And the Demanding Has Begun...

Something happened after Kate reached her first birthday. It's as if over night she has grown her own little will and she is not afraid to express her desires...by grunting and whining. It really started a few weeks before her birthday when she started pointing and grunting at everything in the house. She suddenly noticed pictures on the wall, cards on the bar and just about anything and everything. Cute at first, but how many times do I have to stand in front of the refrigerator holding her and pointing to the magnets?!

Many of you know we've been teaching Kate sign language. She has grown fascinated with the series "Baby Signing Time." Last weekend, she was standing in front of the TV doing the "Baby Signing Time" sign and pointing at the TV cabinet. At first, I thought she was doing "wash hands" (which made no sense at all to me...what baby wants to wash his/her hands?). Anyway, I figured it out after a few moments. Kate was exhuberated. She realized she could sign and I would respond. Now, she has turned into a "more" machine. She wants to watch Baby Signing Time...she does the sign for more first, says more and then starts the signing sign.

For the past couple of days, she has been walking around pointing and doing the sign for more and then saying it. Sometimes she wants outside...sometimes she wants to watch the DVD...but regardless, she says "more." When I ask her what she wants more of...she throws her hands in the air and almost shrugs (because that's what I do when I ask her what she wants). So funny...yet not because it's starting to get frustrating for both of us! The best part is once she grows frustrated because she's not getting what she wants, she starts crying and carrying on...

Kate remembers quite a bit...her little brain works overtime, I swear. Keith showed her this soft "lamb" blanket yesterday during lunch. She fell in love with it (yes, aunt Jen, the one from Christmas). Anyway, he said she threw quite a temper tantrum when he tried to get her to move on to something else. After her nap, she woke up, went to the guest bedroom, pointed at the blanket on the bed and said..."more" while doing the sign. And I thought she'd forget about it!

My sweet, adorable, happy girl has grown into a demanding, sweet, adorable, happy girl (well, happy most of the time...). I'm pulling out my trusty baby books to give me advice on handling demanding toddlers so they don't grow into big brats who get everything they want -- wish me luck!