13 Months & 57 Weeks

Carmen turned 13 months old this week!  She spent the day at her grandparents' house, but was back with us in the evening.  She is such a big girl now - she is eating with a spoon (albeit rather messily!), she can say hi and car, and she practices talking and animal noises, and wants to read books ALL DAY LONG.  I take her for a walk in the sling every morning, and then she pretty much wants to read for the rest of the day.  We get a walk in the afternoon as well though.  We are in the last month of winter now, and the weather has been great, but I can't wait until spring!!

On another note, we are moving house in just under 2 weeks!  We found a house just around the corner, and it is twice the size of this little house that we are in.  We can't wait!  We have been tripping over toys for too long!  The new house has a fenced backyard and two veggie boxes as well, so it is quite perfect for us.  It is a little stressful packing with such an avid little reader (one who can't turn pages herself), but I have lots of help from Mum and Geoff.    I think we'll all be much happier with more space and a yard!

A video of Carmen eating berries (again!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_OdASMsLbc&list=UU21-zydO1IYNApoXHx_P8LQ&index=1&feature=plcp

13 Months:

57 Weeks

56 Weeks

Well, it has been a busy week.  Uncle Sting came down for a visit, so Carmen and I spent a day at the farm. Then the very next day Carmen's Auntie Georgia was kicked by her horse and had her left hand smashed to pieces.  She had to have surgery on it and now has a plate in her hand!  So, we are keeping Carmen well away from the rear end of Whinny the horse.  The weather has been amazing (I can't believe what a great winter we are having!), so on Saturday we went out to lunch and then took Carmen for a run around on the Green at Milton.  Today we went to Mollymook Beach markets, and then later on to feed the horses at Milton park.  Carmen's favourite thing to do is run away from us, and she just loves to play chase in the park.  She has learnt a new word which she repeats over and over again.  It is "gagoong".  Does anyone know what this means, because we certainly don't?!

55 Weeks

We bought a new car this week.  Yay!  It is a Toyota Rav 4, and so much more suitable than our little Barina!  We are so happy with it and can't wait until Carmen is a little older and we can go on longer treks with her.  As for this week-end, we took Carmen down to Dolphin Point where she had fun chasing the seagulls.  Then we found a new park at Kings Point and Carmen had a play on the swings and her first ride on a seesaw.  She does not want to be carried much any more now that she has mastered walking.  It also means we have to take her out a lot more because she goes a little stir crazy at home.  So glad there are so many lovely places to go!  We usually end up at the Mollymook Golf Club for a drink, and Carmen runs around to different tables and charms the pants off every one.  She even tried to take food off of someone's plate on Saturday!

At Dolphin Point

At Kings Point Reserve

At Mollymook Golfy

54 Weeks

I can't believe this is winter!  It is so hard to stay indoors with weather like this.  We hit up Narrawallee Inlet this week-end, which was so beautiful.  We also went to the park at Milton with the neighbouring horses, and ran in to Carmen's little friend Hannah there.  As for Carmen, she is as clingy as ever, and trying hard to talk but can not make any coherent sounds.  What she can do though, is throw her toys into the toilet and the garbage bin.  Several toys have gone missing, but I discovered too late that they have been taken out with the trash.  And I thought it was so cute last week when she started picking up her food scraps from the floor and throwing them in the bin.  Not so cute now!  She has five teeth, lots of bruises, and knows what noises a cow, fish, sheep and rabbit make.   She can understand a lot too (but apparently not when I tell her things don't come back when they get put in the bin).

I

53 Weeks (For Lack of a Better Title)

Well, Carmen has been rather grumpy this week, and extremely clingy.  I couldn't put her down for a second, and she needed my complete and constant attention.  I discovered today that she has a new tooth, and I am hoping this is why!  It must be painful, right?  She has been a doll for the last two days, so fingers crossed this will be a good week ahead.  We had a lovely week-end.  We went for a trek at Dolphin Point on Saturday and Carmen saw her first pelican.  Then on Sunday we had a picnic with Grandma and Grandaddy at Lake Conjola, where Carmen got up close and personal to some kangaroos.  This was before a lady told us that a kid got mauled by these kangaroos just two weeks ago.  So, I think Carmen won't be hanging out with the roos again any time soon!  The weather has been amazing - I can't believe this is winter.  Let's hope it stays this way!