October 2000 Update

This is taken from some e-mails (modified slightly) that Fraser and I sent to my sister-in-law Justine, talking about what Claudia is doing now.

Claudia is now 26 months old.

From Fraser:

Claudia's language and cognitive skills are rocketing along (at least in front of Mummy and Daddy anyway). Melissa did something to her neck on the weekend and couldn't really lie down on the "big girl's bed" with Claudia. A conversation went like this last night.

C: Take you glasses off and lie down with me
M: Mummy can't, remember, Mummy's neck hurts.
C: (wait) Daddy's neck no hurts. Go get Daddy to lie down with me.

Other things she has been saying recently are the "giraffe in the bouncy castle" when it was the thing on top of the bouncy castle (at the Kindergarten open day on the weekend) and she knows that it was on and Melissa's current favourite is "Look me daddy, I really pretty. I bootiful.".

From Melissa:

It's fascinating to watch Claudia's language development - - she "acquired" articles about 2 weeks ago (It's *a* book) etc. She has had possessives for ages (my book / Claudia's book - and has been getting these consistently right pretty much all along), now she's really concentrating on prepositions and usually gets them wrong but in the right place ("I hide from curtains" is really "behind" (or I'd even pay "in") the curtains, etc - also see Fraser's giraffe example)

She really enjoys using language - I don't remember if she was into "not" when you were down last but it seems like she's been doing it forever - "That's a red car. Not a blue car. Not green. Not orange. Red." etc. "That's my truck. Not mummy's. Not daddy's. Not Puffy's." Also just in the last 2 weeks she is counting properly - doesn't get it right every time but usually is correct where she can actually move the items. We noticed this when we bought 6 plastic plates shaped like flowers and she counted them all the way home. She is now also starting to count things she can't move eg dogs in a picture but sometimes loses track. Her main problem there is remembering where she started.

She's also very interested in language and writing - I'm not being pushy, honest - she is fascinated by people writing her name and often the first thing she does when about to draw or paint is to demand that we write her name, then scribble next to it, declaring "I writing!". She is also very keen on her "writing" (magnetic numbers & letters that ?Georgie? gave her for her first birthday) and knows lots of them already:
A is for Angela (also for Apple and Auntie, she's learning that now)
C is for Claudia (also for Carol and Cathy, carers at creche)
D is for Daddy (also for dog)
G is for Grandad (but confusing with C for Claudia)
H is for Harry the Dirty Dog (also for Hunter)
J is for Justine
K is for Kangaroo (down sport) (from the "It's A Wiggly Wiggly World" Video, where the Wiggles sing this with Rolf Harris)
M is for Mummy (also Marisa)
P is for Pants (also Potty)
S is for Singlet
T is for Toilet (also Top)

some of these she knows better than others but she really likes to know them. She also knows that she is 2, and often recognises the number 2.

She still knows "all" her colours and is finally differentiating yellow & orange consistently - although sadly it looks as though "peepoo" has gone to God and been replaced by "purple" ;-)

I took her to the Kinder fete, as Fraser said, and bought her a(nother) Fairy costume - net skirt, wings and headdress, also a fairy wand that I may have stolen as I don't think they charged me for it. She wore her fairy skirt & headdress over to mum & dad's, then put on her wings in the car & danced up the drive "I'm a fairy Nanna! I'm a fairy Grandad!". Usually, as with you, she loves to get naked with Nanna, but Saturday night she wouldn't take off her fairy clothes for Nanna to give her a bath. "I got fairy wand!" (not always getting those articles in there!).

Last week's game of choice at creche - with her best friend (or "boyfriend") Hunter of course - was Tigers. They have some little tiger fur waistcoats for the children to wear. One morning when I dropped her off, Hunter came running up - wearing his waistcoat already and carrying the other one for Claudi. That night at home, she was crawling along the top of her chest of drawers (not allowed to walk) saying "I'm a tiger. RARRR." Later, I asked what Tigers say and got an unexpected but very appropriate answer. They say "I'm a tiger."

She also seems to know that kitten and cat are different words for the same thing. Fraser was talking with her this morning & the cat next door (who we have always called a cat) was a kitten.

And another anecdote from the Show (which still comes up every night when we read the eminently lose-able "Are you my mother") "I see hens at Show. I see Roosters too. Roosters say cock-a-doodle-doo. Hens say cuck-cuck-cuck. Roosters and hens say hello to me."

With all this language has of course come bossiness (wonder where that comes from). "I want some WARM milk in my purple cup, mummy." "I watch maisy's bath."

And of course she loves to sing. She knows most (or at least many) of the words to "Away in a manger", "Morningtown ride", "Baa baa black sheep", "Rockabye baby" (Rock my baby), "Bananas in Pyjamas" (who are like to chase "underwears"), "Der Glumph" (said the little green frog one day), "In the Wiggles World" and many others. She's even starting to sing some that we don't know which makes it hard when we are ordered to "SING IT." We often hear her singing or talking to her toys as she plays with them, and even talking to herself. And she now talks with her little friends too - hopefully at Christmas some of them will be around to play with her, so she doesn't get all shy when creche goes back.

Here endeth the language update.

Cognitively, the big step is that B2's clothes now go *ON* B2 rather than around him. Actually I suspect he may be a new development since we saw you - he's a fridge magnet with lots of clothes and accessories that I picked up for $9.95 - a fabulous toy.