This month has been really flipping hard work. Today alone has been busy; trip to Tesco’s and the library, 45 min drive so A2 had a nap, playgroup (where I sang the “Hello” song with A2 waving whilst she fed!), lunch, nappy and outfit change for A2 who had a leak from having ALL the milk, washing out, painting, jigsaws, Duplo, reading, making tea (chicken pie, mash and broccoli), washing up and emptying dishwasher, playing in the garden and 2nd wash load out and that was all by 4pm!
In general, A1 has been a right poo face at times this month; hitting and kicking me, Mr.J, A2 and his bestie GPM. He’s also been saying “poo poo in your pants!!!” about fifty million times a day and whining. All. The. Whining!!!! Meanwhile A2 has some kind of addiction to soil and pebble eating so every time we go out in the garden I have to watch her like a hawk and remove the pebbles and scoop soil out of her mouth. That’s when she’s not trying to come down the playhouse ladder, which she can’t safely do on her own…..
When you write it down it doesn’t seem that bad but in reality it is so tiresome! I’m guessing A1 is having some kind of leap as well as being tired as he’s not been going to sleep very early (despite our best efforts) and yet he’s consistently awake by 6.30am.
A2 hasn’t been very well this month either. Her cough got really rattly and cackly and she was waking up so much in the evening that after a trip to the GP we had the fun task of getting amoxicillin into her three times a day. Why do they make it that neon yellow colour?!? That coincided with A1 getting a splinter in his finger that he wouldn’t let us look at, let alone touch, a blister on his foot which he was the same about and a point blank refusal to wear the only shoes that fit him and keep them on. This resulted in 25 min of whining on the way to work/nursery one morning because he couldn’t get them back on. I looked at my Fitbit heart rate for that day and for those 25 minutes, my heart rate was easily 10 BPM higher than any time during work!!
Adding to this months woes (sorry for moaning!), Mr.J was away one weekend from Friday evening to Monday lunch for a festival and that weekend A2 decided to start the Saturday at 5.30am and Sunday at 4.50am! I think all 3 of us were asleep by 7pm that night. It was really hot and sunny so we had a lot of fun with the paddling pool in the garden and by starting the day so early it meant we got a nice walk in before it got too hot. On the plus side I am pleased to say that A1 seems to be getting the hang of his balance bike now.
We had an OK/great (my view versus Mr.J’s view!) day out on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway last week. My highlight was seeing a family dressed as Profs. Snape and Umbridge and two children as Hogwarts students! A1 enjoyed the train though and A2 was entertained enough walking about and looking out of the windows, though she was really tired on the train back.
I’m sure there have been some good moments in the last month though! They both had popping candy at the weekend as part of pudding in a restaurant and their faces were fun to watch – obviously they both loved it! When A2 was spinning around dancing in the kitchen the other day A1 joined in and that was a few seconds of adorableness. And A1 is often quite nice to A2 for the first ten minutes of the day when he gets into our bed. He also told me that there’s no gravity in space earlier this week and he has been getting loads of praise from his nursery workers for helping and tidying. He also did a fantastic job of writing his name and was really proud of his effort. And he looks really grown up at the moment with his pouffy hair.
As for A2, here’s her monthly development stuff!
Movement: She likes to dance and she spins around or moves her arms from side to side which is really cute! She enjoyed the trampoline park and did really well walking along the long one when we were all bouncing on it and was trying to bounce on a friend’s trampoline at the weekend. She loved the swing though and I think she would have stayed in it forever if she could have! I think she’s found her 2nd gear on her feet now as she’s definitely got a little run going, especially when she’s running off with something or trying to escape a nose wipe or soil being removed from her mouth!
Teeth: Still just the seven but based on the lack of eating, lots of feeding, finger chewing and miserable mood I hope there’ll be more popping through soon.
Play: She’s been enjoying the Duplo and other blocks more recently. She was stacking the blocks up and trying to pick her towers up the other day and laughing when they inevitably tumbled over. The wooden animal jigsaw and plastic animals at playgroup were also entertaining as she kept going back to them and making a clicky noise so I don’t know if she thought they were all horses or if that was a coincidence. She loved water play in the garden – splashing in the pool, watering the plants, scooping ice. She also likes to turn her bubble mower on a lot and she likes riding in the car lots still. Today she had a really good go at kicking the ball about too. She still often goes and gets a book off the shelf and happily and randomly turns the pages. I do try and read them but she’s usually flipping pages back and forth. Lift the flap books are definitely the most fun but Postman Bear is sadly beyond repair now!
Sleep: I think she’s sleeping a bit longer in the evenings sometimes now. Occasionally she will sleep for 90 min for the first stint then maybe another 90-120 min or sometimes 45 min initially and then 120-180 minutes. I’ve started to put her to sleep in her own room though because there have been a few occasions where we’ve disturbed her when we’ve gone to bed(!). Her record best effort was 7.30-12pm a few days ago. I don’t think she’s too bad once she’s in with us but she’s often awake around 6am.
Eating: Apart from raisins she’s not really eating much food at the moment. She has a quick go at whatever it is and just isn’t interested at the moment. She’s having plenty of milk instead! I am guessing this is a teething issue but we’ll have to wait and see…. She has had some other food this month though, not that these pictures reflect a balanced diet!
Communication: I’ve definitely had one “Mama” now (yay!) and she’s certainly developing more sounds. Lots of clicking here tongue on the roof of her mouth and lots of “Mmmmmmmmmmm” too. She’s moved on from nodding to shaking her head but I think she’s using that for yes and no at the moment! When she’s excited she does a tiny little jog with her feet on and off the floor which is really cute. She definitely lets us know what she wants/needs though. She is still obsessed with outing her shoes on and going outside and regularly brings her shoes and coat to you.
Bonus ‘hair’ update:
All things JenkinSunts! 