Empathy in 14 month old

I have not written for quite some time now. Bringing up two children is much more difficult than just one. I have renewed respect for any parent looking after more than two children.

Just a quick note. I was throwing Eugene up in the air and catching him. He was squealing with joy. When I told him it is Marian's tern, he started to scream with disapproval. But as soon as I performed the same manoeuvres, he started squealing again. Perhaps you may say that he was just copying Marian's squeals but I thought he was genuinely empathising.

Thoughtful

Marian was pretty thoughtful today. We were all eating at the dinner table except me. I was feeding her. She said to me whether I am hungry and that I should eat as well.

Also the other day she was playing with two boys in the neighbourhood. She was taking great care with the younger one. She had her hands guarding the boy so that she could cushion a fall if he for example tripped over.

(Continued from previous post) How about hand gestures?


Even hand gestures don't work. I am very disappointed in you.


I must find the optimal strategy that will keep my energy expenditure to a minimum. Simple. Stay calm and let my eyes do the talking.


Don't they look happy without me.

You look as though you've seen a ghost.


To get my point across, I have only one strategy. Cry. I will send a warning now.


No one has taken any notice so I must charge up fully. Ready, steady....


...Go.


Isn't that enough to get your attention? I give up. I must find another way.

More pics

A close up.


He has put on a lot of weight.


A rare calm moment. Possibly plotting his next assault.


I wish you stop crying.


I will give you this chess piece if you stop crying. Alas, he did not. She did try to give it (missed the opportunity to take the photo) but she retracted her hand when the crying intensified.

Together

Don't they look good together?

Be gentle

Be gentle with me. I'm only little.

Mature Look

He has a mature look, don't you think?

More pictures continued

This is more like it. He was crying his heart out. Lately I talk to him and he seems to understand me and goes quiet. For example, when he is crying in my arms, I tell him that his milk is on his way and he suddenly becomes quiet. Perhaps it is wishful thinking but I like to think that he understands me.


Side view of his head. His weight is above average and his head circumference is very large (between 1 percent and 0.1 percent of all babies). However, his height is slightly below average.

More pictures

When I asked her to smile, sometimes it turns out to be quite nice.


Other times, it can look contrived.


One of the very few occasions when I managed to get him to sleep. We have not come up with a name yet. We are heading for a world record of the longest time without a name.


Big sister participation. She relishes the opportunity to get involved. Apart from the time when she stood on him by accident, she has been excellent with her brother.


He does not appear to be crying but this is only by chance. I took this during a bout of crying. It just so happened that this particular frame makes him look as though he is content.

Some more pictures

Thank you for our gift.


Isn't she strong for someone who has just turned two? Actually I was carrying quite a bit of her weight.


Compare the size of the foreheads. Are they not about the same? In fact my wife may have lost this battle.


She loves stickers.


When will she stop climbing? I am looking forward to climbing mountains with her.

Some pictures

At the local park.


Summer Fair at a local school. She likes slides but this one she found too big to go on her own.


Being creative.


She likes climbing.


This is a playground at another local school where we went to their summer fair.

First pictures of brother

Carrying pillow, putting away umbrella, too much kissing

We are trying to get Marian used to sleeping in her own room. This is proving quite difficult. She normally comes back into our room in the middle of the night. The other day, she brought her pillow with her and flopped on top of it to try and get back to sleep.

When we came down together in the morning, she found an umbrella on the bookcase and moved it somewhere. My mother needed it as she was going out and asked where it had gone? I said maybe it is in the kitchen and Marian said it is in the under stairs cupboard. She had put it away where the other umbrellas are.

My wife tried to kiss Marian twice in the morning but she only managed to do it once. On the second try, she said too much. This is better than for me.

Sleeping Difficulty

Marian cannot fall asleep on her own. She normally falls asleep in the baby car seat by rocking it. Yesterday, she actually tried to fall asleep on her own. She began by getting under my blanket but it did not work so she went under her own blanket but also without luck. Since my wife taps her body to try and get her to sleep, she tried tapping herself. This did not work either. Finally she climbed into her car seat and pulled my wife's hand to start rocking her. Full marks for trying.

First trip to the swimming pool

She was excited to go. We got everything ready and set off. We were at the pool edge and she was still pretty keen but as soon as her legs went in, her face changed and decided it was not for her. I think it was because of the water temperature (28 degrees Celsius). A warmer pool would be open much later but we decided the wait would be too long and went back home.

Likes things in order: internally and externally

She does like things in order whether it is something inside her mind or something outside. For instance, when closing the curtains, she will never forget to tell me if I have left a gap. This has been going on for quite some time but more recently, she was drinking some milk and I used to read a book to her whilst she drinks her milk. I have stopped doing this and usually say just watch the television if it happens to be on. She was asking for a children's program called Teletubbies but I said it is not on at this time. Then I realised that she was asking for the book version which we had bought recently. Then she said you made a mistake.

She seems to relish every opportunity to correct the adults. When we make a mistake on purpose, she will quickly correct us.

Marian's corrections

Marian has been correcting my mistakes for quite a while now. For example, when I was washing her hair, I said I am washing the soap off with some water but she corrected me by saying it was shampoo I am washing off.

Her first big scratch

Marian fell on the pavement the other day. Since she was wearing shorts, she managed to scratch her knee. It looked worse than it really was (if she had trousers, I don't think she would have got a scratch) but she would not stop crying for a long time. We were on our way to the playground and although she was crying, she still wanted to go the playground. I got about midway and she wanted to go back home. I reached the entrance of the park and she changed her mind and wanted to go to the playground. We reached the gate of the playground and she refused to go in and requested to go back home. We went back home in the end.

She has a scab now but she prefers it to be covered up with trousers. In the bath, she usually stands up when I am ready to wash her (sometimes without asking). She was reluctant to do so and I had to reassure her that I will not scrub against the injury.

Mater instead of water

Marian has been saying mater instead of water for a very long time. Recently she has started to say water properly. Another problem is to do with not pronouncing the s at the beginning of a word. So sky would be ky and star would be tar. She sometimes pronounces it properly but still not quite perfect. Interestingly, she does not struggle with the Korean or Japanese so conspicuously. Oh, yes in Japanese when she says aoi (blue), she says awaoi.