Never mind, we can buy another one

From somewhere, Rosemary has developed the idea that everything is replaceable. If she drops something, breaks something or loses something, she says 'Never mind, we can buy another one.' If we've run out of noodles or oat biscuits, she will say 'Maybe we can buy some more.' If she sees a toy she likes at her nursery school or at Parliament, and she's told she can't take it home with her, she might say 'Oh OK, maybe we can buy one for me.'

Perhaps she thinks she can single-handedly bring the economy back into gear.

(Not really monthly) update

Well, it's been an absolute age since I've done an update, so it can't really be called a monthly one anymore!

Age: 27 months

Size/weight: Weighs about 2 stone, not sure of height. Mostly in 2-3 year clothes, actually has a few tops that are 3-4 and her new mac is 3-4 as she complains about coats being 'too tight' a lot. I have now discovered the really easy way to take trousers up (iron on hemming thing, that takes about 2 minutes, instead of the 45 minutes it takes me to sew up one trouser leg), so am happier about buying trousers that are nice and loose, but far too long.

Health: Generally pretty good, though she's had two colds/coughs this month.

Teeth: She still has some gaps at the back, though maybe they're supposed to b there. She loves brushing her teeth, and would do so 5 or 6 times a day, given the chance. She's also usually happy for us to brush them a bit, to ensure they are being properly brushed; sometimes we have to let her brush our teeth, though. I almost always brush my teeth at the same time as she does, unless I've done them already for some reason, as I think it's good for to see it. I actually have no idea if Chris does the same.

Toiletting: Getting much closer to being dry. She's on her second potty and toilet reward chart (she got a toy snake as a prize for filling the first one up). When at home, she's now frequently realising she needs to wee or poo and pulling her trousers (and nappy, if she has one on) down and sitting on the potty. She still has quite a few accidents when she's just got trousers on, but they're gradually going. She's not much good on the toilet anymore - odd, because we thought she might bypass the potty and go straight to the toilet. I think she appreciates the immediacy of the potty; there's no need to walk upstairs and she doesn't have to worry about having to get someone to open the door for her. The potty (or potties; we have three of them; one on each floor) gives her the ability to be more independent (which is something she is clearly craving.

Sleep: Well, she had quite a bad night tonight, deciding to make a game out of bedtime. However, generally speaking she's going to bed very well and without hours of watching TV, which is useful. And, more to the point, she's going to bed at a reasonable time (usually between 7 and 8pm, though tonight she held out until 8.30pm). She comes into our bed in the early hours far too often and hasn't had a star on her staying in her own bed chart for a long time. She rarely has a daytime nap now, though sometimes falls asleep in her buggy if she's had a long day.

Eating: She's generally not too keen on evening meals at the moment, though can surprise us (with no apparent logic, unfortunately) and really wolf something down. She's very keen on noodles at the moment and quite often has some at lunchtime. She usually has a lot of breakfast and a fair amount at lunchtime and also usually has some snacks in between. She's back into bananas again, after having a couple of weeks of not liking them. She really loves pears and quite likes apples. She also prefers food from my plate, even though it's usually exactly the same as the food on her plate. She's fairly reluctant to try new things at the moment, though I'm sure that's just a phase.

Speech/communication: This is the area where she's very forward. She can explain what she needs or wants, what she's been doing, what she's going to do, and so on. She still sometimes forgets that she explain things, or is too quick to get upset, but once she's calmed down, she usually remembers that she can use words to tell us why she's upset. She can say some things in Spanish and quite a lot in Esperanto, which her Granny often speaks to her. The other day when we were running to catch the train, we were saying 'One, two, three, wheeeeeee,' and, after we'd done that a few times, she said 'In Spanish, this time,' then it was 'Uno, dos, tres, wheeeeee,' (if anyone can tell me the translation for 'wheeeeee' that would be really helpful) a few times. The interesting thing here, I think, is that she's recognising it as a different language, rather than just different words. The other thing I've noticed her doing is saying made-up words that sound a bit Spanish (pretty sure they're not actual Spanish or Esperanto words!), which is how babies learn a language and how I learnt Spanish when we lived in Spain. (Sorry, Chris and I are both very interested in language and linguistic development and so on, so we can go on about it a fair bit. Which could also contribute to her being forward in that area, I imagine.)

Intellectual development: Pretty good, I would say. She often listens when we explain why we need to do something or not do something and sometimes asks questions about the explanation. She's drawing faces now and she was making more complicated playdough creatures today, asking me to roll balls to make into eyes, and then sticking them on - on on each side (wiggly worm). She did also think that the worm needed two legs. She listens to longer stories, now, and can talk about the story afterwards. (Can also tell you what happened to Peppa Pig after watching an episode, etc.) Her counting has definitely progressed to actually counting objects and not just saying the numbers, though sometimes she does still continue counting after she's reached the end of a series. She recognises a number of different letters - O for Owl, M for Mummy, E for Eva, T for Tasha, J for Jenny, I for Ice cream... - and has started to realise that words in books say things and pointing at them and asking 'What is it?' or 'What's its name?'. She can move things around to get to places she can't reach - for example, she can pull a chair across so that she can press play on the CD player, pull a box across so that she can wash her hands or climb into the bath, pull a box across so she can look out our bedroom window, etc. There's undoubtedly much more to mention here, but we certainly don't have any concerns about her intellectual development.

Emotional development: We have been experiencing the 'fun' of the 'terrible twos' over the last few months. As I'm sure most parents do, we thought we'd escaped this, until it actually arrived. We said things like 'She did the terrible twos early. They lasted about two weeks.' And people told us that we might need to be prepared and that perhaps it was still to come. Well, they were right. For the most part, I can identify some logic behind it (in Rosemary's case, I mean; not every two-year-old!). It seems to be down to two things, the first being the conflict between the desire and need to be independent and the inabilty to do everything. The most common scenes occur when her nappy needs changing, when it's time to get dressed and when it's time to go to sleep - all things that she's wanting to be able to do herself, but not quite there yet. The other thing is the inability, despite advanced language development, to quickly explain what she means. For example, she might ask me to tuck her in, and will scream because I didn't do it the way she wanted. She's less likely to scream these days, but may shout 'No, like this!' and even stomp her feet. But the problem comes when she has to explain what 'like this' is. She's getting better at explaining things, and including a number of steps, now, for example 'Put the cover down here, then wrap it round me' (turned out that tucking her in isn't tucking the covers under the mattress, but tucking them under her; who'd a thunk it?). But she needs to think about it before she can come up with such an explanation, hence the immediate reaction is still often just 'No! Like this!'

We went through a stage (probably a couple of weeks) of 'banging'. Banging is essentially hitting and she does now know the word 'hitting' as well. At first it was just banging a spoon or fork on the table (you know, there's actually a children's book that says 'A spoon's great for banging; a cup fits your paw', or possibly the other way round and it annoys me a bit whenever I read it, because it's really annoying having a small child banging cups and spoons on the table!), but then it progressed to hitting us and Wesley (and various cuddly toys). And there were a couple of occasions where she hit another child while running past them (i.e. running around very fast and randomly sticks her hand out and shouts 'Bang!'). This is another area where I always watched the children doing this and wondered what their parents could be doing wrong, because of course my children would never do such a thing. Apparently it's a phase that most children go through and it's just a question of how long it will last - and how you deal with, of course. We seem to be over it, for the most part. Very occasionally, when she's very excited, she still does it to us, but she also usually realises she's done it and says 'Oh, sorry, I banged you.' How do we deal with it? For the most part we tell her it's not nice and that it hurts and it's not nice to hurt people or animals. We also say things like 'We don't like banging or biting or scratching. What do we like? We like kisses and cuddles and tickles and raspberries.' If it's protracted (doesn't really happen any more, touch wood), then we might (if it's safe to do so), leave the room and say we're not coming back in until she's going to be nice and friendly. Of course (I say, of course, but I realise that it's not obvious to everyone), what we never do is hit back, or bite back or scratch back.

