Moments

A few moments recently that I want to remember...

Ivy going out for an afternoon with Grandad and Charlie, backpack on and snack bag in hand, waving and saying "Bye bye Mummy!" with a beautiful smile on her face. It makes me so happy to see her confident and excited to spend time with the special adults in her life. I feel so grateful that we have these people, and feel like I have done something right for her to be so comfortable leaving me. I love hearing about the adventures they have (and if I'm lucky seeing photos!).

Ivy in the garden wearing her wellies, with her apple and milk, watching the builders with total fascination  Me watching her from inside while I hang up laundry. Another moment of feeling happy that she can feel comfortable without me, and how useful it is when there are those boring but necessary things to do. She also found a stick.

Ivy and I in a cafe, Ivy drawing, and for the first time she tells me what she is drawing (without any prompting).
"Apples! Apples! Apples!"
"Are you drawing apples, Ivy?"
"Drawing apples!"
I'll be honest, it didn't look like apples. It looked very much not at all like apples. It looked like blue zig zag lines.
"Wow, are you drawing round apples Ivy?"
Excitedly "Round apples!"
And then she did, she drew a curve. She knows what round means, and then she realised that she could actually do it. Gradually with lots of praise and more reminders of "Are you drawing round apples?" she drew lots of curves that even met to resemble circles. She was very excited by this, and then went on to draw a "Suma" (satsuma) and "manges" (mangoes). I even took photos.

You can also see on the other sheet of paper that she discovered painting with coffee. Hmm...

Ivy's first full English breakfast!

We went out for anniversary brunch, to the farm (we are so romantic like that!). Ivy just sat and ate her food, and we sat and enjoyed conversation with each other. At one point Ivy turned to me and said "Mummeeeey!" and you could tell from her voice that she was smiling, it was almost as if she was laughing my name. I replied "Iveeeeey!" in the same way and she was just so adorable that I couldn't not hold cup her face with my hand and kiss her cheek. She said "Mummeeey!" again, so I replied "Iveeeey!" and kissed her forehead, and we just carried on like that.

I noticed an oldish couple watching and smiling and I thought "they can see the love". And I could feel the love from Ivy in the way she was looking at me and saying my name.

Just because it melted my heart...

Ivy, climbing the stairs with Kwojo up to bed, and waving:
"Bye bye, night night Mummy, seeyou morning!"
I squeed out loud and said "I love you Ivy"
"I love you cuddle"

Fist time she's said see you in the morning, and first time saying I love you. Lol at I love you cuddle!

Recently

- Ivy found a Barbie doll. She calls her "lady", which is much nicer so I'm trying not to mention the B-word around her. She is obsessed with putting the lady's shoes on. She also makes her walk and does "do-de-do-de-do" walking sound effects.

- Ivy learnt the word cuddle and has started requesting them, she also requests that other people cuddle, or kiss, like Kwojo and I. When she started saying cuddle it sounded like "turtle" which made it all the more adorable when she'd ask for one!

- I may or may not have a little bit encouraged her to laugh at burps and farts. She knows both of these words now, but at least I also taught her to say "pardon me", which she says when other people burp too!

- She thinks that TV is called Neighbours, which she pronounces "naybiz".

- I have learnt that when Ivy is very excited to have visitors, she emits a high pitched (and painful) screech. Repeatedly. She loves having little friends round and the thing to do with them is bounce on her bed, which is an excellant icebreaker.

- Ivy is obsessed with drawing on the box. It is all we are allowed to do. "Mummy, drawing?" she'll have found me and be handing me a wax crayon and leading me off to the box. I even hid the box under the sofa once. She found it. But it is a lovely thing that she so loves drawing. But I do kind of want to do something else sometimes.

Wordy Wednesday

Since passing the 100 words milestone, now seems a good time to stop with the weekly lists (not that I was great at keeping that regular anyway!). Ivy is still learning new words at an amazing rate so I'm going to use this regular post to record some favourites from the week (or longer...). Ivy-isms:

Ivy is getting good at copying words, or at least making a good effort. This week has included parmasan ("parma") and recycling. How middle class toddler is that?! Also attempts at saying platypus! 

Ivy's word for blueberry is "booboo".

Since getting an amazing Animals book (thank you Emmelie!) which Ivy is really interested in she has learnt more animal names. Her pronunciation of zebra is "ba-ra" which took me a while to figure out what she was saying.

She says 'come on' now. She started saying it as she pulls her wheelie Charlie dog along and turned to him to  gentle tell him to come on. So very sweet. Now she tells everyone to come on, including trying to get Kwojo out of bed in the morning! She has a bit of a bossy streak. She'll take someone's hand and instruct: Walk. Sit. Book. Read.

