9.07.2006
More Julia Than You Can Shake A Stick At
This post should probably go over on The Speckled Frog. But so few of you read The Speckled Frog, and besides, I am boring myself lately. She's where all the action is at...
Sleep
Julia has slept in her own bed for over a week now. Let me repeat that. The girl who spent the first 6 months of her life sleeping only in our arms, and then the next 6 months of her life alternately sleeping in her swing or our arms, has finally, finally, made a permanent transition to her own crib. At first I was sure it was merely a fluke. But no. It wasn't. She was sleeping through the night about every other night (strangely, ususally on Kristin's nights) but would go back to sleep in her crib quickly after only a few cuddles on the nights that she did wake up. And then I remembered that we have a CD of ocean waves tucked away some where (ok, to be honest, it was Kristin who remembered) and so I dug it out and put it in her CD player on repeat. And since then (except for Monday night when she cut 2 teeth) she has slept through the night. It has been marvelous.
Last night Julia and I ate dinner. I then gave her her bath, put her in her jammies, and brought her back out to the living room to play. "We have a half hour before bedtime." I told her. "You can play for a little bit." She started playing with her balls. I started surfing the internet. After about 15 minutes I felt a little hand on my thigh. Julia asking to be picked up. I picked her up and immediately she sighed and laid her head on my chest. Then she started giving me kisses and then laid her head back down on my chest and sighed. "Are you ready to go to bed now?" I asked. "Yeah," she replied. So I gave her her bedtime bottle and put her in her crib (um, I gave her her bottle while I rocked her, I didn't give her the bottle while she was in her crib like it sounds). She slept for over 10 hours.
Bad Habits Julia Has Picked Up at Daycare
- Die Die Die! For several weeks it seemed like our beautiful little girl was wishing that things would die horrible deaths to please her. Die Die Die! She'd scream while looking at us. Die Die Die! She'd holler while throwing a ball. Die Die Die! she'd shriek at the dogs. We thought we must be mishearing. It must be a coincidence that she was saying that particular sound three times in a row with such a blood-thirsty tone to her voice. Then one day a few weeks ago, she did it right after she and I arrived at daycare. "Ooops," our daycare provider said. "I'm afraid that came from us. See, there's a little boy that says that to his action figures and Julia's started to copy him..."
- Head Banger Also a recent development, Julia has begun crawling up to people and animals and banging them on the heads with her own head. She's got a pretty big head for her size, and the bone is hard, so it really hurts! We've been at a loss as to why she's doing it, but we try not to encourage it. Again, yesterday, she did it to me when I picked her up from daycare. "Oh," said our daycare provider. "One of the little boys has taught her that as a greeting and a way to say I love you. That's how he says hi to her every morning." Lovely. Apparently a headache is the same as that warm, fuzzy feeling you get from a kiss. And yes. It is the same little boy. He's a sweetheart and he loves Julia to pieces. He just has some strange ideas about how to show it.
- Ok, not all of her new habits are bad They've taught her how to say thank you. Whenever you give Julia something -- food, a toy, whatever -- she says thank you. She's got the intonation and the rhythm right, but she doesn't enunciate the noises very well. She makes the words deep in her throat. But still recognizable, all the same. It's interesting to me how much our language is based on voice tone and rhythm rather than correct sounds.
Julia's New Favorite Game
is copying alphabet sounds. She's not so interested in copying sounds that aren't routinely used in English. But she'll make "t" and "g" and "f" and "w" and "s" back and forth with you for hours. She just got the "s" down and she's so pleased with herself. But she can't yet figure out how to make a "sh" sound. It comes out just like her s and she gets very frustrated. Last night I was breathing on my glasses to clean them, making a big, breathy "h" sound, when from across the room (she was playing with something else) came a little "h" sound. And then a couple more followed by a big belly laugh.
Ok, that's it. I was going to talk about the play group we were invited to participate in, and how that's going, but this post is long enough. That's a story for later.
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This little boy? He makes me a little nervous.
But the bedtime story was so sweet. Isn't it great when they curl a (not that little) head onto your chest?
i loved the "Thank You" part. I have always found when small children saying Thank you or please as very endearing. Way to go Julia!
Oh my gosh, how does it feel to finally get enough sleep at night. I knew it was only a matter of time before she would do this. Very good job Julia!!!
I used to babysit a little boy who used to say, "F*ck you" instead of thank you. The timing and tone were right, the words were just a little . . . off.
I'm glad you're getting some sleep now:)
-Lauri (I don't know who to sign on from work.)
Have Julia come over and show Malka how to snuggle before bed. She USED to snuggle. Now she jsut pushes my chest and wants in her crib, rolls over, grabs her lovie and is asleep faster than you can shake a stick at.
But she was a snuggle-bug this am.
OH, how I want to meet Julia! (and y'all, too, of course. Can't wait for the big NYC trip you have planned...)