A slight cheat as Eleanor’s not quite two yet, but in a week and a bit she will be so close enough. I actually haven’t done an ‘update’ since she was 14 months so it’s fair to say there have been some changes.
I feel like the whole long days/short years expression is ever so true. I don’t know how almost two years has passed since I was heavily pregnant and about to go through the biggest change I can imagine. But here we are, by and large in a new swing of life as a family of three (or five if you count the dogs too).
So where is Eleanor at now? Well, she hovers between being called Ella and Eleanor. She call’s herself Ella most of the time and her most use phrases at the moment are ‘Ella do it’ or ‘Ella coming too’, when she either wants to do something herself or if she wants to follow me somewhere.
She is a walking, talking bundle of energy and fun. She makes me laugh every day. She’s confident and independent and constantly does things that make me feel like I’m bursting with pride or just plain baffled at how my baby is big enough to do things like open doors or take showers.
She attends nursery each week and loves it. She’s starting to make friends who she talks about when she’s not there. LOVES all things Hey Duggee and Frozen. I’m trying to get her to enjoy Moana, purely so I can sing along myself but that’s a work in progress. She is a bit obsessed with cats and anything the colour pink. She has some pretty firm ideas on her own ‘personal style’ already…
The biggest tantrums can happen if I say no to more snacks or just don’t let her do something herself when she wants to. She really is fiercely independent.
Eleanor also loves to read, of course she can’t really read herself yet but she will happily sit and flick through a book she is familiar with and make nosies that sound much like the ones when we read to her. Especially with the ‘That’s not my…’ books. We always read a book at night and her current favourites are ‘Oh no George’ and ‘Oi Cat’. She does recognise some letters (E for Ella…) and can count a bit too. Of course I want her to learn and progress but at this age I mostly just want her to have fun and play.
In terms of the typical parenting type topics. Sleep wise, she’s pretty great with the odd bad night or early wake up to keep me on my toes. Usually into bed for 7.30pm and sleeps until around 6.30-7am typically. She has an afternoon nap that is typically two hours but could be three if I’m playing with a bit of fire about how early I want to get up the next day…
I’m not thinking about potty training yet, I’m not in a rush to do that. She still sleeps in a cot and again, I’m in no rush to change it. We still use a sleep bag, but she’s pretty nifty at getting herself out of it so also have a toddler duvet that we’re working up to using. She does use a dummy with sleep, which I’m sure some would frown upon but for us it works. She still has milk twice a day, sometimes still in a bottle other times in a cup. We will stop using the bottle soon, but again probably ‘should’ but don’t really see any harm in it, so not in a rush.
I have to say, this age is so wonderful. Sure, her independent streak has it’s testing moments but the fact we can have little conversations and she understands (she listens more closely than you would ever assume… and is a sponge, so have to be careful what is said at all times!) She’s a lot of fun, totally fearless – in the way a toddler who is totally unaware of the risks around her can be – and her laugh and smile just fill my heart up to the point of writing cheesy lines like this.
Me? I still feel like I’m finding my feet every day. On a ‘good’ day where things go to plan, I feel like I’m winning at life. But on a day where things aren’t as smooth sailing it can feel like I’m doing everything wrong. If there’s one thing that being a mum has taught me is that you can be as organised and plan everything and a child will still find a way to throw those plans in the air and then probably poop on them.
For me, this is probably the side that’s been one of the hardest adjustments. The whole uncertainty element of the day to day. I always feel so embarrassed when I have to cancel things – like I’m making a lame excuse or just being a flake – but it’s just the reality of life with a child that they get temperatures or some other sort of spanner is thrown in the works. It does have it’s challenges with working for yourself as being reliable is so important and it’s taken me probably longer than it should have to learn how much more organised I need to be. I can’t have a Friday deadline and plan to work on it on a Thursday as if that Thursday goes wrong then I’m stuffed.
So yep, at (nearly) two she’s ace. Oh, and no – it’s not time for number two before you ask…
