Tales of Li'l Foot » Toddlerville

Ummm…”Why?”

Lil Foots Mommy — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:18:35 +0000

So guess what Li’l Foot picked up in Hawaii? Any guesses? Give up? Why? No, not why are you giving up! Why? …is what she picked up! Or more appropriately, “whhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyy?”

I’m serious! I thought they go through the “why” stage when they’re 3 or something. She’s not even 21 months! This is just so wrong on so many levels! I’m just not ready to explain every little thing to her. I’m already pretty good at explaining things out, but I am not ready for the endless, “Why?”!

Me: Li’l Foot, put that down!

LF: Why?

Me: Because it’ll break!

LF: Why?

Me: Because it’s fragile!

LF: Why?

Me: BECAUSEISAIDSOARRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Huffff…huffffff…hufff!!!

In each instance this happens, about 5 more gray hairs sprout on my pointy little head for each “Why?” in the conversation! It’s taking a toll!!! I am thinking of answering her “Why?” with totally unrelated responses just because I can and because, really?…Will she know the difference at age 20 months?

So instead our conversation will have a fun twist, like this:

Me: Li’l Foot, put that down!

LF: Why?

Me: Because an animal called the welby roamed the earth 2 point 5 million years ago and is said to be extinct, but any any given moment it could regenerate itself and take over the earth by zapping humankind with it’s antennae.

LF: Why?

Me: Well, in the polar ice caps, there are hot spots and within these hot spots there are frozen milk duds and within those frozen milk duds are the DNA for the welby. The welby would eat the milk dud, but they didn’t actually digest when the welby ate them, kind of like a piece of corn in a human!

LF: Why?

Me: Go ask grandma, she’ll know!

See wasn’t that more fun? It’s going to be a long 2 years, isn’t it…sigh!!! Until then, wine (not whine) donations are accepted!!!

A man’s hot dogs are sacred…

Lil Foots Mommy — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:56:09 +0000

In the last few months or so Li’l Foot has discovered hse can open the refrigerator door. She knows where things are located in the refrigerator. She has a weird fascination with pulling out the jar of sardines from the door (note: I only have this in my refrigerator because it’s part of a Caesar Salad dressing I have made…about 3 years ago, so yeah they can probabaly get chucked). She knows the third drawer up contains her Polly-O string cheese. She has been known to open that drawer for herself and pull out the whole bag of them. She’s also been known to take one or more out and munch right on the plastic without asking for help to open them.

This past week, she’s discovered more things she can take out on her own. I opened the fruit drawer one morning this week so I could take a peach or plum to work as a snack only to find that TWO of the peaches in the drawer had small type bite marks in each one. And I’m not just a little row of broken peach skin, I”m talking, she took a BITE out of each one and put them both back in the drawer. A few days later LFD went to make hot dogs for dinner and when he took them out of the drawer he discovered this:

Yeah, so…LFD’s dogs were accosted by his own flesh and blood. He sure did cook them up though and he sure did give Li’l Foot that one right there on the end of the package. She was none the wiser, since I cut it up into pieces for her.

Gate keeper…

Lil Foots Mommy — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:20:49 +0000

This morning when I dropped Li’l Foot off at daycare we went straight to the room. Usually I stop in the kitchen and drop off Li’l Foot’s stock of all things edible. When I stop, she usually winds up hanging around outside the kitchen door and with the boredom she decides the potty (next door over) would be a good time waster and incessantly tries to convince me that she’s gotta go, when I know she does not have to! I figured I’d roll with it this morning and change up our routine so as to avoid the confrontation of potty time altogether. So into the toddler room we went. I dropped her bag off, grabbed her food that needed to be refrigerated and her waffle to cook for her breakfast and headed out the door, and she started fussing until she realized I was letting her come with me. She still whimpers when I leave daycare for real and was getting ready for me to leave when I wasn’t. We went to the kitchen, made her waffle and went back to the toddler room, without potty incident! (Which by the way, Li’l Foot did not go in her diaper once on Saturday. She wore the same diaper from Friday night until Sunday morning.)

When we returned to the toddler room I headed for the kids table to set her waffle and milk cup down. And once she entered the room, she just stood there at the entrance to the room right by the baby gate that spans the doorway. She wouldn’t move for anything. She stood there taking in the room, the staff, the other kids and surveying what I was doing but under no circumstances was she going to move away from the gate, because that would leave it unattended and I would have access to it and be able to escape. She was having none of that. She was totally playing the roll of gate keeper. That little smarty pants is totally on to my game in the morning. I hung around for a little while. I sat on the floor near the door and she toddled over and plopped down on my lap. But she’s so smart. She knows if I say anything like “Okay” or “I love You” I am about to give her a kiss and a hug and leave, so when I said these words this morning she started whimpering.

