Well, yesterday Sami touched the iron. Oh boy. I had told her and told her every time I got the iron out that it is VERY hot and NEVER to be touched, and on and on. Well, when she saw I was distracted by being on the phone, she snuck over there and deliberately touched it with her finger. I only saw her pull back from it. And you know how it takes an instant when you're burnt before it hurts really badly? She just looked really surprised, and then the "ouch" hit, and she wailed.
Now, I had my iron on the absolute hottest it goes, because I was ironing damp cotton and linen stuff. But unbelievably, her finger did not blister, just turned red. And we ran downstairs and ran cold water over it, and then I got some ice in a cloth, and she would just sit there bawling and daintily holding her little finger tip onto that ice. It really was so cute.
And I know after about 5 or 10 minutes, it didn't hurt anymore that badly -- but she kept replaying the whole scene in her head, and cried over and over about it. Then when Daddy got home, and we were still sitting there--me holding her in my lap with the ice--and then when we told Daddy what happened, oh God, we had to bawl all over again.
Michael and I agreed that really, as sad as you feel for her, there's no way to make them learn why you keep telling them not to touch hot things until they burn themselves once. And at least it was just a fingertip, and no blister. Much better than the oven or stove or something. So now she knows. Before I think she thought when I told her something's never to be touched because it is VERY hot, she just thinks in her head, "Oh. Hot like a french fry that will cool down" ya know? So now she knows. And I guarantee you she steered clear of the iron when we came back up later.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Summer Sami
Well, we’ve been so busy that finding the time to write has seemed impossible. But day in, day out – perhaps hourly, I observe things that I feel a need to write about. Alas, by the time I carve out the time (or ignore Mt. Laundry), so much of it doesn’t come to mind. I resolve to try to get back to writing daily, so the task doesn’t seem so monumental—looming—when I don’t get to it for a while. That just causes me to put off getting started even longer.
I was never around children much before I had Sami. And due to not being around kids, they actually kind of made me nervous. I could watch my older sister interact with them with great success. But mimicking her style just didn’t fit with me. And so I felt self-conscious and, well, weird trying to hang out with children. So just didn’t do it much. With that said, I put forth that I have virtually no point of reference when I say that Sami seems so smart to me. But Sami does seem so smart to me!
I don’t mean that she’s wildly advanced beyond her peers in areas like talking, music, or anything measurable like that. More that I’m just blown away on nearly a daily basis by watching her discover something or by her “telling” me something that I’ve no idea where she picked it up. You know, lots of kids do that, I think—but if they’re staying with other people or at daycare or school, I think their parents chalk it up to, “Well, she must’ve learned that at daycare,” etc. But Sami’s in our very controlled (well, I use that term loosely to describe our household, but you know what I mean) environment. She’s always with me or her dad. So when we check in with each other and there’s no basis for her knowing it…
Anyway, what fun this is. This raising of a child at this stage—watching her watch the world from her perspective is absolutely priceless—clearly the dearest thing to me in my whole life.
We showed her one of those big, ugly, clingy beetles? She didn’t even hesitate to just pick it up. And even when it clung to her, she was still just interested in it. She knows an amazing number of words now. But many of them take interpretation, and she realizes it, and so watching her try to relay to me what she’s trying to say, using other gestures, is so fun. And funny.
“Be” denotes many different things for Sami. It can be Sunny Bunny, an airplane, a photo of herself, a video of herself, other children or babies, a bird. And now there’s a new one… she kept saying it, but while making this pinching gesture with her hands, putting her index fingers and thumbs together over and over because I wasn’t getting it. And finally, I did. About a week ago, I shelled a peanut in front of her, and shared a peanut with her. She was trying to copy the movement I made while shelling the peanut. It was awfully cute.
We haven’t had yogurt in the house for a few weeks (just lack of decent shopping to blame there), but the other day at Target, Michael said she wanted out to push the cart, and she went straight for the yogurt and chose her usual brand and some flavors. And then she started asking for it by name at home, “Goo guh? Goo guh? Goo guh?” Her perception is that if I’m not getting it the first few times, she will repeat it over and over and over. But what’s cute is she doesn’t get frantic or frustrated. She’s terribly patient about it.
And sometimes, there’s just no figuring out what she’s saying. And I’ll just say to her apologetically, “Honey, I’m sorry. I just don’t know what you’re saying.” And she’s off to something else. She doesn’t pitch a fit, which I think is pretty amazing. I would if people didn’t “get” me.
