Learning with a Toddler.

Being a mom is amazing. I never really thought I would feel this way about being a mom. That is until Nora was born. Watching her explore the world really opens my eyes. The things that she finds amazing helps to lift the veil of disillusionment from my eyes. I start to understand why the little things are so wondrous again.

Nora has learned to pull her boots on all by herself. When she is tired, she goes to her bed and pulls her blanket up *sometimes*, and she has decided that her high chair is no longer something she wants to be in. She much prefers sitting at the table in a big person chair.

She also can pull pants on by herself now. Though she hasn't really figured out how to get them completely on, and sometimes she tries to layer up.

For a while there she was counting to four pretty consistently. Lately she is stuck on "2". Which is fine since she will be two in March :D. She does, however, understand the concept of how many items she is supposed to have. If there were five crayons in the box and she dropped some, she will stop and look around until she finds all five.

Discipline is hard. Sometimes she gets that look on her face and you know she is doing something just because she knows it is wrong. Like pulling the books off the shelf for the 10th time that day.

We use face-to-face contact (getting down on her level so we aren't looming over her). We only use the word "No" when we mean it. We are trying to be more consistent and back each other up. If Doug says "No, don't stand on the chair" I am trying to be better about enforcing that. We have been known to spank through a diaper, not hard enough to hurt, but just to get her attention if she was doing something potentially dangerous to her life. Like climbing inside the dryer, or reaching for pans on the stove top. I think it is the noise that startles her more than anything, and while she might test the concept on another day, she seems to get the point that day.

Overall, I think she is turning out to be a lovely toddler. We all have our moments when frustration runs high. I know she is right on the brink of breaking through and really communicating with us. I am trying to spend a lot more focused time trying to help develop her language skills.

This morning we were playing with her letter blocks and I think she was starting to understand that each letter has it's corresponding sound. She was trying to mimic me which was so cute.

Then later when we were doing the morning laundry, she was so helpful. She would bring the laundry out to the living room so I could fold it, and then would take folded laundry to her father who was doing dishes in the kitchen. This was a totally new game for her and she had so much fun being our little helper.