Taelyn has certainly grown up over the last year; it is quite evident that she is now a three year-old! She does not throw tantrums like the terrible two phase nearly as much, and she is able to comprehend situations much better. Instead of complaining that she is hungry, for example, we can tell her that we don't have any food in the car right now but that we can get some when
we get home. An explanation is usually enough to keep her content now - which make life much easier these days! Even taking her picture for this post was MUCH easier than the past. I simply asked her to sit on the step and smile, and it actually happened!
Taelyn can also carry more complex conversations with us now. We were talking about using the crock pot one day and finding recipes when Taelyn said, "Excuse me, guys. I don't understand crock pot. What is a crockpot?" On the more imaginary side of conversation, Taelyn has been creating elaborate stories about her life. After hearing her nanny tell me something about a bee and then later hearing me talk about a bird at school, she told me that a bee flew in to the house that day and bit her lips right off and she took the feathers in threw it in the trash! She obviously combined the two stories together, but she was incredibly animated when she told the story. She also often talks about how she has a pink and white house in Capetown and all the things she has there that she is going to give us. It's funny, though, how her imagination stems from events that have actually happened to her. A few days after Kaelia gave her board games for her birthday, Taelyn said that she had board games at her house in Capetown to give to Kaelia. The concept of going to Capetown started a few months ago when she was swimming. If she wanted to float to the other side of the pool, she would say, "Bye bye. I'm going to Capetown now!" Other than her Capetown house, Taelyn likes to recreate actual events. She will sometimes put on our running shoes and tell me, "Princess, you watch the girls and I'm going to go for a run. I'll be back in one hour." And then she will run out of the room. Princess is our nanny's daughter and often watches the girls on the weekend while Justin and I are both running, and this is exactly what I say to her before I go.
Potty-training has been going very well too. Taelyn has an accident every now and then, but for the most part, she goes on the potty - at home and in public. She is usually accident free at nap time while we still have her in a diaper at night. Taelyn is very good at pulling her stool up to the potty and sitting on it by herself. Then when she is done, she can use the toilet paper and will push her stool over to the sink, turn it on, get some soap, and wash her hands all by herself. Though she is pretty independent here, she prefers to have one of us come in and keep her company while the whole potty process is happening.
While Taelyn is still energetic as ever, she is also very sweet and caring. She loves to take care of her sister (as well as fight with her!) by putting her hand on Kaelia's shoulder and saying, "Hi sweetie, are you okay?" She will also occassionally come in our room and out of nowhere say, "I love you, mom; I love you daddy!"
Physically, Taelyn is now 31.7 lbs. and 37.5 inches tall. She can jump up and down fairly well now and has conquered just about any playground structure that she encounters. She can also sit in a swim ring and kick her way around a pool and can hold on to the edge and pull herself along the entire diameter of a pool. She still loves to run around and play, and she absolutely LOVES to dance and sing! We have truly enjoyed this past year of Taelyn's life and are now enjoying the next phase. Here is a recap on moments from the past year with an emphasis on the last six months. Taelyn picked the song, by the way. It's from one of her many favorite movies,
Monsters Inc.
I had the opportunity to travel to India this past weekend for a conference on using technology in the classroom. Not only was I happy to attend the conference, but I was really excited to visit a new country. Since my visit was so short, I obviously could not see a whole lot of the country, but I was able to get out for a couple of evenings as well as experience some of the local life during my morning runs.
so much of China from its heavy and chaotic traffic to the intense haggling of street market shopping and the numerous ways to transport goods across the city on a bicycle. During one of my runs at 5:00am, I ran over a
bridge that crossed stagnant water. As I was approaching the bridge, I first smelled sulfur and thought that there could be a sulfur spring near the river. Then I came right up alongside the river and gagged quite a bit as I saw and smelled the combination of sulfur, trash, and feces. Needless to say, the smell was hard to handle but still not too far off from various smells in China. The biggest difference that I was able to see was the poverty, though. Some of the buildings are certainly in rough condition, and I know that I didn't even s
ee the real poverty of India.
