The Best Milestones!

I recently wrote about some of the new skills my little darling is acquiring and I find that she is reaching emotional and social milestones a lot faster than the usual suspects like walking and talking. Despite my TigerParent´s concerns over how late Hannah is with regard to walking and talking, e.g. I can´t make it through a single Skype video call with them without some remark or question about said "delays". I, however, am not as concerned and for that I have to thank Mayim Bialik and this article she wrote in which she revealed that both her children walked at 17 months and began talking at 2-3 years of age. I relate to her reasoning and belief in "letting children progress in their own way and pace, modeling behavior while respecting the innate development of a child as an autonomous and purposeful creature."

That being said, the milestones I am more concerned about are the social and emotional ones and in those, my Hannah is right on track. Why are these the milestones that concern me? Because I may be a very reserved person in public, but my family, closest friends and husband would all share how incredibly affectionate I am. My mother was quite distant and cold in her treatment of me, but my father´s personality compensated and he was always very expressive and affectionate towards me, hence my daddy´s girl tendencies. My passionate personality means I have an overwhelming, and difficult to control need and desire to express my feelings, be they good or bad. If I like you, I want you to always have a smile on your face and so I will be a shoulder to cry-on, a counselor, a listener and will smother you with affection if need be, anything to make sure you are never sad in my presence.

Well, that is the same way I approach my daughter. I constantly tell her how much I love her, e.g. our song is "Hannah loves Mama, Mama loves Hannah", and show her how much I love her by hugging her, kissing her, making her smile and laugh and basically border-line smothering her with attention and affection hahahaha :) Of course, nothing in my life is ever easy and I was gifted a very independent and determined daughter so my concerns are never when is she going to walk, or talk, rather they are over when and if she will show me affection. That is why I was so excited when I experienced my first dose of baby-lovin. Well, let me tell you the party has just begun! Yes, my daughter is not as quick with her affection, but it is there and it is slowly but surely beginning to blossom.

New (Incredibly Awesome for Me) Milestones:

1. She strokes my face and arm while nighttime nursing.
2. She has learned how to kiss and loves to kiss her mama!
3. She hugs me by putting both of her chubby little arms around my face and then we always Eskimo kiss and she says in her baby-lingo "mmmmm".
4. She now expresses her joy over accomplishments by doing flamenco hands and squealing "Taaa daaaa!" (I just recently taught her the "daa" part).
5. She asks me for attention and affection by sniffing me... yes you read correctly... sniffing me. It was initially her way of communicating that she had a dirty diaper (´cause that is what Mama does to see if she has a dirty diaper), but she has recently started doing it just to be picked up and cuddled and since she doesn´t always like to be cuddled, I now anxiously await the tell-tale *sniffing*.

Yey! I love my Hannah and now she can show me how much she loves me.

Tags: Flamenco Love Mayim Bialik Skype Tiger Dad/Mom

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