Scott and Amanda's wedding

Mummy and Daddy managed to escape for an evening to go to Scott and Amanda's wedding. And here is the evidence...

Alice apparently behaved beautifully, which is good to know. I'm not planning on leaving her every Friday night, but it's good to know that someone else can put her to bed and she will sleep until....get ready for it...7.45AM!!!! Hurrah.

It's life Jim, but not as we know it...

...at least not as we used to know it. Speedy Gon-yardley-z has picked up her pace and is now into everything. Who would have thought that wine racks, ironing boards and Daddy's shoes would hold so much interest?! Our tiny little appartment with my cunning under furniture storage tricks is now a place of much intrigue with too few high shelves.

Now, making dinner, showering or getting dressed are trickier as there is a little person who can't wait to see what lies beneath the nearest chair/bed/fridge (she did manage to unearth one of her favourite spoons which had gone missing the day before, so has her uses). She still loves the newspaper and although she is stubbornly refusing to follow me in the canine manner suggested by Vanessa in her comment on our last post, the rustling did get her to demonstrate her (lack of) speed for the camera...



Other scenes from this week depart still further from our usual daily life - almost a case of Alice through the Looking Glass. I am going out three times, which is very exciting, and Stu is going out only once. As a practice run for the evening where we will both be out living it up (me)/ making polite conversation at their boss's wedding (Stu), the babysitter came to look after Alice for a few hours yesterday afternoon. Safe in the knowledge that they "needed" to bond and that Alice "should" learn how to take her food from someone else, (Pater can't be doing with the mess and hides under the bed during mealtimes - no doubt this is what Alice is looking for when she gets everything out from there) I swanned off for a few hours and had a haircut and a pedicure, bought a case of wine and queued in the post office without a running, sung commentary from a small person whose stroller takes up most of the floor space.

All went well - when I got back she had "annihilated" an avocado sandwich and was tucking into a yoghurt with her usual gusto. I wonder whether they should practice spending time together again so that I can have a spray tan and a manicure...?!

And finally, Clovelly, one of the sleepiest Eastern suburbs was last night the target of the ATM gang who are blowing up cashpoints. I'd like to say that it was very exciting, but I think that 2.45am was about the time that we all went back to sleep after Alice had kept us up for a couple of hours for no good reason at all. Alice and I popped up the road to see the scene of the crime this afternoon, all that we could see were a few rubberneckers creating traffic chaos as the poor little Bendigo Bank got boarded up. Alice was hoping to see a couple of police dogs, but was sadly disappointed.

Must go - it's very quiet and from my limited vantage point I can only see two little feet...

Teeth, Tupperware, Trundling and Talking

Alice has been busy growing teeth in the last few weeks. Now that the top two are through, the process of additional bottom ones does not seem to be bothering her so much, although the dribble still pours out. Nelsons teething powder and magi-dry bibs are Alice and my new best friends.


We kind of miss the gummy smile

I've been busy preparing for our Tupperware party, which went off with much noise, plastic and cries of "Lila, come back", "No, Maddy, not on the balcony", "Makayla, don't bite the snack pots" and "Oh, Jack, have you been sick again?!" The adorable Alice was very well behaved, although the other babies brought out her competitive streak and she decided to perfect her long awaited crawling manoeuvres. Her version of crawling is still very entertaining and very slow and so we are not completely baby-proofed yet. I have been too busy cleaning! The faster and less placid babies kindly showed me the potential pitfalls around the lounge/kitchen/bathroom/dining room table/bookcase that I had missed. I hasten to add that no injuries were sustained and no Tupperware was harmed while holding this party.



Alice loves her shape sorter - just AUD$35.45 from your friendly resident blogger if you order before Tuesday 25th November.


Now fully mobile, we need to work on technique. Alice hasn't quite worked out that crawling is best achieved using opposite limbs. She understands that hands go one front of the other, but then tends to bring only one leg along with her and just drags her right leg as though she has been shot in the bottom. She is up on all fours, so we don't quite have a wounded commando situation here. Still, she can trundle across a room and if she should happen to collapse onto her tummy, she can now push herself back up into a seated position for a more comfortable repose. After she has done this, she waits for applause before moving on about her business.

Vocally, we continue apace. This week's words are a very clear "Hello" (which has not been repeated but was very exciting), attempts to say "Alice" ("Ay-yah") when looking at her picture on my phone and a stream of gibberish which could, quite frankly, be anything. As usual, I would like to freeze her at the age she is at - still so good natured, she now needs supervising rather than entertaining, and just wants to trundle, talk and sticking her new teeth into her (Tupperware) toys.

Lunch with the girls

Big Terry would be proud. Alice and I went out for a delightful lunch out with her chums Marley, Izzie, Lila and Makayla on Thursday.

Instructions for lunch with five babies.

1. All mothers to walk the floor while babies who would usually fall asleep in five minutes take at least twenty to settle. If there are five of you, choose a big and accommodating restaurant who don't mind if you take over the whole floor space to do this.

1a) Realise that if you are having lunch at Sydney's longest beach, then it would have made more sense to walk a couple of lengths of the promenade at Bondi (although the lifeguards won't pass you glasses of wine as readily as the staff at Nick's)

2. Mothers to decide to enjoy the strolling time despite lack of lifeguards to look at.

3. Babies to enjoy their lunch out. They come first after all. Here they are having a lovely time.


4. Mothers to eat and drink as fast as possible during the twenty minutes where the scene above is visible.

5. Resume full attention on the babies and let them run riot on picnic blanket with toys that you have prepared earlier while you enjoy your coffee.

6. Go home. You are exhausted but at least you won't need dinner.

High five!

