2 years on... what have I learnt?

So... we hit the two year mark last Saturday, Chloe is two! Can you believe it? And what a wonderful little person she is, she is kind, sweet, friendly, polite, bright, well behaved (I could go on and on) but most of all, looking around the hall last Saturday, I realised she is deeply, deeply loved, by all that know her. It made me realise that a lot has happened this last year, and that Jarratt and I have become really good at this. Sure we still have our moments of weakness but on a whole, I'm giving us two big thumbs up for the job we are doing, and I'm not making any apologies for being vain about it! So I thought being one year on, a little older, a little wiser, I thought I'd revisit last years post and share with you the things I've learnt in this second year of parenting.... Here goes:

1. There is no learning curve.
I think last time I wrote, I mentioned a learning curve or something similar. Bullshit! There is no learning curve. Once you've mastered breastfeeding, bottle feeding whatever, they're onto solids, once you've mastered that, they're feeding themselves with a spoon, once you've mastered that, there's cutlery... and that's just feeding. And as a result you never really feel on top of things and that's ok. Once you realise you have no control, bam! You're in total control, and more importantly, you can relax! You can cope! Everything will be ok. I promise.

2. Pick your battles.
Look, it will sound like I'm bragging and I'm sure it won't always be the case, but in general Chloe is a great kid! She's well behaved and on the most part will listen to and follow instructions when given. But sometimes, she wants to do things herself; sometimes she wants Uncle John / mum / dad / Nanny to get her out of the car, not you. Sometimes she wants to get a toy out that I've just packed away, sometimes she wants to walk the whole way home from day care on the fences and sometimes she wants to have a big pile of cheese half an hour before dinner or peas for breakfast. And while my knee jerk reaction is to say no, in the grand scheme of things, what does it really matter? Are these make or break things? Not really. Is she hurting herself or anyone or thing if she does this? Absolutely not. So why say no? I've learnt to save 'no' when it really matters. As a result, Chloe very rarely shouts 'no' at us. I really believe children are great imitators, so its important to give them something great to imitate. I don't believe that's someone who shouts a lot, or says no a lot is that great a role model.

3. Everyone parents differently.
There's a lot of differing parenting styles out there. And I've become quite aware of it this second year. I think its because Chloe is more aware. Discipline and expectations vary from family to family so when there is a difference in opinion on what's acceptable, it makes it confusing to kids. For example I expect Chloe to eat at the table when we have dinner, its hard to uphold that when there is another child running about the place. As a result I've found the times when I've had the easiest play dates, its often with like minded parents who have similar expectations of their children. I try and hold onto those that make me feel sane. Very, very tightly! Parenting is hard enough, without the added strain of difficult situations that you need to explain to a toddler. 

4. Don't worry about what other people think
Inevitably, you are going to be judged. By your family, your friends, people on the street. Its inevitable. But don't worry about it. For a long time it ate me up, if Chloe cried or squealed for this reason or that whilst we were out, I could feel the eyes of everyone burning down on me. Judging me. I then became stressed and dealt with the situation completely differently to how I normally would. If someone made an offhanded comment about Chloe that was even slightly negative, I'd jump on them, defending her. I would feel the anxiety swell in my stomach. Now, that's all changed. Why? Because I don't care what others think. I know that sounds awful already, so get ready for this next bit.... but why do they matter? In the end, all that matters is Chloe. I just care about her - that's the way it should be!

5. Hugs heal everything!
Even though Chloe is a great kid, we still have our melt downs. We've adopted a strategy of first asking her if she'd like a hug. Sounds ridiculous right? But 9 times out of 10 it will work. The other 1 time we walk away from her. She's in a moment, we cant snap her out of it, she has to do that herself, and she has to do that in her own time. So we walk away and wait for her to come to us. More often than not she will continue to scream, you need to fight every urge to not run in there and console her, but how will she learn how to pick herself up if we're constantly doing it for her? After a minute or so she will slowly emerge, cheeks stained with tears and fall into your waiting arms. It breaks my heart every time! Every. Single. Time. But.... the tantrum is over.

