Following Directions

Anna is getting very good about following directions. We have a lot of routines that have made life, for the most part, very smooth. We’ve been adding to them as her cognition increases.

One of my favorites is taking off her mittens. I take the right one (the ‘bad’ hand) off and then she has to take the left one off. She does it very well and quickly and then hands it to me. In fact, if I walk away before she’s had a chance to give it to me, she’ll wait until I come back to give it to me rather than casting it aside. It’s funny though because when we’re at my mom’s she always hands it to her.

Another favorite is when it’s time to put on Anna’s coat. Generally we put it on in the hallway so I ask Anna to sit on the bottom step. She has grown so accustomed to it that if I mention putting her coat on anywhere else in the house, she heads right for the step. And if she doesn’t see her coat, she’ll walk over to the closet and wait for me to get it out for her. She’s such a social butterfly – any mention of heading out the door and she’s thrilled!

Here’s another good one: At night we always read a book before bedtime. We sit in the rocking chair together and Anna helps me turn the pages. When the book is over, I say ‘all done’. A couple of weeks ago we started say ‘bye, bye’ to the book and Anna would wave. Now it’s evolved into Anna bringing the book to her mouth and kissing it – her father is very jealous!
My absolute favorite to date: Last night after I put Anna in her crib and covered her up with blankets, she took her pacifier out of her mouth and blew me a kiss as if to say, ‘ok, stop talking, I’m tired!’ It’s so hard not to laugh and pick her up for one last squeeze.