I’ve known for a while that Noodle is precocious verbally. She’s putting together full and sometimes complicated sentences. Eg: “Don’t know how ride bike yet.” “Last night pacifier fall out my mouth far away.”

Today for fun – and I only say this here since you guys (mostly) don’t know me in real life so I won’t be blushing about how I’m boasting about this kid – Today for fun I looked up verbal development. At 2 (Noodle turned 2 in May) they’re supposed to have maybe 50 words. I know a perfectly bright little kid who had maybe 5 words then and is now (about 9 months later) quite verbal when she feels like it.

I started counting the words I know Noodle knows and with unscientific assessment and using only the web for figuring out normal language development – she’s got more of a 3 year old’s vocabulary. She’s blowing me away.

Don’t get me wrong. Faster development doesn’t mean better development necessarily. I know this. But I’m letting myself revel in being amazed by her. She’s such a bundle of sunshine. I adore her. 3 years ago

I try to write regularly in my blog, primarily about the kids, but just generally.

Lately Noodle has been doing so many cool things, and I’m not getting it in there. I’m going to lose track of the progress she and Q make if I don’t document it, and that will make me so sad later.

Today we went up to Kid City, which is free the 3rd Thursday of the month between 5 and 7. We didn’t make it there till 6:30 – hadn’t ever gone there before. The kids had a BLAST.

Wandering into one space, sort of made up to be a fortune teller’s room: silver ball, dark, mirrors at all different angles on the wall. Noodle says, unprompted, “That’s Fan-cy!” So funny and I’ve no idea how she knew it was right to apply. Mostly lately she says, “That’s si-ee-y!” (silly)

I think she’s wildly precocious verbally. She used the word ‘tangled’ the other day to describe a pretzel. She uses ‘I’ and ‘me’ and ‘you’ correctly. She also uses the third person to refer to herself and other people, but for a 2 year old, she’s way ahead of the game. I’m blown away by her long sentences sometimes. Today it was: “Q’s balloon way way up there.”

The verbal thing seems to help a lot with her cooperation. I can get her to tell me most of what she needs, and I try to insist on this instead of whining/crying. We understand most of what she says…

Last night she was crying late at night. I went in and asked what she needed/what was wrong. She usually needs her pacifier, but she actually had it for once. She kept repeating something that sounded close to her “pass-i-fy-er” but not quite.

This morning I finally figured it out. She wanted her pirate shirt. 4 years ago

I have no idea what speed an average toddler learns anything, I just keep being blown away by what Noodle produces. We realized this week that Noodle can ‘count’. Which is not to say that she has the slightest concept of numbers. But she can recite numbers up to 10, and sometimes beyond. She sings little songs and if you help her out a little, they’re recognizable: ‘Twinkle Twinkle’, ‘ABC’, ‘Happy Birthday’ etc. She’s got a total prankster attitude, but absolutely wants to please us, which is a huge relief.

A few weeks ago I walked into the kitchen to find the ‘bad stuff’ cabinet open and Noodle nowhere in sight. I panicked, calling her name loudly. She came running, obviously panicked by my fear, running to bring me the bottle of chemicals she’d helped herself to, then running back for the second bottle.

Poor Q is having a tough time lately. A head injury from playful wrestling required a sticky type stitch thing. Then he got pink eye the day my parents arrived. The day after they left, we got his cough checked out, and he had an ear infection. We’re getting talking back (minor, but we call him on it because we don’t want this to become the norm) and teenager huffy sighs. (I blame myself for those.) Then he bit his best friend last Friday and I’ve caught him hitting his sister a few times. (I don’t think these are serious assaults on Noodle because she is usually unfazed by them, but he gets immediate time outs and the scary voice.)

The theory on Q that we’re working with is two-fold. One is that Noodle is so much fun right now that he’s getting jealous and neglected, despite efforts to include him. (She ADORES him. And he seems to genuinely love her and like playing with her.) The other is that we heard a rumor that boys have their biggest surge in testosterone in their preschool years. (More than teen years? unclear) Which would explain all the testing of limits I am witnessing not just with Q, but also with his friends. Poor child. The more he is difficult, the more we would rather have time with Noodle.

