Showing posts with label helper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label helper. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Little Mommy


Anja is turning into quite the little mommy. She is absorbing things at a rate that is even alarming to someone like me who has studied the rate at which children learn. Luckily, she usually uses that knowledge for good, not evil. She is still very much into helping with Ian. She's getting much better at holding him and can now feed him a bottle, complete with a request for me to put a burp cloth on her shoulder (which she actually uses to wipe his chin if/when he dribbles some milk). If I hold him, she'll even successfully burp him and lectures Dan about the appropriate method for doing so! (She firmly believes you should utilize a flat hand, not knuckles.) She's definitely the proud big sister and will defend Ian if one of the other kids at daycare gets too close when I'm dropping her off. I love how helpful she is! Well, until she decided yesterday that she was going to help me nurse Ian, too. I'll leave it at that so I don't have to post a disclaimer on this blog.


But sometimes, just sometimes (ok, more like daily!), she'll use her sponge-like-absorbing-ness for other purposes. As a toddler, we often give her 2 choices for things, like sitting with us at the dinner table even if she claims she doesn't want to eat or going in time out. It has now come back to haunt us.

Anja: Daddy, play catch wit me!

Dan: Not right now, Anja. Maybe later.

Anja: Daddy, play catch wit me or go in time out. Which one you want to do?


Oh dear.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Big Sister

Saturday morning Ian and I got to make the trek home. I'm not sure who was more excited, Anja or I. She spent the whole day helping me with Ian or imitating things we were doing with her own dollies. She absolutely loves being our big helper and is quite thrilled at the opportunity to do things like give him his Nuk or take his dirty diaper to the trash can. (In fact, after daycare yesterday, she found one that I hadn't gotten around to throwing out yet - horrible, I know - but immediately stopped what she was doing and proudly announced that we had to wait a minute. She was busy throwing Ian's diaper in the trash.) Even when he cries while she's trying to go to sleep, she worries about why he's crying and needs to see him in order to know he's okay and calm down enough to go to bed.

And my favorite big sister moments so far? I love it when I'm holding him and need to switch locations and she runs over with her two little arms held outstretched (and very close together) telling me "Give him me! I take Baby Ian! I carry him!" And my favorite? When Ian cries and she tells him "It okay, Baby Ian. I'm here. It okay. I still here." and then sings him a song or 2 to calm him down. Even more impressive? It works. He has always stopped crying when hearing his 2 and a half year old big sister singing Old McDonald, Twinkle Twinkle, or Row Your Boat.