THE BRAIN... IS PRETTY DARN AMAZING!

I AM IMPRESSED! Nur-Jehan knows her alphabets by sight. At first I thought it was coincidence that she knew what a 'B' was and then an 'A'. When she knew what a 'X' was I was convinced that it was time to teach her all the alphabets. I didnt think she would learn them as fast as she did, but she got them all within a week and a half or so. Currently at 23 months we are learning the phonetics of each letter. Her Auntie, Hafeeza, gave her the DVD, The ABC Factory and that is helping. She watches it 2x a day. I go over with her in one of the chosen library books her ABCs and their sounds emphasizing the sounds and exaggerating the sounds as I give sample words that start with the letter. She is definitely catching on. At this rate I am guessing she can be reading by this time next year or sooner.

My challenge with her right now is what to focus on in teaching her. She is excelling at letters and numbers, but not yet at colors i guess because I did not want to overwhelm her (however I have introduced colors, but not made it a focus.)

Learning is an amazing process because children's brains are REALLY like sponges. Everyday there are many new words and phrases. She picks up phrases that me or Kibwe says and we dont even realize how much we say them. For an example: Jehan says "Aaaaw, MAN!" alot. I didnt realize that she got it from me. I didnt realize how much I said this phrase.

REQUESTING HER INDEPENDENCE...

Jehan is now 23 months. Now at the phase where she is very expressive verbally and through actions. Personality is full blown! Girlyness is in full effect attitude and all. (I love the little girlie expressions that she makes.) She has more interest in her hair and taking care of herself sitting patiently as I braid her hair. Blow drying her afro is just one of the many things that she insists on doing herself. I sit back and watch. She doesnt mind asking for help when she knows that she doesnt quite mastered things on her own yet.

Jehan @ 21mos.

Her Personality...

Jehan's personality is becoming more defined. She has a pretty balanced temperament. Overall she displays a lot of affection and is even developing a reputation of being a loving child. She delivers a lot of tight hugs and kisses to people that she perceive as nice kids and adult women alike. She is weary of every adult male even family. I am thankful of that. I dont want to force her warm to her male cousins or uncles. She does like Grandad (my father's father) and she blushed a lot with my brother but the others she remains distant.

Jehan has her moments of anger and it is usually displayed by her crying and purposely peeing on herself. As soon as me or her father tell her she cant have or do something that she wants she will start crying and then say, "I pee" and then proceeds to pee on herself. She just start doing this. I dont get upset cuz she is still young to be potty trained (at least according to our american culture) I just tell her, "you cant pee just cuz you're crying." or "you know you hafta pee in the potty. Not in your pants." she understands.

Time Is Moving Fast...

Rarely do I get a moment these days just to sit down and update this blog! My energy has resurfaced so I have the mind set to do things, but Jehan is a very focused child (i think that is the adjective I want to use). Anyway, she gets in her mind that "if Mommy opens that computer thing over there, I am going to run as fast as I can and find the heaviest object that I can lift and I am going to throw it as hard as I can at that thing that has all her attention. Oh! and if that doesnt work I am am going to jump into her lap and pretend that I want to breast feed and trick her! Instead I am going to bang the little buttons that she is typing on so fast and watch how mommy screams in frustration AND then Imma jump off her lap as fast as I can and RUN! Yeah that sounds like fun!"

So I just surrender the greater part of my day to doing what Jehan wants! I am trying to get better at giving her specific nap times instead of waiting for her to indicate that she is sleepy. I have not mastered that yet. I guess that comes from her not having her own bed yet, but then again that should not be an excuse. The more she sleeps the more I can get done Right? Wrong, Often times I am walking around in fear of waking her or I hear sounds of her crying but find out that it is just my imagination. I find myself limiting my activities because every other minute I fee l like she is going to awaken! When I put her to bed at night, I fall asleep putting her to bed. As long as I get four hours of sleep, though, I can function by getting up in the wee hours of the morning to get some kind of chores done or internet research or something.