Luckily, he is still his delightful self most of the time. He chatters little stories to himself and snuggles close to be read to, invites us to watch ‘Shawn the Sheep’ with him, is desperate to help Noodle do things, holds her hand (thrillsville for her) and plays a hilarious version of ‘hide and seek.’ (He hides and giggles way too loud to not be seen while we wander around pretending not to hear him. It must be hard to be nearly 5.

Kindergarten orientation (for parents only) next week… 4 years ago

Noodle has some really cool new words. I’ve given up on keeping track of all the ones she knows now. She’s actually communicating pretty well. It’s amazing.

But here are some of the words she has said this week for the first time:
star
gate
closed
star-fish (in context, she did know what she was saying. She has a bath toy…)
library
Epilogue

She’s got no clue what the last one means, she says it because it appears in a Mo Willems book. And she says it for that page, not just randomly. She probably does know what the library is, but she uses it to refer to the library books, which we mostly read at bedtime. (We keep them in our library bag and as she plunders the stash she says, ‘lie-bary!’ She also says ‘gook’ for book, which cracks me up.) It’s such a funny stage. 4 years ago

You know what always makes me feel better as a parent? a) Hearing stories of their children losing it and b) hearing stories of them losing it.

Here’s a) for you:
Went with Q to the Big E for a model train hobby show. Big excitement. We went with another little boy and his mom. Q, almost right away, starts losing it, failing to cooperate with simple requests like ‘we need to stay together’. He actually falls to the ground with whining and melting down. I thought he must be sick, he was so un-Q. Kept checking his forehead for a temp. But no. He was starving. Two bags of cookies and a trip to the potty and the boy was good to go. Me, I was rolling my eyes the rest of the trip.

b) Tonight I wanted to spank Noodle. Q lost it at bedtime. He was pretty tired, and we were tired, and it was late to be getting them to bed. So it was a 2 book night and Q was upset at that (a boy of routine), so J carries him into the bedroom and pops him into bed. Well, that evaded the routine of getting a wee drink before bed and Q then spent the next 10 minutes screaming he needed a drink of water. I was torn between not wanting to give into the tantrum and knowing that he was simply tired and wanted his damn routine. So I made the mistake of giving into his tantrum and brought him some water. (after he put in a “Mommy!” I’m a sucker.) Then Noodle wants a drink, “Owl? Owl?” (a new word. She also says “owl” for owls in case you were wondering.) I bring her the cup, let her take a sip. She spills some, chokes a little, I take it away, pat her back. Tell her to lie down and go to sleep now.

No. Noodle now knows Mommy can be manipulated – Q showed her. So she screams and screams and screams.

I can’t go in there. The boy is bad enough, but Noodle has been pulling this stunt in the early hours of the morning and I’m ready to kill myself with sleep deprivation.

I stomp up the stairs. Go to the bathroom. Noodle keeps screaming. I go to the bedroom and pray my husband will intervene before something bad happens.

He comes upstairs. Opens the door. Says something firmly. The screaming stops.

Oh my. That rant got carried away. Sorry. 4 years ago

Q read full sentences on his own. I’m giddy with delight. 4 years ago

Sad tonight.

Q loves scissors. He’s just reached the point where his fine motor skills make it possible to cut shapes, however clumsily. He got to use his scissors yesterday and came up with some excuse to use them today.

We were having a low key day and Noodle was napping, so I didn’t pay much attention. I determined that he did not want to learn how to make snowflakes, left him with the paper and his scissors and went about my own business.

Sometime during the afternoon, he took the scissors to a couple of books. Not severely. Luckily, each time it was to the final pages of a book, and fairly easily repaired with tape. However one of those books was a library book, much to my horror.

To add to the incident, Q then claimed he didn’t know what had happened.

Initially I thought perhaps Noodle had an opportunity to do the cutting, but taking a look at the damage, we realized only deft little fingers could have accomplished the work.

So the consequences: scissors are off limits for a while. (Undetermined, but my guess is that there won’t be unsupervised cutting for a few months.) And for the lying, which we gave him a few chances to back out of, down to the point of reminding him of a story he knows about someone lying, well, there was no booktime for Q.

