Eggshell Green

Abby Update at 16 Months

We finally got Abby a climber (yay for Trademe) so that she can be a monkey without getting in trouble. It’s a Little Tikes Easy Store climber that’s supposed to be for kids aged 2 1/2 and up but we’ve provided a stool and chair as platforms for her to climb up and use the slide. She’s quite good at going up the ladders at the park, but the ones on her climber are a bit more challenging as they’re upright and there’s no platform at the top to crawl onto. Nevermind – I’m sure she’ll get the jist of things pretty soon.

Weeeee

I also got her a second-hand doll’s cradle and stroller. She’s having fun pushing her soft toys (her “baby”) around in the stroller and even knows how to steer it. I’ve taught her to rock the cradle, but she’s more interested in trying to climb inside.

If you haven’t got the hint by now, I’m trying to set Abby up to entertain herself so that hopefully she won’t need all my attention once her little brother arrives. She seems to be pretty good at playing by herself anyway but can be quite clingy some days (due to teething we think).

Abby peering at her dad mowing the lawn

Talking of teeth, she has 12 and we’re expecting another two at least. We still have to enrol her into a school dental program so she can go in for free checkups.

Abby’s new thing is swatting flies. She saw me do it and now attempts it herself. She calls flies “bah” or “wah” – not sure why though! She also now can say “Please” but you have to remind her and it comes out as “pee”. Oh, and she also says “pee pee” when she’s sitting on her potty. We’re not actually toilet training her yet, but we’ve noticed she likes to wee after a bath and have been trying to get her to do it on the potty. She has no clue what it’s for but likes to sit on it and say “pee pee” now.

She’s understanding lots more now, like “Lie down” (for a nappy change), “Sit down”, “Put it back”, “Put it on the table”, “Give to daddy/mummy”, “Get your shoes”, among other things.

To add to her existing vocabularly, Abby can also say the following:

• Bee
• Bowl
• Pea
• Pee pee
• Pee (please)
• Wow-wa (flower)
• Ow
• Owl (the bird but it just sounds like “ow”)
• Wo wo (woof woof)
• Choo choo (train)
• Vroom (car sound)
• Da ka (cracker)
• Juice
• Tissue
• Up – She really loves this one, using it to mean she wants to be picked up, or get out of her high chair, or wants us to open something.
• No no no no no! – Oh yes, she knows what she wants and what she definitely doesn’t want now.
• Om – She points to her mouth when she says this to indicate she’s hungry!

And you know what else? She finally acknowledges me as “mam mee” – actually pointing to me, or photos of me and knowing that I’m not “daddy”, a “na na” or a “wo wo”, which she has previously answered when asked who I was.

Tags: vocabulary

Abby Update at 15.5 Months

Abby loves the playground. She’s a pretty confident little girl and can not only play on the toddler’s playground going over the arch bridge, through the tunnel, up the platforms then down the slide, she even has a go on the big kids’ one. She climbs up the ladders, crosses the bouncy suspension bridge (though she has to crawl) and down the “big” slide all by herself. She’s a real little climber – ok at the playground, not so good in the kitchen – so we’ve been on the lookout for a climber that she can play with at home for when the horrible winter weather kicks in.

The kiddies watch dad watering the plants

She loves being outside. Usually she goes up and down the steps, walks along the path, runs in the grass, picks leaves and flowers, plays in Fez’s doghouse and throws the ball for him. She knows where the strawberries are and if she sees a red one she’ll want to pick it. She also thinks it’s super fun to randomly pick my chives and throw them off the deck.

The husband has taught her a new word – “beer”. She says it with such clarity. Whenever dad has a beer, Abby tries to grab it so we say “No, that’s daddy’s beer”, and now she knows what it is. Very cute.

This is how I help

One of her new favourite things is helping me with the laundry. When I’m hanging things on the clothes horse, she’s there at the bottom “helping”. It’s pretty much piling clothes all on the same rung, but oh well, keeps her happy. I’ve even resorted once to giving her some dry clothes to hang up to keep her occupied while I made dinner.

She really likes to imitate at the moment. She’s learnt to put “moisturiser” on purely by watching me. She can’t actually get into any of my jars and bottles (thankfully) but she pretends to shake stuff out and then rub or pat them on her body.

Like my hat? I do!

Abby has a thing for putting things on her head. It could be hats, or buckets, or underwear… and she normally says “Yeeha” when she does it. I think we’ve confused her because everytime she puts on her cowgirl hat we say “Yeeha” and I think she thinks that means “hat” now.

I like this hat too

Abby and Fez are getting along swimmingly. She likes to lie down and snuggle with him on his bed but Fez often runs away to avoid being squished. She also likes to try and feed Fez whatever she’s having – a sign of things to come with her baby brother!

Sniff my finger

Abby Update at 15 Months

Abby quite enjoys blobbing on the rug at the moment. She’ll just lie there and watch telly which is nice when I just need a quiet break for things like blogging! Though I hope I’m not encouraging couch-potatoness. Don’t get me wrong, she still zips around the house all “Eee” and “OOh” and climbing and creating all sorts of havoc.

Just chilling and watching some tv

The other day she managed to get her head stuck through the deck rails – in fact she was more off than on the deck and that scared the bejesus out of me. I couldn’t get her unstuck and back onto the deck, so ran around the other side and pulled her out from the high end. I’ve been saying we need to trellis our deck because I know her head still fits through the gaps. Might have to be a little project in the next couple of weeks.

Loving the slide

I try and take her to the park every few days. It’s nice for her to explore and use up some energy without being told off all the time! We really do need to make our house more child-proof, especially as she’s an expert climber now, and getting tall enough to reach things she couldn’t before.

Elbows on the table? How about legs?

Abby’s getting so good at feeding herself. She can manage almost her whole bowl of food or pottle of yoghurt by herself without making much mess. Quite often she doesn’t want us feeding her because she wants to do it herself. That’s fine by me!

Her favourite way to drink her milk or have a snack is sitting on her Abby Cadabby chair at the coffee table. God forbid if anyone else is sitting in her chair when she wants it! You will be pushed away.

Tags: baby, parenting, Wellington

Playtime with Abs

It’s great watching Abby play on the slide all by herself. She’s a bit shy when other kids are about but when she’s by herself she goes for it. The baby playground in Kilbirnie is perfect because it’s quite safe (so big pregnant ladies don’t need to do much but supervise) and just the right size for a toddler.

She’s also a pro at riding her rocking horse now – complete with hat and a “Yeeha” at the end.

Unfortunately any time is play time and Abby still won’t stay in one place to get her nappy changed. Today she took off while I was trying to clean up a sticky poo, and then sat her dirty butt down on the rug. I picked her up to reveal a nice brown butt-shaped patch with some chunks, which Fez promptly ate – EWWWWW!

Tags: baby, play, Wellington