Up until very recently, maybe the last three or four days, E has called water "milk". It became our joke, especially as she started learning to say new words, to call water milk. One night in particular, about four or five mornthd ago, I was changing her diaper and then trying to rock her to sleep. I quietly asked her if she wanted water. Her reply was to say "milk". I then tried prompting her to say water, but she wouldn't. So, I prompted her to say different words, repeating after me; " eyes, ears, mouth, teddy, blankie, and so on". She was very capable of repeating the words I said. When I asked her to say water, she once again chirped back milk, and I started to laugh. Saying water once more, she again said milk, pitching her voice higher on the end of the word, and giggled. I, of course, giggled right along with her because she knew she was being silly. She was so clever to make up her own little joke, and it was a running joke for quite awhile. Needless to say that I wasn't as successful at helping her fall asleep quickly that night. It's one of my favourite memories, that night giggling and loving her unique way of finding humour. The last week, I've noticed that she's now repeating back the order water when prompted, and I'm a little sad. I enjoyed our giggles and shared laughter. I'm thankful to have had that experience with her.
When we were shopping at the mall last week, waiting for daddy's dental appointment to finish, we walked by one of those old rides that used to cost a quarter. I thought it could be a special treat for having been such a good shopper while we waited for daddy. Matt ended up meeting up with us before she went on and got to witness her first ride on one of those ridiculous, yet super fun rides. I'm not sure it was by choice or our encouragement, but she chose the miniature carousel. After having sat on each of the two horses, petting them and saying "nice horsey", she was ready to go. I put in the loonie (thinking how ridiculous a price that was) and hurriedly tried to keep pace as the machine sped up. I was afraid that she would be nervous or scared but she was mostly interested in looking up at the carousel's roof, where the music was coming from. Outwardly, she didn't seem to have that thrilling of a ride, but once it had finished and we tried taking her off, she clung onto the pommels of the horse with all her might. She did not want off! It was such an independent display, and it was so funny. Obviously E thought it was great and signalled that she wanted to ride around the circle again. Most of the time, E is happy to go along with things and be content. It was very apparent that she had her own ideas, and it was neat to witness that development.
That same day was also her first official visit to Santa. It appeared to be a traumatic experience. In the back of my mind I wonder if laughing at her crying is damaging her, psychologically, but then I look at the pictures and love them regardless. This Santa was particularly good in that he really tried hard to help us get a nice, calm picture, by getting up off of his chair and crouching behind her. Unfortunately she wouldn't look at the camera, so it wasn't 100% successful but still so sweet of him for trying.
Lately E has been chasing me around with different animals, like her snake and dinosaur, making roaring sounds and having them bite me, often on the bottom. She seems to think it's the funniest thing in the world when I shake my bottom and shout "oh no"! I love how she considers me to be funny, most of the time. The last couple of days, she's had her beasts attack while I'm in the kitchen, and I've been trapped, unable to move away. Oh, the hilarity of it all!!!
Ever cognizant of her social skills, E has been practicing how to leave and arrive using a door. While I'm cleaning or preparing meals, she will go to the pantry, open the door, say bye bye, then shut herself inside. Moments later, she will push the door open, pop her head out and say hello in a bright, musical tone. When she's "leaving", I will often say "goodbye. I love you" which she then repeats back in her best approximation. Another pattern she practices is "goodbye, I'll miss you", before once again proceeding to close the door. The only tricky part is when the door fully closes and she gets trapped. I then have to quickly rescue her.
E has taken to treating her big bear as her own personal baby; buckling it into the booster seat, trying to give it water, pushing it around in her car, and attempting to clean it's bum and put a diaper and Vaseline on it. When given any amount of time unsupervised, she has taken to bringing together wipes and diapers from around the house to her teddy to practice diapering. There was one morning where I found, after my shower, that she had emptied nearly the entire container of wipes, and her bear's bum very wet. I've taken to locking my bedroom door when I shower, to hopefully contain the playtime to my room.
This past Saturday, as I was showering, she opened the curtain and threw some of her bath toys into the tub. I guess she figured I might be bored. Thanks. Later, while Matt and I were pulling some things together for the evening, she was in and out of our at-the-time-roommate MM's room, bringing her toys and books, chattering away. MM was wonderful and very patient with little E and didn't seem fazed in the least. When I went in to collect my wonderfully generous daughter, I saw that E had upended her entire container of wonden blocks on top of MM. Oh the patience of that good woman.
We decorated the Christmas tree together as a family. Last year we had done the whole thing ourselves and E just got to be surprised the next morning. This year we had wanted to include her more. So while MM and E were downstairs watching a Christmas cartoon, Matt and I were working on setting the tree up, fluffing the branches and adding the lights and tinsel. When MM came up with E, we simply handed ornaments to our sweet little helper and she happily hung them on the tree; most of them coincidentally ended up on two or three specific branches. E loves the snowmen head ornaments, as well as the glowing birds which are also her daddy's favourites. I'm glad we took the time to involve her in the decorating. The only challenge now is reminding her we look with our eyes, not our hands. She definitely feels a sense of ownership for those few select branches. Ornaments are seemingly moving around on their own.
She brings me joy, and for that I'm thankful. E has enriched our lives beyond measure. It's the hardest job I've ever done, being a mum, and I often feel more like a failure than a success. I'm grateful she is so forgiving and loving. I can understand, a little more, what the Savior meant when he said to become like little children. Finding joy in simple things, having a pure love for others and forgiving quickly are wonderful traits to have.
Being silly, putting her horsey on top of baby Jesus, who was on top of the manger.
A way cheaper ride! Her good daddy indulging her desire to go on the escalator one more time...
Things I loved about this post.
ReplyDelete1. I have a new word in my vocabulary: pommel. I didn’t know it before. It made me think of the word “aglet”. Something you have experienced but may never had had occasion to learn a word for it.
2. The milk/water joke was so endearing. It made me think of my son’s first joke for me. How touched I was to see that we had this connection and it was at his instigation.
3. I laughed right out loud at the vision of her practicing her greeting skills in a kitchen pantry. A girl after my own heart.
4. The picture of her diapering her bear captures that concentration that a new task takes. Who could have guessed that your diaper wipes would turn into a critical component of play. And her using up enough to get the butt of the bear wet. So cute.
5. Her grin in the horse in the manger picture is fun. I love how she is checking out the viewer to see if they get her joke.
Reading this post was a real treat. Thanks.
Bonnie, I love you! Thank you for reading, and then commenting, on my blog. My purpose in writing is mainly for my own journaling, but I really appreciate that you took the time to share your thoughts. Thank you.
DeleteI learned a new word as well, from your comment. I hope the term sticks in my mind, but now I will always know those little plasticy-doo-dads on shoelaces actually have names. Thanks for that interesting tidbit.
With much love and affection, happy new year, Bonnie.