me: "Let's not jump on the couch where your sister is reading."
V: "I won't distract her. I can jump very quietly. Watch!"

Tori is now well into the language explosion, which is of course The Best Stage (until the next awesome stage). Herewith are some highlights, before she is just 100% fluent in every way.

Pronunciation Guide
Consonant clusters are usually simplified ("dry" --> "die"). Tricky initial consonants (s-, sh-, ch-) are usually replaced by t- ("sock" --> "tock"); th- becomes d- ("thank you" --> "dank oo"). The word endings -en and -et are replaced by -y ("chicken" --> "ticky"; "helmet" --> "hemmy").

Names
Mama (doing double duty for me and Suzanne)
Mommy
Papa
Bookie (for Brooks)
Monkey (she is 100% convinced that this is Morgan's name; Morgan thinks it's adorable)

She doesn't have a consistent way to refer to herself yet but we've heard Bird, Towi, and You.

For a while she was using Baba to refer to any handy vaguely parental adult, including babysitters and friends we'd been hanging out with for a while, but I haven't heard that one this month.

She uses plain names as possessives. For instance, if I am folding laundry she will point out "Papa" when I have one of his shirts. She also uses "my" (but not "yours").

Animals
Doggie
Meow (she says "cat" occasionally too)
Bird
Lion
Monkey
Moo (includes most herbivores, for example goats and giraffes)
Ticky (chicken)
Pig
Duck
Donkey
Bear
Bee
Bug
Pingy (penguin)
Baby
Bunny

Adjectives
Happy
Icky
Yucky
Wet
Dry
Bright
Dark
Bad
Sharp
Hot
Stuck
More
Done
Higher

Verbs
Peel (used for removing any part of something, from peeling fruit or peeling off a shirt to picking flowers or tearing paper)
Walk
Jump
Hop
Tug
Play
Tickle
Carry
Bark
Go
Come
Climb
Pat
Wipe
Hug
Help
Turn
Tie
Sleep
Bite
Bump
Wash
Dry

Food
Water
Drink
Snack
Bagel
Butter
Keem (ice cream)
Popsicle (I think this is her longest word; it usually gets compressed to something more like po'cl)
Ice
Milk
Spoon
Fork
Table
Tea
Mango
Banana
Egg
Apple
Punky (pumpkin)

Places to Go, Things to Do
Park
Bike
Helmet
Buckle
Car
Tag (the game)
Gym
Swing
Tree
Moon
Plane
Store
Cart
Home

Around the House
Book
Track
Marker
Paper
Sticker
Tablet
Phone
Blanket
Nap
Ball
Light
Soap

Clothing
Shirt
Pant
Diaper
Sock
Shoe
Button

Body Parts and Functions
Eye
Ear
Nose
Hand
Arm
Body
Neck
Hair
Toe
Finger
Butt
Nipple
Vulva
Pee
Poop
Keem (diaper cream)
Wipe

Prepositions
In
Out
Up
Down
Back
Where
There
Away

(This is not a comprehensive vocabulary list.)

Sentences
She started out using two-word combinations for instructions ("No, doggy!" "Mama stay!") and has now added observations ("Doggy bark.")

It can be hard to tell whether she's using words together as a phrase or as two independent ways to approach the thought. The other day we saw an unusual tow truck carrying a damaged car on a platform above the cab, and Tori wanted to tell me all about it: "Hat! Onnnn... top!" The way I've punctuated it there, it looks like a one-word exclamation followed by a two-word phrase, but it could have been a three-word phrase with long pauses between words or three separate one-word attempts to encapsulate the sight.

She hasn't got all the nouns yet, which makes some things a little hard to communicate. "Ticky in! Ticky in!" she might say, indicating that the chicken is in... the house? the garden? her coop? All of which Tori may be equally excited about, but which require different responses from the adult she is attempting to inform.

Songs
If You're Happy and You Know It
London Bridge
Mr. Moon

Happy birthday, Tori!

Morgan spent a good chunk of yesterday afternoon making signs and banners to decorate the house for Tori's birthday. She is very excited, and keeps asking Tori if she's looking forward to opening her presents and eating cake and all that.

Tori is cheerfully oblivious.

