Impatience and wanting to play with dangerous stuff

The title of this blog encompasses Charlotte's latest phase. It is definitely difficult to teach a 18 month old patience, so for now I've kind of stopped trying. As for her wanting to play with (potentially) dangerous things, I'm at a loss. I try my best to keep these items out of her reach, but if she crosses paths with a pen, she has to take the cap off and wave it around blindly, often narrowly missing her eyes. Another favorite is putting the pen in her mouth and biting down on the metal tip (can't be good for those tiny new teeth) and/or getting ink all over her tongue, teeth and face. I realize that the easiest thing to do is to hide all of the pens (or other controversial debris), and I do try to do this, but every now and then I forget to hide them after using them. Now that she can reach up to take things off the counter or table, I have to be extra vigilant, because once she gets her hands on the off-limits item, just try to get it away from her with out a tantrum resulting. Even distraction or bartering with other coveted items doesn't seem to work. She has her mind set on the objectionable item and will not give it up with out a full-on fight.

I can almost hear all of you saying "Welcome to toddlerhood".

The countdown is on

We'll be home in just over two weeks - the excitement is brewing! Charlotte got her hands on some family photos yesterday and wouldn't let them go - she's obviously very excited, too. We're trying to teach her everyone's names, but so far she seems happier to come up with her own names for everyone, so be prepared!

We had a nice weekend - Neale was home for most of it, which was great. As we were driving to the airport to pick him up the other day, as soon as we got in to the parking lot she said "Daddy!" - she has obviously associated the airport with seeing her Dad. Speaking of airports, I'm starting to get prepared for our big flight - the things that will keep Charlotte entertained at this stage in her life are a little different than the things we relied on back in August when we made the big trip. And this time we'll be flying during the day rather than at night, so it could be doubly hard to keep her preoccupied! We have made the decision to get her a portable DVD player and a couple DVDs, so that should work - until the battery dies . . .

We keep hearing how Saskatoon has no snow and that it has been unseasonably warm for this time of the year, and for the first time in my life, I'm kind of disappointed to hear such news! I was looking forward to a white Christmas, but I suppose there is still lots of time for that to happen. But maybe Charlotte won't need that snowsuit after all, Mum!

We've got a busy week ahead of us and have Wednesday to look forward to - that will mark the end of Neale's last trip to Sydney for 2008 - hooray!

Montessori Name Game - an update

Today was Montessori day. I was a little nervous going today, as last week was a little disappointing. . . see below . . .

I took this picture of her just as we were heading out the door.

For those of you who we have not told about the name game at Montessori, here's a brief explanation: it occurs during circle time, and the teacher and parents sing a little song ("I wonder what your name is, I wonder if you know . . . your name is Charlotte! Hello, hello, hello) - when the child's name is called they get to go up to the teacher and take a laminated name tag and place it on a Velcro board for all to see. Last week, after 6 weeks at Montessori, Charlotte still didn't have a name tag made for her, so I brought this to the teacher's attention (not entirely sure how she didn't realize this herself) and happily, this week Charlotte had her very own name tag. When her name was called, she proudly stepped forward and took her name tag from the teacher (saying "ites", which translates to "thanks" when receiving it) and scurried over to the board to place it on the Velcro strip. She couldn't have been more pleased with herself, and walked back to me beaming and clapping. So sweet.

A new week is here

Yesterday we took Charlotte to the Glenelg Christmas Pageant. To most Canadians, a pageant would conjure up ideas of contestants in flowing evening gowns talking about how they want to achieve world peace, but here in South Australia, it refers to the annual Christmas parade. Most of the "floats" were not really floats at all, but instead groups of people walking down the street in Halloween-type costumes. Lots of fairies, Spidermen, angels, pirates, etc. Not really Christmas-y, but it still seemed to entertain the little ones. Santa did make an appearance at the end of the parade / pageant, but we didn't stick around to meet him - by that time Charlotte had had enough and it was time to go home for a nap.

