A Little Tip for Y'all

For the most part, I am in charge of the gift buying around our house. Mr. Husband takes care of a few family members and we consult on some others, but I'm always responsible for all the hard people. You know, the people that we don't know very well but that are pretty important--relatives we almost never see and service providers. The toughest one for me has been Alexis' daycare teachers. They are very important people to us, but there are some whose name I don't even know because our conversations essentially revolve around Alexis (as well they should).

Last year I kind of sucked at figuring out what to do. I ended up giving the three teachers that she spent the most time with a candle each. It seemed sort of crappy since there were other people that worked with her, but I simply didn't have the foresight or budget to come up with something better. This year, however, I struck gold. My brain may be stressed by all things Toddler, but I had an idea that I still am happy with, and I had it in time to execute:

Oh yes, I planted paperwhites for each and every teacher at the center. I found the paperwhite bulbs at a garden center for 55 cents each, stuck them in ceramic containers from the dollar store, and filled them with aquarium gravel. The total cost per gift was under $3.00, which meant it was no problem to make one for every teacher. That saved me from having to pick out who works with her the most, which is pretty much like picking favorites. Plus I didn't have to feel guilty about not recognizing the teacher that worked with her when she was in the one-year old room earlier in the year and the ones that handle drop-off duty every morning.

Of course I did a little extra for our favorite teacher and the others that work in Alexis' assigned room. It seemed like the right thing to do for the people that spend nearly as much time with the Crazy One as we do.

Now I just have to figure out what to do next year. After seeing just how much food the teachers got this year, I think it's safe to say cookies and fruit baskets might not be the best of ideas.

A Word of Warning

To the fine people of Indianapolis, beware for we are in town. You'll recognize me by the caterpillar firmly planted above my eyes (I'd be happy to fix the situation if a certain Toddler hadn't stolen my tweezers and hid them where I will never again find them, but for now you're just going to have to deal with it). You'll recognize the Toddler as she will introduce herself by saying, "Hi, I'm Crackers!" and then promptly run away. Mr. Husband can be spotted as he is the man dressed in fourteen layers of Steelers gear.

For the rest of you, this means you may or may not get regular posting. Consider yourself warned.

One Word at a Time, Please

Let me just start by saying I am incredibly grateful that Alexis is ahead of the game on the whole verbal communication thing. I really, truly am because I understand just how frustrating it can be to know that a child wants something, but doesn't have the ability to tell you just exactly what that something is. Years of babysitting a little boy with Downs Syndrome taught me that lesson many times over. We have been blessed with a child that quickly figured out words are good, and fully intends to use as many words as she can in any given day. Any time she uses a new word, I do an excited little happy dance in my head and beam with pride. When she started to use sentences, I felt like I should install a neon sign above her head that said, "This is my daughter and she talks in sentences!" and pointed down to her.

But -oh- how these sentences are a double-edged sword.

Two months ago, if Alexis was thirsty, she would say, "Baba." It only took one time for my tiny little brain to grasp the concept and supply her with a toilet to drink out of (I kid, I kid, I showed her the bowl of water the cats and dogs use in the kitchen--it is filtered water, after all). Now she says, "I want a drink, please." Yeah, so that's really impressive and fantastic and all, but when she says it, it actually sounds more like, "iwannadink paa peez." My brain is old, and it is weak, and it takes me FOREVER to figure out what she is saying.

Yay! for advancing through the verbal communication stages but Boo! for making me think.

Bigger BOO! for making another Mom feel bad. Although, it is partly her own fault for comparing kids.

A little while back Alexis and I were over at a friend's house. There was another toddler there that is just shy of 4 months older than Alexis. That toddler is just now entering the land of words. She uses about 20 words routinely, but is certainly not as verbal as Alexis. I had noticed, but only because someone had asked me to pay attention due to some concern of whether the toddler was behind developmentally. I thought she seemed perhaps a bit behind where she should be, but probably not so far behind it was anything to be especially concerned about. If she were mine, we would be spending a lot of time working on words, but I probably wouldn't start calling in reinforcements just yet. My opinion was based in great part on the fact that the toddler started to repeat things that Alexis was saying. She learned a whole slew of new words such as snow, table, sit, and eat just in a matter of four hours. I think that's a pretty good sign that she just needs someone to focus on teaching her words.

That someone burst into tears and cried, "Alexis talks so much more than my daughter!" right after Alexis declared, "Look at the pretty snow!" (which sounded more like "Wookadapwettysnow" but obviously was intelligible to someone besides me). The mother and toddler left shortly thereafter, because she felt like it was too stressful to be there.

I felt bad about the whole thing for about ten minutes after she left. Then I realized I had nothing to feel bad about. I hadn't said a word to her about anything and I very highly doubt she knew I was even paying attention to her daughter's vocabulary. In fact, I wouldn't have noticed at all if I hadn't been asked to pay attention. What started as a concerned Aunt looking for consolation turned into a Mom's nervous breakdown. That is exactly why it's never a good idea to compare one kid to another. If I had done that, I would have been freaking out when Alexis didn't crawl until nearly 10 months then didn't walk until 13 months. I actually chose to enjoy the "my kid stays put" days, knowing full well that they would come to an end and life would never be the same.

Too bad I didn't do a better job of enjoying the days when I didn't need an interpreter fluent in toddler speak. Good grief my brain hurts these days.

(Bear had a baby. The father is a deadbeat and hasn't once shown his face, but her baby sure is cute.)