The Delaney and Waylon Diaries

Two

Dear Delaney,

Today you turned two and while I'd like to say the past year went by too quickly for me, I can't. It's not because it didn't go by quickly, but because I've truly taken to heart the advice other moms gave me: time does fly when your kids are young so treasure every second. I did and I do and I hope I always will. This has been such a terrific year. You've changed more than I can believe. At your first birthday party you were crawling. Now you're running and swinging on monkey bars and dancing and playing hide-and-seek. When you turned one you were already saying words like, "no," and, "koo-kay," (for Cookie Monster) and, "sish" (for fish). But now, at two, you're saying, "I need privacy, daddy," and, "I want hats, cake, a pinata and a tycycle to my birfday," and, "Don't talk to me. I'm busy here," and today, "I'm so HAPPY!"

You don't mind getting messy but you don't like staying messy ("Mama? Clean my hands. I need a paypa towel."). You talk all the time about being a big kid. You tell us you're not a baby anymore. And, you're right. You walk up and down the steps by yourself. You can take your clothes and shoes off. You drink out of a big girl cup. You eat with a fork and spoon. You're learning how to use the potty and your daddy and I were so proud that you had several successes with that this week. Soon you'll be wearing the big girl underwear your auntie gave you for your birthday.

You love to read and have us read to you. You can recite your ABCs and count to ten and sometimes even higher. You're going to start preschool two days a week starting in September and I can't wait to see you take it all in and continue your love of learning. And, of course, I can't wait to watch you make new friends. You love playing with your cousins and your friends and meeting new kids isn't something of which you're afraid. You'll walk right up to kids you've never met before and say, "Hi, kid!" with a smile on your face as you wait for them to come to you.

You love going to The Little Gym. You're starting to take risks in your new class, maybe because there are lots of older kids. The bars are by far your favorite, but the balance beam is a close second. You love going to the kids' club at mama's big gym too because the ladies there adore you and remember you from when you started going at six months old. They always tell me how amazed they are at how much you talk and how you've changed and grown. They've sure got a sweet spot for you.

You rarely have tantrums and when you do I notice that you watch me intently to try figure out just how much you can get away with (hint: not much). You calm down easily and you always tell me you're sorry after you get a time out. We have the best time together every day and you make it easy and so fun for me to be your mom.

Delaney, I love you more than my silly words here can ever express. My heart swells and my eyes tear up when I think about the night you were born and the difficult days that followed for both of us. And I smile and laugh when I remember bringing you home and wondering what to do next. In those early days I had to learn to be a mom and I had to remind myself that you were always here, always needing my care. You still do, but it's amazing to me how, little by little and day by day, you're moving ever-so-slightly away from me and into becoming your own person who can care for herself. One day you'll be ready to take the world on yourself, but you'll never be by yourself. Your dad and I will always be here for you, loving you and supporting you and remembering you as the fearless, smart, happy little girl who ripped open her pinata out of sheer joy today.

Happy birthday, baby!

23 months

"Special Milk" (vanilla soy milk):


Independence:

Daddy's Glasses
(with parents as blind as bats, glasses are most likely
in this darling's future...her near future):

22 months (the like mother, like daughter edition)

21 months

Recent Delaney-isms,
the Christmas edition:

I change my mind.

Gatch Mama! Gatch Daddy! (She used to say, "skatch," when she meant scratch. Now she says, "Gatch!" Frankly, I don't care what the heck she calls it as long as she quits doing it.)

I sarry, Mommy.

I see happy face.

Mama, I need help.

I love Mommy. I love Daddy.

Oh my gosh! Look at that.

Mama, look at that.

Mama, WAKE UP! (meaning, "Pay attention to ME.").

I kicka toe (meaning, "I kicked it with my toe.")

Fosty snowman, jowy happy so...button nose, eyes made a co.

Jibby bo's, jibby bo's (jingle bells)

Dat's fa shure, Daddy.

Angel uppa dere. Snowman inna dere. Kissmas tee right dere.

I hear a noise. I scared, Mama.

Mama petty hair. Mama petty face.

Santa Cos bing pez.

Onna see baby chia (otherwise known as: "I want to see Baby Jesus.")

Sit onna baby chia lap? (If it's good enough for Santa, surely it's good enough for Jesus.)

Twenty months

Nineteen months - The Joy of Pudding

At nineteen months Delaney's an inquisitive little darling. She points to everything (and I mean everything) and says, "Wassat?" The funniest time she said this was when Roger stepped out of the shower the other day and Delaney looked him up and down and then with a puzzled look on her face pointed to his nether regions and asked, "Daddy, wassat?" That's when we knew it was time to implement a "closed door" policy regarding shower time.

