Gearing up for the toddler Olympics

How super strong is this little boy. Here he is in training for London 2012 toddler gymnastics.

Footie fun

Bub’s grannie bought him a new football and he was playing with it in the garden. His daddy was talking about how good his football skills were and mentioned how he can even dribble the ball.

Quick as a flash Bub stopped, bent down over the ball and started drooling all over it.

True!

I did it!

Bub is a boy of very few words. At 26 months I can count on one hand the words he can say.

Dada
No
I (said whilst hitting his chest)
Mama (more like vra-vra but I’m claiming it!)
Where (sort of)
Mmmm (by which he means ‘moo’)

You can tell I’m kind of clutching at straws with the last one there.

But alongside this he can also say an entire sentence.

I DID IT!

Said repeatedly whenever he does or achieves anything. Often with chest hitting for emphasis. It’s very cute.

Toddler naughtiness

Where has our sweet and obedient little baby gone? Well, he’s still here sometimes but more and more often at the moment we get a defiant and naughty little boy instead.

Bub has definitely developed some bad habits recently. He’s naughty when with me and with his daddy but interestingly does different naughty things depending who he’s with. With his daddy he will repeatedly hit the computer or tv, with hands and toys, seeking a reaction from his dad. He’s never done that with me once. With me he’ll throw food, again something he never does with his dad. He also lashes out whilst being carried. He’ll hit our heads, scratch and even try to bite. We also get tantrums, crying and struggling, though mercifully they aren’t too bad and blow over quickly.

We’ve really got to get our approach to discipline sorted I think. I’ve been reluctant to date thinking that a simple no and distraction was best. However now he does things sometimes because we say no. Often I know he’s aware it’s naughty so I guess he’s testing boundaries and playing with us. It’s hard to respond consistently and calmly. I don’t want to go overboard either.

Any suggestions on a caring and age appropriate approach to toddler discipline? All ideas gratefully received.

Ah-tul-yuh

Another big step forward speech wise today. Bub has a new word and kept repeating it lots today. Unfortunately we haven’t a clue what he’s saying. But it’s a good step forward in any case.

Can you help decipher his babble? Your thoughts very welcome!

What he was saying, repeatedly at least ten times in a row, was “ah-tul-yuh”. Occasionally coming out as “ah-drul-yuh”. This started when he was scootering around and then as we praised him he said it more after he’d stopped scootering. First time he’s repeatedly attempted to use any kind of word so a big step forward.

I know he says “ah” for I or me so I think he might be trying to say “I something”. Perhaps “I tell you” or “I show you”.

His understanding is very much there, I wouldn’t put it past him that he might be saying a sentence. But his pronunciation and ability to make sounds is really weak. He has such a limited range of syllables he really could be trying to say anything. He still can’t say ma-ma, instead it comes out as “vra-vra” at best.

So who knows. Is this the beginning of what will be rapidly accelerating speech development? Or another inching step along a very slow and winding path towards a decipherable word or two. Probably both I imagine.

Goodbye nap time, it’s been swell

Naptime is now officially no more. We’ve been skirting around dropping if for a month or so now and finally bit the bullet a week ago. Bub is still tired in the afternoons and will happily nap for an hour or two. However he then isn’t tired at bedtime and it can easily take over two hours for him to go to sleep. Therefore meaning he gets less sleep overall if he does nap than if he doesn’t.

Naps will be very missed though. A whole two hours, usually, of child free time. Watching videos, reading books, even going out shopping or cycling (so long as Bub’s dad is home of course!)

We’re trying to maintain a bit of a break though, for Bub and us, by having some quiet time. We put him in his room with a toy or two and leave him to his own devices around nap time. A baby gate on the door keeps him from moving around (for now at least.) Seems to be working ok, today he spent about an hour and a half amusing himself with some pirate skittles. I went in after this time and he’d removed his trousers and socks and was lying behind his rocking chair. But otherwise totally happy so it’s all to the good.

The upside of this is that he falls asleep really easily at night time. It’s been months since he’s done this so it’s amazing. It’s not even nine o’clock and he’s fast asleep. Bliss! Finally we have an evening again.

This also means that we can now consider sending Bub to nursery for two afternoons a week. Before his schedule was to completely out of line with most kids (a 9am to 9pm routine with nap around 2-4pm). A waste of time to send him for a morning when he’d not arrive till halfway through the session, and why send him somewhere in the afternoon if he’d otherwise nap for most of the time? But now we have a relentless nap free day I think it’s time. He can have fun and we (mainly my partner) can have a break. All things being well he’ll start nursery in about six weeks.

Get your prayers out of my council!

Big story in the news about the atheist winning his court case against prayers being a formal part of his local council business. He was an elected councillor and objected to formal prayers being item one on meeting agendas.

I’m delighted by this and totally agree. Nothing drives me straight to up rant factor ten than the churches influence on education (a rant for another time!) I see the formal inclusion of a religious activity as part of councillors business as completely anachronistic.

