Ready, Steady, Wiggle.

Gday Gday.

How are you? I'm well... Chloe's just toddled off to bed! So I thought I'd add the finishing touches to this update before the tasks for Japan completely take over my life!!!!  So before that happens.... lets get into it.... hehe

STATS (31/3)

Height - 80cm

Weight - 11.1kgs

Size: 1 (but still a little big on her, but hey... lets go with it!)

Shoe Size: 5-6

 

 

EATING and DRINKING

 

Chloe is still eating as we are at dinner time and pretty much what we have. Although we tend to deconstruct the dinner dish for her. As in we won't make her a taco, instead she will have some mince, tomato, lettuce, carrot and cheese on a plate and just pick and choose what she wants. She'll try everything, but will always devour the cheese! And don't even get me started on the sour cream! We cant put that on her plate as she'd eat it like ice cream (lol) instead we put a scoop on our plate and she asks us ('more please') for it. 

 

Regardless of this 'help' we provide, it doesn't stop her spilling foods, accidentally onto the floor. And every night, without fail at the end of each dinner when she is '(fin)ished' she will exclaim 'ohhhh no' and point at the mess under her chair. Then daddy and her begin the task of cleaning the floor. I am SURE she thinks it is some kind of hilarious game they play each and every night.

 

She now confidently drinks from a cup, with one hand. Although it makes mummy incredibly nervous. Her favourite, BY FAR, are baby cinos. Although if we're out with her besties (Ellie and Ayla) she likes to share a smoothie or milkshake. But she smashes the baby cinos in less than 5 minutes. Thank goodness for the nepresso frother or I'd be broke! She inhales her cino that quickly that she is often left with a chocolate monobrow and a milk smeared face! It is beyond adorable!!!

 

Chloe just LOVES eating out. Thanks to our reviewing gig with Little Eats Sydney Chloe has become quite the diner! We've developed a bit of a routine now when we are ordering, once we have been given the menu, we hand her the menu to 'order'. She will happily peruse the menu, make her 'selection', tell us and then hand the menu back to the waitress. We think it is a good way of her 'reading' and interacting positively with her world. Plus the 'reading' of the menu with each articulated pout is so darn tootin cute! 



COMMUNICATION

 

Chloe now understands EVERYTHING. So all our potty mouth friends, you are officially on notice! Whilst she still only has a handful of clear words that others understand. To us, what she says makes sense and 9 times out of 10 we understand her babble intermitted with real vocab clear as day.

 

She is also starting to parrot. We encourage her to watch our mouths when giving a word and when she makes an attempt that is close we shower her with positive reinforcement, which she loves! However her favourite catch phrases continue to be 'more please', 'bye bye daddy' and 'no, mummy'. Which is both hilarious and spot on!

 

Her manners seem to be coming to the forefront, in the last month she now understands she must say bye bye and give kisses to people as we leave and when asking for something or after being given something she will say 'ta'.

 

We're very proud of our little chatter box.

 

GROSS MOTOR SKILLS

 

Chloe has started running.... away.... at speed... and thinks its hilarious! Just in time for Japan! Ace! We had been employing a don't chase policy, which was working really well. But now she is getting so much braver that if she cant see mummy or daddy she's not bothered. at all! It use to be if she couldn't see us, she would come quickly back. Not anymore! Now if we let her out of sight for even a second she takes the opportunity to bolt. Which is very helpful in crowded shopping centres or whilst walking across driveways. Freaks me out! I'm hoping its just a stage and not something we're going to have an ongoing battle with.

 

Swimming has been going great guns! She really, really, really loves it! We have a beautiful little group each Friday that we meet up with for the lesson and a bit of morning tea afterwards. She is extremely confident and loves standing in the shallow water, bobbing down til the water hits her chin and then springing up. With the weather starting to get cooler and only a handful of nice days this month we have taken every chance to hit the beach.

 

 

Nicole and I were saying though that pools would be a good Thursday play date when its starts getting to wet and miserable outside. I think she's on to something there!

