Day 195 2007; Mama demerits!

Had my first ever parent /teacher meeting this week and it was ri.gor.ous!

I was awarded a string of demerits. 

• What - you feed your child in front of the TV?
  (Like yeah - it helps me get more food into her than she would eat on her own and my little one is rather on the little side!)
  
• What - you still feed your child? 
  (see above!)
• What - she still drinks her milk out of a bottle at night?  
  (yes because I am not going to ask her to drink quarter of a litre of milk out of a glass just yet thank you muchly - but she doesn’t sleep with it and it is not a soother!)
  
• What - she watches TV?  Any TV?   Not just a Nature program with real animals and please don’t tell us you let her watch CARTOONS?
  (yes - because I need to be able to have a shower, go to the loo, prepare four meals a day and maybe speed through a couple of sun salutations in a day for feckssake!)
  
• What - you don’t wear indoor shoes at home? You walk about barefoot and your daughter does too?
  (yes - barefoot and loving it - healthy active african feet!)
  

But her fine and gross motor co-ordination is good, her vocab and communication skills are good, she has good concentration and is interacting in a healthy way with the other children. No pushing/biting/kicking/screaming. 

In summary I am a very naughty mother but my daughter is developing fine.

She is only 26 months old. 

****************************************************************************************************************** 

In other big news we came home with a new pink potty today - Day One and four hits, four misses and thank goodness for wooden floors and pull ups. 

Day 141 2007; I'm talking now mama!

Me: Chi, please put your shoes on if you are going to play outside!

Chi: No mama I put on my feet! 

—————-

Me: What would you like for breakfast my babe? Eggs or oats?

Chi: Chocolate!  

———————

Chi: I want dat mama, lets go to the fop! (read shop)

——————

I’m sure there will be more to come!  

Musical Squares!

Running Chi!

Day 4 2007; Gushy mummy syndrome....

My Chi changes weekly in so many ways but  I’m stuck on this language thing.  I’ve lost count of her vocab list now, it grows daily and we are soooooo beyond just labelling the things she sees and knows.  Dialogue has begun. She utters one word and from the tone of her voice I can understand whether she is asking a question, demanding, describing or stating a fact.  

“Home” she commands when we have been out for too long and its cold. “Home” with a  little mini me nod of the head, pronouncing it with a short “o” sound that rhymes more like “some” than “gnome”.  

 

“What do we do with this liquid?” I ask semi rhetorically, holding up a yellow bottle of Fairy in my hand at the check out.  

“Wash!” she responds after thinking about it for a minute.

“That’s right my darling we use it to wash!” I reply, flabbergasted.

 

In the coffee shop on Saturday we sat in the window looking out over Barons Court cemetery and she pointed out the squirrel jumping along the fence. “Squii Squii” she squeaked until we noticed him too. 

 

She shows me flocks of birds in the sky and the billboard posters of cats. She asks for the “wiggies” (wiggles…. for shame..!) and cuddles her bunny with the same expressive “oooooooooo” sound I make when I hug her.

 

Our day is filled with talk now and the range of topics we cover in a day gives me an inkling of how much she notices. How much she understands and remembers.

 

“Aba?” she asks every morning. “Aba?” as she walks around the house looking for E until we call him at work to say hello.

 

We spent last Friday afternoon at the science museum with friends. As we were leaving we walked past the donation box we had put money in at our last visit about a month ago. “Money!” she called again and again stopping in front of the box until we heard and understood and gave her pennies to drop through the slot.

 

Today we went to our old flat to pick up the post. I hung my keys up on the empty coat rack - something I never normally do. When it was time to leave I looked everywhere for my keys, telling the Chi that I was looking for them as I emptied out my bag twice and walked around the empty flat searching.

“Key!” she stated, standing under the coat rack and pointing up.  I told E this evening during bath time, and I smiled at the flicker of disbelief that inadvertently crossed his face.  You just had to be there.

 

*************************************************************************************************************************

I am also fascinated with the relationship she is building with money.

She loves to play with our wallets. Emptying them out, fingering the coins and cards and playing with them. At the moment her big thing is to post the coins in the gap between the TV and the dresser it sits on.  But she know these are more than just toys.  She understands that the money and the cards have value. 

 

She knows to ask for money when she sits on those silly trucks and trains and Noddy cars that jiggle and light up for a couple of minutes for a pound. 

 

She understand that if we see something in a shop that we want we need to pay for it before we can leave. We pile things into baskets or trolleys, wheel them to the till, carry out a transaction using cash or cards and them the items become ours. She respects the transaction. Accepts that we need to pass the shop assistant our card for a couple of minutes, but that we must get it back.