Teaching Toddlers to Cut

I took these pictures quite a few weeks back now but felt compelled to write about them today due to the incredible difference in Idris's cutting skills in such a short time. I can remember sitting with Faith for hours at a time whilst she mastered scissors and it was a pleasure to be able to replicate that for Idris! I had noticed that he was becoming more interested in the tools that the girls were using and was naming things like 'sizzies'. I picked up a pack of coloured electrical tape in the pound shop when I was in town ready for him..... and off we went as soon as he said 'sizzies, me'

I love the concentration on his face and his opening and closing mouth as he cuts. He started out using one hand on each scissor handle. I gave him proper craft scissors that were sharp enough to cut well but without pointed ends. Blunt toddler scissors simply frustrate children when they are learning to cut and do them no favours as in struggling to cut with them they could hurt themselves more. I have two pairs of scissors with looped handles that spring back open when released and only need squeezing to cut with, without having to worry about which fingers go in which holes. I have left and right handed pairs as you never know which way a little one is going to go! Faith loved cutting with them but Idris eschewed them in favour of a pair the girls were using! I also have a pair that has a small plastic spring on one handle that when folded down helps the blades to spring open easily again..... they came in useful later on.... for the first stage, just let your child hold and move the scissors how they feel comfortable.

It is useful to hold the paper up for them, at right angles to where they are cutting so that they only have to concentrate on moving the scissor blades, not on manipulating them to get them round the paper. You will sense when is the right time to start letting them do both. You can see from the picture that Idris quickly moved on to attempting to use the scissors with one hand only. It wasn't very successful but I said nothing and let him guide his own progress!I also avoid saying too much about which way up to hold the hand...... words get in the way of a concentrating toddler and they will find their own way! Faith was 16 months when she started cutting, Idris is about 22 months here. The first step with learning to cut is usually 'fringing' around the edge of a piece of paper, making a single cut then opening the scissors and making another cut.

With the electrical tape I held that out tight so that they scissors would cut first time and then Idris either showed me where to stick it or put it down for himself. It is nice to use the coloured tape as they can see where it has gone better than clear tape and allows choice of colour too.... Idris was keen to pull out the tape by himself, another reason why electrical tape is good for toddlers as finding and keeping the end is easy and it doesn't wrap itself up quite so much as clear tape!! It also has the benefit of strengthening fingers and increasing co-ordination and control!

After about an hour cutting and sticking, Idris stopped, looked up, gave a huge sigh then jumped down from the table and took his card with him to show Daddy what he had done with the sizzies.... the picture was ceremoniously pinned to the kitchen door with his big sister's pictures and he was so thrilled, he kept coming back to look at it and say 'me, sizzies'!!!!

Roll on a few weeks and he has asked to use scissors quite often. He likes to carry them with him and although I balked at this to start with I then decided to allow it within the parameters of it being a blunt-ended pair and of him carrying them properly with the blades in his hand and pointing down. He forgets a lot but if I say 'carry your scissors properly please' he immediately turns them round again! He has tried cutting all sorts of things and has developed really good cutting skills, so much so that he now cuts one handed, in straight lines across a piece of paper and at a furious pace! Under the table is littered with pieces of snipped paper several times a day at the moment! 

Today's interest was in cutting boxes, it was fascinating to watch him try different techniques and angles until he found one that worked. The recycling bin is a great source of materials to practise cutting skills on - catalogues, thin cardboard boxes, plastic fruit boxes, wax paper cups..... all provide a new experience! Other things to give your toddler to cut up are play dough, drinking straws, vegetable peelings and leaves and thin twigs from the garden!

Idris at 22 months

My sweet boy turned 22 months a few weeks back, and is motoring on towards being 23 months - that is so close to two years old, which is coming round sooooo quickly!! He continues to delight and amaze us and is such a joyful little person...... as you can see from the series of pictures this month, he has discovered the thrills of swinging! He seems to feel safe in the strap seat which hugs him securely and begs for Daddy to push him 'more push peeeeeze'!! Dewi of course responds by pushing him far higher than I feel comfortable with but I bite my lip and smile as he squeals with delight and yells 'peek boo' around the edge of the frame and sticks his tongue out at me!!!

