Basketball not Ball Ball

Squeaker and I have both been sick this week. She seems to be over her cold. The Daddy person is still working on getting rid of it. We went to our first basketball game of the season today. One of the Daddy person's colleges beat another of his colleges. I thought of course of going to 'ball ball' games with her last winter. Then she kept staring at the jumbo-tron, pointed at lot and periodically said 'ball ball'. Now from our seats in the rafters, she asks me, "What that blue thing?". Since one of these schools has blue as a color, there were lots of blue things, "That's the out of bounds line. No. Scoreboard? No. The mascot! Yes". She liked sitting in her seat and spent most of the first half eating the provisions I had brought along. We spent halftime wandering the arena together watching the 'bimp'. She sat peacefully on my lap during the second half. So peacefully that I realized she had fallen asleep. She slept until the final minute, despite a very noisy crowd.

In blog posts long ago I made the joke that Squeaker would sign please when she wanted a book read to her, because it seemed like she was memorizing them. Brite wanted me to mention that the last phase of reading Squeaker a book is that she sits on the floor and reviews each page, doing her best to retell the story.

Story of the Week
Brite: Squeaker are you awake?
Squeaker: Yes. (softly and curled up on her pillow) There was a 'pider on my pink blanket.
B: There was a what?
S: A 'PIDER was on my pink blanket over there.
B: What did you do?
S: My pulled my legs up, up, up.
B: How did you feel about there being a spider in your bed?
S: My pulled my legs up.
The next day (after Squeaker's linens had been laundered), Squeaker got a wooden spider from one of her puzzles and hid it under her bed.
S: (giggling) There is a 'pider under my bed. Find it Brite!

That's all for this week. I didn't take any pictures, so I don't have any new ones to post this evening. I'll get some good ones this week.

Better Bedtime

Sorry for the late post. The Daddy person went to bed early last night and forgot to blog first. That said, it has been a quiet week for Squeaker. The bedtime troll apparently got sold off with the rest of the Halloween costumes. Bedtime is still a little drawn out but is far less acrimonious, mainly because Squeaker has changed tactics. When I put her to be last night, we had the usual one more hug and one more kiss. As I headed for the door, she launched herself from the bed, not as a monster but to get one more sweet hug. The daddy person finds it very hard maintain a maximum of three goodnight hugs under such circumstances. Have a good week.

Scary Creatures and Halloween

Squeaker had fun at Halloween. She's busy introducing herself to a terrified kitten who shortly thereafter swore off catnip. She also made the rounds hunting candy with a couple of dragons. In the interest of full disclosure, the spooky season has brought out Squeaker's inner demon.

Bedtime has become a bit trying recently. Aunt Brite and the Daddy person have allowed requests for extra goodnight kisses and hugs to prolong the bedtime routine. Squeaker has become ever more demanding in the pursuit of a few more minutes of bedtime. This week we drew a line in the sand.

I spent some time this afternoon searching the internet for all manner of female imps and demons from ancient mythology but I was unsuccessful in finding one that accurately depicted the bedtime monster. The best representation I can find is from the penultimate scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Specifically, I am thinking of that beautiful apparition who smiles sweetly before turning into a shrieking zombie that helps consumes the bad guys in holy fire.

When I put Squeaker in bed last night, I succumbed to a couple of reasonable requests for kisses, and then made it plain that I was leaving. She launched from her bed to the middle of a room, flexed like bodybuilder in the throws 'roid rage, and screamed for 'one more kiss'. I put her back in bed, got her calmed down and said goodnight. Whereupon the scene repeated itself and I left the demon shrieking in her bedroom. Shortly thereafter she went to sleep. Squeaker either doesn't remember the demon or doesn't hold a grudge. She woke up this morning all sweet and nice.

Having been away most of this week teaching, Brite wanted me to point point out, without a trace of bitterness, that the demon has been around all week and didn't just arrive with Halloween. Also, in the interest of not leaving our readers thunderstruck by the horror of this revelation, Aunt Brite has suggested that I finish with a few more pictures of Squeaker and her friends.

Crow Tastes Really Good With Salt

Last week I spent a little bit of time talking about Squeaker's sleeping habits. In particular I mentioned that "Inexplicably it still doesn't occur to her that with the sides down, there really isn't anything keeping her in bed." I wrote that on Sunday night. Well... No, no, let me start at the beginning.

We lowered the side on the crib at my parent's house, but she still had somewhat of a barrier between her and the outside world. The next time she slept in her bed was Tuesday afternoon. We got back a home a couple of hours after nap time. The late start did not dissuade her from chatting with her friends. She finally fell asleep after 5 pm. Since she needed to have dinner and some awake time before she went to bed at 8, Uncle Mack and I went up to get her out of bed. She was sound asleep. Waking her up is an unusual experience. To say that we almost always let her wake up on her own would give you the impression that occasionally we wake her up.I don't recall the last time I woke her up, so I was surprised when Uncle Mack and I stomped into the room and she didn't wake up. We talked to her. Not a muscle twitched. Uncle Mack and I realized together that something was amiss. We also thought it was a little funny that she was scrunched up on the left side of the bed. Her head was resting on Hopa and her feet were on the rail. The bed is maybe two and a half feet wide. Squeaker is every bit of three feet tall, so it wasn't a very comfortable position. I thought about getting the camera at that point, just because it was such a funny position. I decided that even bounced off the ceiling a flash going off in your eyes would be a rough way to get up. I did get the camera upstairs before she got out of bed, but first we called Aunt Brite. I yelled downstairs (which also didn't wake Squeaker up) and told her she had to come upstairs too. When Brite came into the room, I asked how many books she had let Squeaker take to bed. The answer was three. That would be the pile on the left. Squeaker apparently got bored with those three books, because we found her with those three on the left and that pile on the right too. We don't know if she brought them all at once or piecemeal, but Squeaker carried all those books with her into her bed. If you look back a the first picture, you can see that she was actually sleeping on a couple of them. She actually hasn't gotten out of bed since then, or at least she's figure out not to make is so obvious. We've started cataloging the books that go into bed with her to make sure that she isn't working a bait and switch on us.

