Tater's Trinity
Tater has a holy trinity of sorts when she is tired, sad, or injured. She's becoming a bit high maintenance about the trinity; when she has one, she immediately pleads for the others.
"Hippo! Binky! Bonky!"
When she sees Hippo (a gift from my former aquarium co-worker J), she makes a little, "Aw!" sound in the back of her throat, mouth closed, takes Hippo 'round the middle and face plants right onto Hippo's ample nose.
She is self-weaning off the binky during the daytime but when she's tired or teething, she'll ask for it or find one and demand to have it, "Kipped peas," (clipped, please) to her shirt.
Bonky is her word for blanket, in this case it happens to be a very special adoption blanket from my parents' dear friends, the F family. It's fleecy, silky, and soft with a pink satin edge that she worries in her hands until she finds a corner, then she kneads it like a little kitten.
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Tater's latest solution to everything from a bruised knee to a temper tantrum is, "A pack!" As in, an ice pack. The Nugget and Spork are fighting? Here comes Tater with an ice pack, to the rescue! Mommy's feeling worn out? "Here, Mama, a pack!" And you better believe that when anyone else receives a pack, Tater is there begging for a sympathy pack.
Spork's lovely OT comes once a week; OT is pretty physical and Spork is super strong yet somewhat lacking in agility, so she's witnessed the evolution of the ice pack from our toddlers' perspective. Back in Nov, I'd offer a pack for an injury. Then the littles would verbally request one or grunt at the freezer. Now Tater comes trotting in with one unprompted. Today, Spork had a tantrum during lunch (because he wanted to gulp in a mouthful of milk and dribble/spit it out repeatedly and I cut him off after the 2nd time), and Ms. OT joked after the fact, "If Tater wasn't strapped into her highchair, she would have brought him an ice pack for sure." Tater tilted her head to the side and declared, "I try."
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Tater's vocabulary continues to astonish me. The girl has the gift of gab. One of my new favorites is, "Tank you, Daddy/Beavs/Mama/Nugget," because c'mon, how cute is that? I love observing toddlers acquiring language, because for our children at least, it's been a window into their personality. The Nugget was a man of nouns, "Whazzat?" he'd cry, as he wanted to classify and label and know. Among his first words were, "Dog, twee, fwower, butterfly, umbrella, computer, ball". Spork is a man of verbs and action, "I climbin'! I go! I build! I fall! I do! I make! I want! Wanna walk!" And Tater is a woman of adjectives, "Shiny, stinky, soft, pink, bwoo, curly, cute," painting and describing her world. So fascinating (but no, I am not considering a fourth just to see if they like adverbs).
"Hippo! Binky! Bonky!"
When she sees Hippo (a gift from my former aquarium co-worker J), she makes a little, "Aw!" sound in the back of her throat, mouth closed, takes Hippo 'round the middle and face plants right onto Hippo's ample nose.
She is self-weaning off the binky during the daytime but when she's tired or teething, she'll ask for it or find one and demand to have it, "Kipped peas," (clipped, please) to her shirt.
Bonky is her word for blanket, in this case it happens to be a very special adoption blanket from my parents' dear friends, the F family. It's fleecy, silky, and soft with a pink satin edge that she worries in her hands until she finds a corner, then she kneads it like a little kitten.
****************
Tater's latest solution to everything from a bruised knee to a temper tantrum is, "A pack!" As in, an ice pack. The Nugget and Spork are fighting? Here comes Tater with an ice pack, to the rescue! Mommy's feeling worn out? "Here, Mama, a pack!" And you better believe that when anyone else receives a pack, Tater is there begging for a sympathy pack.
Spork's lovely OT comes once a week; OT is pretty physical and Spork is super strong yet somewhat lacking in agility, so she's witnessed the evolution of the ice pack from our toddlers' perspective. Back in Nov, I'd offer a pack for an injury. Then the littles would verbally request one or grunt at the freezer. Now Tater comes trotting in with one unprompted. Today, Spork had a tantrum during lunch (because he wanted to gulp in a mouthful of milk and dribble/spit it out repeatedly and I cut him off after the 2nd time), and Ms. OT joked after the fact, "If Tater wasn't strapped into her highchair, she would have brought him an ice pack for sure." Tater tilted her head to the side and declared, "I try."
*****************
Tater's vocabulary continues to astonish me. The girl has the gift of gab. One of my new favorites is, "Tank you, Daddy/Beavs/Mama/Nugget," because c'mon, how cute is that? I love observing toddlers acquiring language, because for our children at least, it's been a window into their personality. The Nugget was a man of nouns, "Whazzat?" he'd cry, as he wanted to classify and label and know. Among his first words were, "Dog, twee, fwower, butterfly, umbrella, computer, ball". Spork is a man of verbs and action, "I climbin'! I go! I build! I fall! I do! I make! I want! Wanna walk!" And Tater is a woman of adjectives, "Shiny, stinky, soft, pink, bwoo, curly, cute," painting and describing her world. So fascinating (but no, I am not considering a fourth just to see if they like adverbs).
I hadn't thought about language development this way... thanks! I think my daughter joins Nugget's love for nouns. I wonder of it's related to being the first child? And I think you'd handle an adverbial fourth child with all the grace and humor you naturally exude.
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