Sunday 24 November 2013

Seventeen (and a bit) Months Update

At Seventeen Months...


I have taken very few pictures this month, what with the Grandparents away, but I did get this shot of him saying "no-no" while climbing on his kiddie table the other day. He knows when things are a no-no and he loves to tell you about it while he does them!

When Sebastian turned fifteen months we bought him a Learning Tower. It is a stable platform designed to support a child at kitchen-counter height. It was a significant expense but so worth it! Sebastian is a busy little boy, and he always wants to be involved in whatever others in the household are doing. Now he can safely participate whenever I'm in the kitchen. He uses it every day, "helping" me prepare meals and wash the dishes. When the grandparents are around I try to do one baking project with him every week. I love to bake, and before the Learning Tower arrived I hardly ever had time to.


Making Granola


Making Pizza (and sampling all the ingredients) 


In the pantry


  Now that Sebastian is down to one (mostly) reliable nap a day, our days have a more consistent rhythm. I'll attempt to share some of it with you without getting into the minutiae of nappy changes, tooth brushing negotiations and other details that are a regular feature of live with a toddler.

If I'm lucky, I get up a bit before Sebastian and get some time to wake up and drink some tea before he's up. Then we do breakfast, and get ready to go out. Loren gets up and has a short time to hang out with Sebastian before giving him a piece of his morning biscuit and saying "bye-bye."

We go out in the morning. Some days we have an activity we go to; on other days we may go to a playground or get the grocery shopping done. Right now it's Baby Sing Along on Wednesday and every other Monday. I volunteer with the running of this one, and I lead the songs on a Wednesday. The alternate Mondays we go to our coffee group with the mums from my antenatal class. Tuesdays are now Playcentre days, starting just a few weeks ago. Playcentre could be a whole topic of it's own, so just briefly for those who are not New Zealanders: it is a parent run and parent led early childhood education centre, part of a national network of centres throughout in New Zealand.

We get home and do lunch, then it's nap time

It's getting warmer here in the Southern Hemisphere, so these days afternoons are largely spent outdoors. After the initial wake up/ books/ nurse/ nappy change/ etc. we get our shoes on and our bag packed and we are out of here. First is the series of things that Sebastian likes to do in our garage and yard. This currently includes re-arranging the garden features (the few that are light enough for Sebastian to carry), sweeping the pavement, inspecting the screw drivers in the tool box, pretending to operate the leaf blower and weed eater in the garage, watering the potted plants, and getting out the hand trowels and doing some weeding.

 After all that he is usually happy to get into the stroller so we can, as far as he's concerned, go look for trains, birds, and ducks. From my perspective, it is a sanity-saving way to get some exercise in the fresh air. We go for about 45 minutes, pausing to watch trains (we live just a few blocks from the train tracks) and taking a detour to our "secret duck spot" (a house that always has plenty of ducks in the front garden because a nice old lady feeds them). On the way back, if there's time, we may stop by the playground that is just a 5 minute walk from our house. By the time we get home, the afternoon is spent, and the return of Daddy is not far away. Then comes dinner time, etc. If we are lucky, Sebastian is asleep by 8:30, and I still go to sleep with him most nights.

And that's what a day with Sebastian looks like, more or less.