Over the last two weeks she has become a lot more clingy with me, saying 'I need you, Mummy.' and literally clinging on tight to me. This morning, for the first time in my recollection, she said she didn't want to go with Granny, but wanted to stay with me. A brief talk about what she'd be doing and how she would see me in a few hours when she got home, and she was fine. And, of course, she had a lovely time, as she always does. I'm wondering if this might have something to do with starting nursery school. She adores going there and asks to go in there whenever we walk past, even if it's a weekend. She's has no qualms whatsoever about staying there without us and always has a good time. However, I wonder if there's a conflict between her desire to be more independent and not quite being ready to be. (Or perhaps I'm over-thinking it!!)

Social development: She's getting better at sharing, though still does snatch sometimes. She's good at offering her things - the ones she wants to - but she's not quite so happy when someone has something she doesn't want to share. She's getting on well at nursery school and likes the other children. She's particularly enjoyed playing with an older girl, which is often the case, it seems. She's still quite shy with many adults, but seems to be OK with the adults at nursery school (though on her first day she did say that she didn't like them because 'They're too old'). She still has a tendency to go up to other children and give them big hugs, something that many children find a bit upsetting, for some reason! Anyone in a buggy she'll say 'Awww. What a cute baby', even if they're clearly (to us, anyway) older than her. She shows sympathy and concern when she sees another child or baby crying. She's generally quite good at taking turns, in the park, for instance.

Likes: Going on the merry-go-round, running, being pushed in the buggy running 'really, really fast', noodles and bread and butter and peanut butter (not at the same time), being talked to by a hand puppet (Snake is the favourite, but Eeyore, Mouse, Dragon, Knight and Princess also work), climbing over and up just about anything that she can manage (us, chairs, walls, park equipment), The Wizard of Oz, Peppa Pig, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Boris and Dudley puppet books, reading in general (mostly being read to, again, but asks lots of questions and will join in with some of the ones she knows very well), probably a gazillion other things I can't think of right now.

Dislikes: Having her hair rinsed, getting dressed when she doesn't want to, having her poopy nappy changed (fortunately, we don't have to do that very often as she does most of them on the potty), sitting at the dining table at dinner time for more than about three minutes, any clothes or straps that are not really, really loose, and probably a bunch of other stuff, too.

Developmental worries: None

New tricks/skills: Pulling her trousers and nappy or pants down so she can use the potty (and realising she needs to!), drawing faces, probably lots of other things that I have not properly noticed!

Either really, really sweet or slightly creepy

Jenny has a young boy named Liam living next door to her who plays with Rosemary quite a lot when she's over there. Liam's dad died recently, and when Tasha was explaining this to her, Rosemary asked if Liam wanted to borrow her daddy. I'm not clear if this means she thinks I'm worth lending or that she wants rid of me.

Tasha'a birthday

But really, as always, it's about the Rosie. Video especially noteworthy for her acrobatics trick at the end.



Sorry for the poor light. Blame the tilt of the Earth's axis.

First day at (nursery) school

Well not quite, but it was her taster session at The Shambles Nursery School, today. She was very excited to be going to 'school' and was expecting to see lots of bags and, for some reason, a giraffe. She was so excited that I was able to use it as tool to persuade her to go back to sleep in her own bed at 4am ('Go back to sleep in your own bed, like a big girl who goes to nursery school.'). And when she woke up, at just after 8am, she came running into our room and said 'Mummy, get up, it's morning time. I need to get dressed and brush my teeth and go to nursery school. Come on!'

We arrived at about 10am, knocked on the door and were let in, at which point she immediately ran off to the water play area. I spoke to Patsy, the woman in charge for a bit, then she said 'If you want to try leaving her, you can.' Wow! Wasn't expecting that, but it makes sense to try it at the taster session, to prepare for any potential problems. So I went over to Rosemary and asked if she would be OK if I left for half an hour. 'OK. Bye.' and she ran off to some other activity. I left my mobile number and went and had a coffee. It felt very strange.

When I got back she was happily playing in the home corner. She noticed me and came over to show me a saucepan. Apparently, she was absolutely fine. She explored most of the different activities they had out and she had some milk at snack time. Patsy did have to intervene at one point when she was trying to take something from another girl in the home corner but, apparently, when asked, she was quite happy to have something else to play with instead and there were no tantrums.

The difficult part was persuading her to leave, as she would quite happily have stayed there for the rest of the session. I did manage to talk her into leaving, in the end, though, again with no tears. As we walked down the steps she said 'I like my new nursery school, mummy.'

So.... roll on 10 November, as Rosemary is definitely ready for it!

Conversations with pink doggies

You stay in your buggy! There's a busy road. It's dangerous. No you can't get out and walk. Maybe when we get to the bus, you can. You OK? Awww. I love you. It's OK. Don't cry.

I overheard this while I was loading the dishwasher and Rosemary was walking round the dining table with her pink doggie in her buggie. It's fascinating listening to these kinds of conversation, because it is, at the moment, almost entirely reflecting back what we say to her on a regular basis. Which is a reminder to us all that we need to be extra careful what we say to, but also around, young children.

Cleaning up

Rosemary's latest 'thing' is wiping. She likes to take a baby wipe and go around the house (and elsewhere) wiping everything in sight. The other day, she went to the park with Granny Jenny and didn't go on any of the equipment; she just wiped it all.

Some of the things she says while she's wiping:

• I've just got to wipe this.
  
• Hmm, this is dirty. I have to wipe it.
  
• I'm a good wiper.

In addition to this, a slightly more useful habit she has developed is putting her bowls, plates and cutlery in the sink when she's finished with them (fortunately, she still uses plastic implements, otherwise we might have a lot of broken china on our hands). She hasn't worked out how to load the new dishwasher yet, but I'm hoping that will come within a few months ;) .

I was going to say I have no idea where she gets it from, as I consider myself very much an undomestic goddess. However, wiping the tables and worksurfaces down and doing the dishes are both things that I do make a point of doing quite a lot, so it could actually be something she's picking up from me. So, watch this space, and maybe Facebook and Babyworld, for when she picks up the whole blogging and rambling on inanely on the net thing from me (us!).

I'm getting cross, mummy!

Rosemary is picking up body language as well as verbal language, apparently. The other night, I accidentally squashed her mummy (?! - some bubbles from the bath that she had put on the side of the bath, saying 'This is you, Mummy.'). She looked at me, pouted, then put her hands on her hips and said 'I'm getting cross, Mummy!'

Response to Gail's question

Gail asked:

How do her motor skills compare? Or her social skills?

I thought I'd answer here, as other people might be interested...

She's pretty up there with most things, to be honest, though her language skills are the thing she's very ahead in (though, language is one of the things that children develop at such completely different rates, so it's difficult to say anyone's ahead) compared to her peers at toddler group, though there is one girl who's comparable, if not a bit further ahead.

