Billa Babble: It's cool!

I've been catching up on Doctor Who, which I neglected because I just couldn't bear the thought of having to finally say goodbye to David Tennant as the Doctor [sad sigh].  But now that I've fallen in love with Matt Smith, I am eagerly awaiting Season 6 on DVD so that I can catch up on that! 

 The 11th Doctor and his companion Amy Pond

I mention the good doctor, because he has a penchant for talking about how cool things are and it reminds me of some of Billa's choice phrases to reveal her enthusiasm.  Case in point:

Mommy: Billa, what's that?
Billa: It's a [insert item here].  It's cool.

OR:


Mommy: Hey, Billa, I got this for you [random object].
Billa:  Wow, dat's cool!

OR:


Mommy: Billa, we're going to go to [insert location here].
Billa: ALL RIGHT!!! [happy dance commences]
And it's pretty much just about everything that gets her excited these days, whether we're going to a friend's house, Target, or the doctor's office (not that Doctor, boo).  Heaven forbid we go to the foodstore though; that apparently doesn't rank high on the cool factor scale for her, unless she gets a chocolate milk afterward and then that *might* be cool.  Whatever.  Maybe it's just as well!

I'm hoping that she'll add other words to her vocabulary, like 'awesome' or 'rad'.  I think 'rad' needs a comeback, don't you?

That's all for now!

Radically yours,
Kelly

This One's For You, Pop

Ok, so this story is for my dad.

Dad and I are two peas in a pod sometimes.  We have the same interests, the same hobbies, the same illnesses and ailments.

So this evening, I'm suffering from a cold.  My nose is raw from all the dripping and draining and sneezing and I finally got to the point where I shoved tissue up my nose because I couldn't handle it dripping or blowing it anymore.  Of course, Billa saw me.

"Mommy, you have [mumble mumble something slightly unintelligible] boo-kers?"
"Yes, Mommy has lots of mocos {boogers, en espanol}."
"Mommy have big boo-kers?"
"Yeah.  So Mommy shoved tissue up her nose to keep them from coming out."
"Oh." [Pause] "Like Papa?"

Michael and I burst out laughing then.  Like I said, Dad and I are two peas in a pod.  When our allergies get really bad, the kleenex plugs come out.  (Hey, don't hate!  Appreciate!)  I hadn't realized she'd ever seen him do that, much less make that association.

Leave it to the kiddo to know how to make mommy laugh.

And there ya go, Pop.  Hope you enjoyed that little nugget!

Cheers,
Kelly

Billa Bubble Wrap

I finally got my laptop for work yesterday, hooray!  Nothing like getting an electric leash to make you feel so important.  Anyhoo, I didn't have a case for it, so to keep it protected on the way home from work, I wrapped in bubble wrap and put it in the box for the docking station.  Voila, ghetto laptop case!  I pulled it out when I got home to start customizing, hook it up to our wireless network, and answer some emails, when all of a sudden I heard a pop.

Pop.

Pop. Pop.

Pop, pop, pop, popopopopopopopop POP!

I turn around and Billa had spread out the bubble wrap on the floor and was dancing on it.  Talk about the best. toy. ever!

Now I know what we can do on rainy days...should we ever get some rain :o(

Happy Wednesday!
Kelly

Billa Babble: It Happens!

This snippet of conversation was overheard while watching Scooby Doo for the umpteenth time the other morning.  Allow me to set up the action seen onscreen:



A group of tourists are screaming for their lives while the walls of a pyramid in Egypt start to close in on them.  As they try to push the walls back, they are absorbed into the walls, cutting off their screams before the intro song plays. (Don't look at me.  I don't write this stuff, I'm just telling you what we see)

Billa: Oh no!  The kids!
Me: [scratching head] Um...yeah–
Billa: [shrugs] It happens!
Me: ....

I guess I can't complain.  If that's the attitude my child has through life, I will be perfectly fine.  Water off a duck's back, my dear!

Cheers,
Kelly

Billa Babble: All I want for Christmas

Billa is in love with Christmas decorations.  When we drive around in the evening, if she sees Christmas lights, she makes sure EVERYONE knows it.  She calls them "those lights", most likely because we kept pointing them out that way: "Billa!  Look at THOSE lights!"

