Jasper calls people's first name -- mummy diddia

Jasper has just started to reference people by their first names just two days ago. Instead of saying "want mummy" or "want daddy", he says "want Andrew ___ " ie he uses our first name instead. He says the answer correctly when he is asked "what is daddy's name?". When I ask him "what is baby's name?" he says "baby name Jasper". There is a name tag for Jasper(and every kid) at the playgroup with my name and his name on it, he points to the words and reads the names. At first he says mummy diddia.. it was very funny.

We bought a Thomas the Train table and chair set for him yesterday in the hope to getting him to sit down more often, and he did. He didn't go to bed until late 11pm and he was too preoccupied with this new table, every toy that went on the Thomas table appeared to be a brand new toy to him. I couldn't believe he learnt the names of the train characters within the same day with accurate pronounciation. The blue train is Thomas, the green train Percy, the red train James and the yellow train Arthur. He points to each train as he says the name.

He will be two in a few weeks' time. I feel that he is very much behind in some areas and ahead in others. I have been to many playgroups, comments from the playleaders and other mothers are that Jasper runs extremely fast, can do puzzles ahead of his age and can read better than some pre-schoolers, he is considered to have very advanced English pronounciations among the Chinese group.

The weather is turning so cold that I have put a thick liner on the stroller plus a zipped on foot-muff, he would sneeze if anything less. My daily routine now becomes spending the whole morning at a playgroup followed by lunch and then Jasper has his nap in the pram when I run my errands or do my shopping in the mall. As soon as he wakes up he would want afternoon tea followed by a run or play at the park. Afternoon tea can be very yummy for him, they are doing special at Pizza Hut between 3pm-5pm for $3 a pizza plus a free coke. The coke is for me, and then we share the pizza.

strollers, car-seats

I have finally got rid of 3 strollers as they take up space: the Pedigree Ezilite jogger, the Steelcraft Preview/Profile and a mini Runabout umbrella stroller. I missed them all as they were once very useful for me, but they are no longer required. Just when I was quite content with my new Steelcraft Swiftlite stroller I noticed Toys'r'us was doing a sale which will end this month, 50% off is a big turn on... I then got myself a new Peg Perego Pliko P3 stroller. It's such a godsend! Forgot to mention I actually bought(and resold) a Maclaren Daytripper umbrella stroller: hated it, no suspensions on wheels, hard to push, will tip backwards if anything is hang on the handle bars.

It's winter here, Jasper can barely fit in my Steelcraft Swiftlite if he wears a thick coat. Steering is a bit *sticky if you put a 13-14kgs kid in it. Andrew loves the Steelcraft Swiftlite but I don't, i have to twist my back to steer the thing, but then it is extremely compact for going on the train. The Peg Perego Pliko P3 does have a much wider seat and much better suspensions on wheels. I can't believe a kid this big is still not walking straight, he is the only kid out of all the playgroups I go to uses a walking harness. And he drags me along as he walks, I would be either running behind him (not easy to steer him!) with the harness or simply put him back in the stroller. I love the P3 and have been using it for weeks now, it reclines flat, stands upright when folded, large sun canopy, I can lift it into the car boot without hurting my back, great steering. Jasper still sleeps in the stroller, he refuses to hold hands when we walk, oh well, looks like I have to continue using a stroller until he is trained to walk properly.

I used a 0-18kgs convertible carseat up until this month. I can't understand how they can fit an 18kgs in an infant carseat as advertised. Jasper has certainly outgrown it. Loading a wriggly 13-14kgs kid in the middle back seat is the greatest torture in life. I bought a new toddler booster carseat this month it is good for a 14-32kgs child, I fitted it to the side seat just behind the driver seat, I can sit him in without bending my back or hitting his head to the ceiling of the car.

separation anxiety

It may be hard to believe but he has just developed separation anxiety for the first time, he is like "want mummy" every minute. When we went to the playgroup and I tried to leave him quiety for a few minutes so that I can park the car properly, he was crying crazily banging on the door "want mummy", "want mummy"....

want mummy

There has been a few times Jasper pulls my trousers or my arm when daddy tries to take him to the park. It is not good enough for him that daddy goes with him to the park, he wants *BOTH mummy and daddy go to the park with him. He says "want mummy go park" when I try to stay home, and he tries to pull me into the lift!

22 months, kick ball

A lot of things happening lately. He finally kicks the ball today and says "kick ball". He was aware that people are putting on clothes and pants for him and he seemed to be behaving minimally cooperative. For the first time from birth he let me clip his finger nails and toe nails without fighting or the need of toy distraction to keep him occupied. He looked at each finger as it was clipped. He says a lot of sentences and are very fluent with most colours and numbers. eg two white flowers, 6 brown bears etc. The most typical sentence remains "want xxxx ", eg "want climb up", "want slide down", "give daddy cup", "kiss mummy"..... He is quite familiar with some phrases in the books Maisy the rat, Spot the dog and Dr.Seuss. He answered his name "jasper" when i asked him what his name was. He now does 5-6 piece board puzzles. Can sing the alphabet song. Can count objects. Can read some large prints in teh book, he says "turn page" as he is turning the page.