Sparrow Lorelei photo gallery

At home in the 24th month, 9 April - 9 May, 2011

All dressed up and ready to go out. She wouldn't leave the house without all her accessories on and ready. I'd wonder how I got a daughter so fond of bling, but I can guess.

Farmer Duck. This was a favourite book at the beginning of the month, and after it went back to the library I still had to "read" it from memory a few times. Sparrow seems awed to get a book read to her that she can't see, but she sits very quietly for it. We may get a copy of this one for ourselves, it's quite a cute little story about a duck that does all the work on a farm. The phrase that keeps recurring is "'How goes the work?' 'Quack!'", For a little while Sparrow would sit in the car saying "How work, quack! How work, quack!" to herself. And still, if we ask "How goes the work?", she'll answer "Quack" to us. We found that out by accident when she was playing with something and Mum asked her how it was going - she barely looked up, just "quack"ed at us and kept right on.

Kiwifruchte! Sparrow and I know the German name for these thanks to Little Pim. They are still one of her favourite fruit, and they've been good and cheap all month. Notice the necklaces - they get worn, and worn, and worn. Not bad for a $2.50 cheap amusement.

Where's Sparrow? Here she is!

Accessorising up. I love the way she doesn't seem to distinguish between the shiny beads and my big belt as to what makes a necklace. It's just all for decoration.

Where's Sparrow?

Here she is!
She's really playing this game a lot. I think she's realised that it's a simple way to pull the attention of an adult away from the baby and onto her. I can play it with her even if I'm sitting and holding/feeding Robin. And it is especially popular because she gets lots of eye contact. She has no concept of being hidden, it's all about whether the eyes have something in front of them or not (she'll even play "where's Sparrow?" with a pair of sunglasses, or looking through a window). So, attention and eye contact, in a form that is reasonably reliable and easy for her to control. I am getting very tired of the game, and have to keep reminding myself why it's getting played.

Where's Sparrow? There she is! This was one of her more creative versions of the game. Also one of the few times I've seen her really play in a cardboard box. (Perhaps I should take her to visit Sharon and Danny's Lex, who has a similar box but painted like the Tardis.) Pity I didn't have the camera on quite the right settings though :-)

Sparrow is unpacking the Easter box that Oma has sent. There are little stuffed toys, a bouncing windup chicken (which may be a rabbit or a chicken, it's a bit hard to tell), some chocolate which her parents promptly hid on the top shelf and LOTS AND LOTS OF SHREDDED PAPER!!! She loves playing with shredded paper, pulling it in and out of the box and putting it in other things, it's so lovely of Oma to mail her a whole box of it. I kept last year's box but the slow attrition of loving attention had nearly emptied it. So here's our refill.

Playing with the Feelings books that Michael and Linda bought her. She loves the books, but also has this thing about taking them in and out of their box. Which is tricky as they don't quite fit easily - it's a very tight pack. So there is frequently much frustration. She has the idea that she can make a space between two books already in there to slide a new one in, but can't keep that space open with one hand while she puts the book in with the other. Both are two-hand tasks. So first there's a space, then when she goes to put the book in there's no space. She gets very cross about this.

Hello Robin. I like you, Robin. She says that a lot. I just wish she'd like him a little less enthusiastically. He stresses a little when he hears her coming. I spend a fair bit of time attempting to guard him from her, which was tricky this month when I couldn't manhandle her in any way so I had to think quick and clever a lot to keep her in spaces where he wasn't. Especially since the space where he is is also the space where my attention is, and that's where she automatically looks to go. I don't mind her being next to him when she's being friendly, but as soon as she starts thinking about something else she doesn't remember he's there and kicks him or uses him as leverage to get up or just whacks him with whatever she's holding. It was this month that she hit him with a wooden jigsaw in the head because he just happened to be next to her when she got frustrated with it and flung it away. That was a doctor's trip we didn't need, coming right when we were still getting over the gastro and she was the only one of us with any energy.

She is so delighted with herself whenever she gives Robin a pat or a cuddle.

Holding hands.

I was amused by the harmonious cacaphony of colour in this combination of clothing. I do like seeing her in yellows and golds even though they aren't the most suitable of colours for her. Lots of toys out on the floor, one of the toyboxes has probably been upended. And the ball box, by the look of it. Just a normal day -grin-.

One of my little purchases recently was a pack of highlighters, and I finally got them down and got Sparrow using them. She loves "drawing", will ask for it by name and point at the pens and then ask for "paper". The only hassle with these is that the lids clip a little too well and she can't quite get them on and off herself. But seeing as I insist on supervising drawing attempts closely at least in this initial stage, that's not too much of a problem.

Cuddling up to Daddy. This is probably around supper time, with James holding Robin while I fuss around with Sparrow a bit. Tonight she decided to tear the crusts off the bread and eat those, and return the middle bit to me as not worthy of her consideration. This was accompanied by a certain amount of random noise, which is why Robin is doing the "startle hands" thing next to her.