We were recently at my parent's house for dinner. Omi and Opi have a nice sized fish tank with some eye-catching fish to keep Alexis' attention (at least for a short bit of time). To make them a tad more exciting, Omi will give them a quick "snack" to get them riled up. Alexis is all about assisting and exploring, but Omi wanted to make sure Alexis understood that the fish snack was stinky (and ultimately not appealing).
I was going about my business in the kitchen during this fish experience, and suddenly Omi starts laughing (quite hard, I might add). As Alexis walks in my direction, I notice that she's chewing. Apparently, she'd popped her hand in and out of the pellet container so fast that, before we knew it, she was munching away on a dehydrated shrimp pellet. No sign of a "yuck" face either...just using those new found molars to chomp it down. Oh well.
Alexis has also been assisting with feeding the dogs, as well. It's more of a nuisance then anything else, but it's nice to get her involved. I do a whole lot of spotting while she struggles with the scooper and flings the food into the bowl. Then, as she walks the bowl to their respective designated feeding spot, I have to keep a hand on the rim since it's heavy enough for her to walk along with the food spilling in a nice line across the room.
You can, of course, see where this one is going. Yesterday, quick as lightning, she must of stuck her hand in their food tub and popped a piece in her mouth. I knew this only because she looked at me and was crunching away on what, undoubtedly (and hopefully) was a piece of kibble. Again, no sign of disgust.
I knew that this would happen in time (the dog food - the fish food was one I hadn't expected). While some parents might have flipped out, I found it rather amusing. Do I want her to have a regular supplement of dog food? Of course not. But a piece or two? Having two dogs and a toddler, it's only natural!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
a walk in the park...
12 days?? It's been too long.
Alexis and I went to a small park on Saturday afternoon. The park has a relatively long path surrounding it, so I figured it would be nice to toddle along a bit. My child decided she wanted to walk around this entire thing. Seeing as those little legs don't exactly allow for speedy movement, I had to walk next to her at a snail's pace, in turn giving me a much needed lesson in patience. A couple with a dog was walking in the opposite direction - they passed us about three times, and each time Alexis was absolutely thrilled to see him and said "doggy" more times then I can count.
After we finished our loop, I took her to the little playground on site. Most of the contraptions were too advanced for her. There was, however, a nice little tunnel that she was more then happy to sit in. At one point, a girl about 5 or 6 years old popped into one end of the tunnel. She calls to her mom, "I found a baby to play with!" Alexis was psyched to see this girl and proceeded to chat her up. The girl looks at me with a look on her face like, "what the hell is she saying?" I shrugged and said, "only she really knows what she's saying, just go with it."
My little one spent a good bit of time in the tunnel, her hair building up an insane amount of static until each strand seemed to want to stick to a different part of the plastic. She laughed her little heart out watching the bigger girl pop in and out. I admire the ability children have to make connections. These two couldn't communicate and had never met each other, but were absolutely thrilled to play.
Alexis and I went to a small park on Saturday afternoon. The park has a relatively long path surrounding it, so I figured it would be nice to toddle along a bit. My child decided she wanted to walk around this entire thing. Seeing as those little legs don't exactly allow for speedy movement, I had to walk next to her at a snail's pace, in turn giving me a much needed lesson in patience. A couple with a dog was walking in the opposite direction - they passed us about three times, and each time Alexis was absolutely thrilled to see him and said "doggy" more times then I can count.
After we finished our loop, I took her to the little playground on site. Most of the contraptions were too advanced for her. There was, however, a nice little tunnel that she was more then happy to sit in. At one point, a girl about 5 or 6 years old popped into one end of the tunnel. She calls to her mom, "I found a baby to play with!" Alexis was psyched to see this girl and proceeded to chat her up. The girl looks at me with a look on her face like, "what the hell is she saying?" I shrugged and said, "only she really knows what she's saying, just go with it."
My little one spent a good bit of time in the tunnel, her hair building up an insane amount of static until each strand seemed to want to stick to a different part of the plastic. She laughed her little heart out watching the bigger girl pop in and out. I admire the ability children have to make connections. These two couldn't communicate and had never met each other, but were absolutely thrilled to play.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
no questions please...
