The Little Sister

Hi Shira,

Soul Sisters

New Kitty Jammies

Do I like this gift?

You are quite the little sister.  You are so tuned into what your big sister is doing it's mind boggling.  You are so in step with Sidra that we have picked up this tactic for getting you to do what we want:  We tell Sidra to do what we want you to do.  It works great.  We just say "Sidra, help us out, Monkey see Monkey do."
You have become quite a little talker, too.  You have some cool phrases that you say with such sweetness it just makes me melt.  For instance, the other morning you came into my office after waking up and said "Well Hello," with a wonderful sunshiny tone.  This morning when you woke up I heard you in your crib talking and when I came in to get you out you were standing up saying "this is I love you," and holding your hand in the I Love You sign.  I'm really impressed you can do that because it takes some dexterity that is uncommon at your age.  Another of your favorite phrases is "What's Sidra doing" which you only say if she's not in the room with you.  You also like to say "Come on Sister" or "Sidra, come on."  Just now Sidra came home and greeted you with "Well Hello" and you answered "Well Hello Sidra."  Perhaps your most endearing phrases are pleasantries like "thank you", "You're welcome," and "Bless you dad or mom" after we sneeze.  I'm amazed that you have picked up that habit so soon, and your delivery is beyond saccharine.  A couple of things you say that are annoying are "Watch Us" and "Watch a Movie."  Us is a Leapfrog video which is actually pretty good but you want to watch it all the time.  Another one of your frequent repeats is "I want to get out first."  I don't think you really mean first, but now instead.  You say that after you've been in the high chair for a few minutes but not necessarily finished eating.  You like to cruise around while you're finishing up.  You also say that when you want to get out of the bath.  You like the bath but often something happens between you and Sidra and you quickly decide you've had enough. 
Not all of your talk is easily decoded.  Sometimes we try to get Sidra to translate for us.  I don't think she can hear any better but I think she uses some of your body language and tone along with her similar position as a kid to understand what you're getting at.  However, if I listen carefully to what you are saying it's clear that you are an excellent observer and have a pretty deep understanding of what's going on around you.  Here's a story that illustrates this.  We were at a friends house for dinner and after we ate we were in a room watching a movie while you were in the entry area of the house that was only partly separated from where everyone else was.  During a quiet stretch of the movie, we hear you begin to sing "Somewhere, over the rainbow."  Now, at this point, you had only seen the Wizard of Oz movie once.  But you had picked up the song from your big sister.
I commented earlier on your counting skill.  Now you are counting in the teens, too.  I think you've heard your sister counting in the teens and have picked it up.  You can go to twelve on your own and up to twenty with assistance.
You still enjoy swimming and aren't afraid to jump right in.  We got you a new life vest floaty thing and you are totally comfortable with it.  When we get to the pool you step on the first step of the stairs and then launch right in.  You can paddle all over the pool with it.  I think you're going to be a good backfloater because you are really at ease lying on your back and looking up at the ceiling.  It will be fun taking you to swim lessons this summer.
You are in an interesting stage of compliance.  You're in the transition from being the baby that controls the whole house to being a part of the family who has to share the attention of the parents.  Most of the time you are showing pretty good adjustment but when you feel violated you flip out.  Sometimes when we butt heads I'll say something like "you have to pick that up before you can do "x," do you understand?"  You'll say "no."  I'm not convinced that it's a genuine answer and not an attempt at manipulation.  But, you've done some time outs and the last time it had the desired effect.  You had to sit on the bench because you wouldn't put away the bibs and aprons you had pulled out of the cabinet.  After sitting on the bench for say, 45 seconds, you came back down and I asked you if you were going to put them away and you said yes.
You have just been through your second Hannuka but this might be the first one that you remember.  You have improved your package opening skills.  One morning last week you brought a watch into the kitchen.  I asked you where it came from and didn't get a straight answer so I looked around and found some ripped paper and realized you had opened a gift that was supposed to be opened by your sister later that night.  Another time you found some packages in my room that were wrapped for Sidra and you started to open those but I caught you before the damage was done.  
The two videos are:  You and sis dancing to Disco Pogo, it was a song we used in our staff air guitar act this fall.  The other is you in one of your singing moods.  It's hard to catch you doing it and even harder to get you to do it on demand.  This one isn't your best but is the best I could catch on camera.
Your sis turns 5 tomorrow so there's more to come.
Love, Aba

Terrific Two

Pony ride at the Pumpkin Patch

Hi Shira,
What a pleasure it has been to watch you grow the last few months.  You have really improved your spoken communication.  You have also grown a lot taller in the last six months.