Some other physical skills he is working on:

• HUGE jumps into the swimming pool - almost bombing, then bobbing back up with a big grin on his face and his eyes wide open!
• Pushing the girls 'scoot toots' (scooters) around the patio, watching how the handle turns the wheels and picking them up and putting them down, then propping them against things.
• Climbing ever more challenging structures - whether they are designed for climbing or not!!
• Carrying a can half full of water and watering plants
• Cutting with scissors - equally proficient with both hands
• Tripod grip holding a pen and drawing tiny little circles and marks - he finds it fascinating that he can make small marks and appears to be ambidextrous at the moment

He has discovered tools, to be more specific, hammers..... it started when Daddy, Grandpa (bomp bom) and Dadcu built a wooden cabin in the garden. They all three had hammers and Idris seems to have decided that men have hammers and therefore HE must have hammers (notice the plural here!!). This led to his first major injury of a split finger after he dropped one on his hand.... it has healed nicely though and hasn't put him off! Dewi found him a nice LITTLE hammer and he went all round the garden trying it out on different surfaces, he was enchanted with the 'ting' it made when tapped against the metal bird bath!!

Although he has a wide and varied vocabulary and his understanding is fantastic, he is a boy of few words at present, these few words can sometimes be pretty repetitive though!!

• He tells little stories like "Bomp bom - dog - oh oh" which was about him throwing a toy dog out of the car window as we were leaving my parent's home and Grandpa had to run up the drive to rescue the dog and give it back! Another one was "cat - shace (face - he can't make 'f'' sounds!) - scatch" accompanied by a gesture, when my friend's cat scratched his face one time. He really loves to tell stories.
• He purposefully learns new words by pointing to things and looking at me with a questioning look asking for me to name it, then having a go himself. Like most toddlers, he has his own unique sounds that I regularly have to translate for others!
• He tells the punchline of books before we get there which makes me giggle, and answers the questions or joins in with the words he knows. He has a stock four favourite books that we read over and over at bedtime.... I've tried sneaking a new one in but it isn't accepted!

This is a rare picture - my tough little cookie rarely cries when he tumbles or bangs himself and if he does it is short lived as he comes with the offending hand or leg held out for a kiss better.... cue instant end to tears!! He can tell me now that something is 'sore' and can show me where which helps! The best bit about this last month is that he has started to spontaneously dole out cuddles and it makes me so happy to have his little arms wrapped around my head or neck and squeezed and then a careful kiss planted on my lips!!

This is Idris at his happiest - helping Daddy with whatever Daddy is doing and watching carefully how it is done then mimicking it. He is very much a man's man and starts to talk about his Daddy as soon as we head for home if we are out without him! I love watching him grow up!!

Toddlers and Tools!!

Idris's latest passion is tools, more specifically hammers, or 'am' as he calls them. It has been sparked by the cabin building that went on in our garden a couple of weeks ago. It made a huge impression on him as not only was his Daddy wielding tools but his Grandpa (bomp bom) and Dadcu (dee) also. Idris is very much a man's boy..... most female relatives he can take or leave, he will even abandon his Granny's knee if preference for bomp bom!

We have had many conversations about tools since, including a half hour stint sitting on the floor of a certain hardware store comparing the merits of various garden tools and an earnest chat with the man behind the trade counter about the power drills behind the counter and the fact that Bomp bom drank tea too!

Dewi managed to find him a small wooden mallet that seems to satisfy his desperate need to have a hammer in his hand ALL THE TIME!!! I just loved watching him get to work on these wooden off cuts......

Holding them different ways......

Really hitting them as hard as he possibly could, with some fabulous facial expressions to go with it!

Shuffling round and trying it this way.....

..... and this way......

....and this way......

Steadying it with his hand and putting a boot on it just like Daddy does.....

And loving the physical challenge of handling a long piece of wood!

