Ya Ya Ya

That's what Tori was singing this morning. She also said "uh-oh" about a thousand times before that when Ollie dropped some of his aliens. She is getting louder and more verbal. You definitely know when she doesn't want something because she screams and shouts "No!" Two chatterboxes. How ever will we ever get in another word edgewise?

The Bear

Tori came downstairs this morning with her big polar bear. "Ahh," she said as she stroked it. The polar bear watched her eat her oatmeal and may have even got a bite. She would give the cats all the bites and attention they want if they would just stand still. Silly cats keep running from her! Of course, she can be mean every now and then and push them off couches and chairs.

All Moved In

Tori is now in her room, and boy was it a fight, not with Ollie but with her. She got very upset when we started moving Ollie's bed into the office. Cried and cried and cried some more. You would have thought we were throwing out Ollie. We got her moved in, I hung up the rest of her stuff, and presto, she was happy and playing with everything.

All Snowed In

It snowed a lot yesterday, and because the winds were so bad, Huts and I were both let out of work early. Huts picked up the kids from Sharon's early and Ollie and Tori seemed happy to come home. Tori, apparently, even tried to walk through the snow but didn't make it far. She took a long nap, and when she woke up, she found her brother sleeping on the couch. She left him alone for a while and then finally she just couldn't take it any longer and crawled up by him and woke him up. Little booger didn't want her brother sleeping!

In Need of a Little More Rest

Tori is not a morning person, and this morning, she was a real crabcake. Tonight, we are contemplating putting her to bed a bit earlier. The problem is she doesn't sleep well no matter when you put her to bed. She wakes up two to three times a night and moans or screams. Sometimes, we have to get her a drink in order to get her back to sleep, and if it is really early in the morning, she may not go back to bed at all. Ollie was a terrible sleeper too. Time will hopefully improve her sleeping.

Static Head

It's freezing outside, the furnace is running a lot inside, and Tori's hair is full of static. She wakes up with it on end and goes to the sitter's with it on end. I've been thinking about rubbing her head with a dryer sheet, but I don't know if it will help. I'm not sure if she'll let me do it either. Oh well. Guess that flyaway hair will have to stay that way until spring.

Ice Cream for Breakfast

That's what Tori, Ollie and I have had the last couple of mornings. We sure like those dips, but now that they are nearly gone, we're going to have to go back to oatmeal. Tori loves the stuff! She can eat one bowl and part of another all by herself. Blueberry, strawberry, peach, banana, she doesn't care. She just likes oatmeal, and the best part is it doesn't fall off her spoon.

Tired Girl

Tori seemed tired on the way home last night, and after a couple of hours at McDonalds on the playground inside, she came home exhausted. She went to bed at 8, but still fussed during the night. The girl just cannot sleep all the way through the night. This morning, she was crabby but managed to gulp down some ice cream cubes. She wouldn't touch the sausage biscuit, though. She's not even two and she already knows what's good.

Mimic

Watch what you say around Tori, because chances are she will say it back to you. "Sweet" is what she told her Aunt Annie after hearing her say it. 'No," "Ollie" and "Yes" are constantly repeated. Motions are too, like waving of the arms, etc.

Up, Down, Smack

And that's how Tori fell down the stairs. I was grabbing milk for the two, Tori was climbing up the stairs and Ollie was at the top waiting. I don't know where or when, but Tori lost her footing and ended up on her ear. She cried and then climbed up the stairs. I checked out her face and ear and followed her around a while, but she seemed fine. Ollie, meanwhile, was non-plussed. "She fell", Mom, was all he had to say about the matter and didn't scramble to get to her like I did. Calm, cool and collected, as though falling down the stairs was no bigger than flying off the bed, as he likes to do.

The Up and Down

Up and down has become Tori's newest act. She goes up the stairs fairly well, but has to sit on her butt and slide down. Its better than falling, its just slow. Her legs aren't quite big enough to traverse the stairs normally. She has to rotate her hip over to get her leg off the previous step and onto the next one. She's practicing though and will get it when she's a little taller. The only other problem with her and the stairs is that she is now strong enough to pull the container aside that is blocking the stairs and make her way down when she wants. At least she isn't trying to climb over them anymore.

We have to switch the heavy and light containers around so she doesn't get to used to them. It'll only delay it for awhile, but maybe it'll be long enough for her to become tall enough to get down the stairs without much difficulty.



The only other issue she's currently having is her sleeping. She's getting all 4 eye teeth now, but no matter if they are hurting or not, she wakes in the middle of the night out of habit. She's definitely going to be a person of habit. Hopefully they will all be good habits.

Eyes

4 of them to be exact. All 4 of Tori's eye teeth seem to be coming in at the same time. Right now the tips are just poking through her gums, but she is going to have a heck of a time if the major portion of her teeth come through at the same time. Most of the time she just has a runny nose. On occasion she gets a bit crabby, but so far, she's slept and dealt with the whole ordeal pretty well.



She seems to have slipped back into her usual routine, except for when her parents leave her. She has recently had some issues with separation anxiety. Some of that has to do with her being without her parents for a week. As her Mama said, she sat in our laps every chance she could get for the first couple of weeks. Now she doesn't have to be in our laps, she just doesn't like it when we leave.

So every morning when her Mama gets out of the car to go to work, she cries. When I drop her off at the sitter's she cries. I'm sure this will continue until she gets readjusted.

Stair Climber

Unlike Ollie, Tori learned to climb the stairs by holding onto the rails fairly quickly. The gate at the foot of the stairs, therefore, has come down. She has mastered the technique, and when she is feeling lazy, she will wait for you to take her up. As for going down the stairs, we're still working on that one. Tori seems to think that she can just step off the landing and float to the bottom. Until she figures out the down part, the buckets will remain at the top of the stairs. Fortunately, for us, she rarely tries to climb over them or move them.

The Admirer

While Tori was at Grandma's house, she had an admirer. Just a few months older than her, the little boy liked to sit next to Tori and stroke her head or cheek whenever she fussed. Tori, meanwhile, wouldn't give him the time of day and seemed uninterested. She preferred watching Dora the Explorer.