Mirror Mirror on the Wall...

Mirror, Mirror, originally written By Shel Silverstein,

but modified by dad.

QUEEN:
Mirror, mirror on the wall... um, er... door.
Who is the scariest of them all ... for sure?

FATHER:
Hannah, Hannah, Hannah!
I’ve told you a million times tonight,
Stop talking to the mirror, all right!!!

QUEEN:
Daddy, Daddy by the door,
What would happen if I shampoo'd some MORE?
And then I splashed you wet with a crashing ROAR,
Your picture taking skills would still be horrible - red eye galore
My hair would be sudsy white with water froth all over the floor

MIRROR:
Hey … shampoo face, wooooooweee, YOU ARE GOOOOOD LOOKIN!.

QUEEN:
Oh yeah, you! Hey, Mirror, mirror on the wall.
Who is the scariest, sudsiest and funniest of them all?

MIRROR:
You--you--It’s true
The sudsiest of all is you--you--you.
(Whew!)

The 'Frisco Fro

Hannah, on Thursday night you were playing in the bath when all of a sudden you sat back and grew a big soapy bubblefro... Then earlier this afternoon, after coming home from a fun excursion to Citykids with Mom and Mom's friend Lisa, you raced up the front steps in a burst of smiling sweat, wearing nothing but your pants and what used to be your cute shirt wrapped around your head. When I opened the door, you laughed, and yelled, "Hi Dad! You like my Do-Rag? Hhahahahaha" and then raced into the house cackling before you could see my expression of disbelief. I wouldn't have believed it either, but I was there. All I can say is I like your style!

Tubbin' With Tanner

Oh Boy.

18 Month Check-Up

Hannah had her 18 month check-up today, which revealed a recent growth spurt! She's 33.75" tall/long, which put her in the 95th percentile, and 25 lbs 5 oz., which remained in line with her typical 75th percentile mark. She also apparently has a couple molars that are getting ready to pop through, although still just three teeth each on the bottom and top. This does not bode well for us in the sleep department - another "night terror" reared it's ugly head just last night (although this is the first in many weeks). The good news is she has generally been making it through the night, around 8pm-7+am, thanks in large part to her musical aquarium, which she'll turn on in the night to help sooth herself back to sleep. At this rate, she'll probably be drifting off to Metallica on her baby-iPod by Kindergarten (her dad's favorite sleep-inducing tunes, back in the day).

But she doesn't need Metallica to fuel her increasingly "spirited" personality. Dr. Piel warned me today that tantrums are the bastion of 18MO's, and sharing is a "3 year old" concept. This bolstered my increasing fear of my own child (she is still fun and adorable, usually...), but added a pinch of comfort, recognizing that Hannah's very low tolerance for sharing, and public outbursts of "NO!", are at least "normal," despite being embarrassing! Now if only the other kids and parents in her little world would just UNDERSTAND that, being a curious and active one-and-a-half-year-old, she really NEEDS to have everyone else's shovel, and everyone else's turn on the swing, or slide, or spinny-thing, which isn't even actually fun once you're on it apparently, but that won't stop her from going back as soon as some other kid is enjoying his/her turn on it... I mean, SERIOUSLY!...........

Here's a few shots from our day at SF's biggest sandbox, Ocean Beach, when it was blazing hot a couple weekends back. Needless to say, Hannah LOVES the sand (another thing we can't usually tear her away from without a battle). And along with that, loves to point out the moon (Goodnight Moon has become a nightly ritual these days), any passing airplanes, clouds, kites (which she mistook for moons at first). And as noted previously, her newly mastered colors - especially any blue ("Boo!") and yellow cars that might be passing by. It's pretty funny the things that kids will notice and pick out of a busy scene that we grown-ups have long since grown blind to. The best is when she's trying to show you something, or point it out on some high up shelf, and since her English isn't exactly crystal clear, it takes a while to figure out what she's talking about. But when it clicks, and you realize, Duh, of course - Cheerios! It's pretty awesome to realize that we're able to truly communicate to each other. Now if we could only convert a few more of those No's to Yes's! (In all fairness, she is really good at saying Sorry and Thank You too.)

17 Months: Jumping Jack Flash

Hannah turned 17 months old, so it's time again for a status update on all the things she's been up to lately. First of all, she continues to be her cheery self most of the time. She loves smiling at each and every stranger we pass by on the street, and loves to "bother" all the patrons of her favorite coffee shop (Martha Bros. on Clement) where Claudia always gives her a big smile and a treat. In fact, she's a little bit too friendly, especially with other little kids, whom she won't hesitate to go up and hug, usually much to their chagrin. I'm never sure if I should be apologetic to the parents for her unrequited love, but they are usually the ones apologizing when their toddlers, who are much more shy and don't like having their personal space invaded (rightfully so! where does she think she is - Europe??), give Hannah a chilly reception. But she just can't help it - so affectionate, giving out kisses to everyone, including her dolls, rubber bath toys, and even pictures in her books and other inanimate objects.

Speaking of books, Hannah is as vocal as ever and has added all kinds of new words and phrases to her vocabulary. Thanks to Memaw and Bapa's constant refrain of "How 'bout that?!" - Hannah's new favorite phrase is just that. "How-bow-da?" Whenever she's asked where something is, including Where's Hannah?, she replies with the sweetest little high pitch at the end, "IunNo...?", as if she really does not know. She knows her Memaw and Bapa live in "'Cago," which she now always says after she mentions their names. When handing us her trash, she always says, "Ja-Joo" (or Thank You). And in games of chase, she loves to growl "I got you!" (this sounds just like it is), even when it's really us chasing and catching her. Her all-time favorite book lately has been Maisy's Amazing Book of Words, which definitely has had a hand in her vocabulary development. She will try to repeat back to you just about any word you ask her to (some come out better than others), but can point out practically every item in this book by name. And she really loves to point out each item, when come across, on the other pages where it can be found, as she frantically flips back to the back cover or page where she knows it also resides. If you don't have this book, get it! Oh, and her two new favorite animal sounds? "Goggle goggle," "Cock-a-do-do," and "Wakka-wakka" (ok, so that last one is her Fozzy Bear imitation, but it still counts as an animal sound, right?).

Besides talking and "reading," one of her other favorite activities is creating "Artwork," which she can now safely perform in the bathtub thanks to these little messy drippy crayons. As the pictures show, she takes her punk artwork very seriously...















Dancing and hiding/peek-a-boo remain consistent favorites as well. She loves peeking around any corner, barely catching your eye, or her own in the mirror!








And whenever she gets the chance, she loves JUMPING! She'll stand there in position and do the countdown before she makes the leap (although her countdown is more like "Two-two-two" vs. 1-2-3..) As we've always suspected, she is definitely going to be a thrill-seeker kinda girl. Scary....

Last but not least, she is sleeping. Not always quite as much as we'd like her too, but she seems to have transitioned to the one-a-day nap on most days, and makes it through the night half the time, maybe? Every week is different, so it's hard to say really. There is certainly the occasional "night terror" (usually around 10/11pm), and also the occasional 3/4am bottle-call. As for waking up to face the day, well, some days are better than others...