January 2005

Go to: Archive index | February 2005

Saturday, 01 January 2005

Had a most pleasant New Year's Day today. We watched the annual Tournament of Roses Parade on the TV where we saw lots of very colourful floats. I played with my toys including my blow-up house/castle thingy.

In the afternoon (after a short nap), Daddy and I went to David & Judi Wilkinson's for their annual party. That was fun - I was the centre of attention (of course) and got to play with their two dogs, Jessie and Bud. They're really fun to play with and they lick my face (which, strangely, I like). Then we came home and had Gail & Alfred over for drinkies and chats. They brought me a present of a Nemo Pajama Pillow - a big stuffed Nemo (from "Finding Nemo" fame) with a pocket at the back to store one's pyjamas. I was a bit unsure of it at first (it has big eyes), but I was soon playing with it. Thanks!

Thursday, 06 January 2005

Well yesterday was a black letter day - Grandma Gabriele and Grandad Shiv went back to England. They've been here visiting for about two weeks and its really been fun! Both played with me a lot and made me laugh lots.

An upside is that my other Grandparents are arriving to see me tomorrow! How about that?! They'll be here only for a short time, until Wednesday next week. Still, I've made arrangements to stay out of school while they're here - that will be fun.

Sunday, 09 January 2005

Yesterday I wasn't feeling very well, even though my grandparental units on Dad's side have just arrived. It's great to see them. I have spoken to them on the phone plenty of times, but haven't seen them since they were here in May (when I was only 6 months old).

I'm feeling much better this morning today and have been showing everyone how I can walk around and play with stuff. It's good to be the centre of the universe.

Did I mention that I like dogs? Last weekend, when Daddy & I went to David & Judi's house for their New Year's Day party, I got to play with their dogs Jessie and Bud. I loved it, and had lots of fun chasing them round the house and getting lots of licks. As we were leaving, Judi gave me a photo of them. And in the morning, I found the photo again. Check the movie of me and my new dog impression (4.5 MB AVI)!

Thursday, 13 January 2005

Well Grandma and Grandad Watts have also gone now. They flew back to London on Wednesday, then off to Hong Kong then to Perth (Western Australia) before heading home. It was really fun while they were here, and it was a shame that Grandad wasn't 100% well. Fortunately I convinced him to go to the doctor so he got some good drugs. Grandma also went too as she had a nasty cough. They were only here for 5 days, but I'm really glad they came.

Oh well, back to my usual routine. I had fun at daycare today - it was good to be back. Last night, my staff were at the theatre helping with auditions, so I got to play with Amanda. That was lots of fun. And tonight, since my staff were back there again, I looked after Katie. Such fun. Katie also gave me a Christmas present - she made me a very cute scarf. Thanks!

Some new tricks. I can now walk down the stairs, facing forward! You can see me walking down the stairs with Grandma's help (3 MB AVI). I hold onto the railing for extra support. Also, I had my first tantrum on Wednesday too. I was playing with a pen and some paper and I started crawling with them. Dad took the pen away from me (he said I might have put pen on the carpet), and I didn't want him too. So I complained bitterly for perhaps 20 mins (Dad said it was more like 3 hours).

At least I was good for Amanda and for Katie!

Saturday, 15 January 2005

Tuesday, 18 January 2005

Happy birthday Katie!

Saturday, 22 January 2005

I had lots of fun last night and stayed out really late! You see, it was my friend Katie's birthday this week. Not just any birthday, but her 21st birthday. So the Kouris, my staff and I celebrated with Katie at Lucky 32 last night, a local restaurant here. I walked around the restaurant a bunch of times, and eat my dinner with everyone else. And I even got to have some of the birthday wine. Of course I did "cheers" with everyone, espeically the champagne (I had my sippy cup).

We left the restaurant after 8:30 and I was still awake (much later than my usual 7:30 bedtime). In fact, I didn't sleep at all in the car, everyone thought I'd fall asleep before the first turn out of the restaurant. When I got home, I jumped into my jammies, and then I went to sleep in my own bed. I slept until about 8am, then got everyone up like the demanding-so-and-so that I am.

I'm a pretty good walker now. In fact I now prefer walking to crawling. I'll still fall over from time to time, especially if I'm walking too fast. But I can just pick myself up and carry on. Everyone is most impressed. With people's help, I can also walk downstairs too.

I didn't go out today. It has been at or below freezing all day. They forecast freezing rain for this area, but there was only a little bit here - not enough to be a hassle. Not like last Wednesday when the 1" of snow turned to ice and caused hundreds of accidents in the Triangle area and 12 hours of gridlock throughout the city! Mum & I came home before the snow started causing problems. Dad made it home in 1.5 hours (normally 30 minutes), but others we know were stuck in traffic for 8 hours. Our friend Sloan was stuck on US64 (4 hours at a standstill, at one point) and in the end she had to spend the night in a nearby Wallmart.

Monday, 24 January 2005

I like blueberries. I can eat them with my fingers and I can also eat them using a fork! (with a bit of help putting them on).

I also like gins & tonics!

Monday, 24 January 2005

Some sad news. A very close friend of ours in Australia, Mark Waddington, passed away yesterday as a result of a brain tumour he's been fighting for more than a year. He was age 40. Mum & Dad have known Mark since 1988 and 1989 respectively when they all worked for IBM in Australia.

This photo of Mark & Helen was taken in April 2004 at Strathvea, a guest house up in the mountains in the Yarra Valley near Melbourne. The occasion was to celebrate both of their 40th birthdays, but everyone there was also surprised to be witnessing the marriage of our friends Alan & Jo.

Our condolences to Helen. Mark will be missed by everyone.

Friday, 28 January 2005

When I go to bed at night, I like to read my special bedtime book. It's called "Time For Bed" and it's really nice. Sometimes Daddy reads it to me, sometimes Mummy reads it to me, and sometimes I get them both to read it (one after the other, just in case one of them missed something).

Once I've read it, then I'm ready for bed. Usually I get carried to bed (after kisses good night), but a couple of times, I've actually walked by myself to my room and asked to be put to bed. I'm a big girl!

Monday, 31 January 2005

Well I had a fun weekend. On Saturday, we went out shopping for ski gear. We're going skiing up in the North Carolina mountains next weekend with the Kouris. We've hired a minivan so we're all going in one car up there - what fun. Of course I needed some new gear, so I picked up some skiing overalls and a very cute jacket. Mummy also bought me a toboggan (a two person one, just incase I want to go down a hill instead of just being pulled around).

On Sunday, we just spent the day indoors. We went to Schlotzsky's for lunch but that was about it. In the evening, a colleague of Mummy's, Ed, came over for dinner. He brought me a very cool book, "Elmo's Big Lift and Look Book", which has lots of little flaps to look under. Very kind of him. I wanted to stay up and play, but I was also very tired. After complaining, then coming back downstairs for a little while, I finally went down about 8:30pm.

Go to: Archive index