Maia Mi

Well, it seems to be milestone after milestone these days. On Wednesday 17th October Maia put together her first three word sentence. She was commenting on how Pappa had changed seats on the train and said, quite clearly, "Pappa sitter der" - Daddy sitting there!

And today she was in the car and got a bit grumpy all of a sudden. Usually I have to try work out what's wrong by looking round. But today I heard a bit of grumpy 'Nei nei!' and then "Lambo falle ned!" - her little cuddly toy we call 'lambo' (some strange fat bottomed creature Granny Gugs picked up in Sainsburys of all places - it's ace!) had fallen down!

Fantastic stuff.

Nursery also commented that her grasp of concepts and connections is coming on really well. Yesterday she picked up a blanket but instead of saying 'blanket' which is easy, she said 'Sleeping' and then went over to the doll and put the doll to sleep. She knew that the blanket was for sleeping in and therefore there was no need to call it blanket. She'd made the required connection.

Amazing to see all this before our very eyes!

"GO MAIA, GO MAIA, GO MAIA!" Nope, that wasn't ME shouting encouragement, it was Maia herself (!!!), 15 minutes after her nervous entry into the swimming pool at Woolwich, a huge waterpark of a swimming pool, with slides and huge replica crocodiles and tortoises. She went from being a clingy baby who wouldn't get into the water, to walking along the shallow end of the big pool with water at shoulder height, mouth in a big 'ooooh', and a "go maia go maia" every now and then in ecstatic excitement. She also went from being held down the slide gently, to jetting herself off and landing SPLASH under the water, when I'd catch her and bring her back up! I haven't laughed so much in ages, she was just so incredibly beside herself once she'd got over her initial fears and realised it was actually quite fun, this big place full of water.

Of course, Maia went swimming as a babe-in-arms, and a glimmer of memory did seem to still be there, as she loved being held horizontally and skimmed across the water 'swim' style, as I used to do with her when she was 7 months old. But this was her first proper visit since January 2007, so I don't think she could really remember that she used to go for a weekly swim once upon a time.

Unfortunately, Maia was poorly and vomited a couple of times after we came home - she probably swallowed just a bit too much chlorine going down those slides... she also seems to have caught a cold. Feel like the worst and best mother in one, she really did love the swimming pool (she's still going round saying "svømme basseng, svømmebasseng" in elation, while i feel so bad that she (possibly) got ill from it.

Just wish I could share my mind's eye camera pix with the world - it really was a sight to behold.

Maia's communication has come along leaps and bounds. Not only can she can say a lot of words, some both in Norwegian And English (unless a word is placed in brackets, she says both words), but she has started translating, saying the english version to others and the norwegian version to me, straight after. She can also ask for things to be done (eg, she likes to have her hands washed during her meal, if they get messy) and can also construct simple two word sentences and does so at every opportunity.

She can point out a man with a bicycle (Mann Sykkel) or a woman with a hat (Dame hatt), or tell me that the picture in the book shows a baby running (Beibi løper). Most embarrassingly she says things like "Mann, kiss" and blows kisses to strange men on the train.

She has also started recognising colours (especially likes to point out pink (Rosa) and green (Grønn) things) and although she can't count yet she seems to understand the concept of One, Two and Many. She pointed out that she could see "MASSE SKO" (lots of shoes) when we looked at lots of people walking past and she looked at two fishfingers on the grill and said quite clearly "To fikkefiner" (two fishfingers!).

She is also getting good at singing the words to songs - including Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Baah Baah Black Sheep, Row Row, Ring a Ring A Roses and more including some Norwegian songs, especially keen to singalong if the song is playing on the stereo, rather than when Mamma or Pappa sing.

Here's a list of some other words/phrases that come to mind although it's just not comprehensive at all, it's so hard to remember all of them as she learns about two-three new words a day!

Ja (yes) (just started!)

Vaske (wash) - used especially during her meals

Hjelpe (help) - used all the time if she can't get something to work.

Nei/no (the age old first word)

Takk/Thank you, when prompted

Please when prompted

Nikke (nod) and do a lot of nodding

Mamma/Mummy

Pappa

Dylan (says Dinnan)

Granny

Pickle (because Granny calls her "pickle", I called her "pickle" and she responded - "Granny Pickle")

Onkel Steve (uncle steve) (who she met out in Spain, who she took a shine to)

Bye bye / Hadet

Hola (!)

Hello / Hei

Morning

Tomorrow (says imorrow, possibly combining the norwegian word 'imorgen')

Cuppatea (Cup Of Tea)

Mann (man)

Dame (lady)

Fly/ Airplane

Bil/Car

Hus

Sun/Sol

Sko/Shoes

Bok/Book

"Lille Mus" (little mouse)

Ball/ball

Miaow for cat

Vov Vov/Doggie

Clippety clop for horse

Skilpadde (can't quite pronounce it though) (tortoise)

Snegle/snail (says 'nail')

Papegøye (parrot)

Monkey

Bade

Vann/Water

Music/Musikk (says 'sikk')


Mere / More

Mais (sweetcorn) (and often sings "Three Blind Mice" when you serve her sweetcorn because of this)

Couscous

Spaghetti (says "betty", possibly also because I often call it "SpaghettiBetty")

Tomat (tomato), says it more like "mat" though

Banan/Nana (banana)

Apple

"sin' for Applesin (orange)

Bringebær (raspberry), says bringba after which she quite often continues with a the song "bringba, bringba oh bringba my bonny to me to me!" which I think is rather sweet.

and it goes on.