"I need it"

Hi There Friends,

How are we all? I'm well..... and as with most blog updates, little miss is deep at rest, enjoying a nice sleep after a big morning out and about. So I thought I'd make a start on this.... yet another blog update. Here goes:

STATS:
Height: 87cm
Weight: 12.8kg
Size: 2
Shoe Size: 6.5

EATING and DRINKING

Not much to report on the food and drink front. Its all pretty standard now. She'll have brekkie. lunch and dinner with us. Her plate is a mini version of ours with obvious differences like less salt, no rare meat or anything too spicy. A big change in the last months appetite has been the love of Tic Tacs. She is MAD for them. They serve as a good bribe but aren't part of the daily diet. I am thinking next month this will drop completely out of the update......

COMMUNICATION

Chloe has started stringing multiple word sentences together. Her most hilariously recent being "I need it". Whilst digging in the freezer on a particularly hot day for frozen peas at dinner time, I told her to move away that she didn't need it. To which she replied, "no mummy, I neeeeeeeeed it" This has also made shopping an interesting activity. Her other fave sentence at the moment is: "My do it" which we correct to "I will do it", which she will parrot. But Chloe has developed quite an independent streak; wanting to go down the stairs on her own, get out and into the car seat without help, even buckle herself in. Sometimes (when we have the time!) its easy to accommodate this. But other days it can be quite a strain watching her fiddle with her buckle whilst you stare at the minutes passing making you later and later for work. I try to concentrate on the fact that for each minute she spends learning, its one step closer to her doing it herself. Just think, Bec, how quickly it will be to get organised in the morning when she can tie her shoes.... just let her pull the laces for a minute, its important. *breathe in* *breathe out* and remember she gives GREAT hugs and loves us deeply!

 

We're also highlighly suspicious she can read certain words and our trick of spelling out certain buzz phrases like 'P.A.R.K' are quickly being figured out. Just today I was sitting with her playing with her CHLOE name puzzle with the pieces scattered and asked her to find me the C. Bam! What about the O? Bam! The E? Bam... the L? picked up the H. Yatzee! But I thought, you know what they couldn't have been all guesses. I've also recently heard her count to 18, and whilst she will run through the first counting sequence correctly, once she reaches the end, will restart at 6. Which is also her age at the moment. If you ask her! hehe.

 

GROSS MOTOR

Swimming

Lessons are going GANG BUSTERS. Its like all of a sudden she has all this confidence and belief in herself she can swim. She's jumping off the edge without hesitation, head diving into the water and doggy paddling a few strokes to reach me in the pool. With the warmer weather too, we have been spending a lot more time in the water which may attribute to it. She also has started to be more comfortable in her goggles (yipeeeeee) and I've learnt to tie her hair up as tight as possible to save it from blinding her when she goes under. All this has seen her become so confident that she will even whilst holding your hands or the edge just drop herself under and hold herself under the water til she needs to come up. She just LOVES being in the water, and we love being in it with her!

 

Jumping

Chloe's love of jumping has continued, actually its grown exponentially! Almost religiously she will ask us to hold her hands so she can jump down the stairs out of our unit. She spends at least some portion of her day trying to jump so in order to get her off the furniture we have bought a trampoline for Christmas.... but its coming from Santa, so shhhhhh. Don't tell her ;-)
 

SLEEPING

Chloe this week has decided she doesn't need a nappy for her night sleep. Oh dear! Just the other night when we were dressing her in her PJs, she threw the pull up away and said "No, knickers!". We tried to persuade her but there was no budging! So on went the knickers and sneakily I slipped the pull up over the top whilst she was engrossed in playschool. Success, well until her pre bedtime wee, when she saw the pull up. "Mummy, no nappy please?".... how can you say no to that? So off it came, and since then we've had three no nappy nights and one with and one accident. We're letting her take the lead on what she's wearing each night.  We lay out the nappy and if she objects, that's good enough for us. So for the next week, we'll keep going as is, and if more and more nights are no nappy, bye bye nappy.

 

We suspect Chloe may be creeping closer to dropping her day sleep. Whilst she can survive without it, it gets a bit hairy around 5-6pm that night. But if she has any sort of sleep (1-3hours) during the day, bedtime isn't happening til at least 8pm! Some nights 9pm! So its a bit of a catch 22, damned if we do, damned if we don't. At the moment we're putting her down for her day sleep around 1230-1pm, and letting her sleep as long as she wants, just not past 330pm. And then having a much more relaxed bedtime.

