Trip to Latvia

So finally we are back home! :) After 10 days of vacation in Latvia, mostly visiting my parents and meeting friends almost every day..
Latvia was great. The South! It was so warm there, even on the days, when it rained, and everything was so green and rich.. You would think there is no difference of here and 300 km down, but there is.

We started the trip actually on Adelaide's (Latvian) nameday (pēc paplašinātā kalendāra) - on 8th of July! (She also turned 13 months!)

We made a stop on the way in Meke pub (nice!), the food was great, but even greater was the nice country side yard they had and the slide! :D Adelaide loves slides, and she already recognizes, if she sees one. Then it is impossible to get her away from there.



She continued to climb up the slide even immediately after she fell a bit to the side and got a scratch on her cheek! :D A tear came out, but didn't stop her wish to go back.. That's how she is.

On her nameday we gave her a gift - a swing, since she loves to swing as well. We still have to figure out, where to put it at home, as we don't have really a suitable place.


The days went by fast, and mostly, what she did, was - she was eating berries! Everything was ready - black currant, red currant, gooseberries, raspberries. And it's crazy, how much she liked them! She could eat them all day long, and we also let her eat as much as she liked (and surprisingly she didn't seem to get any upset stomach after eating all those berries). 






The summer is great - you don't need any fancy educational toys or to figure out some Montessori activities, it's all out there! In the real life. And it seems, my strategy in the summer really is - being outside as much as possible, just living (country) life as it comes, and that is all the child needs to develop.
I am not thinking of what new toys she would need until autumn or so. When the weather will get cold and rainy and we will move inside, then will think about indoor activities again.


The berry picking! What better activity for fine motor development could there be?!

She is picking them herself from the bush.. Even the gooseberries, which have thorns, she had no problem with them!

She also ate peas. And getting those tiny peas out from the pod.. That was even more complicated.



Actually, as always when away from home - she had a huge jump in development again! She got so many new skills that we were surprised. I guess it's the thing with a bit different environment - at home she has learned to manage one way. But away - there are a bit different things around, different conditions, she just has to learn to deal with them.

For example, we wanted to buy a used highchair for her, so she could eat there comfortably. Somehow didn't manage to get one. And - who would have known?! - as you can see in the picture above, she just started sitting on a usual big people's chair. Herself. With no support. (She needed a little help getting up, as Adelaide is not a climber.) But no problem. We were a bit shocked, as we never would have imagined to do it at home.

There are stairs in front of my parent's house with 3 steps. In 10 days time she learned to go up and down herself! (The progress was amazing and visible.)

She was copying everything that Grandma was doing - weeding the garden, putting fire in the stove etc. 

The funny thing was that she started barking and meowing! :D Interestingly, she didn't learn those from us, because we are saying those sounds, when reading a book with her, for example, but she learned to copy them from actual animals - as there were many dogs around, she was constantly barking back at them (and even in her sleep)! And from some neighbor cats she learned to meow..

Actually her language took a little rise in development - she was clearly trying to repeat many words. Some even constantly (ērkšķogas! or gooseberries). Of course, really unclear and something that barely sounds like it.. But enough, that we could understand it. That makes me happy, it's so exciting, that she is soon going to express herself with words!

All in all, she seemed to really enjoy our stay there, in couple of days both she and we got used to the new routine, so it was a nice vacation in my childhood home.

Even nicer it is to be back home! :)

Comments

  1. Skaisti! Tad krēsliņu vairs nevajadzēs! Podiņu gan vajag! :D

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