9 month Will and 3,5 year old Emma update

Although Emma has always been super sociable greeting strangers in the street and showing them her doll/bike/car/teddy/Mummy/brother she has rather stubbornly been refusing to ask for her own hot chocolate or saying thank-you in a café when brought her order... She always plays the "shy" card although she knows these people (we are talking about cafés we go to very often) and it has been quite a mystery to me as to why she was doing this.


Anyway, after explaining to her that not greeting people was impolite and could be hurtful and a few week-end morning outing just with Mummy at the café, hairdresser, in town where I stopped asking her to greet people but made a point of greeting and thanking people profusely hoping she would copy me yesterday she ordered her own hot chocolate, thanked the waitress, said good-bye as we left and even asked the pharmacist if they had hello kitty plasters all by herself. She has also been greeting the baby sitter and cleaning lady more politely, apologising when she burps and farts (this was another thing she always refused to do).

Not only that, she also used the toilet in our favorite café to poo (this was something she only did at home and at kindergarden) which I think shows increased confidence and ease with the world around her.
Yay Emma !!

Emma at the hairdresser's

Emma having a huge hot chocolate with cream at the park café.
After being out at -6° for nearly an hour we needed warming up a bit!

This week-end William also started crawling. Well, sort of. He moves forward on his own. Now the trouble begins when he is awake too. Because our little Mr. Jumpy has not been sleeping well again. In fact he is taking 25 minute naps and making our days crazy. Then, because he is over-tired, he keeps waking at night. So life is not easy. Again. I really hope that he will overcome this really soon because we have really had enough.

Good news is, he will be starting at the same kindergarden as Emma (but in the younger kids group) this summer.



Oh, and on Friday, I find out my thyroid meds (new dosages as of Oct. 13th) were making me hyper so that explains -at least in part- why I was so stressed and wanted to bight everybody's head off.

Da da da

I am not sure, but it does kind of seem as if he's trying to say something...

William the demolition man

Both Emma and William love building blocks.



Unfortunately, by the time I got my camera out he was no longer having the giggling fits he had had initially when demolishing my towers but it gives you and idea of the kind of fun we have.

First childhood disease for Will

William is ill for the first time. Huge fever. He soaked his pajamas thoroughly last night. He's on ibuprofen when the fever exceeds 39° (which improves his mood) and is drinking lots quite readily. Also, for once, his naps exceed an hour. In fact today, he napped for 2,5 hours for the first time since he was a week old! Poor darling is, totally understandably, quite miserable.

According to the dr. it's probably three day fever which is also the first childhood disease Emma had if my memory serves me correctly.

Also, I have stopped brestfeeding him. It's been 3 days now (after 8,5 months) and I am still leaking a bit but all in all quite happy to wear matching lacy undies again as opposed to the immensely practical but not most beautiful) breast-feeding bras.
Another step ahead in the right direction. ;-)

Ah, ... and it's raining spring-like rain at 9° C! If only winter were really over... but I'm quite sure another bout of cold and snow is just around the corner.

Good-bye 2010 - update on the kids's progress

The best news to end 2010 with was that Emma pooed in the toilet! Finally!!! Not once, but now that she has done it four times, I think we can assume we are rid of her nappies! YAY!! We made a huge fuss, took her out to buy a doll I had promised her she would get when she pooed in the toilet, and applauded and cheered (every time!). She even says bye bye poo as she flushes and likes using the toilet brush.

Also, we left the kids' dummies to Santa Claus alongside the cookies on his plate by the Christmas tree. The first few nights were tough for Emma as she would cry and ask for her dummy saying she didn't like Santa and wanted her "lolly" back. But every bed-time got easier and after 5 nights things were pretty much back to normal. William couldn't care less.

Will has been sleeping through his core night and waking around 6am most nights and now has 3,5 teeth out! (2 on the bottom and one and a bit from the top). He puts absolutely everything he can get his hands on in his mouth and loves things that squeak or beep back at him.
He has also become very agile at swinging from sitting to lying on his tummy and back shuffling both on his bum and on his tummy. He swirls and turns on his tummy and swings and sways backwards and forwards when on his knees and hands but no crawling yet. Basically, we better get all cables and wires clear soon as he is moving around quite well and as curious as can be!

That's all for now!

Holiday creativity

Emma and I decorated the Christmas tree with Grand-Papa and Pata


and then added our home made Santas on some of the branches. These were made with felt and toilet rolls (my favorite raw material for craft activities!).


Last but not least, we made some fuzzy haired fairies that sort of remind me of Endora from the 60's series Bewitched.