Dear Cordie,
The words "No touching" are just not in your vocabulary right now. Daddy and I say it to you about 100 times a day and instead of any sort of compliance, all I see on your face is the twinkle in your eye of someone who has just been presented with a challenge. My laptop, my camera, my tea, the Blu-Ray player, your brother... I turn my back and you are on it like white on rice. A couple of weeks ago, I raced upstairs to see why you were so quiet only to find you with all of Kingsley's cathing supplies out. The catheter was all lubed up, you were naked and you told me, "I do my pee-pee-nis." I held my breath and waited for you to add, "not" to the end of your sentence, but you didn't. I am not entirely sure what I missed, but I didn't find a cup of pee anywhere so I think I was safe. I had obviously told you not to touch Kingsley's stuff.
It's a never ending battle.
Luckily though, I find it very amusing that reverse psychology works incredibly well with you. If I tell you to take off your clothes or tell you not to put them on, I will find you dressed. If I tell you to not touch your dinner or tell you that it's for Rachel, it will get eaten. If I tell you that we are not going to brush teeth today, you can be found in the bathroom. Although in that case, there will likely be toothpaste all over the place.
Everyday is an adventure with you, Sweet Pea.
Love Mommy
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
You like meals not
Dear Cordie Bean,
Your talking has taken off again. You speak in big long sentences, and although we can't always understand the jumble of words you're saying, you usually get your point across.
My favourite thing that you say is when you try to make something negative. You haven't figured out where the word 'not' goes, so you just tack it on the end. Party 90's catch phrase, part Yoda. All day long I hear things like: "Kingsey is seeping, not," "I want to drink milk, not," "Rachel come to, not," and my favourite, "Hold me, not."
You've started mastering names a bit more as well. Kingsley has gone from Kiki, to Kinky, to King-gee, to Kingsey. Rachel has gone from Chay-cheh, to Way-cheh, to Way-chee or Way-cho. You call yourself Co-dee now, which is like how Rachel used to call you Co-deyah. People used to always say that your siblings would determine your nickname, and I guess that's true because Rachel calls you Cor or Cordie and that's what you now call yourself.
Another quirky phase you're going through is the grazing phase. You refuse to eat meals and instead are constantly in the fridge or cupboards sneaking food. All. Day. Long. It makes me crazy. When no one is looking, you steal the container of Craisins or a box of crackers or an apple. I find bits of food in your playroom, on the couch, left on the front hall floor... crazy making. You just ran in the room right now with an apple that you've pilfered from the fridge. You didn't eat your cereal for breakfast and are probably hungry. I can resist you, not.
Love Mommy.
Your talking has taken off again. You speak in big long sentences, and although we can't always understand the jumble of words you're saying, you usually get your point across.
My favourite thing that you say is when you try to make something negative. You haven't figured out where the word 'not' goes, so you just tack it on the end. Party 90's catch phrase, part Yoda. All day long I hear things like: "Kingsey is seeping, not," "I want to drink milk, not," "Rachel come to, not," and my favourite, "Hold me, not."
You've started mastering names a bit more as well. Kingsley has gone from Kiki, to Kinky, to King-gee, to Kingsey. Rachel has gone from Chay-cheh, to Way-cheh, to Way-chee or Way-cho. You call yourself Co-dee now, which is like how Rachel used to call you Co-deyah. People used to always say that your siblings would determine your nickname, and I guess that's true because Rachel calls you Cor or Cordie and that's what you now call yourself.
Another quirky phase you're going through is the grazing phase. You refuse to eat meals and instead are constantly in the fridge or cupboards sneaking food. All. Day. Long. It makes me crazy. When no one is looking, you steal the container of Craisins or a box of crackers or an apple. I find bits of food in your playroom, on the couch, left on the front hall floor... crazy making. You just ran in the room right now with an apple that you've pilfered from the fridge. You didn't eat your cereal for breakfast and are probably hungry. I can resist you, not.
