Circles, ABC’s and hugs

Those are the current topics of fascination for Dillon. She has figured out circles and points them out all over the place. I handed her a slice of a sweet potato a couple of days ago and she proudly pointed out “circle.” Sure enough was. She finds them in books, around the house, outside- you name it. Sometimes she can point out squares but they frequently get mixed up with triangles. I’m just impressed she knows circle. She also knows that letters are “ABC’s,” that being her generic name for all letters. She also finds letters everywhere, including in the airport. We were sitting down to eat at Chili’s in the Charlotte airport (during our 6 hour layover) when she pointed to the large A on the wall indicating Concourse A and told me “ABC’s” She frequently will request the ABC song during diaper changes. Of course I often get as far as D and she tells me no. I’m not sure if that’s a commentary on my singing or just all she can absorb for the moment. I’ll request that comments on that point be kept private!

As for the hugs- they are the best. She will come up to me out of the blue, announce “hug!” and throw her arms around me. Even better is when I wrap my arms around her and pick her up off the ground in a big bear hug. Then it’s a hug accompanied by giggles. Last night it was a round of hugs for Momma and Da, then a request for “kiss.”
She gets the idea that you lean in for a kiss, but doesn’t quite get the pucker up part. She’ll get really close, then turn her cheek to your lips. Maybe she’s just practicing being a princess.

She started Monday at the new babysitter’s. The day went smoothly with the distinct exception of naptime. The sitter thinks I should stop rocking Dillon to sleep so that she learns to go to sleep on her own. The sitter provides lots of comfort to her, but doesn’t want to start rocking her because the other kids will want to rock as well. Really makes me question continuing with this sitter, but admittedly, Dillon seems pretty happy there otherwise. My feeling is that I absolutely love the time with Dillon when we are nursing and rocking and she is drifting off to sleep. I can’t imagine not doing it because there’s no doubt in my mind that she loves it as much as I do. My other feeling is that I truly believe that she will have no trouble falling asleep on her own when she is 15 years old despite the fact that I now rock her to sleep. What’s the hurry in making her independent anyway- she’s only 19 months old? A soapbox for another day, I suppose. As for now, we’ll keep on nursing and rocking and loving every minute of it.