Miksovsky Family Blog

ah-choo!

"Ahhh-CHOO!" sneezed Jan.

From somewhere in the great room, a little voice commented, "ah-joo. Baby ah-joo" and little feet padded away.

Bree's new words

MINE!
MINE!
MINE!

sigh.

Bree's first fight

Anya brought home a pair of disposable latex gloves from the orthodontist today. Her baby sister was fascinated with them and immediately claimed them. When Anya finally noticed, she sat down in front of Bree.
'"Those are Anya's," she said.
"Baby's!" said Bree.
"Anya's!"
"Baby's"
"Anya's!"
"Baby's!"

The sounds of sibling squawking have taken on a new dimension...at least Bree still sounds cute.

Photos from our trip to Taiwan

We visited Taiwan for two weeks from the end of March to mid-April. See the photos from our trip.

Go go GoToob!

With 3 girls, I am always searching for ways to make life easier for me. Usually this takes the form of (on my best days) encouraging and enabling the girls to be more independent. And while you'd expect a 5 and 7 year old to be able to take their own showers and baths, surprisingly they still need help--opening flip top shampoo and conditioner bottles. While I haven't done a thorough product comparison, we do have our favorite shampoos and conditioners. Unfortunately, they're geared towards adults, so while I'm shepherding one girl through her nightly ablutions, I often hear another one yell out, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" (If I'm lucky, I'll also hear the phrase, "I need help!" Then I run into the other bathroom and find that the child is freaking out over her inability to open the shampoo or to squeeze the bottle hard enough to get any out.

Enter the GoToob. Made by HumanGear for traveling, they are a small, satisfyingly squishy feeling tube with a very-easy-for-young-hands-to-open flip top. The plastic comes in several pretty, yet transparent colors so that the girls can tell just by looking which is shampoo (the clear liquid) and which is conditioner (the white liquid). The tubes are easy to open, easy to squeeze, and don't leak. I also like that the opening is big enough so that I can use a small brush to clean out the inside and refill with something else, if I really want to. But for now, I am stocking up on GoToobs in every bathroom.

I wonder how they would work for toothpaste...

A week with Bree

This week, Bree is turning 19 months. She has added to her verbal repertoire:

"dawggeesh!" which for some reason sounds rather Indian to me but refers to her doggie pacifier.
"moo!" for moon
"djuce" for juice
2 word sentences, such as "Bao-bao, mahmee mahmee!" and "peetty wah wah" (pretty wah wah (doll in Chinese))

Bree still drinks warm milk in a bottle, preferably with me or Jan holding the bottle. She leans back against us with elbows splayed wide and inhales up to 9 oz at a time. What a contrast to Anya or Liya who by this time were drinking from a sippy cup all the time! In terms of eating though, Bree is a pro with the fork. She has yet to discover, however, that food stays on a spoon much better when the spoon is right side up!

We took away her dawggeesh except for nap and nighttimes on Thursday. She moped around the house, alternatively searching for and mourning her loss and pointing insistently at the drawer where we keep her extra dawggeesh's and exclaiming. She has gotten better the past few days, though like an addict, she could easily slide back.

Speaking of addictions, Bree has discovered M & M's. Appropriately, she demands them by saying, "mmMMMMM!!!! mmmmMMMMM!!!"

Signing off til next time...

Discovering Puddles

When Jan was a little boy, he would take rides on his cousin David's shoulders. This was no ordinary shoulder ride though--it was a game called "Tank." Jan would 'steer' the 'tank' by holding onto the ears and pointing David's face in the appropriate direction.

When Jan or I hold Bree, she steers us in tank-like ways by pointing in the direction she wants to go and making a cute if rather imperious grunt until we walk towards her desired destination. Late afternoon today, Bree directed me towards the front door.

"Yes, it's wet and cold outside!" I said brightly and turned away.

Imperious grunt.

I turned back.

More imperious grunting.

I put Queen Bree down.

Knock knock knock on the front door.

"Do you want to go outside?" I asked.

A definite nod.

Since it was close to dinner time, I had Bree's wonderful, gift-from-God nanny (no I won't tell you her name you can't have her!) take the baby outside for a walk.

They returned much sooner than I expected. The nanny was cracking up, and Bree was soaked. Upon encountering her first puddle, Bree had cautiously put a toe in. Then two. And tapped her feet. Finding this utterly delightful, Bree jumped into the middle! Several times! And despite the near-freezing temperatures, decided that now would be a good time to...sit. Yes, in the middle of the puddle.

Next time, we'll put her in rain boots.

Bree-English Dictionary

Now that Bree is 18 mths, she is picking up new words every 5 minutes or so. Unfortunately, her physical expression of her new vocabulary isn't always quite as clear as she thinks. Hence, we bring you the first edition of the Bree-English Dictionary.

ahp!: up
aahnnn: Honk (for honking her nose)
baba: Daddy, in Mandarin
baobao (not as strong an O sound as normal): pick me up/hug (Mandarin)
baw: ball
beeeee!: Beep! Used for anything that beeps, e.g. a microwave. Includes her nose which she likes to beep.
bwee: herself
choos: shoes (hopefully not yet insisting on Jimmy Choos!)
ki: Kick, kiss, or keys, depending on context
mao: cat (Mandarin)
mei mei: herself
nana: banana
nee-o nai: milk
rayway (the "r" sounds halfway between an r and w): Raisins, her latest addiction
ri-ya: Liya
yan-ya: Anya

Santa tales

Every year, we go visit Santa (preferably at the Downtown Nordstrom's) and get a photo with him of the three girls. This year, after the photo and telling Santa what she wanted for Christmas, Anya asked Angela, "Will we get a present from Santa this year?"
"Maybe yes, maybe no," Angela hedged, cringing at the thought of one more present.
"Because last year you said that Santa had lots of homes to visit so might not come to ours."

Sabriya broke her arm :(

Today Sabriya managed to climb out of her crib and fall to the floor. She cried for a while, but wasn't obviously hurt. After it became clear she was favoring her right arm, Angela took her to the ER, where they X-rayed the arm. The doctor guessed it wasn't broken because Sabriya was being so calm. In fact, her arm was broken! :( She's got it in a splint for now, and later a pediatric specialist will decide whether to put it in a cast.