30 May 2007
Memorial Day weekend was a hoot. When we picked Raina up on Friday, she did not want to leave daycare. So we used the carrot "Raina, you're going to have visitors this weekend!" Raina loves new people -- her parents get quite dull after a while! -- and she lickety-split grabbed up her items and ran to the door. Now, Raina doesn't see her grandparents or Auntie Emily all that often, except in pictures and videos. So when we said "Mama Jo and Papa Bill are coming" we didn't expect anything remarkable. What happened next was extraordinary. Raina started repeating "Papa coming" over and over to herself. In the car home. All Friday evening. At the YMCA on Saturday AM. This kid was definitely excited. And, of course, she loved seeing her grandparents and auntie, and was very upset when they left on Sunday and Monday.
Raina has a family of African American dolls: a mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, daughter, and son. She frequently brings Krystal the mommy doll, Eric the daddy doll, Sammy the daughter doll, and she keeps the son doll to herself. (She calls it Raina, for obvious reasons. She has to fit into the family somehow!) But she's always just called the grandparent dolls grandma and grandpa, nothing really specific. After the Comptons left, Raina pulled out the grandparent dolls, hugged and kissed each one, and said "bye, bye, Papa, and Jo." She carried and cuddled the dolls for multiple minutes, and I think they really helped her adjust to the fact that her grandparents were gone again.
Also since it was Memorial Day, Raina saw lots of US flags. Spontaneously, yesterday, Raina started pointing out all the flags she saw, and she was REALLY excited about seeing new flags and watching them wave. When we got home, we gave Raina five little flags and she's carried them with her for two days straight. She wouldn't even go to bed without them. Anyway, our trip yesterday took us the Delmar Loop, which, unfortunately for Raina, did not have many flags. And Raina wanted more flags, more flags now! Raina has a tendency to drop consonants in her words, so she spent a lot of time shouting, out in public, "More fags, Mommy, more fags!" After about five minutes of this public display, I was very happy to finally get to the restaurant :)
Raina is very verbal now, and she has progressed to singing a little bit. She wants music on constantly -- our personal favorite is the They Might Be Giants' ABC's album -- and she cutely but poorly tries to say the words in rhythm. Her current accomplishments include a few lines from "Go for G," doing some of the hand motions on "the Wheels on the Bus," providing appropriate animal names and sounds in "Oh, my Raina has a farm," and singing the ABC song. She frequently does this one, but she often mixes up the order of the letters and she repeats the ending over and over again. She gets stuck on the QRS ... section and we hear it continously in the morning when she wakes up.
We went to Laura Blume's farewell party, and there were a few bluegrassy musicians who had set up shop. They were awesome! and Raina was dumbfounded that anyone's fingers could make sounds like that. It may be time to get her a mini-guitar, because she was entranced by the experience and even tried tapping her fingers and feet to the rhythm.
Raina stunned Sammy and I at Laura's party. Raina, who is terrified of all animals, decided that she wanted to meet a doggy. The dog walked past her at the park, but she didn't get there in time. So, Raina decided to chase the dog. The little miss bolted, and ran and ran and ran after the woman and her dog, but, of course, Raina was never going to catch them. (Raina running is no match for a speed walking woman!) Sammy sped past and begged the woman to stop, and Raina got very close to the dog and almost petted it. She never retreated in fear and very calmly said "bye, bye, doggy!" at the end. This is definite progress!
Raina has a family of African American dolls: a mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, daughter, and son. She frequently brings Krystal the mommy doll, Eric the daddy doll, Sammy the daughter doll, and she keeps the son doll to herself. (She calls it Raina, for obvious reasons. She has to fit into the family somehow!) But she's always just called the grandparent dolls grandma and grandpa, nothing really specific. After the Comptons left, Raina pulled out the grandparent dolls, hugged and kissed each one, and said "bye, bye, Papa, and Jo." She carried and cuddled the dolls for multiple minutes, and I think they really helped her adjust to the fact that her grandparents were gone again.
Also since it was Memorial Day, Raina saw lots of US flags. Spontaneously, yesterday, Raina started pointing out all the flags she saw, and she was REALLY excited about seeing new flags and watching them wave. When we got home, we gave Raina five little flags and she's carried them with her for two days straight. She wouldn't even go to bed without them. Anyway, our trip yesterday took us the Delmar Loop, which, unfortunately for Raina, did not have many flags. And Raina wanted more flags, more flags now! Raina has a tendency to drop consonants in her words, so she spent a lot of time shouting, out in public, "More fags, Mommy, more fags!" After about five minutes of this public display, I was very happy to finally get to the restaurant :)
Raina is very verbal now, and she has progressed to singing a little bit. She wants music on constantly -- our personal favorite is the They Might Be Giants' ABC's album -- and she cutely but poorly tries to say the words in rhythm. Her current accomplishments include a few lines from "Go for G," doing some of the hand motions on "the Wheels on the Bus," providing appropriate animal names and sounds in "Oh, my Raina has a farm," and singing the ABC song. She frequently does this one, but she often mixes up the order of the letters and she repeats the ending over and over again. She gets stuck on the QRS ... section and we hear it continously in the morning when she wakes up.
We went to Laura Blume's farewell party, and there were a few bluegrassy musicians who had set up shop. They were awesome! and Raina was dumbfounded that anyone's fingers could make sounds like that. It may be time to get her a mini-guitar, because she was entranced by the experience and even tried tapping her fingers and feet to the rhythm.
Raina stunned Sammy and I at Laura's party. Raina, who is terrified of all animals, decided that she wanted to meet a doggy. The dog walked past her at the park, but she didn't get there in time. So, Raina decided to chase the dog. The little miss bolted, and ran and ran and ran after the woman and her dog, but, of course, Raina was never going to catch them. (Raina running is no match for a speed walking woman!) Sammy sped past and begged the woman to stop, and Raina got very close to the dog and almost petted it. She never retreated in fear and very calmly said "bye, bye, doggy!" at the end. This is definite progress!
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