Precious

Can you believe our baby Lily is now 19 months old. Not much of a baby now, I know, but I know she'll always be my baby.

And such a precious baby she is.

And she is also a poser. (Just mind the crumbs in her blonde locks!)

I'm trying to record these moments and put them here. Lately I've been rereading posts of old and am so very pleased I have done what I have done, here, on this blog.

Lily is so very funny at times - she has these amazing conversations with us - very animated in her movements. Still not talking much in a language we understand but the word 'bab-ee' (as in baby) is very big around here. (She was very excited to get all of Monet's old dolls last week! Bab-ee, bab-ee, bab-ee!) She still gets excited at seeing the Teletubbies on tv and her latest loves are being able to give the thumbs up to stuff and waving/smiling at one particular security guard at the entrance to our compound.

She's so very precious.

Quiet Time

MrL and I grinned to one another when we spied Lily doing this on her own accord the other evening...

Clearly taking a page out of her big sister's book.

(We tend to see Monet doing this quite often.)

What Easter Build Up?

I can't believe it is Easter next weekend. Didn't we just celebrate Christmas?

I guess I can't believe it because over here in the UAE, there is no real 'build up' to Easter. There is no Easter School Holidays (we had 'Spring Break' a couple of weeks back), there are no Hot Cross Buns lining Supermarket shelves (except for some I found in Spinney's Supermarket last week, but are named 'Fruit Buns' with no obvious cross) and only now are shops bringing out the Chocie Egg stock, mostly imported from the UK with a few I have seen imported from Australia.  It is little things like all that, that I do miss from home.

But, Easter Bunny will always be found, wherever we might live.  Even here in Abu Dhabi.

(And if anyone could point me in the right direction for Homemade Hot Cross Buns recipe here on the net, which are easy could you let me know? Cheers in advance.)

An Accomplishment

It's been a while, but I've been sewing again.

Finding nice fabrics on hand in Abu Dhabi is not an easy thing. Most materials you do come by are silk and flowery. I guess that's part of the reason why I like IKEA - there is a more nice choice of fabrics to choose, on hand, from than anywhere else.

So, I've been dreaming up a skirt design in my head for a while and today I put that design into practise. I do need more practising though.

The sewing is a bit shonky and it is something I would never show a professional sewer - they'd probably drop dead to the floor in shock. Also no zips on hand in this neck of the woods, so it was elastic for me (which I was fortunate to find!).

Here's me modelling the final product.

I'm no supermodel either, believe it or not.

I'm just wondering if it is one of many?

It's Monday. That means both Western and Karen to me.

Monet has a lot of stuffed toys. She's had a lot of them since forever and they are all individually named and loved. She goes through phases of they all go on her bedroom shelves or, like at the moment, most sit each morning on her made bed.

So here I introduce you to guys like 'Western', 'Bella', 'Pickles', 'Toast', 'Cheese', 'Lee and Karen' (the rats), 'Monet' (can you spot the Claude Monet stuffed toy there in the centre?) and 'Cricket' to name a few.  It is all rather cute and I am sure each one of them holds a special memory for the six year old.

I gave Monet a while ago, a little notebook for her scribblings. She likes to write little notes to herself, to me or to her teddies. A while ago she came up with this idea... I hope you can work it out.

She has written the days of the week, twice, and before each day she has written the name of one of those stuffed toys on the page.  This means that on that particular night, that particular toy gets the privilege of going to sleep with her.  (And you must notice she writes her name as Miss Lulu.  She wants to be a teacher you know.)

I just hope this isn't a glimpse of her future 20 years from now. Lol ;-)

Better to be Safe than Sorry

Had to take our Miss 6 year old to one of the local hospitals this morning. Here in the UAE when you need to see a doctor, for whatever reason, you can actually go to the hospital. You either go direct to the specialist (ie Dermatology) or to the GP rooms. That's what Monet, Lily and I did this morning.

Monet found out last week at school that she is a bit uncoordinated (like her mother) when it comes to play equipment. She feel off the monkey bars, landing a bit hard on one of her legs. She said she cried and a teacher on duty took her to the school nurse, who examined the leg and sent her off after a little rest. Hmmm.

