Aurelia Marie

It seems that the time has come for us to start doing some real “discipline” with Aurelia rather than maybe just distracting her all the time. I’m not sure exactly why I came to this decision, but it just “feels” right. She seems to be understanding more and more of what I tell her to do, and she sometimes does things and then looks to me for approval/applause. That tells me that she realizes what she is doing and it may be time to teach her about making choices.

Three things that I am looking to “crack down” on:
1) Unspooling the toilet paper. She does this all the time, even after I tell her “no” and “don’t touch.” She will listen to me when I tell her these things in other situations, but this one she just does over and over and then looks at me like “Ha, I did it again!”

2) Rattling the lamp in the living room. Yes, it makes a cool noise when she rattles the hanging chain pulls against the stand, but it could also pull over on her head, and there are CFL bulbs in it. No mercury please! I gave her 3 minute time outs over this 3 times in a row on Saturday, but it just is not sinking in!!

3) Throwing food. Not only does she look me in the eye and then launch the unwanted morsels off the tray, but now she has started a back-and-forth sloshing motion that flings everything several feet to either side of the chair. Let me also mention that she is positioned over a mat because there is carpet in our dining area, so food everywhere is gross, gross, gross! I’ve been just trying to swoop in and take her tray away and tell her “All done. Tell Mommy when you are all done, please.” Usually, she still wants more to eat, but she is just tired of whatever food she had at the time.

Ok, so enough complaining. We had soooo much fun playing with her in the box yesterday. Why didn’t we think of that earlier in the weekend when we were all going stir-crazy while Fay was blowing by?

Aurelia fell asleep in the car seat on the way home from church today. I carried her in. When I tried to lay her down, she woke up and refused to go back to sleep.

 

So after her very very short nap, we let her play in this car seat box!

 

 

 

 

We got Aurie a new car seat with the help of grandparents. Here she is much happier in her new seat than in her old.

 

 

So, I was reading over the last few posts and realized that I hadn’t updated on a couple of pending events. (The result is another long post with no pics – sorry.) In our defense, it has been raining every stinking day for the past week, so we haven’t had much time to get out and play and take pictures.

Bar Exam and Grandparent Visit:
Marcus survived the FL Bar exam (July 29-30). While he was away, my parents visited. They arrived that Monday night and left Friday morning. We had a great time. Dad and little brother were able to help me with collecting some plant material for my upcoming experiments on Tuesday. Mom got to stay home with Aurelia, and they had a really great day. On Wednesday, we packed up and drove down to New Smyrna Beach to stay the night with some friends who were down here from IN and to take Uncle Benjamin to the beach. He had not been to the ocean before!! We drove back on Thursday after a morning of thrift shopping. Marcus was waiting for us, home from his exam in Tampa. We all had a great visit, and I was glad to not be home alone with Aurelia for almost 4 days, especially since she had eyedrops for her pinkeye. I was happy to have help with the 4-times-a-day wrestling match that ensued from giving drops.

I need to get some photos from the visit, which are all on the grandparents’ camera. Hey Benjamin – set up a web album for me!!

More Words and Signs:
Aurelia is adding to her vocabulary.
The newest word is “cracker,” which sounds something like “guh-guh.” When I say “cracker” back to her, she will start making “k” “k” sounds, but she can’t seem to get the sounds into the word, yet. I just love watching her learn. The process is so fast I can almost ’see’ her learning.

New signs: down (pointing down) and please (rubbing her chest/tummy)
Sometimes when she wants something, she will go through the whole series,
“more” (point to hand), “eat” (the item is usually food), then “please” (rub chest, usually with both hands). She looks so intently at you and then keeps signing until you finally get it or remove the temptation.

Still trying to decipher “na na”: I am starting to think that this is just her placeholder for “word,” and she oftern uses it as “nana?” when she points to something. Then she either wants to know what the item is or to hold it (follows up with “more”). She is quite the little communicator!

Oh, just one more little thing — She is starting to wash herself in the bathtub. Mommy usually puts the soap on her hands and then rubs her down. Now, she also wants a squirt of soap, then we lather by rubbing our hands, and she will wash her tummy and thighs. Now, if only she could wash her own hair — she’d probably squawk less about having water over her head!