Our twenty-eight month photos are up on the site. The two main things that dominated this month are our trip to Boston for Erin and Albert’s wedding, and our attempts at toilet training. Agnes wrote a number of blog entries about toilet training, so I won’t go into any of the details around those efforts. Right now, we’re waiting for January to try again with Miranda, when we feel like we’ll have the time again. In the meantime, Miranda hasn’t seemed particularly concerned about staying with diapers.
With the toilet training, Eleanor no longer uses the changing pad. Instead, she needs to pull on her own underwear and pants. To maintain her balance, she’ll hold on to one of us. While doing so, she’s picked up a bit of a chant. She’ll say “Hold on to Mommy. HOLD ON TO MOMMY!” The repetition is always shouted. It’s not that she’s scared of losing her balance, but it’s still pretty consistent. She’ll do the same thing when she’s holding on to me.
Eleanor’s quite self-congratulatory about her toilet training. When she pees in the potty, she says “Good job, Eleanor” in a small voice. She’ll say it a bit louder if you don’t say it back to her.
Miranda’s discovered the joy of spinning. She did a little bit of it last month, but this month, she’s been spinning quite a bit more. It’s usually while she’s listening to music, and she likes spinning until she gets dizzy. Miranda also likes to stomp through the house declaring that she’s running (she isn’t).
Both of them have been a lot more communicative this month. One recent development is that when we insist on doing something on their behalf (because they take too long to do it themselves, or they’re incapable of doing it themselves), they get annoyed with us an they say “Stop. I don’t like that. That’s not okay.” It’s clearly something they picked up from daycare, where the teachers tell the kids that all the time. They’ll also say “I runny nose” when they need their noses wiped.
Agnes already wrote about the big Barney invasion into our home. Agnes also introduced the girls to a Chinese video. The point of the video is to teach the girls a bit of Chinese. Agnes and I don’t speak enough of it to help Miranda and Eleanor retain what they pick up from their grandparents, so this video is an attempt to expose them to more Chinese. Miranda likes it quite a bit. She’ll ask for the video, and she repeats everything the teacher says. Both Miranda and Eleanor like singing a song from the video about pulling an enormous carrot out of the ground.
The girls are getting better with their tricycles. Eleanor can reliably pedal and turn. Miranda can pedal, but doesn’t quite have turning down. They haven’t been riding them much, but when they do ride them, they’ve shown more coordination. Maybe they have tricycles at school.
Eleanor likes chanting “Mommy Mommy Me Me Me” or “Daddy Dee Dee Daddy Dee”. I’m not sure why she does it, but I think she amuses herself.
Next month’s pictures will include Christmas, but overall, we’ll probably have relatively few pictures. It’s been a busy month already.