The Comic Book Family

(Mondays and) Tuesdays with Jadey

I really enjoy my days with Jade while Quentin's at daycare. Don't get me wrong, I miss the alone time I used to have with Quentin, even the drives home after work last year. He's growing up so much, I wish I could spend more time with him. But, when he's not around, I actually get to pay attention to Jade. Quentin takes a lot of energy and attention and really wants to be the main focus.

When Quentin's at daycare, getting attention and doing activities that are great for his development, I get to see Jade growing and developing herself. Today I finally got to interpret some of her actions and see how she is using sign language. (We're using the little bits we used with Quentin, only more because Quentin wants to know how to talk with his hands and has me looking up all sorts of words.) She mastered 'more' today, and after some misinterpretation from mom, I figured out she was trying to use the sign for mom not water, even though she was saying 'mom' I wasn't believing that was what she meant because that's what she says all day. She crawls around saying "mom mom mom mom" occasionally stopping to sit up, clap, and then go back to crawling. We got to play a great game of catch with a little stuffed duck while she was in her swing. She's a little imp that loves to play "you can't catch me!" She's learning how to feed herself. She loves climbing.

There needs to be more time in the world. I want to spend time with Quentin, but I can't always take him on errands, so I do most of them while I have just Jade with me, meaning that the focus isn't on Jade either. Then by the time we get home, it's nap time and then we go get Quentin who is wound up and wanting attention while I try to make dinner. If Quentin's home, attention to Jade is generally trying to save her from too much affection from her brother (who at times thinks that sitting on her is a fun thing to do for both of them). I know I've missed a ton of things with Jade that I didn't miss with Quentin even though I'm rarely apart from her. And I don't have enough time to spend with Quentin, and my house and yard need more attention from me, plus trying to find time to spend with my husband, and then trying to have some sort of social life around family functions...

Anyways. When Jade and I get the opportunity to sit down and focus on each other, I get to be incredibly amazed by the wonderful, intelligent, active little girl I'm blessed to have as a daughter. Obviously she's a very cute and very happy girl, but to realize how much she's learned and just how much she can do...wow.

posted by The Jaded Bee @ 1:17 AM