She runs all around the playground, climbing up slides and nets easily and walks along the balance beam. She can jump with two feet, walk up and down stairs, though she's not allowed to walk down our stairs on her own still because they're so steep; she has to bump down on her bum (remember, I broke my ankle on those stairs, so I'm a bit paranoid about them!). She climbs all over the furniture and us.

She can undo her shoe buckles, though not do them up. She can draw straight lines and circles and almost write 'mummy'. She can do simple jigsaw puzzles and play pairs and snap (though she gets bored quite quickly and isn't too keen on 'rules'!). She can use a fork and spoon and just about cut and spread with a knife, though not incredibly well.

Socially, for the most part she's very friendly, though can be shy of some adults. She gets on particularly well with children a year or two older than her, though she is very affectionate with babies and little children (apart from one time a couple of weeks ago when she was running round the library and hit a baby on her way past, which was fairly mortifying!). She's reasonably good at sharing, but does forget sometimes and snatches.

She will throw smallish tantrums still, though for the most part she will calm down with a bit of explanation or a request for her to 'Stop crying for a bit, so that you can tell us what you need.' Sometimes, when she doesn't get what she wants, she will throw herself on the floor and kick and scream, but it doesn't normally last very long, thankfully.

She's not potty trained yet, but is on her way there, doing lots of poos and wees on the toilet and getting better at realising she needs to go and asking. (Though she also uses it as an excuse not to go to sleep - 'I need to do a poo on the toilet, now!' once is fine, 5 or 6 times, is definitely messing about!)

Can't think of anything else off hand.

Today, this blog was brought to you by the letters M and E and by the number 3

Rosemary is fond of the number 3 at the moment. When faced with 'Just one more... ' (e.g. '... book', '... rock-a-by-baby', '... episode'), she is now responding with 'No, three more.' And, actually, for the most part, she is satisfied when she has had the three more whatever it is. If she isn't, and you say 'But that was the deal. Remember? Three more...' she generally complies.

And talking of the word 'remember', she's taken to using that herself now. I frequently use it when I'm reminding her of a deal we have made (e.g. 'you can play with the playdough now, but you have to get dressed after'; 'you can watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but when it's finished we are going to tidy the living room', etc.). When we've finished whatever it is, she will usually try to do something else, and I usually have to repeat the deal and say 'Remember?' Now, when she wants to do something, she'll say something like 'I will play with the playdough now. Remember?' or 'I will have Cheerios now. You know? Remember?' She's not quite got its use correct yet, of course!

I'm wondering whether most of Rosemary's surprising/interesting developments are actually in the realms of language, or whether it's just that we notice that more because we're both interested in language and linguistics and language development, etc. Are there lots of other things that we should be noticing and blogging about?

Weaned!

Well, Rosemary is no longer having Mummy Milk.

This happened purely by accident. When she was under the weather, she fell asleep before getting home 3 days running, the first day she had a bit on waking, which she wouldn't normally have been allowed, but she was off her food, so the nutrients (and the antibodies, of course) were useful, so I demured. The second and third days she didn't ask for any on waking, or in the evening. The fourth day, Chris took her home while I went to have my hair cut, and managed to get her to sleep (not without a fight!). She did ask in the evening and I told there wasn't any left and she said 'Oh, OK.' Today she asked in the morning but, again, I said it was all gone, and she said 'OK.' and went off to do something else. She didn't have a proper nap though. She fell asleep in the buggy on the way home, but woke up when I transferred her to her bed and then spent the next two hours trying very hard not to go to sleep. But... she went to sleep at a more reasonable hour in the evening - and nice and easily.

We'll have to see how it goes with the napping - she's getting to the point where she sometimes doesn't have one, anyway, so maybe it won't be an issue. But however it goes, we can't resort to Mummy Milk, as it's all gone.

Hooray! Bring on the anti-histamines. (I'd say bring on the booze, too, but it's been so long since I've been able to drink more than one drink, I'd be hungover for a week, which is not something I'd enjoy.)

Reading

This is what happens in the morning if I have to do housework and the TV is off:



It might be tidier and quieter to put the TV on, but it's very nice to be able to walk in and find her sitting in the reading chair reading a book!

Busy timetable

This morning I had some fun doing a logic problem. I had to work out when Rosemary could go to the Shambles Nursery when she starts in November, when she starts going to Uplands Playgroup in May and next September, when she will be doing three mornings at Uplands. I also wanted to try to keep a decent amount of time with Granny, so it doesn't seem like she's going to nursery instead of Granny's and I needed to keep some swimming time in there and some Mummy and Daddy time!

So, from 10 November, she will be going to the Shambles Monday morning and Tuesday afternoon, Granny's Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning, Parliament drop-in Wednesday afternoon, swimming Monday and/or Friday afternoon and she will have Mummy/Daddy time Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon.

From May next year she'll add Wednesday morning and Friday morning at Uplands, with all day Thursday with Granny and possibly Friday afternoon with Granny too, which mean swimming Monday only - or at the weekend.

From September next yera she'll be doing Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at Uplands and Tuesday, Thursday mornings at the Shambles, swimming Monday afternoon, Parliament Wednesday afternoon and Granny Friday afternoon. With an option on maybe switching afternoons round a bit and doing a one or two afternoons at the Shambles if she wants to.

Wow! Of course, lots of this can be changed/cancelled if necessary (the Shambles and Uplands one can't be swapped round much, because they both are very heavily subscribed), so if it ends up being far too much for her (or us!) we can change it. I think she's probably going to really enjoy it all, though. And perhaps will enjoy nice quiet time with her mum and dad more for it.

That's where Grandma and Grandpa go

Rosemary and I were sat on the sofa yesterday and the book I'm currently reading was sat on the footstool.

• Rosemary (pointing at book): What's that?
• Me: That's the book I'm reading, now. It's called 44 Scotland Street and it's by...
  
• Rosemary: That's where Grandma and Grandpa go!
  
• Me: Oh. Yes. Scotland. That's where Grandma and Grandpa go. Very good!

She quite often asks 'Where are Grandma and Grandpa?' and a common response is 'They went back to Scotland. That's where they live.'

As always, it amazes me what she remembers. Probably particularly as I am so forgetful myself.

Goodness me!

When Rosemary needs her nappy changed or is going to the loo, one of her cuddly toys usually comes with her, too:

• R: I've got a poo.
  
• T: OK. Let's go and change your nappy, then.
• R: Hippo's got a poo, too.
  
• T: OK. Well, you'd better bring him too.
• R: Goodness me! What a big poo. Goodness me! OK, hippo. You lie down. Lie down! Now I'm wiping you. There you go, hippo!
• T: OK. Very good. Hippo's all clean. Now it's your turn. Lie on the mat, please.
  
• R: Oh no! Hippo's pooing again. I'll just have to change his nappy.

This can go on for a while, without some kind of intervention from me (sometimes bribery, sometimes distraction and sometimes getting cross).

The bit I love is the 'Gooodness me!'. It's only hearing her say it that I realise I say it a lot, especially when she has really messy nappy.

The seaside

Rosemary went to the seaside last week - here are some of the pictures. (Facebook people click 'View original post'!)

