So I'm never quite sure how much Jane understands and how much is just mimicry.
A week or so ago I was putting Jane in the car and I broke a nail (my nails are so brittle during pregnancy) and I said "Dang It!" Jane looked at me quizzically and so I started explaining that sometimes when we are frustrated we say things like "Dang it!" I went on for a while as we drove to my sister's house. An hour or so later, Jane was overly hungry and thus whiny and my sister and I said something about Jane being ornery and frustrating. Then Jane said "Jane ornery. Dang it."
Jane is really aware of "hurts" lately. Anytime she bumps anything or falls or whatever she fusses a bit and, if I don't say it first, she says "what happened?" or "are you OK?" She'll keep repeating this till I ask her then she tell me what got hurt. And then she asks me to kiss it better. Tonight she was spinning circles and saying "ashes, ashes...fall down." As she went to sit down, she fell a bit on her bum at an odd angle against the bookcase. And you guessed it, Jane asked me to kiss her bum. "Hurt bum. Mommy kiss it? Mommy kiss bum."
Jane's crib is against our bedroom wall. Lately she's taken to kicking it while she's "trying" to go to sleep. After telling her not to kick the wall a few times, and worrying that she'd figure out that kicking the wall was a sure way to bring us into the bedroom, I decided to pull the crib away 10 inches or so. This has worked, but apparently Daddy's words carry more meaning than Mommy's. The last few mornings Eric has gone in to her first. Yesterday she said "Hi" (which is her usual greeting) followed by "Don't kick the wall." This morning it was "Don't kick the wall" followed by "Hi."
Jane seems to have a sensitivity to citrus or at least orangy citrus. Which is frustrating because we both love clementines and Eric doesn't and I can't eat a whole case myself, especially when I have to eat it in secret or risk giving in to her begging. The other day I gave in a little and let her have a few wedges. Later she had some bad, stinging diarrhea. As I was changing her, I told her that oranges give her diarrhea and diarrhea can make your bum hurt. As you can probably guess by this point, she mimicked me and said "diarrhea bum hurt." Over and over a few times. And let me just tell you, diarrhea is one of her cutest words these days, who even knew it could BE a cute word? Anyway, we were at a friend's house later and this friend likes potty humor so I thought she'd get a kick out of hearing Jane say "diarrhea," which she did. Then Jane was offered some fruit salad that had oranges in it, which I pointed out to Jane and she said "Diarrhea bum hurt." I thought, Victory!! She got it.
Or not. This afternoon during stories we were reading the two books that have to do with a baby coming--"Once You Were Inside Your Mommy" and "I'm a Big Sister Now." Then we were talking about baby sister and I decided to see if Jane could say Rhys (the only name that is currently on our list). She started saying all kinds of things like "baby sister Rhys" and "Jane and Rhys sister" and "Rhys in Mommy's belly" etc etc. Then tonight at bedtime I tried to recreate the cuteness and get her to say Rhys again. She said it. But first she said "diarrhea Rhys."
Ornery Preggo Lady
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It's 2:51 am and I am awake. I'm tired of fighting for sleep again so I got up and now I'm sitting on the floor in front of our large window (open of course) because I'm hot, go figure. (it's 36 degrees outside, in case you were wondering, feels great!) Why not check your email and blog in the middle of the morning? I shouldn't complain too much, thus far I've had a pretty good night, only up 3 times and no leg cramps, yet, sure beats the last several nights of craptastic sleep. I don't remember having this much trouble sleeping when I was pregnant with Jane. I guess it must be the back stuff this time, but boy am I tired of it.
I swore, and I really believed, that I would be fine with this one coming whenever she needed to, that I wouldn't try to talk her into coming early like I did with Jane. But the last couple nights have made me contemplate hoping for an earlier delivery, despite the fact that my to do list (My Master Nesting List, as I call it) is plenty long and I will need at least the whole month (that's right, as of this morning, I have one month to go!). Eric laughed when I showed it to him and said "this is stuff you want to get done before our third child, right?"
blah, blah, blah. yackity, yackity, Gmail is being stupid. I guess it's a sign to go to bed.
EDITED TO INCLUDE:
So, I tried to go back to bed that night and couldn't. So I got up and did a bunch of organizing and cleaning in my kitchen--Eric was thrilled and concerned at the same time. I went back to bed after 5:00 and thankfully fell asleep until Jane woke at 6:15.