Salt to the wound was that something got in his eyes right before bathtime (which he was hoping to avoid anyways). So he was sobbing over various indignities (beads removed from his custody, the eye issue, the bath issue, the scrubbing of his body) and then the news of no booktime kind of finished off the night with screaming sobs.

It might have been a mercy, actually. He fell asleep so fast that the crying might have helped him push through exhaustion into sleep. 4 years ago

This isn’t cheap, but we decided for multiple reasons to sign Q up for Gymnastics classes. It’s mid-season, so it’s a bit cheaper, and easy to see how well it integrates into our lives and how much he likes it before putting down a full session’s tuition.

Anyways. I went there Thursday to check it out with Q. He didn’t really know what I was up to, but we watched the two classes for maybe five minutes. Then he whispered, “Mommy? Can I try it?” Last night we looked at photos on their website and a couple of youtube videos of preschool gymnastics (I specifically avoided the older version of gymnastics since I didn’t want him getting ideas).

Q entered the mat area and just looked thrilled to be there. The teacher asked an imagination question and he piped right up with an answer. He bounced and hopped and grinned and concentrated and listened pretty well. I followed instructions and didn’t interfere. (A friend had to restrain herself after calling out to her son to ‘stay in line!’ which is against the explicit instructions to parents to not coach or instruct their children from the sidelines.) Watching all these little four year olds was really cute. We (the two other parents I knew) all had boys starting mid-session, and they were the only boys. We kept trying to figure out what the kids were supposed to do by watching the girls, but mostly just kept dissolving into laughter.

It was just really lovely to watch Q enjoy himself, and being so physical and bouncy, traits I’m not good with. (I’m seriously sedentary. “Let’s read a book Q!”) 4 years ago

Picked up 2 trikes (well, ride on toys) for the kids at a rummage sale for a total of $1 today. Why 2? Because I had the insight that if I got one for Noodle (which I knew she’d love) that Q would constantly pilfer it from her causing lots of screaming and needing me to monitor them constantly over a stupid toy.

Already happy I did this. Also picked up a huge Tonka firetruck (worn, but who cares?) for 50 cents, a pull toy for free (tied to a ride on toy) which makes Noodle giggle hysterically and a pair of jeans for Q for $1.50. He almost has enough winter grade clothing to get through a school week now. 4 years ago

The preschool class Q is in was shorthanded on aides today, so they asked if I could come in to give them a hand this afternoon. (They chose me because I know most of the kids at least by name. Or so they said.) I was touched and happy to have an excuse to finally rearrange work to do this. Last year most of Q’s friends had a parent come in for a class, and I never finagled work time off to do it. (I’m basically scheduled to work days he’s at preschool.)

This class has about 11 kids and because it is the preschool for kids with identified needs in the school district there is a wide range of abilities and personalities. And I was so impressed by these kids. They were all cute and sweet of course, I mean, they’re four years old, so of course they’re cute. Like puppies. But they were so accepting and calm about each other. One kid with autism was having a tough time without his usual aide and he melted down hard in the first 5 minutes I was there. But the other kids just were matter of fact and basically ignored it. And he was giggling and made a joke- with me! by the time I left. The kids were so sincere and sharing things with me and I am just smiling thinking about one little girl getting excited and volunteering when a teacher suggested another child find a friend to help her. 4 years ago

Noodle has two phrases that are basically one word in her head/speech: ‘here you go’ and ‘thank you’. These sound very similar and it’s only a slight intonation and an occasional more articulate spacing that tips us off that she’s saying two things. (Oh, and context. Sort of.) But today she strung together two words: ‘hi kitties’. Sweetness.

Today was Q’s preschool open house. He’s all shy again with them. He entered with his hands over his ears, slightly hunched over. I squatted down so I could hear what he was saying, and he mimicked me, squatting down, almost as if to make himself smaller.

