Or should I say Angelina? Or Lola? Or perhaps Harmony?
You see, you’ve had a bit of a “girl” explosion these last couple of months. We’ve gradually expanded your TV watching repertoire beyond Playschool and Guess How Much I Love You to include these shows (Charlie & Lola, The Fairies and Angelina Ballerina for those of you that don’t know the words to “Dance Dance Dance The Sleep Away” backwards), and you are just a tad obsessed.
Whilst your TV hours are still the same, the amount of hours that you spend role-playing these shows is a bit out of control. And the attention to detail is astounding. For instance, you notice how Charlie leans against the wall with one leg bent in the episode where Lola falls off her bike. You’re not happy unless Daddy (who usually plays Charlie) leans just right.
And to add to the mayhem, you’ve started ballet classes. I know, I know. I can hear everyone saying “Really? Ballet classes for a two year old?” But honestly, you just love it so much. You think you are Angelina and your teacher is Miss Lily. You practice your pirouettes, your plies, your arabesques and your curtseys all day long.
So to balance this “girlishness” somewhat, we’ve just introduced a sixth TV show “Mike The Knight”. It’s too early to tell if we’re going to be starting fencing class next term…
Off the topic of TV, and on to terrible twosomeness, judging by the lack of time that you’ve spent in the naughty corner this last month, I think we’ve gotten past the worst of it. There was a rough patch where you were handling a) coping with new sibling jealousy, b) teething, c) dropping a nap and d) terrible twos all at the same time. And I’ll confess, I was pleased to see the end of each day. So it is lovely to have my laughing little terrier back, yapping at my heels.
The perils of taking a 2 year old’s passport photo
Mr Banya is taking a bit of paternity leave at the moment, so you are enjoying some extra attention. You’ve been on a bus, on a train, to the zoo, to the museum, to the art gallery and more. But you are also enjoying playing with your toys at home. Ironically I think this is because I’ve started a toy rotation system and so there are less toys out at any one time. You seem to enjoy your toys more when there are less to choose from. I am also enjoying having less toys to pick up, especially as your sister is starting to move around some and puts everything she can get her hands on into her mouths.
As your sister is growing more interactive, you’ve started performing for her. You’ll do anything to get her to laugh. You ask us to bring her up to the bedroom so she can watch you jump on the bed. You dance and sing for her. You play peek-a-boo. You sit on the ground (regardless of where we are) and ask to hold her. You coo when I hug the two of you and say “I love my girls”. You swoon when I tell you “Bee loves her big sister”. You love sharing a bath. You bring over her toys, and are very careful that she doesn’t play with any of yours. Sometimes you snatch them away. I’m trying to teach you that you need to take them gently, and give her something else to play with instead. Luckily she’s too small to mind at the moment.
You’ve been saying lots of funny things lately. The other day I overheard Mr Banya saying “JJ, please don’t stick your finger up the cat’s bottom. Only vets are allowed to do that.” To which, you promptly replied “I’m a vet!” Mr Banya tried to explain. “You’re just pretending to be a vet. Only real vets are allowed to really do it.” And then you started stalking the cat around the house saying “Charli, come here Charli. I’m just pretending.”
