![](\"\/helen\/blog\/images\/Ingrid_Edge.jpg\")
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\nThis month has been a continuation and a consolidation of the previous one. She is learning new words, although they all still tend to sound almost identical. I used to think that when parents say \u201cWe<\/strong> understand her\u201d about their babies\u2019 incomprehensible babbling, it was just wishful thinking, but it really works like that. I know that no one else could possibly understand Ingrid\u2019s words, and even though we also have difficulty at times, we do generally understand what she means. But it only works because she only talks about things she can see, so the range of possibilities is limited. When we\u2019re out and she suddenly shouts \u201cpaa!\u201d I know that that means \u201cdog\u201d and not \u201cbook\u201d, because there are no books out there (and also because only dogs generate that kind of excitement in her).<\/p>\n Trains and dogs are the two things that she always points out, with 100% reliability. If she sees a dog, she will say so. And she\u2019s very good at spotting them. It\u2019s the same with adults: we see what we\u2019re primed for. When I was pregnant, I saw pregnant women everywhere; now I notice all the prams and pushchairs I pass. She notices trains and dogs.<\/p>\n Dogs are interesting but scary too. They\u2019re best viewed at a distance of about one or two metres. When they get too close, she gets scared, turns away and closes her eyes \u2013 even if the dog is a quiet and well-behaved one. Cats are also very interesting, but there aren\u2019t that many in central London, so until a week ago she\u2019d only seen them in books. Last weekend we visited some friends who had cats (and chickens, too). The cats were initially as scary as dogs \u2013 2 metres was close enough \u2013 but within a few hours that distance had been reduced to a few (baby) steps. The chickens were just scary.<\/p>\n Ingrid has Estonian words for most things (I spend most time talking to her) but Swedish ones for some, including sitta<\/em> (sit) and strumpa<\/em> (sock), although she also seems to understand when I talk about sokk<\/em> (sock in Estonian). \u201cCat\u201d used to be called kass<\/em> (in Estonian) and was then katt<\/em> (in Swedish) and is now some sort of mixture between the two. At nursery she waves bye-bye<\/em> when we leave, but at home, we say hej d\u00e5<\/em>. During the weekend it takes her a day or so to switch from bye<\/em> to hej d\u00e5<\/em>, and then the week after it takes a day to switch back. So perhaps she is on the verge of understanding that people speak different languages?<\/p>\n She is also understanding more and more how things work, how the world works. She likes to pull my shoelaces to untie them, and she\u2019s got a vague idea of how zippers work. She likes to pick up litter and throw it in a garbage bin. She likes to brush my teeth while I brush hers, and to try and screw the lid on her sippy cup.<\/p>\n Fruit is still her favourite food, followed by bread and cheese. Other things are more unpredictable. Some things she devours every single time (Grassington\u2019s Sweetcorn & Sweet Potato Waffles), others she rejects completely (porridge, no matter what I add to it). I\u2019ve been trying to see a pattern there but not figured it out yet. Perhaps there is none. Whatever the food, though, it needs to be finger food, or possibly fork food. She will NOT let me feed her, and her ability with a spoon is still not so good. She\u2019s much better with a fork, but she generally prefers to use her fingers.<\/p>\n Walking and climbing are as much fun as ever, as is jumping down from things. When we go swimming, she is always trying to get to the edge, so she can climb up and jump down again. When she\u2019s bored with everything at home, a walk down and up the stairs often keeps her occupied for a while. With her longer legs and better balance, she now takes them standing up, not on all fours any more, although she needs to hold my hand (or two).<\/p>\n It seems she also likes balancing \u2013 standing and walking on wobbly things. When I help her up on a spring rider<\/a>, she isn\u2019t interested in sitting \u2013 she\u2019ll climb on top and stand up. (Luckily she\u2019s sensible enough to hold on to my hands when she does that.) When we\u2019re on the Tube, she tries to stand and walk, too. She\u2019s also more fond of her swing. We\u2019ve had it for a good while now, and her interest in it has waxed and waned, and is at a high now.<\/p>\n But her favourite pastime is watching Teletubbies. We don\u2019t have a TV but we do have computers. Eric often watches movies and cartoons on his, and Ingrid likes to join him. In the morning when Eric has gotten up and is making his tea, Ingrid runs straight to his chair and waits for him to sit down there and lift her up as well. She likes Futurama, and she likes playing with the various small items on Eric\u2019s desk while he reads the news, but she likes Teletubbies best. She is totally mesmerised by it.<\/p>\n Ingrid is seventeen months old today. I\u2019m still keeping track of months for these blog posts, but otherwise I now think of her age as \u201cabout a year and a half\u201d \u2013 the months no longer feel relevant. She\u2019s old enough for years now. Ingrid reads Edge magazine This month has been a continuation and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ingrid_johanna","category-monthly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17984,"href":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601\/revisions\/17984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.toomik.net\/helen\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"\/helen\/blog\/images\/Ingrid_swinging.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n
\n ![](\"\/helen\/blog\/images\/Ingrid_TV.jpg\")
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n Ingrid watching Teletubbies<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"