Schmit Family
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5 February 2009 8:53 pm

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.

Posted by geoff at 20:53 in /family/andrea
 

8 December 2008 9:13 pm

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.

Posted by geoff at 21:13 in /family/andrea
 

30 November 2008 1:59 pm

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.

Posted by geoff at 13:59 in /family/andrea
 

14 October 2008 8:45 pm

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.

Posted by geoff at 20:45 in /family/andrea
 

22 September 2008 9:19 pm

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.

Posted by geoff at 21:19 in /family/andrea
 

11 September 2008 8:00 pm

Tooth Sixteen

Today, I observed Andrea's sixteenth tooth peeking through her gums. This is her lower right 2-year-old molar. Andrea never got an upper right lateral inciscor, just like her Grandma who never had any upper lateral incisors. When Andrea is cooperative enough at the dentist, we'll have x-rays taken to see what is up there and what to expect for adult teeth. For now, she appears destined to have only 19 baby teeth. Three more to go!

Posted by geoff at 20:00 in /family/andrea
 

6 September 2008 1:23 pm

Oreo Cookies

Eating an Oreo cookie is genetic. The dominant trait is to open the cookie and eat the cream in the middle. The recessive trait is to open two cookies, eat the sides without cream, and then make a double-stuff Oreo to eat. Geoff exhibits the dominant trait. I have the recessive trait. Mmmmm... it's been a long time since I've had a quadruple-stuff Oreo made from double-stuff Oreos.

Andrea ate her first Oreo cookie a couple of weeks ago. She got it from the Pig mascot from Famous Dave's Barbecue, but that's really irrelevant. Without anyone else's example to follow, she took the cookie apart and ate the cream in the middle. She proceeded to do this with the second cookie. She left the cookies behind. Perhaps that's a different gene. I'd never leave chocolate on my plate, and I don't think Geoff would either.

Posted by geoff at 13:23 in /family/andrea
 

6 September 2008 1:15 pm

Understanding Andrea

It is a challenge to understand Andrea at times. I'm starting to see a theme here: a two-year old is a challenge. I guess that isn't rocket science.

Andrea has progressed from calling her blankets "daddys" to calling them "did its." Dylan was very excited the other day when he finally figured this out. He was disappointed when I told him I already knew that, so he turned to Geoff to share his newly found knowledge. One of these days, her blanket will actually be called a blanket. And I'll probably never notice when that happens.

The other morning, Dylan wanted peanut butter on bread for breakfast, so Andrea decided she did also. Only, she specified "no chocolate." No problem, I thought, as you're not getting chocolate for breakfast. When I delivered her bread with peanut butter, Andrea looked up and emphatically said, "No CHOCOLATE." It was then that I understood. She didn't want crunchy peanut butter; she wanted smooth peanut butter. Try explaining that one to the folks at Reese's.

Posted by geoff at 13:15 in /family/andrea
 

5 September 2008 11:47 am

The Why Challenge

Andrea is in the "Why?" phase. It's probably a toss-up these days whether she uses the word "No" or the word "Why?" more frequently. Ah, the fun of having a two-year old.

My challenge when Dylan was asking "Why?" continuously was to see whether I could outlast him. And I don't mean outlast in terms of a "Why?" - "Because I said so" - "Why?" - "Because I said so and I'm the parent." - "Why?" - "Because parents make the rules." exchange. I mean in terms of answering each subsequent "Why?" with additional information and having him be satisfied. Often it would take upwards of a dozen answers, but I found it interesting to see where his questions would take us. It is harder than you might think to not get stumped by a child!

So, now the challenge with answering Andrea's questions has begun. I hope that I can continue to answer each question and encourage her to never stop asking them!

"Why, Mommy?"

Because I want you to be as smart and inquisitive as you are capable of becoming. And I never want you to hesitate to ask me a question!

Posted by geoff at 11:47 in /family/andrea
 

29 August 2008 8:26 pm

Preschool Hacker

My daughter is a hacker. At least that is the only explanation that I have for how she was able to answer the phone call from Geoff today. And now, the rest of the story...

On the way home from school, I called Geoff to let him know we were on the way. Typically, when I hang up, Andrea wants to see my phone. Rather than give it to her and let her call her pals in some distant part of the world, I turn off my phone. This often frustrates her, because she can't make the lights on the phone flash. Today, she didn't seem to be bothered as she pressed random buttons.

After a few minutes, Andrea seemed very anxious to give the phone back to me. It was then that I noticed that there was an active phone call with Geoff. At the time, I actually thought that she was just dialing him, but later learned that he had called me.

Alone, the fact that Andrea turned on the phone is not much of a feat. However, the fact that she turned on the phone and then entered my 4-digit security code is quite impressive. If you're wondering, the code is not the same digit four times, nor did I think that it was a very obvious pattern. And yes, I am quite positive that the phone was turned off when I gave it to her.

Does anyone know how I can get in touch with the National Security Agency?

Posted by geoff at 20:26 in /family/andrea
 
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