understand

janie is learning to be defiant. every afternoon she climbs up onto the couch (which she knows she is not suppose to be on) and smooshes her face up against the huge glass picture window in our living room. it’s not that we don’t want our child on our furniture. but if she was to break that picture window, by falling through it, pushing her hand through it….whatever….it would kill her. it’s that old-timey glass that doesn’t shatter when it breaks. it shards. there is a big difference. if it was to shatter, we would still have a cut – up little girl, but if it was to shard….....well….i’m just not going to think about that right now.

my point is that janie KNOWS not to get up there and hit the glass. SHE KNOWS. but she does it anyway. and there is apparently no reasoning with a 19 month old that can’t (or won’t, i should say) even talk back.

“don’t hit the glass,” i say sternly with my brow furrowed and my finger pointing at the window.

“uhhh…” is her only reply. this has got to get better. chuckle or i guess it could get worse.

this is an old picture of janie….probably from when she had just turned a year old (i say that because i remember those pajamas….) anyway, i am posting it, not because of it’s great digital quality, but because this is what i feel she is thinking every time she gets on top of that couch and slaps the front glass window.

sigh

every weekday morning i wake janie up from her slumber and she lifts her arms above her head to stretch. i pick her up from inside her crib and carry her to my bedroom where i give her a sippy cup full of milk just before i lay her down to change her diaper (yes, she’s still wears diapers…the potty-training thing hasn’t happened as of yet) and change her clothes for daycare.

sometimes she decides that she doesn’t want to change clothes, and sometimes she’s excited. i haven’t figured out why yet, but there are days when i don’t want to get out of bed for no particular reason other than SLEEP IS GOOD. maybe that is her reasoning as well. this morning it was particularly warm outside (especially for November) so i dressed her in shorts one last time this season. then i put her hair up in pig-tails (because i LOVE her hair in pig-tails, and i don’t care if people say it will pull the curl out of her hair – how STUPID is that anyway? if you’re hair is going to be curly, IT’S GOING TO BE CURLY and a ponytail holder ISN’T GOING TO CHANGE THAT!) with pink bows. SHE WAS PRECIOUS!

i scooped her up into my arms so i could lower her to the floor. she took off running down the hall into the living room and picked up the remote control to the television (because i am sure she wanted to watch dora) but we didn’t have time this morning. i went to the front door to walk to the car and she followed, with milk cup in hand. when we got to the steps that go down the front porch, i lowered my hand so that she could grasp my finger as she walked down the steps.

SHE BATTED MY HAND AWAY and said “no!”

i looked down at my precious daughter who is already becoming an independent little person. she held onto the handrail and walked down the steps ALL BY HERSELF. i relented and walked on to the car (backwards, watching her every step). when she got to the ground she ran towards me and dove into my arms while she giggled that hearty laugh i love to hear.

she’s growing up.

sniffle