Brain Change

This week has been a big huge week of emotional and mental changes for our guys. Things were the same-same-same and then all of a sudden both kids made huge leaps.

Noah learned this week how to link two mental concepts together... He all of a sudden has put together that when he wants something, he can reach out and grab it (and then taste it). Ergo, if he wants something that's further away, he has to roll over to get to it. It's been great but challenging, as he has been enormously frustrated when the toy won't fit in his mouth, or when he's been on his tummy too long, or when he gets tired. His squeals of rage are quite something. He's been learning this for a while but this week it was very obvious that he is moving along in his mental development. Very cool. Very challenging for Mom and Natalie, though, as now we need to make sure her teeny tiny toys are a safe distance away from our guy... and for Mom and Dad, as he is absolutely EXHAUSTED by bedtime every night and thus is quite a fuss budget. He has also been waking more overnight as he's working through these new concepts.

Natalie's changes are absolutely beyond huge this week (to me, the person who's always loved psychology). She has all of a sudden become afraid of things - the peach-faced lovebirds at the zoo, the vacuum cleaner again (even though 2 weeks ago the vacuum was a super-fun game), and... ?Reese? She still loves Reese but has begun to kind of whine and whimper when Reese gets too close to her. I have no idea what brought that little fear on, but she'd better work through it, 'cause Reese isn't goin' anywhere!! :-) She also has learned the concept of shame which is hard for me to watch. Whenever we think something she's said or done is especially genius, we have always laughed with delight and pride. But now she's started to be ashamed when we laugh, thinking we are laughing *at* her, even though nothing could be further from the truth. So we'll have to learn a new way of showing our pride, I guess. Lastly, she's good at pleasing Mom and Dad by picking up toys, being nice, playing well with others - when we can supervise her - but now she's also starting to learn how to meaningfully do the opposite - upset us. This is different from testing or tantrums which are so common starting around 18 months (or earlier)... now she absolutely knows what will hurt my feelings and can say it if she's feeling cranky. Like, she loves Daddy more... or doesn't love me at all... etc. etc. It's been interesting and poorly timed given my ongoing mourning for my own father, but a reminder that life goes on.

We absolutely love our kids so much. But I have to say that I am really eager for the weekend to arrive so I can take some much-needed moments to decompress from all the crying around here! :-)