BELLA'S ASSERTIVE & MILLIE'S PARTY

Bella was playing on the floor with Grandma and Millie came into the room. Immediately Bella said: ''No Miya... my game'. Bella's a tease - bumps into Millie and pushes her around for fun. Cheeky girl!

Yesterday was Millie's big 5th birthday party with about 15 of her friends (brought by their Mums... there were no Dads there for some reason). They all dressed up as princesses: beautiful! Millie had 'slept over' with a friend the night before and was a 'perfect little girl... good manners... slept well' according to the friend's Mum. When her Dad came to collect her Millie didn't want to go home!

Yesterday at the party Millie was the perfect hostess, carrying a plate of cupcakes around for her guests. All the girls had their faces painted by Millie's Mum as a special treat. And of course there was a chocolate hunt in the side yard. An unforgettable time for the 5-year old.

The other night when the girls slept over with us, Grandma talked softly to her to get her off to sleep. 'Millie, the birds are asleep, little children everywhere are asleep, the possums - which clatter on our roof every night - are asleep...' Millie interrupted: Grandma, the possums aren't asleep... they sleep in the daytime!'

DO I LOOK ANY BIGGER?

It's the 8th day of the 8th month, and today Millie is five.

We're having two parties - one with 'folks' as the Americans say, and another with her friends.

This morning she got up early (about 6 am as usual), and her Mum and Dad gave her some presents. Now she's with us until Kinder this morning.

'Do I look bigger?' she asked this morning. She showed me her foot as she was dressing and asked if it was big.

We don't give her many sweets, as it makes her go 'hyper' but this morning she requested a full chocolate biscuit after breakfast (porridge) 'cos now I've five... and I won't go crazy!'

Shalom!

Rowland.

MY TURN FOR BREAKFAST

It's the once-every-two-months breakfast my wife has with her 'girl-friends' (all Baptist women-pastors) so I get up early to mind the little ones. Millie and I watched Cinderella 2 and had a lovely time. Then her Mum took her to Kinder (where she cried again - happened a bit lately: perhaps she's wanting to hang out at home and be more unstructured).

Then Bella and I had breakfast together. After she'd eaten/drunk a bit she came over to my chair for a spontaneous cuddle. Nothing beats that experience!

Bella, her Mum says, has 'Global Developmental Delay'. Her motor movements are improving, but her speech still has some way to go. She says 'O' and we don't yet know whether she means 'off' or 'on'. We're all learning a bit of sign language to help clarify her requests.

Shalom!

Rowland Croucher

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