Nearly three

It's my birthday in about a week and apparently we are going to the Sealife centre which is fine by me I love fish. The shark on the website looks particularly interesting !

Recently we went to Centre Parks for another family birthday which we all enjoyed a lot. The swimming pools and slides were great as was the walk in the woods.

The wildlife was so tame we had squirrels sitting on the doorstep of the french doors hoping we would feed them!

I had my 2 to 3 year old check recently though I slept through most of the boring questions, I don't have a regular nap any more but I do like to grab 40 winks every now and then when I'm in the buggy or similar. Apparently I am on the 98% for both height and weight which mum says means I will be big bruiser of the family as my brother is about average in height and quite slender. I'm almost going straight into his old clothes as he grows out of them now as I'm noticeably over a metre tall and look more like I should be in the reception class at school which I will not be in for real for 18 months yet.

I can use the computer all on my own and find and play on Cbeebies with no problems, indeed when I close down mum's email without her permission I can go into the history find it and open it again when she tells me off!

The only thing I'm apparently not ahead on is speaking. I know lots and lots of words but pronouncing them so others understand them is not something I'm to good at so I ask them a long complicated question and they only get a word or two it's very frustrating! Mum thinks I am too interested in learning new words and should concentrate on practising the ones I already know a bit more but that's boring !  The lovely speech therapy lady said she wasn't too worried as I'm about right for my age but one or two things I don't do so well might be hearing related so I've been going to see these other ladies who get me to play a game about putting men in a boat when I hear a sound. It's fun for a short period of time but then it gets boring and they don't seem to think we should move on to talking about all the other cool things they have in their room so apparently I have to go back to see some other more important person who has more toys to play with.

Mum says I'm certainly not fully deaf but as hearing problems run in the family a bit it's worth double checking I'm not missing some bits as I don't seem to hear her often but again she thinks that is at least partly me not wanting to rather than not being able to. Mum also mentioned if I have her dyslexia that would explain struggling to pronounce things.

We are also moving on to a new allotment which has hedges all round so I will have less opportunities to run off around the site when we go up there but it does have a climbable apple tree !

Shoulder height

I'm up to my big brothers shoulder now ! He has just crept up to 120cm, an important height as it allows you on the bigger rides at Drayton manor. However I am now 95cms which means I'm still catching him fast, I was about 92cm at my birthday in March. Apparently you can gauge your final height from what size you are at 2 so that would make me going to be 184cm which is six foot or there abouts.

90cm is the height at which you can go on rides on your own at Dryton manor, at least the smaller ones but Mum seems to think I might not sit still well enough, however I really enjoyed all the rides when i went recently with nursery so she says if we go again with my big brother I might be able to sit next to him on some of them ! I liked the look of the Maelstrom and wanted to go on it but she says she wouldn't go on that one and anyway you need to be 130cm to even be allowed on it so that's my next goal then !!

Huge footed Monster

Most kids coming up to their second birthday have about size 5 shoes.. I was wearing 6.5 G but mum thought they were getting too small.. so the lady in the shop measured me.. 7.5F but in the end the shoes that fitted are 8G.. mum seems to think that is a bit big for my age but they suit me just fine!

Long time no post

Static head

It's longer than I realised since i posted here.

Treestump is growing well and is bigger than many of the two year olds we know. He does both rhythm time classes and a toddle gym class where he out masses most of the kids who are older than him which can make it slightly difficult when he then doesn't act like they do.. the extra 6 months or so making a big difference in normal behaviour.

He is very activly trying to talk now, copying many, many words when they are used. Bubbles is still a favorite and one of his clearest words but he says many more including things like sheep and baa.. rar (dinosaur) is a big favorite. Book, sit (as in you sit here so I can sit on you) and so on. He also strings words together like row, row (row, row the boat), baa, baa (baa, baa black sheep) and he uses several signs like star, bottle etc along with trying to say the word.

The current favorite word this week is fish or rather pish.


