Pebble Bay, photos and terror!

Thursday 27th November 2008

We had a fun start to the week as we headed over to Pebble Bay (another Condo on the East Coast) to see Jinny. She had lots of lovely cake for mummy and lots of noisy pans and spoons for me. Ranesh had a big signed England shirt on the wall and this was my favourite thing in the room, i was amazed by it (but don't tell daddy!!) Then we walked over the bridge to the Indoor Stadium where Kylie is playing on Monday - how exciting!! We had to rush home for dinner though as mummy and daddy were going out with Sandy (from Hong Kong) and I had a babysitter again. It was the same lady as last time which was nice and I met her before I went to bed this time and was a very good girl and stayed sleeping all night!!

On Sunday we had some professional photos taken which was good fun. I got to play with the Christmas tree and some presents which I loved (especially the rectangular box in coloured stripy paper!!) It was very hard deciding which pictures to have but we got a nice one of the 3 of us, one of me and daddy playing, one of me pulling mummy's hair and some of me on my own. They are all very good!! Then on Sunday night daddy flew off to Seoul and is currently in Hong Kong as I write this. So it has been me and mummy on our own this week.

We had a nice time at Kindermusik on Monday and i was less grumpy at my swimming lesson this week. I still was not over excited by it all, but I did two swims down to the bottom of the pool and 2 swims to mummy. It has rained less this week as well, so the class after us got to swim too!!

Me and mummy have been swimming a couple of times in our pool and we went for a walk down to the beach as well which was nice. Today we went to a playgym to meet the twins, it was not as exciting as I hoped as there were lots of big kids in the gym bit so we stayed on the mats outside playing with the balls, although it did encourage me to start crawling a little bit more conventionally than the commando crawling I am still doing.

Mummy says that I have turned into a terror this week - not sure what she means, I think I have just become more inquisitive!! Everything is fair game for me to play with and mummy is amazed at the things I manage to reach from the confines of my pushchair or when she has put me somewhere "safe" how quickly I can move to investigate things. I have learnt to turn the lights on, open the dvd drawers and cupboard where the sky box is, pull my books of the bookshelf - although I keep trying to pull myself up on it and am not quite there yet and as soon as I hear the fridge door open I am there like a bullet!!!

This weeks pictures show me practicing for the photo shoot, reading in bed, the mess I make and reading my Christmas cards!! 

Take care and see you all soon,

Big kisses 

Eleanor xx

Getting around and growing bigger!!

Thursday 20th November 2008

The week started off with a visit to daddy at work on Friday - just to check that he is working hard and then mummy and I had coffee (well milk) near his work. I had loads of fun as I stood on the comfy chairs and leant against the rail and stood waving at everybody as they went past, lots of people waved back and stopped for a chat - hours of fun. Not sure who I get the need to be centre of attention from?!!

We had a quiet weekend as daddy was busy studying for his exams, so me and mummy entertained ourselves and then came home to test daddy!! We did pop out to the shops though in our search for summer clothes, nice recipes and garden furniture and we had lunch at the German sausage shop!!!

I missed baby signs this week, but we did get to go to music and swimming class. music was good fun, and we did some walking, climbing and jumping to the music which was fun. Swimming was not so good, i started crying as soon as we got there and only did 2 little swims as i was too tired to play properly - David nicknamed me Little Miss Grumpy this week:-(

The reason I was so tired was that on Tuesday we had our East Coast playgroup again, Mia was there and Ava and two new babies which was really nice and we were there for ages playing and chatting (mummy got her money's worth from her cup of coffee!!!)

I now have 5 teeth (mummy says I am lopsided) 3 at the top and 2 at the bottom. I really have not enjoyed the top teeth arriving and obviously have another one on the way to even it out, so am not happy at the minute. Although I am having more fun eating now I have more teeth so I suppose there is a plus side.

I am still commando-crawling my way around (as the photos show) but I have managed to get myself onto all fours, i then just figure as it is easier to move on my belly I may as well fall down and belly shuffle forwards!!

