Miriam is 14 months

Jul 20, 2013 21:57

Miriam pooped into her potty four times in the last six days. I had no plans to start potty training her, nor do I have any idea how to do it. She, however, points at the potty, and very lovingly says "kaaa" - which means "I am about to make a poopie!". So I take off her diaper, and she makes a poopie. The two times we didn't make it was because I wasn't paying attention to what she was saying. We then celebrate and rejoice and take the poopie to the toilet where we flush it and goes to the ocean to swim with the fishies.

I am not sure if the ocean story was such a good idea, because we have actually been going to the beach which Miriam adores. She runs straight into the ocean, laughs at the waves, and picks up rocks. I hope she does not start to search for poopies.

She is not walking on her own yet, though I am pretty sure she can already. She insists on holding on to one grown up hand no matter what she is doing. So when I say she runs into the water, I mean we runs into the water.

We also went to Walden Pond on Tuesday, and she loved it - we went really deep and she was splashing and kicking her feet, and she swallowed a bunch of water and didn't even seem to mind. It was too awfully hot though and I got a sunburn.

She does not like to go through the sprinkler at the playground, but she loves the water spout in the sand pit where she enjoys washing her feet, her little inflatable pools one at my mom's house and one at home, and my cups of tea into which she puts her entire hand and swishes it around as I try to drink the tea. She also likes puddles.

Miriam loves sticks. She picks up as many as she can off the ground and walks around with them. She loves big sticks that she brandishes like a sword (especially when riding a little tricycle at the playground) and little tiny ones that she secretly tries to eat. Luckily she still trusts us when we offer to hold them for her, so it's pretty easy to take away the little ones. She likes to use a stick like a staff when she walks, holding it in her parent-free hand.

Miriam loves shoes. She has opinions about which shoes she would like to wear when I offer her the choice. She is also totally fine putting on whatever we decide. She is pretty easy going that way. She loves to put on adult shoes, walking in them all over the place, getting on her hands and knees and crawling around while holding a shoe in her teeth. We discourage such behavior and take shoes out of her teeth, something she gets very upset about. Her "getting upset" has recently acquired the flavor or real tantrums, she throws herself on the ground and kicks her feet while screaming. When we are at my mom's house she tries to maneuver her body towards the cat food while screaming and crying, in case we don't notice if she tries to sneak a few pieces. The good thing is that she is easily distracted and gets happy really fast.

We try not to be overly negative with the rules, so instead of saying "you can't eat shoes because I told you so", Tal and I put on extensive morality plays in which one of us tries to eat a shoe, (a wood chip, dust from the floor, diapers, socks, cardboard, buttons, etc) and asks as the objects nears the mouth "is this food? should I put this in my mouth?", while the other one emphatically explains how to object in question is definitely not food and should never ever be eaten. These plays are presented in two languages, and on a variety of topics, so our child is well entertained.

Recently we added a "We don't use our teeth to bite ima" performance since Miriam really likes to bite me. She does not really bite anyone else, so I am taking it as a sign of great affection, but I know it's wrong, so we are working on it. I think our efforts are paying off, because now instead of biting me, she bites the table, a toy, a shoe or something else, and gives me a very angry look that is meant to make me realize how wrong, unfair and unloving I am.

She does have many very sharp teeth, and more on the way. She also has curly hair that is getting long and forming those adorable ringlets above her neck. I have no desire whatsoever to do anything with her hair except wash it and brush it, and I find all the ribbons and bows and other terrible baby stuff really oppressive. She likes my hair and alternates between trying to pull it out hair by hair (especially when she is riding on my shoulders and I need both of my hands on her ankles or she'll swing one leg over my head and try to get off), or pulling it towards her own sweet head and "trying it on".

I do think she likes me because she gives me lots of hugs and puts her head on my shoulder and smiles at me all the time. She smooshes her cheek against my mouth for a kiss, and also gives me her hands to kiss, and her feet when positions allows for it. She knows all the body parts in at least two languages and will point things out when asked. Her favorite by far is the bellybutton. When the bellybutton requires her attention she gets her pointer finger ready wherever her hand is, and then triumphantly and slowly migrates her finger to the bellybutton, and smooshes her finger into her incredibly delicious belly. She likes the bellybuttons of others as well, especially aba's, because she can fit her whole finger inside there. She likes my breasts, and when I am carrying her, which is a lot of the time, she likes to put her whole hand down my bra and give me little squeezes.

Miriam enjoys going to the library because there are shelves of books she can pull down, throw on the floor, and walk on them. Just a few days ago she started leafing through board books by herself. She likes it when we read to her, but we don't usually get through a whole book. She also likes he library because there are older men to flirt with (like 3 year olds!) and sometimes cool events, like a guy who came with snakes and lizards and other beasties. When he pulled a three foot long Black African Monitor Lizard out of a box, miriam pointed her plump little finger, and said "Kis'!" Kis' is "cat". Miriam loves the cats at my mom's house, of which there are two, and will sometimes ever miaou. She says "aaooouuu" in her sweet voice. It is quite disarming. In addition to Kis', she says "Ka" - not to be confused with "Kaaa". "Ka" can mean stroller (koliaska), hat (shapka), bike or car (it has wheels therefore it is a koliaska), and a whole bunch of other things. She also made up a word for the fan, which is "vooof", and she loves pointing the little fan remote at it, and trying to make it oscillate. I am pretty sure she says a bunch of words in Hebrew, she says "ga" for garbaim (socks) and eyin for eye, and probably a few other things that I can't pick up on because I don't speak Hebrew, and it changes every day. She is not saying anything in English, but when Tal and I discussed a new puzzle we were hiding under the couch, she instantly went under the couch and found it, so there is a chance she understands everything.

She is extremely social, positive, assertive and easy going. She learns things fast, but will decide on her own whether to do what she can do or do what is being asked or suggester. She can walk with a little walker really well, but demands that a parent holds one of her hands, which always gets the walker stuck, and causes a lot of frustration. This is especially funny when she tries to simultaneously operate two walkers, and go uphill, through wood chips, with two parents.

Miriam likes other kids, but is still learning the fact that most other humans are evil. Kids at the playground have taken away her toys making her cry, but hopefully she will soon learn to kick their butts. She is not really playing with other kids yet, but there are a few children whose parents are secure enough to stay out of the way with whom Miriam plays very nicely, passing objects back and fourth, baby babble talking, and holding hands. It is quite nice. She is not shy, very active physically, and somehow knows that she can charm people. We'll see what happens, but I think I would rather like her even if she wan't my offspring. It is actually quite good that she looks absolutely nothing like me, because I see her as an entirely different, separate, independent human being. I don't think that would be the case if we were physically similar. I feel that it much easier for me to learn things about her and figure her out instead of assuming that I know something because she is my child.

There is a lot more, but I am taking a break for now.
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