New Experiences

Sammy has grown up so much in the past month.  She now sleeps in a real bed, in a room that feels more like a kid's than a baby's.  She's learning how to deal with social situations in a more independent way, such as learning to introduce herself, ask someone's name, and to interrupt with, "Excuse me."  And, she's had a lot of new experiences lately.  There was the New York trip in December, then the chaos of home improvement in January, the snow in February, and in the past week, she's gone ice skating and to her first rock concert.

Ice skating was about what I had expected.  It took about 20 minutes to get her skates on.  NO, MOMMY, THEY'RE TOO TIGHT!  DO IT RIGHT, MOMMY!  She had a valid complaint.  It's very difficult to know just how tight to pull those laces.  We went to an outdoor rink and it was about 34 degrees out, so it was deserted, which was perfect.  If there had been skaters whizzing by, I don't think she would have gotten on the ice at all.  As it was, she watched me a bit, and was willing to come out on the ice 4 times, each time starting out scared-curious, each time ending with just scared, but after returning to the safety of non-slippery ground, each time wanting more.

Sam has really turned a corner with her persistence.  She seems to have learned the lesson that practice and trying lead to success, at least at a rudimentary level.  She now works on things.  She's been working on buttons, getting her shoes on, locking the front door, and other things that I can't think of right now.  But I definitely see a difference in her willingness to try and fail.  Hopefully this is a lesson that will be naturally reinforced as she tries and succeeds with all the new things that she continues to work on.

On Saturday, we took Sammy to a bar where some neighborhood kids were playing in their band which is organized through their music school, The School of Rock.  It was a real rock concert - loud and raw, with covers of songs from "The Monster Mash" to "Sympathy for the Devil."  Our neighbors were great!  As usual, it took Sammy about a half-hour to get used to the new situation.  Her M.O. is to just sit and observe quietly until she decides something is ok.  She looks spaced out, and won't engage, and if you didn't know her, you'd say she was just off on another planet.  But she is observing, taking it all in, and judging.  Adam and I didn't know how this outing would go because last year, Sammy decided she didn't like loud things.  She wouldn't even go to a movie.  But we sat in the back and it was tolerable.  And after her usual half-hour, she let loose and started dancing and doing the rocker's headbanging.  Unfortunately, when she started, she was sitting at the table and literally banged her head on the table twice before she got to her feet and had some space!  But after that, she was the star of the bar.  It was unbearably cute - this tiny girl rockin' out, flipping her hair up and down, falling to her knees and banging the floor with her fists, and, of course, spinning, her trademark dance move.  She really listens to the music - when there is a pause she'll stop in a dramatic pose, and then when it kicks in again she'll be back to her crazy moves.  It was also interesting to see how differently she dances to loud rock music than she does to the stuff we play at home.  It all just confirms to me how musical she is.

Adam tried to get some video of the whole thing, but it was too dark.  What a shame.  Luckily, I can give you a little taste of the dancing with this video I took after the ice skating.  Her concert performance was much better, but you can see a bit of the head movements here.  Imagine the head flipping doubled in intensity with jumping and wiggling and spinning mixed in, and you'll have an idea of what a born rocker our daughter is: