Wow time flies. When you have fun, and when you have kids. Which is the same thing, right?
Right?
Eloïse is now 18 months and Nicolas is 3.5 years.
The two spend most of their time bickering. Over toys, over food, over space on a chair, over cuddles, over books,… The whingeing, screaming and tugging sometimes drives me crazy. Other times I have the clarity of mind to take away the object of contention, or kick them outside so I don’t hear the screams. Must find a parenting course, or a book on toddler communication or earmuffs.
Silver lining: they like to go to sleep in each other’s company. Nico slept over at Oma’s one day to stay with Jonah and Olivia, and I could not get Eloïse to settle after she woke up in the middle of the night crying. Maybe a coincidence, but it was one of the rare times I couldn’t settle her.
Ellie has grown up quite a lot, she’s very independent and is quite happy to wander off without even checking whether I’m following. I need to take out the monkey backpack to make sure she doesn’t run off; what’s worse is that she loves being chased and falls into fits of giggles every time she gets started. She’s also very determined and driven. Not easy to distract her from her current obsession: dolls. She spends days picking up her ‘baby’, cuddling her, patting her back, wrapping her in a blanket, feeding her (she tells her to ‘Mange’). On Monday we went to a Wriggle & Rhyme session at the library and it was only a matter of minutes before she spotted Suzie’s ‘baby’ and shuffled her way towards it to pick it up and hog it the rest of the session.
A few weeks back we went to drop Naliah off at the vet to have her stay over the night for some urine samples. When the vet took her away, both children were concerned for her - Nico asked me when Naliah was going to be back with us, and Eloïse just trotted off after her. Fortunately she just needed some antibiotics and very expensive prescription food, which Ellie loves dispensing. Her first sentence yesterday morning was “Nayaaa? Apple?” which meant “I’m going to give Naliah some food” and there was nothing stopping her. Not even logic dictating that when a container is full, it is time to stop pouring.
Oma has ran away to Europe for 2 months so hopefully with Skype the kids won’t miss her too much. Nico does understand that she’s gone in a plane and that she won’t be back for a little while. Time to take out the calendar and the world map.
Nicolas is getting better and better with his toilet training. Juuuust a few more days and it’ll be a whole week with no accident. I sure hope I didn’t jinx it. Once we’ve got it nailed for a month, we’re moving on to dry nights. Eloïse is also better on the toilet, waving her arms HOORAY! after a pee. She gets a sticker for it. If only I could pin down her pooing time during the day, it’d save me from unceremoniously swooping her off the floor and rush her to the toilet whenever I hear the slightest grunt.
All in all, the kids get on ok… I need to think of strategies to deal with sibling rivalry, which is a bit difficult considering Nico’s limited communication skills and Ellie’s limited listening skills.
Also time to stop morning breastfeeds. Wish me luck.
Oh, and a few days ago I got a call from Waitemata Emergency. Apparently little fingers had dialled 111 several times. I thought I had stopped Eloïse on time and even unplugged the phone after repeated attempts, but I guess I was too slow.
