I know it has only been just over a week but it has been a little eventful and so I thought I had better do a little update as the following weekend (my Birthday) maybe also be a little eventful (hopefully!)
As I mentioned in the previous write up, Amélie, although not rolling has begun to move herself around. We are not used to this just yet and it is something that we need to be across and quickly. Friday, Lucinda was getting ready to go round to see her parents. She put Amélie on the sofa and popped into the hall to fetch her coat like she has done dozens of times before. In the seconds that she was out of the room, Amélie had flipped herself off the sofa onto an open tub of Sudacrem. Lucinda rushed into to the scream to see her face down with blood pouring from her eye and her right arm blue. Obviously she panicked and called me at work. I told her to take Amélie to the walk-in clinic (because all the A&E departments around here have been closed down). So Lucinda dropped Éowyn off at her parents and rushed to the walk-in clinic at Ashford hospital. Meanwhile I rushed out of work and battled with Friday night, rush hour traffic and met them at Ashford.
By the time I got to Ashford, they still had not been seen by the doctor but Amélie was quite content on Lucinda’s knee and gave me a big smile as I walked into the waiting room. Presently the doctor examined her and was not too concerned. It appears she has been lucky, the Sudacrem tub broke under the impact and so dissipated the energy saving her from serious injury but she was cut on the broken shard. The cut starts at the top of her nose and runs along the underside of her right eye. It should heal fine although she will have a bit of a shiner for the next week or so. (See photos below). Her arm going blue was possibly due to her pinching her brachial artery, a temporary effect. She was very lucky and a lesson learnt!
Amélie has been such a good girl lately. She is still enjoying her solids, however she is still refluxing but possibly less than before (or that might just be our acceptance of the situation) and most importantly she is still sleeping through the night. Her last feed tends to be about 2300 and she then lasts until at least 0600 the next morning. Seven hours of sleep! Bliss!
Éowyn too has been on her best behaviour lately. Although she occassionally forgets, ‘Please‘ and ‘Thank-you‘ have definitely found their way back into her vocabulary. It looks like I will have to buy that Gruffalo! She tried upping the ante last week. ‘I said ‘Please’ so I have a Gruffalo.‘ I replied in the affirmative, ‘And a mouse.‘ I like her style. Nevertheless we thought that this reward system might be useful so we decided to agree to a mouse if she began to use her potty.
So toilet training has begun. We let Éowyn choose her own potty (a Froggie Potty) and asked her how many times she would have to use it before she earnt a mouse. ‘Ten‘ she answered (I don’t think she fully got the question and may have got away with a smaller number) so we agreed. At the rate she is going I think she will earn her mouse by the middle of next week.
Reward seems to be a good way of encouraging Éowyn she definitely responses to praise (and chocolate). Lucinda’s mum asked Éowyn how many chocolate buttons she wanted after eating her tea. ‘Ten‘ came the answer. Lucinda asked her so say it in Spanish ‘Uno, Dos, Tres, Cuatro, Cinco, Seis, Siete, Ocho, Nueve, Diez.‘ she duly replied. Stunned she got her buttons. It is amazing what can be done for chocolate!
Éowyn’s has a couple of new sayings, the first is more of a fanfare sound (you know the D-Daa) when she does something that she is particularly proud of and the other is a sad indictment of modern Western children’s toys. When something is not doing what she thinks it should, whether it is made for the purpose or not, she will declare: ‘It’s not working, perhaps it needs new batteries.‘ This can be applied to anything, including her old potty, irrespective of whether it actually takes batteries or not.
She has also taken to bouncing a lot. When you ask her why she keeps bouncing she replies ‘I love bouncing‘. What can you say to that? She is also incredibly loving towards Amélie and quite often you will find her holding Amélie’s hand or stroking her head. We are hoping that it will continue as they grow older together. We are also hoping that Amélie will develop Éowyn’s love of reading and books in general. Amélie will listen attentively when I read to Éowyn, which if Éowyn had her way would be 8 hours a day! Éowyn’s favourite book changes regularly though, which is good. The current favourite is the Norwegian fairy tale The Three Billy Goats Gruff, which has pushed out recent favourites Zog and Duck Soup. I really enjoy reading to her and always ensure that I am home to tuck her into bed and read 3 stories of her choice. (That may have to change when the stories become longer!)
As you can see from the photos below it is Red-Nose Day on Friday. My friend Lee (Georgia’s dad) is attempting to raise money by posting a joke a day (joke can be a loose term for some of them) on his facebook page, so please pop by and have a look and if you feel like donating and you don’t have a facebook account (I know there are a few of you out there) then you can donate here. If you want a taster of his stand-up show and you have about 6 minutes to spare then click here.
One final thing before I leave you. My old uni pal Fabian became a father for the first time. Kenan Palmyre was born on 4th March so welcome to the world little Kenan and congratulations to Fabian and Carol. Welcome to the wonderful world of parenthood.
Peace and Love
Baggie
