The Number Field

I'm very happy to have Elena and Jenny back at home. Sometimes it seems that Elena is taller when I come home in the afternoon than when I put her to bed the previous night. After a ten day separation, she really has grown noticeably. Her appearance isn't the only thing that's changing; it's also as if her personality is opening like the springtime blossoms.

One indicator of the change is that Elena now has a favorite movie: Monsters, Inc. At first Jenny was worried that it was too scary, but after watching it together, she decided that Elena could handle it. When they were away, there were a couple of days when Elena was sick. Of course that's the perfect time to relax in front of a movie, and Monsters was the film of choice. There was another day when Elena asked very nicely, in the morning, if she could watch a movie. Jenny asked her to wait until the afternoon, thinking she might forget about it, but she immediately asked "I watch movie now?" when she woke up from her nap, so there was no breaking the promise.

We can tell it's Elena's favorite movie not only because she likes to watch it, but also because she now loves to "scare" us. For instance, when we go for a walk outside, she'll be walking ahead of me when all of a sudden she stops short, turns around with hands above her head, and roars at me. When I act scared or surprised, she thinks it's the funniest thing ever. Then she wants to take a turn walking behind, so I can scare her.

She likes to be a monster so much that she's dropped the pretense of trying to have the element of surprise, which is to say that she just gives us a hearty monster roar whenever she feels like it. She always wants us to be scared, but we don't always comply. I frequently start laughing before I can even act surprised, but she'll just keep on roaring.

On a different note, I made some changes at home to accommodate our growing girl. Most significantly, I turned her crib into a bed. She's been through two nights and two naps without falling out, which is a good start. It helps all of us, especially Jenny, because now Elena can climb in and out of bed on her own and Jenny doesn't have to lift her.

Elena enjoys the autonomy of being able to get into and out of her bed. I should mention that she also recently figured out how to open doors. Jenny tried to squeeze in a shower this morning in the minutes before she expected Elena to wake up. As she approached the end of the shower, she felt a breeze and looked over to see Elena, blanket and bear in hand, peering in to ask how things were going. Again this afternoon Jenny could tell Elena was awake, but had chosen to stay in her room and play quietly after her nap. It wasn't until I got home and went up to say hi that she came downstairs. And then she started monstering us.

There are times when Elena wakes up before she should, like in the middle of the night. When confined to the crib, she would often just stay in there until she fell back asleep. Now that she can get out, we're not sure what she'll do, and moreover we haven't agreed on a plan or policy. Please leave any suggestions or thoughts in the comments.