Merry Christmas

Stella's main pressie from us was this play house which we set up in the lounge covered in a sheet for opening early on Christmas morning. Some of Nana's family came for brunch and Stella was given yet more presents, she's a very lucky girl. While assembling (clicking together, no tools required) the play house on Christmas Eve, I managed to push one of the windows out and damage the hole that it clicked into. This was a constant source of interest throughout the day with cries of 'fix it fix it' to us and herself. Mark did fix it so today she has been more interested running in and out and peeking out through the windows. The last shot is of her with her new hammer and peg set, you can also see the Lawn Mower that came from the aunties, we've had a few goes out on the grass with that too.

Treats from the States

Poppa and Grandma sent over a lovely parcel of goodies for Stella including a pretty Snow White decoration, Minnie Mouse purse, some clothes and a Hello Kitty Christmas card with stickers. Here is Stella testing out the merchandise...

Early Christmas

Last weekend Stella started to learn about Christmas presents. She started to say 'open it open it' to us about the pressies under the tree. Her early pressies included a fairy dress, she's standing on the laundry hamper admiring her reflection. Saturday was very busy with Aunty Kath's birthday celebration in the morning. Here are Mark and Stella (unfortunately Mark had to wear my sunhat to be an example to Stella to wear hers!) in Nana's garden watching Peanut the dog place catch from a safe distance. In the afternoon we headed to Mark's family's Christmas party. Stella spent ages playing with the blocks that have been in the family for years. When we got home we set up her nativity scene which came from Granny and Grandpa. She loves Baby Jesus but got a bit confused about the others, calling Mary Snow White and one of the kings Daddy! She has a wee play with the figures each day and I'm sure will be quite confused when they are put away.

Toot Toot

Three posts in one day... what has come over me! These ones are too cute not to share. Stella has a love/hate relationship with many things (Santa, tinsel, grapes... the list goes on), one of which is her tutu. She has not been at all keen to wear it for ages yet today picked it out of the toy boxed and brought it to me to help her put it on. She usually calls it her tutu, but this afternoon it became a 'toot toot', we have been talking about trains lately which may have brought this on. Anyway, she had a lovely time playing in the balmy evening breeze and around the back of the house on the new steps that Grandpa built for us last weekend. It has been a bit of a perilous ledge from Stella's point of view for some time now, but this has been rectified and we can now let her wander the yard without too much worry. She loves to talk about the steps, run around to them, climb up and down, say 'sit deah' to herself then come back down. 'Gahpaa' always gets a mention in the conversation, we think they are kindred spirits as are both very interested in understanding how things work.

p.s. on our latest visit to Starship for a kidney check up - the latest ultrasound showed no more kidney issues so she has been discharged, hooray! - she weighed 14.85kgs and was 90cm, off the Plunket chart for girls her age.

Christmas Preparations

Stella had a great time fossicking through our decorations and loves the Christmas tree. It is a little unusual looking in that there are very few decorations on the bottom half of the tree - Stella height. She took a liking to a wind up Santa that came from my grandparents, his beard needs to be glued on so he is high up on display and 'having a rest' - this seems to keep Stella at bay. She is a little confused about what a reindeer is, calling it 'peanut' (the name of the Aunties dog - well the reindeer decoration she was looking at was the same colour as Peanut the dog), other times the reindeer are 'moo moos'. She dressed herself up all on her own with the tinsel and enjoyed it for a time then all of a sudden pulled at it saying 'no no off off', it comes off then goes back on again, maybe its a bit of a game?

Rain Rain Go Away

It was a bit of a stormy one last Sunday. We've recently introduced Stella to playdoh (pahdoo) and she just loves squishing it with her fingers and playing with the things we make her. Mark's specialty is puppets and mine is snakes, it can be so much fun reliving your childhood! The rain wouldn't stop in the afternoon so after a good play with the new toys kindly passed on by her friend Holly - a playdoh table and stool and rocking horse - we bundled Stella up into her wet weather gear. Mark took her for a walk down the road, apparently she loved the wind in her face and had a great time. Everyone was going a little stir crazy so it was a perfect pre-tea time activity.

Buddies

Note - Stella words in brackets. At the moment Stella loves dragging her two vintage i.e. from my childhood, buggies (buddies) outside to the concrete pad under our washing line. She pushes them up the slight incline then lets them go with a big smile. Here she is posing with Aunty Kath's (Baff) buggy looking oh so grown up. She is a bit of a climber and is mastering ladders at various playgrounds in the area. She loves to climb onto the bench seat on our deck, stand up, turn around then say 'stuck' even though she can get down on her own!

Last week we started to have terrible bath battles for some strange reason. Around that time, Stella started taking a real interest in stickers (sticks) so we purchased a pack of 7,000 stickers from the Red Shed and now she gets new stickers after each bath. By the end of the week we had a bath with no tears - a miracle! Isn't bribery a wonderful thing. Washing hair is even worse so for that once a week torture, she gets two marshmallows (mayos). We thought she might be a bit young to understand the reward system but by the end of most afternoons she is wandering around saying 'barf' then 'sticks' so it seems to have sunken in.

