Doh... after the excitement of getting the flash yesterday, I didn't get around to taking any photos Beth today because of playgroup and our other "social commitments"...
Hopefully tomorrow...
Have I mentioned she is doing lots of new things... so many I keep forgetting to mention... Tonight she figured out how to pull the plug out of the bath... She also wanted to stand in the bath without holding onto anything (a bit too dangerous and precarious for my liking!)... She can also drink out her sippy cup all by herself now... she holds it right up so she suck water out of it... I've been trying to teach her that for about 6 months and now she's finally caught on!
We also have gibberish conversations... she makes this "zzz zzz tzzz" talking sound and I imitate her and she bursts into giggles and does the sound even more... She also loves to crawl at the speed of light and make you run and chase after her... she did this after dinner tonight... it is tiring running after her and making her come back!
The best word to describe her would be "delightful"... She is just so happy and interactive... and just absorbing and learning new things so fast... I love watching her grow up... but I feel a pang of sadness that I'm losing my "baby" already...
Sorry no photos today...
We love playgroup!
Today Beth and I went to playgroup for the first time... I was worried she might not like it as she's been a bit of an anti-social baby... but in the last few weeks, she has really come out of her anti-social shell and today she absolutely *loved* the playgroup experience!
It started at 9:30am... ahd Beth had been awake since about 6:30am... My plan was to go and stay for an hour and then leave when she got tired and needed her morning nap... Well, that plan all kind of went out the window... because Beth fell asleep in the car on the way there... and then fell into a *deep sleep* where nothing would wake her... I was nuzzling her face and blowing kisses on her and she was totally motionless... plus even the sound of the traffic near by wouldn't even wake her (and there were trucks coming down the road!)
I saw Sharon and Emily arrive, so had a brief chat with them before playgroup started and Sharon suggested I just let Beth sleep and then join them when she woke up, since it runs for 2 hours. As it turns out Beth napped for a full 40 minute cycle (I entertained myself by reading the Brisbane street directory)... and then Beth woke up (hot and sweaty from the car!) and we went in to find out what playgroup was about.
It was really busy... apparently there were lots of new people checking it out because it was the first day that playgroup had restarted for the year... The playgroup is called "Jellibabies" (cute huh?) and it's held in a hall which is hired from a church. There a small annual fee and then it's $3 a session... but the first 3 sessions are free while you scope it out and decide if it's for you. My guess was there were about 30-40 kids and then parents on top of that... and all in varying ages from newborns up to 4 year olds... It was really loud and I thought Beth would be overwhelmed by all the kids running around, but she sat and watched Em do some art and crafts (she made an australian flag) and then after a few minutes when Beth had kind of properly woken up and started absorbing everything, she started crawling around and exploring... There were kids everywhere playing on all kind of toys... tricycles, ride on cars/scooters, a bobbing zebra thing, slippery dips, massive lego... and I could see Beth watching all the kids playing and particularly taking an interest in watching kids walk and I could see a bulb of enlightenment go off in her head as she absorbed it all... it's like she was suddenly understanding a whole bunch of stuff...
She wasn't afraid to go up to other children... there was a little boy (3 years old maybe?) playing on a keyboard and Beth came up and sat right next to him and then he gave it to her to play, and Beth played the keyboard to her heart's content... even dancing and bobbing along to the music and then squealing with delight! Just after 10am, there is morning tea (no junk, just fruit for the kids) and all the children line up and wash their hands in a communual soapy bucket and then jostle for a position at the table to get some fruit... after this there is more play (Beth played with giant lego and some playdough (tried to eat it and then spat it out!) and even sat on a ride on bike thing quite happily)... I was really amazed at how adventurous she was... At about 11am, everybody pitched in to clean up and put toys away and then for the last 10 minutes, the kids all get to pick a musical instrument out of the box (maraccas, tambourine, bells etc) and then everybody sits in a circle and sings some nursery rhymes.... and then we finish with ring a ring a rosies and then sing a goodbye and wave goodbye to everyone.
