Tidbits of the two kids

January 9, 2006

A while back I was trying to remember examples of Linsy’s 3 word sentences. Couldn’t. It didn’t take long for me to remember the main sentence these days. I will ask Linsy if she wants to do something (bring this to dad? Go put this in the living room?) and she will look me square in the face and say ‘No, you do it’. Very clear, succinct and direct. OK – I will do it myself. Now if only I had that option when it came to getting her to pee on the potty.

The holiday season was exciting – mostly for Paco as he understands more about what is going on. Best of all is of course the presents. Luckily we don’t get inundated with gifts (as long as I don’t start buying too many things) but we have so much stuff to start off with.

Paco got a road grader which has been zooming all around outside clearing a path, getting stuck in snow and keeping Paco well entertained. Putting things together and taking them apart is a great past time for Paco as well. Lego is a definite bonus. He got some more Lego sets and I noticed that now we are into a new age group and the pieces are smaller and the guys (those oh so important characters) are smaller and have more pieces as well. Speaking of little pieces! They travel here and there. One of their big modes of transportation is via Linsy. The smallest pieces (you may know them they are smaller than a pea) are her favourite. She will fill her little paws with them and go off somewhere. Within days of receiving a new set many are missing. Then there’s the issue of vacuuming. After tidying up I will crawl around on hands and knees looking for any Lego bits (yes those ones that camouflage perfectly as carpet flecks) that might have been missed. Then I hear the vacuum cleaner as it goes ‘clink, clank’ yum that was a delicious snack and I wonder if that was a Lego piece that I missed. Sometimes I think I care more about this than Paco does. One of the sets Paco got has many different variations of trucks. We make them up and then take them down and make up different ones and take them apart and on and on. He’s pretty good at putting the trucks together but likes to have me there to put the pieces he needs in front of him. And taking these little pieces apart! There’s got to be an easier way. My thumb nail is all chewed up.

Paco is pretty good at following the ‘inconstructions’. As much as I have tried to show him there are two different words – instruction and construction he can’t say the word instruction. It is either constructions or inconstructions. He is getting better at sitting and doing the more complicated Lego trucks on his own. Ever so often he wants help finding pieces or taking pieces apart but he can do it on his own.

Paco got another wooden set that can make different vehicles (loader or helicopter or motorbike or plane) and this is another thing that we make and break constantly. I am surprised that he still has a hard time with closing or tightening. He was quite young when he started opening jars and containers (younger than a year) but it seemed to take much much longer for him to get the idea that going in the opposite direction will also yield results. So when it comes to turning the screw to tighten the parts together he will go around and around and around until I tell him to change directions to make it tighter. As Thomas said he’s into demolition.

Then again he’s also backwards when it comes to writing and putting letters together. He prefers to go from right to left. We will make up cards and it happens that he starts writing on the write side. More often than not now he will ask which side to start on. But he still needs to ask. Reminds me of an incident as a teenager when I asked a friend if there were 365 or 356 days in a year. She asked me and I gave the wrong answer – so she bopped me on the head. I don’t forget that anymore but do have a tendency to get mixed up on things sometimes (I have to think of which is the stove and which is the oven).

Speaking of backwards, have I mentioned that Linsy is upside down? For the most part she will take a book and turn it upside down to read it. She will start at the first page and turn the pages from front to back but she will look at it upside down. So many times I will turn it right way round for her and sometimes she will actually resist and want to keep it upside down. I guess we’re just mixed up folk that don’t follow what is expected of us!

During the winter it seems we spend more time in the basement. This is somewhat of a substitute for being outside. It’s unusual to go downstairs without Linsy expecting to hang out there for at least 15 minutes. Often what we will do is run around and around. Linsy was running in front of me and I noticed she kept crossing her arms. She sure looked awkward that way and I wondered why she was running with her arms crossed. Then I realized she was just copying me. When I run (or slow jog is perhaps more accurate) I use my arms as anchors to ‘stop the flop’. They are pressed into my chest to keep me a bit more still and so Linsy was just copying that movement. I laugh when I see her do it now as she definitely doesn’t have any breasts to keep down and it’s funny to watch her swing around with her arms crossed as she zooms around the basement.

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