lucysprog

That is all :)

Bean likes ducks from Adrian Bott on Vimeo.

.The Bean loves the word "Guck".

However, "guck" has two meanings: "duck" & "stuck".

Last night, Bean was watching "The Planet's Funniest Animals" on TV. Cats falling off tellies, dogs pushing wheelbarrows, you know the sort of stuff.

The neighbours are outside the back of the house, & I pop outside to be neighbourly.

Behind me, a little voice says "Guck!"

I continue talking to Mrs NextDoor. Bean is probably watching a string of baby ducklings following a cat or something, thinks I.

"Guck! Guck!" shouts the little voice behind me,more vehemently.

Lots of ducks, I think. I am giving Mrs NextDoor a slice of home-made cake.

"GUCK! GUUUUUCK!" Wails the little voice, suddenly distressed.

I turn round & look through the open door to see....

The Bean standing in front of the TV, but with one hand jammed through the mesh of the fire-guard, looking up at me with huge, blue eyes.

"Guck" She says, sadly, as I show her how to relax her wiggling hand & slide it free.

Guck. Of course.

The Bean now says between 50 & 70 recognizable, correctly-applied words, & very readily copies words if you repeat them a few times, although she doesn't always retain them.

She makes animal noises for big cats, little cats, snakes & monkeys (scary: we never taught her that, so it must be from TV) when asked what those animals do.

She's having trouble understanding the difference between 'on' & 'off' in the context of the radio, but then, it IS the same button she's repeatedly stabbing with her chubby finger.

She still prefers to eat with her hands, rather than use utensils.

If she finds a pair of adult shoes, she'll step into them & clomp around.

She repeats actions she's seen, such as pretending to drink from empty cups, putting soil into plant-pots, rubbing sun-block on her skin or shampoo on her hair.

She still doesn't often sleep for six hours, but she does have fairly-regular nap & meal-times.

She'll have a go at eating almost anything, but doesn't like things that make her hands sticky, like cheese spread, jam, etc, although rice or pasta with gloopy sauce mixed in never stops her digging in, regardless of mess. Still prefers spicy food & fruit to just about anything else, probably liking spicier flavours than I do, from what I've seen, & point-blank refusing to eat any quantity of anything spooned-in, like yoghurt or pudding, although she doesn't mind if you pop a bit of chicken, chocolate, or messy fruit directly into her mouth now & then.

She dislikes cows' milk, & creamy flavours, & does not drink anything out of a sippy-cup except water, although she's happy to share some juice or squash that adults are enjoying. She's still pretty adamant about what kind of milk she prefers, & wakes me with curt little demands of 'boob' & kisses in the morning.

Rather charmingly she will say 'Awwww cuddle!' if she sees us kiss & embrace, & hurries over to join in, kissing us on the lips & smiling. She has learned to kiss other toddlers goodbye, too.

She still likes to ride on my back in a carrier, & will ask to be lifted 'ut!' into one, if I bring it out of the cupboard, but can also walk a pretty long way under her own steam, & will tolerate holding my hand when we are in the street. Although bus-rides send her fast asleep, she's more often than not wide awake when on my back, or for most of a car journey, looking around her.

She cries & strops when forbidden items are taken from her, & sometimes slaps me or herself (saying "sap!") or shouts "Shup!" if people are telling her off, or talking & ignoring her, but is generally a cheerful little girl, who even occasionally does as she's told!

She's starting to need a haircut!

Small child has had a great long weekend with three neighbour-grandchildren/nephews running around outside, & finally a lovely visit from arkady & her smallest & was really rather manic.

Had to be washed in the sink after a nappy-change, & was brought back downstairs in a towel.

I go to grab her PJs & clean nappy.

She runs away. She pees on the floor. A lot. Paddling through so she splashes some IN MY FACE, she runs away again, squealing with joy, as I spit & yell & try to mop up & catch her. She pees again, EVEN MORE & paddles about, squealing & trying to climb on the sofa. I am laughing SO hard now. She runs into a dry patch of floor & grits her little teeth, eyes tight shut, saying "NNNNNNGGGG!"

But noooo! You is all out of ammo, missy! Ha ha ha.

"You did a weee!" says Daddy.

"Weee! Weee! Weee!" shouts the Bean, still racing around nekkid.

Daddy & I finally rounded up & cleaned up the monstrous beast, after which she vehemently said "Boob!" & kept going until she (thankfully) fell asleep.

So, I had to go to the doctor for a smear test (ugh) & told her about my unhappy Bean.

She asked me when her last vaccinations were (they have two on the same day: the MMR & another booster for something they had earlier) as side-effects typically show up at 7-10 days after they are done.

I quote from a medical advice site: About a week to 10 days after the MMR immunisation some children become feverish and they may develop a measles-like rash and go off their food. This is because the measles part of the vaccine is starting to work.

Um... 7 days later falls on Sunday, when she was very off-colour all morning, flushed & hot, off her food, until I dosed her with painkillers & we took her out to see the birdies, & she's not been right since then.

OH PLEASE let it just be that, & she perks up by the weekend!

This LJ is usually all about cute toddler photos lately, but I need to mention the horror that is the Bean's sleep pattern this last week or so.

From being a child who slept 4-6 hours in a stretch, allowing her mother the possibility of sanity the following day, she first started waking up before 5am, ready to get up, & then started waking repeatedly through the early hours, wanting milk.

Last night was a record. I did not get as much as two hours uninterrupted sleep at any point, & she only slept for more than two hours BEFORE I went to bed.

I have no idea what is causing this. I let her nurse in the daytime whenever she asks, although I will offer her solid food or a drink instead.