The last pic is from our outing to Butterfly Creek for Mark's work family Xmas party. Stella loved the playground and the farm, she even got to pat some rabbits (bits) and thought she saw some 'moo moos' which were actually donkeys. We had to head home for a belated nap before Santa turned up, probably not a bad thing given she has a bit of a love hate relationship with him. At the mall she'll wander up close but as soon as he waves she runs for the hills. Not sure if we'll get a portrait with Santa this year...

Neenee

Stella's friend Anmol (also known as Chinni - Neenee to Stella) came to visit the other week. Stella was absolutely taken with her, following Chinni around, saying her name, enjoying all the kisses and cuddles. Nice to have a big sister sometimes!

Welcome Home Daddy

Stella was overjoyed to see Mark home after almost two weeks away in Wellington for work. She is really into the magnet animals her friend's Jack and Charlie gave her for her birthday, and is learning about heads, bodies and feet. She also loves going 'upside down', a sign that she is truly happy!

Mince

Be warned... somewhat long involved proud parent rant ahead... Stella is saying more and more words each day, she is turning into a little parrot. It is quite funny when you hear an echo after you've said something. Some words really tickle her fancy, for example saying the word mince (minth) cracks her up every time. In this first shot I caught her saying it, she gets such a cheeky look on her face.

We are learning manners too, often there is a shout of MORE so we ask Stella for the magic word is and get a sheepish please (peeez). She also put two words together today - 'many hats' she cottoned on to the concept of many a while ago, whenever there is more that one of something or you mention that there is a lot, she chirps manyyyy. And by the way, what she was looking at was a pile of hats - genius!

Nana has been staying and has a lovely new pair of cat pyjamas. Stella goes into a meow meow frenzy every time she sees them. The other day I put the top on her just before bath time, she thought that was great - see last pic.

She is off her antihistamine for a few days in preparation for some follow up skin tests ordered by the specialist to see where her allergies are at. Since going off the meds, her nose has been streaming and she's sneezing her head off. Allergies or perhaps a cold, we'll see. The skin tests are on Tuesday morning, wish us luck, I don't think its going to be much fun. The Muppets (bubbits) are our saviour during itchy times, thanks to Uncle Bryan. And we enjoy them too!

The HFM Fairy

Very few posts lately due to me having a bad cold and Stella picking up a virus called Hand Foot & Mouth. Nothing to do with cows but sounds icky all the same. It usually spreads around daycares but can be picked up from a cough or a sneeze so any public place really. I noticed a little blister on her toe last week and thought that it was from her gumboots that are getting a bit tight. However, the next day there were more blisters all over her feet and bad nappy rash which is unusual for her. Off to the doctor we went to be told she had HFM and that the blisters may spread to her hands and ulcers may appear in her mouth. Fortunately her immune system was in good enough shape for this not to happen. She wasn't herself for a few days, pamol at night helped, and she is now on the mend. No contact with other kids for a whole week so we had to miss Rebecca's 3rd birthday party which we were all looking forward too. We have spent a lot of time in the garden, Stella finally showed an interest in wearing her $2 Shop fairy skirt after months of crying at the sight of it!

Outside

Now that the weather is nice and warm, we have spent many an afternoon whiling away the hours in the garden. Stella has little rituals that she follows, usually straight out and around to the garden by the back gate to pick some little pink flowers, then to the courtyard for a go on the seesaw and a wee snack, up to the deck for a brmm brmm on her car and usually back to the garden by the gate before we go up and check the letterbox. She has started helping with hanging out the washing although can get impatient with me so a few things end up on the ground!

Another Beach

We are very fortunate to live near so many beaches. Last week we explored the duck pond and beach at Chelsea Sugar Refinery. The tide was way out so we were able to potter on the mud flats looking for crabs and other treasures. Stella is getting to grips with concepts such as hot, cold and sharp, leaning on some sharp oyster shells stuck to a rock reinforced the sharp concept so well that she now often gingerly places her hand on something new to test how it feels. The sand at Chelsea was more muddy than what Stella is used to, so it needed a good taste test. No ill effects from that fortunately. After the beach we popped back to Nana's for tea, Nana's cat Missy (Stella calls her 'see) is very good around Stella, letting her pat and chase her around to her hearts content (most of the time). So many more words are entering into Stella's vocab, she is making connections herself too, this morning we read a Maisy book and Stella pointed to the clock in it and said Tick Tock. There is a Clock song on her Love to Sing Video which goes Tick Tock Tick Tock so we think it came from that - how clever! Her parroting of us continues, with the favourite being 'oh dear' which she manages to use in context most of the time.

The Beach

Last weekend we also managed a visit to the beach. Good practice for Stella to get used to wearing her hat, it has been going much better than expected, especially when we have hats on too! She loves scooping up sand and letting it run through her fingers, not too much eating of it thank goodness. Here she is with Nana, she loves to crouch down and find treasures although they are often discarded quickly once she finds something new. A rare family portrait included, as well as a shot with Dad. The last pic is of her sound asleep in the car after a visit to church on Sunday. Doing the zoo and the beach both on the Saturday wore her right out as she was asleep in the car after church before we even got onto the bridge - very unusual for her!