She is also obsessed with the jolly old elf himself whom she has dubbed "Santen."  I don't know why, that's how she says it!  She's grasped the concept that it is Santa that visits and delivers presents, something they must have talked about at school because we didn't really mention it at home.  It's not that we don't believe in Santa (we do) or that we were trying to spread some sort of message to her (we are, but not overtly), it just never occurred to us that we should explain it to her this year.  But as always, I am proven wrong by the extraordinary little brain hidden underneath those strawberry blonde curls.  Observe:

The other night as we were driving to visit a friend, she saw a blow-up Santa and pointed it out.

"Mommy, look!  A Santen!"
"Yes, that is a Santa." I said.  "Hey Billa, are you excited about Santa coming?"
"Yes!"
"What does Santa bring?" I asked, a bit smugly.
"Um...presents!" she replied brightly.
 Huh, I thought. 
"And what would you like Santa to bring you?"
In the rearview mirror, I caught a glimpse of her drop her chin into her little hand in the classic philosopher's pose.  She thought long and hard for a few seconds.
"Pizza!" she declared.
"I'll get right on that," I said.  "I mean, I'll see what Santa can do."
"Danks, Mommy!"

Here's hoping "Santen" brings you everything on your list!

Cheers,
Kelly

Billa Babble & a Parenting Paroxysm: Supermarket Sorry

So we're at the grocery store (aka "food store") and Billa was beginning to act up and run off farther than we liked.  So Michael scooped her up and proceeded to carry a forty pound squirming toddler through the store.  After awhile his arms got tired, so I switched with him.  Billa somehow figured (and rightfully so) that Mommy was considerably weaker than Daddy and pushed against me, but I held strong.  She then proceeded to hit me in the face with her sippy cup.  I then proceeded to have a mother of the year moment where I promptly smacked her butt and told her that we didn't hit people.  Yeah, I know.  Sheer parenting genius, right?

Anyway, as we're on our way home, Billa is in the back seat and she suddenly annoounces, "My cheek hurts."
"So does mine from where you clocked it with your cup," I pithily reply.
"I sowwy," is the response from the back seat,  "I sowwy, Mama!"
"..."
"Tell her thank you," Michael whispers.
"Thank you, Billa.  Apology accepted!"

Now this begs the question...just how much does my daughter REALLY understand and pretends otherwise?  Either way, it was a pretty funny moment!

Cheers,
Kelly

Mom of the Year

Yesterday, I became the poster child for Mom of the Year.

My child now has a new favorite word: sh*t.  Yeah, when I apologized to daycare lady in advance for any usage that Billa might issue that day, she asked where Billa had heard it.  I blushed as I slowly raised my hand.  Yeah, that's me.  And of course, later that night when Billa accidentally knocked over a half full bottle of beer, it was VERY apparent where she hears that word.  Oops.  I knew it was coming, and bless her, she actually used it in an appropriate sense, but I'm tripling my efforts at containing my "free" speech.

[sigh]
Kelly

Billa Babble: Potty Training

Tonight we went to dinner at Chuy's and while we waited for our food, Daddy went to go use the little boy's room.  While he was gone, Billa suddenly turned to me and says, "Wet!"  I wasn't sure if she meant her diaper or her shirt, as she had spilled milk on the latter and it was indeed still wet. 
"Where are you wet?" I asked her.  She grabbed her crotch.  Alright.  I like a girl who's up front and honest!  So when Daddy came back, she and I went to the little girl's room and changed her panties (diaper).
When we got back to the table, she ran up to her father, threw her hands in the air and screeched, "Daddy!  I got new panties!"
Everyone at the table next to us cheered out loud for her.
[sigh]

Yep, that's my kid. 
Next step after potty training?  The difference between quiet voice and loud voice.

Pooped,
Kelly

Billa Babble: Foley Noises, Cars, Cereal, Help, and Grandparent Names

Billa's vocabulary continue to expand each day and I sometimes catch myself completely understanding and then realizing, "Hey, I didn't teach her that word!"  So here are some random words and phrases that she says:

MIMICRY: This isn't a word, so much as what she does.  While she hasn't repeated anything awful yet, she certainly mimics a lot of things, and lately she likes to make foley noises.  If you're not familiar with that term, a foley artist is someone who specializes in making "the natural, everyday sound effects in a film." (Thank you, Wikipedia! I couldn't have said it better myself :o)  Stuff like the sound of a fist hitting flesh, or thunder rolling, or the snick of a sword being slid back into it's scabbard.  Billa likes to make these noises and often times I find her pretending to be a ninja or something else and making action noises.  I am relieved to know that my daughter is a tomboy!