Beth really had a wonderful time and I did as well... got chatting to a few different mums who were all lovely and met a few mums who have only been in Brisbane for a year too... I really like how the playgroup is structured... there is an outdoor area with a sandpit under a shade cloth and there is outdoor equipment for the older kids to play on (like monkey bars/slippery dips) and a vast array of toys inside to play with, plus the art and craft and playdough tables... it is very well organised... and even though there were heaps of kids, it was really fun and there are no bullying kids... I think Beth and I will make this a regular thing... plus having Sharon and Em there to chat to is great too... we love hanging out with them... at one point Em couldn't found Sharon so she came up to me and asked me "Can you see my mummy?"... so I pointed her out and Em went skipping over to Sharon... it's so cute that Em knows who I am... :)
After playgroup went back to Sharon's place for a nice cold drink and some airconditioning (oh - the only drawback of the playgroup, it's in a big hall which has no fans or airconditioning... it gets pretty hot, but the kids don't mind... just got to make sure they drink enough).
Surprisingly, Beth wasn't intimidated by their house and was happily crawling around and exploring... mostly chasing after Em (I think she thinks Em is like a big sister or something)... Em kept squeezing Beth's cheeks and giving her kisses on the cheek... she is going through a "mothering" phase at the moment and it's adorable. We ended up staying for a casual lunch... The girls watched "Jungle Book" on TV while Sharon and I made lunch (toasted sandwiches and some rockmelon) (at one point I caught them both standing on the lounge, Em jumping up and down, Beth laughing with delight!) and then we all had lunch... Beth being really messy! Beth was even standing up and walking around their house... walking to Em and Sharon... and when she got sick of walking Beth would crawl around and chase Em... She even pulled herself up on Sharon's legs while Sharon was doing stuff... She is just so comfortable...
Beth catnapped in the car for 10 minutes on the way home from their place (1:30pm) and then I managed to get her to perk up and stay awake for another hour an half because I didn't want her to sleep so early... A big drink of water, cornflakes and toast did the trick. I feel like I'm always feeding Beth, but she's burning so much energy now that she's walking... She went down for her afternoon sleep at 3:15pm.
So all in all, a busy but very sociable and fun day...
Beth is also toddling around a lot more now (it's only been a day since I classified her as walking!)... she stands for a lot longer and can take up to 15 steps in a row now... She also will walk of her own accord in a direction that she chooses... but she does love to walk to me because she knows she can tumble into my arms and I will catch her... She smiles when I catch her and it just makes my heart melt!
Little Feet Disliking Little Shoes...
So I was playing around with my flash and I have no idea what I'm doing... just mucking around really... and then I realised, I should have changed Beth into some non-white clothes because photographing white is one of the hardest things you can do... doh! I've just made life difficulat for myself...
Anyway... I wanted to take some photos of Beth's new little shoes that I bought her (the $30 reduced to $15 pair)...
Here's what I got (don't examine the photography aspects of these photos too much - as I said, I have no idea what I'm doing, and it's going to take some time for me to "think with a flash" ...) -
Aren't these feet so cute in these little shoes? They make me go "Awwww"....
Unfortunately, 10 seconds after I had taken the previous shot, Beth discovered the "velcro" function..
And exercised her right to loosen her shoes...
She is really not a fan of shoes....
It's here, it's here....
My new big flash (canon speedlite 580EX) just arrived from the courier about 15 minutes ago! (Thanks Mitch for the advice - I love it!) *happy dance*... I can resume my photography journey now... :)
Beth is having her morning nap, so I'm waiting for her to wake up so I can harass her with the camera... :p... I've just been taking photos of her toys for the last 10 minutes as practise.. :p
She's walking!
This morning, I have been encouraging Beth to take more steps and she can now traverse the length of the rug (up to 8 steps) all by herself... :) I classify this as walking... :) Although, I have to be holding something she wants for her to walk to me.
Right now, it is pouring with rain and Beth is sitting by the sliding door, watching and listening to the rain fall and she is shrieking along... as if she is singing along with the rain... It's hilarious! Now she's clapping her hands... I think she likes the rain.
On a different note... Beth is a fruit fiend... over the long weekend (3 days), between her daddy and herself, they devoured 1/4 of a watermelon, 500g of seedless grapes, 200g of cherries and a couple of gold kiwi fruit... it's crazy! I'm having to get out to the grocery store every 3 days just to buy more fruit!
