Meet Tati

Who is Tati? Well, Tati is what Tali calls herself. But it's also what she calls Jackson. She can actually say his name, but she chooses to call him Tati. I've tried and tried to get her to call him Jackson, but she simply wants to call him by her name. If you ask her "where's Mommy?" she'll say "mommy" and point to me. Same with Daddy and Tali (but she says "Tati"). If you ask her where's Jackson, she'll point to him but instead of repeating Jackson, she'll say "Tati."

She asks for "Tati" if he doesn't come into her room with me in the morning when she wakes up. She points to him and says "Tati" when she wants to pet him. And she'll say "Tati" when she's playing tug with him.

I can only assume that it's a sign of affection that she's calling him by her name but it is a bit strange. She'll grow out of it eventually. In the meantime, she might just give poor Jackson an identity crisis.

Bless You

This morning I was coughing while making breakfast (had a cold last week and the cough always takes forever to leave) and Tali looked at me and said "bless you" each time I coughed. It was very cute and made me smile. So, thought I'd share.

First Combined Words

Last night, Tali put two words together for the first time. Yes, she'll say please after she asks for something, but I don't really count that as it was something she was taught and not something she figured out on her own.

So, what was her first word combo? "Agua bye-bye." It was the end of Tali's bath and as the water was draining from the tub, she said it. Her words made complete sense in the context of the situation and she came up with them on her own.

First Day of Nursery School

Yup, that's right. Tali started nursery school today. I'm now the parent of a school-aged child. She'll go two days a week for about two hours. There are two teachers in the classroom and Dan and I met them at Parent's Night yesterday evening. This school has a great reputation for its academics as well as giving children a good Jewish foundation. I'm happy we're sending her there, even if it won't be for the whole four years. (Hopefully we'll buy a house and move at some point before she starts kindergarten!)

Tali's nursery school does a gradual separation process so the moms/nannys are in the room or school for about a month until the child is fully comfortable in the classroom. We sit in the back of the room and are there simply for support, if needed. We don't encourage or play with the kids. There are a total of seven kids in Tali's class (three girls, four boys) and today they were broken up into two groups. Tali came for the first hour with the other girls and one boy. The three other boys came for the second hour. It will be like this for a few classes before all seven kids are in one room together. So today I got to watch her and snap some pictures.

They started off with play time - didn't take any pictures as I didn't want to distract her. Tali went right to the Play-doh and put it in her mouth, of course. Once she realized it didn't taste good, she had a great time playing with it. She also played at their water table and had a blast. After playtime was over, there was circle time and the moms were invited to join and sing songs. Then there was snack (Tali ate everything) and it was time to go.

Tali's first day was very successful. No tears. She didn't cling to me. She only came to me once or twice to show me something. But, she went to my handbag about five times looking/asking for food even though she had a big breakfast. I think she's going to love nursery school. I've already picked out the girl who I believe is going to be her good friend. They're just alike - very outgoing.

At my handbag, looking/asking for food.

Snacktime - apples and graham crackers, yum!

Drinking (spilling) her water in a cubby.

Parrot

These days, Tali is a parrot. She repeats almost everything I say, whether I want her to or not. Since got back from vacation a week ago, she's learned at least three or four new words a day. It's impressive how many words she's accumulated and how she knows when to use them. Some of her favorite words are:

music (moo-see)
more
mama
toes
shoes
blanket (blah-tees)
puppies
no no no
light
help (hep)
mango (mamo)

Her vocabulary is quite large now, but these are the words I hear at least 20 times a day. This is such a fun age. We're having a good time together and Tali makes me laugh all the time. I wish I could just keep her at this age.

Vacation

It's been a while since I posted anything but that's because everyone went on vacation. H and I went to Italy (Amalfi Coast then Tuscany) and Tali and Jackson went to New York City. Everyone had a great time. Tali learned how to say "please" and Jackson learned how to guilt trip Savta and Saba into taking him out all the time. Above are some pictures from Tali's vacation. On her second day she went to lunch at Cafe Boulud and Savta snapped a few fantastic shots.

Coxsackie

Today I learned that Tali has coxsackie. It's a highly contagious virus in children under 5 years old and very prevalent in the summer. Her first symptoms appeared on Saturday. She threw up Saturday morning and in the evening she developed a fever of 102. By Sunday the fever was gone. On Monday, she developed an usual diaper rash that looked more like chicken pox than a rash. I was told to give it three days and then go to the doctor if it didn't go away. But yesterday she developed blisters on her feet. I thought it might be from her shoes but decided to take her to the doctor today if they didn't go away. I had a feeling that all of these things were related but just didn't know how. In about 5 seconds, the doctor told me Tali had coxsackie. Then she looked at the blisters (there's also one in her mouth) and confirmed that is what she has. Unfortunately, there is no medicine for this. It just has to run its course. It usually takes a week.

I am trying hard to figure out how she got this. It's most common in playgrounds and swimming pools - neither of which she's been to recently. My best guess is that she got it at the grocery store. I put a cover on her cart, but she often lifts it up and touches the handle. Guess I need to start disinfecting the handle before I put he cover on.

Shoes!

Tali loves shoes.

She likes to go in my closet and play with my shoes. She pulls them out, tries them on and even picks out which ones I should wear.

We recently went house hunting and had to remove our shoes at the front door. When it was time to go, she handed all five adults their shoes (with only one mistake).

This past week, she reached a major shoe milestone: she can now put on her shoes by herself! She still needs guidance as to which shoe goes on which foot, but she can get them on. She's very proud of herself when she does this and says "yeah" afterward. And, when asked, she can easily take her shoes off.

Words

The words have finally started coming. They started about two weeks ago and now there is a new one every day. Some words are things I've worked hard to teach her - such as go, shoes and yes - and others she just picks up. Yesterday's word was "Gia." She said it all day. Over and over again. She doesn't really know what it means but she just likes saying the word. (If I ask her to find Mommy, Daddy or Jackson, she'll point to the right person/animal. But if I ask her where Gia is, she just stares at me.)

Here are two recent words. The first one H taught her because she babbles a lot with the "g" sound.

A Great Compliment

Today I took Tali to Baskin Robbins to pick up my birthday cake. She went there for the first time last week, to order the cake, and we shared a kid's cup of mint chocolate chip (my favorite!). As soon as we walked in today, she remembered they have ice cream, went straight to the cooler and started whining for it. I wanted to get in and out quickly so I told her that we weren't going to have ice cream this time. That was not okay with her. So, for the majority of the 15 minutes we were there (it took forever!), she begged for ice cream. And I let her beg.

As we were leaving, one of the customers, an older woman, commended me for not giving in to Tali. She said she sees so many parents that just give in to their kids to keep them quiet and then they have bratty kids and don't understand why.

For me, that was a wonderful compliment. I often get looks that seem to say "just give her what she wants to keep her quiet" and it was refreshing to see someone who gets it. Yes, Tali, I am the boss. You can save it for your therapist.