Identity

One of our favorite games with Scarlett is to point to each member of the family and ask, "Who is that?" When she was very little, we would answer for her, then as she began to attempt responses, we would cheer her on and encourage her. An especially funny stage was when she would get confused and say the wrong names. Even funnier was when she figured out this was funny, and began to do it on purpose on occasion. But for the most part, by now she responds correctly and adorably when we point to each member of the family. "Aimee (although she has a little trouble with the "m" sound and replaces it with an "n" sound), "Drew-Drew", "Ryan," "Chase-Chase" (and often, "Chase-CHASE" when she's frustrated with him), and of course, "Mommy" and "Daddy". After making the rounds, we've always finished with, "And who are you?" From the time she's been old enough to make a reply, she's typically said "Mommy," which is cute, but which, incidentally, reminds us of a beautiful truth. Dear new moms, when your tiny ones first need you every moment of every day, when they don't want to sleep by themselves or in any way be parted from the comfort of your arms, part of the reason is that they don't know that they're a separate person from you. As they grow, they began to discover this, but that's also where separation anxiety comes from - it can be an overwhelming thing to realize and embrace your own identity. (I throw this out there, but can't cite my sources, because I don't remember them, although I know my own experiences with children back this up. So I guess you'll just have to take my word for it!)

So anyway, where were we? "Mommy." We've always laughed, and said, "You're Scarlett!" and she has always smiled, but has never even attempted to repeat this. But today, when we asked her the usual question, she said, "Tar-wet!" In toddler-ese, in case you didn't know, that's "Scarlett." It's close enough, anyway, that all of us who were in the room heard and recognized it, and we cheered and asked her numerous times to repeat it. Eventually she got bored and didn't want to play the game anymore, but there it was.

There is no moral to this story, so I hope you weren't looking for one!