Love Mommy.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Halloween
Dear My Bug,
This was your third Halloween. Your first Halloween, you dressed up as a bug. That's where you got your nickname from. We called you little bug and for some reason it stuck. The second year, you were a unicorn. Both of these where hand-me-down costumes from your sister that Kamille also wore between.
This year, you were a witch. It's the first time you got a brand new costume all for you. You were beyond adorable! We started off calling you a Halloween Princess because when we told you that you were going to be a witch, you were less than thrilled. For our first Halloween party at the Church, your costume wasn't ready yet, so we put you in Kingsley's monkey costume. You fought it. In the end, you wore it and just sat with Daddy eating Timbits the whole party.
By some miracle, on the day of Malloween'ing, you happily put on your new witch costume. You had a hat that you loved. The skirt was a favorite of Rachel's, so of course you had to like it as well. I put green eyeshadow on you and you just did your shy smile with your lips pressed together, staring at yourself in the mirror for ages.
It took only a few stores during Malloweening for you to figure out that if you held your bag open, they put candy in it. You were thrilled, to say the least.
The next night, Halloween, you again put on your costume happily and were geared up and ready to GO! It was just above freezing, so we stuffed sweaters and layers under you and you didn't care in the slightest. I had to stop back at home to get mitts and hats for you and Rachel, but you didn't seem to notice how freezing it was. You would've gone all night, dragging along your treat bag until it was all torn up with little holes. There aren't a lot of kids on our street, so the neighbours all dumped handfuls of candy and chips into the bags of the sweet little witch and angel. I think you would've stayed out all night.
I absolutely love that you are getting old enough to appreciate Holidays and special days. I love watching you experience new things.
Love Mommy
This was your third Halloween. Your first Halloween, you dressed up as a bug. That's where you got your nickname from. We called you little bug and for some reason it stuck. The second year, you were a unicorn. Both of these where hand-me-down costumes from your sister that Kamille also wore between.
By some miracle, on the day of Malloween'ing, you happily put on your new witch costume. You had a hat that you loved. The skirt was a favorite of Rachel's, so of course you had to like it as well. I put green eyeshadow on you and you just did your shy smile with your lips pressed together, staring at yourself in the mirror for ages.
It took only a few stores during Malloweening for you to figure out that if you held your bag open, they put candy in it. You were thrilled, to say the least.
The next night, Halloween, you again put on your costume happily and were geared up and ready to GO! It was just above freezing, so we stuffed sweaters and layers under you and you didn't care in the slightest. I had to stop back at home to get mitts and hats for you and Rachel, but you didn't seem to notice how freezing it was. You would've gone all night, dragging along your treat bag until it was all torn up with little holes. There aren't a lot of kids on our street, so the neighbours all dumped handfuls of candy and chips into the bags of the sweet little witch and angel. I think you would've stayed out all night.
I absolutely love that you are getting old enough to appreciate Holidays and special days. I love watching you experience new things.
Love Mommy
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Musical Genius
Hi Cordie,
You have decided that you are a singer. You sing all the time. Your favourite songs are naturally the only ones you know and you only know them because I sing them. You can do Twinkle Twinkle, Rockabye Baby, Baby Beluga, and Happy Birthday. You especially love to sing to your little brother. He is apparently tone deaf because you sing about as well as I do, which is not very, and he likes hearing us both.
I love to watch your creativity grow. You not only love to sing, but you also love to dance. I think it first started from watching Rachel, but now you have your own moves and a style all your own. It's very entertaining to watch. Your favourite move right now is one of Rachel's old classics: you bend at the waist with your hands and head on the ground and stick one leg up in the air. Sort of a Downward Dog Going Pee. Priceless.
You are one of a kind, Cordelia.
Love Mommy
You have decided that you are a singer. You sing all the time. Your favourite songs are naturally the only ones you know and you only know them because I sing them. You can do Twinkle Twinkle, Rockabye Baby, Baby Beluga, and Happy Birthday. You especially love to sing to your little brother. He is apparently tone deaf because you sing about as well as I do, which is not very, and he likes hearing us both.