 



Up until last week Chloe had been attending Ballet each Wednesday. Unfortunately, last Wednesday I scored a casual day at work and felt that loosing 30 bucks was better than loosing 300.  So off I toddled and Chloe missed out. I found out Monday that I could have the next few Wednesdays until the end of term. I umm-ed and ahh-ed about it as I REALLY love attending ballet with Chloe, Renee and Ayla. But again my practical side (AKA Jarratt) got the better of me and I snatched them up. But at her last lesson she was really starting to show some independence and knowledge of learnt skills. She was sprinkling her sunshine, attempting to touch her nose to her feet and generally waving her arms rhythmically to the music. Renee and I have enrolled the girls in Ballet for next term, but with Renee due with Baby number 2 in May, we're going to see how that plays out before we commit to it whole heartedly. I think it will be fine. It would be lovely to continue catching up with the girls weekly, but don't want to put too much pressure on Renee. We'll see.

SLEEPING

 

So, after my last post Chloe had a week of sleeping through, no screaming! Mum introduced a soft toy companion (woof) into the cot. We had tried EVERYTHING. And I was reluctant to give her something like this to build too much of a reliance on it. But hey if it meant we didn't have to get up then great! We have since had hit and misses. Some night perfect, others not so much, but in general it seems to have gotten better. I'm not entirely sure it is as a result of woof being with her, but I'm not entirely sure it isn't either. So for now, woof sleeps with her. I actually think it may work in our favour, as we will take him to Japan and it may be good to have something familiar in her bed as we move around and she adjusts day to day.

 

As the nights start getting cold again, we are looking at covering her with a blanket or adding more clothes to her at bedtime. So yet another battle of bedtime is about to begin! Watch this space!

 

 

LOVES and HATES

 

So Chloe has always been a fan of Charley Bear on the TV, nothing was better than Charley, nothing could snap her out of a tantrum like Charley, nothing could occupy her whilst I showered like Charley. Than BOOM! Mister Maker! Well, more particularly, the shapes! And quite frankly, I'm stoked! I don't think I could have taken watching one more rerun of Charley Bear.

 

 

Her other loves this month, surprisingly have been sharing. Chloe is more than happy to share food, toys, everything. Even after completing the kick board activity at swimming, she will pass it to the next child unprompted. She is really very sweet! Normally at this age children are more inclined to 'Parallel Play' but Chloe's calm, patient and friendly nature seems to mean she's advanced in her social skills instead preferring to engage in cooperative play. Such as sharing the kick board at swimming, playing throws with BFF Ayla (see below), although best friend Ellie is a little more reluctant she has not escaped Chloe and her boisterous pursuits and games either.

 

 

Hands down though her BIGGEST love this month is painting, or as she says 'aints'. Often she will come home from day care COVERED in paint. The teachers always rave about how much she loves it and she's exactly the same at home. She has worked out where we store the craft supplies and she will on occasion ask us 'aints?' and walk us into her room and point to her craft shelf. Its pretty hard to say no to that ridiculous level of cuteness!

 

Coming in a very close second is bubbles. We got her out a container full of assorted wands that she had got from Auntie Kehlet at Christmas and was sure she'd just lick them. But no, no, kid blew some pretty impressive bubbles for about 20 minutes. Its now a bit of a weekly, maybe even biweekly activity of heading into the garden (weather permitting) and blowing bubbles. Its even a blast for the day care kids over the back as Chloe's bubbles get caught in the breeze and travel over the fence.

 

 

I so badly want to buy Chloe a dog! She just loves them!!!! Visiting the pet store at Westfields is mandatory each and every visit! And much cheaper than the zoo ;-)

 

But, I'm so keen on getting her a dog that I have started to save for one as I realise the kind of dog we want is going to cost a couple of thousand! But once the house is bought (hopefully later this year) it will be the FIRST thing we buy! As Chloe is definitely suffering from Puppy Love.

 

As far as hates go, the unfortunate dislike of water being poured over her head has reared its ugly face. We haven't forced the issue and instead only wash her hair when necessary such as after day care and swimming. And even then her little upset face breaks my heart when we do it.

 

OTHER STUFF

Teeth

So just after her bottom first year molars appeared. We had a week break and then bang! The top ones started to push through. And just like the bottom ones, they are HUGE! We're hoping her mouth will give her a break of growing teeth until after Japan, but as our luck goes with teeth, I really doubt it!

 

Modelling

So you may remember the smart casual job back in November/December? Well the magazine came out a week or so ago and Chloe appeared in the two shots as a double page spread. She looks just adorable in each photo which are below. I've also been told the Babies R Us book should be out soonish. So I should be able to share that image with you next update as well.