You can't beat the real thing for satisfying toddlers needs and interests...... a toy tool bench just wouldn't have cut it for Idris!! He is still fascinated with the metal hammers though and sidles up to them whenever he can, just touching them with longing in his eyes..... he did sneak one away and as I saw him and was about to ask for it back, he dropped it and split his finger open....... steri strips are a wonderful invention and as usual he was a tough cookie and once he'd stopped being cross about having a bandage around his hand, he was fine and it is healing nicely. Has he learned a lesson from this and now keeps away from the adult tools when Dewi is working? What do you think?? I am watching him like a hawk!!

Idris at 21 Months!

Idris has found his climbing feet - he is really brave and adventurous in playgrounds now, and loves to sit for ages on the roundabout whilst older children spin it or follow them up the climbing frames. He's really confident and if he needs instructions one time, he's got it then! He's a tough old cookie too, only wanting acknowledgement of a bruise or fall before heading determinedly off again.

He is beginning to explore crafts a bit more, dabbling in painting and getting to grips with 'sizzies' as he calls them. Below he is proudly showing Dewi his picture before we ceremoniously pinned it on the kitchen door along with the girls pictures. He was very taken with having it up there to see!

He really loves books now. We have piles of books everywhere and he will announce 'book' then plump down next to or on you and open it up. We talk about the pictures often instead of reading the story and point out new things or suggest what is happening. This builds up and the next time we look at the same book, he points those things out. favourite books at the moment are Shirley Hughes 'Noisy Noises' and 'Two Shoes, New Shoes', an animal noises book with a howling wolf and Dear Zoo.

I have stopped trying to record all of his new words. He has had a word explosion but they are quite often words that are infrequently used so I don't hear them often enough to think 'oh that's new' and write them down! He strings several words together to convey his meaning, but not really sentences yet, but his is very knowledgeable and makes the most wonderful expressive eye contact as he talks with me! One word of note that he came out with was when he pointed across a field to a rugby came and proudly announced 'Butt ball, mum, butt ball'...... oh the shame of our son naming rugby as football.... I did laugh telling Dewi about it!

All of a sudden, playthings seem to interest him more - he enjoyed pouring rice into the grain silo on the farm and then letting it out again - as well transporting the rice all over the place, including into the water tray......

..... which provided for his love of pouring backwards and forwards...... but which also got transported all over the place!!! He has also enjoyed trying to match keys to the correct doors in the little animal hospital we have so he could put the animals in and out, matching a few shapes into the shape sorter till, some simple peg board puzzles and two piece jigsaws, and putting coats and shoes on and off the doll.

A poorly Idris curls up and falls asleep on his Daddy's lap - he looked so tiny all of a sudden! All in all this little boy is such a wonderful gift - my heart swells every day watching him play with his sisters, how they care for him and how he responds. He is so compassionate when they hurt themselves, running to put his arms around them with a concerned expression on his face. He has utter confidence that they have his back, often turning to them with his arms out if he hurts himself or becomes upset. Our family is the centre of his world, he falls asleep singing 'Ebe, Aith, Daddy, Moo-oom, Idis' over and over, all is just as it should be

Idris at 20 months!

Idris has begun to play with toys. He likes the baby dolls, wanting me to put clothes and shoes on and off them and covering them with blankets before kissing them fondly. The game degenerated soon afterwards into throwing the baby on the floor whereupon Daddy picked the baby up and made crying sounds and cuddled it which delighted Idris into fits of giggles before taking the baby and throwing it on the floor again - sigh!

Having said that, he shows real compassion when someone is upset - an anxious look comes onto his face or he copies the upset person's facial expression. Sometimes he is uncertain but then goes to the upset person and either pats them or cuddles them. It is very sweet, but no less than he gets when he is upset (except perhaps the copied facial expressions). He will also 'kiss better' if you ask him. He likes to be kissed better if he hurts a finger or toe, he will come over, pretend crying and hold out the offending digit until you kiss it then instantly stop crying and go off again!

He's very into clothes still and if he thinks no-one is looking will start putting his own clothes on, usually his trousers. The only problem is that he tries to put them on by putting his feet into the feet holes rather than the waist hole so some hilarious happenings have resulted from these attempts!

