Monaloca

Melina is just two months away from her second birthday. I keep thinking I’ll stop writing her monthly updates, but they’re such a fun way to reflect on and archive her growth. I’m going to divide this month’s update into two loose themes that have taken hold: imitation and communication (separate post). Enjoy!

Like most toddlers, Melina copies everything we do and say. Even moreso, she loves to copy everything her big bro does. A few weeks ago we pulled Kai’s old tricycle from the basement for Meli to ride. She got really excited, then ran to grab Kai’s helmet from a shelf and insisted on strapping it to her head as she played with the trike (still a little too big for her to reach the peddles) around the yard. Then she took the helmet inside and wore it half the afternoon. Unfortunately, she’s not as keen on wearing her own helmet, which I bought so I can tote her around town on my bike.

Melina and I pick up Kai from school several days a week. One day the kids were playing in the yard, and Kai asked if he could lift up Meli to hang from one of the monkey bars. I hesitated so he lifted her anyway. She grabbed hold and hung there for a good 15 seconds, then fell to the bark and said “more, more!” Kai lifted her at least four times and made sure to show off his sister’s strength to anyone nearby, including another mom who said to me, “You wouldn’t have thought to try that on your own, would you?”

Melina LOVES to read, at home and at daycare, and has even started reading books to us. She doesn’t have full lines down, but can tell us the page-by-page abbreviated version of her favorite stories (“Hot” for a page where “It’s hot out today,” “Empty” when Charlie’s refrigerator is empty, or “Hooray!” when Maisy and Charlie get to eat their lunch. Yup, these are all Maisy books.) One night Kai even tried to teach her to read by sounding out letters. Maybe in a year or two, Kai. Watch video of Meli reading to us.

Melina only watches Maisy DVDs a couple times a week and only for the past month, but she already knows how to stop the player, push the button to eject the disk, put in a new one, and close the tray – with the button like she’s supposed to, not by pushing the tray. The kicker is she then picks up the remote and points it at the TV like a magic wand that will suddenly make the video start. Then she gets mad when nothing happens. Lucky for us, she still needs adult help to get her small share of screen time.

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