Language

Mietta, at two, would have close to a thousand words in her vocabulary and speaks in sentences with correct pronouns, sentence structure and tense. Having big brothers, and wanting her say, certainly has contributed here. Not being parents that want to *push* their children to lofty parental expectations, I was intrigued after hearing of one such parent's two-year-old that knew her alphabet. I tested Mietta on her alphabet on her bedroom wall. "This is an M, Mietta. Mmmmm for Mmmietta". Mietta responds "M" "What letter is this Mietta?", "S", I was impressed. "This one?" "T", I thought perhaps I should mix it up a bit. "This one?", "A. K. D. X. Z...." I was quite astounded that Mietta knows almost the entire alphabet! She had some trouble with 'W' - naming it 'U'. I must try her on an alphabet that differs from the one in her bedroom - to see if it is not purely memory she is relying upon.

I am constantly amazed by what our children know. There is a tendency to believe that if we haven't told them, then they wont know. Nic is fascinated by words and often asks us the meaning of a word. He then tries to work it into a sentence. He asked Paul what 'addicted' meant and after an explanation was able to use it in "So Mummy is addicted to coffee.... and Luc is addicted to pens!" (for Luc's love of drawing). He asked me what 'pathetic' meant the other day. I tried to explain how it meant a kind of 'sad'. He responded with "I want to make Mietta pathetic" I then had to explain how it was a 'different' type of sad... and, really, he needn't aim to make his sister sad. 

Little Miss (now) Two

We were lucky enough to have Paul's parents visiting when Mietta turned two. We had plans for a birthday party, but tight visiting schedules meant this was more of an impromptu party, at home, with little time to prepare. I was able to make Mietta's requests "s'ghetti and meatballs' and a large) 'Mr Happy cupcake'. Paul made her favorite 'wockamole'.

How fast Mietta has reached the milestone of two! Our little girl is a bright little button and her language has just exploded. She appears to be permanently cheerful with a very happy and agreeable disposition. People are quite surprised when she has a meltdown: she can be fierce and has the loudest voice of any of our kids. Lukily she can be easily distracted from tantrums. Mietta is a bit of a conundrum: she adores playing with cars and trucks, zooming rockets through the sky, kicking a soccer ball and walking around on her knees saying "I am a wobot, I am a wobot" in her best monotone robot voice. Despite her penchant for 'boy' toys, Mietta loves to dress up and must wear a 'pwity jacket', hat, shoes and bracelet with every outfit (even with pajamas after she wakes in the morning or after her bath and before bed). Sometimes she even includes a handbag / purse.