Water, Tantrums, Baby Love, Art, & More

Julia is now 20 months old and is learning so many new things lately that I need to capture some in a new (and long) update post.

Drama Queen
A friend in our playgroup said she read in a book that toddlers are "emotionally unstable," and a couple of weeks ago, that was Julia. If she didn't get her way, it really set her off. Her tantrums are usually some high drama crying accompanied by indignant stomping of the feet. I take deep breaths and remind myself that the tantrums are more about the age than the child.

High Chair
We had some high drama moments in the mornings, because Julia did NOT want to sit in her high chair. We converted her high chair to a booster seat and that helped. Then, we borrowed the booster seat from Oma and Opa's house. That has really resolved the problem. The mini-phase of tantrums has mostly passed (yay!), and Julia has returned to her sunny, happy self with only the occasional tantrum.

Talking, Talking
With the two of us as parents, it is no surprise that Julia is a big talker. She has continued to add new words to her vocabulary, but the biggest development is that over the last couple of months, she has started grouping words into phrases: "Mommy Hand,"
"Oma Chair," "Jakey Bed," "Papa Glasses," etc. One of her favorite phrases lately is "Bye Bye, Airplane," if she hears or sees an airplane overhead.

Just this week, we had an interesting development. Julia seems to know to use the Spanish word when speaking to Karina (Julia's beloved babysitter, "Ena") or to use the English word when speaking to me. Julia has a little toy house, and she calls it a "house" when talking to me. Karina says that Julia says "casa" when they play with the same toy. I heard another example firsthand. Lately, Julia has been pointing to the lights and saying, "light." Yesterday, while Karina was playing with her, I saw her point to the light and say, "luz." I asked Karina, "What did she say?" Karina said, "Luz....it's light in Spanish." Very cool. I can't wait until I hear her say something in Dutch to her Papa.

We're working on the names of the colors with Julia and will try to teach her in English, Spanish, and Dutch. We're also working on saying 1...2...3 in all three languages. Consequently, *I* am learning the basic colors and numbers in Spanish and Dutch.

Baby Love
Julia's baby love continues both for real babies and her dolls (the dolls haven't been her main focus in the last couple of weeks, as she is interested in other toys). She loves to see babies and pictures of babies. If we're out in public, she points out any baby she sees. We recently received a catalog of invitations and baby announcements which had many pictures of babies. Julia flipped through the catalog, page-by-page, and pointed to each one: "Baby!" "Baby!" "Baby Feet!" "Baby" "Baby!" "Baby Nose!" "Baby!"

Blowing Her Nose
It may not seem like a huge milestone, but Julia learned to blow her nose a month or two ago. It is a big deal, especially since she had a runny nose for most of March and April. She can also walk to the box of tissues, pull one out, and announce, "Nose!" The problem is, she usually doesn't stop with just one tissue. She has become an expert nose-blower - she *really* blows that nose, and you just have to hope you have a tissue in hand and at the ready when she's ready to blow!

Outside
Julia loves to be outside, which has been tough, because it has rained most of the last two weeks. When she wants to go outside, she stands at the door, clinging to the doorknob, "'side! 'side! 'SIDE!! 'SIDE!!" She has started to understand that we don't go outside when it is raining. We look out the front door together, and she says, "Wain.....Wet. Wain."

Water, Water Everywhere
Julia loves to play in water. She loves to take baths and would stay in the bath for hours, if we let her. A new development is that she wants to keep the water running the entire time she is the bath, and if I turn the water off, she will plead to have the water back on, "More! More! More! Pease! More! Pease!" - all while desperately doing the baby sign for "Please." I don't want to waste water, so our compromise is that I turn the water down to a slow trickle and eventually, I turn it off.

Julia is also a big fan of washing her hands. She will often ask to have her hands washed, which is a good habit so I encourage it, but she wants to play in the water for as long as I will let her. She doesn't want the handwashing to stop!

Rock! Rock! Mommy Rock!
In Julia's room, we have the most wonderful, comfortable glider/recliner (a gift from Oma & Opa) where I spent many a night when Julia was a newborn. Now, it is our favorite place to read books. Two new developments here - she has learned to rock the chair by herself, "Rock!" "Rock!" (She does try to rock other chairs that are not rocking chairs by throwing her back against the back of the chair, and when it doesn't work, she tries harder and harder.) Also, she doesn't want to sit in my lap anymore; she prefers me to sit beside her in the chair so we can both rock. "Mommy, Mommy, rock! Mommy, book. Mommy, rock."

Budding Artist
Kate & Kristi introduced us to idea of playing with stickers a few months ago, and I initially thought Julia might be too young - but she loves them. She can peel and stick most of them herself. Noelle & Laura showed that putting stickers on our hands is fun, and Julia extended that to putting them all over our clothes. At home, we're trying to keep them limited to paper or us - not the walls, furniture, or floors. I'll bet stickers will be a great distraction for airplane rides or at restaurants.

Once Julia reached toddlerhood, I got some big, fat crayons for her, but she was mostly interested in putting them in her mouth or throwing them. That has changed in the last month, as she has taken a real interest in "kee-ahhs." She really gets it now and enjoys "daah-ing" (drawing). We have a pad of paper that we decorate with stickers and color with crayons. It's fun getting to the age where we can really do things together.

Miss Independent
I am continually amazed at how independent Julia is; she is very interested in doing things herself. After a dinner with Ian and Dylan in February, she became very interested in using a fork, so I bought some new toddler spoons and forks. She has become very adept with a "poon" or "uhck." She has also learned to clip her buckle in her booster seat, but thankfully, she has not learned to *unbuckle* it.

She has also learned to help out with little things: she likes to put her wet diapers in the Diaper Champ and has learned to use the handle on it. When I undress her, I hand her the dirty clothes, tell her "put them in the hamper," and she will happily say, "Hamp-uh!" Then, she'll walk over to the hamper, lift the cover, put the item in, and most times, replace the cover. The same goes for trash, I can hand her an item and say, "Put it in the trash." She'll say "Twash" and walk over to deposit it in the trash can.

She wants to be able to dress and undress herself, too. She likes to zip her pajamas, but sometimes gets frustrated if she can't keep hold of the zipper tag. She even likes to help change her own diapers - she says, "Push! Push!" because she wants to push one of the diaper tabs down. Once, while I was changing her diaper, she even grabbed a wipe and wiped herself! She sometimes gets frustrated, because she wants to do something - and can't quite get it (for instance, putting on her pants).

As independent as she is, she has recently learned a couple of new expressions, "Mommy Heppa" (Mommy, Help) and "Mommy Hand" (Give me your hand so I can do this without falling.) She usually wants to do things herself, but if she pulls out "Mommy Heppa," or "Mommy Hand," it means she would like my help. On her terms. :-)

Love this kid.