Emily the elder

When I picked up Em tonight from Helen's, I discovered Em now has a new friend called Ellie.

She's a bit younger than Em and apparently Em is "showing her the ropes" - how to read books, how to sing nursery rhymes, etc. She's only 2.5 and not really old enough to be the older child (that's around 7-8 I'd reckon) but it's fun to hear about Em being the "grown up" showing Ellie the ropes.

I get it foreshadows how she'll react to a sibling when he/she eventually arrives.

Terrible Twos in full terrible swing

As lovely as it is having Emily more receptive, she's getting a mood and attitude on her that's really quite shocking.

Having had a chat with Helen today, we ruminated over how headstrong and stubborn Emily's becoming and how she wants to do things her way or she flops a strop.

I guess it's up to Sue and I as parents to see past the new "personality" that's emerging and continue to steer her properly through life.

It can be quite hard when the simplest aspects of life - bath time, walking from the house to car, etc. - are met with floods of tears and the toddler equivalent of a "sit in".

This all comes as quite a full on shock considering how placid Emily was as a baby. She was happy, content and went with the flow.

To be honest, she's still all those things, but she's now realising there's a "her way" to doing things as well.

I really don't look forward to her teenage years. I have a feeling I'm in for a large amount of payback.

23 months going on 12

As Emily races towards her second birthday, her personality is becoming much more apparent. Her cheeky grin, her predilection  to making her teddies kiss, and her "terrible twos" temper.

In the past, Em has become moody for one of a couple of reasons - tired, hungry or thirsty. Now, she seems to be figuring out what all parents dread - when something's not going her way, crying and screaming help!

It doesn't help matters that she STILL can't talk, so when a happy go lucky mood turns to a sea of tears in seconds, it leaves Sue and I more than a little perplexed. Skipping to worse case scenarios, I continue to imagine that something's exploded inside (appendix perhaps?) or she's been poisoned and THIS is her last breath.

Of course, it's more often than not her attempt to tell us something, generally that she's not down with the current situation - don't want to be in the pram, grocery shopping isn't a job fit for little girls or there's no way in hell that bath water is going over this head.

All in all, I realise that the placid happy ALL the time Emily is a thing of the past, and that trying to sort out her moods and crying sessions is just the latest in a long line of "I have no clue what's going on with my child" scenario that I will continue to face long into the future

Finding her way or becoming spoilt?

Emily's getting to that age where she's becoming quite independent ... or so she thinks. She wants to walk where SHE wants to walk, do what SHE wants to do and if she can't, we'll hear about it - usually with a scream in our ear.

Up until now, I always thought terrible parents were terrible because they were lazy or didn't care, but I really begin to wonder where the line is with children. Is Emily learning as she goes, or is she testing boundaries? Are these the seeds of an ASBO child that we have to guide, or is it a natural part of development to not want to hold hands crossing the road and spraying the wall with food?

If it is a natural part of development, how do we react?

Last night, Emily threw food on the floor, and I tapped her hand and sternly said no. As she's not an adult, she didn't look at me and say, "Gosh. Sorry dad, what the heck was I thinking?", she looked at me and balled her eyes out, as I picked bits of quiche out of the carpet and surrounding toys. I understand children have the attention span of a gnat, but I firmly believe I need to ensure Emily starts to know right from wrong, or is it too early?

Parenting is hard. I guess bad parents are those that understand this, and choose the easy route, I don't know.

15 months and counting

It's 15 months yesterday since Em entered our lives and we're still looking for a number of milestones - like walking - but reached a great number of them nonetheless.

Having been a dad for well over a year now, I can't imagine life without her - although sometimes I wish I could, but that's true with anything that gets on your nerves. Count to ten and things seem less stressful.

Em now has more teeth than she did a couple of months ago, she's taller, she's had her first bout of diarrhoea, she's sleeping on her stomach, etc. etc.

It's quite fun and interesting seeing the world through her eyes... especially how she never gets sick at repetition, something I miss, as I can boast I saw Star Wars about 18 times back in the 80s.

Gurning toddler

Emily seems to be growing up almost daily on this trip. She seems bigger, older, wiser, more astute and aware of her surrounding. It's quite odd watching a child go through these "growth spurts".

Her latest initiative is to gurn at people. She has a mild underbite, so scrunching her nose up just completes the face. I can't help shake the mental images of those old gurning toothless drunks whenever she does it. Of course, I don't know exactly WHY she's doing it, but I imagine it's all part of her mental and physical growth.

Be interesting to see if this is a phase or if Sue and I will have to traipse around the country in a few years as Emily competes in gurning competitions.

Vocal toddler (aka found her voice)

Over the last week or so, Emily's really become quite vocal. She'd cry or shout at random times when there's no real discernible reason for her to do so. All Sue and I can do is offer her comfort - drink, food, nappy change, time for bed?

It's all a guessing game as to why she's being more distressingly vocal, and the more she chatters and yells, the more I wish that baby translator that Unky Herb in The Simpsons was developing was actually real.

On a happy note for Sue, Em has begun to say "mum mum mum mum" over and over again. I also swear I heard her say "bubby" or at least "bub bub" on at least one occasion!

Our little Emmers is growing up!

Some... er (summer) fun.

With the summer on it's way, it's interesting to note the differences from last summer. Even though Em was here and a few months old last year, she really was just a blob or babbling baby. This year, she's a chattering, crawling, walking (with help) little pseudo toddler.

