The last supper

We had a meal out with Aly and Dave before they left for Langkawi/ Langwaki/ Langarry (delete as appopriate or based on Grandad's pronunciation, which changed daily) on Wednesday. Grandad is a big fan of Darling Harbour, so we set off for King Street Wharf on Tuesday for a late lunch. Alice had been fed, watered and made to sleep for two hours, so we felt as prepared as we could be.

As is often the case when I worry about how things will go, Alice behaved beautifully and entertained us all. Between courses, she read books with Grannie (in fact, long after Alice had been taken on a promenade around the restaurant, Grannie was still to be found with her nose in "Where is Maisie's Panda", as she was dying to know the ending - where was that panda hiding?)...



...did laps of the restaurant with Grandad...

...and prawns and rice rusks kept her amused while we ate.


Grannie and Grandad have now left us with a taste of Bolton weather to ensure that we feel their absence all the more keenly. Let me just say that Alice is watching a few Baby Einstein videos this weekend than she has for a while...

Alice and her fan club

Forgive me

Have just realised that there's quite a bit of overlap in the last two blogs. You can see that I'm tired out!

Our little girl is growing up

Puffed up like a prize turkey, I dodged the morning rain as I skipped through the puddles of Sydney on my way to work. Friday 13th February breaks with tradition and marks a lucky day in the Yardley household. It is the second day where Alice has not cried when I have left her at daycare. They said last week that she had Officially Settled In and so I had high hopes for this week. Despite bunking off on Monday to spend the day with the grandparentals, she coped admirably with her return and HAS NOT CRIED when I left for TWO DAYS IN A ROW! Hurrah.

It's a little odd that settling in and thereby paying attention to the daycare routine means that she is now learning to do things without us to show her how. Last week washing her hands; this week, starting to do actions to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and continuing to sing the next line "ba ba ba ba, da da da" when Daddy and I broke off our song to curse another rubbish Sydney driver in the car the other day. Must stop throwing insults and teach her to think happy thoughts - although her quiet singing to herself while we tutted was the very picture of serenity.

While she may not be walking, she is now demonstrating considerable aptitude for feeding herself (which this video sort of shows).

There was a little bit of acting up for the camera, but she has been managing this for a month or so (the feeding, not the acting up - that's been going on much longer) and is getting pretty good at it, despite planting her face in the yoghurt pot at the end of this particular clip. She also enjoys drinking water from a glass, rather than one of the many other types of discarded babycups which litter our kitchen, and shows her more cultured southern roots (ha ha) by sipping nicely and then dipping her little hand in afterwards, using the glass as a finger bowl. Another indication that she has picked up some good habits from her mother rather than bad habits from her father was her point blank refusal to eat a fish finger or Heinz spaghetti last week, shortly followed by greedy demands for more after sampling a prawn. It was a salt and pepper prawn and so an essence of Sydneysider must also be deeply entrenched within her.

We are also pretty much down to one nap. It all happened a little sooner than I would have liked and means that she needs to be entertained through to an early lunch before crashing into her cot at 12ish, but when we started the new routine, it saw her start to sleep a little better at night and to lie in for longer. The last two days have been completely different, however, and she's been up two or three times each night. That's made for really fun days at work this week. Stu has been great as usual, but as usual, I have great plans for "fixing it". These include a new and warmer gro-bag (the last two nights have been pretty chilly) and we have also dusted off the radiator a little early. I can't believe that we were using the fan all night this time last week - crazy weather - but hey ho, whatever makes her sleep (says a desperate, under eye circled mother!)
And finally, this week's new word - "Uh-oh". I guess I should be glad it's not "Twit" following all the time spent in the car with us.

In praise of the second year

Having spent the period between 25th December and 25th January feeling as though I had left a load of GCSE coursework until the last minute and trying to get it all done in a rush, I now feel as though I have knocked a few essays on the head, perhaps plagiarised a few from the Internet and decided not to bother with the optional extra ones that get you the difference between an A and an A*.


The curse of the baby books had hit me hard and I felt as though Alice, and therefore I, was up against a lot of things that babies/toddlers "should" be doing at 12 months. To torture another analogy, in my head, the books had ceased to be encouraging mother cheering at the sidelines of the school sports day and had turned into Competitive Dad from the Fast Show, demanding that Alice get on and perform all her new tricks (stand up, forget bottles, cut down on milk, eat same food as us etc) by midnight on 24th January, or at least to do one thing before the other babies so that we would win, win, win.... but what, what, what? It's not like there is much of a prize to be had.


However, now that she is one; although she may not be walking or expounding great soliloquies on baby rights, lots of other things have become much easier. No more sterilising, making formula or boiling and cooling water. We have almost ditched the bottles altogether in favour of sippy cups, just using a bottle last thing at night but will work on that soon. She can have almost any food (even the threat of the 16th century sounding botulism from honey has abated) and she sometimes makes life easier by eating our leftovers from the night before so that I don't need to make special baby stuff or puree everything* (and sometimes not, but then the cursed books do now define her as a toddler, so things are never going to be 100% as I would have them. More like 100% how she would have them). While she is smothered in Factor 50+ sunscreen every day, I no longer feel as though she will turn into a puddle, a la the Wicked Witch of the West, if she is exposed to direct sunlight. She can tell me if she wants to be picked up by holding hands up and saying, "Up". She says "Yes" in answer to most questions, which I phrase to suit my needs, "Do you want a nap?", "Have you finished sucking your rice cake to a pulp?". What else?! Oh yes, apparently she is learning to wash her own hands at daycare. Not seen any evidence of this at home yet, so hopefully they will keep practising.

She is using her own spoon for things that will stay on it as she perilously holds it at a vertical angle and will take sips of water from a glass or a water bottle, which is really handy if we are out and about.

With all that, we save lots of time on faffing about. I'm not quite sure where that time now goes (possibly on work, entertaining grandparents, worrying about jobs and for the last two nights, trying to get her to sleep) but getting her organised is definitely easier. That said, the good old days of Alice sitting quietly in coffee shops rather than trying to crawl out of the door and one-time (not at band camp) smack bang into Andrew O'Keefe, are sadly missed. I'd gladly blend a few carrots and sterilise some teats to have a taste of those good old days back.

*This week I started making the grown-ups food from the Fussy Eater book - it seemed easier for us all to eat her food than for her to eat ours. The Shepherds pie went down a treat with the northerners and none of them seemed to notice all the hidden vegetables. Shhhhh.....