By George, I think she's got it. Thankfully Alice can take her place in Australian baby society and will now limply stroke a proffered hand when required. She thinks it's hilarious and is exceedingly pleased with herself. Best results come from using an overly comical American accent in the manner of Willis from Different Strokes, followed by the request to "Give me a hug", which is also achieved. This said, Stu informs me that all my accents sound Welsh or Pakistani. Alice is very amiable and just does what she is told.


We're working on more universal gestures such as clapping and emulating Little Friend Cecilia's hilarious royal wave (which would surely just be an enhancement of the Bollywood hand). I'm also force bonding Alice and her new cult toy, Sophie la Girafe. All her fashionable young pals love the giraffe, but Alice is just not interested and will go our of her way to pick it up and drop it in a heap on the floor.


And finally, sad news. The long loved jumperoo has become a stand-with-bent-knees-eroo and so it is time for the giant living room ornament to hit eBay. We are keeping it just long enough to entertain the babies at our Tupperware party next week (the auction ends the next day so hopefully no one vomits on it). Anyone interested in plastic storage sets or a giant plastic baby toy should contact me at the address below. I'm an environmental warrior, me.

"doGGGGGGGGGGG"

And so we have the long awaited first word. By this, I mean word as in related to an object rather than a cute sound that we take as an indication that she recognises her parentage.

Somewhat bizarrely, since we don't own one, see many or even much like them, it is "Dog". Alice has long loved her "Babies" book, but now that it has completely disintegrated through affection, we have moved onto "Dogs". Although she has been saying Da-da for an annoying long time (even before Dada joined us on our holiday and when she hadn't seen him for three weeks), she seems to have temporarily misplaced the "d" sound. I took her to the beach yesterday and although dogs aren't allowed on the sand, some walked past on the footpath. Although she was supposed to be enjoying a picnic of meatballs and sweet potato chips - I have decided it is far less dispiriting when she refuses food if Stu and I get a meal out of my cooking too, rather than her eating a lovely fillet of fish in cheese sauce and us having Chicken Tonight - she spent the whole time pointing at the "Ggggg"s.

I've been concertedly avoiding baby talk and enunciating (too) beautifully. It would seem that the final letter of the word is what sticks in her mind. However, there was no mistaking the objects of her affections. Our next Baby Einstein book is "Birds". Or "those bloody birds" if you listen to her mother at 5.30am each morning. I wonder if it will be the word or the phrase which will catch on.

Making her way in the world (2)

Since sinking her teeth into me some weeks back, Alice's days of breastfeeding have been numbered. I have finally weaned her and am now hoping for some lie-ins at weekends.


I had planned to go until Christmas, but I just couldn't get her to concentrate on feeding and besides, I need to get my wine drinking skills back up to par before Aunty Michelle arrives on Boxing Day.


So, now Alice is on her own, with "just" the three milk feeds, three lovingly crafted, organic meals and water drunk through a straw or from her doidy cup, each day. We have had a bit more sulking with her eating recently, but then a blocked nose will never produce a great appetite. Poor thing is still streaming and I'm still suctioning it out before each sleep. Eeeewww. Not a post for the faint hearted, this one. Here's a picture of Alice sleeping off another fight with Monkey and Softy Rabbit to make up for it.

Platinum Baby

Sadly, my favourite gym did not have a place for my favourite daughter, so I have been forced to relinquish my membership and to sign up at the bright lights of Fitness First, which has a creche. I got a good deal on the fees, which is immediately cancelled out by its location within Westfiend Bondi Junction, meaning that I never simply go to the gym, but always seem to need to stop and "pick up a few things" at the shops.

Alice is adapting nicely to the creche - she will sleep in her pram in the little sleep room if it is sleep time and this morning she sat and watched the bigger children cavort about the place. I am just next door and apparently the carers come and get you if the shrieking gets too desperate.

This gym is a funny place though. Stu used to swear that he saw Nicole Kidman coming out of yoga classes each time he went and it has a beautiful panoramic view over Sydney Harbour. Sound idyllic? They call it platinum to make you think that it will be. However, the Spin class participants who whoop with joy during the really hard bits and body beautiful obsessives who stand around naked and texting in the changing rooms? That'll drag you down to earth.

Still, the Munchkin is happy at the creche (where everyone is fuly clothed at all times and there is considerably less shouting than in the cycle room) and I think it's good preparation for daycare for her to be left for a short while from time to time. I think she prefers the pilates classes where she gets to come along and chew on my feet during leg raises.

Making her way in the world

Our Alice is showing real signs of her own little character. She now has a special camera smile (which is not actually that attractive)...



...and her latest trick is to try to amuse us by playing peek-a-boo. She's been on the receiving end of this game for quite some months, but she is now instigating the fun; she will hide behind anything she can find and then appear, giggling wildly.


She first discovered the joy to be found in being a player, rather than a mere participant, in her hippy party dress (above). This has acres of skirt for her to hide behind. However, she now hides behind anything she can find. Her bath towel, Daddy's shoulder etc, etc.

If nothing comes to hand, she'll lift up her hands, close her eyes and then open them. Fully convinced that she has disappeared during the time when her eyes were closed, she thinks that this is hilarious. It is, of course, but I am usually laughing at her, rather than with her.

In my last post, I promised birthday photos. Here is Alice helping me to celebrate mine. Like all babies, she prefers the wrapping, although I'm not sure if she tied the headband all on her own...

You can take the baby out of Essex...

And here, she celebrates with Little Friend Charlie. You see, Aunty Deborah, it's great to encourage them to be willing to wear hats for so many reasons...