She has not been enjoying her favourite foods much lately, always picking soft fruit over toast or cereal, playing with her lunch, tasting whatever I'm eating, but not really tucking in, & not even eating as much of her evening meal as usual. She is drinking plenty of water.

I guessed it was teething, but this behaviour has gone on for over a week with no sign of teeth.

She's nodding off in my lap now, poor thing. I just wish I knew what's wrong, we're all exhausted.

That her pasta looks like little hats.




It will not encourage her to eat it.

In The Night Garden books are VERY exciting...

Her mother apologises for dressing her a bit funny that day...

Sorry I've said so little lately.

The Bean started saying lots of words, then started making some of her own.

She walks very fast now.

She still likes her mummy milk, & still only sleeps for a maximum of five or six hours before demanding some.

However, she just started using crayons & paint, & I just wanted to ask a question of other parents...

Yesterday, Bean was given a pad & box of crayons for the first time.

She grabbed a crayon in each hand, drew fairly horizontal scribbles with both hands simultaneously, but then began making downward stabby strokes with her left while carrying on with the horizontal strokes with her right, stopping to change colours regularly.

Tried it again today with paints & got the same result: curving horizontal scribbles on both sides of the picture, but with vertical spots/dashes on the left. A third go, this time with crayons... same deal.

Is this common? I see the scribbles are universally what a child starts with, but the two-hands-at-once thing, with both hands doing different stuff?

Wondering if she is left-handed or ambidextrous. She seems to use either hand to feed herself or when playing...

Dungaree Bean from Adrian Bott on Vimeo.

This week, Bean learned to say "BIRDS!" While pointing wildly at pigeons.

Beanswing from Adrian Bott on Vimeo.

There's a beautiful full moon, & our curtains are pretty thin, making it clear that things are pretty bright outside.

I open the curtains & point outside.

"Look, Bean! Look at the shiny moon!"

Bean looks through the misty, multi-paned window & gives a little "Oooh!" so I open the window & get down to her level, to make sure she can see it.

"Can you see the shiny moon, Bean?" I say, & prattle a bit about how it only comes out at night, etc.

Bean interrupts with "Ya!" (yes I can!) & wild pointing.

We stand/crouch together for a while, looking at the moon, & the brightly moonlit graveyard, then we go downstairs.

"Daddy, we were looking at the full moon" I say to cavalorn, & the Bean stands up on the couch & points to the shuttered back window, in the direction of the moon, looking from Daddy to window.

On Sunday, she also started waving bye-bye when I mentioned the names of the guests we had waved off earlier the same day.

I'm enjoying the fact that as well as being able to say useful things, like 'poo' when she has just had one (!) she is remembering events & applying gesture/language to them.

She now has quite a display of teeth & hair.

Sooo... the Bean is walking pretty fast now, & opening drawers.

We keep a little three-drawer unit containing her clothes in our front room. She has just learned how to open drawers, & likes to take all the clothes out.

She was doing this just now, & after putting back the dresses once, I gave up & let her play in them. I looked over at the mayhem.

The Bean had found her red & black satin Chinese dress & was wearing it round her neck, stroking it.

"Do you want to wear this?" I ask her, starting to pull her shirt off.

The Bean, usually not too keen on clothing-changes, pops her head & arms through.

She squeals in delight, & stamps off round the room, stroking her satin-clad middle & waving her arms wildly.

That's my girl :)

Yesterday, the Bean had to have a vaccination.

She's one-behind, what with moving doctors & so on, so she'll need another in a month's time, after which she'll be all sorted for a couple of years. Good.

Well, I was very apprehensive, as I fear needles & this would be the first time I've been for one of these without her daddy there to hold her.

She was pretty pleased to visit the surgery, as they have Duplo blocks, so I let her bring some through with her.

They stick the needle in, she gave an indignant little yell, & I passed her a block.

Ooooh. A block!

She took the block, got down, & walked out of the room.

That was it. No fuss, no tears, off she went back to the box of bricks.

Let her play a bit before taking her home. She remained fine all day.

Last night she kept waking, or at least crying out crossly in her sleep. Maybe she rolled on her sore arm?

Whatever... what a good little girl!

Sunday morning.

Baby has woken me up some time around 2am, after I went to sleep at 11.30pm, & I am still unable to discern whether I dreamed I fed her then, or actually fed her, but I remember whining & scrambling about. Sure I fed her at 5.30am, because it went on for a long time & then we passed out again. 7ish, the cats go mental.

This all means that by 8.30, mummy is not full of sunshine.

Baby wakes up again.

Baby stands up in the middle of the bed, clapping, being cute. Mummy opens one eye.

Baby strides towards the bedside table, over Mummy's head & hair. Mummy howls but does not get up.

Baby grabs mobile phone, tries to phone Mummy. No response.

Baby grabs other stuff off bedside table. Mummy puts all stuff in drawer & goes back under the covers.

Baby grabs handfuls of Mummy's hair. Mummy howls again, but hides under the duvet.

Baby burrows under too, looking for milk. Mummy is OK with that, & feeds Baby. For a long time. Nobody needs this much milk for breakfast. What is up with Baby?

Mummy rolls over & tries to get warm again.

Baby stands up behind her, & throws up over her entire back.

Mummy lies there, in the unheated cottage, as the moisture cools, & it becomes clear that there is too much to be ignored, & it is also in the bed.

Mummy GETS UP, strips, grabs Baby under one arm, & dressing gown & departs the lovely bedroom.

OK, you little beast! Chemical warfare? You win!

(The Bean, btw, hardly EVER throws up even a tiny bit)