Bits and Pieces of Our Trip

And here are a few other things that happened.

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Over the course of the week, Peeper made huge strides in her language development. We thought she repeated everything before, but now she really does. And composes her own two-word sentences.

She also learned, finally, to say "Shan-tah. Taws!" It's very deliberate, and she usually says at random times for practice, I guess, and mostly still calls him "Humhummuh!" when she actually sees him, but she's sometimes calling him "Santa." We're proud of the new development, of course, but will kind of miss "Humhummuh."

She's also learned to say "ice cream," so no more "Chchch-khkhkh."

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DaNiece hates hats. Unless she can cover her eyes with them and then try to walk. While we were preparing to open gifts, BabyBro put an adult-sized Santa hat on her head, she pulled it down over her face and took off across the room. This might be a risky activity for anyone, but for someone who's only been walking for about six weeks, and is headed straight for the stone fireplace hearth, it's particularly parent-panicking. Evidently she does this with blankies, too, and BabyBro does not seem to be too thrilled about it.

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Peeper helped me to make some pies (following Anonygrandma's step-by-step instructions). Later that evening, I was sitting in the kitchen when she walked over and pointed at something (the arm of the chair, maybe?) and said "Off! Off!" then something about, I don't know, Elmo?

I wasn't understanding what she wanted, so she walked away, then turned to come back and said "Towel!"

There was a dishtowel on the counter, hanging over the edge where she could reach it, so I suggest she get that one.

She brought it over, handed it to me and again said, "Off! Elbow!" and pointed at my arm.

I looked and, sure enough, there was pumpkin pie filling on my sleeve, right at my elbow.

I used the towel she'd brought and cleaned it off.

Later, when telling the story to Shrike, I asked her, "What was on Mama's elbow?" "Pie!" What kind?" "Pumpkin!"

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Peeper spent much of the week chasing my parents' two cats. At one point, she was saying to one of them, "Pet! Pet! Peeeaze!"

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Peeper ate chips and chili con queso dip for dinner three nights in a row. Oh wait, so did I.

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She also ate a great deal of pie. So did I.

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Peeper was playing in the other room while I was making one of the pies. There was a top-heavy-stick-blender incident, which threw a bunch of raw egg and Splenda onto the floor. I cleaned it up rather perfunctorily, but thought that it was good enough for the time being. Right after that, Peeper walked into the room, and as soon as she got to that spot, she stopped and said "Uh oh!"

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This was one of the first signs of her new concern with things that have spilled in the floor. Whether she spilled them or just discovered them, she says "Uh oh!" and asks for a towel to clean them up. Anonymama says she just started this while visiting because, with our dogs around, nothing stays in the floor long enough to be noticed at our house!

Back home now, more than once I've been tipped off that something's going on when I've suddenly heard, "Uh oh! Towel!" from the other room.

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Despite her normally emphatic protestations against diaper changes, over the course of the week, Peeper told me, not once, not twice, but three times that she was poopy and needed a new diaper. And then she lay still while I changed it! I texted the news to Mommy and asked her to add stickers to the potty chart.

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At one point, we were sitting in Frappa's van waiting for her, and Peeper started trying to crawl into the front seat, while saying, "No, (Peeper)!"

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It seems like there were a million other little things that happened that made me say "Oh, I need to blog that," but this is all I can remember at the moment.