6. It doesn't get easier. But teamwork helps.
I remember being constantly told, 'don't worry, it does get easier', crap! Absolute rubbish! It doesn't get easier, the problems just change. Whether it's sleeping, eating, walking, playing, social skills, toilet training, anything at all. There's always something that's going to be causing you difficulties. Being a parent is a hard slog, it can take you to the edge of your sanity, dignity, patience levels.... and back again, but what makes it all that much easier is teamwork. I don't know what I'd do without Jarratt. He is my rock. Sometimes, when I just cant do anymore, when I'm counting down the minutes, he appears and all is well in the world again, I can breathe. I can tag out. Don't get me wrong, I LOOOOOOOOOVE Chloe, more than tea time (hehehe), but parenting is a two person job. For me anyways. Sometimes I need that solo time, that time to breathe and reboot. To just be. That doesn't make me a bad person or a bad mum. Heavens no. That makes me a better mum. It's important to be able to recognise that to be the best mum I can be, I can't always be the only one carrying the parent banner. That it's ok to pass the baton every now and then and head to the bleachers to cheer from the sideline. And thank goodness for that.

7. Its an amazing ride, savour it!
It feels like I've blinked and she's a whole year older. That makes me incredibly proud, but also incredibly sad. It feels like this time has gone so quickly. I feel like I'll turn around before much longer and she'll be heading to school, high school, driving, dating, getting married, having kids all of her own. Honestly, it makes me panic. It makes me think. It makes me reflect. Are we making the most of this? Are we making our precious time together special? Are we doing a good job? Is she happy? And the answer to all of that is whole heartedly, yes! We ARE making the most of each and every day. Our time IS special, SHE is special. We are most definitely doing a good job.  You only need to look at that little face to know she is the happiest, most loved little girl in the whole wide world!

And so ends another spiel of what I've learnt, its been nice to share with you my ramblings and get that all off my chest. Whilst this second year of parenting hasn't been the rollercoaster of the first, it has still had its ups and downs. The crazy, the crying, the cuddles. The screaming, the sacred, the scared. The minutes, the magic, the mess. It's all been part of this second year. And it's all been worth it.

Quick! Quick!

Hello you! How are you? Well I hope. Its been a busy month here at Casa de Wyatt. We've been busy hunting for houses, applying for loans, getting taxes done and eeeeeeeeck toilet training! Its all been hard, so very, very hard, but hey? Anything worth it is right? Well, lets not waste the child nap time diddle daddling around.... lets get stuck into it!




STATS (as of 1/8/2014)
Height: 84.5cm
Weight: 12kgs
Size: 1-2
Shoe: 6

EATING and DRINKING
 

In the last month, Chloe has slowly but surely spent more dinners at the table with us than at her own table. She will still use her table for lunch and brekkie, but she much prefers eating dinner in the chair next to Mummy. As a result when we are eating out we no longer request a high chair as she simply does not need it.

She's also very capable of using her own cutlery now, although has done for a while, so no longer needs any assistance with eating. She has taken a particular interest in her knife and loves to 'cut' her (and our) food up.

The other new thing that really developed out of her taking such a long time to finish dinner was having her after dinner fruit in the bath. Often she'll snack on some mandarin, or apple, whilst in her bath. She just loves it. Except when she drops a bit in the bath, and well, if that happens it's 'yucky'.

Chloe now no longer has milk in the morning or at night. Unless she asks for it. She can have it throughout the day, as a drink. We encourage water but she much prefers milk. But in the morning now we go straight to Breakfast instead of her morning milk and she has a drink with dinner and then that's it at night. Its been a relatively easier transition. She's never been a kid that's needed to nod off with her milk in her hand so it wasn't hard to just 'drop' it from the bedtime routine. So all that stress and worry I put myself through about two months ago about how it would work, turned out to be just another thing I was overthinking. hehe.

COMMUNICATION

 

Chloe is a down right chatterbox. Which I imagine is no surprise to any of you, given she's my daughter. hehe. Her language has improved out of sight and we're amazed at just how much she can say and understand. And its not just us who are impressed, her teachers at Day Care often comment on how wonderfully she speaks considering she is not 2 yet. The only downfall is if she tries to tell you too much or talk too quickly her words get muddled and its difficult to understand her. But that's pretty standard for little kids. But its made living with Chloe a whole lot easier as other than being able to tell you what's bothering her or what she needs. she can easily answer routine questions such as 'What would you like for breakfast?' and 'What would you like to do?' Taking much of the guess work out of what use to be a very difficult task.

