With Sean's first year behind him and Elise finishing her first year in preschool, there have been many milestones in our two little ones. First, let's start with Elise, our sensitive but emotional toddler who is so caring towards other people that she immediately tries to offer comfort if she sees anyone in distress. If she sees a baby crying she wants to stroke their hair. If Mommy has tummy ache, she wants to kiss Mommy and make it go away. On the other side, she's extremely emotional and tears are primed for release at any given moment. If you misunderstand what she's saying, she flies off the handle. If she hears us raising our voices with each other, she freaks out and yells at us to stop arguing. Tears are definitely a part of her life and as quickly as they appear, they disappear just as fast. She could be laughing through her crying if you can get her to refocus. At preschool, her teacher tells us that she observes all the students silenty. In the morning they have a routine where the students gets dropped off at the curb and they have to go inside to change their outside shoes and wear inside shoes. Every student does it quickly and runs into the classroom. Not our Elise. One day, I dropped Elise off at school and realized when I got home that I forgot to drop off extra clothes. When I returned to school and walked into the entry way, Elise was still sitting with her outside shoes on. She had been sitting there for the last 15 minutes since she was dropped off. Her teacher says that every morning no matter what time she arrives, she sits on the stool watching all the students take off and put on their shoes. Not until the last student goes in does she put on her inside shoes. This is a routine that's been going on since the beginning of school. Even completing a task that requires her to walk from one end of the room to the other, she's distracted and forgets what she's suppose to do. We all think she's storing everying in her head and it'll all come out in one big explosion.
She and Sean are just adorable together. In the backseat of the car, she amuses him with her antics and you could hear him giggling a very hearty laugh. You can tell she wants to play with him and wishes he could react more but the most he'll do is swipe at her which she doesn't like at all. Sharing is still an issue and she wants to know which is hers and which is Sean's. She proudly tells anyone that'll listen that she has a baby brother and tells us how cute Sean is.
The "whys" have it. Part of her blossoming vocabulary is her incessant asking of "what happened?" and "why?" Typical exchange will go like this:
Mom: "Elise, it's time for dinner"
Elise: "Why?"
Mom: "Because we're all hungry"
Elise: "Why?"
Mom: "Because we haven't eaten since lunch"
Elise: "Why?"
Mom (silently): "ARRGH!"
To be quite honest, it can be very annoying sometimes especially when it's at the end of a very long day and all you want to do is feed, bathe, and bed them. But we have to catch ourselves and resist the urge to say "stop asking why!" But it can really get out of hand sometimes and we realized that the more thoroughly we answer the questions, the less likely she'll keep asking why.
This summer she goes back to the Peninsual Jewish Community Center 5 days a week from 9-3pm. We are letting her nap at school, a very first for her since we usually take her home for naps. We hope she can adjust and actually get some sleep. Summer camp at the PJCC sounds like tons of fun with swimming three days a week, music, gym, and art classes.
Then there's Sean, who is the active, spunky counterpart to his mellow, sensitive sister. Their personalities and physical appearance are in stark contrast. In fact, we can't think of anything that they're alike in except maybe for their love of food. Sean is mishevious and he tries to get away with as much as he can. There's a cupboard in the kitchen that is strictly off limits and he knows it. But he'll stand in front of it with his hands on the door looking at me to see if I'll stop him. Slowly, he curls his fingers around the knob and waits. He swings the door just a crack and waits some more. The whole time I'm giving him the stern look and "no's" but it's turned into a staring contest to see who will stand their ground. Once he opens the door wide enough and reaches in, I swoop in and pull him away. He shrieks and kicks his legs but all is forgotten within seconds. Now that he can walk, he is even more adventurous and often wanders the house by himself. One minute he's standing next to us, the next he's already headed for the living room. Not that he's a fast walker, still very stiff and Frankenstein-like but he's getting very good and steering himself away from furniture and walls. Lately, he's become a thumb-sucker. Before it was only during sleepy time that he'd suck his thumb but now he does it more regularly during the day usually if he's bored or in the car. We hate to discourage the thumbsucking because it does help him sleep but we don't want him sucking his thumb alot during the day. He's developed a bad rash on his hand and because we can't put any medicine on it, it just continues to get worst.
Sean doesn't say much in the talking department, mostly mono-syllabic words like Da-Da, Ba-Ba, and other babble that's hard to understand. He can sign the word "more" and he certainly understands a ton. When we talk about him, he perks up and bashfully smiles at us. He is impatient when it comes to food whimpering softly at first and escalating the volume until he's fed. Just the sight of a bowl/spoon/jar of food gets him started.
The first year always feels like ten years in terms of what it's packed full of but it's the fastest 365 days we'll ever live. Sean is on his way to feeding himself, talking, and growing more independent every day. Since he's so unlike Elise, it's hard to predict what'll come next.
As for us second-time around parents, the only thing we can say is that the stress of screwing up has mostly been lifted. Sure, there's the normal worry every parent has about their child's future and overall health but we don't stress if they get sick (because all kids get sick), fall down on their head (because they have very hard heads), or eat food off the floor (because it won't kill them and it's an efficient way to clean the floor). Don't get us wrong, two is hard more because the shock of going from one to two is so jolting. But as we tell all single-child parents terrified of restarting there is a light at the end of the tunnel and we're seeing it. It doesn't happen at once but it'll be here before you realize it.
