Old News

Sophie (still Sophie, not Tegel, "Sophie Tegel" maybe, and just sometimes "Tegel," and usually when her mother's calling her, 'cause I can get behind "Sophie Tegel" but just plain "Tegel" is too great a leap), Sophie cottoned onto birthdays just a month or so too late.

It was when she was two years and one month old that she started really noticing the extreme coolness of balloons, streamers, presents and cakes that seemed to be happening with great frequency in the party room(s) of Jungle Java.

"No, no" we'd have to tell her, "We can't go in there, that's somebody's birthday party."

"My birthday na-ow?" she'd ask plaintively. (Or perhaps I'm just imagining the plaintiveness).

"No, goose," I'd say, "Your birthday isn't for another ten months. And we can't do anything special for you till then because it's against the law and if we tried it the police might come and take away all your birthdays for good."

Okay, I never said that.

If we thought we could attract more that a couple of kids to a party we might even consider renting out a room.

---------------

Sometime last week, the sun was shining and she agitated for going outside. So outside we went. And with us came: a ball, a pushcart, several stuffed animals, her own folding chair and a small table, some plastic tubs from her room, and play-doh and cookie cutters. And her tricycle. And a push-bike.

Later she asked for some food ("Daddy, my eat na-ow?") so I served her some milk and fruit and "cookies" (crackers).

She thought this was the greatest thing ever.

"Daddy, my happy birthday na-ow!" she said, and clapped.

A banker or shop owner in the making?

Tegel (no longer Sophie, which is hard to break), has an uncanny sense of money for a two year old. She clearly understands that money has value: she always wants the money in my wallet (although she doesn't really know what to do with it once she has it). And when she is at pretend stores, she understands perfectly that the money can be exchanged for goods. Today at the children's museum, I couldn't drag her away from the cash register with the pretend money and plastic fruits and vegetables.

quickly leaving toddlerhood behind

I just got over the fact that Sophie is no longer a baby. Nowadays she's looking more like a small girl than toddler.

Canoeing on the lake

This morning was lovely. It was ideal spring/summer weather and the nearby lake was still but full of life. Sophie's been watching people canoe, or as she says kayak, around the river and lake and has really been wanting to go herself. So this morning we went to the livery and rented a canoe. We met one of Sophie's school buddies there and we all went canoeing. Beside ducks and geese, we saw a lot of turtles sunning themselves. Nobody fell overboard and no canoes tipped over.

After the canoeing, we played in the sandbox and playground until we were exhausted. At home, I took off her shoes, changed her into another shirt, and she walked over to her crib and waited for me to put her in.

children's garden

There's a new park in town that is part garden, part play area for kids. I love it because they don't just have a bunch of plastic play structures (although there is still clearly a lot of plastic going on). My favorite part was finding "gems" in the sandbox. It seems that it is understood that after you find them, you hide them for somebody else to find. Sophie loved hiding them for others to find almost as much as she enjoyed finding them.

back to see the birds (and extra critters)

Sophie (who now completely calls herself Tegel) really liked the birds so we went back to see them again. We got lucky again because not only did we get to see the birds but we also saw and petted a wallaby. The critter house was open. Inside Tegel found a bunny to pet and checked out the turtles, again.

Categories of birds

Yesterday on the way to go see the birds again, we started talking about the kinds of birds we would see: eagle, vulture, and owl. Then I asked her what are some other kinds of birds, not expecting her to answer. She said chicken. Wow, yes, chicken is a bird. Then she said duck. Oh my gosh. I have a baby-genius riding in the back of the car with me, who has gotten the idea that animals can be organized into categories. Next she said cow.