A week or so ago Mummy bought you a ‘Happy Tower’ that functions as a desk, a blackboard and a tower to allow you to reach counter tops. Mummy’s looking forward to you standing next to her while she’s cooking 🙂 I’m not sure if you’ll be more of a hindrance than help though, we’ll see when we set it up in the kitchen. Today we decided to test out the blackboard mode to see how you handle standing and drawing at the same time.

When George was here last weekend we did try out ‘desk mode’ quickly, the only downside to it is the huge gap behind you. We were worried that you’d fall backwards at any second, in the end we tied a scarf across to act as a barrier.

Mummy’s cousin George arrived in Amsterdam for a concert, and obviously to see his favorite ‘first cousin once removed’ 🙂 He brought you some presents as well! Eight building blocks that have letters, numbers and animals on them. Also a toy that you can use in the bath that acts like a water wheel, you lucky girl!

On the Sunday before he flew home we gave him some practice for the future, pushing and walking you around Hoofddorp. He got to bond with you and Mummy and I got some rest 😀

Today you achieved another milestone, not the happiest but a milestone nevertheless. The story goes as follows… all three of us were in the living room, playing on the table and having a laugh together. After putting you on the floor you proceeded to make your way into the kitchen to explore, like you always do. However you’d only taken a few ‘steps’ when suddenly you stopped, sat down and then started to projectile vomit on the floor…

We both rushed over to grab you just as the second gush came out and the crying began. Mummy took you away for cleaning while I dealt with the floor, the smell was revolting, our poor baby! Afterwards we sat you in your chair with Big Bunny while watching cartoons, you even managed to give us a smile now and then. You recovered well and by the evening you were back to normal.

It makes me smile a bit when I think about what was going through your mind at the time… I know… bad Daddy. Probably something like ‘what’s going on? why is food coming the other way?!?!’ or was it ‘I don’t remember eating that!’ 😀

The transition from pureed to solid food is still not going as planned. We’re trying to coax you each meal by placing a few items in your bowl. We continue to feed you puree while you ‘eat’ what we put in the bowl. Today we tried pasta… that didn’t go so well 🙁 Mummy tried mixing in some packet vegetables but that just made the situation a little more messy. I think you’re going to skip the in-between stage and go straight to chomping down on a burger one day 😀

Another milestone… and another reason to never take our eyes off you in the living room 🙂 Today was the first time you managed to climb onto the couch by yourself! After the first time I wondered how you would get down… you decided the smart way was to go head first 😀 Hence why you can’t be alone! 🙂 The second time you did better and slid off on your stomach… feet first.

Today you had a special package delivered, your new chair! As you can see it’s a dog that is rather yellow 🙂 One of the first things you did when you got on it was to kiss it. This will live in the front room and act as a chair for your desk. I’m sure you’ll also insist that we let you watch cartoons in it, let’s see how good you are!

Our little entertainer! Today at dinner you decided to perform a party trick for us. You showed us how to pick up a sippy cup and put it in a bowl… with your mouth! 😀 It’s funny as sometimes you have more coordination and dexterity with your mouth than your hands 🙂 You even graced us with the funny face you’re pulling at the moment.

As it was just you and me at home for the day I thought I’d treat you to a play fort. Mummy and I have been talking about getting you a ‘Princess Castle’ when you’re older, this will have to serve as an interim 🙂 I made it in a way that you could access your toy cupboard, all the amenities you could need right? The only problem was you could not sit still in there… after a few seconds of admiring my handy work you’d be off exploring the outside again… then 5 seconds later you’d be back!

Bonus:

For you it should be ‘Working 5 to 9 seconds’ 😀 Actually you lasted longer than expected on your make shift chair, I think it was the TV that kept your attention. This is your first experience of an office type job, just imagine this is what Mummy & Daddy do for 8 hours a day! The only difference is our desks aren’t as musical 🙂

At creche you love to crawl around with all your friends, we know this from the color of your clothes when we pick you up 😀 At home you don’t really have anyone to challenge you… until today! I took you on in the greatest race ever, from the kitchen to the front door 🙂 I don’t know how you do it, my knees were hurting after one race, you do this all day!

