from Joseph and Matthew's room. We couldn't hear what they were saying until Matthew yelled at the top of his lungs, "NO! Your ideas are not GOOD ideas! Only mine are!"

American political discourse in a nutshell, I commented to John.

"At least he knows what's important," John responded.

Things I don't want to forget

Matthew calls the art easel a "weasel."
As in, "Mommy, I want to draw on the weasel now."
It is so hard not to laugh.