Thinking back to all the things we did last year - the Wallington Proms, Ben & Jerry's, the NCT Teddy Bear's Picnic... Em was really just the passive little baby. I'm really looking forward to her being more interactive with the things we do this year.

Toddling

With Emily turning one next week - next Sunday - it's amazing how much she has to learn, but also how much she is learning. There are days when it seems she's picking up new skills quite quickly (like looking like Elton John).

This week, she's pretty much learned to self-wean, even with smallish items like blueberries. Up until this past week she wasn't really doing any self-feeding.

We've also got her standing around. Although this is a FAR cry from walking, it's a good step towards balance and stability. Sue's been doing baby steps with Emily too this weekend, so the next step I guess is Emily walking along the furniture.

Emily's also started waving, with what we can only assume to be intent. Previously she'd flail her arms relentlessly and if it was we were greeting or leaving, we'd attribute it to a wave. Now though, she seems to be doing it on purpose.

One of the lesser wanted traits she's developing is the tantrum, or "tanty". Yesterday, her face went bright red and all screamy, as her attempts to get a drink failed ... badly.

I guess we have to take all the good with the bad. I can't wait until she can walk, or talk or read, etc. but I know it'll be tempered with the moods, the tanties and the terrible twos.

Growings up to do.

Emily and I went to visit the Feakins twins yesterday, as their dad Paul is also off on Thursday. It was a nice dads / babies afternoon. However, whenever you're with other children of a similar age to your own, you always end up comparing "feats".

For instance, when it comes to eating, Emily will attempt to cram everything in her hand into her mouth. She hasn't grasped the concept of ripping toast, etc. with her teeth and having a second bite. The twins however, were sitting quite nicely with a WHOLE rice cracker in one hand a sippy cup in t'other. Emily will drink from the sippy cup if you hold it to her mouth. Although, today was the first time (I've seen) that she took the cup, held it herself and drank while I just sat and watched.

Paul was also telling me - and I got to see - the twins feed themselves WITH SPOONS! Emily's able to self-wean to a degree, but again she crams in her mouth, etc. and if we give her a spoon ... well, we don't anymore. Put it that way.

Having reported these marvels to Sue, I was told we need to train Emily better. The self-weaning is coming along, as is the teethbrushing (we do it, but at least she lets us). We just have to be as vigilant with drinking, and biting off food, and holding spoons as we are with trying to get her to stand, crawl and wave buh-bye.

Dukka Dukka

Emily's not speaking yet, perse, but she is getting more verbal. Apart from the ubiquitous "da da" (always first with the important words!) she's now been known to add utterances that sound similar to "ape" and just today we heard something similar to "ma ma". Of course, to her it's just babbling as she has no clue that we are called mum and dad.

The one phrase she is uttering quite a bit, and it really started in Canada, is "dukka dukka". It's quite cute watching her furrowed brow get to grips with the complexities of a stuffed toy while uttering it in all seriousness. Not quite so cute, when she's saying it behind a wall of crying and tears, but the good and the bad come with the territory.

We're now back from the great white north and Emily had a lovely time. She seems - touch wood - to be coping with the jet lag better than mummy and daddy as it's currently 1am and neither of the adults are ready for bed, yet Emmers is fast asleep.

Having brought her back into her familiar surroundings, it's quite amazing how much she's changed in the three weeks we were away. Apart from uttering "dukka dukka" all the time, she's also noticeably taller, and she's begun pulling herself up when you go to pick her up. We're going to have to figure out quite soon how to drop the floor down a level on her crib.

I was once told to cherish these first few months as they are only that - a few months. I really didn't know how true that was until we got home.

Back in Blighty

It's Sunday and our Toulousian adventure is now a distant memory (well, two days ago).

After having gorged on French food and hospitality and mooched around Toulouse while not having a care in the world, the real world has come crashing down upon us.

Yesterday it was back to routine - we took Em to Aqua Tots (only two sessions left!) and then we went to Tesco's where she promptly fell asleep.

Today, she's been a wonderful little thing, playing in her sit'n'step and just being a joy to be around.

The past few days, I've noticed a change in Em - both physical and in demeanour. Something about her nose (I know that sounds odd), but she looks less and less like a baby each day and more and more like a young child. Part of this makes me sad, as my life seems to be speeding by at the rate of knots, but it seems Em's does too (I know to her it doesn't as it's only been eight LONG months that she's been alive).

She's also started clicking her teeth which is funny to watch. I have it on good authority (OK, Sue) that it's not new, but as with all things if it's new to me, it's new.

But back to my original point. I've been with the girls 24/7 for the last week and I'm going to find it rather difficult being away for the day come tomorrow. Thankfully, I only have two weeks left of work then almost a month off (week forced jollies, then three weeks in Canada).

Teenage Wildlife

The Times today had a supplement for teens, apparently written and edited by teens.

It got me thinking about all sorts of things, like how can I protect my daughter from the harmful media-obsession with being size zero, of having all her heroes getting publicly bladdered every night and dating heroin junkies, and trying to instil in her that that is actually not how people are supposed to react.

On the other side of the coin, I was wondering whether my daughter would follow her parents into the field of journalism and find herself writing for and editing a teen section for a major news paper in about a decade's time.

The more I think about things, the more secure I feel that all is going to be well... as long as we stay away from the bad areas of town.