Something has clicked in little B's head in the last couple of days and she is now beginning to imitate sounds a lot more and trying to talk... often with not a lot of meaning and it doesn't make sense most of the time ... but at least she is trying to make the sounds I am making now... I finally feel like we're making some progress! (Very excited here!)
Her latest thing is "counting"... (I use the term loosely!)... She walks around the house and points to random objects and says "Two"... and keeps walking around and pointing at things saying "Two"... I know she's trying to count, because she says it in the same tone of voice that I use when I count things with her (you know, in that voice most people use when they count to 10 for hide and seek). She occasionally says "Three"... but most of the time it's just "Two"... "One" is completely out of her league at the moment.
She has also been walking around saying "Why?"... "Why?"... "Why?"... just out of the blue, but it sounds like she's asking questions all the time... but she doesn't really know what she's saying!
Today's feature words are "Up... Down... Up... Down"... accompanied with a funny squatting movement when she goes up and down... Really funny to watch... Not so funny when she decides to bounce up and down on my lap really hard whilst calling out "Up... Down"...
Oh... did I mention she can say "Time for Sleep"? She does this cute hand movement when she pretends to lie her head on one hand and says it shen she wants to have a nap. Doesn't do it all the time, but she did it 3 times today, because she was really tired and really wanted me to take her upstairs for a nap, even though it was only 11:10am.
Just the regular stuff going on at the moment... it's the last week of term for KindyROO and playgroup... we have 2 weeks break now. At playgroup yesterday, it was a pajama party (all the kids dressed in their pjs) and we had an end of term party and we all brought in a plate of food to share (instead of the usual fruit the kids have for morning tea)... so there were lots of biscuits, little cakes and lollies. But would you believe, I gave Beth a little chocolate cupcake, she took a bite and then gave it back to me and then headed over to the plate of fruit and ate watermelon and banana! She totally dissed the junk food! It was so funny... she's so healthy. After she'd had her fill of fruit though, she did eat the cupcake... it just wasn't her first choice!
Two... Two... Two...
Daddy and Me
Here we have Daddy and little B watching TV together one evening... (I think it was the NBA playoffs)...
Mummy and Me....
This photo was taken a couple of weeks when we went to SeaWorld with Em and Mike... We were waiting for the Sesame Street Show... and as you can see, she was not very impressed!
Editted to add - I was just having another look at little B's expression in this photo and she looks like she's thinking "Help me! Please... help me!"
A Little Bit of Sunflare...
Here's my best effort at sunflare from the photoshoot earlier in the week... I just love the golden tones in this photo...
The Tweed Coat Shoot
If you have sound, turn it on, 'cos I've sync-ed this slideshow to music... :)
I've wanted to do a slideshow put to music for months, but it has taken me *ages* to get the jumpcut site to like me enough to do it... (Don't ask, I've had problems getting it to link to my yahoo account it kept bouncing me and refusing me... was a real PITA... I don't know why Yahoo hates me so much... it's the second time I've had so much trouble with passwords and usernames and stuff...) Anyway.... here's my first groovy slideshow ever... not bad for a first attempt...
This was the photoshoot we did on Tuesday (when i was in a bad mood from lack of sleep)... I was really beginning to get pressed to do a photoshoot with Beth wearing this outfit because she has been going through a bit of growth spurt and the coat is almost getting too small for her (it's getting short in the sleeves)... so I really wanted to get some photos of her in this outfit, because it is one of my all time favourites (I fell in love with this tweed coat the moment I saw it... it was ridiculous how much I ummed and ahhed about buying it!) The hilarious thing was after the shoot, we dropped into Coles to buy a couple of things and on the way back to the car while we were waiting for the lift, there was a couple with a baby girl who was probably about 6 months with a cute headband. I commented on how adorable her girl was with that headband and the mum said to me - "That's funny, I was just saying to my husband how I love that dress your daughter is wearing. I wanted to buy it for my girl but I couldn't find it in her size." And then we proceeded to have a conversation about how cute the matching coat was (and her husband laughed at us and said "oh, you women and your clothes")... It was pretty funny! So, I now feel a bit justified in my crazy obsession with this outfit... :)
The Funky Bag
Here's little B with the cute bag that Bac Bao Anh bought her when we back home in Adelaide in April. Despite efforts to make her into a handbag girl, she really has no interest in them (well, she is interested in the contents of the handbag (especially if there is food involved), but that's it). She wore this for bag for all of 20 seconds, before she pottered away, took it off by pulling it over her head and then ran off on her merry way.