Finally I had my developmental check this week. The lady said that I was doing very well and tested my reflexes and joints (she was impressed with how flexible i was - really not sure where i get that one from at all) and thinks i should start pilates!!! She also measured me and weighed me. I am 78cms tall and 23lbs (10.56kg). This puts me at the top of the charts for weight and off the scale for my height!!! As mummy keeps saying it is all the sunshine and rain here that makes me grow!!!!  So all is good with me -yeah!!!

Love and kisses to all and see you in 4 weeks

Eleanor xx

Teeth, food and Penguins

Thursday 13th November 2008

We had baby signs again this weekend which was good - we were sleeping!! Afterwards we went to look around cars and have a lovely lunch at Boat Quay. Sunday we had a nice chilling out day around the house which was fun. Daddy was very impressed that I have now made friends with Gertrude as the pictures at the top show.

I am still busy drooling everywhere and biting on things, mummy tried to get a picture of my teeth, but only managed to get the bottom two, whilst I was busy making a mess eating my breadstick. I am really enjoying my food and getting better all the time at chewing lumps - I have had pizza potatoes this week (they were okay but not as exciting as they sound), but otherwise having a healthy diet of meat and veg - yummy. I am enjoying some of my finger food now - especially my baby crisps - mummy shouted at me tonight as i put one in whole and then tried adding the second one straight away! Hee hee. I am also managing to feed myself - kind of!! I help mummy with my desserts now - mummy does 3 spoons and i do the fourth one and 9/10 times i get it in my mouth (with a bit of mess on the way in). 

I am getting too independent though mummy says as this morning when we were eating breakfast mummy stopped feeding me to have a mouthful of her cereal and when she turned back to me i had taken the spoon out of the bowl and already put it in my mouth!! I can also brush my own teeth now. And I have the Fallas security gene - when anyone leaves I watch them go down the corridor, close the door behind them, try to turn the lock and then check the spy hole to make sure they have gone!!!

We met up with Charlotte again this week which was nice, she was busy teething too, so we compared notes!! We also made it to swimming, we had not been for ages and we were lucky as the thunder struck just as we were singing our last song! I also managed this week to kick whilst i was swimming underwater to mummy - yeah for me!!!

Oh well that was this week I think. Will let you know what we get up to next week - I am slowly learning more and more about Santa Claus and I have now seen loads of Christmas Trees (even in people's houses - in November?!), although to be honest not sure what all the fuss is about. Oh exciting news though, mummy and I went to Ikea this week too - it is a really big one with a huge restaurant and a big play area - now that is exciting!!!!

Kisses for now

Eleanor xx

PS We have also been busy making plans - we have booked our flights to the UK, train tickets to Yorkshire and flights to Hong Kong - all very exciting, so we will see you all very soon, wherever you may be!!!!

Signing, singing and witches!!

Thursday 6th November 2008

We have had a quieter week this week, which has been quite nice. We have had halloween and as the picture at the top shows I dressed up as a witch - I am casting a spell in the picture. Mummy could not find me a hat that was small enough for my head, but the dress was very nice (thank you Caitlin).

We started our baby signs class at the weekend and mummy and daddy have been trying their best to teach me the signs for milk, eat, drink, all done and bib. They are doing quite well, but i am choosing to ignore them for the time being - they will only got over excited when they think that I am trying to sign to them. Also when i wave it is similar to the sign for milk, so it is all getting very confusing and we have only done one week!!!

We made it to mass again on Sunday, although we nearly could not get in, it was that busy that the car park was so full we could not get the pushchair through!! It was nice to have a bit of singing though, as well as my music class and singing whilst I wait for the bath to run in the shower attachment I think that i am quite musical (not sure where that skill comes from!)

The other pictures at the top are of me chilling out on my playmat with my fave book at the minute and wrecking my playmat in one of my more destructive moments?!! I think I am about to get a couple more teeth (to add to the 4 I already have) as I am biting on everything I can find (although i am being good and not biting mummy unless I am desperate) and sticking my tongue out all the time!!

Other than that things have been quiet - we have had lots of rain and huge thunderstorms this week, so we have only been swimming once and our class was cancelled on weds. We did music on Monday though which was good fun as we got the huge xylophones out to play on. 

Anyway will say bye for now and will speak to you all next week

Love Ellie xx

PS Hope that you had a nice birthday Grandad and are not missing all those naughty boys and girls now that you have retired xx