Another of ThingOne's choice phrases at the moment that I forgot to mention in the last point: "...because I haven't got any money".
As in, "I need to go upstairs because I haven't got any money".
Or, "I have to get out of bed because I haven't got any money".
We don't understand what this means or where it has come from. I don't think we've said it to her much, and if she wants something in a shop and we say no we don't use that excuse, we just tell her she can't have it.
I wonder what this phrase means to her.
Friday, August 08, 2008
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Quote unquote
A few of ThingOne's favourite phrases at the moment:
"Is that a good plan?" (usually after she suggests doing somehting she likes, e.g. "How about you do a jigsaw with me Daddy? Is that a good plan?")
"Do you understand?" (usually after explaining what she wants to do, especially if we haven't jumped and given her what she wants.)
"Of course I can" (when we ask her to do something that she's willing to do).
It's very funny hearing these things from her mouth. It's sometimes like looking at a mirror on our own behaviour and it's nice to think we (mainly Anne now I come to think about it) use these phrases to her a lot.
While Anne's teaching her these key phrases, I'm educating her in more useful ways. ThingOne now recognises (and frequently asks about) Hellboy, Batman and The Joker (whom I've told her is a rascal who likes to make mischief).
She also ran around the house with me before work this morning, with us both shouting "No, I'M Spartacus!" at each other.
"Is that a good plan?" (usually after she suggests doing somehting she likes, e.g. "How about you do a jigsaw with me Daddy? Is that a good plan?")
"Do you understand?" (usually after explaining what she wants to do, especially if we haven't jumped and given her what she wants.)
"Of course I can" (when we ask her to do something that she's willing to do).
It's very funny hearing these things from her mouth. It's sometimes like looking at a mirror on our own behaviour and it's nice to think we (mainly Anne now I come to think about it) use these phrases to her a lot.
While Anne's teaching her these key phrases, I'm educating her in more useful ways. ThingOne now recognises (and frequently asks about) Hellboy, Batman and The Joker (whom I've told her is a rascal who likes to make mischief).
She also ran around the house with me before work this morning, with us both shouting "No, I'M Spartacus!" at each other.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Artistic-a-ThingOne
A long post, but it's mostly pics.
Before I start droning on about ThingOne's arts 'n' crafts, ThingTwo now has a "Tripp Trapp" high chair, like her big sister. This means she can now sit up at the table with us at meal times. She's not sitting unaided yet, but can do well in this high chair and seems to enjoy being with us during breakfast and lunch. ThingOne isn't sure about not being the centre of attention, but she'll come round.
ThingTwo's not being weaned yet, but we'll start her on solids some time within the next few weeks. She slept through 7pm to 7am for the first time last night, so is coming on well (joy!)
(Just in time for teething to mess everything up!)
Here's the little baldy now:
I recently got ThingOne a Thomas and Friends poster for the Wendy House. ThingOne likes the TV show and books, as it gives her more names to learn, and she can work out (or decide arbitrarily) which engines are boys and which are girls. She liked the poster and she and I were in the Wendy House listing all the characters on it.
Me: "...that's Emily, that's Diesel, that's Mavis,..."
Her: "That's not Mavis!"
Me: "Yes it is ThingOne. Look, it starts with an 'M'. M-Mavis. M-A-V-I-S: MAVIS"
Her: "That's not Mavis, that's Salty!"
Me: (Patronisingly) "No ThingOne, it's definitely not Salty. It's Mavis."
Her: (Laughing) "No Daddy. It's Salty!"
At this point, Anne arrived. Anne's had to sit through the TV show more than I have and so knows many of the characters.
Anne: "Er, she's right. That IS Salty Stephen."
We checked in one of ThingOne's books and sure enough, the poster was wrong. I got out a big black marker and changed the name (more for my benefit than ThingOne's). I don't know how she keeps all these characters names in her head. She certainly has her mother's freakish memory.
Here's ThingOne checking the rest of the characters against her book:
We had more character-driven fun on Sunday, where ThingOne and I drew lots of Mr Men. Notice ThingOne's skilful colouring of Messers Strong and Tickle (I know - rubbish isn't it!) ThingOne kept insisting I draw two of each character so one could be a Mr and one a Little Miss.
