Not a baby, not a baby…
“Not a baby, not a baby…” is my mantra these days. Having two children barely 16 months apart, certain things happen I think. Namely, the older child, K, gets all the attention because she is much more demanding and clearly verbalizes what she wants and the second child, A, is perpetually The Baby, even when she isn’t a baby anymore. So, when I remind myself that A is not a baby and is 18 months old I start to notice all sorts of amazing toddler behavior such as shaking he head for “no” and “yes”, being able to do all the animal noises for your top 10-15 “nursery” animals when asked. Such as, “What sound does a dog make?” And all of a sudden, A is a cute barking doggie. A understands anything I could want to tell her to do that is within her physical capabilities. Such as if she is looking for her favorite stuffy and I know it to be upstairs in the play room, I just have to tell her it’s upstairs in the playroom and off she goes. In a matter of seconds and as fast as her little feet will carry her, she enthusiastically greets her favorite stuffy and brings it downstairs. Mind you, of course I am only speaking in Estonian to her, so at the moment at least, there are no Estonian language comprehension issues that I can tell. A is also saying more and more words and as long as I take the time to “give” her words, she says them and knows them. So, it’s all up to me remembering that A is no longer a baby. I know I wrote of this previously, but I think spending much more one-on-one time with A once K goes to pre-school in a few weeks will make a big difference.