CARS THE MOVIE: Since we cut the cable and went with Netflix, Billa watches a lot of movies instead of TV shows now.  One of her favorites is Cars, the movie.  But even though she can say the word "car," she prefers to call the movie "truck."  She'll bring it over to me and say, "Truck mo, mommy!  Truck!"  The word itself actually sounds like a cross between "chuck" and "truck" which makes it even funnier.  I guess she really likes Mater!

CEREAL:  I've posted about this one before, but now that cereal is one of her favorite snacks (and a staple in the Guerra household diet), I'm going to post on it because the way she says the word has changed greatly.  She now says "Yeh-yule!" Sometimes, it's "yer-yule," but when she says it, you know exactly what she wants.  Her favorites are Kix, Alpha Bits, and Mom's Best Honey-Ful Bites (which if you haven't tried any of the Mom's Best brand, you should.  It's the best all-natural/organic cereal brand, and it's waaaay cheaper than the others out there).

HELP:  Billa has figured out how to ask for help.  Any time she finds herself in a precarious situation, usually after she has thrown herself on the floor, she'll reach her hand out to you and wail, "Hel! "Hel!"  And no, she's not swearing.  She's asking for help and it's so funny, because she's VERY dramatic about it. 

PAPA & BOPPA:  This one makes me particularly snicker.  My mom has this thing against grandmother names.  She doesn't want to be Gramma, Nana, MeeMaw, Mimi, or any other nickname that grandparents end up with.  I think they're all great nicknames.  I wanted to call her Mamo, which is Gaelic for grandmother.  I thought she would have liked that and it's easy for small mouths to pronounce.  But my mom shot it down and kept insisting that she be "GRANDMOTHER."  Maybe I hate the word Grandmother because for the majority of my life, both of mine were called that and it was just too formal for my taste.  My dad's mom who is still alive (and will be celerating 90 this year!) is now Maw Maw after I kept hearing my cousins use it.  Well bad news, Ma!  My daughter picked up Papa for my dad very easily and somehow, that name has also become attached to my mom now.  So Billa gets very excited when she gets a chance to spend some time with her "Boppa" and "Papa."  Mwaahahahaha!  Victory is mine!  And really, my daughter couldn't have come up with a better nickname for my mom...Boppa.  I love it!  Someday my mom will too, I just know it.

That's all we have for this week!

Cheers,
Kelly

Billa Babble: A Conversation With My Daughter

This was recently heard:

"Mommy!"
"Mmm hmm?"
"Watch Boo!  I watch  Boo!"
"You want to watch Blue's Clues?"
"Oh." (Billa says 'oh' instead of 'yes'–very confusing, I know)
"[sigh] Okaaaaay.  I guess so.  Gimme a minute, ok?"  I type out a Facebook response.  Suddenly my thoughts are interrupted.
"Mommy!  Boo!"
"Uh huh..." I say distractedly.
"MOMMY!  BOO!"
"What? Oh, right.  [eye roll]  More Blue's Clues. Yay."

Sometimes I wish we hadn't cut the cable...

Cheers,
Kelly

Billa Babble: She's Not Saying Sh*t, I Swear!

We are in the midst of a serious word explosion right now, so trying to pinpoint certain words is really hard because it seems like Billa says a new one just about every 5 minutes she's awake!  Lately, she's really been into words that end in a -sh sound, which unfortunately makes everything coming out of her mouth sound a like a swear word.  I promise, I've really been trying to be better about my dirty little mouth, and so far, she's not parroted any of THOSE words.  But for a while I thought she was!

Sine we've been doing potty field trips, Billa has learned about toilet tissue.  I don't know why I started calling it tissue; I don't even refer to facial tissues by that name--they're Kleenex, no matter the brand.  Either way, somehow she now assosicates toilet paper with 'tissue' so every time she hands me a piece, I hear "Sheh? Sheh?" which sounds a lot like sh*t without the t.  Granted, the swear word would be appropriate in this situation in a crude sense, but we're trying to use family friendly terms for the process.

Michael got a gift card to Cabela's from his company Christmas party and he took Billa with him when he went.  Apparently her favorite thing there are the fish tanks (we now have a rainy day destination, yes!) and every time she sees a fish in a tank, she practically screams "Shi!  Shi!"  As in FISHIE.  Again, when she's uber excited, it sounds a lot like sh*t.

