Sunday, November 15, 2009

Huge Leaps

So within a week, our daughter has moved into her own bed next to ours and begun peeing in the potty.
You'd think I'd be bittersweet about this but I'm actually proud and happy for my child. I feel that our attachment parenting leanings are leading us to read her cues making these transitions not only easier but a normal progression in her development.
So far she's taking to her bed. I catch her every now and then sitting in it like it's her own personal space. Sure I sleep in it with her throughout the night, but now my husband can finally sleep in our bed. He's been sleeping either at the foot or in the living room. I didn't kick him out. I think he was just afraid of hurting our child.
Co-sleeping has to be a joint effort and I can't stress this enough, you have to be smart about it. Don't co-sleep and drink. Don't use heavy covers. In fact, during the first year and maybe the second, use the pretty comforter or blanket that's for your child on yourself. For me, my daughter and husband don't like covers so they sleep exposed while I try to sausage roll myself in her cover. Also, if one of you sleeps heavily, co-sleeping may not be for you. DH sleeps heavily so when he did sleep with us, he sleep on my side so I could be a barrier and/or he slept on the foot of the bed.
Anyway, now DH is back in bed with us now that he feels comfortable knowing that TG is in a separate bed next to us.
As for the potty, we are only on day two but I'm pretty proud of her. This morning as a family we all headed to the bathroom. TG pee peed almost immediately and then raised her hands in the air and said, "Hooray!" As we wiped her and slapped a diaper on her, she said goodbye to her pee pee as we flushed it down the toilet and cleaned her potty.
Then she stood on her stool next to the sink and gave me the signal to wash her hands. I swelled with pride. I never really taught her that and there she was asking to wash her hands. We not only washed our hands but we also washed our face and she didn't struggle as much when it came time to brush her teeth.
The last few days I feel has been an explosion of words and cognitive development. As we head into the train station, she says, "Train." She points to the toaster and says, "Waffle" when she wants a waffle. She knows what the dishwasher is for. She knows the oven is hot. She knows where the lotion is hidden. Oh, she likes to ask for lotion and when you put a little dab in her hands she rubs it all over her hands and wipes a bit on her lips. I think she watched me do that. She helps me put away some of the groceries. She is also expressing her attachment to her lovey, Jay Raffe.
I have two loveys. We wash one every week and swap them out. I hid the extra lovey in my closet. Today after we came up from the laundry room, I took the lovey and she heard it rattle. I put it in my closet and closed the door. After a minute, she looked at me and her eyes swelled. She started having an emotional meltdown. It was clearly not a tired meltdown. Something was wrong that upset her. She kept grabbing my hand but was too distraught to take me to wherever she wanted me to go. Then I made out the word, "Raffe."
I grabbed her Jay Raffe and she hugged it dearly. Then she nursed and kept a tight grip on her Jay Raffe. That's when I realized she must have recalled the other day when I accidentally I repeat not on purpose. turned the light off and closed the pantry door while TG was still in the pantry. The dark room scared her and she yelled for me to open the door. She was in there for maybe 10 seconds and she didn't completely freak out but she did get startled. She must have thought of that when I turned the light off in my closet and closed the door.
It has been a very interesting and glowing time for me. I say glowing because I feel as if I'm swelling with pride watching my daughter learn and discover the world. It's the same glowing feeling I felt 7 months pregnant. At 8 months I was huge and starting to get edema. At 9 months, I was petrified of giving birth. At 10 months, I was just a big old house.