On a separate note, I keep the the many pairs of shoes that Beth has outgrown in the bottom of her wardrobe and she found them yesterday... She kept bringing them to me to put on her even though they wouldn't fit on her not-so-little feet!
And She Runs Some More...
I really thought this photography gig would get easier as Beth gets older, but I have discovered that I am sadly mistaken... it is *soooo* much harder now that she can run away from me at a break neck speed.
Yesterday, was a slow day... I was in a bad mood from being up half the night because Bethdidn't want to sleep without me patting her (and I was patting her for 1.5 hours from 3am!) So in the afternoon, I decided we should get out and get some fresh air and we headed out to the park for another photoshoot (stay tuned for photos later). I'm glad we did, because it put me in a much better mood and Beth and I had a lot of fun. It was a slightly more successful shoot than on Monday... but *alot* more demanding physically because I had to keep convincing Beth to go where there was a nice background and she kept trying to run away from me and wanted to play on the playground... It was hilariously fun and silly and tiring! It was also mentally and technically demanding because the light kept changing (and she kept running in and out of the shade!) and I was having a quite a time quickly changing my settings to compensate... just hard work all round... but worth it...
She Runs...
Just a little insight into the super fast, running toddler I now have to contend with when I am trying to take photos...
Fun with Playdough
I've had a bit of a photo drought on my blog for the last few weeks... partly because the weather has not been that inducive to going outdoors and taking photos, partly because I've been busy a bit busy with Em and Mike visiting and then last week meeting our new friends Bic and Sebastian who live (literally) a 2 minute walk away, partly because my new CT role has kind taken my focus away at the beginning of the month while I learnt the ropes about what I had to do... I have been taking the odd photo here are there ... just nothing spectacular. I tried to rectify this lack of focus on my photography today and made an effort to take some good photos... I took this shot this afternoon... little B and I were "cooking" with playdough and I'm happy with the composition and I just love the colours in this shot. Excuse the weird coloured playdough... I was trying to make purple playdough... but instead it ended up this weird pale, sickly grey-ish/mauve colour which isn't that attractive, but doesn't affect how much fun you can have with it!
I also tried to do a bit of photo shoot at the park again (it's been about a month since I did the last one)... didn't get that many good shots (I was trying to get some sunflare, but didn't have a lot of luck, I either overdid it or didn't get it at all)... but we both had a great time running around and were exhausted at the end of it. Beth went to bed early tonight, and I'm contemplating doing the same...
A Blast From The Past
I finally got my butt out of gear and installed my Nokia PC Suite software so I could get the videos and photos off my phone ... I haven't taken very many videos on my phone, but I found this clip from way back in August 22nd last year... This just totally cracks me up and shows how different she was back then... she didn't have any teeth yet!
Have I mentioned how much she loves to drive?
This is our little happy chappy at the shops yesterday... I swear, I think I spent 40 minutes watching her drive various vehicles during our 2 hour shopping trip yesterday...
I have to mention, it was really pretty busy and noisy at the shopping centre, but so was she... She really was talking *very* loudly!
Oh the drama of making jelly...
Yesterday morning, I decided it would be fun to make some jelly with Beth. After all, it's not all that hard... pour jelly crystals into a jug, pour some hot water in, stir, pour some cold water in, stir some more. This part went well... Beth helped to pour the jelly crystals in and was very good at stirring the jelly and water without spilling too much. However, when I poured the jelly into some plastic jelly moulds, Beth really wanted to *drink* the jelly mixture out of the containers... Lucky the moulds had plastic lids, so I snapped them all on quickly and then Beth literally had a *meltdown* because she couldn't drink the mixture and then went into hysterics when I put them in the fridge. She just didn't want to wait. That's the last time we're making jelly together... *ever*!
You are beautiful just as you are...