 

We have been debating resigning her, as her contract is up in May. After some chats between ourselves and the agent we have decided to go another year. She made more than enough to cover both last years fee and this years (discounted) fee so why not? We figure until it starts costing us more than she's making, we'll carry on.

 

The Wiggles

Last Saturday we attended the Wiggles concert with bestie Ellie, Nicole and Greg. Nicole (with a little help from me) had done a BRILLIANT job of making the girls matching Emma outfits. SO good in fact that Chloe was singled out by Anthony in front of the entire auditorium in Hurstville because of how good she looked. As you can see in the photo below she really was a knock out. As far as the concert goes it was great! I think she was a bit of a stunned mullet most of the show, warming up towards the end to have a bit of a wiggle. But she did cry out a lot of 'ohhh wow!' throughout so I'm pretty sure she had a blast!

 

Japan

So Japan is 8 sleeps away. I bought Chloe a new pair of closed in shoes today as her old ones are sandals and starting to get a little tight. We sat down this weekend and really nutted out what we had left to organise and looked at what we need to take. Today I grabbed a few bits a bobs and will continue to tick off our list over the next few days. I'm really excited! We've started doing some prepare Chloe for the trip stuff like Daddy taking her into the city for the day and acting as if they were on holidays. They caught the train, walked around the city, she had a sleep in the carrier, ate sushi for lunch etc. I've started the transition into the new pram for sleeps. So far she's had two sleeps, both 45 minutes, which is not ideal, but on which she can live. We've also tried her on powdered milk for the last two nights and a bunch of mornings, so far, it hasn't phased her. We figure this is a much more practical option than carrying around one litre plus of milk and trying to keep it cold. hehehehe. All in all, we're ready and very excited!!!!

 

I guess the next time we chat, I'll have A LOT to update you all on I'm sure. hehehe.

Til then, all our love, Team Wyatt.





More please!

Hi there!

How are you all? I'm well, currently reclined with my feet up and another half an hour or so before I need to collect little miss from day care. Yes, that's right, I'm at home and I'm currently sans child. Chloe has been attending day care two days a week now for about 2-3 weeks and whilst the plan was for her to start going the additional day when I started working it; as luck would have it one became available (ALOT) earlier. Initially we um-ed and ah-ed about it, as she is still very young and I am not working the Wednesday until term 2, it was a case of take it now or run the risk. We decided to take it now and the hope is that I can pick up two or more days casually before the end of term to hopefully cover the day care costs.  But so far that hasn't happened. School is not booking casuals this term in an attempt to save cash... so, you see, its left me with a very leisurely day come Wednesday each week. However, very guilty as well.... *sigh*

Anyways, enough of that... lets get into it!

STATS

 

Height - 78cm (officially measured by the nurse at her check up Monday)

Weight - 10.8kg

Size - 0-1 (although last month I said 1, she isn't really filling out the size one pants yet)
Shoe Size - 4-5.

 

EATING AND DRINKING

 

So... the bib - gone! Although when she has a baby cino, that usually requires some sort of clothing protection. But yup, the bib is NO more! Instead, at dinner time particularly, we've just been stripping her off and letting her get messy. Breakfast is normally the same as we strip her PJs off, she eats in her nappy and then we dress her.... the only meal that came be a bit of a pickle is lunch. But generally she's eating a sandwich or something equally drip-free.

 

 

Her diet continues to be inline with us - her favourite meals however are spaghetti bolognaise and ANYTHING with sour cream or cheese! She just LOVES eating skewers and she's also taken to eating chunks of fruit and veg, such as tomato and cucumber.

 

 

 

COMMUNICATION

Chloe's language is getting better each day. Our favourite by far though is 'more please'. After mastering 'more', it started to bother me how rude it sounded, so we added 'please'. Now it is just ridiculous how cute she is when she looks at you and says 'more please'. So sweet! She's also able to repeat familiar words when you ask her.... i.e. "Say, mum-ma". And with some consistent, sustained instruction can pick up words using mastered sounds very quickly. For example whilst in Melbourne this weekend she was able to say 'Dan' within a few hours of being taught Daniel's name... I think because it is similar sounding to 'Dada'.

