Not all that happy at being put in the car again... love this picture :).
Sunday 22 July
Got a bit of food round my mouth, you say? Where?
Monday 23 July
Feeding time at the zoo ;-).
Tuesday 24 July
Fun with windows...
Wednesday 25 July
One of my favourite pictures of the year.
Thursday 26 July
Pancakes? Yes please!
Friday 27 July
My cheeky monkey! Daisy's wearing Team GB colours today, in honour of the opening of the Olympic Games. Which obviously she didn't stay up to watch, but she wanted to get into the spirit of the day :).
Where does the time go? Only a month until my baby is two... Although Jon's been teaching her to say 'I am two' for weeks now. Plus she's certainly been starting to have tantrums like a two-year-old...
A couple of weeks ago, Daisy came up to me in the kitchen and said 'I want a cracker.' It was probably the first time she had uttered a full, subject-verb-object sentence and I was so proud :). I did, however, want her to learn her manners at the same time, so I said, 'Oh do you? What do you say?' and waited for her to say please before giving her a cracker. Evidently the next couple of times she asked for a cracker, I replied with 'Do you? What do you say?' because she's now started saying 'I want a cracker, do you?' :). This has now developed into her substituting the word 'cracker' for whatever it is she wants. Here she is asking for 'flakes' (corn flakes). It's not the best of examples, but it's the only one I've got and you get the idea. What I love is at the end of the clip she knows just who to ask to get what she wants: -
Here's another clip later on in the same video. Naughty Grandpa! One of the songs we sing is a farm song which goes 'Moo, moo, moo, moo, that's the way it goes,' [substitute other animals noises in different verses], and Daisy's version goes like this: - This video isn't indicative of anything in particular, other than the fact that she's just so funny: - She's started saying 'How about...' when someone asks her a question. 'Daisy, which story to you want?' 'How 'bout... this one?' Or, 'Daisy, do you want to go in your buggy, or walk?' 'How 'bout.... Mummy carry?' I wasn't aware I said 'how about' all that much, but I guess she must have got it from me... She's learned how to work the DVD player this month, so now instead of bring me a DVD box (usually Happy Feet) and saying 'Penguins on TV, penguins on TV', she just puts the DVD in the machine herself :). She loves the part of the film where the penguins dance to 'Boogie Wonderland', and even joins in herself: - In case you weren't sure, at the end of that clip she really does say 'stinky poo'. I didn't teach her that :). Finally, here she is reading one of her favourite books - although not one of mine, I have to say: on each page there's a picture of a baby animal you pull the tab to reveal a picture of the baby with its mother. Daisy can get a little over-enthusiastic so I have been known to hide the book under the sofa when I'm fed up of policing the tab-pulling to ensure they don't get broken... Another reason for showing this video is that I love the way that Daisy pronounces Mumble, the name of the baby penguin on Happy Feet :).
Next monthly update you'll be two, Daisy Bear...
Jon and his nephew, Finn, reading Dear Zoo, every kid's favourite book.
Sunday 15 July
Picnic time!
Monday 16 July
She's cheered up now, but you can tell she'd been having a paddy some time before this picture was taken... :).
Tuesday 17 July
After it stopped raining, Daisy and I went out this afternoon to jump in muddy puddles.
Wednesday 18 July
Love those beautiful eyes...
Thursday 19 July
My three favourite girls! We drove up to Mum & Dad's today and met Jen there; we'll be going to the Lake District on Saturday and Jon will join us there on Sunday.
Daisy and Jon spent the morning digging up the potatoes they planted in March. Got one!
Sunday 8 July
We were supposed to go to Ipswich today, to watch the British Grand Prix with Jon's family, but Daisy was sick in her bed during the night and again this morning so we didn't go. Of course, she wasn't sick again after 08:30 but given that she doesn't travel well, we didn't want to risk it. This was her and Jon at lunchtime. She was still in her pyjamas but had decided that she was well enough to put her wellies on...