I don't know, either

Rosemary was sitting in the living room eating her breakfast the other morning and Batman (think it was Batman - could have been some other cartoon) was on the on the TV. The following impressed us:

Chris: Why does the red-headed girl call the other red-headed girl 'Red'? Why doesn't anyone call her 'Red'?
Tasha: I don't know.
Rosemary: I don't know, either.

We were impressed both that she was listening to our conversation and also with the correct use of the word 'either'. I wonder how long we will be marvelling at her linguistic development? Presumably we'll stop at some point.

Ducks, lakes and trikes

Rosemary's favourite thing to make with the playdough that came in the big red box Eva made for her birthday (for those who don't know, the big red box is a huge collection of art and craft things - paper, glue, feathers, foam shapes, stickers, paints, crayons, pencils, etc. etc. and playdough) is a lake and a duck to go on it. Below are her attempt and mine.

This is the first time she's really made them both independently. First time Chris suggested that she could make a lake for the duck he had made. A number of times she asked for me to make a duck and then she said she would make a lake for the duck. This time she again asked for a duck to be made, but while I was busy doing that (after being castigated for not putting a head on the duck - I thought it had a head!), she made her own lake and her own duck.

The other two photos are also birthday related in that she's riding her trike (her 'big' present from me and Chris) in the park. This generally involves treating it a bit like a buggy and being pushed all the way to the park and maybe a little bit in the park and then saying 'I want to get out,' and going off to play on the slide as usual.

Driving in my car!

Rosemary was showing how imaginative she is getting this evening, so I grabbed my phone and took some photos and a bit of video. She's basically made the suitcase into her car. She straps herself in using the strap and takes her dolls and teddies for drives in it. (If you turn the volume on the video up enough to hear what she's saying, unfortunately it sounds as though I've just run a marathon and when I talk it's really loud.)

Anyway, enjoy.

(If you're looking at this on Facebook, you probably won't be able to see the pictures or the video, in which case you'll need to click 'View original post' to come to the actual blog.)

Recent photos

Imaginative play

Since Rosemary has had her new HappyLand Cottage I've been really enjoying eavesdropping on her imagination. It's fascinating to listen to her talking to the people and getting them to do things. Here are some examples of things I've heard her saying while playing with it:

• You go to sleep, now, Daddy.
  
• You going to walk the doggie, Mummy?
  
• Come one, boy! Get up!
• How are you, today, girl?
  
• You come on, girl. Now!
  

But it's not just playing with this that demonstrates her burgeoning imagination, we also see her changing Eeyore's nappy, sitting Tiger on the toilet to do a poo, feeding baby (usually with ice cream), reading baby books. And one that particularly bowled me over the other day: we were sat in her room after she'd woken from her nap and my book was on her bed; she picked it up and opened it up at a random page, then started reading to me:

• Once upon a time, there was a big girl called Mummy Tasha. She lived in a big house with Daddy and Wesley and Rosie. She took the dog for a walk and he barked lots.
  

This is a very close approximation to me telling her a story about Rosemary, where I always start 'Once upon a time, there was a little girl called Rosemary. She lived in a really big house with her Mummy, her Daddy and her dog Wesley.' I then tend to tell a story about something she has done recently or something she does regularly (e.g. going swimming, going to see Granny, etc.), though more recently I've been getting a bit more imaginative, myself.

Anyway, we're really enjoying being witness to the whole birth of creativity and imagination!

Monthly update for June 2008

Age: 23 months (can't believe she's almost 2!)

Size/weight: Still combination between 2 years and 18-months–2 years clothes. Weight I have no idea!

Health: Very good

Teeth: Just the canines to come now, I think.

Toiletting: Well, she did a poo on the toilet today, with her Granny. They were in the churchyard on the way to get the bus and she apparently said 'I need a poo.', so they dashed to the public loos and she sat on the toilet and did a poo. She also did another one in her nappy about 5 minutes later, but that's fairly momentous, none-the-less. Nothing on the potties yet, though has been sitting on them for slightly longer at a time. Maybe she will be a straight to toilet girl. I imagine potties aren't very comfortable!

Sleep: Bedtime still pretty good, though I'm much worse at getting her to sleep than anyone else, it seems. Eva got her to sleep pretty easily the other night. Chris does it most nights. When I do it, she almost always seems to stay awake until 11pm and make a big fuss until she's really too tired not to do anything but sleep.

Nap time is usually 2-3 hours still and mostly painless. Today she didn't go down until 4pm, though, and yesterday not until 3pm. We'll see if this is just a blip or maybe the start of cutting out the nap altogether. (Please, not yet!)

Still waking in the night, but often going back to sleep quite easily (sometimes just needs one of us to say 'It's OK. Go back to bed.' or something like that). The early morning one is the worst for getting her back to sleep, though (usually between 5am and 7am) and sometimes she just ends up getting up. The black out lining helps a lot, but there is still some light coming in, and Wesley's usually moving about expecting to be let out and I think it's possible she can sense that I'm thinking about getting up and then is more likely to do so herself. If she'd just leave waking up until after 7am, it would be fine and we could just make that getting up time, but 5am is a bit too early!

Eating: She's doing pretty well, with food, though still often doesn't want to sit at the table for long at dinner time. She does seem to prefer grazing at the moment. She had ice cream for the first time in ages the other night, because she asked nicely, waited patiently and had eaten plenty of dinner. She was very pleased. And she accepted it without quibble when she wasn't allowed any the next night, which is good.

Speech/communication: Very good, as always. She's been doing a lot of imaginative talking recently, as well, which is such fun to watch/listen to. She uses her dolls and cuddly toys and sits them down to read them stories, puts them to bed, feeds them, etc. One of her favourite things at the moment is saying 'How are you today?' and if asked it herself, she'll answer it with 'I'm fine.' 'I'm very well.' or 'I'm not very well.' She's getting better at stopping fairly soon after the start of a tantrum and trying to put into words what she wants/needs, as she's realising that sometimes it's just that we haven't understood her.

Intellectual development: Very good, as well. Her imagination is growing (see above). You can see her thinking about how to do something/get something before trying (or after trying for a bit and failing - rather than automatically screaming and throwing herself on the floor). She recognises some letters and numbers (M for mummy, A for apple and sometimes others, the number 3 and sometime 2). She knows the whole alphabet song, as well as loads and loads of nursery rhymes. She has some colouring books now and does try to colour in (though she's a fair way off from being to keep within the lines), including picking different colours.

Emotional development: She's growing out of her tantrums, it seems, as her communication abilities and thought processes develop. They still occur, but they are a lot fewer. (And, as a result, my own screaming tantrums are practically non-existant!)

Social development: She's showing more desire to play with other children - especially older ones - though still doesn't understand sharing ('That's mine' is a very common phrase coming out of her mouth.) She's still quite shy of a lot of adults, though getting a bit more inclined to talk to them.

Physical development: She's really good at climbing now. She can walk backwards, jump, kick a ball, stand on one foot while holding something, almost do a headstand, dance, walk up and downstairs (though needs help still with our steep stairs), walk very well along the balancing thing at the park, climb the net on the slide at the park, build a tower.

Likes: Her new rocking horse, walking when out and about, her new HappyLand house and sandwich kit (though they only arrived today, so don't know for sure that they'll continue to be popular), climbing up furniture and people, running, strawberries, raspberries, toast, crackers and Philadelphia, TV, reading books (a lot more independent reading these days with attempts to actuall tell the story or make up a new one), playing with the letters in the bath, and probably lots more.

