Dylan Sage 20 Months
Another several months have past since I’ve shared a Dylan Sage update. Mostly, because she keeps me so on my toes, that when I do have 15 minutes to myself….I sit on the couch and just zone out. Her level of energy is astounding, even on days when she is sick or has only slept a few hours she can still run circles around us. I don’t know how she does it….
So Let’s Talk: I keep hearing from Dylan’s teachers that she is incredibly verbal. I sort of nod and say “I know,” because every day she is spouting off new words and phrases, because I literally don’t know what is typical. The other day, after taking a bath in our bathroom, we were in her bath. We had mistakenly left her cups in our bath. She kept asking for her cups, saying “cups, cups,” and I politely told her that they were still in “mommy’s bath.” She looked at us and thoughtfully tilted her head and said, “get them.” We were so shocked we just started laughing…and she thought it was hilarious. Moments like these are coming faster and faster. She is dictating whose car we are taking “dad’s car” to go places and telling us stories all the time. Stories that we can understand, at least for the most part.
Singing & Dancing: Just a few of Dylan’s favorite activities revolve around singing and dancing. She is making up her own songs, and in some cases filling in the words. The other day when we were all sick with colds (thanks, daycare) I was trying to get her down for a nap and pulled out a nice Daniel Tiger tune “When You’re Sick, Rest is Best” and she filled in “rest is best.” She is also “jumping” and kicking balls. Her staple of reading books hasn’t waned. Again, I am seeing her grow leaps and bounds in reading the book to us. Her absolute favorite though is painting and coloring. It doesn’t matter what time of day it is or how many times she has already done it that day you can find her in her art corner doodling away.
Planes, Trucks and Boats: We are very fortunate to have friends who own a boat. This is literally Dylan’s favorite thing in the entire world. She tells us every day about her boat ride, and asks to go again and again. We look at photos and videos of our boat rides (among other photos and videos) daily. She is constantly looking at the sky hoping to see an airplane and we play spot the truck while on the road. The other day we were at a warehouse with multiple trucks parked outside and she hit the jackpot. We spent several minutes counting the red trucks. Counting usually goes to the tune of “one, two, three” on repeat.
A Particular Kind of Girl: My perfect sweet little girl, has such a temper. If things aren’t exactly perfect, I get scared. During the hurricane, I purchased Entammen’s mini muffins. We introduced her to the pumpkin muffin and it was a hit. Stupidly, these are seasonal. I had to parcel them out when they stopped carrying them at the store. This meant if she didn’t eat the entire package, I put the remaining in a ziplock. Except, the ziplock was not good enough. She needs the muffins out of the package otherwise she goes red in the face. She did the same thing when I tried to give her animal crackers in a cup instead of a bag. Trying to navigate this particuarlness means learning how to teach someone to be flexible, which is entirely difficult when you yourself are not necessarily the most flexible of people.
To me, this is the hardest thing we are currently handling. I don’t know whether I am supposed to work with her to understand that sometimes things aren’t exactly the way they were yesterday or to just give in. When it comes to eating, I usually give in. This means giving her the hummus, blueberries, soup, what have you in the Peppa bowl. Not always following our bedtime routine is something I am trying to alter a little to give ourselves more flexibility when traveling.
We’ve got a big trip planned for next week. It will be our longest time away from home and I am keeping my expectations low. I know we will be exhausted, but am hopeful she will be the happy go lucky kid we all know.
