Little Miss Manners

Taylor's surgery was one year ago this week.  That was the scariest, most exciting day in my life.  If it's possible to feel a mix of accomplishment, dread, worry, elation, agony, and anticipation, all rolled up into one big ball of nerves, that was surgery day for me.  Taylor's Dad, on the other hand, was pretty calm, all things considered.  He does surgery for his profession, so it wasn't as intimidating for him as it was for me.

Some friends of ours have a surgery day coming up soon for their little guy.  They came to visit us recently and we tried to prepare them and reassure them of the good things in store for them and their son.  Thinking of how far we have come in this past year brings tears of joy to my eyes.  Sharing Taylor's successes with another family was so wonderful.  If we helped them in any way worry less, hurt less, or know that their son will have an amazing life, then we are thrilled to be able to do that.


These are some of Taylor's recent accomplishments:

Burp, saying "excuse me"  (She must have gotten that from her father.)

Sneeze, babysitter says "bless you", Taylor replies "thank you!"

At a drive-in restaurant, a guy walks by and she says "Who's that?"  followed by "Where's my Hot Dog?"

She is doing lots of requesting, mainly around food.  "Hot dog, apple juice, candy, drink"

Last night, she smelled my glass of wine and said "Mommy juice."  Exactly right and stay away, please!

There are also many questions.  "Where'd Daddy go?"  "Where's Derek"  "What's that?"

I'm waiting for the "Why"'s to begin.  No hurry there.  We're in a stage of "MINE"!  If Derek or any other child touches Taylor's food, toys, chair, shoes, etc. (on down the list), there are a flurry of MINE's that come out of her mouth.  Pretty typical of a 2-year old.

I have to admit that we as parents have been a little softer on Taylor than we were on Derek for that kind of behavior.  Let's face it... if she didn't hear until she was 15 months, we had to give her some catch-up time before we felt like she understood at her appropriate age level what we were saying.  Then, we went through a period of feeling glad she could say anything, even if it was "No" and "Mine" over and over again.   Now, Taylor Kay, I have to warn you -- Mommy and Daddy know you know what we're saying and and we are going to be tough critics from now on!!   Love, Your MOM and DAD (not softies)