Monaloca

This month, we’ve noticed Melina’s personality coming into fuller bloom. As always, she’s a super happy, friendly girl. Her favorite things these days include drawing, stickers, the see saw at the park, any book featuring animals, bananas, or colors, and any dog or cat she meets on the street. She’s obsessed with feeding Thor, even when his bowl is full. She has a new stuffed dog (Baby Ein) that rivals Chop Eater and her little blankies as snuggle toys.

Melina also loves her brother’s wheeled school backpack, almost as much as she loves Kai himself. Kai sometimes lets her roll it all the way from his classroom to the car. At this point, I think she thinks it’s hers. She now also drags her own lunch bag behind her on the way to daycare, and is oblivious to the lack of wheels.

Melina seems to like order, as much as a 1-year-old can. She knows her stuffed animals and blankies belong on the wine fridge when she eats, not in the booster seat with her at the table. She follows directions well (when she’s not testing limits) and likes to put things back where she found them. Then take them out again. She also tends to bring us things that look fragile. But all bets are off with popup books and their tempting tabs, just waiting to be pulled off the page.

She can point out a handful of body parts, including her belly, knees, ears, and nose. When I say “little girl?” she points to herself. She also likes giving herself kisses in full-length mirrors. One teacher at daycare recently said, “She’s pretty quiet, isn’t she? Very busy, though.” She’s definitely an explorer, and in new situations seems to take things in for a while before jumping into action.

Nevertheless, she has tons of words, and one phrase: “Up pppuh!” (“Up, please!”) and likes to climb into and up just about anything – including our wine rack. (Good thing Grandpa bolted it to the wall!) Her latest game is to “lock” herself into a room, then knock on the door saying “knock knock!” (which sounds like “not not!”) until we open it. Then she shuts it and starts all over again.

We’re starting to see her turn into a bit of a night owl. Ok, that may be a stretch since she usually goes to bed at 8pm. But while her 5-year-old brother hits the pillow at the same time and goes straight to dreamland, Meli babbles herself to sleep – and sometimes uses the walls for a drum concert – nearly every night, regardless of whether Kai is with her in the room or not. (He’s learned to ignore her – or join in – instead of complaining.) She also seems to pick up steam right after dinner and bath. And of course, we remain incredibly fortunate in that she’ll sometimes sleep until 9am on weekends. Not always, but it’s not unusual.

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