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nugget daddy and her grandmamie brought nugget to my hospital room to get ready for trick-or-treating. she was, of course, beyond adorable in her tinker bell dress and wings, sparkly green tinker bell shoes, tinker bell wand and ballet pink tights. i pulled her tiny tresses up into the best tink-like puff i could manage, fluffed it up with plenty of hairspray and added a clip with tiny white flowers. she politely shrieked, “dada! dada!” and beamed with pride as she was showered in nugget daddy’s hair product. what, you didn’t think it was mine, did you?
then we selected where she wanted her green star stamps placed and where best the pink star stamps were suited for. earlier, i ‘d done a sample patch of each color on each of my cheeks so she could see how they both looked. then we applied a very liberal dusing of pixie dust. i should have gotten her some “pixie dust” glitter of her own to keep in her “berry bucket” for dousing unsuspecting passers-by. ah well, there’s always next year!
we made a few rounds though the halls to the different nurses’ stations. nugget was heartbreakingly cute and insisted on holding my hand, always unsure of how to navigate around all the wires attached to her mama. i told her it was almost time to go to the mall for more trick-or-treating and that her grandmamie would be getting her the tinker bell movie while they were there.
we said our goodbyes and i swear, i just couldn’t get enough hugs or kisses from my sweet baby girl. i watched as they made their way down the hall, all the while nugget was cheerfully waving goodbye, happy as a clam, all pixied-up and ready for more candy collecting.
i stepped back into my room just as the tears started rolling down my face. i tried to sob silently for my own selfish sadness. i hoped she was having the time of her life, holding out her fat little felt flower bag – surely that’s what fairies collect halloween candy in – and squealing with delight with the acquisition of each new piece of candy. she had oh-so-politely signed “thank you” for each treat she’d collected from the nurses and i hoped that trend was continuing at the mall. i’m so very proud of my little tinklet.
i hope i can get out of here this weekend in time for the good post-pumpkin day costume sales at the disney store and old navy. otherwise, i might have to send someone armed with a fully charged cell phone and a whole lot of patience on my behalf!
nugget started signing “water” last week. she means to point to her cheek, but often ends up with her finger on her temple, forehead or in her ear. at least it’s not up her nose.
she’s taken to pointing out all sorts of water with it, too. it’s not just for the sippy cup! no, there’s water to be signed about in the shower, the sink, the dog bowl and the bird bath. mommy has a drink? it must be water, too!
now she’s trying to use it for all sorts of requests, like bananas and crackers. i’ll have to work out something more universal for those.
nugget is very interested in language. this week she’s perfected “up” and is working hard on “bug” and “duck.” last night she signed “more” without prompting and it was the best i’ve ever seen her do it. 
maybe we’ll try the baby einstein my first signs dvd again. usually she’s completely unimpressed by baby einstein, but i keep holding on to the idea that one day she’ll enjoy it. that’s what everyone keeps telling me anyhow.
that’s right, i’m willing to rot my child’s brain with television. i know, i know, so not crunchy-ap-hippie-earth-mama-y. i’m sure i just lost ten granola points.
nugget would much prefer i vod her some jack’s big music show. smartly, noggin added an additional show to their daily lineup. but since it’s only twenty minutes long, and sometimes mommy needs more than forty minutes a day of semi-quiet, i’m most grateful that it’s also available on demand.
our local toy store called this morning to ask if we were done with la nug’s birthday basket in their birthday vault. nuggetdaddy said we’d come by today or tomorrow to pick out a few things from it. well, okay, he said we’d come by but i don’t think he meant that we’d necessarily be purchasing anything. silly nuggetdaddy! despite it being unpleasantly cold this afternoon, i decided we’d go ahead and stroll over there. nugget made out like a bandit. she got three books, a maraca, a ladybug ball and a froggy nailbrush for bathroom. fine, the nailbrush is for me.
we also grabbed a few items from from the clearance table. a set of boikido musical blocks that were in her birthday basket were actually on the sale table too, so those came home with us along with two small gifts for her tantie and auntie. they’ll be stocking stuffers. nooo, it’s not too early to be christmas shopping. oompa stopped carrying boikido products, citing inferior qualtiy and customer dissatisfaction. i’ll be keeping the receipt handy just in case. they look very similar to the haba fantasy blocks tantie gave her and she loves those. we’ll have to see how these hold up.
after the toy store we strolled across the plaza to the grocery store. of course the one prescription i needed refilled was the only one i hadn’t gotten from the allergy/asthma specialist. whatever. breathing is so overrated. as i browsed the aisles for dinner ideas while waiting for the pharmacy, nugget decided to sack out in her stroller, ladybug ball clutched firmly to her chest. hilarious! no wonder so many people had been looking at her. i thought they were just admiring her regular everyday cuteness, but this was quite the spectacle. she’s still asleep in her stroller and snowsuit, parked next to nuggetdaddy’s home office desk. i can only hope that this becomes a new habit for her!
i settled on ground beef and fingerling potatoes at the market. i have serrano ham left over from the birthday party that i’m going to wrap beef patties in and i’ll sprinkle the potatoes with pecorino before roasting them.
the nugget is an excellent signer. you would think we would have been using a sign for “nurse” since it is her hands-down favorite thing to do. sadly, we haven’t. i just haven’t found a non-farm animal-related sign that suited us. so, today i decided to abridge the standard asl sign for “milk” to just an open-and-close motion, one less indicative of handling an udder. we’ll see how it goes.
i also like this woman’s suggestion (excerpted from lifeprint.com):
“currently we sign MOMMY and MILK. It would be so much faster to combine the signs and sign MILK while my thumb is on my chin for the sign MOMMY. basically it would be thumb on chin, and squeezing the remaining fingers.”
read the rest of her question and dr. vicar’s answer here.
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