Miss Annabelle and friends

I've been conscious of this blog not being All About Annabelle because no-one wants to be one of those boring parents who has nothing to talk about except their kid. But I was thinking that actually it's been ages since I've posted any pics of her or updates for that matter and if I don't write stuff down here I'm likely to forget.

So she is about 2yrs and 2mths now and as cute as a button. She can almost sing the whole alphabet song (with prompting) and can count to ten. Kind of. It goes something like "1, 2, 3, 5, uuummmm 8, 9, 10. YAAAAYYYY!!!" She remembers other random numbers (6, 7 etc) but not usually in the right order.

She sings various songs and will happily sing them over and over and over again. We have video of her sitting up in her little chair, facing the backyard as if she's got an audience out there, and announcing herself before each song. So she goes "Twinkle Star." *pause* then sings the whole thing with actions to the end, then gives herself a big round of applause "yaaaayyyyyy" then starts again with the announcement. "Twinkle Star".

She very happily goes to daycare every day now. I still don't like her being there five days but she is very well loved. She has obviously learned that it's very endearing to run up to a person and ask for a cuddle and this is a good way to get special attention. Each and every staff member - not just from her room but the other rooms as well - has told me that they have a special relationship with her because as soon as she spots them, she calls their name (she's a genius at remembering names. I swear she knows every kid's name in that centre and there's 80 of them!) runs up and asks for a cuddle. I don't know if any of them have worked out that she's got this cuddle thing going on with all the other staff members as well. They all think they are her favourite.

She wakes up in the morning and if Mel has already got up and is out doing work in the loungeroom, she calls out to him. "MEL! MEEEELLLLL!!!!!" Too cute. I've only heard her call out for "Cass" once but I think that's a bit confusing for her because the Team Leader in her room at daycare is also called Cass so she's got that sorted out in her mind. She's Cass. I'm Mummy.

Here are some recent photos:

With Alex and Nathaniel, our old next-door neighbours in Sydney (on our recent visit)

Refusing to take her hand out of her mouth for the picture...

Water play in the backyard.. during the warmer months! (really, this photo is all about the hair)

Sydney again - this time with Ally and James. Ally and I were in mother's group together and James and Annabelle also went to daycare together so they've known each other pretty much since birth, and were born 5 days apart.

If I get slack with updates, remind me in future. They grow up so fast!