Pronouns and Projects

Pronouns are usually something that toddlers struggle to use properly at first. Many children say things like "me do it." Nadia hasn't been using the word "me." We've had to work on her saying "me" instead of "you." I love it when she says "hold you," "hug you," or "help you." Sometimes she does want to help me (ex. when she's sweeping), but other times when she says "help you" she really means "help me" as she's asking for my help. As cute as "hold you" is, I am now asking her to say "hold me." Similarly today when I opened up the pantry door (a sound she can hear a mile away and which always causes her to run in my direction), she saw I was getting out a granola bar for myself and immediately said "I share!" It was so cute! What she really meant was that she wanted me to share with her. :-) Hopefully she will say "I share" in the future in reference to sharing with her brother.

She's very aware of Ian. If I take her outside while he's napping (and bring a monitor outside so I know when he wakes up), she will repeatedly say "Ian?" She notices that he's not with us. Aww... Yesterday when I was nursing him at church I stopped to change his diaper and he was NOT happy. The nursing room is adjacent to the nursery and she recongnized his cry. She started saying "Ian" and started crying for me as she knew I had to be nearby. I'm not the only one who knows his cry. :-)

I have tried to adjust my expectations as to how much I can get done in a day. Just accomplishing a very small project feels like a big accomplishment- like emptying the dishwasher or doing a load of laundry. Today while nursing Ian during Nadia's nap I finished our state, local, and federal taxes. I also put away some laundry that I had folded a couple of days ago but not put away yet. That's likely all I'll get done today aside from caring for two kids until I head to work. At times I get frustrated that I can't get more done, but most of the time I have adjusted my expectations for what I can accomplish in a day.

Last night Ian's first stretch was 6 hours and his second was 90 minutes. The good news is that the first stretch has been getting longer (record was 7 hours the day before), and the bad news is that I can't get him down a third time so my day started at 4:55 this morning. I got about 7 hours of sleep last night which might be plenty for many people, but it isn't enough for me. I keep reminding myself that at least we're going in the right direction! It took several attempts today, but I finally got him to take one (almost one hour) nap in the Nap Nanny. I got to rest for 20 minutes. Nadia's nap was again 90 minutes long today. The good news is that she didn't get up until 7am. Wonders never cease! She has been getting 11 hours most nights which means she wakes up in a happy mood. :-)