January 18, 2013
Fashion Plate
There is a lot going on here. Obviously using baby wipes as socks, a jacket, and a hood is worth noting, as is bleeding the family budget on wipes dry by using 20 wipes for this project. And you may think this is a weekend morning, given the pajamas. But this is around 4:30 two days ago on a Wednesday afternoon. We got home from work/daycare and before we even had time to put our coats, hats, and gloves away, Charlotte was asking to change into her pajamas. When Emily came home later she wasn't surprised. She said Charlotte was lobbying very strongly (in her best two year old way) that morning that she wear her pajamas all day and not change into regular clothes. Clearly this stayed with her all day and she got home with pajamas on the brain.
January 16, 2013
Jesus: Found.... And Apparently He Needs a Nap
Much like a bottemless cup of wine, the Baby Jesus in front of our neighbor Mary's house is the gift that keeps on giving.
A little background here. Let me go waaaaay back with this background. All the way back to one of my favorite movie scenes ever. The first 30 seconds of this clip I could watch everyday, if I had the time.
A little background here. Let me go waaaaay back with this background. All the way back to one of my favorite movie scenes ever. The first 30 seconds of this clip I could watch everyday, if I had the time.
Emily and I once toyed with making lists like this for ourselves. But we found it was too hard to do because the small soothing things we like are so embedded in our day-to-day life, it is impossible to tease them out. But when I made my list I came up with the following:
new, warm socks
turning north onto River Road off of 42nd street at the start of a run
the first drink of beer after the first bite of a quality hamburger
maps, anywhere, anytime
found objects
I have a need to look at all found objects on walks. About five years ago I was walking Pancho by Mary's house and I found a piece of notebook paper in front of her street. It turns out someone had stolen their baby Jesus (mean). Mary's daughter was seven-ish at that time and made a LOST sign for Jesus, the same way we make signs for our lost pets, complete with a description and picture of the missing Jesus. So it just said, "LOST: JESUS" followed by a blurb about how he was two feet all and made of plastic, and then the rest of the paper was devoted to a giant drawing of what the plastic Jesus looked like, as best as a 7 year-old can draw it with a #2 pencil. I imagine she pinned it to the telephone pole by their house, but did a crappy 7 year-old job of doing so. As a result it ended up in the street and then in my possession.
"LOST: JESUS" in the midst of the commercialized Christmas season. It was brilliant.
Well, Mary (the neighbor) never found Jesus. Instead Mary the neighbor just bought another Biblical Mary, only Mary the neighbor's new Biblical Mary is holding the Jesus, and it's all one molded piece. And for some reason the type of guy who wants to steal a baby Jesus has no interest in stealing a Mary holding Jesus. And this is good for me and Charlotte, Jesus, as tired as he must be in Charlotte's world, remains unstolen and in our life.
Today as we were driving home (Baby Jesus now gets drive-by shoutouts in addition to all the attention we give him on our walks) Charlotte said, "Oh nooooo! Baby Jesus crying. Baby Jesus go night-night. Night night Baby Jesus."
The plastic Baby Jesus on 45th Ave S and 42nd Street: bringing laughter and joy to the Nawrocki household since 2004.
Where Suze?
In a flash my mom's most recent visit to Charlotte has come and gone. It was great to see Charlotte truly bond and connect with my mom and they fast became good friends. I take Charlotte to physical therapy (PT) every Friday morning for a 7 a.m. appointment when it's still dark out (this detail will come into play soon). My mom wanted to go along to see what PT is about.
So we went together the first week with mixed results. It was the least compliant I had ever seen Charlotte. It's important to remember that as fun as PT seems (climbing, running, crawling...) for Charlotte it can be stressful because she is being asked to do the exact thing that is extremely hard for her AND she knows it's hard for her AND we are pushing her to the breaking point. It is no different than when I worked with kids her age for speech and language. And a good clinician doesn't fear the breaking point, and knows when and how to push kids to the limit and when to pull back, give them a break, and decompress mid-session. Our physical therapist is very good at this. But since we are dancing to and from Charlotte's breaking point thoughout a session, it is very possible that simply having another person in the room can make the session rougher on Charlotte. So although she showed no outward signs of it during the session, there was a chance having both my mom and me in the session with Charlotte's physical therapist was too much for Charlotte, hence more than typical resistance from her.
So the next week I decided I would drop my mom off with Charlotte for her PT appoitment and "go get coffee" (I just drove around the block and then sat in my car in the parking lot for 10 minutes). Charlotte didn't fuss at all during the session and did a great job with my mom while I waitied first in my car and then the waiting room.
