Katherine, you have a new person to love in your life. Your grandmother is visiting for a month from Germany and you are getting to know her. She’s spending lots of time spoiling you, cuddling with you and teaching you German of course. We are enjoying the time we get to spend together and I love watching you two interact. She’s reading to you and you giggle at her and have taught her well that when you raise your arms she’ll pick you up. She is learning about your personality, your likes and dislikes and you are learning that she loves you very much.
Oh, and the moment has come, you have outgrown your carseat. About a week ago, when I was dressing you in the morning, I thought to myself that your clothing seemed rather short… and so I called Mark to measure how long you were (yes, you rarely lie still, so it takes two of us to do that) and sure enough, it was time to go car seat shopping.
On to the internet I went, researching how to go about finding the perfect car seat for you. After lots of tips on safety etc., I read the best line of advice: seat your baby in the seats in the store. That made a lot of sense to me as you are usually helping to pick out your books and toys, so why not your car seat. As Mark, you, Grandma and I went to a few different stores and sat you in seat after seat, it became quickly evident that you are more than qualified to choose your own seat and your selection system was very clearly communicated: wide smile for “yes” and screeching cry for “no”. But the coolest thing was that the “yes” selection was the same seat in two different stores – you clearly made your choice.
A couple of days ago we went to the IPE with Mark and grandma for a day of fun and to show you all the animals (and yes, you were sitting in your newly installed car seat on the drive). With lots of people and lots of animals, there was so much to see for you. But your favourite were the goats. At first I noticed that when we walked through the area where the different animals were shown – the goats really caught your attention. Later in the day I took you into the petting zoo area so you could see lots of animals close-up (yes, you even touched a Wallaby), and more than any other animal, the little baby goats running around put a big smile on your face.
You are teaching me to trust your choices and to respect your opinions. No matter how young or old we are, our opinions matter and what we have to say is important. Even though you don’t have what we define as “real words” to use yet, the “words” you are using are real to you and you use them to communicate, combined with your facial and body expressions, and your tone of voice. You are a perfect example that we need to listen to more than just the words that are spoken to really understand a person. You are teaching me to be a better listener.
