September 2012 Updates:

Alma’s News!

Alma has officially started day care (well, it is only once a week for up to 4 hours, but for her it is a big step).

As you can notice, she was VERY stressed on her first official day.

After a couple of weeks we decided to reduce her stay to up to two hours

only, as she would not move from one spot and cried non-stop till I

came back. It was very distressing to all the other kids and for her as well.

Her very experienced teacher is very flexible and as I don’t have a

workplace yet, I don’t mind working around Alma’s needs till she settles

in and relaxes a bit.

On her first day at day care Alma was very happy to play and participate in everything for the whole 4 hours (as I said, it was a one off event that month), but it gave me a rare break and my friend Helen took

me to have a “real cup of hot chocolate” at a cafe near the Nepean river.

Alma has been growing rapidly and is no longer a little baby:

She loves brushing her teeth (and now insists that she puts on toothpaste),She tries to get dressed on her own and chooses her own clothes in the morning

(many times even before I wake up),And she now sits on two pillows at the table, like her big sister.

Putting on shoes by herself was a big focus this month

Sometimes dressing up brings about some unexpected results – but Alma quickly turned this into an opportunity to pretend she is a dog with a big tail!

Putting on a shirt is always a fun adventure

While Alma was putting on her PJs after the

bath she heard Hahgoot starting to whine about a miniature spot on her

skin, so she ran half dressed to bring the

pawpaw ointment and treated her sister!

She is an amazing kid...

Toilet training has been going exceptionally well. She pretty much aced all the milestones

(including doing a poo in the potty and going shopping in undies) in

two weeks!She enjoyed the “Pee pee prize”

very much, with Hahgoot.

She was happy to share her

stickers with her sister.

For doing a poo in the potty she

got a special horse doll.

Here are some of her “potty inspired” artworks and a book she got as

another prize.

Falling asleep has been a big issue this month (right) and even if she did fall asleep in her bed she’ll eventually

end in our bed at some point of the night (left)

Also, Alma’s table manners are not for the faint hearted...

She loves mixing everything (which is a refreshing change from Hahgoot, who has a meltdown some days if her food touches) but some combinations are

better than others...

Anyone for a spaghetti and milk combo?

In our next presentation:

More news from Alma’s busy life!

Hahgoot took this photo