Half of this month was filled with Christmas holidays, so we haven’t had many normal, ordinary days recently. I think we were all happy when Ingrid went back to preschool: towards the end she was spending several hours per day with either iPad games or movies. Neither Eric nor I could muster the energy to play with her, read to her, or otherwise activate her all the time.
We’ve somehow slid into a pattern where she asks for a movie or the iPad as soon as we get home. Then, when the hour runs out (which I think is an appropriate length of time for her to spend staring at a screen) it’s just about time for me to start preparing dinner, which means that she is bored then. I think we will try to turn that around, so I can do something meaningful together with her when I have time.
Almost always when I nurse Adrian, I read for Ingrid, so we read at least a book or two every day. Always, with every single book and movie, she will stop at some random point and ask me, “Mummy do you know which one I am? I am this one. [Names or points at some figure.] Which one are you?” This can be pretty annoying: here I am, giving her my best reading, and all she thinks about is which animal she is.
We play a bit of games. Her games have passed some magical threshold and now some of them are actually fun for me, not just because I’m spending time with her but intrinsically. We’re on a more equal level. We’ve played several kinds of guessing games. The simplest one is one where I guess which of her hands is holding the coin.
Sometimes we guess words (“I see something that begins with a K, in Swedish”) – on the bus, in a picture spread in a book, in the living room. For added spice I’ve got Ingrid’s ideas of spelling to take into account. “Giraff” begins with an H in her mind, and “kära” with an S. When the guesser gives up, the other player gives hints, or sometimes the guesser asks yes/no questions, 20 questions style. A couple of times we’ve also played something approaching 20 questions, with animals.
A variation on the guessing theme is the hiding game. One of us picks a random object and puts it somewhere in the house, and then gives a hint or two: “It’s something pink and it is inside a large orange thing”, or “something gray is behind something gray”. Again, if it is too hard, we ask for extra hints.
Ingrid still also likes the role reversal game from last month, and the gift-giving game, where I get a random container with some random thing inside. Also the magic game, where she is a fairy and does magic for me – magically makes Adrian stop crying (pretend only), or cleans the sofa table (for real), etc. Also the “prohibition game” (as I think about it) continues: “you must not step on the yellow tiles or you will become a dragon”, etc.
Meal times in particular are filled with games. It can take her 20 minutes (and that’s no exaggeration) to eat a small 100g yoghurt. She twirls her knife on the table and pretends it’s the hands of a clock, pretends her spoon is an ice cream, dips her spoon in yoghurt and then in juice, ladles juice onto her yoghurt, plays with whatever toy I’ve put in front of Adrian, etc.
Basically, she manages to entertain herself pretty well as long as there is (1) someone to keep her company, and (2) something that she ought to be doing but can drag out. Eating is one such activity. Walking is another: she climbs on the mounds of snow along the road, races me, walks backwards or sideways, etc. (On the plus side, she rarely complains about tired legs any more.) More annoyingly, brushing her teeth and getting ready for bed is another such activity.
She is interacting more and more with Adrian. I’m hoping to find time soon for a separate post about that. But basically she now sees him as a fellow human, and takes an interest in him. She pops in the dummy, puts toys in front of him, etc.
She is very very close to being able to read, but not quite. I think the only block is a mental one: she thinks that she cannot read, therefore she cannot. She can more or less write, but since she cannot read what she’s written, she loses track of where she is at. Short words, no more than 3 letters, work best. She wrote us a Christmas card, “GOD JUL MA Å PA FLÅ INGRID”. I’m saving that one.
She still likes numbers and basic addition. Sometimes she now does sums like 4+2 without holding up fingers, but I can see that she is counting fingers mentally.
She has developed an interest for learning some English. Counting in English came last month; now she notices them in movies (“sixteen” in Sleeping Beauty) and asks me to translate other words that she hears in them. We’ve read some Dr. Seuss books a few times: much of Fox in Socks can be understood just with me pointing at the pictures, while The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham need some more translating.
She says she longs for spring to come. She doesn’t like the bulky winter clothing, and misses cycling. And she is already talking about how much she looks forward to her birthday.