(no subject)
As usual it's the sporadic "oh look, I have small people, they are interesting and do funny things" post from me. Sorry about that. I am sure one of these days I will have something scintillating of actual interest to real people to report. But for now, it's all just nappies, toilet training and baby talk for me.
And there has been an awful lot of baby talk of late. It's like someone has thrown a switch for Esme and it's all about the chatting. She's gone from being almost totally non-verbal to being a non-stop chatterer in the last two weeks.
Alex noticed it on Monday when she took Esme to the park (while I had a massage. Oh my word, it was AWESOME. And now I have actual movement in my back and I can lift my arms above my head and everything.) She took Esme down to the creek and they threw stones in the water together. Esme would pick up a stone and throw it and as she threw it, shout "BRRRO" (throw).
Every day she's trying out new words and phrases, often as many as four or five new words come out. She tried to sing me "Humpty Dumpty" the other day (every word was Humpty, bless her, but she sang her one word with great enthusiasm.) Everything she does gets a running commentary. "Esme, chair, Esme, sit DOWN, Esme come too, Esme DINNER" etc. Half of what she's saying I can't quite catch but she will repeat it over and over until either it becomes clear or I nod and smile and she moves on.
A lot of her activities involve Orlaith as a central focus, whether as friend or as a person to copy or torment. One of her favourite phrases is "Hai-yo Yaya" (Hallo Orlaith). Orlaith bears up reasonably well under the intense hero-worship, not so much under the torment. Esme constantly tries to take her toys away, with a passionate cry of "mine! MINE" Esme's turn" or pulls her hair or even hits her. Orlaith takes it for a while, she is so good about sharing her things with Esme, but eventually it will become too much even for Orlaith and she starts tos hriek and squeal.
Esme is also really keen on talking on the phone - as poor Alex will attest. She hears the phone ring and she arrives instantaneously with a huge beaming grin to take the "bone" away.
Orlaith is ever so grown up these days. She had her hair cut the other day and she looks like a proper little girl. Apart from that though she is a real tomboy already. All her friends are boys, pretty much, and she's mainly interested in playing superheroes, climbing trees and zapping things with swords or lasers. Oh and being a pirate. She refuses to even look at a dress or skirt and will only wear trousers.
She confessed to me the other day that she 'loves' her friend Jacob and that she's going to marry him when they grow up. Then last night when I was putting her to bed (Esme fell asleep quickly so I got to get my bedtime snuggle) she told me that Jacob said he didn't want to marry her. She was 'furious'. Then about five minutes later she said "Oh well, I think I will marry Max instead. Yes. I LOVE Max. And when I grow up I shall marry him." So heartbreak doesn't last long when you're four.
She's asking lots of interesting questions at the moment, especially about relationships. She keeps asking me why some women marry men and some women marry other women. This is because her friend at school has two mums, and I think also because I've told her about my friends Suzanne and Aliyah getting married. So we talked about it a bit, in vague general terms, that some times women fall in love with men and sometimes they fall in love with women, and it just depends on the person and how they feel about things. She seemed fine with that explanation. We also talked about how all families are different and how some people have a mum and dad, and some people have two mums or two dads etc. Or no mum or no dad, live with grandparents and so on. She's very curious about where her friend's daddy is. The whole sperm donor thing is a little bit difficult to explain in a way that she'll understand so I just went with the whole 'every one's family is different and he is very lucky because he has two mums!'
And now I have to go read her a story and snuggle her a bit because she's looking all folorn over there on the floor, and Esme's napping so it's our special time together! Huzzah!
And there has been an awful lot of baby talk of late. It's like someone has thrown a switch for Esme and it's all about the chatting. She's gone from being almost totally non-verbal to being a non-stop chatterer in the last two weeks.
Alex noticed it on Monday when she took Esme to the park (while I had a massage. Oh my word, it was AWESOME. And now I have actual movement in my back and I can lift my arms above my head and everything.) She took Esme down to the creek and they threw stones in the water together. Esme would pick up a stone and throw it and as she threw it, shout "BRRRO" (throw).
Every day she's trying out new words and phrases, often as many as four or five new words come out. She tried to sing me "Humpty Dumpty" the other day (every word was Humpty, bless her, but she sang her one word with great enthusiasm.) Everything she does gets a running commentary. "Esme, chair, Esme, sit DOWN, Esme come too, Esme DINNER" etc. Half of what she's saying I can't quite catch but she will repeat it over and over until either it becomes clear or I nod and smile and she moves on.
A lot of her activities involve Orlaith as a central focus, whether as friend or as a person to copy or torment. One of her favourite phrases is "Hai-yo Yaya" (Hallo Orlaith). Orlaith bears up reasonably well under the intense hero-worship, not so much under the torment. Esme constantly tries to take her toys away, with a passionate cry of "mine! MINE" Esme's turn" or pulls her hair or even hits her. Orlaith takes it for a while, she is so good about sharing her things with Esme, but eventually it will become too much even for Orlaith and she starts tos hriek and squeal.
Esme is also really keen on talking on the phone - as poor Alex will attest. She hears the phone ring and she arrives instantaneously with a huge beaming grin to take the "bone" away.
Orlaith is ever so grown up these days. She had her hair cut the other day and she looks like a proper little girl. Apart from that though she is a real tomboy already. All her friends are boys, pretty much, and she's mainly interested in playing superheroes, climbing trees and zapping things with swords or lasers. Oh and being a pirate. She refuses to even look at a dress or skirt and will only wear trousers.
She confessed to me the other day that she 'loves' her friend Jacob and that she's going to marry him when they grow up. Then last night when I was putting her to bed (Esme fell asleep quickly so I got to get my bedtime snuggle) she told me that Jacob said he didn't want to marry her. She was 'furious'. Then about five minutes later she said "Oh well, I think I will marry Max instead. Yes. I LOVE Max. And when I grow up I shall marry him." So heartbreak doesn't last long when you're four.
She's asking lots of interesting questions at the moment, especially about relationships. She keeps asking me why some women marry men and some women marry other women. This is because her friend at school has two mums, and I think also because I've told her about my friends Suzanne and Aliyah getting married. So we talked about it a bit, in vague general terms, that some times women fall in love with men and sometimes they fall in love with women, and it just depends on the person and how they feel about things. She seemed fine with that explanation. We also talked about how all families are different and how some people have a mum and dad, and some people have two mums or two dads etc. Or no mum or no dad, live with grandparents and so on. She's very curious about where her friend's daddy is. The whole sperm donor thing is a little bit difficult to explain in a way that she'll understand so I just went with the whole 'every one's family is different and he is very lucky because he has two mums!'
And now I have to go read her a story and snuggle her a bit because she's looking all folorn over there on the floor, and Esme's napping so it's our special time together! Huzzah!