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When I Grow Up...

... I want to be...

The first time that I heard those words from Andrea was the day that we visited a dairy farm on vacation. That night, the answer she offered with no prompting was "a farmer and a cooker." By "cooker,' I certainly hope that she means a chef and not simply a burger flipper at a fast-food joint.

Tonight, Andrea added two more variations to the mix. The first was, "When I grow up, I want to be an author, ... and a farmer and a cooker. A food cooker and an ice cream cooker." Shortly after, she indicated that she wanted to be "Curious George, a farmer, and a cooker."

I was surprised that she did not forget about being a farmer and a cooker in the month since she first shared her aspirations. It'll be some time until she's all grown up, so for now I hope that she enjoys being a kid!

For Sale?

Today, I dropped Andrea off late at school, and stayed for her class group time by her request. Group time was interesting...

Last week Andrea's class had a pizza-making fundraiser. On Thursday, they made English-muffin pizzas -- all cheese. Well, they had sauce on them, too. On Friday, the pizzas were cooked and sold them to parents. I don't remember the exact price, but I donated a dollar to get four and I overpaid.

Today, the class was discussing and voting on what they were going to do with the $9 they earned. The two options presented by the teacher were: (1) ice cream party, and (2) buy a fish for the classroom. Each child was given a choice in turn to voice their preference. They were also given the option for a "write-in" idea. Andrea passed on her turn to vote. Andrea's friend, Aaron, did not. He was the first (and only) to say, "I have an idea."

Aaron's idea was to "Buy Andrea's mommy." The idea got a vote from Aaron and two of the other children. In the end, "Buy a Fish" also had three votes. (Un)fortunately, "Ice Cream Party" ended up with six votes, so I don't have to worry about being owned, and cared for!, by a pre-school class of three-year-olds.

Math of Ages

"Mommy, when Dylan is six, will I be four?"

"Yes, Andrea."

"And, when Dylan is seven, will I be five?"

"Yes, you will be."

"When Dylan is eight, will I be... six?"

"You will be, Andrea."

"Mommy, when Dylan is nine, will I be seven?"

And, when Dylan is ten, will I be eight?"

"You sure will be."

"When Dylan is twenty, will I be ten?"

"No. When Dylan is twenty, you will be eighteen, Andrea."

"When Dylan is one hundred, will I be seventeen?"

"No. When Dylan is one hundred, you will be ninety-eight."

So went the conversation when I was pushing Andrea on the swing this afternoon. I didn't think much of it at the time, but now that I think back on it, it is impressive to me. Granted, Andrea's math ability became constrained when she crossed the boundary of ten. However, she was either able to keep straight incrementing two sets of numbers. Or, she was able to subtract two from each number in her head. Either way, I'm impressed.

Both Dylan and Andrea are currently in the mode of challenging my addition skills and keeping me sharp. We often start simple, with something like "What's one plus one?" They then take the answer and add it to itself. Well, they ask me (or Geoff) to add it to itself. They don't seem to get bored with it, so I often find myself adding numbers in the thousands. In my head. While driving. Perhaps there should be a law against that.

Beer

Scene: Jewel grocery store on the Sunday afternoon before Memorial Day
Characters: Daddy and Andrea

Daddy: "Let's get some beer and then we're done."

Andrea: "Don't drink too much."

Daddy: "Ummmm, why not?"

Andrea: "You'll be sick."

Daddy: "Okay, should I just drink one, then?"

Andrea: "No, five."

Daddy: "Five?"

Andrea: "Five is okay."

Daddy: "Okay."

Daddy wonders with whom Andrea has been discussing drinking beer....

ttyl

Andrea is very interested in knowing how to spell various words. I often hear, "Mommy, how do you spell... (fill in the blank)?" More recently, she's turned it around to something such as "Mommy, what does c-a-t spell?" Earlier this week, the question Andrea asked me was, "Mommy, what does t-t-y-l spell?"

So any of you who are wondering whether kids these days are just inherently different than we were as kids, the answer is a resounding y-e-s (which spells yes)! I still have no idea where she got that letter combination from. It is not a phrase that I use, nor is it something that I have heard (or seen) Geoff use. However, it certainly is odd that Andrea picked that combination of letters from all 456,976 possible 4-letter permutations.

For those still wondering, t-t-y-l spells "talk-to-you-later."

Stream of Consciousness

For the past week or so, Andrea is in a phase that I call "Stream of Consciousness." My guess is that her ability to speak words is catching up to her ability to think words. The result is that we get to see an unedited version of what is going on inside her head.

This can be good, and this can be bad.

Her teacher at school shared a story that was more on the bad end of the spectrum. Andrea wasn't waiting her turn for a toy, and it was explained to her that she needed to wait. Andrea verbalized what we all would think, which something like, "Well, I'm just going to say it was two minutes and take it back from her now."

On the good side of the spectrum, it allows me to understand what is motivating Andrea at any given moment in time. Instead of wondering why it is taking her twenty or thirty minutes to go to the bathroom, wash hands, and brush teeth, I get a running commentary on what is distracting her.