So, let's begin with the stats.  You're now 36 inches tall and weigh 30.5 pounds.  You're a full 6 inches taller than you were a year ago.  You are about 3 inches taller than your big sister was at age two, and weigh about 4 pounds more than she did then.  You are tall!

Birthday Girl unwrapped

You have begun to reach the light switches and play with the door knobs. One thing that is funny is that you can only reach high enough to turn the switches off, not on.  And I'm a little leery about you being able to open a door and potentially go outside.  I guess I'm not confident in your safety decisions about going out or what you would do once there.

It has been very heart warming to listen to your speech develop.  I've tried to catch some of the things you say in recordings but it's difficult.  I'm doing it because you have a really cute way of saying some things that I know you will grow out of as you learn to say them correctly.  For example, 'orange.'  I caught you saying it on a voice memo on my phone, but I haven't figured out how to post it here.  I'll keep working on it.  Another thing that it's been fun to hear your progress on is saying your sister's name.  You're getting pretty good at that now, too.

Connected Child

Flower Girl in waiting

You like singing quite a bit.  It's fun hearing your versions of standards like  'Twinkle, Twinkle' and 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' as well as rockers like 'Born to be Wild.'  No kidding, I think you know the line 'lookin for adventure and whatever comes our way.'  We listen to 'Party Rock Anthem' a lot and dance to it.  At first, Sidra and I would argue about the line 'Get Up, Get Down, put your hands up to the _______.'  I would say 'Sound.'  Sidra would say 'Sun.'  And we would go back and forth.  Pretty soon you began to pick it up and say 'Sun.'  Now, we can reverse it on you by saying 'Sun' first, and then you will say 'Sound.'  Anyway, it's a fun little game to play with you.



Your favorite lately has been 'happy birthday' but not just because you had one.  It is featured in a book you like and you've been singing it a lot.  You and Sidra sang on a video to your Grandma and on the phone to your friend Cooper.  Then you can see in this video of your birthday cake and candles that you are a little confused about whether you should be singing, too.

Heartbreaker

 One of our favorite sayings has become "Monkey See, Monkey Do, Monkey does the same as you."  We say it to Sidra mostly, because we want her to know that everything you see her do you're going to try to repeat.  Sidra climbs on the couch, you climb on the couch.  Sidra squirts water through her teeth in the bath, you try to do it.  Sidra stacks up blocks and knocks them down, you try to do it.  Sidra, for her part, is pretty good about recognizing that what we're telling her is true and will change her actions to keep you safe.  I like that.  You look up to her so much and try so hard to be like her and she realizes that she can shape your behavior and will try not to lead you into injury. 
 
I included a picture of you using your Mom's phone.  That's because you are pretty attached to it.  You aren't very happy about giving it up when your turn is over.  We've begun to not let you have it unless we've decided that you need a distraction, and not because you've decided you need a distraction.  You are able navigate it pretty well.

In one of these pictures you have just opened a gift from your Grandma.  It's a little figurine of a dancing girl.  It's yellow color is meant to be such because of the November birthstone of yellow Topaz.  There is a little story behind this.  In visits to Grandma's house Sidra saw one of these figurines which had belonged to her Grandmother for a long time.  Sidra always wanted to play with it and Grandma decided to get her one with her own birthstone color.  I helped her find this same figurine in the right color and she got one for Sidra.  Then while she still had contact with someone who had one, she got one for you and gave it to you for your birthday gift.

It's pretty clear that a couple of these pictures are from your cousin's wedding day. Well, you guys just looked darn good that day and we were lucky to have a few good photos.  You, like your sister, had a great time that day but you were the first to flame out from exhaustion.


Until next time.......
love, aba.

PS-  Oops, there were a couple other things I wanted to tell you about.  One is that you've become a pretty good counter.  Back in July I wrote about how you could recognize the numerals, now you're actually counting.  You are solid right up to five and I think you actually can count 3 items.  I think you know the difference between two and three.  That's a big step.
The other thing is the sweet way you say 'I love you' when we flash you that sign, or how you say 'I love you too' after we say it to you.
Ok, that's all for now.

By the numbers

Hi Shira, 

Well, as we suspected, once you've begun talking you have advanced rapidly.  Now you might have better speech in the evening than you had in the morning.  You've started to recognize letters and numerals, too.  Only about a week ago I told your mom that you could name a foam bath toy shaped like '8'.  She was skeptical.  This was only about a week ago.  Well, this morning you did this reading of '10 little ladybugs' that is seen in the video.  Each time you do it you get better at enunciating.

We will try to capture you counting.  Right now you only go to 2 but are pretty entertaining when you cover your eyes and count 'one, two' repeatedly.  