She is a very zoomy active baby. She figured out crawling just after seven months, and has been charging around the house at high speed ever since, pulling up on everything and trying hard to get into any trouble there is to be found. She wants the vacuum robot to be her friend, and likes to go hug it into her lap. If a door to a room she is not normally allowed in, like the pantry, is opened, she makes an immediate stomping beeline to it. (Didn't know you could stomp while crawling? She is very determined.)

She has just grown her third tooth. It is not on the top forming a matching pair with either of her existing teeth, but rather is next to them on the bottom. She eats everything you could possibly imagine eating without opposed teeth, with great gusto.

She growls a lot. She doesn't make many standard vowel-type baby noises, but rather a lot of Gs and Rs like a movie pirate or a wolf cub. She has developed a very specific "thwarted" cry, which is ear-gratingly terrible, because being thwarted is obviously the most horrible thing that could possibly happen to her.

She's hit the first round of separation anxiety. She's still a very independent baby, happy to go explore the living room or play with toys in her room, but she really doesn't like having a closed door between her and me. She's interested in interacting with new people, but checks over her shoulder now and then to make sure I haven't gone anywhere while she does.

Tori and Morgan and Andres (and occasionally Cathy) have been attending a Music Together class which is apparently great fun for all. Tori does not clap along but she does clasp her hands and bounce them up and down in something vaguely approximating rhythm which is certainly adorable when Andres reproduces it for me. :)

She's really into the baby swings at the park. She likes crawling around on the rubber surfaces and pulling up on equipment but she is not into sand, slides, or rough pathway material. She is of the opinion that books are great for pulling off of shelves, and occasionally for chewing, but she's not interested in looking at the pictures or being read to.

Tori signed to me today!

(It's 'milk'. Of course it's 'milk'.)

Tori had her four-month checkup recently. She is very, very large and healthy. She's good-natured and cheerful -- she didn't even cry at the first shot, and calmed down quickly after the second. She still sleeps through the night reliably, and puts herself to sleep with a few minutes of fussing most of the time.

She's interested in toys and people, but not much in books yet. She drools a lot and chews on everything, so I think she might have teeth coming soon.

Just in the last few days she's figured out how to roll front-to-back and back-to-front (though she mostly does either when I've stepped out of the room for a moment).

She and Morgan are delighted by each other.

Right! Time keeps passing!

Tori is doing wonderfully. She sleeps through the night most nights. Last night she fell asleep about 5:00 pm. I thought she was napping, but she just slept straight through to 7:00 am, then woke up and started squealing like she was tuning in Happiness Radio. (I would tell you how to get your baby to do this, but it isn't anything we did. She just came this way.)

She's figuring out how hands work. She's gotten good at stuffing them into her mouth, and she's working on using them to stuff other things into her mouth too. She's very close to rolling over. As soon as she figures out what to do with that bottom arm she's golden.

She has an amazing attention span and is totally happy to hang out in the activity gym or her little rocking chair and inspect the various objects on the toy bar for upwards of 45 minutes. She also likes to make faces and have little practice conversations with people, but not for as long. She is an introvert. I didn't know babies came in introvert flavor.

Morgan still thinks she is just the coolest thing, and looks forward to when she is more interactive. Tori finds Morgan very interesting but often a bit much. Galen really really wants to lick her face.

chinders has become completely obsessed with Hamilton. This seems to happen a lot. But if you don't understand the reference in the title and you would like to, look! The whole cast album's on YouTube! Here's the relevant song.

(Management is not responsible for resulting musical theater addictions. If your earworm lasts longer than 24 hours, seek medical treatment or listen to something else real loud.)

Anyway, this is really good advice for our current stage of parenting.

Talk less.
Especially when you're giving instructions. Yes, kids this age can understand and follow multi-step directions. But they need some processing time to do it.

Furthermore, when tantrums are happening, interaction prolongs them. As long as there's an argument to be had, the kid will reflexively continue having the argument. Make your point concisely once, then stop. Eventually the flailing will burn itself out. But every time you say something (or, in M's case, try to touch her -- I hear some kids like being held when they're upset, but NOT THIS ONE) you reset the clock.

Example from this morning: Morgan is chewing on the edge of a box of Go Fish cards.
Aaron Burr: If you put cardboard in your mouth it will get wet and the box won't hold the cards anymore. ::waits for child to process information and come to conclusion that she should probably take the box out of her mouth; or not, honestly, no particular skin off my nose either way::
Alexander Hamilton: Morgan! Stop chewing on the box! It'll get all wet and the cardboard will fall apart and then it won't hold the cards in! Then you won't have a box and the cards will get lost! So you should stop chewing on that right now! Or the box will break! Morgan! Stop chewing!

