lucysprog

Bean, holding open a board-book about xmas, open at a page about decorations;

"I'M VERY EXCITED ABOUT CANDLES!"

Poor thing, everyone keeps asking her if she's excited about xmas, so we get a sentence like that out of the blue!

She has some new teeth, & I've been pretty glad I still breastfeed, as she barely touched solid food for days at the start of the month.

Oh, & just as I typed that, the smallperson on my lap just peered inside my shirt & said

"Boobies in there. Boobies inna bra." then helped herself. haha

The Bean has just declared gleefully that her kebab is "like a meat lollipop"

Poor little mite has a cold, & a new tooth cutting through, & so I'm posting a cheery picture of her from the day before yesterday, when she was in better sorts.

Her grandparents (my parents) are here, & finalising their move to just up the road, instead of hundreds of miles away, & this is a wonderful thing.

The one thing other than Mummy that cheers our girl up right now, is this beautiful video about breastfeeding, from new babies to cheeky toddlers & beyond, which was shown as a public information ad on TV in Puerto Rico. It has a lovely lullabye, but may also be considered NSFW due to breasts. Crazy old world, etc, but thought I'd better warn you before you consider clinking my linky. It also means I have to learn to sing in another language, as she demands I sing along!

She's on the messy rug. She's building a tower.



Yup. She's put another block on. That is what she always does with blocks. Builds scarily-skinny tall towers.

...just taken tonight...

Almost missed this important milestone, as I was having an awful sleepless night with Little Miss Teether.

Bang on 20 months,Bean reports back to me on her day, with minimal prompting.

"What did we see today, Bean?"

"pigs!"

"And?"

"DONKEYS!"

...and so on.

Today, when asked what she saw, she said "Babies!" Because I went to a Slingmeet.

She tries to make sentences now, like "Mummy, Daddy, get up, go down!" (downstairs for TV)

She copied me saying "I love you" for the first time tonight. She's a bit obsessed with counting.

Here's pics of both of us, for a change :)

Bean now puts words together quickly, like 'wood bear', 'chocolate buttons', 'daddy sneeze!' & refers to herself as 'Beana'.

She is very quick to repeat words you give her, or she overhears, & seems to retain their sense.

She's tall for her age, & gets blonder every sunny day. She can just about run, & walks a long way without complaint, asking for 'up' or getting into her carrier herself if I offer, & asking to 'walk, walk!' again after a bit of a rest.

She has rather a lot of teeth, all of a sudden, too!

Looks a bit mullety there, yikes! Been picking berries in the graveyard...

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...