Monday 9 July
Daisy insisted on wearing her sunglasses today. It wasn't at all sunny, which made her insistence even funnier. I took this photo when we got to the supermarket - I think it's great that it looks like she's giving thumbs up!
Tuesday 10 July
Love this kid.
Wednesday 11 July
Roses from the jungle that is our garden after 2 months of almost solid rain.
Thursday 12 July
Daisy's new favourite place to sit is on the kitchen counter while I make her meals. Here you can see she's demonstrating exactly the thing I ask her not to do - touch the toaster...
When we were at the Bernabeu Stadium, we bought Real Madrid t-shirts for Daisy, Eloise, Jessica and Finn. We gave them out this weekend and tried to take a picture of all four of them wearing their new shirts. This is exactly what I was expecting would happen...
Sunday 1 July
We had more luck when we took Daisy out of the equation :).
Monday 2 July
Daisy loved feeding monies into this machine. One money, two monies, three monies...
Tuesday 3 July
Kisses for Penguin.
Wednesday 4 July
Daisy doesn't like it when I brush her teeth while she's in the bath, but quite often asks to wash her hands and brush her teeth in a morning. I think she just likes standing on the bin...
Thursday 5 July
You might already have guessed by Sunday's entry (i.e. that I took it on Saturday) that I didn't take many photos this week. This photo was taken on 5 July 2011, a year ago. Apart from the fact that she looks bigger, she's hardly changed at all.
Friday 6 July
It's a hard life. Got to have a rest when you can. And a rest isn't a rest without Aggie and Ellie.
Jon was doing a cooked breakfast this morning and showed Daisy the bacon on the grill. 'Oooh!'
Sunday 17 June
We have some lovely flowers in our garden at the moment. Most of them growing under the fence from one or other of our next-door neighbours' gardens, but still ;).
Monday 18 June
Getting more confident with Betsy the cow...
Tuesday 19 June
We saw Harry twice today; he and Debbie came round this morning but neither of the kids was in a particularly good mood so Daisy and I went to see them this afternoon when naps had been had. I hate that I had my camera on the wrong setting so this picture is all grainy, but I still love the picture.
Wednesday 20 June
Daisy often asks to see next-door's dog, Izzy. This afternoon at the park Clare came out with Izzy, and Daisy asked to stroke her. I'm pleased that she's not frightened of animals (more than she is of anything else), as I was afraid of dogs as a kid and really didn't want her to be. She had a great time stroking Izzy - that is, until Izzy licked her face, and she decided she'd had enough :).
Thursday 21 June
I made a trifle today! Actually I made two; one for our neighbours and one for Jon. I was pleased with how they turned out, even if it did take a couple of attempts to make edible custard.
Friday 22 June
Hugs for Penguin. After I took this photo I said something along the lines of 'Is Daisy giving penguin some nice cuddles?' and she replied 'Yes, I love it.' :)
Ugh, it's 12 July already, and if I don't write this post soon I'll forget what she learned in June and what was in July. I usually make notes on my phone so I won't forget anything by the time the 24th of the month comes round, but I don't have all that many notes for June, so this post might be quite short...
Daisy's speech is still coming on in leaps and bounds, and she regularly comes out with full or almost-full sentences. Favourites this month are 'Time to go home now', which usually comes accompanied by the sign for 'home' (touching your hands together at the fingers to make an inverted 'V'), 'Crawling on the sofa' which is a new favourite pastime, and 'Drumming with Numtums', one of her favourite TV shows and the reason she recognises numbers so easily. This one comes with a few drums on her tummy :).
We're still working on left and right, and it's almost there. We'll move on to letters next :).
Talking of letters, Daisy still loves reading her Story Town books. She's read them so many times now that she knows the end of almost every sentence. Here's this week's top story, Queen Clara (which sounds more like Queen Koala when Daisy says it): -
She loves playing 'Catch You' with Jon when he gets home from work - this involves chasing each other around the upstairs of our house. Incidentally, she still calls Jon 'Dee' and we've decided just to do the same. I think it's cute.
