Rebecca
About Rebecca
Posts by Rebecca Golden:
Talking Toddler
I can’t get enough of Caroline’s growing vocabulary and ability to piece words together to get her idea across.
Lately she’s started saying, “Look, Dad! Watch this!” Then she proceeds to do something she thinks is remarkably clever (such as spinning around in a circle or burying her head in a blanket), and expects us to shower her with smiles and laughs (which we readily do).
She has also started saying “Want this!” at the dinner table. When I type that, it seems like a cute thing to say until I confess that her “Want this!” is said while vehemently shaking her head no and is closely followed by an “Uck!” sound.
I’ll wrap this post up with a picture. Do you think this much yarn around a toddler’s neck presents a strangulation hazard?
Share this:
Christmas In Pictures
Christmas 2010 – Ready, Set, Go!
Meeting Santa
Caroline’s favorite baby in the world – Baby Eli
Eating Lucky Charms under Grandma’s kitchen table
Eating Lucky Charms in a high chair
Santa brought a marble machine!
Santa brought a car seat!
I made quiet books for the girls!
Allow me to give you some unsolicited advice. Someday, one of your friends may approach you and ask if you want to make a quiet book. Her idea is to find 12 people who want to make quiet books. Each person would choose one page to do and then make that page 12 times. Then all the participants would exchange pages and voila! A quiet book!
If somebody ever asks you to do this, the correct answer is no. You do not want to do this! You don’t know it, but the quiet book will destroy your will to live! You will think you’ve chosen an easy page to make, and it won’t take much time at all, but you will be wrong! So very, very wrong! Do you know how long it takes to cut felt? Do you know how long it takes to sew felt pieces together? Do you know that by the time you factor in all the time you spent making the book with the cost of materials you could probably have purchased a dozen quiet books from a store and still come out ahead? Yes, the books will turn out darling and your girls will love them, but can you guess what consumed my life in the weeks before Christmas? Can you guess the state of disaster my house was in? Probably not. Luckily there are no photos from that dark, dark time.
Ahem.
Sorry about that. Back to Christmas.
Is there anything sweeter than watching a little baby mother a toy baby? I think not.
Play-doh machine courtesy of Grandpa Golden
Another hit from Grandpa Golden – a Magna Doodle
Dallas and I obviously need to do better at documenting people other than our children. You wouldn’t know it from looking at our camera memory card, but we actually went to several family parties and saw nearly all of our close relatives. Perhaps next year we’ll obtain photographic evidence of those endeavors. Until then, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Share this:
First Conversations
Caroline is a great talker. She parrots everything we say and is starting to put multiple words together to get her point across. For a few months now, she’s been able to answer questions. Generally, if you ask her a yes/no question, she’ll always answer in the affirmative. Dallas and I have picked up on this and use it to our advantage.
Example:
Me:Â “Caroline, are you the cutest girl ever?”
Caroline:Â “Yeah.”
or –
Me (in front of any of her Grandmas or Grandpas):Â “Caroline, do you love Grandma and Grandpa?”
Caroline:Â “Yeah.”
or even –
Me:Â “Caroline, do you want to take a nap?”
Caroline:Â “Yeah.”
Brooke, however, hasn’t realized that Caroline always says yes, and what’s worse, she always words her questions so that a “yes” answer from Caroline is most decidedly the WRONG answer.
Here are examples of real “conversations” they’ve had.
Brooke:Â “Caroline, fires are dangerous.”
Caroline:Â “Yeah.”
Brooke:Â “Caroline, do you think fires are dangerous?”
Caroline:Â “Yeah.”
Brooke: “Good. Do you want to walk through a fire?”
Caroline:Â “Yeah.”
Brooke: “NO! Fires are dangerous! You mean you want to walk through a little fire?”
Caroline:Â “Yeah.”
Brooke:Â “Little fires are dangerous, too!”
This continues until Brooke is completely worked up and is screaming at Caroline while Caroline placidly continues her part in saying “yeah” whenever appropriate.
Another favorite conversation goes something like this:
Brooke (showing off her new toys to Caroline):Â “Caroline, do you see my toys?”
Caroline:Â “Yeah.”
Brooke:Â “Do you like my toys?”
Caroline:Â “Yeah.”
Brooke:Â “Do you WANT my toys?!”
Caroline:Â “Yeah.”
Brooke (panic escalating):Â “DO YOU THINK THESE ARE YOUR TOYS?!”
Caroline:Â “Yeah.”
Brooke: “NO! These toys are MINE!”
Upon hearing the word “mine,” the conversation takes a dramatic turn.
Caroline: “MINE!”
Brooke: “NO! THEY’RE MINE!”
Caroline:Â “MINE!”
Brooke:Â “NO! THEY’RE MINE!”
Again, this continues until Brooke melts into a puddle of worry that Caroline is plotting to steal all of her toys or until Caroline gets bored and toddles away leaving all of Brooke’s precious toys unnoticed and untouched.
Oh, heaven help us on the day that BOTH girls have the vocabulary and opinions necessary to really go at it.
Share this:
Drawing
Several weeks ago Brooke rediscovered our sidewalk chalk and wanted to go outside to draw. She has taken an interest in coloring lately, and I’ve loved seeing what she creates.
This was her first attempt at drawing faces:
These are two boys and the circles between them are actually acorns according to the artist.
An alien. Probably the cutest alien I’ve ever seen.
