33 posts tagged “development”

Petra's gotten very enthusiastic about drawing and writing recently.  We bought her a little etch-a-sketch this afternoon so that she can practice without being tempted to draw on the furniture.  (I've been finding scribbles in unexpected places because she sneaks off to test out her skills on any available flat surface when no one's looking.)   She walked around the store with it, writing industriously and bumping into things because she wasn't watching where she was going.  And she kept on writing for the rest of the afternoon.

She came up to me waving the etch-a-sketch around and yelling "P P P".  She'd written a clearly recognisable letter P on the etch-a-sketch and was extremely pleased with herself.  Yay Petra!  She's been interested in how we write her name for a while now, getting us to write it for her over and over, and she's been producing Petra-like squiggles, but today's effort was by far the clearest so far.

I took a picture for posterity.

We have spent the week recovering from a nasty flu bug - chills, fevers, coughs, the full deal.  The joys of winter in Dunedin.  Actually the weather's been very pleasant since the snow - calm, mild, and sunny - but it's undeniably winter and that's a shock after three years of perpetual summer.  My neighbours have flown off to Rarotonga for two weeks in the sun, leaving me to collect their mail.  I envy them their tropical island.

Hanging out in front of the fire with Petra brings its own satisfactions however.

We're witnessing one of Petra's periodic developmental leaps.  She sings, she dances, she runs around. She sticks stickers on the walls and draws on her feet.  She spends ages quietly absorbed in putting things in other things and taking them out again.  Her language acquisition proceeds at a dazzling pace.  She walks around the room pointing at objects, waiting for us to name them, and repeating the names after us.  She says "look" and "hello" and "up please".  She takes our cellphone and walks round the lounge talking and laughing into the aether.  She's very cuddly.  Leave takings are lengthy affairs because she works her way round the room kissing, and often rekissing, everyone.  She likes to fall asleep at night with her arms wrapped around my neck and her face on mine.  I enjoy that as well - I get to breathe in her baby smell and kiss her soft baby cheeks as she dozes.

She's also revealing her inner egomaniac these days.  Olivia came to stay a couple of weeks ago and Petra was a thug baby with her.  I gave Olivia a drink in a purple cup because Miss O is very very keen on purple and Petra stole the cup, hugged it to her chest and handed Olivia her own, much less desirable green cup.  I had to find another purple cup for Petra to avert a tragedy.  Petra's also discovered that she elicits all sorts of interesting reactions if she pulls Olivia's hair or pokes at her.  I spent a lot of time soothing Olivia's wounded feelings while trying to convince Petra to be gentle.  They did play nicely as well, as long as I hovered nearby to deal with potential trouble.

 

I'm mustering up the courage to attend a nearby playgroup to give Petra a chance to socialize with other kids her own age.  I fear that it will be a nervewracking experience as Petra tests her edges against the other kids.

Petra had a busy day today.  She missed her nap time because we were getting our hair cut.  She was so tired that she just sat on the chair all by herself and went into a trance while the hairdresser snipped away at her fringe.  When it was my turn for the chair, Petra hung out with Carla and Olivia who'd kindly come down to look after her for me.  She didn't take much wrangling though. curling up on Carla's lap until it was time to go home.  I thought she'd go to sleep in the car but she didn't.  In fact she perked up enough to help Travis get firewood in from the garage.  She climbs the steps all by herself and proudly carries in the little pieces of wood Travis gives her to hold.  At the moment she loves to help us and to show off her rapidly increasing skills.  Once she's dropped her wood onto the pile, she holds her hands out to be wiped.  She didn't used to mind a bit of grime, but these days she doesn't like to have dirty hands.

We went down to the local Starbucks for tea and coffee (it's a nice reminder of life in Vancouver) and Petra walked along the street between me and Travis.  We hold her hands and let her set the pace - she stops to stare at loud boys and buses and veers across the footpath to look in shop windows.  When we reached the Starbucks she dropped our hands and rushed up to the door to try to open it, then walked confidently up to the counter.  We've been there enough recently that she knows the drill.

She was a very tired wee lass by the time we got home and was in her high chair eating tea well before 5pm.  She didn't make it through her food despite the early start.  She ate pasta, flicked tomato sauce all over my nice pale walls, then passed out in her seat.  We had to bath her to get her to wake up enough to last until bedtime.  (If we let her go to sleep too early, she thinks she's just napping and wakes up after an hour or so, then we have a terrible time trying to get her back to bed.)

I wrote this on Friday afternoon but didn't publish it then because I was too worried about my aunt and uncle.

