FEB 2010 Two and a half to three...the "contrary age" (no it isn't! yes it is!)

[InmaculadaConcepcion]

Come in, sit down, fresh coffee is brewing, Prosecco's in the fridge for later and there's a bumper box of Lindt chocolates for all....

SB dd2 knows pink

sB Nk what you need is a book called "wobble bear says yellow".

(I would recommend "Lost" and "how to catch a star" or "barbapapa" at that age or "eric karl")

DD2 is still more or less non verbal, but she has been able to count to multiples of 4 ("papa, mama, toto, bebe") for a long time and answers correctly to how many acorns in playschool by showing.
She is non fuss about colours (we do grey car, white car, blue car, ... all the time) unless she has to dress and she has to have specific things, but since DD1 is reading and writing she is trying to as well. She can draw convincingly a lot of letters (I think it is a fluke but I am a hard parent, I might have thought she was a genius if she was my pfb), recognised the A E I O and N, M, S, D and B are still the same to her though. She asks for the letters in the ads in the subway and the streets all the time.

CP good luck

IC you are doing very well

rainbow, BC, science, SOTU, scones, stoof

DD has known the basic colours for a fair while (we learned those with her nappies as we have a selection), can do up to 19 but gets stuck saying 20, it always is said as 17 . Shapes she knows circle, pentagon, star, triangle, stripes etc. but struggles with rectangle and square (although we seem to come across them less than the others). Animals and noises she known for ages too. We had a renaissance period when DS was born but not much since. She found 2 and 3 on the clock today but probably won't be repeated tomorrow. I want her to learn 3 and 9 first.

I often go a day without really sitting and playing with them but like NK says it's just whether they learn the knowledge now or later, I don't think generally much to do with intellect. We talk non stop when out normally so she's pretty good at knowing her vegetables and types of vehicles

I've got organised with the toys and put loads away to have only a small selection in the living room/bedroom. Plan is to rotate them around which might give us all a bit of structure, even if birthday and Christmas will ruin it.

atm she seems to have got a lot easier when out and about. I feel quite confident pushing the buggy and letting walk alongside or ahead. She's pretty accepting of hand holding for roads or for when it's busy, she'll open gates for me etc. Ditto for getting in and out of the car, I can send her to a 'safe' place while I get DS out. It's all quite nice. As long as she has a basket in a shop she's alright as well, so with DS in the sling it's all a lot less hassle than with a buggy.

Very interesting hearing how everyone's LOs are picking up numbers/letters/colours etc!
DD can count up to twenty in English and Spanish with a following wind. She can identify if there are one, two or three items but after that gets carried away and won't stop counting. She can identify quite a few shapes and knows most of her letters. None of this is because we have pushed her - it's mostly from the books she likes to read with us. She's got an impressive memory, miles better than mine - must have got it from DH!

oh yes, she sings most of the alphabet as that's one of the songs I sing to the twinkle twinkly tune when I'm rocking DS off.

DD does stop counting now but usually is still one or two over. It is funny when they get stuck in a loop isn't it She gets stuck in a loop when listing people involved in something as well. Half the time her default answer is two though. Just before our most recent Scotland trip she was talking about the last one.

DD is full of cuddles at the home and impromptu's 'I loves you mummy/insert person'. This morning she told DH she was going to come downstairs and give mummy a cuddle because she loves me'. She came downstairs but had forgotten about the cuddle by then.

needs to stop chatting on MN

DS knows quite a few colours - black, white, red, blue, orange, yellow, purple, green, pink, gold and silver.

Shapes - circle, square, hexagon, triangle, rectangle, oval.

Solids - pyramid, cylinder, cube, cuboid.

Numbers - can recognise most of them most of the time but can't reliably count to ten.

Letters - can recognise X, Z and O. Does not know alphabet.

He is rubbish at songs and nursery rhymes. He's just recently been able to say the first line of 'twinkle twinkle'.

For all I know dd2 probably knows a lot more than she lets on but as I think I mentioned before, I am not a natural teacher and don't automatically count out things for her, point to letters, name things (what on earth is a cuboid??? ) etc. so my two have been stuck with nursery and school to teach them those things. Agree it has nothing to do with intellect... Dd2 asks he most amazing questions so she's not stupid even if she can't tell me what a cuboid is...

One example, dd2 knows what our names are including middle names and surname and asked me recently what Oma (grandma) is called. I told her the first name but she also wanted to know the surname. My maiden name ends in 'mann' and dd2 immediately got the giggles saying that can't be right because clearly grandma is not a 'man'

Ha ha!
We get a lot of "My Mummy is called IC....My Daddy is called MrIC..." and DD can recite her full name (all four!) and address. She knows a lot of songs now and will "read" several of her books from memory.

Haven't really talked about solid shapes Bc - v impressed with "cuboid"!!