And finally this morning, when I changed her diaper, she found a dried up baby wipe (it was used to wipe her face before bed the night before.  I promise!) and she ran to the kitchen with it yelling "Sheh! Sheh!"  I had to explain to her the word was TRASH.  Now she says "Trishhhh."  At least we're getting somewhere!

That's this week's installment of Billa Babble...tune in next time for more!

Cheers,
Kelly

Billa Babble: Hot, Cold, Hat, Socks, Hurt, Toe, & Wet

In this edition, we've learned about temperature changes, garments, and unfortunately, a little bit of pain.

HOT:  Whenever I'm baking in the kitchen, Billa loves to be nearby and I am so worried about her trying to see in the oven when I'm testing a cake's doneness, that I yell "HOT!" any time she comes near or the oven door is open.  I turned on our gas fireplace to help make things nice and cozy as we got up a few mornings ago and sure enough, Billa saw it, pointed to it, and said (in much the same drawn out manner that I say it), "Haawht."  She kept pointing to it and showing me that she knew what it was.  She also used the word the other day when we were washing her hands and I let her play in the water.  She turned to look at me and said "Haawht."  I felt the water and sure enough, it was a little too warm.  Oops!

COLD:  And just to prove that she knows the opposite of "Haawt.", Billa shivered and said "Cole!" when we were walking down the stairs.  Yes, my dear, it WAS cold!  "Is cole, Mama!" she said again, and snuggled her little head closer to me.  Awww...I think I like cold mornings!

Those are two very important opposites!  But that's not all...we've also learned about different garments, specifically, HATS and SOCKS!

HAT:  Billa pointed to daddy's Irish cap one morning and said "Het."  Then she pointed to her hoodie (which I'd put on her head) and she repeated the word.  It sounds similar to Hot, so we have to listen very carefully to make sure we're understanding what she's saying!  If she finds a hat now, she'll make a game of trying it on her head and then putting it on yours while saying "het" each time.

SOCKS:  Growing up on a farm, it was mandated that shoes came off the minute you walked in the door.  You didn't want to get manure and mud all through house which there tended to be plenty of on a horse boarding farm!  The habit has stuck for me into my adult life and now we've taught Billa the same thing.  She comes in, sits down and immediately starts to undo the Velcro on her shoes.  She's definitely gotten better at removing them from her feet, but her socks are another matter.  She'll tug on the toe of them, stretching them as far as she can, but she always gets stuck.  So then she yells out, "Docks!  Docks, Mama!" and we remove them together.  I love that "socks" is actually "docks."  Tee hee!

As for the pain portion, I have to preface this with the fact that Billa is ok.  As a result of an injury a few Fridays ago, she learned HURT and TOE.  She was playing chase with daddy and was running to the front door when suddenly she fell down and started crying and screaming.  We both rushed over and couldn't figure out what was wrong until she stood up and tried to walk.  She was limping from what we guess was either a jammed toe or sprained ankle.  We asked her where it hurt and she pointed to her foot and cried, "Huhwt."  We hugged her and loved on her, let her watch some 'toons and gave her Bubba early and the put her to bed.  We decided to wait until morning before deciding if we needed an ER trip (which we didn't thankfully).  The next morning, she had completely forgotten her injury until she tried to come to our room at which point she collapsed again and hollered something mighty fierce.  We asked her again where it hurt, and she pointed to her toes and said plain as day, "Toe.  Huhwt!"  Let me tell you, parents of small ones, you better hope your toddlers don't get sprained ankles because trying to keep them inactive to let it heal is nigh to impossible!  Billa also learned "Ow!" as she said it often enough while trying to walk or God forbid, run, all day Saturday.  Ay ay ay!

And lastly, we have the word WET.  Sybilla has somehow discovered how to make a spill proof cup strew it's contents everywhere, which is a huge annoyance for us.  And if bashing the cup isn't getting enough liquid out, she can always resort to sucking it out and then letting it dribble out of her mouth everywhere.  This morning she was doing exactly that, much to her Daddy's chagrin.  She got milk all over her bare belly and then cried out, "Wet!"  "Well, yes, Billa, you are wet!" Daddy said, exasperated.  "Why would you do that?"  I didn't hear what happened after that, but she mentioned the word to me again later when she leaked her milk right in front of me.  Kudos on knowing the word, child, but you could please keep the milk in your mouth?

Until next time,

Kelly

Billa Babble: Bird, Pig, This, Cereal, Mine, & I STUCK MAMA!

This is an animal filled edition of Billa Babble!