 He is beginning to connect words together to explain his meaning such as "cold - top, trousers" when it is bedtime and he is chilly without his pyjamas on. He also says "car - deep deep" because he wants to sit in the front and beep the horn, which I'm not sure the neighbours would find so amusing a second time!! He tells me when he's done a poo as well now but isn't any keener on having it changed and since the advent of him learning the word "no" about three weeks ago, we have had some tricky negotiations over getting dressed. Hence why he was outside one morning dancing in the snow in his pyjamas because 'no' he wouldn't get dressed, and 'no' he wouldn't put his coat on. I figured he'd realise it was cold pretty soon and come back for said coat, which he did!! Having tried out the power of "no" for a few days, he just uses it so say 'no' to things like more food or a drink now - phew!

 He loves to play jokes on people and will take their fork at dinner time and hide it behind his back with a big grin on his face! He's much more aware of who HE is now, pointing to himself when his clothes are being folded from the laundry basket, as well as naming every other family member's clothes. He has used the word 'mine' a few times as well as pointing to himself. He loves to jump with both feet off the ground, jump jump jump like a little kangaroo! I have also caught him standing on the sofa arm saying "two two two yay" and leaping off the arm onto the sofa cushions. He says two three times as it is the only number he says right now, although he knows it is for counting as he counts things in books and if I pick up two pieces of fruit for example, he will say 'two'. His other hilarious saying is "din din din din din din din din ba ba" which is copied from the girls saying 'dinner dinner dinner dinner dinner batman', accompanied by kangaroo jumping and general excitement whilst I serve the food up!! He had a huge tantrum one day staying with family as he was hungry for his breakfast and they didn't realise. I said to Dewi that he needed to learn a word for 'hungry' or 'food' so he could say what he needed. The very next day early in the morning he grabbed my hand, pulled me into the kitchen, pointed to the cupboard and said 'din din' very firmly, indicating that he wanted his breakfast - problem solved!!

He has started to sit and play with toys a little now - I picked this farm up second hand for him as I noticed he was looking for little animals to play with in another toy set the girls have. He really likes it and we play often. He has also got more into books too. For the first time today he asked me to read the same book four times, it has text in rather than just pictures and words and he listened carefully all four times before having had enough. Admittedly it is a book about making noise, one of his favourite subjects, but still, a special moment!! He still isn't into veg much - he will eat pasta sauces with chunks of courgette, aubergine, peppers, onions, celery, carrots etc in but won't eat steamed veg plain from the plate. Then one day at a friend's house for lunch, he saw a bowl of black olives and said 'grapes' and asked for one, I passed him the bowl expecting him to spit it straight out and instead he ate it followed swiftly by seven more! i was very amused that he won't eat carrots or tomatoes but will eat strongly flavoured olives!!

His new words this month are f(r)uit, bag, George (the baby of a friend of mine whom he is very keen on!), pancake, mine, d(r)awer, c(l)ose, 'earis' meaning 'here it is', Sam (his cousin), g(r)apes, no, down, up, head, toe, bott(om) (which he finds very amusing, especially making bubbles in the bath!), for(k), pee(ka)boo, c(l)ock, pig, (sh)eep (pointed at from the car window after seeing them at close range at a farm), (Dad)cu (his Welsh grandfather), table.

And the really amazing news this month? He refused breast milk and demanded JUICE at five o clock one morning - was not impressed when I returned with water from the bathroom and repeated his request firmly for JUICE!!!! He's now back to preferring my milk!!!!

Idris at 19 months

Well I can hardly belive that another month has flown past and this fabulous, funny, loving little person is 19 months (and a bit!) already! I keep a page in my notebook where I jot down new things that he does or things that I notice about him to write in these posts and this month it seems I have been adding new things every day or even several times a day sometimes, especially his new vocabulary! So here goes, he:

