the twinkle in my eye

it has taken me forever to get to this point where i sit down and blog again. but maybe life is about to get back under control this coming week and this is the start of it.

the twinkle turned one on 24 may. we had a little party with a super cake made by special k. how good is this cake? the twinkle got a pile of presents and we now have so much stuff that we keep having to start new toy boxes, her bookshelves are full to bursting, and she has a cupboard full of clothes she hasn’t grown into yet, in addition to all the clothes she is already wearing. she was a total party animal – she never lost it once all day. she ate cake and lollies and everything, played pass-the-parcel (because i’m an old-fashioned mum), and played with every toy she got on the day. it was a really happy birthday, so thanks for all the happy birthday wishes.

she is learning fast at the moment. last week, within just a few days, she learned to dance, to clap and to blow kisses. what a joy!

the dancing is a bit of a weave plus shifting her weight from foot to foot. and she often doesn’t do it until after the music stops, as a way of requesting the music to continue. so of course when she does the cute dance we put the music on again so she’ll dance more. the other day she and i danced to YMCA while a locksmith worked on our loungeroom window. being a mother is shameless sometimes. the dancing is sometimes so all-consuming for her that it takes over. like the other night she was busy having her evening bottle when the good guys ad came on tv. she had to spit out the bottle and sit up to dance! what daggy music taste.

the clapping is one she learned the day after her 12 month appointment at the mch nurse. the nurse gave a little tut-tut when i said she couldn’t clap yet. the next day she was clapping like a professional. a professional what? professional audience member? something like that.

and the kissing! you’ve got to see this. i was carrying her down the hall the other day and she was opening and closing her mouth and i thought maybe she was trying to talk. then i kissed her and she did the mouth thing again but this time with a kissing noise and i realised that’s what she was doing. so i kissed her again because i was so proud and she did it again over and over. she does it a lot now which makes me happy – it makes me happy that this is obviously a behaviour she sees enough of to mimic, and she seems to know that it is about happiness and affection. and when she does it over and over it’s like she’s eating.

her first word is definitely “hello” – pronounced “huwwo”. i’m ready for her to pick up some new words now. she’s been saying hello and nothing else for at least six weeks. she will say a sharp “ah!” when i say “up” before i pick her up. and she says “ssssssah!” alot. this is a multi-purpose expression. it definitely means “snuffy” (the cat’s name) (i like to think she’s trying to say “le chat!”). mum and dad think it means “what’s that?” so whenever she says it they name every object in sight. i just think it’s her motor – as long as she’s up and running, she’ll be saying “sssssah! sssssah!”.

she’s not quite walking but she’s close enough that it could happen any day now. it’ll probably happen at childcare this week and we’ll be that cliche that everyone talks about avoiding. “oh, i could never send my child to childcare. i don’t want to miss the big moments like taking their first steps!”

we moved house and are really happy with this house that we have bought. we only looked at it once for five minutes and k was quite distracted with the baby at the time so we were a bit concerned that once we got here it wouldn’t be as good as we remembered it. but it is. and maybe better. it’s been a very stressful two weeks of transition, with lots of things not going smoothly here and at the old house and just when we thought we would try to get back to normal, the twinkle contracted conjunctivitis and couldn’t go to childcare so we had to make complicated plans of working half days and an overnight stay at the grandparents. my birthday was in there somewhere but i was too stressed to really enjoy it. but i will certainly enjoy the spa treatment special k has bought me and i enjoyed my mini lemon and passionfruit cheesecake birthday treat the night after my birthday. thank you k. we will upload photos of this house when we find the usb for the nikon. today i did a super trip to ike@ and brought home a carful of furniture and decor which has made us feel even more like we love this place.

and now she’s sick. and teething. she has spent the day doing a puppy whimper. bring our kissy, dancey baby back!