Look ma, no gates

Posted by Jyllian on February 1st, 2005 filed in doings

Jeepers I’m tired. It’s been quite an eventful month. We took the gates down on all the stairs and the kitchen. We probably could have done this a bit ago, but after the Bean took a tumble or two
down the stairs I was just over protective. It’s very hard not to be that way. I’m pretty good at letting her try things for herself–at the playground or things that make a mess, but I have a big
fear where the stairs and stove are concerned. I don’t know if this comes from anything in my past or if it’s just my big need to keep her safe.

So now she can run madly about all 3.5 levels of the house. Keeping track of her is a workout. Which is good, because I haven’t been able to get to my walking like I want too–but my snow boots got here last night, so I’m going to attempt it again. James got me a cool mp3 player for Xmess (a muvo slim) so I can have all the bopping new wave I want on my walks. But wait, this is about the Bean.
She’s everywhere all the time. And everything is going out of the cabinets and back into the cabinets. We set up one cabinet for breakfast cereals, her plates/spoons/bowls and cups and a craft shelf (paints, crayons, her paint apron etc.) so I’m trying to keep her dealing with that one. So far it’s too interesting to empty ALL the shelves. Well OK, it’s not that bad, but now that nothing is blocking her from any room, all must be fully explored. My office and James’ office are rather fascinating as well, especially my dulcimer. Those areas are not fully Bean proofed, so we have to be with her every second.
But, then you have to be within a few feet of her anyway or she might decide she’s pikachu and try and fly through the air. The line between fantasy and reality is a bit blurred when you are 2.5 years old.

And I hope I can learn to cook calmly with her running in and out of the kitchen soon too. It’s not so much the running in and out, it’s grabbing her stool, putting it up to the stove and investigating it, all while I’m getting water out of the sink. She’s really fast.

I also don’t like having to say no so much, but there isn’t much choice. We are trying to say “no thank you, ” when she does something we’d rather she didn’t (not dangerous mind you, but just something we aren’t in favor of). That does two things–reinforces polite language AND it keys into the part of *our* brains that reminds us to be polite–especially when the frustration level is building. I’m not saying you have to have Tea party manners on all the time, but I’ve found that an energetic, inquisitive and intense toddler hell bent for leather can bring you to the boiling point quickly some days. If I’m saying “no thank you, ” I’m more inclined to keep a rein on my frustration and anger. It’s not a huge problem, but I never want it to be.

Very cool thing: If you ask the bean “would you like some milk” or “would you like to play X?” She answers “yes please.” She also says Thank you and you’re welcome with alarming frequency. Her politeness and her energy level have both been mentioned to us 🙂 And that’s just from how we treat each other and how they are at Montessori. Cool.

She now dresses herself and undresses herself each time. She wasn’t at all interested in this, so we had to press the issue. That was a week ago and now she’s whipping her clothes on and off quite quickly most of the time. She’s got the hang of zippers and knows to remove her shoes, put them away, put on her slippers and hang up her coat when she gets home. We had some serious tests of will for the first four days of this campaign, but she figured out that we weren’t giving in on this, so she’s going along just fine now. We haven’t had battles about food or sleeping really, so dressing and undressing had to be it. It was unsettling, since kids tend to just be interested in ripping off their clothes without much prompting, but she’s so busy with other things, that she didn’t want to be bothered. She still tries to talk us out of making her do it, but it is becoming more of a token gesture now.

She helped me make a cake for James yesterday too, though she didn’t like the mixer much. LOVED the spatula though. The cake was necessary because he had a root canal, poor boy.

She’s going to be helping me some more at school too, or at least that’s the plan. I’m officially “book mom.” We have a book faire starting on the 8th and I’m doing my best to put it together with about two weeks notice. yarg. But it’s fun and I’m getting to spend more time with the teacher’s and staff. Hopefully, we’ll make enough sales to get some cool books for the school too. She’s going to have to go with me to collect the money and do some of the set up/break down and monitoring. The bean will be learning even more patience, and oh so will I.

We’re on the lookout for a gym program for her too. She’s got WAY too much energy to not have an outlet for it and running about in our backyard isn’t enough, especially with the snow. We’re looking at a place here in town and one in Schaumberg I think. I may even try the park again, though I think she needs more challenges than that would provide.She does need something though, she could power a city with her excess.

We got pictures taken on Sunday. She was GREAT. She put on a show for everyone and took some frightingly adorable photos. We’ll be going back for her third birthday in a few months–I joined the portrait club because I love to have her picture taken and it helps cut down on the cost. The Picture People are great with kids (not so good with adult pictures imo) and WAY better than the Sears in West Dundee, that was just horrible. And we have the horrible pictures to prove it.I’m just so happy it was a much more positive and hilarious even than it was when she was two. We were all in tears by the end of that. This time we were laughing our bits off and even had enough patience left over to have lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.

Recent fascinations: Jigglypuff and singing the jigglypuff song with her own microphone. Pikachu. Blode and the Giant Bee (she calls the giant bee Blode) from http://www.rathergood.com .
Also puzzles and counting things. And the kitchen. The kitchen is the most amazing place in the world right now.

And I have refrained from posting here, the pictures of her with a cat tshirt, and ladybug boots reading a book on her potty.
But it was difficult.