So I'm well overdue on posting. Sorry for the two month hiatus. Here's some new pics of the kidlets and a bit of an update on both.
Bella at 5 exactly (I have to make the most of being able to catch her at the minute of her birth (4.27pm). When we eventually move home I don't think I'm going to be trying to take her photo at 1.27am!)
This photo pretty much sums it all up, the stubborn tilt to the mouth, the slightly bagladyish layering effect of the clothes, the princess make-up.
At five Bella is a wonderfully intelligent, incredibly stubborn, and full-on little tyke. She's learning to read at the moment. She's up to the second stage readers of the system they use at school, and is the 3rd or 4th youngest in her class. I am extremely pleased and proud of her progress. She loves books. I don't know what we'd do with a child that didn't love books! I think once she is really able to read to herself, that whole new worlds are going to open up for her. There's so much to explore, and I can see her loving it. We try and have her read to us everyday, well it's not like we've got to push her to do it, more that we've got to try and fit it in to an overcrammed day. I love watching the strategies Bella uses for words she doesn't know. I sometimes see her being lazy and guessing based on the first letter of the word, but hey ho, I don't think that's extraordinary at this point of her reading career. She sounds stuff out, she looks at the pictures for inspiration, she plain makes it up if she's really not sure. It's just wonderful.
They both love this book... You Choose by Nick Sharratt and Pippa Goodheart. I highly recommend it. We all love to read it and choose the various things you get to choose (where to go, who are your friends, how to get there, what to wear, where to live, what to put in your house, what pet to have, and where to sleep). Hours of fun.
What else is going on with Bella, well there's the perpetual sleep resistance. We thought we'd got bedtime sorted a few months ago, but not so much. It seems the tireder she gets, the more she wants to try and piss us off at bedtime. I don't get it. I am extremely nervous about what having Morty in with her while Matthew's mum is staying, is going to do to bedtime. Maybe nervous doesn't cover it, sheer terror is more to the point.
Bella is also growing like a weed. A dress that was ankle length 3 or 4 months ago, is now mid-calf. Some days she'll eat as much as Matthew at dinner, she gets growing pains frequently. She's also doing a lot of baby talk at the moment. I think with all this growing, and the brain explosion going on with learning to read. So many changes going on, that we're experiencing a bit of challenging behaviour while she tries to cope and adjust.
Bella's birthday party was on the weekend. We had a total girl fest, sticking butterflies and flowers on party bags, and making name bracelets. They all seemed to have a good time, and after entertaining 7 five year olds for two hours, I have even more respect for kindergarten teachers, it's like herding cats.
Morty, almost 2, a drama queen with a shoe fetish.
He's obsessed with cars and animals. His talking is getting much better, although still only 2 word sentences (his first of which was NO BELLA, I am not surprised in the least). He plays with the dollhouse a lot, although mostly to put his cars to sleep in there. Morty also loves books, and he'll wander up with a book, back up to you shouting LAP, and plonk himself down until you give in and read. He wants to be doing whatever his big sister is doing (which she is often not best pleased about).
Morty wants to run everywhere, he climbs stuff, he rides on the buggyboard rather than in the buggy if he has the choice. He still wakes at night, but mostly to run in to me shouting RAGGY (his muslin square he sleeps with) because he can't find it at 3am, then to insist I lie down with him till he's asleep. I mostly fall asleep too, because at 3am, when I get up at 5am, I don't have the will to do anything but get the most sleep I can.
Otherwise in casa underhill? I'll be starting a D.Phil (or PhD if you're anywhere other than Oxford) in October. It's an exciting but daunting prospect. It all happened a bit by accident, but frankly, you've got to grab these opportunities with both hands when they come along. Wish us luck for managing it over the next 3 or so years. I think it's going to be a full family effort to get it done!
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