Since her communication has improved so much we decided to attack the *gasp* toilet training issue this month. She is very confident and clearly understands terms like 'wet', 'dry', 'knickers', 'pants' (aka pull ups) and 'yucky'. All the universal language we've adopted in training our little lady. The most important has been 'quick! quick!' when she announces wee, wee or poo poo - its the response we give to her to hustle to the toilet. Which has made for some very entertaining looks when we tell her whilst crossing the road to be 'quick quick', she shouts back 'wee, wee' hahahaha. But more about toilet training later.

As a result of her understanding and language, we've reached the age where we've started spelling words. Yup, we're there people! At the spelling stage! Sometimes when she's within ear shot we'll say things like "Should we go to the P-A-R-K this afternoon?" or "How much M-I-L-K has she had today?" and so on. Other words that are strictly for spelling are bike, bread (as in garlic bread), cheese and woof. Particularly if we've left him at home and don't have time to go back for him. There are words that come on and off the list depending on variables like the weather, such as painting. But generally we can still distract in the event that a spelling word is said. I'm dreading the day when distraction no longer works. eeeeeck!

GROSS MOTOR

 

So, there's an activity at swimming that Chloe had been struggling with... its called a Mat Run. Basically the kids climb out of the pool (which she can do), run to the end a foam platform (which she would do) and then JUMP into the waiting arms of their parents (which she WOULD NOT do). At the final step Chloe would cautiously sit down and slide into the pool. I didn't force the issue and figured she would do it in her own time. And she has. 2 weeks ago, Chloe jumped from the platform into my arms. She was so proud of herself and the proceeding week did not blink and got straight to work. So proud of her! We also had a make up lesson on a Sunday, as she'd missed the one when I had stitches in my hand, and daddy was able to take her for the lesson. It was lovely watching them in the water together. She really had a blast with him!

In part I think the aforementioned success in the mat run is because of a real interest she has developed in jumping. Whilst she still cant get herself off the ground too well, she'll have a good crack at it when holding your hands. As well as on the walk home from Day Care, she'll walk along the brick fences and as we reach the end she'll jump off into your arms. She just loves it!

Trips to the our local park have been fairly limited since commencing toilet training as there is no toilet there. But when we do go, the swings and car wheel are a firm favourite. Whilst she still thinks their hers, she has gotten a lot better at sharing the park and crying a lot less 'mine' or 'bubbi's' when we're there.

SLEEPING

So with Toilet Training came the issue of what do we dress Chloe in for bed now? again!!!! ........ grrrrrr, yet again, another bedtime issue surrounding clothing! We ended up keeping her PJs and just subbing out the underneath onesie to a singlet and tights. As it was easier if she needed to go to the toilet once changed for bed. And she seems to be better at keeping her blanket on herself now as well as staying on her pillow during sleeps - Yippeeeeee! And it all seems to be working - So far so good.  She also still wears a pull up to bed at night, but not during the day sleep. So far, in the 3 weeks of training we've had 1 day time nap accident - and I think that's because I wasn't quick enough off the mark when she woke from her sleep. However day care has not had one dry day sleep in 6 days! I've tried racking my brain to figure out what's the difference between home and school but I have no idea! I'm absolutely against giving them a pull up for her day sleep as I believe in consistency and if she can do it at home, consistently, she should be able to do it at school. So in the meantime we're pushing on!

Towards the end of last month we had a run of bad nights. With her waking multiple times. But then she sprouted all four of her eye teeth and we've gone back to the occasional waking. She has developed a bit of a habit of needing one of us to sit with her for a while in the evening til she falls asleep. Some nights we're ok and have the time and energy for it, others we don't, and its incredibly frustrating. We're hoping its just a phase and like most things will pass. Cross your fingers for us.

LOVES and HATES

Since the arrival of Lily (Ayla's Sister) and Zoe (Ellie's sister), Chloe has been baby NUTS! Always asking for Zo-Zo and Lily! She's also developed a real sweetness in role playing with woof and more recently a doll baby Nanny bought her. She also loves listening to music, talking on the phone (mobile or landlind), sorting/matching activities and reading. Any academic pursuits really. Such a smart little cookie!

 

On the other side of the coin, she still hates washing her hair, but there sure is less blood curdling screams about it now. Wiping her nose has improved as has brushing her hair.

