Megan's had a couple new developments recently.
Around Memorial Day she mastered the playground art of pumping. And by that I mean she can get on the swing, get herself going and keep going without a single finger of parental assistance. At the time, I didn't realize how huge this was, but now I have come to believe this is a bigger deal than walking, because this means Megan can be completely independent at the park (under parental supervision, of course). This couldn't come at a better time, because we need to focus all of our parental attention on Liam these days, as he seems utterly determined to jump off cliffs and other dangerously high objects. And as he has become an excellent climber, the park offers many such opportunities, requiring constant parental vigilance.
The other reason Megan's pump accomplishment seems big deal to me is that I have always thought of Megan as being "motor retarded" as she crawled late, walked late, fed herself late, etc. But she seems to be ahead of the curve on this one and a few fine motor skills, too (like writing and drawing). Nice to know it all balances out.
Megan is also obsessed with winning, but not in things you would normally want to win, like games. Mostly she has to get someplace first and then she needs to tell you, "I winned!" even if you had no idea you were racing.
And lastly Megan has made a couple of new friends in the last month. Actually, it would be more accurate to say, Megan has made up a couple of new friends in the last month. As Megan told me tonight,"Kate is my real friend, Christina and Melissa are pretend friends, and Christina has a friend named Megan but it is different than me because she is a pretend Megan." Are you keeping up?
Christina first joined Megan on car rides. She sits in a car seat under Megan's car seat. Melissa came along later. She sits in a car seat under Liam's car seat. As Megan says,"Christina has long hair that is straight and blond like mine. And she has a little brother named Liam, but his hair is different from Liam's because it is black. And also her brother is not fussy because he is already three." Christina, by the way, is going to be five on July 23rd, which coincidentally, is Melissa's fifth birthday, too. Melissa's younger sister, named Anabelle, is also three. But Megan doesn't seem to want to hang out with the siblings that are her age; instead she is always hanging out with the big girls.
Perhaps we are a little too isolated out here in the country.
VERY envious of the pumping accomplishment. Albert is only now learning, and he has a ways to go before complete independence.
ReplyDeleteMegan's invisible friends sound quite a bit like Albert's bugs. My favorite thing is when the bugs are used to scold: "In the bug's world, Dr. Suess is still alive."
Swinging independently is huge! This means you're that much closer to being able to take your kids to a park, and, after looking around for kidnappers and drug dealers, gesture vaguely at the equipment and say, "Go play!"
ReplyDeleteThen you whip out your novel and sit on a bench. That happens at some point, right? Please?
I am desperately grasping at that notion, yes. I have come to see swinging independently as something huge. when the kids learned to walk or eat by themselves it actually meant more work for me. having Megan potty trained is probably less work but a lot more hassle - I can't tell you how many public bathrooms we have visited in the last year, many of them twice in a single hour! but the pumping - that's something that relieves me of some parental involvement.
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