Austen & Gage

Everyday now Austen comes up with unique, new associations.

She showed a stuffed duck to Mama and said, “Ernie has a rubber ducky.”

Picking up rocks at the park, she said, “Rock-a-bye Baby!”

When Mama interrupted her playing to asked her if she wanted to go out, she said “Not right now. Later!” which is what Mama says when she’s trying to stall for time.

[Sorry there haven’t been many photos lately. It’s Uncle Mark’s fault: no synching with FamousFamily.com. Also, Lucinda has been busy scrapbooking Austen’s life. Ask to see the albums.]

Art is now a close second to Austen’s favorite activity of singing – she creatively changes lyrics and even tunes. She likes painting the most but also does doodling with a doodle pro; drawing with crayons, markers, chalk, pens, and highlighters; gluing; tearing paper; molding play dough; applying stickers and using her ever-growing stamp collection. The effect of art class is profound. Austen frequently offers to draw a picture of Mama, Dada, the kitties or some object and she also manages the occasional letter (usually an “A”). Mama hopes Austen has great handwriting and speedy writing ability – areas where Mama was below average. Ask about Austen’s amazing drawing of the fireplace.

Austen joins Mama every day during bathroom time, washing up with soap but mostly playing with the water in “her sink” (aka Dada’s sink). Austen insists on “up and down!” when she wants to have the water stopper pulled up to keep water pooled in the sink. She recently put some soap in her mouth, but we doubt she’ll do that again. Mama tries not to waste too much water and also tries to remind Austen to push up her sleeves in order not to get wet, but mostly Mama remembers what her mom did and just lets Austen experiment and figure things out for herself. Mama thinks this helped contribute to her own interest and success in science as a kid.

Shopping with Mama (or Mommy, as Lucinda now wants to be called) is a regular activity for Austen. She’s much better at it now that she’s older. She doesn’t run off so much anymore and will walk around following Mama’s lead for about a half an hour. She’s not crazy about riding in the cart (control issues – she wants to be in control of her body) but she does do some riding when tired or when snacking. Mostly, Austen likes to explore and grab things … like her mother! Once in a while, Mama gets some scrapbooking supplies picked out, or some groceries shopped for, but mostly Mom and Austen explore the area malls and stores. Unfortunately for Dada, this means we’ll soon have another shopping enthusiast in the family. Yeah, it might be better to be in Manhattan for its stores and restaurants, but Middlesex County, NJ is definitely more kid friendly and the places are easily accessible with a toddler in tow. As of now, Austen doesn’t use a stroller anymore.

As an infant, Austen screamed a lot when strapped into her car seat. Now she enjoys listening/singing to music and watching videos in the car – not to mention snacking. Mama enjoys the fifteen to twenty minutes of relative quiet when she can tune out and gear up for the next activity. Thus, Mama and Austen go out every day, be it just for lunch at Jack Cooper’s Deli or a walk around the mall. Activities such as Music Class, Art Class, Gym Class and play dates also lead to daily driving excursions.

Austen’s longer-term memory of nonrecurring events has also improved. She recalls closing herself in the coat closet with the lights off a week ago and reminds Mama, “I got stuck in the closet. Dark in there. It’s scary.”

After being unpredictable as an infant, Austen is now loyal to her weekly schedule. Monday is Art Class, Weekends are with Dada in charge, My Gym is followed by avocado and tortilla at Tinga. She’s quite committed to making things happen according to her expectations and can get upset by major shifts in the way things are “supposed” to be done. She’s experiencing the common set-in-her-ways-ness of toddlers.

Austen have lived up to her role as Mama’s “’lil sunshine.” So much laughing and smiling, and regular hugs and kisses. She’s great at energizing people.

Austen visited Abby for her Birthday Party, hosted in Bel Air, MD at a sports center. There were jumpies, treehouses, mazes and all kinds of activities.

More pics.

When Dada gets home from work, Austen tells him about the things she got in trouble for that day, but not necessarily in a guilty manner. Examples:

“Don’t pull Mama’s hair.”

“Don’t drink Mama’s drink.”

“Don’t tickle friends in the face. Tickle here. [pointing to belly]”

“He was crying at the store. He wanted white shoes. Dada says that’s silly.”
[Austen refers to herself as he, me, Austen or she.]

“He’s not sit this way in Austen’s car seat.”
[sitting backwards in the car seat]

Austen also repeats things to Grandpa, Grandma Mindy and Chacha.

“Don’t wake up in the night.” [referring to Dada’s reminders at bedtime]

“Don’t pull the tail.” [referring to cat’s tail]

“Put the hat on. It’s cold. [after putting the hat on, she’ll say] See, now it’s not cold.”

Mama often gets up late on the weekends (Dada is in charge on weekends) and as she stumbles downstairs for a drink or some breakfast she’s greeted by Austen. Today, in the library, Austen was drawing when Mama appeared.

“We’re drawing!” Austen exclaimed with a grinning pentagon-shaped face topped with bushy curls.

Mama smiled and mumbled something about how nice the drawings were.

“Wanna draw too?” Austen asked in such a cheerful voice that it was hard to turn her down.

“I’m gonna go downstairs and get some food.”

“You’re hungry?” Austen asked with empathetic concern.

Mama smiled, thinking that Austen sure is a charming person to converse with, especially when one considers she is only two.

Everyday Mama has to negotiate with Austen to get her to do things, like hold still for dressing, clean up, finish playing in the sink, or follow Mama downstairs. It’s a tricky situation because Austen wants to feel like she’s in control and making at least 50% of the decisions. Having learned to be more amenable after being around Austen so much, Mama lets Austen make some decisions and persuades her (sometimes bribes her) to get her to go along with Mama’s suggestions. Similarly, Austen negotiates to get what she wants, such as videos or chocolate milk. In the car, Austen sometimes screams about wanting to listen to her music, but mostly she says please and tries to convince Mama that it’s “Austen’s turn” to listen to “Austen’s music.”

A typical exchange:

“Let’s go downstairs!” says Mama, as she walks to the door of the master bedroom.
“No. Upstairs,” says Austen, defiantly.
“But we’ll get a snack. Do you want a snack?”
“No! Watch ‘eo . Barney.”
“Okay, we’ll watch Telletubbies downstairs, and Mama will check some e-mail on the computer.”
“Okay! Work on the concuter [computer]. Austen plays Elmo game!?”
“Not right now. Later.”
“Later!? Just a minute?”
“No, not right now.”
“Not today?!”
“Yes, today but maybe later.”

Another typical exchange:

“Piece of chocolate!” says Austen, seeing the box of Godiva on the counter.
“Okay, one piece.”
Austen eats chocolate.
“It’s so yummy, huh?” asks Mama.
“Another one?”
“Just one piece.”
“Last one! Last one!”
“No, not right now. You can have chocolate meeka later.”

Austen yells this when you try to persuade her to do something she doesn’t want to and she feels pressured. You gotta love the originality of toddler syntax.

Mama asked Austen to put on her socks but, not wanting to, Austen hid them in the coat closet instead. When Mama asked where the socks were, Austen fessed up and showed her where they were hidden.

Austen enjoyed a lunch at Menlo Park Mall with her friend Ryan, followed by driving a fire truck. Oddly, Austen enjoys it best when it’s not in action (free!).

Austen made a few special Valentine’s Day gifts for Grandma Mindy. Among them a special painting and a painted heart jewelry box. Grandma gave Austen a gold necklace (what else!?) in return.