Identifying with Emotions

Toddlerhood is upon us full force. Ariana says a new word every few days and picks up on new signs in about the same time frame as well. She can correctly identify every part of your face (ears and hair included) when prompted, and can spot a duck from miles away. But along with all of her sheer brilliance comes her independent streak. This is both a blessing and a curse. She wants to run everywhere, but if you try to take her hand to keep her walking with you she jerks her hand away and clutches it against her chest and yells. If you stop to scoop her up she squats down where she is and curls up into a ball and screams. All is well within seconds of being in my arms, but she is letting us know more and more what she wants and doesn't want!

And so begins our journey to helping her identify with her emotions. If I remove her from the DVDs while telling and signing no to her because she's ripped them from the shelf one to many times that day , she arches her back and screams. So I've begun making an angry face and saying "Oooh! Ariana is so angry at Mommy!" Which is apparently hilarious, but I think it's catching on...

perfecting the look:


Ariana's version of my angry face:


Oh, if we could all look so cute while fuming! She's starting to use this face at appropriate times so I think it's starting to catch on! Of course, we laugh and "awww" over the angry face, which usually gets us the other one we're working on...

The happy face!


This is also the face we get when we ask her to "say cheese" for pictures.


Couldn't you just gobble her up?