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Experiences and apprehension from the life of a new father.
Shortly after she was born, I was constantly trying to get a smile from my daughter by tickling her. The sensitivity and smile development actually doesn't occur for a few months, so I was disappointed for a while.
Once she was able to smile and laugh out loud, I wanted her to say "papa". That took her until she was around 10 months. The whole time whenever we hugged or cuddled or took a nap together, I would whisper in her ear, "I love you, Giovanna." Around 12 months she would reply in a whisper with, "Aaah, paahpaah." She has continued this habit ever since. I have even heard her prefix other things she likes with "aaah...", so I always took that to be her way of saying "I love you", which was too difficult to string together.
Tonight we were rolling around on the bed, laughing and playing. When we got tired, we curled up and cuddled and I whispered, "I love you, Giovanna." Much to my astonishment she whispered back, "I love you, Papa."
It's taken a total of 23 months to get to that phrase. I sure hope she uses it for the rest of my life.
Tags: milestones
Giovanna has reached an age were everything she sees gets absorbed and mastered quickly. Often things she has been struggling to do for a while now are suddenly accomplished.
It seems like every day there is a new ability that she displays. This morning she managed to dress herself in pants, shirt and socks for the first time. She wouldn't allow me to help and managed to get it all on the proper appendages (although I had to make sure she started the pants with right side front).
For lunch she wanted a hot dog. Usually we cut it into pieces and put ketchup on the plate for her to use while fingerpainting with her food. Today I already had made two for myself, so I just gave her one in a bun. She was able to hold it and eat the hot dog the same way I was doing.
In the afternoon she worked on a three piece puzzle we have that is carved out of wood. The base wood form has an outline of a little girl. There are multiple heads, multiple torsos and multiple feet. You can pick and choose whether she should wear boots and carry a dog or hold a purse while wearing a skirt and hat. She has always struggled with the puzzle, putting the legs upside down and trying to cram them in the space for the head.
I was reading a magazine and noticed her slip the head into the right place, so I started watching to see if she might make more progress. Sure enough, the legs got placed properly after I told her to put the feet at the bottom. A little later the torso snapped into position.
I was astonished and just looked at her with my mouth open, while she stared at the puzzle for a second. Then she threw her hands up in the air and exclaimed, "I did it!"
Tags: milestones
Often I feel the need to work on the laptop, sometimes just checking my email or browsing the web, but other times I am doing actual work. If either my wife or my daughter need anything, I respond vacantly with an "I'm working" as I continue to ignore them.
This afternoon we were going to have some lunch so I asked Giovanna to come to the table. She was playing with some toys on the living room floor. Without looking up she said, "I'm working."
Tags: imitation