Erin's Nursery Concert

It was Apple Tree's Holiday Concert today. Erin has been singing her Santa Song the past few weeks with actions and today it was action time. The parents sat on little chairs armed with cameras, iPhones and iPads. It was a little too daunting for some who went hysterical. Erin could see me sitting in front of her but went into a trance like state at the overwhelming Paparazzi! She was mute during her group singing but perked up in the car and decided that is when she would sing. A lovely effort by the nursery though. 

Expressions of Erin

A productive day with the Mommy

After having to spend time with a sick Owen, Erin was very pleased to spend some quality time with me after dropping Owen at school. We baked 24 cupcakes which were to be decorated later that afternoon with Owen. Then it was painting time. Erin is very keen on cats and so lots of them had to be drawn and painted. Then Erin demanded I draw her in her pretty dress. I thought it was a tall order seeing as I am not an artist in the natural, but what got produced was beyond my normal ability and totally surprising to me! In actual fact I have copy righted it and this afternoon will be photocopying it so that the cherubs can colour in my work of art. The original will be stored in the memories box to be looked at in a few years time. You see before Owen was born I was a career girl. Just give me some numbers and a spreadsheet and I could analyse and pie-graph just about anything you asked me. I could hardly cook, didn't draw and found cleaning and ironing an arduous chore. Once Owen arrived I thought I had better get myself sorted or else he would only be breast-feed for the rest of his life. Now I have most domestic things mastered, except for face painting. And at this point I will admit defeat on it. Any way, back to Erin. So after nap time we went to pick Owen up from school. Erin thought it would be a good time to learn how to apply make-up, which is my usual morning routine in the school car park. In the afternoon the cherubs decorated, iced and ate the cupcakes and then played nicely together until, like every afternoon, Owen had to endure a beating from his sister. I look forward to tomorrow :-)

The clown of our family!

Circus time at Apple Tree Nursery

Today Erin went to nursery dressed up as the ring mistress. The little "Apples" have been learning about the circus and animals and had a morning of activities prepared for them. Erin was very happy with her outfit and "skating shoes" that Granny and Grandpa brought over from the UK with them. I was able to convince her to wear more sensible shoes and that her hair should be brushed and put in 2 pony tails to go with the theme.

Erin's second haircut

Erin doesn't particularly like having her hair brushed or played with so when she had to go to the hair dresser she wasn't too thrilled about the experience!

Touchy feely Erin

Erin cannot sit near anyone without having a bit of body contact, even if it means just her feet touching. She drinks her milk on my lap, reads a book on my lap, hops off the bean bag during tv to sit next to me on the couch. Owen and her were sitting on the couch the other day and she had to put her hand on his back while sitting there. Very cute to see.

Enjoying a spot of telly

Erin enjoys tv whenever she gets a chance and preferably with a dvd box to hold onto while watching. There are benefits to being the second child. Owen was never allowed tv until he was older. Hopefully he won't hold this and all the other things I never let him do against me!

The start of potty training

Erin has been reading her potty book religiously and so I was not surprised when she decided she was entitled to be next in line on "The Throne". "No more nappies" she told me and promptly whipped her nappy off. It has not taken her long to have bladder control and to do a wee but pooping has taken a bit more work. Even though I had been through this with one child (which was significantly more painful), it has not stopped the same severity of wretching that overcomes me when a waft of poop fills my nostrils. There are hardly any accidents and asking her to go to the toilet is not met with much hesitation.

Erin learns to pedal

We bought a second hand tricycle for Erin as we were not sure she would even use it. But after a few tries she got the pedalling motion right and was off. It is also handy having a handle on the back for when she gets tired and wants to be pushed home.

Erin's 2nd birthday

The theme for the party was a "Pink Party" and everyone was requested to come in something pink. 10 little people (along with the careers) came to Erin's birthday. Kainen, Albira and Noa from church, Isabo who is a sibling of Carola at Owen's school, Thomas, Freddy and Harry who we have regular playmates with, Diya who attends Aspire children's programme and Caity and Cameron.

Two year olds have very limited attention spans so we played pin the tail on the donkey, sleeping bunnies, pass the parcel and made pizza. There was a dressing up corner, art corner and Paul provided the animal balloons. Erin was very excited when it was cake time and happy to be the centre of attention. Before everyone left we had 2 stories - The tiger who came to tea and Mr. Wolf's pancakes. Erin had fun and got lots of presents which she unwrapped and pushed around in her shopping trolley.

It was all well worth the effort and Erin loved her day!

Church Nursery

Erin goes to church nursery once the sermon starts. One of us goes with her as she is still VERY happy to have the mom or the dad close by. The toddlers listen to a story, draw, play musical instruments and have some free play. Brendon and I have signed up to serve on the Kidz Club nursery rooster so we are pleased to be back in our groove.

Quality time with Daddy