Later, ThingOne decided to destroy all we'd drawn on another sheet by "colouring" everything black. "Are you a Goth ThingOne?" I asked.
"No Daddy, I'm Emo.", she replied.*
*She didn't actually say this.
Anne's been feeling ThingOne's not eating a great variety of foods at the moment. I think she's doing well, and that we as kids, and especially our parent's generation, would have had nothing like the variety she has. However, Anne's thinking ThingOne's too reliant on wheat and isn't eating enough different veggies.
ThingOne's recently been quite reluctant to try new foods, but did well last week when Anne made a special effort. Anne suggested a new craft project to help with this push, and ThingOne has responded very well to it. We made (and mounted on cardboard - get us!) a plate for ThingOne and now when she tries something new we make or draw it and stick it to her wall-mounted plate. Anne and I aren't very crafty, so we're particularly pleased with this ingenious blend of art and encouragement.
Until ThingOne decides to rip it from the wall and use it as a Frisbee.
(I didn't know Frisbee was a brand name until Blogger told me it needed the F capitalising.)
Click on the photo to see the large version, in which you can see in exquisite detail the foods The ThingOneter has tried recently.
I'll finish this entry with an astounding structure ThingOne made (with help, I suspect) at nursery this week. I'd imagine the world of modern art would have something clever to say about this yada, yada, yada...
Before I start droning on about ThingOne's arts 'n' crafts, ThingTwo now has a "Tripp Trapp" high chair, like her big sister. This means she can now sit up at the table with us at meal times. She's not sitting unaided yet, but can do well in this high chair and seems to enjoy being with us during breakfast and lunch. ThingOne isn't sure about not being the centre of attention, but she'll come round.
ThingTwo's not being weaned yet, but we'll start her on solids some time within the next few weeks. She slept through 7pm to 7am for the first time last night, so is coming on well (joy!)
(Just in time for teething to mess everything up!)
Here's the little baldy now:
I recently got ThingOne a Thomas and Friends poster for the Wendy House. ThingOne likes the TV show and books, as it gives her more names to learn, and she can work out (or decide arbitrarily) which engines are boys and which are girls. She liked the poster and she and I were in the Wendy House listing all the characters on it.
Me: "...that's Emily, that's Diesel, that's Mavis,..."
Her: "That's not Mavis!"
Me: "Yes it is ThingOne. Look, it starts with an 'M'. M-Mavis. M-A-V-I-S: MAVIS"
Her: "That's not Mavis, that's Salty!"
Me: (Patronisingly) "No ThingOne, it's definitely not Salty. It's Mavis."
Her: (Laughing) "No Daddy. It's Salty!"
At this point, Anne arrived. Anne's had to sit through the TV show more than I have and so knows many of the characters.
Anne: "Er, she's right. That IS Salty Stephen."
We checked in one of ThingOne's books and sure enough, the poster was wrong. I got out a big black marker and changed the name (more for my benefit than ThingOne's). I don't know how she keeps all these characters names in her head. She certainly has her mother's freakish memory.
Here's ThingOne checking the rest of the characters against her book:
We had more character-driven fun on Sunday, where ThingOne and I drew lots of Mr Men. Notice ThingOne's skilful colouring of Messers Strong and Tickle (I know - rubbish isn't it!) ThingOne kept insisting I draw two of each character so one could be a Mr and one a Little Miss.
Later, ThingOne decided to destroy all we'd drawn on another sheet by "colouring" everything black. "Are you a Goth ThingOne?" I asked.
"No Daddy, I'm Emo.", she replied.*
*She didn't actually say this.
Anne's been feeling ThingOne's not eating a great variety of foods at the moment. I think she's doing well, and that we as kids, and especially our parent's generation, would have had nothing like the variety she has. However, Anne's thinking ThingOne's too reliant on wheat and isn't eating enough different veggies.
ThingOne's recently been quite reluctant to try new foods, but did well last week when Anne made a special effort. Anne suggested a new craft project to help with this push, and ThingOne has responded very well to it. We made (and mounted on cardboard - get us!) a plate for ThingOne and now when she tries something new we make or draw it and stick it to her wall-mounted plate. Anne and I aren't very crafty, so we're particularly pleased with this ingenious blend of art and encouragement.
Until ThingOne decides to rip it from the wall and use it as a Frisbee.
