Taylorisms

Taylor has so many idiosyncrasies (that's a spelling bee word if I ever knew one!) that make her our Taylor. I want to record some of these to capture the cute little things she does.

Her words:

When I write our "Talks with Taylor", I write them exactly as she has said them. Her vocabulary is and enunciation is pretty amazing to me. I know I'm so modest. Really, her verbal skills shouldn't come as a surprise given how chatty her Daddy and I are. But, her wide range of words and her ability to pronounce them like yesterday she asked me "Where are we going to go after we go to the pharmacy"? WHAT???? pharmacy? And, maybe I've used that word with her before, but I certainly didn't use that word that day.

Despite her strong verbal skills, she still says "Nookie" for "Music". I think it is sooooo cute! In fact she said "Music" one time during Thanksgiving Dinner and I remember almost crying because it was one of the few things about her that is still babyish. No longer saying "Nookie" would mean she's one step closer to being a BIG GIRL. Apparently, I couldn't control my feelings and I immediately gasped and said "she just said "Music" I'm so sad!". She's said it as Nookie ever since. That was the one and only time she has said "Music".

Her independence:

She is definitely little miss independent. She insists on "putting the lid on" every. single. time. we pour her milk. We never even consider putting it on, now. It's a given to us that she'll put it on herself, but before we even make it to the fridge to get the milk (and for the record, it's rice milk, yes she's still allergic to Cow's Milk and Soy), she's telling us "I want to put the lid on".

Her routines:

When she was a newborn, I created a song for her for after bathtime. I realize you don't get the tune but here are the words: (I sing this as I wrap her in a towel and carry her to her bedroom)
Wrap up my baby, wrap her up.
Wrap up my baby and keep her nice and warm.

Well, several months ago, she started to sing along with me. Then, a few months ago, when I would sing "to keep her nice and warm", she said "No, I'm cold". Not long after that, the next time I wrapped her and started singing, "Wrap up my baby..." She interrupted and said "No, wrap up my big girl. I'm a big girl, I'm not a baby". Yeah, that time I did have tears. :(

We have some other little routines that she insists on. And heaven forbid we should stray from our routines. When I drop her off at preschool she heads straight for the swings (she gets that from me, I have always loved to swing on the swings). I give her a hug and a kiss and then she tells me she wants to go "high up in the sky". I push her 3 times, while counting and then I say goodbye.

At bedtime, we read stories (I have to tell her to choose 3 books or she'll take every book off her shelf and put it on my lap). We sit in the rocking chair while we read. We listen to the same CD every night and the 4th song is an alphabet song. I tell her "when they sing Zebra it's time for Taylor to go in her crib" (yes, she's still in a crib! Hopefully I'll be posting about her big girl bed soon). She'll even talk through the song sometimes and then she'll say "They didn't say Zebra!" Um, yeah they did, you just didn't hear it!

The way she plays with her dolls:

And of course, I can't talk about Taylorisms without talking about her love for her babies. I have never seen a kid who loves dolls as much as she does. She has like 5 million of them. And, at any given time, they're are probably about 4 of them (at least) "asleep" on the flooir in various places throughout our house. Most of the time, they are in very prominent places, such as right in front of the fridge, or the dishwasher. The whole baby "naptime" process involves turning out the lights (we often argue about the fact that we need the lights on if we're cooking! She then lays the doll or stuffed animal on the floor finding a "danket" which can be anything from one of her blankets or a dish towel or napkin that she has confiscated from the kitchen drawer. She then carefully covers the baby with the "danket" and almost always covers their head. She then sits beside them one at a time, and rubs their back gently while telling them - no ordering them - "Close your eyes. Close your eyes!". I guess they eventually fall asleep because then she gets upset with us if we talk too loudly and says "shhhh, my babies are sleeping!". When the mood strikes her, she flips all the lights on and says "OK, wake up! Everybody, time to wake up now!".

Oh, she really is entertaining! She is so sweet and such a joy to have as a daughter. I'm really lucky to be her mom.