A common phrase the neighbors can probably hear each night is ‘Emily… go to sleep now!!!’ 😀 However tonight I decided to film you a bit on the baby cam, just so you can see what you do instead of actually sleeping! I’m not sure what you were searching for in the headboard but as you couldn’t find it you stood up. If you’re wondering about your cry… totally fake 🙂 We’ve got a good ear now for telling the difference now.

Bonus:

… you’ll be stuck like that! One thing we’re learning is to not laugh at anything you do that we don’t want you to repeat. One day over tea Mummy gave you something that you didn’t like and the face you pulled… well… it was incredibly funny. When you realized what we were laughing at you wouldn’t stop! So yeah… we have to be careful what we laugh at from now on.

Bonus:

In the UK there is a game show called ‘Supermarket Sweep’ where the aim was to run around the aisles grabbing items. You’re now in training with your mini shopping cart 🙂 Unfortunately you don’t have to ability to take your hands off yet, so grabbing anything from a shelf is going to be a problem! 😀 In the second video you’ll see how fast Mummy reactions were when you fell. Don’t worry you didn’t hurt yourself, you were crying more out of shock.

While in the kitchen crawling around you’re always playing with our dustpan and brush, it seems you really want to help out. So while out shopping we took a quick visit to the toy store to buy you one of your very own! Sometimes you use the brush correctly, sometimes you use the pan to brush, you’re still learning. You also like to clean my leg, probably full of those alleged crumbs that Mummy says I keep dropping. Oh BTW, in the toy store they also had hoovers, ovens, microwaves and every other home appliance you could imagine. Let’s see what your next desire will be, probably the hoover.

This is one of the moments I think you wished we had a ‘no phone at the table’ rule 🙂 Well, let’s be specific and make it a ‘no filming Emily while eating at the table’ rule. We still have moments when you finish your food rather quickly, we need a way to entertain you right? I was actually a little surprised as to how patient you were! 😀

Speaking to Oma on the phone has become somewhat of a daily event 🙂 As you like to pretend everything is a phone when Mummy gave you her phone, you treated it as such. It’s cute as always wait till she stops speaking before you speak, it’s like you two are having a proper conversation. She loves it as you can hear in the video, laughing every time you say something. I would love someone to invent a translator, ‘Baby talk to English’ 😀

It’s a little wet outside and the fridge is looking a little bare so we decided to take a trip out to the ‘Speelkasteel’. A combination of great food, pancakes, and enough activities to wear even the most active baby out! 😀 As you can see from the videos you had a great time there, dusting the floor with your white stockings… 🙂 You really enjoyed the slide and if Mummy hadn’t of held you at the top, I think you would of ‘run’ off after the other children there.

There was a previous post, I believe on your 1st birthday, where you received some new boots. Unfortunately you kind of grew out of these very quickly, before we even had much chance to use them. However we bought you some nice shiny red ones which you love to wear everywhere! We’re trying to help you walk everywhere to stimulate you to do it by yourself. Here is a small clip of you walking, slowly, from the car to the house. This is why Mummy and I have bad backs and why we keep saying we need a massage 😀

Some of the things you love to grab around the living room are pencils. As we also have a notebook Mummy gave you the chance to let out some of your inner creativity, what could go wrong? 😀 As you can see… quite a bit 🙂 Drawing on the notebook wasn’t for you so you continued on the table! Luckily it was quite easy to get off with a cloth and some elbow grease.

While out shopping we bought you some crayons, easily washable ones 😀 As you can see from the picture below your creativity bloomed within a few hours… 🙂 What a great train!

Lately you’ve been getting a little annoyed with your hair constantly falling in your eyes. Mummy saw this and made sure we dropped by a hairdresser while out and about, just a little off the front and sides right?!??!… Well, they took maybe a little too much off and Mummy’s first words were, ‘she looks like a boy’ 😀 So now we know what your brother will look like, when we have another… and if it’s a boy 🙂 It’ll be like having two bosses at work.

You’re still and will forever remain extremely cute! Mummy says the only way we can fix this is to get you earrings 🙂 I think she planned this all along to get her way! 😀 Oh, we also tried you out in a new coat, one you got for your first birthday, just to get the complete experience. Don’t worry we’ll go out in the center soon to get you a very flowery and girly coat to wear.