When one of the new (beautiful, wooden) fire trucks came open, I pointed it out to him and he suddenly transformed back into his normal self, spending the next 15 minutes just on the fire trucks. I gently encouraged him to give another boy a shot at them and only got cooperation because I mentioned that there was another fire truck in the plastic road area…

Tonight I read him, “Fireboat” by Maira Kalman. I’ve read it before, but I don’t think I’d ever read it aloud, and certainly never to a child. I bawled. It might simply be too old for him, but all the boat information is fascinating to him, and essentially I think it could just as well be “Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, Marianne.” There aren’t many books about 9/11 that I think are worth reading just for themselves (rather than to deal with 9/11), and this is one. Or maybe even the only one. (I see in Amazon that at least one other person disagrees with me.) 4 years ago

She’s crying in bed and saying, “Happyhappyhappy.” Poor tired baby. 4 years ago

We decided it was a good idea to finally move Noodle’s crib into Q’s room. This is having some mixed results. On the down side, we cannot seem to get either kid into bed and asleep without waking the other one. On the up side, Q has been a little shining star of a big brother. He sings and talks to Noodle to calm her down. He may have gotten protective of his toys during the day time, but at night, he’s delighted to share his room. As I type this, he’s bellowing, “I’ve been working on the rail road! All the live long day!” To be honest, I’m not sure how either of them ever falls asleep.

Noodle seems thrilled to have company at night, although she flips out if she sees me putting Q to bed. Just now, when Q left to get a drink of water, she got very upset. The night he went potty twice was a little traumatic. And then I must also remember that she’s taken to pooping after she’s put to bed each night. The transition has bumped bedtime from 6:30 to 7:30, or sometimes 8:30…

There’s a lot more walking going on for Noodle and she can now say several more words: house, horse (they sound the same and she might not say them spontaneously, but in context it’s very exciting), Mama and a cat’s meowing sound that is remarkably similar to Raleigh’s meow (our large brown cat) although I would not have recognized it if she hadn’t mewed back at him one morning.

She can also climb a step stool, I discovered this afternoon… 4 years ago

Q turned four today. So strange to think he was once so small. So amazing to think of the person he has become and is becoming. Fills my heart with joy.

Noodle is learning to walk. And today I saw her grin and lean over to snatch her brother’s hat as a joke.

They’re so much work, and so stunningly wonderful. Sometimes I step outside myself and can only blink at the miraculous quality of parenthood and how it constantly rivals the mundane. 4 years ago

So Q had his first sports related injury in T-ball this past Thursday. Because Mom and Dad were there to witness the disaster, he was unable to continue with Preschool that day. Sadly, from my distant perspective it was terribly funny: one of the moms hit the t-ball, which flew straight out to smack him in the face. It seemed like a scene in a movie. (The mother felt awful and I’m sure I’d be scarred for life if it had been me that hit the ball.) Q seems to have recovered, since the next day he and a preschool buddy were deliberately throwing a ball into each other’s faces.

Today I determined that I was courageous enough to attempt to trim Noodle’s hair. I was mostly afraid that I would mangle the job and she would end up looking like someone tried to trim her hair in the dark. Turns out, that should’ve been the least of my worries. I didn’t notice that she moved mid-trim, turning to yell at me. I scolded her. “It doesn’t hurt to get your hair cut.” Oh, yes, I guess it does hurt if your mother slices off your ear. The flow of blood down her shoulder being the tip-off. Luckily she’s really hard to phase over something like this. She continued to bleed for probably half an hour of my attempts to staunch the flow with various strategies, but she was totally unconcerned after the initial protest.

Sadly, I think her hair looks a little like I tried to trim it in the dark. 4 years ago

Noodle’s namesake (not directly, but I comforted myself with the thought that people might learn how to pronounce Noodle because of her) died last week. Her obit appeared in the NY Times on Noodle’s birthday.

I admit, I haven’t read anything by Ms. O’Faolain, yet. I wanted to start with a book I don’t own, and it wasn’t pressing. I thought I had time. She wasn’t that elderly. I liked what I read about her, her honesty and humanity and later life success in writing.