Dislikes: Seagulls, apparently (there were a lot of them in Cardiff when we went down to visit her Nana the other day, and she was very clear 'I don't like seagulls.'), not getting her own way (though is accepting it a bit more often, these days, especially if there's an explanation that she can understand or an alternative offered), Key Lime pie (though the biscuit base was a hit), peppermint tea, and possibly some other things too.

Developmental worries: None

New tricks/skills: Can't think of anything specific - just a gradual improvement in most things.

You're so cute

Some new things Rosemary's been saying recently:

• You're so cute/Aren't you cute?
• How are you today?/How do you feel?/Are you well?
• I feel fine.
  

The first time she used the first one (to my knowledge), we were walking home from somewhere and I was carrying her so that she was facing me. She grabbed hold of my cheeks and put her face very close to mine and said 'You're so cute.' I laughed so much that she kept on saying it all the way home.

She's starting to ask and answer questions and is working out how to answer in the affirmatively or negatively without just using 'Yes' and 'No':

• R: Are you cute?
• T: No, I don't think so. Are you cute?
• R: Hmmm. No. I not cute.
  
• T: No? Are you pretty?
• R: I don't think so.
  
• T: OK. Well, are you clever?
• R: Yes, of course, Mummy!

She does change her mind about most of them, of course, so sometimes she's very cute, sometimes she's pretty, sometimes she's ticklish, sometimes she's happy, sometimes she's sad.

Ah yes, and talking of being sad, she now has a very funny fake cry, which she uses and then adds 'I'm crying', just in case you hadn't noticed.

Monthly update for May 2008

Age: 22 months

Size/weight: Quite a few 2 year clothes, especially dresses, though still plenty of 18-24 month clothes. Still have issues with most trousers, that they tend to be too tight or too long (her mum suffers from the same issues!). I noticed, when she was asleep in her bed fully stretched out, that she seems to be longer (taller) than half the bed length.

Health: Generally very good this month, though she has just developed a bit of a cold and a cough.

Teeth: She has the four top and four bottom, plus a molar at the bottom right and I think another molar coming through at the bottom right and possibly corresponding ones at the top, though they're more difficult to see. She willingly opens her mouth to show us now, but she hasn't quite got the hang of getting her tongue out of the way!

Toiletting: Still in nappies. She knows when she's really, really just about to do a poo. If there's a potty very close by, we'll try to grab it, but usually she's not too keen. She often says 'I need to wee', but isn't usually interested once the potty is there and her nappy's off! She seems quite interested in the toilet - more so than the potties, I'd say - so it may be that she'll just go straight to using the loo (I think her Grandma said that Chris did that?).

Sleep: She has a pretty good bedtime routine going now, thanks to her dad (and it's now usually her dad who puts her to bed, though I can do it too, as can my sister and my mum). The routine is roughly bath (around 8-8.30pm), watch 2-3 episodes of Charlie and Lola (or something else, but they're probably still the most common), dimming the lights (e.g. full light for one episode, bedside light for one episode, no light for final episode), switch of TV and DVD and go through to her room, get into bed, go to sleep. (The last bit can be very quick and can take a while, depending on who knows what, but it's generally pretty quick.) The timings can vary, too, and when she goes through to her room is usually decided by how tired she's acting. [Chris may want to edit this section, as he knows about the sleep a lot more than I do!]

Nap time is usually OK as welll, though if she's over-tired she can get very stroppy and not be sure how to go to sleep (usually, it's still Muilk (her abbreviation for Mummy Milk) when she comes in from being with her Granny or from being out at swimming/toddlers. Weekends are often more difficult because timings go a bit wonky then. Sometimes she falls asleep in her buggy and will be transferred to her bed with no trouble, but she does usually wake for a bit of Muilk if that happens. It's probably time to try and develop another (non-Muilk dependent) nap routine, especially if the stroppiness increases.

She still wakes in the night, though is more often managing only one waking about 3 hours after going to sleep and then sleeping through to 6 or 7 in the morning. But she is frequently getting up at 6 or 7 in the morning, which is a bit early! Naps are, for the most part, 2 hours; sometimes 1.5 hours and 3 hours.

Eating: She's getting a bit fussier it seems, which is supposed to be quite common at this age, so we're trying not to fuss too much about it. She prefers to graze throughout the day and, as long as it's a balanced mix, we're trying not to be too worried if she does this and then doesn't eat loads at dinnertime. One thing we've been doing quite often is putting her unfinished dinner in the fridge and getting it out again at breakfast time and letting her graze on it in the living room. This is generally very successful, unless she really hates the food (not that common). She sometimes sees it in the fridge and says 'Ooh, my dinner's cooled down!', so perhaps she prefers cold food. She still likes most fruit (she's going through a banana phase at the moment) and quite a lot of vegetables, which is great. There's not much meat or fish that she enthuses about, though she had some fish in JRooL the other day which she seemed to really enjoy. But now her molars are developing, Chris thinks she'll probably be more into the meat.

Speech/communication: This is still amazing. She's asking questions now, the main one being 'What's that?' and she's waiting for answers and listening carefully. She knows loads of nursery rhymes and will quite often sing them to herself when going to sleep. There are a few grammatical things that can bug us a bit, particularly her insistance on asking 'Pick you up.' and 'Carry you' instead of 'Pick me up' and 'Carry me'. She's said the right ones a few times, so does know it. And she gets the pronouns the right way round for other things. She says 'Hola', 'Arriba', 'Empujen' and 'Gesundheit' - the Spanish are pretty much entirely down to Dora the Explorer, rather than any particular efforts on our part. The 'Gesundheit' is us, though, and she loves it - it makes her giggle and she'll do fake sneezes and then say 'Gesundheit' to amuse herself!

Intellectual development: Seems to be pretty good. She's very good with all the shape sorters and those puzzles where there's a block of wood that shapes fit into (not explaining that at all well, sorry). She's developing an imagination and creativity now - for example, the other day she made herself a slide out of a broom propped up against the sofa. She can draw zig zags now, as well as circles and lines. She's reading books (not literally, of course) on her own a lot more. She can point out lots of things in the pictures in books and when she doesn't know what something is she asks 'What's that?'.

Emotional development: She's still being very loving with many people (will cuddle little children and say 'I love you', for example) and is frequently telling us 'I love you'. She's also developed both a real and fake shyness. The real one involves cuddling into one of us when someone she doesn't know/know well is talking to her. The pretend one involves tilting her head a bit into her shoulder and saying 'I'm shy of Mummy' or 'I'm shy of Daddy' - and then giggling. She's really getting into the tantrums, though they are still (and hopefully will remain) fairly short-lived. She will scream quite quickly if she's frustrated with something, or one of us has misunderstood her/gone against her wishes.

Social development: See above for the being loving and being shy. She's still not really understanding sharing (though not expected to at this stage, really) and so when at toddler group, we have to be vigilant to head off attempts to 'steal' toys from other children. But she does also quite often play in the home corner alongside other children and give them things (e.g. give them a 'cup of tea', a 'sausage', etc.). Still has never been left in a creche or nursery without one of us, so don't know how she will face that. That's something we need to at least try a couple of times before she starts going to play group, I think.

