Alex the Camel

Stu arrived to pick Alice up from daycare the other day and all the Dolphins were singing "Alex the Camel".  Apparently they used to sing it properly, but at the point of "Go, Alice! Go! Boom, boom, boom", Alice used to get up and walk over the side of the room in complete bewilderment.  After every verse.  She couldn't understand why they all wanted her to go away.  So they've had to change the words.  Bless her.

Action kids?

Alice and I had a lovely day yesterday - the kind of golden day that you dream you might have while spending quality time with your firstborn before the second child comes crashing into your world.  There were no tantrums, no last minute bids for freedom from lifts at the shops and hardly any shouting. 

We spent the morning with Little Friend Cora and "Cora Mummy who is called Orlaith, my Mummy's called Helen" (as Cora's Mummy is now called) and had a not-at-all civilised coffee and cake at Pain Quotidien while Alice and Cora ran up and down the thankfully empty walkway, yelling as loudly as possible.

After persuading Alice that slithering like a snake would get her pretty dress dirty, I managed to get her into an upright position and we set off for "Adele's Action Kids".  We haven't been to this music and movement class before, but it was brilliant - like an unstructured gymbaroo - you just joined in if you wanted to do and had a little rest if you didn't.  Alice was reluctant to go in at first, as there were tonnes of children and parents milling around due to a class changeover, but once they'd all cleared out and "Thank you for the Music" came on, she began swaying, singing and twirling in a trancelike state, with her arms outstretched.  The free format meant that I could sit down from time to time, while Adele produced all kinds of props - mini toy monkeys for "5 Monkeys sitting on the bed"; spiders made out of bouncey balls for "Incey Wincey Spider"; balls, hoops and bubbles whenever possible.  Alice was in her element with lots of songs to sing to (she is utterly tuneless, so it's largely irrelevant whether she knows the song or not) and almost fell asleep at the end of the class, so active was her participation.  All the other pregnant Mummies had a lovely sit and chat around the sides of the room, but Alice was so enthusiastic, she wanted me to share her fun.

We returned home for a well deserved nap and then made cookies in the afternoon.  Alice then decided she would read me a story because "Mummy's tired with the baby in her tummy". 

A quick aside to note that Alice and now most of her little friends also have babies in their tummies at the moment.  It's not quite clear when they are all due to be born, although both her baby and my baby get a separate mention in the roll call of birthdays that will occur before Alice "can have a Dora birthday cake". 

So here's an excerpt of Alice reading me a story - an Aussie favourite, which was actually a present for the new baby from lovely former work colleagues, but which Alice has slightly stolen.  She'll be able to read it to the littlest Yardley after a bit more practice. 

Please ignore the slightly scary dolly on the floor in the second video and her even scarier positioning. 

Daycare days

As we get to the business end of this pregnancy, both Alice and I are enjoying the days that she goes to daycare more and more.  Our Wednesdays are a special time together, but suffice to say that by 7pm we are pretty much exhausted with one another and I especially look forward to a little rest while she goes off to nursery for Thursday and Friday.

Alice had a massive gain in confidence about a month ago and has stopped hiding her face when people in shops talk to her and will now - thankfully - say "Hello"back when greeted by the various "tradespeople" in her life.  (Eg, "Hello postman", "Please lady, I have a marshmallow with my Cino?", "My not shy anymore" [while performing a sort of tapdance] to the familiar checkout lady in Woolworths.  This has coincided with Alice being mostly happy to go to daycare, as opposed to the lying on the floor tantrums which were a feature of dropoffs before and after our holiday.  One theory could be that since she's started sleeping in, there's no time for food before we leave home in the mornings, so she's literally starving on arrival, but I prefer to think of it as a confidence boost/settling in.

One recent Dolphins daily report would seem to substantiate this, with the whole group parading around the outside area to the song, "We're following the leader".  Apparently "Alice was keen to be the leader" and insisted on, "I'll take everyone to work".  I can't seem to extract the photo, (but have sent it to those who have powerpoint!) of Alice leading everyone a merry dance around the grassy knoll.  When I arrived to pick her up, they seemed to have arrived at work, as they were all digging and hammering - and spitting.  Not in an impression of a builders yard, but more in an effort to "whistle" while they were at it. 

She's gone off Dora a bit, which is a blessed relief (I had visions of having to do all feeds to the tune of "We did it", "I'm the Map" etc, so I'm off to buy some Disney films for her.  Snow White will obviously be top of the list.