Counting, Colours, Courtesy, Contralto

Over the past month or so, Sophia has really started to take off on a few skills we have been working on. One of them is not toilet training - we've given that a pass for a little while till the baby is born, since a relapse at that point is likely anyway and we don't want to put too much pressure on her. Plus, I couldn't think of a way to describe that particular activity that starts with a "C". So here, in no particular order, are Sophia's Top-four new skills that start with "C"!

Counting

Sophia's early attempts at counting were based on our counting to her, and that usually went "one-two-THREEEEEEEE" when we were swinging, or "THAT'S ONE" ... "THAT'S TWO" when she's misbehaving. Either way, three is as high as we go, and we always started her off with "waaaaaaaan" which she completed with "toooo, FWEEEEEEE". Little did we realize that this method of counting could produce a hiccup in her development: she believes that counting begins at two, with "one" as a prompt to count. She somehow also knows that "one" is a number, so when we tell her to count to three, she invariably counts "two, one, FWEEEEEE."

She added "four" to her repertoire a while ago, then a little later, it was "five", then she could go to seven, and then to eight. After eight came seven for a while but quite recently, she has made a sudden jump allowing her to count all the way to fourteen in one run! she now counts that high reliably, but gets confused when she is counting her fingers. She doesn't actually check off each finger as she goes, but she does more or less get to five for one hand, and more or less to ten for the other hand, but then she doesn't know where to go with her remaining four numbers. Toes work, but then she gets distracted with doing "this little piggy" to herself. It goes something like this:

"This one piggy market;
this one piggy market;
this one piggy WEE WEE WEE WEE home"

Not bad, really, but her command of poem and song lyrics will be detailed later in this post.

Colours

We have been trying to teach her colours for months now. We use coloured markers when she is drawing, we use coloured shapes, we used blocks (only four colours but still usually wrong) and any time there is something with a bold colour on it (a jacket, a shirt, a sign, a bird, a tree, whatever) we ask "what colour is that, Sophia?" and she would usually answer "Green!" which was usually wrong (except when we were outside - surprising how many things are green). I was starting to thing she might have a vision problem - she had all the names for colours: she could say red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, black, brown; but she was never saying them in the correct context. Well, a little while ago, it all fell into place. Suddenly. She was drawing on her whiteboard downstairs with her dry-erase non-toxic markers (the best things in the world, btw) and she popped open a marker and said "Purple!" (actually it's more like "poopoo" but you get the idea). And since she was usually wrong, I didn't make much of it, till I looked over at the board and discovered that she was, in fact, using the purple marker. She put it down and picked up the red one.

"What colour is that marker, Sophia?"
"Red!"
"and this one?"
"Ornj!"

Amazing. So now she has all of her primary colours (the ones I listed before). All we have to do is start working on Puce, Cyan, Magenta, and Aquamarine. And goldenrod and canary and salmon, if we want her to work in an office, I guess.

Courtesy

We have also been trying to teach Sophia to be polite. And as with the rest of these things, she probably doesn't quite get it, but we are somewhat successful in behavioral modification to make her say "please" and "thank you" and "excuse me". The real trick is getting her to say it unprompted. "Please" and "excuse me" still usually need a "What do you say..." prompt, but "thank you" is another matter.

("excuse me" is for burps and farts. Just so's you know. And Grandma: Yes, we actually wrote FART in this blog. HA)

She learned to say "thank you" about the same time she learned to say "please" and "excuse me," but there was a complication: with "please" and "excuse me", she got praise when she did it. So she'd say "please" and we'd say "good girl". Classic conditioning, and it worked (to an extent). With "thank you", however, protocol destroyed our teaching. We would say "what do you say" when giving her something. She'd say "Thank you" and we'd say "You're welcome" instead of "good girl". Now she hears this and thinks "oh, I must have forgotten something and they are correcting me"

Now, when we give her something, she says "Thank you welcome".

We've almost trained that out of her, and in the process have spent more time and attention on "thank you" than the other ones. Don't know if that's why, but she now spontaneously says "thank you" after receiving something. Without prompting. And, for the most part, without "you're welcome" added on.

Contralto

Sophia can sing. Not only that, she knows the words. Lots of words. To lots of songs. She's been singing along with songs in the car, but we didn't know how much of the songs she knows until we tried her without the song playing. For example, we sing "twinkle twinkle little star" with her every night as she is brushing her teeth. Well one night not too long ago, she started brushing her teeth, and I went away for a second to get something, and I heard her singing:

"twinkle star, wonder what you are, up above sky, diamond inna sky"

Which is pretty close. I mean that was all without prompting, and pretty musical.

She also knows her ABC song from start to finish, including the "now I know my ABCs" part. Sure, she skips 15 or 20 letters in the middle, but she GETS IT. Plus, although her melody isn't great when she is singing (more or less all over the place but it's DEFINITELY SINGING), she knows tunes. She knows that "Twinkle twinkle" and "ABCs" are the same tune, and she switches back and forth between them

Here is a list of songs for which she only needs minimal prompting to sing along with most if not all of the lyrics:

Twinkle Twinkle little star
ABCs
Teddy Bear's Picnic
12 little monkeys jumping on the bed
5 little ducks went out to play
the wheels on the bus
(more kids songs like that, I'm sure)

and the ENTIRE barenaked ladies kids CD.

We listen to that CD in the car all the time, and it's absolutely priceless to hear her sing along from the back seat. She misses words, and tunes, and rhythms, but she is ready with the first words of the next song before it has even begun.

And as for contralto? it's probably too early to tell, really, but it's the best C-word for singing I could find.

Proof of Sophia's singing ability




Transcript:
D - Monkeys
S - Jumpin on monkeys... (oh look... I can dance!)
D - 5 little monkeys
D&S - jumpin on the bed
D - One...
S - One (oh, are we counting?)
D - one fell off
S - and bonky head!
D - momma called
S - doctor said: "no more monkeys jumpin on..." (Oooh. carpet... lemme walk over here)

Samples of "teddy bear's picnic"





and the inspiration...

Fifth

A couple weeks ago, Sophia was lethargic and irritable, to the point of whimpering, and Tricia took her temperature and discovered it was 104F. That's high enough to be concerned (higher than she had ever been before), so we went to the clinic and saw the doctor, who had a quick look and said that she had Fifth Disease. This is something we had never heard of before, but it seems as though it is not that unusual - it's called fifth because it is the fifth of the common childhood rashes (measles, chickenpox, rubella, scarlet fever, and fifth). It presents with "face-slap rashes", which we hadn't picked up on (Sophia's cheeks are red from time to time but they were definitely redder this time) but the doctor saw it at once. As with most of these things, there isn't much to do but wait it out. We gave her Tylenol and put her to bed early, and for the next week she was slow-moving and had a fluctuating temperature between 100 and 104. She's fine now, of course. The incubation period is a couple weeks and she was contagious before she started to have symptoms, so we're not sure where she got it or if she passed it on, but that's the way these childhood diseases go, and, I suspect, why they are so common.

A Whirlwind Trip to Vancouver

Well, because a month at the cottage wasn't enough, Sophia and I headed out to Vancouver just four short days after returning home from the 'Peg. Our main purpose of the trip was to fulfill Uncle Todd's birthday wish of having Sophia come for a visit. So we did. Sophia and I arrived on Todd's birthday, to a sweltering day on the Coast and a roasting turkey in the oven. Now I know why Christmas happens in December. Yikes!!

The flights out to Vancouver were momentous in the fact that for the first time Sophia had her own seat. Yup, we paid for it! So in my brilliance I decided that if the darned seat was paid for, she was going to use it!! That meant I lugged her car seat onto each plane so that she could ride in comfort. It was a great thing for Sophia, for she could sit on her own, watch out the window, nap, and see the TV all without the annoyance of being held in a vise grip on Mama's lap. And I got to enjoy a flight without a squirming toddler. The only downfall??? Lugging the stupid friggin' carseat through the airports. I wasn't allowed to leave it at the gate unattended. I couldn't send it down to the gate before me, I couldn't take a cart down through security, and everytime I brought it to the gate I was asked if Sophia was actually 2 years old. Well, no Sh*&, she's two. The only reason I have the seat is so that she can sit on her own. And Yes! We paid for it. I have to say that the attendants on the plane were mostly helpful, it was the gate attendants, especially in Vancouver and Edmonton on the way home, who were challenging! And just for a moment, hold this image in your head....An seven month pregnant woman carting a carry-on bag, a huge cart seat and a 25 pound toddler who insisted on being carried, rushing from Gate 16 to Gate 60 in twenty minutes. No there weren't any attendants able to help, and no I couldn't get a ride on their little people mover thingy. OOOOOOOH, I was unhappy to say the least. I did get a work out though.

Enough of that. We got to Vancouver, ate a fab turkey dinner, and opened gifts with Uncle Todd.
Sophia HAD to help unwrap! She had already opened her birthday gifts from Uncle Todd and Auntie Dea, so she was revving to go!

Among the things we did: checked out the brand new Costco (yes, I need to get a life), visited a Blueberry farm (and Sophia ate her fill!); went to Maplewood Farm (where all sorts of animals were watched, petted and sometimes chased), a trip to the local park with Nana, a family weekend in the States with Nana, Papa, Uncle Todd, and Auntie Dea (this included lots of shopping at the Seattle Premium Outlet stores (Yahoo!!! You should see the haul), swimming, a baby shower for the forthcoming Baby Boy, High Tea for Mama with her friends, a girl's dinner (sans toddlers) for Tanya and Mama, a playdate with Sheliza and the first meetings of the Mantel and Godfrey families (that's Dea's family) plus swimming in the pool! I might have missed something...it was a very busy week, and just not long enough to see everyone! I think she had a great time, though! I know I did!

It will be a few months until we get out to Vancouver next...most likely the baby and I will go in November so he can meet all the folks out there! Thanks so much for a great time!

Sheliza and Sophia playing together so very well! They drew beautiful pictures together! And there was no fighting!

Turns were taken pushing and pulling each other on this retro wagon!

A little Sophia-turkey time. "So I hope it wasn't one of your relatives we ate last night..."

Sophia giggled and giggled as this friendly chicken happily pecked grain out of Sophia's hands. Mama has to admit she was a bit nervous as she stuck her hand out the first time...but she wanted to make sure the feathered creature was gentle before her kid lost any fingers!

"Goat sleeping! Goat sleeping! Goat eyes closed!"

A little bunny time. They loved the parsley Sophia fed them!

Cottage: Work

Although not really "work" as such, one of the popular activities for me at the cottage is "the project" - it's nice to have some longer-term things to do where you feel like you are accomplishing something. I guess this isn't directly related to Sophia, but I figure that as this blog expands subject material to include the little boy, it might be worthwhile to make it a family blog instead of just a baby blog. Plus, it's our blog so we can do what we like.

Anyway, there were three main projects at the cottage this year, augmented by many smaller things that needed doing. For instance, the trails needed to be inspected, the beach needed maintenance (lying on the beach is an effective way of maintaining it) and blueberries needed to be checked for quality control. But the large projects included some lumberjack-ing (including topping three birch trees close to the house and felling a few around the yard) building a picnic table, and building a bridge. There is no photographic evidence of the bridge in my photo library, unfortunately, but I can show pictures of the other two activities.

Topping a tree consisted of first putting a rope around the top of the tree (sometimes using a bow and arrow to get it up there), then securing the rope so the top will fall the right way, then climbing up and cutting. Sawing was hard work (until we put a new blade on the saw and oiled it) and once the tree was most of the way cut, we'd climb down and haul on the rope and the tree top would fall to the ground. Then we had to chop it up with a chainsaw and pile the burnable pieces near the garage. Lots of manual labour but good.







The picnic table was built from scratch (if you can call looking plans up on the internet "scratch). We bought some wood from the lumber yard, and some hardware, and had the whole thing together in a day. Again, manual labour but enjoyable seeing the thing come together from start to finish.







The third project was a bridge from the boathouse dock to the beach. Normally, when the water isn't so high, it's no problem to walk across from the dock to the beach, but in high water years, it's kind of hard, so we put together a little bridge from scraps from the nuisance yard.

Oh, I almost forgot! and this kind of makes this a Sophie post after all! The most important job at the cottage is to measure the growing contingent! There is a wall in the corner of one of the rooms where Adam and I were measured as we grew. On this same wall, Sophia is measured each time she is there. She grew something like 5 inches since she was there last year.

Cottage: Watersports

This is part 2 of a three-part final update of Sophia's time at the cottage (Wildlife, Watersports, Work - get the theme??). It should have been up sooner, I know. so sorry.

We have posted on Sophia's activity in the water earlier in this blog, but there are some additional water activities that are worthy of reporting. Sophia found that she really enjoyed being in the water, when everything was well controlled - if mommy or daddy is right there with her, holding on, then she is willing to take a few more risks, blowing bubbles in the water, kicking off from the bottom and kicking in the water, floating around upside down or right side up. It is only a matter of time before she can swim by herself.




She likes to splash other people too.




She also really enjoys playing in and around the water. We used a little butterfly net to catch minnows and crayfish, and she loved to poke around at the little water animals to figure out what they are. One afternoon, daddy even caught a little bass with a fishing net for her to look at. She was surprised and excited at all the flipping around that fish do when they are out of the water. And haley was also.






Water sports also include boat activity, and although we reported on boats already, there are a couple more photos that deserve posting. Sophia loved to watch Daddy paddling around in his kayak, and she wanted to try it out. After a bit of hemming and hawing, we decided that at the beach, in the calm water, where it was nice and shallow and controlled, we might give it a shot. We put her life jacket on and dumped her in the kayak with daddy, and she loved paddling around. She held her hand in the water as we moved past, feeling the sensation of the water moving smoothly over her fingers.





We made another trip to Timber beach, where more swimming was accomplished. Sophia walked back and forth from Daddy to Mommy, in water up to her neck, without any complaints. In fact, if giggles and smiles are any evidence, she really enjoyed it.






Once again, Haley swam at timber. This happened last year too - she doesn't like to swim, and is angry at us when we try to make her swim, but at one point we were all congregated around the back of the boat and Haley was on the beach. I guess she figured that we were leaving without her, so she got in the water and started to swim toward the back of the boat. Because of this, she was a bit wet and cold on the way home.

Also, it started to rain

Baby Boy Update

Well, I haven't posted about the littlest Gerhard-to-be recently. He kind of gets forgotten being all womb bound and all. Well, not forgotten but doesn't get the attention from those outside of the vessel job realm. Anyway, I went for my 30 week check up just after I came home from the cottage. 30 weeks! I cannot believe that time has gone so quickly. Everything is looking fine for me and the baby. He was sleeping or resting or basically being quite as his heartrate was at 128 (last couple of times it was at 140). I am still measuring large for my weeks. The general deal is that the fundus measurement should be the same number of weeks you are pregnant. Well I am 30 weeks and am measuring 32. Which is fine, as I was measuring 3 cm bigger last visit. It just means that I carry a little higher and therefore measure bigger. No biggie. I did the same for Sophia. Now for weight gain...sigh. I have gone from 71 kg to 85 kg, which really isn't that much in the grand scheme of things. But I did gain 5.5 kgs of that during my month at the cottage. Honestly, I take that as a sign of a relaxing time. All I did was sit and eat, really. Although, I suppose I should have eaten fruit and veggies instead of ice cream and popcorn twists, but oh well. Now that I am home, I am working it off chasing after Sophia and hiking up and down stairs. Oh yeah, and sweating! Lots and lots of sweating! Who's grand idea was it to be pregnant in the summer...oh, mine! Something about cute pregnancy clothes. Oy.