Other favorite Delaney phrases at this tender and delightful, yet mildly demanding, age include:

"Mama help."

"Daddy say, "(insert Delaney's imitation of icky man-throat-clearing noise here)."

"Onna nap."

"Onna touch (insert the name of every object known to man here)."

She can also name and identify colors ("puh-poh, geen, orandage, lello, boo, raid, back, white, bown, peenk") and she's starting to identify letters and numbers too.

She's becoming a master imitator, copying not only our words and phrases with uncanny clarity, but also imitating the expressions on people's faces in photos and those of the characters in her books as well as the yoga poses displayed on my yoga DVD cases. Nothing impresses guests more, I assure you, than a 19-month-old falling into a perfect downward-facing dog or executing a prayer twist.

As far as her food allergies/sensitivities go, she's still got 'em. I continue sampling dairy for her every now and then but the result's always the same: hives around her mouth. During a recent freak accident/bad mama moment she spilled my (thankfully lukewarm) mocha latte all over her face, neck and chest, but ingested nary a drop. Still the hives sprung up within a minute, covering her like a plague but disappearing completely within an hour. We've yet to meet a doctor who can explain her contact allergy to dairy and we continue to hope and pray that she'll grow out of it.

On the food upside, Delaney likes spinach (of the frozen-and-then-cooked variety, rather than fresh...she's got some strange aversion to ecoli. Go figure.) which I totally did not expect. Like most toddlers, her appetite varies from day to day and I try not to freak out on days where it seems that she's barely touched any of the food I prepared for her.

She's all but stopped scratching babies and other kids. Well, OK. She still does it once in a while but not often and only when provoked as compared to her previous M.O. of doing it merely for sport. We're definitely making progress. The hilarious thing about this is that she's decided that even though she's not going to scratch, she threatens me that she's going to do it. She gets her frustrations out by yelling at me, "Skatch babies!" or, "Skatch Nana!" when she's tired, angry or pissed off that she's not getting her way. The cool thing is that now she's all talk and no action. And after about eight months of fighting this beastly scratching behavior, it's about damn time.

Delaney and Thelma have a passing acquaintanceship these days. She's peed and pooped in the potty one time each right before a bathtime. We don't put her on the pot every day but will probably start doing it more and more since we've had these couple of successes. She's much more interested lately so maybe we're close to the right time to start the full-on training.

These days, in addition to her deep and abiding love for playing with her shape separator (which also has little doors she can lock and unlock--she adores opening things with keys) Delaney enjoys washing her hands in the big people's sink and she's discovered the wonderful worlds of Nemo and Ariel, frequently demanding, "Watcha moimaid! Watcha sish!" I think Sesame Street's got some competition.

Eighteen months

Delaney celebrated her 18 months with an intermittent hacking cough that kept her up nearly three hours past her bedtime. Girl knows how to party. She's been sick on and off since Wednesday night and just when we think her little cold is gone it reincarnates itself.

I thought I'd celebrate by mentioning some of the sweet and funny things she's been saying lately:

My personal favorites: Hold you, Mama! and Hold you, Daay! (daddy)

Aggin. - Said primarily to get me to sing, in my completely off-key voice, the song I just sang -- the notes of which were responsible for killing at least three birds a few doors down.

Delaney's best example of understanding cause and effect: Skatch! Babies ky. Otherwise known as Delaney's catchphrase: "Scratch! Babies cry," and variations on a theme which include: Peench! Mama ky.

Get back! Said with hand stuck out in front of her as some do when saying, "Oh no, you di' nt!" and her even more hilarious versions using our full names: Get back, Roger ______! or Get back Cah-yeen ______! both statements that greet us frequently first thing in the morning over the monitor.

Cheesebugger - AKA the beagle next door who was named by his then-six-year-old master for his favorite food.

Puhkin - "Pumpkin"

Moore puff. - Her request for more Veggie Booty (a toddler delicacy).

Boo boo hut - Said while pointing to her mummified-from-sucking thumb on her right hand

Ina eet ma cacker. - "I'm going to eat my cracker."

Daay wok. - "Daddy's at work."

Bubba baff - "Bubble bath."

Bakin head - Said while running a piece of bacon through her hair. She's classy like that. Must take after her mama.

Seventeen months

Time for a haircut, no?

Sixteen months

Fifteen months

She walks around the house carrying a photo of her with her sister.