Emotional & Verbal Development

Real quickly - Ben said "baby" today. Pretty sure. Also, he said "cracker" the other day, and is saying "car" rather frequently as well. Progress!

Leah's best frenemy M was over yesterday. I would call the afternoon a mild failure. Of the two hours M and little brother P were here, the girls played nicely for about an hour and half, and the rest of the time was spent arguing. In fact, at one point Leah was crying, M was playing by herself, and Ben was bouncing (very soft) balls off of P's head. Did I mention that P is all of 11 months old? Not exactly capable of defending himself.

Of course, after dad Chris arrived to pick up the kids, both girls dissolved into tears and refused to be parted. As I was consoling Leah, who was busy muttering, "But now I won't have anyone fun to play with..." I was visiting with Chris, and I said, "They are two stubborn little girls."

This was apparently not the right thing to say. Leah immediately switched from being upset about M leaving to being very upset that I had called her stubborn. Then we had this discussion:

Me: Do you know what 'stubborn' means?
Leah: Noooo....
Me: It means you don't change your mind easily. That's not always bad.
Leah: But I don't LIKE being called stubborn.....
Me: Well, you come by it naturally. Your mommy is stubborn, and so is your daddy. Your grandma is also pretty stubborn. So you don't really have a choice.

Today on the drive to physical therapy, Aaron was mocking every song that came on the radio, which happened (as always) to be on Leah's favorite station.
Me: If Leah wasn't here, I'd turn it off just so I wouldn't have to listen to you.
- Aaron laughs....
Leah: (after a pause)...but if I WAS here, she'd just leave it on.

Of course we laughed, which once again was the wrong thing to do. I'm pretty sure she's PMSing or something.

Leah: I don't like it when you laugh at me!
Me: But Leah, when you say something funny, it's good if people laugh! I like it when people laugh at things I say!
Aaron: You do not.
Me: Yes I do!
Aaron: Not if you didn't mean to be funny.
Me: (reverting attention away from my own insecurities) Leah, we laughed because you were also being cute.

And in the car yet again, later this morning, Aaron and I were discussing something from two opposite sides.
Leah: Stop fighting!
Aaron: Sometimes mommies & daddies disagreeing about something, but we still love each other.
Me: Yeah, you and M fight a lot, and you are still best friends, right?
Leah: (all sunshine & rainbows) Yeah, but that's because I LIKE her.
Me: Well, Mommy and Daddy like each other, too.

That is the fastest that issue has ever been resolved. Thank you to M's folks for letting her come over and give my daughter an object lesson in loving but not always agreeing.