I love to watch your creativity grow. You not only love to sing, but you also love to dance. I think it first started from watching Rachel, but now you have your own moves and a style all your own. It's very entertaining to watch. Your favourite move right now is one of Rachel's old classics: you bend at the waist with your hands and head on the ground and stick one leg up in the air. Sort of a Downward Dog Going Pee. Priceless.
You are one of a kind, Cordelia.
Love Mommy
Monday, August 2, 2010
Loud without Language
Hey Baby,
I can't remember if I mentioned it already, but before Kingsley was born we were worried about your communication. Or, moreso, your lack of it. You didn't talk much and you were supposed to. At 18 months old the minimum 'pass' by the speech and language powers that be was 20 words. You had 19 and they were mostly approximations.
It's a tricky thing, being the second child. I see it all the time with my friends first children, now, but noticed it especially with you and Rachel. First borns seem to talk more. Behaviourally, I can understand it. They have one on one attention, they hang around an adult all day. Second borns hang around the first born all day and have to share any adult attention; language isn't reinforced as much. Rachel was a talker very early on. At 12 months she had 1 word. At 15 months she had a bunch. By 18 months she had well over 400 and I had stopped counting. We aren't supposed to compare kids, but that's a whole lot of talking compared to hardly anything. She was using phrases by 20 months and was having early conversations at two years old.
My point is, this is my norm. I know that 'typical' is somewhere between Rachel and the children with autism that I work with, but I have no idea what that actually looks/sounds like. The result: I was worried. And I knew that I had a baby coming soon that would be occupying a lot of my attention. I didn't want you to get missed if there really was a problem.
By some Christmas miracle, you had a language jump over the Holidays. Whether it was because I was off work then and was around you more to hear what you could say or all of the attention we were giving to you to encourage speech, I don't know. But you picked up a whole bunch of words and even strung a few of them together at a time. I had huge sighs of relief.
It's been eight months since our first worry. You talk a lot now, but Nana is worried again. She thinks you aren't talking enough. Now, I'm worried. I think you talk a lot, but what do I know? I'm trying to go by what I would test for at work, but it's not quite the same. I understand a lot of what you say, but not all of it. You have a lot of sound substitutions. You attempt to find words for everything, but often default to 'yeah', 'no', or 'dis!' You've started doing fill-ins with me with Twinkle Star, Baby Beluga and the Alphabet Song. You're working on colours, but so far everything is pink. You can follow one step instructions, understand some prepositions, and you sing. You now call Kingsley 'Kinky' instead of 'Kiki'. You know that you are 'Deya' and that you are 'DO!' years old. Your receptive language seems alright. You certainly understand when I tell you to do things you don't want to do, because it sends you running.
They also say that children develop in chunks. Some gross motor, then language, then more motor, but rarely at the same time. Rachel took forever to learn how to climb stairs or open doors or jump. She couldn't skip or run very well until she was well into her two's. You, on the other hand, are a mini-Olympian. You run, skip, jump with two feet, dance, climb, and can open just about anything. I think that you are developing physically and the language is just waiting. I think you're just fine. I hope I'm right and in the meantime, I'm doing language drills with you like I would with my clients. You poor thing ;)
I have my fingers crossed for you, baby. I'm on top of this. I won't let you get missed.
Love Mommy
I can't remember if I mentioned it already, but before Kingsley was born we were worried about your communication. Or, moreso, your lack of it. You didn't talk much and you were supposed to. At 18 months old the minimum 'pass' by the speech and language powers that be was 20 words. You had 19 and they were mostly approximations.