I know that this phase won't last long, so I'm going to try to take advantage of it any way I can.

Blanket

"Mommy, I want my blanket."

"Your blanket? Which blanket? Do you want your quilt?"

"My blanket."

"Andrea, which blanket?"

"My blanket. That blanket."

"Okay.

"Wait! You said, 'blanket.' Geoff, did you hear? Andrea said 'blanket.'

I admit that I was a bit slow. Andrea has evolved from "Daddy's" to "Did-it" and now on to "blanket." Looking back, it is possible that she's been saying blanket for days... or weeks... but, I've finally caught on.

Motion Baby

Once a motion baby, always a motion baby.

Today, I had the opportunity to once again hold Andrea, and sway, and bounce as I did when she was an infant. Today, Andrea was overtired and was attempting to refuse taking a nap. I started holding her so that she couldn't run away or head downstairs. In spite of her squirming, I could tell that she was tired. Eventually, she gave in to the fatigue and I could feel her body relax. So I stood, and swayed and bounced a bit more as she got more and more tired. Finally, she asked to lie down on the futon (in her room) and she was asleep in seconds.

As an infant, we had many opportunities to contend with our motion baby. We would often walk and bounce with her in our arms until she fell asleep. When we were both fatigued, the bouncy seat sometimes came to the rescue. At daycare, I have many memories of Ms Karen happily dancing with Andrea in her arms. Andrea also motivated them to buy batteries for the vibrating bouncy seat that hadn't had working batteries in quite some time! The sling was our friend as she got older, as she would ride contently until she dozed off. Sometimes, we relied on the stroller and a walk around the block in nice weather.

I'm not sure if I'll ever forget our trip back from one of Andrea's early doctor appointments. She was screaming as loud as her little lungs could in the back seat of the car. As instantly as a light being switched, her screams turned to snores as we crossed the bumps of the three railroad tracks. It went something like this: Waaaah! Waaaaah! Waaaaaah!, Bumpity, Bumpity, Bumpity, ... {silence}.

And then, there was our disappointment when they re-paved a local road that we travel frequently. We would drive trying to hit the small bumps in the road to provide some soothing and comfort to our backseat passenger. Those bumps and potholes were our allies! Somehow we managed, but I suspect we dealt with a lot more crying that we would have had the potholes remained.

So, I guess I am thankful for the bumps in the road... both figuratively and literally.

Two and a Half

Andrea is nearly two and a half. Yesterday, she had her two-and-a-half-year-old well-check at the pediatrician's office. She also had her flu shot. And Dylan received his flu shot.

Of the three measurements that are taken, the one that I believe the most is the weight. This time, Andrea weighed 29 lbs and 4 oz, which places her just above the 50th percentiles for girls her age. Her head measured at 20", which is above the 95th percentile. The measurement that I have a hard time believing this time is Andrea's height. Measured lying down, by drawing lines on the paper at her head and heels, Andrea is supposedly 38 1/2". If that is the case, then she is above the 95th percentile for height. When you look at her growth curves, there is an obvious error in height measurement somewhere. For this check-up, I could believe 38", which would be between the 90th and 95th percentile. I could also believe 37 1/2", which is just below the 90th. I could also believe 36 1/2" if last times measurements were accurate. Looking back at Andrea's numbers from her 2-year check-up, I now believe the measurement of 34 1/4" was on the low side. It seemed strange that she had dropped from just above the 90th percentile to just above the 50th in only six months. It now seems strange that she grew only an inch between 18 months and 24 months, and a full 4 1/4 inches in the six months since.

But, enough hypothesizing about the measurements taken at the doctor's office. The important summary is that Andrea is growing. And, Andrea is healthy.

Andrea did not utter a peep when she was given her flu shot. Total silence. Dylan on the other hand, made quite a bit of noise. However, the noise was probably louder before his shot than after.

Yesterday, I also noticed Andrea's lower left 2-year molar barely peeking through the gums. For those who are counting, this is tooth number seventeen.

Officially, we have five more days until two-and-a-half. But, I've already started referring to Andrea as being there.

BP Helios

Tonight, we drove past a BP station out Andrea's window. On our daily drive, the BP station is out Dylan's window. We don't drive the same way home as we do to school, so Andrea doesn't usually get to see it. Tonight, we were headed to my soccer game. As we waited for the light to turn green, Andrea points at the BP Helios (that funny looking green, yellow, and white flower-like object) and says in her two-year old voice, "That's like your shirt, Mommy"

She followed up with "I want to touch it." You see, when the Helios is embroidered on a shirt it acts somewhat like a button that can be pressed. Both Dylan and Andrea enjoy pushing in the Helios. Probably not what BP is really after with their marketing, but still good that Andrea recognized it.

When we passed another BP station, Dylan indicated that we had already gone past it. My attempts to explain that there are multiple BP stations fell on deaf ears. When I asked Dylan if he thought I was driving in circles, Andrea replied, "No, you're driving in parking lots." It was a long ride, in a bit of stop-and-go traffic. Perhaps she was commenting on that.