Life with Ella and Emerson

This is a blog dedicated to my beautiful daughters, Ella and Emerson. Emerson was diagnosed with a rare, genetic disorder called Williams Syndrome when she was 5 months old.

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Location: Wisconsin, United States

Monday, March 03, 2008

Terrible Two's??!!

Emerson is changing so much every day. Most of the time the changes I see in her are so amazing. She is talking more, signing more, and walking more easily. Some changes are also occurring that are so cute, but I realize that they are WS related and will need to be worked on sooner rather than later. A big change that I've seen in her is the extreme social behavior. She is afraid of no one and everyone is her best friend. Examples that I've seen lately; walking up to a shoe sales woman who was kneeling on the floor, touching her arm, crouching so they are face to face and saying, "hi, hi, hi, hi!"; going up to a strange man and holding out her arms and saying, "up!". While this is completely adorable now and she gets all kinds of positive feedback, I've decided that I need to start setting expectation right away. I've tried to think of what is appropriate and what will work long term. I think I'm going to try and let her just say "hi" to people. No touching, no high-fives, no blow kisses, just one single "hi". I think about all of these other ways to greet people, but in a few short years they will be very inappropriate with strangers. I know that she is only two, but this oversocial behavior has come on so strong and literally happened overnight. She has no fear and loves everyone. I've seen her try and kiss strangers. Any advise from the moms with older kids would be very much appreciated.

Another big change in Emerson is the new two year old attitude. She is getting into so much trouble lately. She eats Newman's dog food, dumps his water out, plays in the toilet, drops toys in the toilet, trys to flush them down, opens our entertainment center and empties it, steals towels and walks around with them on her head. Yes, she is a complete goof ball. When I tell her "NOOO!", she now has a tantrum with throwing herself around on the floor, turning red, screaming, and growling at us. She has also put her mouth on me a few times as if to bite me, but thankfully, chose otherwise.

12 Comments:

Blogger Julie said...

She sounds exactly like where Noah is right now. He would go to anyone. We started and new church and I told the lady who runs the nursery right off the bat about his over friendliness. Dr Mervis said at the seminar I went to that you cannot start to young teaching them it is inappropriate. Noah loves to play in the toilet. He also gets very upset when we say No. Good luck I am right there with you.

7:29 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I seriously love those pictures, how cute is she! Love the curly hair, her big blue eyes and that smile :)

8:48 PM  
Blogger Laura said...

I love the pictures! Michaela has the same "Cupcake" line from Gymboree....LOVE that store!

At that age, Michaela would do exactly the same thing....into to EVERYTHING, dumping things out, emptying all my cabinets and silverware drawer in 5 minutes flat without a sound, toothpaste, lotions, anything liquid that squirted had to be stored in a high location....funny thing was that I couldn't put things in a locked cabinet, she could (and still can) get any lock open, but never would pull up a chair to get it from up high....and then pitch the biggest fit when she was told "no".
It was cute and funny (if you weren't the one having to clean up the mess) when she was little. But we knew it wouldn't be so cute later so we tried really hard to discpline all the behaviors we knew would be a problem and not so cute as an older child. It wasn't easy, and we had to come up with some unique methods that would work with her.
Michaela has never, and still doesn't just walk up and talk to people she doesn't know, that's where she's very different from most WS people. She'll get friendly once she knows you and will talk if I tell her it's okay. So I don't have words of wisdom in tha area.

3:44 AM  
Blogger Noel said...

Emerson is so cute and I am glad that she is making such huge gains! It is tough to stop that love-everyone personality, Abi has it too. We have tried and tried to come up with something. I did hear one mom say that she printed pictures of family and close friends and stuck strangers pictures in there, and would ask her child if it was okay to hug this person or if this person got a handshake...Not a bad idea but I haven't tried it yet. Abi has been pretty afraid of everyone lately do to a ton of drs visits.
As for getting into everything...Abi still does it, it has gotten better, but she is not done with it.

Noel

11:49 AM  
Blogger Penny said...

I LOVE her curls. I could hardly pay attention to what you were writing. She is just too cute!

4:26 PM  
Blogger Kerry said...

LOL You are going to have your hands full!!! Sounds like every two year old out there ~ have fun with that!

When I was in KY, a WS girl who was about 6 came up to me and Brady, talking constantly, very sweet. She said, "I wish I could give that baby a hug." She was obviously taught to ask first, which was a great idea. Of course she did give Brady a hug :)

9:39 PM  
Blogger Amy said...

I can so relate! Just last night I had to scream "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO" and run in slow motion towards Avery to get to her to stop her from throwing the toaster down the stairs.

9:34 AM  
Blogger Tara said...

Payton doesn't seem to have the 'no strangers' problem yet. I've been suprised by it - but thankful. I wish I had some advice for you. It would be very nervewracking to see your child just walk up to anyone.
Ahhh - Payton still gets into everything. Not long ago I caught her eating the catfood. I keep asking when it will get better. As for now, she is still my little tornado :)
Emerson is BEAUTIFUL!!!!

10:54 AM  
Blogger Heather said...

Hey Nicole! Sorry it took me so long to respond...
I haven't read what others have said yet, but think you are right on track.
Sounds just like caleb at that age, but of course we had no idea what was going on. I had a very tough time with boundaries. I would definitely suggest making it clear right away what is acceptable and what is not. I know it is really cute at this age, but once they get in a habit it is super hard to break. Especially this one :) Also into absolutely everything. I suggest a toilet lock to everyone with a two - 4 year old! We've replace ours too many times.

5:42 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

By the way, how do they learn to growl? Ava has become the master at growling.

1:30 PM  
Blogger Jen said...

Wow, could she be any cuter?

3:10 PM  
Blogger Aspen said...

Ah those terrible twos. Daven does most of those things too. Toilet fascination, entertainment center emptying, and even the tantrums. Oh dear...our babies sure are growing up aren't they.

The girls look so precious and are growing up to be beautiful little ladies!

7:47 AM  

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