(no subject)
Oct. 21st, 2004 04:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckToday's a big day in our household. It seemed perfectly ordinary when I got up, but we've reached a transition point in Delia's life-- She's learned to say, 'No!'
We'd been surprised that she hadn't started with it sooner. It's not as if we don't say it to her all the time. We'd been repeatedly warned that most toddlers pick it up early and throw it at their parents with glee, but Delia didn't. Until today.
I took her out for a walk while the cleaning lady was mopping the living room. This week, I've been trying to get Delia out of the house whenever it's not raining. We don't have many days of moderately decent weather left, I suspect, and I don't want to waste any. We don't spend all that much time outside at once, but I like giving Delia time to run around and get some of her energy out. She's discovered the joys of scuffing through leaves and does it with glee. I find myself wishing that we had a tree to provide a nice pile of dry leaves (the maple tree out front holds its leaves with great stubbornness, waiting for a heavy rain or the day after the last city leaf pick up) so that I could let her jump into them.
Each time I take her out, I have to turn her away from driveways frequently, saying 'No!' each time to keep her out of the street and out of other people's yards. Today, she started chanting, 'No. No. No. No,' as we walked along. Later, she pulled the word out to tell me that she didn't want any oatmeal at lunch, so I think she's figured out what it means.
She's also started liking certain of her books simply because they have ducks in them. She'll bring the book over and insist on turning pages until we get to the page she wants. Then she'll pound on it and say, 'Duck!' She hasn't generalized too many words that strongly, yet. Of course, that may be because she really likes how 'duck' sounds.
Tuesday evening, she brought me her colors book and paged through it with me. She said 'blue,' 'orange,' 'pink,' 'brown' and 'black.' I'm not sure she yet realizes that the words apply to things outside the book, but we're working on it.
Tuesday was also the Day of Drinking Peas. Delia loves eating sweet peas. She gets really excited when peas are mentioned and will go after them eagerly when we serve them. This time, I put together a small bowl and gave it to her with a toddler fork. I helped her with a couple of forkfuls and then turned away to deal with something else. When I looked back, she had lifted the bowl and pressed it against her face with the bottom edge in her mouth, looking for all the world like someone who's over tilted the bowl while trying to get the last broth or milk at the end of a meal. She'd apparently decided that using the fork or her hands was too slow and was trying to pour them into her mouth. She fought when I tried to take the bowl away and set it down flat again; she acted like I was an evil person trying to steal her food.
I can't recommend drinking peas as a strategy-- About half of the peas ended up either on the floor or inside her overalls (where I found them later while changing her diaper). Of course, that means that about half made their way into her mouth, and she seemed happy enough with that...
Delia's recently taken up dancing. We're trying to encourage it since it's a reasonable form of indoor exercise, but we're having trouble finding music in our collection that really works for her. She likes Sesame Street stuff for dancing and some of the music from TV shows like Stargate SG-1 and West Wing. I'm not absolutely convinced that it isn't just a matter of familiarity, but I'm also not certain that it is.
At any rate, I've been digging through our CDs and trying to identify things that might have similar beats or styles and so might appeal to her. She seems unimpressed by my first effort, early Beatles (which I remember as prime dancing music for me and my sister when we were about 5). I'm going to spend a little time this afternoon considering more options. My musical memory is rather poor, so that means I'll need to play the CDs to be sure that I'm right about what might or might not work.
We'd been surprised that she hadn't started with it sooner. It's not as if we don't say it to her all the time. We'd been repeatedly warned that most toddlers pick it up early and throw it at their parents with glee, but Delia didn't. Until today.
I took her out for a walk while the cleaning lady was mopping the living room. This week, I've been trying to get Delia out of the house whenever it's not raining. We don't have many days of moderately decent weather left, I suspect, and I don't want to waste any. We don't spend all that much time outside at once, but I like giving Delia time to run around and get some of her energy out. She's discovered the joys of scuffing through leaves and does it with glee. I find myself wishing that we had a tree to provide a nice pile of dry leaves (the maple tree out front holds its leaves with great stubbornness, waiting for a heavy rain or the day after the last city leaf pick up) so that I could let her jump into them.
