Thevy's Imagination

Thevy has got such an imagination already. She pretends to catch butterflies and to go fishing. She builds towers and plays dress up. I love to see how her mind is already taking her so many places.

She sometimes asks me for things, but she only expects me to "play along". She's asked me for tape, a watering can, and various shapes. When fishing, she sometimes gives me the fish. I once responded, "Wow! That's a big fish!" She corrects me and says, "Nooo, it's a little fish."

A couple of her imaginings involved her little sister. One day I went into the kitchen to do something, leaving Thevy and her sister alone in the next room. I left Sothea in her Exersaucer and I heard Thevy talking to her. I thought her heard Thevy say the word "crayon", so I rushed to make sure Thevy wasn't shoving crayons in her sister's face. But when I saw them, I found an amusing sight.

Princess Sothea
Thevy wasn't saying "crayon". What she actually was saying was "crown" and that's actually what I heard! But the reason I had interpreted it wrong was since my the girls had been spending a little bit more time with my mother, whose English is quite busted, and who pronounces the word "crayon" more like "crown", that's why I thought what I thought. :-P

Anyhoo, Thevy was saying "crown" and when I came out to the living room, she told her sister that here was her crown and that she was a princess. Hence the crumpled, used tissue on top of her head. lol... And then the next day or so, Thevy had pulled a dirty-tissue-on-Sothea's head move again. This time she told her sister that she was a cupcake. LoL. Get it? Like the icing on top of a cupcake? Thevy has provided some comic relief for me in these days when I don't have much to laugh at...

Age, Race, Gender, and Little Kids

It's very interesting to see that Thevy is quite perceptive. She may not fully understand a lot of concepts yet, but she gets the general idea. This is apparent in her references to complete strangers. For example, when she sees older women, she calls them "grandma". Once, when "The Simpsons" was on and Homer's dad appeared on the screen, Thevy cried, "No more grandpa!", meaning she didn't want to watch it.

She mentioned "uncle" when we were at the supermarket and a man passed by and he wasn't "old". She has referred to my friends as "Aunt Gina". So, I see that can make out differences between men and women and older and younger adults. She refers to children as "kids" or she calls out, "Hey, boy" or "Hi, girl!".

And the amusing part: during the same trip to the supermarket, a man in the meat department was putting the chicken out and Thevy called him "Mr. Rogers" and he was a white man. My neighbor, a middle-aged white male, was leaving his house and Thevy also called him "Mr. Rogers." lol.

So far, she knows nothing about race and I don't intend to bring up the subject, but I find it curious as to what they see with their own little eyes...

Update: Thevy watched a neighbor of ours wearing a baseball cap and taking his groceries out of his car and called out, "Hi, mail man!" Funny stuff.

Geographic Tongue

Have you ever heard of such a thing? I hadn't until a few months ago at Thevy's dentist appointment. Basically, there are patches on the tongue that form geographic shapes. You know how our tongue is covered in bumps, yeah? Well, most of those are taste buds, but the ones that aren't are the ones involved in creating these patterns on the tongue. There are parts of the tongue that are smooth and 'bumpless' surround by areas where the bumps, or papillae, are flared up or overcrowded or something. These patches come and go and are apparently harmless. When we first noticed them in Thevy, we wonder if she hadn't eaten some hot food and burned her tongue.

Big Stye

Thevy's got a bump on her eyelid. My mother first noticed it last Monday, saying how Thevy's eye looked a little swollen. I sort of brushed it off because I didn't see it until it was pointed out.

By Wednesday, the bump had grown and I didn't know if I should be concerned or not. Should I just keep an eye on it and see if it gets worse or goes away? Or should I take her to the pediatrician?

In the end, I called up the Ask-a-Nurse hotline and the pediatrician's office. I left a message at the hotline for a callback and I also left a non-urgent message in the voice box of the pediatrician, who was out of the office that day. The nurse who called me back said there's no way to tell without seeing it and asked different questions like, could it be a mosquito bite or did it irritate Thevy? Was there any pus or spots on the eye? She said to watch it and put a warm cloth on it.

Got a call from the pediatrician's office the next day (Thursday) and was told the same thing - no way to know without seeing the eye. So I made an for the following day. Since I had a meeting with someone, Daddy took Thevy to her appointment. It was determined she had a stye and that it's just one of those things that can happen where a gland gets clogged and to put a warm cloth on it and hope it gets better. If it starts to get worse, like redder or more irritated within a week, bring her back. If it doesn't get worse, but is still there after a month, bring her back.

I hope it goes away soon. Poor thing, with her swollen lid. It really isn't bothering her, but it rather bothers me to see it.