So in the face of her despair at her own death, I will spit in the face of darkness to make this commitment to her memory, (which has nothing to do with getting my kids to adulthood): I will read at least two of her books (I’m not sure how many she published) by the end of the summer. Not a difficult task, but one that symbolizes the importance of individuals, even after their passing. 5 years ago

In addition to the yellow jacket incident (see the ‘be brave’ goal) Q managed to simply trip and whack his head. Hard. I didn’t see him till about 4 hours later and the raised welt is impressive, despite the fact that he actually cooperated with holding ice on it. Which indicates how much it hurt, poor kid. Evidently he didn’t even cry and no one saw it happen. One of the aides in another class noticed the huge welt and asked, “Was that bruise there before?” The phone call from J panicked me a little till I realized that it was under control, then I decided to ask for all the known facts before freaking out. End result: big painful looking raised bruise, some facial scraping, no permanent damage. (Although it’s typical for him to get an injury right before we intend to take many photos. I doubt it’ll be healed for Noodle’s birthday in a week. Ouch.) 5 years ago

After returning home with the kids, I brought them upstairs to take off my necklace (made of wire and easily mangled by infants, as I learned the hard way). I made the mistake of thinking I could take my eyes off of them for a second and Noodle nearly got a door slammed in her face. Unfortunately, at that moment, her finger was in the crack by the hinge. We made a trip to the pediatrician’s. She’s likely going to lose the nail, but it is unlikely to be broken, despite the bleeding from the nail and the nasty cut where the door pinched her.

Interestingly, another child named Noodle was in the clinic earlier today, having swallowed a penny. 5 years ago

Adventures don’t have to be totally grand, but I think they’re supposed to take us outside our normal parameters. At bedtime, Q sometimes requests that I tell him about our ‘Train Adventure when we went to the Aquarium’ (the best all time Adventure). The recitation must include that he didn’t want to get dressed and got a Time Out, during which Grandma arrived. The whole story is a little exhausting (especially when I’m sleepy), so lately I’ve tried to tell a mini-story version which is a dream I am wishing for him (takes the train to the beach or the forest).

Tonight after stories I told him that tomorrow we are going on an adventure and that I’d tell him about it once he was in bed. Lying down next to him, I got a good look at his expression, and I was overwhelmed by how absolutely excited he was. Hope we can live up to his expectations… 5 years ago

This morning while Noodle was happily pointing at the cat and hacking out her sound for “Cat” (“AC- ACK- ACK!”), I asked her to go get the truck. She looked at me, crawled over to the truck and brought it to me. Definitely serious neuron work going on in there, despite the alien communication skills. 5 years ago

Today was the first afternoon in a while that we had unrushed time together as a family and the weather was brilliant. I met J and the kids at a park after work. Q ran around happily playing with children he’d never met before, with a happy, “Hi Mommy!” when he saw me.

Noodle has a new word, her first word outside of Dada, and spent the afternoon calling everything “Ack!” which is Noodle for “Cat!” You can tell it means Cat because it gets very animated and repetitive when she’s near or pointing to a cat. Otherwise you’d think she had something caught in her throat.

She also indiscriminately calls many things Dada, but has clearly indicated again the understanding of the word and used it when he handed her a pacifier late one night. Very, very sweet.

When we got home after running errands, we had dinner on the patio, for the first time this spring. I’m going to brainstorm strategies to make this easier because it is simply so nice to eat outside, except for the lugging of high chairs, food, silverware, drinks, plateware, and children who need constant supervision.

Q is on spring vacation this week and you’d think he had a rigorous academic schedule by how much he seems to enjoy not being rushed out of the house at 8:50 each morning. Personally, I’m relieved that we’re coming up with a plan for summer activities for him. Last summer he was a poster boy for ‘Idle hands are the devil’s playthings’. We’re just not clever enough to keep a preschooler busy for months on end.

Today he declared with all the importance of a tiny Buddha (or Yoda) that “If upstairs was downstairs, then downstairs would be upstairs.”

For those who would like an update on No Thank You bites, it does appear that I won that skirmish. He ate the exact same foods we fought over the following night, with barely an attempt for negotiating (and actually he ate the cheese toast with much gusto). The trick, it seems, is to remember his preschool teacher’s recommendation that you offer the “less preferred” items first, then, after you are satisfied by the No Thank You bite, offer the food they’ll actually eat. 5 years ago

Had a little moment of terror today when Noodle fell off the second step of the stairs (she hadn’t tried climbing them yet, but both Q and I were upstairs, and she hates to be left out). So evidently she can climb stairs. Just not well. She was quite angry about it. (understandably.) 5 years ago

Baby’s First Butch.

