This week, Ingrid has developed a good case of Separation Anxiety. Andy is back (YAY!) and we had lunch, and then came here for him to see Ingrid, who was once very familiar with him. She BURST into tears, and buried her face in my chest the whole time he was here. We went to the park with him, for a change of scenery, and she played, but she didn’t talk. As soon as we dropped him off, she erupted into her little language, like she’d bottled it up for the last few hours. She was much the same for my parents, whom she sees all the time, and our trips to various stores got lots of comments like "where’s your smile?" and "Not much to say today, huh?" where she used to LOVE going into stores and trying to make out with anything with a face. On top of that, sleep woes — she’s never needed to be rocked to sleep, until this last week, and it’s almost like she can’t handle the idea of not being able to see us (well,me) and sleeping will make us go away. Hard stuff. Especially with our trip* coming up next month — I hope she’s re-righted herself by then, because my grandmother is SO anxious to meet her, and hears all these wonderful stories, and Ingrid IS a wonderful kid, but the silent scared treatment is just… not Ingrid. Ive read that it can be linked to a developmenal leap, which kind of makes sense, as she seems younger than her peers in many ways. I’m wondering (hoping) it’s language related, as I would love to hear more of her thoughts, or, okay, even second syllables. In that vein, here are her words so far:
Mama
Daddy
Hi
Bye bye
Hat
More
Duck
Whee (on slides)
Whoa!
Wow
Eye
Yay
Nih Nih (which I’m pretty sure is her first attempt at her own name, which is bound to be challenging thanks to the gr sound in there)
Melmo (The girl sees Sesame Street once or twice a week, on the weekends, as we’re making coffee and coming to, and goddamn if she doesn’t know that little bastard’s name already.)
Variations on the Buh sound, where the slightest difference is evident to us, but maybe not you:
Bath
Ball
Bubbles
Blueberries (sometimes ‘buh’ while gesturing wildly at the freezer, sometimes "bees")
Animal sounds:
Moo
Baa
Bowowowow
Meow
RAaaaarrr (monster)
Ah AH Ah (uhh, this is when we count, like the Count on Sesame Street, is he an animal?)
She signs more and all done, and used to sign for nurse, but weaned. I wish daycare worked with sign, but they don’t, and I’m surprised at what she HAS picked up.
She has also figured out where belly, eye, ear, nose, and mouth are on herself and others, and she does the actions for pat-a-cake (though still prefers to steer the adult’s hands on that one). She likes to chase and be chased, and has started a new thing where she sort of revs up, ‘running in place’ before launching off into her chosen direction. She’s really, really fun. I hope that comes through next month.
*Trip — oh god. We worked so hard to find flights that would be toddler friendly-ish, but we’re flying from Portland, 2 hrs away, and the flight there, we have one connection and arrive in Austin around 11pm, and then have to drive to Grandma’s neighborhood** so that will be a late night. Return flight was initially leaving at 1030 am, one layover, arriving to Portland at around 5 pm. That was just changed by the airline to include TWO layovers (ATL & CVG) and we don’t get in til 10. Then drive home 2 hours. And go to work the next day. Oh, suckage.
**After several attempts at finding a rental through a real estate management company, we FINALLY got a place and don’t have to stay at a hotel a good 20 minutes away from Grandma. Instead, we are across the green from her, in a condo, with 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, and a PING PONG TABLE in the master suite. Woot! And a pool. I’m hoping the pool is still open then, for toddler amusements. I’m looking forward to being able to walk a few hundred yards to get to Grandma’s, and I think she is too. We’ve usually stayed with them, but no one wanted to stress out my grandparents by overrunning their place, which is the only thing an 18 month old does, really.