How Angus and Ursula are growing each week Chez Edelhay

Angus loves his little orange scooter.  He started out tentative.  He had trouble keeping his balance, and it made him nervous to be out of control, but lately he's become quite the scoot-master.  He builds up speed and then coasts on one foot, while holding the other foot high in the air behind him.  He gets going and then splashes through puddles, laughing the whole time.  He still wants me to hold his handlebars while we go down a steep hill (for safety), or go uphill (to slack).  But on a flat, he's remarkably independent.  He zips ahead, and stops before the next street to wait for me to cross the street.

On weeknights he and I will scoot down to the grocery store to pick up dinner and other necessary things.  He scoots the whole way there, wearing his little yellow chicken helmet, while riding slightly downhill.  We go shopping, then he and I get a little treat for ourselves at the end -- cookie, gelato, coffee, whatever strikes us.  The way home is a little harder.  It's slightly uphill for Angus, and I'm usually dragging some groceries with me. But the whole trip is a nice little chance for us to spend some time together and to get a little exercise and fresh air at the end of the day.

Ursula hasn't shown much interest in books... until now.  Now books are the most interesting thing in her world.  She finds books, grabs books, flips pages, talks to books.  She likes word books full of animals pictures most of all.  She'll grab one of the books, grab me and then start pointing to the pictures to hear me say the name.  She's a funny little girl and points emphatically using her thumb.  Sometimes, the books have fake fur on the animals.  She gets extra excited and starts rubbing her face and mouth all over the fur.  Favorite books right now include: The Biggest Bear Hunt (pop-up book), In My Pond (you use your finger to make a fish puppet, and Ursi got so excited that she bit my finger... hard), and the DK Touch&Feel Puppies and Kittens board book.

Ursula has recently discovered that she can feed herself with a spoon.  This suits her well since she's such an independent little kid.  She has always loved yogurt, which she eats whole milk and plain.  And since she learned how to use her spoon, she's developed a new love for applesauce.  We just got her some new smock-style bibs.  So we can suit her up, set up the yogurt and applesauce, and let her have at it.   She's learning so many new skills and she's so pleased with herself.

When Ursula is on her back and she gets someone's attention, she pauses for a second and then wildly wiggles all four limbs at once.  She's trying to show off how much she can do.  She's pleased with herself and the effect is pretty funny.

For the past week or so, Ursula has been getting better at grabbing.  She's also enjoying getting things into her mouth.  Bao bao, the pacifier holding bear, is getting slobber on more than his pacifier.  Pretty soon, everything will be in her mouth all of the time.  We've been working with Angus to make sure that he doesn't hand her small toys that she could choke on.

Ursula has been working on getting our attention.  She stares at grandma and then smiles when grandma looks at her.  She sits in her bouncy chair and moves both arms when dad moves his head her way.  But she has now developed the killer trick.  When she's cooing back and forth with someone and she thinks they might be losing interest, she throws in a little cough.  It's clearly not a sick cough, but everyone is so concerned for her that it really gets their attention.  What a smart little cookie.  A trick that really works.

Ursula has been making noises for a while now, but lately she's been having almost little conversations.  When someone talks back to her, she gets excited and responds by smiling and talking more.  And as she gets more and more encouragement, she starts experimenting with different sounds.  Yesterday she even made a little high pitched squeal. 

Ursula is sleeping through the night!  She's had a few nights with a long stretch here or there over the past month, but in Hawaii, she started routinely sleeping for 6-7 hours in her first nighttime sleep.  We're starting to build a nighttime routine too.  We change into jammies, feed, rest a little, get swaddled, rest a little more, then we put her down in her pack and play while she's still sleepy, and she falls asleep on her own.  Now that we're home from Hawaii, she's still sleeping the big stretch, but she's freaking out and crying right before she goes to sleep.  At night, she wakes up once or twice.  When she does, she eats, and then falls back asleep pretty easily by herself.  Yay!

Ursula is such a strong sitter.  I'm not sure when she made the change, but she's definitely different this week.  We used to have to hold her prone, to watch her neck to make sure it didn't swing around.  But sometime in the past couple of weeks that has all changed.  She loves sitting on my lap with a little assistance (a hand on the side, or holding both of her hands).  She's able to sit in the bumble chair by herself.  She's almost sturdy enough to hold on my hip!  She's also able to hold herself straight when I pull her up from laying on her back using her two hands.

Ursula has been able to hold herself up on her tummy almost since she was born.  She's such a strong little kid.  Now she's bringing her A-game to tummy time.  She pushes herself way up. She loves looking around.  She can look at what she wants, and usually that's a person... mom, dad, Angus, grandma.  Ursi loves tummy time with grandma. Grandma is always coming up with new ways to make tummy time fun.  Grandma takes pictures, makes noices, moves around.  She also looks for the most comfortable position for Ursi.  Ursi really likes it when grandma props her arms and head up on pillows so that she has a better view of the room.

Ursula has been checking herself out lately.  Yesterday, she was wearing a little play dress and bouncing in her bouncy chair.  I looked over and she was playing with her one fist in her mouth and the other hand was grabing her dress and pulling it up like it was a blanket.  She was so busy, and into herself, and happy.

Angus has been 'reading' parts of books for a while now.  He'll recite the entire Sarah Anderson books, Vegetables and Fruits.  He'll also do parts of Yummy Yucky and Quiet Loud by Leslie Patricelli.  But over the weekend, he started a whole new phase.

Angus has just fallen in love with the Curious George Books.  His favorite is Curious George Makes Pancakes.  His Grandpa started reading the book and pausing for Angus to fill in key words.  It's amazing.  I think that Angus knows the whole story.  He certainly knows about 'sprinkling the blueberries' and 'pouring circles' of batter.  But he even knows that the Mayor makes a 'speech'.  And Angus definitely loves his Grandpa. 

Angus has a new phrase... "be patient".

When something is happening that he's really excited about (usually it has to do with cooking).  He'll volunteer up the phrase, "be patient". 

This morning, he wanted more blueberries and grandpa had to defrost them.  Angus just kept repeating "be patient" every time he started to get upset.  He's so sweet and nice.

Cooking is Angus's favorite thing.  All day, he cooks in his pretend kitchen.  Since he was tiny, he's loved to watch us cook.  He loved the smell and sound and look of bacon cooking when he was little.

Lately, he's actually been helping to cook in the kitchen.  He stirs things like pancake batter or macaroni and cheese.  He carries food to and from the refrigerator.  He throws things into the trash.    He loves putting away the groceries.  And he figured out how to use a garlic press to extrude olives.

While we're waiting for things to cook, Angus will take the scraps (like carrot tops) and will cook them in his own kitchen.

Angus is definitely using short sentences, sometimes long sentences.  Here are a few examples of sentences that I think he took from one of us:

• I want some too.
• Please play with me.
• I'm tired too.
• I like it.
• I don't like it.
• I like mama.   I like dad.

When Angus throws a ball, he does it with his left hand.  Then he laughs and laughs.