Howling at the Trees

Sophie is very close to speaking. While she says "up" and "hi" very well most of her vocabulary is proto-words. Lots of half syllables:
buh = book
hah = hat
blah = blackberry

Oh yes, my one year old says Blackberry. As soon as she sees it hanging from my belt she tries to rip it out of its holster and play with the buttons. If the Blackberry is sitting on the table during a meal she won't eat and will just grab for it from her high chair whining "blah! blah! blaaaaaah!"

Not everything is a word she also woofs at dogs. Whenever she sees or hears a dog she will start woofing. It is really adorable. Apparently all squirrels fall into this category too. When we go for a bike ride she'll woof at every squirrel we pass. I've tried to correct her but I can't think of what sound a squirrel would make that she would want to mimic.

She knows that Noodles isn't a dog and doesn't woof at her but instead calls her by her name or at least the closest facsimile she can come up with.

On an unrelated note: I had to reprimand Genevieve at dinner tonight because she was talking back to Carrie. She turned to me with an incredibly serious expression and asked, "Daddy, do you know what I'm going to dream about tonight?" "No, Genevieve, what are you going to dream about?" "Me not talking to you!"

*sigh*

Let it Slide

We got a new slide toy for the kids. Our backyard looks like we run a daycare, but the kids enjoy playing outdoors so it is definitely worth it.

Bad Advice

Many of you are familiar with Paprika, Genevieve's trusty sidekick decked out in a pink bunny suit. Most experts agree that your child having a lovey, an inanimate object that they love, love, love, is a good thing. I have yet to find any research on what to do when that same lovey starts giving your child bad advice. Lately I've been hearing things like, "Paprika says this food isn't good for me and I shouldn't eat it." "Paprika said that I can watch three videos." "Paprika says that you should drive through red lights." The last one happened this morning and surprised me a little. Paprika had always seemed like such a nice stuffed bear and now she was telling Genevieve bad and dangerous things. What next? Paprika says we should start doing animal sacrifices in the backyard? What do you do when your child's bear becomes a bad influence? I tried to gently explain to Genevieve that Paprika may not know what she is talking about. She took great offense at this. "I didn't say it; Paprika did! And she does know what she is talking about!" So now I'm not sure who's crazy: Genevieve for listening to the voices coming from her stuffed animals or me for arguing with her about it.

In other news, Sophie got a very nice chair for her birthday. She and Genevieve are pretty good at taking turns in it and sharing it, although some times Sophie does crawl over the back while Genevieve is in it and forcefully claims her territory.