Bug = 4 years 6 months
Bub = 2 years 8 months Linus at this age
Bud = 1 year 4 days Linus at this age – Ada at this age

Zoe turned one year old last Thursday, and we had a quiet celebration (Countdown carrot cake) at home with Nana, Gaga, and Aunty Claire. Zoe has managed to make her one year very special in other ways though:

1. She took her first proper steps last weekend while we were on holiday in Leeston/Christchurch.
2. Today I discovered that she FINALLY has a tooth!

MOVING: Over the past few weeks she has been REALLY enjoying finding her balance, and while she’s certainly not “walking” yet, she is often taking two or three steps at a time between things.

TALKING: She’s babbling a lot too these days, and there are hints of “Ta”, “Mama” and “Dada” coming through, but nothing consistent yet.

EATING: She’s doing really well using a spoon now, and will often get through a lot of a bowl of porridge without any help.

ELIMINATING: Zoe rarely does poos in her nappy these days… if she does it’s only a small amount and is followed by using the potty for the full amount. The other day she actually went up to the potty, and so Nana put her on it and she did wees. This a great sign that hopefully in the near future she’ll be able to let us know clearly that she wants to use the potty… maybe she’ll even manage to get on it herself soon!

SLEEPING: Mostly fine. In her cot for the evening at the same time as the “big kids”… sometimes wakes during the evening but is usually easily settled (by Daddy!)… usually comes into bed with me when I go to bed and spends the night there feeding when she wants to. During the day has a short nap on my back at Playcentre, plus naps (usually short, e.g. 40 minutes) in her cot. For these cot naps I feed her to sleep, but Nana and Daddy can often get her to sleep to.

BEING CUTE: Top notch!

Bug = 4 years 6 months
Bub = 2 years 8 months Linus at this age
Bud = 1 year 4 days Linus at this age – Ada at this age

A couple of weeks ago Linus said that he wanted to go to a movie. I’m not sure he’s quite ready for that yet, but in the end we decided to have a movie night at home, and this past Saturday was the night!

While Daddy popped popcorn with the kids, I got the fire on in the lounge and set up comfy seats for movie-watching. Once the kids were in their pyjamas, we settled in with our popcorn, Jaffas, and ice-cream soda to watch Mr Magorium’s Wonder Emporium.  Linus seemed to enjoy the movie (and was heard quoting lines from it while playing in bed the next morning!), but Ada seemed more interested in the popcorn and especially the Jaffas.

Bug = 4 years 6 months
Bub = 2 years 8 months Linus at this age
Bud = 1 YEAR TODAY! Linus at this age – Ada at this age

Below are some bits and pieces that have been said over the past few months.

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Linus:

• “tickly-ated truck” (articulated truck)
• “self-vomiter” (stealth bomber)
• (when asked about Playcentre) “There was a new person at Playcentre today whose name started with ‘Z’. It was ‘Zip’ or ‘Zag’ or something like that.” (It was actually ‘Zane’.)

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Linus tends to hover over Ada whenever she’s having a turn on the computer or iPod. He usually “helps” her by showing her how to do stuff, often by taking over for minutes on end. The other day I commented on this to Mum, and just a couple of minutes later I overheard Ada say in the voice of someone trying to be kind when their patience is being sorely tried:

“Linus, can you PLEASE not show me?!”

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Linus was running around like crazy in the supermarket with me one day.

Mummy: “Aren’t you getting puffed?”
Linus: “No, I’m getting EXERCISE!”

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Linus and Ada were watching hyena stalking gazelles on a David Attenborough DVD. Linus said:

“Hear that funny noise, Ada? That’s because there’s DANGER on the TV!”

Bug = 4 years 6 months
Bub = 2 years 8 months Linus at this age
Bud = 1 YEAR TODAY! Linus at this age – Ada at this age

Linus has long enjoyed playfighting, both with me and with his good friend CB. Ada has occasionally tried to get involved, but hasn’t managed very well and has usually stopped playing and started crying not long onto it.

I was at the library with Zoe a couple of months ago and saw a brother and sister the same age as my two who were having a delightful time wrestling together, and I wished my two would do the same. Learning to safely wrestle with someone else, get consent, how to attack and defend without hurting, how to control yourself, how to “fight fair”… There are a lot of valuable lessons to learn while having some fun and getting some exercise.

To my delight, it seems that a switch has gone on (or off?) in Ada recently. She suddenly enjoys playfighting with her big brother, and now that she is a bit more fun, he’s proving to be very good at not being too rough. They both even do a little playfighting with Zoe