(I didn't know Frisbee was a brand name until Blogger told me it needed the F capitalising.)
Click on the photo to see the large version, in which you can see in exquisite detail the foods The ThingOneter has tried recently.
I'll finish this entry with an astounding structure ThingOne made (with help, I suspect) at nursery this week. I'd imagine the world of modern art would have something clever to say about this yada, yada, yada...
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Little Miss Bizarre
ThingOne currently loves the Mr Men and Little Miss books. Loves them.
We have to read them to her a lot, but I'm not sure it's really the stories she like so much as the other attributes:
- some are men and some are women (a current fixation of ThingOne's is what is a boy and what is a girl)
- there are many names to learn (she loves to learn lists)
- she can work out which letters the various names begin with
- there are numbers next to the pictures of the characters on the back of the books
The books seem to tick all the boxes. I say the stories aren't the main thing she likes, but I suppose she does really like the stories with characters who do things wrong (eg Mr Funny lives in a teapot and drives a shoe, Mr Topsy Turvey talks backwards, etc). And many of the characters are ones who do things wrong.
Sometimes ThingOne wakes up talking about the Mr Men and Little Misses, and doesn't stop talking about them for ages. Sometime she gets over excited and just shouts out the names of characters seemingly at random like a child with Hargreaves-Tourettes
The other day I was telling ThingOne not to do something or other, when she looked at me and said "Mr Grumpy!", in a way that sounded like she was saying "Oooh, aren't YOU Grumpy today Daddy!" I don't think the patronising slight was intentional, but her timing was impeccable and it was hard not to laugh.
On Sunday we were in a playground in our local park and ThingOne was hot and a bit of a Little Miss Grumpy herself. We didn't have her swimming gear with us, but I suggested she go into the paddling pool in her pants and she cheered up a lot in the cool water. She quickly took her pants off, not wanting to get them wet and ran around gleefully in the nude in the busy pool for ages. After a fair while splashing around with her (me fully clothed) I went to sit with Anne and ThingTwo and left ThingOne to it. Watching ThingOne run and splash among everyone, stark naked, laughing, squealing and randomly barking the names of Mr Men was pretty funny.
I said to Anne that if we gave ThingOne a can of Tenants Super to hold as she ran about in the pool it might make it even more enjoyable to watch.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Toddler crime scene - do not enter
ThingOne is starting to drop her final daytime nap. Some days she naps and some days she doesn't. On days she doesn't nap she tends to be overtired by bedtime, and the next day. This has led to some issues with behaviour. Not terrible in the scheme of things I suppose, but they're sometimes tricky to deal with.
When I arrived home in the week to find several patterns on the patio like the one above, my initial fear was things had just got too far with Anne when a few toddlers visited and she'd been pushed over the edge.
It turns out this wasn't a crime scene, but was ThingOne's latest obsession. Anne has been drawing around ThingOne with chalk so they can draw the features on (eyes, nose, mouth etc) as a crafternoon project, but ThingOne tends to like the drawing-around part and then gets bored, leading to a garden full of body outlines.
This afternoon at the supermarket ThingOne was pushing things too far and refused to stay near me while I shopped. I try to do the disciplining when it's just me and ThingOne, as I hope it will make ThingOne better behaved in the week when Anne's dealing with two kids and it's harder to discipline. ThingOne's punishment for running away from me was that we didn't go to Sainsburys cafe after shopping (I had threatened this early on, and ThingOne didn't seem to belive me). This caused major upset and she pleaded with me to take her to the cafe, assuring me that she'd be a good girl now - she promised. I didn't give in and it was hard to do as I'd have had a much happier girl if I'd just taken her. My hope is now she'll know we will follow though on this threat and will behave better in the supermarket (and elsewhere). We're being a bit harsh on her I think, since she's not really being very naughty, just a bit over-excited and cheeky. This coupled with overtiredness can lead to some difficult situations so we're trying to clamp down.
A few weeks ago we had a spate of biting people when ThingOne got upset. As it became clear that naughty step punishments or shutting her in her room weren't working we had to think of something new. Out came the big guns: NO TV. I seems to have worked, so far. ThingOne doesn't want to risk losing Charlie and Lola or Mama Mirabelle. We'll see how it lasts...
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