Bronte 2.1

"Cheeeeeez!"

My little girl continues to amaze me. I'm fairly sure her language skills are about a year ahead--her ability to articulate what she's thinking, what she needs, & what she wants are on par with a preschooler. She's stopped saying "ukulady" & pronounces it right now. I don't really correct her speech--the only thing I've been working on is colours. I read an article about some research on how children learn colours a while ago. When I talk about colour, I try not to use the colour as an adjective right next to the noun, but the object of the sentence, like, "Your shoes are black." or "This cup is yellow." It seems to be working, as her accuracy is going up when she identifies what colour things are. If you ask her what colour something is, & she's not sure, her default answer is blue. She seems to be pretty solid on orange & is getting pink & black.

Here are a few recent examples of things she's said:

"Papa, I think we should go home now."
"Mama, can I have some noms, please?"
"I have a poopy diaper. Mama gonna deal with it."
"Can I have other side noms? This milk is all done."

Of course, she still has some cute babyisms, like:
"Pick-oo-up" (pick me up)

I feel really lucky that she is so able to communicate, because with her personality, we'd all be suffering if this little firecracker couldn't make herself understood. It's got to be really frustrating for babies & toddlers who can't yet articulate their needs. Bronte has some tantrums, but generally it's not about being frustrated by communication, but just due to tiredness or being told she can't do something she wants to do.

Loved everything about camping... except her PFD.

I feel like age two is where you really start to see who this little person is going to be. She's inherited her Oma's physique, I think, with a solid, but short frame, wide hands & feet. Her colouring is nearly identical to mine at that age--skin, eyes, hair. Her facial features are a mixed bag though, I can't decide whose mouth she has, her nose is a smaller version of her father's, & she's got a narrow little chin. Personality-wise, I'm starting to imagine what she'll be like in school in a few years. She's very friendly & loves to socialize, quite empathetic & perceptive. She isn't particularly sensitive, though, so she can generally hold her own & will get up, dust herself off & keep going after a stumble or a scuffle.

Her favourite toy this past month or two has consistently been her dolly. It had to come camping with us at Alice Lake a few weeks ago. She carries it around everywhere she goes, breastfeeds it, puts it to bed, wears it in her mini mei tai & pushes it around in the stroller she got for her birthday. She also loves dressing up in hats, shoes & whatever clothing she can pull on. I find it hilarious that she fits into the gender stereotypes so well--both my children do, really, as Linnaeus is really into vehicles of all sorts, spaceships, roughhousing, etc. Of course, Bronte also loves watching construction equipment, playing with dinosaurs, & physical thrills like jumping off playground equipment or going over big bumps at speed on the bike. She's also starting to figure out pedalling on the trikes at the family centre.

Bronte has more or less settled into the routine of going to bed in the same room & at the same time as her brother. She generally falls asleep fairly fast & doesn't wake up until 5 or 6 in the morning, when she quietly gets up, waddles into our room in her hip brace & sleep sack & climbs in for some 'noms' before going back to sleep. I'm so used to her doing it that I rarely wake up enough to check the time. Her naps have been a bit more irregular. I think all the awkwardly timed & short car naps she took while we were in the Okanagan a week ago threw her off. I don't think she's ready to give up that afternoon nap, but we really have to be careful about getting her down at the right time or she only sleeps 40 minutes & gets cranky.

With food, Bronte continues to be a bit picky. She does eat pretty well--there are lots of fruits & veggies she likes & she won't turn her nose up at whole grain bread. She loves nuts & has mastered chewing them whole, so we don't worry too much about her choking, though I do make sure she's buckled in her chair in my sight while she eats them, just in case. Her main issues are with thin, leafy things that she still has trouble chewing, like kale or spinach or leaf lettuce, then gags on. She's gotten good at chewing up pear or apple skins, however, so I hope she'll get into leafy stuff soon.

One food we're intentionally avoiding these days is sesame. I realized this month that she consistently gets a rash on her face from contact with sesame oil or hummus, which has tahini in it. Bronte has had this reaction several times over the past year & a half, but never any swelling in her mouth or any other symptoms I could see other than the rash, which clears up within an hour. So it's not life-threatening, but there's no way to know if it could get worse, so our doctor has advised us just to avoid it. Which can be tricky with whole grain breads, crackers, asian food. I'm hoping that it's something she might grow out of, as she used to have a similar reaction to acidic fruits like blueberries & tomatoes.

I'll leave you with a video of B's riding skills at the family centre:

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