Hay Happens and Hay's Happen

Being an English teacher, I can only hope Tatum loves to read and write. She also loves to La La La and move to the groove. (Her ear for the tune might be off a bit as she has to put up with my car singing!). I have also purchased multiple puzzles, games and those “recommended toys for an 12/18/24 month old.” Her interest in these? Mmmmmm about 2 seconds. Many tell me, “Oh, just let her discover them and she’ll be on them for many minutes!” Not so much. In fact, today when I was in the other room, I peaked in to only find Tatum in Coti’s little house (with the gate closed, so she wanted to be alone!!) singing the words in her Baby’s First Book of Prayers.

When she eventually saw me peeping, she yelped, “Bye!” and waved her hands to me to shoo. Apparently she was in her zone. She was gleefully turning the pages and just singing babbley words intermingling la la’s. 

Well, after that episode, we retired to my bedroom so she could continue to play as I cleaned out my disastrous desk. Then, she noticed my travel Scrabble game in a coffee cup and had to see this. I decided to play this with her and she ended up enjoying the dice and saying each letter. “E!!!”… “Mmmmmm”!

So do I surmise that Tatum will be the next wordsmith genius and/or scream, “Hooray!” because she loves books!? All I know is the minute we go to her room everyday, she rushes to her stack and pulls out the book du jour. The fish puzzles? Nope. The stacking cups? For a second maybe. My challenge is keeping it interesting by constantly stocking the variety. Boynton books, Jesus Loves Me, Goodnight Moon and Gorilla are her latest favs. I will keep trying however with various ideas. Usually they are NOT toys so of course my ideas must be safe!
My latest ideas which I have stolen from many:

poker chips and putting in cups

pipe cleaners

playdoh (just the container right now)

tape/stickers/sticky dots

play phones (but she loves my “wowo”)

purses filled with erasers

crayons and paper

Little people from Fisher Price

but what trumps them ALL???????
Babeeeeee! (and the crowd goes wild!)

🙂

 

My dearest father would love this girl. Maybe he’d love me even more because of my being her mommy. This weekend, so much happened.

Friday, she comes right up to me gesturing madly and telling me something very important! Sadly, I had no idea what she was saying, but her tone, facial expressions and up and down hand gestures making a point were extremely clear! The only thing missing? Words. She babbled with the heart of a fluent talker. The past couple days, she continues to gesticulate in the air and communicate. Moreover, we have these full on conversations where I ask her a question and she says, “Yeah.” or “No” but appropriately; she understands everything hence I watch everything I say around her, and I know that every minute is a teachable moment. IT NEVER LETS UP!

Sometimes, I wonder...Am I doing this right?? Tonight, I came to the conclusion that I am. I will make MANY mistakes, but I am doing the best I can with wisdom I can only pray for, and I do…DAILY! It is minute by minute. At one point, she’ll throw me for a loop and disobey me, and I have to think fast…what will I do? How can I handle this appropriately and not emotionally respond. This is my darling girl, and I want to make sure she knows HOW MUCH I LOVE HER, but that she needs to learn what is allowed and not. She needs her boundaries…shoot, that’s my job; to be her spiritual guide, her mentor, and biggest fan! So, I bought her a new baby to hopefully help her learn some kindness to another.

I mentioned that her baby might need a diaper change, and next thing I know, I find her in her room trying to put a diaper on her baby! She totally got the concept, yet needed my assistance putting it on.

Coti got so freaked out by her antics that he hid under her bed. Now, she cannot be without her audience, so immediately she called for him and crawled under her bed to retrieve Coti.

 

He needed to be part of this family endeavor apparently!

Dad, you would love this wonderful little family of mine. It may not be traditional, but it is FULL OF LOTS OF LAUGHS, a WHOLE LOTTA LOVE.

Watching her grow boggles my mind. I’m constantly in awe of the littlest things she does, and I wonder where she gets it? I realize she watches me, but it’s curious how her mind works. Today, she discovered the high chair in her room and carefully put baby and Tata in there to read them a book. What I enjoyed watching was how she had the two of them react with each other. She had them kiss and share. Then she had them listen while she (piled) read books to them. 

Then she responsibly put her books back as she has been modeled and taught. Her kindness and ability to share that with others is what I continually try to capitalize on. Her skills can be taught, but her character needs to be not only taught but caught. How? By me modeling it for her constantly. This comes from the books we read, the consistency of my expectations, and how I act in public and with my loved ones.

Sometimes, it does not go so well. The  minute she swings her hands out of anger or frustration or she throws something out of the same, I have to rectify it by telling her it’s wrong, giving her a time out and showing her what IS expected. Her egocentricism is completely apparent as she discovers the world should revolve around her as it has for the past couple years (and it kind of has!) When she does not get something when SHE expects or the WAY SHE wants it, then DRAMA city. Sadly, I know many adults who still have not grown out of this narcissism. But she will. She will learn patience, kindness, sharing and respect. Also, humility, not high self-esteem, but a healthy respect for herself and a respect for others. How? Time, hard work, consistency and LOTS OF LOVE. And more LOVE.

Thank you, Grandmama for my elephant shirt! I just need to be able to say it now!

and I wondered, hmmmm what could she be doing in there? As I entered her room (which faces west), I expected a pile of books on the floor, or her toys strewn amok, or all of the kleenex piled to the ceiling, but nope. There she was, quiet as a mouse, paging through her book.

She looked up at me and said, “moo!”, as she pointed to the (thankfully) cow and not the duck. It did not last long as she saw me holding my phone. “Wowo” (which means phone in Tatum speak). I showed it to her, and as usual she took it over. Somehow, she managed to contact Siri, and when I asked for it back, her answer was her new word…….”No.” Aaaaah, yes…the awaited word of N…O. Siri heard this of course, and responded.

 

 

In my daughter. Ok, so I am modeling my obsession with vacuuming and cleaning the floors. What else can I expect than for her to pick this habit up? I did not intend this!
Apparently, next to the xylophone that I had when I was a child, there stood my “Little Bissell” which she discovered on her own. Upon banging away at the xylophone, she grabbed the Bissell. It’s important to point out that she did not get introduced to this contraption, she discovered it on her own; Tatum is not one to take to being introduced to something, for she likes to be the “discoverer.”

Push..push..

She became so successful, that she went into her bedroom and continued! Love this child!
She’s hired!