+ Life with Ceili +
Living with you is so much fun. Have I mentioned that? You are an absolute riot most of the time. Even when you're not I'm thankful to have you. Last night, in fact, when I completely lost my temper, I was still thankful to have my life with you in it. I just would prefer that at that moment you had stopped the endless whining.

Anyway, things are good. You talk more all the time of course. You mimic things and now you're so much more responsive to things. Mostly because you've figured out how to nod. That's one of those things you never think about, but kiddos don't figure out how to nod for quite a while. Shaking their heads no is much easier, but nodding is a skill. Not to mention the fact that unlike head shaking, head nodding seems to need some sort of contextual understanding of what they're doing. You definitely understand that it is appropriate to answer a question with a nod of the head. Hopefully you are understanding that a nod is an answer in the affirmative. Whether you do or not, I'm acting like you do. For instance, last night at dinner you got whiney again, like you needed something. I asked you if you were done, no response. I asked if you wanted more chicken, no response. I asked if you needed more cheese, no response. I asked if you wanted more apple juice and you nodded! I'm 99% sure you understood what that was all about, and I gleefully set off to get you more apple juice. You drank a bit and then wanted down, so it wasn't a slam-dunk. But we repeated it with clothing options at bedtime, and you got the one you nodded in favor of. You like having choices (duh!).

We're also having pretty good luck so far, stemming off tantrums and the like. I make a concerted effort to talk to you carefully and clarify what you want or what has upset you. It doesn't always work, but I'd say it kills 50% of tantrums right off the bat. That's better than nothing! The other 50% of the time I just let you get it out of your system or manage to distract you with something else. Sometimes you're just tired and worn out. I can certainly understand that!

This weekend, you're going up to Grandma and Grandpa's cabin in Flagstaff with us and Uncle CR/Aunt Chelsie for the weekend. I can't wait!