She uses the word "some", but after the other word she is talking about. So, babies some, milk some, cheese some. She also uses some to offer you something, so she'll hold her beaked to my mouth and say some to tell me to drink some (again with the instructing!). She may also use 'bit' in a similar context when asking for or offering a bit of something.

One sunny Sunday afternoon in the garden

Inspiration from an empty dish of roasted veggies.
I made paint from things in my kitchen.
I resisted the urge to tell her to be careful not to spill it.
She painted paper, table, self. Using brush, spoon, hands.
Ivy is so happy when she has water to pour.
And no need for clothes on a day like this.
Some curly chilli's are growing.
She found a "bee" then remembered it's called an "ome". An empty snail home.
A sunny Sunday afternoon in the garden.

Fiesta

A couple of weeks ago Ivy came in from the garden to find me. She took me by the hand and led me outside saying "Boon! Boon!". I didn't know what she was saying until I saw it - a hot air balloon! It was so close we could hear the burner. We waved to it and Ivy said "Boon!" even after it had drifted out of sight.

She would then point out of the window or to the sky and say "Boon" hopefully for weeks after. Whenever she heard anything similar to the "Pshhh" of the burner she'd look for a balloon. We didn't see a balloon again.

On hearing her interest in hot air balloons, my Dad looked for pictures on his phone (because he looks up everything on his phone). This meant that whenever he would try to show her something else on his phone she'd point at the screen and demand "boons". Blackberry's are useful for one thing only, apparently.

We are lucky enough to live in Bristol, home to the Balloon Fiesta! So this is what our Friday evening looked like...

Close enough to hear the burner and the passengers shouting "hello" when we waved.

The evening was so still that the balloons were struggling to stay up and just about managed to get past road and houses to land in nearby fields.

My Dad got really excited and pursuaded us to go with him to the fields where they were landing, and I'm glad he did because the view was stunning.

One landed in the same fields as us, then decided to go back up and land in the next field.

When Ivy saw a Union Jack flag she recognised it from the balloon and said "boon".

Wordy Wednesday

About a months worth of words (which have been scrawled onto a post it note). I'm pretty sure this take Ivy over the 100 words mark.
Open
Sorry (she usually says this when she has hurt herself, or when someone else should be saying sorry to her)
On
Stairs
Noise
Peepo
Eve
Home ("ome")
Rabbit ("ratdit")
Bite (as in, asking me to bite an apple so that she can then eat it)
Thank you ("ek oo" and usually said with the sign for thank you)
Grandma ("dan-ma" for Great Grandma Dora)
Sit
Steps
Bucket
Elephant
Eggs
Ready go (when she wants to go out, or get on and do something like bathtime)
Pen
Phone
Soon
Balloon ("boon")
Water ("war-ty")
Bin
Sleep
Sandles ("sandys")
Charlie
Flower (started as "flowy" now flower)
In
Grass
Out
Up
Down
Eyebrow
Put
Play
Ear
Peach ("peachy")
Nipple
Tummy
Bellybutton ("belly")
Close
Camera
Garden
Hands
Walk
Window
Sky
Bath
Toilet
Pepper
Cream
Necklace ("neck-lee")
Dropped it ("dropdee")
Stuck

Ivy no longer says "appy" but "apple" - it was a sad-proud moment!
Her most used word at the moment is yeah/yep/yes.
She takes my hand and says "walk" when she wants me to go with her somewhere.
I am so amazed by how quickly she learns and starts to use a new word.

Wordy Wednesday

drink
Sophie ("so-tee")
sorry
see
sit
in
out
walk
pasta
stairs
monkey
fly
stuck
ant
Annie
pat

Ivy seems to be talking a lot more this week, using the words she already knows a lot more than before. She used to master a word and unless it was particularly important to her she'd then just not use it for ages. Now she is picking all those words back up.

Wordy Wednesday

Sore
Towel
Ear
Grandad (sounds like "nan-da")
Bus
Steph (sounds like "sdes")
Fork
Cake
Jake
Arm
Sit
Cup
Hand

Ivy has also been saying her own name ("aye-ee") more, and starting to pick up on familiar people's names quite quickly. She has been saying "Mummy dan Daddy" (dan=and). She has renamed her bee backpack, Backbee. It melts me every time. Another melting word this week: Mummy. She has been saying it LOADS, and it is just so sweet.

Wordy Wednesday - 18 months!

This weeks words (and possibly some I forgot to mention last week)...