• Loves to help out around the house, he will put things in the washing machine, carry cups to and from the dishwasher, tidy away, put pants and socks in the right drawers, pulls pillow cases and duvet covers off, feeds the animals, tidies the bath toys, helps to carry things.
• Is super independent, he carries his own plate or bowl of food to the table, then climbs up to a high wooden stool and sits to eat with us, getting down usually when he is done and pottering off! He eats really well with a fork and spoon, which is just as well as he......
• refuses to wear a bib or apron or have his sleeves rolled up, he can't abide taking his trousers off to wander around for some nappy free time so we have to take the nappy off and put his trousers back on again!!
• uses a stool to get things that he wants/needs/shouldn't have - he delights in climbing up to retrive a pair of scissors then carrying them to me saying 'sisiss. sisiss'!
• runs really fast, can jump off the floor with two feet together, often climbs steps with alternate feet, and has a lengthy and highly accurate overarm throw, and a cracking left foot kick!
• kisses things better, by grabbing the hurt person and kissing their cheek, he always comes for his hurts to be kissed better, holding out the hurting bit, then is instantly better as soon as it has been kissed!!
• thinks that all numbers are named 'two' and says it every time he hears someone say a number!
• can be incredibly disruptive if he thinks he isn't getting his share of the attention - he will climb a book case whilst making eye contact and grinning, as if to challenge me to come and get him, or he will screech like a banshee VERY loudly in an attempt to drive everyone present into interacting with him - I have cracked down on this this week as the girls capitulate far too often and it is making it worse!!
• really enjoys books now and likes to fetch a book and sit with someone and talk about it, he even 'tells the story' with a simple 'splash' book, knowing what things are on the next page (trousers and hat!!).
• still loves order and routine, things have to be done in a certain way and put in a certain place or we get no peace until he is satisfied.
• eats me out of house and home - my friends with several boys assure me this is normal!
• has slept through the night for the first time since he was born - but now gets up any time from 5 am due to having slept well - roll on those summer mornings!!!
• loves to show body parts, where are your eyes? (blink blink blink), where is your tongue (sticks it out), where are your teeth? (gnashes them), he points to his ears, mouth, head, hair, tummy, bottom.
• loves his boots, we have indoor boots (yellow duck ones) and outdoor boots (muddy ones) but I still seem to end up cleaning them often!!

his new words this month are: sisiss (scissors) trousers, book, chair, boot, ballo(on), (s)tick, (s)tep, kick (accompanied by the action), bowl, coa(t), c(l)othes, cheese, yeah (he doesn't say 'no' yet!!), Ebe (Eve), (F)aith , Gar (Grandpa), (s)tuck, (s)ock, (w)oof, doo doo (thank you), cat, hat, eyes, ears, no(se), knee. It interests me that most of his words relate to his body, other people, clothes and his ways of getting what he wants such as stick, stool, coat, hat (to go outside etc).

 

Idris at 18 months

My lovely boy is 18 months old today and he brings us so much joy and laughter. With the knowledge and experience that I have gained over the last 7 1/2 years I feel that I am a much better parent now and am more relaxed and confident with him than I was with my girls. Here is a quick round up of where he is at now:

• He has suddenly found a handful of new words that he uses lots - coa(t), (h)at, boo(ts), ban(ana), booj (orange), Duh (daddy), E(v)e, aich (Faith), (s)poo(n), s(w)eetees, cho(colate) - the joys of a third child exploding in words just after a Christmas time peppered with sweet treats! - note no word for Mummy yet but as he's with me pretty much all the time ha has no need for a word for me!
• He recognises loved ones in photograph and will point to them in the room and to the picture.
• He points out when people and pictures have the same as him such as a hat/coat/boots on.
• He is beginning to explore body parts and will touch hands, feet, nose, eyes and sometimes mouth on himself, others and pictures in books.
• He is beginning to enjoy books now just this last week or so, we sit with a book or two first thing in the morning when he has a piece of fruit and talk about the pictures. I appreciate the abundance of picture books with real photographs in which are much nicer than drawings and weren't easily available when Eve was his age.
• He loves to sit up at the table in his high wooden chair, he doesn't need the straps now and gets up and down (and on and off the table!) as he pleases but is very good at sitting with us during meals.
• He's very possessive of his own things such as his chair and gets very cross if the girls sit on it!
• He likes order - everyone has to put their soup spoon in the bowl rather than down next to it for example or he nags that person until they comply - or walks across the table to do it for them!! He loves his routines of what we do in the morning, how we get ready to go out, what happens at bed time and so on.
• He has begun to play with toys a little - this week he has twice got down when he was full and fetched a truck back to the table and sat playing whilst we finished.
• He loves to help do jobs and tidy up - the dish washer, laundry, sweeping. He likes to sit on the counter next to me when I cook and has a pallet knife to pretend chop vegetables. He will put them in the pan for me once chopped! He will shut and open the door when we ask and sends the dog on her mat!
• He likes to play teasing games of 'where has it gone?' where he hides something and grins at us as we make a big pantomime of looking for the object up our sleeves, under the table, in a book etc. It absolutely delights him and he even plays along looking in the place and then shaking his head before producing the object with a huge grin on his face!!
• Oh, and he can be a real scamp too!