OTHER STUFF

Toilet Training

As mentioned earlier, we began toilet training about 3 weeks ago. I read this whiz bang, all knowing 40 page PDF about how to toilet train in three days. Everyone, and I mean everyone (!), raved about it. And if I'm honest, it was ok. The principles were good, no negative comments, positive reinforcement, yadda yadda yadda. But you know what. Its rubbish. Its all common sense. And despite all the people I know raving about it...... no child is ever toilet trained that quickly. They may have 'learnt' the basics, but once that's done they need to master it. Well, that's my opinion anyways. But we followed the guide and for almost four excruciating days we knuckled down and stayed in for the marathon effort of toilet training Chloe complete with supplies!

By the end of the first day she was telling me and up and running to the toilet, second day same thing, third day I felt like we went backwards and I became so frustrated. I committed to another day to try and get it right! And then headed out to Renee's for a safe outing on the fourth day in the afternoon. Whilst at Renee's Chloe went to the toilet twice with prompting, it was great! Off we sent her to daycare and that's where it went a little pear shaped. She had a poo accident (which we still haven't had at home, in all three weeks) and multiple wee accidents. I felt completely defeated. All that hard work. For what? So I started again, both Thursday and Friday we had accidents (2 each day) but then by Saturday we were back on track! No accidents Saturday or Sunday, at all. Monday daddy had two accidents, but I had relaxed as one was when they were at our local park and theres no toilet. Then off she went to daycare. Picked her up.... 7 accidents! 7! I was shattered..... but I've accepted that this is how it's going to be until she really gets it. So we're now into the third week and Chloe has been accident free (at home) since Wednesday (6 days). Out tends to be hit and miss. Often with her telling us just as she's about to go, or (eeeeck!) already started. But we're so proud of her and her efforts. She's done so well considering she's not even two yet!

Teeth
Chloe has sprung 4 eye teeth this last month (and a little into the previous month as well), we think that was the cause of some disruptions to her sleeping and eating last month. The last peak is all but cut through now. Which means she has just her second year molars to get then it's smooth sailing on the teething front until she's 7 or so. Have to say I'm a wee bit excited about that!!!!

Modelling
Nothing to report as far as 'work' goes, she has got her headshots booked for the 21st of August, so I should have them to share with you by next months update. Just.

Until then, all our love, Team Wyatt, xxx

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! ;-)

Always be my bubbi.

Why hello there? How are you? We're ok... Chloe has unfortunately had an allergic reaction to what we believe is a insect bite of some description, so all is not well. She's currently asleep in our bed, 3 hours earlier in the day than normal, so clearly sick! But whilst she is resting I wanted to make the most of my 'free' time and get the blog done.....as hard as it is to get motivated! You know each month the 23rd rolls around and I sigh and groan about doing this.... but when I look back at each post, I am filled with such happiness about the amazing gift I am giving our daughter. How cool is it to have such a keepsake of your childhood? And so I drag myself through the process of writing this... organising, editing photos and videos, writing the memories down and reading aloud to Jarratt to check for any errors.... By the time it's finished, I am again filled with deep satisfaction that for at least another month, I have not thrown the towel in. I also find myself gasping at just how quickly time is flying by... as I see Chloe slowly transforming from baby to toddler to child. Its a little confronting and scary, but exciting and relieving at the same time. But no matter how old she gets and no matter how many posts I do documenting her growing up.... she will always be my "bubbi".

 And so... without further adue... please enjoy this months effort, xxx

STATS
Height: 82cm
Weight: 11kgs
Size: 1
Shoe: 6

EATING and DRINKING

 

Chloe unfortunately has gone off her food as of late, but we have discovered there is a reason. Just two days ago I spied one eye tooth through on the top left and another bludging just below the surface (top right). She tends to go off her food when she's teething so its just a matter of time before we're back into the swing of things. She will still dive right in for some meals over others though, so she is obviously developing a taste for certain foods over others. She loves garlic bread, potato mashed with pumpkin, skewers, cheese, peas and corn. She will also eat mushrooms straight out of the bag on the walk home from the shop, but turn her nose up at them in salads or cooked and put through pasta... go figure? She'll make a beeline for the grapes in IGA but will only eat them off the vine at home. Crazy little quirks she's developing.

