Friday, July 11, 2008

Today...













Lunchtime photo of Dear Alex today - happy girl talking about the "blimp" she saw floating over the city. "it's a balloon! a balloon! a blimp BLIMP!" Completely unrelated to the post, but just amazing that she has a word for what she was seeing. Who taught her that?



...Another day closer to Beautiful Wife's return, and a long strange day for daddy and Dear Alex. We started the day on a grace note - a hangover from our chat the night before, with Dear Alex nothing but sweet and happy as I came into her room to answer that first morning cry. Out of the sodden night-time diaper, and into underwear (!) without a fight. After a few minutes, Dear Alex suggested that she might like to go to the bathroom, and did so without incident. She's getting to be quite good, and I love that if you ask her if she wants a little privacy, she'll say yes - then pee immediately as you leave the room. Much easier than waiting, waiting and suggesting that "it's coming"... good stuff, this potty thing, but we may be taking it too far. It's a potty all the time. A few days ago, Dear Alex was running around the house with one of the many soft toddler toilet seats we've recently accumulated on her head, and I was thinking that she was just about right - potty on the brain. But it works, and it's been amazing to see the difference in her, psychologically speaking. There really is a change, a certain understanding of responsibility that's engendered by suddenly being mostly in command of your bodily functions. I can honestly see a difference in her self-confidence and attitude. She feels like a "big girl" now, and is (mostly) acting like one.


Of course, the other thing from last night that wasn't really resolved came back - that fear (I'm pretty sure) of swim class. She dreaded it all day, decided that she'd much rather take a nice nap in her crib, or have another lunch, or go for a walk or do anything but go to swim class. Dear Alex was so distraught and had worked herself up to the point that as we got to the pool and her into her bathing suit, she threw up (yeah, threw up) all over Dear nanny J. Awful. Stinky. I took Dear Alex into the bathroom to clean up (and go to the potty), and let Nanny J clean herself up, and all was right with the world. Dear Alex had a great time in the water, blew bubbles, went under water, and didn't want to stop at the end. Baffling. Why does she dread something that she enjoys so much? This little quirk is a small thing, but it confirms to me that there's still a lot that I don't know about the mind of this child, and much that I don't know about how she really feels about things. I can't wait until she has the language to explain what she's feeling, and I'm confident that she will.

A little follow-up to the BLIMP! thing: As we were stuck in traffic on the L.I.E. We saw the blimp again, which excited Dear Alex trememdously. She loved that it seemed to be there for her today - a large and freindly giant following her through her day. "Hello blimp!"

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