Sasha at 2 Years 8 Months Old
Monday, February 8th, 2010
Ok, so I am a little late with my monthly update. A lot late. But, I have posted more pictures this time as an attempt at apology. These past two weeks have been nuts. We dealt with flat tires on TWO separate occasions, the stomach flu (do you know how hard it is to get vomit out from the 300 rungs in her crib???....seriously, the couch, rug, and cribsheets were bad enough), getting Sasha into preschool for next fall, and me totalling our car. And, we still have to do our taxes. Sigh. But, Jimmy is out playing poker with the buds so I have a little time to write this blog. Sasha has been dealing with all of the above events pretty well. She takes after her Daddy in her ability to stay stoic amidst the pain of a stomach bug. All she needs is a little cuddling and a bit of sugar flavored medicine and she is up to the battle.
Sasha continues her love of endless repetition. She eats a lot of the same foods everyday. And, because I am lazy, I don't prepare separate meals for myself. Four nights of spaghetti in a row? Sure. That's adequate nutrition for my toddler and incubating baby, right? Thank god for my belief in the efficacy of vitamins.
Sasha wants to only watch "Telephone Elmo" (the most outdated episode of "Elmo's World" which is saying A LOT). I get to watch the little red weirdo wax enthusiastic about rotary land lines and pay phones. Elmo might as well include eight tracks and VCR's. Why is this Sasha's favorite? Could she already be an expert in passive/ agressive behavior to inflict such torture on me? I am ashamed of how many hours I have spent trying to negotiate/ bribe Sasha into watching any Elmo BUT "Telephone Elmo". Then there are her choices in reading materials....she has a gazillion, beautifully illustrated, meaningful, wonderful books I am willing to read to her. Instead, she insists on a book about teeth (32 pages, oddly enough), "Are You My Mother?" (how should I interpret this, Dr. Freud?), and "Goodnight, Elmo". Every frickin' afternoon before her nap and at night. How have I managed to stay this side of sane. I look fondly back three weeks ago when she once let me read, "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie." Jimmy has suggested hiding the three books. Temptation...
Sasha is not a homebody. If she is in the house for more than fifteen minutes, she starts to get antsy and climb the walls. I would really like to develop her ability to amuse herself for hours upon end (a self-controlled two year old is the biggest oxymoron ever) but I just can't handle the whining. So, I have jam-packed our days with anything amusing/ educational. Swim lessons, storytime, music class, art class, playdates, parks, puppet shows, museums, zoo, play areas, shopping, anything to get us out and about! The upside is Sasha still takes a nap everyday. The downside: I need one most days, too. I also fear that she might build up tolerance to all this running around.
I think Sasha might be an extrovert. She wants everybody/ every animal to be her friend and apparently, the first step towards intimacy is knowing their names. I am asked repeatedly, "What's his name?" about all living creatures. She doesn't believe that I don't know. I used to make up names (we are never going to meet the dog she glimpsed when we were driving to Costco) but that was tiring. Have you ever in one sitting tried to name at least 100 ants crawling up a tree? After a while, I started naming the little critters after my cousins and highschool classmates and characters from TV shows. Names can be a confusing thing. Try explaining why three of her pals are all named "Nathan" in a way a preschooler would understand. At least she isn't into "why" questions yet.
Sasha also doesn't understand why she can't see her buddies daily. She wants to know what they are doing if they can't be with her. "What 'Cody' (some ten year she has a crush on at our gym) be doing right now?", Sasha will needle me at 7:30 AM. This will go on a billion times throughout the day. I don't know why she feels the need to keep track of everyone from Grandpa to the girls across the street to her playdates to her babysitter etc. etc.
So, we are managing. In between the dancing and singing and bossing around, Sasha will sometimes let recently nicknamed, "Doody Mommy" give her a kiss and hug. Especially if I have curried favor by painting her nails (which we now do almost daily) or giving her something yummy to eat.
