- On Friday, she grabbed her spoon from me at breakfast and started eating her oatmeal by herself. This is not the first time she has reached for the spoon, but it is the first time she has not placed her oatmeal directly in her hair or sent it flying through the air.
Side note: how long does it take for a baby to "declare" handedness? Mikayla has always self-fed with both hands, but more often with her left. She is using both hands equally frequently to feed herself with the spoon, and seems equally coordinated with both so far (she gets the food smoothly into her mouth with both). Do I have an ambidextrous genius child, or will she eventually decide which hand she prefers?
- Today, while eating her PB&J for lunch, she looked me in the eye and held her nose with her right thumb and forefinger. I have never seen her hold her nose, and neither Joel nor I have taught her this. She gave me this mischievous smile for a few seconds before opening her sandwich-filled mouth and gasping for air. I'm not sure whether she knew ahead of time that this trick would deprive her of oxygen. Now, I can ask her to "hold your nose!" and she will do it again. Yes, I'm amazed by this because it is possibly the first spontaneous trick that nobody has taught her, and she found it as hilarious as I did.
- Also today, we went erranding with our sweet neighbor, Fran. Fran is at home by herself during the day while her teen (special-needs) grandsons are in school, and lately she has dropped by a few times to visit. Today we coordinated a visit to the local thrift store together, so that she could help me carry and corral little ones and actually accomplish my few shopping goals. Typically, Mikayla rides in the shopping cart or, when she is in a really sunny (not) mood, I have to carry her AND push the cart. Today, Mikayla pulled the go-limp-in-momma's-arms-and-slide-down-her-body move that signaled her desire to walk like a big girl. This has so far happened only at home, possibly a couple of times at church. But she walked like a CHAMP at the store, browsing the display cases of jewelry (the plexiglass windows between her and the merchandise were a little baffling at first) and doing laps around the front display aisles. She even attempted to push the cart. And walked through the big doors, along the sidewalk, and out to the car. She only became a tiny bit afraid when she saw the gigantic forklift that the employees use to move big bins of donations around, but hey, that's a little intimidating even to an experienced biped like myself.
- Mikayla used to be afraid of both our gravel driveway and the grass. On Saturday she held a few blades of grass in her hand. Today, she walked all over the driveway, around the car, and gave handfuls stones to Fran before they came inside and showed off Mikayla's dirty palms. I saw her grimy hands and thought, she's officially a kid now!
- She is learning new words almost daily. The cutest is "buh-puh" (purple) and "byyyyeeeee!" every time she hears one of us say goodbye on the phone. Also "doop doop doop" with accompanying hand motion, which is apparently what the ceiling fan "says".
- I am happy to report that she seems to understand the question, "Do you want a spanking?" This has, for the most part, turned our diaper-change experiences around considerably, for the better. And I have only had to follow through once - the mere mention of that dreaded smack on chubby toddler-thigh inspires golden obedience. So far. But stay tuned on that one, folks, because I do believe she is her momma's daughter.
- She takes her big-sister role very seriously. She brings Isaac his blanket (and puts it over his face). She shows him all her toys (mostly by bopping him in the head with them, but she REALLY wants to give them to him!). She gives lots of hugs and kisses and rocks whatever he is sitting in. And she doesn't let me get lazy...today I strapped him into his carseat, but left the handle back in the reclining position. Mikayla pulled the hood/shade thing up over Isaac's head, and tugged on the handle, looking at me with eyes that obviously said, "But momma, he's not ALL ready to go yet!" I'm amazed at the things she picks up on, like burping her baby doll, putting a burp cloth over the doll as a blanket, and obviously making sure Isaac's carseat is in the locked, upright position so that we can leave the house.
SDG!
No comments:
Post a Comment