This year we decided not to go away on holiday for various reasons so, James and I have mostly spent the holidays visiting our usual National Trust and Historic Houses places.  I know a lot of parents complain and can’t wait for their kids to go back to school, but I have on really enjoyed having extra time with James whilst he hasn’t been at playgroup.  Don’t get me wrong, there have been numerous times when I have been desperate for a break and have found him a complete nightmare, but other times he has been great fun.

Although I have decided James isn’t ready for potty training yet, he has made some great progress. He now sleeps in a bed instead of a cot, a transition which he took to very well, although he does tend to go to sleep later through deciding that playing is more fun. He finally started feeding himself yoghurt with a spoon and he will drink from an open cup holding it himself.  He also has a drinks bottle instead of us having to use a 360 cup everywhere. I have even changed his favourite toothbrush and he has finally accepted it saying “new toothbrush” every time he uses it.  These may all sound like relatively minor things but anyone that knows James, knows that he is a creature of habit and is very reluctant to do things for himself, despite being able to.

Today he went back to playgroup and although I enjoyed the break, I did miss spending that extra time with him.  This term he will be going to playgroup two mornings a week, which is much more convenient than the afternoon sessions he was doing last term.  It means he can come home, have some lunch and then we can actually do something, or he can nap if he needs to.  Last term everything we did in the morning was rushed and then he was too tired after playgroup to do anything.

Playgroup went great this morning.  He was desperate to get inside as soon as we got there and ran off to play with the toys, without a look back. When I picked him up I was eager to find out if he had eaten the morning snack provided by playgroup.  I was told he looked at the snack and said “cheese” but didn’t want to sit and eat any of it.  I didn’t expect him to eat it but I hope over time he may actually try one of the snacks. They noticed he was using more words but needs to work on putting them together, which we already knew.

This may be his last term at playgroup, as after Christmas we will be moving somewhere new for my husbands job and I will be looking for a new playgroup.  I will probably be more sad about James leaving playgroup because it was the playgroup I went to and they have been fantastic with him.  They seem to have a good understanding of his character. I really hope that I manage to find a new playgroup that is just as lovely and enjoyable for James.

It’s sometimes hard for me to comment on how James’ speech has developed over the summer holidays because I am with him everyday so probably notice less.  I was thinking this morning about whether it has improved and I think it probably has.  The aim is to get James to start using sentences and being able to have a short conversation.  He will copy me if I say “Do you like __________?  and repeat the word I use, although I’m not sure he understands what I am actually asking him.  He doesn’t answer me, he just repeats what I am asking him.  One question he certainly understands is “Do you want to sit on the potty?” because he will always reply no to that.  He’s definitely putting more words together but holding a conversation is tricky unless you go through animals and ask him what noise they make, if that counts as a conversation?

James’ singing is improving and he can now sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star all the way through, along with a few other nursery rhymes.  I think this is definitely moving in the right direction with his speech and he seems to really enjoy singing, and I love hearing his little voice sing.

James’ interest in books is definitely developing as he seems to be much more interested in books with an actual story now, rather than relying on the interactive parts.  Pip and Posy books are by far his favourite and he also loves the ‘Oi’ series.  He spends ages looking at the pictures on certain pages and I am hoping he understands what is happening in the stories.

We are still plodding along with his eating, and he doesn’t seem to be interested in trying anything new.  We did go strawberry picking a couple of weeks ago which I was hoping would make him want to try strawberries.  As you have to walk past a play area to get to them, he spent most of his time tantruming because I didn’t let him go and play to start with.  By the end of the strawberry picking he did start to show an interest by pointing to strawberries he wanted me to pick; ones that weren’t always ripe, or ones with wasps on them.  He touched them which is progress, but didn’t want to try them.

Next month James will turn 3 and it will be a year of changes as we move on from where we currently live.  New house, new area and new playgroup.  One thing I am looking forward to is having lots of new adventures with him and exploring a new area.