Naughty and Nice

With the new found freedom of walking comes the next adventure - climbing. Erin is fighting a nasty cold right now and the weather has been rainy / cloudy so we've been spending most of our time indoors. Although she has a cold it hasn't slowed her down much and has climbed onto and into everything her imagination has lead her too.

Naughty:

I stored her Christmas presents in her toy box and when I went to wrap them she discovered a new hiding place. I barely got the presents out before she climbed in.

Helping fold the laundry and checking on a clog in the sink.

Nice:

Any chance to pose for the camera.

Oh, Santa Baby !

Taking Erin to see Santa this year was a two day event. The first day we scoped out the scene and found out Santa's arrival times so we could be first in the queue (queue, I put that in for you Elise). We also checked out Santa's winter wonderland, sleigh and even said a quick hello to the jolly fella. Everything was looking good for our visit the next day.

The following morning it was raining and a bit chilly - a fine day to visit Santa. Everyone and their Uncle had the same idea. Took us 15 mins to get to the mall which is less than 1Km away and another 15mins to park. We weren't the first in line but Erin was feeling it. She was looking happy, touching all the jolly man's balls (Christmas decorations guys ! ) playing with the elves and watching all the other children jump into the sleigh and get their picture taken. Then it came our turn, I scooped her up and approached the sled; things still were looking bright. As soon as my front toe entered the sled the tears and screams came in full force. I tried putting her in the front of the sled where she couldn't see Santa. One of the elves was blowing bubbles, she was giggling and laughing. I thought this was it; we’re looking good this is a go. Well all of a sudden she remembered where she was and looked over her shoulder and screamed when she had Santa in her sights. It was quite funny actually b/c as soon as she turned back and saw the bubbles she would giggle and laugh and then she would glance over her shoulder and when she saw the red suit the tears would come. This went on a few more times before the queue started to get impatient. We left Santa's sleigh and never went back.

Santa Part II: We finally got a picture with Santa. We went to a store with a more subdued Christmas town - Santa and a chair, very old school. I had to get in the picture with her as she started to cry again, she looks scared to death. Done ! (for another 365 days, anyway).

Here's Erin in a festive mood. She is obsessed with hats, sometimes she wears two. I've had to pull the car over once to put a hat on her and it's the first thing she asks for when she wakes up.
(check out all the fingerprints on the glass door in the photo of her behind- dbl click to enlarge)

Erin doing her best Santa impersonation.

Happy Thanksgiving

OK OK it's been awhile from my last post - I get it - you can all stop sending emails. I've been just lazy and will update with another post soon. Below is the post that I started two weeks ago but never finished, so without further ado...............

We celebrated our Thanksgiving feast this past weekend and it was such a great time. I really like this holiday as we are the only game in town so everyone shows up. Actually we did have a few that couldn't make it but we still wound up feeding 30. Two turkeys did the trick - one in the oven and the other on the BBQ. The BBQ one comes out so much better and has a great smokey flavor that I think next year we may do both on the grill. There is so much going on I didn't get many pics. Here are the before and after shots of the table setting.

Erin is taking a lesson from Ollie on coloring - she's not very interested with crayons at the moment.

One great discovery was that Erin loves the traditional Thanksgiving foods. So far Erin has been eating leftovers for lunch and dinner. Figures, I have to cook for a week just so she'll eat my food ! She also really enjoys pumpkin pie, I cut a piece for myself and she eat half of it.

On the Sunday Paul was scheduled to do an ocean race and I thought about taking Erin to the Christmas parade but neither of us made it. We didn't get the house back in order until the middle of the next week.

Christmas time is in full swing here - as I suspect it is all around the Christian world. I'll post again tomorrow about Erin's visit with Satan I mean Santa.

One Small Step for Erin and One Giant moment for Us

The monumental moment has arrived - Erin has taken her first steps. I can't say that she is walking b/c it's at most 6 steps before she goes crashing down. She has the confidence to keep trying but it's painful to watch. Actually, it's quite funny - she walks like Frankenstein. When she lets go of the object she is using to steady herself her hands fly up around her head and walks very slowly, with a wide stance until she starts to lose her balance and then for some reason she starts to run- then CRASH.