There are tons of words a child can and will learn. I read somewhere that, at the stage Alexis is in, they learn something like 13 new words a day. That's a lot of words. And that's a lot of pressure on us to make sure those are the "right" words. It wasn't until she started talking that I realized Jamie and I have trucker mouths. We're quick to say "oops, I mean Shoot" or "oh, I meant Fudge" after a slip, but I can't see that being effective.
One of the very first words is "no". Alexis has a very matter-of-fact "no". There usually isn't even a hint of negativity to her "no"...it's simply a sweet, gentle "no". In addition to "no" being something you say when you decide you don't want something, like a certain food or for the dogs to get away from her cookie), "no" is also a response to an option or choice. "Do you want this?" "No."
Recently, after falling ill and wanting desperately to stay in bed on a Tuesday morning, I'd asked Jamie to get Alexis ready in the morning (typically my job). I heard him enter her room and could hear her laugh and smile. After a few repetitions of "Mama?", Jamie asks her, "Are you ready to get out of bed?" Her response? "No." "Come on Alexis, can I get you up and dressed?" "No." He was giving her choices, and she was responding accordingly.
That evening, he also took on the job of giving her a bath (again, usually my role). She's splashing away, having a dandy time as she always does in the tub, and finally it was time to get out. Jamie asks her, "You ready to get out?" "No." He'd reach down and say, "Are you ready?" She'd turn away and give him her sweet little "No."
We've decided that she's too young to have options. It's not "Are you ready to get up?" Instead, it's "It's time to get up Alexis." We can't ask, "Are you ready to get out of the tub?" It should be, "Ok, let's get out of the tub now."
Someone at my work told me that you should always put out two outfits for a child and they can pick which one they want to wear. I asked, "At 16 months?" "Sure." Age aside, why slow down the morning routine with two outfits on the bed and her needing to sit and ponder which is best. Not to mention, I have enough to get ready the night before, I don't need to spend time picking out TWO getups. Until she's old enough to really benefit from picking something like that out, I'm not going to be giving her a chance to say "No, I don't want to wear either."
There are plenty of chances for her to learn the art of making choices. She can decide which book to read or what blocks to play with. She can even sometimes pick out if she wants a banana or blueberries. But sometimes she doesn't really have a choice, so why lead her on?
One of the very first words is "no". Alexis has a very matter-of-fact "no". There usually isn't even a hint of negativity to her "no"...it's simply a sweet, gentle "no". In addition to "no" being something you say when you decide you don't want something, like a certain food or for the dogs to get away from her cookie), "no" is also a response to an option or choice. "Do you want this?" "No."
Recently, after falling ill and wanting desperately to stay in bed on a Tuesday morning, I'd asked Jamie to get Alexis ready in the morning (typically my job). I heard him enter her room and could hear her laugh and smile. After a few repetitions of "Mama?", Jamie asks her, "Are you ready to get out of bed?" Her response? "No." "Come on Alexis, can I get you up and dressed?" "No." He was giving her choices, and she was responding accordingly.
That evening, he also took on the job of giving her a bath (again, usually my role). She's splashing away, having a dandy time as she always does in the tub, and finally it was time to get out. Jamie asks her, "You ready to get out?" "No." He'd reach down and say, "Are you ready?" She'd turn away and give him her sweet little "No."
We've decided that she's too young to have options. It's not "Are you ready to get up?" Instead, it's "It's time to get up Alexis." We can't ask, "Are you ready to get out of the tub?" It should be, "Ok, let's get out of the tub now."
Someone at my work told me that you should always put out two outfits for a child and they can pick which one they want to wear. I asked, "At 16 months?" "Sure." Age aside, why slow down the morning routine with two outfits on the bed and her needing to sit and ponder which is best. Not to mention, I have enough to get ready the night before, I don't need to spend time picking out TWO getups. Until she's old enough to really benefit from picking something like that out, I'm not going to be giving her a chance to say "No, I don't want to wear either."
There are plenty of chances for her to learn the art of making choices. She can decide which book to read or what blocks to play with. She can even sometimes pick out if she wants a banana or blueberries. But sometimes she doesn't really have a choice, so why lead her on?
Thursday, January 7, 2010
catch up...
The holidays came and went, and with the whirlwind of excitement, my blogging seemed to come to a halt. And, seeing as this blog serves two purposes (one being pure entertainment for me and my readers, and second being that it serves as my baby book), I'll need to put out a full on recap of the past few weeks.