It's a tricky thing, being the second child. I see it all the time with my friends first children, now, but noticed it especially with you and Rachel. First borns seem to talk more. Behaviourally, I can understand it. They have one on one attention, they hang around an adult all day. Second borns hang around the first born all day and have to share any adult attention; language isn't reinforced as much. Rachel was a talker very early on. At 12 months she had 1 word. At 15 months she had a bunch. By 18 months she had well over 400 and I had stopped counting. We aren't supposed to compare kids, but that's a whole lot of talking compared to hardly anything. She was using phrases by 20 months and was having early conversations at two years old.
My point is, this is my norm. I know that 'typical' is somewhere between Rachel and the children with autism that I work with, but I have no idea what that actually looks/sounds like. The result: I was worried. And I knew that I had a baby coming soon that would be occupying a lot of my attention. I didn't want you to get missed if there really was a problem.
By some Christmas miracle, you had a language jump over the Holidays. Whether it was because I was off work then and was around you more to hear what you could say or all of the attention we were giving to you to encourage speech, I don't know. But you picked up a whole bunch of words and even strung a few of them together at a time. I had huge sighs of relief.
It's been eight months since our first worry. You talk a lot now, but Nana is worried again. She thinks you aren't talking enough. Now, I'm worried. I think you talk a lot, but what do I know? I'm trying to go by what I would test for at work, but it's not quite the same. I understand a lot of what you say, but not all of it. You have a lot of sound substitutions. You attempt to find words for everything, but often default to 'yeah', 'no', or 'dis!' You've started doing fill-ins with me with Twinkle Star, Baby Beluga and the Alphabet Song. You're working on colours, but so far everything is pink. You can follow one step instructions, understand some prepositions, and you sing. You now call Kingsley 'Kinky' instead of 'Kiki'. You know that you are 'Deya' and that you are 'DO!' years old. Your receptive language seems alright. You certainly understand when I tell you to do things you don't want to do, because it sends you running.
They also say that children develop in chunks. Some gross motor, then language, then more motor, but rarely at the same time. Rachel took forever to learn how to climb stairs or open doors or jump. She couldn't skip or run very well until she was well into her two's. You, on the other hand, are a mini-Olympian. You run, skip, jump with two feet, dance, climb, and can open just about anything. I think that you are developing physically and the language is just waiting. I think you're just fine. I hope I'm right and in the meantime, I'm doing language drills with you like I would with my clients. You poor thing ;)
I have my fingers crossed for you, baby. I'm on top of this. I won't let you get missed.
Love Mommy
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
You are Two
My Little Bugga,
You are two, in every sense of the word, with all it has to offer. Your sister wasn't quite the two year old that you are becoming! You love to climb, you love to yell, you love to cuddle.
Your little body is covered in scabs and bruises and scratches right now. You have a bit of a shiner from banging your face on the table in your playroom, a knee that's been skinned twice in as many days, scratches of an unknown origin on your cheek (Rachel claims innocence), a purple toe from when one of the kitchen chairs toppled over on top of you and bruises right up your shins on both legs. It's a good thing you're a tough little girl. I feel the need to explain to people whenever I catch them looking at you, that you are two years old and like to climb and get into mischief. It's a bit of an understatement.
You are so much louder than your sister. I don't even need to wonder whose voice I hear when it's a yell or holler - it's you. Your favourite time to start screaming is about 30 seconds after Kingsley closes his eyes for a nap. Truthfully, sometimes I want earplugs when I'm around you. Once you get riled up it's like you'll never stop crying/yelling/shouting/screaming. Add to that the fact that you love noise-making toys and it's amazing that your brother gets any sleep at all.
But you are also adorably two. You are still a little bit squishy with the baby chub. Your fingers and cheeks are chubby and so delicious. You're just starting to say "Mommy, uv oooh," (love you) and it melts me every single time. You have the absolute sweetest little face and smile. Every night before bed you want to cuddle and sing Baby Beluga. Then Twinkle Star. Then more Baby Beluga. You sing it to your brother sometimes, but it sounds like: "Bay-bee buuuuuh-ga, oh bay-bee buuuuu-ga," over and over until you get bored and move on.