Actually, not my line, really. When Q was about 2, my mostly grown niece came to visit. Watching Q try on (and attempt walking in!) heels, she said, “Awwwww, Baby’s First Drag!” Sadly, those photos didn’t turn out so well. But seeing Noodle in flannel, well, my heart got all warm and sentimental.

(In case you’re wondering, my niece was a cofounder of a Gay-Straight Alliance Club at her high school. She’s an awesome kid. Of like 20 now.) 5 years ago

Not, can say, but does something to indicate understanding, like point to a picture:

cup
car
book
kitten
cat
No
Daddy
Mommy
Q…

_{I’m trying to keep track as I figure out new ones, but it’s hard since I don’t have one specific spot.}
Also:
Up
Ball
book
truck (according to Grandma) 5 years ago

of my kids.5 years ago

“When I’m a grown up I’m going to be a Mommy like Mommy.”

This is over breakfast and after about 6 hours of sleep. I reply, “I hope you’ll be a nicer Mommy than Mommy is.”

Words to regret.

This evening as he eats dinner, “When I’m a grown up, I’m going to be a nicer Mommy.”

Yes sweetheart. I suspect you will. 5 years ago

Took the kids out to a restaurant tonight. Brought a lunch box full of trucks for Q and a carton of mushy veg something for Noodle. So I was hopeful that we’d actually get to sit and eat.

It was beyond what I might have hoped for. Q ate some of the grilled cheese, said thank you when prompted, ate fries, drank milk, played with trucks and was fairly appropriate in general. (Ie. very little banging of feet on the booth that I thought contained an unseen customer on the other side.) Noodle ate some of the chips (broken into tiny bits that she offered to us as well), some of the grilled cheese and all the carton of mushy food.

But I’d forgotten that at this age (almost 11 months now) that babies are absolutely wonderful at restaurants (given the limitation that they are babies). She looked all around, flirted with the waiters, waved at people who didn’t see her, talked about what she could see, offered to share her food with us and with the waiter, and overall was smiley and amazed at being in a new environment. Definitely a stage to enjoy.

Her fourth tooth has cut through and I think she’s going to have a big gap between her two front teeth. I think J had one, although I don’t know if it’s a genetic sort of thing. I suspect it will be adorable while she’s a kid, and the bane of her existence starting at age 13.

Though hopefully it’ll give her a serious advantage in whistling. 5 years ago

Q is a little too proficient with a screwdriver. Today while J, Noodle and I were sleeping, Q used a screwdriver to remove several of the train tracks from his train table. I’m relieved J had told him specifically not to use it on the gate at the top of the stairs. I would really like it if the screwdriver, not to mention the electric drill, both used to reinstall the gate yesterday, would relocate themselves back to the workshop.

Then, while I was showering and J was dressing, Noodle tried to pull herself up on a side table/cabinet. It fell on her. She’s got one of those bruises on her head where you can see a red ring with a normalish color in the middle, indicating a really bad bruise in a shade that’s hard to see. Her poor head is covered in bruises from whacking into things and falling down. When she gets tired she tends to fall while crawling, usually into a face plant. It’s terribly funny and sad at the same time, poor kid.

Better go work on this goal- I haven’t heard Q in a while… 5 years ago

More on the kids.5 years ago

Q comes into our room and tells me he needs medicine.
“Why?”
“I have a bad cough.”
He’s right. He does. Loud and harsh, especially two inches from my face.
I request that he drink some water and then I’ll give him something. (He really wants cough medicine, but I’m only going to give him tylenol since it turns out the cough medicine has no relationship with decreased coughing.)
“NO! I DON’T WANT WATER!”
Tantrum.
I get up, pour water. Drink it myself.
Pour the tylenol. Offer it to the kid.
He refuses to look at me long enough to see that it is what he wants (“Needs”). I leave it on his train table.
He continues to tantrum, now because he wants water first.

I was a little snappish today. 5 years ago