(no subject)

[rivka]

Alex isn't walking yet, but she has clearly developed the toddler nature.

Exhibit one: I am combing her hair in the morning. She takes the comb out of my hand and runs it over her head a few times. The angle isn't right, but still, the message couldn't be more plain: "No, Mama, I can do it myself."

Exhibit two: I am putting on my coat to leave for work. She crawls over to me, crying, and pulls up to cling to my knees. Then she reaches frantically for her snowsuit, high above her head on the coatrack, as if she might convince me to let her come along. Baby Alex went happily to her nanny on Mama's workdays. Toddler Alex is inconsolable until I actually leave the house - at which point, fortunately, out of sight = out of mind.

Exhibit three: I am stacking her nesting cups. Once I have the first three stacked, she picks up the fourth and places it carefully on top. Then she finds a little plastic half-dome and balances it on top of the nesting cups. And here I'd been impressed to see her stack one block on top of another block, just a few days before.

Exhibit four: She brings me Max's Breakfast, with an emphatic "Da!" I read it. She brandishes it again. "A-geh!"[1] I read it again. In the next ten minutes, I will read Max's Breakfast a total of seven times. If I try to evade, she protests. Then, at the opening words, she settles back with a big grin. "Eat your egg, Max, said Max's sister Ruby." Alex has no sister. She has never eaten an egg. She has never been coerced or even wheedled to eat something. What's the attraction? Only a toddler knows for sure.



[1] Is she really saying "again?" It sure sounds that way to me, and yet at the same time it seems so implausible.

Comments

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

We? have toddlers.

E has two blocks that stack together in a sort of locking way, and all day she was carrying them around, and then would drop one, and get so frustrated because she couldn't fit them back together (usually). She also had the cupboard open and was strewing Tupperware everywhere, and then tried to close the cupboard door. It was blocked by a plastic bowl, so I kicked the bowl out of the way and pushed the door closed. Tears resulted.

Doooooooooooooom. :) (But it's cute doom, at least.)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Oh, the drama. Little disappointments are just so tragic these days. She cries and cries.

But you're right, it's cute doom. At least there's that.

[jmhm.livejournal.com]

sure she is, or at least she easily could be. HM said "dadoo" if you handed her something at five months.

[tammylc.livejournal.com]

Re. [1] - Sure, seems likely she's really saying again. Afterall, you probably say "you want mommy to read it again?" and toddlers love repeating the last word you say. At least, my toddler does.

[kyra-ojosverdes.livejournal.com]

[1] seems plausible to me! :-)

[ailbhe]

It sounds perfectly plausible to me. I can't imagine what *else* she could be saying. It might be time to start a vocab diary :)

[sashajwolf.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think she's saying "again". And it sounds as if you might both enjoy the Charlie and Lola books by Lauren Childs.

[ailbhe]

And the stories told on the cbeebies website! Our favourite is I am not sleepy and I will not go to bed.

[sashajwolf.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's a classic! We have it in book form. Our absolute favourite, though, is "I Will Never Not Ever Eat A Tomato".

[eeyorerin]

My parents said the first coherent sentence of mine they could make out (as opposed to distinct words), when I was about 18 months, was "Read the book, Dad!"

Maybe she just likes the way it sounds.

[porcinea.livejournal.com]

She is *totally* saying "again!".

I love Max and Ruby.

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

I'm not a parent, (nor do I play one on t.v), but I enjoyed hanging with my nephews when they were tottering on the preverbal/verbal cliff. Mostly this was due to my having taken ASL Interpreter classes at Saint Paul Tech. College, so I seemed to be able to pick up what the boys were saying very easily.

Case in point (and I forgot to mention that my brother & sister in law are dairy farmers), after lunch one summer day, and as </>everyone else headed out to do chores, Charlie (the oldest -- and back then the "only-est" of the boys) started to throw a snit, saying "Rerg" over and over. Finally I said, "Do you want to work ?". He gave a full bodied nod of his head, so I found some plastic tools and his yellow scooter, took 'em and the boy out to the side of the trailer, and said, "Go to it!".

And he was very happy.

A recommendation

[curmudgn]

In the interests of your own sanity, and that of curiousangel, the father of two (former) toddlers recommends this. Start now to make a rule with Alex: "I will read you twenty different books once a day, if you like. I will not read you any book more than once in a twenty-four hour period." This came about in our house when our oldest, now 19, wanted Fox in Socks read to her six times a day. You'll be much happier for it, and you'll retain more of your ability to re-read without barfing.