Anyway, we just had a vacation with my family in Iowa. And Sami totally bonded with her Aunt Bec (“Bock!”). Within the second day, while shopping, Sami would refuse to let me touch or push the cart—it had to be Bock. I couldn’t feed her, dress her, brush her hair. Nothin’. It all had to be done by Bock. Well, don’t think for one minute that I was threatened by that. It was SO nice; I took advantage of the time to sneak out to the patio and read my book. Or just to relax. To have someone who I honestly believe loves Sami as much as her dad and I do, and because practically any knowledge I’ve picked up about childraising came from her – to have my sister taking care of my daughter was wonderful all the way around. Not just because I got to take some breaks. But more importantly to see Sami interacting with someone new, and enjoying her Aunt Bec so very much. And ummm, I think Aunt Bec enjoyed it just as much.
Anyway, I could write pages about our vacation, and maybe I will if I find more time. But for now, I’ll stop here.
I was never around children much before I had Sami. And due to not being around kids, they actually kind of made me nervous. I could watch my older sister interact with them with great success. But mimicking her style just didn’t fit with me. And so I felt self-conscious and, well, weird trying to hang out with children. So just didn’t do it much. With that said, I put forth that I have virtually no point of reference when I say that Sami seems so smart to me. But Sami does seem so smart to me!
I don’t mean that she’s wildly advanced beyond her peers in areas like talking, music, or anything measurable like that. More that I’m just blown away on nearly a daily basis by watching her discover something or by her “telling” me something that I’ve no idea where she picked it up. You know, lots of kids do that, I think—but if they’re staying with other people or at daycare or school, I think their parents chalk it up to, “Well, she must’ve learned that at daycare,” etc. But Sami’s in our very controlled (well, I use that term loosely to describe our household, but you know what I mean) environment. She’s always with me or her dad. So when we check in with each other and there’s no basis for her knowing it…
Anyway, what fun this is. This raising of a child at this stage—watching her watch the world from her perspective is absolutely priceless—clearly the dearest thing to me in my whole life.
We showed her one of those big, ugly, clingy beetles? She didn’t even hesitate to just pick it up. And even when it clung to her, she was still just interested in it. She knows an amazing number of words now. But many of them take interpretation, and she realizes it, and so watching her try to relay to me what she’s trying to say, using other gestures, is so fun. And funny.
“Be” denotes many different things for Sami. It can be Sunny Bunny, an airplane, a photo of herself, a video of herself, other children or babies, a bird. And now there’s a new one… she kept saying it, but while making this pinching gesture with her hands, putting her index fingers and thumbs together over and over because I wasn’t getting it. And finally, I did. About a week ago, I shelled a peanut in front of her, and shared a peanut with her. She was trying to copy the movement I made while shelling the peanut. It was awfully cute.
We haven’t had yogurt in the house for a few weeks (just lack of decent shopping to blame there), but the other day at Target, Michael said she wanted out to push the cart, and she went straight for the yogurt and chose her usual brand and some flavors. And then she started asking for it by name at home, “Goo guh? Goo guh? Goo guh?” Her perception is that if I’m not getting it the first few times, she will repeat it over and over and over. But what’s cute is she doesn’t get frantic or frustrated. She’s terribly patient about it.
And sometimes, there’s just no figuring out what she’s saying. And I’ll just say to her apologetically, “Honey, I’m sorry. I just don’t know what you’re saying.” And she’s off to something else. She doesn’t pitch a fit, which I think is pretty amazing. I would if people didn’t “get” me.
Anyway, we just had a vacation with my family in Iowa. And Sami totally bonded with her Aunt Bec (“Bock!”). Within the second day, while shopping, Sami would refuse to let me touch or push the cart—it had to be Bock. I couldn’t feed her, dress her, brush her hair. Nothin’. It all had to be done by Bock. Well, don’t think for one minute that I was threatened by that. It was SO nice; I took advantage of the time to sneak out to the patio and read my book. Or just to relax. To have someone who I honestly believe loves Sami as much as her dad and I do, and because practically any knowledge I’ve picked up about childraising came from her – to have my sister taking care of my daughter was wonderful all the way around. Not just because I got to take some breaks. But more importantly to see Sami interacting with someone new, and enjoying her Aunt Bec so very much. And ummm, I think Aunt Bec enjoyed it just as much.
Anyway, I could write pages about our vacation, and maybe I will if I find more time. But for now, I’ll stop here.
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