However, she understands A LOT more than she can say... When asked to do something, 90% of the time, she will. Be it animal sounds, putting things away, getting a particular object from a group of things... its all very impressive. The frustration is not always understanding her... she seems very patient with us, but on occasions when the charade has been dragging on, she will get upset.

Often when we are failing to understand her she will take us by the hand, lead us and than point. She also has developed a hand gesture, where she open and shuts her hand multiple times when she wants something. Only this week have I realised I now do it as well. LOL.

GROSS MOTOR SKILLS

 



Doing laps around our dining table has continued to be a favourite past time of Chloe's. She just loves running around, pushing her stroller around, or being pushed IN her stroller around it. It often has her in hysterics and we are often been dragged to our feet to participate in this game.

 

 

Swimming continues to be a big hit with little miss. Last week we had a sample of what is done in the level above the class she is currently in. It was great! She coped really well, considering she is the youngest in the class. It also occurred to me that before too much longer, all her friends will graduate and little miss and I will be left swimming solo for a few months again. Very sad about that indeed! But as far as her skills go, she is now able to creep along the wall (aka monkey walk), get herself out of the pool at the ladder and is learning to dive. Having sampled the next level up class, it was interesting to see how the skill level develops, gave some good tips and insights into what we can be doing in the water to help her with that transition when it eventually comes.

 

This month Chloe began dancing with bestie Ayla. The two are beyond adorable! They spend most of the first 10 minutes of the lesson, chasing each other and giggling. Its all I can do when we arrive to hold Chloe as she squeals and waves about in excitement of seeing Ayla and her mum (Renee). Throughout the class, Chloe will attempt most activities well - with the exception of the final activity. Eeeck! A relay type exercise with a very fancy 'ball' that is passed from one student to another.... whilst Chloe can do the activity, its the passing to the next students that is the real issue. It often ends with me yanking the ball from her and a lot of 'mum-ma' tears. Its heart breaking! But part of the learning process I guess. On the flip side there is an activity where all the girls are required to stand and hold hands... a very difficult task for under 3s. But without blinking Ayla and Chloe will stand together and hold hands happily... and in many instances they look for each other when performing. Its really tutu sweet. LOL ;-)
 

SLEEPING

 

I give up! Honestly, night sleeping has gone OUT the window. Most nights Chloe now wakes screaming. We have no idea why, we assume night mares but we have pretty much exhausted ALLLLLLLLL reasons. Excluding getting professional help, we have tried EVERYTHING!  So, I've thrown the hat in and just accepted that this is what it is, until it isn't. Anyways, we cant have everything perfect can we? I mean, she goes to sleep without crying, will sleep for hours in her pram and will never wake before 6am. So.... that's something! But boy, what I wouldn't give for 8 hours uninterrupted sleep tonight!

 

LOVES and HATES

Chloe has returned to her love of having water poured over her head during bath time. Often running on the spot as the water cascades down her face, laughing hysterically and then saying 'more please'. She also loves kissing our photos on the wall goodnight at bedtime. As well as reading to herself and her toys, dancing whenever the urge strikes her and always to the best tunes, taking selfies, painting, and dogs. Seriously, a dog could bark and it be barely audible to us and she is up on her feet pointing in the direction it came from. Loves 'woofs'. When we last visited maitland, she stood at a fence and called for stephie for about 10 minutes. I often replay the video of her at the fence to her from my phone and she screams for stephie - who is no where to be seen in the video. hahaha.

Chloe really, really, REALLY hates having a dirty nappy now. Within minutes of doing a poo, she is at my feet, pointing to her nappy and wanting it changed. Apparently this indicates she may be ready for toilet training but with Japan less than 6 weeks away - I don't want to do all this 'training' to have it affect our holiday as we are rushing to find a western toilet at a moments notice, so for now - toilet training is on the back burner!

OTHER STUFF

Teeth
Chloe now has both her bottom 1st year molars.... boy! did they take some time to show themselves... she was constantly shoving her hand in the back of her mouth for like 3 weeks and every now and then crying for no apparent reason. Then, wa-bammo! Teeth! And they.are.MASSIVE! I always think this each time new teeth emerge from her gums... but these ones are big! really big! But, I suppose they have to be as they are sticking around until she is 12 or so. But, yeh, BIG!