Eat
Wall
Map
Back (used for when she wants a piggy back, and also instructing Charlie-dog to back off)
Buzz (as in Buzz Lightyear, as well as the sound a bee or fly makes)
Down
Hot
Night
Out (this is replacing "door" as her way of requesting going outside)
Feet
Wet (also for water, like "dog wet" = "dog water")
Tights
Pop (as in "poppers")
Yeah (Yes! Finally to balance out "no"!)

Ivy is also using more words together, like, "Daddy, milk!" and "Down please" and "more, yeah?".

She is using "yeah" to ask for something, which is a nice replacement to pointing to something and demanding "me!". So it's like she's saying, "Yeah I want that please?".

Still big on saying Daddy, now "Daddy's". Apparently most things are Daddy's. Hmm.

Wordy Wednesday

Car
Teeth
Me (as in, "give it to me please" or "pick me up please")
Bag
Bang
Ow (not used when she hurts herself, but she is saying 'ow' on behalf of someone else, like when she bashes us!)
Poo (!)
Boy (although this is used for any child, learning the difference between a boy and a girl won't be easy!)
Look

Wordy Wednesday

In an attempt to keep up with the pace that Ivy is learning words, I'm making a note of them through the week and posting the list on Wednesdays. This week (or since whenever I last listed):

Socks (started off as "shucks" which was adorable)
Tick Tock (for a clock or watch)
No (manage to delay that one because we hardly say it to her!)
Milk (started off as "Mum" and then an amalgamation "Mulk" and now mostly "Milk")
Mouth
Coat
Peas
Hair
More (said while signing "more")
Beep (to tell us that the washing machine/microwave/etc is beeping)

She isn't putting words together yet, just using them to request things or to tell us what she can see. With prompting she has said "Milk please".

She also says "hamy" for car. This is because the car sound is "harrum", so she ended up saying "ham" which became "hamy"!

Learning and growing

Ivy is learning new words so fast I can hardly keep up! Her vocabulary has more than doubled since I last posted about three weeks ago. So added to the list  now:

Backpack
Truck
Ball
Bike
Cat
Keys
Knee
Cheek
Chin
Bean
Pushchair
Duck
Please
Bean
Hi
Bye
Dog
Book
Read
Wipe
Bear
Tea
Happy
Apple

And it's not just words she's been learning. Suddenly she is climbing up and down off the sofa, no longer has a fear of the stairs, and in general she is tackling her fine and gross motor skills. She is understanding so much of what say and often happily follows instructions. Yesterday she was watering plants in the garden, and I'd ask her to water particular pots and she would. When she ran out of water, she'd hold out her watering can and ask "Please? Please?".

With all this developing there are some downsides and this week came the first of the tantrums. She can unscrew lids now, and sometimes when I ask "Ivy, can you give it to me please?" she understands but doesn't want to. Cue meltdown.

Suddenly she seems like such a toddler, probably because she is. I really don't think I can get away with calling her a baby any more! And that's ok, because I'm really enjoying this age. It's amazing to see her taking so much in and learning so fast. She has clear likes and dislikes.

She has recently discovered the slide. And I discovered that she can climb up it when I turned around to find her half way up. Yep, learning fast. (Not this slide, this slide is small. It was a big slide and slightly scary moment for me.)

16 Months

Ivy turned 16 months this week. I am gradually started to loose track of her age in months, and it takes me longer to answer when asked how old she is.

At 16 months Ivy says:

Zis? (This?)
Mum/Mummy/Ma/Mama
Dad/Daddy/Da/Dada
Shoes
Cheese
Toast
Toes
Door (most used word at the moment)
Bee (her bumble bee backpack)
Baby
Owl
Uh-oh (does that count as a word?)
Whee (for fun stuff, again, is that a word?)
Dot (when drawing dots with her pens)
Eye
(Spaghetti - still only that one time!)


She also makes sounds for:

Dog: A-wruh/Woo woo
Car: Hurmm (sounds a bit like a throaty "ham")
Owl: OOooh Ooohh
Gorilla: OOhOOh
Lotion: Pssh


She copies a lot of words too, like: bird, burp, ball wipe, huit (French).

She signs:

Milk
Eat
More
Finished
Daddy (working on it)
Hot
Drink (sometimes)
Nappy (sometimes)
Sleep (sometimes)
Hat
Thank you
Daddy

And a couple of video's from April...


She really loves the keyboard. The whining at the end is because she suddenly noticed the owls on the shelf (they have been there her whole life and she *just* noticed!).





