Monthly Archives: November 2015

She’s Gets it from her Mommy!

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Quinn and Me on Thanksgiving 2015

Shortly after my little girl was born two and a half years ago, the unsolicited comments and votes began pouring in. “She looks just like her daddy!” “Well, she’s kind of a mix of the both of you, but I see her dad more than you.” “Sorry, Tanya. Quinn is her daddy’s twin!” Though I must agree with the consensus, now that my daughter is getting older and expressing herself more, I am beginning to notice some of my personality traits along with my facial expressions in Quinn. On Thanksgiving, my sister confirmed that I am not the only one who has noticed this. She took a picture of Quinn and me, and as I looked at it, I noticed that we both had the same facial expressions. Though it is a funny grimace that I often had as a child (It took me years to learn how to smile properly in photos.), it melted my heart to see a little bit of me in her. I am so thankful for our mother and daughter bond and hope that I continue to see some more of my positive attributes within Quinn.

All the best,

Tanya

Time for a check-up! My Daughter’s first visit to the dentist

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Quinn showing the dentist how to brush the dinosaur’s teeth

Though it is not uncommon for children and even adults to fear the dentist, I’ve always looked forward to my appointments, especially when I was younger and received a prize for doing a good job brushing my teeth. However, since my daughter turned one and had almost all of her teeth except the back molars, I prolonged the inevitable: her first dental appointment. As a result of her experiences with doctor’s visits which usually involved vaccinations, Quinn would often become quite distraught when she would see the doctor headed her way, regardless of how friendly he was. Now that my little one’s back molars came in months ago, I knew I had to make an appointment and just endure the crying and fearful look on her face.

Actually our appointment was last week went extremely well. She followed all of the instructions by the dentist and opened her mouth wide, said “ah,” smiled, displaying all of her teeth and even showed her how to brush teeth. I was very impressed. Apparently, I was more fearful than Quinn was because after her appointment she told me, “Mommy, I love going to the Dentist! Can we come back tomorrow?” Every day, Quinn manages to surprise me. She really is growing up so quickly. I am hopeful that she will continue to love going to the dentist.

Al the best,

Tanya

Halloween’s Over: Now, the “trick” is figuring out what to do with all of those treats!

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2015-11-13 16.17.35Though my daughter is only two and a half, she fully understands the concept of Halloween and was eager to go trick or treating this year. We actually had a few different outings, Boo at the Zoo, Please Touch Museum’s monster mash and actual trick or treating throughout the neighborhood. She could barely contain her excitement saying, “Oh yeah, I love Halloween! Look at all this candy!” In that moment, I was torn because as much as I enjoyed seeing that smile on her face and hearing that joy in her voice, I just knew we were going to have a problem. Either she was going to want to eat it all in one sitting, or she would be throwing major fits if I did not permit her to eat “her” candy.

As a parent and health conscious person, I always offer Quinn healthy, yummy fruits and rarely let her eat candy, but that doesn’t stop her from wanting it and asking for a lollipop in her sweetest voice with those big brown eyes, hoping to persuade me. Interestingly, Quinn has not been all that interested in eating the candy as much as she has been in sorting and counting it. Everyday since Halloween, she has asked, “Mommy, can I sort my candy please?” She especially likes sorting and counting how many lollipops or how many bags of Skittles she has (She’s never even had Skittles). With a handful of lollipops in her hand, she will ask, “Can you guess how many lollipops I have, Mommy?” Transferring them from one hand to the other, she proudly says, “I have, one, two, three, four, five, six lollipops!” I’ve even observed her sorting based on the colors of the candy wrappers. What a fun way to learn!

While I tend to not eat candy, this time of the year does bring out the “junk food junkie” in me, and as much as I try to resist, I do find myself taking a piece of candy here and there from Quinn’s bowl. With all of her counting and sorting, I have a feeling that she will eventually realize that some specific candies are missing. When she does, I will definitely have to fess up and let my candy accountant know that she’s caught me.

All the best,

Tanya

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Mother May I? Yes, You May! My Toddler is Ahead of the Game!

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Quinn Using Mommy's iPad after saying, "Mommy, may I use your iPad?"

Quinn Using Mommy’s iPad after saying, “Mommy, may I use your iPad?”

When I was younger, I loved to play the game “Mother May I?” However, today, with the lack of regard for standard English,  I do wonder if it is now called, “Mother Can I?” While I do appreciate the idea of the younger generation and even my generation becoming well-versed with slang, text language and abridged spellings of words, as an English professor and someone who sees the importance of knowing not only slang but standard English, I worry that standard English will be viewed as obsolete by my daughter and that it will impact her ability to thrive in school and the work force. With this in mind, I’ve been making a conscious effort to speak properly around my two and half year old so that she will mimic my speech and apply it when she is in a school or work setting as she gets older.

So far, it appears to be working because I’ve noticed that Quinn will often say, “Mommy, may I have some milk?” “Mommy, may we go to the playground?” or “Mommy, may I use your iPad?”Just hearing her say, “Mommy, may I…” makes me want to honor whatever her request may be with a proud, “Yes you may!” I hope she doesn’t catch on to how excited I am about this and try to use it to get whatever she “may” want.

All the best,

Tanya

Thanks to My Toddler, Our Super Grover Pumpkin Won the Contest!

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Quinn at the Pumpkin Contest with Super Grover

Quinn at the Pumpkin Contest with Super Grover

Last week, I posted entries all about the autumn fun my two year old daughter and I have been having. One of them was about painting and decorating our pumpkin we got from our pumpkin patch excursion to look like Super Grover from Sesame Street. Initially, we just did it as a fun activity and selected Grover as Quinn’s favorite character, but then, my college sent out an advertisement for a pumpkin decorating contest, so I thought it would be wonderful to enter our pumpkin and for Quinn to come up to the school to see the other pumpkins too. I was not sure what to expect, but there were some great pumpkins that certainly gave our Super Grover some competition: a gumboil machine, tin man and cowardly lion and even a pirate ship. Quinn eagerly pointed to all of the different pumpkins and was really fascinated by the one right next to ours which was a huge carved pumpkin that she referred to as the scary one winking at her. Though I was nervous about where would we place in the contest, Quinn was just happy to be there. Actually, we managed to get first place for funnest pumpkin and won a $50 gift card, which was a great surprise. It felt so nice to have our hard work acknowledged. I am already excited about what we may do next year and looking forward to this becoming a tradition for Quinn and me.

All the best,

Tanya