Tonight's Giggly Madness

With our dinner tonight, Aidan and I had a salad. A big salad in a bowl that we could both pick at. So, I sat at one end of the couch, Aidan sat at the other, and the salad bowl was next to me.

Elspeth climbed up on the couch and started poking around in the salad bowl. Naturally I encouraged this, thinking she was showing signs of wanting to eat healthily.

But did she eat it? No.

She took bits out, one by one, and put them into Aidan's mouth. Feeding him. After each piece went into his mouth, she would be back at the bowl for another, and trying to feed him again before he'd even chewed the last piece! It was like a salad relay race! On the one occasion Aidan simply couldn't get another piece of vegetable into his mouth and utterly refused, Elspeth simply brought it back and fed it to me instead!

Much hilarity ensued. :)

Playing Favourites

Now everybody knows that parents aren't meant to have favourites amongst their children. Clearly for Aidan and I this is not a problem, as we so far only have one child. However apparently no corresponding rule exists for the children themselves, and nobody stops them having favourite adults! Usually, of course, it's just Elspeth and myself at home and she has no choice but to love me best. But today Aidan is home, and he is definitely the favourite - he is the one she wants to be near, to hug, to climb all over, and to slobber on. Last weekend at my parents' house, my mother was the favourite. Elspeth switches favourites like some people change underwear! Whilst it is nice to be her favourite, it is equally nice to get a break and let somebody else take the brunt of her particularly demanding style of attention!

Swapsies!

At some point in the distant past I started giving Elspeth juice in bottles she could drink from herself - that is to say, I no longer have to sit down, hold her, and hold the bottle, she drinks all by herself while wandering around. Now naturally she can't do this with a dummy in her mouth, so if she has one, I ask her for it before I give her the juice.
From this, she has gotten the impression that she can't have juice without giving me something first - swapping something! So every time I offer her the bottle, if she isn't sucking on a dummy, she goes to find something to give to me before she takes it!

The Flower of my Heart

Some weeks ago, to test Elspeth's vocabulary and understanding, I asked her to bring me a flower. To my delight, she went and found a flower, picked it, and brought it to me. Naturally I was thrilled, and praised her effusively. The natural extension of this is that she now thinks that bringing mummy flowers is a good and right thing to do - and so she does it all the time. I sat on the back step watching her play in the yard this morning, and every time the inclination struck her, she brought me a flower. Nine, in all. By about the third or fourth I was wondering if I should keep thanking her for them - she'll be picking every flower in the yard at this rate! But I would hate to scold her when she thinks she's doing something praiseworthy! So I simply said nothing as I took each flower from her (if I don't take things when she gives them, she shoves them at me, getting very aggravated if I don't accept!) and I guess after the ninth my lack of enthusiasm got through to her and she stopped. But I know she'll do it again tomorrow!

Foot claws!

A few days ago I wanted to cut Elspeth's nails. I got all of her fingernails done, and seven of her toenails. But the last three toenails have been the subject of an on-going battle! Each day I try at least once to make her keep that foot still so I can chop off those claws, to no avail! I've tried doing it while she eats, while she watches DVDs, and while she is sleepy, but each time she quickly becomes aware of my intentions and promptly wriggles her foot. 

Finally today I managed to cut two of them. Heaven knows how! She was watching Thomas the Tank Engine at the time, perhaps she just really likes trains. But I still can't manage the very last toenail!!!

Musical Fun

My monosyllabic daughter

Elspeth's vocabulary is growing at an astounding rate. She shows understanding of a great many words that she can't say yet, and she says quite a few.
However I can't help but notice that she has not quite got the hang of giving each word more than one consonant.
As such, "da" can mean either dad or dummy.
"Ba" is bus, or bath, or ball.
"Ma" is mum or mouse.
And "go" is gone!
She will stand by the door after Aidan goes to work and say "da go ca", and it's perfectly clear that she knows her daddy has gone in the car. I find that quite impressive.
But I can't wait until she finishes words properly!

Thud!

Elspeth can now climb out of her cot if the side is left lowered. Landing, however, is something she needs to work on.

Note to self: Always put the side up.

All Hail the Holey Baby

Elspeth had her 12 month vaccinations today - yes, even though she's 13 months old. I left it a little late, but finally got around to it. She got three jabs - one in each arm, and one in a leg - and she yelled! But she recovered fairly well, considering she's got a cold as well. I got the doctor to check out her hips too, just to make sure they were developing fine, and there's no problem there. So apart from the snotty sniffles, we've got a nice healthy baby now!

No More Afternoon Nap

At 13 months of age, Elspeth has dropped her afternoon nap. It got harder and harder to get her to sleep, and it wasn't for long, so now I simply don't put her down. That means she spends from about 11.30am until 8pm awake. She seems to handle it well, with only limited irritability towards the end of the day. Me, though... I didn't know how much I valued that short afternoon break until it was gone! Yesterday I lost patience and punched a wall, oops. Hand and wall both ok. I will do my best to improve my patience - perhaps some wine might help?

Over on Kidspot I've joined the CRAP mothers group - Creative Relaxed Approach to Parenting. We CRAP mothers don't watch our children like hawks, we let them eat a little dirt now and then, and we punch walls in front of them.