Where do I begin?? Our sweet little toddler is morphing into a pretty big girl!! I was having a hard time keeping up for a while there but I have been reading "Secrets of a Baby Whisperer: For Toddlers" as instructed by my counselor and it has been a blessing!!- its amazing how much a different perspective can help change your thinking and attitude.
The transition into full-fledged toddler has been rather challenging. I guess I never really thought too much into what it would be like to be a mother of a toddler because the basic ideas (that the book points out) were "light-bulb" moments to me but looking at it now, I am telling myself, "DUH!"
With Tahlia, I literally have to teach her EVERYTHING- how to have self-control, sharing, what behavior is not acceptable (her temper), how to drink out of a regular cup, take off and put on clothes, spit out water when brushing teeth, washing her hands without my help, and POTTY TRAINING!!! I have to teach her how to pet the kitty nice, how to touch people nice, how to respect people (in basic terms), how to ask nicely for things... basically patience. And through it all, we are still learning how to communicate.
Tahlia's communication is good, probably in the average range. I am pretty sure she knows more English then she presents, she just doesnt have the patience or is just straight up lazy about trying... and maybe I havent given enough effort to challenge her to try...?
Since my last post on "Tahlia updates", she has really blossomed! She almost knows all of her "ABC's", she can even recognize MOST of the letters in the alphabet when I ask her what it is in random order. It was so cute, I showed her a "Z" and asked her what it was, she said, "Zebra" :) Dan heard her counting to herself in Target today and she got up to "26"!!- We didnt even know she KNEW that number or how to say it! Her favorite numbers are "2" and "5". If she feels like it, all numbers can be "2" or "5" during the course of the day. Her favorite color is definitely Orange. And she just started singing along to songs a few weeks ago. The songs she enjoys the most are all of the songs off the "Mamma Mia" sound track. For the song "mamma mia", she sings, "Mamma Mia, here I go again. My my how I Nissed ya... yes broken hearted, BLUE!... why why, di i le-o-go". For "Honey, Honey", she predominantly says, "Honey, honey... 1, 2, 3" lol but she likes to combine the lyrics to "Mamma Mia" and "Honey, Honey" interchangeably. I have been trying to record her singing but she is so camera shy :)
I think Tahlia is on her way to be potty trained!! After seeing a kid her age (who is already potty trained) use her potty (or "Make yellow"- as Tahlia puts it), she has been asking to go on the potty chair. She has not successfully gone "pee-pee" or "poo-poo" yet but I am just excited the interest is there!! So, to help her along, I have been putting her on the potty: as soon as she wakes up from sleep and nap, 20 min after drinking liquids and when I feel the need to go (Ive made the observation that we generally have the same BM time frame (sorry if thats TMI but I think its pretty neat!)). I also ask her if her diaper is dry or wet. She has been saying, "dry" but its actually wet and I point that out to her, "your diaper is all wet with pee-pee."
The first time I asked her to undress herself, she was completely upset with the idea. I even told her I would help, I just wanted her to help me too/ or at least try and then I will help if she asked for help. She is still resistant in a way but not like the first time... so every day gets better. She still refuses to wash her hands herself. When I let go of her hands, she wines and stomps her feet. I guess she really likes that time we have together because washing her hands is pretty much "our thing" when we sing the "ABC's" very silly together. When I let go of her hands, I still continue with "ABC's" but she just isnt having that lol. So I am continuing to work on it.
She still asks for "Milk or Juice" when she is actually hungry so I am working on her proper communication on that. The other night, she woke me up at 2:45am very angry because she wanted "milk". I held her while sitting on the floor for a little bit just to clam her down and wake myself up a little more so I could focus. After a moment of collecting my thoughts and listening to her wine, I realized we had an earlier dinner that night and she was probably just hungry. I asked her if she was just hungry but she protested and was very winey and very emotional. So I told her I would get her a "sip of milk" (which means milk in a plastic cup- not a sippy) and I gave her 4 Nilla Waffers while she waited for me to get the milk. She inhaled 3 waffers, shared one with me looked at the milk and quickly got down from the chair exclaiming, "Nap time!" I followed her lead to her bed and smiled to myself while I saw her tuck herself in and go to sleep. She didnt even touch her milk.
So all in all, TahliaTahlia she was when she was a baby: very
impatient. It is a lot of work to keep up with her but I can already see progress little by little in the both of us.
