Toe food
Finding healthy food that Mallory likes is… ah… how to say this without labelling, judging or sounding like a freak. Hard. It’s hard. So hard, in fact that we have let go of a lot.
Mommy lick bum
Apparently you’re not supposed to maximize the entertainment value of particularly funny toddler phrases by getting your child to repeat them endlessly and in varied company. The proper thing to do, assuming that your objective is “teaching them to speak correctly and with confidence™”, is to treat all their speech seriously and speak the words normally, even if they don’t.
No thanks, I’m good
This is Mallory’s latest speech acquisition. As in, “Mallory, do you need to pee?”
“No thanks, I’m good.”
Co-sleeping: the year three
Mallory entered her third year a few weeks ago. I had been telling myself that once she turned two, I was going to turn my attention to getting her into her own bed.
Tiny kiss
Whew. Now that the holidays are over I’m taking a much-needed break. And not for the normal “we entertain too much, too many parties, too much booze, too much visiting” reasons. No. Au contraire. We cancelled or bailed on about as many holiday events or visits as we attended. See a day after our solstice [...]
The bright side of vomit
The other night Irene and I were relaxing after dinner, watching the last episode ever of Rome (sigh) when we heard Mallory wake and start to cry.
Mallory has a repertoire
Mallory’s first complete song is the happy birthday song. At day care, they make play dough cakes and stick popsicle sticks in them to pretend they’re candles. Then they sing the song. Mallory sang it all weekend, though only one line at a time.
Mallory thinks she has a tail
It’s okay. I think she’s starting to be able to pronounce her name.
Three days of hat
I’ve had the most wonderful weekend. Unfortunately it’s all over and I’m in an especially interesting situation. In that famous ancient chinese curse sense. Much as I love my job, I love it much more when it lets me stay at home. In fairness this is much of the time. However for the next four [...]
The girl in da hoodie
Mallory’s nearing the end of her third month at daycare. I wonder if I will ever come to take for granted one of the two most joyful moments of my day: when I hop off the bike and head into the back yard at the daycare to pick her up.
Relief – I would say something cute or cliché, but…
Mallory appears to have come through her fall unscathed. The dark thoughts, the anxiety, the dread, the recriminations seem to be fading.
Bad parent
Yesterday Mallory fell six feet off a play structure and landed pretty much right on her head. She seems fine, but I’m still reeling.
It happened around 6pm. The books and the telephone advice I got say that you’re supposed to observe them for 24 hours because symptoms of head injuries often take a while to present.
So I still might get the call from the day care.
I’m feeling sick to my stomach even now as I think about how to describe what happened.
She’ll say ‘gah’ to anything
Mallory’s been undergoing a bit of a language explosion of late. Mostly food words and words related to eating. She’s got words like ‘bath’, ‘wash’, ‘cracker’, ‘poo’, ‘apple’ and more that I’m forgetting – oh yeah – ‘mama’ and ‘dada’. It’s been quite heartening because Irene and I have been a bit anxious about her not speaking as much as some of her peers.
Back in a canoe
This weekend we went canoeing for the first time since Mallory was born. I don’t know that I’m going to create a website for it, though.
Less time, more cuteness
I’ve been back at work, doing the whole day care thing for fifteen days now. Here are some things I’ve noticed:
