Kathleen is in the midst of the "toddler word explosion". Every day she learns more and more words. At first it was just one word a day, but now she just learns so many new words that I can't keep up. I have no idea how many words she knows. She repeats a lot of what I say (yes including the bad words). For the most part her pronounciation is pretty understandable. Especially if you know the context of what she is saying. But sometimes she comes up with some things out of the blue, and I have to admit even I don't always understand her.
Her powers of observation are amazing. She is always looking around and notices the smallest details that I would normally miss. Things like a tiny National Bank logo on a newspaper, she will immediately spot and say "neigh" (because it's a horse). And don't even mention Dora or Maisy. The funny thing is when she spots something that reminds her of something that happens in one of her videos or books. She will say for example "Dora, Dora, Dora" until you acknowledge her - "yes, Dora has a bracelet doesn't she", or "yes, Maisy's friend Eddie fell over and hurt his knee too".
One day last week, Kathleen and I were playing outside. We found a small stick and I told her it was a stick, which she repeated a couple of times. She then said "cookie". I was like "it's almost lunchtime, you can have a cookie after lunch". But she kept insisting "cookie, cookie, cookie". I kinda wondered where she learnt that word from, as we say "biscuit" not "cookie". But I figured she probably learnt it from one of her books. Anyway, she kept insisting "cookie", and when it became obvious to her that I wasn't understanding, she changed tacks and said "dogg, woowoowoo". Then I realised she wasn't saying "cookie" at all, but "Corky" the name of the dog in one of her books. A dog who chases sticks. It's the little associations like this that she makes that really blow me away.Some of the funny things Kathleen says are:
Kiki - She calls herself Kiki, and it has stuck. Half the time we now call her Kiki instead of Kathleen (I only call her Kat when I'm typing now because it's quicker). She's actually pretty good with names and can say the names of everybody she knows (except for Uncle Richard - see below), but can't say her own name. But she knows that Kiki is herself because if you show her her photo or look in the mirror, she will say "Kiki".
Uncle Winkle - Kathleen's Uncle Richard was for the longest time just called "Uncle". Or "Uncle, Uncle". This morphed into "Uncle Runkle", whether by Kat intentionally or by being misheard by us. In any case, everybody thought it was funny and reinforced the name by calling Richard "Uncle Runkle" all the time. Kat has since morphed this into "Uncle Winkle" and this is what she calls him now.Speaking of Uncle Richard, he and Kat's Auntie Mardie and Poppa have all now moved back to Texas to live. Kathleen misses them a lot and talks about them all the time. She understands that they have gone, because every mention of them is followed by her saying "pann", which means "plane". Which is her way of saying "they went away on the plane".
Lubb ju - This is her way of saying "I love you". Awwwww.
Numbers - Kathleen learnt long ago to say the number two. Especially if she's in trouble and we start counting to three - "Kathleen ... one ..." and she will smile up at you and pipe in "twooo". Which makes it incredibly difficult to keep a straight face and continue to "three".Her standard answer if you ask her how many of something there is, is always "twoo".
She has learnt even more numbers than that though.
- She'll sometimes say "wunn".
- If you say "one" she almost always says "twoo".
- If you then count "three" through "five", she will say "siiix" after each one.
- If you say "seven" she will say "att"
- If you say "nine" she will say "tennn"
In other news, we are all doing well. Peter is now contracting at IBM in Petone. A bit of a hassle for him to get to and from work (bus + train) but he seems to be enjoying it. A couple of times Kat and I have gone out on the train to have lunch with him, and she has really enjoyed it.
A little over a month ago we all went up to Mount Ruapehu with Richard and Mardie. The idea was to give them the opportunity to try skiing or snowboarding before they went back to Texas, where I imagine there aren't a lot of ski fields. Richard had a go at snowboarding, while Mardie, Kathleen and I went sledding on the learner slopes. Had a good time, but it was very crowded, being the end of the school holidays and great weather. Kat enjoyed eating the snow!I am doing well. Here is a comparison of Kathleen and Not Nooboo at 28 weeks gestation ...
Not Nooboo | Kathleen |
Cheers,
Megz