I still like my sleepsacs to sleep in which my brother had decided he didn't like by now. i also like sitting in boxes !

I've very good at running, walking backwards, climbing and even balancing on one leg and I am trying hard to learn to jump. I like tramlines too.

I love my food, pretty much any food currently. I also like dinosaurs, cars, fish, books and things I can push like kids shopping trolleys. My current favorite books are Charlie Cooks favorite book, anything with animals or fish, anything with things to feel or music built in.

I have four molars and my top canines are just coming through.

weekend in the park

I went out to the park Saturday afternoon with my big brother, mummy and daddy Jon.

Football was played.

Flowers were studied.I liked the trees and kept trying to look at the leaves which was quite hard on the big ones. Daddy lifted me up but we still couldn't reach them but mummy found me a smaller tree where I could touch the leaves.

I like hedges too. i like to run my hands across them even if they are holly or something spiky though I am a bit more careful then when I realise that.

strawberries and cuteness

We went strawberry (gooseberry and rhubarb) picking this Sunday which both boys enjoyed immensely. Treestump turned into some sort of character from a bad horror movie with red juice all round his face, down his chin and all over his white vest and shorts.. you know that nice neat way he has of eating? Well it goes out the window when presented with a field full of strawberries !He did however really like the sheep in the field nextdoor so much so he told Tom they were there saying sheep to him to get him to lift him up to see over the solid gate, I'd shown him earlier.He is very cute currently, when he wants something you offer him he goes "yes, yes" and does a little happy dance and when he is sleepy he comes and lies his head on my lap.

At rhythm time his class goes up to 3 so he is one of the younger ones as we move up from the baby class. This means some of the kids are talking quite well and the teacher went round singing twinkle, twinkle little star missing out the last word of each line and seeing if the child she was at could fill it in . He got "Up above the world so" and straight away up his hands up for "high", later at home he was doing all the actions for the song.

Teeth and feet

I now have one of the next set of lower teeth too and another upper molar is trying very hard to come through! I'm rather grumpy at times.

I now take a size 5 shoe don't you think they are great?OK maybe these are't the right size but I like them.

Standing

We are very good at standing un-supported now and in fact take every opportunity to stand particularly if we have food or drink. Every now and then we tip to far backwards trying to drink but hey !

A few steps are being taken to but mostly we prefer to drop down and crawl at speed.

illness

He has been sick with throwing up and diarrhea since Friday. Not to bad in himself though grummy and tired a lot obviously. Keeping his fluids up but food is either not wanted or comes back. We had this a couple of months back and the nurse thought it was the Nora

On the plus side he has developed a liking for drinking from normal cups and is very good at it.

signs

He has a very distinct sign he has made up which is to point in a direction but with his hand sort of bend downwards fingers together which means there is something over there I want and can't reach take me to it :)

He has also started to bring me my cushion when he wants a feed which is funny as it's much bigger than him!

mesurements

Mostly so I can't lose them
In inches as of 27/1/9

Chest 23
nape- floor 24
nape to crotch 18
across shoulders - 10
across back of neck - 4
round head - 20
arm 9
foot length 5
top of foot length 3.5
ankle 7
around foot 6

Standing, talking, into everything

I stand on my own for extended periods, often when clapping along to music on TV.

I say yes very well now, try to say various other things including yoghurt, ta, Dom, bye.

I wave and clap a lot and use my signs to say I have finished or want more. I also like clapping other people's hands and have pretty good rhythm.

I like playing with my brick truck and as well as pushing it I stand in it and try to get it to move as well as using it to get higher. Anything musical is good too. The ball pit continues to be a fun place to hide.

I now have four teeth but judging by my red cheeks and somewhat grummyness there may be more coming soon. Does't stop me eating anything I can get my hands on and I love to scavenge any food others are eating which is always better than mine!

Tuesday's report from nursary

Report from nursery, tues 6th Jan.
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He had two naps of about 1 hour each.