BIRD: The Friday before Halloween, daycare had to close unexpectedly which meant Billa had to stay home. Michael usually has Fridays off so it became a Daddy-Daughter Day! Michael took BK up to Cowboy Harley to visit with his co-workers and while there, a customer came in with a parrot on their shoulder. Billa was so excited about petting and playing with "Ba burr!" (translation: the bird). She's going to be very excited when we next visit Gramma Bobbe's house and see Taco, her green parrot!

PIG: On Saturday, I took Billa to make our weekly Target trip and we had to grab some items from the baby aisles. While I'm in that section, I like to peruse all the cute baby items and look at stuff. We passed by the kiddie harnesses which are little animal shaped backpacks that have a leash so you can keep your kid close to you (I am really thinking about getting one of these; one of our friends had one for her son and it was great!). There was a monkey, a brown puppy, and a pink puppy. Billa saw the pink puppy and cried out "Pih! Pih!" She thought it was a pig! I corrected her and then let her look at it, but she opted for the brown puppy instead. Honestly, I was surprised she even knew the word pig, but maybe I shouldn't be considering she has a puzzle with a pig piece that we've pointed out before.

THIS: Billa has successfully mastered "that" and now she has mastered "this"–she was so excited about something that she stacked up and when I asked her what she had done, she pointed to it and said simply, "This!"  Huh.  That wasn't quite what I meant, but...that'll do pig (ha!). 

CEREAL: The other morning I was having some cereal for breakfast and Billa pointed at my bowl and clearly stated: "Sarl!"  Then she signed "more/please" and we enjoyed a yummy bowl of "sarl" together.

MINE: She's actually been saying this for some time, but we haven't reported it until now, mostly because it was sounding more like "Ma!"  It now sounds like a cross between a "ma" and "my" with a drawl. "Maaaai!" can typically be heard when we try to take her cup and refill it, or her blankie, or her George, or her bubba, or anything else she has decided is now hers.  Which is everything.  [sigh]  And more of my identity slips away...

And last but not least, a real sentence: "I STUCK, MAMA!"  This is uttered a LOT, usually when we make her sit someplace she doesn't want to be.  These places include her booster seat, our laps, or her car seat.  On these occasions, I will gently remind her that she is not using the word in it's correct sense, but still she persists.  "I STUCK, Mama!" And she says it in the most pitiful whiny voice too which makes it all the more hilarious.  Occasionally, she does actually use this sentence in the correct sense, like when her feet get all crisscrossed in a high chair (because she was squirming and trying to get out of it when she wasn't supposed to be).

Understanding Sybilla is getting a little bit easier, but her enunciation is still difficult at best and a lot of times she still grunts or points at what she wants which is really frustrating for us.  She understands a lot of what we're saying.  How can I tell?  Well, I am not exactly proud of this, but if she's misbehaving and I ask her if she wants a spanking, she tells me 'no' and stops the bad behaviour ASAP.  So we know she understands what we're saying, but because she's still learning words, it's difficult at best to have a conversation with her.   One of our other beefs is that she refuses to say please and thank you, instead choosing to sign "more" and wave 'bye bye' respectively.  [eye roll]  Really, I have no idea where this pigheadedness (ha again!) comes from.

So that's you edition of Billa Babble!
Cheers,
Kelly

Billa Babble: Stuck, Next & Boobie

Here's our latest installation of Billa Babble, coupled with some body exploration...

STUCK: Billa loves to play and discover just about anything she can get her hands on. This morning, she used her stool to get eye level with the counter to play with the cooling racks from my cake baking this weekend. She managed to slide it off the counter in such a way that the leg of it got caught between the counter and the stove. "Stuck!" she cried out. "Stuck!" She pouted until I finally helped her pull it out and then she was happy as a clam as in mud. Ah, to be that easily pleased...

Our second word is NEXT: We've been trying to get Billa to help us out some more with things around the house, mostly cleaning up after herself, but one thing she definitely loves is helping with the laundry. I will pass her every single piece of laundry and she puts it in the dryer for me. Tonight, she was helping me and every time she threw one in the dryer, she'd hold out her hand and announce "Neh." [throw laundry in] "Neh." [throw laundry in] "Neh." And yes, this continued through the entire load only occasionally punctuated by a "Baack!"

