Yes Virginia, Squeaker is getting a Haircut

When Squeaker is old enough I will let her read this blog. I have no doubt that shortly thereafter she will post pictures of her father with one of his eyebrows shaved. Just for the record, she did her hair herself. She's had a fun week, thanks to the MLK holiday. She's been to two local Children's Museums this week.
My intention was to let her wander wherever she wanted in them, but the target age for both museums is a bit beyond her. My resolve to let her lead ended about the time she started climbing the dinosaur egg. All those big kids running around made me a little nervous, but she had a great time. We eventually found our way to the toddler's area. The other children were all close to her size, which might have been almost as much fun as the props.
She's hasn't had any really bad tantrums this week. We, the adults in Squeaker's life, have maintained a unified front and let the tantrums burn themselves out without giving her whatever sparked it. She's started to throw them many times this week, but she usually gives up quickly. Where I haven't had much luck is with bedtime. Through the holidays, I was able to work the "daddy magic" and put her down for bed easily. We read a couple of books. I put her down in bed. I rubbed her back a little bit. If I didn't say goodnight by the time she was ready to go to sleep, Squeaker would roll over and wave me away. Since I started teaching again this semester I have had no luck with bedtime. At least part of the problem is that I have been away more this semester and she's doesn't seem to like it. She won't let me read the books to her sitting on my lap. She wants to sit in bed while I read them to her. While this sounds like a good start to bedtime, she would usually end up bouncing up and down on the mattress after I had only read a few pages. After some tears and many attempts to say good night I would leave with her crying. Most nights I ended up going back into quiet her down, but the second trip would play out just like the first. Tonight we were running through the same script. I tried just holding her for a long time, no books, just us hanging out. She tugged on my beard some, compared our hands, then after a bit signaled me that it was time to go to bed. She went down without complaint and has been quiet ever since. That's about all I have to report. I did get a little video of her this morning. She's learning how to use her spork.

Where the 'nomen Come From...

Squeaker got to play in the snow for the first time this week. Fortunately her grandparents were here to enjoy it with her, because the daddy person had to buy groceries. I don't know that she's made the connection between snow and the 'nomen, but we were out on the town yesterday, and she certainly knows that the words are the same. 'no to the left 'no to the right, 'no on the cars driving past us in town.

Squeaker was completely unfazed by the snow. She looks in the second and third shots like her legs are in cement, but she spent much of the morning and afternoon trudging around happily. She would have been perfectly happy spending the whole day out there. It started sleeting during our second trip outside, so it seemed like a good time to go back inside.

Although she enjoyed the snow, this week was a little trying for her. I am teaching again and haven't been around as much as I was during the holidays. Squeaker had her first conniption this week while I was gone. The jury is still out as to the real cause, but her Aunt Brite wouldn't let her have her way and ... well you know the rest. Lightning bolts from her eyes, fire from her ears, shrieks from her mouth, and demonic smells from her diaper, all the usual symptoms. She even flung herself on the carpet and banged her head, obviating the need for Aunt Brite to come up with some kind of punishment.

As I said, we have our theories about the real cause of the conniption, namely that she might have been upset because her dad wasn't around, but it may also have been the first salvo of the terrible twos. I kind of hope the former was the cause. It might be hard on everyone else, but it works out Ok for me. I was going to blame Squeaker's temper on her mother, but too many people saw me react to bad calls when I was playing high school basketball so I thought better of it.

I realized today that hasn't even been a month since Christmas. If you look back at my posts from then, I was hovering over her most of the time, trying make sure that she didn't go crashing into something sharp. Now I worry more about her running into the wall. It amazes me how mobile she's become. Rather than being terrifying, it has made things easier when we are hanging around the house. We have the downstairs reasonably baby proof. I can listen to her play from across the room or around the corner, but when she gets quiet, I investigate. We've also been practicing eating with a baby spork. She's been working on lima beans mostly. Not the easiest thing to start her on, but she loves lima beans so it guarantees her effort.

Well that's all I have for now. The poll will up for a little while longer. If you read squeakerpants.com you can vote, even if you don't know the secret handshake.

Happy 4/3rd Birthday to Squeaker

In honor of this special day, here's some video of Squeaker at play with her 'nomen this morning. One thing you might notice is that she likes things to be a certain way. Watch what happens as she passes the open door. I worry about her love affair with the 'nomen. She is young and doesn't realize that spring is coming. I don't know how she's going to take it when the 'nomen melt.

This week has been all about talking. She's started forming sentences, albeit nothing longer than "bye da da" yet, but she's working on it. My favorite story of the week came last sunday. We were eating and my mother said something about sheep. Squeaker looked at her Aunt Brite and said 'ba'. Aunt Brite was upset by this because she's gotten used to being called 'aa ba'. I realized what was going on, Squeaker has been paying attention when we read to her and she knows that sheep say 'ba'.

If you look to the left of the video, you will find a poll. I suspect I know how it will turn out, but vote anyway and let me know what you think. Have a good week.

Pancakes with Squeaker

As you will see, or maybe have already seen, Squeaker and I had pancakes for breakfast. I made coffee the night before and placed the griddle on the counter so I wouldn't forget.

We believe that Squeaker is growing again. She has been sleeping a lot. What in Squeaker's world is a lot of sleep? Lets put it this way. Can you really call it a day if you were only awake seven hours? She hasn't been sleeping that long everyday, which required not getting up until half past ten and taking a nap, but there have been some monumental naps most days since we returned home from our travels.

Squeaker is really learning to talk. Sometimes we can prompt her into saying new words, for example by pointing to her "noman". Sometimes she surprises us with a word, such as when she said "pleez" along with the sign, to emphasize that she really wanted me to read her one of her books. She's learning lots of new words, such as "fut ball", which her grandmother taught her (the spaces are to indicate that she always leaves a long pause between the syllables). She was asking for football balloons by name in the grocery store yesterday, just in case there is any question that she has the oblong spheroid in mind when she says the word. One way or another Squeaker's dad is going to have to be careful about how he refers other drivers now when she's in the the car. Let's just say she got out of the car one day this week practicing the long 's' sound.

On the off chance that today is a short nap I had best get cleaned up while she's sleeping. Have a good week everyone.

Happy New Year!

Ok, I realize that I am recycling my Christmas picture, but it was pointed out to me that the other version of this image didn't print very well. This one will. For those of you interested in the technical details of why, the last image was sent sent from my phone which had only a smallish copy of the the picture on it.