Not many days pass by that my gorgeous Little Bean doesn’t fail to amuse me, but today, I have observed what a creature of habit she is. Perhaps it’s a little bit of OCD setting in early, but I think she is very similar to me. She likes things done in a certain way; it makes her feel comfortable and secure.
My little creature of habit
Every morning when she wakes up, she lays in bed and sings to herself until I or Daddy go through to her. At this point, she declares “nappy”, indicating that we need to change her bum (obviously). Next, she declares “cupboard”, meaning she has to put her teddy and dummy into the cupboard until her next sleep.
We come downstairs and open the curtains (as she has told me to!) and switch on the radio or the TV, depending on what Mummy feels like listening to/watching. We go to the kitchen, where she opens the cupboard door to the cereals and stands back to decide what she wants to eat that morning before asking for a bowl.
After breakfast, she marches herself back upstairs, asking to clean her teeth – she loves cleaning her teeth! I always clean her teeth first to ensure they are done well, and then she takes over, at which point she passes me her hairbrush and asks me to brush it.
Out and About
If we are going out for the day, she runs through a checklist of things to do before we leave the house. It goes like this, “shoes, bag, keys – lock it!”. Then she says hello to the dog next door before finally getting in the car.
When we’re out driving, if I have told her where we are going, more often than not, she will give me the directions. Up here, down there, over there and will point out people’s houses as we pass them. If I tell her we are going to Little Miss’ house (Cafebebe’s daughter), she will tell me “bump bump”, as our route means we have to go over three sets of sleeping policemen.
And if I don’t tell her where we are going, she takes note of the route and will get excited when she notices landmarks. If we visit my mother and father-in-law, she starts to get excited about a mile away when we go past a particular pub (notices them already!!) and will start shouting, “Brandad, Brandad”.
She is only two years old, and her sense of direction and memory amazes me.
Listening to Baby’s Heartbeat
Today, I attended the Midwife for my 31-week checkup. As we pulled into the Doctors’ car park, LB said, “Ooh, lady Anne”, my Midwife’s name (though not Lady Anne – she means she’s a lady). I think she has only been to two of my appointments with me. Still, upon entering Anne’s office, she watched as my blood pressure was taken and then jumped down and patted the bed, telling me to lie before pointing to the machine that listens to the baby’s heartbeat. Once I was laid down, Little Bean pointed to my ever-growing tummy and said, “Listen, train”, which made me and Anne laugh. Do you think she will be disappointed when I come home from the hospital with a baby and not a train?
Are you little ones addicted to routine, or is it just my Little Bean? What does your little one do that amuses you every day? My neighbour recently pointed out that every time she sees me leaving the house with Little Bean, I laugh – I think that’s a nice thing for someone to notice!
Bless her, you already know that J likes his routine, but he explodes if we change any of it!! Glad to hear everything is going well, I don’t think she’ll be disappointed when you bring “train” home, she’ll have a new “doll” to play with…… Although people may look at you funny when she calls the new baby “train” whilst you’re out! LOL 🙂
I always enjoy reading your stories and experiences – most of them make me smile!
My little dude C also remembers when we get near to our local supermarket and shouts “shopping” then “horse” as he remembers he can see a rocking horse above someone’s front door – I know, I know, strange but VERY true! He also knows where my Mum lives and as soon as we pull onto the road, before we even see her house he shouts “Nanny’s”. He’s also very good at remembering people who go together – ie. my friend’s son T and my friend, if you say one he’ll recall the other. He also remembers my cousin and her family members – including the dog!!
When we pull up at another supermarket in town he starts to call out “Mamma”, because my mother-in-law works there on the tills!
He can also identify the exact same make of car that we have – if he sees one on the road he starts to shout “Mummy’s”, and that makes me smile as he doesn’t put the car into the same mental box as his Daddy!!!
They are soo funny aren’t they, I forget just how similar C and L are. We just spent the weekend with my nephew who is the same birth sign as C and L and he is exactly the same too. Very funny xx
I guess from a young age we try to instill a routine in them because it makes them feel secure but as they get older we forget about it and it ends up confusing them as to why things suddenly change.
I should take a good look at myself because I hate it if my plans suddenly change, it makes me feel all unsure and let down! xx