Tegan says

On seeing my completed plate from dinner:

"Wow" and claps
"Good job mommy"

Liam Conor!!!

Just a taaad delayed here, but hey, I've had a baby to snuggle!

Born November 23; 3.52kg and 50cm

He's wonderful!

Tegan turns 2!

Tegan turned 2 on the 30th!

Likes:
Being potty trained! (ok, maybe this is a mom and dad like)
Counting (counts to 5 consistently, sometimes to 10)
Her baby dolls
Baby brother
Washing her hands
Apple juice
Drawing (she draws circle-ish shapes for people, scribbles for animals)
Singing ("eio old mcdonald moo moo here", "abcdf")
Balloons (oh the excitement to waking up to a bunch in her room on her birthday!)
Playing with other kids
Having a say in what she wears
Minnie mouse

Dislikes:
Depends on the day!

19 weeks

And for comparison, this was 19 weeks the first time 'round:

Happy Fourth

Water baby

Tegan loves the water, and while we're in the US it is so nice to not worry about her drinking the water she is playing in!

Story teller

Tegan has started recounting things that have happened in a string of one or two words.  A couple we've heard a lot the last few days:

Daddy.  Poopoo.  Puppy.  Wash.  All done.
(Jeremiah stepped in dog poo, washed it off, and then we reassured her it was ok and was all done)

Tegan.  Run.  Boom.  Owie.
(Tegan was running, fell and got an owie on her knees)

Baking with Auntie Justine

I had a conference this week in DC so we got to stay with Zach and Justine.  Tegan of course loved every minute of it and got to try her hand at biscuit-making with pastry chef extraordinaire.  

Eating like a big girl

Sitting in a normal chair and feeding herself with (most of) the food ending up in her mouth.

Mommy, ear ear

In them mornings Tegan loves to follow me to where I keep my jewelry and ask for earrings to wear.

Oh Baby....Os?

Things will be changing around here, and we can't wait!

I'm due at the beginning of December, so around 14 weeks or so now.  I'm over the morning sickness, but boy was that a doozy with the smells of Kathmandu.  My 8:00 (ok, sometimes 7:30) bedtime is a sign of my fatigue, but I'm no longer working from the couch in my office so that says something.  We have been going to the western clinic for prenatal care but plan to have the baby in Thailand.  We had an ultrasound at the last appointment, saw baby moving around and all looked good.  We'll have a few appointments while we're in the states too, hopefully finding out the sex!

In other news, we come home in 5 days!  We're very excited to see everyone!

18 months

Where did our baby go????

Likes:
Dancing
Doing monkey, crab, mouse and giraffe walks she learned in singing class
Daddy
Being outside
Swimming
Wearing a hat and sunglasses (after months and months of fighting her to wear a hat!)
Reading
Identifying to owner of items (ex points or picks up Jeremiah's phone "daddy, daddy, daddy")
Finding bugs
Climbing

Dislikes:
Sleeves covering her hands or pants covering her feet
When Jeremiah and I touch

12 teeth with 1 more poking through

Words:
Daddy/Dada
Mommy/Mama
Jyoti (her nanny)
Didi (Nepali address for an older female "older sister")
Dai (Nepali address for an older male "older brother")
Up (uppa)
Please (pease)
No (in English and Nepali - nai)
Sit (in Nepali - busa)
Ria (always Ria Ria)
Peter (Peta)
Nana
Come (in Nepali - ow)
Cat (meow)
More
All done (awl da)
Big (bi)
Turtle
Ball
Book
Backpack (ba pak)
Shoes/socks/sleep all "sssss"
Night night (nigh nigh)
Pee pee
Bug (bee)
Bye bye
Hello
Hi

Signs:
Water
Giraffe
Please
Sorry
Felix (her friend)
Cat
Aunt
Uncle
More
Cold
Big
Come
Where
Hurt
Frog
Swimming
Diaper
Bug
Chair
All done
Monkey

Playground

School has a preschool playground that we often visit on the weekends.  Tegan is getting braver and braver and trying out the equipment after being satisfied with just the sand and buckets for awhile.  And boy does it take every fiber of my being to not hold her every step of the way through that play structure!

Photo dump

Too much cuteness has happened and not enough time to blog it all, so here are some of my favorites lately:

Eating flour

Helping make cookies

Skyping

Wait for me dad!

