Day 50: Her Girl

Sabine and I have a line that we say - I ask, "Who's my girl?" and she says, "Me!" Now Sabine's got a girl of her own. I ask her, "Who's your girl?" And she answers with a coy smile, "Honey..." This refers to Baby Honey, so named by Jacob when he was Sabine's age. He would sit and rock the doll while repeating, "Honey, honey..." to sooth her. So when I asked Jacob what her name should be, he said Honey, of course. And yes I know when it's used as a term of endearment, it's usually spelled hunny. But honey, as in the sweet golden nectar, just fits better.

Sabine doesn't talk as much, actually, I should say she doesn't have as many words and her speech isn't as developed as the 'norm' for her age, but really, she doesn't stop 'talking'. She just started saying Honey a couple weeks ago, and she's been saying Baby for a long time now, it's one of her favorites. The words come out more like this though, "Bebe Honny," so it's just the cutest thing to hear her say it.

Anyway, this photo is from a lazy morning the other day. We were still in or around the bed, and I think Sabine must have been asking to nurse. I'm trying to limit the nursing these days so I probably suggested that maybe Sabine nurse Baby Honey instead. After requesting her Boppy, she did just that. She actually sat there for quite a long time, very peaceful and quiet. I recognize that vacant look in her eyes from my own many, many hours of nursing wee little ones. She's returned to that activity each day since and it's rapidly becoming a favorite around here.

I actually think it's quiet healthy for a two year old to have an activity where they can sit and be still like that, lost in a pretend world; something they can use to reign their crazy toddler energy in with. I think it useful tool to have in learning self-regulation. Sabine is not the first child to nurse Baby Honey. Jacob actually started the tradition and logged many hours breastfeeding Baby Honey, as well as other stuffed animals. And who knows what happened before then because she was given to me as a gift way back when I was Jacob's age.