Baby Talk - February

February may be a short month, but there was no shortage of hilarity here at our house. Especially as Shaelyn starts talking more and more. She never ceases to amaze me with the stuff she comes up with. Toddlers think the funniest things.

* Michael and I usually call each other "babe" instead of using first names. Shaelyn has obviously picked up on this. Tonight at the dinner table, she handed her cup to Michael to get a refill on lemonade and said "Here you go, babe!"

* The mobile over the crib has animals hanging from it - some psychadelic looking animals. One is a cow, one is a jackrabbit, and one is a donkey. Shaelyn calls them the "cowboys" and often requests for me to "turn on cowboys." When she walks in the room, she says, "Hey there cowboys!"


* While my mom was here, she learned of Shaelyn's love to make huge messes in (I mean around) the sink. My mom told her she was not allowed to make a mess, or the water would get turned off and she would lose her cup she was playing in the water with. Shaelyn decided to test this theory. She would fill up the cup with water, hold it precariously over the counter where she was not allowed to dump it. Then the following conversation would take place:
Shaelyn: "Mess?"
Grammy: "No mess."
Shaelyn: "Drink!"
Then she'd drink the water like that's what she planned to do all along, but secretly hoping that my mom would say "sure, make a mess." This conversation would happen at least 10 times every time Shaelyn would go to the sink to play. I could hear it from the green chair in the nursery while I'd be nursing or rocking Rachelle.

* Shaelyn has a new phrase she picked up from Michael: "Oh my goodness!" She uses it whenever she thinks she looks pretty in something (so it gets used an awful lot).

* Shaelyn loves to sing her own songs. Oftentime I have no idea what she's actually singing, but occasionally I'll be able to understand some of her lyrics. Her favorite all-Shaelyn creation to sing is one I can understand. And I love singing it too:
"Turn around. Round, round. Round, round, round, round, round."
Repeat over and over again.


* At the dinner table tonight:
Shaelyn: "Mommy 5?"
I give her a high 5.
Shaelyn: "Daddy 5?"
Daddy gives her a high 5.
Shaelyn: "Shay-nin 5?"
She then claps her hands together as she gives herself a high 5.

* While eating breakfast this morning, Shaelyn stretched her arms high above her head and said, "I tall az-uh kite!" That had to come from something - Seasame Street or something. No way does that girl think that abstractly. Not yet anyway. I laughed hard because it was just so random!


* Shaelyn is either very concerned that Maggie is not getting enough to eat, or she is setting a diabolical trap for the cat that I'm not aware of yet. My vote is on option 2. Shaelyn found some birthday confetti among my craft supplies and asked if she could play with it. Even though I knew it could only result in a mess, I said yes. She then sprinkled the confetti all over the floor, all the while saying "Here Maggie! Come eat Maggie!" (Don't worry - cats aren't that stupid.)

Of course, I didn't clean up the confetti right away (confession - I still haven't cleaned it up). A few days later I was nursing Rachelle in the girls' room, and Shaelyn walks in with a handful of stuff and starts sprinkling it all over the floor, very methodically. From where I was sitting, it looked like the confetti, and I laughed to myself that Shaelyn was transferring the "confetti cat food" from one room to the other. Probably thinking she'd have more success in another location. While Shaelyn was doing this, I was leaving a message for Michael on his work voicemail. This is what my message sounded like:
Me: "Shaelyn is moving the confetti into her room to trick Maggie into eating it again."
The sound of glass clinking coming from my room.
Me (thinking): "What is glass in there? What is she messing with?"
I suddenly realize that Maggie's food and water dishes are up in our bathroom.
Me: "I think Shaelyn is sprinkling cat food on the floor in her room."
Shaelyn walks in with a new handful of "stuff" to sprinkle on the floor for the cat. I pay close attention and notice it is cat food.
Shaelyn: "Maggie! Come eat Maggie! Come here Maggie!"
Me: "Shaelyn is setting another trap for Maggie."
The sound of something crunching.
Me: "Did you just eat cat food?!?"
Shaelyn: "Yeah."
Me: "Does it taste good?"
Shaelyn: crunch "No. Gross!"
Me: (because I'm still talking on Michael's voicemail) "Did you get all that?"

* This month everything is scary. Shaelyn will tell me all the things that are currently "scary" to her. Some are legitimately startling at least, but most are comically not scary.
"Mommy, train uh scare-wee!"
"Mommy, seer-wee-uhl (cereal) uh scare-wee!"
"Mommy, tower uh scare-wee!"
You get the idea...