Our last word is BOOBIE. Billa has discovered body parts lately and the most fascinating one is breasts. This doesn't really bother me except when we're out in public and she whacks my boob and yells "Boo-beh!" and then giggles maniacally. Yeah. Awesome, eh? She will also raise her shirt and start rubbing her nipples with the curious look on her face and I am really torn about whether or not to stop her entirely. I don't have a problem with her exploring her body and learning about bodily functions, but it does kind of weird me out when we're in public and she starts doing it. She will also stare at my chest (hello, Mama's up here!) and then poke my boobs lightly, while asking "Boo-beh?" I'm hoping she gets bored with it soon, but each time she does it in public, I just try to ignore it or quietly tell her no.

So that's this week's installment of Billa Babble. She's making lots of noise and "talking" more, so hopefully we'll have more Billa Babble coming soon!

Billa Babble: Yes, Shoe, Table, and Chair

They say the "word explosion" hits between 18 and 20 months. We didn't think we had hit it, but since we have stopped using the paci so much, our child just babbles away like the Energizer bunny! She has been saying a lot, but it's still taking us some time to figure out what she's saying. She's been working on her ch-, sh-, and hard k sounds, so some words seem to meld or morph into something else which makes it hard to understand. She definitely has the m- and b- words down.

YES: It sounds more like 'yeah' but when you ask Sybilla if she would like ___ she will usually respond with a 'yeah' or 'nah' (we're having trouble shaping our 'o' vowels).

SHOE: We were visiting the Marino family on Wednesday and Billa came inside with one sandal on her foot, the other in her hand, and very distressed over her "schew, schew [whimper]" (and yes, there is a slight ch- with her sh- sounds). She was almost in tears over this. I decided that since we weren't going to be leaving for a bit after all, I would just take the other shoe off. I told her to sit down, which she did, and then took the other sandal off. Tears transformed into happy chatter and smiles and off she went. [sigh] Glad that disaster was easily averted!

TABLE: This morning we were eating break fest and enjoying homemade pumpkin spice cake and Billa climbed up into a chair to get at my latest puzzle, which was still on the table. She climbed up and then patted the table top and said "tay-buh" and then pointed to the puzzle. She only said it once, but we knew what she meant!

CHAIR: This sounds mostly like "schar" which has been confused with "share", so you'll only catch it when it's in correct context. But usually she will say it if she wants to get into the computer chair or a dining room chair.

Other things that we've randomly heard here and there is a better pronunciation of cheese, milk, and we're working on actually saying please, which she did this morning when she said "Plee, Dah-da" when he took my puzzle away from her. And speaking of puzzles, she says that quite often too, especially since they've become a big passion of mine. Which if anyone has some random 1000+ piece puzzles laying around (missing a couple of pieces or not), lemme know...I just might like to take a crack at them!

Well, that's all for now folks! Nighty night,
Kelly

Billa Babble: The Quick Brown Fox..Make that DOG...

Normally we feature a slew of words on Billa Babble, but this one deserves a post all to itself! The word is: DOG. What makes this one so special? Well, it's one of the few that Billa actually recognizes by sight and by sound. And by sound, I mean the sound that the animal makes! Every time she hears a dog bark, she yells out "Daw! Daw!" and then proceeds to bark. There's a particularly yappy dog on our floor that barks every time someone walks by, so we've been hearing lots of barking lately as a result from both parties.

What's also funny about this word is that she has been lately confusing Swiper the Fox from Dora the Explorer as a dog. If you're not familiar with Swiper, here's what the fellow looks like:

Swiper serves as the villain on the show and he has a very peculiar tsk, tsk noise that he makes just before he appears. Dora then prompts the viewer to keep an eye out for him and yell "Swiper!" when they see him. Well, Billa certainly comes from thespian stock because when she sees that darned fox, she gasps loudly and then yells "Daw! Daw! [gasp] DAW!" This may also be accompanied by jumping up and down and pointing at the TV screen. It took us a while to realize that she was actually calling the fox a dog. In fact, when I was googling "swiper the fox" to find a picture of the bad boy, as soon as she saw it, the histrionics began. I tried to capture it on film, but she stopped by the time I got the dang thing going. Oh well!

So that is this week's edition of Billa Babble!

Love to you all,

Billa Babble: Poke, Get Up, Donkey, Cheese, and Mamon

We've now reached the stage of development in which it all just sort of falls into place. Where you wake up one morning and your kid slaps your husband on the rear end and says "Geh-uh, geh-uh, geh-uh!" before running to the kitchen to break her fast (and yes, she really did slap him on the rear end. And no, I have no idea where she picked that up. Really. Would I lie to you?) So here is this week's installation of Billa Babble for you!