I'll leave out the nappies :) He has been having a lot of soiled ones so has rather a sore bottom though I think it's teething related.

Breakfast - fruit and milk
bottle at 10am
lunch veggie shepard's pie, carrots, swede and gravy. Apple pie and custard
bottle at 2.
tea - ravioli and toast

General info - Edward had a lovely day and eaten very well. Standing well without support.

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The last is something he has nearly but not quite been doing at home. Today he spent a lot of time pushing his brick trolley back and forth across the room.

He is teething, I can see the edge of a tooth through the skin on the upper gums but nothing has broken through as yet.

Very vocal and signs finished and more when he wants.

There are some pics of him on my craft blog as I am trying to do a photo a day for the whole of the year though knowing me it will last a few weeks.

Today we are mostly....

practicing waves.

There is the royal wave, the opening and closing my hand wave and the side to side wave.. we have been doing them all, to people, to the TV or just to the air.

i am also rather grumpy as I have a streaming cold which makes my nose run and I keep waking myself up coughing.

We are now able to....

Lower ourself in a controlled manner from standing to sitting though mostly we fall down before we are ready to sit.

We currently have a bit of a cold and have had a couple of sleepy days including a nearly three hour nap at nursery! With the double chin/ potbelly thing I have currently has mum expects me to put on a couple more cm in length soon too.

We love balloons and have worked out there is a packet in the desk drawer so keep try to get them out and yes we understand a deflated balloon becomes a blown up one.

Our first two teeth are now visible easily when we open our mouth though still not fully through.

Our new highchair STILL isn't here apparently it was delivered yesterday while big brother was being picked up from school and the delivery man decided it was a good plan to give it to a random person who lives vaguely across the road !! Of course random person isn't in today

so the book says..

We found a first year milestone calendar thing today. I think he read it all and didn't notice he was meant to wait till the right month because apart from the possibly walking from month 12 he is doing everything they list for the first year. Apparently he may be able to roll over both ways by 7 months, may be able to get to a sitting position from lying down by 9 months and may be pulling themselves up and standing on furniture by 10 months.

Apparently doing this (hands and feet rather than knees) is harder than pulling yourself up on furniture (which he also does) so says our friend who works with kids in a hospital.


Clapping is about 12 months so someone should tell him because he is doing it constantly it seems to mean do more, pick me up and possibly a few other things which may be because I have used the sign for more with him a few times which is banging two closed fists together.

Milestones so far.

Lets see he is currently 7 months and a week or so old.

He weighed 8 lb 6oz born but then didn't put any weight on for 6 weeks so the name Treestump which his brother had coined before birth seemed doubly appropriate, for anyone who doens't know this isn't his given name just a nickname don't worry we arn't THAT mean.

He has always been strong enough to hold his head up and been very alert so no worries there.

He has been able to sit unaided for some time now, probably about 2 months.

Currently he can combat crawl and in the last week or so has learnt how to crawl on his knees. This last week he has started pulling himself up on furniture and this last weekend he started pushing up from the floor with his legs and locking them out so he is on hands and feet not knees.. our child development expert friend say that is extremely good.

He is very determined to stand, if you try to put him on the floor he does his best to stand and it is only balance that is stopping him, though of course that is the hardest part. He has started to walk holding on to someone though it is only in it's first stages currently but he definitely knows to put one foot forward then the next one.

He is very strong and kicks hard enough to bruise quite regularly when being changed and so forth..

Speech wise he babbles away using sounds like da-da, aba, and others.

He understands and uses a sign for bottle.

He has been eating some puree and so forth since 4 months as he was very keen to try and now at 7 months he prefers finger food and things with texture up to and including chewing on strips of chicken breast rather than eating prawn crackers as we suggested !

I think he is teething and indeed I think i can see a tiny bit of tooth in the front on the bottom gum. We will see if I imagined it or now. He is certainly grumpy enough and refused his solids this lunch time which is very unlike him though he isn't unwell apart from a bit of a cold.