I know she’s just playing me. I know it FOR A FACT!!! I know that she whimpers when I leave and point 2 seconds later she’s fine. I know that before I’ve left I’ve given her the love she needs and that she’s just trying to make me feel bad. And okay, while I do feel bad for that point 2 seconds I know she’s absolutely 100 % fine and loves playing with the other kids and falling asleep at the lunch table after a long hard morning of play. (Hey, what do you think would happen if I fell asleep in my lunch at the lunch table here at work? And then fell over on the floor and got rug burn on my forehead like she did?) Heehee!!!

Infant-Town Graduate June 2008

Lil Foots Mommy — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:11:20 +0000

Friday, last week was LF’s last day in the infant room!!! I know, go get your tissues, blot your eyes, clear the lump from your throat and put your heart back in your chest. Oh, wait…was that just me that got all choked up about this? Oh, okay, sorry! So anyway, since Friday was her last day in the infant room, that can only mean one thing…

She’s in toddlerville now!!! I know, it’s crazy, trust me, I’ve thought about it all weekend long!!! And now you’ll think about it (all week) for about point 2 seconds!!!

About a month ago I ran into the director of the daycare and she… wait, back up…

About 2 & ½ months ago the director mentioned to LFD that she would move LF up to toddlerville beginning July 1^st. (Please note: daycare policy is Infant room from newborn to 18 months ~ LF is not 18 months (officially) until July 14^th.) I was fine with the July 1^st deadline. Sure it’s more money for an infant but I liked the staffer in the infant room (not that I don’t like the toddler room staffer, I do, very much). I also like the infant room because it was that much longer in a more quiet less-toddler-monster environment. But if I’m being honest, LF has spent the better part of her days in the toddler room anyway except for meal times and nap times anyway, so what’s the difference where she is at this point anyway.

She also likes to sit on the infants (I’m not kidding)!!!

So, now about a month ago I ran into the director of the daycare and she told me she would be moving LF to the toddlerville on June 1^st instead of July 1^st. She said she believed LF was well adjusted and ready for toddlerville. I agreed. And the minute I left my first thought was yes, LF is ready, I have no problem with that, but the director is just being sneaky about this. (continuing my thought) She knows that LF is ready, but I just know she ulterior motives. I just know that she’s got a newborn waiting in the wings to start daycare and she’s “making room”. I knew the minute she told me she would make the move sooner. Because really? It’s all about the almighty dollar, isn’t it? I have absolutely no problem with her moving LF up early, in fact I’m glad (I hated taking my shoes off for the past year and 2 months so that I could go in the infant room to drop LF and her stuff off). But, here’s my thing…I’m an easy going parent. I’ve never ruffled feathers there, I’ve never given them a reason to think I am anything but understanding. The fact that she didn’t just come out and say, “I would like to move LF up to toddlerville because a. I think she’s ready and b. we have a new infant coming in”, is really bothering me. That is all she had to do to gain my respect. I know it’s not a big deal and I’m probably making it out to be more of big deal than I should, but it’s annoying. Just talk to me like an adult and don’t try to be sneaky.

So this morning, my suspicion was confirmed. Sure enough, I walked in to drop LF off, got her settled in, turned to leave and when I was walking out the front door a mommy was walking in carrying her 6-week old little boy. See? I knew I was right!!!

Anyway, aside from daycare politics, I am all-in-all happy about the move. I think LF is independent enough to stand her ground in toddlerville. She can communicate with the other kids and the staff to tell them what she wants/likes/dislikes/etc. I just have to bring in a potty thing for her so that now they can help me get her trained. If you’ll remember we’ve been and continue to work on that. She tells us when she has to go sometimes. Now that I have daycare helping me this should help!!! Also, LFD witnessed something he was very proud of (and I have mixed feelings about) last week. They play a game every day when he picks her up. He would turn the corner into the toddler room and she would run and hide between the cribs. Following right after one of the other little boys would run and hide with her. This particular day LF did not like this very much so she stuck out her hand to his chest and told the little boy to “go away”!!! On one hand I’m all…”GO LF!!!” and in her defense, there are a couple of kids who are especially clingy to LF and won’t leave her alone and she should have her space. But I also think we need to teach her a polite way to handle the situation…but how do you reason with a 16-1/2 month old about how to be polite?!?!? That’s like an oxymoron!!! And another part of me says…HELLZ YEAH…you tell him LF!!! Because eventually we will be making her life miserable beating off the boys, so it’s okay that she starts young…then maybe we won’t have to…she’ll be able to do it all by herself!!!

I am so proud of you LF!!! Go get ‘em tiger!!!