She still loves the phone. She is also wearing loads of clothes because this is what happens when we are inside for too long - she finds coats and asks me to put them on her! She paces on the phone like Kwojo. Notice when she drops the phone she says "shi.."? Oops, may have got that from me, need to make more effort not to swear!

Ivy, recently

- Says "door" (did I mention she likes going outside??) and "owl" (when she wants me to make an owl sound)

- Is into closing doors and drawers, even if you are using it at the time.

- Learnt the sign for "more" in an afternoon. We decided to start teaching her it at lunch time, and by dinner she was using it!

- This week she gave up on signing and words and gestures and anything else and instead used whining to try to communicate everything. Oh my god. Most irritating sound. With lots of encouragement and positive reinforcement she is starting to use communication that doesn't make my brain hurt.

- Is pretty good at kicking and dribbling a ball. She learnt this just from watching Kwojo. It's amazing/scary how much they pick up on when your aren't even try to teach them!

- Effectively used a fork for the first time to spear a piece of sweetcorn and eat it. It was impressive, and the concentration required was immense. (Another example of learning from observation).

- Has started using Kwojo's afro comb! She also uses forks to brush her hair.

- I unintentionally taught her to say "Wow" when she looks at the sky. She occasionally notices that it's there, throws her head back and stares skyward with a look of awe on her face. So I'd say "Wow, Ivy! Look at the sky, wow!". So now when she throws her head back she says "Waaaw!". Yes, the sky is pretty amazing.

- A while ago, when she had her immunisations, she was offered a chocolate button by the nurse and as she was really upset we gave it to her. She reluctantly took it, and then fed it too me! She was so sad and confused, and all she could think to do was give it to me - so sweet.

- Loves anything with wheels, and makes a "brrrrm" sound for toy cars as she moves them around.

- Is quite cuddly. She wraps her arm around my neck and rests her head into my shoulder. It's lovely. She didn't used to be as affectionate, she was too busy and on the move.

- Will put the lens cap on the camera while I am using it.

- Has a reading voice when she opens a book or sees words anywhere. She usually says "de doh di dah" in a soft slightly sing songy voice - I guess this is what we sound like to her when we read?!

- Enjoys the keyboard, and the many ways of playing it.

Ivy, recently

- Now says: shoes, cheese, toes, toast.

 - Really is obsessed with going outside. As soon as we are downstairs she finds her coast and asks for it to be put on, and then zipped up. She rubs the ends of the zip together until she gets frustrated that she can't do it and asks us to make it work. She also finds her shoes and asks for them to be put on. If she can see her backpack, that goes on too. Then she will either stand at the front door pointing and gesturing "come on" or whine to get in the pram. This is usually before I am dressed or have had breakfast. If we go out, and then come home, she wants to go in the garden as soon as possible. Indoors simply will not do.

- Has discovered her belly button and loves it. Over winter she would be dressed in tights under trousers and a long sleeve vest that pops up between the legs, so the only skin she would see would be her hands. When good weather came, tights and vests were no longer needed and she realised that she has skin in places other than her hands. She pulls up her trousers and slaps her legs with glee, and will pull up her top to find her bellybutton on demand!

- In the mornings Ivy calls for me by saying "Mum"

 - Is really good at holding hands, and has learnt that she can lead people where she wants. She has strong grip! She also does it for a sense of security, sometimes.

- Still loves dogs and gets excited, points and barks when she sees any. We finally got a video of her version of barking. She also makes this sound if she hears someone say 'dog' or 'Charlie'.

- Prefers to eat from a plate or bowl (rather than straight from the table), and it usually doesn't end up on the floor. She is also keen to use cutlery, because she sees us using it. She can get a pre-loaded spoon or fork into her mouth, just can't load it up with food herself yet. She's working on it. Meals aren't usually as messy as this anymore:

- Ivy likes the wobbly chair at the park, and wobbles herself on it with surprising force (it scares Kwojo). She is now keen to sit on normal chairs and tries very hard to wobble them too!

- Signs a lot. Now signs 'hot', 'sleep' and sometimes 'drink'. As well as 'eat' and 'milk'. Between these signs, the few words she says and general gesturing and sounds she is quite effective at communicating with us. She is signing 'eat' here:

Spaghetti

Ivy has started holding objects out towards us and saying "Hmmm?" which is either asking us what it is, or giving it to us (this was a huge surprise as she has, up until now, been very reluctant to part with anything at all ever). This morning she held out a piece of dried spaghetti asking "Hmmm?" so I told her it was spaghetti and she tried to eat it. Then off she crawled and found another piece (paints a lovely picture of our kitchen floor, eh?), and Ivy really clearly said "Spa ghe tti".

And this is my 100th blog entry!