We enjoyed our visit to the zoo on Monday. I took a few pictures, but most of them framed a wild animal between my parents and Squeaker's head. Artsy, but not that interesting. She did make friends with this bronze panda while we were there. We saw elephants, seals, a cheetah, zebras (penned next to the cheetah, which is just wrong), small and large hippos, pandas, and a very bad orangutang. I will let Squeaker tell her about her.

Story of the Week

S: 'Rangutang up on wire.
D: What did the Orangutang do when it was on the wire.
S: 'Rangutang almost pee peed on Granddaddy.

Tour de Grandparents

Squeaker and I have been riding the grandparents circuit this week. Rain kept us indoors for much of the first leg of the trip, but things cleared up nicely for the weekend. Squeaker and her Aunt are pictured here next to a memorial for her mother. It was dedicated this morning by Grammy and Granddad's church. Squeaker carefully smelled all the flowers.

While we have been traveling, the Daddy person has had some trouble getting naps to happen exactly at nap time. The one day I actually got her down on time she sat in her bed and chatted away for three hours. Inexplicably it still doesn't occur to her that with the sides down, there really isn't anything keeping her in bed. Most of the rest of the trip her naps have been both later and shorter than usual. This pattern has given me an extra opportunity to observe her when she tired.
I have come to the conclusion that Squeaker is pretty funny when she's punch drunk. While I was putting her to bed tonight (40 minute nap in the car, half of which was in my parents driveway) Squeaker started playing Brite's rhyming game, somewhat with me but mostly with herself. She got the easy ones like "Daddy waddy" I got "fireplace". Go ahead rhyme "fireplace". When she's tired now, she gets really chatty, chatty enough that I have a hard time keeping a straight face during bedtime. We went to the playground this afternoon. This week's sentence of the week is a single word. Between the last two pictures, she said 'backwards'. We are headed to the Zoo tomorrow. If I get some good pictures, I will post them when we get home. Have a good week.

More Story Time with Squeaker

Stories of the Week

This week I think I am going to let Squeaker speak for herself, so I have two stories of the week for you.

Squeaker believes in having a personal relationship with her Librarian, a nice man named Ron. He spoke to Squeaker and Brite the first time they went to the library and is almost always there when they visit.

On the way to the library Squeaker says, "We go li-brary today."
Brite: "Yes Squeaker."
S: "We take back old books get new books."
B: "We'll be there in a little bit."
S: "See Ron at library Brite?"
B: "Maybe. I don't know if he's working today."
S: "Ron. He's good man. Squeaker's friend."
Brite giggles: "Ron seems like a good man."
S: "Umm. Yeah. He takes care my old books, when I get new ones."
Brite chuckles at the thought of the Squeaker-centric universe. Sadly for all involved, Ron was off that day.

Squeaker has been learning the ABC song. She sang the parts she new at dinner with Brite, the Daddy person, and Uncle Mack. The Daddy person corrected a couple of her mistakes. Brite looked at Squeaker and said: "Tell Daddy how old you are Squeaker". Squeaker's answer was "I am two." Brite glared at the Daddy person and said, "Why don't Daddy and Uncle Mack sing you the ABC song?" After some joking they seemed to agree. However, only the Daddy person was 'singing', and he did so deliberately off key and without rhythm. At about 'H', Squeaker looks at the silent Uncle Mack, and says, "Uh Oh, Uncle Mack forgot it". Much laughter ensued at Uncle Mack's expense.

That's all for this week.

PS - For the record, squeaker has kept renaming her cadre of friends, formerly know as Froggie, Ducky and Hopa. I will try and keep you informed of the changes, but for the moment I have lost track of who's name is what.

The Obstacle Course and Big Girl Bed

On Thursday Brite, went upstairs to get Squeaker after she had woken up from her nap. See picture number 1. Do you notice anything out of the ordinary? For several days we have found Hopa, Kamile, Baby James, formerly known as Jacob (sorry little guy) originally known as Froggie, blankie, and all her books on the floor. We didn't know if she was throwing them out so could sleep or if she was getting bored. Whatever the reason, they were on floor when Brite came in, with Squeaker asleep on top of them.
Brite managed to remain composed so she decided to take the Socratic approach with Squeaker.

Brite: What happened Squeaker?
Squeaker: I threw baby James out of bed.
B: Then what happened?
S: I threw Hopa and Kamile out.
B: What happened after that?
S: I threw blankies out of bed.
B: What did you do next?
S: I threw ALLLL my books out.
B: And then?
S: Go to sleep. (This is not the answer Brite is expecting.)
B: Where did you go to sleep?
S: On Hopa. (Brite loses her composure).
B: Were you in bed? (speaking slowly and clearly)

Squeaker looks around for the first time.

S: Umm. No. On floor.
B: Did you climb out of your bed?
S: Umm. Yeah.
B: Did you hurt yourself? Are you OK?
S: Got boo boo on my elbow, Brite.
B: Honey were you sad? Were you crying?
S: My say Brite. (with a smile)

After that the Daddy person was told what happened. He beamed for a while and it was decided that the crib needed to become a big girl bed. Squeaker enjoyed a reading to Hopa while the Daddy person took the side off her crib and replaced it with side rails. Since then she's been adapting to sleeping in her bed. In other news, the sandbox continues to be a big hit.