The other child

So many of my recent blogs have been about Leif. Yes, I do have another child, a girl child, named Skadi.

She will be two in about a month and a half and has fully embraced the terrible two's.

I fear this is one of those times when I said repeatedly that the terrible two's didn't exist for Leif and that I didn't know where that statement came from - that karma is biting me hard. We will see what happens when Skadi hits two officially. I might be pleasantly surprised. Or not.

Skadi is at that funny stage where she is developing her own statements and mannerisms. She has this way with telling you something very important where she opens her eyes wide and nods her head as she tells you as if it is the most important thing she will ever say. And it is too freaking adorable.

She has a few trademarked statements, one that has stuck with the.entire.family.

"NNnnnnnnnnnnO!" You have to really string out the "nnnn" part (for about three full seconds) and then a short but loud "O".

This is most often used in conjunction with another word.

"Weif".

"NnnnnnnnnnnnnO Weif!" is the most common phrase to hear leave her little lips. And she has to point her finger and shake it when she says it.

None of us can say no normally anymore.

There are two other words that she utters regularly:

Elmo. This one she has down pat and has for some time. She loves the furry red monster and for some reason even likes the mime's Mr Noodle and his brother Mr. Noodle. She regularly laughs at them and sighs, "Mr. Nooooodo!"

The other one is a new one - DoWa.

Leif kind of lived in his own world and didn't soak up much from other kids his age were into for a long time. I did say he used to right - because this isn't the case now. Leif went OCD with Curious George for well over a year. Before that it was Nemo. Then Monsters. He would watch one thing and one thing only forever, repeats and all. Then one day he would be done with it. And his preferences never had a bit to do with what other kids liked.

Skadi is a different beast. I put a Disney Princesses t-shirt on her that she received from family friends for Christmas. She actually smiled once the shirt was on her, pointed to her belly and said, "Princess shirt!" I didn't know she knew princesses.

Same thing with DoWa. Leif was playing Deigo and Dora games on NickJr the other day. Skadi walked up and quite loudly squealed, "DOWA!!"

So apparently she likes Dora. Leif has some competition for his TV time (finally) - maybe there will exist some balance with Transformers.

(Transformers, more than meets the eye. Transformers robots in disguise. Autobots rage their battle to destroy the evil forces of the decepticon! Transformers!)