We also have a few books with geometric shapes that you are pretty good at also.  You can also put solid items through the right openings on some toys we have.  The thing that is difficult is getting the footage while you don't know you're being recorded.  If you suspect that someone is using an electronic device you stop what your doing and try to gain possession of it.  We've had to curtail your use of our I phones to only times when we really need to distract you because you were getting too attached to them.  You are pretty adept at using them. 

The picture here is from your trip to the zoo with dad.  We went there one day while your big sis was at  Gan Israel summer camp.  I think it was the day she made challah.  

Love, aba

Daddy's Girl

Hi Shira,

Since I've been out of school for the summer I've been able to break your mom's grip on you.  I'm not saying that's been my goal.  It just seems to be the result of my being around the house so much more.  A few months ago I would have had a hard time just getting you to agree to going from your mom's arms to mine.  Now you will request that same move and will seek my soothing when something goes wrong.  You say 'daddy' constantly.  Although your mom and I agreed that you seem to say what sounds like 'daddy' in situations where it appears to mean something else.
You've developed a habit of having something in your grip almost all the time.  Frequently it is a stuffed animal with decided preference to dogs.  It could be anything though.  You don't mind hard objects, it doesn't have to be soft.  It doesn't have to be an animal, sometimes it's a toothbrush.  We done well in keeping you from getting attached to just one thing.  We don't want to get stuck in a disaster if we can't find the particular object. 

Generally your speech is improving.  You are often really trying to revise how your words come out.  You've worked hard on 'water,' 'color,' and 'bagel.'  It's actually pretty fun to listen to you try 'bagel.'  You'll get it.

Here's the stories behind the two videos.  On the first one you are doing what you sometimes do with the doll house stuff.  You are trying to sit on a chair that is meant for dolls about 4 inches tall.  Another time I caught you taking the bedding off of Barbies bed in the Dreamhouse and putting it on the floor where you tried to lay on it.  In the second one we are at your mom's Saturday market event.  She caught us dancing to a Bruce Springsteen song.  We drew a lot of attention but didn't convince anyone to come out of their seats and dance with us. 

You're still watching everything your sister does and trying to do it too.  We wish you would watch her more closely on toilet technique and less on climbing technique. 
Oh, we were at Kahneetah recently and you did the kids slide for the first time.  That was cool, but you needed guidance at the top and bottom and so it was hard on us to let you do it and keep track of your sis, too.  Maybe we'll get your uncle Ben's pictures of that soon so we can post them.

Love, Aba

Look Who's Talking

Hi Shira,

As I've said before you've been 'talking' to us a lot with sign language already. I think I still have the most meaningful communication with you because of what you say with signs. But your vocals are picking up.

What is it you're saying? You're good at some of the standards for kids your age, like: NO, Yeah, Mama, Daddy. A couple more that are interesting: Dog and Bike. By the time you're old enough to read this you'll understand why I think it's cool that bike is in your top ten. And by the time you can read this you'll probably have your own dog. At least I know our family will have a dog for a pet. It's kind of amazing that this is probably your 5th word behind the heavyweights NO, yeah, Mom, dad given the fact that we don't have a dog in the family right now. Anytime you've had a dog in a room with you you have just been beside yourself. They've always been your favorites in books that picture animals and pets. You like kitty's too but we haven't heard you saying that as much. You've been trying to say 'water' and 'more' and 'wet.' So your vocal vocabulary is growing but I would say that at the moment your signs are still more numerous than your spoken words.

On the other hand, you are still employing the time honored technique of throwing a fit to get your way. You're pretty good at that and your mom and I are realizing that we are getting out played by you too much in that game. You are horribly loud when you're not getting what you want but your emotions stay much more level when you aren't sick. In any case, we agreed today that we need to start letting you yell and be disappointed when there's no good reason for you to win an argument with a tantrum.

Most of the pictures and video are from our weekend trip to Sunriver with your grandparents and aunt and uncle. The weather was terrible for May 27-29 but we still enjoyed the trip. We swam in the pool in spite of the skiff of new snow on the pool deck. On the last night you were having a good swim but finally fatigue got to you and your spirit for it died quickly.

We visited the High Desert Museum. In two of the pictures you are very interested in the small stream than was running under the footbridge. It was a very clear stream that ran throughout the grounds and in the slower stretches fish could be seen. That held your interest, too.

We also got enough dry weather to visit the playground at least once and I got a couple of good shots of you on the swing. I didn't even have to prompt you to say "Wheeeeeeeee."

Well, now that you've begun trying the orals I expect an explosion of words to come streaming out of your mouth at any time.

