We just posted the photos for month thirty-two. This is two weeks late (but better than last month), so my update on what the girls have been up to are going to be mostly relevant to what is going on now, rather than when these pictures were taken.
For the most part, the girls have been easier to understand. Miranda and I had a frustrating time in the car last week when I was taking them to daycare and she kept on saying “I want this” or “I want that one“. My usual questions of what color it was or where was it didn’t help. Since that time, both Eleanor and Miranda have been better at trying to think of different words when we don’t understand them–it makes all the difference in the world.
I think the girls are getting a little better when faced with disappointment. Two nights ago, Eleanor asked to read the “Clifford” book, which is a book that we read pretty much every day. I told her that we could read it the next day. After she asked a few more times, and I responded in the same way each time, Eleanor got a really sad look on her face, and she sat down at the far end of the room. She didn’t throw a tantrum or start whining–she just looked sad. I ended up reading the Clifford book to her because she had a very appropriate reaction.
Yesterday, the kids experimented with jumping again. Strangely enough, they still don’t jump, even though we see kids a year younger who are hopping all around daycare. They know how to hang between two pieces of furniture, but they don’t really get both feet off the ground when they try to jump. Yesterday, the girls found that they are more comfortable actually jumping if they can also put a hand on the table to balance them when they land.
Miranda is officially making the transition to the preschool class this week. I think someone else in the preschool class moved on to the next class, which finally freed up a slot for Miranda. There are at least two other kids who are also toilet trained who are waiting to move up as well. We used to see a bit of a change in behavior in Eleanor when Miranda would visit, but we haven’t been seeing that this week. What would happen is that Eleanor would try showing Miranda how everything worked, instead of letting Miranda explore on her own. Miranda didn’t like it.
Eleanor’s recent obsession has been clocks. There is an owl clock at school that she has to play with every day. The clock belongs to the kindergarten class and when we don’t find this clock in the morning, the kindergarten class sometimes needs to stop what they’re doing and help look for it. Eleanor gets a little unsettled when she can’t do everything she considers part of her routine. At home, she’s been drawing clocks, asking Agnes or me to fill in the numbers on the face. She even arranges her goldfish crackers in a circle.
Miranda has really latched on to a doll this month. She calls it her baby, and she likes to pretend feeding it with a bottle. Of course, she sometimes puts the dolls head in her mouth and I have to tell her not to eat the baby, but usually she’s quite gentle with it.