Harry told me the other morning as we were chatting in bed "Mama, bit boring in bed now. Let's go out playroom maybe." I love how she's been talking like this lately. We can have proper conversations about things too. Last night she was a bit upset in her swimming class (not anything to do with swimming, one of the boys threw his arm [accidentally] across her and she got freaked out by it, she's not a fan of children touching her, they're too unpredictable I think). Anyway, today we were able to have a little discussion about how "You don't like Emma anymore" (Emma is the teacher). And it was great, she was able to articulate her reasons and emotions. She is a real little person now and we can be assured of her letting us know exactly what she's thinking and feeling at any given moment.
In other unrelated news to this blog, I am now the proud owner of a 24-70mm f2.8 L lens. If you know what this means then you know why I'm excited! It wasn't until today that I finally got a chance to take some 'proper' photos. The first shot in this entry is Harriet with the delectable Miss Tessa, born a couple of weeks late (Nadia has a very comfortable womb apparently) on the 20th. I am so excited - a newborn to practise on. YAY! But this photo here is one I took as a complete snapshot on Saturday when we went to Paddington Markets. I could not believe just how crisp the image is!
*ahem* So, suffice to say that the blog may be a little picture-heavy over the next few months as the love affair continues between myself and Larry (the lens). So back to the main topic here - Miss Harry. Last week she had her first day at what we have been calling 'little school' - her Montessori playgroup for 0-3yr olds. The facilitator there discussed with me how it normally takes children about five weeks to stop wanting to grab everything off and want it *now*. Of course you already know what I'm going to say. By the end of the first morning Harriet was totally in the rhythm of bringing one item to the mat and then returning it carefully to where it came from. She also mastered pouring the water from the little water jug, using the tongs to pick up her own food and buttering her bread. This girl is pure Montessori!
In the chair photo she is doing one of her favourite activities - chair washing. They have these little 'stations' set up where the children engage in all of the 'work' surrounding on activity. Here Harry has collected water from a big tub in a cup adn then poured it into her little tray. Next she wet down the chair with a sponge, then rubbed the nail brush over the soap and scrubbed down the chair with lots of suds. Once that was over she wiped it down with another sponge and dried it off with a teatowel. Of course she also loved to wash it down with the washboard there as well.
Ummm...what else have we been up to? Harry loves to tell us when we're doing things incorrectly. "No Marm, not like that, like this". She'll then demonstrate her specific method of flicking a marble across a room/pushing a doll stroller/holding a marker, you get the picture. The 'Marm' thing is specific to that sentence too, funny monkey. Her sense of time is functional too, she's often telling me all about how she wants to do this "later" and "right now". Actually 'right now' is a funny one, becasue I'll say to her "We're going in the car" meaning that I am about to pick up my bag and we'll be heading out in the next minute - she looks at me and says quite emphatically "Not right now". Wel of course she's technically correct, we're not getting in the car right now. Damn this toddler logic!
These photos of her look almost evil, she's having so much fun! She's having the very occasional meltdown lately when things happen that neither of us can control adn which she doesn't really understand. Today for example, we couldn't get out her favourite book from the library because it was on loan already. Oh dear. She got very very VERY upset about that and wandered the library telling me not to follow her. She doesn't like to be consoled or touched or anything when she gets upset and is quite happy to engage with her emotions. I'm currently reading 'Raising our Children, Raising Ourselves' by Naomi Aldort which is a timely tome for me in my parenting journey. I highly recommend it.
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