More little steps...
Tonight we rang home to Ong Ba Noi's place... Phan put the laptop on the floor and angled the webcam so that they could see Beth standing up by herself and taking a few steps... she was pulling herself to standing quite easily... and then taking a couple of steps at a time between me and Phan... often with a bit of enticement (eg, her new shoes... the box her new shoes came in... a plastic tupperware box... anything really). She really was working hard, 'cos by the end of it all her head was sweating a lot... so much that after we had hung up on Ong Ba Noi, I was flattening her hair and she had sweated so much her hair was drenched and she looked like she had just got out of the shower! Despite, being tired and sweaty, Beth persisted in continuing to stand and take a few steps and at one point managed 6 little steps towards me before tumbling onto her bottom... Such huge progress... She is definitely over the roseola now ... back to being her good natured self and not as tired as she has been... so I'll be trying to encourage her to walk more now that she's not sick... I was reluctant to push her whilst she was sick, because she was so tired and so grumpy!
DFO is a very bad, bad place...
For those of you that have never been, DFO (Direct Factory Outlet), is (as the name suggests) a factory outlet where you can get a lot of bargains... It is a place full of temptation... It doesn't help that it's only a 20min drive from our place!
I had to go back there today to exchange some shoes which were too small that I had bought from Pumpkin Patch on Sunday ... And Sharon had to go and buy a new non-stick pan to cook pancakes in... So we arranged to meet up there... Emily had a sleep in a car, so while Sharon waited for Em to wake up, I exchanged the shoes... and managed to resist the temptation of buying any more clothes for Beth from there (even though, there were *lots* of clothes I could have got her... and they were all about 50% off too)... Then I bought 2 cheap $10 tops for myself from Portmans (just stuff to wear around the house) and browsed a few stores... and in the process, managed to lose one of Beth's pink sandals that she was wearing... she was kicking around frantically a lot, especially when I was trying on tops, so I should have known it was bound to fall off... will have to keep a closer eye on her shoes from now on to prevent further losses.
Em woke up about 1:30pm, met up with them and we browsed around a little (also back tracking in search of the lost shoe, to no avail)... We looked in Cotton On Kids... amd I bought Beth a little pink polo (good for wearing on sunny days to protect her from the sun) and a headband ($7.50 and $3 respectively)... and Sharon grabbed a bargain getting her some tops and a skirt all for $12.95 and then we stopped and had a coffee break... I had a mocha and a shorbread biscuit... well actually, Beth ate all of the shortbread biscuit herself... and Em shared some dried mango with her (which Beth loved) Em also had a babycino... it such a novelty... I'm thinking I should start ordering Beth babycinos, because she really wanted to drink my mocha! Then Sharon got some hot chips for Em to eat, which Em shared with Beth... it was so cute... Em would keep walking up to Beth (who was sitting in her stroller) and give Beth chips and Beth would gratefully receive them and scoff them down... it was adorable seeing Em sharing with Beth (Em is also going through an anti-sharing phase, so it was real progress seeing her share with Beth)!
Last stop was a sports store, which would have been the last shop I would have visited, but they had the BEST kids shoes... and I got suckered in and bought Beth another pair of adorable white sandals... (to replace the pink ones that we lost of course.. :p))... they were only $15... down from $30... so I was happy with that bargain! :)
And then we called it a day... left around 3:40pm and Beth fell asleep in the car about 5 minutes from home... but immediately went into a deep sleep, 'cos I managed to transfer her from car to her bed without her waking up! That's amazing!
I have to say, I'm enjoying hanging out with Sharon and Em... and Beth has really become sociable and loves their company... even though we've only seen them a couple of times, she perks up when she sees them... She was dropping her water bottle a lot at one point at DFO and Em kept picking it up and giving it back to her... Beth thought it was a game...
It's also been really weird weather... it poured down with rain at some points of the day, but it's still steamy and hot... not cool at all... so it's just super humid!
I'm just making dinner now (salmon patties) while I wait for Beth to wake up... I think I might have to go in and wake her up soon otherwise she won't sleep tonight!
