2012 has been a year packed full of achievements for Lara and Rhea. Here are some of those I am most proud of:
- They are considerate of each other. If I give one of them a biscuit, she will always ask for one for her sister. They are also very careful and considerate with babies. It’s lovely to see.
- Manners. A work in progress. Very cute when they spontaneously say ‘tantoo’ without being asked.
- Using their hands: they can now draw with crayons, textas and paint and have the fine motor skills to use a fork and spoon and even scissors – a recent source of enjoyment and skill, especially in Rhea’s case. Also v. proficient at unpeeling and sticking on stickers and they have unscrewed bottle caps and used a key to unlock a lock unassisted. Parents and daughters very proud.
- Using their arms and legs: Climbing on us, their changing table, tables, chairs and monkey bars has been a favourite source of activity recently. They have also learnt to swing at the playground ‘berry berry high.’
- Putting their shoes on. At first Lara wanted to wear Rhea’s red shoes but she seems to have accepted that they are Rhea’s now (red is for Rhea: we colour-code the girls for the convenience of others). Sometimes they each wear one of each colour as a compromise.
- Using a potty. Sometimes. Rhea has also done two poos on the toilet at playgroup and Lara did a ‘eewee’ there. Must buy a child’s toilet seat in January. Most pleasing development.
- Following instructions where road safety is concerned. OK, maybe this is wishful thinking.
- Being wary of strangers. I think this is a good thing. Trust and affection should be earnt. The girls have good judgement on who to bestow them on.
- Waving. Rhea went almost straight for the starfish-handed side-to-side motion but Lara went through a much teased (by Heidi and me) Stop sign followed by the Royal Wave before also reaching the starfish move. We’ve had some fun with this.
- Language. Perhaps the most impressive of all their achievements this year. Back in April I wrote about the miracle of language acquisition and some of Rhea and Lara’s favourite and most-used words. In the eight months since then they have largely mastered grammar and sentence construction, not to mention tense and plurals, expanding their vocabulary by thousands of words – notwithstanding that many consonants and sounds are still missing. This facility has enabled them to come out with such things as:
Rhea: ‘I’ll baddle my toes in de water.’
Lara: ‘My bum! My base!’ (can’t say ‘th/f’).
Rhea: ‘Or toffee is boffy.’ (‘Your coffee is frothy.’)
Lara: ‘How about. . . .? ‘
Rhea: ‘I usually. . . .sometimes.’
Lara: ‘I done an enormous poo!’
Rhea: ‘I’ll pop ‘dis over here. Oh it’s pitty heavy.’
Lara: ‘Have oo’ dot or’ nipples on?’
Rhea: I don’t want my water bottle either.’
Lara: ‘Maybe. . . ?’
Rhea: ‘I’ll tittle or’ eyebows!’
Lara: ‘Or hair’s all messed up.’
Rhea (justifying why she needed me to come with her to see her cousins who had just arrived back): ‘I’m berry ty’ (shy).
Lara: ‘I ‘ove oo mum.’ – accompanied by a hug.
They have also learnt how to sing – e.g:
‘O, o o ‘or boat, gently down e steam
If oo catch a crocodile, don’t fordet oo steam.’
In terms of their communication with each other there are two games they like to play. The first is in the car:
Rhea: ‘Say ‘pip.’
Lara: ‘Pip.’ Gales of laughter.
Lara: Say ‘Dodby.’ (Marcus’s housemate Godfrey??).
Rhea: ‘Dodby.’ The game is only ever with these two words. It keeps them going for whole minutes at a time.
The second talking game they like involves one saying to the other: ‘How’s your grandmother today?’ It’s like the refrain from their favourite song; it seems to give them comfort to repeat it every few days.
I’ll leave you with this image of Rhea and Lara at the end of 2012, the morning sun streaming through the front door where they sit exchanging pleasantries about their grandmother.
Best friends. Happy girls.
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