Diva-esque girls

Baby J woke up this morning in quite a mood. The wrong side of the cot I'm guessing. Anyway, there were tears and protestations as we left for work with her koala-ing her father and having to be pried off him. That of course led to more tears and anger which culminated in her trying to snatch something from her brother and being chided for it. That was when the major water works and screaming started and that was when my blood really boiled when I heard, very clearly, my daughter being chided for being "unreasonable". I've been exasperately teaching my students that animals cannot "scheme", "devise", "abuse" or "murder" because it suggests intent and animals don't sit in the corner and scheme. I think I need to teach people at home the same thing and explain it to them like I would my 18 year olds.

Anyway, I took great offence but I am also keenly aware that it is quintessentially Jordan. She knows what she wants, she has a mind of her own and she is fiercely independent. And she, like me, does things in her own time. Not on anyone else's schedule. Earlier in the year, I was angsting about the fact that some new borns were drinking more milk than she was. Now, she's pretty much caught up with her brother although she is still finicky about particular foods and she is still a good 3 cm behind him in height and a kilo in weight.

This is probably one girl whom I don't have to worry about being bullied when she goes to school. I don't think she will get picked on although sometimes I worry that like me, she will try too hard to get others to like her. I see her toddle after strangers (little girls) and try to befriend them and she is often shoved away or given strange looks. I see her try to be affectionate to her cousin who hates being poked and prodded and wonder if one day she will have sadly understand that people she wants to "friend" may not want to "friend" her. I remember feeling like that in school a lot and I worry that it will be what she will face, especially with that tough girl exterior. But like I said about Evan, I shall not worry about things that may not come to pass.

I love this pseudo celeb shot of her. If you look very carefully, you can actually see the reflection of a tear. She was throwing a royal fit before this because she wanted the mobile phone and I wanted it to take videos of her. She cheered up, when she realised that the camera's attention was on her.

The other thing about Jordan which is unlike me but like her father is her dislike to be covered up. God help her if we had to move to the Middle East. Anyway, regardless of how cold the room might be when she is asleep, she will not allow herself to be covered. No matter how deep asleep she is, she senses instinctively that she is covered and will kick it off. Once, I had a wet hand and wanted to pat her but didn't want her clothes to get wet. So, I put a face towel on her bum to pat her and she wiggled that off too. Anyway, this means that she needs to be dressed head to toe when she goes to bed. Sometimes, we run out of one piece sleep suits so she gets normal PJs. Inspired by a colleague, I decided to put socks on my little tosser. Not just any socks but the tackiest of socks she has since these are the socks I wouldn't let her be caught dead wearing outside.


I inherited this distate for lacy socks from my mother who thought them hideous and never put me in them. So, when I found them in her sock drawer, I frowned because I didn't know what I could do with them. My mother in law, on the other hand has no such delusions, dressing her once in a frock and those lacy socks but that's another story for another time because it involves Jordan, a doctor, my mother in law hoping the doctor had a son my daughter's age. Anyway, the perfect use was to put them on her at night when no one else would see her and I could sit there and chuckle at how ridiculous she looked in the get up. Her brother's pullover and PJ pants and white lacy socks to complete the get up. It's my getting back at Baby Dowager for being imperious and diva-esque when she is actually awake. When she is sleeping, she will be the anti-Diva and I have photo evidence to wave in her face.


Technorati Tags: babies, mother and daughter similarities