A second second birthday

Little miss Audrey turned two yesterday. Many years ago, when J and I were struggling through the first stressful weeks with our first newborn baby, some wise friends told us how quickly our baby would grow up. We didn't believe them at the time, and the first 12 weeks seemed to take an eternity. Now we've survived our second newborn, and both girls are no longer babies. We do believe them now.


What's Audrey like at 2? She can be an absolute delight with big smiles and laughs and songs, but the 'terrible twos' have also made an appearance. She knows exactly how she wants things to be and is not afraid to voice her opinion. Loves to chat, usually saying a single word at a time until her point is made.


There are new words and phrases being discovered everyday. Yesterday's phrase? "Yes I do". Yesterday's word? "Llama" during a visit to a local farm. Much of each day is spent following her big sister, even going as far as 'playing' with Hannah's imaginary pet dog Tessie.


Favourite activities are playing with the omnipresent small plastic dogs, reading, building with lego, having Mum play vet to her plush dogs, "chasing" with Ollie, drawing, and playing with houses (both doll-sized and cubby-sized). She's inherited her Dad's fondness for baked goods. And last but not least there's "gangky". Once a beautiful knitted blanket from Nanna M, now looking a bit worse for wear but still an adored comfort, especially when tired or upset.

Happy birthday to a "zery, zery" special girl!

Clowder of cats

On the left is Bunki, recognisable as a cat by my littlest critics but (unintentionally) only small steps away from being a bunny. He's very excited about having a friend. It's mighty cold in Melbourne lately so she's nice to snuggle with. She also defends him from fluffy marauders. They've heard the rumor of Charlie's fate and don't want to be next ...

I've been tweaking and experimenting with Charlie's pattern and am not sure which of these I prefer. Any unbiased opinions or suggestions would be appreciated! I think I'm leaning towards the stripes, but with longer legs.

Audrey decided to help today:

"Dancing. Dance, dance."


The aftermath.

"Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" by Eric Carle

How many times have I read this book? At least 50, probably more. "Brown Bear" is one of Audrey's first phrases. Since receiving this book for her 1st birthday eight months ago she would have gladly listened to it every night. So do I groan inwardly at her eager requests? Strangely no. Such is the sign of a great children's book.




I like the simple, rhythmic, repetitive story. The length of the story feels just right, unlike some authors who take the repetition too far and have me wishing for the end. And how could you not love the large, bright animals that Eric Carle created for the book?

Even Hannah enjoys Brown Bear and was making up her own version on a car trip a short while ago involving trees, cars, fences and whatever else she could see.

All in a day's chatter

My baby turned 20 months old today. I'm a bad mother who doesn't keep detailed records of my girl's milestones, which is part of why I started this blog. I want to remember the little details which make every day a little different from the previous day. So today I documented any words that I could understand from today's chatter, before I blink and my wee Audrey says everything like her big sister before her.



Here goes:

carry, kitchen, juice, toast, plate, Howl, poop, Mum, Dad, drink, water, no, all gone, more, spoon, bowl, dog, nose, boat, chair, wet, shoes, up, come, conkong (for conker), house, Hannah, acorn, mess, car, broom broom, wash, high chair, blankie, jelly, bib, pup, Nanna, Pa, Kelly, Lucee, Rusty, mananana (banana), apple, washing, stool, dark, light, reach

Well done my little parrot!