Toddler logic

In the bathroom we have a potty, never used yet. I was taking a shower and had undressed Suzy, encouraging her to sit on the potty. To wee in the potty. She picked up her full nappy and ... put it in the potty.

Ta Daa!

#MicroMonday - The Interview

No not the movie, but tomorrow is my first round official interview for another position within the same company. I'm nervous.
Everyone seems to be having the flu, and we're supposed to get our final reviews as well this week.
Not looking forward to having another mandatory conversation with my boss. Still don't know when exactly.

I would rather blog about the 24 balloons that are covering our living room, but will be going to bed early in hopes of having a better tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Almost two

So many little things about early toddlerhood I want to remember..

Suzy can open the zip of her jacket, open the front and fold it backwards. But to get her arms out of the sleeves she doesn't shake her arms, makes a little dance instead. I wish I could catch it on camera.
She can undress herself almost completely (shoes, socks, pants, sweater)

She still walks on her toes sometimes. She is running faster every day, the waddling almost over. When she wears a little dress her moving legs seem to come out of a cartoon though. She can jump with two legs in the air and she can skip/hop.


Suzy loves chocolate custard dessert most, then raisins and cake.
She is in the stage of (I believe) decoupling of consonants so custard = 'vla' becomes 'la'
chocolate custard = 'chocolade vla' -> a la
(also koala -> ala. except we don't keep them in the fridge)
raisin='rozijn' -> zijn
cake = 'taart' -> taat

She mostly stopped pulling my glasses from my nose, or pulling my hair. Not sure I like the mean pinching of my cheeks any better though.

She has a stick-with-mommy phase now, but DP is better at settling her once she is in bed. She sleeps through the night from 7:30 till 7-ish but wakes up for her early morning feed. We pretend it is 6:30 am most days, but some days it can be 5:20. After the feed she curls up with DP and sleeps a bit more. It is still magic having a little one fall asleep close to you.

I think she knows all her body parts head shoulders knees and toes, eyes ears tip of your nose. Even the bellybutton.

If you ask her a question  she can't answer/pronounce she'll say a convincing yes.
conversation go like this.
-Can you say pussycat? puss
-Can you say horse? ho(r)se
-Can you say crocodile? yes.

She loves peekaboo. She loves saying hello to strangers. She loves cats and dogs from a safe distance. She will ring my bell if she sits in the front seat of my bike. She loves to call my father on the phone, but will let me do the talking beyond hello. She sings tunes now, with simple sounds. And will make the gestures that some songs have.

When DP gives her a kiss goodbye, she insists he kisses me too. She melts my heart and DP's (!) in all the ways I dreamt of.

Valentines

And for Valentine's Day I made you flapjacks! Flaphearts? TwangyPearl the Elastic Girl made them last weekend in Dublin, we loved them, she sent the recipe, I improvised because we had no maple syrup.(bottom row left to right: dried fruits, chocolate sprinkles, walnuts) So easy I think I might do it again. Even if I don't get hold of maple syrup.

Mel had this Valentine's idea, Mali tagged me and um, can I just wish you all a happy Valentine's Day?
We had a lovely day with the 5 of us. Suzy is learning to hug and kiss people. It's a bit awkward (and wet) . So lovely to see her grow and be so tiny still.
(So much to say, but it is all jumbles. Weekend first)

Life, Universe and Everything

I'm 42 after all.
And a lot is going on in my life, universe and everything. Even if it does not include reading that book again.
Work: I've applied for a different position in the same company. Had coffee with potential new boss. Two official interviews to go. I described it to Twangy and she shuddered, asking me if I really wanted to do something like that. (Translating business requirements into IT speak) Also had a major collision with my hipster boss again. Communication again. I did say out loud I feel he is setting me up, that I feel he is punishing me for doing good work, for caring. Not sure if that is progress. There must be ways to not be obnoxious while defending myself. I just need to learn to find them.
At home: DP finally realised he is working so much -in the hope of having less work when it's done. But it is never done, there is always more work. So he might as well spend some time and energy at home. We're going out for dinner again, with the two of us.
I did manage to go to a movie with HB. It was like travelling back in time, to do the things that were so normal 3 years ago.

Universe? it will have to do: we went to Dublin with the three of us. We had some trouble and could not get online in the B&B, also one phone broke down completely, one didn't like roaming, but the other two did something. With that and Fran's busy schedule we didn't get to meet. We did a walk in the area she suggested we should meet, St. Stephen's Green, nevertheless. The first night we were all too tired to light the fire or do anything. It didn't help that Suzy was screaming she was too tired to sleep and too restless to be calmed. Saturday was much better, also with Suzy taking a beautiful nap giving DP time to go the the Natural History museum and some others. Then Twangy met up with us. Suzy loved her instantly from the moment she woke up and laid eyes on her. Even though I try not to see signs in this random universe it made me hopeful for her adoption.
There was a hilarious moment when we got off the bus and lost a baby shoe in it: someone noticed the next bus stop wasn't far away, so I did my best Usain Bolt impression running after that bus. Waving my arms to signal and it worked: it stopped long enough for me to reach it, some lady held out the shoe for me to grab and I had just enough air to gasp a thank you to the driver and the lady.
Anyway, Suzy could run around in the Botanic Gardens and we didn't have to worry about buses coming down the other way of the street for a while. In the cafeteria there was a slightly younger Suzy who wanted to kiss her, running after her with pouted lips, too funny.

Long walk over the Cemetery, Irish pub, bus back to town, dinner simple Chinese since the Japanese was full, then back to the B&B to light the fire for Twangy, sample her wine and eat her FlapJacks and brownies. Suzy didn't want to sleep while we were having a good time and since it was already getting late T did the wise thing and left. Suzy fell asleep on the sofa in front of the fire soon after.

On Sunday the sun came out while we walked around Trinity College, Dublin Castle and the Medieval quarter. We had lunch and did something wrong with our timing, so from after lunch 2.45 it was a race against the clock to get in the airplane on time. We managed, just in time.

I planned to post this immediately after the weekend in Dublin, but somehow it took a month to add the pictures, sorry.