Encouraging Respect

As PLB grows older I am trying to help him to learn respect for his and other people's belongings. Simple things like putting his toys away after playing with them, putting away one type of toy before playing with the next and putting his toys away carefully and gently (not throwing) are all part of this work.

I have however seen increasingly in myself the need for improvement in these areas - aren't children wonderful mirrors of ourselves! I have to watch myself that I don't just toss that soft toy into PLB's cot (crib), shove gently with my foot (can be seen as kicking) that chair into position, or drop his Duplo bricks into the box as PLB is watching "no throwing mummy!" - This is helping me to be more careful in how I handle our possessions in general even when not being watched by the toddler, especially while we temporarily live with friends this is important for all of us.

2 Years

So PLB turned 2 on the 19th! Wow 2 years has just flown by. As you may have noticed I have very little time at the moment to blog - other things get priority - most other things!

We went to the zoo, I had made PLB a moving digger card (big hit and so simple), ordered a few books but they didn't arrive on time so he only got 1 present for his birthday from us - a magnetic book about diggers that we saw a few days before and bought on the spur of the moment - he enjoys looking at diggers. I even baked a cake and put carob frosting on it and 2 candles and brought a lighter with us to the zoo to do the cake and candles thing, we didn't get to the cake till we got back to the car as the place that we ate lunch was too windy. Then I discovered that the lighter didn't work so we tried asking a few passers-by if they had a lighter which nobody did so PLB didn't get his cake till we bought matches at a service station at about 7.30pm! - but we did get a couple of photos at least! But obviously by that time he just wanted to sleep so he took about two bites then asked for "mamma melk"!

I haven't taken PLB for his 2 year weigh/check up yet but will this Wednesday.

He is a very small child for his age - not very tall and very slim - just now growing out of 12-18 month clothes! This despite the fact that he loves his food. In fact he seems to like the healthiest foods the most - cooked carrots, fresh tomatoes, tofu, beans (kidney, butter, aduki etc.), peas, broccoli, mushroom, oranges, mangoes, pasta and raisins are all amongst his favourites in fact if you have any of the afore mentioned items on your plate when he finishes his he will be asking for yours!

Development wise he is definitely meeting all expectations (and exceeding).

• Knows all colours (Norwegian) most (Italian and English) - by most I mean that I don't think he knows gold, silver, purple or brown in the last two languages but knows the rest - he shocked me by starting to tell me some colours just before he was 17 months


• Can count to 12 in all three languages - English was slightly later for 11 and 12 - very amusing when he was counting in English for his Italian grandmother, got to 10, thought for a few seconds then said "undici, dodici" (sorry I'm not sure about the spelling of those - 11 & 12) Having multiple languages can certainly widen your vocabulary


• Recognises several letters and is very interested in "reading" signs when out and about


• Scribbles using the writing pencil grip and draws circles, lines and squiggles that look like letters also draws dots for rain/stars/eyes, draws a circle for "O"


• Knows several shapes: circle, star, square, triangle (sometimes)


• climbs stairs up and down very well sometimes using only one foot per step but that makes me nervous


• Loves to play with duplo lego, his wooden trike and loves reading books


• Should be potty training but I keep postponing till we have moved...


• talks in sentences - can be embarrassing "uncle E----, have you done a poo?" Sorry little bro!

Sounds good right? Well yes, I am very grateful that PLB is healthy and happy etc. I am also aware that some of his milestones are somewhat unusual for his age - that is, they are premature, which presents an interesting dilemma... We are planning to homeschool, fine, that is great for any child that is not exactly average, as you can go at his/her pace. HoweverI don't believe in formal education before the age of 7 - children under 7 learn primarily through physical play and academics is lost on them and can even, hinder their development children in countries that delay school start till 7 have "caught up" by age 10 with those children that started school at 5 or even 4 - i.e. in 3 years they have learnt what it took some children 5 or 6 years to learn! - Enough of my rant on the subject.

My potential dilemma is that PLB may well be an early reader - he is already showing some reading readiness signs, and I have no intention of formally teaching him to read - that is sitting him down with teaching books/flashcards etc. for some time yet however I don't want to prevent him from learning (not that that seems possible - I have never "taught" him his numbers, letters etc. he just seems to pick it up), so I am going to have to perhaps read that book my mother passed on to me when she found out that I was pregnant "reading through play" (I have glanced at it and it seems good) and look for more info on "unschooling" but I think I will mostly just let PLB determine what he wants to get deeper into and when while at the same time ensuring that he has enough time outside and in active, physical play.