A prize for the first DC who can correctly say and identify a dodecahedron

I did the first park run with both DC today and that was fine. DS woke just as we were on our way back to the car and required a quick feed in the front seat, but was otherwise happy to snooze in the sling (to which he is now fully accustomed - although he probably won't be in it much longer as my back can't take the weight...he's not yet ready to go on my back, but as soon as he is, that's where I'll be carrying him). Meanwhile, DD got lots of pushing on the swings and roundabout and had fun pushing the buggy around on the hard standing and running and jumping in puddles.

what sling will yo back carry in?

Good question...

I've got the woven wrap (although I need to cut it shorter - it's an XL, which makes it a bit of a faff..) and I'd love to back wrap DS, but I find it hard to get the head support right and of course, you can't adjust once they're up. I've tried back wrapping DS, but he protested vociferously (and I would rather wait until he's fully supporting his head - although he's not far off). His legs are too short for the Connecta at the moment, I tried that and it didn't really work, although I fully expect to get him in that once he's a big enough...

I still don't back carry DS yet. I have to use the strap otherwise it tries to slip off my shoulders, plus I feel uncomfortable as being small, the straps can't be tightened any further. He feels secure but it leaves me with a niggling doubt. Also I'm not sure how to work it in winter, but it's getting a bit of a hassle front carrying as I can't bend around that well/chase DD.

I always use the strap to stop it slipping off my shoulders when I back carry with the Connecta and it's been fine for DD since she was less than a year, so probably similar size to your DS - if not smaller..! And I was a lot more slight then too, so I reckon you should be fine.

Once I got the hang of tossing DD onto my back then doing up the Connecta, it was a lot easier (and it only took a wee bit of practice to get the knack - DD was kept happy with a biscuit while I used Youtube videos and a mirror to learn the simplest way)
You can do it!! And it's SO useful once you master it.
x

DD seems better. Although she woke at one point with a 39.8 fever, she still managed to make me laugh loads. Alas I have also caught her lurgy so am achey and feverish, which is on the top of the cough I've had since we moved house. DD is now 18-24 months sized clothing (but lots of 12-18 still fits fine) and DS is in that weird state of one size being too small and the next (9-12) being far too big.

(I'm going to buy new baking powder and try again to see if that was the reason)

Dd2 has told me about 12 times today that grandma is coming to visit Us! This seems a fascinating concept for her because usually we go and see my parents. She is very proud to give up her room, too, and has had her cotbed in dd1's room for the past week (we thought we'd better try it out first in case it had been a disaster).

erm, how do you tell off a toddler who has been told to wash her hands thoroughly and then does it so well that both she and bathroom are dripping wet? She is not impressed that she has had to change straight into pyjamas...

bless her, we just focus rolling up sleeves and being careful. The fact she didn't like changing her pyjama's means you can use that to remind her. DD's pretty good at the whole finger, thumb and back of hand cleaning now how exciting is this parenting lark.

felt quite rough when DH got in and really really cold. Went to bed taking some paracetamol and 1hr 15mins got up and my temp is 39 so wonder what it was before. Walking DCs to the shop and park (for just 15 mins) was not one of my better ideas.

CP Oh no, hope you get over it quickly. No fun being ill yourself with two young children... I've just decided to take dd2 to the Gp tomorrow just to be on the safe side. Her cough is terrible and seems to be getting worse not better. I can never tell with my two whether a cough is just a cough or something worse (pretty good at spottingt the danger signs in myself but then I have plenty of experience with pneumonia... )

CP I hope you'll get better soon

NK hopefully she's too bad. DS gets chest infections on a regular basis

My mum is arriving today and as much as I'm gappy to see her I'm dready DS behaviour as he knows she'll let him do more things. Fx it'll be fine.

Sorry dreading

thanks nk your post made me google and ring the GP. Turns out I do have a infection plus asthma is complicating it too, so on antibiotics and have up my asthma meds quite a bit. peak flow down from 430 to 280 and quite breathless today. Children are in nursery this afternoon though ignores fact I have a physio appointment at 3

CP but glad you are getting treatment!!!

dd2's cough is fine but she has an ear infection...

dd2's nursery key worker pulled me aside to have a word... Apparently dd2 refuses to speak to her and she is trying to do all sorts of assessments on her. dd2 is happy to chat to her 'boyfriend' and other nursery friends and a student staff member and also chats/sings to herself but as soon as she is observed she won't speak. So her keyworker wanted to know from me what she is like at home, if she speaks, and if she knows numbers, colours and shapes...
I have much sympathy with dd2 and think it is really funny. There's this strange person with a note pad intently looking at her waiting for her to do and say something and she KNOWS she is being tested, so won't comply. You go girl!!

Just heard her shout 'I actually need a poo dd1!' so there's nowt wrong with her langugage development

NK . Your DD is funny.

CP take care hope you feel better soon.

The girls are intoxicated by "gangnam style", korean music, DD2 is dancing very well on it , I am not sure how many more time I can hear it though! My cold is not helping, but they are laughing so much

you'd like to think that the key worker noticed that she talked normally the rest of the time wouldn't you?