Changes after the grandparents were here
Mum and dad left yesterday after a two week visit. jennunplugged always says her son shows big development spurts after trips, and I saw a similar thing during mum and dad's visit here. For our two, I suspect the additional attention garnered from having two extra adults in the house all the time will have helped a lot.
Katie added gagaga and dadada to her syllable-streams (mamama and bababa have been used for some time). She also learned to clap and will clap whenever we sing. She loves it! She stands so well now, although only holding on, but hasn't shown any signs of walking. She'll happily cruise along furniture or even walls.
Jamie has learned a few new words: pink and blue (although only in the context of the boundary marker ribbons along the lake trail), baabaa (as in Baa Baa Black Sheep, which we have in mini-book form) and bebe (for baby, that is, Katie). He has been saying digadigadiga which usually means tickle ("tickle tickle tickle") but sometimes I think he means Katie (gadigadigadi "Katie Katie Katie"). He can now point out the "baby" and the "toddler" as well as pointing to people when they are named. He loves the "Clap Your Hands" song from music class and requests it over and over. Of course, this makes Katie clap too. He also will now allow me to sit at the piano and play, as long as he is sat on my lap and I'm playing the songs he is demanding. But it's a step in the right direction :-).
While mum and dad were here I took the opportunity to get a mug painted with Katie's hand and footprint. I have a teapot/teacup set with Jamie's hand and footprint at 2 months. I haven't had the chance until now to get Katie's (well, OK I could have made it more of a priority, but there have always been other things to do). But it will be a nice memento, even if it's not at the same age. We also arranged a bunch of other things like the landscaping, and the next (and final!) step of the remodelling. I was nice to achieve things after 3 months of being ill and barely keeping up with even the day-to-day stuff.
We also went out to the zoo, the aquarium and lots and lots of walks. Jamie loves being outside, and he loves seeing things. It's so much fun to see how much he loves the outside world. Sadly while they're still on consecutive naps it makes it very difficult to get out and do things on my own. We fixed it while mum and dad were here by just forcing Jamie to sleep later than he really likes, but that's not something I can manage on my own (he needs too much attention if he's late for a nap when I also have to look after Katie too). I'm trying to think how to do things like that in future. Katie, despite a brief foray into the world of single-nappers is clinging very tightly to her morning nap at the moment. We may just be a little more house-bound than I prefer at the moment. Or, I could start doing something outrageous like getting up in the morning and getting on with a trip out *before* Katie's nap. But that might be a little hopeful ;-).
Katie added gagaga and dadada to her syllable-streams (mamama and bababa have been used for some time). She also learned to clap and will clap whenever we sing. She loves it! She stands so well now, although only holding on, but hasn't shown any signs of walking. She'll happily cruise along furniture or even walls.
Jamie has learned a few new words: pink and blue (although only in the context of the boundary marker ribbons along the lake trail), baabaa (as in Baa Baa Black Sheep, which we have in mini-book form) and bebe (for baby, that is, Katie). He has been saying digadigadiga which usually means tickle ("tickle tickle tickle") but sometimes I think he means Katie (gadigadigadi "Katie Katie Katie"). He can now point out the "baby" and the "toddler" as well as pointing to people when they are named. He loves the "Clap Your Hands" song from music class and requests it over and over. Of course, this makes Katie clap too. He also will now allow me to sit at the piano and play, as long as he is sat on my lap and I'm playing the songs he is demanding. But it's a step in the right direction :-).
While mum and dad were here I took the opportunity to get a mug painted with Katie's hand and footprint. I have a teapot/teacup set with Jamie's hand and footprint at 2 months. I haven't had the chance until now to get Katie's (well, OK I could have made it more of a priority, but there have always been other things to do). But it will be a nice memento, even if it's not at the same age. We also arranged a bunch of other things like the landscaping, and the next (and final!) step of the remodelling. I was nice to achieve things after 3 months of being ill and barely keeping up with even the day-to-day stuff.
We also went out to the zoo, the aquarium and lots and lots of walks. Jamie loves being outside, and he loves seeing things. It's so much fun to see how much he loves the outside world. Sadly while they're still on consecutive naps it makes it very difficult to get out and do things on my own. We fixed it while mum and dad were here by just forcing Jamie to sleep later than he really likes, but that's not something I can manage on my own (he needs too much attention if he's late for a nap when I also have to look after Katie too). I'm trying to think how to do things like that in future. Katie, despite a brief foray into the world of single-nappers is clinging very tightly to her morning nap at the moment. We may just be a little more house-bound than I prefer at the moment. Or, I could start doing something outrageous like getting up in the morning and getting on with a trip out *before* Katie's nap. But that might be a little hopeful ;-).