Monday 28 October 2013

Terrible Twos - definitely not a myth!

Wow. We thought earlier this year that Lydia's behaviour was typical of a two year old, with the odd tantrum causing some considerable frustration and embarrassment whenever it occurred in a public place. But just recently Lydia's rebellious side has kicked into overdrive.

Saw this on the Internet - perfect description!

When she is nice and playful, it's an absolute joy to be around her, but when she is being obstinate and uncooperative she is absolutely unbearable company. She has taken to telling us off, threatening to put us in the corner (for no reason), complaining whenever the slightest thing goes against her, not complying with even the most simple of requests from us, and generally doing the opposite of whatever she should be doing.

From what I have read on the Internet, this is typical two year old behaviour, in the vein of the oft-quoted "Terrible Twos".

We thought we had already gone through this earlier this year, but this latest wave of opposition from Lydia shows us that this stage is not over yet. As I said above, when she is nice and well-behaved it is so much fun, her cheeky, playful, chatty demeanour bringing huge smiles to our faces. But, the other side of her (Mr Hyde) is an absolute nightmare!

With Lydia, the problem isn't the classic toddler tantrum; thankfully that is fairly rare. However, it's the general refusal to do anything we ask her or simply not listening to us. Particularly frustrating when we are near a road and she refuses to stop when we tell her to.

I had a look around the Internet for any advice, and I came across an article on a website called "Parenting My Toddler". This articles gives a few good explanations for why toddlers can be so uncooperative - basically as part of their development at this stage they want to have their own independence by making their own decisions. This is definitely true of Lydia. Although there is no miracle cure to stop the confrontations and conflicts, the article says it helps to narrow down their choices; for example, offer them a selection of things to do instead of just openly asking them what they want to do. This way, they get to make the decision themselves.

I'm sure certain areas of conflict - particularly getting ready to go out - are unavoidable. If we ask Lydia to put her shoes on and she refuses, then we're pretty much faced with a potential tantrum. I wonder if this could be eased by offering her a choice of shoes to put on and letting her pick the pair she wants to wear?

Hmmm. Maybe it could work. I'll try putting that into practise and see what happens.

As many articles I have read say, there is no way of stopping the tantrums and obstructive behaviour entirely, as this is all part of their natural development. Some articles say we as parents should concentrate on the positive sides of the toddler phase, such as when the child comes out with a hilarious or unexpected phrase, or the extra cuddles we get as a result of their dual need for us as well as independence.

I know every parent goes through this with their child, and I guess we will just have to grin and bear it. What scares me is that some articles refer to it as the terrible twos AND THREES... please don't less this drag on for another year! :(

Tuesday 22 October 2013

Run Forrest, Run!

On Tuesday 8th October I ran the furthest I have ever run in my life.

I managed 10.2km in 1 hour 17 minutes, which included some pretty tough inclines. I'm not someone who is particularly fit, given that I rarely do any exercise, so for me this was quite a tremendous feat.

Back in May this year I bought myself a new pair of trainers, having decided after two jogs in April that I ought to replace my 10 year old pair that were falling apart. The plan was to jog two or three times a week, to build up some fitness and generally be healthier (it's important for me to make sure I'm around - and mobile - as Lydia grows up).

Unfortunately, I didn't really keep it up.

My new trainers stayed in their box until early July, when I managed to go for two jogs in the space of two weeks. After that, summer got in the way and I kind of forgot about exercising (save for one game of squash in September).

Following one or two jibes from my wife, I decided to start again in October, and have now managed two jogs in two weeks again, including the personal record-breaking 10km run. Truth be told, that run took it's toll on my legs, as by the end of the run I could barely feel them or my feet. Strangely I felt as though I could have run further as I still seemed to have some energy and breath left in me, but my legs gave out on me.

It took a few days to recover before I was walking normally again! I followed this run up with a 6km jog a week later, although I think I didn't stretch properly as my right calf was pretty sore during (and after) this run. Despite this, it was still my fastest 5km ever.

That night I had a scratchy throat, which slowly evolved into a full blown head cold over the next couple of days. I'm still suffering today so I don't think I will be able to make it three consecutive Tuesday jogs. I might have to delay to tomorrow, see if I'm feeling better.

Given my past uselessness on the willpower front, I am determined to make it work this time. If I can at least manage one jog per week that will be a good start. Then I can slowly crank it up to the two/three per week that I am aiming for.

Of course, this is all speculation at this point, and it remains to be seen how well I hold out during the cold winter months... that will be the real test of my willpower! Thinking ahead, I don't know how people manage to jog on the extremely cold winter days with icy roads...?

Monday 7 October 2013

A little bit of both

I wrote recently about giving Lydia egg and soldiers for the first time (see "Egg & Soliders", as part of my mission to replicate some of the fond memories I have from growing up in England, as I felt getting her involved in British things would help her appreciate her Anglo origins.

Well, she also stays in touch with her Swiss side as well.

We recently had a fondue meal with Chris' parents, and Lydia loved it. She particularly enjoyed dipping the bread in the cheese and giving the pot a good stir!


Living in Switzerland she is bound to pick up the local habits, and appreciating cheese-based meals (fondue, raclette, etc.) must be built into her genes.

It's my job to stick up for the British part though, leaving me scheming of other traditional British meals to try...

Sunday 6 October 2013

Lydia Da Vinci

Lydia likes to draw, she likes to colour in pictures, she likes to paint. She also likes to glue shapes onto paper, and she likes to cut paper into pieces. In short, she seems to quite like arty things.

At two-and-a-half her artworks cannot really be regarded as masterpieces, but she is at least showing signs of progression. Here is an effort she did recently at the crèche during some circus-themed activities they did:


She seems to have managed a nice mixture of colours there!

One thing we have remarked with her is that she has, for the last few months at least, exhibited a drawing style of small circles and shapes, accompanied by squiggly lines that are her imitation of real words. Most other kids do big shapes with their pencil running wild over the paper, but Lydia spends her art time neatly drawing little circles and sort of peanut-shaped objects. It's a curious trait, but I'm hoping it means she will quickly jump to drawing real objects (as that's much more fun!).

Just in the last few weeks or so, she has started to draw little people. You have to stretch your imagination a bit to see them, but she does a circle for the head, adds eyes, a nose and a mouth and then draws legs and arms as well. She even recently started adding moustaches to them! Here is one of her recent men:


As I said, you have to concentrate to see the man, but in the circle at the top we can see the face fairly well, then the legs coming off the bottom. OK so he doesn't have a body, but it's not a bad start for one so young!

I'm looking forward to all the future fun that this can bring because art can be drawings, paintings, collages, crafts, basically an endless assortment of things to do, and this will be particularly handy when the cold, wet winter months set in.