Waves, Art and Schemas

At the play centre (and afterwards at Clare's house) we talked about schemas. I'd never heard of this before - it's a pattern of linked behaviour which can be useful (and is certainly interesting) to observe when watching children play.
When I read the descriptions, I immediately recognised Noah as a 'container' - he LOVES trying out what fits in where - here's the photographic evidence......
Eve was a little trickier - maybe because she is older and is more into art and craft now - but then I decided that she is a 'transporter' - the babies, and animals are always going off for picnics or on holiday - and dens are always built in a different room to the one where she finds all the things to actually build it from.

Always a lovely warm welcome at Clare's!













Eve's art, inspired by her seaside adventures - she drew some sea creatures (octopus, dolphin, fish, anemone) and a palm tree with her felts, then painted over it with plain water to get a watery effect. This was completely her own idea - all I did was provide her materials.

Socialising

So Thom's getting on with his usual evening antics (feeding copiously, pretending to fall asleep then waking up, wriggling and flapping, for more frenzied feeding....) - I thought I could update this while he gets on.....
It has been a sociable week. We had a great day at my brother's BBQ on Sunday last week. Noah's a big boy now, and aspires to be more like his big cousins, I think, especially when it comes to jelly-eating....... Eve and Noah had a brilliant time, Thom got loads of family cuddles (and a Kung Fu Panda figure to the head from his big bother at one point but we won't dwell on that....) and Harv and I had loads of time to chat with Ad and Jen.
Tuesday was Eisteddfod parade day - always a wonderful spectacle. Quite spine-tingly seeing all the costumes and hearing all of the instruments and rhythms. Some of the competitors have travelled such a long way to join - I try to imagine what Llangollen must be like through their eyes.....?! Eve, Noah and the friends we met up with were all captivated, and loved the music and costumes. Thom fed, bless him.....
On Wednesday we drove all the way to Slapton in Devon to visit friends, and spent some wonderful days with them at the beach. We also went to a fantastic play morning where they all made and decorated their own musical instruments; and a lovely local farm where the chiddlers played in a little wooden playhouse and Clare and I got to chat (almost) like grown-ups with only a few interruptions/chases....
Eve did some brilliant drawings on the journeys to and from Devon, including a family of fairies camping on a beach and the life cycles of frogs and butterflies - they're just beautiful. Noah showed a side I have only glimpsed before - his devotion to his siblings! At any sign of what he perceived as 'trouble' between them and my friend's little girl he immediately, and passionately, sided with Eve or Thom - got a wee bit Eastenders about it if I'm honest.....
Lots of co-sleeping - do you know how much room is left in a double bed which contains a two year old sleeping sideways and a five month old who's assumed the 'starfish'? Hmmmmm - well that's why I'm kind of tired.....

Talking and not Talking

Not taken any photos this week, so here's one of Eve from the weekend. She coloured her face in purple, we laughed, so she went off and coloured it in green over the top - brilliant!


We have had a very busy week - Tuesday especially, with shopping, Rhythm Time, collect Eve from school, ballet, then a birthday party. The party was lovely - it's so good to see all the little friends playig together. And most of the eldest siblings (and their mums) have 'known' each other since they were a matter of weeks old. Beth (two) was very good at blowing out her candles, which reminded me of Noah's second birthday a couple of months ago, when he kept reaching out to the candle flames trying to touch them instead of blowing them out.....
One of the nicest bits of the day was the walk up to Beth's house. It's up hill all the way, and I think probably the hottest, most humid day of the year so far, so it might seem strange that this was the most relaxing part of a hectic day - but both Eve and Thom were asleep in the pushchair (having fallen asleep in the car on the way home from ballet), so Noah-Boots sat on the hood and held onto the handle (it's a pretty sturdy vehicle - I must take a photo) and 'chatted' to me all the way, pointing things out and asking or telling me what they were. He is getting much better at the start of words, even though the endings are still getting kind of lost. So we had car, door, gate, house, sheep, and he learned fence, tree and van. Also strawberry (gor-rerry) which he already knows - he spotted them and asked for them as soon as we arrived at Beth's party. It was lovely to spend a bit of time 'just' Noah and I, as Eve is always so talkative and Thom kind of has the edge physically, so Noah deserves a bit more of both whenever I can. He was really keen and interested, and the look on his little face when I obviously understood what he was saying to me was, and always is, something very precious. Noah rocks!
So, his speech therapist came to visit us yesterday, fortunately whilst Eve was at school, (she kind of dominates the conversation......!) and I was kind of (oh so foolishly) expecting him to show off all of his new words and sounds as he's come a long way since she last visited us at home. Bridget started off with a bear game - the bears started fighting.....we moved onto Noah's own garage - the truck started fighting the helicopter (a favourite passtime)......we started building the train track - the trains started fighting......then Nemo and the crocodile hand puppet had a fight, then Noah started fighting the sofa cushions......... They were all very good natured fights and had lots of sound effects, mainly of the 'Gah!' variety, but not much evidence of his growing vocabulary - he was clearly in physical play mood and having none of our attempts to change this! Good for him, eh......my little monkey boy.