"Okay", I said, "just take it easy and stay OFF the monkey bars, even if other kids are playing on them, doesn't mean you have to".  (HATE monkey bars - I was never a kid who used them - can't you tell?)

That, was last Tuesday.

Monet had a couple of crap days of school - think she was feeling a little unsocial and a bit scared to keep playing on the new play equipment whilst her little buddies clambered over the monkey bars, down the slide, through the tunnel etc., etc., However, she was fine at home - had a bit of a limp, no bruising and was using the pool like an Olympic swimmer training for the 2012 Games.

But still having a little limp.

MrL and I couldn't work out if she was exgaggerating the limp or not and so last night was the last straw.

"We're getting this leg looked at tomorrow!" I told her as I tucked her into bed.

So this morning we went off, arriving at the hospital at 8am where she was looked at some 30-odd minutes later. We were sent off for her to have an x-ray, just to see if there could be any slight cracks in her bones. Brave Miss Monet had to enter the room alone and have the x-ray done without me being there, as I had Lily with me and she wasn't allowed in. *oh my heart* Thankfully the x-rays gave us the all clear. It seems as if she has a bruised muscle and we left the hospital with a bagful of pain relief ointments and medicine.

Better to be safe than sorry.

Happy to get school (that's my girl!) she was all ready to tackle the day from 10am.  I hope she's having a better day today.  =)

*You may have noticed I have changed back to using the real names of MissM and MissL - I think most of my readers know their real names anyway, no biggie*

Australian Idol.

I know I have said this before, but gee, MissL idolizes her older sister.  Can you figure out this photo below and why I would say that?

Yep, that's her older sister's tee shirt MissL insisted on wearing for half the day whilst MissM was at school.

And when MissM did get home from school, I spied some of this going on.

Cute eh?

The rest was enough for MissL to get colouring with her big sister.

Australian Idol?  Sister Idol. =)

Proud Parent Moment

I'm actually liking the eldest being six point five years old.

It is a good age. MissM's tantrums are now further and further between, you can have proper conversations, she can swim independently, she can take responsibilty for stuff, helps out when she can (ie. is more than happy to hang out the washing for me before school), knows what she does and does not like, is very good at playing with her sister and now can read chapter books to. her. self. (LOVE, love, love that!)

It's not to say that MissM is an angel - she's far from it at times and it's not to say that MissM always acts her age, she literally does act her shoe size! (She's a UK size 2 - big feet our girl and currently stands at around 130cm - she's going to be one tall girl)

The 5 year age difference between my girls for us is perfect. MissM is a great role model and teaches her little sister things like "when you touch this button on the remote, it changes the channel", "if you keep asking mum over and over and over again for something to eat, she'll cave in and give you something" and "when you touch the iPhone screen you can watch videos of yourself or of Telly Tubbies"...

The coin dropped quite some time ago with MissM and her reading. She has always shown an interest in books (which MissL is starting to now) and I've always read to her, practically every night of her life. (I now give myself Thursday and Friday nights off from that duty!)

When my parents visited last year, my mother bought MissM a 'Junie B Jones' book which they read together. A couple of months ago we noticed in Borders a whole section of Junie B chapter books so bought the first couple, which I read to her. When they were finished I bought her a couple more, in which we shared the reading. I'd read a page, then she would read a page. Last week MissM spent some of her pocket money on a new Junie B novel. On the way home from Dubai (where we bought it) I did not hear a peep out of her. As we pulled into the driveway MissM proudly announced "I'm up to page 46!" She had been sitting in the back seat reading quietly to herself. Whoo-hoo!!

She raced inside, sat on the couch and quietly continued reading until she had read all 80-90 odd pages! "I just love reading" she told me. =)

The following day, she read two whole Junie B Jones novels to herself, in her bedroom!! Awesome. And best thing is, the words are actually sinking in, as I asked her what the books were about.

I've been waiting for this day to happen and it seems as if that day has come.

Now wait until I tell you about the book she wrote and illustrated!