Likes: Far too much TV - Dora the Explorer, Charlie and Lola, Peppa Pig, Wonder Pets, playing in the garden, going to the park (especially going 'up the stairs and down the slide'), walking when out, money (?!!), swimming (though sometimes likes the idea of it more than the actual act, especially if she's supposed to go on her back), pink milk, ice cream, spaghetti, bananas, pears, toast and peanut butter (especially mummy's toast and peanut butter). Probably lots and lots more that I can't think of right at this moment.

Dislikes: Anything involving not getting her own way, having her hair brushed, rinsing the shampoo/conditioner off her hair, sitting at the dining table for a protacted amount of time.

Developmental worries: None

New tricks/skills: It looks like she may be able to open her bedroom door now, as she did so three times last night, though it may have been that the door wasn't closed properly. Will have to keep an eye/ear out for that!

In which the observant may learn something about beetles

In the wars

Rosemary is walking and running about more and more. We're quite often taking her out without the buggy now and, to a large extent, whether or not we use the buggy is often more down to how much shopping we need to buy. However, this increased activity, mobility and independence has a downside in the form of lots more bumps and bruises. So far this week, she has suffered:

• a splinter (and the far more painful and traumatic attempts by her parents to remove said splinter)
• grazed knees
• a cut/graze on her heel (from wearing her shoes without socks far too often in the hot weather)
• a very nasty graze/bruise on her eye and cheek from falling over when walking up the path to the front door and landing on the step.

I think we need to add a first-aid kit to the nappy materials kept in the rucksack!

That's the way the cookie crumbles

Rosemary and I baked together for the first time this week. She's made crumble with her Granny before, we'd never done any baking. I'd wanted to do it a week or so ago, but didn't ever seem to have enough time with her to fit it in. Then, on Tuesday, she'd gone to sleep quite early after swimming and only slept for about an hour and we'd been out to the library and bought new shoes and the kitchen was clean and we still, somehow, had an hour free before dinner needed to be started. She came and asked me for a biscuit and I told her that we didn't have any and was just about to offer (healthier!) alternatives, when I realised we had the time. So, I asked if she wanted us to make some together. 'Oh, yes please, mummy!'

So, she got up on a chair (after washing our hands, of course!) at the dining table and out came a big bowl, some flour, some butter, some sugar and some milk and a tablespoon. This was not recipe baking, but throw a bunch of ingredients in a bowl and hope they turn into something nice (which is actually how a lot of my cooking works). The flour came first and Rosemary put a few spoonfuls into the bowl, as well as a few on the table. I added a couple more spoonfuls and then moved on to the sugar, most of which I had to add to the bowl myself, as Rosemary was much more interested in eating the sugar. I then cut the butter up into small pieces and added it to the flour and sugar. We then both put our hands in the bowl and spent a while rubbing it together to make crumbs. Rosemary particularly enjoyed 'squeezing' the butter. Once that was done, at Chris' suggestion, we added some raisins and then I added some milk and mixed it up into a dough.

Unfortunately, we couldn't find Rosemary's rolling pin, so she had to use one of mine, but she did do a bit of rolling. Once it was rolled out she had a go at cutting a couple of shapes - she particularly liked the little person and the star - but then she became much, much more interested in tearing off bits of dough and eating them, so I had to finish cutting them and stick them in the oven.

They came out remarkably well, but it wouldn't have mattered if they hadn't, as it was just good fun doing it. So... what should be next? Suggestions on a postcard to...

Monthly update

Age: 21 months

Size/weight: Mostly 18-24 month clothes; some 2 year clothes (especially tops and dresses). No idea of weight, but she's neither skinny nor chubby, so I assume it's about right! No idea of height, either, but she can't walk under the dining table without ducking.

Health: Generally good this month, with a few minor snuffles.

Teeth: Has another one somewhere towards the middle of the back on the right and has pointed it out to me, but still won't let me feel! There may be more we don't know about, though.

Toiletting: Still in nappies. She'll sit on her potty, but usually only with clothes and a nappy on. She seems to somtimes know she's just about to do a poo, but only a few seconds before, so not enough time to take clothes off and sit on potty. I think the warm weather that should be coming soon (?) will be ideal for letting her run around without a nappy and quickly get her on the potty. (Though still need to convince Chris that this is a good idea!)

Sleep: She is now sleeping in a big girl's bed! Chris changed the cot into a bed about a week ago now and she is definitely sleeping better. She is still waking, but quite often will go 6-7 hours without waking now. She has gone to sleep in her bed a couple of times now (rather than going to sleep in our room and being carried through) - the night before last she even asked Chris to leave the room and shut the door and went to sleep on her own. She's also not come to sleep in our bed in the middle of the night since the change (though this may be more down to the fact that I can sit/lie next to her when she wakes in the middle of the night, so don't feel so tired I need to take her through to our room!). She has fallen out a couple of times, but we have a duvet on the floor next to the bed to soften the fall and she has not really been bothered by it (and certainly not hurt) and has gone very quickly back to sleep afterwards. She has slept in there for all her naps since the change as well, which is wonderful. All in all the change to a cotbed has been a definite success. The next sleep challenges are for her to sleep through the night consistently, and for her to go to sleep at a reasonable time when staying with her granny!

Eating: She's eating well for the most part, though does have days where she's not hugely interested. Her taste buds and senses are maturing so that she has much more definite reactions to different flavours. She's far, far too fond of ice cream (which we introduced her to when she had a nasty sore throat - oops!) and would probably be happy to only eat that! She's still very fond of spaghetti (plain; with goat's cheese, sundried tomatoes and rocket; with bolognese; with carbonara... ), couscous and risotto, but will try most things still. The last few days she has shown a tendency to refuse things that Chris offers her, but accept things that I offer her (to the extent where Chris offered her slice of cheese, which she refused; he then passed it to me and I offered it to her and she took it, ate it and said 'Mmmm'). But she laughs when doing it, so it's probably some kind of game to her, rather than an early declaration of vegetarianism!

Speech/communication: This is fantastic, though she's coming along so fast now that we can't always work out what she's saying (much easier when it was just one word at a time). The vast majority of the time she can ask for what she wants, tell us what she's been doing, talk about a book, talk about TV show, talk to teddies, animals, etc. Occasionally, she will revert to pointing and saying 'That, that', but not very often. She's coming to terms with pronouns (can mostly differentiate between me/I and you, though still gets the muddled up, e.g. 'Pick you up.'). She's fully conversant with the present participle (I'm pooing, I'm hopping, I'm walking, I'm sitting, I'm yawning, etc.) and understands 'can' and 'can't' now as well (I can walk, I can't reach, I can climb, etc.). She can express her likes and dislikes quite well (I like, I don't like, I love, I really do love, I want, I really want, I need, I really need) (the addition of really may well be influenced by Charlie and Lola!). Her pronunciation is pretty good these days, as well, to the extent that other people understand her a lot of the time, as well as us. She can repeat back most words that are said to her (including in French, Spanish and Esperanto - and quit possibly others) with fairly good accuracy. Her intonation and accent can swap between mine and Chris' (and one her Grandma and Grandpa were visiting there was definite inclinations towards stronger Scottish intonations).

