All About Pip!

Poor Leo!

I rather feel that sometimes my little man hides in Katie's limelight when it comes to blogging. There has been such an intensity to Katie's behaviour and significant effort put into finding solutions and managing behaviour that I feel Pip's rather uncomplicated manner isn't as newsworthy. So today I'm writing all about Pip.

Pip is now 2 years and 9 months old. He's full of energy and fun and mischief and opinions about what he wants (otherwise known as tantrums). He has a smile that could get him off the hook for anything. He's still at an age when it mostly doesn't occur to him that he can lie and often tells me he's done something naughty with a huge grin on his face. He's 2 and he's good at it!

His weight is a non issue these days. He's a normal sized busy toddler who loves running everywhere and climbing everything. He's quite a unit in his stature and we're currently taking bets on whether he will be a rugby player or a basketball player. He'll be tall, that we do know. He has size 9 feet already. I kid you not, they're like flippers!  Seeing him now makes me feel sad at all the pressure we experienced about slimming him down. My instinct all along was that he would slim down once he was walking and I've been proven right. 

Pip is a busy boy. He runs everywhere! He doesn't stay still for long and is incredibly strong. He's quite self sufficient and easily able to self amuse. He'll take himself off into the garden looking for "lugs" and bring presents of various slimey critters for me to inspect (including a dead worm about 5 minutes ago). He is a stereotypical boy who is into cars and Lego and fiddling with wheels. He loves "diggies" and tractors and trains and any large vehicles we can spy. He loves going on the "choo choo train". With a stick in hand he'll spend hours pottering down in the playhouse transporting stones from the gravel onto the floor. I swear he'll have a shed when he's older and I feel obliged to help him learn carpentry or mechanics etc in preparation. I'll write an apology to his future wife at the same time.

I'm running!

Still running!

 I call Pip my Ronseal baby. He's currently straightforward, uncomplicated and he does what it says on the tin!  That's not to say he's not bright and switched on though. He knows all his colours and can count to 10 and beyond with a little help past number 13. He recognises the letters of his name and knows how old he is although he'd prefer to be the number 3! He is interested in everything. He makes my head swim with his 100mph discovery of his world. He can spot a bug from a mile away. He's developing imaginative play now which is wonderful to watch.  His speech isn't all there yet and he's still delayed but he's improving daily. He's having home-made speech therapy with me currently. We are working hard at getting his mouth opening and enunciating more clearly and he's good natured enough to play along. He will have a complete review around his 3rd birthday with the Health Visitor and the current plan will be to put in a referral to proper speech therapy just to make sure all is well and ensure there aren't any problems with his hearing etc. He wants to communicate although I think he will pick and choose who he speaks with. His speech and some of his development is about 7 months behind where it should be but that is how old he was when he came to us and I think there's a link. Because he's so tall people often think he's about a year older than he is so often expect speech and behaviour and abilities far beyond his capabilities. I generally just steer the conversation with the people towards his height rather than his development. Pip is incredibly sociable and his speech doesn't effect him playing with other children. He loves to find new partners in crime and new friends to scream with! Toddlers are hilarious because they communicate by giggling and screaming.

Guess what I'm doing?

Yep you guessed it - I'm running!

 Speaking of screaming, this is something he excels at. Screaming for pleasure or when disgruntled. People can generally hear when we're about. He voices his displeasure at 100 decibels. He also likes to kick and hit out if he's cross with me. "Me kick Mummy" he'll say. "Errrr no you won't matey!" It's fair to say there's an element of copying big sister's less sociable antics. Bedtime is more challenging again as Pip has decided he doesn't want to go to sleep either again (just when you get one of them sussed the other one jumps in for a turn!). Personally I think he gets over excited and anxious at bedtime because that's when Katie kicks off although he shows no specific anxiety other than to say "Katie naughty again Mama?" We're back to sitting with him as he goes through the process of accepting it's bedtime and settling himself down to sleep. The first part of that can take up to an hour sometimes so we take it in turns to sit with him whilst the other tends to Katie.