I swore, and I really believed, that I would be fine with this one coming whenever she needed to, that I wouldn't try to talk her into coming early like I did with Jane. But the last couple nights have made me contemplate hoping for an earlier delivery, despite the fact that my to do list (My Master Nesting List, as I call it) is plenty long and I will need at least the whole month (that's right, as of this morning, I have one month to go!). Eric laughed when I showed it to him and said "this is stuff you want to get done before our third child, right?"
blah, blah, blah. yackity, yackity, Gmail is being stupid. I guess it's a sign to go to bed.
EDITED TO INCLUDE:
So, I tried to go back to bed that night and couldn't. So I got up and did a bunch of organizing and cleaning in my kitchen--Eric was thrilled and concerned at the same time. I went back to bed after 5:00 and thankfully fell asleep until Jane woke at 6:15.
Jane at Almost 20 Months
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I fully plan on posting about Easter, and several other things, and I will but it's been too long since I:
1) posted a summary of Jane's numerous accomplishments and super cute things she does, my sister was complaining that I don't share all the cuteness enough with my family.
2) posted pictures. We ran out of batteries a while back and I finally caved the other day and bought some...
3) shared a pregnant picture of myself. Let me tell you, I'm HUGE!!
Thus, here you go!
She is really into playing with and identifying capital letters of the alphabet and can consistently identify about 20 of them. She tells me that A says Ah and B says Bah quite often, too. She likes to point out letters wherever she sees them, on signs, painting in parking lots, on food items, and of course, in books.
Speaking of books, she likes reading to herself these days. She had a lull regarding books a while ago, but now she's really into them and hands me a book at least a dozen times a day and says "read it!" very clearly. I love to watch her read to herself and hear her copy me in word or just intonation. Are You My Mother? is by far the cutest of the bunch...although she's scared of the dog.
In fact, she's scared of a lot of things these days. Big dogs are one of the worst thanks to some very loud black labs at my sister's neighbor's house. Other fears include: the hair dryer, the vacuum, the blender, and Mr. Noodle on Elmo, among other random things. Most of the time she just needs Mom or Dad to give her a hug ("hug"), kiss (she doesn't ask she just puts her mouth on you), or carry her for a minute "(cowwy?")
It's been interesting to watch her emotionally develop. She's really into sad right now-- she notices when anyone, stranger, friend, or TV character is sad and tells me about it. Daddy can't pretend to cry to get her to eat her food anymore because it almost makes her cry. In church today she was sitting by her cousin Joey who was frustrated he was on his mother's lap instead of walking the halls with dad (and he'd had a bad night). Jane said "Doo-ah sad." To which I had to affirm "yes, Joey is sad" (I affirm i.e. repeat A LOT these days). Then I told her it was nice to share with people who are sad to make them happy. So we shared her snack bag and then some of her colors. Here and there she'd say "Doo-ah sad. Bwack? (i.e. Joey is sad. Does Joey want a black color?) Or offer him something else. She's developing into an aware and sensitive kid.
She's finally really starting to develop an interest in gross moter skills: running, sliding, and swings are the top favorites, with a tiny bit of climbing, mostly onto beds and into her chair for dinner. She loves being outside and loves any kind of slide (which she is, strangely, NOT afraid of...yet) whether it's Dad's legs or mom's belly or the big swirly slide at the park. She says the "s" in slide like a Welshman, even--as a "ll"! (the Welsh "ll" is pronounced like an s but with tongue behind the teeth and lots of saliva involved, kind of like a lisp or a cross between a "th" and an "s"). It's pretty darn cute. I'm really going to miss when she starts talking "right" and all her cute mispronunciations go away. It's already started.
She has an excellent memory which keeps me keeping my promises. If I tell her she can't wear her necklace ("nengnus") to bed, you can bet when she wakes up in the morning her first few words will include necklace!
She still loves music and for the most part, it still puts her in a trance, something her nursery teachers find hilarious. She has started to sing a little bit, though. Most clearly she will sing the "sit and wait" song I made up: "sit and wait, sit and wait, Jane is such a patient girl to sit and wait." She even says patient. In fact, the other day I lost my cool a little bit in the car after some fussing over food and Jane babbled the whole way home "patient. just a minute. wait." over and over again.
Eric and I both very excited to watch her grow up...and I'm already starting to think of her as more of a kid than a baby...*sigh* Guess it's good I'm having another one here shortly.
1) posted a summary of Jane's numerous accomplishments and super cute things she does, my sister was complaining that I don't share all the cuteness enough with my family.
