Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Updates on Rachel

Richard brought our babydoll home from her nanny's one day last week and told me, "There's something different about her." 

Can you spot it?


Yup, she had her toenails painted! 



Her nanny said that she sat down patiently and watched while her nanny's daughter painted them although, now that they are done, babydoll seems to be oblivious to them.

I wasn't upset when I saw the pedicure but all sorts of thoughts rushed through my head about beauty and self-image and peer pressure. Gosh, I know these aren't problems for now, but they might/will be in the future, so the pink digits sort of reminded me that I still have a long road to travel as a parent and that there are important parenting moments ahead, which I need to be prepared for. I do think that, as parents, we play a crucial role in filtering the world's influences, to lessen the burdens and the pressure of the world, and to reassure our children that they are beautiful just the way they are. Not easy, I think. Plus the influences and pressures which girls face will be different from those faced by boys. Oh, parenting doesn't get easier, does it? 

Well, I'll leave that as just a reminder of what's to come and hopefully, it will be many more years before I have to face those issues. For now, babydoll is oblivious to all this, so we can still breathe easy and just admire the cuteness that is this little munchkin with pink toenails - which, by the way, match her pink sandals perfectly!


In recent weeks, we have noticed babydoll exhibiting a lot more awareness of her routine and what happens around her. She's always been very observant and now that she's mobile, she has the power to make things happen for herself. For example, when we tell her to put her shoes on, she will toddle off to the shoerack to fetch her shoes, and when we tell her to take them off, she will sit down and undo the straps on her shoes.

When she's hungry and I ask her if she'd like something to eat, she will nod and toddle off to the kitchen and point in that direction. When we turn up at her nanny's to fetch her home, she is the first one out the door because she knows it's time to go.

Here she was, shopping last week.


"I need some money, please!"


Haha! Love that shot!

She still loves her stacking very much and now we offer her the chance to stack with precision - like fitting rings on a rod.


We introduce new materials to her, to give her new sensory experiences, in terms of texture and weight and even sound.






Babydoll is very sociable and enjoys being with people. She does have moments when she just wants to be with her mama/papa but, generally, she is good with everyone and anyone. Here she was, outside Paragon Shopping Centre last weekend, sitting next to a stranger. This was after she spent ten minutes flirting with diners at a restaurant in the basement - she was standing outside the restaurant and reaching through the partitions to shake hands with the diners inside.


We brought her to the playground at Telok Kurau Lorong J two weekends ago. It was her first time there and she had a great time.




I chuckle everytime I see this photo of her at the bottom of the slide. I love her expression!



 


Now that babydoll is mobile, I am a little less strict about supervising her. Before this, she was always accompanied. Always. Just like Ryan was. Now, I do leave her in the company of her brother sometimes, while I run upstairs to fetch something or make a dash to the toilet. One morning, I left the two of them in the living room while I went upstairs to do something quickly. When I came back downstairs, all was quiet and my two munchkins were gone! I realised that they had gone to the playroom and, as I approached the playroom, I heard them chatting to each other - Ryan telling his sister about the letters of the alphabet and Rachel going, "Ah!" at the appropriate moments.


Lovely! I am looking forward to seeing them playing together more and more and, hopefully, becoming the best of friends. They do fight - oh boy, do they fight! Babydoll gives as good as she gets so I usually don't intervene except to say, "No pushing" or "Talk nicely". I also say "No fighting" but that only means no physical blows are exchanged - I still let them fight it out otherwise. They usually fight over toys - one of them will be playing with a toy and the other will want the same toy so they end up in a tug of war. And don't think that Rachel is always the one trying to snatch the toy away - Ryan is just as guilty of doing that! Never a dull moment with these two!

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