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Abigail's Diary Entries Diary Navigation: Choose A Diary Entry -------------------- Latest Entry: 10/13/02 -------------------- 4/17/02 3/15/02 2/4/02 1/15/02 9/14/01 8/16/01 7/26/01 7/20/01 7/7/01 4/17/01 4/17/01 12/5/00 10/25/00 10/14/00 7/12/00 6/21/00 6/7/00 5/31/00 5/23/00 5/17/00 5/9/00 5/3/00 4/25/00 4/19/00 4/12/00 4/4/00 3/28/00 3/22/00 3/15/00 3/7/00 2/29/00 2/28/00 2/23/00 2/15/00 2/9/00 2/4/00 2/2/00 1/26/00 1/25/00 1/18/00 1/11/00 1/4/00 12/28/99 12/21/99 12/14/99 11/1/99 10/28/99 10/21/99 10/5/99 9/29/99 9/1/99 8/1/99 7/1/99 6/1/99 5/1/99 4/1/99 -------------------- Abigail's Introduction

May 9, 2000

Lena has decided that it is fun to climb on the couch. She no longer gives Liberty any odd looks when she decides to climb up there. Lena has figured out how to use the infamous Mother's Helper stool to scurry on up there right behind her sister. They climb up there, one after the other, then they climb back down over and over and over. Sometimes they'll sit on the edge and kick their feet excitedly with broad smiles on their faces. They're so proud of themselves. They do know how to get down without falling -- except if they try to go off the side.

Lena and Liberty have learned some simple hand signs for specific things. We've been doing this since they were about 9 months old and all of the sudden they're really catching on. We've taught them some signals that make their lives easier like eat, drink, more, all done, and nurse. Those few signs have really cut down on a lot of frustration for them and for us.

The sign for nurse, however, has opened the door to a nasty little habit -- nose picking. The sign is tapping their lips with their index finger, which just naturally leads them to explore their little noses and their little nostrils. Nice, huh? I've been trying to catch them tapping their lips before they put their fingers in their noses. I don't want them to get confused and think that they get to nurse every time they put their finger in their nose. That would be bad. It's so cute when I can see that they remember that they can do the hand signal.

This morning Lena had already nursed as much as she usually does when she wakes up so when she started to get a little bit irritated I figured she was just bored and needed some different kind of play. I picked her up and took her over to the window because she really loves to look outside. That made her a little more irritated and she was just on the brink of wriggling out of my arms in order to throw herself on the ground in a wonderful display of hostility, when the light bulb went on in her head and she calmly looked me in the eye and tapped her finger on her lips. I thought that was great!

It's also great that Liberty doesn't have to steal food off of Lena's highchair tray to let me know she wants more. She still enjoys stealing some because it gets such a lovely reaction from Lena, but she's more likely to tell me she wants more with her hand signal.

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day! See you next week!