Anyway, when I parked my car in the parking lot just after 7 a.m. it was still dark outside, meaning I could see right into the PT clinic waiting room. I could see Charlotte take her jacket off with my mom and wait for the physical therapist to greet them. I saw them walk back to the PT room together. And I don't know why, but it was super cool to see Charlotte go in with her grandma as if she were going back with me, as happy as can be. I don't get mamy moments where I can see that Charlotte is a person whose life and relationships are bigger than me and Emily and it is special to see those moments even though in a blink of an eye this will be the rule, not the exception. At least it better be.
So clearly Suze made an impact on Charlotte's life. One morning Charlotte woke up and Emily brought her downstairs and my mom was in the shower and right away Charlotte asked, "Where Suze?" And since my mom has gone Charlotte has on many occasions said, "Suze gone on airplane. Texas." I hope this memory sticks. Two nights ago Charlotte started labling everything by who it belongs to. "That a daddy's chair. That a daddy's fork. That a daddy's napkin. That a mommy's chair. That a mommy's fork. That a mommy's napkin." And then she pointed to where Suze usually sat and there with this long pregnant pause, and then she just said, "That a that a that a.... chair." I don't know if she missed my mom at that moment but I sure did.
So we went together the first week with mixed results. It was the least compliant I had ever seen Charlotte. It's important to remember that as fun as PT seems (climbing, running, crawling...) for Charlotte it can be stressful because she is being asked to do the exact thing that is extremely hard for her AND she knows it's hard for her AND we are pushing her to the breaking point. It is no different than when I worked with kids her age for speech and language. And a good clinician doesn't fear the breaking point, and knows when and how to push kids to the limit and when to pull back, give them a break, and decompress mid-session. Our physical therapist is very good at this. But since we are dancing to and from Charlotte's breaking point thoughout a session, it is very possible that simply having another person in the room can make the session rougher on Charlotte. So although she showed no outward signs of it during the session, there was a chance having both my mom and me in the session with Charlotte's physical therapist was too much for Charlotte, hence more than typical resistance from her.
So the next week I decided I would drop my mom off with Charlotte for her PT appoitment and "go get coffee" (I just drove around the block and then sat in my car in the parking lot for 10 minutes). Charlotte didn't fuss at all during the session and did a great job with my mom while I waitied first in my car and then the waiting room.
Anyway, when I parked my car in the parking lot just after 7 a.m. it was still dark outside, meaning I could see right into the PT clinic waiting room. I could see Charlotte take her jacket off with my mom and wait for the physical therapist to greet them. I saw them walk back to the PT room together. And I don't know why, but it was super cool to see Charlotte go in with her grandma as if she were going back with me, as happy as can be. I don't get mamy moments where I can see that Charlotte is a person whose life and relationships are bigger than me and Emily and it is special to see those moments even though in a blink of an eye this will be the rule, not the exception. At least it better be.
So clearly Suze made an impact on Charlotte's life. One morning Charlotte woke up and Emily brought her downstairs and my mom was in the shower and right away Charlotte asked, "Where Suze?" And since my mom has gone Charlotte has on many occasions said, "Suze gone on airplane. Texas." I hope this memory sticks. Two nights ago Charlotte started labling everything by who it belongs to. "That a daddy's chair. That a daddy's fork. That a daddy's napkin. That a mommy's chair. That a mommy's fork. That a mommy's napkin." And then she pointed to where Suze usually sat and there with this long pregnant pause, and then she just said, "That a that a that a.... chair." I don't know if she missed my mom at that moment but I sure did.
January 15, 2013
January 08, 2013
Language Post
If I had to do it all over, I would probably keep my job as it is. But if someone said I had to get a new job, I would get a job where I spend the bulk of my day outdoors. If I had to stay in the realm of speech and langauge, maybe I would go all in on the linguistics front and studied normal child language and phonology acquistition and be an academic. I love my job but even at the middle and high school level I don't really get to work with language as much as I want to, so much as fix language skills that aren't there, or teach kids how to work around the missing skills. I do a hell of a lot more than that, but in terms of language that is what I do. It's a totally different experience than watching a kid's language organically and uniquely evolve. Not better or worse, just different.
