Erin's first haircut

Erin is 21 months old now, weighs 12kgs and is a force to be reckoned with. So today we decided to brave whatever fate was in store for us and take her for a haircut. To our amazement she sat through the whole experience unphased and entertained by "Tom and Jerry". As her reward she went on the horse merry-go-round that is strategically located outside the salon!

Tea for two

Erin had a play date with a friend from church. They had tea, played in the garden and had a good time. After a couple of hours Erin, fetched her shoes, my shoes and my handbag to make sure that I knew that she was ready to go home.

The naked one!

For the past couple of weeks Erin's thing has been to take off her clothes and then her nappy. Anywhere any time! Luckily there have not been any presents left for me when I don't get to her in time.

A new phase

Since returning from the UK at the end of August Erin decided she was no longer interested in a night feed and started sleeping through the night. What a joy for Brendon and I to be able to get some decent shut eye. Owen only slept through the night at 2.5 years, just before Erin arrived! So we haven't had proper sleep for almost 4 years.

Erin has a morning sleep around 10am for a couple of hours and then goes to sleep for night at 6pm. She then wakes around 5.30am if there are no dramas in the night. It does mean that we are in bed by 9pm.

More teeth

Erin now has 12 teeth. 6 on the bottom and 6 on the top. The top first molars were a difficult stage but luckily that has passed. Now the two canine teeth at the bottom are trying to make their way out. Roll on the last 8!

Erins time in the UK

Erin is a girlie girl and loves to play with the collection of dolls that Lynese has here. She enjoys lying around in my bed and trying on the laundry clothes. Erin also enjoys taking a peek outside to see whats going on.

We have had a series of disturbed nights and note that her fingers are always in her mouth so are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the next tooth. Her vocabulary is coming along well and she can say bear, hippo, aeroplane, bye bye, amen, hello, outside, baby, Owen, mommy, daddy, up and boobies. She loves being on the slide and running around with the toy lawnmower. Outside is her favourite time, especially if she has Owen there to run after.

One sleep a day

Erin is down to one sleep a day. Occassionally when she has had a disturbed night she will fit in two but this is not the norm. She still has 3 bottles a day but now and again when she does not sleep through the night (which is not regular either) she will sneak in a night feed. Even though the books say just give them sips of water or their dummy I don't bother as it gives the household a better nights sleep if she has a milk bottle. Life for Erin is a whole lot more relaxed than Owen had it! First children always have to suffer the learning curve of the parents.

Grocery shopping has become a bit of a hit and miss event. Erin and I don't go as often as we used to and definately have to cut down on the time spent there and amount of items we get. Erin prefers to sit in the shopping cart part and tries to eat things around her whether they are covered in plastic or not.

Two more teeth!

Erin has 2 new molars appearing at the same time on her bottom jaw. She appears to be mostly undisturbed by the event and has only had a few unsettled nights. She now has 10 teeth in total. Only 10 more to go. It has been 7 months since her last one. Brushing teeth is still such an issue and she twists and wriggles even though I tell her that they have to be brushed twice a day for the rest of her life.

Little Miss Busy

Now that Erin is over one she reckons that she is unstoppable and is not afraid to scare the mommy with her tactics. She has mastered the stairs outside and inside with only one backflip accident under her belt. She climbs on and off the couch and bounces up and down. Under tables and standing on chairs is her thing. All this with no broken bones or teeth! She now shares the little table with Owen for some of her mealtimes.

She loves shoes and handbags (a lady after my own heart) and runs around with any item of laundry she takes off the rack. Her preference is Owens underwear that she puts on her head and I often find her with it around her neck. Her outfits are now little dresses as it is too hot to wear long pants. She looks very cute and girly and has been an influence on the mommy's wardrobe too!

She has passed the phase of opening the toilet lid and throwing her dummy into it. We now only have 3 dummies left. Bath times are a real hit and the more splashes are the better it is. She will take a container and fill it with water, then throw it up and laugh like a drain when it falls down onto her head. What a joy it is to watch.

She loves the attention Owen gives her and teases him constantly although biting has become her form of defence! She sits on the little wagon and he pushes her around. She is particular about her food and points to what she wants always insisting she feeds herself. Milk time is mostly on the bean bag and she is self sufficient holding the bottle herself. A little independant soul in the making.

My Gym

Erin and I were able to join a complementary My Gym session through Doha Mums. My Gym has developed a program and facility devised to help children 6 weeks through 13 years of age develop physically, cognitively and emotionally. Children have loads of fun as they gain strength, balance, coordination, agility and flexibility while developing social skills, confidence and self-esteem.

Erin had a good time but she was not able to concentrate on an activity for too long and would wander off and find something else to do. The activities only lasted about 10 minutes but still there was so much else for her to see and climb on. Maybe this could be an activity for when she is older.

The first word and word recognition

Whilst Erin has said dada, mama and baba from early it is common and expected that many of people discount those words as the first. I have discounted those. The last few days while I have been singing twinkle twinkle little star I have noticed her joining in at "up above the world so......." Then today I said up and she repeated it. I did it a couple of times and she points to the ceiling when she says it too.

When I ask her where her ear is she points to it. When I ask her where her nose is she points to mine. She is a little treasure and I cannot wait to teach her more.

Erin the food cupboard invader

Today I gave Erin a perfectly healthy snack - chopped pear and an apple rice cake. She half heartedly ate both then rushed off to the food cupboard, hauled out Owens packet of mini smarties, managed to open a box and promptly devoured them one by one. She was not happy about me taking the rest of the bag away from her. I had to implement security measures thereafter!

Party Celebrations

Again I embarked on 1st birthday preparations. Again I put in the same amount of analytical attention. But this time I outsourced the cake to a very competent cake maker, I also outsourced the watermelon hedgehog and the sandwiches. This definately reduced my performance anxiety by at least 50%! The theme was butterflies. The search for the right balloons, the right plates, the right colour bunting and the right selection of eats for a variety of guests was nothing short of mentally draining. Doha is significantly limited in variety and availablity so we had to be creative with what we had. I ended up making the bunting which involved going to the Souq to find the ribbon, going to the stationery shop across town to find the cardboard, borrowing Owens future schools cutter and then putting it all together 4 times. After 4 grocery shop visits I found the dip! Thank goodness I started weeks in advance. We hired the clubhouse and decorated it. Our ususal social circle and their children were invited and so were our neighbours who sit for us on the odd occassion. Brendon coordinated pin the tail on the donkey and Jo did face painting. All the children (except Erin) had a dip in the pool. Erin got a lot of lovely gifts - a singing bear, FP telephone, FP xylephone, floor puzzles and clothes. Happy little people left with party bags in hand filled with stickers, biscuits, tattoo pens, chocolates, pencils etc. to remember their day. We had lots of food left over and enjoyed not having to cook the rest of the day. It was a great day for a special little girl.