I find that the older she gets, the more attention she needs from us. The TV used to be the ultimate babysitter when I need to get her attention off me. Then it became less effective, she would come looking for me after a while. The TV was still capable of capturing her attention once I sat her in front of it. Now it is almost useless, just impossible to just sit her in front of a 30min show without me staying really nearby. I must stay by her side; else she will come pulling my hands, insisting that I follow her. Luckily she doesn’t insist that I must focus on the show, thus I could catch up on some reading.

A lot of hand pulling, body pushing lately from her for the past month too. We have become her extension, her special help to accomplish her tasks. Whenever she came looking for me and pulling my hands, I am 100% sure something is going on. Either the children show she was watching was interrupted by some error message, the toy she was playing has ended up in some unreachable corners, or simply because she wanted me to read her something.

And tots can be very persistent; they won’t stop pestering you unless you accede to their request. But I am mostly happy to attend to her need. I am happy to see this self awareness development, and am glad that she is able to see us as partners to get things done. It is certainly a leap forward from giving up easily when daunted by a problem, or staying still with a clueless expression when her toys disappeared.