Smile more.
Two points: One, if you can think of a way to make it a game, make it a game.

Example from yesterday: Morgan is scared of the doctor and doesn't want to lie down so he can check her tummy. She has brought a stuffed animal along to keep her company.
Aaron Burr: Do you want Figment?
Morgan: Yeah.
Aaron Burr: Here he comes! Oh no! He's jumped on you and knocked you over! ::gently tilts M backwards onto the exam table::

Two, praise is magic. Catching kids being good and thanking them for behaving nicely or being considerate or doing their chores promptly makes everybody happy.

Don't let them know what you're against or what you're for.
Okay, for this to be parenting advice you have to interpret it a bit differently than it's meant in the song. But I find it helpful to keep in mind during tantrums that I don't need to argue her into my position. As the parent I have all the power; I have already made the decision; I am waiting for her to accept it or emotionally process the disappointment or whatever, but I don't need her to agree with me. (I am in fact totally happy to have discussions about what the rules ought to be at some other time, when everyone is calm and capable of discussing them and bringing up relevant points, but not when there is already upset happening.)

Also, it helps a lot to be able to present choices you are more or less indifferent between. Either you get your shoes on and your dishes put away by X time and we'll go do Y fun thing, or you don't and we'll stay home. If your room is picked up you can have iPad time, otherwise find something else to do. It's much easier on me having a plan for either way things could go; otherwise I am standing there banging my head against a brick wall trying to figure out why the child does not want to do some ridiculously simple thing and is blocking the whole rest of the day. Obviously I usually have a preference here, and I don't generally mind telling her that I am sad that, say, she wouldn't get dressed so we have run out of time to go to the zoo this morning, but the more I practice non-attachment to my vision of how the day will go, the better the day in fact usually goes.

Furthermore, kids this age are practicing differentiating themselves from their parents. That means that they have fairly recently realized that they are independent entities, and just because you told them to do something doesn't mean they have to do it. So direct instructions will tend to invite "No!" or ignoring you or otherwise experimenting with Not Doing What Parents Say, while information that reminds them what they're supposed to be doing without actually being an instruction doesn't trigger that reflex.

Example from this morning: Morgan requests help picking up a pile of stuff on the kitchen counter.
Alexander Hamilton: Okay, start with these hair clips. Your hair stuff box is over on the table by the comfy chair, so go put the clips in there and then put the box away where it goes, then come back and get the next thing.
Morgan plays with the clips while Alexander Hamilton puts away the bag they were in.
Alexander Hamilton: Morgan, are you going to put the clips away? Put the clips in the box and put the box away, it'll just take a minute.
Morgan: You do it!

Later, Morgan again requests help picking up.
Aaron Burr: Okay... I see some shoes and a pair of pajamas in the bathroom.
Morgan picks up the pajamas and puts them in the hamper, then returns for the shoes.

Today I am thankful for modern dentistry, anesthesiology, and medical professionals who are legitimately good with kids. (Morgan needed several fillings but was too anxious to cope with the dentist while awake. Everything went very smoothly and she is all better now.)

We have had two deaths in the extended family recently, so Morgan has been seeing various parents be sad, and hearing about some concepts that are new to her, like funerals. But neither of the relatives had been a regular presence in her life, so they were fairly abstract new concepts.

Then one of the chickens died. (Not unexpectedly; Teckla'd been gradually declining in a vague sort of elderly-chicken way for about a year, and one day last week settled in behind the shed and waited quietly until she was all done being a chicken.) So that brought some of this confusing stuff we'd been talking about into sharper focus for her. It's hard to tell how much of it she's understood; she nodded along with all the explanations in the evening, and watched me bury Teckla, and asked questions then, but the next morning she called for her when we were feeding the chickens, and was mad at me for burying her so she couldn't come get her treats. She says she misses Teckla, and also that we should get a puppy since we're down a pet.

As part of her processing, one of her imaginary brothers and sisters (Bean) has died, and there are only two left now (Eggplant and Lettuce). I feel much sadder about that than seems reasonable. Possibly I am sad because Morgan isn't particularly; she mostly brings it up when I am being impatient about her stealing the bike pump to inflate her babies' imaginary scooter tires, to assure me that she'll be quick "because Bean died, so there are only two scooters now."