The good news:

• Travis's work permit came through today.  We only submitted the forms 7 days ago, so the New Zealand immigration people were very prompt indeed.  Travis got an email to tell him he could pick it up.  It came from a .gov.nz address, and was complete with a smiley face emoticon - an unexpectedly friendly touch to go with the efficiency. 
• After a few days of cold and storm, the weather was bright, calm, and warmish.  We walked up and down the street with Petra to celebrate. 
• Petra made her first spontaneous multi-word sentence, "No please" in reply to Carla's offer of a cup of milk.  She's been using phrases that we use for a while now - things like "here you are", "there you go", "thank you", "one arm, two arms" (said as we dress her) - but "no please" is the first phrase she's invented for herself (that I've heard anyway - she might be saying all kinds of things that we don't quite understand).

The bad news:

• I attended a funeral yesterday.  Mum's partner's brother died suddenly last weekend.  It was a big, warm, communal affair that the family found very comforting.  But it was upsetting even so, and even though I'd only met Murray a couple of times.  Funerals throw you back into all your own losses and I felt terribly sad for mum's partner Kelvin as well.
• My aunt and uncle were in a serious car accident yesterday afternoon.  They're in hospital with multiple broken bones.  We may be able to visit at the weekend, but we don't know yet just how serious their injuries are.   It's horrible waiting, not knowing, and not being able to do anything.

Saturday evening update:
My sister and I visited Uncle Bruce in hospital this afternoon.  He's sore and sorry and still very shocked; he's also desperately worried about his wife who's in much worse shape than him, but he's up and about and will probably be released on Monday.  My aunt, who was in a medically-induced coma for a couple of days to give her body more chance to rest and heal, was briefly awake and talking this afternoon.  She has a long recovery period in front of her but the fact that she can respond to the people around her is a huge first step.

Petra was a real star today.  Olivia spent the afternoon with us which meant that Petra didn't get her nap or her middle-of-the-day breastfeed.  She was too busy playing to stop for sleep or food.  Despite the lack of sleep, she was perky and happy all afternoon.  She's a very mellow baby.  We're lucky. 

She was, however, in danger of falling asleep in her tea time pasta - her head got too heavy for her neck and her eyelids kept closing.  I had to talk and sing and pat her face to keep her awake.  Poor thing.  I always feel like a horrible mum when she dozes in her chair.  She managed to put away quite a bit of food though and perked up for her bath.  She loves her bath so much that we can't even mention the word or she's off running down the hall yelling ba ba ba demanding that we fill the tub for her.  We have to spell it out instead. 

After her bath, she was very definite about needing to be breastfed.  And I'm not surprised since she'd gone about 10 hours between feeds - the longest gap ever.  She didn't seem fazed at all, but me and my breasts definitely noticed. 

Then she went happily off to bed just after 7.  It's strange and wonderful to have an early-to-bed baby after the randomness of the first year.  I'm still adjusting to the return of something approaching normality.

Petra's nearly 17 months old now.  In that brief time she's changed from a tiny otherworldly dot whose world only extended a few inches from her face and who didn't even know that her hands and feet were her own, to an active mobile little girl capable of quite sophisticated interactions with her environment.  It's a privilege and a delight to get to see her grow and develop.

I find her utterly charming.  She hugs and kisses us, reaching up to wrap her arms around our necks and bestow little lip smacking kisses on our cheeks and lips.  If she rolls near my head in the night, she kisses me before falling back into sleep.  She gives us those open-mouthed slobbery toddler specials when she's feeling particularly enthusiastic.  And she's always up for blowing raspberries on any exposed skin she can find.

She can participate in increasingly complex conversations.  We ask her if she wants her bath and she runs down the hallway yelling ba ba, then stands impatiently by the taps urging us on.  She runs between Travis and me, passing things to us if asked.  She knows what I mean when I tell her it's time for bed.  She heads to the front door saying ca ca if we say we're going out.  She repeats words and phrases - she doesn't always get the pronunciation right but the intonations are clear.  And she understands a lot of what I say - responding to questions and instructions and chatting back in her own private Petra language.  She copies our physical mannerisms as well.  She folds her arms, something I do more often than I realise, and she stands with her hips pushed forwards just like Travis does.

She runs, climbs, dances, gets in, over, under, and generally uses our house as her private adventure playground.  She's also getting much bolder outside.  She opens the front gate, carefully walking it backwards until she can squeeze through, and we walk out onto the footpath.  We look at the old snail shell, the prickly holly hedge, the lichen on the path, at passing cars, children, and dogs.  Petra picks up leaves and bark.  We walk to the corner, then back into our yard.  I close the gate, Petra opens it, and we do the whole walk again, and again, and again, until she gets bored or I discover something else we need to do. 