This morning, I was getting ready and as usual, Beth was standing by the bathroom basin watching me. I put on my moisturiser and then followed that with some lipliner and lipgloss (the only makeup I put on these days... and I only do it on the days we go to playgroup, just because it's nice to get just a little bit "done up" once a week... on the other days of the week I can never be bothered putting on any makeup) and Beth started pointing at my lipliner. So I gave her the lipliner to hold (with the lid on) and she started pretending to put lipliner on her lips! She was copying me! I had to tell her "You don't need that, darling. You are beautiful just as you are." Made me feel guilty and like I should stop wearing makeup, so that I am not a bad influence on her. I don't want her thinking she needs to wear makeup to feel beautiful. She was pretty damn cute when she was pretending to be like Mummy though...
On the copy cat note - Phan and I were having a dinner snack (chicken nuggets) and Beth wanted some too. They were hot, so I broke one in half and blew on it to cool it down and then gave it to her. She proceeded to blow on it herself before she ate it! She is hilarious when she imitates what we do.
She is a shoe kinda girl...
Most girls have an addiction to something... I'm addicted to handbags (courtesy of Bao! :)) and Beth is definitely a shoe girl! She just made me put her sandals on (and she actually picked the matching sandals from a box of about 6 pairs of shoes... which is pretty good, considering the other day she made me put on a sandal and a sneaker!) and has been pottering around the house... and as I type this, she is currently pulling out all the shoes from the box and putting them back in!
What a fun weekend!
Well, it's currently 6:30am as I write this... I just got back from taking Em and Mike to the airport (their flight is as 7am) and I'm tired, but don't feel like going back to bed. So, thought I'd jump on here and do a quick update.
We've had a great weekend... busy... but with time for relaxing slotted in as well.
Thursday - Picked up Em and Mike at 12:30pm and we went to have lunch and some cupcakes at Carousel Cupcakes... Great to just have a casual lunch and enjoy some scrummy and pretty cupcakes... we also had the best iced chocolate ever! Beth was loving having them around and was soaking up the attention... We were sitting in a cosy booth at Carousel's and Beth was standing in the corner, jumping up and down and bopping and laughing for most of lunch! (That could also have been due to the amount of sugar she consumed in the iced chocolate and the cupcakes!) After that, we popped into Chermside to wander around and I picked up some groceries for the weekend.
Didn't do much that night... We had chicken casserole for dinner and then we watched Ratatouille, which I think is such a great movie!
Friday - Started with a slow morning... then went to the bus park... came home and Beth had her nap, whilst we had lunch and when she woke up we headed out for a spot of shopping at DFO. Because of the long weekend, the traffic on the roads was CRAZY! We got held up in one stretch for about 15 minutes... but that was the only bad spot... lucky I had brought food to entertain Beth... so Em got to feed Beth mandarin in the back seat. I did some pretty serious shopping... I never get to shop for myself when just Beth and I go shopping, because Beth inevitably gets bored very quickly and kicks up a fuss and makes it impossible to browse ... so I took advantage of having Em and Mike there to entertain Beth... well... Mike actually did a lot of entertaining, whilst Em and I looked at clothes! Beth *hates* women's clothes stores with a passion... everytime we went in one, she wanted to get out of her stroller... so Mike ended up chasing around the mall so Em and I could look at stuff. I bought quite a few tops from Portmans... nothing over $10 a top! All up, I spent $125 in the entire trip... I didn't spend more than $12 for a single item... I got Country Road towels for $12 each and some of the tops I bought were $70 reduced to $10... When I got home that night, I calculated what I would have paid if I had paid retail prices and it was $580! So I was *really* happy with my savings... :) Em also bought quite a few tops and things and this great black dress for only $20!
We had homemade chicken yiros for dinner that night and then just chilled out for the evening... the boys watched sports... Em and I talked about girly stuff.
