Last week included a couple important firsts.
First (uh-huh, uh-huh) C. now has some teeth. As of Sunday evening, depending on your definition, she had between two and six teeth. Her two front, top teeth were the first to pop through and are very visible now. One of her other upper teeth is peeking through. Then, at least two bottom teeth had pushed through by this afternoon, although it was tough to see them. If you could get your finger into her mouth, though, you could sure feel them. One of her favorite games of late has been smacking people in the face when she’s happy. I have a feeling she’s going to crawl up and bite me in the next few days.
Then, M. had her first haircut. We were finding small rodents and birds living in her ‘fro, so it was time to hack it back a little. It was a home job, and although S. took maybe an inch off, that must have been a heavy inch because her hair looks a ton shorter now. I guess it was getting to be too much and the curls were collapsing. Now, they’re nice and tight again. All I’ll say about the actual haircut was it was pretty much a disaster. We’re not taking her to a haircut place, or a dentist for that matter, any time soon. If I haven’t posted before/after pics yet, I’ll do that soon.
Some other kid tidbits below.

C. crawls like a madgirl. She’s seriously dangerous. She covers so much ground she surprises you sometimes. I propped her up against her walker this evening, and with a little support from dad, she pushed it all the way across the room. I have a feeling she’s going to be walking long before her sister did (13 months). All of a sudden Saturday, she started clapping as well. My wife tells me that’s advanced. I’ve realized on kid #2 I can’t keep track of milestones like that anymore. Too tired, too frustrated, been there, done that. I kid, of course. It is harder to keep track because all of M.’s milestones kind of run together and when C. does something, I think, “Now when did M. do that and what is the average?” Then, I realize figuring out the answers means getting up and I stay seated.
M. has a new favorite word: sure. Or, as she says it, “sewr.” Kind of like sewer without the second E. She says it 75% of the time you ask her a question now. “You want some crackers?” “Sewr.” “You want to color?” “Sewr.” “You want to work on your multiplication tables?” “No Daddy, that silly!” The best is when she says it in a totally dismissive manner. “Hey M., you want to help daddy pick up toys.” “Sewr,” without looking up from whatever she’s doing. It’s a courtesy answer at best, a blow-off answer more likely.
She is losing some of her other funny pronunciations, which is kind of sad. Her F’s are getting much better. Occasionally, her old, mock-southern accent will kick in. She still can’t say oatmeal without sounding like she’s from Arkansas. “Daddy, can I have oat-mail cooookie?” Maybe it’s because I love that so much I reinforce it by saying it back to her. “You want an oat-mail cookie, M.?” “Sewr.”
I love her random outbursts. At a red light the other day, she said something along the lines of this.
“Oh, it a red light. When it turn green, we say “Go people!” Den the people go home to dey houses, say hi to dey doggies, dey lay down, dey close their eyes and go night-night. Yeah, people silly daddy.”
She’s also stuck on Old McDonald. She takes the melody, adds any words, and walks around “singing” it over-and-over. This afternoon she was singing something about people taking their doggies for walks, all to the tune of Old McDonald. It’s also her alarm clock. We usually let her talk for awhile in the morning, so we don’t get Angry Toddler. We know she’s ready to get up when she starts singing “E-I-E-I-O” at the top of her lungs. One morning, C. was jabbering away in her room, M. heard her, and this followed”
“OH, DAT C.! I HEAR YOU, C.! I HEAR YOU SINGING! E-I-E-I-O!!!!!!”
Finally, Saturday both girls were napping, M. getting into her third hour and C. tenuously trying to get past 30 minutes. C. either stood up and fell against the railing, or had a bad dream, but she woke up screaming. As we raced upstairs, we heard the following outburst from M.’s room:
“IT OK C.! WE’RE COMIN’ TO GET YOU! HANG ON, C.!”
Sadly, despite looking out for her sister, she was not ready to get up. When we tried, we had 30 minutes of angry toddler. You other parents of toddlers out there know exactly what I’m talking about. I’m beginning to see why people drink a lot.