Nineteen Months

Delphine is not a baby any more. She is a full-on little girl. It happened over the last couple of weeks, but we just realized it today at breakfast when we were sitting at the dining table. Delphine was sitting on a booster on one of the dining chairs, eating her eggs and bacon and waffles with a fork, and drinking water out of a huge 20 oz glass. She's no baby. Blake and I were a little sad.

Good thing we're working on another one.

She is linking words together now; she started couple of weeks ago with "Baba hot tea" and now she's all about the sentence fragments. She says "Hello Thomas" (ah-no Momis) and "Daddy book" (all books are Daddy's book, I don't know how that works) and "boobie nap" (a boobie nap is when she nurses and naps at the same time) and lots of other things. Today she added a possessive "s", "Morgan's boots". And she's being doing plural s's for a couple of days. When we put her down to bed she says "two man-kents" (blankets); I must have said that one day and it stuck with her.

We got her a pair of Sorel winter boots, the classic winter boot (unfortunately not Canadian) and a new navy blue snowsuit, so she is all kitted out for the winter. Later this week if it warms up we're going to go to the park and play in the snow.

I finally got her into a daycare starting in mid-January; I'm sharing a full-time spot with a friend so we'll each have two days a week plus alternate Wednesdays, or whatever we decide. I'm pretty excited about it; I think it's a really good time for her. I think she'll enjoy all the people and activities and stimulation, and hopefully it will take some of the pressure off me to provide Activities and Crafts* and Edifying Experiences, and let me just hang out with my girl in the time we have together.

* I've read a few different "activities to do with your toddler"-type books and articles, and all of them included a multiple-page list of crafting supplies you will "need" in order to raise your child effectively. I have a two-bedroom condo, I barely have room to store pens. Give me a break.

The more I learn about daycares the more comfortable I am sending Delphine to one. There really isn't anything scary or horrible about the kinds of daycares we have in Ontario, which are basically pre-pre-schools run and staffed by degreed Early Childhood Educators. They have planned activities which cover all kinds of different development and all kinds of subject matters. I think Delphine will thrive in that environment; she's so smart and curious and loves new experiences.

I do wonder how she will deal with the other kids. Of the two other toddlers she hangs out with she is by far the most passive; if she gets into a tug-of-war over a toy she will always give in first and cry. I am curious to see what kind of tactics she will develop to deal with the other children.