A Devoted Mom's Tale

Advice from a 2-yr-old
Sometimes, Tamsin's smarter than we give her credit for. She's learned to apply the principles of what is or is not OK to various aspects of her life.

• [In reference to Snuffleupagus on Sesame Street] We don't pull trunks.
• We don't pull the horse's tail or he will be sad.
• We don't hit penguins.
• We don't hit cars.

It's My Party
For Christmas last year, we gave Tamsin a tent to play in in her room. Lately, she's been wanting to sleep in it most of the time. Kenji made a little bed in there with a small pillow and a bunch of stuffed animals, so it's a nice comfortable place for her to sleep. One night, about 20 minutes after we'd put her down to sleep, she came out of her room saying she needed to sleep in her bed because her friends (also known as stuffed animals) were having a party in the tent. So Kenji put her down in her bed and she went right to sleep.

Grammar Snob, Party of One
One day as I was watching videos on YouTube, Tamsin joined me on the couch. When the video was over, she said "Oh my *)^%." Not sure how to respond to this new word usage, I just shook my head and said, "No." Tipping her head in confusion, she asked, "Is it Holy *)^%?" Yeah, I'm raising her right - she'll talk like a sailor, but it will be grammatically correct.

Story From the Lost Period
We turned Tamsin's carseat around to forward-facing about 6 months ago - in May or June. Whenever we'd drive somewhere, she'd start asking me "Are those big rocks?" I had no idea what she was talking about until one day she asked at a stoplight so I was able to see where she was pointing. Straight at the Wasatch Mountains. I just answered, "Yes, those look like big rocks. They're called mountains."

Ursula and Ludovica?
When we first found out the twins were girls, we asked Tamsin for naming advice. She very quickly named them "Bear" and "Ludo." We do not know the origins of these names, but they stuck. In the intervening months, we've been unable to agree on names and have gone back to the drawing board on several occasions. At this point, with less than 3 weeks to go, we're thinking Tamsin may have been on to something and we'll just have to name them Bear and Ludo.

Six Months of Updates

Yeah, a lot has happened in the past few months....

Dirty Hippies Everywhere
When we were visiting Kenji's sister in August, we took Tamsin into Berkeley. We told her we were going to look at dirty hippies. So as we're walking down the street, Tamsin pointed to people as they passed and asked us, "Is that a dirty hippie? Is that a dirty hippie?"

There's Nothing Like Toddler Praise
Tamsin likes to praise us when we do something. Anything, really. If she asks what color something is, once we tell her she says, "That's right. Good job." Lately, she's been asking me where we're going when I buckle her into her carseat. So, I tell her library, park, Grandma's house, the store. When we get there she always happily and excitedly says, "You found it! Good job!"

Excuses Excuses
So, I haven't updated in several months. There is a reason for this. In April, we unexpectedly found out we were expecting a baby. In June, we found we were actually expecting two babies. Preparing for twins and pregnancy has been, well, interesting. And tiring. And provides a ready-made excuse for not updating my blog.

In an interesting twist, the name "Tamsin" means twin. Were we subconsciously channeling the future when we picked that name?

Where's the mommy love?
A few weeks ago, Kenji asked Tamsin what she loved more - her mommy or her binkie. She promptly, and matter-of-factly, replied "My binkie." More recently, she has refused to give me good night or good bye hugs and kisses. She will only give them to the babies in my belly. I feel so second-rate.

It's About Time...

More Tamsinisms
* Macaroni & Cheese: Monkey cheese
* Meatloaf: Buffalo

Everybody's Got an Appetite
The other night Tamsin was sitting on my lap, being a little silly. She kept asking "Are you hungry, Mommy?" Then she turned to Kenji, "Are you hungry, Daddy?" Back and forth and back and forth, almost to the point of annoyance. Then she turned to the bookcase, "Are you hungry, Harry Potter?"

I Just Can't Remember Anything
Tamsin likes to tell us she forgot. We tell her it's time to put on shoes to go somewhere, "Oh, I forgot." Tell her a toy is downstairs, "Oh, I forgot." Tell her she's stinky and needs a clean diaper, "Oh, I forgot."

Uncle Daddy
I've been watching my sister's kids a lot lately. As a result, Tamsin has started calling us "Uncle Kenji" and "Aunt Rachie." It's so funny to hear her walking around asking, "Uncle Kenji, Where are you?"

1 or 5 - There's no Difference
I was watching my sister's kids yesterday and was being pretty strict with them because Tamsin has been sick and I wanted her to get some good, undisturbed rest. Anyway, since they were being so good, I gave them each a marshmallow for lunch. After he had finished, my 5-year-old nephew came upstairs to tell me he was still hungry. "Aunt Rachie, can I have another marshmallow? Or 5?"

My New Project

Shortly after Kenji gave me my awesome camera for our anniversary last year, I heard about a photography project that I wanted to try. I've finally gotten around to starting it. The idea is that every day for a year (for 365 days) I have to take a picture of...something. I'm currently one week into it and think I've had some pretty good results. We'll see how it continues over the next 51 weeks.

So here it is, my 365 project. Please feel free to look and comment.

Something I Made

A few months ago, my brother came to me with an idea for his wife's Christmas present. He wanted to take one of their wedding pictures and put ghost-like pictures of his kids around it. Having just installed Photoshop on my computer, I was game to help him with it. After getting the picture from him, I decided to clean it up. In the end, adding the kids' pictures was the easy part.

So here we go. Before:
After:

Things Tamsin Says That Make Me Laugh

* She yells "stuck" while in her carseat.

* She calls her Etch-a-Sketch an "A-B-C-D"

* She calls the harmonica "Buffy"

* Whenever she cries for no apparent reason, we tease her about having a hard life. Now she'll say "Hard. Life" when she's crying.

* She gives hugs and says "Love you" to many things. "Love you, Daddy. Love you, Monkey. Love you, water."

*My sister Robyn is "Wawa" in Tamsin-ese. Robyn's daughter, Danika, is "Ca-la-la."

* Corn is "corner"

* She talks about Santa a lot. However, when asked if she wants to go see Santa, she very quickly and vehemently replies "No Sinta."

* She pretends to snore when she's playing "Sleeping."

* All deer (reindeer, regular deer, etc) are called "Oh dear."

My Little Genius

Here are some pictures of Tamsin in the snow. It took longer to dress her in snow-appropriate attire than it did for her to decide the snow is cold and she wanted to go in the house. And why do kids feel the need to eat snow? Whenever we walk out the front door Tamsin has to grab a handful of snow and put it in her mouth. Every. Single. Time. Why???? At least she has deemed the snow "Nummy."


















































And Now for the Genius Part
Some video of a pop quiz given to Tamsin just before Thanksgiving.