Eggshell Green

Playtime with Abs

It’s great watching Abby play on the slide all by herself. She’s a bit shy when other kids are about but when she’s by herself she goes for it. The baby playground in Kilbirnie is perfect because it’s quite safe (so big pregnant ladies don’t need to do much but supervise) and just the right size for a toddler.

She’s also a pro at riding her rocking horse now – complete with hat and a “Yeeha” at the end.

Unfortunately any time is play time and Abby still won’t stay in one place to get her nappy changed. Today she took off while I was trying to clean up a sticky poo, and then sat her dirty butt down on the rug. I picked her up to reveal a nice brown butt-shaped patch with some chunks, which Fez promptly ate – EWWWWW!

Tags: baby, play, Wellington

Abby Update at 14.5 Months

Abby is beginning to understand us more. I told Abby not to go near the oven because it was hot. She started blowing on it. Lol. She also knows what we mean when we say “Sit down”. She likes to stand on chairs, couches, beds, you name it. Just because she hears it doesn’t mean she listens though!

What? I wanted an apricot, from up here.

She’s into climbing at the moment. Her latest feat has been climbing on to a chair, then on to the kitchen table, and then on to the set of storage drawers that I had left on the table!! OMG.

Whatcha doing...?

Abby’s also learnt to open drawers and cupboards so anything without a safety lock on it and within reach is fair game. She’s taken dishes out of the cupboards, tried to eat flour, stolen my keys from my handbag and proceeded to use them on the front door… The rubbish bin is also a point of interest, and she’s almost thrown my necklace away while I wasn’t looking. She pretty much wants to see, touch, taste and test everything. Quite often she’ll walk around pointing and going “OoOOohHH. OoOOOOhH!” to say “What’s that? Can I see it? Have it? Eat it? Please?”.

She’s been giving us a lot of trouble in regards to sleep lately. It’s almost every night that she will wake up (at varying times) and not go back to sleep. We have to go through the routine of changing her nappy, giving her some milk, and rubbing Bonjela on her gums because we don’t know the exact reason why she’s waking. It may be because she’s teething (she has two new teeth and at least another two coming through), or her appetite’s increased, or she’s hot and having nightmares. I really hope this doesn’t continue for too long because it’s starting to feel like a permanent hangover from the lack of a good night’s sleep.

Apart from that, she’s still my curious, cheeky, chuckling girl.

Tags: baby, parenting

Abby Update at 14 Months

What a little monkey! Abby just loves to climb on everything she can – the futon, coffee table, stroller, anything she can reach, including people. I can’t roll around on the floor anymore like I used to, but daddy still does it despite being nipple-twisted and nad-bashed by the Little Miss.

Abby’s learnt some new words. Her vocab consists of:

• Baa baa (sheep sound)
• Mmmm (cow sound)
• Brrrr (horse sound)
• Berr (ball)
• Shoe
• Teeh (teeth)
• Daddy
• Mum mum
• Nah nah (banana, she even said the proper word once)
• Baby (I don’t think she knows what it means but she likes saying this)
• Abby – yes, she says her own name! So cute.
• Beh beh beh (strawberry)
• Nin nin (grandma taught her this Chinese slang word for ‘milk’)
• Yeeeha (Dad taught her this while she was on her rocking horse)
• e-ya-e-ya-e (Old Mac Donald had a farm, eieio)
• um (arm)

We managed to take Abby to the beach finally. My parents were here so I thought a trip to Days Bay would be nice as I hadn’t been there before. Abby wasn’t allowed to get down and dirty in the sand though (my parents disapprove of kids getting ‘dirty’, which makes it hard for Abby to play when they’re around), but at least she got to walk on the sand and eee over seagulls.

Looking at the water

Abby is a knowledge sponge. She will observe and copy. She has picked up in the last day or so that keys open doors, and has twice toddled all the way to the front door and tried to stick the house keys into the door knob. Noone taught her this, but Grandpa said that she was watching him while he unlocked the door the other day.

She has also figured out that the foot stool gives her access to higher things and has been carrying it around to the kitchen and back to the lounge to see what she can reach. Nothing is safe now!

Abby Update at 13.5 months

Our little baby is a real little madam at the moment. She knows what she wants and she throws a tantie when she doesn’t get it – stomping feet, screaming, collapsing on the ground, that sort of thing.

She should learn that dirt is not food

Whenever someone opens then closes the front door, she throws a wobbly. She loves going outside and acts like we’re the meanest people in the world when someone leaves and she can’t go too, or even if we’re just coming back inside! She acts the same way when we end her backyard explorations.

Anything in there I can eat?

She’s decided that the coffee table and her chair make a great jungle gym to practice climbing on. It’s harmless (except if she were to fall off onto the hard floor), but it’s not a habit we want to form – thus, another reason to scream and shout at her mean parents.

Just fiddling, mum

Another reason for her behaviour might be because she’s not feeling the best lately. Her temperature has been lingering around 37.5-38 so she’s a little warmer than usual. We’ve also noticed those omnious spots collectively labelled a “viral rash” by GPs that pretty much equate to a cold of some sort. On top of that she’s dribbling lots and it looks like she’s teething yet again.

It’s great that the husband still has a week of leave left. I really appreciate the extra pair of hands and eyes, especially now that I’m getting big and heavy, making most everyday things a bit of an effort. And dealing with a grumpy, tantrum-throwing baby at the moment is hard work!

This should be easy, right?

Abby’s starting to learn more words. When we tell her it’s “teeth time” she says “tee, tee”. She can also say “nahnah” to mean banana – she even pointed to them at the supermarket and said “nahnah” without any prompting. Super impressed mum. She still knows “shoe” or “ball” too.

Walking to find more trouble

She’s getting really confident with herself. Her walking is coming along nicely. She can crawl down the deck steps backwards. She rocks on her horse Neigh-neigh without help. She loves her paddling pool and climbs in and out to take “exploration” breaks on the deck. She pushes her wagon and gets on her car by herself. She drinks from straws, sipper bottles and cups, and the dog bowl when we’re not paying attention.

Abby is turning into a little girl, a Terrible-Two perhaps – argh! In saying that, I hope she grows up a bit faster before her brother comes along, maybe drop the tantrums for starters?

I promise to be a good girl - promise.

Tags: baby, summer, walking