Yesterday she took the plunge and stepped from the footpath to the rather unkempt grass on our lawn.  She's been very suspicious about grass, refusing to stand on it, even with shoes on, but she suddenly decided that she could do it and followed me all round the yard as I dead-headed the rose bushes.

Here she is looking all grown up.

 

Petra made her first foray into the kitchen cupboards yesterday.  She yanked all the pots out of her way, then climbed right onto the bottom shelf.  It was a bit of a squeeze, but she was unfazed.

Petra's gotten increasingly difficult to take photos of because she's on the go all the time.  I have lots of blurred images of a speeding baby and many many pictures of the back of her head or of half a face as she turns away or walks out of shot.  But every now and then I fluke something cute.

Petra's had another of her growth and development spurts.  The temper tantrums are a wee bit more full-on now - she yells and tosses things away and has even flung herself down on the floor a time or two all the better to wail and gnash.  She's pretty easily diverted though and is usually happy again in a couple of minutes.

She can run now and walk on tiptoe, and turn in circles and walk backwards.  She's devised a dance which involves lifting her arms over her head and lifting one leg in exaggerated stepping motions - she looks like a crane or a heron or some such stately gangly bird.  She climbs into and on and over things, which occasions me some worry, but so far she's unscathed.

And she's copying us very hard.  I had chicken katsu this evening.  I dipped it into the yummy plum sauce Jizo's provide before eating it.  Petra had her morsels of chicken and dip dip dipped each bite into a handy (and empty) cup before she ate it.

She's getting wonderfully snuggly as well.  She hasn't been particularly demonstrative until now, but she's started coming over and planting wet, open-mouthed toddler kisses on me.  The first time she just walked over while I was minding my own business (I was talking to Carla on the phone) and mashed a kiss on me quite unsolicited.  It's very very sweet. 

We were lying on the bed the other day having a wee wrestle and she rolled over to put her face on my bare stomach.  She did it a few times, giggling all the while.  I wasn't sure what she was up to, but she eventually managed to make a raspberry sound on me, which was just the most hilarious thing ever, for both of us.

Petra's not a big talker yet, but she's learning the value of using words to communicate what she wants.  She says "ta" when she wants you to hand her something and occasionally manages an "up" to go with her upraised arms when she wants picked up.  She's started calling out "mum, mum" when she wants out of bed instead of crying for attention - now that's a change I really appreciate! 

She says thank you.  And "hola hola hola, hello hello hello" to uncomprehending passersby when we're out.  She said "chao" to Nanny the other day as well, just as clear as you please.  So she's picking up bits of Spanish to go with her English words. 

She also has her own versions of "here you are" and "what's this?" which are part of her current favourite game.  She hands things to anyone who will take them and we all hand them back.  Sometimes her hands are empty but she goes through the handover routine anyway.  And sometimes she offers the object then moves it back at the last minute.  It's fascinating to watch. 

Petra did a couple of new things yesterday.

When I'm feeding Petra with a spoon, I give her a spoon to hold as well.  It gives her a chance to practice and distracts her so that I can slip food into her mouth.  She dips it into the bowl and sloshes around, flicking food all over us both and the high chair and anything else in range.  She gets it in her mouth occasionally and is very impressed.  Mostly she holds it by the bowl and puts the handle end in her mouth - whatever works, I say.  As I gave her breakfast she held the spoon up to her ear, said "la, la, la" and handed it to me.  I held it to my ear and said "hola, it's for you," and gave it back to her, which pleased her.  And with that, we'd had our first real game of pretend.

After breakfast, I offered her milk.  But when I got the pillow and sat down on the special red armchair, she turned me down, choosing to wander off and play instead.  She's never done that before.  I've been moaning about Petra's enthusiasm for the breast and telling all and sundry about my fear that I'll be breastfeeding until Petra's 50, but I know that I'll be sad as well as relieved when she stops.  It's such a lovely, cuddly, close thing to do.

Petra's going through another bout of separation anxiety at the moment.  She gets quite upset if she doesn't know where we are and runs around the house yelling until she finds us again.  At the same time, she's testing her independence.  She's eager, for example, to walk around when we're shopping instead of being carried.  I remember where we were when we put her down for the first time, letting her have some freedom to move away from us, because it marked for me a whole new phase in the complicated dance of attachment and separation that we're doing as Petra develops.  We were in Office Max buying Travis an office chair and filing cabinet - an odd place for what was to me a significant moment. 

When she's done walking she wants me to carry her.  Travis will do, but it's me she really wants.  She puts her right hand down my top, rests it on my breasts, leans her head on my shoulder, and sucks her left thumb.  Now that I think about it, her new mobility and adventurousness, her newly-discovered separateness must be stressful and tiring as well as thrilling, so she really needs the comfort of being close to my body in between bouts of exploring.