2) posted pictures. We ran out of batteries a while back and I finally caved the other day and bought some...
3) shared a pregnant picture of myself. Let me tell you, I'm HUGE!!
Thus, here you go!
She is really into playing with and identifying capital letters of the alphabet and can consistently identify about 20 of them. She tells me that A says Ah and B says Bah quite often, too. She likes to point out letters wherever she sees them, on signs, painting in parking lots, on food items, and of course, in books.
Speaking of books, she likes reading to herself these days. She had a lull regarding books a while ago, but now she's really into them and hands me a book at least a dozen times a day and says "read it!" very clearly. I love to watch her read to herself and hear her copy me in word or just intonation. Are You My Mother? is by far the cutest of the bunch...although she's scared of the dog.
In fact, she's scared of a lot of things these days. Big dogs are one of the worst thanks to some very loud black labs at my sister's neighbor's house. Other fears include: the hair dryer, the vacuum, the blender, and Mr. Noodle on Elmo, among other random things. Most of the time she just needs Mom or Dad to give her a hug ("hug"), kiss (she doesn't ask she just puts her mouth on you), or carry her for a minute "(cowwy?")
It's been interesting to watch her emotionally develop. She's really into sad right now-- she notices when anyone, stranger, friend, or TV character is sad and tells me about it. Daddy can't pretend to cry to get her to eat her food anymore because it almost makes her cry. In church today she was sitting by her cousin Joey who was frustrated he was on his mother's lap instead of walking the halls with dad (and he'd had a bad night). Jane said "Doo-ah sad." To which I had to affirm "yes, Joey is sad" (I affirm i.e. repeat A LOT these days). Then I told her it was nice to share with people who are sad to make them happy. So we shared her snack bag and then some of her colors. Here and there she'd say "Doo-ah sad. Bwack? (i.e. Joey is sad. Does Joey want a black color?) Or offer him something else. She's developing into an aware and sensitive kid.
She's finally really starting to develop an interest in gross moter skills: running, sliding, and swings are the top favorites, with a tiny bit of climbing, mostly onto beds and into her chair for dinner. She loves being outside and loves any kind of slide (which she is, strangely, NOT afraid of...yet) whether it's Dad's legs or mom's belly or the big swirly slide at the park. She says the "s" in slide like a Welshman, even--as a "ll"! (the Welsh "ll" is pronounced like an s but with tongue behind the teeth and lots of saliva involved, kind of like a lisp or a cross between a "th" and an "s"). It's pretty darn cute. I'm really going to miss when she starts talking "right" and all her cute mispronunciations go away. It's already started.
She has an excellent memory which keeps me keeping my promises. If I tell her she can't wear her necklace ("nengnus") to bed, you can bet when she wakes up in the morning her first few words will include necklace!
She still loves music and for the most part, it still puts her in a trance, something her nursery teachers find hilarious. She has started to sing a little bit, though. Most clearly she will sing the "sit and wait" song I made up: "sit and wait, sit and wait, Jane is such a patient girl to sit and wait." She even says patient. In fact, the other day I lost my cool a little bit in the car after some fussing over food and Jane babbled the whole way home "patient. just a minute. wait." over and over again.
Eric and I both very excited to watch her grow up...and I'm already starting to think of her as more of a kid than a baby...*sigh* Guess it's good I'm having another one here shortly.
Potty Training: A Series--Part 1
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We'll see if I post anymore in this series, but I thought I would at least start.
First of all, I really think I missed my window with potty training Jane. Which doesn't mean we won't get it done before baby comes (I don't have enough cloth diapers for both girls), it just means I'm modifying the method from the book I read. The window we missed was Jane's heightened interest and my feeling good. A month ago or so Jane was telling me before she had to poop and after she pooped, and she was SO interested in the potty. She still is, but she's interested in A LOT more things now, like everything. And as for my health, the two glorious weeks of feeling something close to normal (whatever that is), have come to an end. I'm still feeling better than I was in January, but nowhere near those glory days...*sigh* it's hard to go backwards.
Anyway, back to the potty. First off, my sister gave me a book called Toilet Training in Less than a Day written by a couple of guys back in the 70s who were doing research with handicapped adults on how to help them function at a higher level and independently. From that research and the development of some methods, they applied it to potty training toddlers. What I liked about the book right off the bat was that it also contained sound parenting methods as well. For example:
If you ask your child to do something, make sure you have their attention. Say their name and wait for them to look at you. If they don't look at you "manually guide" their face to look at yours. At all times be calm but firm and consistent. Give clear instructions using words and terms they know and be near enough to "manually guide" or enforce them to obey your instructions.
