Its all over now.
Addison now says “I need….”. As in “I need dat backpack (of Noah’s that he is using right now and contains expensive electronics that should not be touched by 1 year old fingers)” and “I need you lap” and other definite wants, not needs. How do kids learn this stuff?
When Addison was barely speaking, one of her first phrases was “I want” while pointing at TV commercials. None of the other kids do this, how did she learn it? Are these things burned into the collective consciousness?
Then there is “I do.”. I do: get herself dressed, undressed, wipe her own butt, make her own lunch, buckle and unbuckle her carseat, climb up into my lap, climb into the car and then into the carseat. Half of the things she CANT do, in fact. But she HAS TO try before she will ask for help.
And close cousin of I do is: not THIS dress, not THIS bowbow. Not THOSE shoes. Thankfully right now she just will not go up to her room to pick out her own clothes otherwise I am sure she’d change a million times a day.
I think when they wrote the books about two year olds, they had her in mind. she is head-strong, determined, incredibly independent, motivated and insistent. Thankfully she is not a fit-thrower otherwise I’d be way too stressed out to blog.


April 2nd, 2008 at 3:51 pm
haha, it’ medo not i do!
[Reply]
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:57 pm
No, I think its “my do”
[Reply]
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:31 pm
ahhh, we are SO in this phase right now, except our youngest says “I do it self”…then, if he is unable to complete the task, he says “mama do it self”. Of course, he IS a fit thrower, although we’re getting more growling (???) now than throwing himself flat out on the floor :).
[Reply]
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:04 pm
I have been lurking on your site for a while now and I thought I would “out myself”. I am a fellow AP to 2 kids now 14mths old from VN. I have to say that your children are beautiful and these last pictures are some of my favorites. I enjoy reading your blog and if you would like an invite to mine drop me an e-mail. Best regards.
Jen
[Reply]
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:48 pm
You probably don’t but I think every thing you wrote is cute!
[Reply]
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:01 pm
The three-year-old’s phrase is “my turn” … but there are no “turns”. Is that a little mustache on Teegan? They’re all getting so big!
[Reply]
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:54 pm
I thank my lucky stars each day that passes that Lucy allows me to continue these tasks that you mention. I am very much of a time oriented person, and do not look forward to adding 30 minutes here and there just so that she can do something. I know she will need to do all of these things one day, but I am not ready for it now.
[Reply]
April 3rd, 2008 at 2:53 am
Oh yes, these girls huh? Carter was always so happy to just please me. Skye wants all her independence at 2. For Skye it’s ‘own’. Which means, I’ll put my shoes on, I need my own bowl of snacks (sharing is just not possible!), and so forth.
I love Noah’s hair but I just can’t get over how big he is now.
[Reply]
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:41 am
Ack, do I see fuzz on Dalton’s upper lip???
“my do”, that is so adorable.
[Reply]
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:45 pm
They’re so gorgeous Nicki, all of ‘em!! Where do you find those fields of flowers to take pictures in??
[Reply]
April 4th, 2008 at 5:19 am
None of the other kids want stuff from commercials? What about Noah? *a hint of sarcasm* He’ll memorize the phone number from the blendypens commercials, walk over to daddy, and say, “Daddy, we need to call 1-800-555-5555!” Yeah, I have NO idea where she gets it from. *another hint of sarcasm*
[Reply]
April 4th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Oh, I am right there with you. My two year old is the same way. The only difference is he only refers to himself in third person. As in: Johnny put crocs on himself. Johnny need pack pack. Johnny want it now!
[Reply]
April 4th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Melissa that is so funny! Addison calls herself Addy-Mai, ususally when referring to something possessive like “Addy-Mai’s crocs” or “Addy-Mai’s lunch”. I’m not sure why she decides to use one or the other in any given scenario but its pretty cute
[Reply]
April 7th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Those pictures are just beautiful, you have such a gorgeus bunch of kids!
L. was traumatized by Dora live when he was 2–all of the loud music and swinging on vines…don’t think he would like the dinos.!
Addy and Amelia seem to have a lot on common–you figure it all out ahead of time for me and let me know what works!
[Reply]