- Alexis is walking 100% of the time with no crawling at all anymore. She always has one arm up in what looks like a left hand turn signal, but I'm hoping in time that'll come down. While it's fun for her to be walking, and easier when we're out somewhere, she's so dead-set on meandering on her own that when you do try to carry her, she gets mad. And "come on let's go this way" falls on the ears of a child that doesn't understand that collection of words yet.
- Christmas tree hunting was a blast. We had our usual field excursion, and as is always the case, it was ridiculously cold and windy. We found what looked like the perfect tree, but of course when we got it home and we finally popped it open, I began to wonder if they'd switched it out in the baling station. Enough strategically placed ornaments filled in the gaps and tah-dah, it looked pretty snazzy. Surprisingly, Alexis and the dogs actually left it alone.
- When we were attempting to sell our home (it's back off the market), de-cluttering suddenly made our little house look a bit bigger. Then came Christmas and a slew of toys of all sizes, shapes, and sounds. The living room has now returned to its original tiny state, and the dogs are in heaven. There's a never-ending number of blocks, random veggies from the plastic crawl-thru farm, etc for them to pick up, chew, and discard somewhere else in the house. We found a finger puppet in our bed last night. Lovely.
- Our little piglet that loved any food we put in front of her suddenly became picky, complete with a matter-of-fact "no" to let us know what she thought of what we were putting in front of her. Things she likes one day are suddenly gross the next. It has nothing to do with the food. It has everything to do with testing mommy and daddy.
- Her vocabulary is ridiculous. We're constantly told that she is advanced in her communication skills, and from what I observe, I can proudly agree. Here's a list (though not at all inclusive) of what she says (and can clearly point out or identify, so we're not just making things up). If only I could add her sweet tone interesting syllabic accents to what I write:
Mommy and Daddy
Doggy
Apple
Banana
Face and Body parts - Eye, nose, ear, chin, knee, elbow, belly
Outerwear - Hat, socks, shoes
Thank you
Not Nice (complete with an angry finger point) and No (of course)
Sippy
Elmo (even though she really doesn't like him)
Etc.
She learns something new every day, surprises us regularly, and also tests us on our patience and our yet to be determined disciplinary skills...and we're loving every minute of it.
- Alexis is walking 100% of the time with no crawling at all anymore. She always has one arm up in what looks like a left hand turn signal, but I'm hoping in time that'll come down. While it's fun for her to be walking, and easier when we're out somewhere, she's so dead-set on meandering on her own that when you do try to carry her, she gets mad. And "come on let's go this way" falls on the ears of a child that doesn't understand that collection of words yet.
- Christmas tree hunting was a blast. We had our usual field excursion, and as is always the case, it was ridiculously cold and windy. We found what looked like the perfect tree, but of course when we got it home and we finally popped it open, I began to wonder if they'd switched it out in the baling station. Enough strategically placed ornaments filled in the gaps and tah-dah, it looked pretty snazzy. Surprisingly, Alexis and the dogs actually left it alone.
- When we were attempting to sell our home (it's back off the market), de-cluttering suddenly made our little house look a bit bigger. Then came Christmas and a slew of toys of all sizes, shapes, and sounds. The living room has now returned to its original tiny state, and the dogs are in heaven. There's a never-ending number of blocks, random veggies from the plastic crawl-thru farm, etc for them to pick up, chew, and discard somewhere else in the house. We found a finger puppet in our bed last night. Lovely.
- Our little piglet that loved any food we put in front of her suddenly became picky, complete with a matter-of-fact "no" to let us know what she thought of what we were putting in front of her. Things she likes one day are suddenly gross the next. It has nothing to do with the food. It has everything to do with testing mommy and daddy.
- Her vocabulary is ridiculous. We're constantly told that she is advanced in her communication skills, and from what I observe, I can proudly agree. Here's a list (though not at all inclusive) of what she says (and can clearly point out or identify, so we're not just making things up). If only I could add her sweet tone interesting syllabic accents to what I write:
Mommy and Daddy
Doggy
Apple
Banana
Face and Body parts - Eye, nose, ear, chin, knee, elbow, belly
Outerwear - Hat, socks, shoes
Thank you
Not Nice (complete with an angry finger point) and No (of course)
Sippy
Elmo (even though she really doesn't like him)
Etc.
She learns something new every day, surprises us regularly, and also tests us on our patience and our yet to be determined disciplinary skills...and we're loving every minute of it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