Saturday - This was our big day out... we went to Sea World! :) We headed off at 11:15am and Beth had a short nap in the car on the way there. The weather was a bit a cool, but that didn't seem to deter the crowds... it was busy, but it wasn't as packed as I imagine it would be in summer! The displays are amazing... we got to see dugongs, sharks and fish, a polar bear... they were so fascinating... We also got to see most of the shows... They had a Sesame Street show on, which we tried to go to, but Beth got freaked out when she saw the giant Elmo come out on stage! She really didn't like seeing them as larger than life figures, so we left. Then we tried to see the sea lion show... Beth got freaked out at that too (We think it's the large crowd of people and the noise of the crowd that wigs her out)... so Phan stood up the back with her and got to see half of the show and Em, Mike and I got to see all of the show (we had great seats in the front row!). The last top for us was the dolphin show... and based on our previous experiences, we decided to sit right up the back... Beth still freaked out, but we just stood up and I just rocked her about in my arms and but we managed to see all of the show... which was just amazing! The dolphins move sooo fast and they can propel themselves into the air so high!
After that, we just moseyed around a bit more before we headed home... we had spent the entire afternoon there (4 hours) and it was the perfect amount of time to see what we wanted to see. In the summer, you could spend all day (and more) there with all the water rides and the pools and stuff.
On the way home, Em, Beth and I all napped in the back seat of the car... sleeping in cars is a genetic thing for us! :) We stopped in at Trang's and had pho for dinner (Beth ate heaps!) and then home and Beth fell asleep pretty early... all the freaking out from the shows must have worn her out! We stayed up and played Mario Kart on the Wii ... lots of fun... and very funny!
Sunday was a nice relaxing day... (Phan had gotten up at 2am to watch the Socceroos play Iraq in Dubai for the World Cup qualifier, he is sooo crazy!)... we didn't do much in the morning... Beth did some crazy funny dancing to Christina Aguilera's Back to Basics DVD... I did some prep for dinner (thit nuong - chargrilled bbq pork) and then in the afternoon we played more Wii (Beth thought she was driving too... she was holding the wheel and pretending to steer... it was so funny!) and then popped out to the park for a quick run around (And Beth accidentally fell over and bit her lip... so was a bit sooky after that... but she recovered from that mishap quite quickly!) before coming home and getting dinner ready. Beth was hilarious at dinner time... slurping her bun (rice noodles) and wanting to eat my cold rolls. I made her a mini cold roll at one point and she pretended to dip it in a bowl (like she was dipping it in fish sauce or tuong) before she ate it... She is in such a monkey see, monkey do phase at the moment. And then she had a bbq-ed corn on the cob afterwards which she just delighted in eating (making a huge mess!) After dinner, she was full of beans... rolling around on the cubby and making Em play peekaboo with her and laughing hysterically ... she worked up a huge sweat doing this... so much that her hair was lying flat against her head!
Once Beth went to bed, we had one last ditch Mario Kart session... I am terrible at the game... I kept finishing 12th and was known for shooting lightning at everybody at the most unopportune moments! (That was damn hilarious!) I also managed to beat Phan in one race, only due to the fact I got 2 speeding bullets in a row!
I took hardly any photos all weekend, amongst all of our activites this weekend... I actually forgot to take any photos of Em and Mike with Beth... it seems everytime they were playing with her, I was busy doing something... We were just having so much fun just hanging out, I just didn't take any photos! We have such great memories though...
So now, we're up for a boring day at home after such an action packed weekend... Phan's doing a long 14 hour shift, so Beth and I will have to find ways to entertain ourselves... perhaps we'll play a bit of Mario Kart on the Wii today... :p
I can't wait for tomorrow!
My sister and her husband are coming to visit us for the Queen's Birthday long weekend! I am sooooooo excited! Hopefully the weather fines up... it is getting better so hopefully it stays that way ...
Unrelenting Rain...
It has basically *poured* down with rain non-stop since about 5am this morning, except for about 2 hours this morning (whilst we were at KindyRoo)... I don't think I have seen this much rain (in Adelaide or Brisbane... and there were big downpours during the summer here in Brisbane) in years...
As a result we have been cooped up indoors all day and going a bit mad... thank goodness we got out of the house this morning to go to KindyRoo... I think I would have got cabin fever if we had to stay at home all day!
Another month passes...
and we are now at the beginning winter already! I can't believe how fast this year is going. Song change because it's the beginning of a new month... but I can't bring myself to change my blog header yet, because it is one of my favourites. So it will stay up for another month... or until I feel like changing it. Just thought, I'd post these pics, since I haven't had the opportunity to take any new photos lately...