See, good stuff to hear spelled out.
As far as potty training goes, I really liked how they began with a doll that wets. Jane LOVED this part, and we've phased it back in because she's been developing fears right and left these days...more on that later. But it's not just showing the Jane the doll go potty, she sees plenty of people using the toilet, it was Jane got to teach the doll how to use the potty (with my help). As a teacher, I know the best way to really learn anything is to teach it to someone else. Even if it's a doll.
Also, I've heard of plenty of people that offer treats for going to the bathroom, and this method definitely advocates the use of rewards (snack treats, special drinks, and lots of enthusiastic praise and physical affection). But it breaks the potty training process down into steps and rewards the trying, accomplishment, and mastery of each step and then discontinues the use of treats. For example: they have to recognize the need to go, they have to stop what they are doing and go to the potty, they have to take their pants down, they have to sit down, they have to sit quietly (so they can go), they have to go, they have to wipe, they have to pull up their pants, they have to dump the pot into the potty, they have to flush it, they have to replace the pot, they have to wash their hands. That's a lot of steps. And a lot of opportunities to get distracted. You can reward the mastery of each of these with a treat as they build their skills until you culminate in what I think is so brilliant (and yet obvious, like most truly brilliant things):
Dry Pants Checks. Throughout the day I ask Jane if her pants are dry, she checks and says "Dry." And that's when she gets the reward!! Isn't that great? During training, you are asking this like every 4 minutes.
There's more that I like, and a wee bit that I don't--it's really dry to read, in good ol' research style. But it's thorough. But I think I'll stop there for Part 1.
First of all, I really think I missed my window with potty training Jane. Which doesn't mean we won't get it done before baby comes (I don't have enough cloth diapers for both girls), it just means I'm modifying the method from the book I read. The window we missed was Jane's heightened interest and my feeling good. A month ago or so Jane was telling me before she had to poop and after she pooped, and she was SO interested in the potty. She still is, but she's interested in A LOT more things now, like everything. And as for my health, the two glorious weeks of feeling something close to normal (whatever that is), have come to an end. I'm still feeling better than I was in January, but nowhere near those glory days...*sigh* it's hard to go backwards.
Anyway, back to the potty. First off, my sister gave me a book called Toilet Training in Less than a Day written by a couple of guys back in the 70s who were doing research with handicapped adults on how to help them function at a higher level and independently. From that research and the development of some methods, they applied it to potty training toddlers. What I liked about the book right off the bat was that it also contained sound parenting methods as well. For example:
If you ask your child to do something, make sure you have their attention. Say their name and wait for them to look at you. If they don't look at you "manually guide" their face to look at yours. At all times be calm but firm and consistent. Give clear instructions using words and terms they know and be near enough to "manually guide" or enforce them to obey your instructions.
See, good stuff to hear spelled out.
As far as potty training goes, I really liked how they began with a doll that wets. Jane LOVED this part, and we've phased it back in because she's been developing fears right and left these days...more on that later. But it's not just showing the Jane the doll go potty, she sees plenty of people using the toilet, it was Jane got to teach the doll how to use the potty (with my help). As a teacher, I know the best way to really learn anything is to teach it to someone else. Even if it's a doll.
Also, I've heard of plenty of people that offer treats for going to the bathroom, and this method definitely advocates the use of rewards (snack treats, special drinks, and lots of enthusiastic praise and physical affection). But it breaks the potty training process down into steps and rewards the trying, accomplishment, and mastery of each step and then discontinues the use of treats. For example: they have to recognize the need to go, they have to stop what they are doing and go to the potty, they have to take their pants down, they have to sit down, they have to sit quietly (so they can go), they have to go, they have to wipe, they have to pull up their pants, they have to dump the pot into the potty, they have to flush it, they have to replace the pot, they have to wash their hands. That's a lot of steps. And a lot of opportunities to get distracted. You can reward the mastery of each of these with a treat as they build their skills until you culminate in what I think is so brilliant (and yet obvious, like most truly brilliant things):
Dry Pants Checks. Throughout the day I ask Jane if her pants are dry, she checks and says "Dry." And that's when she gets the reward!! Isn't that great? During training, you are asking this like every 4 minutes.
There's more that I like, and a wee bit that I don't--it's really dry to read, in good ol' research style. But it's thorough. But I think I'll stop there for Part 1.
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