Audrey will be two years old next month. It's amazing. As I'm writing this she's dancing with her toy dinosaur, laughing and singing. Audrey at nearly-two LOVES to sing. Incy Wincy Spider, Wind the Bobbin Up, Wheels on the Bus, Bob the Builder. She does all the actions.
Audrey at nearly-two is learning how to read. She has a couple of sight words (cat, dog, hat) and is working on more. She knows some but not all of the phonics sounds. She understands she has to sound out the letters to make the word. She sees the word cat and says "c-a-t... cat!" We play a lot of letter games.
Audrey at nearly-two is great at counting to ten, although she often misses out the numbers 2 and 4. This is getting better with practice - and there is nothing Audrey loves more than practicing her counting! She counts EVERYTHING she sees. We play a lot of number games.
Audrey at nearly-two watches possibly too much television. She has dvds of Charlie and Lola, Bob the Builder, Peppa Pig, the Aristocats. She likes the Wiggles and Pocoyo, which she watches on youtube. She still loves the French cartoon Trotro. She introduces herself to characters on the screen: "Hello Ellie! I'm Audrey."
Audrey at nearly-two loves to "read" books. She sits and looks at the pictures and describes everything that's happening, telling you (or, more often, the cats) the whole story. She especially likes to tell you if anyone is feeling sad. Thinking and talking about emotions is quite a new thing for her, although we've been encouraging it since she was a baby with our emotions flashcards. My feeling is that if we can give her the words to express her emotions and to learn about ours, it will help her to feel understood and to understand where we're coming from. The beginnings of empathy, basically.
Audrey at nearly-two doesn't like eating vegetables, but she does like eating curry. Her favourite food is probably chicken and rice, closely followed by chips. She likes apple slices and apple biscuits, she likes shepherd's pie and pizza, she loves popcorn although she calls it cauliflower. She very determinedly feeds herself, using a knife and fork. Any attempts to help are met with a lot of upset. She is fiercely independent in some ways, shy and clingy in others. I love both sides of her so much.
Audrey at nearly-two loves hugs and kisses. After her nap she likes to lie in her bed next to me and chat and cuddle for a while. She says "And now... kisses!" and kisses my cheeks. She waves goodbye to Ian from the window as he goes to work and, not understanding that he can't hear her, she says "Love you, Dada! See you soon!" every morning. When she hears his key in the door at the end of the day she yells "Dada's here!" and RUNS to meet him and talk to him and tell him and show him everything she's done that day.
Audrey at nearly-two loves the regular museum more than the museum of childhood. She loves the swimming pool. She loves kindergym, but not as much as she loves the play park outside kindergym. She likes going to the shops and helping me carry the basket, then helping me carrying the bag of shopping home by holding one of the handles while I hold the other. She loves her friends, whether they're little like her or grown up like Ally, Cori, Graham, Ros, David, Michael or her many uncles and aunts. She asks for these people by name almost every day. She wants to "see friends, play together!"
Audrey at nearly-two loves dinosaurs, building blocks, cars and motorbikes and regular bikes, diggers and tractors, cranes. She loves all kinds of animals, but especially cats, horses, birds, fish, dogs and guinea pigs. She wants to make friends with every dog we see at the park. She says she loves the snow, but doesn't actually want to go out in it too much. She loves teddy bears, and feeds them raisins.
Audrey at nearly-two is the most brilliant person I think I've ever met.