Pip is well attached. I think his attachment is far more straightforward than Katie's. He is attached to both myself and TCM whereas Katie attached primarily to me for a long time and still favours me (unless Daddy is buying her something). Pip will prefer to come to me for hugs if he is hurt though. His attachment responses are all normal. He thoroughly enjoys going to his Childminder (currently 2 days per week but this will change when he starts pre-school to one day a week to maintain his continuity whilst settling into pre-school). He has some little friends there whom he loves seeing but Blue Bear . He displays a normal attachment response to being left and being picked up. He's generally a bit disgruntled about me leaving although takes his shoes off and runs off to play and he's delighted to see me when I collect him. He usually says "Me miss Mummy" when I pick him up 💜.

Oooh I'm very still and serious because I'm on the Choo Choo Train!

I'm toying with the idea of starting potty training. We've done a lot of preparatory work with book reading and he will wee in the potty very happily. I'm not sure he's quite ready and we have so much going on with Katie and the house build that I'm not sure how much energy I have to put into it yet. I'd like him dry before starting pre-school but I don't think he'd be ready to coordinate his poo's just yet so I suspect pre-school would be grateful if he's still in his pull-ups. We've had to switch to pull-ups because he can now undress and take his nappies off - usually behind the garden shed! He's a bit of a naturist I think! He loves being nuuuuuuuuuuuuuudy!

With a highly controlling 7 year old and a 2 year old who'd like to be the same I do feel that life can be overtaken by endless arguments about control. I try to give autonomy where I can as I feel like a dictator otherwise. I think Pip will be more stable in his emotional age than Katie, although time will tell. He's always felt a little less volatile than Katie although this is currently masked by the Terrible Two's. I can see him slowly coming through the Two's and calming down although am still taken aback when without warning he throws his head back and opens his mouth widely to wail and scream and throw himself on the floor.

Ready, Steady......Jump!

Overall Pip is a loving, cuddly and sensitive little boy. We have a lot of fun together. He loves cooking with me although it's like cooking with a hyperactive monkey around and I need eyes in the back of my head to watch where those spaghetti hands are. I do find him cooking with me stressful sometimes but I generally encourage his interest in cooking. He loves standing on the stool to stir the food and taste it as we cook. His look of delight is contagious as he tastes what we are cooking. He tastes the food and says "oooh yes Mama, mmmmmm, nice!"  He remembers everywhere we've been and brings me pictures on his iPad to ask me to go back there, especially the train and also his memories of the Christmas lights.  I think I'll be glad when Christmas comes around just so he can see the lights again.  He's been asking all year.  His other favourite is the "bang bangs" on Firework Night.  He loves watching fireworks on the IPad alongside endlessly watching Taylor Swift sing "State of Grace".  His other passion is water.  He turns on the taps endlessly and flushes the toilet every time he sees it.  Puddles and water parks bring the biggest smiles.

Down on the farm - what could be better then a river?

Pip's other favourite place is Paultons Park where we have a season ticket (I always get one for me when they are under a metre tall and have free entrance). He's not fussed about the rides but likes to walk along by the stream and smell the flowers and explore the tunnels. We go on the odd ride at Peppa Pig World but mostly he likes the little train and having a picnic lunch watching the Penguins. He's a boy with a great capacity for joy and he can find amusement in the smallest things. I hope this continues. I feel a sense of pressure to ensure I appreciate his toddler years much more than I did Katie. I took a lot for granted with Katie because it was so easy with her at that point and I was unprepared for the change in her behaviour since starting school. With Pip I'm breathing in all of these happy times just in case things change with him as well.

I do worry that the challenges we are currently having with Katie will impact too heavily on Pip. We try and shield him from seeing too much but that's not always easy. He seems to have an inner resilience though and accepts the way things are more readily than his sister. Having said that his current favourite word us "Why?". Everything is "why, why, why, why, why?. I joke you can tell Pip is a second child because when Katie went through the why stage I answered all her questions diligently. I'm not sure that helped her really so this time around there's a lot more assessment of whether he really wants to know the answer and a bit more "Because Mummy said so" going on.

I can't believe that in a few weeks Pip will start his education journey at Pre-School.  He's following in Katie's footsteps and going to the same pre-school.  They are very accommodating and relaxed and the environment suited Katie well.  I think it will be the same for Pip as well.  I'm a bit worried that his speech delay will impact on him a bit. I know what he says but other people don't.  He's such a gregarious chap though that I think that will carry him through very well.

As a final note I thought I'd share Pip's current favourite song.....  over to you Swifty!