Mastering Temporal Relationships

Ms. Adelaide is quite an organized little girl. Dirty clothes go in the hamper; books belong on the bookshelf; and the milk goes back in the fridge after you pour a glass. Lately she has mastered the concept of "time" (at a really young age, I think) and she loves to review the organization of time. Her conversations are full of "yhess-a-day" (yesterday) and "ta-marrow" (tomorrow). Of course, she doesn't realize the either of those are discrete time frames. Rather, "yesterday" represents all that has happened before the last time she was asleep, as far back as she can remember, up until just before she took a nap. And "tomorrow" represents all that is in the future. Interestingly, she's also figured out that "next time" means something may come again, though it's not clearly scheduled.

This comes up often in reference to cats. We have several friends with cats whose homes Adelaide loves to visit. So whenever we see a cat - a neighborhood cat out the window, or in our many cat books - she reviews the possibilities. Her monologue goes something like this: "a cat! Ada go Tia's house, see cat hiding!" or "Ken, Andy cat today!" or "This cat name Mike ... yesterday go Crystal's house, see Mike!" or "Eduardo cat ... next time see cat." She has many favorite cats, all over town, that we don't see nearly often enough for her liking. But they do provide a good conversation piece!

Christmas conversations

Adelaide's spoken language is finally catching up with her extensive receptive vocabulary, and she is so excited about it! In a matter of literally two weeks, she has figured out sentence construction, and she loves to show it off. These days she narrates constantly in choppy word strings: "What grandma doing? ... Ada do. it." "Ada go OMSI ... stamp hand ... two stamps!" "Dad hide ... Ada find. you" always full of animation. Yesterday when I came home she said, "Mama, Ada. missed. you. today." What a breakthrough!

It's so much fun to watch her delight in easily articulating the things that she's previously had to work so hard to convey to us. And how perfect that's she's figured out her language skills at Christmastime, when there are so many new things to do and see. This will definitely be a Christmas to talk about for a long time!

Advent Elf

We started a new family tradition: an advent elf. This very charming elfin friend has a pocket for each day of Advent, with little daily treats stashed inside. Adelaide has loved meeting the elf (she talks to him everyday!) and although it's been a challenge to learn that we only get to explore one pocket per day, he's been a really fun introduction to the Christmas season.

Adelaide has only recently learned about "new-new" things and the excitement of getting presents. While I have all of these great ideas about teaching her the "true" Christmas message (vs promoting materialism), the truth is, it's really fun to see her little face light up as she stomps her feet in anticipation of a surprise toy or treat. I am realizing that it may be more challenging than I ever considered for me to restrain from showering her with gifts when it's so fun to see her enjoyment. This will be the first (and probably easiest) year that we struggle with this balance. Yet another example of how I have in mind a lesson for her that in so many ways turns out to be a bigger lesson for myself.

Where is everyone?

Now that she is really talking, it has become very evident to me what a challenge my/our crazy schedule poses for Adelaide. She clearly prefers to have everyone home together, or even better, to go out on adventures together. On the flip side, she has a constant level of concern about which of us might leave at any moment. Multiple times every day, especially on weekends, she askes "Mom go?" and shakes her head, "home" ... "Dad home? Go? Ada go?" We review who is staying home and who is "going" and whether they are going to work (us) or to school (her). If anything changes, especially if anyone puts on shoes or changes clothes, we go through it again, "Dad go?" (shaking head), "home"; "Ada?". I've been working lots of night shifts, so her evening time radar is high. If I get up from the dinner table without warning, she says, "Mom work? No. Home." It must be so confusing for her that every day is different, without a pattern. She gets picked up and dropped off by 3 different people, at different times every day, by bike trailer if I take her and otherwise by car, and I can see her little brain trying to so hard to make sense of the pattern, to find regularity in the chaos. Welcome to my life, Adelaide, the only consistency is inconsistency! It won't be too long until she can read a calendar, and then we'll have to get her one of her own so she can keep tabs on who goes where and when. Until then, we'll just keep up the dialogue. Dad home. Ada home. Mom go.

still an eater!

It's been a good food month. This weekend, to celebrate Grandma's birthday, we went to a fancy seafood buffet on the waterfront. Kids eat free, although they are reconsidering that policy after Adelaide put on her show. She bypassed the "kid's table" (jello and french toast sticks - who needs that??) and literally ate her weight in fresh shrimp and Dungeness crab meat. Of course she had a fair sampling of mussels, lox with capers, and the cheese and fruit platter. You just can't be picky when there's so much variety! She charmed all the servers with a huge grin as she patiently ate and ate ... and ate for 2 hours straight! No wonder her belly is so huge! But Ada is learning that you get your food fastest if you peel it yourself. Here she is, looking proud after learning how to peel her first orange. This of course can be a mixed blessing when she climbs up to the counter and peels all of the oranges in sight. Fortunately, she's been willing to share the goods.

we love school!

We went to our first "parent-teacher conferences" this past week. I had no idea that toddlers get conferences, but why not!?! Adelaide is thriving in school, making friends, keeping up with her tasks, learning the patterns of the day. But no surprise to us; she brings her lessons home and applies them to life at our house. Yesterday I gave her a new ("new-new" as Ada would say) puzzle game with multiple puzzle boards and colored shapes to fill them in. She took it off the shelf, set out the pieces and delicately figured out how to set them in the correct places, and when she was done packed it all away, color coding the pieces into their respective sections, and put the box back on the shelf where she got it. Not to say that I never have to clean up after her (far from it!), but I'm amazed that a 19-month old can understand that every project has it's place, and it has to be put away when completed. I take no credit for her precociousness; Montessori is amazing. Turns out that when you teach kids to respect their items, they do!! Who knew?!? (Now how do I teach this lesson to my husband?)

language explosion!

This has been the month of language development. Adelaide's vocabulary has more than quadrupled in the past few weeks. As you'd expect, her favorite topic is food; she names most of her favorite snacks, and frequently asks to go to Costco! We're not sure if she finally decided she was ready to talk, or if she's been inspired by her classmates. (She's fully settled into the school routine now and loves to get going on school mornings.) When we pick her up from school, she introduces us to her new friends. She likes to clarify who gets to "go" along whenever we get ready to leave (and who has to stay home). And cutest of all, she sings along with her favorite songs. All those months of intense listening are finally paying off!