Arabella Antics

Several of these things have occurred over the last few days but it seems a majority of them came up today. I wanted to make sure I got them in writing before I forget, so Arabella knows just what kind of child she was.

TANTRUM –noun: a violent demonstration of rage or frustration; a sudden burst of ill temper. Arabella Sharp **definition from Dictionary.com

Okay, so maybe her name and picture aren't exactly included in the description, but they most certainly should be. She has taken a shine to throwing tantrums when she doesn't get her way and it primarily happens when she refuses to eat her food and then begs for snack crap and we deny her. When she's sick it's one thing to make sure she eats, but when she's perfectly capable of eating what's in front of her and just decides not to, it's not a behavior I'm willing to encourage. I'll get into a few other reasons why she throws tantrums later.

...part of the tantrum

Here we're in the process of banging our heels on the floor.

She's also a very big fan of investigating Evan while he's nursing. Sorry if I've told this story before. She's now associating Mommy's boobs with milk, the word and sign, as well as moo. We taught her that cow's moo, milk comes from cows. From there she associated Mommy saying "Evan is eating his milk" with Moo, followed by signing and saying milk, or her version "mick." There's nothing like nursing your infant and having your toddler moo at you...

Speaking of boobs, apparently we've said "Evan's drinking/eating his milk from the boobie" enough that she started saying boobie today. It was hilarious and out of the blue.

Today she has taken to playing with brother's soft blocks. It awesomely hilarious because they aren't exactly small and she's trying to pick up and hold all four of them at the same time. She can't seem to figure out why they keep falling out of her arms.

She also had a great time playing with Daddy & Mommy before nap time today. She managed to plow through Daddy.

She's also taken to doing headstands for fun. I couldn't capture her by herself, but here's Daddy assisting in flipping her over.

I've also discovered, as of yesterday, she can no longer be left in the play yard unsupervised. I had been using it while making dinner to prevent her from getting near the hot oven while I was opening and closing it. She had already eaten, so I put her in it while I ate my dinner, sitting next to her on the floor with Evan. I turned around to find her climbing her way up the side of the play yard trying to get out.

But back to the tantrums. What causes a tantrum? Wheat thins and cheese wiz. Yesterday I left the room for two seconds to throw dinner in the oven, only to return to Ms. Snatch-n-grab. She apparently figured she couldn't wait for dinner and grabbed the bag of wheat thins that were stashed behind the couch, jumped to the floor, ripped off the chip clip and was this close to digging in when Mommy busted her. What happens? She starts signing "bites, please" repeatedly and when told "no, dinner is cooking" busts out into a major tantrum, feverishly repeating "bites, please."

From tantrum to noises we have been working semi-hard on animal sounds. So far we can say the noises for cow, duck, sheep, chicken, and quiet bug. We're learning snake, frog, horse, and various other animals as they arise.

In "smart" news, our child is overly obsessed with books. She has been so desperate for new books that she's taken to pulling Daddy's CD's out of the tower. At first I was just getting upset that she wouldn't leave them alone. Then one day she explained to me why she was obsessed. She thinks they are books. Technically they have liner notes which resemble books, so I guess she's sort of right. Guess we need to amp up the new books in her collection.

What is one thing you never want to see your toddler doing to your infant? Standing on his crotch. Yes she was doing it, but it didn't hurt him. He was in the bouncy seat and she had her foot propped up on his crotch. Of course I told her that was a no-no and she looked at me like I had three heads. Oh the joys of having multiple children.

So what do you do when your child hits their head, mouth or any other body part while playing? In our house we say "Rub some dirt on it." This is usually followed up by Arabella rubbing what ever was "hurting" and then she returns to playing. I guess it's our way of not making boo-boos a big deal so she doesn't become an over-reacting drama queen.

And last I leave you with the newest Gleek in the Glee Nation. Adam says this truly makes her my child.