Setting up potty

When Marian woke up today, she went to the toilet and set up her potty (baby toilet). The potty we have has 2 parts. One part goes on the adult toilet seat and the other part is a step to help the child up on the seat. My wife found her sitting on the seat. This looked promising but she has still not released anything on the seat.

"Why do you shake it? It will come out!"

Yesterday, we ate pizza for dinner. As I have developed a liking for spicy food, I like eating the pizza with a spicy sauce. As I was vigorously shaking the bottle, Marian had an alarming look in her face and said "why are you shaking it? It will come out!" She was worried because she has seen an accident when the contents came out due to the top not being screwed on properly. I had to assure her that the top was securely screwed and that I shook it to get an even consistency.

It appears that her English is currently the most fluent. Korean and Japanese are roughly the same which is a puzzle when you consider that she hears Japanese more than the Korean. Perhaps this is because she has heard more Korean when she was in the womb? Perhaps she can pick up what her mother says more easily than when other people talk to her? Anyway, as the books say, children seem to be able to separate the languages and do not jumble or mix them up.

Swing sideways

On the theme of experimentation, rather than just moving the swing forwards and backwards, she has started to displace her weight off centre in order to move the swing with a sideways component. So she now enjoys going slightly circular instead of just in a vertical plane. She also likes to go sideways on the rocking animals.

First scooter ride

Marian does not have a scooter but whenever some older children come to the park, they bring along a scooter. She tries to ride it but they tend to be too big for her. But yesterday, she managed to ride it on her own. It was just the right size for her. She did not put it back where she found it so I asked her to put it back. She obliged. If only she is like this all the time.

Telling a lie for the first time?

I don't know when children start to tell lies but I think Marian (22 months) told her first lie yesterday. I saw a snake I cut out of card inside the bin. It had been torn into several pieces. I asked her if Marian had ripped it up? She hesitated and said no. I asked her again and she said yes.

She has shown this cheeky side from a very young age. I think it started when she offered something to me and she retracted it from me. This kind of cheekiness has been steadily increasing. Yesterday, she insisted on playing on the wide windowsill where I had put a solar powered watch. I asked her twice not to move it but she did not listen. On the third asking, she quickly grabbed it and threw it. Luckily it landed on some clothing. If she had managed to throw it properly (she is very capable of throwing things), it could have easily broken a window.

First long sentence construction

Marian has been talking for a few months now but she has not really constructed a long sentence until yesterday (22 months). She said among other things, "I like having a bath." Communication should hopefully become a lot easier. This is quite a jump from her usual two word sentences. You would expect a gradual increase to 3 words if anything.

Soft volley ball and hand fan

Marian found my new soft volley ball still in the packaging (deflated). She insisted on me getting it out. Once opened, I told her that I needed a pump to blow it up into a ball. I needed to put air into this tiny hole. Marian went away and brought a hand fan and demonstrated it. She thought that the hand fan would be useful in blowing the ball up. She insisted on me blowing it up so I had to get the pump and pin.

Another playground near Louvre

I tried to get her on this wagon instead but she could not be controlled.

Get me out of here! As soon as it started to go round and up and down, she could not stand it. There was a barrage of "DANGEROUS" and she was insisting on getting off the merry-go-round.

I hoped she would get her money's worth this time on the merry-go-round. It looked promising.

Lets try something different. I wonder what the view is like up here if I stand. Well, I am taller than daddy.

There were no normal slides but we found an alternative in this dome. It was too big for her to climb so I had to lift her up. It did not take long to figure out that this can also function as a slide. The other kids were content staying at the top (probably because they have invested a lot of effort to get up there) but Marian was going up and down, up and down.

Afterwards, "dizzy, dizzy".

This is a mechanical rocking horse. I don't think there were any springs. Consequently, it did not seem thrilling enough for her. Before this, she tried a trampoline for the first time. She did not get her money's worth. She was observing the other children but she never managed to get the hang of it. After bouncing once or twice, she lost her balance.

Louvre

We did not even attempt to go inside the Louvre. We walked to the nearest park in search of a cafe and a playground.

Notre Dame

In front of the Notre Dame. It is about time I saw this without any unsightly obstructions. Every time I had visited Notre Dame, it was covered in scaffolding. It looks pretty clean now.

Jardin des Plantes

In the restaurant with my wife. We were again very hungry at this stage. The starters were ok but the main was disappointing to say the least. The steak I ordered was so hard that I must have achieved an equivalent to a full work out at a gym. I don't normally leave food but I could not manage to cut the last piece of steak small enough (the knife was too blunt) and my jaw was not strong enough to grind it into smaller pieces. Time for a different title I think.


The walk along the Seine was pleasant. We found a nice playground before we got to Notre Dame. That should occupy any bored toddler. The person on the right is a friend, Duke (husband of Anna).

Asleep at last. We walked along the Seine to the Notre Dame area and into a restaurant where she woke up.


When we arrived at the park, I spotted a playground but I was a bit disappointed by the size of it. I was hoping to find another one as we walked around and this was it. It was a shame because the time was approaching her nap time.


She likes these rocking animals too. Sometimes I worry about her snapping her neck the way she moves vigorously on these spring rides. This time she could not manage to satisfy her need for speed because her feet could not reach the foot rests.

Phew, she managed it.


