Big Girl

It's been a big week. A new step stool, so Una can finally wash her hands solo. She also decided to try out the dental floss after watching momma. Swimming lessons started this week, followed quickly by a cold...only in oregon do you see crowds of people dressed in fleece and tights around a swimming pool...and then...DA-DA-DA-DAAAAAA: the big girl bed! Una is actually still sleeping in it as i'm writing this(see photo below), and it's 9:30 am...she's never slept past 8:30. But, we noticed, at some point, she pulled in one of the pillows we had on the floor, so maybe she was up a little last night rearranging. Ted and i went out to an adult party last night, man that was fun and fancy, so we had a babysitter put her to bed in her big girl bed for the first time. i was worried we were leaving the babysitter with too much of a challenge, not knowing how Una would do, if she would stay in it or not. But, she did just fine. No reported problems at all, just right to sleep. Awesome.

I found these flash cards that are done by one of Una's favorite author, Todd Parr. She absolutely adores them, and we look at them almost every day. It's been a pretty awesome tool as well, for this age, as Una is just learning to "use her words" to tell us when something isn't right. We look at the cards, i say the word and describe what is happening. So, when she's melting down, i can say,

"Una, are you feeling sad?" she'll say, "NO!"

"Disappointed?"

"NO!"

"Are you feeling cranky?" (and i say it in a fake little cranky voice)

and then she usually laughs, because she loves the cranky card and saying cranky....and usually, when she's having a fit, cranky is the best word to describe how she's feeling.

Sometimes, it's hard to remember that this little person is just that, a little person, who has so much to learn and does not yet have all the skills to operate in a big girl world. I'm hoping that by giving her an education on learning to describe her feelings and communicate them effectively, we are giving her a strong foundation on the rest of what is to come. ABC's and 123's are a given, but emotional intelligence is really hard to learn and practice and not exactly valued in our society. As a fellow big girl, i can vouch for that and honestly say i'm still working on this one myself.