She's also able to say 'cut' now. Which makes for interesting dinning experiences when she wants her own knife. And not the safe baby one, the mega sharp steak knife. Just like mummy and daddy. She's also starting to get the errks on occasions about sitting in the high chair. So we're looking at options there. For the time being she is just sitting on one of the dining room chairs but she does need a bit of propping up.

Chloe still has milk first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I'm not really sure when we should start phasing that out?! I remember being told that you need to slowly wean them off their night time milk before toilet training so that's something I'm keeping in the back of my mind.  But as it is she's pretty in love with her milk, saying it as soon as we get her out of bed in the morning. 'Milk mummy please'

 

COMMUNICATION

 

Chloe's vocab is out of sight. She can say a bunch of words now and is learning words exponentially. She seems to have a new handful of words each week! But her speech is still a bit of the baby babble. So while we understand her, I'm sure others probably wouldn't. I don't think I could even rattle a list of words off succinctly, I'd surely miss a heap, so I wont. The words that we are pushing are 'Ta' and 'Please' and she is ACE at these. Having a well mannered child is obviously something we all strive for, but was an absolute firm line for Jarratt and I. Working in a school I all too often am shocked at the manners displayed by students. I do not want my daughter to grow up with a sense of entitlement and lack of gratitude! So from an early age, as you all know, once 'MORE' came around, we quickly trained her in 'More, PLEASE'. So far she'll say Ta and Please without much prompting, which makes us both very proud. I wholeheartedly think she is a good kid, but even good kids need to be taught manners.

The one word she has begun using and one we really don't like, we assume she's picked up from day care since we don't use it at home, is 'mine'. We are doing our best to explain ownership to her, for example that the car wheel at the park is not hers, its everyone's. But with those difficult 'terrible twos' fast approaching, I think its going to be an uphill battle. And whilst Chloe is a down right amazing toddler, she is still a toddler who does not have a well developed method of communication and that's where her frustration lies. She explains that she wants to car, we explain she needs to share and we expect her to listen to our request/demand, while we in the same breathe we have not listened to her. Its a difficult tightrope to walk.

Songs and singing have been a great way to teach Chloe new vocab with 'Open, Shut them' and 'Old Macdonald' being firm favourites. Practical, action songs which she can then use the language of in everyday conversation are great! She will now often sit down and open and shut her hands whilst singing the song... she then says open please mummy, when she wants something out of the toy box, or cupboard she cant open. The application of the old word in a new way is very impressive. Ok, I'll take my teacher hat off now ;-)

GROSS MOTOR SKILLS

Chloe just loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooves her bike. Over the last month or so she has become extremely confident riding it around and hooning down hills. Yes, I said hooning. She is a dare devil flying down hills and driveways! Often Jarratt and I will take her out in the afternoon. As the weeks have rolled by she has needed us less and less. Now taking Chloe out for a ride, becomes a nice bit of down time for Jarratt and I to catch up with each other.... and its ever so handy that her bike is stored in the garage, right by the beer and cider. Two birds one stone ;-)

And whilst ballet lessons have been put on the backburner with me now working an additional day (Wednesday), Swimming has been going gang busters! Although there had been an air of anxiety for me floating around lessons.... You see, we were hitting that period of time where all her mates were going to start moving up a level as they all have turned two or are turning two shortly. Then poor Chloe would be left in the class for almost 3 months on her own..... and I was dreading it. Last year when this happened Chloe took a real step backwards in her ability and her joy for swimming all but dwindled! Thankfully, due to the other parents and I rallying together and the kindness of one of the swimming coordinators, the class is just going to be rolled over and no one will have to move! Yay! I'm so happy. It means all the developments Chloe has been making and enjoyment she gets each Friday will not be affected!

And even though ballet is not happening at the moment.... Chloe still does like to dance and wiggle at any and all opportunities. I think she gets her smooth moves from daddy ;-)

SLEEPING

 

So after returning from Japan where she slept in a lot of beds and paired with the fact that she no longer sleeps in a cot at day care. We have officially converted Chloe's cot into a toddler bed.... and we have not looked back! She is so happy with the changes in her sleeping arrangements that she will even put herself to bed now. The only problem is Jarratt and I both had anxieties about her falling out of bed onto the floorboards so Jarratt installed a roll bar, which is quite difficult for her to get over. So although she will TAKE herself to bed... she can't actually get IN. So we still have to help her, despite her objections.

