What’s New Wednesday: Growing Up and Sitting Down
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| Adventuring downtown |
When Annabelle was newly born and for many months thereafter, I felt as though she fit perfectly in my arms. It was as if my body and hers were designed to fit together like puzzle pieces. Rocking her felt effortless, as even on the longest nights, my eyes would be droopy and my knees wobbly, but I could have held that bundle in my arms forever. It was just right. At the time of this writing, it’s nearly midnight and I’ve just taken my dear one back to bed after she woke to nurse. I still love holding her just as much as I always have, but she has begun to feel bulky, and downright heavy in my arms. When I placed her in bed and looked down at her just then, I must admit she looked much more little girl than baby. It seems that, despite my trepidation, she is growing up.
This week has, along those same lines, shown evidence of Annabelle’s maturity. Her hair now finally long enough, she wore pigtails for the first time; she has begun to do a lot more actual tidying up after her own meals and snacks, she climbed a slide for the first time, and she has shown her awareness of the world around her in a number of new ways. Andrew and I are constantly shooting one another a look behind her back that says: “Holy goodness, did you see what she just did!? She’s amazing!” Just as an example, one small action that elicited that look this week: Annabelle loves to drink out of the daddy’s water bottle. He is happy to share, but because it is made of stainless steel and has rather hard parts, we have insisted that she sit down while drinking from it instead of walking about with it as she prefers to do. The desire to get up and move around is too strong, however, so we have generally had to hold her as she drinks to ensure her safety. All of the sudden, she has started signing water (her own version of the ASL sign, which involves wiggling her fingers beneath her chin, Little Rascals style) whenever she sees the beloved bottle, and then sitting right down, expectantly.
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| At the door, signing “outside” |
We’re slowly settling back into a routine with sleep, which I’m sure will be dashed the next time a new tooth is pushing through, or a major new skill is being acquired, but that’s okay. I’m finally beginning to feel a rhythm in our days, after the idea of such a thing had almost become a complete abstraction in my mind. I finally introduced some art supplies, and drawing has become a regular part of our days, though I have to watch quite closely for the cue that it’s time to clean up and move on – when the urge to taste a crayon comes on, it comes on strong! As for other activities, Annabelle has come to enjoy carrying around a stuffed toy, not so much as an attachment object as simply something to cuddle and kiss. She has two bears: one large, and one small, that she carries about and hands to the daddy or me, though we’re not yet sure what it is that she wants us to do with them. She has also enjoyed pulling gift bags out of the place where I keep them, or finding purses and placing objects inside, then carrying them around the house. She is always busy with something.
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| The naked artist |
It has been a bit since I wrote an update on EC, as there is little to report, really. We sometimes go entire days without misses, nights are dry much more often than not, and “misses” are almost never of the solid variety. Then there are days when the girl is far too busy with other occupations to be bothered with trips to the toilet, so there are far more misses than catches. As always, the goal is communication, and at this stage I’m fine with it being on her terms, even if that means several misses a day on some days. I just have to trust that she knows she can ask me if she’d like to be taken to the toilet. I am noticing that she comes to me right away after a miss, rather than happily continuing on with wet pants as she used to do, so perhaps there has been an increase in awareness, or perhaps they are rare enough now that being wet feels out of place. Either way, I’m glad she’s letting me know. We did invest in a couple of all in one diapers for bedtime because trainers no longer do the job of holding all the liquid in when there is a nighttime miss. These have been great to have! We purchased two Grovia all in one, one size diapers and I think these were the best choice for our purposes. They have side snaps, so I can fasten them a bit more loosely than I would if I actually diapered Annabelle in the traditional sense, and they pull down easily for trips to the bathroom – just like a trainer, but absorbent enough to guard against wet sheets. If it weren’t for the impending move, I think I would remove trainers from the equation altogether and go with all underwear during the day, but I think it’s best to wait until we’re settled in our new home.
What have your children been up to this week? What was the last thing that made you think to yourself: “my child is amazing!” Do tell!
8 Responses to What’s New Wednesday: Growing Up and Sitting Down
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What a lovely post. : )
My 6 year old boy has this amazing ability to know just what to say and when to say it to make the world feel better. I love seeing the person he is becoming.
I felt that although the first year is amazing – they start off a newborn and by the first birthday they are real little people that you can know well, the magic happens in the second year. Enjoy it with all your heart!
Livi sat down and recited by heart an entire, original (not disney) Winnie the Pooh story complete with different voices. Not just one story wither, but about four. They are quite long. She was brilliant and hilarious and I was in awe of her memory.
Johnny has turned into a non-stop reading machine (except when he is playing sport!) and is devouring anything he can lay his hands on. Hurrah!!! At last!!!
Abigail has taken to chess and is surprisingly good at it. She can think ahead a few moves and can beat me already!
Justin in I are giving each other the, "he's amazing!", look all the time too. He loves our dogs and they love him just as much. When they go outside he likes to follow them to the door, push the doggy door open, and watch them. He is too big to fit through their door, thank goodness! When he follows them around and plays with them he has been saying "da." I respond by saying, "That's right, dog. They are dogs." A few days ago, after I said the word dog, Jaxon looked over at the dogs and said, "daawG." I write it in that manner because it was drawn out and the G was very pronounced. I was so excited! He still usually calls them "da", but occasionally he will say "ag" and sometimes the full, "daawg." He is also learning some sign language such as more, milk, hungry, please, and thank you. They are all his version of the sign of course! It has been so neat to watch his language skills develop as well as his understanding of language. He can now follow most single step directions I ask of him. He amazes me each and every day. Usually several times throughout each day! He is such an amazing little person!
One more thing – he is starting to try and drink from his cup finally. Most of the time he is still dumping it out everywhere, but then once it is empty he holds it up to his lips and pretends to drink. I am accepting this behavior as adequate progress towards the cup drinking objective. I hope to limit the use of sippy cups as much as possible. I think his daycare teacher thinks I'm crazy!
I LOVE all of your posts about motherhood and Annabelle. Miss you like crazy!!!!! xoxo
This post was so timely! My partner and I have also been having many of those *looks* behind Finlay's back.
Just last week his nose was running so I said to him, "Finlay, do you need to wipe your nose?"… he got a thoughtful look on his face, walked over to where I keep wet cloths, took a cloth and wiped his nose. Then he took the cloth and placed it in his nappy bucket! Quite a change from the little boy who has been refusing to let me wipe his face… :)
Then on one of our walks he stopped at the front of a neighbor's house, pointed at a garden-statue of a woman and said, "Lady". I nearly fell over!
What fun that we get to witness these amazing moments in the lives of our 14-month-olds.
I love reading about your experiences with Annabelle and I'm amazed by your ability to post so often! I look forward to more :)
It's so neat how we can learn new things about all the time. I'm excited to watch the unfolding of the person my daughter will become, too ;)
I haven't even learned chess, much as I hate to admit it! I love what individuals your children are, with all their different pursuits.
How exciting, Cathy! I think I would have nearly fallen over as well!
I doubt I would find time to post as often if I were running a program in my home – I'm amazed by your ability to manage all of that, and love reading it when you do get around to posting!
Oh, I miss you guys, too!! I can't wait to see you all and experience all of these exciting things Jaxon is doing in person!