Seriously contemplating climbing the play structure

Her own little couch on the floor

Signing "thank you" (at Namo Buddha)

Yay for food!

Flower girl

16 months

Likes:
Climbing
Her doll, giraffe, cat and bunny
Making her dolls and animals sign words and pretending to feed them
Peek-a-boo
Going for walks
Pancakes
Dancing
Birds
Talking - both real words and babble
Computers
Her friend Felix, who we came up with a sign for and realized how often she thinks of him
Balls
Throwing garbage away
Pretending to do something (like share food or give you a kiss) and then turn and run away laughing


Dislikes:
Diaper changes
Staying inside too long

Walking

Tegan loves to go outside ("ow, ow" which also somewhat confusingly means "come, come" in Nepali) and walk holding 1 or 2 people's hands, depending on what is available.

15 months

Likes:

Saying "uh-oh"

Crossing her feet when sitting

Sitting in laps

"S" and vowel words (shoes, socks, sleep, arm, owl, out, up)

Showing off her tummy

Animals

Food being on the table for her to pick up, not being fed to her

Baths and playing with water

Being outside

Other kids - doesn't really matter the age

Her backpack - wearing it and saying "backpack"

Jumping (her heels leave the ground but toes stay firmly planted, it's very cute)

Looking at herself in the mirror

Playing hide and seek and peek-a-boo around the furniture

Holding a finger of 2 people while she walks; today she had mine and grabbed a lady who was selling stuff at the market

Dislikes:

Getting teeth (4 new ones either cut through or are just about to including 2 molars!)

Getting her hands too dirty

Being held on walks

Clips or headbands in her hair

Co-sleeping

We don't co-sleep well.  I sleep lightly, Jeremiah sleeps through anything and Tegan takes up more room than we both do.  However, this week we've had a number of nights where our bed was the best place Tegan would sleep.  I love these pictures, to me they show exactly how I feel in the morning: exhausted, disheveled but utterly in love with our family.  No matter how hard the night was, Tegan wakes up happy and ready to play.

14 months

I'm so late with this, and picture-less!  I'm posting anyway, and will get a picture in soon!
(We're back in Nepal, over jet-lag and Tegan is about to pop 2 more teeth through!)

Likes:
Dogs
Cats (known as "meow" or more often "mao")
Sitting in laps
All animals (and their noises)
Peas
Cars
Books (especially the ones with animals!)
Giving kisses
Pointing out shoes and socks ("sh sh sh")
Going up stairs
Holding onto one of our fingers while she walks so she can go faster
Carrying stuff around (the heavier the better)

Dislikes:
Santa

Language Development

Tegan is learning 3 languages.  English, Nepali and baby sign language.  She's been understanding a lot of what we say in English, what the nanny says in Nepali, and signing some words herself, for quite awhile.  In just the last few weeks her language output has really increased.  She learns signs quickly, can identify things by pointing to them after we say them, and mimics sounds after we say words.

Sign Language:
up
down
more
please
thank you
all done
chair
dog
bird
monkey
water
eat
orange
aunt
again
pretty - Nepali version
namaste - Nepali greeting
yuck (garbage) - Grandma's version

English Language:
Tegan knows many animals and refers to them through their sounds - "meow" for cat for example.  She does: lion, dog, cat, elephant, fish, sheep, Donald Duck, and owl.

She's been saying Dada and Mama for awhile, and "sh" for shoes or socks, but last night she said "arm" after I said it while changing into her pjs.  She then repeated it a number of times, pointing to her arm and ours.  This morning she said "owl".

Nepali Language:
She understands simple statements and requests, even after our 3 weeks away.  It's hard to know what else she knows since we don't speak it at all.

We are excited for all this learning and can't wait to see what she says next!

Christmas break

We had a wonderful Christmas break.  It was certainly a whirlwind and though like always we didn't get to see or do all we wanted, we did do a lot!  (I counted Tegan slept in 5 different cribs in the last 3 weeks!)  Here is some of what we were up to:

This is how excited Tegan was for Kenny and Zuke's!

Portland with Grandpa

Helping Nana read to her class

Jet lag

Multnomah Falls

Matching Christmas morning

Tegan's love for dogs is growing

Foot rub and football

Christmas toys!