Where's ball?

Well hello there.... how are you? I'm well. A little flu-y like almost everyone in our house since Winter has decided to turn up this last week. And it is FREEEEEEEEEE-ZING! We've officially hit heater season which means Jarratt and I are at wars over the heating situation of our house.... as with every winter, I am loosing! Boo! So here I am rugged up, typing away while my fingers slowly turn a white shade of blue. Despite it being the middle of the day and him at work, I still feel incredibly guilty about running the air conditioner. Silly huh? I guess the guilt is also because I'd be running it just for me.... you see its school holidays, yippee! And its one of my days 'off'. Chloe is in care, as we still pay for the day regardless if she goes or not, so we send her. Which means each school holidays I get 4 or so delicious days of indulgence..... ha! I wish! No, no... those days are fast filled with a ridiculously long list of 'things to do without Chloe'. The blog is one.... so here I am day one of my indulgence.... typing, to you. xxx


STATS (as of the 23/6/2014)
Height: 84cms
Weight: 11.3kg
Size: 1-2.
Shoe: 6

EATING and DRINKING

The high chair is NO more. Little Miss has officially graduated to her own table and chair. She continues to eat with us and the same foods as us. Then at each meal we slide out her table and chairs and position it at the end of our dining table for her. Although she can be a little fickle. Sometimes mid meal she'll want to sit on a dining chair next to mummy, which is fine. She's a toddler after all and they haven't got the best attention spans, lets be honest. But on a whole she is so happy to be out of the high chair and have her own little space. Gives her a real sense of self worth I think. She'll still use high chairs (sporadically) when we're eating out, but I think that will slowly phase out as she becomes more and more confident in normal dining chairs through practice at home.

Goodness.... Cinos! Chloe can now ask for them, and at the mere mention on them is running full steam in the direction of those delivering them. She still hasn't mastered the spoon to mouth business when the cino is more milk less froth, often spilling it all down her. Which is great fun when she no longer wants a bib on. But hey, its all part of the process in learning for her and for me. I just know now to quickly locate a straw to delay the inevitable. She is however VERY good at drinking from an open cup. We've begun a mantra of 'two hands please', as she's taken to carrying very small items in one hand as a comfort. But more on that later. So far the mantra is working. She is a fantastic listener and loves the praise she gets when we congratulate her on drinking so well.... with two hands!

Recently we've had a bucket load of Chloes friends (pretty much the entire swimming class) turn 2. And Chloe has well and truly indulged in cake and all things party! Like all kids she loves it! We have no problem with her eating the 'rarely' foods at parties, because well... that's what parties are about. And there's something too precious about her beautiful face smeared with cake that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

COMMUNICATION

 Its like this last month, she's decided she's just going to blow us away with her language. And not just us, any of those around her that care to converse. This month her day care teachers were shocked to realise she had yet turned 2, given how well she 'speaks'. Don't get me wrong she's no Shakespeare. But she is quickly moving from 'babble' to being able to clearly and effectively communicate her wants and needs. She is stringing multiple words together (including counting 1-6) and parroting at an alarming rate. Recently we had a bit of drama at home on a Saturday as I sliced my hand (and an artery! Eeeeck!) on a broken glass, requiring an urgent trip to the Emergency Room and 4 stitches. When it happened I may have bleeped out a swear word (oh shit!) and for the rest of the day, in front of many doctors at St George Hospital little miss proceeded to repeat the aforementioned phrase numerous times. So all you potty mouths (mummy included) are officially on notice! No more! Or you'll have daddy's wrath to deal with. No joke!

As a result, we think of her language getting better and people seeming to understand her more, she's come right out of her shell and is happy to play/talk/engage with people she occasionally sees. Like poor Scott and Eimhin a few weekends ago at the Henson in Marrickville. We do a fair amount of work on keeping her clued in on whose who in our circle of friends and family, by showing her pictures of our nearest and dearest where we say their names and she'll parrot them back. I think the poor thing is being conditioned by her teacher mummy in developing good habits for language development already. For so long, when teaching her a new word/name/etc - I ask her to watch my mouth, so she can see how to shape hers when she repeats the word. Now, without asking her, she will turn and look at us when we are speaking. Which is not only displaying wonderful skills in learning, but also fantastic manners.