Anyone can stand to become as a Councillor and if elected all should be equally included within formal council business. Prayers shouldn’t ever be a part of our legislative frameworks, at any level. Why should a non-Christian councillor sit through these prayers? Or alternatively miss the start of a meeting he’s been elected to attend?

I also find it shocking Prayers are said as item one on the days agenda in Parliament. By tradition MPs who attend this session can reserve their seats for the day so get a big advantage on those who don’t.

Nothing against anyone saying prayers, just do so before a meeting not during it.

I’ve attended parts of council meetings before and seen ‘prayers’ on the agenda. I presumed this was a weird historical term and didn’t actually mean that prayers were said. I’m shocked we ever included this as part of our council meetings.

What do you think?

Stop shouting about bonuses!

Yet more high profile people ‘choosing’ to forego their bonuses today. It feels like the whole country is unified in opposing bonuses, certainly our politicians seem to be queuing up to stick the boot into anyone who might be eligible for one.

I wonder if I’m alone in feeling uncomfortable about this?

It’s not that I don’t appreciate the impact of increasing income inequality. But this doesn’t feel like a concerted effort to address these issues or to reduce high pay more generally. Hardly ever do discussions around bonuses refer to the wider remuneration package. Someone who gets a £4m pay/shares package alongside a £1m bonus? It’s not the bonus I’d be most inclined to shout about. I don’t think there’s anything intrinsically wrong with having a bonus element to a pay packet, so long as there’s clarity and consistency over what does and doesn’t warrant the award of the bonus. If the government were making noises about high pay more generally, or even showing the slightest concern for the fates of those on low to middle incomes, I’d perhaps feel more comfortable with their current uncharacteristic stance.

Some of the poor sods who’ve fallen foul of the anti-bonus lynch mob this week include those working at Network Rail. Now I get as frustrated with the trains as the next person. But as far as I’m aware these executives have met expected performance and their pay agreements include the award of these bonuses. It seems like their only mistake was the have their bonuses made public one week after RBS. If this had come out in early January or late March we’d probably have moved onto the next storm in a teacup and they’d have got away with it.

I feel no affinity for those in receipt of sky high bonuses. And I’d love to bring the salaries of the super rich down to a level that’s at least in the same universe as the average worker, if not the same ball park. But this lynch mob approach doesn’t feel like it’s doing anything except hide the massive welfare benefit cuts which the coalition pushed through parliament this week. Or the rising levels of unemployment, especially amongst the young. Or the fact that cuts in local services have only just begun. Getting occasionally hysterical about bonuses is just a distraction. It sets up a straw man or two for all who are struggling in ‘austerity Britain’ to scream at. Instead of focusing on the real people who are screwing us over – our politicians.

Finding the good in the bad

Last night was only the second time Bub has spent a night away from his parents (one of us at least!) And it was our first unplanned overnighter. Bub’s daddy knew he’d be away, on a mate’s stag do. I thought I’d only be gone a few hours and be back by the time he fell asleep. That prediction didn’t account for the snow across the Midlands however. Fortunately, so fortunately, Bub’s aunty was able to stay over the night with him. And poor thing he took an age to get to sleep and woke up twice in the night. But at least he was safe. And at least I was safe and not risking it on the roads. I saw too many cars, much more powerful then mine, getting stuck and skidding around. It was quite scary. In the end I stayed in a comfortable hotel and probably got the plus side of the deal.

Such an odd and eventful weekend. Did I mention we all feel ill too? In many ways it’s been my crappest few days in a long while. But it’s also given me a bit of perspective and an appreciation for my usual hum drum normality. And made me appreciate just how lucky I am to be here, with my Bub and his daddy and our family around us.

What a lovely kitty te-ke

Feels like a big step forward on Bub’s speaking today. I think it may be down to him spending quite a bit of time recently with his talkative two year old cousin.

Remember that Bub is VERY behind in his speaking. Two years old and all he can say is ‘dada’, ‘no’ and ‘I’. All in context though, with cute head shaking accompanying the ‘no’. He can also do a monster growl, a kissy noise (of the sort you’d make to a cat), and a ssshhh train noise.

So today’s tiny steps forward need to be put in this context.

This morning we saw a cat out of the window. I asked him if he could say cat and he stopped, thought about it a while, and said ‘te-ke’. He then did it again. Clearly it’d have been better if he’d said ‘ke-te’ but hey, I’m just impressed he got the ‘c’ and ‘t’ sound in there regardless. Previously his only attempts at saying cat, when he didn’t just ignore me, were to say ‘da’.

This afternoon he was playing with a balloon with his daddy. And after some prompting firstly he said ‘ooo’ and then ‘bl-ooo’. Another real breakthrough.

All this probably sounds ridiculous. But when you’ve tried for a year to get your son to say cat and only ever got back silence or ‘da’ this is pretty special. Here’s hoping this is start of some major speaking progress.