 

Chloe also seems to have monsters living with her and has taken to sleeping with the light on and likes the door open. Ever since she was a newborn we've had her room pitch black for sleeps with no sound. Now this. Its a bit baffling. With the light on it does take a little longer for her to go to sleep and she often asks if we will sit with her for a bit. Which we had been doing because she seemed quite distraught by the 'monsters'. But slowly slowly we have been moving closer to the door and now sit just in sight for about 10-15 minutes and shes out. So as always, sleep continues to be our battle......  

 

LOVES and HATES

Chloe's loves this month include pulling funny faces, feeding the ducks in Evatt park, painting... Her hates are pretty standard toddler ones like sharing something that's hers and she's currently playing with, or just started stopped playing with, or may want to play with soon ;-)

OTHER STUFF

Moving House
Oh goodness. So we move house next weekend. Cue Panic Stations! I have all this week to pack the unit and Jarratt's taking responsibility for the garage. Divide and Conquer. I have a day off from work to move and will take that Tuesday. I have also asked day care for an extra day Thursday (we missed a bunch whilst in Japan that we are owed) so am hopeful that will take a large chunk of it and then I can pack the rest whilst Chloe sleeps. Because packing with a toddler is no fun for anyone!

But in a week, we'll be spending our last night in the unit. Its sad and thrilling at the same time. Thankfully part of the stress has been alleviated as we have found a tenant for the unit. They move in on the 18th so we have almost two weeks to come back and fix things up.

I have to pinch myself that we are now dual property owners!

Trip to Surfers
Earlier this month we were gifted a 5 night stay at the Outrigger in Surfers Paradise by Uncle John. It was such a wonderful trip. It was the first holiday we've had where we didn't have a list of what we wanted to see or do. The goal of the trip was to relax, and we did just that. Our days consisted of getting up, having brekkie, hitting the beach, then the pool before a nap (for Chloe, but often us as well) then hitting the town for drinks and dinner! Bliss! We also were fortunate enough to have Caryn, A and the boys drive down and visit us for the night. It was so night to hang out and the kids had a blast playing together. Made me sad knowing it would be a while before we'd be able to afford a holiday like that again.

Peppa Pig
Last Saturday we took Chloe to see Peppa Pig live. She loves Peppa and George. I was impressed with how well behaved she was in the theatre and how she followed along with the movements to the songs. I'll definitely be looking for more performances like this to take her too.

Santa
We had braced ourselves for no Santa Photo this year, since last year we hadn't been able to get Chloe anywhere near him. And I've seen SO many screaming child photos of kids around her age with Santa. So when I took her to Roselands last Thursday I wasn't hopeful. We spent 5 minutes waiting our turn whilst another little boy and his mum had their photo. Chloe was happy watching and waving at him from behind the line. When it was our turn (thankfully no one was waiting) we took our time bridging the gap between the line and Santa's stage.  I managed to get her right at the step before she darted back to the line and said 'I watch' I thought.... ok that's it, not gonna happen. Then I remember I'd come prepared, I pulled from my bag a bribe, a stamp specifically. I told her 'sit here sweetheart, show santa your stamp' and BAM, she was there. I then stood by the camera and behaved in a way that would have embarrassed Jarratt. Below is the reward. Totally worth it!

Modelling / Brand Rep
Again, nothing has come of our contract with Bambini this month, but Chloe continues to be an Instagram sensation! Since last month and our  brand rep contract with Bella Style and Designs, two more labels have contacted us. Generally you have to enter competition type searches to be selected as a brand rep, we have been seeked out by both labels. Its very flattering. The first is Fox and Cradle - another label specialising in head bands. The other is a clothing label called Tumble N Dry, which is stocked in Myer. Both have sent us packages of stuff that Chloe wears and I photograph - below are some examples. I think its a great deal, Jarratt isn't as impressed.

And so ends another month, I cant believe Christmas is nearly upon us and that next time I write to you all will be from our humble new digs. Exciting times ahead. I hope you all get (as Chloe would say) what you NEED this Christmas xxx