Lessons Learned
You would think that by 11 months Genevieve would have learned that when it is time for a diaper change that she should lay still. You might think that when we tried to dress her she would potentially help us put her arms or legs through the appropriate holes. You would be sorely mistaken. Genevieve is actually less helpful now than when she was younger.
As a younger infant she barely moved. The only difficulty was to overpower her little arms or legs and shove them into the appropriate sleeve or pant. No longer is this the case. Now I have to chase her across the floor or changing table as I struggle to put even one limb through the appropriate opening. Once one pant leg is on she will inevitably turn a flip and scamper away. This does more than just pull her leg out. It inverts the pant leg. Now I've got one leg inside out and the other flailing wildly.
I've tried putting her on the floor and bracing her with my knee to hold her in place. Oddly enough, this doesn't work. I've taken to just trying to change her in mid-stride. I'll wait until she is crawling somewhere and sneak up behind her. Then when she is occupied with a toy, I'll attack. I quickly shove one leg through and then another. If I'm particularly lucky I can get both feet in before she takes off. Now I've got both legs through but her pants are around her ankles. It is pretty funny to watch her crawl with her pants down but if I let her do this too long I'll have two inverted pant legs and that isn't funny at all. If I quickly scoop her off the ground I can usually bounce the pants up to her waist.
The shirt is the same story. One arm in, one arm out. One arm in, one arm inside out. One frustrated scream (from me), One taunting cackle (from her).
Which reminds me. Genevieve has learned about laughter. She knows that when something is funny everyone laughs. When she laughs we usually laugh so she tries the same when everyone else is laughing. If we are laughing and she doesn't see the humor she'll fake a laugh. She sounds sort of like The Count from Sesame Street. "One! ah! ah! ah! Two! ah! ah! ah!"
We've also been teaching her to say certain stock phrases. If we ask her, "What does a cow say?" she will often reply, "moo." Sometimes it takes some warming up and you need to prompt her but once she gets going she'll moo for the next 10 minutes. Perhaps we should have started with something more useful like "juice" or "mama" but "moo" just seemed right with her animal like traits.
As a younger infant she barely moved. The only difficulty was to overpower her little arms or legs and shove them into the appropriate sleeve or pant. No longer is this the case. Now I have to chase her across the floor or changing table as I struggle to put even one limb through the appropriate opening. Once one pant leg is on she will inevitably turn a flip and scamper away. This does more than just pull her leg out. It inverts the pant leg. Now I've got one leg inside out and the other flailing wildly.
I've tried putting her on the floor and bracing her with my knee to hold her in place. Oddly enough, this doesn't work. I've taken to just trying to change her in mid-stride. I'll wait until she is crawling somewhere and sneak up behind her. Then when she is occupied with a toy, I'll attack. I quickly shove one leg through and then another. If I'm particularly lucky I can get both feet in before she takes off. Now I've got both legs through but her pants are around her ankles. It is pretty funny to watch her crawl with her pants down but if I let her do this too long I'll have two inverted pant legs and that isn't funny at all. If I quickly scoop her off the ground I can usually bounce the pants up to her waist.
The shirt is the same story. One arm in, one arm out. One arm in, one arm inside out. One frustrated scream (from me), One taunting cackle (from her).
Which reminds me. Genevieve has learned about laughter. She knows that when something is funny everyone laughs. When she laughs we usually laugh so she tries the same when everyone else is laughing. If we are laughing and she doesn't see the humor she'll fake a laugh. She sounds sort of like The Count from Sesame Street. "One! ah! ah! ah! Two! ah! ah! ah!"
We've also been teaching her to say certain stock phrases. If we ask her, "What does a cow say?" she will often reply, "moo." Sometimes it takes some warming up and you need to prompt her but once she gets going she'll moo for the next 10 minutes. Perhaps we should have started with something more useful like "juice" or "mama" but "moo" just seemed right with her animal like traits.
posted by daniel @ 9:16 PM
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