The weather is almost like summer but I still have her in pants as the falls to the floor were causing havoc on her knees. I've been able to capture her first steps on the camcorder but don't have any still shots to share. She has also discovered the freedom of being naked so we have a little nudist in the house. I have to chase her down to put a diaper (nappy) on her, even then it's a struggle.

Erin has been climbing all over the couches and sitting in "the"chair, Paul's chair so we finally found one in Erin's size and she just loves it. If only she had her bottle in her hand rather than the bubbles.

Memories of my Grandmother

Today my grandmother of 102yrs young passed away. She died very peacefully in her sleep which is always a gift. I have been thinking of my memories of her since speaking to my parents and here are a few of my favorites.

My earliest memory is of her babysitting me, she would race me to my room when it was time for bed. She would always let me win and as she tucked me in she would reward me with a pack of lifesavers for the win, it was either cherry or butterscotch flavor. I also remember when I slept over her apartment in Bayport one night, I don’t really know why I was there and I’m not sure my exact age but I remember waking up the following morning and she had placed chairs all around the bed so I wouldn’t roll off. I remember thinking how am I going to get out of bed.

Every Sunday without fail we would pick her up for 10am mass. She would be waiting for us and would come out in her dress and handbag – like the queen she always had her hand bag. Again I would always get a pack of lifesavers or charms. Charms seemed to be the favorite for Sunday mass. If it were raining she would pull out this clear plastic throw away rain hat that you are suppose to use only once but she would careful refold the hat along its according like folds and tuck it back in its case- too funny. During the holidays when she came to our house she had “her” chair – the queen Ann winged back in the living room. With her purse by her side she would drink scotch and water that only Robert could make. She didn’t leave the chair until it was time for dinner.

The two things that will ALWAYS remind me of Grandma is Yoo-hoo (a rich and tasty cocoa drink) and Mallomars (a sublime and elusive blend of graham cracker, marshmallow and a pure dark chocolate coating). Don’t know if she liked Yoo-hoo b/c I don’t think I ever saw her drink it but she always had it around for us. It was a staple in her fridge and every car trip she would walk out of her apartment with a brown paper bag – we all knew what was in the bag. Yoo-hoo and Mallomars - YUM.

On Christmas Eve, after mass, we would always go to Howard Johnson’s (Ho Jo's) for dinner to enjoy clam strips and fearless fidos. She always treated us for dinner and in the car ride home one of us (usually the youngest so that would be me) would count “1 2 3” and all of us together would say “ Thank you Grandma”

Grandma was a big fan of baseball and the Mets in particular. She would watch the games at all hours and I remember when in her apartment a game was always on. Well, Grandma you really put in some great innings and some extra ones as well. I hope you are whole and dancing again. You have seen so much in this world. “Thank You Grandma” – indeed.

It's all about the Ball - "First" Word

Erin has said her first "official" word and she hasn't stopped since. We would have hoped that it would have been Mommy or Daddy but the affection for a ball (ANY ball) has edged us out in the polls. I do however believe she can say Mommy and have heard her use it when she wants to be picked up or has hurt herself but she quickly realised that a full on scream gets my attention a lot quicker and prefers that method of calling (I swear I've heard her ;)).

She started saying the word ball about a week ago but I wasn't sure if she was definitely saying it or it was just part of her daily baby gibberish. Yesterday I was certain when she gathered all the balls we have in the house and grabbed each one and presented it to me followed saying "BAL". I left out the last "L" b/c out of the 50 times she says it daily only about 10 times will it be said properly. It's very funny as she puffs out her checks when pronouncing the "B" - poor kid, she is trying so hard and all I can do is laugh. I tried to capture her in action. She will carry this one red ball around with her all day and hunt it down when out of sight.

Too cute.

Erin do simple animals sounds but this is really her first word. When she gets older and asks what her first word was I'm not sure if "UH OH" is actually a word (Aunt Karen taught her that). Maybe I'll just assume it is b/c she said it at 9 months (we'll round down) - very advanced indeed ;) )

Halloween Part II - Trick - Or - Treat

Halloween is not very big here but with commercialism making it's way downunder it's slowly gaining momentum. When I first moved here you were hard pressed to find any Halloween decorations now it has it's own case at the end of the aisle, like Entenmann's. The kids do go trick or treating but they travel to the "level" streets, I can't blame them. No trick or treaters at our place - it would be a two story climb and they would expect something worth their efforts - not 5 pennies- remember getting them. What were they thinking ?

