Up With People

We had a dinner party on Saturday for Fiona's French Tante Stephanie, who is visiting New York in September while she trains at Merrill Lynch.

Apparently, the party was a hit with Fiona. As guests arrived, she ran through our home waving her hands in the air and shouting "People! Yay, people!"

I think she may have even recognized one or two of those people, but it's nice to know she's such of general lover of humanity.

Great Moments in Phone Talk

Catching Up...

Recently, Andrea went out of town for the weekend, leaving Fiona alone with her father. For support, or at least just so I could have somebody around if I needed to take a shower or use a bathroom without worrying that the toddler was going to suddenly figure out how to turn on the gas, Daddy and daughter headed up to Grandma and Grandpa's new place in the Berkshires. Fiona loves being up in the Berkshires with her grandparents, in part because the porch door allows her to go in and out without having to go through the usual rigamarole of putting on shoes, climbing down the stairs, navigating the outside steps, etc. Or, at least, we thought she loved the experience, until Andrea called on Saturday evening and spoke to Fiona:

Andrea: Hi, Fiona!
Fiona: Hi.
Andrea: I miss you.
Fiona: It's Mommy!
Andrea: Are you having fun with Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa?
Fiona (in perfect toddler voice): No.

The Potty

Well, I promised myself I wouldn't fill this blog with detailed descriptions of my daughter's bodily functions, so I'll spare you the specific play-by-play, but Fiona used her potty for the first time today and was, um, successful, if a little disturbed by the realization that something different was going on.

And so the next adventure begins.

Word Games

There are some words that Fiona knows but refuses to say. The big one is, of course, "yes". We like to play a game with her where we ask her if she can say "yes." Fiona smiles and says "no." We play faster and faster, saying the word "yes" as much as we can while she says "no" in reply.

It's basically the only time the word "no" strikes us as cute.

The other word that Fiona knows but will not say is "Grandpa." She calls both her paternal grandparents "Grandma." We joke that Fiona has a very progressive family, to have two grandmas from that generation.

If we ask Fiona to point to Grandma, she always points to her Grandma. If we ask her to point to Grandpa, she also indicates the correct grandparent. But if we point to Grandpa and ask who that is, she says "Grandma!" (or "Gamma").

It's pretty clear that she's playing a game that she knows gets a rise out of people. When we got back from the Berkshires last night we played a game with her at dinner asking her what her favorite part of the trip was. Was it the trees? ("Trees!") The flowers? ("Flower!") Was it playing with Grandma? ("Gamma!") Was it playing with Grandpa? ("Gamma!" followed by a big smile)

The Nightmare at Pooh Corner

About once a month or so Fiona has a nightmare. She cries out, maybe whimpers for a few minutes. But when we go in to check on her, there's not much we can do, since she's just tossing and turning in her sleep and it could be even more disturbing to her to be awakened in the middle of an upsetting dream.

We did have to laugh on Sunday night in the Berkshires, however, when I went in to check on her during a nightmare and heard her moaning as she tossed with closed eyes: "Tigger! Tigger!"