Our Daughter, The Realist

Some developmental changes are gradual, slowly accumulating over time so that one night it feels as though you're compiling a list of words Harriet says on the blog and then the very next night you're writing about how you and her were chatting about how her 'friends' are coming over and discussing what they may and may not like to do and eat when they get here. Then there are some developmental changes that are black and white, with change occuring in the blink of an eye and you realise that irreversible change has occured whilst you lay sleeping next to this amazing little girl.


Overnight Harriet has decided she likes to draw people. One day she went to sleep just drawing circles and spirals and the odd triangle. The next morning she woke up and started drawing people with 'features' (well as close as you get with a two year old). She does a running commentary whilst she draws, some of which I've added in on the second photo. She talks to herself but it's in her 'soft' voice which means that anyone within a five metre radius can hear it over a jackhammer (rather than the usual twenty metre radius in action).


She has a running commentary "Ok, head... hair... (sometimes long hair) with eyes.... looong legs... then body... forgot ginah... round bottom... more hair... (sometimes glasses too)", all said as she is drawing her little masterpiece. In this shot you can see in the middle of the whiteboard there's a lady with a baby too. She's drawn various additions to these figures, such as clips in the hair and glasses, but hasn't progressed to drawing arms unless you prompt her. If she drew the separate elements of her figures in relative proportion, rather than all over the top of everything else she's drawn, she would actually be going close to drawing proper stick figures. Sure, they'd be armless, but I never was that great at anatomy either.


Today we had a few people over for a barbecue. Harry was so excited and after people had gone kept talking about how her "friends came over your house". She is just so self regulating it's unbelievable. Here she is helping James with the food, but she kept a good distance from the hotplate, refusing to get any closer because "hot there Papia".

Another thing Harriet says lately which is a crack up - "somewhere" and "something". You aske her where she'd like a doll or toy to be put down - "Oh somewhere Mamia", she'll say, waving a disinterested arm over in the direction of another corner of the playroom. However don't be lulled into a false sense of security. If you fail to place said item in the secretly determined correct spot (that "somewhere" is not as negotiable as it may suggest) then Harriet will gently reprimand you. "No, Mamia, put it over here where you can play". Okkkkk......