Thursday, February 23, 2006

BELLA'S NOW ONE YEAR OLD!

Bella was born on St Valentine's day, and last week she had a couple of parties with each lot of in-laws. She got a nice fluffy dog from us (and Millie got a smaller one!).

The Health Nurse says Bella is in the 50th percentile for length, 90th for head size, 15th for weight (though she looks quite nicely chubby to us).

Bella can now wave good-bye with one arm, and claps her hands. She can sit up from a crawling position. She turns over the page of the book we're reading when we tell her. She has very definite food tastes, and is almost impossible to feed if she doesn't like something (especially weetbix and some vegetables. So we have to mix small pieces of 'vegies' in her yoghurt, which she loves!)

Bella's a very light sleeper, and very alert. We have to creep around when she's having her bottle, 'cos she sits up and wants to watch anything moving. Millie's a sound sleeper: so you can guess the logistics of getting them both to settle down (in the same room) each night!

Most Thursdays Millie goes swimming with her aunty Judy, and loves it. Today she came home tired and threw a tantrum when her mum tried to feed her something before her afternoon sleep. When she woke I was there to greet her, and we had about ten minutes talking together with her on my knee (a long time for Millie) - it was wonderful!

Shalom!

Rowland

Thursday, February 02, 2006

YOU HAPPY WITH ME GRANDMA?

This morning Millie sorted out all her wooden jigsaw puzzles, and put them in a line on the floor. 'That's wonderful Millie' Grandma said. 'You happy with me Grandma?' 'Very happy when you tidy things Millie.'

A little later Millie didn't want to eat her porridge so she slammed the (plastic) plate on to the kitchen bench, and a bit splashed around... 'Oh Millie! Grandma said. Millie was still and quiet for a full minute, then said, 'You happy with me again grandma?'

Bella is crawling everywhere, and is a delightful, happy, contented child. She cuddles into our shoulder when we pick her up. Millie will do that if we ask her, but she's not a 'hugger'...

Last night we took them out to the 'piggery' (our humorous name for the food court at the local shopping mall) and Bella and Millie played a game of shaking their heads sideways at each other, much to the amusement of passers-by...

I love Millie's faraway look as I ask her about her holidays, or anything else where she uses her imagination. She's putting perfect sentences together now ('There's a crimson rosella Grandpa').

I took Bella around our housing precinct for a walk the other day, as I've done many times with Millie. I talk to her softly, pray with her and sing to her. When we arrived home and I handed her over to her Mum, she clung to me (first time that's happened: Bella is happy to go to anyone). I was - what's the word? -'chuffed'! Bella's now doing 'high fives'.

Millie now stands her ground sometimes when told to do something she doesn't want to do. Her Dad brought her up the other evening to get one of our high chairs (they had visitors with a small child), and said, 'OK Millie, we've got to go back downstairs now.' Millie stood her ground. I'd been playing a game of Nintendo Ms Pacman and had paused it (it's my half-hour of unwinding some days) and that game intrigues Millie, and she wanted to watch. She didn't rebel as such: just stood there. We encouraged her to go with her Dad, and after about a full minute she did. (PS. Got a score of 329,000 that night - a record).

As you can perceive, these two little ones are a great delight to us!

Shalom!

Rowland Croucher