Lots of Cecilia Stories

A number of stories about Cecilia, since I haven't posted some in a while, and she's been an active little girl. Just as a teaser of what's in store, I'll talk about Monkey Girl, "Fell on his nuts", Sun Bathing, Singing, Hexagons, Spray Swapping, Bert & Ernie, and some other little stories.

Cecilia climbed out of her crib recently when she was supposed to be in "time out". She had figured out the first part of her journey, but hadn't the foresight to consider the latter part of adventure (the way down the other side). She got out, but fell down the other side. Maria thought she heard Cecilia a little too well for her to be in her crib in time-out, and opened the door only to find her standing right there. Sure, I think it's too bad that she fell, and it probably didn't feel too great to fall all that way, but that's not my point here. I just have to laugh to myself to consider how she might have looked doing that little tumble down the opposite side of her crib. I chuckle, but then remember that it probably hurt, and that she's my daughter, so I feel guilty, then I laugh again. It's a vicious cycle. In addition to her ability to now climb out of her crib (which she's only done that once), she's also become fairly resourceful with other pieces of equipment. You can find her in her room climbing a rocking chair to adjust the blinds, in the front room trying to scale the entertainment center, or even pushing her little chair around to use as a stepping stool. It's pretty cool to watch, although slightly annoying as she gets into things.

We went to an arena football game lately and were amused by the mascot at one point.

Cecilia usually enjoys the mascots. She talks about them for the longest time afterwards. The testosterone in me wants her to notice certain plays, and events in the game, not the little skits and tricks aimed to amuse the children. Oh well

The mascot was doing a little balancing on one of the dividers and slipped. He fell squarely between his legs, and either feigned or experienced some slight discomfort. Days later, recalling the football game and the clever mascot, she pointed out that he "Fell on his nuts".

I don't personally recall having said that out loud, since it'd be on par with pointing out a car accident while passing the wrecked cars on the freeway. Duh, there's a wreck, that's why we all slowed down. Duh, he fell on his nuts, even I'm in pain watching him do that.

With her having said that, it was yet another reminder about how I should watch what I say. She's a little sponge in soaking everything up. It's nuts. ;)

The weather has vastly improved from what it was this winter. One day, Maria and Cecilia were on the porch, enjoying the nice weather. At one point in the middle of blowing bubbles, Cecilia asked if Maria would bring out her mat. This is a little tarp that we previously placed under her chair at the table to help catch things in the splash zone, and not ruin the carpet. Maria took it out for her, and Cecilia laid down on the mat, explaining that she was sun-bathing. Not sure where she learned that, but whatever. Pretty cute.

Cecilia loves to sing. She loves listening to music and seems to soak it up. She'll ask you to make the music "louder" if you're talking while it's on. She'll sing song after song, literally. Right after polishing off "Old MacDonald", she'll roll right in to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" or "Down by the Bay" or a children's hymn. She'll frequently roll off a number of songs before calling it quits. It's pretty amazing to see how much she remembers, or even how quickly she learns songs that she's only heard a few times.

Shapes. She's all about them, for some reason. She knows her basic shapes, like squares, circles, triangles, rectangles and other things like that. We were dining at a friend's house and we were about to have dessert. One of the trivets was still on the table near her. She pointed at it and said, "Hexagon!"

This one I'm slightly embarrassed about. I'm afraid I'll have kids that are freaks of nature, either because they're so book smart that they'll be social retards, or that they'll be so dumb that they'll be in the same boat. I'm in favor of intelligent kids, but knowing what a hexagon is at the age of 2? Slow down, turbo.

Square? Circle? Triangle? Rectangle? Oval? Heart? Diamond? Sure. Hexagon? Dodecahedron? Let's go sit you in front of the idiot box for a while so you can stop learning for a bit.

We have some aerosol spray in our bathroom for uh… when necessary. We have two different scents available, but only one in each bathroom. We originally had pineapple in ours, and clean linen in the other. I decided that I didn't care for the pineapple (because it smells worse than what it's trying to cover up) and swapped it with the scent in the other bathroom. Little did I know that the poo spray fairy would come and swap them back. I kid you not, that Cecilia has now taken back her Clean Linen scent and ridded herself of the pineapple one 3 times. Each time I think I've finally got her to understand it (even after talking with her about it), but of course I haven't accomplished anything. There it is again the next time I look. It's really funny, each time.

Sesame Street is a regular show at our house. Cecilia gets to watch it each day. She really likes it, and I feel it's far less annoying than other shows that she could be requesting. (thanks to TiVo for always having a fresh supply for us each day). She has taken to the show quite a bit. She now calls herself Ernie, at times. It's not always, but she'll get into a little… groove, I guess, where she only wants to call herself and others (Maria and I) by names of people on Sesame Street. Although she may have taken the character I would most like to be (Ernie), at least I don't get called the name of the socially awkward, pigeon-loving, oatmeal-eating Bert, like Maria gets. I'm not too pleased with my name though, since I'm Zoe. Zoe was/is stupid enough to have a pet rock. Those things went out with the early 80's, people. Let's move on! Cecilia gets mad if you don't call her Ernie while she's in this groove. (in case you're ever curious what any character on the show says, you can ask her, and she'll tell you their tag line)

In addition to all of these things, there are a few other little things that are kinda fun:

• She now can go up stairs by herself. She's a bit of a chicken when it came to doing this, so we're pleased she moved on.
• Cecilia can now (within limits) put on her own clothes. It's kinda fun, but annoying at the same time, since she feels the obligation to show whichever parent is in the other room how she can put her arm through the hole, or her legs into her pants.
• Although she hasn't actually used the toilet for it's actual purpose, she at least now requests to sit on it. I don't know if I'll let you know when she actually uses it correctly.
• After 10 minutes of not believing us that toast with jam was tasty, Cecilia gave in and tried a little tiny piece, semi-gagging while she did it. After that one little bite, she snarfed down the rest of it. Kids, logic, reason, and food don't go together.

I'm sure there's something else I could mention, but I think this is long enough now. Thanks for letting me share! :)