She has also this week started to ask for a pillow when she goes to sleep. It was one of the things we tried when she was having a run of bad nights and now something she asks for along with her blanket to be put over her.... its very sweet. All these little changes in sleeping arrangements makes me really realise how grown up she is getting and how fast time goes really go.

LOVES and HATES

 

Other than her bike, her other main squeeze at the moment is 'bubba's'. Chloe just LOVES babies! If she was a grown woman I'd be saying she was clucky. She really is baby nuts! She shows real deep affection any time we visit with a baby, be it Zoe, Bailey or even brand new Lickity Split Lily. She is soft, kind, and very generous with the kisses. I think the universe is trying to tell me something...... For now, however, I'm going to carry on ignoring the universe ;-)

 

Trips to the park are also a firm favourite with Chloe - and an almost daily occurrence when she's home with Dad or I. She just loves our local park, with the stairs, bridge, car and 'round da round'. More recently she has become a bit of a demon on the slide. Travelling down it a breakneck speed..... when only a few weeks ago she'd want to hold your hand whilst she slid down. Its crazy how fast she learns and grows in confidence!

She really loves being independent, and this is starting to show in really cute ways like wanting to 'walk' from the bath to where we change her for bed. She continues to love driving the car, but it has to be on! As well as being creative such as painting and sticking.

The only really thing she 'hates' at the moment is mummy leaving. She's been very particular about me doing things for her at the moment over Jarratt and will often cry and say 'no daddy' and wave her hand at him when he offers to take her to the bath, brush her teeth or read a book. Its been very hard on him and understandably he gets frustrated with it. But I'm sure its a stage, and whilst it is exhausting being a bit of a single parent, I have to enjoy it, because I'm sure in a few years and the way most teenage girls are affected by hormones, she'll want nothing to do with me and instead of it being a simple 'no mummy', it'll probably be much, much worse.

OTHER STUFF

iPad skills!
Since coming back from Japan Chloe is insanely good at the iPad. She can navigate it, select an app and play a variety of games. Her fave (thanks Lucy Hunt) is an app by Toca Boca called Pet Café. She is so skilled at dragging, sorting, tapping, it really scares me. The only hiccup is if she hits any advertising, she hasn't figured out how to exit out of the app store and since I'm a cheap skate and don't pay for any apps, a lot of mine have advertising.

Mothers Day
For Mother's Day (and Rob's Birthday) we headed to Maitland for the weekend. Arriving Friday and leaving Sunday. It was a bit of a whirlwind and one I still haven't truly recovered from thanks to a busy weekend last as well. Its always a blast hanging out with Mum and Rob and I'm really enjoying Mum and Is new relationship, being a Nanny definitely agrees with her. And she's such a natural at it. After mummy, daddy, nanny is always Chloe's next word. She just loves her nanny. It makes me sad that they live so far away, but makes me appreciate the time we have together so much more.

Teeth
So as I mentioned two days ago I spied Chloe's top left hand eye tooth coming in, well, actually through.... the right hand side has the white tip and bump that appears just before they break through the gum. So once through that will make 14 teeth in total... with the bottom eye teeth and second year molars yet to arrive. Then we're done and dusted, as far as baby teeth go. Woohoo!

Modelling
Chloe's approaching the end of her first year modelling contract and Jarratt and I have decided to renew it. Since last post the Babies R Us baby book has been released, she's appeared again for Mother and Baby in both their magazine and website and has been made the profile pic for her agencies Facebook page.  She also recently did another shoot for Big W. We arrived on set and it was very crowded, more so than usual. Chloe was given a beautiful hello kitty dress with attached pantaloons and matching hat. I put her in it and set her up in front of the camera, she smiled and posed as she always does.... but the outfit needed a lot of adjusting and after three or so goes of fiddling to her it just right. Chloe waved her hand at the photographer and said 'no', walked over to me and sat down. I tried to put her back in front of the camera and she cried, no mummy! So I said to the photographer.... I think we're done. They weren't entirely sure they got the photo and explained they would put someone else in the outfit that afternoon. I said that was fine, and I wasn't making her do anything she didn't want to do. They respected that and we headed home. It will be interesting to see if they use the photos they got of her, or another child... as it was a difficult outfit. I didn't get the date that the catalogue comes out, I'm hoping I haven't missed it. Keep your eyes peeled for me.

Until next time, xxx