Probably the best gift we have ever received - any of us - is our friends, the Sehgals kids' book collection. It was probably nearly a hundred books, including tons of Mercer Mayer books, about ten Berenstain Bears, LOADS of random stories, a bunch of Paddington adventures...nothing beats books. And Samara loves her books. She loves these books and all of the others we have. We routinely read at meals, before each nap and sleep plus at random times throughout the day.
I am not always sure how much she understands or what she is actually listening to, but often she will say something, like yesterday, "Mom, dogs eat dog bones." Ok - yes - but why are you bringing this up and where did you learn this? She goes into her room, pulls out a random, the Paper Bag Princess (thanks, Lenore and Diane!) and turns to a page in the middle with bones on the ground. She said, "Daddy said these are bones and dogs eat bones."
Since she was little, long before she spoke, she has been able to go to the shelf and pull out a book we're talking about or turn to a reference in it. She thinks in books. She loves her books.
This morning she saw some new onesies that we had hanging to dry. Elie is finally going to fit into his 6-9 month clothes, so I pulled them out to give them a fresh wash. She said, "I really like Elie's Batman onesie and his Batman t-shirt. Mommy, I really want to wear one of those." "Yes, Sam that must be hard for you, since they're Elie's and they won't fit you." Ten minutes later we were eating lunch and she said she has the Green Eyed Monster and she was jealous of Elie's onesies, just like Sister Bear had the Green Eyed Monster and was jealous of Brother Bear's new bike. Am I nuts that I think that is pretty sophisticated for a three year old?! Pretty amazing to pull the concept from the book, reference it, and name her feelings. I'm so proud of her that I just found out where to get Batman t-shirts in Singapore and I am going to get one for her (90% of her clothes are hand-me-downs, which she doesn't mind...but I'm happy to spend $15 bucks to make her so super happy).
Sleep Training update: Elie has not cried at night for the most part - gone down for all nights with a bit of talking and kvetching and also been put down after feeding in the middle of the night awake, and he goes to sleep on his own. A few nights ago he cried for 20 minutes around 10:30, and since it hadn't been four hours of sleep yet, we didn't get him and he went back to sleep until three something! Naps are still not as smooth, but he doesn't really cry when he goes down, mostly (yesterday he had a long cry, though) - just a lot of whining, and it takes him a long time to finally fall asleep. I have been putting on the mobile when he is tired but not SUPER sleepy and that seems to calm him down, but then he doesn't start to actually put himself to sleep until after that, so it takes a while for him to actually fall asleep. He's been sleeping anywhere from 25 minutes to over an hour. Still not so stellar but I'll take it. And I'm getting so much done. I actually have free time! And at night he seems to want to go to sleep around 6:30, he generally wakes around 1 to eat, then around 5 or 6 to eat, then around 7 or 8 for the day. No turning back now...
And I ran into the couple in my condo who inspired me to start last Sunday, and I swear the mom had tears in her eyes when I told her how much it has changed our lives. Elie is so much happier. I am so much happier and we are enjoying each other a lot. Now I can hear that cute giggle and I want to eat him up.
And he sprouted a tooth!
Happy baby
Happy Birthday Zaydie!
Yummy cake!!
Working out that tooth
Yummy foot!
Elie's friend, Pauline, on the playground. Every noise she made, he giggled
Sam looking at Mr. Moon in the morning. We went to have breakfast super early on the playground behind our house to let Matt sleep (he did that for me the day before - THANK YOU!!!). She dressed herself.
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