Family,
And a good Tuesday evening to you from the Queen City, where the Bull and Striker are enjoying a
The week itself was another great one, albeit short for me on the family front given that I was traveling a bit. Honestly, life with Jenny and Kaitlyn is so great right now that it's hard to describe any week without sounding euphoric. But hey, when you feel that way, you feel that way, right? The Sneetch and Muffin spent Monday and Tuesday at her parents, where K continued to add words to the vocabulary (the most notable being "beads" and "down," the latter of which we think she's actually said previously). However, the new words weren't the highlight, but rather the fact that K suddenly started saying "Mommy-O" and "Daddy-O" whenever she referenced us. She's still doing this a bit, and it is HILARIOUS (she did add Nanny-O once my mother showed up this weekend). This weekend she added "puppy," and tonight she actually picked up a book with the word "Puppy" on the front and said it (however, as it would have been her 10th book before "night nights," we didn't end up reading it :-)). And speaking of books, K is LOVING "Elmo Says," which is a book JT found at the library. K's biggest achievement so far is learning the characters - she can even say Big Bird. The biggest achievement for her parents was learning that "random muppet" is actually a muppet called Zoe. I'm going to stop there and see if Jenny and I have any memory of this in 20 years time when we read this again.
K is loving the bath more and more as well. We've finally gotten to the point that she loves splashing around and does NOT want to get out. Getting her into the bath is no problem. She runs to the tub while you get the water warm, and then you strip her down right there and let her jump in as the water fills up. Considering that she's FASCINATED with the faucet and loves to catch the water with a cup, it's easy entertainment. Once in the bath, she's getting really active and loving when we blow bubbles during the washing. K's even washing herself now - she'll take the cloth from you, try to scrub herself, and then pour water on herself. The funniest part for me is definitely watching her try to wash her "girly bits" - let's just say the nether region is ALWAYS sufficiently clean the way that girl goes at it.
K has started to lay flat in the bath, and she's kicking more and more. This is exciting for Jenny and I,as we're hoping that will translate into fun in the pool when Jenny starts taking her for some water awareness. She's also blowing bubbles in the water and starting to put her face under. She finds this hilarious (and her laugh is developing more and more each day - too cute!) - until she accidentally swallows water and then finds herself in a coughing fit. But every day she's getting more and more confident (and stronger!), and it's been fun watching her adventurous side come out more and more.
What has not been as much fun, however, is the realization from Team Taylor that the Terrible 2's could be approaching and with it the need for some discipline. A bit of back story here - K's getting stronger, taller, and bigger, and some things (like changing her diaper) are becoming tougher when she's not a willing participant. We see a bit of this trying to get her out of the bath as well, as she just becomes a rag doll and refuses to let you pick her up. Knowing that we need to get in front of this, I started reading about different discipline techniques to try on toddlers, and I am very happy to report that some of the earliest attempts have worked!
The book gave several different options for managing tantrums. The first one is one I've tried several times, usually with mixed success - ignoring the toddler until the fire is out. Another one is explaining that "daddy and mommy" have to talk about something and then ignoring her until the conversation between the adults is complete. The goal is that she'll learn to entertain herself a bit more while at the same time realizing that she's not always the focus and center of everything (even if she is 99.3% of the time at present :-)). She is learning to occupy herself a bit more I've noticed, which is a double-edged sword. You want to foster that sense of creativity, but you don't want to discourage her too much from asking to play with mommy and daddy. After all, this time is precious, and it goes by too quickly. Hopefully we're striking a good balance, and one of the compromises I've tried was another suggestion for helping them learn independence - do an activity of your own (i.e. stacking blocks) near them while they do something else. That way they know you're there but still feel comfortable exploring the world and playing on their own. That's had success as well so far - all the way up until K comes over and SMASHES my block tower. Details...
Back to the discipline front - some of the suggestions tried have include immediately suggesting alternatives when that which K desires (usually Peppa or Mickey) aren't something you want to allow. This weekend I tried "let's throw balls on the couch!", which she loved and has now done a few more times since then. We also did a bit of hide and seek, both of which served to get her mind off her current cartoon obsessions. We've also started playing the "let's clean up!" game, and I'm happy to report that's been a win for EVERYBODY. K isn't always the most active participant, but it does keep her focused and certainly helps us keep the house from looking like a bomb went off.The biggest things I've learned from reading the book are two-fold. First off, always give them options so that they feel like they have a sense of control and independence. Don't overwhelm them with choices, but rather let them select between 2 options. I was doing this previously with clothes, and I'm starting to apply it to other areas as well. The second thing was that you have to give very clear instructions and remember - children really don't know how to do anything. If you want them to do something, you must always show them first how it's done. Once I realized how demonstrative you need to be, things definitely got easier.
Now granted, all that discipline went out the window this weekend. Why, you ask? Well, because Nana and Grand Pooh were in town! Talk about letting K get by with murder (by our standards, at least). She ate food in every room in the house. We always changed her diaper in the room she was in (brought the travel mat to her vs. taking her into the changing room). We let her play with Nana's smart phone. We ate all kinds of good food. You name it - this house was like Havana in the 20's. For my part, I loved it, as watching K and Nana bond is something you just can't describe. She absolutely LOVES her grandparents, and it's so sweet watching how she plays with them. From the time my mom arrived until the time she left, K would NOT leave her side (and we're talking more than 6 inches away). She would lead her by the hand everywhere. Nana had to be in the bath. Nana had to be at the arts and crafts table. Nana had to read her bedtime stories. Nana had to at least watch her diaper be changed. Nana was the first word she said every morning - it was just too cute.
So there you have it - a wonderful week in the books and FINALLY a reasonable length blog. :-) That's all the news that's fit to print from Crown Town - chat with you all next week!
Love,
Sam and Jenny
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