Sadie is almost 20 months old (I think). She can say: Mom, Daddy, Dolly, Doggy, Da (it means "yes" in Russian), No, Yeah, hi, bye, owie and eow (for cat, the 'm' is silent). Despite the limited vocabulary she is excellent at communicating her needs. She wields her pointing finger recklessly and demands with guttural sounds our obedience.
"Unnnh." She points at the refrigerator. I ask her, "do you want water?" She nods and tells me, "dah." "Mnnnhhhhdhdnnnnnn." She points at my lap, I pick her up and she nuzzles happily into my neck. Sometimes my guesses are off and I am punished with Sadie grabbing the incorrect object, throwing it in frustration and then yelling at my stupidity. Of course I am forced to discipline her and then I am treated to the silent temper tantrum. In Judaism there is a prayer known as the Silent Amidah. Well, Sadie has the Silent Temper Tantrum. It's her signature move where she throws herself on the floor and kicks her feet and sometimes repeatedly hits her head against the ground and doesn't make a sound. It's funny, in public people get a kick out of it and outright laugh as she expresses her anger. I love this way of having a tantrum. Before I used to suffer for an hour as Sadie would scream and vent, cursing the world and her role in it. Nothing I would do would calm the daily fits until I started to pick her up, put her in her room and close the door behind her. After several times of letting her freak out in her own room the fits subsided. She stopped having daily hour long freak outs that made me hate my life. Recently my mother in law watched me put Sadie in the corner and congratulated me on my calm approach. She then shared how she found this to be a much better method than locking Sadie in her room. Honestly I was surprised to hear her opinion. I didn't even remember telling her about locking Sadie in her room and I sure as hell didn't appreciate being told which way of disciplining was better. My method worked. After being locked in her room several times for being inappropriate Sadie changed her behavior. I didn't have any other solution. I don't believe in hitting kids (although I've spanked her on her diaper a couple of times) and I don't see the point in yelling like a banshee at her either. Being put in the corner only riled her up more and she would flip out for an hour or more without us being able to do anything. Forgive the rant here, I hated the feeling of being judged in my own home with my child. I know that temper, that is my temper, and I have an idea of how to reign it in. Either way, Sadie is much better behaved now. She has stopped hitting and biting and is much better about trying to be heard instead of freaking out. I think the minute Sadie really starts to talk life will get easier. She will have a much better time communicating her needs and I will be able to respond better. We will be able to have dialogue. I want to know what she's thinking, I want to understand her reasoning and be able to explain to her why I will sometimes say "no." Today Sadie woke up and there was something different. She wanted to talk, she spewed gibberish but they came out like sentences. The sounds were all right if the words themselves had no meaning. She even told us a story about the napkin she made Logan wear on his lap and laughed every time she repeated it using words of gibberish. Logan and I were laughing right along her enjoying Sadie's realization that she can communicate with words. I have a feeling we are entering the stage of speech and I can't wait.
1 Comment
The gift of speech can also make you wish for the gift of silence ;)
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Meet the Blogger!
I'm a mom. A writer. A lover of good fantasy. A proponent of nursing when possible. A birth advocate. I am absolutely horrible at keeping my house clean or the dishes washed or the laundry done. I strongly believe in women having a positive birth. When we start to respect women's rights to birth the way they want, we can start to treat women as equal people in this world. Archives
February 2016
Sites I Value
http://blog.ican-online.org/ |