One and a bit

Last night Lottie wouldn’t go to sleep at her usual bedtime.  For a while we thought she couldn’t sleep due to the appearance of yet more teeth.  She is one and a bit and has the two bottom and two top teeth through but there are three more just under the surface or cutting through the gum.  And I assume that could be troublesome from the way she was chewing the soft, comforting rubber of the dummy in between bouts of pained crying.

The funny thing was how, once she was out of the cot and upstairs with us in the study all the pain and subsequent crying stopped.

It never ceases to fascinate me what’s going on in those tiny little minds.  There are a few noises emanating from her these days, some of them resemble “papa” or “mama”, there are some general classic little baby noises which can’t easily be replicated in mere words and her absolute favourite word “baby”.  That word comes out loud and clear every time she sees a photo of one of her siblings, or a picture in a book and when she is dealing with Dolly in and out of the toy baby-buggy.

She muddles about lifting Dolly into the seat and then pushes her happily all over the place, all the time saying “baby”.  Then a bit more organising as Dolly gets lifted out and offered round to anyone interested or standing by.  Dolly is then retrieved and off she goes again.  It’s fascinating for me because it shows such understanding already in this young life.  Where do they get it from?  Is it a learned thing, something we have inadvertently taught them?  Or is it, as I suspect, an instinct?  Does this little human being know instinctively how to care for another? 

All the signs point to a yes.