Hurricane Noelie.

Life with a 20 months old is quite something, as most of you know or remember. Noelie will be 20 months old in 10 days and, believe it or not, she is quite a handful.

First of all, she won't shut up! Marie is quiet, she is very independent and most of the time, as people say, you wouldn't even know she's there. She is there but, more than likely, she is sitting somewhere in a corner reading Harry Potter for the umpteenth time. Although she is not quite 8 yet, her reading maturity is the same as a 10 and 1/2 years old child (not according to me but according to the test her teacher got her to take) and she is quite the bookworm. The only problem for us is to find books that are appropriate for her age but do challenge her in the reading department (any ideas, anybody?). But Noelie, well, she is far from quiet. She starts talking the minute she gets up and won't stop until she goes to bed. I have lost count of how many words she has mastered and in which language but she is now able to express herself fairly well. Everybody is 'gone in car' if they are not within sight but she'll happily switch 'gone in car' to 'parti' if she is talking to me. She can imitate a few animals and if asked (either in French or English) which noise does a cow, dog, cat or other makes, she will happily oblige you. She can ask for biscuits, apple or banana or simply 'mange' (eat) and for her 'dink'. She says 'pease' and 'merci' as well as 'hello' and 'bonjour' and 'bye' or 'au revoir'.

She is shoe and hat mad. Her 'chaussons' (slippers) are her most prized possession. They have to be on at all times, even going to bed. And her 'bapos' (which are meant to be chapeau or hats) provide her with hours of fun putting them on and taking them off again. She loves her dolls and will wheel them around the house in their buggies. She also loves pretending to eat (foodie mummies do make foodie babies!). She will order to you to 'sit there' and 'mange' (eat) and pass any plate, spoon, cup, pot to you and will also tell you 'I can cook' (thanks Cbeebies!) and ask you if 'c'est bon?' ('is it nice?). She understands requests in both French and English and will comply with said requests most of the time (unless it requires her to step away from the press she is currently emptying). She loves music and singing and dancing around and reading books and colouring (the wall seems to be a great canvass!).

My baking press is one of her favourites to empty (it must be all the nice colours and funny noises cake decorations make). And the breakfast / biscuit press is her most favourite destination in the kitchen. So, after all the hard work we put in in the past few weeks, tidying and cleaning and rearranging everything, I am very keen to keep everything 'right'. But she doesn't seem to understand my need to keep stuff off the floor and in the presses. So this morning, I took a preemptive action and childproofed the kitchen. There is only one press she can open and that's the breakfast/ biscuit press but at least my baking supplies are now safe, not to mention all the cutlery and medicines / cleaning products that we store under the sink.

Childproofing the Foodie way!



Might not look like much but quite effective.

 She hates her nose being stuffy and will blow her nose, or wipe it with a tissue. She loves eating and sleeping and we are really lucky that she goes down for her nap for at least 2 to 3 hours without a fight. She also loves going to bed at night and will sleep for a good 12 hours straight (she only wakes up if she has a cough and will refuse to sleep if she feels unwell, which doesn't happen too often thankfully). She has 12 teeth and another 3 that just cut through the gums this week. She also feeds herself although she still needs help with putting things on her fork.

And lastly, if you want to make her happy, just put on 'Oui-Oui' (that's Noddy in French) or even better 'Becca Boo' which is the way she calls In The Night Garden.

However, if you make her cross, she will let you know and shout a loud 'No!' and will give out to you. She might even try to bite you if you invade her private space too much or maybe pinch you.

So what's next? Well, potty training is on the horizon. She warns you before she goes for a 'caca' or if she does a 'pipi'. She is fascinated by the toilet and you literally cannot go to the toilet without her following you in and trying to look down to see what you're doing, all the while trying to pull her trousers down. So what do you think? Do you think she's ready? Or is 20 months too young still for her to get the whole concept? When did you start potty training your children?

To walker or not to walker?

Noelie is now 10 months old. She has cut 2 teeth without too many problems. We were lucky enough not to have sleepless nights. There has been the odd unsettled moment, her face showing pain. But nothing that a bit of Nurofen hasn't solved.

She is very vocal, talking to herself, talking to her teddies, talking to us. She has mastered the baba, mama and dada and some other as yet unidentified sounds. People also comment quite often on her appetite. She has never refused anything that was presented to her. She loves food (although I know that she will develop that terrible fear of vegetables soon enough). You can not eat in front of her without her following your food from the plate to your mouth, which can be quite unnerving.

She is overall a very good humoured and pleasant baby. She can play by herself, keep herself occupied for a while. She loves her big sister and loves playing with her.

So what's the problem, I hear you ask. Well it's not a problem as such. It's just that I am at a loss as to what to do. If you put her sitting down, she can remain sitted unaided for a very long time. But, she can't sit up by herself yet. She hasn't yet grasped the concept of using her arms to sit herself up. She rolls from her front to her back and vice versa but she doesn't crawl or bum around which leads her to be extremely frustrated as she wants to move, she wants to go around and follow us. She loves to stand up (assisted of course). She even manages to stand up for a few seconds on her own while holding onto the sofa. But my problem is, she can't get to the sofa. She is forever sitting down stretching forward and sideways. She rolls herself, ends up on her belly and tries to crawl but ends up pushing herself backwards rather than forward. Which, you guessed, leads to more frustration as she pushes herself away from the object she wants to get.

I have always hated walkers. Marie didn't have one. I just don't think that they are 'good' for babies. I think that they don't help them with walking at all. I find them quite dangerous (although we don't have stairs, I am thinking of the fingers caught between walls and walkers etc). Canada has taken to ban the things altogether over safety issues, so I can't be that wrong about them, can I?

And here is my dilemna. Noelie wants to move around. She gets incredibly frustrated at not being able to. I have left her to try and figure out how to crawl (as bad as it sounds), I have encouraged her to try and reach for something in front of her. I have shown her how to crawl, I have tried to put her arms and legs in the right position. But nothing seems to work and there is only so much wingeing I can take. When up my arms, she just twists and turns trying to direct me towards where she wants to go, arching her back to the point where she actually nearly breaks mine. I hear you all say: she will figure it out, they all do. But she's been stuck at this stage for a few weeks now. She seems to want to skip the whole buming around/crawling stage and just stand up and walk. And here I am now thinking that, as much as I don't like the things, maybe, just maybe, a walker could be the answer.

I have twisted and turned the idea in my head and I know, deep down (and as bad as it sounds), that all I'm looking for is something that would keep her occupied for a bit while I go about my business because as we all know, babies tend to pick the most awkward times to want attention (we all know that, don't we?). Something that would take away her frustration of not being mobile. And then, I just feel guilty for thinking that way, for wanting to find something that will gets us through that hurdle, for wanting to give in to her frustration. Because I believe that I would not be helping her work out how to do it by herself, because I would be going back on something that I have said a few times, that I don't like walkers, that they do not help babies in finding their own feet and supporting their own weight. And probably because I want to go about my business, sometimes, with minimum disruption.

It goes without saying that I wouldn't leave her in a walker all day, of course and then I think is it worth buying something like that if she is going to use it for a few months only and only for a limited time during the day?

Did you use a walker? What did you think of it? Am I making too much of a deal over a silly thing like a walker?
Even better, did you notice any difference between a child using a walker and one not using it?

Let me know!