life
When I was in NYC, my brother-in-law and I were talking. I was telling him about something baby-related, and he just kinda looked at me and said, “Yeah that’s something I’ve never thought about.” I told him, “That’s all I’m thinking about these days.”
I realize that this has very much turned into a mom blog, and that makes me a little sad. But, right now my days are consumed with thinking about everything related to Baby. I honestly am not sure of what else to say. The non-mom-related stuff I have been processing lately is mostly things I would rather not or can’t share in a public arena. So, I apologize!
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Savannah has reached that age where she’s imitating us a lot and sometimes it takes me by surprise! She has a toy cell phone that makes noises when you push the buttons. I always put it to my ear as if I’m talking, and then hand it to Savannah and say “It’s for you!” After months of doing that, she has finally started putting the phone to her ear too! It’s so cute.
We were in a store the other day, and Savannah found a pair of toddler sunglasses. I looked down and realized that she had unfolded them and put them on her face – all by herself! I never put sunglasses on her, so she figured that out completely by herself. (I wear sunglasses a lot.) She looked so cute with them on.
She’s also (finally!) getting the idea of how to pet the cats. She loves to pet them, but I couldn’t seem to convince her to be “suave” (gentle) and use an open hand to rub their backs.
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We got her some Duplos at the Lego store a month or so ago. Duplos are the big bricks they make for toddlers and preschoolers – our family had them growing up and they’re pretty awesome. At first Savannah didn’t know what to do with them, but she’s gotten pretty good now! She can put them together and take them apart. She and I can play for a long time on the floor, just building things and then dismantling them.
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We haven’t gotten the weekly physical therapy set up yet, because they don’t really have space in their schedule for regular visits. So we’re going to take it one week at a time, and hopefully soon space will open up. The first session is next Tuesday.
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She is communicating pretty well these days. She doesn’t say words, but she gestures quite clearly and says things like “da!”. I keep repeating words hoping she’ll catch on. Sometimes I swear she’s saying “Mommy” or “kitty”, but it’s not consistent so I can’t declare her first word yet. She’s quite talkative, though, with her babbling. She speaks so clearly I swear she’s just using another language that I can’t understand. And she looks at me knowingly and nods her head. Actually, she has figured out the nodding and shaking of her head – most of the time it’s consistent with what she seems to want. It’s been fun to communicate with her.
8 thoughts on “life”
You know, recently I read a blog where the author was pregnant and she was hoping hers would not become a “mommy blog” and she said a lot of good blogs had gone that way. I thought of that when I read your first point. :) But it is ok I think. This is our main job now, what consumes our time and energy. It would take a lot of efffort to *not* write about that.
Neil also takes the phone and puts it in his ear and says Daddy. He got that from India when R used to call everyday and I used to show him the phone and say Daddy. Isn’t nodding and shaking fun? We say nighty night Neil and he will shake his head :) He knows that.
I said the same thing when I got married. When I was single, I loved reading blogs by single women. I swore when I got married that it wouldn’t be another of those “married women blogs”. Hehe. And now look at me… I don’t know how I could separate that from my blog! I guess it’s the same way with children. Since I’m with Savannah all day every day, she’s right now my life. I don’t have to step out of my role as a mother very often, so when I do I’m at a loss as to what to say. I’m not saying the opposite is bad, I just for me think it’s difficult. And I really ENJOY talking about mothery things. :-)
You are still you — you just have a mommy hat now! It’s not losing your identity, it’s gaining an additional role.
I often think about other Life stuff throughout the day, but I don’t have enough time to sit down and condense it into a comprehensive, insightful blog! So… I usually post recipes. How pathetic is that?!
Ashley,
You may not remember me, we met at the Garrisons on the Fourth of July 2006. You mention that savannah is struggling with words. Have you and Paul considered using basic sign language with her? I have several siblings that growing up they really struggled with speech, one of them had a severe stutter, we would teach them sign language and then drop the sign once they learned the word. This may not interest you, but I just wondered if you two had considered the possibility.
Emily Goforth
Emily – I definitely remember you! And I tried to teach Savannah some sign language, but she doesn’t seem to be interested in using it. She will occasionally sign “more” but most of the time she just points and makes cute baby noises.
Signing is a something that needs to be consistent, just like any other language. I’ve know other mamas who gave up because they tried it for a couple weeks and didn’t see any results. Do you expect a baby to speak within that amount of time?
I started with Gwen, and she has learned a whole bunch of signs and is even more interested in sign language now even though she has a huge verbal vocabulary. In fact, I think it was her subjection to signs in addition to the spoken word that has contributed to her rich vocab.
Josiah has been signing “milk” for months now (he’s almost a year), but it seems to be his all-purpose sign to include “food,” “more,” etc. It’s very rewarding, even though it can mean more work on my end!
Oh I’m very consistent with “more”. I think I started around 10 or 11 months, and I still do it out of habit. I only do it at mealtimes, but I do it pretty much every time she finishes what’s on her plate. She has signed it back to me a few times, but more often than not she just looks at me. Now she gets the “shaking head” means no and “nodding head” means yes, so I guess that works too.
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