Rachel is your best friend. You want to be like her and have started dancing like her with your eyes closed doing various yoga moves along with the music. You've got a bit more sass to your moves though, with lots of bum shaking already. You love music. You also adore Kingsley and all your baby dolls. You feed them, change them, put them to bed and even cath them on occasion. You love making Kingsley smile so you can announce: "Kinky Mi-yo! (smile)" If he's upset, you get concerned and try to comfort him.
Right now, our days begin with a snuggle and end with a snuggle. And in between is the utter chaos of being two years old.
Love Mommy
You are two, in every sense of the word, with all it has to offer. Your sister wasn't quite the two year old that you are becoming! You love to climb, you love to yell, you love to cuddle.
Your little body is covered in scabs and bruises and scratches right now. You have a bit of a shiner from banging your face on the table in your playroom, a knee that's been skinned twice in as many days, scratches of an unknown origin on your cheek (Rachel claims innocence), a purple toe from when one of the kitchen chairs toppled over on top of you and bruises right up your shins on both legs. It's a good thing you're a tough little girl. I feel the need to explain to people whenever I catch them looking at you, that you are two years old and like to climb and get into mischief. It's a bit of an understatement.
You are so much louder than your sister. I don't even need to wonder whose voice I hear when it's a yell or holler - it's you. Your favourite time to start screaming is about 30 seconds after Kingsley closes his eyes for a nap. Truthfully, sometimes I want earplugs when I'm around you. Once you get riled up it's like you'll never stop crying/yelling/shouting/screaming. Add to that the fact that you love noise-making toys and it's amazing that your brother gets any sleep at all.
But you are also adorably two. You are still a little bit squishy with the baby chub. Your fingers and cheeks are chubby and so delicious. You're just starting to say "Mommy, uv oooh," (love you) and it melts me every single time. You have the absolute sweetest little face and smile. Every night before bed you want to cuddle and sing Baby Beluga. Then Twinkle Star. Then more Baby Beluga. You sing it to your brother sometimes, but it sounds like: "Bay-bee buuuuuh-ga, oh bay-bee buuuuu-ga," over and over until you get bored and move on.
Rachel is your best friend. You want to be like her and have started dancing like her with your eyes closed doing various yoga moves along with the music. You've got a bit more sass to your moves though, with lots of bum shaking already. You love music. You also adore Kingsley and all your baby dolls. You feed them, change them, put them to bed and even cath them on occasion. You love making Kingsley smile so you can announce: "Kinky Mi-yo! (smile)" If he's upset, you get concerned and try to comfort him.
Right now, our days begin with a snuggle and end with a snuggle. And in between is the utter chaos of being two years old.
Love Mommy
Monday, July 19, 2010
Toilet Trauma
Dear CorBear,
Just wanted to write a quick note to let you know that we started toilet training this week. You're doing alright with it. You seem to have been wanting to do it for some time now, but I've been avoiding it for one reason or another. Either way, we started last Friday. It was a disaster. You had 7 accidents and 3 successes. The next day you had 1 success and you held it a lot. I think you must've let it all out in your naptime pull up. Yesterday was fabulous. You went on the potty all by yourself! And today was similar. Two accidents, both poops. But at least you didn't sit in them like your sister used to do. You're learning and growing up. I want to keep you small and see you grow at the same time.
Love Mommy
Just wanted to write a quick note to let you know that we started toilet training this week. You're doing alright with it. You seem to have been wanting to do it for some time now, but I've been avoiding it for one reason or another. Either way, we started last Friday. It was a disaster. You had 7 accidents and 3 successes. The next day you had 1 success and you held it a lot. I think you must've let it all out in your naptime pull up. Yesterday was fabulous. You went on the potty all by yourself! And today was similar. Two accidents, both poops. But at least you didn't sit in them like your sister used to do. You're learning and growing up. I want to keep you small and see you grow at the same time.
Love Mommy
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