Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Goodbye to the Gumming Wonder

Juliana, at 17 months, has not had any teeth.  This has not slowed her down much in the eating department, as she can out-eat Elena when she wants to.  We have been calling her the Gumming Wonder because she eats a huge amount of solid food with just her gums. She reminds me of a turtle or a parrot - they don't have teeth either.  She can eat anything short of tough meats.  She especially likes it when Mommy or Daddy stick fingers in her mouth (removing foreign objects, feeling for teeth, etc.) as she then bites down on a knuckle joint with a truly staggering amount of force.

Tonight we caught her gnawing on a piece of gravel she picked up from outside.  In the process of removing the gravel, I felt little teeth.  Closer examination revealed that Juliana has two teeth growing - one on each side of her mouth.  However - they are molars.  Juliana is very tricky and has decided to forego her front teeth and grow the molars first.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Valentine

The girls had a Valentine's dance at school the other night.

The pictures (please excuse the graininess) are very typical of the girls' personalities.



Over the weekend, Kelly was helping Elena write Valentine's day cards.  Kelly would hold up two cards and ask "Which one do you want to give to so-and-so?"  Elena would point to the card she wanted to go to her classmate.  Sometimes Elena would pick the one on the left, sometimes the card on the right.

Finally, Kelly named a girl in class that Elena doesn't like.  Elena refused to point to either card, very clearly indicating that she did not want to give this little girl a Valentine card.  Kelly went on with other names and Elena resumed picking cards.  Kelly periodically returned to this one girl - and each time Elena refused to pick a card.  We finally gave Elena a choice for the girl of a scrap of cardboard or a card, and Elena **reluctantly** picked the card.

It is a scary thing to see a child's personality develop - it becomes more clear that this is a small person.