This is typical of Marian. Since she had already climbed up the normal way, she attempted to climb up another way.She has a habit of trying out different ways to do things. This was evident from such a young age. Take for instance, going down the stairs. She has used the wall to support herself, then the banister, without any supports, sliding down on her bottom, jumping down, using the same leg as the leading leg, alternating the leading leg, facing forwards, facing backwards etc.

She also likes climbing. She will not pass up an opportunity to climb up a ladder.


Marian loves slides.

We wanted to find a playground for Marian and we were recommended Jardin des Plantes. The park was full of locals basking in the sun. I like to escape the tourists and experience the hang-outs of the locals.

Late night excursion to Eiffel Tower

I went to a late night excursion to the Eiffel Tower whilst Soonmie and Marian went to the hotel. Although the views were spectacular, the waiting was a considerable obstacle. We waited a long time at the bottom to get to the second level. Then there was another queue to get right to the top. Then more waiting to get down. We got back to the hotel just before 1am. Soonmie struggled to get Marian to sleep because she did not have the pushchair. I brought it up and got her to sleep in no time.

Flashing Eiffel Tower together

The guide was kind enough to come outside of the heated room to take this picture.

Flashing Eiffel Tower

This is a picture of a lit up Eiffel Tower taken from the boat. The picture doesn't do it any justice.

With Anna

This is still the boat cruise along the Seine. The person on the right is a friend, Anna. Her husband, Duke will appear later.

One of the many bridges

There are so many bridges across the Seine.

Seine river cruise

The Seine river cruise was excellent. I highly recommend it during the night. The atmosphere on the boat was spectacular and the interactions with the people on the bridges and the shore. I have a picture with my wife but I don't think she would appreciate me uploading that particular photo. Oh, I forgot to mention that Marian became comfortable with the bus once she was able to investigate the vehicle. Marian was electric on the boat. She wanted to go all around the boat.

In the restaurant

After seeing the Sacre Coeur de Montmartre, we were exhausted and famished. This is a restaurant nearby. One of the chefs was kind enough to give Marian a free ice cream.

Inside Versailles

Marian was very difficult inside Versailles. We had to leave the pushchair and she did not want to be held by me. She only wanted to be held by my wife. Soonmie and Marian decided not to go around the palace. You can see from the picture her disapproval.

Versailles

This picture was taken in the court of Versailles. We had to queue for some time before we could get in. Inside was just as bad. Far too many people to enjoy it.

Arc de Triomphe

We got off the train and went straight onto a bus. She was the most difficult on the bus crying out "dangerous". A lot of the Paris streets are uneven and cobbled so it was not only her first trip on a bus but also a bumpy one. The picture was taken in front of the Arc de Triomphe.

On the train to Paris

My wife and Marian on our way to Paris. Although she looks happy in this photo, she was quite a handful. Probably because it was her first time on the train. Although we should have realised that the difficulty arose at the time she usually has a nap. She slept well in the pushchair.

Book? No, chocolate!

Marian does like to correct adults. When going through a magazine with her grandmother, she asked what this picture is. Since her grandmother did not look carefully enough, she made a mistake and said it is a book. Marian who was quizzical retorted by saying "book? No, chocolate!" I don't know if this is normal but at 22 months, I am surprised that she is correctly correcting an adult.

Filing cabinet drawer

Marian knows that only one filing cabinet drawer can be opened. She was trying to open a lower drawer whilst a higher drawer was open. She closed it and found out that the lower drawer can now be opened. This shows the importance of letting toddlers explore things on their own.

Kite flying and playing by the river

Marian saw a kite being flown today for the first time. The kite went up on the second try and she was looking at the kite and the man who was steering it. As soon as the kite plunged to the ground she dashed towards it and grabbed the opportunity to clasp the string.

She likes to throw twigs and branches into the river. I have to hold her hand or body whenever she is at the river bank. Today, she couldn't help notice a gathering of children at the river bank making a commotion. She went over there and I told her she can play like them when she is much bigger. I like to emphasise that she can do many more things when she is bigger. This is handy when we try to feed her. All you need to do is to say that if you eat this, you will grow bigger and then you can do more things yourself. I think it has helped from time to time when she was faced with something particularly unpalatable to her. If she spits it out, I would tell her the phrase and she will slowly eat it up.

Understanding angular momentum with swing

Well, not quite. I took Marian out to the park and it was fairly busy. She appeared to be waiting to get on the big children's swing (without the supporting frame) and once it was free, she bounded towards the it. This was a surprise because she has never shown so much interest. I helped her on and I started her off. For the first time she began to move her arms so that she could distribute her weight differently as the swing swung. She did not do it perfectly but when the timing was right, the swing moved so much that I became quite worried (normally I can remain crouched and stretch out my arms at the front and back of the swing but this time I had to be on my toes). I think the eagerness to get on the swing stemmed from the fact that she wanted to try out her newly acquired knowledge. I never really taught her to move her arms (I had been teaching her to move her legs correctly). She must have been slowing absorbing what the other children were doing . Slowly because she never really observed them carefully. The observations were always fleeting.

No need for sleep

Marian has been sleeping pretty well for the past few weeks. She does not wake up screaming during the night anymore. However, two days ago, she went to sleep at just after 11pm and woke up at midnight. She did not go to sleep until 6am and she woke up at just before 9am. Yesterday, she had a nap at around 3pm and woke up around 4pm. Then she went to sleep around 11.30pm. Just over 2 hours have passed now and I think she is sleeping better today.