We've had a few weeks of cool weather recently, but finally today the sun is shining, and even though the breeze is cool, it's warm enough to spend some time outside. Charlotte and I took advantage of this fact and spent a couple hours down at the beach this morning. She ran along the water's edge and was delighted when the water came up to meet her feet, stopping every now and then to pick up a rock or shell to hand to me or to chase after a bird. She ran along the whole length of the beach and was quite tired out by the time we got to the end. She happily retired to the comfort of the Chariot and was quiet and mellow for the entire walk home. Once we got home she helped me vacuum the sand out of the stroller (whereby her assistance entailed climbing on top of the vacuum and giggling).

Yesterday I took some pictures of her while we were colouring. She wanted to get in to the shoebox that we keep the crayons in, as you can see. She was also more interested in putting the crayons into and out of the box than actually colouring with them.

More Pictures

The whole fam damily.

Bridgeclimbers.

Bridge and Opera House.

Happy, happy.

G-rafs.

Can you see the otter? Charlotte did, although she was not that interested.

Meerkat. Charlotte really liked these guys.

Elephants.

Charlotte and mom on the way to the zoo.

Charlotte walking around on the ferry from manley to circular quay.

Heading down to the pool.

Happy girls.











Sleepy Charlotte.

More Taronga Pictures

Can you see the baby Chimp?

Can you see the Bridge?

Hey you goats, do you know which way to the city?

Charlotte was tired that night.

Mama was tired the next day too!

Taronga Zoo

Although it was raining when we awoke from our slumber on Saturday morning, we were not going to let it get it in the way of our trip to Taronga Zoo. We grabbed a ferry from Circular Quay at 9:45am and were at the zoo about 15 minutes later. We had to drop some folks off at Fort Denison which is an island in Sydney Harbor that was going to be a prison then was changed into a military fort after the decided that it was not a good idea to keep prisoners in an area that would a be a main tactical depot if there ever was an attack on the harbour.

The zoo is right on the hillside opposite Circular Quay and when you arrive at the zoo by ferry, you take a cable car to the top part of the zoo and then walk back down to the ferry through the zoo. The cable card ride gives you a bit of preview of what you are going to see for the day (as you can see from the photo above, which was taken about half way up the line). The rain stopped as soon as we arrived at the zoo which meant we pretty much had the zoo to ourselves for the first hour and a bit. Charlotte was such a good girl, she sat in her stroller for most of our 3 hours at the zoo pointing at the animals and saying ooohhh or making the sign for bird when she saw one walk or fly past. There were many animals I had not seen before, and I think the gorillas were my favourite. The Alpha male just stayed on his back with his arms and legs sprawled, looking at the people - he was very tired or possibly has had his spirits crushed by his existence in a zoo environment - oh well, i enjoyed seeing him, and although there was no emotion in his blank stare, I could feel he enjoyed seeing me too. The Taronga zoo is very nice, designed perfectly for walking and well worth the small fee and short trip. Charlotte may be a little young, but when you can keep her in the stroller for an extended period of time, you know she is content with her surroundings. We had a small lunch at the zoo, and then Charlotte zonked out as we got back on the ferry (see below).

On the ferry and did a little tour around the harbor seeing Shark Island, Watson Bay, the Heads and some of the most expensive real estate in the world. The Heads is the only entrance/exit to the Sydney Harbor, so all cruise liners, tankers, cargo ships that come to Sydney enter from the pacific ocean . There were hundreds of sailing boats out enjoying the days, not an exaggeration, we will post the pics at some point. Charlotte woke up as we got back to circular quay and was happy to stay in her stroller as we went picked up some Chevapchichi for dinner. Upon our return to the apartment, we went for a swim in the pool. Charlotte was in a great mood and enjoyed the pool but probably enjoyed the hot tub a little more. She was laughing and splashing the entire time.

I'll let Kate take over from here. Neale

We had a quiet evening and when we woke up today we were ready for some more Sydney sight-seeing. We headed out to the Rocks (a nearby funky neighborhood) for breakfast and to check out their weekend market. Charlotte was still operating with a sleep deficit, so we were back at the apartment by 10:15 am and she's been sleeping since then. Who knows what's in store for us when she wakes up . . . stay tuned!