Monday, April 27, 2009

Watch Out World

How can such a sweet little girl cause so much mischief?

In the last few weeks Antalya has mastered the art of opening every childproof lock on cupboards, turning the hot water knob on the bathtub, carrying a chair anywhere in the house to access higher locations, and unlocking and opening our backdoor (constantly trying to escape). The end result has been an attitude that she can now do anything she wants, when she wants, without any help from Mommy. Boy was I wrong when I thought she needed constant supervision before!   

Can any of you T21 moms out there offer any advice. This sweet little girl never stops moving - we affectionately refer to her as the "Little Tornado" for very good reason. I am grateful she has so much energy, curiosity, and hunger to discover the world around her. But she also seems to have little, if any, concept of danger, boundaries, or a sense of right or wrong - and I am struggling with how to teach her what she can and cannot do. 

Thanks to my good friend Sonja for the great picture above!

10 comments:

Micah's Mania said...

I guess we are in the same boat..Sun...What are we going to do when they are teenagers???

Michelle said...

What a beautiful picture! I love it!

Yes Kayla fits that description too! LOL I never felt comfortable letting her do her own thing at the playground like the other mothers could just sit on the bench and talk...I'm always right there with her. The one time I tried to give her a little leeway, she disappeared at the zoo! Scary. She's gotten a little bit better as she's gotten older, but yeah - still no real fear or understanding of danger, or especially "stranger danger."

Sonja said...

Well..if any one can tame a tornado it's you, Sunny! :) I wish I had some words of wisdom to impart, but the truth is I could really use some wise words myself! Just keep turning to the Lord.

I really like that picture too! :)

toni said...

Your posts are really starting to scare me! I guess motherhood is all about THIS. What'll you do with 2?

The Leck's said...

We are struggling with the same thing with Aubrey. She doesn't seem to be afraid of anything, and definitely has a hard time understanding right from wrong. Hopefully it's just the age and the little darlings will grow out of it soon. I hope you guys are doing good! Any news on the move?

Unknown said...

I had the same conversation with Sheila just Wednesday! No, not about your "Little tornado" of course by my own Fast and Focused darling. We saw with Montana that telling her "No" or showing her no by moving her away or some other disruption would phase her. She would still likely try it again, but would be watching you to see if she would get caught or get a reaction, stetch to see where the boundary was. Or if she would see you coming to stop her she would do it faster! But not so for Asher. Very focused, determined on doing exactly what he was doing when we told him or showed him "No". Bee-line for the road, drinking from dog bowl, coloring on walls/furniture, throwing his glasses in the opposite direction of my outstretched hand. It sometimes seems that there is a touch of defiance but most of the time just innocent nonrecognition. Is this just where he is in development - that I'm expecting more since he's developing so well in other areas that would seem to accompany this comprehension? Or is it something more? We are also gathering info and developing a plan. Let me know if you find anything good. At the very least, there is comfort in numbers and always more sunshine than rain!

ParkerMama said...

Sunny, go and leave a comment to be entered for the $50.00 gc on Parker's blog. I'm in need of a Utah Momma to win. :D

Parker is just now up and walking. So, I'm not much help with the fearless stuff.

Tammy and Parker
www.prayingforparker.com

Alexis 18 said...

This is the story of my life-except I have a little(we call him shadow)10 month old boy following behind destroying what she has left undestroyed! LOL. She is trying to climb the gate to the kitchen now-I don't like that at all! I wish I knew what to do. I am just exhausted and sick of cleaning up wet toliet paper, spilt milk, cupboards torn apart-anything and everything! Good luck and just keep smiling!

The Mom said...

Ohhh - look at beautiful Miss Antalya! She is getting sooo big!!!!

Brady's not quite the whirlwind type, so no advice - except child locks, child locks, child locks ;) The door ones work great for us since Brady has such poor hand strength, he can't grip them hard enough to get out, but I think that Little Miss A has much better gross and fine motor skills than my boy - sooo - you might have to invest in one of those flip locks higher up, I know that is what several of our friends have done :)

I love that your sweet spunky girl is soo curious :) Can't wait to see what summer adventures she has!

Hugs!

Strawberry Girl said...

HAHAHAHA... that sounds familiar. (My tornado's name is Roxie) :D