So with Charlotte I am taking extra pleasure in watching her language develop and trying to find the deeper meaning to the simple things she says. Since the toddlers I worked with had no language, all of this is extra fun. One of my favorites is when she is ready to go home after an outing. Her eyes show fatigue but her spirits are still up. She doesn't use "I want" yet and she doesn't use the word "home." What she will do instead is just rattle off what she wants (i.e. "hot cereral, blueberry, squash?"). And what she wants in this case is the quiet comfort of our home. So to express that she will just rattle off the names of all of our pets. "Nacho Pancho Toonces." She says it as sweetly as possible but it is clear that more than anything else on earth she just wants to be chilling at home.
The other thing that is interesting is her understanding of my mom's visit here. I think she understands it is a temporary visist. I have no way of knowing this, but it is a hunch. What is kind of cool is a week before Suze came, I said to Charlotte "Your Suze is coming" and mentioned that she would be coming in on an airplane. Outside of a 100 First Words book and the Richard Scarry books, Charlotte has no exposure to airplanes. The day before Suze's arrival (six days after I mentioned the plane) I told Charlotte Suze would be here the next day. And she said, "Suze coming plane." And then she did it again two days ago when we said Suze would be leaving in a few days.
Crazy. What I really want to know is what in the hell does the word plane mean to her? There is no way she understands what an airplane is, geography is, flight.... yet she has attached this word to the comings and goings of a very important visitor. Who knows? My best guess is she is attaching a person who is not permanant to her daily routine. I have no clue other than it has some meaning of some sort.
So with Charlotte I am taking extra pleasure in watching her language develop and trying to find the deeper meaning to the simple things she says. Since the toddlers I worked with had no language, all of this is extra fun. One of my favorites is when she is ready to go home after an outing. Her eyes show fatigue but her spirits are still up. She doesn't use "I want" yet and she doesn't use the word "home." What she will do instead is just rattle off what she wants (i.e. "hot cereral, blueberry, squash?"). And what she wants in this case is the quiet comfort of our home. So to express that she will just rattle off the names of all of our pets. "Nacho Pancho Toonces." She says it as sweetly as possible but it is clear that more than anything else on earth she just wants to be chilling at home.
The other thing that is interesting is her understanding of my mom's visit here. I think she understands it is a temporary visist. I have no way of knowing this, but it is a hunch. What is kind of cool is a week before Suze came, I said to Charlotte "Your Suze is coming" and mentioned that she would be coming in on an airplane. Outside of a 100 First Words book and the Richard Scarry books, Charlotte has no exposure to airplanes. The day before Suze's arrival (six days after I mentioned the plane) I told Charlotte Suze would be here the next day. And she said, "Suze coming plane." And then she did it again two days ago when we said Suze would be leaving in a few days.
Crazy. What I really want to know is what in the hell does the word plane mean to her? There is no way she understands what an airplane is, geography is, flight.... yet she has attached this word to the comings and goings of a very important visitor. Who knows? My best guess is she is attaching a person who is not permanant to her daily routine. I have no clue other than it has some meaning of some sort.
Conversation with Charlotte #3890
Nothing brings out the back and forth in Charlotte like seeing the manger scene around the corner on 45th avenue (the same one I referenced before). Charlotte and I took Pancho for a night walk last week and again we had to stop to talk about baby Jesus.
Charlotte: Stops and waves, "Hi baby Jesus."
Me: There is another Baby Jesus in town called Joe Mauer.
Charlotte: Joe Mauer.
Me: Okay we need to get going.
Charlotte: Night night baby Jesus.
Me: Night night baby Jesus.
Charlotte: Need a pacifier.
Me: A pacifier is going to be the least of his concerns. Plus I don't think they had pacifiers in year zero,
Long pregnant, awkward pause.
Charlotte: Night night baby Jesus.
Charlotte: Stops and waves, "Hi baby Jesus."
Me: There is another Baby Jesus in town called Joe Mauer.
Charlotte: Joe Mauer.
Me: Okay we need to get going.
Charlotte: Night night baby Jesus.
Me: Night night baby Jesus.
Charlotte: Need a pacifier.
Me: A pacifier is going to be the least of his concerns. Plus I don't think they had pacifiers in year zero,
Long pregnant, awkward pause.
Charlotte: Night night baby Jesus.
January 01, 2013
Charlotte's Third Joke
Pretty simple formula.
1. Grab any object that is not a hat and put it on your head.
2. Say, "funny hat."
3. Smile.
END SCENE
1. Grab any object that is not a hat and put it on your head.
2. Say, "funny hat."
3. Smile.
END SCENE
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