The Girl’s Got Personality
As Delilah’s getting older it seems as though her personality is developing more and more each day! She’s fiercely independent and surprisingly polite. She’s loving and kind, but also impatient with a quick temper. In a strange way, I feel like I’m getting to know her better a little bit at a time. As I’ve gotten to know Delilah better, her temperament, her likes, and dislikes, it has made parenting a little easier as we’ve found the best ways to handle certain situations, like tantrums or outings, though it’s taken some serious trial and error.
Up until recently, it had been a goal of mine to teach Delilah the word help. I started really trying to get her to understand how to ask for help when I noticed how frustrated she would make herself when trying to do something that was challenging for her. She has always been so independent, from wanting to feed herself and pick out her clothes to carrying things by herself. I swear this girl is strong, but there are still just some things she can’t do on her own. At first, it was hard because she would fight me and get angry whenever I tried to help her. Once she learned that letting me help would actually help her get what she wanted, she was all about the word help! I think I probably hear the word help 30 times a day at least, but it’s 100% better than having an angry and frustrated toddler.
Now that she’s learned the word help Delilah’s all about being a helper now. She wants to help all the time. When she’s done getting her diaper changed she gets mad at me if I don’t let her help by throwing the diaper in the trash. I try to use it as a fun activity for both of us to try and figure out different ways for her to help as we go about our day. I’ve found that it helps me to get the things that I need to accomplish each day if Delilah can help me along the way.
Even though she’s got a temper, there are times where Delilah is just such a loving person. She loves hugs! One of her favorite things to do is give hugs. She likes to carry around her stuffed animals or her babies and just give them big hugs while rocking side to side going “Awwh!”. Sometimes out of nowhere, she’ll just give me a big hug while we’re doing something together and it just makes me want to cry. She also loves to give kisses. I think I’ve mentioned a time or two about how much she loves to kiss her doggos. She’s recently learned how to say the word kiss so all the time now she runs up and asks for a kiss. It’s amazing how much she’s able to communicate with words now and to see how much better she can express herself after each word she learns.
Along with the social aspect of her personality, Delilah has also been discovering and exploring her own interests. She loves music! I mean she always has, but now she has her own tastes in music. She used to love whatever I put on, but now she only wants to listen to country music! She doesn’t even let me put on my country music playlist. It has to be the one that Grandma puts on for her, (gotta remember to thank my mom again for that one). This girl also loves to dance and she even uses it to communicate. First thing in the morning, she stands up in bed and starts dancing to tell me she wants to listen to her music. I often use this as a chance to tell her to “go tell Grandma,” and she’ll climb down off the bed and run to her Grandma’s room shouting “Ga-Ga,” through the house. Then I get a free minute in the morning to make coffee while they listen to music together. I’m planning on finding some community dance classes for her when she’s older to see if it would be an activity she will want to continue as she grows up.
It’s my hope to always do whatever I can to help Delilah explore her interests and the world around her. I especially want to make the most of all the time I have at home with her right now. As she’s getting bigger, I plan to start a Pinterest board to help me come up with activities for her to do in the day. Sometimes it’s difficult to think about Delilah becoming more and more independent and able to do things on her own. I try to think about her growing up in a positive way though, by thinking about how her becoming more independent in daily life tasks just frees up more time for us to do activities and make fun memories together.