When the camera comes out Erin will (sometimes) pose for you and when you say "CHEESE" here's what you get. She's too funny.

Getting into her trick or treating pumpkin - although she doesn't get to enjoy the treats she still had fun pulling them all out.

Later in the afternoon we changed into our Ladybug (or aussie speak ladybird) costume.

Finally Erin and her ladybug ride left the building, but not before enjoying a cold glass of milk (love the leg up while she drinks). We headed over to Aunt Bec's house, b/c she lives on a "level" street, to help with the trick or treaters

Halloween Part 1 - Carving the Pumpkin

Last Saturday we went to Damien and Michelle's (another American) place for a pumpking carving (or as they say Pumpkin slashing) BBQ. Halloween is Michelle's favorite holiday so we searched high and low to find a sugar pumpkin to carve up. Not too many places carried them and if they did they didn't have many. We found one and to my SHOCK it was $31 !!!!! It was $6 / kilo which is roughly $2 / lb. I spoke to Lauren the other day and she said she purchased three pumpkins for $30 and paid 59 cents / pound !!! I think this may be the only year we carve up a sugar pumpkin and try out a butternut squash !!!! See for yourself they didn't come out too bad.

Erin decided that pumpkin carving wasn't really her speed and wanted to try out what Dad was doing.

3 shots, 2 teeth and 1 bloody lip (+ a cold)

It's been very busy since our last post and Erin has had it tough. She had her MMR vaccinations which were three shots in her thighs. Poor girl went around with three cotton balls taped to her for a few days. She wouldn't let me take the tape off. The shots (or needles in aussie speak) are the worst of the lot. It's the measles, mumps rubella vaccination. Erin is a trooper but did develop a fever 7 days after.

She also has two bottom teeth coming in so sleeping at night has been a minimum at best- we are both exhausted. They have finally poked through the gums so all is good again. That is until the one yr old molars arrive.

Erin has also began to explore standing and a take few steps on her own. I say a few because it only happened once and it was at most two steps. With this new found freedom has come a few bumps, scrapes and on occasion a bloody lip. First off she is absolutely fine and this picture was taken about 30 seconds after she slipped. It was a tiny cut on the lip. She was back up and cruising the furniture again. We are both fighting a cold so hopefully the next few days will be better than the past.

Water, water and More Water

The weekend weather again was absolutely beautiful indicating that summer has arrived. Saturday and Sunday were both pool days, Saturday we went to the stadium to use their pool and "relax" poolside (relax with a one year old---RIGHT). It's heated so the water was very warm - but no pool toys ! So Sunday we used our pool and broke out her new pool toy - what a crack-up. She's so funny.

Another child favorite is the ordinary hose. Erin hasn't seen a hose before so it was fun to watch her discover all the ways she can have fun with it. It started with having the water run through her hands and progressed to her drinking the water and flinging the hose into a makeshift sprinkler. It kept us all very happy for the rest of the morning.

Beach Dayz

This past weekend the weather hit summer temps so we headed to the beach. It was crowded as it was still spring break , but we found a spot and pitched the tent. The water was still very cold ( there was NO way I was going in) but Erin and Paul wore their wet suits and hit the surf.

Paul was a little too confident in Erin's skills on the board. Right after this picture was taken he let go of her and that little wave in the background wiped her out and dumped her. She went under and tumbled for a bit and was on her tummy face down when Paul scooped her up. She wasn't phased one bit - Paul was a very proud Dad (but also a bit embrassed that he let his one yr old take a dump). I don't think the others on the beach were too impressed. After her first surf Erin retired to the tent for a much needed lunch break. Nothing like chomping on cold chicken after catching your first wave.

Erin was full of sand, she must have been so uncomfortable. I found more sand in her ears the following morning. Erin loved the beach and I think this will become part of our weekly routine.