A few days ago, Layla just went for it! She's been watching her brother sprint around for nearly ten months already, so she's in a hurry to catch up. She looks down, takes a few wobbly steps, stops, looks up, claps for herself, and collapses down. It's impossibly adorable. I can't get enough of her these days, which works out great for her, because I'm her favorite being on the planet. She has just entered the separation anxiety phase, which is a bit of a misnomer in her case, because it's more just like "separation annoyance." She doesn't get overly distraught when I pass her off; she just gets disappointed. For a few seconds. Then she's back to her chipper self. Her new favorite thing to do is pick up an object, announce to you that she has it (usually by saying something that sounds like "dis" or "dat"), and place the object in your hand. She really loves it if you say something about the object, in turn, and hand it back to her. If I could be so easy to please! She babbles and babbles and moves about the house with frightening speed. At this particular phase, there really is no way to do anything else besides be with her, which is challenging but also kind of nice. It's nice to be forced to just sit there and be with your baby. No cooking, no cleaning. Just "dis" and "dat."
Meanwhile, this is Mazin's third week at his new preschool, and it's going well. He seems to like it (although sometimes he says he hates it). But I think he is just enamored with the seeming strength of the word "hate." It's like the word "stupid" in its power to arrest adults. I've been more and more aware of how my role in his development is shrinking. Not to say I have no more influence, but the number of peers and adults in his life will just keep growing from this point on, and the amount of time he will spend with me will dwindle, until he's finally, one day, moving out of my house entirely. So what is my role now? Of course I'm still mama, but I am no longer his whole universe. It's made me think more about what I can give him--what I should be giving him. The most important thing, I think, is love, acceptance, and self-confidence. I've started a little ritual with him every night, when I'm tucking him into bed. I tell him all the things I love about him and I ask him about all the good parts of his day. I also ask him about any things that happened that he didn't like. I'm hoping our nightly chats can be a time for him to feel embraced and safe and supported, no matter what happens out there.
No comments:
Post a Comment