Doc T Delivers Another Nephew for Tabitha

Sorry about the dearth of posts but I have a toddler now which means I am lucky to put together a complete sentence verbally, much less write it down. Those of you with toddlers know that the law of physics for toddlerhood is: For every action completed by an adult there is an extremely unequal and opposite reaction completed by the toddler. For example, you, the adult, see a cheerio on the floor that must have fallen there sometime in the last week and you, being the tidy person that you are, deposit it in the trash. This action means that sometime in the next 10 minutes your toddler will dump an entire box of cheerios on the floor (or eggs, or laundry detergent, or flour, or anything else that you absent mindedly put down as you rushed to get your toddler out of the trash that she has just removed from the can).

The big news this month is: Doc T delivers and baby Nicky made his debut, weighing in at 8 pounds and 10 ounces, 21 inches long. Big brother Natey, by all accounts, was not as thrilled as the rest of the family, telling them to not talk about the baby anymore. But hey, from a two-year-old’s point of view, a newborn is pretty under- whelming. Except when baby brother cried, Natey lamented that he couldn’t understand what the baby was saying. We don’t know either, Nate, but I can guess from my experience with boys, that he’s saying, “More food!” So, Tabitha, I have another grandson and you have another nephew. I hope that doesn’t make you feel too old. Of course, she doesn’t know enough English to fully express what it must feel like as those nieces and nephews keep coming. Wasn’t it just yesterday her sisters were babies?

She is adding to her vocabulary with rapid pace, however. She can say, “hush” to the dogs, “up” to be picked up, “bye” and “shoes” for the obvious, along with “Mama” and “Daddy” and some things I’m not sure about. I’ve heard her say, “diaper,” “bottle,” and “baby.“ She understands what we say to her as much as any typical 19 month old would. She is also learning other many useful skills like how to recycle. Unfortunately, she doesn’t know what to recycle, so you never know what you might find in the recycling bin (like her shoes).

Tabitha has finally begun to allow her daddy to pick her up and to hold her. Not only does she allow it--she demands it when he has a bowl of ice cream. I think he knows now to dip two bowls of ice cream if he expects to eat any.

She’s also making great strides in getting comfortable with the dogs. She helped me bathe one of the weenies and later felt of his soft ears and bopped him on the head with her toy. He might not have appreciated the progress but he does love kids and will tolerate tough love from them.