Intellectual development: Seems to be very good as well. I was surprised the other day, when looking at a book with her how many things she could recognise and point at. On every page, she could point to almost everything I asked (e.g. bucket, spade, butterfly, elephant, octopus, book, computer, lamp, torch, Mummy, Daddy, boy, girl, ice cream, etc. etc.), which I read somewhere recently is a 2-3 year milestone. She knows that if she can't reach something, she can, for example, pull a chair over to climb on. She knows the buttons to press on the remote controls and phones to turn them off. She knows that switching a light off will make it dark. She recognises when she's going somewhere familiar and can show people which way to go. She remembers (for the most part) what she can and can't get away with with different people! She remembers people more, even in their absence (talks a lot about Grandma and Grandpa, even though it's almost a month since they were here), talks about going to see Nana (my Granny) a lot, and talks about Granny and Eva a lot too, and Rupert and Emma and Holli.

Emotional development: She's a lot happier to be on her own for a bit and amuse herself, though she does still have clingy moments when she doesn't want to be put down at all. She's made great inways into the terrible twos already and can get frustrated quite easily if she is denied something (whether by us or by her inability to do something). She's definitely started to test boundaries and we're having to try to develop strategies for this. She does throw herself on the floor and even stomps. (She even says 'I'm stomping'!) and has new 'cry' that is so fake it's almost funny. She's (see above) happier to sleep on her own in her own bed now and is not waking up as much. If she's tired, she can be very grumpy and have a very short tether.

Social development: She's starting to interact more with other children, talking to them and sharing things with them. She's very gentle with little babies and animals (though not always with Wesley!) stroking and cuddling them. She will still snatch things from peers sometimes, but usually gives them back with a little prompting. She's also started asking them for things when she wants them before taking them. Unfortunately, they're not all quite at the same stage so, while saying 'Pass me the teapot, please.' would work very well with an adult, it doesn't tend to with another toddler! She has yet to (and hopefully won't ever, but I know it's not unusual) show any inclination to hit, bite or otherwise hurt other children, though she will sometimes pinch us very hard or pull our hair intentionally.

Likes: One of her favourite pastimes when in her bedroom is to 'play with monies'. This involves emptying all the money out of her two piggybanks (the boy and the girl) and putting it back in bit by bit, then doing it all over again, and again, and again. The last few days she has deviated somewhat by also putting money in her pocket, in the potty, in drawers, etc. She also has a new Matroyshka (Russian doll) which lives on her window sill and she likes to open out all the way and then put together all the way, and again, and again... Last week she had 'The Cat and the Hat' cartoon (60s version, not the new film) out from the library and watched it about a billion times. She really, really, really liked it. She danced to it, she laughed lots when one of the Things fell down the stairs. She would say 'Oh no. It's raining.' at the start and talk about other bits of it, too. She hardly watched any CBeebies that whole week. It's gone back to the library now and she doesn't seem to have noticed, thank goodness. We were very sick of it! She's still really into Charlie and Lola, but also likes Dora the Explorer a lot now, too. She's wanting to be read to a lot more again, too, especially in her room (where she is spending more time, now that there is the bed, wardrobe, bookcase and, of course, the 'monies'), having been a bit bored with books (at least in comparison to before) for a few weeks. She's also enjoying pointing things out in books more and talking about them.

Dislikes: Having to be in her buggy instead of walking/running around. Not being allowed to do something that she wants to do.

Developmental worries: None.

New tricks/skills: Sleeping in a big girl's bed!!!

I like, love, want, need...

Rosemary has recently developed more of an ability to express her opinions about things, foods, people, etc. Until recently it was just 'Have it.' when she wanted/needed something and 'I no like' when she didn't like/want something. But now she can use:

• I like it.
• I don't like it.
  
• I love it.
• I really do love it.
• I want it.
• I need it.
  
• I really don't like it.
  

Probably two of the most common uses of these are:

• I want some mummy milk.
• I want some ice cream.
  

Last night, Chris and I found her increasing desires for ice cream quite amusing.

• R: I want some ice cream.
  
• T: Eat a bit more dinner, darling.
  
• R: I really want some ice cream.
• T: Well, she's eaten quite a bit, and she's not feeling too well. What do you think?
• C: Yes, she's had a fair bit. What's the magic word, Rosemary?
• R: Ice cream! I want the ice cream!
• T: What do you say?
• R: Ice cream!
• C: When you want something, what's the word you say?
• R: I really, really need some ice cream!
• T: Puh, puh...
  
• R: Puh, puh, please.
• T&C: Well done, Rosemary!

It was the needing ice cream that amused us, of course. And after she'd gone to bed, I discovered that I also really needed some ice cream. :)

Monthly update

(This is just copied and pasted from a post on the August club forum, so it may read a bit odd...)

AGE 20 months

SIZE/WEIGHT No idea, really. She's in size 4 shoes, though probably won't be more than a couple of weeks before she's in size 5. Clothes are mostly 1 1/2 years to 2 years clothes and the occassional 2 years item. She has a problem that most of the trousers are too long for her and need rolling up. The ones that are right height are too tight round the waist (and she's not really what you'd call plump!). Her father and I are both on the short side, I suppose, so I imagine she's taking after us there.

MEDICAL HISTORY/CURRENT AILMENTS She's always been very healthy, but has recently had a few nasty colds, which she's tending to pick up at the 0-2 drop-in and swimming classes we go to (it seems) and we end up in this cycle of colds and coughs, with Rosemary having one, then Chris getting one, then me, then Rosemary again. I comfort myself with the knowledge that this is all very important for building up her immune system. Still annoying, though!

TEETH Still just the top and bottom four, though there seem to be some others coming through at the moment. (The bottom molars maybe? Never remember what they're all called, but the ones next to the canines, we think.)

LIKES All sorts of things - spaghetti, Charlie and Lola (far too much!), going 'up the stairs and down the slide', swimming, ducks, peas (she frequently says 'I like peas'), ice cream (recent addition to her diet when she had a sore throat, and something she likes a lot now), yoghurt, climbing up things and people, walking, singing, her Tia Eva, her Granny, her doggy Wesley (usually pronounced Welly), her Mummy and Daddy (of course), Tulo (her Granny's cat), cuckoo clocks (and clocks in general), going on the bus, talking on the phone to Grandma and Grandpa and Nana (and Eva and Granny), painting and drawing, various books, going to the library...

DISLIKES Having to get dressed when she doesn't want to, having her nappy changed, getting in her buggy when she doesn't want to... well, pretty much being told she has to do something she doesn't want to or can't do something she wants to. The full-blown tantrums have started, and the word 'No' has become a staple in her vocabulary. It's worst when she's tired, or not feeling well.

FOOD & DRINK She's still having a few breastfeeds, but no longer needs it to get to sleep (and quite often can't get to sleep with it, in fact, if I decide to be lazy and try!), though more 'fridge milk' and juice. She loves drinking juice (very watered down pure fruit juice, usually, though she's occasionally had some really, really watered down ribena) from a cup with a straw, but still mostly uses her Any Way Up cups. Foodwise, she's generally got a decent appetite, though not as much when she's got a cold. She has her favourite foods - spaghetti (with goat's cheese, rocket and sunblushed tomatoes, or with bolognese sauce), risotto (my mixed vegetable - whatever's handy - risotto, with lots of parmesan), toast (prefers granary, with just butter) or bread and butter, cheese, beans, peas, lots of fruits (pears, bananas, grapes and apples being favourites), carrots, fish fingers and Granny's porridge (which is apparently much better than mine!) - but she'll try most things and eat a decent helping at most meals. She basically eats whatever we're having for dinner, unless we're being naughty and having a Dominos, when she'll have beans on toast and tomatoes and cucumber or something like that.