Cars related:
* As mentioned before, Shaelyn thinks the combine in the movie is a dragon. She is not scared of the dragon, but she insists all of us are. She spent the first half of this month telling me whenever she could:
"Mommy uh scared uh-dee dragon!"
"Daddy uh scared uh-dee dragon!"
"Sister uh scared uh-dee dragon!"
"Grammy uh scared uh-dee dragon!"
Me: "Is Shaelyn scared of the dragon?"
Shaelyn: "NO! Shay-nin no scared uh-dee dragon!"


* One of the special features on the Cars DVD is a short film called "Mater and the Ghostlight." I made the mistake of showing it to Shaelyn, and since it's only 7 minutes long, it resulted in watching it approximately 500 times! She found a flashlight in a drawer and proceeded to chase Michael and I around the house with it, declaring it to be the ghostlight. Now she will hide it behind her back, run up to you, point it at your tummy, and say, "Oh no! Dee Ghostwight!" We always make the appropriate scared response.


* Shaelyn's favorite line to quote: "I uh gas. Wats uh gas!" (I have gas. Lots of gas! Flo says it.)



Rachelle related:

* Shaelyn calls Rachelle "sister" most of the time. That or "baby." She is very obssessed with sister and wants make sure she is happy at all times. She hates it when she sleeps too long, because she wants to hold her, give her hugs and kisses, and otherwise bother her. She knows that if Rachelle is crying, it means she will get picked up and Shaelyn can then love on her. So Shaelyn is constantly announcing that "baby cwying," even when she's not. And sometimes she creates situations to make sister wake up, so the announcement will be true. Like pull her blanket off her when she's sleeping. Or stop the swing from swinging. Or run into my room where she's sleeping and start messing with her face. Anything to get some sister time.

* Shaelyn loves to comfort Rachelle. This usually involves trying to shove a paci in her mouth. But she has heard me say "It's OK" enough to mimic it. So now she pouts her lips out, pats sister on the head, and says in a very deep voice (her version of "baby talk"): "Ehs OK, wa-chell, ehs OK!"

* Rachelle was crying in the swing today and Shaelyn ran up to her, said "Ehs OK" and lifted her shirt up. She has definitely seen me do that enough to know that it stops a baby from crying.

Madagascar related:
* As mentioned, this is her new favorite movie and she now requests to watch it on a daily basis. She usually says "watch zebra," but she does sometimes call it Madagascar, which is way too cute. Her favorite part, of course, is when the lemurs are singing "I Like to Move It." Shaelyn loves to tell us who likes to move it:
"Mommy like to move it, move it."
"Daddy like to move it, move it."
"Shay-nin like to move it, move it."
"Giraffe like to move it, move it."
"Lion like to move it, move it."
"Zebra like to move it, move it."
"Hippopotamus like to move it, move it."
"Penguins like to move it, move it."


* She loves to hold her hands above her head with her fingers stretched out like claws and say "Ow-ex dee wy-un!" (Alex, the lion!) The she roars a pretty good roar.

* Today she pretend-drank from a cup, then pretend-spit it out all over, making a big noise. Michael and I were confused until she said, "Ahz see wah-duh!" (That's seawater!) It's what Alex the lion does when he takes a drink that Marty the zebra makes for him.


* While running around the house, Shaelyn announced "I too quick!" I knew it had to be something from Madagascar, but I couldn't remember anyone ever saying that. Michael watched the movie with her later and heard Alex the lion say "The cat's too quick!" It was a very obscure line that was hardly understandable. Boy that girl's observant! And she even used the line in the correct context. She now loves to tell us "I too quick!" all the time. Because she is!

* This is what happens when grown men get together:

And this is from a tag I got from my friend Jackie. It's my 6th picture in my 6th folder. That's Shaelyn at 2 months old. Looks a lot like Rachelle. And I guess she did still have her hair at 2 months. It all fell out shortly thereafter. So Rachelle still might lose her hair I guess.

And finally, for your viewing pleasure...

A dance Shaelyn made up and watched herself perform in the reflection in the oven:

Her new "sway" choreography that goes with any song. Here she is dancing to Toy Story: (and she does not like that movie by the way...)

And finally, Michael's favorite. A little one to mimic him out in the yard just like he did with his Daddy: