Space Aliens Strike Again

We’ve now been in Dublin for what, 7 weeks? And in the last week or so our little darling has apparently undergone another space alien software upgrade during one of the nights. Like the other upgrades that came before, she seems to have started these new or increased behaviours overnight.

Even though I’ve remarked before that she has a strong personality, it’s becoming more pronounced. She has definite likes and dislikes, and is expressing her independence in somewhat troubling ways.

She no longer wants to hold our hands when out walking – she’ll wiggle and pull her hand back, slapping us away. And if that doesn’t work, she’ll start to voice her displeasure with increasing volume, sitting down where she is and throwing a tantrum until we let her loose. This can be particularly distressing when walking along busy roads and in parking lots, and of course when it happens (with evil, calculated dramatic timing) in public places like shopping malls.

She also wants to feed herself. With at very least her own spoon, if not her fork (though the little plastic fork isn’t very sharp and is next to useless, imho). If she’s really hungry she will submit to us feeding her (she’s pragmatic here – as we can feed her faster than she can feed herself). Though after a dozen or so spoonfuls she starts refusing to eat and screaming until we hand over the spoon and allow her to now feed herself. I have to admit that she’s pretty good at it now, able to keep the spoon level enough to get 80% or so of the food into her mouth. And with the right yoghurt, she’s able to empty the cup almost clean.

She does still accept food from us as long as it’s on our fork though – she recognizes that it’s a Big Person utensil and is worthy of eating from.

And she’s developed a sense of food preferences. In fact when we give her food that she decides is unappealing for whatever reason, she’ll look at it with disapproval then shake her head “no!” before pushing the bowl away from her. It can be her favourite food that she’s just decided is boring, it can be yummy Big Person desserts that she thinks looks like pureed baby food, or it can be that she just decides for whatever reason she doesn’t want to try it. And then it’s frown, head-shake “no!”, push the bowl away and sometimes even vocalize her displeasure.

I could go on but it’s late at night and I don’t want to sit here much longer… so more later.