Toddlers are like a ball of newness. Every day I get up and wonder what Lila will show me she can do next. Recently, Seth has been working on kisses and hugs. Lila doesn't typically freak out when we leave, and if she does it is very short lived. Coming and going in general has become so sweet and fun. She does her usual "bye! see you later" when she feels like it, and now there is a kiss thrown in for good measure. She has also always been very easy to put down for a nap or put to bed. I 100% credit consistency (rather, Baby Wise) for this. That being said, there are times where she isn't happy about going to bed. Now, she gets all giggly and happy when you put her in her bed every single time because she knows you are going to try and get her to give you a kiss.
One thing we have struggled with lately is getting her to give us something we would rather she not have. She can be pretty grabby with Carson, but typically she does well with older kids. I don't want to just take something from her when she shouldn't have it because then I am telling her it's ok to take. Plus, she is very aware of what she should and should not have. Sometimes she will even say "no ma'am" to herself as she goes to pick up an item she knows is off limits. This week I have tried REALLY hard to be patient, ask nicely, and wait for her to willingly give me the item. It takes her a few minutes, but I would say four out of five times she will give it to me. Of course, I praise her to death and she compliments herself by saying "good job" or "good girl". This has been especially fun for me. The look on her face right before she gives me the item is priceless. She knows she is about to do something good and she is already so proud.
We have also added teeth brushing to our nightly going to bed routine. Before we would just give her the tooth brush and let her "brush" (aka chew) while we were changing her or while one of us would be brushing our teeth. She has always been fascinated by teeth brushing. A couple of weeks ago I decided that teeth brushing needed to be more concentrated and routine. The first step of the going to bed routine now is going to the bathroom to "brush teep" as Lila emphatically calls it. We go in, she puts her stool in front of the sink, and we brush. Her hands just barely reach under the water so we are working on washing hands too without help. She gets a few minutes of just free range brushing and then we help a little. She puts the stool away and we head to get ready for bed. Again, she gets visibly excited and so proud of herself it just melts my heart. I want her to be proud and learn new things, but it's just all happening so fast!
I know I have said this so many times before, but I just wish I could bottle up the moments that happen so quickly. I'm thinking something similar to the dreams in Roald Dahl's The BFG. The BFG bottles up dreams and has shelves and shelves of them to browse. That's what I want. I want shelves with mason jars full of moments captured with cute little tags that say things like "learning to kiss daddy goodnight" and "brushing her own teeth for the first time". That way, when I'm feeling down I can just go open a jar and feel those amazing feelings with her all over again. Some of the best moments happen and you just can't pause them to get a video camera (and you more than likely wouldn't capture them fully anyway). For now I will have to settle for writing about those moments and reading back over them until bottling them becomes an option ;-)
Have a great weekend!
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