It's No Fun Being Sick

Trouble?

Helen is becoming very stubborn and willful. She really wants to get into everything and when we find her with something that she's not supposed to have, and take it away, she just howls and screams and makes such a commotion, you'd think that someone was pulling her fingernails out! And if she wants something while she's in her high chair, and I can't understand what she's pointing at, she does the same thing. I think I remember Elizabeth went through this phase, and I would patiently repeat, "Use words to tell Mommy what you want." But Elizabeth wasn't nearly as loud! Elizabeth sits on the other side of the table, covering her ears, saying, "Helen, be quiet! No yelling."

Two Little Monkeys

Elizabeth is starting to be able to make out words, and I am amazed. She definitely is able to spell out the words (i.e. r-e-d is red), but we do have some interesting challenges. Lower case letters are confusing, especially when different fonts are used. Elizabeth did not recognize the letter "a" because of the typeface. The lower case "L" looks very much like the upper case "I" and even funnier, if she sees two "L"s together, she thinks it's 11 (i.e. y-e-"eleven"-o-w for yellow). Now, they say that most kids can't cognitively put together the fact that all those letters make words and tell a story, but I wonder. I sure remember reading fairly well at 5 years old, but perhaps I had just memorized all the story books that my family read to me. I do hear Elizabeth reciting parts of her books.

I Like this Christmas Thing!

Helen is actually aware of the doings this year for Christmas, and was happy to help decorate the tree. She was also happy to un-decorate it and explore each and every light bulb, so it was moved safely to a ledge, out of reach.

Bookworm

Elizabeth still loves to read, especially before bedtime. Any time of the day will do, and any one will do, as I noticed on Thanksgiving, where she had many cousins and aunties reading stories to her.