But.... with good language use comes good assertive language. I don't want to say bossy, but golly I could. She will often give pretty specific directions to us, which can not always be at the most convenient time. "Daddy. Sit. Here" "Mummy. Come. Please". Unless its unsafe or impossible or rude (as in she hasn't said please, which we quickly prompt her to say "What do you say?") we will follow her directions. I mean if we expect her to listen to us and follow our instructions, we need to listen to her. It is a two way street. Also if we want her to be confident in herself and her voice, we need to show her that her voice is valued. Its not always easy, its not always convenient... but it really is that simple.

The other hilarious thing that has developed this month is Chloe becoming completely aware of our 'real' names. Jarratt and I have never referred to each other directly as 'mummy' and 'daddy'. If I need to ask Jarratt a question, I ask J. Same in the reverse. "J have you seen my phone?" "Bec does this need to go in the wash?" and so on.... Chloe, the clever clogs she is, has worked it out. Leading to many funny instances of her publicly calling out "Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay" in a crowded pub whilst we are having lunch.

Meanwhile, she STILL thinks her name is"'Bubbi" :)

GROSS MOTOR

So trips to the park have become a lot fun-er this month with little miss being able to walk almost the entire block there. She is also finding the swings much more enjoyable and with little assistance is about to climb most ladders and other equipment easily. She is still cautious going down the slide and likes to hold your hand on occasion but her confidence is definitely increasing at a exponential rate. Its fantastic to see! We're so proud of her!

Dancing continues to be a favourite pass time with her now following most of the actions to songs and generally swaying to music in the car. We have each purchased a play school CD for the car and she knows them songs verbatim now. She also loves to play a simplified version of musical statues where I sing my own made up song and then say 'stop' at which point she freezes. She just loves that game.

She's made some great developments this month in swimming. She now competently monkey monkeys along the wall. Kicks and bubbles with her 'rocket arms' and when using a kickboard. She also has begun the first steps towards 'diving', being able to 'jelly fish' along a submersed platform and then 'splatting' through a hula hoop. All independently. It really is pretty impressive stuff. Given she is the youngest in the class, with all the others turning 2 already, the teacher has rolled the class over to a 2-3 year old lesson so as we can all stay in the group together. Its so nice that she's been able to stay in the class with all her little friends.

Chloe has taken a real interest in jumping at the moment. Whilst she hasn't 'jumped' as such yet, she loves to hold your hands and bounce on her toes. We've tried showing her how to bend her knees and push off the ground, but she gets annoyed and prefers doing it her own way. Often when I try and help her, she waves her hand at me frowns and says 'no please mummy, bubbi do!' Then takes my hands, says 'jump' over and over as she bounces. The best bit is she laughs hysterically whilst doing it. So, so cute!

SLEEPING 

Sleeping continues to be hit and miss. Ahhhhh, the ongoing battle of sleep. I shake my fist at you! So we had a patch of about 2 weeks where we had no wake ups. Then BAM! This last week, multiple times a night. Grrrrrrr! We think it may be the change in temp with the nights being much cooler now, so we're trialling some different things. But since Chloe still really thrashes about in her sleep its hard to keep any blankets on her. We've already dressed her in a singlet, onsie and thermal PJs but still no good. Who knows. I know I report on this each month and its often sprinkled with negativity, but its just part and parcel in this parenting game for us. Meanwhile day sleeps are perfect. Often she sleeps for 3 hours, with us waking her before she sleeps past 3, as then we have problems with her going to bed at night.