Nature loving Toddler!

I wanted to post this collection of photos from the Summer months. They show Idris exploring the natural world in his own way. When Eve was this age, I didn't know enough to let her do this, I thought it was bad to let her climb into a stream fully dressed and spend half an hour moving rocks around. Over the years since I have learned so much and realised just how important and valuable it is to let toddlers explore in this way when the mood takes them. I had a towel and a change of clothes handy, and the girls were hill climbing with Dewi so we sat in the stream in Carding Mill Valley in Shropshire in the remnants of early September evening sunshine and he shifted rocks and I sat quietly and let him be!

This picture was in the overflow stream at Wightwick Manor which is our magical place to spend time. It has everything a child could wish for - ponds, running water, streams, woods, fallen trees, long grass to roll in, apple trees to scrump from, a long tunnel hidden in a clipped box hedge, little secret seating areas dotted around, a hut thatched with heather, soft fruit bushes, pine cones, flowers, and a tearoom that sells tiny tubs of handmade ice cream!!

This is Idris at the foot of an enormous Beech tree at Northycote - the girls love this Beech tree as the roots curl over each other and form hollows that hold water and potions to be mixed! the branches droop right down to the floor and in full leaf hide us from passing dog walkers (until our dog ambushes them from the leafy cover and the peace is shattered for a few minutes!). Despite the crunchy beech cases underneath, Idris goes barefoot here and was happy to stir the cauldren whilst the girls fetched supplies from the surrounding plants!

These are a couple more of Idris at Wightwick on the rocks of ages, practising his balancing skills.....

......... and bonding with our dog Poppy!!

.......and running away from me as fast as little legs will carry him whilst giggling all the time!

And here is one of many shots I have from this rainy Summer that has passed of our little rain baby who made a beeline for the patio every time it rained and pottered around, looking up at the sky, holding his hands out for the drops to fall onto, stamping in the puddles that formed and having a wonderful time! Like the stream at CArding Mill, we never stopped him, just dried him off when he was done......as you can see he thoroughly enjoys it - a slightly photo but he is rarely still long enough for crisp ones!!!

Toddler Maths

Idris stunned me yesterday by easily building this huge tower!! He confidently placed one unit block on top of another, using his other hand to steady the tower when needed. I helped with a few balance adjustments as it got higher but he wasn't upset when it fell over, he laughed and rolled around on the blocks then built another. I digress....... about halfway up, I handed him a longer block and he put it on and turned for the next one - I handed him the original size and he turned to put it on........ then stopped, frowned, said 'na' and took the long one off, dropped it on the floor, did a happy wiggle then put the same sized one on top and turned for the next. It made me think back to some Penny Tassoni training I did recently where she had put a blue duck with yellow ones and noted that a toddler took it out of the bucket, showing that toddlers take notice of groupings - an early mathematical observation. It got me thinking what else I have seen Idris do that comes under the 'early maths' heading.

Here he is sitting with a metal teapot from his metallic treasure basket and he went straight for the tin that would fit inside it and popped it in and out, opening and shutting the lid - he seems to be very accurate when he chooses things to fir inside something else. He knows what will fit and what won't without using trial and error - showing that he can accurately judge size/capacity at a very young age!

