Camp

Bright Eyes came on a camp with me and the baby for four days this week.

All in all, it was relatively successful. He had two big tantrums and I managed to head off two more by not requiring him to do some things I would normally have expected of him. For example, he didn't use the toilet the whole time. And I didn't make him have a bath. (He was a bit stinky by the time we got home...)

He was very interested in the 40 teenagers who were at the camp, and was keen to chat to them, although the encounters were not entirely successful as they didn't understand a lot of what he was saying, and many people asked him questions he didn't understand or couldn't answer.

I was struck by the difference in the way we talk to him, and the way most people start a conversation. We are still making a huge effort to use declarative language, but the majority of talk by others to him was instrumental and imperative.

(Of course, it's not their fault - that's the way most conversation with three year olds would start! But it was interesting to notice the difference.)

I noticed that he repeated himself constantly, looking for reactions from people. For example, he would look around the table at dinner and say loudly, to no one in particular: "I watched TV." When he got no response, he'd say it again and again, until I stepped in and reacted to his satisfaction.

Since we've come home, he has stopped this to a fair degree.

One nice thing was the fact that he slept in a bunk bed all on his own for the four nights. Back home, he has started in his own bed every night so far, but has ended up in ours... again.