POKE: This morning Billa was in a mischievous mood. The wee little sprite ran into our bathroom where Michael and I were chatting about business as usual. She stood behind Daddy and then started poking his leg and saying "Po! Po! Po! Po!" really fast. When he finally turned to look at her, she grinned from ear to ear and laughed hysterically as she ran out. It must be the red hair...

GET UP: As mentioned above. Billa climbed out of my arms in our bed and seeing that I was heading straight to the bathroom, she decided it was time to rouse the rest of the troops. I told Michael he'd gotten pwned and he had to agree. And again, I really have no idea where she got that!

DONKEY: Billa has a small board book about colors with pictures of real world objects and animals. One of them is donkey and she brought her book into the kitchen the other day, opened it to that page and then proudly exclaimed "Donkey!" while pointing to the creature on he page. A friend of ours think it would be HI-larious to get her to say "Jackass" instead, and while it's funny in theory, I really don't need to receive that phone call from school, thankyouverymuch.

CHEESE: Our favorite snack item in the house is cheese sticks, aka string cheese. This child loves string cheese and she usually has one for breakfast and for an after school snack. Hey, at least it's not candy, cookies, or cake, right? She does this silly happy dance when you give her one and she practically screams with delight. The word comes out more like "Chay" than "Cheese" but we're getting there!

And our first Spanish word, MAMON, which means pacifier. We were so confused when she would point to her paci and start saying 'Mama.' I mean, hey, I know, nipples and pacifiers are very similar things, but it's been such a long time since breastfeeding that I was wondering if this was some sort of regression. It wasn't until the daycare lady asked her where her "mamon" was that the light bulb went on. So now we have taken our first steps to being bilingual! Yay!

So there you have it!

Until next time,

Sunday, Billa Babble, and More

Since we had a pretty busy weekend, I didn't make it to the grocery store until 10 pm last night and I only got enough things to last us for a day or two since I was so tired. I wouldn't have gone at all except there was no coffee, no coffee filters, no coffee creamer, and god forbid, no milk in the house to be had. Our little munchkin is quite the dairy fiend and having no milk would have been bad news bears indeed. I remembered last minute to grab some more cheese sticks and when I got home, I just threw the cold stuff in the fridge without thinking about it.

This morning Billa was with her daddy getting some milk when she saw the package of cheese sticks. I am not joking when I tell you that she loves these things, because as Michael tells it, "she went apesh*t when she saw them in the fridge!" She started jumping up and down and making her excited little monkey sounds, so Michael decided to give her a cheese stick for breakfast. Hey, at least it's not a donut! So she ate cheese stick to tide her over until she got to school and had second breakfast with her friends.

I'll share with you a random moment of Billa Babble: Sybilla decided that she wanted Daddy to read her a book before she and I left this morning, so while I was making my lunch, she and Michael were sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor reading from one of her books about colors. Just before we left, she opened the book and pointed to a picture on the page and shouted "Donkey!" I find this funny for two reasons: 1) she really was pointing to a donkey and 2) we watched Shrek and Shrek 2 at my parents house yesterday. I guess she watched more of the movie than I initially thought!

Anyhoo, she greatly enjoyed visiting her Mamo and Papa, who love to do all the things Mama and Daddy won't let her do, like: let her pig out on waffles and everything else, climb stairs, push buttons, play with power tools and get dirty in the garden. She was so excited by all of this mayhem that she didn't take a nap until almost 3 o'clock! I did manage to sew the curtains for her room and my mom finished the cute little footstool to match.

In other news, Mama and Daddy reclaimed a headboard that someone in our complex had thrown out. I've been admiring this headboard on a resident's balcony for the longest time and when I drove into the complex yesterday evening, I saw it and the matching footboard sitting next to the dumpster. I immediately dialed Michael, who measured our bed and then rushed out to meet me to measure the headboard while I stood guard over it. Perfect match and we carried it home, wiped it down, and Lysol'd it to make sure it was nice and clean. And it looks so gosh darn pretty.

But the best news yet? We FINALLY got our washer and dryer...YAY!!!! Now all we have to do is get a dryer vent and hook it all up. No more climbing up and down the stairs with the laundry, no more trips to people's homes once a week to do our laundry, no more digging through dirty laundry trying to decide what smells the least offensive when we haven't made it to do laundry yet. Huzzah! Now I'll drink to that...