Time Changes

The clocks officially went forward here in the UK yesterday morning at 1am, I had all the preceding week been trying to get PLB to bed somewhat earlier especially as the light mornings were causing him to wake up too early, this was so that when the clocks changed he would easily transition to the new time and hopefully sleep through the night (5.30am becoming 6.30am when he would wake for a feed-usually the only time he wakes and often not go back to sleep). I think that in theory the plan was a good one, unfortunately on Saturday morning PLB woke up at 4.30am with a fever and since then has slept and eaten little. I am sure that most children sleep more, - not less when unwell but PLB continues to prove that he is not most children when it comes to sleep. This morning after waking another disturbed night he awoke about 7.45am then he didn't go to sleep till around 12.20pm so I decided to re-start our (body) clocks at 1pm this afternoon. Hopefully PLB will comply somewhat despite being unwell. We usually have our dinner at 2pm so when PLB wakes up the food should be ready or nearly and we can eat at our "normal" time then I will give PLB his supper at 6pm (I don't usually eat in the evening) and bed at 7.30pm. Talking of time changes, I have had to restore our computer to a previous date due to major issues but I think it is ok now. I think he is going to wake up any minute by the look of things, better check the food!

Words, Words, Words

PLB is growing up in a home with 3 languages so I have never expected him to be a particularly early speaker. I apparently said "hello" at 7 months, but PLB is a boy and boys generally speak later - but walk earlier (I didn't walk till 18 months but PLB did at 12 month and at 13 month he had his first pair of proper shoes). Any way PLB said a few words that I and RNG could understand before he was even a year: Tatt (Takk - Norwegian for thank you), Derdig (Ferdi - Norwegian for finished), tys (ett lys - Norwegian for a light) and te (tre - Norwegian for tree), however it wasn't until the 10th of January at nearly 15 months that PLB finally said something that others could understand: appelsin (Norwegian for orange). So since that day he ha averaged 1 new word per day, applesin is still the favourite but mat (Norwegian for food) is another popular word. PLB did manage to consistently say pappa (Norwegian for daddy) one day but has since gone off that word however he has decided to say "daddy" instead - not that RNG is ever called daddy by us but still!

I am grateful that PLB hasn't chosen words such as chips, sweets and burgers as his first food words instead so far he says "appelsin", "kiwi", "tofu" and "melk" (Norwegian for melk - referring both to breast milk and soya milk). Well at least PLB gives the impression that we eat healthily as a family.

PLB just about manages "grazie" as his token Italian word. I am constantly amazed by how much PLB understands especially since we rarely talk directly to him in English yet he clearly understands much of what we say when we talk together in English too.

PLB's 1st Birthday

I never did get round to blogging about PLB's 1st birthday which was back on the 19th October (2010). We had a lovely day, RNG and I took PLB to the zoo (using some Tesco vouchers). Unfortunately PLB had a cold and didn't enjoy it as much as he would have otherwise perhaps. It was a cold day but dry until about 3 or 4pm when it started pouring with rain, so we hopped into the zoo bus, which amazingly, despite being an old double decker was able to accommodate ours and one other large pushchair un-folded- the driver removed the middle bar for the second pushchair to enter through the back!

PLB had been given a number of gifts by family and friends, so his cheap-skate parents gave him, a hat and mittens and plate and cutlery set - both of which we would have given him anyway.

I made him a card with a lion on it - we had to keep some kind of animal theme going. - Sorry haven't got round to photographing it but it was cute!

I also made PLB cupcakes, but as the first cake recipe I tried didn't turn out well at all it was rather a rush job so nothing fancy. Anyway PLB wasn't all that impressed.

Snow Suits

Yesterday, over in my other blog I said that we are ready for snow - except for one thing... PLB doesn't have a winter all in one/snowsuit. So today we went into Guildford in search of something suitable for cold weather and (potentially) snow play.

The results:

Plenty are available in the 0-3month size (I suspect all stores order an abundance in this size as everyone seems to give new babies one PLB had 6!) The biggest that I was able to find was in the 9-12 month size which would possibly just about fit PLB (he is small for his age), however I would like something that will last him till around February/March. A few might have been available in 12-18 month size but seemed to be rather cool - wind/waterproof outer and very think fleecy fabric lining. And one that I saw (not in PLB's size) that looked warm enough was £80! I have been checking ebay but the prices they are going at for second hand is not much below their new price which always makes me feel cheated unless something really is new. So for now PLB can't play outside.

Highchair Walker

Some time back PLB decided that his favourite occupation was to walk around holding onto my or RNG's hands. He would very sweetly crawl up to us, pull himself to standing and take hold of our hands and pull. One day when I was fed up with walking constantly he devised a new way of getting around:

This was back in mid September, he has since learnt to walk on his own a little, though he still likes to hold one or both of our hands.

I searched on youtube and it seems there are many babies that use their highchair as a walker.