 

Modelling

So I FINALLY got Chloe's head shots done. She was a little off as she was cutting the aforementioned molars. But like a true professional once the camera was on her she was gold. The photographer (Bec) said that 1-2 is the hardest age to photograph... but that Chloe did really well. At this age, they cant really follow instructions and find it hard to stay in one place for long enough, let alone smile at the camera. So looking at the shots that will go into her portfolio, we're pretty happy! 

 

She also got cast for the Babies R Us Baby book, out this coming March-April. The shoot was on a Thursday in Pyrmont and was a mix of baby models and those that had got the job through an opening casting online. Chloe was paired with another little boy for the shoot and was once again modelling Bonds. The shot was very difficult to get as it was hard to get both babies smiling and looking at the camera at the same time. Also Chloe being a toddler and the other being a baby that could barely stand made for a difficult composition. In the end they did get a shot of both kids, which they will edit together.  It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.

 

 

Darling Harbour Day Out.

Since the Babies R Us shoot was in Pyrmont we decided to make the most of it and have some lunch afterwards and then a play in the Darling Harbour Park as a family. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had packed Chloe's swimmers so she could splash about and have some fun. It was nice to be able to do something together, made me very thankful for my beautiful little family.

 

 

Maitland (Nanny's Birthday)

Earlier in the month we headed to Maitland for Nanny's birthday. Which was a weekend filled with indulgent meals, laughter and once again too much drinking.

 

 

 

Trip to Melbourne

The weekend just gone we flew to Melbourne to see Uncle Daniel, aka the godfather. We left Friday and had a long weekend of fun and laughter including dinner with Daniel's family, drinks in Fitzroy, chasing cats under beds, flying visits with Hobart's finest and meeting up with Pipes in St Kilda where we explored the markets and popped into the Esplanade Hotel for a drink... which made this Rockwiz fan VERY happy. The weekend disappeared far too quickly and before we knew it we were back home having Daniel withdrawals.

 

 

Lunch date with Orvi

Also this month we FINALLY caught up with Orvilicious and his wonderful mums. Orvi is such a sweet little guy. He was more than happy to show Chloe around his crib, share his lunch with her and let her do the cleaning. The two are very good friends - it is a real shame that life is going to be very busy for the next little bit and we wont get to see them for a while.

 

 

Passport, ready for Japan.

Finally, our passports arrived! Chloe's first! It is such a cute and exciting thing to look at. Its hard to believe in less than 6 weeks we will be spending our first night in Japan ... in accommodation that is STILL yet to be booked! (Grrrrrr - Jarratt!) Meanwhile he did a great job in booking the rail passes, which arrived a week ago and securing a tour spot for Kyoto's Imperial Palace. So he's not all bad ;-).

 

And that's it. All done. All silent.... for now. hehe.

Til next time I ramble on at you all..... xxx 

There's ups and there's downs.

I admit now, I should not be writing this post, I'm tired, annoyed and little miss is due to wake up any minute - not a great combination. We had a really rough night last night, that even our neighbours commented on it this morning. And not the ones with the adjoining wall, no, no, the ones in the unit block NEXT door! How embarrassing! It doesn't help that Jarratt has man flu either and that I feel like I'm holding down the fort whilst not feeling 100% myself. So you see... not the best mix of emotions and enthusiasm for sitting down and writing this months update. But hey, sometimes this parenting gig is like that... a rollercoaster of emotions and levels of enthusiasm. And unfortunately at this moment I'm in a dip... a low point in the track. But hold on ladies and gents, I see the track climbing ahead of me....... ;-)


And it did...the track climbed! Last night, after leaving the hall light on as we assume the last few nights Chloe has been screaming due to night mares, she slept through! Well... sort of, she yelped twice but resettled quickly and without our help. Score! So now that I'm well (sort of) rested I thought I'd attack this update.... here goes:

STATS

Height - 78 or 79cm, lets say 78.5cm, ha! I'm not entirely sure as I just stuck the tape measure in the bath to check and it wasn't awfully accurate.
Weight - 10.5kgs
Clothing size - 1
Shoe size - 4

 EATING AND DRINKING

Lately little miss has decided she no longer needs a bib - it was bound to happen sooner or later since she is so observant and wants to do everything we do. And well, we don't wear bibs, so why should she? We've just gone with it, unless the food she is eating is going to be super messy and she's in a good outfit or we're out. But generally its something we'd planned to phase out anyways, so we're just going to follow her lead.

