In my post about Toddler Tantrums I promised an update on my very nearly 2yr old toddler so here it is. The good, the bad and the funny.

Let’s start with the good because luckily there is a lot of it!

Eating:

Izzy will still eat pretty much anything, she has quite exotic tastebuds but is also quite happy with a jacket potato with cheese and beans or some Dairylea Dunkers. There isn’t much that she won’t try. She loves lasagne, oranges, bananas, marmite, olives and garlic. She still has some formula (growing up milk) for bed and at breakfast but we are planning to stop that by September. It’s only 8oz a day so I’m not worried about it. She has started enjoying drinking cows milk now also which is good. We still don’t let her eat anything sweet after 4pm – I know I know I’m a mean mammy and she rarely has chocolate and still no sweets. She is still too young in my opinion and while I can control her diet a little then I will – everyone has different feelings on this including my family who tease me about it all the time ( all in good humour luckily) I would rather give her a slice of homemade cake than a chocolate bar or a bag of Haribo. She does however love ice lollies and homemade sorbet! On the odd occasion that she has eaten sweet treats later in the day we always have problems getting her to sleep so I’m happy to avoid this as long as possible.

Sleeping:

We are still doing pretty well with sleep. Yes. Thanks for that Isabelle. She sleeps 7pm -7.30am ish 95% of the time. She also has a nap at about 12-1.30 every day which I’m also grateful for. If she naps much later she is harder to get to sleep at night – which makes sense and when unwell routine goes out the window but we still do pretty much the same thing as we have done since 12months. She has her supper (toast or porridge) while watching In the Night Garden or reading a book. Then she brushes her teeth, nappy change and to bed with some milk. She also has her snuggly toy and her dummy which now do not leave her cot so they are her sleep cues. We have kissed and cuddles say goodnight, turn on her monitor and leave her to to it. She generally drops off to sleep within 15 mins. She loves going to sleep and will ask to go to bed quite often – on a recent family meal out at about 7.30 she was clearly getting worn out and kept putting her hands on her face and saying sleep please. I know we are lucky with her sleep patterns and I really hope this continues.

Talking:

I can’t believe I ever worried about what Izzy could or couldn’t say. Her speech has come on in leaps and bounds in the past month and I can only say if you are worried about your little one then just give them time as it seems everyone does it at different stages.

Some of her current sentences:

Mammy/Daddy..what you doing? – this is whenever you are not giving her your full attention. If I’m writing or cooking she will cock her head and say this in the cutest voice.

Mamm..poo..potty – I’ll explain more on this further in as we have just started potty training but its pretty self explanatory yes?

See you soon – she says goodbye then see you soon whenever someone gets up to leave.

Drink..of water? – she still loves water so we only do juice when she’s constipated and asks for water ALL day long.

Sticker me – she is a huge fan of sticker books, she had one as a gift from her grandma and one in my Britmums goodie bag and they keep her occupied for agessss. It’s sounds very cute when she walks up to you and says Sticker me.

She knows the words for everything or so it seems and will mimic a lot so we have to be careful what we say. She can say all her colours (although not always matching the right colour to word) her favourite is yellow. Everything is yellow.

The funny stuff:

She makes us laugh all day long, she has a naturally cheeky manner and will smile at her dad before saying Dad.. Where’s your bum?

She can count to 10 but always misses 7 and 8. She really enjoys counting and will line things up to count 1..2..3..4..5..6..9..10. It’s funny as she knows she is missing the numbers and pauses after 6.

We have a weird ornamental statue thingy which she has decided is Grandma ( it looks nothing like my OH’s mum) and she will wave at it say hi Grandma then laugh loudly as if she knows its funny and cheeky – this is especially amusing when her grandma is here.

When my OH is eating his cereal she literally will not move from his side practically drooling until he shares.

Whenever she sees something new or exciting she will say Woweeee in such a funny way. What a drama queen.

Her favourite film is Lady and the Tramp she asks for this whenever I say what do you want to watch by saying the doggy film ..she loves the We are Siamese song and will howl along with the dogs in the Pound scene asking myself and OH to join in too.

The bad:

She can strop as I explained in my tantrums post .. She is stubborn and if she wants something she will let you know. We ignore this and it doesn’t last long at all but while it does it ain’t pretty.

At the moment that is it for the bad – which makes me very happy. It can all change in a minute and we are so close to the terrible twos so watch this space.

Potty training:

I’d never planned to potty train before 2 .. It’s still so young but I don’t want two children in nappies and she has started becoming more aware of when she goes so its happening naturally. We aren’t rushing in we are just getting her used to the idea of a potty and to tell us when she needs to go. We have now had two occasions of her telling us she needs a poo before she does it and then going on her potty which we have made a huge fuss of. We have had plenty of other occasions of her saying she needs a poo just after or while she is doing it but we know it will take time. We are using a Potette plus travel potty which is pretty awesome and we tend to adapt it to use on the toilet seat which Izzy prefers – I think it makes her feel like a big girl. I will keep you posted on how it goes. For now September is our target for no daytime nappies at home.

Clothes – Izzy is tall with no chub left but shes not at allskinny..still hardly any hair but its getting there. She wears mostly 2-3yr clothes with some 18-24 thrown in. She is a size 7 shoe and weighs about 27lb.

Izzy loves –

*both sets of grandparents and her cousins/aunts and uncles
*dogs and horses
*Mr Tumble and In the Night Garden
*water/sand play and swimming

*crayons and stickers
*music and dancing
*having her snuggly and dummy at bedtime
*lady and the tramp and Shrek
*babies and dolls
*eating
*counting
*hiding

Izzy hates –

*dirty feet and hands- fine while she’s playing or eating but afterwards she’s like clean me now.
*nappy changes
*waiting
*sharing the yellow and red car at soft play
*being kept awake longer than she wants to

I can’t pretend the past 5 months have been easy. Having a far from straightforward pregnancy whilst parenting a toddler is hard, thankfully my OH and also Izzy herself have made it easier for me – my OH by doing SO much and Izzy by being an absolute joy most of the time. It can’t be fun when she wants to play with her mammy and mammy is too worn out but she cuddles me and is so loving I am such a lucky woman.