Love,
aba

Amazon Signs

Hi Shira,

First the stats. You're just over 17 months old. You weigh about 27 pounds, you have 16 teeth. You are 32½ inches tall and have grown 2½ inches since November which is why we're having to put things higher and higher to keep them out of your reach. You just had a check up at the doctor and you are in the 95th percentile for height and 75th percentile for weight. You're a big girl. We had a measuring on your height chart recently and I noticed that you're quite a bit taller than Sidra was at the same age.

Your mother is worried that you haven't articulated too many words yet. I keep telling her that once you start the new words will come in a rush. You are very good at many other nuances of communication (tone, body language, signing) I am sure that the oral part will fall into place without difficulty.

You've always been your momma's girl. You really want her attention most of the time. It's her departures that cause your meltdowns and her you want when you're needing some holding or comforting. However, when I was home for the whole week on spring break I did break that spell a little bit. You were more willing to be comforted by me or hang out with me instead of your mom the last few days of the vacation. It was, mind you, only a slight thaw in the ice.

You do look up to your sister, too. You adore her and while you don't watch her every move so much anymore you certainly aspire to be like her. You guys do some things together that are fun to watch. You sort of grab Sidra's hips and steer her around or you'll push her while she's on the Arieal scooter. I haven't yet really been able to catch it on video because of the spontaneity but it's clearly a something you both enjoy.

During spring break which was almost a month ago now, we successfully ditched your binky in a cold turkey intervention. It was pretty easy and only took about 2 days to complete. However, since phasing out the binky there have been some times when you've been yelling that i'm sure you would have been quieted by the pacifier. Now the only fail safe method we have of calming you down is turning on a 'Signing Time' episode. Remarkably, that has worked every time. I almost wish you would do a thumb suck or something sometimes to sooth yourself. I know you would respond to it because occasionally when I hold you and you are wailing you will sort of nibble on me. I don't allow you to continue but it makes me believe an oral soother would work for you.

You like swimming. You are still very dependent on an assistant when you are in the pool but you like the water and don't mind getting your head under. You don't care too much for your water wings, though. I don't know if it's the discomfort on your arms or just a little too much freedom that bothers you but you prefer being held when we're in deep water and standing on your own on the stairs. You haven't quite figured out why the bottom drops out from under you when you step off a stair, though. The last time we were at Kahneetah you were able to stand up in the shallowest part of the pool and you really liked that. We'll need to go back soon.






Love, Aba

Wonderful "Ones"

Hi Shira,

You are in a fun period of your life. For us grown ups, at least. Your personality is emerging, you're picking up new tricks all the time, yet you're still a baby in many ways.

You are very cute with the way you enjoy watching the sign language videos. You are more prolific at giving signs than your big sister was so that's fun for us. I think we might be getting a little more out of you than we did her at the same stage. Today while I was watching the end of the Super Bowl you were trying to get at a couple of the Signing DVDs which you knew were on the cabinet. That's why they were there, so you wouldn't be able to reach them. Soon, you were bringing me a DVD from the other shelf which was a Signing DVD and you were giving me the sign you make when you asking to watch it (your sign is more like 'hello', it isn't really the sign for 'sign.')

You use your voice a lot, too. But you aren't quite making words yet. You express a lot with tone and volume also. One of the coolest things is how you and your sister greet each other when neither of you is concerned about about turf. Sidra says your name with a high lilt and you return the greeting in kind. I hope it's just the beginning and you two will greet each other with the same tenderness in 15 years. I want you to get along like the Cohen sisters and the Mallon sisters.

You really like reading or looking at books. We keep a healthy selection available for you as you can see in the videos. You like to have several open at once, I guess your version of multitasking. Your favorite book is the Baby Body Book. It has a lot of pictures of babies and calls attention to body parts and babies in action. It's one of the first books you looked at and you've gone back to it often. One morning right after breakfast you went to your position at the coffee table where all your books are. I kept an eye on you and you went through the body book three times from cover to cover before trying something else.

You're still more likely to look at a book on your own than sit on our lap and be read to. We don't seem to be able to go fast enough for you. I was reading you a book called ten little fingers and ten little toes and I had to go fast enough so that I was constantly turning the pages otherwise you weren't interested.

You are in the midst of your second ear infection in as many months. We hope that it isn't the beginning of a string of ear infections. You can be pretty ornery when you aren't feeling good. However, you are really good at taking medicine. You'll suck that stuff right down. Tooth brushing is another story. You oppose that with vehemence. We got you your own electric toothbrush and that seems to help you enjoy the process. You're pretty happy to 'do your own brushing' but you're a ways from being able do a decent job of it and don't like having an adult take over. I think you'd like to turn the tables and brush our teeth.

Video captions: 1) Just like mom! 2) The audio does a pretty good job narrating. 3) Hard for a parent not to like the scene. A quiet morning reading books.










Love, aba.