Her diet continues to be in line with what we eat... we still cant manage to get her to eat any larger/tougher pieces of meat. She generally smashes mince (included the spiced Mexican kind), fish and chicken - even skewers aren't out of the question. We assume its due to the fact that she still doesn't have any molars.... but I suspect (with all the drowl lately) they are not far away.

She is pretty capable at drinking from a cup now, using one with handles makes me feel less nervous, one with straws even less again. But she does love drinking from a cup without handles and the proud smile we get at the end is just priceless! She has also taken a shine to 'cheers-ing' everyone when she drinks. Its really very sweet!

 

COMMUNICATION

As far as her repertoire of words go, and keeping in mind my reluctance to overcommit due to my teacher brain, we can now confidently add bubba, up, down, shoes, yum, go, oh o (thanks Ellie, xx) and the fact that she roars when she sees a lion, as well as saying 'shhh' and putting her finger to her lip. We're pretty sure she can say 'sit', but unfortunately it comes out sounding a lot like a swear word than anything else. And she says it....ALOT!

More impressively she is starting to put her words together.... "More bubble" "S(h)it down" "Oh, o" "Yay ball" and so on. Our little chatter box is sure going to love a good chat. Prepare yourselves.

GETTING AROUND / GROSS MOTOR SKILLS

I decided to make this update section more generic as she is now well and truly walking and there's not much more I can update you on there. So this will now be more of an all encompassing section on all things go. hehehe

"Doing laps" and playing chase-ies continues to be her favourite past times in regards to gross motor skills. Although walking... everywhere, is a close second. Taking the pram is no longer a necessity, in most cases its a hindrance as little miss wants to push it and alas she is too short (and slow) to do so and often ends in tears. Thankfully, the little stroller (Thanks again Auntie Laura) is able to function in most terrains and now escorts us occasionally on walks.

She also is MAD about balls and more recently has become quite capable at throwing balls and chasing them. Catching however will not be a skill mastered for a very long time I think. She also likes to kick balls as well.

In the pool she's started doing what looks like the beginnings of doggy paddle... shes kicking her legs in a breaststroke manner and doing butterfly arms. I asked her teacher about it today and she said that's generally the first 'style' of swimming babies do. Its really quite cute watching her face light up as she thrashes about and moves through the water. I'm always amazed at just how far she has come with swimming. Not too long ago she couldn't get herself out of the water, now, with her belly on the ground, she can manipulate her legs and before long is standing up at the waters edge, arms raised and cheering herself. Such a dork! hehehe

As you all know Chloe likes to dance....including cage dancing (ha!) as you can see below. But all jokes aside, of course she would LOVE to dance - she is after all, our child. So I began looking at avenues for her to explore and entertain her interest. I stumbled across Little Ballerinas. They take girls from 18months. Since Chloe was is SO close to being 18 months, I did an online enrolment form and crossed my fingers and toes. Within a week or so I was contacted and said they had a spot and she starts next Wednesday morning at Oatley with her Vodafone superstar mate Ayla. Both Renee (ayla's mum) and I can NOT wait to watch our gorgeous girls bust a move on the dance floor. Should be GREAT fun! Stay tuned.

SLEEPING

 

As you probably guessed from the opening paragraph... we haven't had the best run of night sleeps the last week or so. For some reason, unbeknown to us Chloe has been screaming in her sleep. Yes, in her sleep... when we go in she is still dead to the world, but she is squealing so loud as if someone is hurting her. We've tried everything! Changing her bedding, given her a pillow, fan, no fan, back in the bag and nothing seems to have worked.... last night (after Renee suggested it) we left the hall light on as a night light... she still squealed, but it was for about 2 seconds and went straight back to sleep without needing resettling by us. Hopefully, we've turned the corner. But who knows?! I've read about night terrors, and it seems to fit with what she's doing. We'll see.

Sleeping in the pram is no longer an issue (as long as the pram is stationary). We've been able to swing MASSIVE sleeps in the pram of 2 plus hours.... amazing! Maybe we should put her in the pram at night - hahaha. We've also been a lot more flexible in the bedtime thing... whilst we were in Sunshine Coast recently she was going to bed as late as 930pm. And she was ok! But I stand by my decision to be vigilant on bedtime in the first year. There is so much growing going on, babies need their sleep! But now, with her being older and less precious when it comes to sleep, I'm happy to let the reigns go a little.

