Tuesday, January 24, 2012

QOTD: Oh my god, she's a Republican!

Talking tonight at dinner, about what Charlotte would do, hypothetically, if she got a talking Buzz Lightyear for her birthday.

Matt:  What if it was in Spanish mode, like in the movie?

Charlotte:  I would find the instructions and put it back to real talking.

Matt:  Wait, what?  So if the lever is on this side, what is Buzz doing?

Charlotte:  Talking Spanish.

Matt:  And if I change it to that side?

Charlotte:  Talking real language.

D'oh!

QOTD: Only in Massachusetts?

Another "Overheard in the Bathroom" moment:

Charlotte:  This is Massachusetts.  You have to watch out for bicycles.

QOTD: A week or so late.

Matt is a huge football fan - specifically, a Patriots fan. Large amounts of my family are Christian and/or Denver fans, so, Tim Tebow fans.  Matt and I were talking a lot about Tim Tebow last week, and at bedtime, Charlotte surprised me by saying, kind of hilariously dismissively,

"Tim Tebow, Spit-tee-bow."

Because "spit" is a silly, dirty, slightly naughty word to her.  She was clearly pleased at her insult, and I totally cracked up.  She now repeats it when she is fishing for a laugh, and I pretty much always indulge her.  Heh.

Monday, January 23, 2012

I guess "The Negotiating Fours" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Charlotte is hardcore into the bargaining stage of childhood.  Everything is a negotiation or a deal or a swap.  And she has a memory like an elephant.  Here's an example of life with a four year old.

One Monday you are eating dinner with your four year old, when said four year old suddenly gets a yearning for peanuts.  "Mom, can I have some peanuts?" she may ask.  "Sure," you reply, "Once you have finished what you have on your plate, if you are still hungry, you can have some peanuts."  After some time has passed, and food starts to get pushed around the plate instead of eaten, your four year old might repeat her request.  "Now can I have peanuts?" she asks, hoping that maybe you'll just forget what you said before and absently put more food on her plate.  "Not yet," you reply, patiently.  "I can see that you aren't really eating anymore, let me set a timer for 7 more minutes."  You calmly re-iterate the terms of the negotiation - 7 minutes, all the cucumber, 3 more pieces of kielbasa, and THEN the peanut payload will be delivered.  7 minutes later the timer dings and the cucumber is gone but the kielbasa has just been picked into tiny pieces.  Adorable four year old moppet deteriorates into crying, heartbroken child.  You, Mom, calmly remind the child that the peanuts are not going anywhere, and peanuts are promised on the morrow.

Stage 2: room cleaning.  More deals commence.  Child wants help cleaning, parents insist that child cleans their own mess.  It is really only two jobs, a huge pile of stuffed animals and 8 million pieces of Playmobil playset.  Even though it is a jillion cutely sculpted plastic pieces, it is not that hard to clean up.  They all go in a giant drawer.  It would take one adult with medium sized hands approximately 45 seconds to clean up the Playmobil mess, and another 60 seconds to put the stuffed animals away in their bins.  Child manages to drag out process over 20 minutes, and eventually the ultimatum comes out again, "Put these things away in 5 minutes, or you will not play with them tomorrow.  I am setting the timer."  Five minutes passes, of course the toys are not picked up, and the announcement is made that the four year old will not be allowed to play with the playset the next day.

As a parent, you now have two VITAL pieces of information to remember on Tuesday:
a. Peanuts were promised, peanuts must be served.
b. Playmobil is prohibited as a consequence.

If your day and life is anything like mine, you will wake up tired and too late on Tuesday and rush your way through the day.  Tuesday night, as you are tucking your four year old into bed, they will burst into tears and announce, "You promised that I could have peanuts today and you never gave me peanuts!"  You apologize profusely, and your way-too-canny child will then throw in your face, "Well, you said I couldn't play with Playmobil but you forgot and I DID play with Playmobil." 

And that is what it is like to parent a four year old.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Overheard in the bathroom....

"You're a dirty warthog!....I'm an underground fairy...then, a warthog puffed out of the earth!"

Some interesting story telling going on in there while she procrastinates going in to her room for rest time.

"She tried to get out, but her legs were crossed!  It was too small, so she uncrossed her legs..."

Thursday, January 12, 2012

QOTD: Master of the Segue

Mama:  Charlotte, do you want some hot chocolate?

Charlotte:  Yes!  Speaking of hot chocolate, how about we watch The Polar Express?

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Quick OT/PT notes for myself

* We've made progress in the large motor/strength arena, but...

* Major regression in toe-walking. Back up to 75% toe walking, even just around the house.

* Influx of art supplies at Christmas has improved pencil grip, and length of time spent drawinig, but...

* Regression in representational art & shape drawing. Back to scribbling, less about control and more about color on paper.

* Really worried we're going to have to go back to weekly PT appts, and foot/ankle taping.  Still paying off deductible from last year's appointments.  :(  Gotta do what you gotta do, though.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

"I've wanted one of these my whole life!"

 Charlotte's catchphrase this Christmas was, "I've wanted one of these my whole life!" followed closely by "This is the best [whatever] of my whole life!"  Those are both kind of from Polar Express - at one point The Boy pulls the train's whistle and say, "I've wanted to do that my whole life!" and at another point Billy says, "I've wanted one of these my whole life!"  Charlotte clearly understood the concept, and re-iterated it frequently, and to the amusement of all her adult relatives.

Things that Charlotte (apparently) wanted her whole life:
Lite Sprites
a tea set
a tea shirt with a penguin on it
a tricycle
a coloring book
a Squinkies dispenser

This was the year that Charlotte got wowed by toys, bikes, and all the STUFF about Christmas.  She wasn't outright mercenary, but she totally understood the present side of Christmas for the first time ever.  And since she wasn't bratty about it, it was actually pretty fun to indulge her, and just watch her lose her tiny mind over all the toys she got.  The big present, in every way, was the tricycle from Santa.  It was a Big Deal for her mom and dad, and it's awesome how much she loves it.  Charlotte is great at riding it, and I took a bunch of videos I'll have to upload.  It's been a long road to get to bike riding, and I'm so proud & psyched that she can do it.  At physical therapy a year ago we really realized just how behind she was on some of the big physical stuff, and riding a trike was so hard for her that she couldn't even go 20 feet without stopping.  Fast forward to this week, and Charlotte is pedaling all around the apartment complex.  It's terrific.  Part of it is the tricycle design, part of it is her age, and part of it is the hard work we've all been doing with her big muscle needs in mind. 

Watching my kid ride her tricycle around and around, all I can think is, "I've wanted this my whole life."