Poor Abigail has caught a summer cold. For once I got her sick, and not the other way around. Between the two of us we went through a pile of Kleenex and had a pretty miserable day. I feel extra guilty because her 15-month checkup was yesterday (25 pounds, 31 inches, for those of you keeping score at home), and at the time she had no fever and no symptoms, so we went ahead with her scheduled shots; but then, just hours after we got home, her nose started running. Today she woke up with a fever, to which I’m sure the shots contributed. It’s hovered around 99-100 all day; I really hope it’s gone by tomorrow.
Normally we have a no-TV-for-babies rule in our house, but today, since we were both feeling so icky, I let her watch some classic Sesame Street on YouTube. We watched “Put Down the Duckie” at least half a dozen times, and when I finally closed the laptop she said “gwak, gwak” (“quack, quack”) and whined until I distracted her with a snack. Girlfriend definitely has my obsessive personality.
Lately Abigail has insisted on taking three small stuffed animals with her to bed each night: her trusty puppy, the Peter Rabbit doll (complete with blue waistcoat!) that her Aunt Meghan gave her on her birthday, and a soft white lamb my parents sent her for Easter. Abby calls these toys her “pup,” “hop,” and “baa,” respectively. Before bed she does roll call – “Pup? Baa? Hop?” – and if one of them is missing, she repeats its name (“Hop! Hop! Hop!”) until it reports for duty. Such a funny little girl.
What really cracks me up, though, is her conviction that the only reason people ever go to the bathroom is to brush their hair. She saw me blow-dry my hair once in our bathroom, and ever since that day, when she sees someone go in and shut the door, she brings a hand up to brush her (very little) hair earnestly. “That’s right,” I tell her, “Mama’s got to brush her hair.” As bathroom euphemisms go, I guess I prefer it to “I need to powder my nose.”
I love “Pup, Hop, & Baa,” and especially the roll call! Truly awesome. I really need to spend some time with Abby.
My niece has a tiger named Clete she got on the day she was born. She still likes to fall asleep rubbing Clete’s ear. If Clete’s ear isn’t handy, someone else (like Mama or Aunt Cat) must offer a substitute ear.
That is so adorable. I really loved seeing the photos of your niece on Facebook.
Abby has a tiger, too – well, technically, it’s Dan’s tiger; I bought it for him at FAO Schwarz in like 2001. (Daniel Striped Tiger, get it? “Tiger” was one of his many college nicknames.) Anyway, Abby has commandeered the tiger, whose name is technically Max; she calls it “gee” (hard “g”) or sometimes “grrr.” It’s as big as she is, though, so she can’t sleep with it.
Daniel Striped Tiger is really cool.
Calling the tiger “gee” makes me think of The Story of Little Babaji, in which tigers turn into ghee! Has she heard that story? (See: http://www.amazon.com/20th-Century-Childrens-Book-Treasury-Picture/dp/0679886478)
Nope – we’re not familiar with it! Poor tigers, though.
Madeline does the same thing with her animals and dolls. Unfortunately, there are about 17, so it takes a long time. It usually starts off with “Puppup. ‘Nother Puppup. Baby Chubbies. ‘Nother Baby Chubbies.” It progresses from there based on her mood, but typically includes everything she owns plus a few of Isabel’s things. Today she finally declared “too much!” and booted a rhinoceros and a dog out of the pile. It’s a good thing that child is in a twin bed now– soon she’ll be needing a king.