Toponymy for Toddlers

Cute moment from dinner last night. When we started to eat outside when the weather got warmer we needed a placemat for LS so that the majority of her food that found its way out of her plate wouldn't just fall through the metal mesh outdoor table onto the floor.

As it happened we had a US map placemat so that's what we've used.

Back in February when we were visiting Memére in Florida we told LS that we were from Massachusetts - and she does a passable job at trying to say it (pretty much "Massatuzits"). When we started using the placemat we figured we'd point out where Massachusetts was, as well as Florida.

Then we went to Maine so we had to point out Maine. For some symmetry and to make it easy I then clued her in on the whereabouts of California and Washington, as well as Texas since that's big and in the middle and where her plate usually is.

For random fun sometimes we'll ask her where these states are and she'll point them out. Early on she wouldn't get her finger quite over all the way to Washington and would land on Montana instead, so she ended up learning Montana also.

So, last night I asked her if she could put her finger on Texas. This was a little different wording than usual since we usually just ask her "where is Texas?" She looked around the map for a bit ("mapa" to her) and then put her finger on Texas.

I told her she was right and she grabbed her cup to take a drink of milk and I went about taking another bite of dinner. I wasn't fully paying attention at that point but I then heard LS say something about "copo" ("cup") and "Montana" as she proceeded to put her cup down on top of Montana.

Montana, "The Cupholder State".

When dinner's done and the plates are up off the table she also likes to put the placemat on her head and call it a hat - which I'm sure is even more fun.

Birthday Present

A couple days ago Papai had a birthday, and got a great present. LS often comes in to the bedroom with Mamãe in the morning before I get up (being the later sleeper that I am). The great thing is that at LS's height she is barely taller than the mattress - so when she generally comes over to say "good morning" or often "levanta-te!" ("get up!") she is roughly at eye level (even a little lower!).

But it was a great birthday present for LS to come in and instead say "Happy Birthday Papai" (after some coaching from Mamãe naturally).

Hopefully it is seared into my memory well. It was very sweet.

We also got to spend the whole day together, which was great. We went for a long walk around the block after lunch (she walked half way then got a shoulder ride the rest of the way). Fun watching her explore the world around her.

Não Choras!

LS had her 18 month checkup today. Yep, 18 already. 1/12th of the way to voting. The curse of this visit is that it was the first one where she could use words.

First, an introductory story.

There are a couple scenarios where we ask LS not to cry. The first is if she's fallen or startled and we just gently ask her not to cry ("não choras (shore-azh)") and that everything will be OK. She's really good about stopping and getting ahold of herself. And lately she'll even say "não choras" before we even have a chance to as she's gathering herself up.

The other scenario is if she's starting to whine to complain about something. This warrants a slightly stern "não choras", and again she generally calms herself and repeats it after us, or even says it before we have a chance to (she knows it's coming from Papai if he starts with "Querida.." ("darling..."))!

Fast forward to the Doctor's office.

The weighing was fine today for the first time. Maybe because we were able to explain to her that she just needed to sit there and she was OK with it. She's often stepping on the scale at home now anyway, so maybe it wasn't such a foreign concept this time.

She still doesn't like all the other stuff though, the stethescope, the peering into ears, and eyes and such. So this time around, when she starts to not like it and we're telling her it's ok, as she's stuggling to get away from it, she starts saying "não choras" - over and over again. At one point the Doctor has us lay her back to make it easier to see in her mouth (also made easy by her screaming with it wide open). At that point she's yelling "NÃO CHORAS! NÃO CHORAS! NÃO CHORAS!" It was somehow sad and sweet at the same time. One because mostly she wasn't crying - it's like she really was trying to not cry for us. And second because there she was, "using her words" as we often tell her to do ("querida, usa as palavras") and it wasn't doing any good.

At one point while she's trying to keep the Doctor at bay, trying to push him away with her hands she was also saying "não queres" over and over (which means "you don't want" - though she wanted to say "I don't want"; she's still getting the hang of saying "quero" in response to the question "queres?"). At a couple points there might have been a couple "não mais" ("no more") in there, but it was all a blur at that point.

We're sorry the words didn't work in your favor this time LS. We promise that usually they will. And we're proud of you for using them.

Once the Doctor was done the nurse then had to come in to administer some shots. LS was none to happy about those too, but it was fairly quick. And LS learned a new word today: "Band-Aid".

Stat check: 22 lbs 15.5 oz. Half an oz shy of 23 lbs. More than 4x what she was 18 months ago. Wow.