This is him again exploring a similar concept to the one above with the teapot...... this is the treasure tub that came about after my post on him threading beads into plastic bottles - my parents put together a collection of plastic plumbing pipes and different threads of beads, a funnel, a few jars and bottles and a denture pot! This treasure tub is fab as it's in a round plastic bird seed tub and is easy to carry around - it has been to the bathroom many evenings at bath time! It was in the bath that I first noticed that Idris was selecting exactly the right tube to create a 'nest' of tubes with each one getting smaller. I was fascinated!

Idris finds plenty of opportunities to explore maths outdoors as well, as he carries all sorts of objects, heavy and light, and plays with his beloved collection of balls of all shapes and sizes! When you think about it, there are so many ways for toddlers to explore mathematical concepts, have a close look next time your toddlers are exploring things and see what maths they are applying without even knowing it!

All the things you can do with a slide......

Idris was being a tad grumpy and wanted to play on the slide outdoors but with the door open - and it was far too cold and gas is far too expensive to let that happen so while he was stamping his little feet and shouting about it, I took the slide inside and he was intrigued - and came along in to see what was happening! It wasn't long before he was having a brilliant time, testing out what would go down the slide and waiting while I said ready, steady........ go, then he pushed the cars down and laughed and laughed!!!

The bump balls went down it, the beads from the latest treasure tub went down it..... and of course, Idris went down it, in as many different configurations as he could conjure up.... forwards sitting, forwards lying, forwards stepping off it, sideways with one leg up, one leg down, backwards, headfirst - you name it, he did it, as well as practising going up and down the steps, each step with the next foot on it then turning around and climbing down again! Faith then joined in and got him to lie on his tummy and shouted, ready steady blast off and as she shouted blast off, she fired him down the slide with a good shove of his feet and he flew across the floor at the end.... he LOVED it!!!!

I'm sure lots of parents would be cringing at what I let him do, but he's a tough little cookie and laughs when he takes a tumble, as well as being very well co-ordinated and well developed with his physical and motor skills, so within reason, I let him explore his physical limits and satisfy his very obvious need to climb, roll, slide, jump, push, pull etc etc etc!!!

Idris at 15 months......

........is NEVER still!!!!

 He walks everywhere that he can, last week he discovered that he walk on his toes and spent the day walking on his toes everywhere! At the pool one day he learnt to 'jump' (that is he says 'du' and steps out from the edge with a big grin and tightly shut eyes!)..... so now he climbs onto things, says 'du' and steps off the edge with his eyes shut!!!! There is no physical challenge that this boy won't take on! He still loves to be outdoors in all weathers - I love it!

 He had his first fair ground ride at Wonderland last week - and loved it! He especially liked the Alice in Wonderland rabbit cars with steering wheels - so much so that he howled when he had to come out and let someone else have a go! He's just stopped crying when it was his turn again and yes, you guessed it, he howled again when he had to come out!!!

 He loves shoes now!! He will wear anyones shoes as you can see and is very adept at getting around in even the largest of pairs - he pinched my wedding shoes from the wardrobe too (red kitten heels) and clomped around in those! He found a pair of bumper shoes in our shoe box and brings them to us, thrusts them in our hands and lifts a foot with an expectant expression on his earnest little face! He wears socks with shoes, and they have to go on in a certain order thank you very much!!!! When his shoes come off, so do his socks! We need to get him some properly fitted shoes really as I don't think the bumpers are the best fit, but considering that I thought he'd never want to wear shoes, at least he has warm toes on chilly days now! He climbs on lots of things, liking to just be off the floor!

 This is a slightly blurry photo (I told you he was never still!) of Idris with a micro-bead cushion on his head - I have no idea how this started but he thinks it is really funny to run around with this on his head!

He is fascinated with play dough as well but eats a fair amount of it so we have to be careful - a reputable source told me that blue play dough puts children off from eating it so I'll have to test that theory next time I make some!! He is going through the stages that the girls did with play dough - pushing things into it, pulling pieces off when we roll a big sausage of it.... Eve discovered he likes the dough whilst trying to distract him one day!

And he is ADORED by his big sisters!!!!