Cheerio, mates!
Kelly & the Gang

Billa Babble: Pen & Paper, Breakfast, Hang On, I love you, No Ma'am and more

Howdy everyone! Here is our latest installment of Billa Babble for your enjoyment!

PEN & PAPER: Billa has been learning how to draw which lately consists of tapping her writing instrument up and down on the paper making teeny tiny little dots. Occasionally she'll get distracted by something else and a line will appear. This past Saturday she was standing on one of the dining room chairs and gesturing with her fingers towards the computer desk. Here is how our conversation went:

"You want the chip clip?"
"Na ma!"
"Ok...[picking up magazine] you want Johnny Depp? Mama would like Johnny Depp..."
"Na ma!"
"I don't know what you want honey."
"Mamamama!" [she is gesturing wildly now]
"Um, how about this piece of paper?"
"Pay-pah?"
"You want pen and paper?"
"Peh enh pay-puh, plee!"

My child using a complete sentence AND please?! Well, she can have all the pens and paper in the world she wants at that rate! So little miss sat down at the table and drew a pretty little picture of dots with a couple of lines, which I gave to my folks later when they visited that afternoon.

Experimenting with our right hand...

And now our left!

But that's not all! We've also learned:

BREAKFAST: this morning I asked Billa if she was ready for breakfast and she repeated the word for me and ran off to the kitchen. Kid knows what she wants!

HANG ON: Since BK was being really fussy the other afternoon, Michael tried to get her to lie down with him for a nap. He got her as far as our room and we were both coaxing her to go lay down when suddenly she yelled "Hay on!" and ran to her bedroom, whereupon she returned with her blankie AND her monkey George (she doesn't go anywhere in the house without them close by these days). She never did take that nap though...she opted for quiet time toons while Daddy chose nap. Mommy got computer time.

I LOVE YOU: our favorite by far... when she chooses to use it. It sounds like "lah-loo!"

NO MA'AM: Unfortunately we hear this a lot. It's usually shouted, screeched, or screamed and sounds like "na, ma!"

Our speech is getting better, but we have experienced some backsliding in some of our words like bath, ball, and milk. Apparently there's no point in saying those since gestures work quite well. And every once in awhile she surprises us with something out of the blue, like the name of her daycare provider: Mary Ann. She said it last night when we were explaining what type of 'school' Billa attends when her friend Madeleine asked. Billa blurted out "Meh-yee-anh?" She repeated it a couple of times, but she won't say it now. [sigh] Really, we have no idea where she gets this willfulness [cue innocent whistle].

Anyhoo, it's dinner time, so we bid you adieu...or as Billa says it with her little Texan accent: Bye!

Kelly & the Gang

Billa Babble: Billa, Snack, Go and Puzzle

Who wants some more Billa Babble? You know YOU do! So here we go...

First up, BILLA. Yep, folks, the child knows thyself. I was in bed trying to catch a few more z's on Sunday morning listening to Billa and Michael play in the living room. One of Billa's new pastimes is to pull the framed pictures off the bookshelves and arrange them elsewhere. One of these is her from Valentine's Day. Michael started pointing at her picture and told her "Billa!" She then repeated it, but it sounded like "Bil-ya!" She said it several times and when I came out of the room I tried to get her to say it but all she wanted to say then was "MAMA!" Go figure.

Our next word is SNACK. FINALLY, we are getting somewhere. Typically when Little Bit wanted a snack, she'd run in the kitchen and scream "MAMA!" until I guessed correctly. This ordeal often ended in a meltdown from one or both parties. Yesterday our problems were solved! I asked Billa if she wanted a snack and she responded, "Nach? Nach?" It sounds like 'snack' without the s and k, but hey, I'll take it! Phew!

Our third word is GO. It's funny when kids learn words but even funnier when they actually use it in the right context! We were driving home today and Billa started chanting "Go, go, go, go!"

Our final word is PUZZLE. Michael was watching Noggin with Billa this evening and she loves Puzzle Time, which if you're not familiar with PT on Noggin, it's basically a little commercial-like segment that has a simple puzzle for the kids to solve. Example: Which one of these three cats is different from the others? And one of those cats will have stripes and the others don't. When I say our child loves Puzzle Time, she LOVES Puzzle Time. She screams and yells and jumps up and down. Tonight, she yelled "Puh-yuhl!" when it came on. Smartie pants...

So there's your Billa Babble fix. Until next time!

Kelly