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Jul. 6th, 2006 03:04 pmSo glad to be in the office today. Michael's trip (6.5 days down, 2.5 days to go!) has unfortunately coincided with our nanny's illness, resulting in a grueling 136-hour stretch in which, except for a 1.5-hour break for the church part of a wedding (thanks, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wcg), I was completely responsible for Alex's care and supervision every moment of the day and night. She's a charming little girl, but sheesh.
Because I still have 2.5 days to go, I'm going to take a moment here to evoke the charming:
Pretend play is really blossoming. She's developed a strong attachment to a stuffed dachshundgeekchick gave her - she carries it around, hugs and kisses it, offers it food, gives it drinks from her sippy cup, lies it down and tells it "night night," wipes its nose with a handkerchief, and takes it for rides in the back of her dump truck. Most notably, the other day she took it into the bathroom, held it over the toilet, and said, "Pee!" Afterward, she offered it a piece of toilet paper. Doggy is involved in more pretend play than anything else, but she also loves to pretend that she is going to sleep herself - flopping down on her belly, grinning at me, and saying "night" or "sleep." Once, during dinner, she even put her silverware to bed: laid it face down, patted it, and said "night night!"
The other thing that's blossoming is the traditional toddler fascination with "helping" and imitating adult activities. One of her favorite playthings is a whisk broom and dustpan. We went to the grocery store on Monday, and when we got home she took things out of the grocery bags, one piece at a time, and handed them to me so I could put them away. She helps me get ready for her bath by tipping the rubber mat into the tub and adding the toys, and then she loves to take the washcloth and wash different parts of her body at my direction. She checks the mailbox every time we come home. She tries, with great dedication and complete ineffectualness, to put her socks on. She can get food into her mouth with a fork and a spoon, although it's a slow, messy, and inefficient process. At the library last week, I gave her a little pamphlet to read while I looked for books, and when we got to the checkout counter she insisted on handing it to the librarian for "checkout." Once the librarian held it and handed it back, she was perfectly content to play with it again.
We take a lot of walks. Alex is not fond of being cooped up inside, and usually starts clawing at the doorknob shortly after breakfast. She loves to trot up and down the sidewalk - now running full tilt, now stopping to investigate the fascinating architectural details one gets in 150-year-old neighborhoods. Carriage steps! Cellar doors! Elaborate wrought-iron grates! Ornamental concrete newels! Each of them needs to be closely examined and, probably, fondled. She climbs up on a carriage step and squats there, grinning up at me. She pokes her fingers into treewells, picking up bits of dirt and pressing them into the tree trunks. She has learned to identify trash; instead of leaving it alone, which is what I had hoped she would do when I taught her about it, she picks it up and hands it to me, exclaiming "trash! trash!" I usually come home from our walks with a pocketful of cigarette butts.
For the past couple of months, she has occasionally said things that sounded like correctly-applied color words while playing with her toys. I've just dismissed it, thinking that there was no way she could possibly be naming colors at this age. But in the last week, it's become indisputably clear that she can spontaneously label red, green, and blue. She's done it with poker chips (a new favorite toy), duplo blocks, and plastic rings - all things where she could not possibly have memorized the color labels. She can also identify (and mostly name) just about all of her body parts, including things like cheek, chin, and back. She says nearly 150 words spontaneously. (Of course, she also eats dirt, so I hesitate to call her brilliant.)
Okay. Now I'm ready to jump back in for another dose of Alex time. This worked well.
Edited to add one more thing: We went to the Science Center on Tuesday. When we cruised through the dinosaur section, Alex had one comment, frequently repeated: "Teeth! Teeth!"
wcg), I was completely responsible for Alex's care and supervision every moment of the day and night. She's a charming little girl, but sheesh.Because I still have 2.5 days to go, I'm going to take a moment here to evoke the charming:
Pretend play is really blossoming. She's developed a strong attachment to a stuffed dachshund
geekchick gave her - she carries it around, hugs and kisses it, offers it food, gives it drinks from her sippy cup, lies it down and tells it "night night," wipes its nose with a handkerchief, and takes it for rides in the back of her dump truck. Most notably, the other day she took it into the bathroom, held it over the toilet, and said, "Pee!" Afterward, she offered it a piece of toilet paper. Doggy is involved in more pretend play than anything else, but she also loves to pretend that she is going to sleep herself - flopping down on her belly, grinning at me, and saying "night" or "sleep." Once, during dinner, she even put her silverware to bed: laid it face down, patted it, and said "night night!" The other thing that's blossoming is the traditional toddler fascination with "helping" and imitating adult activities. One of her favorite playthings is a whisk broom and dustpan. We went to the grocery store on Monday, and when we got home she took things out of the grocery bags, one piece at a time, and handed them to me so I could put them away. She helps me get ready for her bath by tipping the rubber mat into the tub and adding the toys, and then she loves to take the washcloth and wash different parts of her body at my direction. She checks the mailbox every time we come home. She tries, with great dedication and complete ineffectualness, to put her socks on. She can get food into her mouth with a fork and a spoon, although it's a slow, messy, and inefficient process. At the library last week, I gave her a little pamphlet to read while I looked for books, and when we got to the checkout counter she insisted on handing it to the librarian for "checkout." Once the librarian held it and handed it back, she was perfectly content to play with it again.
We take a lot of walks. Alex is not fond of being cooped up inside, and usually starts clawing at the doorknob shortly after breakfast. She loves to trot up and down the sidewalk - now running full tilt, now stopping to investigate the fascinating architectural details one gets in 150-year-old neighborhoods. Carriage steps! Cellar doors! Elaborate wrought-iron grates! Ornamental concrete newels! Each of them needs to be closely examined and, probably, fondled. She climbs up on a carriage step and squats there, grinning up at me. She pokes her fingers into treewells, picking up bits of dirt and pressing them into the tree trunks. She has learned to identify trash; instead of leaving it alone, which is what I had hoped she would do when I taught her about it, she picks it up and hands it to me, exclaiming "trash! trash!" I usually come home from our walks with a pocketful of cigarette butts.
For the past couple of months, she has occasionally said things that sounded like correctly-applied color words while playing with her toys. I've just dismissed it, thinking that there was no way she could possibly be naming colors at this age. But in the last week, it's become indisputably clear that she can spontaneously label red, green, and blue. She's done it with poker chips (a new favorite toy), duplo blocks, and plastic rings - all things where she could not possibly have memorized the color labels. She can also identify (and mostly name) just about all of her body parts, including things like cheek, chin, and back. She says nearly 150 words spontaneously. (Of course, she also eats dirt, so I hesitate to call her brilliant.)
Okay. Now I'm ready to jump back in for another dose of Alex time. This worked well.
Edited to add one more thing: We went to the Science Center on Tuesday. When we cruised through the dinosaur section, Alex had one comment, frequently repeated: "Teeth! Teeth!"
