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'!)