An Elfie Update At Two

It’s really hard to get used to calling Elfie a toddler but she’s really not a baby anymore. She can run, eat food on her own, throw a ball, have a tantrum… Definite toddler behaviour.

One of the things I was really worried about with the arrival of Hux was the impact it would have on Elfie’s life. I think I can safely now say that it has been almost 100% positive, Elfie loves ‘Bubba’ and likes to kiss and cuddle him as much as possible, though sometimes with a bit more force than is necessary. She always likes to help witth changing his nappy, dressing him and feeding him and he is one of the first things she asks for in the morning.

The relationship I have with Elfie struggled a bit at the beginning: a combination of her spending an increased amount of time being looked after by her grannies in the last weeks of my pregnancy, the week I had away from home and the delicate post-c section condition I was in when I got home. She morphed into the biggest Daddy’s girl, if ever anything was wrong then only he would do. Now Hux is more independent and I’m able to leave him in bed asleep for longer periods of time, I can focus more on Elfie and seem to have won back her affection. She’s still a daddy’s girl though!

Elfie learns new words every day but the one she seems to like using the most is ‘me’. It becomes the most annoying word when you hear it 80 times a day, and I don’t know if she likes how it sounds or if she really just likes doing things herself. I get “ME!” when I’m changing her nappy, “ME!” when I do up her pram straps, “ME!” when I try to wipe her yoghurt- covered face. yesterday in the car was “ME ME ME!!” followed by a meltdown because I wouldn’t let her drive it. I love that shes so confident and enjoys being self-sufficient but sometimes wish she could express it without saying ‘me’.

When you have kids there always seems to be one sleep-based issue that means you very rarely get a full nights kip. At our old house we had that neighbor who woke Elfie up when he left the house for work at 5am every day. This was followed by a regular 4am wake up for no reason at all. Then as soon as she started sleeping through til 6.30 again I got so pregnant that I’d be up multiple times a night to pee. As soon as Hux came home from the hospital he started keeping us up, and now we’re in a routine with him where he feeds once or twice with minimal disturbance Elfie’s started waking up again. We think it’s nightmares and are pretty stumped with what to do. She wakes up screaming and won’t get back into bed because she’s scared of it. It takes a good couple of hours for her to get back to sleep. So in between Elfie’s wakefulness and Hux’s feeding I don’t think I’ve slept more than 2 hours straight in 2 months. I can’t wait to have a proper full nights sleep: it’ll feel like I’ve been on holiday.

In general, Elfie’s a very well-behaved little girl. She only occasionally behaves less than impeccably, and lucky for us it’s always at home when she does and is always when she’s tired. I’ve introduced the naughty step lately for those times when her behaviour is less than savoury, for example she has a tendancy to try and bite when she’s very frustrated (definite naughty step behaviour). I’ve put her on there three or four times in the last month, but annoyingly now when I ask her to stop doing something more trivial she likes to take herself off to the naughty step. Which negates the whole point of it somewhat.

One of the things I love about Elfie is that she is a typical non-girly girl but she’s still very feminine. She LOVES lorries, cars, airplanes and helicopters yet she’s also into cleaning, helping with the washing, Princess crowns, pushing her own little pram and my makeup. When she sees something she likes (a big lorry, a poster of a tube of Pringles) she will point at it and loudly exclaim “OOOOOOOHHHH!!!!!”. Which is hilarious.

Other things she loves at this age include: Peppa Pig and anything associated with her, yoghurts, baths, swimming and water, making loud noises, tickling, Duplo, baby wipes, playing with a ball, picking her own clothes, shoes, slides, swings and running at the park. She hates lawn mowers, big noisy crowds of people, bees, red foods and when her Daddy leaves for work.

Elfie’s health has been brilliant lately and we were pleased to find out at her most recent hospital appointment that she doesn’t need the operation we were warned might be necessary at 2. It was a scary appointment – there were seven doctors in one room – but I was happy that we were signed off as healthy for another six months with only a small increase in medication, incremental to her weight (a petite 10kgs). We’re going abroad for the first time in a few weeks and I’m slightly nervous about travelling, but I have paperwork so the airline will let us travel with her syringes and medical contacts on the other end. I’m trying to channel my nerves into anger at the fact the kids passports were £100 EACH – ridiculous!! – but if this trip goes well (it will) I’m looking forward to planning lots more with Elfie and Hux.