SLEEP Meh. She's going to sleep without Mummy Milk, finally. Which has made my life a gazillion times better (and the house a fair bit cleaner, too). But she still wakes at least once during the night, and often twice, and has Mummy Milk at least one of those times, and also usually ends up in our bed. She's napping pretty well in the afternoon, usually for about 2 hours, though sometimes only 1 and sometimes up to 4 if she hasn't slept well the night before. But a few times recently she's woke up after her nap and screamed and screamed for ages, with no comforting her whatsoever. We think it's probably that she hasn't had enough sleep, though think it might also be wind, as she's often done a huge fart just when she's starting to calm down! (No pattern in terms of food beforehand, though.)

TOILETING Still in nappies (Pampers Easy-Up Size 5). She's done a couple of wees on the potty, but think they've mostly been flukes. She does sit on them (we have 3, one on each of the main floors of the house) qutie often, though also puts them on her head, uses them as buggies to push dolls around in, etc. She understands about them, and I think will get there in her own time.

DEVELOPMENT WORRIES None really. She's way ahead in a lot of things, particularly language - she uses full, grammatical sentences, understands the difference between lots of pronouns and even uses different tenses. She's ahead in terms of drawing and painting and imaginative play. She's maybe a bit behind in things like shape sorting and jigsaws, but she's shown she can do them when she wants to, so I think it's more that she's just not that interested in them. She can count up to eleven in English and 100 in Esperanto (my mum speaks Esperanto with her quite a lot). She has a few phrases in French (for some reason I tend to do a lot of telling her off in French, which is odd - Touche pas! Pas dans la bouche! Pas pour manger!). She can jump and run and throw a ball, and even occasionally catch one (though usually that's a fluke, or very careful throwing on the adult's part), is affectionate towards other children, especially those younger to her, and mostly quite confidant. She recognise some writing - Rosemary, Mummy and Eva and is loves asking us to write words down. And she also seems to have started the Terrible Twos a bit early, but hopefully that means she'll also finish them early (wishful thinking?).

NEW TRICK LEARNT THIS MONTH Can't think of anything specific. It all seems to be gradual and it's more that we'll suddenly realise that she's doing something really well. Actually, going to sleep without Mummy Milk was probably learnt during the last month and a half, and that is a really good trick (I think so anyway, though I do know that practically every other child her age learnt to do that a long time ago!)

The Great Escape...

... or possibly just gradually developing independence.

Rosemary's latest 'thing' is opening and closing doors. And shutting us out of/herself in rooms. And for the most part she's happy to stay in there on her own for a bit. I think she'll be happier still once she's properly got the hang of turning the door handles in this house (they aren't the easiest for a little person to master). She's managed the bathroom one a couple of times, now, and is quite close to getting the living room one mastered as well. The kitchen door doesn't ever shut properly anyway, so she's in and out of there with no trouble. It helps, I think, that all the downstairs doors have glass in them, so she can see us (given the correct angles, of course).

Oddly, though, this bid for independence has been accompanied by a sudden fascination with the word 'No':

– Right, you need to put your shoes on, so we can go out.
– No!
– We can't go out unless you put your shoes on.
– No!
– Do you want to put them on yourself or shall Mummy do it?
– No, no, no, no!
– Would you prefer your wellies?
– No!
– OK. Well, Mummy's going to pick you up and put your shoes on, anyway.
– No! No! No! No!

And many other similar scenarios. Particularly when she's tired. To be fair, this was only really yesterday and a bit this morning, but we're so used to having a reasonably accommodating daughter who, though often requiring a bit of cajoling, explanation or bribery, tends to get there reasonably quickly and with few tears, that it's come as a bit of a shock. Please, please, please don't let this be the start of the 'Terrible Twos'!

Multimedia extravanganza

Painting part 1



Painting part 2

Baptism...

... well, not quite.

Rosemary went under the water at swimming today. And, as with so much of the swimming so far, this was a much bigger step for me than for her.

The instructor (honestly can't remember her name, though it might be Sue) said 'Right. We haven't done this for a few weeks, so we're going to do some submersion.' And at that point her voice was coming across in a foreign language. All I could hear was 'Blah, blah, blah'. This was one of things I'd been most concerned about, with taking Rosemary swimming. One of the things that contributed to my not trying it until she was 18 months.

Surely she can't go underwater? She'll drown. How can it be even remotely possible for her to go underwater and not drown?

I stayed by the edge of the pool clinging to Rosemary far too tightly. The instructor came over and I told her that we'd never done it before. She walked me through it very clearly and suggested starting off with just letting her go down to over her mouth, first, to see how she found it. We tried it. She loved it. We tried it again. She still loved it. We tried it with the whole head. She still loved it. Though she was a little bit surprised. Wow!

Other things she enjoyed at swimming today: climbing down the steps (in the deep end); climbing out of the pool; jumping into the pool (with me catching her) about 10 times; doing The Hokey Cokey. Things she wasn't too keen on: pushing a duck through the water (though she did manage it after a while, mostly she wanted to chew the duck); sliding along the top step and under the railings (she walked and then got down and bum-shuffled under when she go to a railing, then got up and walked again).

And in the prior to swimming she enjoyed a trip to the bank and a visit to the shoe shop to, in a departure from the usual, buy Mummy some new shoes. (I thought it was my first new shoes in about 3 years, but Tia Eva pointed out that I got some cheap sandals last summer.) And after her nap in the afternoon, we went to the library and got 10 new books out and she did lots of running around and gave a couple of random children a hug.

Mummy Rosemary Tuesdays are fun! (Hopefully not just for me.)

Children say the funniest things

Now that Rosemary's speech has developed so far, we get to note down cute/funny/silly things she says. I wonder how long we will continue doing that?

Yesterday, while pushing one of the dining room chairs around the room:

'Come on, chair. Let's go over there.'

Last night, in her sleep:

Contented sigh... 'My daddy.'

The other night, in her sleep:

'No, no, no... No shoes!'

(As you can see, she has inherited her mother's habit of saying bizarre things while asleep.)

Swimming

Rosemary went to Swim Tots for the first time today.

She was very impatient to get in the pool and grumbled quite a bit at having to wait on the side for the previous class to finish.

The things she enjoyed most were going up and down the steps at the entrance to the pool, jumping across the pool like a kangaroo, jumping into the pool when Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall (with my help - not quite ready for her to jump in on her own!) and splashing with her feet and hands.

She did not enjoy having to stop what she was enjoying (e.g. going up and down the steps) to do something else, swimming on her back, having the shampoo and conditioner rinsed out of her hair in the shower afterwards, though she was less complaining about it than she is in the bath.

She wanted to go back in and do more swimming, which is probably a good sign.

She fell asleep not very long after we left, while walking round Tescos, though only slept for a short while. I remember always being very tired after swimming when I was little, too.

I was a little scared when she tried to wriggle out of my arms in the middle of the pool a couple of times, but other than that it was fine. I don't know when I'll feel confident enough to let go of her where she can't stand up, though. Hopefully the classes will help me get to that point, as well as helping her!!

Photos from a Spring day

Probably the only Spring day we'll get it seems...













PS - Rosemary is utterly fearless on the slide. And elsewhere too - she's currently driving Tasha loopy with climbing up on the kitchen chairs. That's also part of Rosemary's current experimenting with independence, something that is in the final photo.