“Laelia can’t watch TV,” Charley says.

“But I have her turned around and faced away from it!” I says.

“But she can hear it,” he says.

“I have it muted with Closed Captions,” I says.

“I think she’ll find a way to watch it anyway,” he says.

“I don’t think so,” I says.

…

The will of the Laelia shall not be denied! :) Cognitively she has become more aware of her own wants and desires. Now she wants crackers for dinner every night. She will push plates away in disgust and beg for dessert. She wants to play that Wallace and Gromit game all the time, and lets us know that it’s time for “DOGGY (and) GUY!” Anytime I’m anywhere near the computer I get, “Doggy guy? Doggy guy! Doggy guy!” Her sweet “please” has even become a demand. She’s my little willful one! She’s also learned to chant “READ BOOK!” before bed, but only when “NO NIGHT NIGHT!” isn’t working. And that pout! Wow! Many a daddy have fallen under it’s power.

Okay maybe I’m naive enough a parent to still think it’s all cute. (Oh it’s so cute.) But telling her “no” has become a constant. I try, “No thank you.” And I’ve even tried saying, “I know you want this, but we have to have this instead,” trying to focus on the positive or distract her with something else. But even when it seems fruitless, as it stands I’m still bigger than her. So ha!

But hearing all the “no”s have taught Lali a most useful word. Well, “most useful” until you actually do in fact want something and are incapable of voicing that want because of your amazing new-found word!

Observe:

Lali had just finished a day at school followed by a short afternoon with Lauren. When I finally got off work and up to the front door I was greeted by two grinning faces, then one of those faces (the Laelia one) says, “Hi MA-MA!” It was so precious! First time I’ve ever heard it! And Laelia said “Mama!” and “Mama please!” and “Mama Mama Mama!” all the way home!

But that’s not her only trick as you’ll see in the video.

(the numbering is in ASL)

Quote of the day from the baby: “I’m doggy!”

When you’re two years old, mascara and two socks equals a Halloween costume.

Tonight we drove around the trick or treaters.

Laelia loved to drive in her car! Click on this picture for the video.

But then little driver baby didn’t want to get out of her car. Click on the lower picture for the video of mommy trying unsuccessfully to remove baby from the car.

When we got home Laelia decided she wasn’t a doggy anymore, but instead was a monster!

Happy Halloween!

Laelia Picks Her Nose!!!

We’d like to thank all the sitters and school staff and family members and friends who have helped Laelia get to this point. *sniff* I mean it’s hard work to pick your nose! First you have to supinate your arm(turn so your palm faces upwards) which has to be done by propping your arm against something if you’re missing the muscles to supinate. Then stretch out your fingers and lastly bend your head down so your nose can reach those fingers! Whew. It’s a hard process! And she couldn’t have done it without you. (*music rising*) So thanks to all of you! Those of you who have stretched and encouraged and always believed, even though she never touched her face, that one day, yes one day, she would finally pick her nose…!

This pickin’ is for you! :) 

*applause*

Laelia and I went to the zoo yesterday and again this afternoon while Daddy had to work late. It was a lot of fun to see all the animals she recognized. And if you’re curious how many different kinds of animals are at the San Diego zoo, the answer, I discovered, is three: Birds, Doggies and Ooh Ooh Aww Awws.

Birds were everywhere and included flamingos, ducks, peacocks, fish, leaves off trees, lizards, small children, the sky lift and restaurant awnings. Monkeys were called ”Ooh Ooh Aww Awws.” And we also saw a vast array of doggies, ranging from the dirty doggies (pigs), the big doggies (elephants), the doggies we got to pet (goats), the little doggy (bunny), the big, white sleeping doggies (polar bears), the doggies that played in the water (hippos), etc, etc. Any time I corrected her, she ignored me, leaned over, looked right at the animals and said, “Woof woof woof woof!!” It was kinda cute, and VERY stubborn.

One time (yesterday) we accidentally brought our stroller into the petting area so the nice zoo keeper had to turn us right around. But when he saw me carry in Laelia in her casts, and realized why I wasn’t putting her down so she could run around, he quickly felt unnecessarily guilty. He told me in a quiet voice that he was sorry about the stroller and that he understood a bit of what we were going through since his wife was in a wheelchair. [As a short aside, it is very common in my experience for someone to find out that Laelia is disabled and then say, "Oh yeah I know exactly what you're going through! My uncle's brother's cousin's best friend's nephew has (fill in condition that has NOTHING to do with arthrogryposis and usually involves some sort of mental condition)." At least in this case it was his wife, not some distant relation, and he really did feel a camaraderie with us.]

Then the zoo keeper (nicest guy in the world) got out a bunny from the back area and let only Laelia pet it. When the other children started to gather around, he put the bunny away because the bunny “was shy.”

Doggy!!! (No, dear, that’s a bunny.) Woof woof woof woof!

Despite enjoying the special treatment, I will probably cover up her casts next time we go to the zoo. I got too many negative comments about Laelia’s “broken legs” by other parents. Not negatively directed towards me, but said amongst themselves in a disapproving tone, or explained to their curious children in the same disapproving tone. Sometimes said with the obvious intention of me overhearing! One time I realized what was said a little late and even though they were heading in the opposite direction from us, and we were more than ten feet away, I called back, “She had surgery! She didn’t break anything!” Yeah embarrassing, but I felt it had to be said. Next time we go I’m definitely going to have to cover them with something.

But then there were plenty of nice people who were not judgemental at all. They mentioned something and I just explained that she had club feet that finally got some surgical attention (MUCH shorter answer than that she has arthrogryposis, etc.) and that was fine. Those nice people just said she was cute, or wished us a quick recovery, or continued to wonder aloud why my daughter was barking at the giraffes.

It was fun to see how much Laelia enjoyed the zoo now that she’s older. She was very wide-eyed for all the animals she could see.

And not so wide-eyed when the animals were hiding.

Face plant!

Oh and Laelia now says, “Bye bye zoo!” :)  And if you ask her what sound a donkey makes she says, “Aww Eee!” (Instead of Eee Aww.)

Very cool phone, Bolt.  No my husband can’t have one.

My daughter, the smartest baby in the world, now eats with a spoon! I’m thinking it’s not too early to enroll her in genius classes at the local kindergarten.

Super baby Flies Through the Air!

Laelia says her name!

Laelia says her age! (This was closer to her birthday.)

Laelia steals my camera on Laelia Day. (I didn’t realize it was set to record at the time so it goes on for a while.)

In conclusion, my baby is the cutest!

Laelia LOVES doggies so we thought we’d try letting her play with a virtual one.

Daddy is helping her move him.

Laelia loves her new game!

Laelia falls asleep while playing with the video game doggie.

Now for the cutest video:

SO CUTE!!!