Each time I take her out, I have to turn her away from driveways frequently, saying 'No!' each time to keep her out of the street and out of other people's yards. Today, she started chanting, 'No. No. No. No,' as we walked along. Later, she pulled the word out to tell me that she didn't want any oatmeal at lunch, so I think she's figured out what it means.
She's also started liking certain of her books simply because they have ducks in them. She'll bring the book over and insist on turning pages until we get to the page she wants. Then she'll pound on it and say, 'Duck!' She hasn't generalized too many words that strongly, yet. Of course, that may be because she really likes how 'duck' sounds.
Tuesday evening, she brought me her colors book and paged through it with me. She said 'blue,' 'orange,' 'pink,' 'brown' and 'black.' I'm not sure she yet realizes that the words apply to things outside the book, but we're working on it.
Tuesday was also the Day of Drinking Peas. Delia loves eating sweet peas. She gets really excited when peas are mentioned and will go after them eagerly when we serve them. This time, I put together a small bowl and gave it to her with a toddler fork. I helped her with a couple of forkfuls and then turned away to deal with something else. When I looked back, she had lifted the bowl and pressed it against her face with the bottom edge in her mouth, looking for all the world like someone who's over tilted the bowl while trying to get the last broth or milk at the end of a meal. She'd apparently decided that using the fork or her hands was too slow and was trying to pour them into her mouth. She fought when I tried to take the bowl away and set it down flat again; she acted like I was an evil person trying to steal her food.
I can't recommend drinking peas as a strategy-- About half of the peas ended up either on the floor or inside her overalls (where I found them later while changing her diaper). Of course, that means that about half made their way into her mouth, and she seemed happy enough with that...
Delia's recently taken up dancing. We're trying to encourage it since it's a reasonable form of indoor exercise, but we're having trouble finding music in our collection that really works for her. She likes Sesame Street stuff for dancing and some of the music from TV shows like Stargate SG-1 and West Wing. I'm not absolutely convinced that it isn't just a matter of familiarity, but I'm also not certain that it is.
At any rate, I've been digging through our CDs and trying to identify things that might have similar beats or styles and so might appeal to her. She seems unimpressed by my first effort, early Beatles (which I remember as prime dancing music for me and my sister when we were about 5). I'm going to spend a little time this afternoon considering more options. My musical memory is rather poor, so that means I'll need to play the CDs to be sure that I'm right about what might or might not work.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-10-21 01:17 pm (UTC)They do have CDs of television themes. If you happen to have one of those, she might like that... the melodies are usually not really complex if I recall correctly. One or two instruments, yes? I'm not as familiar with TV as I used to be. :)
no subject
Date: 2004-10-21 05:06 pm (UTC)I'm not actually sure about the complexity or lack thereof of TV themes. I really don't know much about music beyond what I do and don't like.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-21 02:06 pm (UTC)I had a record that my sister and I loved so much, we wore hard, hard grooves into it: Sesame Street Disco. We were especially fond of Cookie Monster's track, "Me Lost Me Cookie at the Disco". You need to videotape her West Wing dance, IMO. *grins*
no subject
Date: 2004-10-21 05:09 pm (UTC)Videotaping will happen after Scott has time to download what's currently in the camera and do something with it. There are several things we want to record.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-21 03:22 pm (UTC)Of course that's easy for me to say. I won't be finding peas down the side of the sofa for the next six months ;)
no subject
Date: 2004-10-21 07:04 pm (UTC)She demanded peas today, but I didn't have any. I felt bad. She heard the microwave going and started saying, "Peas, peas, peas, peas." But all I had was spinach (which she usually likes).
no subject
Date: 2004-10-21 07:52 pm (UTC)She likes dancing to the Lion King Musical Remix. She also has some Raffi CDs that are reasonably dancable. I think the titles are _Bananaphone_ and _Baby Beluga_, though some of the songs have been so familiar to her since she was brand new that she may not be able to really listen to them fresh.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-22 11:53 am (UTC)The image you paint of a little girl giving orders to bubbles is adorable. I can see it perfectly well.
I introduced Delia to bubble blowing in the bathtub earlier this week. She wasn't at all sure what to make of it and was disappointed when the bubbles popped.
I think we've got _Baby Beluga_. I'll have to try that. One of my sisters gave it to us this summer, and we really haven't played it much. Delia does like The Music Man soundtrack; we confirmed that last night.