The other HILARIOUS sleep thing that's happened recently also occurred in the Sunshine Coast. Since it was SO hot there and Chloe no longer uses a bag, we were putting her down for her day sleeps in just a nappy. So after returning from the beach one morning, we put her to bed in just a nappy, after 20 minutes or so Jarratt asked me to get his shorts from the room in which Chloe was asleep, I crept in, saw her sleeping beautifully and crept out. After about 20 minutes I heard her.... laughing. I was a little perplexed, I went to the room and there she was in the portacot.... BUCK NAKED, laughing her little head off... so proud of what she'd done. I muffled my laugh, told her that was naughty (yes, I'm a parent that says naughty... crucify me now!), put a new nappy AND a playsuit on (wasn't falling for that again) said "nigh nigh" and walked out.... I shut the down knowing full well that that may in fact be all the sleep I get out of her..... but no, no, like the good girl she was she went back to sleep for another 2 hours.... phew!

LOVES and HATES

GIVING KISSES!!!! Chloe FINALLY loves giving kisses..... most of the time to almost everyone.... hey! Its not perfect, but I'll take it! She also loves HER chair, having tea, cuddling soft toys like 'woof woof', talking on the phone, driving and playing Uncle Nath's harmonica. Also since the weather has been nice we've taken any and all opportunities to head to the beach. She just LOVES that!

In regards to hates.... it really is brushing her teeth unfortunately as well as not being able to do it herself. She really has developed an independent streak of "I can do it", which was quite upsetting at the most recent one of reading herself her own bedtime story *sigh*

 

 

 

OTHER STUFF

Godfather Daniel's Visit
Uncle Daniel came to visit the first week of January, he's just smitten with Chloe and she knows it! It was GREAT to see Dan and to watch him spend time with her. Its not often you see such a beautiful man so unashamedly in tune with his emotions, caring for a child. I swear it made my ovaries swell. hahaha.

Daddy's Birthday
Jarratt turned 33 this year. Wow! I hear you all say, I didn't realise he was THAT old. *wink* We celebrated with a morning play at Darook Park and a flash afternoon tea at Sorelle on Grand in Brighton Le Sands, that we also reviewed for Little Eats. That night we finished the day with a dinner at Mamma Barones in Mortdale. Jarratt, never a fan of celebrating his birthday had a great day - quietly celebrating with our little family. Just the way he likes it.

Christmas in Maitland
With mum so busy through Christmas we postponed the Sciffer-Berrigan-Wyatt (?!) celebration til mid January (post ashes, pre Australian Open). It was a great 5 days spent drinking (far too much), eating and spending time together. We celebrated our Christmas lunch at Ridgeview and boy! was it a fun day! Such delicious food complete with matching wines and conversation that had us in stitches that some of us fell, or we're dragged, over laughing! We also finally managed to check out Maitland Regional Art Gallery and Café, which was lovely and even reviewed by yours truly for Little Eats.

Trip Sunshine Coast
The weekend just gone we flew to the Sunshine Coast to visit Caryn, Adrian and the boys. Even though we had JUST seen them for Christmas, it was nice to spend time with them that wasn't rushed and timetabled. We spent most of the first day (Friday) at home, lapping up cuddles with Lucas, before getting Thomas early from daycare and heading out for dinner. Saturday saw us rise early (thanks to the time difference Chloe got up at 5am - YUCK!) and head to the beach, by 1030 the kids and adults were knackered so we ducked home for the midday sleeps and then toddled out that afternoon/evening for fish and chips by the beach. Sunday morning I did a quick family photo shoot for them before legging it to the airport for an early flight home!

 

 

All and all this month has been CHOCKERS! I thought once the silly season had passed, our lives would be less, well, silly. But looking through the calendar over the next 8 weeks and its going to be a jam packed time before we head off to Japan. Eeeeck! So excited!The accommodation (except Tokyo) is all booked including a stay in a Buddhist temple (Takayama) and geisha tea house (Kanzawa). We've also organised passports which should arrive in the next 2 weeks. Just need to read a little more on what to do, get our rail passes and start booking things as they open up like the free imperial palace tour. Cant wait!!!!!

Til next time, all our love, Team Wyatt xxx