Playing “Bear Cave”

2012-05-18T14:08:12Z

Summer is here!

2012-05-17T12:27:43Z

NOT THE SIGN IN SHEET!!

2012-05-11T16:28:30Z

This morning I took the girls with me to pick up my contacts. We walked through the main part of the office and headed toward the contact lens pick up desk. I moved Quinn to my left hip to sign myself in and Quinn lost it. I think even Nora was embarrassed. “Mommy, why didn’t you bring her paci?!”

Of course, my first thought was it was a Stranger Danger flare up, but that didn’t quite make sense since the lady working there hadn’t even glanced up at us. But then she did look at us, as I apologized for my baby’s wails. And guess what? I got my contacts in record time. Usually I have to sign in and wait a few minutes. But not with my little Secret Weapon in full on upset mode.

Walking back through the office as fast as we could, it clicked what happened. I carried her through a large building, bent over to sign a clipboard of paper, behind which was a lady waiting. IT WAS JUST LIKE BEING SIGNED IN AND DROPPED OFF AT CHURCH NURSERY!!!! Which is one of Quinny’s lowest of low points in her week.

So let me know if you need to borrow her and move through a line faster. =)

What Quinny Has Been Up to Lately

2012-05-10T14:17:45Z

She’s starting taking a few steps at time and clearly prefers seeing the world from a slightly higher altitude. So until she’s able to walk full time, she’s decided this is the next best thing. All around the house, all day long. We’ve long since lost track of how many times she’s looped around the house, but she’s gotta be aiming for a super high number…

“Whheeerre’s Quinny??”

2012-05-10T11:49:28Z

The Pianist

2012-05-09T12:33:13Z

She upgraded.

Toto, Shoes, and Dancing! And a Stranger Danger Update

2012-05-07T02:44:31Z

“Why is that boy crying?” “Is that her mommy?” “Is that a mean guy?” Questions are being asked around here. Most of them, I flatter myself, I can answer. But then sometimes I have to tell her I don’t know and she doesn’t believe me.
“What’s that guy’s name?” (indicating obscure background character)
“Um, I’m not sure. The movie doesn’t say.”
“What is his name, Mommy? Tell me.”

On a related note, I would appreciate any suggestions for how to define the word, “remember.”

Whenever we ask Nora what was her favorite part of the day, she immediately, before we are even done asking the question, says, “I liiiiiiiiked…..” and draws out the word ‘liked’ for as long as it takes her to think of something.

Nora has nominated herself as the Pacifier Retriever when Quinn is crying. It’s super helpful.

Nora hates it when characters have things stolen from them or are being chased. If someone is chasing another to steal something, she has to cover her eyes. I should probably add that this is most likely happening on television or in books.

Toto the stuffed dog has been her favorite toy for quite awhile now. For awhile, he went everywhere with us and still does make the occasional field trip. I was so afraid of losing him and dealing with the aftermath that my sister Amy found a backup online and bought it for us. Which is much more impressive than it sounds because this is a retired animal from the Ty company, so she had to get it from a toy collector. I’m not even kidding. It’s upstairs in my closet just in case. And I sleep a little easier at night because of it. (Also, Aunt Amy rules!)

However, Toto has been getting just a *touch* of competition from Baby Moses. After introducing her to the Prince of Egypt, Nora has found a renewed attachment to her baby doll. One of our favorite games is to stuff him in a wicker picnic basket and push him back and forth. One of us being Yocheved, his mommy, and the other, the Princess/Queen of Egypt. Yocheved sings a short lullabye and the Queen says, “Hmm, what is in this basket? Oh! It’s a baby!” Just in case you ever want to play and would like to know the script.

But Toto is still top dog. Pun cheesy and intended.

You know who else has taken a liking to Toto? One Quinn Abigail Teague. In fact, the other day she gave me mild heart palpitations when she realized there was a rare opportunity to make a break for the upstairs when the gate was down. She made it halfway up in about 5 seconds, dragging Toto along so she was only effectively using three of her limbs. I am 99% sure it was deliberate, premeditated Attempted Theft.

Quinn keeps making us think she’s going to walk any day now, but she hasn’t actually taken steps yet. She still crawls and as a result, often gets her heads dirty. She prefers to clean her hands by licking them. Which is the worst when she has been crawling outside and decides the only way to get that pesky dirt/dead leaf/dried worm is to lick it away. And if that doesn’t make you gag, you might be able to stand the fact that she also licks straight ash off after she sticks her hand in the (unlit) fireplace.

But she’s obviously looking forward to walking because then she gets to wear…shoes! She is obsessed with shoes. She has two little soft pairs that she tries to put on her feet whenever she comes across them. She can’t and grunts/whines in frustation with a pointed look at me until I help her get them on. She also tries to wear our shoes. If she can get her little feet in them, she is downright gleeful. Which makes it all the more disappointing when those tiny feet immediately pop right out.

And finally, I’m not sure, but I think, maybe, I have had a breakthrough in Stranger Danger observation. I thought she was over it but she had three pretty big outbursts recently. One was a little boy at a park who stared at her. She looked back at him, gave him a few seconds to look away, and lost it. I pushed her stroller away. But the kid seemed to realize his power and followed us, positioned himself right next to her, and gave her another long stare. When she cried again, he looked at me and happily announced, “She doesn’t like it when I look at her.”

And that kid, my friends, is a genius. I think she gets upset when she feels like someone is staring at her and waiting for a reaction. Which sometimes strangers did when they said hi and were waiting for her to wave or something. It was too much pressure and she caved under it.

This sort of explains her terror of people in full costume- like the Chick Fil A mascot- because they don’t even blink! It looks like they’re staring at her the whole time! Horrors!

And finally, one last little thing we’d like to remember: nearly constant, spontaneous dancing!

Breaking bread… with Remy.

2012-05-03T12:22:49Z

Quinny. Concentrating.

2012-05-01T13:30:30Z

Feeding time

2012-04-30T12:14:29Z

The Fair Skinned Italians