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Experiences and apprehension from the life of a new father.
Fannie likes to get blessed when she sneezes, but she doesn't trust that I'll notice she sneezed. She often will sneeze and immediately say, "Bless me!" before I can even open my mouth.
Giovanna has been great about imitating us and learning how to be polite. When she asks for food, she says "peeese" and "tank ou" when we give it to her. She has a book about a monkey looking for a hug, so she knows "hug, hug" means to look for or give one. I use it at night when I come home. When guests come over, we say "hug, hug" when they are leaving and she will go to each one and give a hug. She then stands at the door and waves while she says "bye, bye".
Today I was in the kitchen cooking with Giovanna when I sneezed. She immediately said, "bessyou". A little later I heard, "achooo! bessme" before I could even react.
At least she doesn't give me the same look that Fannie does after it happens.
Tags: manners
A friend of ours visited tonight with her 4 year old daughter. She can do cartwheels now.
Giovanna saw her do it and of course wanted to immediately imitate her. She bent over and put her hands on the floor and then twisted her body so that she fell on her butt and spun a quarter turn while lying there.
Up went her arms -- "yeaah!!"
Tags: imitation
Everyone thinks about the first step or saying "mama" or "papa" as major milestones to look forward to. There are some other amazing milestones that you don't think about, like the first smile or learning to kiss you.
I was surprised when I discovered that a baby can't smile for a few months. Giovanna would look up at me, but there was no expression on her mouth. The first smile catches you completely off guard.
The other one that I find strange is jumping. It is related to walking on tippy toes. They both happen around 2 years. The moment Giovanna first walked on tippy toes, she wandered the entire house that way. She still can't jump. She has wanted to for half a year now. She imitates me every time I taunt her. Sometimes I carry her up stairs and bounce on each step to get her to feel the up and down motion. I have been known to jump on the bed with her, but don't tell Fannie. Giovanna now tries to jump on the bed by herself, but I blame our friend's children for teaching her.
When she tries to jump, Giovanna will bend her knees then throw her arms up in the air as she straightens up, but only one foot comes off the ground. I think she believes she can just raise her feet, rather than push off the ground. That must be the thing that makes it difficult to figure out.
Today we were in the kitchen making some ice cream when she had a breakthrough on another milestone I've been watching for: a 3 syllable word. She has been able to string 2 or 3 words together into a single sentence for a month or so now, with things like "more meat peese". I noticed a long time ago that "mama" and "papa" were easy but "tomato" came out as "motto". It took me a little while to recognize that a 3 syllable word was a barrier and that she simplified words to avoid 3 syllables.
As I was cleaning up in the kitchen I noticed that there was some cream on the counter and I said, "watch out, don't put your hand down, it's slippery" and she replied "slippery". Fannie came out of the other room when I exclaimed "she did it!" and confirmed that she definitely heard the word, but Giovanna couldn't clearly repeat it a second time.
I wonder if babies in Wales or Germany have a similar milestone, or if there, it's more like 6 or 7 syllables?
Tags: development