She's had a pretty good month this month - long may it continue!
Auntie Clare came to visit this weekend and we didn't take a single photos of anyone but Daisy! Typical... She liked the fact that the sofa was a bed when she got downstairs this morning, and insisted on singing the sleeping bunnies song before we put the bed away.
Sunday 10 June
Daisy found it hilarious to lie at the bottom of the stairs and stamp the wall with her feet. I found her in this position a few times this week. Maybe it's where she does her best thinking.
Monday 11 June
There's a story behind Betsy the Cow but I've tried to put it succinctly and can't, so suffice to say that it wasn't intended for Daisy but we ended up with two, so she got one of them. Her immediate reaction, and hardly a surprising one, was 'No cow.' She did warm to her eventually though, and even sat on her for a moment or two, but this was the best photo I could get as a second later she had got off and decided that cow riding was not for her.
Tuesday 12 June
She does, however, like carrying Betsy from room to room. 'Mind yer backs, lads!'
Wednesday 13 June
Daisy has had a cough and a snotty nose for a couple of days, but she threw up at Toddlers this morning - thankfully only on the floor, not on anyone else. I took her home and by the evening she had a temperature of 101. The middle of the day, however, she was fine; she loved sitting on the kitchen counter watching me attempt to make the lunch one-handed while also ensuring that she didn't fall off.
Thursday 14 June
Daisy's temperature was back to normal by this morning, but she was incredibly tired and I had already decided not to take her to nursery when she threw up her breakfast. So we had a quiet day at home, and again, apart from the time she spent vomiting, the rest of the day she was fine. Here she is taking her own temperature again, just to be sure.
Friday 15 June
Another vomiting incident this morning, this time all over me. And herself, and the blanket that covers the chair in her bedroom, and a cushion, and a couple of her books, and the floor. Same as before, the rest of the day she was fine, but we stuck to crackers and water so as not to induce another episode. I didn't take her to the doctor as we've been before for this sort of thing, and their advice is just to keep her hydrated and see it through, so that's what we'll do. I still managed to get this beautiful shot of her this morning. Get well soon, baby girl :).
Daisy went to Rob's this morning for the Jubilee weekend and Jon and I spent the second half of the day travelling to Madrid, arriving at our hotel at around 23:30 local time. While we were waiting at the airport for our ride into the city I mentioned to Jon that I hadn't taken any photos today, and he took this. So this is the best you get, I'm afraid.
Sunday 3 June
Our first proper day of holiday saw us making a fair few wrong decisions, but none of them had serious consequences. One of the best decisions we made, however, was to go to the Bernabeu Stadium and do the stadium tour, which was excellent. When we got there I took Jen's camera out of the bag - she lent us her hybrid camera, which is smaller than my SLR but takes better pictures than a point-and-shoot - and only then did I remember that she'd said I should put my own memory card in it... So all the photos we took of the weekend were on our phones, and not the best quality, but we still got some lovely shots. Here we are pitch-side.
Monday 4 June
Today we took the train to Toledo, about 50 miles away. It was a beautiful town and we had a lovely afternoon wandering round the tiny streets.
Tuesday 5 June
I didn't take any photos at all today, so here's a shot taken on Sunday of Madrid from the Teleferico, a cable car that goes over the Casa de Campo, a huge park on the west side of town, and gives great views over the city. We flew home today, arriving back into a rainy, cold Heathrow. I wished I'd put some socks and shoes in the boot of the car; my feet were freezing by the time we got home :).
Wednesday 6 June
Another one to add to the collection! I don't actually know which Madrid landmark is depicted in the picture; I've tried googling it but haven't found it yet.
Thursday 7 June
Daisy does her best impression of a robot before heading out to nursery.
Friday 8 June
The weather was awful today, and as it was half term there were none of the usual activities going on, so Daisy and I slowly drove each other crazy all day. We made a tunnel in the lounge, then made a bigger one in the dining room, but the shots I got of her in the bigger tunnel weren't as nice as this one.