Bedtime has also crept back to 730 on occasions, and once this month 930! Which was not great! But was for Jarratts mums birthday, so couldn't be avoided. Most nights though by 7, she (and us) are ready for her to go to bed. Some nights she may 'try it on', often laying in bed 'practicing' her words and having conversations with woof. If she begins to carry on for too long, or begins calling for us we've  taken a firm line of late. Telling her 'that's enough, its bedtime, go to sleep'. Once again we are doing our best to be consistent and it seems to be paying off.

LOVES and HATES

Oh lordy lordy.... so a few weeks back whilst Nanny was visiting we got some Indian food from down the road. Whilst waiting for it, I innocently bought Chloe a small bouncy ball from a vending type machine for her to play with. What a mistake! The ball.... now comes everywhere! And I mean EVERYWHERE. She sleeps with it (as you can see) and well go back and check out the eating photo from earlier. See it on the table? hahaha. Its also being held in the photo coming up of her and daddy at the zoo. Hahaha. A bit of a where's Wally? game for you there. We've had to buy a few 'spares' since it is prone to going missing. We were worried when she started taking it to bed that she may (heaven forbid) choke on it .... so try as we might to have her give it to us before putting her down, she was adamant that it was coming with her. So it went. We figured we'd just creep in and pluck it out once she was asleep. Which we did until she started waking up in a panic overnight crying out 'ball!? where's ball?" After waking in the morning its the first thing she asks for, when in the car, same thing. She's taken to hiding it in her clothes, under her 'bum bum', all sorts of places and then innocently asking 'where's ball?'. I think its her favourite game!

After her ball, her little friends are her next favourite thing. Sometimes its the only way I can get her out the door! 'Chloe, do you want to see Ayla?' 'Yeh, Nee?' 'Yeah, Renee and what about Ellie?' 'Yeh! Nic?' "Of course, lets go Bubbi". She is just smitten with them. And she is so so so considerate and loving to them. She laughs, chases, plays with them in such a way that is so far advanced for her age. I don't think Chloe has ever 'parallel played' as I'm told most kids do. She will often lean in close to her friends and talk to them. Just the other day at a party, I asked Chloe if she wanted me to get her some party num num. She said yes please mummy, then turned to her friend B and said "BB, num, yeh?" B nodded and Chloe turned back to me and shouted "Mummy, BB, num, k?" So deliciously sweet.

Unfortunately the hates this month land squarely at hygiene issues. Washing her hair, wiping snot from her face and changing her nappy. Whilst the first two are a constant battle and filled with tears, the nappy one is not as consistently hard. We've cut back on the hair washing and only put her through the trauma twice a week. Once on Friday post swimming and once on Wednesday after day care. Which is more than adequate. But it has to be done. There's no getting around it. Sorry Chloe.

OTHER STUFF

The Wiggles @ The Powerhouse
In other news we've done some cool family excursions this month. One Sunday we packed a bag and headed into the city to check out the Wiggles Exhibition at the Powerhouse. It was great! We arrived early and thankfully beat a lot of the crowd. Whilst there Emma Chloe was able to wave to the Wiggle house, cut fruit salad, make roses and have tea with Dorothy, ride the big red car and steer captain feather swords ship. It was a fantastic exhibition and I HIGHLY recommend it!

Taronga Zoo
We also had Lucy, Tom and Roy visit from Hobart! And apart from just generally hanging out, we also took Chloe to the zoo! She had a blast checking out the turtles, gorillas, giraffes and seals. But slept through the remained of the zoo. So we will definitely need to return to check out the lions and tigers and bears.... oh my! hehehe. Here she is with Daddy before she nodded off.... can you spy the ball? hehehe.

Modelling.
This month we also re-signed with Bambini Talent Group for another year. It wasn't really a tough decision, Chloe has done really well with it this past year and we thought it would be fun to continue for another year. I do need to look into booking new head shots for her which should be done (fingers crossed) by her birthday. I'll keep you posted.

Anyways, I better scoot. I want to tick off a few more things off this list before the indulgence day is done! ;-)